So things have been going really well for me lately. Yay!
( Job )

( Mt. Vernon )

( Book Festival )

( Zoo )

( Nano )

For future awesome things, I will be home October 16-19 for my cousin's wedding. I'm looking forward to it as I am particularly fond of this cousin, and I know the reception will have good food, good drink, and good music. Any Baton Rouge people want to try and get together Friday night or Sunday, let me know. Saturday's fully booked with wedding and other family stuff, but I'd like to see friends if I can.

Brooke and I are going to NYC for Halloween. We're staying with Natalie and Judith and plan on having an awesome time at the Greenwich Village Halloween parade. I'm pondering costumes and welcome any suggestions on the matter.

I uploaded the pictures from my parents' trip a couple weeks ago. They can be found here. Pictures of the belly dance show they came to see are here.

Right now I'm gearing up for my trip to Seattle in a few days. I leave Wednesday, and I still have several things to finish up at work. I also need to do laundry before I go to make sure I have enough socks. Right now I'm debating whether or not to bring something for the family we're staying with and if so, what to bring. They are friends of our family, but I haven't seen them in years. Mom and Dad have seen them more recently, but I don't even know what an appropriate gift would be. I though about food, but I don't want to fly with too much extra stuff. Maybe I'll get a tacky fridge magnet.

If anyone has suggestions of things to do and places to see in the Seattle area, let me know. We're going to be there for almost a week, so we have a good amount of time to be touristy.

I know. Two month posting hiatus. I was busy then just got really passive about internetting. Here's a brief recap of what's been going on with me.

Portland - work and fun

Portland is a really cool city to visit. I really liked working in the Oregon field office. Things went so smoothly that they let me leave early one day, so I could drive to the Pacific coast. It's crazy how different it is from the Gulf or the Atlantic coasts I've seen. I also enjoyed the waterfalls and the Japanese Garden. Once I post the pictures, you'll have more details on whatever else I did that week.

Natalie and Judith's visit

It was great to see them again. We had fun going through the American History Museum and eating at the American Indian Museum.

Uncle Don's visit

He was in town for a conference, so we met up one night to watch LSU play for the CWS title. We also went to a Nationals game, so we could see them lose to the Red Sox.

LSU CWS win

LSU once again won the CWS. It's even better to do that by beating Texas.

TN for wedding - bat

I went down to Tennessee for my cousin Matt's wedding. It was a nice trip, and I enjoyed getting to see some of my relatives. There was an unfortunate incident of one of the bridesmaids stepping on a bat in the vestibule before the ceremony. There was much screaming and worry that the bat would fly up someone's dress until they realized the bat was dead or close to it. Thankfully it was taken care of by one of the church workers, and the wedding went off beautifully.

Ell's party

Ell's friend collective skews very dorky and therefore awesome. Her 4th of July/My girlfriend's in town party was lots of fun. Delicious food and drink was had by all.

Video Games Live

Brooke and I went with my coworker and her husband. The National Symphony Orchestra was amazing as were all the soloists. They had an audience member (picked from a pre-show contest) come on stage to play Guitar Hero backed by the NSO. The deal was he would get a sweet laptop if he scored over 200k points on hard. Dude scored over 300k on expert. It was pretty awesome to watch.

Water damage and repair in apartment

Thanks to leaky a/c pipes, I had water damage in my bedroom. Parts of one wall, the ceiling, and my carpet had water damage. Thankfully, Brooke was out of town on vacation while all the work was being done to fix my bedroom, so I got to sleep in her room for a week. Everything's fixed now, but it was pretty stressful not really having a functioning bedroom for over a week.

Work is crazy busy

I've just had something going on with almost every project I'm assigned to. It's not too bad this week because I have training instead of work. Next week will probably be hectic again.

Belly dance show

For my Hula Belly Fusion performance class, we danced to "Rock a Hula" and "Can't Help Fallin' in Love" by Elvis. It went really well. I'll post pictures later of my awesome stage makeup and leis.

Parents' visit

Mom and Dad were here for a week to visit and see me dance. I didn't get to see them much because I had training all last week and this week at work, but we got together for dinner every night. Sunday we spent the day in Baltimore with Brooke. The National Aquarium is really freaking cool.

I'm leaving for Portland tomorrow early and coming back late on the 14th. While most of my time there will be spent working at the Oregon field office, I will have most of tomorrow, all evenings, and all day Saturday free to check out Portland. Here is my current list of things I really want to do if at all possible:

Drive to beach and check out the Pacific coast
Christian Kane (aka Lindsey on Angel, aka Eliot on Leverage) show Sunday, June 7th at Dante's
See the Sinferno Cabaret at Dante's before the Kane show
Pride Festival Saturday, June 13th
UFO Museum
Powell's book store
Rock Bottom Brewery

If anyone (like Ell who told me at least two other things to do that I forgot about) has other suggestions, let me know! I'm bringing my laptop with me, so I'll be able to keep up with the internets while I'm gone.

Unrelated to Portland, we are having visitors soon! Natalie and Judith are coming to visit again June 19-22. We will probably spend some quality time at the Smithsonians and maybe the zoo. Then my uncle is going to be in town June 21-24 for a work thing, and he's taking me to a Nationals-Red Sox game. Yay!

Disney World was full of win and awesome. We made it to Epcot, MGM, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. I'll post a link once I have all the pictures on flickr. I took a ridiculous amount because, despite having been 3 previous times, I have never been to Disney World with a camera before.

Epcot was having their Spring Flower Festival, so there were topiary shaped like Disney characters all over the park. I had fun practicing my German while buying delicious Milka chocolate bars in the Germany store. We got to watch the fireworks/laser show there, and it is very cool.

I rode the Rock'n'Roller Coaster at MGM which has one of the more intense starts I've experienced on a roller coaster. The blaring Aerosmith music makes the ride even better. Brooke and I both rode Star Tours and spent quite some time browsing the gift shop after. I bought two Stitch action figures, one of Stitch as Yoda and one of Stitch as Emperor Palpatine.

We had lots of fun on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion rides at Magic Kingdom. I have decided that my car's name is Doom Buggy, after the cars in the Haunted Mansion ride. (Must look for appropriate bumper sticker.) We also rode Splash Mountain. Did you ever get drenched on Splash Mountain? Brooke and I had both ridden it before and remained completely dry. Such was not the case this time. Everything I was wearing except my shoes and socks were soaked. Perhaps not the best day to wear a white shirt, but I doubt anyone was surprised to know I was wearing a bra that day. We also got to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks one night. Tinkerbell totally ziplines down from the top of the castle into Tomorrowland. I wish I could do that.

Animal Kingdom was the only park we hadn't been to before, so we spent the most time there. It's a really cool combination of zoo and amusement park. They rides are great, and there are several walking paths to take you around near the animals. There is also a safari area where you are driven around the wildlife preserve with free roaming animals. Our vehicle had to stop for a few minutes while a giraffe wandered across the road. The really nice part about Animal Kingdom in the summer is the shade. Pretty much the entire park is shaded with huge trees to make the park feel more like nature.

My next trip will be to Portland, Oregon in June. Some of you might remember that I got to go home last June to help out the LA field office with a big survey. Well, I'm going to be doing the same work for the OR field office this year. I would have liked to go home again, but I'm excited to go to Portland since I've never been to Oregon before. Any suggestions for places to go, things to do, food to eat would be greatly appreciated. I'm staying near the downtown area, but I will have a rental car to get wherever I want to go.

For people in the DC area, Video Games Live is coming to WolfTrap July 10. Brooke and I already have tickets for the lawn area ($25 each including all service charges). If anyone else is interested in going, we'd love to do some kind of potluck at the concert. The lawn area allows whatever outside food and drink you want to bring in. My coworker and her husband are probably going to join us, but don't let that scare you. They are fun theater/gamer geeks who are just as socially awkward as you are.

I have a Dreamwidth account now. Thanks, marcelle42! I'll still keep cross-posting here and there. I think I'm going to abandon the IJ though; nothing's really going on over there.

Yesterday the women's bathroom at work smelled like baked beans, and the floor was sticky. I don't want to know how the two are related. Today it didn't smell like beans, but the floor was still a bit sticky. Ewww.

In awesome money news, all the math stats at my work were supposed to get a pay adjustment upwards effective March 15. Since they didn't really tell anyone about it, none of us knew we were supposed to be getting more money until today. Boss's Boss didn't even know. Now that he does, he has spent the morning contacting the appropriate people to get all of our pay scales changed. I don't know how long it will take the payroll people to make the changes for the ~20 employees affected, but we will be getting a lump sum for the money that should have been added to our last 3 (so far) paychecks. Hurray for finding money I didn't even know was missing!

This weekend was the spring show for the Sahara Dance where I take belly dance classes. Since I wasn't performing, I volunteered to help out for 3 of the four shows (one Saturday and two Sunday) since I wanted to watch the show at least once. It was way more draining that I expected, but the shows were amazing. I actually got to watch all 4 shows because I ran the merchandise booth before, during intermission, and after the late Saturday show, and I took pictures during both Sunday shows. It's been a while since I've been co-opted for my photography skills. I got a chance to delete the obviously blurred pictures before I passed the camera back to the stage manager, but I worry that the rest of the pictures won't be very clear either. The combination of low lighting, shiny costumes, and lots of movement really killed my chances of getting very many decent shots. I'm not sure why they had me do it anyway since they hired a professional photographer to take pictures as well. If the decent pictures get posted online anywhere, I'll link to the ones I'm not embarrassed of later.

There was an information fair at work yesterday about various discounts available to government employees with local tourist attractions. Also, somewhat out of place, a T-Mobile representative was there to tell everyone about the 15% discount on any T-Mobile service for government employees. Why didn't anyone tell me about this when I signed up for T-Mobile two years ago? I got all the information to get it applied to my account and called about it this morning. For whatever reason, I actually get an 18% discount on my monthly bill. Since I have a small plan with only one line, it only comes to about $7 off a month, but that's better than nothing.

Also, 6 days to Disney World!!

So I've taken another of my month-long breaks from posting. I think I should just accept that I'm going to do that sometimes and not feel bad about it anymore.

Back in March, I had a conference for work at the National Harbor, a more inconveniently located and cheesily pretentious conference center I've yet to see. (Pics here.) The opening speaker was Dave Barry who was just as funny in person as you would expect from his columns and from watching Dave's World with Harry Anderson. The conference was interesting, and I got some good programming ideas the talks I went to.

Earlier this month, our friends, Natalie and Judith, visited us for the Cherry Blossom Festival. We had a great time going around the Tidal Basin and seeing the special events for the festival. The Asian Art Museum had a really cool exhibit on the Shuten-doji with incredible comic style drawings and stories. The American Indian Museum also had a comic exhibit focusing on representation of American Indians in comics and the works of American Indian artists. (Pics here.)

A couple weeks ago, I made another trip out to Mount Vernon to see the new blacksmith shed. They have also added a new blacksmith. (Pics here starting with the blacksmith's shed.) He has a red beard, and his name is Eric. I refrained from making any Viking jokes as he was working with hot metal objects. He is going to be the estate's full-time blacksmith. Apparently they've always contracted the work out to either Williamsburg or other free lance blacksmiths. I think it won't be so pleasant to visit the area in August as it was on the 50F day in April. They have also added short wagon rides by the river.

Belly dancing continues to be fun. I have taken a couple of the weekend workshop classes to check out other teachers. For the summer session, I have decided to take two classes, one for technique and one for performance. The performance class is Hula Belly Fusion, so I will be in a dance during the school's August show. Anyone who's in the area August 15 should come. (I'll remind you again closer to time.) I volunteered to help out backstage for the spring semester show this weekend which should be fun. I've missed being involved in theatrical things.

I started doing volunteer work again. I'm doing clerical work at the National Zoo one or two Saturdays a month to help the volunteer organizers (paid workers) keep up with all their filing and data entry stuff. They don't usually have people request to do office work, so the organizer I interviewed with kept asking me if I really wanted to do it, especially after she found out I've done theater and improv. I reassured her that I really didn't want to deal with kids I wasn't allowed to be mean to. Also, I'd rather do something isn't getting done for lack of volunteers than something that people are scrambling to help with.

Work's been going well. New Boss has finally arrived. It's taking me some time to get used to being supervised again. We went almost 6 months without a direct supervisor, so it's hard for me to view her as anything other than an interruption right now. Probably I'll be used to it again within a month since she has the same laid-back management style as Old Boss. I'll find out in a couple of weeks if I get to go home for work in the beginning of June. It's mostly definite, but I need to call the office down there to make sure they request me.

As some of you already know (because Brooke's been better about posting than I have), we're going to Disney World May 7-10!!! Brooke's dad will be there with MathCounts and invited us to share his hotel room free of charge. We are looking forward to all the rides and the swimming pool with water slide at the hotel.

The Arlington County libraries had their semi-annual sale this past weekend, and I racked up. My best find that would have made the trip worthwhile all on its own: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, or The Adventures of the Sanguinary Count. My copy has a way more hilarious cover, a blurry image of which can be found here. I want to put off reading it for a while, so I can savor the possibilities that exist for this book. I also got a Debbie Gibson cd and a book on the 1928 coast-to-coast foot race along Route 66 (main prize $25,000).

Life is pretty good these days.

Lot 1: Last Friday, I met up with some hilarious women from the Shapely Prose website. After I went to a bar with one of the women and her husband to hear accordion bands. This is possibly more awesome than it sounds, but I doubt it. The opening act was a sword swallower and a fire eater. They were really entertaining. Unfortunately I hadn't worn good shoes for standing long periods of time, and I was really tired, so I left during the first band's set. They were comprised of an accordion, a violin, a stand-up bass, and a drum kit. I really need to find out what their website it because I really want to buy one of their cds.

Lot 2: The results of the 2007 Census of Agriculture were officially released on Wednesday. We all went to the auditorium for the official announcement by the Secretary of Agriculture who was kind of an ass and booked it out of the auditorium as soon as he gave his talk. He was out the door before our director finished thanking him for being there. Before the talks started though, there was the national anthem with associated video hilarity. An image of a waving flag faded in and out with various pictures of heterosexual, same race couples with small children. There was one image of a crop field and one image of a carefully multicultural group of children, but no images of livestock, Hispanics, teenagers, single people, couples without children, vehicles, or water. From this my coworker and I have determined that these people and things are unamerican. It was really hard to keep our laughter muffled once the still shot of fireworks came up.

Lot 3: One of the surveys I work puts out a monthly publication with results from the previous month's survey. I got an email yesterday saying there would be a small party with cake and punch next week because we had put out 12 consecutive monthly publications without issuing any corrections. That's right; we didn't screw up for one year. There was no such announcement last year which leads me to believe we did not manage a full error-free year in 2007. I'm planning on taking full credit for this since I fully took over this project from my coworker January of last year. Not that I have anything to do with the publication, but I have decided my mere presence has clearly made the difference.

Lot 4: I had major baking plans for this weekend, so I went to the grocery early this morning to get my ingredients. Upon returning to my apartment, I noticed a downed power line next to my building which I immediately reported to the non-emergency number for police/fire department. I also told my apartment manager that I had already called it in and asked for someone to come put a barrier around the live end of the wire because it was in the playground next to my building. The firemen got there before anyone could do that, but it turned out not to be an issue. It wasn't actually a power line; it was a phone line. The fireman was really nice about explaining how to tell the difference between the lines and didn't make me feel stupid for thinking the phone line was a power line. (Note: The power lines are on top of the poles and not directly touching the wood. Phone lines are bolted to the pole and are black. Cable lines are bolted to the pole and are, around here, green. The more you know.) They just coiled it up and tied it to the pole before calling the phone company to come fix it. I told the manager what had happened and to expect people coming to say their phones were dead. He was extremely profuse in his thanks, maybe we'll get a discount on rent next month. (Probably not, but it would be nice)

Lot 5: I did lots of baking today. All new recipes I got from a thread on Shapely Prose, and they all 3 turned out fantastic.
( Chai Shortbread )

( Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake )

( Beef and Cornbread Casserole )

Sunday, Brooke and I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which we both enjoyed. I want to be as awesome as Cate Blanchett some day.

Monday, I got pointed in the right direction on a problem I was having with a program at work. It's going to take me a while to make all the changes I need, but I at least know how to start on them now.

Tuesday, I got yet another pair of free underpants from Victoria's Secret. I get at least one coupon for them every 6 weeks. This particular coupon was for a special limited edition underpant not described on the coupon. As it turns out, the special underpant is a pink thong. So now I have a pair of delicate pink buttfloss (seriously, it's a string thong) underpants. Nothing I would have ever bought for myself, but an interesting thing to get for free.

Wednesday, I had my first belly dancing class at Sahara Studios which has a location conveniently on my way home from work. The class went well, and the teacher seems nice. She suggested that everyone have hip scarves for class and let us borrow some extra scarves for the first class. I used a coin scarf which was not as much fun as I had hoped. The hip shimmies really make the coins swing back and forth, and my butt got sore from getting constantly hit by all the coins on my scarf. I told the teacher that after class, and she laughed and said at least I know what kind not to get now. I'm thinking I'll try one with beads or maybe just fringe for class.

Thursday, I went to bed at 7.30 and slept until my alarm went off this morning. Really good night's sleep.

Please take a moment to note how well my week has been going.

Today, I feel like Alexander, he of the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. I telecommuted on a computer that decided today was the day to be slow as molasses. It's freezing cold outside. When I left my apartment for an eye doctor appointment, I found that someone had hit my car, knocking off a hubcap and the driver-side mirror, and didn't leave a note. I froze my hands taking pictures of the damage. I was late to my eye doctor appointment (which actually went pretty well). I called the insurance company after I got back and listened to crappy hold music. Then I found out my car is technically "undrivable" because it's illegal to drive without a driver-side mirror (I did not know this). I do get a rental car while repairs are done on the Jetta though. However work will not start on the Jetta until tomorrow or maybe Monday because they have to tow it to the shop a mile down the street from my apartment what with it being undrivable and all. I was given a Nissan Altima for a rental car, with a keyless ignition, that no one told me how to use. I had to go back in the rental car place to get the woman to show me how to start the car. The car started to make strange noises after I drove off. I realized the engine wasn't shifting gears because Altimas can be switched from automatic to manual, and this car is set on manual. I had no idea how to change it back, and I could exactly read the instruction manual while I was driving. I'm going to look up how to do it tomorrow. I did figure out how to shift gears, but it's awkward. For dinner we got Lebanese take out. They had run out of my favorite dish (stromboli), so I had to settle for lamb gyro which isn't nearly as good.

So that was my Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. And there's not even a new Stargate: Atlantis tonight to cheer me up because the very last episode aired last week.

1. One of my coworkers died last night. She had lupus, so her death was not completely unexpected, but it did happen rather quickly.

2. Someone shoved the men's bathroom door open hard enough to break the thick, textured window. When I heard the sound of breaking glass, I went to the hall to see what had happened. It took me a bit to figure it out because there was no one in sight. I asked one of my male coworkers to check the bathroom in case whoever broke the window had been hurt, but no one was there. Whoever did it took off in a quick hurry. Boss's Boss said he saw a guy go into the bathroom crying about 5 minutes later, but he didn't look injured. We still don't know what exactly happened. It took maintenance 45 minutes to come clean up the glass, but they had new glass set in the door within 2 hours.

3. It snowed heavily for ~15 minutes even though there had been 0 chance of precipitation. Brooke said it didn't snow at all in Arlington. The rest of the day was bright and sunny, too.

4. The heating/cooling building that controls the temperature for our building and several others across the street had large plumes of smoke/vapor pouring from the roof for about a minute. I had gone to look out the window because it sounded like low-flying aircraft. Again, I have no idea what happened. I assume it was nothing bad because the heat in our building didn't shut off.

5. I'm in a 5-way tie for 3rd in the office football pool. I have a chance at winning money if Florida wins tonight.

All before lunch.

Only one weird thing happened after lunch. On the way home, I passed a guy who looked like Bill Clinton with a full beard.

I don't know whether to hope tomorrow will be more surreal or less.

In an attempt to start the year off right, I continue my streak of getting sick after Christmas. Bleh. I'm doing much better than I was, but the drive back up to Virginia starting tomorrow probably won't be much fun. I will be ok as long as it doesn't last as long as the drive down did. We expected a 17-18 hour drive. It took 22. The trip home has been lots of fun though. I got to see everyone I wanted, eat pretty much everything I missed, and spent a few days in Mobile with SHC people. I'm mostly ready to go back to work on Monday, but I will definitely miss the 60 and 70 degree weather I've been enjoying the past two weeks. Christmas day was warm enough for t-shirts. I don't want to go back to coats and hats and scarves and layers.

In any case, I hope that everyone's holidays went well and that you all have a better 2009 than you did 2008.

We're in New York now. The bus trip up this morning went quite smoothly. We saw a few of the bands from the Macy's parade taking group pictures on the steps of the library. Apparently Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends rickrolled the parade with Rick Astley himself present. The only downside of the bus trip was that the bus did not have wifi as advertised. Maybe it will be better on the way back.

Thanksgiving dinner with Judith's family was delicious. There were more people than I expected because Judith's mom invited friends over. It was still smaller than any family event I've been to. We'll stay here tonight and go to Judith and Natalie's tomorrow then go out and about in New York. There is a place called Chocolate Bar. I have been informed there will be waffles, cheesecake, fruit, and delicious chocolate. We're also planning on going to Rockefeller Plaza to see the Christmas tree and the snowflake light show.

We tried ordering pizza via Tivo over the weekend. Our attempt failed because you can only pay with cash when you order on Tivo. Combined we only had $10 cash on us. Maybe we'll make a more successful attempt at some other point in time.

When I get back to work, I get to start telecommuting. I finally got a work laptop and got all the paperwork filled out. I'll probably telecommute on Fridays to help the weekend start a little bit earlier. It will be so nice to not have to go out in the cold one extra day a week, especially if it snows.

Sunday night Brooke and I met up with our friend, Toni, for her birthday at a jazz club in DC. Sunday is Open Mike Night, and they had some really good musicians. Toni did a really good job singing "My Funny Valentine." Owing to the lateness of the party and a bit too much wine, I went into work late on Monday. Since Monday was the first day without Boss, everyone had decided to slack off a bit, too. Current rumor is that New Boss will be picked on December 5, and one of the people in the field is a front runner. We shall see.

Tuesday I got to help judge a cookie competition at work. Such hard work, but I willingly sacrificed my time for a worthy cause. One coworker submitted Pepperidge Farm Milanos for his entry. He got a special last place mention for bringing the cookies to work still in the packaging and claiming they were homemade.

A few days ago, Brooke and I made a fascinating discovery. We can order pizza through our Tivo. This technology is new and intriguing. Perhaps we will test it out this weekend and give a status report later.

We bought our bus tickets to go visit Natalie and Judith in New York for Thanksgiving. It's $40 roundtrip, and the bus has wifi. We're going up Thanksgiving morning and coming back that Sunday afternoon. Toni has said she might also be in NYC at Thanksgiving, so we might all get to hang out for the first time in years.

Lastly and most awesomely, Brooke and I have tickets for the Inauguration. Yes, it's public, and anyone can stand along the parade route, but there is a sectioned off area for the actual swearing in that will require tickets to enter. I am so excited!

All pictures can be found here.

Friday we went to the Crime and Punishment Museum. The staff really got into decorating with cobwebs, ghosts, and other paraphernalia. The museum has lots of interactive things which wouldn't have been near as much fun had the museum been crowded. They even have police driving and shooting simulations. The entrance fee was reduced since we came in costume (Brooke as Thursday Next and me as a gypsy), and they had a special on the photo they take of you in front of John Dillinger's car. If we ever get access to a scanner, perhaps we will share the photo with you. It was fun to be out in DC on Halloween because we got to see lots of costumes. There were numerous Sarah Palins, some with enormous flag pins, one with pregnant Bristol Palin, one with a sign reading "I can see Russia from my house." There was a guy dressed as an iphone 3G, two dudes dressed as Master Shake (one with accompanying Frylock), and more sexy referees than I expected.

Saturday was Rachel's party. Her brother came as William Howard Taft on vacation. One couple came as bananas in pajamas. At some point, someone broke out a new Atari that comes with all the games built in. Several rousing games of Pong ensued. As the party was a potluck, there was lots of good food, cookies, cakes, green bean casserole, General Tso's chicken, blood punch, etc. Several of us ended up watching part of the Nailin' Palin porn. It's way more hilarious if you play banjo music over the regular soundtrack. All in all an excellent party.

This week will be quite busy for me. Tuesday is the election, so I'll probably go in late to work Wednesday. Thursday is Boss's going away lunch, and Friday I'm going home for the weekend. Saturday is the LSU-Alabama game. Sunday is my birthday party. Anyone who needs directions to the party, leave a comment, and I will email them to you.

The library had their annual sale this weekend. So many books!!!!! I also got several CDs, including Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? It is totally as much fun as I remember. I also got a dvd of The Last Starfighter. I look forward to laughing at it hysterically.

Boss got a promotion to another department at work, so we'll be without direct leadership for a few weeks until they decide who will be New Boss. Office gossip says it will probably one of the guys down the hall. I think he's a bit creepy, but everyone else thinks he will do a really good job. Maybe he will be less creepy if I get to know him better. I'm not going to worry about it until I know for sure that he'll be New Boss.

In awesome news, I voted on Friday!! Go Obama!

An important reminder to anyone voting in Virginia, no hats, buttons, stickers, bags, shirts, etc. that explicitly promote one candidate, party, or cause (ex. funding for schools, property tax change, etc.). The poll workers will ask you to remove these items or turn a shirt inside out. I know some polls will have baggy shirts (no idea how big) for people to wear as cover ups if they do not feel like inverting a shirt.

We have some. Yesterday, Brooke and I went out to a pumpkin patch with adjacent corn maze. The corn maze was not as impressive as the one outside Baton Rouge, but it was still fun. We found a deer corpse in the pumpkin patch. It was pretty awesome (pictures to come eventually). There were also a number of pigs wandering about being fed bits of pumpkin and corn cobs by other visitors. They has tomatoes and berries which could be picked as well, but we decided it wasn't worth the trouble, especially since neither of us likes tomatoes.

I went to a book sale today at one of the State Department buildings. The money goes to some good cause, but I forget what it is. I got 4 paperbacks and 3 hardback books for $25! I've already finished Coraline by Neil Gaiman, but it will probably be a while before I get around to American Gods which I also got. I found the 4th book in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. Now I need to read the second and buy and read the third book before I touch that one. The sale has everything half price on the last day which is Sunday of next week, so I might go back to see if there is anything I missed.

Work went really well this week. My presentation was well received, and I was able to answer all but one question asked during my presentation. I stayed for all of the presentations though because I thought I might need to answer other questions which I did. There were a few things that I couldn't answer then, so I'll be working on writing up answers to those this week. Another good thing about staying all day for the presentations was the food. Donuts and bagels for breakfast, rice with salmon and chicken and mushrooms for lunch, cookies and brownies for afternoon snack all made the day go by fairly quickly.

ETA: Official birthday party day and time is Sunday, November 9 at 12.30. There will be barbeque, dobage cake, and ice cream.

Hurray for having the day off work! I did bring some work home with me this weekend though. We have hired an outside group to look at several of our surveys and advise us on how we can improve what we do. I work on two of the surveys they are looking at, so I have to give part of the introductory presentation on Wednesday. This is the first talk I've had to give since I gave my master's presentation in November 2006. I am very out of practice. To add to the nerves, there will be at least nine other people from my work there, and all of them are higher up the food chain than I am. I know my presentation is solid because I practiced in front of my boss and his boss, and they both said it was good. Still nervous though. I had to buy a new suit jacket for the presentation since my old one only really fit well enough for interviews and not for anything involving moving around. It's going to feel weird to dress up so much for work.

On the plus side for work, I had my performance review, and I got exceeds expectation which is the first level for end of year bonuses! Yay for extra monies!

Now with complete lack of segue, the election is coming up soon. If you can, please consider signing up with your parish/county to work the polls. (Note: I avoid this phrase when speaking as I always hear work the poles.) Since I work for the government, I can waive my compensation ($150 in Arlington County) and not have to take any leave from work. It's going to be a really long day. I have to show up at 5am and can expect to stay until 8pm. I know everywhere is expecting record voter turn out, so they can probably use some extra hands this election. I have to go to a two hour training course next week to learn about the machines, how to check people in, what is/is not allowed in terms of people's actions and paraphernalia (no campaigning allowed within 100 feet of the polling place), how to do a provisional ballot, etc. People keep congratulating me on doing my civic duty and getting involved in my community. I'm really just doing this for the novelty value. It's something I've never done before, and I'm curious how the whole process works. Depending on how interesting the day is, I might or might not ever do this again. I really want to come out of this with at least two really bizarre stories.

A few days after the election, I'm flying home for my birthday. For anyone who wants to come, my birthday party will be Sunday, November 9th in the afternoon. Presents are not expected but are always welcome. If you think you'll be coming, try to let me know a few days ahead of time. We want to make sure there is sufficient food stuffs for everyone. If you're bringing anyone with allergies I don't know about, let me know, so we don't accidentally kill somebody. All killings should be on purpose. As far as I know, I'm free Friday evening and all day Monday for hanging out as well. I'm flying back Tuesday morning and going back to work on Wednesday, my actual birthday.

On all the surveys we send out to people, we put a 1-800 number for people to call if they have questions or want to answer the survey by phone. The number on a survey which was recently sent out to farmers isn't the number of our help line. The number printed on the surveys is a phone sex hotline. Of course transposing two digits results in a phone sex line and not a help desk or a florist or a number that's out of service. Much hilarity ensued at the office with comments on which coworkers already had this number on speed dial and what sort of questionable phone records certain people have. There's not really anything we can do about it now since the surveys have already been mailed out, but I bet everyone will be checking future mail outs extra carefully for the next few months.

In other fun news, I signed up to work at the polls for the November election. I haven't heard back yet about where I'll be stationed, but I will have to do a two hour training session sometime before hand. Work's really good about letting people take off work for election stuff. One of my coworkers helped out during the primary election earlier this year, and she said it was a fun but long day. I'm looking forward to it. If you think you could get off work for this, you should look into signing up to help in your precinct. It's supposed to be record voter turn out, so I'm sure they need the extra help.

Shortly after the election, I'll be flying home for my birthday. I'll be in Baton Rouge November 7-11. The 8th will be devoted to the LSU-Alabama game which I get to go to as part of my birthday present. I'm available for hanging out the rest of the time, and I'd like to see as many people as I can. If I miss you in November, it won't be so bad because Brooke and I will be home for two weeks at Christmas. We're planning on driving down, so Brooke can get some stuff that's still at her parents' house.

I've been keeping myself busy in the evenings recently by sorting through all my pictures that I don't have online. Some of you should be very afraid of the blackmail material I have in my possession. I've just finished getting everything in chronological order, tossing bad pictures, and getting rid of doubles. The next step is actually getting all these in photo albums. I have more albums that I realized - 4 empty, 2 mostly filled, 2 almost empty - so I'm pretty sure I'll have enough space for all the pictures I want to keep. Some of the pictures had photo cds with them, so those might eventually make it up on flickr. Maybe.

But not nearly so bad this time. I got a cold while I was in Pittsburgh, and I should be 100% by Monday.

The Mt. Vernon craft fair was a lot of fun last weekend. I like talking with the merchants. Since they mostly all know each other from the fair circuit, they know where to go for various items. I told the soapmaker I was disappointed that the people I bought my cool striped socks from last year weren't there, and he told me about another, bigger craft fair in October that the guy would definitely be at. As my schedule is currently open that weekend, I plan on going, not just for more socks, but because I like craft fairs. I got a cool blown glass pitcher, some Christmas presents, and some candies at the fair.

The Kennedy Center open house was also a good time. I listened to a western swing band comprised of teenage boys. So cute and tiny! One of the older gentlemen asked me to dance several times, and he made me look like I knew what I was doing. The old guys who look like mechanics are always the best country dancers. The Aspen Sante Fe Dance Company did a very interesting show. I really liked their first two dances, but the third was a bit to modern art/contemporary dance for me. The little boy next to me told his mom that he liked the first dance best because they were wearing the most clothes in that one. It's so nice to see children growing up with a fine appreciation for the arts. I listened to a great Cuban salsa band for a while before leaving to get in line for the step show with Step Afrika which was the big final show. They were amazing. Several fraternities and sororities also performed, but Step Afrika was definitely the best. I might try and make it to one of their shows since they are based in DC.

The conference was not quite as much fun. I planned to take the Amtrak to and from Pittsburgh. 20 minutes before the train was supposed to leave Sunday afternoon, they announce that the train is cancelled. I'm still not sure of the actual reason, but I did hear rumors of flooding in the midwest. After standing in line to talk to a supervisor with everyone else that wanted to take that train (DC to Pittsburgh to Chicago), word filtered through that there was a Greyhound going to Pittsburgh, so a group of us who meant to go only to Pittsburgh got out of line and waited to see if Amtrak would arrange something for us. Not so much, we finally snagged an employee wandering by who told us what counter to go to for a refund and where the Greyhound station was. I found another woman going to the same conference I was, so we stuck together at the Greyhound station and on the bus. Thankfully, Greyhound held the bus for 15 minutes so that everyone coming over from Amtrak could make it. Taking the bus is not nearly as relaxing as taking the train, but I still got there.

The conference itself had a number of very good talks that related to stuff I work on and lots of free food. Unfortunately the rooms were freezing cold, even the presenters were wearing jackets. We got to go to a Pittsburgh Pirates game Monday night. They lost horribly to the Dodgers, but everyone had a good time booing Manny Ramirez, especially the Red Sox fans. Also unfortunately, I started getting a cold at the game. Bleh. The second day of the conference, I slept in between talks but undid the rest by dancing all night at the conference party. In my defense the dj was really good. Wednesday brought more Amtrak stress. The train was supposed to leave at 5.45, and I should have gotten back to DC at 1.30 in the afternoon. Instead, the train didn't leave until about 8.30, and I didn't get to DC until after 5. I slept most of the trip and blew my nose constantly when I was awake. At least I get credit for all the time spent waiting for the train.

Thursday night I went to a reception for the president of my undergrad. He's retiring at the end of this school year, and various alumni chapters are hosting parties in his honor. I caught up with several people I had known at Spring Hill (Chip and Kerry, I will call you later with the gossipy details.) and met an older alum who knows most of both sides of my family. He goes to the same church as my parents. The food at the party was really good, and I had a great time talking to people.

This weekend I do not plan to leave my apartment at all. I need a break from socializing, and I need to rest up for next weekend. The National Book Festival will be an all-day, people-filled event. I'm very excited to get my copy of Good Omens (that Terry Pratchett signed last year) signed by Neil Gaiman. If anyone wants something signed by one of the authors, let me know soon (Ru, this means you!). I'm not promising anything because I have stuff of my own (and Mom's) that have priority, but I will try.