I helped out at Boo at the Zoo Friday and Sunday night. It was fun but a bit overwhelming in terms of the number of people and how snotty some kids got about what/how much candy we gave them. I'm glad I wore my renfaire outfit Friday because I was at a much quieter station than Sunday and did not need to bend and lift and carry as much to refill our treat supply. There were lots of Optimus Primes, Bumblebees, Spider- Super- Bat- mans, and Disney princesses. My favorite was an adorable blond girl wearing a Wolverine costume, complete with fake muscles. I totally made one boy's night by immediately identifying him as a hobbit. Apparently I was the first person to do so the whole night. This was somewhat disconcerting to me as I thought the green cloak with silver leaf clasp would have been a dead giveaway. Maybe the other zoo volunteers are not quite as geeky as I am. Such sad lives they must lead. Sunday night I wore this. I can't decide if I was an eccentric artiste clown or a really ironic hipster-indie-scene person. Sunday I was at a much busier treat station with only one other person even though there were supposed to be 4 people working that station. The only breaks I got were when I paused to restock our treat supply. I'm really glad the weather was fair both nights I worked. I think the Saturday crowd got rained on a good bit.

I managed to avoid the rain Saturday when visiting ell and temve as they prepared for the Marine Corps Marathon and 10K, respectively. We had delicious food with some of Ell's friends and family. There was also a rousing game of Apples to Apples which resulted in a 3 way tie for first because we had to stop playing to eat dinner. After dinner, I went to the Sahara Dance hafla. It's been a while since I've gone out dancing (Wedding receptions don't count.), so I really enjoyed myself.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with ell and temve for dinner and DC's Drag Race. I look forward to seeing men in fantastic costumes and high heels sprinting down the street.

New zoo pictures start here with the panda sprawl picture. The pictures I took at the zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal start here with the clouded leopard cub pictures. I was out at the CRC this past weekend to help out with their annual Conservation Festival. Since I have no real knowledge of anything conservation or research related, I got to help run one of the children's games. Kids had to find hidden cardboard cutouts of various native birds 'hidden' along a fence. Upon finding these birds, kids received a sticker and a coloring sheet. This was more exciting to some kids than others. The best part about being out at the CRC was getting to see the 7 month old clouded leopard cubs that are living there until they get old enough to move to the zoo. They are completely adorable kittens that are about the size of a golden retriever. Make sure to watch the 20 second video of one of the cubs attacking some grass. Extremely adorable.

I had a great Time in Seattle with my family. Pictures of our adventurous adventuring can be found here. We visited Pike's Place Market and watched the people who throw fish around. There were a ridiculous number of LSU people in town for the game, and they were all decked out in LSU gear. Seattle's economy probably had an insane bump Labor Day weekend with PAX, Bumbershoot, and the LSU-UW game crowds. We took a ferry across Puget Sound on a clear enough day to see some of the Olympic Mountains as well as the Cascades. The next day also had pretty good weather, so we went up the Space Needle to see the sights. I love all the free telescopes they have to let everyone enjoy the view. We visited a glassblowers studio and watched them work for a while before perusing all the really awesome and way too expensive for me to even consider work they had for sale.

Since Dad's birthday was at the end of August, we had delicious cake and ice cream for him while in Seattle. It was the only time Mom, Dad, Karen, and I had all been in the same place since Christmas, so we thought it was a good time for cake.

On the day of the game, we went with a group of family friends to Snoqualmie Falls and ate at this really amazing restaurant call Salesh Lodge. The falls were cool to see, but the salmon hash really made the drive worthwhile. Mmmmmm. On our way to the game, we passed a car that was on fire. Firemen were already on the scene but hadn't put the fire out yet. I was rather selfishly pleased about that as this is the first time I have ever seen a car on fire in real life. The game itself was a much closer match than we had been expecting, but I was happy to watch an actual competitive match up that the Tigers totally won. Husky Stadium overlooks Lake Washington, so we could see a veritable flotilla of boats all hanging out for the game.

Sunday we visited wineries. One of them had a peacock roaming the grounds. We tasted some nice wines, but I didn't think any of them were worth the hassle to transport back home. Monday we went to the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum. I'm not sure why, but they are connected and share an entry fee. This is a totally cool thing, and I recommend these museums to anyone going to Seattle. The EMP has an awesome collection of electric guitars and basses (even stand-up basses) that date back to the 1930s. There is also a bunch of recording studios set up with instruments and tutorials on how to play them. I now consider myself a drumming and rhythm guitar expert after spending upwards of 10 minutes on each tutorial. The Science Fiction Museum lacked any sort of hands-on fun (I'm not sure what it would have been anyway.), but I was quite taken with the general shiny awesomeness of the whole thing. Unfortunately they were very strict about the no pictures policy, so you will just have to imagine the wall of various sci-fi weaponry from various movies and tv shows. There was a section on robots, too.

Overall I enjoyed the trip and spending time with my family very much. One week is a sufficiently long trip though, and I am happy not to see them again until I go home in October for my cousin's wedding.

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 finally put my Portland pictures up. You can see my adventures driving along the Pacific coast, hiking around waterfalls, and visiting the Rose and Japanese Gardens.

Friday night, I saw Carbon Leaf and Great Big Sea at Wolf Trap with ell. We had a great time despite the rain because we had actual seats inside. Both bands put on really good shows. Carbon Leaf's bassist was especially entertaining when he played his stand up bass because the body of the bass came up almost to his collar bone. He is very tiny. Great Big Sea had guitar/bass/mandolin/bohdran changes after almost every song. They know how to put on a very entertaining show. They did get sidetracked a few times with an ongoing discussion about whether or not the lead singer was Santa Claus which usually segued into part of a Christmas song. I did not expect to be swaying to "Do They Know It's Christmas Time?" while attending a Celtic rock concert, but it was totally hilarious. I would definitely go see them in concert again.

Saturday, I got to sit field side for the DC United match against the LA Galaxy and David Beckham. It was a good game, but we only managed a tie. David Beckham was very nice to look at and has many intriguing tattoos.

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.

1. Ell's awesome Un-Valentine party.
I met some of shrieking_ell's awesome friends and their awesome kid. We had a great time drinking while watching Empire Strikes Back, The Big Lebowski, and Buckaroo Bonzai. I think I need repeated viewings to get what the hell was going on with Buckaroo Bonzai owing to the effects of Jeff Goldblum in chaps and lots of rum.

2. Coraline in 3D.
Unfortunately you can't see it in 3D anymore because the stupid Jonas Brothers concert movie took over all the 3D screens a couple weeks ago. The movie was very awesome with an appropriately creepy soundtrack. There were some large differences from the book, but they added to the story.

3. NSO's Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky concert.
The National Symphony Orchestra periodically has ticket specials for only $20. I was thinking about going to their Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky concert but wasn't sure if it would be worth the effort. Then I read an interview with the composer for Coraline. He mentioned Prokofiev and Stravinsky as being two of his favorite composers. This totally sealed the deal for me as I loved the Coraline soundtrack. The concert was incredible. The audience gave a standing ovation after each piece, and the piano soloist for the Prokofiev concerto had 3 curtain calls. She was really amazing. I need to make a point of going to the theater more often.

4. Mom's visit.
Mom and I started the sightseeing with a visit to the newly restored American History Museum. It was not as awesome as I remembered the previous incarnation being. Needs more First Ladies and pop culture stuff. Then we went next door to the Natural History Museum. They have recently opened a new section called the Ocean Hall which has many interesting specimens (by that I mean totally freaking creepy looking) from various ocean depths. The large replica of a whale that hangs from the ceiling is especially impressive. We went through the Butterfly Garden after, and Mom had a butterfly land on her pant leg. Now Mom, Dad, and I have each had a butterfly land on us. Last we enjoyed a special exhibit on orchids. The exhibit room was full of hundreds of flowers and smelled wonderful. Unfortunately we had come too late to hear the Smithsonian’s horticulturist speak (I didn't even know the Smithsonian had a horticulturist. I can't imagine there was much competition for the job.), but it was really cool seeing all the different colors orchids come in. Pretty much anything in the purple-red-orange-yellow-green spectrum was an option.

The next day we spent 5 hours at the Newseum, and we would have stayed longer if we’d sat through all the different films they show. They have newspaper front pages from as far back as the 1200s all the way through a daily changing display of current front pages from newspapers around the country. After the Newseum, we went to the Wax Museum. They have several figures of presidential figures, including President Obama in a mock Oval Office. The most interesting part was the video about how the figures are created. Over 200 measurements of the subject are taken while the subject is in the pose the figure will be displayed in. They use make up artists and hair stylists to match the subject’s skin and hair colors as closely as possible. When the final figure is assembled, each strand of hair is inserted one at a time. It takes weeks to create each figure in the museum.

We had a pretty heavy snow here which kept Mom an extra day. We didn’t mind since we played board games and baked cookies. The only annoying part was getting through to the airline to change Mom's flight. We were on the phone for over two hours, most of the time spent on hold passing the phone back and forth so no one's arm went numb.

5. Hafla.
My belly dance school has a hafla (party) mid way through the session to give the students a chance to perform for each other in a casual environment. No one is required to go (except the teachers), and you don't have to perform even if you do go. Each teacher choreographs a short dance for each of her classes, so there were about 20 performances total. It was fun, but our performance was so short that it almost seemed pointless. I know they wanted all the classes to have time for a short dance while also having time for open dancing, but I think we could have danced for a little more than 1 minute. My teacher said I did a really good job and that I have great control over my hip movements.

6. Pi Day Party March 14.
As some of you already know, Brooke and I are hosting a Pi Day party on Saturday, March 14 at our apartment. There will be wii gaming, pies, and costumes. I promise I will not make anyone do math! Costumes are encouraged but not required. If you do wear a costume, it should be of the geek/nerd/dorktastic variety. I will be dressed as Hypatia, the first female mathematician, which basically means I will have a bed sheet awkwardly wrapped around my person to simulate a toga. Please feel free to bring guests, but please let me know. I don't want to run out of food and/or drinks. Email me at jrho.jrho at gmail dot com if you need my address and/or phone number.

ETA: I uploaded pictures from Mom's trip here.

Brooke and I went to the Inaugural Parade Tuesday and were lucky enough to wander by a volunteer as she was passing out tickets for the bleacher area near the President's viewing area. It was nice to be able to sit and huddle for warmth with all the other people in the stands. We got there around 11.30, expecting the parade to start at 2.30 and get to us around 3. The parade didn't actually start until after 3.30 due to, as we learned the next day, Sen. Kennedy having a seizure during the luncheon. It was totally worth the wait and the cold because Obama got out of his car and walked with Michelle for the last blocks of the parade where we were sitting. I only got one blurry picture of them, but Brooke took video of the whole thing. I'll post a link once she puts it on the internet.

Owing to the delay and the cold, about 90% of the crowd left after the presidential part of the parade was over. I felt really bad for the parade participants because hardly anyone was there to see them. Toward the end of the parade, marchers were thanking Brooke and I for staying to watch them. We were pretty much the only people beside event staff left in a half block space that had been crammed with people earlier in the day. The nice thing about staying until the end of the parade was that there was no crowd in the metro. Pretty much everyone had left over two hours before we did.

All pictures of the parade are here.

After I finished posting all my photos, I started going through the stats on my flickr page and noticed a huge jump in views earlier this month. Before the picture with the most views only had ~650. Now the picture with the most views has almost 3500, and it's one of the pictures of Neil Gaiman that I took at the book festival in September. Looking through the referrer pages, I found out that I had been linked from one of Neil Gaiman's blog posts. Someone had found my pictures and wanted to know what type of fountain pen he was using to sign books. I'm thinking about sending an email to Gaiman telling him he is welcome to use my pictures whenever he wants and maybe he could sign one and send it to me. Still my flickr page got linked on Neil Gaiman's blog, and that is probably the coolest internet thing that has ever happened to me.

I was there, and it was awesome! How awesome? Behold the lineup of speakers and performers:

Denzel Washington
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Laura Linney and MLK III
Mary J. Blige - Lean on Me
Jamie Foxx and Steve Carrell
Bettye LaVette and Jon Bon Jovi - It's Been a Long Time Coming
Tom Hanks
Marisa Tomei
James Taylor, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles - Shower the People with Love
Joe Biden
John Mellencamp - Ain't that America
Queen Latifah
Josh Groban and Heather Headley - My Country 'Tis of Thee
George Lopez and Kal Penn
Herbie Hancock, Will.I.Am, Sheryl Crow - One Love (let's get together and feel alright) medley into Where Is the Love?
Tiger Woods
US Naval Academy Glee Club and Renee Fleming - Walk on Through the Wind
Jack Black and Rosario Dawson
Garth Brooks - American Pie, Shout, We Shall Be Free
Ashley Judd and Forest Whitaker
Usher, Stevie Wonder, Shakira - Higher Ground
Samuel L. Jackson
U2 - Pride(In the Name of Love), City of Blinding Lights
Barack Obama
Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger - This Land Is Your Land
Beyonce and everyone else (Stevie Wonder on harmonica) - America the Beautiful

That is how awesome it was. You can watch it on hbo.com at 11 EST if you haven't already.

I didn't manage many pictures and managed almost no good ones. What I'm not too ashamed to show other people can be found here.

While home for Christmas, I spent one afternoon wandering around downtown Baton Rouge with some friends from high school. Pictures here.

Way back in October, Brooke and I went to the Crime and Punishment Museum for Halloween. There is one section where it films you in a faux "America's Most Wanted" bit. We taped ourselves being silly. Mine and Brooke's.

Pictures from our fun Thanksgiving trip to New York to see Natalie and Judith are here. Yes we did all climb on the lion statues outside the New York Public Library because that's how we roll.

Starting next week I am taking a belly dancing class in DC. It's once a week from 5.30 to 6.30 not too far from work, so I will work late those days and bring dance clothes with me. The class runs through the end of April though they do offer classes year-round. If I like this one, I'll probably sign up for another class during the summer session.


ETA: Sebastian just managed to flip the image on my laptop screen upside down by wandering across the keyboard. Am slightly disappointed about not turning into Freakazoid.

I had a really great trip home over Veterans' Day weekend. The only downer was seeing all the blue tarps flying into Houston and Baton Rouge. My parents' house still has three tarps on it.

Friday afternoon, I got to see Ru's cats. This is particularly entertaining because Kai, a long-hair, had just got back from being shaved at the groomer's. He looks really dumb. Since only his body was shaved, it looks like he's wearing leg warmers. Bijou, one of the two Hemingway cats Ru fostered, has grown quite a bit since June. She is also a long-hair and hopefully will not have to suffer the indignity of being shaved like Kai did.

Saturday, Dad took me tailgating and to the LSU-Alabama game. It would have been the most awesome day ever if LSU had won, but it was still a really good game. The food at the different tailgates was very delicious as well. One surreal moment from tailgating came when I saw two boys sitting to the side of their tailgate and reading. One looked 10-11 and was reading a Kingdom Hearts II manga. The other looked 8-10 and was reading Twilight. 0_o? I just don't understand kids today. After the game, Dad took me to Coffee Call for hot chocolate and beignets. Of course, I got powdered sugar all over myself, but at least I managed not to inhale any this time around.

Sunday, I had my awesome birthday party with bbq, dobage cake, and homemade butterfinger ice cream. I highly recommend Voodoo BBQ for anyone in the Baton Rouge area. Ru and Stelly came as did most of my Dad's family and some of my Mom's. I got way more presents than I was expecting. It's been a while since I had a big family birthday party like that. Since I only brought a carry-on for the trip home, there were some gifts I couldn't bring back with me. The electric knife being the main problem. I don't think airport security would have been ok with me wandering on a plane with that. I started to build a stack of stuff to be brought home at Christmas since Brooke and I will be driving and will have lots of room for stuff.

Monday, Mom and I visited Grandmother since her busy social calendar kept her from being at my party. I had gotten her one of those personalized puzzles for her birthday. You give the company an address to be the center of the puzzle, and they create a puzzle that is a map of a 4 mile by 6 mile area centered on the given address. Grandmother went on and on about how much she loved it and how it was so interesting. It's a good feeling to know that an unusual gift is appreciated. That afternoon, Mom and I went to the mall, so I could pick out a jewelry box for Christmas. I've never had a proper jewelry box, and I've been getting tired of having my things strewn about my vanity or crammed in the gift boxes they came in. Mom and I both found jewelry boxes we wanted on sale at JC Penny's, so I had to take Dad back later to buy Mom's for her present.

Tuesday I flew back to DC. Wednesday I did nothing on my actual birthday. Thursday, Brooke and I went to dinner with one of my uncles who was in town for training. The food was really good, I had leftovers, and my uncle paid. All in all a very satisfactory evening.

Yesterday, I went to the Join the Impact rally in DC. Unfortunately my camera batteries died after about 30 minutes. At that point I found out that my backup batteries were dead, too. Not that it really mattered, 15 minutes later the torrential downpour started. I wouldn't have kept my camera out in the wind and the rain anyway. None of my pictures really show the size of the crowd. The AP story estimates the crowd at 500+, but other sources say the number was 5000+. I think we were probably somewhere in between, maybe 2000 people.

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 forecast said rain all day, so I left my sunglasses at home, didn't wear sunscreen, and brought my umbrella. It sprinkled 3 times throughout the day, and I ended up sunburned. This was all totally worth it.

First talk of the day, I heard Judith Viorst who has written adult fiction and non-fiction, poetry, and children's fiction. Perhaps you have heard of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? She is an energetic and humorous speaker, and I think her talk was good for kids and adults. She read her new children's book, Nobody Here but Me, about what a boy gets up to when his parents are ignoring him. (Hint: Nothing good.) After that I wandered around for a while collecting free stuff until it was time for her book signing. I got her to sign my copy of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I like that book because sometimes you just need to be reminded that bad days happen, even in Australia. One kid at the talk asked if Alexander, based on Viorst's son Alexander, ever did go to Australia. Answer: No, but he almost did once.

As Viorst's line was longer than I expected, Neil Gaiman's talk had already started by the time I got my book signed. I decided it would be a better idea to go ahead and get in line for Neil Gaiman's signing than to only hear half his talk since the Library of Congress is going to put up videos of all the author talks later this week. This was a very good idea. I was in line over an hour before he was supposed to start signing, and I didn't get my books signed until almost an hour after he started signing. Now I'm not a very good judge of crowd size, but there were probably well over 500 people in line for Neil Gaiman. The only other author that even came close was Tiki Barber whose line looked about half the size of Gaiman's, and that's only because he used to play in the NFL. Neil Gaiman signed books with a fountain pen which he had to refill just before it was my turn for book signing. I got Fragile Things signed for Ru and Good Omens signed for me. Terry Pratchett signed Good Omens for me at last year's festival with "Burn this book." Neil Gaiman laughed when he saw it and added "* Apply holy match here." after Pratchett's note. I am still very gleeful over this.

I wanted to get Katherine Paterson to sign Bridge to Terabithia, but the volunteers said she was only signing her most recent book. Boohiss. I understand a limit on the number of things an author signs, but I don't understand limiting what those things will be. I hadn't even heard of her new book. It has zero sentimental value for me. So I used the time I was going to spend in Paterson's line resting in the shade before I got in line for Immaculee Ilibagiza. She's a survivor of the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. Her book Left to Tell is about her life in Rwanda. Mom read it as part of Baton Rouge's Big Read this summer and passed it on to me. I didn't like it nearly as much as Mom did, but I do respect Ilibagiza's current work with the UN. I got Mom's copy of Left to Tell signed which should make her happy.

Since it started actually raining soon after that, I decided to head home. The pictures I got of the day are here. When the Library of Congress does post the videos of the author talks, they will be here. I'm pretty sure it will be sometime this week.

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.

An absolute excess of pictures can be found here. Mom and Dad ended up staying a few extra days due to Gustav. They, and most of my family, still don't have power. Three family members will have to have roofs replaced. Mom and Dad have some water damage to their bedroom ceiling, but they haven't gotten an adjustor to come check out the damage yet. They've been staying with relatives who do have power since they got back.

On the plus side, the weather up here was great for their trip. They flew in Wednesday afternoon, and we toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with Brooke that evening. Thursday I bought a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta in the morning. Mom, Dad, and I went to the National Cathedral in the afternoon. There are some amazing stained glass windows and unusual gargoyles. Friday we spent some time at the Smithsonians. The American Indian Museum has the most awesome cafeteria with delicious Mexican hot chocolate. The Natural History Museum was quite crowded, but the ocean photography exhibit was worth it. Mainly because it wasn't that crowded. We all enjoyed the Jim Henson exhibit (no photography allowed, unfortunately).

Saturday was a bit more busy. We spent the morning at the National Arboretum. The Bonsai Garden was particularly awesome. The Friendship Garden also has many lovely flowers. We didn't walk through most of the gardens as they weren't in season, but we did drive around most of the grounds. The arboretum is huge. That afternoon we went to the National Geographic Museum. Their current exhibit is on Zheng He, commander of China's navy during the early 1400s. They have lots of cool replicas of the navy's boats (ships?). After, we went to the National Postal Museum. It was way more interesting than I had anticipated. They have a collection of stamps from around the world, some from countries that don't exist any more. Sunday we went to a Nationals game. They actually beat the Braves, increasing their win streak to 6 games. Their new stadium is pretty nice. They have a bouncy castle and everything.

Monday we went to Mt. Vernon. None of us had been to the Grist Mill or the Distillery, so we spent some time there. They are both operational, but they rarely run the distillery as it requires so many workers. We saw a couple on Mt. Vernon's grounds. She wore a white, princess style gown with a small tiara. He wore his dress uniform. They were accompanied by a man carrying clerical garb and a woman with a camera and a backpack. When I saw them wandering through the entrance building to get to the grounds, I assumed they had paid some event fee to have a ceremony there. I found out later from the tour guide that they had lied to the ticket takers, saying they only wanted to look around for a little while. By the time the staff realized what they were doing, the ceremony was finished, and they were married. Mt. Vernon does not allow weddings anywhere on the grounds. I really don't know what the ticket takers were thinking to let them in. Brooke joined us later for the National Treasure tour. We got to go on parts of the grounds that are usually off-limits.

Tuesday, Mom and Dad were left mostly to their own devices while I was at work. I joined them in the Butterfly Garden at the Natural History Museum. Dad had one stay on his sunglasses. Wednesday we went to the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. The inside is completely amazing, and we only got to see the entrance area. The Reading Room and all the other rooms with books in them are off-limits to the general public.

They finally got to go home Thursday, and while I did enjoy their visit, I was ready to see them go. This past weekend I mainly caught up with my sleep and my alone time. This coming weekend is going to be another busy one with the Kennedy Center open house(Sat.), the Mt. Vernon craft fair(Sat. and Sun.), and the conference in Pittsburgh(Sun. - Wed.).

I really haven't felt like going any where or talking to anyone recently, probably a combination of having been sick and dealing with people last weekend.

My friend's wedding was nice. It was weird for me to see the service officiated by a woman as I was raised Catholic and have not attended very many services of other religions. I liked the vows and what the reverend said as advice to the couple more than what I've heard at the other weddings I've been to. I don't know if they were standard vows for Presbyterians. I don't think the couple wrote them themselves. The reception was nice because there were several other people from work (that I like) there, and we had a table together. I didn't get any good pictures though, probably a combination of being sick and having my batteries die early in the reception.

Seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX was a completely awesome experience. If I see it again in theaters, it will definitely be in IMAX. The big sweeping panoramic shots scattered throughout the film are so amazing on the extra big screen. We did end up going to the late showing because the earlier one was sold out. Brooke and I ate dinner and hung out at Barnes & Noble while we waited. As we ignored one of the beggars we walked past, he shouted "Thanks for being modest." after us. I don't know what word he meant to say or if he thought modest was a bad thing, but he sounded like he meant it as an insult. We were both very o_O. At the theater, the usher had to yell at people to shift seats so that 3 deaf guys could sit together with their close caption filters. They have these screens that attach to the seat arms that let a person read the close caption on the bottom of the screen. It's a very clever way to allow everyone to watch the movie without having some tool complain about the words on the screen getting in the way of his movie.

Work was hectic when I was there this week. I missed more time due to sickness. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to debug a problem with my code, only to find out the problem was with the data set I was given. Rar. I did have other things I needed to work on, too. They won't all get done this week either because Mom and Dad are coming in on Wednesday; I'm taking Thursday and Friday off. We have a list of stuff we're going to try and do, including getting my new car.

I did put some new pics up on flickr, all of the cats though.

In less than awesome news, SGA is being cancelled at the end of this season, a season which has so far contained some of the best episodes of the series. I understand they're doing it for financial reasons, but I don't have to like it. They are going to make a movie after this season and start up a new Stargate series. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get behind a whole new cast of space adventurers with such an abrupt transition.

I'm looking forward to the one outside the USDA building tomorrow, especially the booth that sells chicken empanadas. As it's unseasonably cool up here, I'm not sure what sort of produce they'll have, but I'll find something. Tomorrow night, I'm going to a Mystics game, courtesy of my friend Stewart who had tickets to every sports team in town.

Last week at home was really nice. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Nicole (sorry!) or several of my cousins due to my work scedule, and I only got to see Ru and the kittens once. Pictures of me looking like a moron in the PT Cruiser can be found here. It's nice to be back to my regular schedule though. Only tomorrow and next week before I'm off again. This time for the big family vacation in northern Alabama. I'm bringing Apples to Apples, maybe Scattergories, and maybe dominoes. It will depend what I have room for in my bag because I'm flying down. When I bought my tickets, I figured out that flying would be about $100 more than driving with the cost of gas and food. Now, flying's only about $40 more, and it takes less time. Yay, me!

My flight home Friday went very well, no turbulance and we got there on time. My rental car is a black PT Cruiser, so I feel really prententious when I drive to and from work. The clock on the dash is analog, and I don't think there's a way to make the radio display switch to a digital clock. It's very distracting.

So far I've seen over half the required people with a few cousins still to go. It's nice to catch up with people when I can't have to stay long because of work. I did spend a while at Ru's seeing all the kitties and checking out the Wii Fit. Lots of new cat pictures are here. I found several pictures of Sebastian and Kumo that I hadn't uploaded, and there are pictures of Ru's cats as well. The two kittens are only 4 weeks old, and they're Hemingway cats! The extra toes make their paws look enormous for their bodies.

Work has been quite busy. I know I'll be working late tomorrow and Friday, and there's a 90% chance I'll be working Saturday as well. I knew that going in, but I still hoped we'd get enough done early to make Saturday work unnecessary. The people in the office are friendly and casual, so it's pretty relaxing work. However, they are very structured about breaks. Everyone has morning break at 9.30, lunch at 11.30, and afternoon break at 2.30. I'm used to taking a break whenever I feel the need for one and not taking a break when I'm in a groove at work, but taking breaks with everyone else means I get free food from the communal snacks. I can adapt for this week.

I really haven't. It's not that life's been dull or tragic; it's just that I didn't feel like typing up the minutae. It happens from time to time with the worst being that March a few years back when I didn't post for over a month.

Anyway, I went to the Around the World Open House last weekend. It was awesome seeing more of the embassies. Pics are here. I really enjoyed Trinidad and Tobago's embassy. They had a steel drum band, a dj, delicious food, and a really nice art exhibit. There were alpaca at the Peruvian embassy. So cute! The Australian embassy had a really nice display on the Australian armed forces in WWII as well as an Aborigine in full tribal regalia playing a digeridoo. The Pakistani embassy had a bazaar set up outside with food, clothes, henna tattoos, music, jewelry, and furniture. I bought a new lilac pashmina. The Ghanan embassy had the best staircase. It's a sort of free standing spiral staircase. They had the inside all decked out with flags and red, green, and yellow drapes. I did manage to catch the cultural performance at the Bangladeshi embassy. A group of women sang while one played an instrument I've never seen before. It had a keyboard like a piano as well as other buttons, and she moved the back panel in and out as she played. They also had delicious chicken biryani to sample. Yummm. A woman demonstrated how to roast and prepare coffee beans at the Ethiopian embassy. The inside of the embassy was very nice and open with one wall decorated with panels of different kinds of wood. Mexico did not have their embassy open; they had their open house at the Mexican Cultural Institute. The interior decor was quite varied. The wall along the main staircase is painted with a mural done in the Mexican folk art style. The room with the flamenco demonstration had dark wood paneled walls while the room next to it would not have been out of place in a French chateau. Another room had an intricately painted pipe organ and light green walls. I wish I could have seen more of the building because I bet the other rooms wouldn't have matched the ones I did see.

Sunday night, Brooke and I saw Prince Caspian. I've read the book, but I don't remember any of it. We both enjoyed the movie a great deal. Indiana Jones wil come tomorrow night.

I went to an alumni event for my undergrad Monday night. I regret going a bit because the people there were mostly the clique-ish, snobby type that I avoided when at Spring Hill, but the food was really good, and the money went to the scholarship fund. I don't think I'll go to the next event unless it's an activity I'd do on my own anyway.


Also, a big happy 3rd anniversary to Chip and Kerry yesterday!!! I was going to call, but I didn't want to interrupt anything.

The visit with Mom, Grandmother, and Aunt Sarah was fun even though they were stuck in Atlanta for most of Friday and didn't get here until 9.30 that night. Saturday we visited the Navy Memorial because Granddad had been in the Navy. He served in the Pacific in World War II. Grandmother kept saying how much she wished he could have seen it. We all got a bit teary-eyed over it. We also visited the World War II Memorial. After several unsuitable restaurants (45 minute wait, not open for lunch, etc.), we ended up having very good pizza at a food court (not Sbarro's, some local place). Grandmother was still pretty worn out from all the flight delays Friday, so we went back to their hotel room for naps. When Grandmother was ready to go again, we visited the Air Force Memorial right by the hotel before going to Italian Cafe for awesome dinner. Tom, our usual waiter, was delighted to see us. Brooke and I always bring them new people. Sunday we went on a river cruise on the Potomac. The weather was a lot colder than they had anticipated, so everyone borrowed warm clothes from me. Grandmother looked like one of the homeless ladies with my knit hat, scarf, and way too large sweater. At least she was warm. It was raining for the cruise, so no one went out on the top deck. I ducked out a few times to take pictures but mostly stayed inside. Lunch on Sunday was as much hassle as lunch on Saturday with several different restaurants being closed. We almost ended up at McDonald's. Bleh. Instead we ended up at the Sunday Jazz Brunch at Chef Geoff's. We all got bacon cheeseburgers which had the most amazing, awesome, and delicious bacon ever. I seriously resented my burger for getting in the way of my awesome bacon experience. If I ever go back there, I will request a side order of bacon with whatever I get. So very, very good. As the rain had not really let up, we went in the Museum of Natural History to see some bugs and rocks and stuff. Mostly we stayed in the hall with all the nature photography as there were lots of benches for Grandmother to rest on. Grandmother needed a nap after that, so we spent some time at the hotel before going back into DC for dinner. Grandmother stayed at the hotel to rest more since she wasn't very hungry. Mom, Sarah, Brooke, and I had a tasty dinner before walking over to see the White House. One of the trees in front has a landing light on top it. They left Monday morning, and I went in to work late so that I could go with them to the airport. Pictures of the weekend shenanigans can be found here.

Tomorrow I'm leaving work early to catch the train down to Williamsburg. My other grandmother is up visiting my aunt for a couple weeks, so I'll be able to see several family members in one trip. I'll spend at least one day at Colonial Williamsburg, maybe both. It depends on what plans they have for the weekend. Sunday afternoon I'll take the train back up to DC. The two downsides to this trip are missing the Cherry Blossom Festival street fair on Saturday and missing the Anonymous protest (also on Saturday). I don't mind so much about the street fair because I went to it last year and wouldn't make much of it this year because of the protest. I do wish I could make the protest as I will also be missing the one in May when I go to visit my sister. Oh well, maybe I'll make the June protest.

Work's been really busy again this week. It will slow down next week, but things will get busy again in the middle of May. I have learned from the project I'm finishing up now, so hopefully I won't be as stressed for the project that finishes in May. We had midyear reviews at work this week (everyone's on the same review schedule, so this is my midyear review even though I started last April), and Boss thinks I've been doing very well. I actually accomplished most of the goals we had set for me at my annual review in October. Yay me!