WebCakery Bakery

Kindergarden Blues

2007-05-21T11:45:00.000-05:00

If only those great things from Kindergarden could carry over into "real" life. Naps, healthy snacks (ants on a log, carrots, milk, etc.) and most importantly half-days. I'd take the AM session so around now I'd be free to go home and enjoy the rest of my day. I wonder if we'd all be more productive if companys included some of these perks we use to enjoy into our work life. Someone should try it. I bet google does it. In fact I think I read an article about their nap rooms once.

note to self: find a job with google ;)

I've got my Personal Belongings.

2007-04-05T11:39:00.000-05:00

I'm walking to work today and I see this "off" looking guy in front of me. I first think he is the crazy/homeless guy that spends most of his daylight hours in the metro by the ticket machines waiting for African American women to walk by so he can say mean things to them. I don't know why he targets just African American women, but he does. Not only have I seen him do this, but I have talked to others who have confirmed my assumption. Anyway I think it is him in front of me, but he's on an escalator heading out of the metro which doesn't make sense. I get closer and I realize it is not him, but perhaps someone worse. The man is carrying a plastic bag that says "Personal Belongings". I'm pretty sure the only place you get a bag that looks like this is when you leave prison. So either this guy just got out of prison, got out a long time ago and likes the bag or knows a friend who got out and borrowed the bag. Anyway you look at it I don't like it. I mentioned this to a co-worker and he astutely pointed out that at least he was on his way OUT of prison and not INTO prison. Good call.

Bowling Queen (for a day)

2007-03-28T08:39:00.000-05:00

Last night my dad and I joined my company's Bowling League as subs. I haven't bowled in about a month so I was excited to get back out on the lanes. (dork!?... I know :) ) Upon arriving my dad picked up some rental shoes and I slipped on my super cool white and light blue dexter bowling shoes. I was up first so I stepped out onto the lane, grabbed Bernice (my bowling ball) and flug it down the lane in my usual straight bowling style. Bam. Strike. Wow I thought...that was fun. Frame 2 rolls around and I got another strike! This crazy streak continued for 5 frames! 5 straight strikes! What is that? I've never done that. That's one BIG turkey. Anyway the stars and the moon must have aligned in exactly the right way because my bowling skills continued through the entire game and I ended up with a 222!! So fun! Bowling rocks.

Myspace

2007-02-09T20:58:00.001-05:00

I joined in on the Myspace craze.

Check me out if you feel like wasting time.

39,000 bonus points!!!

2007-01-27T18:42:00.000-05:00

Chase Visa Credit Card has the worst bonus point reward thingy ever. Honestly it is awful (And I won't even go into how much I hate their website!) Anyway a long time ago (maybe 2000??) I got a card with them, but they use to be owned by someone else. The first year was nice. They sent me a check for 176 dollars. I like random bonus money. The next year came and I got nothing. And thanks to their lame website I couldn't understand what happened and I forgot to care about it. (Which I freely admit is odd for Miss.Coupon.) For the next 5 years or so I used the card for everything. Insurance, bills, dog walking, food, gifts, random $1 charges...really I'm an all credit girl. Then I had to carry a balance on it for the first time ever and I got charged redi-cue-lous amounts. Soon after that I thought I lost it and had to get a new card (come to find out it was in my pocket). After all the bad blood (and now the need to reset up all my automatic payments) I switched my regular spending to Amex and my bills to discover. I have since then been happy with my new arrangement and rarely use the visa except when ppl are lame and only take visa. Ok enough background. Today I was on the lame site and looked down. I blinked, blinked again in disbelief since clear as day it said 39,000 bonus points! Seriously I'd never seen this before and I go on this site like 4 times a month. (That's how bad the site is organized.) I quickly went to the "redeem points" section. Their selection was poor (nothing close to Amex which rocks), but they had one good thing. 2,500 points = 25 Cash Check. Hello babies! I ordered 15 of those mo fo's!! Scary to think I actually spent 39,000 dollars on a credit card, but happy to know I get at least a tiny part of it back. Yeah for random money. Boo for the stupid credit card that I really should just cancel.

Redskins Vs. Falcons

2006-12-03T21:48:00.000-05:00

Happiness
Originally uploaded by margejames.

3rd game of the season! Steve's got one more to go next weekend, but I'm done until next year. It's been a fun run though...even if they lost every game I attended. poo.

(FYI...the house remodel/addition pictures are finally up!)

Thanksgiving 06

2006-11-26T20:41:00.000-05:00

Steve Own's This Place
Originally uploaded by margejames.

We had a great trip and (like probably the rest of America) way too much food. We started our travel on Wednesday, but after an almost two hour trip to Tyson's Corner (normally it takes us about 10min) we aborted and went shopping instead. Thursday morning we got up early and made our second attempt with little to no problems. The whole drive was about 3 hours which is probably about 6 hours short of what it would have been if we continued on Wednesday. We made it with plenty of time for Turkey day so it was THE BEST decision. Friday we explored Manayunk (sorta like a G-town) and did some more shopping and eating. After that we picked up 3 "half-cooked" pies from Charlie’s off the Boulevard and proceeded to eat ourselves into another food coma. The good news is we still have about half a pie left so the fun doesn't have to stop yet!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving as well!

(And yes I will post the first set of our Major House Project soon.)

:)

Halloween Antics

2006-11-02T13:39:00.000-05:00

Breaking it down.
Originally uploaded by margejames.

So for the first time in as long as I can remember I got away with not dressing up for Halloween. It was pretty nice not to have the stress of "What am I going to be this time" or have to worry about spending money on some outfit for just one night. As you can see from the pictures we had plenty of fun for Steve’s b-day on Friday night so there wasn’t really a reason (or perhaps I completely drained myself Friday) to go out Saturday. Although recently I had this great idea (as of in the last 3 seconds) that from now on I should just wear my Little Bo Peep costume for Halloween. I’d be consistent and over time people would come to appreciate it. Granted I couldn’t be in the “guess what I am this year” games, but hey I’d at least be wearing something which is better than I did this year.

A little cardio with your web surfing?

2006-09-14T10:09:00.000-05:00

Things are a bit off. I can't put my finger on it, but I started to notice it last night while at the gym. I was minding my own business on the ArcTrainer at Golds trying to drown out J Lo and Justin Timberlake with my own music when I noticed a strange looking fellow. He had one some short shorts, a sweat band, some blindingly white legs (yes I consider this part of his outfit) and a head of fuzzy hair that wasn't controlled in the least by the sweat band. But this wasn't the odd part. He saddled up to an elliptic machine and proceeded to pull out a laptop! Now he's really got my attention...especially since I still had 20 min to go and the only TV that I could see that didn't cause neck strain (and didn't feature J Lo or JT) had 24 hour sports center on it. He then managed to balance the laptop on the stationary handles and the display console. After that he slowly "exercised" for about 3min before packing up and going to join a women's weight lifting class. Awesome.

And it continues: We had tacos yesterday (obviously not the normal Taco Tuesday or alternate Taco Thursday), my roommate didn't get up when he always gets up, there was no high school traffic to wade through on the way to work, I'm actually blogging for the first time in forever AND I just had to eat my left over Thai food at 11am. I have no idea what's going to happen next, but I hope it involves a big nap and some Cold Stone Creamery goodness.

Odwalla Bug Farm

2006-07-26T08:29:00.000-05:00

I usually eat a granola bar for breakfast. It's quick, simple and cheap. I ran out of granola bars yesterday, but luckily I found an Odwalla bar in the pantry. Great, kinda like a granola bar (just a bit more hefty than the ones I usually eat) and it's free since I already own it. I bring it to work and begin the efforts of trying to open it. It's stubborn, but I have scissors. I clip off the end and a tiny flea sized bug (but not a flea) comes flying out. Ugh! As I look closer I realize I know this bug. He and a thousand of his closet relatives were the ones that I battled with at my condo. I don't know what they are, but I do know that I have yet to find a way to actually get rid of them. Here's a listing of all the things that DON'T work: roach traps, bleach, no open food/crumbs, flea/roach bombs, and professional pest exterminators. Anyway, I was happy to leave the little things behind when I moved out of there. And now, months later, one is sitting on my desk kicking it’s legs happily in the air at me. At this point I'm more than a bit curious about what else is in this thing. I carefully tilt the package up and look in. Oh yeah! It's an entire Odwalla Bug Farm! Complete with tiny maggot looking things, a fine dust of eaten and pooped out odwalla and a whole bunch of adults moving around on their daily missions. I check the expiration date and find that I should have eaten it last year, but still that's no excuse for what I'm looking at. Needless to say I did not eat the Odwalla Bug Farm and once I got home I carefully opened and inspected the other two expired odwalla bars that I still had. But sadly/luckily they were free of infestation. Just so amazing to me that they managed to get in a closed package and then create an entire colony. On a happy note I don't think any of them left the colony since I couldn't find any traces of them in the pantry. Steve now claims that he will never eat an odwalla bar again, I on the other hand saved the other two that I had left that hadn't expired. :)

All Good Now

2006-07-19T08:03:00.000-05:00

I am now officially a "hippy". I lived in a tent for 4 days, I took zero showers, I wore a hippy shirt that I made myself, I enjoyed the music and especially loved watching all the crazy people. Yes there were times that it was way too hot and I didn't like the people next to us who kept setting fire works off about 2ft from my head when I was trying to sleep (I finally snapped at them on Sunday cause I couldn't keep the "all good" vibe going anymore), but over all it was a good time. If you are in the mood for 4 days of small amounts of sleep, tons of hanging out, good music and a bunch of dirty feet then you should come out next year for the 11th annual All Good Festival!

This weekend the fun continues with Ryan Adams in Norfolk, VA.

Universal Sticky Notes

2006-07-13T08:47:00.000-05:00

You know what I like about sticky notes (besides the fact that they are sticky)? I like the fact that when you go to someone's office and they aren't there, you have free reign to use their sticky notes to leave them a note. Also if someone is in your office and they need to jot something small down. They can just grab a sticky note and write it down. No questions like "Do you have some note paper I can use?", just pure efficiency.

I also like sticky notes when they are in fun colors...yellow ones are captial B for boring. Unless they are the giant sized yellow ones those for some reason I still like, despite their color impariment.

CA Tort Adventures

2006-06-02T16:18:00.000-05:00

I haven't been going to California Tortilla as much as I should, but today Yaneen and I made the pilgrimage. We got there a little later than usual so the place was packed. I ordered some chips and queso (had a free chips and salsa coupon, but she upgraded me for free!) and some soup. Next thing I know my meal is ready "331", I grab it and then while I'm getting my hot sauce choices together I hear "331". I look around and on the counter is another bag with my order in it! Super, 2 lunches for the price of one!

Yaneen and I sit and upon taking the first bite of a chip I think...humm this hot sauce tastes sweeter. A couple more bites later and I figure it out: SUGAR! They had "salted" the chips with sugar! Crazy. Yaneen and I proceed to eat all the chips, but at the end we did tell the manager. She grabbed my arm she was so shocked when I told her. LOL. The Sugar Chips were halted immediately and the day was saved at CA Tort thanks to Yaneen and I! Go Team!!

Box Seat Fan

2006-05-31T07:44:00.000-05:00

If you ever have a chance to sit in box seats for a concert do it! Ok like anyone wouldn't if they could, but really it's worth doing a bit of schmoozing for. They give you free drinks, free snackies, nice seats, couches and even a private bathroom! And if you work it right you can make 2 box seat tickets turn into 6 with some sneaky switching. Dave was a bit doubtful on how we could pull it off, but to his delight he was wrong!

(Pearl Jam, 5.30.2006, Verizon Center)

Loose Batteries

2006-05-03T12:11:00.000-05:00

Anyone who works in an office is bound to come across some great "office lingo". You know what I'm talking about. Those crazy things people (mainly people who like to think they are important) say when you are in meetings or sometimes you get lucky and they actually put them in an email and you have proof that they said them and you weren't just hearing things. I could go off on a rant an list a bunch ("Open the Kimono", "Give Away the Farm", "Strawman"....etc.), but I don't want to get off topic.

The topic I'm hear to discuss is "Loose Batteries". Today I encountered two emails from the same fellow with these two words that I usually associate with broken TV remotes just plopped in his emails. I can't give you the whole emails, but let me just tell you that in the emails there was no mention anywhere of TV remotes or anything that may or may not have loose batteries. Here are the two excerpts:

"...If you have a way to do that via quick broadcast, please loose batteries in the interest of time and copy me....."

"...If you need more than I provided in my replies, by all means loose batteries..."

Through research I have figured out what he meant, but upon the first 5 reads I had no idea. Anyone want to guess? I'll give you one clue: The guy use to be in the Navy.

A bit of a leak....

2006-04-30T16:23:00.000-05:00

Pressure.
Originally uploaded by margejames.

I'm moving into Stegret's next weekend (oy so soon!!) so I had to find a new home for my ferrets since his dog would have them for a snack if they ever got loose. I used this site called uship.com and got a bid from a small shipping company based in Oregon that usually moves cars and boats, but takes animals to help pay for gas. Well before they picked up the ferrets to take them to my mom in Oregon (the best new home ever!) they picked up a new trailer from NC. What they didn't tell me is the thing was like the size of a semi!! They took a corner too close (or perhaps it was so big it never would have fit) and just bowled over a fire hydrant. It was amazing stuff. The water sounded like a river and flowed out of the hydrant and all the way down the neighborhood. Anyone who wanted to get in their cars where the water flowed had to brave it and ended up with soaked feet. A bunch of my neighbors came out and were wondering what happened (after the guys left). I just shrugged my shoulders. :)

Taste of the Nation (3)

2006-04-30T16:16:00.000-05:00

IMG_0554
Originally uploaded by margejames.

I really can't get enough of this event. For $75 dollars ($50 of which is tax deductible) you get all you can eat and drink from the nicest restaurants in DC for 4 hours. How about a mini-burger from Bobby Vans with foie gras sauce? Perhaps a strawberry/rhubarb margarita from Eve? Oh wait you wanted some wonderful lamb with some hummus from Lebanese Taverna. Perhaps some halibut served with spinach tiki from Indeblue? I now have a list of like 3 places I must go to and a some good memories.

(Year 3 for me, 2 for Stegret, and 1 for Gordo.)

A Challenge

2006-04-19T13:58:00.000-05:00

Here’s a challenge for everyone. Try to go about your day, completing all your normal everyday tasks, but with out putting any strain or pressure on your left hand index finger. Not so hard you say…Ok I’ll admit it, on a scale of 1-10 it’s probably only a 3, but it sure is annoying!

Why am I playing this fun game today? Well it’s all Taco Tuesday’s fault. As most of you know (and those of you that didn’t do now) every Tuesday we make tacos and invite friends over to eat with us. We usually have at least 4-8 people so it’s a ton of fun and super tasty. We have the cooking down to an art. I know just how much to cook, what to buy, where to get the best deals, how long it’ll take to prepare etc. etc. But last night just as things were getting to the good part (i.e. when we eat) I realized that my new Tabasco (the mild/green kind) was not open! So I grab a knife and apply it to plastic around the cap in a downward motion. At this time I’m thinking to myself “This is dumb, if I slip it’ll go right into my….ouch!!!!”. Yep it slipped, it punctured and then it gushed and then I got upset because my tacos were going to get cold and I couldn’t figure out how I was going to eat tacos with a finger that was bleeding and I began to get frantic and and well that’s when Stegret stepped in. Apply pressure, I’ll make the tacos for you...and it all got better. I applied pressure, put a bandage on it and happily ate my tacos with a throbbing/half numb finger.

Was it worth it you ask? I have to say yes, those tacos (as usual) were soooo gooooood and without the Tabasco (which Stegret finished opening for me and declared that he was only able to do it since I had started it so well...ahhh). But damn if it isn’t annoying today, in fact now my right arm is hurting from over compensating for my lame finger. Whine Whine.

End of Story: Will I live? Yes, I will. Will I try to open a bottle that way again? Yes, I might.

Directions

2006-04-14T12:49:00.000-05:00

Isn't it funny how one decision can send your life in a totally different direction? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...It's just always amazes/entertains me that all the planning I do for the future can amount to a pile of nothing or it can turn into everything. So I like planning because it helps me prepare for things to come and accomplish goals that I set out for myself. Then again I also like it when you are caught off guard and all of a sudden you are swept down a completely different path. And isn't it great when the path you get swept down is so much better than the one you had originally planned for yourself?

Whoah that's some hot stuff!

2006-03-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

Whoah that's some hot stuff!
Originally uploaded by margejames.

I'm sure you are all sitting there wondering what I was doing late Saturday night. Perhaps sleeping or catching a late night movie? Nope we were cooking up noodle oriented snacks and Stegret was rolling on the floor with Kaya. Don't believe me? Well check out the pictures and you'll see how much fun you can have with Habenero sauce, mac and cheese and Pat's hat!

Jen's St.Patty's day visit

2006-03-27T10:36:00.000-05:00

Jen and Me
Originally uploaded by margejames.

Every once in a while Jen shows up in town so we made the best of her short visit by meeting up at a Champions in Leesburg. After some table shuffling we were able to grab a big table and enough chairs for everyone to sit. And luckily we DID NOT have front row seats for the sucky 80's band. Ok so they wren't the worst ever and I did enjoy the random people rocking out to them on the dance floor, but sometimes a juke box is better than the real thing.

Tennant Hunt

2006-03-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m moving, but I’m not selling my place. As a result I have been on the hunt to find the perfect Tennant(s) for my happy condo. I posted an ad on Craig’s List and the emails/calls started flowing in. I met some normal people; I met some people that are missing part of their brain…

Prospective Tennant 1: A woman looking for a place for her and her fiancé after their May 28th wedding. She liked the place, I liked her well enough, she never sent in her application form.
Prospective Tennant 2: Julie called me first and left a message saying I should call back and ask for Julie or John. I call back and get a woman, she said she is not Julie, but her name is John and she is Julie’s partner. So I prep myself for meeting a woman named John, but when she shows up she is a man who just sounds exactly like a woman on the phone. They tell me they have bad credit, but Julie’s mom will co-sign if I need it and then they ask if they can do 6mo instead of a year. I don’t call them back and they don’t send in an application form.
Prospective Tennant 3: This girl stayed for over an hour! Really, she sat, she walked around, she debated over and over where to put some chair that she had, she talked about her family, her work, her dog and then she told me a story about how she almost got fired last week and asked me what would happen if she broke the lease after 6months. Umm…GET OUT!! She turned in an application; I promptly put it in my paper shredder.
Prospective Tennant 4: They live near by, he has a real job, she is going to school, they have a boxer, they hung out, we chatted, they asked questions, I answered questions, at one point I forgot we weren’t friends, they turned in an application, I ran a credit check (he was perfect), I offered my place they happily accepted!

So I’m happy now, last week when I was going through it all it was actually pretty stressful for me, I mean it’s odd enough having someone live in your home and then you have all the extra worries about whether or not they are going to fulfill their side of the bargain. I.E. pay the rent on time and not let their dog eat holes in the carpet, chew on walls and leave stinky piles of poo all over like the renters downstairs in someone else’s unit do.

Pugs for Adoption

2006-03-20T12:34:00.000-05:00

Pugs for Adoption
Originally uploaded by margejames.

The other day my co-worker was looking through the HART (Homeless Animals Rescue Team) website looking at dogs for adoption. So of course I was helping a bit and did a breed search on pugs. And the result? A lovely pair of pugs that is up for adoption (Olie and Gigi). I am in awe that they haven't been snached up yet since pugs are usually in such a high demand (once you own/know one well you'll understand why!)

So I wanted to put a link to their page on my blog and encourage people to either sponsor them (or ANY other dog that needs a home) or who knows meet them, fall in love and adopt them? If I didn't have 2 (almost 3 dogs) I'd adopt them myself.

Olie and Gigi Details

spinner_shoes

2006-03-13T13:53:00.000-05:00

spinner_shoes
Originally uploaded by margejames.

As the weather heats up you may want to consider grabbing yourself a pair of these babies! (I was going to write a funny blog about these, but the actual text about them was funnier than anything I could have wrote!)

Dada Women's Spree's
Black/Pink/Black

Latrell Sprewell, known to be the originator of the rim called the spinners, has moved his invention to the footwear world. The rim actually spins as you walk and/or run. Lightweight microfiber synthetic leather upper, lateral quarter panel molded and reinforced for added stability. L.S. Exchange Technology, the most advanced cushioning, shock-absorbing, active heat/moisture-management technology ever employed in footwear, allows the rim to spin. Development influenced by gas shocks used in cars. Matrix of vents and intake and out take valves allow heat and moisture to be drawn into the chamber while hot moist air is expelled from the shoe. Through a series of events, energy is absorbed and real shock absorption/cushioning is provided.

Oh and by the way---they have been marked down from 110 bucks to 40! What a deal!!

Updates Galore

2006-03-02T10:34:00.000-05:00

Apres-ski (2)
Originally uploaded by margejames.

Silly me, I thought things would slow down after the Holiday season…nope!!

As a result of my inability to find time to blog I’ll have to update you in a quick like fashion. Ready? Ok! Go!!

Valentine’s Day – Headed out to Zaytinya in DC for dinner. It’s a tapas/Mezza Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine type place that serves great food, but requires a bit of money spending. Most everything was tasty and due to their prix fix menu for Vday we were able to get a great selection of food. The belly dancers there sucked though…Andrea if you are reading this you should go apply for a job there!

Dad’s Month Long Visit - As most of you know when my family comes to visit they usually stay for more than the usual couple of days. This time I was lucky to get my dad for almost a whole month. We had a lot of fun and we (translate mostly him) were very productive. Because I’m moving to Stegret’s house in May I had a lot of things to do at my house to get it ready for renters and some things to do at Stegret’s house to get it ready for me. Probably the most productive thing of all was when we pulled out 1,400 odd pounds of junk from under Stegret’s house and took it to the dump. My dad then proceeded to pack up stuff from my house and begin filling the area up again!

Andrea’s Bday - On Feb 22nd Andrea got a bit smarter and a bit older. We celebrated by filling our bellies with Mexican food and taking up a table in a tiny restaurant called Guajillo for many hours. Pictures!!

Vail - I’m running out of time for this entry, but suffice it to say Vail is a place you want to visit. It’s huge, it’s fun, it’s a great place to go with a group of friends…but don’t forget to take your wallet because you’ll need it. Oh and apparently if you are in Vail it is more than acceptable to buy and wear fur. No one said money makes you a better person. Personally I liked the store with the Prada ski clothes. ;) Pictures!!

And with snow comes fun...

2006-02-13T12:37:00.000-05:00

IMG_0096
Originally uploaded by margejames.

As long as your definition of skiing involves putting skis on, snow and a downward hill I have now officially been skiing for the very first time. If your definition includes something to do with actually moving down the hill due to the incline/snow than I have not been skiing. Either way I had a fun time Sat night enjoying the snow.

Besides some snow action this weekend there was also Chilifestivus where a good crowd came out to Andrea’s to fill themselves up with Cincinnati Chili (andrea), Spicy Chili (Ryan) and Veggie Chili (me). I feel certain in saying that no one left hungry.

Temptation Mountain 5

2006-02-06T17:13:00.000-05:00

Two weekends ago Temptation Mountain rolled into my life and swept me back in time. Everything was just how I left it 2 years ago. The bar was open and flowing, the hot tub was hot and bubbly, the pool was a good temp., the moutain was...well...skiable, the friends were everywhere, the jello shots were enjoyable and the scene was hip hopping. Check out some pictures if you don't believe me!

Why are fortune cookie fortunes so bad?

2006-02-02T13:14:00.000-05:00

"The job is well done."
"Confucius say: show-off always shown up in showdown."
"The best profit of future is the past."

placemat_zodiac
Originally uploaded by margejames.

Remember when the fortunes in fortune cookies use to be actual fortunes? I am thinking it's been about 4-5 years now since I have gotten an actual fortune (see above for examples of crappy fortunes). This always brings up the question as to what changed. Did they fun out of fortunes? Did a computer take over the writing task and someone programmed it wrong?? Well today at lunch with my co-workers we figured it out!

Chinese restaurants around the US for the past 40-50 odd years have all (or rather 99.99% of them) been using the same Chinese Zodiac place mat. You know the one I'm talking about (just in case I've included a picture for you). Well if you look closely you'll notice that this placemat, the one we all have come to love and adore, is about to expire!! Yes next year (2007) will be the year of the Boar and after that who knows since 2008 and beyond is nowhere to be found! Think of it as the Chinese Restaurant version of Y2K.

Well my theory is that about 4-5 years ago the Chinese Restaurateurs realized this moment (or perhaps one of the Fortune Writers saw it coming) and started planning. Due to a limited staffing issues they were forced to take their best Fortune Writers off the Fortune Cookie Task and put them on the Placemat Task. Ever since they have been toiling with the issue of the new placemat design; which is a hard one! Do you take off the older birthdays (starting with 1936) and risk upsetting grandma, do you just add some new years on and make the pictures of the animals smaller? Will the new placemat still inspire impromptu orders of sweet and sour chicken and egg drop soup?? Who knows!!??!!

Thus, I predict that soon after the release of the new placemats in 2008 we should start seeing some actual fortunes in our cookies again. Thank goodness!! Until then I'll just have to amuse myself with the tried and tested "in bed" trick*.

*Someone the other day told me they had never heard of the game where you add "in bed" to the end of your fortune cookie. I immediately put this person into the category I have created for people that think Oregon is one of those “middle states” and trust me it’s not a good category to be in.

Temptation Mountain 5 (coming soon!)

2006-01-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

The party bus sets sail for Temptation Mountain 5 next Friday. That's right I'm only a week away from visiting the lovely (and by lovely read "Free Drinks") Woodlands Inn and Resort.

Ohh Temptation Mountain 5 (TM5), how I love thee....and if you've ever been before I'm thinking you might feel the same way. Ok so the mountains aren't huge and the snow doesn't have a 50' base, but TM5 is all about the love, the "slammin' entertainment," the gigantor hot tub, the copious amounts of jello shooters, the traditional pizza in bed on Sunday, etc.

This year 12 people have pulled together to join in the fun. About half have been before and half are newbies. As soon as we get back I'll be sure to post all the pictures so if you couldn't make it out this year you can at least see what you missed. ;)

Down with the Camel

2006-01-19T12:08:00.000-05:00

It seems that in the last couple of months I have really ramped up my water drinking. Not really conciously, but I find that at the end of a meal out I will have drank like 3-4 glasses of water, at work I'm always heading to the water tank to fill up my glass and at home I'm always in the refrig. filling up from the brita. Yet strangely I don't feel like my bathroom habits have changed. Where is all this water going? Do I have perhaps an invisible hump where it is all being stored?

Tony Cheng's Seafood Restaurant

2006-01-18T14:54:00.000-05:00

Well thanks to Kelly I was able to get that Chinese food that I've been thinking about since yesterday AM. I got the yummy Hunan Chicken combo (gotta love those peanuts) which came with a big bowl of soup and a happy little egg roll. The only bad part about the lunch was when we were seated next to the murky Lobster/Crab tank. A bit depressing to see them stuffed in there and knowing where they'll be headed next. Luckily Kelly had a better view of it. ;)

In case you haven't been here let me tell you about it. The quality of the food is better than most of the places in Chinatown (I've been working for the past year or so to visit everyone in order to make a 100% informed decision, but it's hard to not just go to Tony Cheng's.) Tony Cheng has two restaurants: the one on the bottom floor is a Mongolian Grill and the one upstairs is a "seafood restaurant", but they have all the regular fare you would expect. I'm sure the Mongolian grill is good, but if I want something like that I'll head to Flat Top. And if you are in Chinatown on the weekend they do Dim Sum there as well. I would say the one at Fortune near 7 corners is better, but this is a close 2nd. End of story is if you want Chinese food and you are near Chinatown go here. It may not be the best place ever, but it's the best place in comparison to the others around there.

Cafe Atlantico

2006-01-17T10:15:00.001-05:00

Looking for a good place to eat in DC? Got to Cafe Atlantico. The food rocks, the drinks rock, the service rocks, and overall (yeah you guessed it) it just plain rocks. Stegret and I visited on Saturday and made good use of the prix-fixe menu that they had available for restaurant week. Our reservations were for 9:30pm, but after a bit of a debacle on the metro (pre-dinner drinks during the football game led to a nice loooong nap that took us about 6 stops too far, whoopsie!) we didn't get seated until more like 10:15. Nobody complained though and we were happy to, despite our mistakes, be seated and served a lovely dinner.

I hope everyone is watching 24. If you aren't I feel sad for you. No one is cooler than Jack Bauer. Well maybe Cloe….she is like a Jack Bauer in training.

Humm…just had the sudden need for Chinese food. But that really doesn’t go well with my “Eat Healthy after you Pigged Out During the Holidays” diet.

Hot stuff.

2006-01-09T13:47:00.000-05:00

10:10am - Purchase cinnamon latte drink from Starbucks and have them put it in my Starbucks mug (10 cent discount baby!)

1:51pm – Drink is still warm (yes I know I’m still drinking the thing, but it’s really too much sugar to take in all at once – must meter myself to avoid sugar rush and the inevitable sugar induced nap)

It's all happening!

2006-01-09T10:19:00.000-05:00

The Wind shifted causing
random people to collide and
old friends to set out on new directions.
Things are coming to an end with
new things already underway.
It feels different, but comfortably familar.
If you need directions I'd ask someone else because
me I'm just along for the ride.

Over easy with a side of grits

2006-01-05T10:03:00.000-05:00

If you live in the DC area and you ride the metro then you know you are not suppose to eat or drink on it. Remember the lady who got arrested for having a bite of her PayDay candy bar in her mouth while going through the turnstile...granted I think she did say something nasty/rude to the officer, but still a bit extreme. Anyway the point here is you don't eat food and you don't drink drinks on the metro (full stop). And usually people follow this rule. Sure you'll get the random person now and again sneaking a sip out of their Starbucks mug or the baby nibbling on crackers, but overall people pretty much follow the rules. I remember once I stuck a piece of hard candy in my mouth because I was coughing and felt all guilty about it...like my fellow passengers were judging me and soon a secret food cop was going to jump out of the crowd and arrest me. But today there was this guy that all out didn't follow the rules. He whipped out of a bag an ENTIRE breakfast. Eggs, sausage, home fries...the works and he proceeded to eat it with no hesitations or side-ways glances. I almost wanted to report him, but figured that would make me dumber than him...can you imagine the ridicule I'd get if he was arrested and my face was put up in the Washington Post as the person who turned him in! Yoy...I'd never be able to ride the metro again! The more I think about it though the more I realize I was just mad because he wasn't sharing and those home fries looked mighty tasty. :)

I'm baaack!

2006-01-03T08:46:00.000-05:00

Wow what a long vacation! I think the combination of an Oregon trip and a 3 day weekend was just the right mix. The rest of the Oregon trip (after my last entry) went well. We had a beautiful day on Mt.Hood and an uneventful flight home (except when we almost missed the plane because we thought it left a half hour later!).

And after all that (and a fun New Year's Eve party) I am just so happy to be home. I feel like I need a big long nap under my fluffy down comforter with two pugs for company and warmth. Ohh puggers...so fun to have the back in the hizzouuussse!

Want to check out what Oregon looks like? Go here: Oregon Pictures

stuffed to the gills

2005-12-27T10:32:00.000-05:00

This holiday season is killing me. Around every corner is another tasty temptation and each one comes with it's own set of excuses: it's a holiday party! it's free! i've never had a real Philly cheesesteak before! Taco Time is only in Oregon! it's Christmas! these are the best fish and chips EVER! Anyway I'm nursing a cold and an enternally full belly and looking foward to rolling myself down Mt.Hood tomorrow (Meadows). The trip to Oregon (so far) has been great. Stegret and I have done so much, some things that I usually do and also a bunch of things that are new to me as well. Whenever I come here I am usually alone so I do a bunch of family stuff and forget that there is a whole big beautiful state surrounding me and just begging for me to explore it.

Christmas was a good time except for when my parent's 10' noble fir fell over smashing ornaments and spreading needles everywhere. And of course it happened an hour before we were having our big Christmas party/brunch. With a bunch of string and a bit of work we were able to get things back to semi-normal and if you didn't look to closely at the tree you'd never know what happened!

Pugs are enjoying their trip as usual, with so many laps around it's rare that they can't find a willing one. Carmen (the most spoiled chihuahua on earth) has been pretty good. Usually she barks non-stop, but this time she's managed to keep it under control and it has made for a much more quite and enjoyable time.

I hope everyone's chirstmas went well...I've got a bunch of pictures to post, but my motivation has been low since computer screens don't have as much draw when the ocean is just steps away.

Oh and just the other day when we were here a guy got bit by a shark! First time around here in 26 years. Nutty since I was right at the spot where it happened that same day. But I was in the car/walking around on the shore so no sharks were able to nibble on me!

Kyle (the snail) is dead

2005-12-13T09:59:00.000-05:00

He died. It's my fault. I knew the pH was too low and I should fix it before getting a new fish/fish like animal. I was just hoping he'd help eat up some organic matter that was causing the problem, but he was small and the task was big. I also thought he was sturdy because he has that hard shell, but I forgot about his squishy soft body. Bad me. I will now fix the tank pH on my own through a series of water changes/pH drops and then when it is back to 7.0 I will buy Kyle II and try again.

"Someday you are going to get hungry and eat most of the words you just said." - Ani DiFranco

Weekend Whirl

2005-12-12T10:59:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was a fun one. I managed to squeeze in a great dinner at Espisiotos with friends, a night of bowling, the ICF Holiday Party (see flickr for pictures), spend a night in the Wardman Park Marriot, work on pottery, get the majority of my christmas shopping done (Tysons was a MAD HOUSE!), have brunch at the Luna Cafe and work on my fish tank (The sucker fish I bought a long time ago has not been doing his job of cleaning since he learned he can just eat the pellets I put in so I bought a snail to take over - his name is Kyle). And now I'm at work and wishing we had nap time. :)

Ratner Holiday Party

2005-12-05T18:34:00.000-05:00

Limo Group
Originally uploaded by margejames.

I hope everyone doesn't mind, but as the Holiday Season rolls over us with its big meals, late nights and vacations the number of pictures I take (and consequently the number of subsequent blog entries I write) is going to increase. I just love taking pictures because it helps keep all the memories fresh. If all I had to go on was the pictures in my head I know things would get all muddled up. But with an actual physical (or digital) record I do much better!

So on to the most recent picture worthy event - Stegret's Holiday Party! Last year his company took us to a swanky bowling alley. This year they followed up that fun event with a dinner cruise on the Potomac. After the limo ride/tour through NOVA traffic ride my first stop on the boat was the bathroom. This picture was taken right outside the bathroom since it was also the first stop for everyone else in the limo. :) Anyway the boat set sail and despite forgetting my sea bands I didn't have any problems with sea sickness. At one point Stegret one a CSI board game and everyone got some fancy pen/highlighter thing that looked so much cooler before you knew what it was*.

Next on the list of Holiday Events is the ICF Party....bring it on!

*Do I have a couple more stories about this night that are more entertaining than a CSI board game or a pen/highlighter? Why of course!! Will I tell you on my blog? Why of course NOT!!

Oh how I love the Banana Phone

2005-12-02T16:44:00.000-05:00

bananaphone
Originally uploaded by margejames.

I love the Banana Phone song and you know what? After some quick googling I have determined that I am not alone in my obsession because many other people feel the same way and actually many other people love it EVEN more than I do. It has even been dubbed by some as the "World's Most Addictive Song". Which to some extent I must agree with. TThis thing will bore into your head like a happy little bug and lay banana shaped eggs that even weeks after you think they have gone hatch at the most inopportune times... So please join me in celebrating the pure awesomeness of the Banana Phone.

Badgers singing it

South Park kids singing it

The orginal version (for purchase on amazon)

The Lyrics

A Sunny Thanksgiving

2005-11-30T12:48:00.000-05:00

I always have room for Party Potatoes!!
Originally uploaded by margejames.

For Thanksgiving this year Stegret and I headed out to Florida to visit his family. The whole trip was relaxing and a great break from the norm. We spent the first couple of days just hanging out with his mom and running some errands. Of course the best errand was the shopping for Thanksgiving Dinner – I love the grocery store. Since his mom hadn’t been planning on cooking this year we made a deal with her that we’d cook everything if she took care of the turkey, stuffing and gravy. I planned out a bunch of dishes and then in my normal cooking fashion proceeded to make enough food for double the amount of people we had at dinner. Here’s a list of what I made:

• Cranberry Marshmellow Salad (can’t have Tday without this one!)
• Cranberry Compote
• Yams with marshmallows and raisins
• Fresh green beans
• Party Potatoes (these things rock!)
• Raviolis (ok so Stegret really made these, but I did help out!)

After Tday we headed out to Bocca and then South Beach to remember what night life was like. In Bocca we visited the beach and “Dr. Rob” (his brother). Dr. Rob has a sweet place which I’m not even going to try and describe because I won’t do it justice, but we took a lot of pictures so you can get the gist. In addition to having a nice place Dr. Rob is also a really great guy! Good stuff. We are both hoping that him and his gfriend come out and visit soon. After visiting with the bro we then headed off to South Beach. We found our hotel 5min before the final check-in time of midnight. Turns out our hotel was also a dance club. Go figure. Once Stegret found the checkin desk (it was next to the DJ) we were informed that we would not be staying there and had gotten an “upgrade”. The new place (The Chelsea) was a 98% gay art deco hotel that had really good pillows and an “Adult Safety Kit”. The hotel was decent enough, but they were really unorganized at the front desk. Both days I asked for a wake up call and both days I got none. They valet parked our car for us, but instead of the 20 min they told it would take to retrieve it took about an hour each time! Oh well there was a nice patio with umbrellas and couches that we could sit on and enjoy the sun while we waited for the car. The good news is when we checked out they accidentally only charged us for one night so it turned out to be quite a deal!

So it’s nice to be home, but when next month rolls around and we fly off to Oregon to visit my family I’m not going to complain!

Puggle Mania

2005-11-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

Puggle Puppy
Originally uploaded by margejames.

Apparently the newest dog is the "Puggle" which is a mix between a Beagle and a Pug. Although I'm sure it makes for a great dog due to the combo of the Beagle's smartness and the Pugs cuddleness I am going to have to say my vote is still for the OG pug. Maybe a puggle doesn't snore, but what's wrong with a dog that snores? I personally think it's V cute.

For more information on the Puggle go here.

Simple, but Happy

2005-11-16T12:10:00.000-05:00

Mini-Happiness Events (from today):

Finding out that my bagel from Sunday doesn't taste stale at all when toasted.
Finding an Express newspaper in the Train when I thought I wouldn't get one today since the guy who usually hands them out was missing.
Discovering that my last DanActive was Mixed Fruit when I thought it was Vanilla (like the fruit much better).
Wearing a new sweater (even if it sheds a bit on my black pants).
Hitting the snooze button 3 times and still not being late to work.
Basking in the after-glow of a tasty Taco Tuesday and an awesome episode of Nip/Tuck. (There were 15 bonus minutes!!)
Thinking about my vacation to Florida next week with Stegret to meet his mom/grandparents and eat some Turkey.
The fact that it is only 9 in the AM and I have the whole day to go!

Hope everyone else's day is going swimmingly as well!

Linens & Things (update)

2005-11-10T17:34:00.000-05:00

Just a friendly update (c/0 my PI Jill) . The Linens and Things in Loheman's Plaza now has everything in the store for 50% off (in fact it may be even more since this was reported to me a couple of days ago). The store closes on Nov 13th so get on over there!!

(And if you have any Linens and Things or Bed Bath and Beyond coupons round them up because they'll take 'em!!)

5:23pm - I went and the good news is everything is actually 75% off and they will take as many coupons as you have, but the bad news is that it is almost all crap. So unless you need any of the following items don't waste your time (esp. since I think I found the remaining 5 items in the store that were worth buying):

pillow shams
window valances
wash cloths
bed skirts
decorative boxes to pull your tissues out of
replacement parts for old Shark handheld devices
wall paper borders

Caught on Tape! (or not)

2005-11-09T13:44:00.000-05:00

Quad_Cane
Originally uploaded by margejames.

As I was waiting to cross the street I hear this lady yelling. So I turn my head and see this woman chasing down a bus trying to get the driver to wait for her. Nothing unusual here. EXCEPT the woman has a cane and it's not a decorative one it's one of the hard core metal ones with the 4 feet (see picture). And she's running after the bus, no limp, no nothing. What is up with that? I think she must be one of those people who claim disability to get $$ and then end up on a TV show caught by some insurance guy running when they said they could barley walk. If only I had a video camera I could have recorded her fraud and made money off of it. ;)

More Boobday Pics!

2005-11-08T14:32:00.000-05:00

vikings&me
Originally uploaded by margejames.

Yaneen has posted all of her fun Boobday pictures!!!

I borrowed some for my Flickr site, but if you want to see the whole set you'll have to visit Yaneen's kodak gallery.

Welcome!!

2005-11-07T03:23:00.000-05:00

Well, after much debate and thinking I have moved my blog. I've done this for many reasons, but here are a few:

Blogger is part of a bigger community.
Blogger is related to google - all things google are good right?
A lot of people use blogger so the likely hood of problems might be less.

Things I will miss:

The flexibility/customizability of the old blog (even though I rarely took advantage of this).
My long loved and passed around URL. May it RIP.
Because a lot of people use blogger I might have more problems.

Thanks to all who have made the switch with me...expect more of the same just at a different URL.