greenades

What a world: Another U.S. City Outlaws Feeding Homeless People

One thing they can say about us howard county kids, we're inventive: Feds Warn Of Marijuana-Filled Gumballs

soulsearching

there is a lot going through my head right now that I need to think over so I'm not really in a good place to blog. Hopefully this will entertain you in the meantime.

Things to do when you're bored

By the way my grandfather, whom I just visited, is in the hospital with pneumonia. They say he probably won't leave the hospital alive.

evil in the form of silly aging frat-boy?

I was thinking about George Bush today, and how part of me just thinks of him as EVIL while the other part of me just thinks, moron. Evil world leader greedy warmonger and half-wit moron just don't really mesh in my head, its confusing. On the Daily Show the other day, they played two clips side by side to show the incongruence of the two statements, one was about his anti-abortion stance because 'killing is wrong' and he wants to have a 'culture of life'. The second clip, he was being asked how many Iraqi civilians have been killed so far as a result of the war in Iraq, to which he answered glibly, 'around thirty-thousand civillians.'

Thirty thousand civilians killed, over what most people now believe to be monetary gain through oil interests. Not to mention the sanctioned torture in over-seas prisons. When I think of these, I start to see evil George bush, growing in size, a shadow over his brow, lit from below as his giant head looks over the explosions and curling smoke rising from the streets of Iraq, his face darkening as a greedy smirk spreads across his lips, moooahhahahahAHHAHAHAAH!

Then I read all of the ubiquitous news reports his moronic behavior. At important dinners with the most important and influential people in the world, talking with his mouth full and using profanity, sounding for all the world like someone who is commenting on a situation that they only read the headline to that morning on the way out the door. Or giving an unwelcome shoulder rub in full frat-boy style. These images juxtaposed against each other leave me feeling discomposed.

On a lighter note, finally a movie that I totally want to see! Its called, Little Miss Sunshine. Who wants to take me? Reviews.

Too bad they don't make a card for every occasion

this weekend my ex almost killed the kids.
my oldest called me crying and was like, 'we are on the side of the road. our dad is having a low sugar reaction. i flagged someone down and they called 911.'

(he's diabetic)

he stopped in the middle of the road, the car was still rolling.

it was awful.

I got my new camera and had to deal with the wracking pains that I know so well, called 'buyer's remorse.' I'm looking at the shiny new camera thinking, I definitely should have gotten the next level up camera, and now its too late. I don't know why I always put myself through that, and can never just be happy with the fruit of my research and well thought out spending! I'll get over it. Really, its cool, I can't wait to start trying to fill up the 2 gig card. I see some videoblogs in my future! It has SOUND! :D

on sunday i went to a family cookout thing with V's family for his dads birthday. He made a KILLER vegetarian pasta dish that i love, bowtie pasta with spinach and veggie meatballs in a vodka marinara sauce.

V's friend Brian proposed to his girlfriend at Artscape in the rain, he was really drunk and said something like, 'you're smart and you're weird, and i want to marry you' so then they all came over V's house and out of the blue the girlfriend was like, 'we're getting married!'
and V was like, 'are you crazy? you must be really drunk! .... i mean, congratulations!'
2 minutes later Brian was saying how much he wanted to lick Don Johnson's sweet sexy ass.

anyway!

crazy.

my friend A said, "You should try to find a 'Congratulations for getting your drunk gay boyfriend to propose!' card.."

haha

shirltastrophe

Ack so I have this trip to San Diego coming up in 2 weeks, but I need to find out if I can take 3 vacation days before I actually have accrued them, and my HR person just left early for her week-long vacation! aaahhhh! what do I do??

The good news is, I bought a digital camera and got a great deal on it which I found on this awesome site that I have bought several things from, dealsea.com. They don't sell anything, they just post really good deals and coupon codes and sales and stuff. I actually bought it from Dell with a 30% off coupon.

I learned yesterday that I get some kind of weird satisfaction out of shopping for healthy, easy to pack foods, insulated lunchboxes, sunblock, etc. and packing the perfect lunch and having everything ready to go the night before down to packed backpacks and washed bathingsuits and towels and hats set out ready for camp. Thats just sick. Who am I?

p.s. Columbia/Ellicott City is number 4 of the top 100 best places to live according to CNN

worst morning ever

This morning my kid missed his bus for camp, which was going to Annapolis. They were still pretty close so I think I might be able to catch up with them on Rt. 100. While trying to do so, I get pulled over for speeding (which I *wasn't* doing) and aggressive driving (which I *was* doing). The cop just gave me a warning- I think he may have realized that saying, 'I was doing 80 and you were right behind me' might not look so good for him.) Then when I finally get into work at 11:00 after driving to Annapolis and back, I slice the tip of my thumb off. Hooray.

Anyway I had a pretty pleasant but short trip to the beach this weekend with V and the kids and his mom and little brother. The water was rife with jellyfish though. Red ones, bleck. It was really cute watching V run football plays with them and his little brother in the sand. He felt terrible when there was a roughhouse-induced injury, even though that happens about once a week when you have boys and none of us were surprised or upset by it, esp. once the bandaid was applied. The fun, practice, and esteem-inducing compliments they got FAR outweighed the minor injury. I think everyone had a good time and the kids were a dream on the ride. I know they aren't perfect but I think they are the bestest kids ever.

Who ever said gambling doesn't pay off??

Click here to read about the two-faced kitty (pictured above)

Top 10 worst domain names - this is funny


UPDATE: V my knight in shining armor picked me up for lunch (drunken noodles) and brought me beautiful white flowers called Lisianthus. They are gorgeous and delicate- look at the spiral of the unopened buds. So pretty! I'm not having a bad day anymore :)

80-20

Last night I was having dinner with V at this awesome little restaurant in Columbia (recommended by Jolene, thanks!) called the Iron Bridge Wine Company - from the windows you look upon the rolling hills of Clark's Elliot Farm, the walls are lined with wine bottles, and the food is fantastic. I told him that I thought he might like the crispy plantain chips that came on top of his dish because I knew that he liked to eat a barbecue potato chip with every bite, for texture, when he gets a sub from subway. He looked at me with genuine suprise (and pleasure?) that I noticed and remembered something like that about him.

This morning I was thinking that when you are in a relationship, you are the other person's biggest fan - but simultaneously thier worst critic. I guess relationships start to go sour when the critic's voice becomes louder then the fan's. The moral is for both people to work hard and never get lazy in the relationship! I read once that if you feel like you are giving 50%, you aren't trying hard enough. You should always feel like you are giving 80%. If both parties do that, it does seem difficult to become resentful and fail! Of course there are other reasons why relationships fail, but anyway, I'm just being general. That photo is actually of our waiter! I liked the Pinot Noir. Also I set up a computer from scratch, including installing the operating system. yay me!

photo album

Well who knows when I will get the photos from my cousin, and my brother lost his camera on the trip, so in the meantime I have compiled an incomplete photo album of my recent trip.
*Warning- 90% of them are family photos!
Click here to see them anyway >>

...or here if your (archaic) computer doesn't support flash >>

I am making a funny face in most of them unfortuntately!

Two things I am thinking about lately:
1. Am I being irresponsible by not having a living will in addition to a regular will?
2. Why don't men understand that the more open they are, the more we will trust them, and that if you feel you have to hide something, then maybe you shouldn't do it in the first place- and even if you are doing nothing wrong, that its going to look like you are, which in the future will lead to more mistrust and doubts and suspicions, building upon eachother? My friend was complaining about this type of behavior this morning, but I have heard it time and time again. Its so much easier to keep someone's trust then it is to rebuild it. Just be honest and open! This goes to the girls too.

a new life form is born

o, i'm not pregnant, but i have given birth to a new life form, carefully incubated at room temperature within the safe nest of a metal thermally insulated coffee cup for 2 and a half weeks, living off the nectar of life, 100% Turkish coffee. I had no camera to document this moment, but luckily a coworker had a cellphone camera to capture the fleeting moments of the life of Glog before he was murdered at knifepoint, stabbed down the drain. Murdered by your creator, oh the humanity! I'll miss you, Glog, with your soft green downy surface, that bright yellow spot of sunshiney happiness, your white and orange freckles, and the inexplicable sparkling viscous red droplets sitting so delicately upon your surface. Even the black spot, something all life forms share, their dark side, even that I will miss. You weren't meant for this world....

i love presents

Well I'm working from home today which is always a nice change of pace, and I always seem to get so much done. Even though at work I have 2 screens and that really improves my speed. But anyway, I got this awesome email from an old friend Eric asking me if I want a copy of the not-yet-released new Radiohead album, The Eraser. Acutally its a solo album by Thom Yorke. Of course I f-ing want it! So he is mailing me a copy. I hope its good, what an awesome suprise gift from out of the blue! I love presents. :P

whine

So, after an 11 hr flight I pick up my 'lost' luggage at the airport in NY where it has been sitting all week. Following that, a 4 hour layover during which they change the location of the gate so the kids and I have to lug all of our heavy carryons around the winding, neverending halls of the airport. Then, the airport closes due to severe thunderstorms. After about an hour or so delay, over the loudspeaker they announce: 'All those flying to Baltimore, your flight has been cancelled. Please proceed to area D to retrieve your baggage. We will procure a bus to take you to Laguardia airport and redirect you to a flight to Washington DC Regan National Airport. Following that, we will try to find a bus to take you to BWI. Or, you may come to the counter to recieve a refund."

So, I somehow manage to get our 3 heavy luggages and struggle them onto the bus, sit around for 20 min waiting for the bus driver, and drive 20 min to Laguardia. There, I have to recheck our baggage; suddenly, they tell me that 2 of the bags are overweight and will cost $25 to ship. On the verge of tears from exhaustion and frustration, I ask how come the last 2 times I checked the bags, one of them at JFK at the Delta terminal, they didnt tell me the bags were overweight and charge me??! Of course in a professionally curt manner avoiding eye contact, the b--- tells me, 'I guess thier scales weren't properly caliprated.'

So, I pay the $25, and go with the kids to wait for another hour and half in the freezing cold waiting area for our airplane to arrive, and are repeatedly informed it hasn't even left DC yet due to the bad weather while we miserably pass around the one sweatshirt between the three of us who are dressed in shorts and short sleeves, staring longingly at the cafe counter which is closed!!!! Oh misery. Thank god V offered to pick us up in DC because we couldn't take any more airport B.S. at that point without having a nervous breakdown. We had been travelling non-stop from 10 pm July 3rd through midnight July 4th.

The only cool part was seeing the teeny tiny fireworks across 4 states from the airplane-- happy 4th of july!