Spring Sprang Sprung

Yep, I was awoken by VERY loud birds on Monday morning (apparently the chick on the next block is SUPER HOT!), and lots of the trees have begun to bud, but we had cold rain Monday afternoon and Tuesday, and my allergies are going haywire. Must be Spring in DC!

And I say BRING IT ON! My toenails are painted paink, my fingernails got the deep purple treatment, and I'm ready for the sun!

The milk of human kindness... or is that coffee?

This morning was turning out to be crap. My allergies are in full-blown "It's SPRING dangit!" mode and my bus misadventures just seem to continue to haunt me on Monday mornings. BUT, as it turned out my bus came shortly after the (running very late) other bus route and got me down to work pretty much on time. I stopped by Corner Bakery as I do just about every day, ordered my coffee and a panini because I was hungry and then looked into my ginormous bag for my wallet... and looked... and looked... and... Crap! I left my wallet on my couch after I used it to add money to my laundry card yesterday!

I looked up to the cashier and said, "Uh, I have a problem! I think I left my wallet at home!" I was about to cancel everything and walk away, but she put the coffee cup up on the counter and said, "Oh no problem, you get your coffee and food today, and pay us tomorrow." At first I thought she was just going to give me a free coffee, but no, she trusted me to come back tomorrow and pay for the whole thing! "You're a regular customer, no problem!"

So, yes, I got my bacon and cheddar panini (I'm sure it's extremely healthy for you), and the best coffee in town, and walked to work smiling. And then I saw the guy walking his corgi... and I smiled even bigger!

What a nice start to the week! And it could have been so much worse! ;-)

Balderdash, anyone?

Have you ever noticed the words you have to enter when you are posting a comment or getting tickets to something online? You know, the text is all wonky



I think it's supposed to make sure it's a human trying to do whatever you're trying to do. I kinda like the idea that it assumes that a computer can't read wonky text, but sometimes they get really out of hand and even *I* can't read the wonky text!

But, what has caught my attention the most lately is not the weirdness of the text, but the text itself. Have you noticed the WORDS being used? Here is a sampling of the words I've seen lately (and yes, I am just that ana…um… METICULOUS... why?):

• outsupen
• gulcater
• haliseab
• resoze
• undster
• calumme
• hyperst
• gisel
• scrystsh
• tmentio
• snesse
• aedogi

Are those even words? Some of them seem SOOOOO close to being words, but well, I just don't think so… Sounds a bit like a Balderdash game, doesn't it? Can you put it in a sentence, Alex?

I bet I can outsupen you in the gulcater, but you'll have to resoze the hyperst or it will be a calumme! Don't tmentio it to your undster, just scrystsh the haliseab and we'll be gisel. Aedogi?

(Snesse!) Bless you!

*heeheehee*

How much is that doggie...?

I have to introduce you to my favorite dog of the whole show... Ron the Rottie: I was walking around and saw this Rottweiler just chillin' between his owner and handler, who were talking to each other and ignoring him completely.


I asked if I could take a picture and got to meet Ron


Shortly after this picture was taken, I put my hand out for him to sniff so I could pet him. He licked it. Then he licked my wrist. And then up my arm, and then LICK LICK LICK LICK alllllll over my nose and face! His owner was horrified, but I was giggling madly with my arm over his shoulders laughing, "It's PERFECT! I love it!" hahaha

I heart Ron...

Kickin' the bucket... no, not that bucket!

I was lucky enough to go to the Westminster Kennel Club show last week. My preferred dog didn't win, but then, I really couldn't pin down just ONE dog that I wanted to win! :-) I had a WONDERFUL time and met at least 100 different dogs. Some were too buys working, some were sacked out, some were being silly, and one decided to lick me all over. Wow, what a dog fix! (I have to have those regularly or I go into cataplexy... luckily, there are a LOT of dogs in my neighborhood!) And yes, the pun was intended...

ANYWAY - I'll probably do another post about my ginormous dog fix later, but one of my friends reminded me of how lucky I was to be able to go to this show. And I realized that I'm kinda going through a bucket list of sorts.

So, I decided to start writing it down, and realized that sports are a large part of my life. And music. And traveling. And doing stupid things. And doing things for others. I think this is the start of something. I've already checked off the things I've already done at least once, but that doesn't mean I can't do them again!

I'm sure that my list will grow and change, but here it is so far, in no particular order...

• Go to the Olympics:
• Summer - (Atlanta 1996)
• Winter -
• Go to Westminster Kennel Club show - (2010)
• Attend something amazing and historical on the Mall in DC - (Bill Clinton Inauguration, Jan. 1993)
• Run a marathon - (Baltimore 2003)
• See a Broadway show (on Broadway) - (Spamalot, Lestat (awful!), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Equus)
• Go to the Stanley Cup finals
• Go to the World Cup finals
• Go to Wimbledon (the whole dang thing!)
• Go to the Super Bowl
• Go to the World Series
• Sing the Messiah in a choir
• Jump out of an airplane for no good reason
• Play "Rhapsody in Blue" in concert, preferably at Carnegie Hall (Guess I have to finish learning the piece first!)
• Hike the Appalachian Trail
• See Elton John and Billy Joel play together
• Go to Ireland, Scotland, Wales
  
• Go to Australia & New Zealand
• Take a cruise
• Go to Canada
• Visit every continent
• Start a charity/non-profit
  
• To help runaway teens
  
• To help shelter animals
  
• To feed the hungry
• To clothe and house the homeless
• To support our military personnel and their families
  
• Shake hands with the President of the USA
  
• Have a beer with Russell Crowe
• Ride a roller coaster in every state that has one
• Go back up Laan Tau and stay in Cabin #18
• Record a song with my nephew
• Stop crying at the ASPCA ads with Sarah McLaughlin's "Angel" playing... sob sob sob
• Get a house with a huge yard so I can have about 10 dogs! (From the shelter, natch!)

p.s. Pics from my doggie weekend are here

There's SNOW business like SNOW business like SNOW business I knowwwww....

Snowzilla, snowpocalypse, snowgasm, snowbama, whatever you want to call it... It's HERE!

Here in DC, we've had a LOT of snow this year, and right now, we're going through the BIGGIE! A local newsman (Pat Collins, NBC4) is stationed three blocks away and measured about 16" of snow at around 9am this morning. (p.s. upgraded to 23" at 12n-ish) Aaaaaaand, we're expecting another 10-12" when the "big" snow falls this afternoon. FUN!

No, I really mean it! FUN!!!!

DC is not equipped to handle this kind of snow, but it's doing OK, considering. The Metro is limited to the underground stations and there's no bus service since we hit 8" accumulation, but the road crews have been working all night and have gotten the main roads fairly clear. Well, they're still covered, but the snow is all nice and smooth... for the most part. ;-)

Started out the day yesterday with a 1/2 day working from home, then went and braved the grocery store. Not sure why since all the shelves were empty!

Got home, took a shower, and then went down to join Daphne and other friends at Nanny's. I walked in and asked "Who are all these people and WHY are they crowding up MY PUB????" I guess a few other people had the same idea. Regardless, we had a great time and chatted with friends, watched the Caps game (#13 in a row, woohoo!) at Aroma, and went down to Murphy's to see her boyfriend play. I was planning to get "stranded" at Daphne's house last night, but... I wanted to wake up in my own bed!


So I decided to take the metro and trudge the four blocks home. I started trying to walk through the 8-10" of unshoveled snow on the sidewalk, but ended up walking in the street (toward traffic so I could see it coming), along with a LOT of other people. And that was a piece of cake! Well, except when the snowplow came by and I had to jump to the side - and straight into the thigh-high snow! But it was fun, and I got home feeling like I'd had a hard-core work-out and fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the pillow.

This morning was an early awakening when Calypso (aka Pyschokitty) wanted to get under the covers with me because the snow had started up again in earnest and was clicking against the window. Sure is nicer to have a snuggle bug on a snowy day vs. being stuck alone, by myself, and all by my lonesome in a 4BR house with no other living creatures! (i.e. 1996 snowstorm from hell aka "When Giggles loses all of her marbles"). And then my sister called because texting takes too long. :-) After a bowl of tomato soup and a cheese sandwich (Mm Mm Good!), I'm debating right now over staying at home and sleeping or getting my butt off the couch and going for a walk, or maybe even checking out the Official Dupont Circle Snowball Fight in, surprisingly enough, Dupont Circle.

Actually that last one sounds like the most fun... not necessarily to participate, but to go down and get Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee while taking pictures. YUM! And it's all on the metro, so all I'd have to do is walk to and from the metro again.

Zzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzzz OH! Wha-huh? Oh sorry, snoozed off there for a sec... so maybe it will be option #1 after all!

Have a safe and warm weekend, Giggles OUT!

NOTE: These are all pics from my phone. I took a lot of other pictures with my "real" camera and as soon as I can find the cord, I'll upload those and post them as well.

Stress management 101

My friend Daphne is having a bad day. Someone (who we shall call "Miranda") drove her so crazy that she punched the phone. So, being the friend I am, I tried to help... via gmail chat:

me: Sounds like you need to go outside, find a park, raise your arms above your head as you face the sky, screaming your lungs out. Or go throw darts at Miranda's face...

[about 15 minutes later] Daphne: Hey, it worked!

me: Which one?

Daphne: The first.

me: Screaming is always good - less destructive too. Of course, the homeless people in the park might think you belong there...

Daphne: They high fived me

me: LOL - excellent! you're making new friends! LOL

Daphne: yeah. They agreed Miranda's a bitch.

me: bwahahaha


And my work is done...