M is for melodramatic H is for humble and L is for

Well yesterday I was Nurse Spider-girl going into the pit of bacteria and germs from a dangerous raging virus to care for the wounded. Armed only with supplies, cunning, and the will to survive, I bravely entered the danger zone with no protective suit or alternate ventilation in order to care for the fallen and make sure he came out of it alive. It was a battle zone. There were certain sites that were so terrible that I was advised to avert my eyes to. No surface seemed safe to touch. My mind, in an effort to protect my body, began to have sympathy pains and I only ate the bland food allowed to the ill, toasted bread, vegetable broth, jamaican ginger brew. And in the end?
Victory! I survived my worst fear, being in intimate contact with stomach virus germs, and we both came out of it alive. Halleluja!
Just another day in the life of a hero.

There is nothing cuter then a big broad shouldered football player looking man, sitting at the table eating soup all sick and helpless- I mean, really it was the cutest thing ever.

A good morning message from my coworker

My friend coming into town from CA says:
Let's go to that 80's bar in bmore...i wanna be 80's again. I can't wait to see you.
Then in a later email:
80’s night….I have a vintage Cult Electric T-shirt I am dying to show up (I just saw them again at the House of Blues, just saw the Sisters too, and I will be seeing Ministry in like 2 months—yes—I am a loser). Plus my guns looks great after having outsourced exercising….I see my trainer 3 times a week, though one wouldn’t know it.

We are sad, living in the past! You know your old when you hear the music of your youth being played as saxophone muzak in restaurants :O

the apocalypse

ATTENTION, FELONS
Get your felonious butts over to Norway.

And, Vote for your favorite stupid invention

1. invention #1
2. invention #2
3. invention #3
4. invention #4

P.S. Beware, alchys....

This is what I got V for his birthday

i hate jews - budum-bum-chhh!

Good things about this weekend:
that Saturday is over
Eggs, garlic naan, and spinach and garlic for breakfast with a mango-orange smoothie
Watching Fried Green Tomatoes for the 18th time
V being so happy about being quoted in the front page article of the Baltimore Sun:

Radio:
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=736993
http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=42846

Print:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.traffic26mar26,0,3910447.story

TV:
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/8285864/detail.html
http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_085170200.html

Bad things about this weekend:
Shadiness leading to lingering misgivings and apprehension
A stand-up comedian making anti-semetic remarks (I don't mean jokes, that can be OK, comedians make semi-racist jokes all the time about stereotypes, etc. - This guy just said stuff like, 'Probably not too many jews in this area. I don't hate jews, I just feel better when they aren't around.' uhm... where is the punch line?)
Consuming more calories then I should and not exercising

please sir, can I have some more?

No fair
So, I know I'm not the first person to think these thoughts, but, I am getting more and more irritated by the fact that we have to work 40 hrs a week, every week of our lives, and out of the 260 days we work in every year, we only get 10 or so days off. And, we only get one life! How is that fair?

There are too many trips I want to take and not enough allotted time! This is why people start their own business, isn't it.

A selfish reason to be good to your partner
Couples who routinely trade nasty or controlling remarks during marital spats might be harming their hearts. According to a recent study, wives who made a lot of hostile remarks had double the level of clogged arteries. Husbands who made many domineering statements had arteries that were one and a half times more clogged.

This and that

things floating around in my brain recently:

I heard there was a lot of controversy about the movie V is for Vendetta, because it likens the Republicans to Nazis and the hero is a terrorist.

My question is, what makes the difference between a terrorist and a revolutionary?
Isn't it simply what side you happen to be on?

Anyway the movie didn't give a black and white picture of V as a 'good guy.' It also intimated that there is a fine line between using 'necessary tactics' with calculated collateral damage to achieve a greater good, and becoming as bad or worse then the enemy you are fighting against in order to achieve that worthwhile end - does the end always justify the means? a lesson that should be carefully observed by our current government. Does the rest of the world, hearing on the news of our prisoner torture, wiretapping our own citizens, attacking a country that hadn't actively threatened us under false pretenses, etc, think we are the 'good guy' ?

Secondly, I've been reading this book called 'The Kitchen God's Wife' (I recommend it, by the way) by Amy Tan. Basically its about a woman's (horrible, depressing) life in China during WWII. The woman in the book is married off at a young age to an abusive man. If she wants a divorce, he has to agree to give her one, and if he does, she loses claim to their children. I feel that reading this book should make me feel better about my life, that I am lucky enough to grow up in this day and age, with women having so many more rights and options then in times past. Instead, it has just made me sad, for the plight of humans; around the world these things still go on. But also the loneliness of the human experience. One thing she says in the book is, there is no one who shares the same memories as she does, and even those who were sometimes at the same place and time remember things differently, certainly experienced things differently, and how, realizing this is a very lonely thought. And she's right. In a sense, we are all alone. Sometimes when I look at someone I can see this in them, the loneliness. In their eyes. We all have it, I think.

Today when things were crazy at work, I said to my boss, 'remember when you were only responsible for PR and not the whole marketing department? Things were so peaceful for you.'
He replied, 'I look at it this way. When I was single, things were peaceful for me. But, I'm so much happier and my life is so much more enriched by having Shelly (his wife) and the kids, I would never go back.'

I want to absorb his positive attitude, because I can't take the stress of this workload for very much longer! Side note: I should update my resume. ugh.

I hate to rub it in people's faces that I have a V and they don't, but after mentioning that I have been craving cabbage lately, he made me an awesome Cabbage Curry with carrots last night, based on his father's recipe (which he has raved about in the past). If you aren't a fan of cabbage, this dish will change your mind. When I ate the leftovers for lunch today with some garlic naan, everyone was enviously telling me how good it looked and smelled. The only thing missing was the samosa appetizer from last night with this killer sauce from Trader Joe's. So delicious (and nutritious!) He's such a fantastic cook, and obviously had a great teacher. I wish I could enjoy that meal all over again....

Long blogs are the worst- sorry- after repressing my blogging instinct for days due to my incredible work ethic (don't laugh) I regurgitated 3 days worth of missed blogging into one long projectile blogvomit. And not even any pictures!

Find out your 'real age' by doing this test:
http://www.realage.com/ralong/qa/HI.aspx?fix

bmi, rmr, calories, metabolic rates, aaack!

Well, stress level at work hasn't gone down in any considerable way, but nevertheless I will try to keep up with my blogging, even if the entries may be less verbose and articulate. I saw V is for Vendetta this weekend, pretty good but with disturbing parallels to our government and the state of affairs today, post-9/11 America with its Patriot Act, warrantless wire tapping, torturing prisoners, government manipulating its citizens through fear to win elections and take away civil liberties...

Well after 6 weeks of moderate exercise (average 30 min/day, 3 days/wk) with a cumilative weight loss of zero, I heard that counting calories was the way to go. Well I also am going to try to up my exercise to 45 min/day, 5 days/week, but we'll see how that goes!
What I have learned so far:

1. counting calories is time consuming! I've been using the food search on this site: http://www.calorieking.com/
2. So far today I have consumed something around 869 calories including breakfast, snacks, and lunch. I don't know if that's good or bad yet!
3. I think that simply writing down what I eat every day will help me stop from eating, lets say, donuts someone brought and left in the lunchroom, pig out at a buffet, etc.
4. My BMI is 21.9. Anything under 20 is considered underweight. So that's not too bad...
5. Being hungry occasionally is an unavoidable part of losing weight. Here are tips to deal with those occasional hunger pangs: http://www.newstarget.com/003550.html

I'm pretty lazy and also busy, so I don't know how seriously I can persue this but, I'm going to try for a little while!

roe vs. wade for men?

I keep having dreams about being somewhere tropical, and there is a flood. What does that mean? Last night the water wasn't that deep, but there was a strong current and it was difficult to walk in, almost scary, like you could get washed away. The time before that, the water was a little deeper, and there were all kinds of tropical fish swimming around, and some of them were like, scary eels with big sharp teeth.

Anyway, do you believe in synchronicity, or is it just coincidence? The other day I was reading someone's blog, it was about a new reality show called #1 Single about Lisa Loeb (remember her 5 min of fame with her song 'You Say' which she only got famous for because she was friends with Ethan Hawke who got them to use her song in 'Reality Bites')
Well anyway I was stuck watching it at the gym last night, actually its not that bad. She is a 37 yr old single chick (she doesn't look 37 though!!) who apparently is feeling her biological clock ticking and is on a mission to get married and have some babies, 'right quick' as they say in the south. (P.S. speaking of synchronicity, at the same time they were visiting a sperm bank on Lisa Loeb's show, they were doing a segment on CNN about sperm bank babies, and how this one guy had fathered 19 children through sperm donation! Weird timing, seriously) In this episode she starts dating this guy, goes to the gyno to find out how much more fertility she has left in her, and finds the courage to breach the question with him about whether they share the same future goals, namely children. At first he freaks out and blurts some stuff about it never being the right time, then the food comes (they are at dinner) and he's like, all red faced and saying 'great timing on the food, now we can eat- in silence!' Uhm yeah. So, she is still like, well if you were dating someone who didn't want you to be an actor, you'd want to know right? I just want to make sure we have the same life goals. and he's like, 'well I guess that would be the wrong person for me wouldn't it.' and she's like, 'exactly'. So then he regains composure and is like, 'I want to find the right person, and then yes, everything. After that, everything.' But anyway, simultaneously on another channel (CNN) was a report about a guy who is trying to get a law passed for MEN's reproductive rights. Namely, that if a woman gets pregnant, she has all of the rights- the right to decide to have an abortion, give the baby up for adoption, or keep it, but the guy has no rights. If he wants to keep the baby and she wants an abortion, he has no say, and if she wants to keep it and he doesn't, again, too bad.

Well this guy wants equal rights for men. Not to say, 'you have to have an abortion' but to say, 'I don't want this baby, I want an abortion. I rescind my rights to/responsibilities for it, if you decide to keep it I shouldn't have to pay child support.'

So, is this 'equal rights for men' or 'excuse to be a deadbeat dad' ?

This is awesome- find out what your house is worth, or the house you are trying to buy. Great tool. Thanks Eric, who is now married and just bought a house, and will soon give birth to a baby gremlin.

monday monday (la la, la la laaaa)

Monday it was balmy and sunny with a gentle breeze. The perfect weather.We drove up the beltway to Rt 40 to the asian grocery, it was fun and we drove the Beemer with all the windows and sunroof down (it was 82 degrees!!). We bought some japanese eggplant, asparagus (99 cents for a bunch, so cheap!!), sweet potato, garlic, onion, ginger. Also some super cheap fruit. Then we drove back super fast and furious down windey Rt. 83 (it felt like driving down a slolom in a racecar) to Fells Point and hit Punjabu Dabi grocery, but they didnt have the bread i wanted (paratha). Then we went back, I made a fruit plate with oranges, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries for a snack, put on some music, cut up all the veggies, then V made a killer veggie japanese curry. I'd compliment it but words wouldn't do it justice. Lets just say, he should open a restaurant because it seems selfish to keep all of that heavenly pleasure to ourselves! Oh well, too bad suckahs!Then I went home, ordered pizza for the kids (dominos has a deal 3 medium pizzas one topping for $5 each) and we watched the 5th Element.

What a great day.

The end!

Oh yeah I mean, *cough cough* I was sick

out sick

Is there anything better when you are starving then a portobello mushroom sandwich and avocado eggrolls from the Cheesecake factory? mmmmmmmmm...

Well I'm back on the exercise wagon after a week's slacking. yay me.

Saw the Wizards vs. the Pistons on Sat with V and the kids. It was fun! The Wizards won, they played so well that it was really fun and exciting to watch. There were a lot of breaks in the game with entertainment such as dancers, acrobatics, the stupid wierd looking mascot with the flaccid nose, and gymnists of the Cirque de Soleil type that looked like robot superheros and could balance on one hand and do anything from that position. Also a few little fireworks too. And free tshirts. I thought Jake would get bored but he was into it till the end, standing up and cheering and everything.

Would you eat at this restaurant?

(but really not more disgusting then eating any other body parts, is it, really, when you think about it?)


Dog's Penis,
garnished with a plum

All semi-colons do is suggest you’ve been to college

Kurt Vonnegut's last paid speech

For all my Peeps
In honor of upcoming Easter, here is a site that proves that there are people out there, scientists and geniuses, dedicated to making a difference in the world. I hope this doesn't make you feel like your job is meaningless in comparison.

just say NO

Technoheads and graphic artists, be prepared to drool: click here for a demo of the computer interface of the future
Wasn't there something like this in Minority Report?

My sister is supposed to go to New Orleans any minute. I think its exciting on one hand, on the other hand, I heard it was a poisonous mold-infested lead-filled swamp pit of hot humid dispair, so I don't know if she will like it there... I've never been.

Where's my digital camera? I need to start picture blogging again.

Last night's IM visit from the elusive Pedro the goat:

mbraddy80: shirwee
mbraddy80 signed off at 9:26:23 PM.

dreaming

So, I was browsing Craigslist.com Monterey real estate when I realized... 'wait, there are too many zeros on that price....'

But seriously, aside from the monterey oceanfront properties, there is some nice stuff there for the same price as some crappy house in crappy columbia. why would you live in columbia instead of california?

adaptation is a great movie

So busy at work lately its crazy.
But, our new site went live, a project I have been working on for like, 3 years.
So, I am getting a lot of props, at least. Here it is pre-spider-girl and here it is post spider-girl.

Sunday I took Jake on a walk around Lake Kittemequandi. It was so cool because the paved path only goes about half-way around and then dead-ends. Beyond that, there is sort of a beaten down dirt path through the woods 'where the sidewalk ends' (haha - shel silverstien reference) We get to the end and Jake says, 'oh man, the path ends, I guess we have to go back' so I go, 'nah, we're going to keep going, through the woods'. Well he totally thought I was b.s.-ing, then when he realized I was being serious he was like, 'We ARE? I LOVE you, SO MUCH!' then the whole time, he kept saying, 'This is the best day of my LIFE!' it was so cute and totally made me wish I could be 7 years old again. It was pretty fun, the lake on one side with islands, seagulls, ducks, Canadian geese, and a slow-moving translucent green stream on the other side to throw rocks in. There was even a small sandy beach area, with tiny oyster shells and everything! Who knew? Good ole' Columbia. Its not so bad :P

Then we met up with M for dinner at Carrabas. It was only aaaight for me, but M said it was her new favorite restaurant. Our waiter was this tall strapping Australian lad, who called tomatoes 'toMAHtoes' and kept saying, 'No worries' and 'sweet' and other Australian cliches, to the point of annoyance. I wanted to ask him if he wouldn't rather be working next door at the Outback Steakhouse. M actually went to the bathroom to primp and put on lipstick, I guess she thought he was cute. Haha. The cool thing was he got me a side for free. The sucky thing was, he apparently had a mental block when it came to understanding 'water, no lemon'

Then I watched the Oscars. Somewhat entertaining, but a painful amount of commercials. TiVo, how I need you !

why

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries> are getting weak?

Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are> always white?

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right?" Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, "That hurt, you stupid idiot?"

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

Lame blog I know, but I am super busy at work!!