Saturday, April 26, 2008

Random Thoughts After Too Much Wine

Alternate Post Title: Blogs are a good place to post random thoughts It's a great night for sitting outside. A storm blew through here earlier, taking the humidity with it. For the next 6 months, storms will only increase the humidity. So I'm sitting outside to take advantage of the cool (66 degree)weather. When suddenly, about 27 minutes ago, I heard lots of screaming. It was a kid In Distress. This is Highly Unusual in my neighborhood. We are a quiet bunch. Then the pounding started. It was the sound of metal on metal, but it was so loud! I peeked through the slats in our fence - right about the time the pounding stopped - to look into the yards of our neighbors and saw nothing. I sat back down, took a sip of wine. And the pounding started again. Repeat above about 3 times. Then, I smelled a grill fired up. I love the smell of grills. So I went inside and asked The Professor about it. He hadn't heard anything, and - knowing me oh-so-well - simply refilled my wine glass and sent me on my way. And as I went back outside he said "I wonder if some one's trying to hide a body?". WHAT? How do you get from "excessive pounding noises and a grill smell" to "hiding a body" in 45 seconds? I blame it on the fact that he's a Yankee. I don't know if you've noticed, but those Yankees are some suspicious folks. On a completely unrelated topic: Stepson is at the prom. THE PROM. Now, I didn't go to either of my proms. So I can't speak with certainty about what happens at one of these shin-digs. And there's a 99% chance that I won't ever know what happens at Stepson's. But still. He's at the prom. With a GIRL YOUNG LADY. Remember when he went to his first Homecoming Dance? And The Professor and I had to drive him to the restaurant, and I took pictures and probably embarrassed the ever-loving heck out of him? (Stepson, not The Professor). In 12 months he'll be finished with high school. I need more wine.

Spring Time in Alabama

Why hello, Mr-Eighty-Four-Percent-Humidity-At-Nine-AM. So glad you're back. Any chance of all those water molecules you're holding in suspension being let loose for my tomato plants? No? At least you brought me these too look at:

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Travelling. And also: I'm a dumbass.

Last week, The Professor and I went on a traveling adventure. I had to go to DC for a conference, so after much paperwork, I convinced the government that I wasn't going to waste a bunch of government funds that could be spent in a better manner, and got to stop and spend time with family on the trip. So, how am I an idiot? My aunt - no, the OTHER aunt - took The Professor and I to Monticello. And after we arrived, paid for tickets (scrounging for cash when their credit card system crashed), took the shuttle up to the house, and then walked out to the gardens, I saw one of the most incredible views in all of Virginia. It was gorgeous. We were on the side of the mountain, in the middle of a beautiful garden, looking out at a view that has to be seen to be believed. Me, being me, whipped out my handy dandy digital camera and snapped the first picture. I love my camera. It's AWESOME (Thank you BestFriend!). And I got something to this effect: "Error! Memory card unavailable. Idiot." Yes, dear readers, I had left the memory card, that so handily slides right into a slot on my laptop, INSIDE said slot on said laptop. So, I slipped the camera inside my purse and decided that at least I'll have the memory of Monticello. With an awesome aunt, and an awesome husband, and an awesome day. That was made even more awesome by the decision to skip lunch in favor of sampling some wine at a local winery. Also? The memory that I am an idiot.
Washington DC
So, click on the picture and you'll see the pictures that I miraculously remembered to take. Although right now I'm not happy with Google for not importing all the picture titles that I created when it imported the pictures. Flickr, you will always have my love. Even if you don't currently have my money. Update: Picasa Web Albums also - apparently - doesn't keep pictures in chronological order when it uploads them. It seems to put them in alphabetical order, which is interesting since they don't upload the titles at all. Google, you are SOOO letting me down here.

Monday, April 14, 2008

The Tudors : Update

An update to the ongoing inconsistencies with The Tudors: Because you know you care. From The Professor: 1) Last night, they introduced the character of Pope Paul III. The problem? The pope at the time was Clement VII. 2) Paul III (Who wasn't really pope yet) tells dude from England that he's going to send Dude to the Jesuits. Problem? Pope Paul III did, in fact, commission the Jesuit order - but not for 6 more years. There were, in fact, no Jesuits at that time to be sent to. Also, this can't really be an exact inconsistency, so I don't care, but I want it known that while Thomas Cranmer did sneak his wife into England (due to the fact that priests weren't supposed to have wives) - there is no evidence she arrived in a crate. What they got right: Anne's quote "I have a craving for apples", indicating she is pregnant.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Free Trips are awesome

In about 6 and a half hours, I'm leaving town for a week. I've been lucky enough to get travel money from work to go to DC for a few days for a conference. The good news is your tax dollars are working well for me. I get to stop and see the parental units and the baby brother on the way, and an aunt and uncle on the return trip. Thanks, America! Actually, for full disclosure and so I don't get hateful comments, I'm spending less money on travel than a coworker who is flying and not getting to visit family. You're welcome, America.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

I < heart > John Scalzi

Because I seem to have started an "I <>"* thing here. And because I love this: http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=579 Thanks to my sis for the link. *for the geeky html-y types: the spaces in "<>"are because blogger wants to read it as a tag if the spaces aren't there, and doesn't recognize "heart" as a tag. And so it looks like "I John Scalzi" if I don't put the spaces. Which makes a lot less sense.