A perfect Sandwich !!

In the middle of lunch I found this, sooo funny:

A new and surprising Opera

Was just reading the NYT, and found a review of a new opera called "Jerry Springer" and it immediatly caught my attention. Here is a summary of the opera:

The first act, which depicts the taping of a fairly typical Jerry Springer episode (bisexual cheating fiancé, diaper fetishist, woman with strip-club dreams), surely has more obscenities per minute than any work that ever played Carnegie Hall. But it’s the second act, which takes Jerry straight to hell to arbitrate a debate between Jesus and the Devil, that has raised hackles high.

Well if that does not catch your attention nothing will. The interesting part is that according to the reviewer the show manages to be empathic and uses music inspired bot just by musicals but also by more classical operatic music. It seems like a real winner to me, we shall see if we ever get to see it in DC.

Knitting again

Ok, so last week I forgot to blog about my new knitting class. Yes I know, see the word Knitting on the title this blog is more than just something witty I came up with. I do knit, I am a very bad knitter, and because of my ADD tend to jump from one unfinished project to the next, but this year as my TV habits have changed I have decided to give knitting another try. It is soothing, but it is hard work and it requires concentration, something I am not very good at. Anyway, so I picked up some old projects mostly a big read scarf, that was coming along until I accidentally broke a needle. But even before said incident, I had enrolled in a knitting class, i felt that I had teach myself as much as I could on my own and that it was time to go to a professional. So for once sticking to my goals, i signed up for a sock knitting class, and started last week, so far I have only knitted a partial toe, but I am getting there, today there should be more progress and then next class we are supposed to learn how to finish the sock. On the one hand I am very excited, but on the other I am terrified, it was much harder than I thought, and the other students tend to be better than I am. Ohh well one of my consolations is that I dragged the Crafty one (who has a blog, it is linked in the dahlings section) and she is coming to the class with me.

The $1 coffee cup

Starbucks is taking over the world, well not anymore, but apparently they are testing a $1 coffee cup. It is their response to all the competion from Dunkin, and McDonalds and all the other fast food chains. To me it is an interesting concept, specially because I did stop at Starbucks and got myself some coffee this morning. The refil part is the one that is particulary intersting, is it really economically feasable, what will the do in places like downtown DC or downtown anywhere in the US where there are you can find a Starbucks place every 4 or 5 blocks (or like the corner of 17th St and K St, in DC, where there are 3)

This is the story (thanks Slashfood)

I do not want to go

2008 promises to be the year of the weddings, heck, 2007 ended with a wedding. But this year in the immediate future there are 3 weddings in my midst, two in Mexico one in San Antonio, yes I guess that is kind of sorta Mexico too. Two of these are organized by friends and one by my cousin; as a result I have to go to the cousin’s wedding, well that depends on immigration papers and other things, but shush, lets see how that works out.

Anyway, I feel really bad about saying this, but this is the only place I can put this in writing, as much as I like my friends and I do like them, I do not want to do go. Yes, a wedding, is a wedding, it’s a ritual nothing else (thanks Sondheim, for the lyric) and I have no desire to go to Mexico City or San Antonio for the matter, to attend a wedding where I know no one. It is not like weddings are the time when your friends, you do not see very often have time to talk and catch up, it’s the time, when your friends are getting married and they are all over the place thinking about everything, except the friends they invited to the wedding. Besides I do not even know any of the brides, so I am not going. The hard part for me is telling people I am not going to be able to make it. All of you rolling your eyes, you know who you are, stop right now, for me, it is hard to tell someone I am not going to be able to go to your party – mostly because I hate when people cancel on me. Anyway so here are the questions I have for all the brides and grooms of the world that as soon as they have a set date, decide to turn the pages in their old address books and invite you to a wedding:

- Do you really think people have the money to travel to 3 different destinations each in one year for your wedding? NO
- Do you really think that friends – that are very dear – who have not met your significant other or any of your new friends want to go to a party where they will know no one? NO
- Do you really think people are going to plan and use their vacation time (this is not Europe where people have 6 weeks vacation) around your wedding? NO
- Do you really think people will pay 400, because lets be honest, airfare + hotel + meals even if you are going inside the US, gets to 400 easily to attend a wedding and then have to send a present? No answer for this one

Anyway, I was thinking all these during spinning yesterday, and I have come up with plausible excuses for my two friends and now working on what I am going to tell Mom if I can not go to my cousins. But I have to say my redeeming quality, is that I will send presents, I will, I just wrote it down in my to do list.

PS. Been so busy the last 3 days that, it is just now that I am able to post something worth posting.

The magic of editorial cartoons

I have always been a great admirer of editorial cartoonist, they have one of the toughest jobs out there, take a commentary and transpose it from words to a drawing. The picture needs to be clear, concise, and tell the opinion that is being given, with no arguments, no supporting paragraphs, no quotations, nothing, but a set of lines and sometimes some color to represent an idea. It is something that to me takes the outmost humor and skill. Why am I saying this, today in El Pais (where else I know) I found the following cartoon, and it is perfect. Take a look:



It manages to sum up ideas about the after life, God, humanity, hope, and everything.

Politcs and Knitting part II + a dash of the economy

On the subject if the election, and as a mirror to the one posted here, about Hillary, this one is about Obama.



On the subject of the Economy, in Spanish, the word Accion means action (as in to do something, but is the word used for stock, as in the stock market and a piece of a company) hence the play in words, with the frog offers an action, which really means Stock, and then asks for payback:






Source: El Pais

Twilight a Knitter’s Review

Yes, another book review, so soon you say, well I finished this book over the weekend and I been wanting to share the review with all of you. The book in case is a little trashy and a very easy read, it is called Twilight and it is a teen romance, between a vampire and a human girl. I was very reticent to pick this book, but the Argentine had read it and enjoyed it and so I decided that before starting the next serious book (usually book club books then to be more serious) I would enjoy a light novel. I truly enjoyed it, and now I can not wait to read the next two novels in the series. Go here for the complete review.

Cold outside, cute picture

More cute pictures at: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

A lesson for New Orleans and the world ..

This morning was I was driving to work and listening to NPR, as usual a great story was being told and I just need to share. I know, sometime the name of this blog should be what is on NPR, but the thing is this is really interesting, at least to me and my environmental and political consciousness were awoken.

What is happening is that the Dutch government, is very worried about rising sea levels, which to them is a matter of life and death, but the Dutch are not. Why ? well after the flood of 53, they built massive storm surge barriers, new dams and giant steel floodgates that have kept the seas from rising, but the problem is we are in 2008 and not 1953, so these massive works of infrastructure, such as the Maeslant barrier are more than sufficient for a world that was not suppose to change, but who knows where the sea levels will be in 10 or 20 years.

Of course because if there is a country that thinks rationally and efficiently, they government has changed its policy of always fighting the water. Now the are welcoming the water and they are moving people and farms in the low lands, so that some of the land will be given back to the rivers and allowed to flood. By allowing more water in, and fine tuning the "North Sea Defenses" as they are called they are hoping to prevent disasters in the near and no so near future. The government official interviewed by NPR said "this idea of letting the water go where it wants is going to take getting used to. The Dutch are used to taming nature, he says. "But now, they have to accept retreat. And give part of the country back to the water. Because it is better. Because it is more clever."

I have to say it is so refreshing to hear about a government that is more engaged in climate change than it own citizens. I know this is why the Dutch have managed to survive and prosper in such difficult conditions, but this is something to look upon with admiration and astonishment. I can only wish that the US government and specially the State governments of the Gulf region would listen to the story and start thinking about it. I have always said that if we want to save New Orleans, alls we need is to call the Dutch and write a really, really big check.

Source: NPR (www.npr.org)

Mapp & Lucia

Today’s book club meeting will be about E.F. Benson’s Mapp & Lucia, a lovely comedy of manners that takes place in between wars England, in a town called Tilling. It is one of those 30’s novels that dissect the bourgeoisie, in an effort to de-mystify it and ridicule it. A lovely book I truly enjoyed, go to the Argentine’s, most precisely here to read the review.

This just in ...

I am going through the blogs I read and Jimbo has this perfect, I mean perfect definition of MAL:



To me the Mid-Atlantic Leather weekend has become something like the Renaissance Festival they put on out in Crownsville, Maryland every year - the events and venues don't really change that much from year to year, and you see the same people in the same costumes every year as well. In other words, your broiled turkey leg will still be there next year if you skip it this year.

Just a perfect definition and description.

Bomb !!!

Last night I was so tired from a long day of writing SQL and waiting for some reports that needed testing, that at 6 I skipped the gym and decided to go home directly from the office. It was cold and rainy and it had snowed all day, so I figured a night of watching trasssshhyy television would do me good. I hopped on the metro and when I got to Cleveland park I called the Argentine to see if he would pick me up, he said yes, and I waited,and waited, and waited. Nothing, the minutes went by and no sign of him. I feel my phone ringing and it was him, apparently Porter was closed and there was no way for him to come get me, not that way. I told him I would walk, I mean yes it was raining and there was slosh (is that the correct spelling and word?) everywhere, but I thought ok, it will be a 10 minute walk.

For those of you who do not know Cleveland Park and Mt Pleasant, our place is at the bottom of a hill, at the top you can find the Metro and Cleveland Park proper and as you go eastward down hill and then slightly up hill, crossing Rock Creek Park, you enter Mount Pleasant.

Back to the story, so I walked down hill and start crossing the bridge that crosses the park, when I see that not only the road but the sidewalk was closed. A policeman was there, making sure no one could continue walking. There were two people there, already and they were making inquiries. The policeman told them and me, that he thought there was a bomb threat and that the entire neighborhood was being coordoned off. To which I said, hey I just called my boyfriend, and he is home, just 2 minutes that way, so are you also asking people to evacuate their houses? He had no response for this and said that he had no idea what the details were, but that he had a wife and two beautiful childrens and that he would not walk up th sidewalk for fear of his life. Hhmm, I said, and turned back, called the home, and started the climb back.

By the time I got back to Connecticut Avenue, the Argentine was at the gas station, and explained how the bomb threat was under the Porter bridge. This made me angry, because not only was the policeman not telling the full truth, but he had blocked traffic 2/3 into the bridge making the whole road block useless. If the bomb was going to go off, the first car to fall if the bridge collapsed would have been the cruiser and the silly pedestrians arguing over their right to get home.

Anyhow, it is a long story I know, but thanks to the man I got home in one piece and was able to watch Battlestar Gallactica.

The Snow in the City

This week has been brutal, work, work, work and then some more work. But I am still here, today I am in DC (downtown) instead of Ashburn, because I had to be here bright and early, and because of the snow. No one wants to be stuck in the suburbs of Northern Virginia on a snow storm. Trust me, no one. So here I am observing for the first time snow in Downtown. It is not much different than the suburbs, just more people walking around and more cars. Lots of honking, and wetness everywhere, but mostly importantly people. DC is infamous for shutting down at the possibility of 4 inches of snow (and they say there are many size queens in the city) and it is refreshing to see that nothing seems to be closed, and that people are not running to the garages to get on their Aviators (or whatever name those awful SUV's are) and then drive home for 3 hours. It is also refreshing to know that as of late the city will be ready before the burbs.

With that I have to go, because I need to continue working.

The Gay Church

A year or two ago, the Scientist (aka Gay Canuck) wrote a piece on Results, saying how at certain Halloween party, all the gays went to profess at their church, the church of the perfect bodies. Yesterday, we had a DCAC meeting and I had skipped swimming, Sundays tend to be crowded and I was just not in the mood for it, so I went to the gym after the meeting. I got on the elliptical and started my hour, and within 20 minutes the Scientist, the Imelda and the Consummate Aries all showed up. But they had swam in the morning ! So it is in honor of these amazing atheletes that I post this picture from one of the latest Diesel campaigns. I think it summarizes gay relationship with exercise almost perfectly:



Courtesy of Ohlala Magazine.

Trrrrraaashyyyy Television

So this entry comes a bit late, but what the hell I decided Friday is for honesty and full disclosure. What am I going to disclose, well my latest guilty pleasure. It is not Project Runway, it is a new TV show, that the Argentinian initiated me to, and one which has me spell bound. It is the quintessential trashy show, very soap opera-ish, geared to 15 year old girls and boys, with steamy soft porn at times and great one liners.

So no it is not a reality show. It is not my super sweet 16, nor any of those shows, it is ... Gossip Girl. Yes, the heir to Dawsons's Creek and all those other crappy shows on the CW network. I know what you are thinking, those shows are terrible, the acting is awful, the writing is lunch time quality, the story is repetitive and ohh so predictive. But still admit it, they make great TV. I sit the couch and watch spellbound. Yes they are stupid teenagers in a prep school in Manhattan, and yes they drop a grand on a purse without thinking. But the fights and the situations are soo entertaining. And admit it, who doesn't like a villainesse (is that the female term for villain?) with a name like Blair Cornelia Waldorf. She is so crazy, she makes me and the Imelda sounds like Dr. Freud. The good girl, is this pretty blonde called Serena Van Huffenstrap, or something like that and she is the poor little rich girl that falls for the middle class, pretty boy. It doesn't get more complex than that in this show and because of that, and the great scenery and crazy outfits I love it.

Besides any show that portrays High School in such a bitchy and sex manner, makes me look back on my days as UN Model Queen, wait not Queen, Empress and think that I was not such a bitch. To top it all off, i get so much pleasure from turning to the Argentinian and telling asking him if there is any Trrrraaashyyy Television on, and get a positive answer.

One problem we have, is that after watching all the old episodes during the Christmas break, we have to wait till January 28th, to watch the next one.


Note. When saying Trrrraashyyy Television, one needs to chanel Ricardo Montalban, selling Corrrrrinthian Leather back in the 80's.

Politics and Knitting

A cartoon in a Spanish newspaper that I thought would make e y'all laugh




Courtesy of El Pais.

A DC Metro Area Odyssey

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Yesterday I had to stay in the office until 6, which is late for me, no not because I am a bum but because I work far, far away some days of the week and the commute can be hell. So after my meetings I left the office at 6 and was trying to see how to get to the pool, practice starts at 7 on Tuesdays. Obviously I knew I was going to be late, but how late I had no idea. From what Google Maps tells us there are 40 miles between Ashburn and Takoma Park, and it took me 1 hour and 26 minutes to get from one door to the pool's parking lot. After this odyssey I ran to the lockers, changed and proceeded to get in the middle of practice. As a side note I will add that I hate when people come in late, they tend to disrupt the lane and they just get on my nerves, but knowing that if I went home I would feel bad for not working out, I drove and drove and drove and managed to get in and swim for 40 minutes or so. I was exhausted, and stuck in a lane that was a little too fast for me. After some time, the Architect asked me if I was leaving before practice finished, the answer was yes and we proceeded to change, talk about real state and go back home. All in all not a bad day, the Consummate Aries was a very good coach and the practice was quite challenging, I wish next time I have time to get there on time, warm up and at least attempt the full work out.

Rosca de Reyes

It came late, but it came. Yesterday my friend E brought a Rosca de Reyes from Mexico, and because of such a momentous gift, I decided to skip swimming, go order sushi (because sushi goes sooo well with Rosca, just kidding) and we had a small dinner and ejoyed the Rosca. It was great, the Rosca is the Mexican version of King's Cake, and it is eaten the 6th of January to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as the visitation of the Magi(the 3 wise men). Traditionally the cake has one or more babies inside that represent Jesus, and whomever gets the baby has to provide Tamales the 2nd of February for Candelmass (La Candelaria in Spanish).

After almost 8 years of living in the States this was the first year I was not able to bring a Rosca myself, and I am very, very grateful to E for bringing it. It was a tiny one, so 3 people were the perfect number, in order to guarantee that there is some left over for me. The funny thing this year was that no one got the baby this year. I am guessing I will be the unlucky one as every other year, and it stayed home in the piece that I reserved, but I am not sure.

A cook book for me

I was reading this site, and found this book:



This is usually how I feel. I am almost hungry all the time.

Finally a good episode

Last Thursday I had the chance to watch last week’s Project Runway, and finally this season we were able to see what PR can do and why it is such a good show. As usual it is the choice of challenge that made the episode, taking the designers to the Hershey store was a coup, once they were there and they had however much time they had to get material and then go back to build dresses my attention was assured, and no, not because it involved candy, I love sweets but have never really developed a passion for candy a la Imelda for instance. To me the most difficult things about this challenges is, you have to get material without having a full idea what the finished product will be like, because part of experimenting with non traditional materials is you will not know what will and will not work. It was lots of fun to see the designers struggle with their creations, except the little annoying twink who has talent and manages to make great outfits in no time, but every one was going for their own look and personality. I do think that they should have not been given access to the pillows and the bigger stuff in the store, because then it becomes a little easier to build something if you have big pieces of fabric, but regardless it was a great episode.

Veeeeeery Cold

One of the changes with the new Administration in Klingle Road is that we try and walk to the metro the days I commute to the downtown office. After trying the buses, the metro is the easiest option, it is faster, more reliable – as reliable as the Red line gets though. The only problem is the metro is far away, mmmh, let’s qualify that not far, far away, it is up the hill behind the house. This means you have to walk down hill from Klingle land, cross the park and the creek no less, and then go up the hill towards Connecticut Avenue land and the Uptown.
Today I decided to walk to the metro. It was good and bad, it was good because I had not had breakfast and the climb with the cold guaranteed I deserved the bagel I am eating as I type this, but it was bad because the temperature was well cold. I mean cold, cold, there was frost on the leaves and the cars, there was wind coming towards me and not helping me and since I am short I can not wear long coats, so I was wearing a gray winter jacket, and as I walked up the hill my slacks got sooo cold I was not sure if they were there any more. From the waist down all I could feel were my legs and the chilly air, and nothing else. But even in these harsh conditions it still took me 10 minutes only, so I know I am whining, I do. Finally I made it to the station and in another 10 minutes I was in Farragut North and in another 10 I was sitting down in my cube. I did stop at Starbucks to get coffee and a bagel. Such are the hardships of my life.

PS. The other drawback of metroing from Cleveland Park is that there is not enough time to read more than 1 page, and so I do not advance in my readings, so I am forced to people watch. Wait that is not a drawback!

Alternatives to Sex

I am finally catching up on book reviews, well one, over December I read Alternatives to Sex, right after finishing The Kite Runner, and it took me for ever. Not sure why but it did. Anyhow, I finished it just in time to start reading the next book club selection, which I am half way done. Click here to read the review.

Happy New Year !!

This is that time, the proverbial turning of the page, starting new, and all those clichés. It is funny how even if we know that both Christmas and New Years are just two days, as normal as any other, there is some wonder this time of the year. It might be the eggnog and all the cocktails and parties, it might be that I am just too traditional (too Mexican) but to me this is a time to think back and think forward and set some goals and pick up where we left off. For most of us, this 2nd of January means going back to the same work we were at before, and kind of doing the same things we were doing the 23rd of December, so if we want any changes it is we who have to make them, because the world is not going to go change on us. Pause, and think, well it can, the possibility is there, but lets hope nothing of that sort happens.

I grew up with a Mother who made us write out twelve resolutions and then at the end of the year, in that very same notebook we would write the resolutions for the next year. Yes that is the kind of warped childhood I had, so early on, I realized I did not have the attention span or the energy for twelve and I started coming up with shorter and shorter lists of things to do. So this year I want to continue the positive and curb the negative, as much as possible. That is it; it is one simple but far reaching goal. It means, many things, as long as they are doable.

I raise my glass of water, the one right here next to me so that we all have a most positive year, full of wonder and merriment.