Advance Movie Screening: Amelia

I get these free advanced movie screening passes every so often (seems like once a week lately) and last night was no different. I got to see Amelia, starring Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart. I'm a huge fan of Amelia Earhart's. I wrote my first in-depth research paper in college about her and her feminism, plus my grandmother always claimed that she was a distant relative of ours. I never really believed her since she never could explain the connection but who knows? Anyway, I was eager to see the movie because of the story it told, not so much because of Hilary Swank. She is one of those actresses that I'm not a big fan of. Personally, I mean. When I've seen her on talk shows, there's just something about her that I don't like. Her acting is fine enough. That being said, I found her really grating as Amelia. There is talk (supposedly) of her being nominated or even winning another Oscar for this portrayal and wow, I hope not. Maybe Amelia herself was grating so Hilary did a bang-up job but I think it was more the performance that was grating. I was more fascinated with how they were able to make her so full of freckles, which I'm pretty sure are not natural to Hilary.

As far as the movie goes, it was your average biopic. They overdramatized some stuff and left out a lot of information but it showed an interesting snapshot of her life from the time she was asked to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic until she passed away - basically it's Amelia in her 30s minus one flashback. If the ending happened exactly as portrayed, then it's ridiculous that there have been any rumors that she survived. They were literally in the middle of nowhere.

I would recommend this as a rental or a wait-for-cable viewing unless you are desperately fascinated about Amelia Earhart.

Lebron James stalking

The pride of Northeast Ohio, Lebron James, is making the TV talk show rounds to promote his new book and upcoming movie. He'll be on The View on Monday and Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday night (with former President Bill Clinton so that will be a good show all around). Then he'll fly to Los Angeles and show up on Jay Leno's new 10pm show and Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday.

I'll be watching them all, of course, but I hope they don't all go like his appearance on The Daily Show (see clip below), which was full of wooing. Uh no. Thankfully Jon didn't have much to offer.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
LeBron James
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

After that, he'll return to Cleveland for Training Camp! I'm really excited about this season and already have plans to go see the team a few times this season.

Traveling, traveling

I do enjoy traveling but I feel like I've been away from home forever. A month ago today, I got back from a family vacation in South Carolina (so I was gone a whole week before that) and in that month, I went to New York City for four days for a wedding, made a road trip to rural Virginia with some friends, and went to Chicago twice for work. Plus, my brother and his family came to visit for 4 days so I spent a few days touring DC with them so even though I was home, it still felt like I was playing tourist for that weekend, too. All my trips were pretty fun. It pretty much rained the entire time in Hilton Head, SC, but at least it was really relaxing. New York City was amazing - the first time I'd been there. Even Chicago turned out okay. This last trip I got to hang out with my college roommate for a few hours. I took a ton of pictures that I may link to eventually but I'm really looking forward to having a few weekends of relaxation and staying at home and getting things back to normal! My next trip is three weeks from today - I'll be heading back to Cleveland for 5 days.

SpeedCine - The Fast Way to Find Legal Movies Online

One of the librarian email lists that I'm on sent around something about this site, SpeedCine, which lets you search and browse for free movies available online. Once you find a movie, it tells you where you can find it online, either for free or for a fee. It's pretty cool. I can see it being useful. It even contains direct links so you can get right to the movie.

"Tiny librarian is hell on wheels"

Cute story with video about a librarian in Akron, OH, who is also a Roller Derby girl. My favorite part of the story is that her number on her playing jersey is "796.21 -- the Dewey Decimal library index number for skating." Heh.

'Time Traveler's Wife' Series Travels to ABC

Woo woo, this is my 1000th post! Too bad it wasn't a bit more substantial. But I am excited to hear that they might turn The Time Traveler's Wife into a TV series. Makes more sense than a movie because it's a confusing tale to tell to trim down to 2 hours. And I loved the book. (via)

Guess where I'm going next week?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Thank You, South Carolina!
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Headed to vacation in South Carolina on Sunday! Looks like I may see some interesting characters.

The Superstars Champs are Crowned

I've been watching The Superstars on ABC this summer. Right up my alley... sports plus celebrities trying something out of their element. I will pretty much watch anything that has celebrities trying something out of their element. It was enjoyable enough. I'd recommend it. All the episodes are available on Hulu. If you want to watch, then I'd suggest you stop reading though because I'm going to spoil the winners.

See, the show paired professional athletes with celebrities and the athletes/celebs competed as teams. The problem is that one of the celebrities was Maks from Dancing with the Stars. A professional dancer was one of the celebrities? But isn't he also a professional athlete? Seems like a ringer to me. And it's no surprise that his team won! They basically dominated the entire show, winning something like 8 of 14 events. Even expecting the outcome, it wasn't a bad show though.

"Netflix to stream early seasons of 'Lost,' others"

This news about Netflix streaming the first five seasons of Lost plus some of the older seasons of Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives is great news to me, even though I've already seen all those seasons. Now that I have a Tivo, I'm able to watch their streaming stuff directly on my television so anytime I want to watch an old episode of Lost, it will be easy to pull up on my TV!! (via)

That reminds me that I've meant to do a review of my Tivo. I should do that soon.

Going crazy?

Maybe a month or so ago my closet door broke in my bedroom. The doors are full-length mirror doors that slide. What happened was the back door's frame broke away from the mirror part. I didn't hurry to call maintenance to come fix the door because my bedroom was a mess. Plus, the door still basically worked. It was just a little tougher to slide it. It's been a few weeks now and I still haven't gotten around to calling. But yesterday I noticed that the door is fixed! I don't understand it! Did maintenance come in and do some sort of checkup and fix it on their own without telling me? Did it somehow fix itself? I have absolutely no idea but I guess the latter option makes more sense... maybe one time when it got pushed to the end of the closet, it reattached itself. But it sure is on there securely now and I had tried to reattach it when it first broke and it was way too heavy. So, so crazy. I wish I knew what happened.

Two Good Summer Movies

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend advanced screenings for two upcoming summer movies and both were really good so I highly recommend them.

The first was Julie & Julia, which opens August 7th. It stars Amy Adams and Meryl Streep as Julie Powell and Julia Child, respectively. Both do a great job! This movie is based on a book of the same name, which ironically has been suggested as a book club book at one of my book clubs probably at least 5 times and I've never had any desire to read it. The movie is a little different from the book because it's adapted not only from Julie Powell's book (where she decides to cook her way through a Julia Child cookbook in a year's time) but also from Julia Child's book. So, while you are seeing Julie's experience as she struggles with this project and attempts to find meaning in her life, you simultaneously learn about Julia Child. Anyway, it's really good. I'm not sure I'm doing a good job of selling it.

The second movie, (500) Days of Summer, is a romantic comedy, I guess, but so not cliched like most romantic comedies are (but don't get me wrong, the cliched romantic comedy is not always a bad thing!). This movie follows a guy (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the 500 days of his relationship with Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel. The movie states from the first sentence that this is not a love story and I guess it really isn't but it's really funny and clever and enjoyable. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is maybe best known for playing the kid in 3rd Rock from the Sun, does such a great job and looks so adorable in all the sweater vests he wears. I don't want to spoil it or anything but it's very good. Go see it.

I Want One: Crocs Coasters

It's funny that I don't find Crocs that cute when they are actually on someone's feet but these little Crocs coasters are adorable. And on sale! (via)

Pet Airways

So now there is an airline solely for pets. Interesting. It seems remarkable that there is a service for this but I suppose people need to transport their pets across the country and don't want to ride with them in the car. Right now, it looks like only cats and dogs are eligible but soon reptiles, birds, and even pigs will be welcome! But judging from the content on the site, the pets are taken care of very well.

Some of the pictures on the site are really funny and it seems like they have sort of a tongue-in-cheek approach, so good for them, but the constant use of "pawsengers" is a little annoying.(via)

Power Outage

Ugh. Our power went out last night around 11:30ish. Again. It was just a few weeks ago when our power went out at night for about 5 hours. The power company supposedly caused an intentional power outage in late May to update our lines so that unplanned outages wouldn't occur. Now it's been twice since that happened that not only did we have unplanned outages, but they were lengthy outages. Before that, I don't think we had a single outage the entire 16 months I'd lived here. This time, the power didn't come back on until about 11:30am. So, yes, 12 hours. The weirdest thing is that a few hours after the power went out, they restored partial service. This meant that only one in four of the outlets in my room worked, that our kitchen light worked but our refrigerator had no power. The bathroom light worked but the outlet in there didn't. Our air conditioner didn't work... etc, etc. It was really odd and ridiculously inconvenient. Thankfully, the outlet that operates the fan that I sleep with was the one outlet in my room that stayed on all night so I didn't die from heat exhaustion.

Flowers!

A couple weeks ago, we were having our monthly office birthday party when someone brought flowers into the board room and said the flower delivery was for me! How exciting! I couldn't for the life of me figure out who would have sent me flowers but it was a very pretty arrangement (see below!). Turns out one of the chairpeople I work with regularly as part of my job felt I deserved flowers so she had them sent to me. The card said, "Thanks for all you do!" It was so sweet and unexpected. So I thought I'd share and show everyone a pic of the flowers. And my messy office.

"Top 10 Longest Novels in the English Language"

In other words, here are ten books I will definitely avoid. I hate reading long books. (via)

The Real World comes to DC

Big news in DC is the upcoming filming of the next season of The Real World, MTV's long-running reality show. There have been reports all over DC news sites and blogs on which house is being remodeled for the seven strangers to move into... and I've been following it all with an interested eye. Here's the latest news, with pictures of the reported house at 2000 S St. NW! There are some pictures of the inside of the house here, too.

I haven't watched The Real World in, oh, maybe 5 years or more (probably way more) but anytime a TV show or movie is going to shoot nearby, it catches my eye. And, it really amuses me to read the snarky comments that appear at the end of every speculative blog post about how the kids are going to ruin the city and make going to your favorite hangouts impossible. One neighbor to the new house has even started a blog. Very entertaining.

Library Moms

I just came across this article and enjoyed it as it lists some celebrities and famous people who had moms who were librarians. Morrissey, B.J. Armstrong, Emily from the Indigo Girls... all had librarian moms. Pretty cool. Tim Gunn's mom helped set up the CIA library!! (via)

I Want One: Lighted Tweezers

These Lighted Slant Tweezers by Tweezerman seem pretty sweet. I've always heard good things about Tweezerman slant tweezers but to add a little light to them - cool! Sometimes a little extra light while plucking would be fantastic. They are $25 but I kinda feel like that might be worth it. (via)

H Street Country Club

This H Street Country Club place looks kinda cool. They have an actual miniature golf course inside the bar. Restaurant. Whatever. I guess it just opened today. And it's Mexican food. Yum! I'll have to check it out sometime. (via)

Good Luck Story

This evening after work, I was waiting for the train to come and sitting on a bench and reading. When the train came, I got on, not realizing that I apparently had dropped my Smartrip card - which holds my fare and saved fare of over $250! I rode my two stops and got off the train and tried to find my card that allows me to pay and exit. This was when I realized that my card was nowhere to be found. It wasn't in my pockets; it wasn't in my bag; it wasn't in my book. It was nowhere. I didn't even know how you exit the train station without the card. I mean, you have to swipe it when you enter and swipe it when you leave so what happens if you lose it in the middle of your trip? The train going the other way arrived so I hopped on it, thinking not too much time had passed so maybe if I went back to where I got on, I would find my card lying on the ground or something. So I rode the two stops again, got off, went to where I had been sitting and sure enough there was my card on the ground, untouched! Someone was nearly standing on it but hadn't picked it up. Phew! I retrieved it and rode the train AGAIN and got off at my stop and walked home. What a relief. Thank god no one stole it. I think I had two things working in my favor. One, I didn't get on the train at my regular stop right by work, which is always really busy and crowded. I walked to the library after work and got on at the next stop east, which is always pretty empty. Two, I have an Obama card rather than a regular one (further down that page). Most people have the regular one and aren't even aware that there is an Obama one, so I think some potential thieves could have walked right by it not realizing what it was. Phew!

Post Hunt

Also this weekend, I participated in the Post Hunt. It's like a scavenger hunt (sponsored by the Washington Post) where instead of having to find objects, you try to solve puzzles around the downtown DC area. Puzzles that are set up specifically for the event, I should add. It was tough! And pretty hard to explain. There is lots of info and some videos if you go that link, though. Let's just say that we didn't win. We had a team of six and we were pretty stumped, particularly by the statues puzzle. Although the winners were local, the 2nd place team was from Arizona and the 3rd place team was from Florida. People travel all over the country to do this? Crazy. It was definitely fun but it also made me feel way stupid.

Side note: Dave Barry was there! Does he count as a celebrity? I think so. He's one of the founders of the Hunt.

GI Film Festival

Last Wednesday, I found out I won a free VIP pass to the GI Film Festival! It was an all-access pass to all the movies that were playing, including some VIP movie showings and receptions. Plus, it included a gift pack with some free T-shirts, movies and other swag. Pretty exciting! They promised celebrities at the receptions and well, say no more, if there are going to be celebrities, I'm there!

So the first VIP event was Thursday and it included a showing of Valkyrie as well as a reception afterwards. The movie was actually pretty good (even if we all know how it turns out) and one of the producers was there to answer questions and talk about the filming. It was pretty interesting. As far as "celebrities" go, there was Faizon Love, Karri Turner, and Leann Tweeden (who I'm shocked to learn is only 35 - sorry). No I did not know who they were, other than possibly having heard their names before. Then, at the end of the screening, the organizers announced that Stephen Baldwin was also there! Finally someone I'd recognize on sight. And, indeed, he was there. I saw him myself. Also possibly at the event was the notorious Scooter Libby. I might be wrong but I swear I heard someone being introduced as Scooter Libby and the picture on Wikipedia looks enough like him that I'm just going to go with it. I don't know if I've ever knowingly been in the room with a convicted felon before!

On Friday night, there was another reception and then the showing of Taking Chance, which debuted on HBO recently. It was really enjoyable and supposedly, Kevin Bacon and the movie's director and co-writer were supposed to be in attendance. Uh no. However, the real person who Kevin plays was there and told us his story and answered questions after the movie so that was pretty cool. As far as celebrities go, Stephen Baldwin was there again and so was Jeffrey Ross. Who we talked to!! My friend Elizabeth saw Jeffrey first and decided we should go talk to him and before I could say, "What will we say?" she was already there talking to him!

Here's how our conversation went:

Elizabeth: I was really rooting for you on Dancing with the Stars. It's too bad you got eliminated.

Jeffrey: Thanks! But you should watch on Tuesday! I'll be there to roast the finalists.

Me: Oh yeah, you're a great roastist!

Me: Wait, is that what it's called... someone who roasts?

Jeffrey: Hmm, I think it's "roastmaster?" But roastist... I like that!

Elizabeth: Good luck!

And that was about it. So if he uses the word "roastist" tonight, you can thank me. Because I'm sure a well-paid, professional comedian relies on random strangers to provide him with vocabulary. Anyway, it was exciting and he couldn't have been nicer. A side note: We didn't even try to talk to Stephen Baldwin. However, I should have offered my hand for him to shake. I shook Joan Rivers' hand a few months ago and she went on to win Celebrity Apprentice. He could use my special powers as he heads off to do I'm a Celebrity... Get me Out of Here.

Yes! We have power!!

We got this notice a few days ago that the power company would be turning off our power from 8pm tonight to 6am tomorrow. Which sucks, of course. Who wants to walk around in the dark with only candles and flashlights to get by? And not in the middle of prime time television! Supposedly this "planned" outage will prevent future "unplanned" outages so fine, I mean, I guess it's worth it. But, personally, I think it would make more sense to have it during the day.

Anyway, the kicker of the whole thing was that the letter actually said the planned power outage would be from "8pm on Thursday May 18 to 6am on Friday May 19". A quick look at a calendar will make it obvious that there is no Thursday May 18 this year. So do they mean this Thursday & Friday? Or do they mean the 18th and the 19th? Yeah, how nice of them to be so clear. A couple neighbors & I discussed it and one concluded that it must be the Thursday & Friday that is accurate since there was a makeup date of Thursday May 21st-Friday May 22nd. All right, it makes a certain amount of sense.

So I was out tonight and got back around midnight, fully expecting the power to be out. But nope! It did rain for awhile, so maybe that was problematic and would cause a postponement to the make-up date. Or maybe it will be out on the 18th. Who knows? All I know is that I am glad it's on tonight.

"It's Official: Disney Joins Hulu"

This is the best TV news I've heard in awhile! I was going to post about it a month or so ago when it was just a rumor but this is even better! I watch a lot of TV online and Hulu has, by far, the best platform for watching shows. I rarely have loading problems or picture problems when I'm watching Hulu and I cannot say the same for the ABC/Disney platform. Plus, the ability to queue videos, to set subscriptions so the newest episodes automatically queue, to embed videos or parts of videos (whatever parts you choose!) into your web site or share with others via email.... there are really a zillion things to love about Hulu and since I do watch a ton of ABC or ABC Family shows, it will just be great. The other small benefit here is that while all the platforms show short ads, with Hulu it automatically connects back to the program after the ad. The current Disney platform requires the user to "Click to Continue," which is kind of a pain in the butt. I just hope with all the added programming (and presumably users), there won't suddenly be viewing problems. (via)

Big Sports Weekend

It was over 90 degrees this weekend - way too hot for April - so I spent some of my time indoors watching sports! The NFL draft was on and I eagerly awaited the Browns pick at #5... which they promptly traded away for pick #17. Then, when it was time for pick #17, guess what? They traded that away for #19. And then, when it was time for #19, they traded it away YET again. Finally, at the 21st pick, they picked Alex Mack, a center from California. A center? Bor-ing!

More exciting news was that the Cavs won their playoff series against the Pistons in a four-game sweep. It was pretty much no contest the entire series and now they get at least a week off while the other series battle it out. I tell you, it's so strange to have a team that is the #1 seed, that is dominant over other teams and is basically expected to win. A team from Cleveland doing that? Seems so wrong.

In other weekend news, I went out to dinner on Friday night, saw a movie with a friend on Saturday and ran some errands (including a trip to Wegmans!!) on Sunday. Very exciting stuff. I also have a persistent cough. I hope it's not swine flu.

Work Happy Hour

I organized a work happy hour since we haven't had one in a few months (I think January was the last one) and for awhile had been doing them once a month. Throughout the day, it seemed like more and more people were telling me, "Oh, I can't go now" so I expected a paltry turnout but we ended up with 8 people over the course of a couple hours. Out of 24 employees, I don't think that's too bad. Comparing it to the librarian happy hours we organize, where we also often get 8 people, it's actually fantastic. I mean, the librarian happy hour pool is at least a couple hundred.

I Want One: Zip-It Necklace

How cute are these zipper necklaces? I really like them, but I wonder how much Au$50 translates to in US$? Also, you know how you can catch your skin in zippers and it hurts like hell? Will that happen with this necklace? (via)

Drenched!

I got so wet walking home from work today (well, from the subway stop). I saw the storm coming and was hurrying home to avoid it but I was still about 5 minutes away when it started pouring. Yes, I did have an umbrella, but the puddles formed so quickly that my shoes and the bottom of my pants got soaked. Yuck. At least I was heading home, though, and could change when I got there.

There was a huge package waiting in the lobby for my roommate when I got home. It was long and skinny, maybe 7 feet long. I thought it was skis. Normally, I might bring it up to our apartment so it doesn't get stolen, but there was no way I was going to drag this thing up there. Does that make me a bad roommate? I don't care, though, because I despise my roommate.

Go Cavs!

I'm so excited now that the NBA Playoffs have started. Basketball is my favorite sports and it's especially exciting that the Cavs are pretty much a favorite to head to the Finals, if not win it all. All kinds of accolades are heading their way, including Coach Mike Brown being named NBA Coach of the Year yesterday! Yay! LeBron is considered a shoo-in for the MVP award and here's a great article on why.

Anyway, Game 2 against the Pistons tonight. Go Cavs!

Happy April!

I really don't post much on my blog anymore, do I? Well here's three recent happenings...

#1 - I got my laptop! Yes, in fact, I'm using it right now. It came early, last Tuesday. However, it wasn't without some drama. I checked the tracking info and it said "Item delivered!" Except, no it wasn't delivered. I checked all over the office and it was nowhere. So I called FedEx and the woman seriously said, "It was supposed to go to 4350 and it went to 4250; is that the same place?" Umm, no, no it's not. But luckily the FedEx guy corrected his mistake before the day was over and I walked home with my brand new, shiny, pretty laptop. I've been using it and enjoying it, especially because...

#2 - I've been sick. Yeah, yuck. Just major congestion, making breathing difficult and giving me an awful, awful headache. Allergies are very very common here so everyone asks me if I was sure that it was a cold and not allergies but I'm pretty sure it's just a cold. I mean, I could possibly develop allergies but I've never had them before and here we are like 72 hours after I started feeling sick and I'm already feeling better. I don't think allergies go away that quickly do they? Anyway I did miss two full days of work (in an already short week!) but feel much better as I type here. Thank God for Mucinex D.

#3 - Work has been pretty busy but in a manageable way. They sent me to Chicago last week for two days so it's always fun to get out of the office (although I won't deny that the traveling probably contributed to me getting sick). Even though we really only hung out by O'Hare, a coworker & I stayed an extra night to head downtown. We were going to see Second City but things didn't work out so instead we hit a nice restaurant next door and then walked around Rush Street.

I Bought a Laptop!

Yes, it's very exciting news to me because I've never had a laptop before, even though I've wanted one for years and even though it would have come in really handy when I was in grad school. Instead, I've been stuck to a desk anytime I wanted to use my computer for the last 10 or 12 years, however long I've owned a PC. Right now the plan is to keep the desktop too but since it's from 2002 (or 2003 maybe?), it's quite a few years old and I'm guessing the laptop is going to be so much quicker and faster and exciting and, of course, portable! So it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that I stop using my desktop. Anyway, it seemed like a good deal and I have tax refund money so I finally broke down and bought it. It's supposed to arrive on April 8th. Oh, and you're welcome, economy.

Turned Away

So I'm a big Coke drinker (Coke Zero actually). Anyone who knows me probably already knows this. For work, I've taken to buying 2 liters and keeping them in my office since we have ice readily available and then instead of spending about $1.50 per 12 ounces at the little convenient store in our building, I'm spending about $1.50 for a 2 liter that generally lasts me a week. The problem is that since I don't drive to work anymore, that means I either have to carry the 2 liter on my 10 minute walk to the subway (not very desirable since I'm not kind of a wuss) or I make an occasional trip to work on the weekends and drop off some 2 liters. The latter is what I planned to do today. A grocery store here is selling all its 2 liters for 10 for $10 so I stocked up and thought I would drop like 4 or 5 off at work. Otherwise, they sit in my car. I armed myself with four 2 liters and headed into the building carefully (that's heavy!) and when I got up to our office, I couldn't get in! We have three doors and the door entry code would not work on ANY of the doors. Ugh, I was so frustrated. Usually, the only time we change the door code is when someone leaves and considering I was at work until 6:30pm Friday night, I'm pretty positive no one just up and quit over the weekend. So what's the deal? I'm really annoyed. I came home and checked my work email and there isn't even an answer there. The only thing I can guess is that somehow the daylight savings switch affected it? Who knows? But I do know that all our office bigwigs are out of town until Thursday at a seminar so I can hope that this means we won't be able to come into the office for three days. Maybe?

Obama at the Wizards game

My friends & I went to the Wizards-Bulls game on Friday night (see proof here) and also there was President Obama! Very exciting, no? I think he got more applause every time he arrived and/or left than the team did, even though they pulled out a rare victory. Here's my pic of him, although it is probably difficult to tell which one he is even when you click on it and enlarge it. (Hint: He's in the front row wearing all black and sitting next to some kid.)



So, here are some links to some people with better shots of the event... here, here and here.

"Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems"

Reading through some articles I've bookmarked, this one is really fascinating! Some of my favorite tips:

• If you find yourself without your cell phone charger and your phone is dying, put it in the refrigerator. The cold slows down the draining of the battery.
• When you're low on printer ink, put the ink cartridge under the hair dryer and warm it up. It will give you a couple more pages of printing.
• Instead of buying DVD/CD cleaner, use mouthwash or vodka.
  
• If your hard drive crashes, stick it in the freezer.

There are more tips there. Very interesting.

"Recession Has People Running to Library"

This news story is not unique - there are tons of stories out there now on how library usage is up with the economy sucking so much (not that it stops librarians from being laid off!) but what's cool about this story is that it talks to the head librarian at the public library I go to! There is footage inside the library! I could have been there! And the clip isn't even from the DC area.

Back from Vacation

Not that I'm sure anyone missed me but I am back from my family vacation now! We (Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Niece, Nephew) spent a week in Hilton Head sharing a home and living together like one large extended family. I will say that it went better than I expected. My niece seems to be a sweet, smiley, well-behaved baby. She seems to be teething but, even with that discomfort, really didn't cry too much. She's really adorable too. My nephew, on the other hand, is 3 1/2 and spoiled rotten and gets to do pretty much anything he wants but he was mostly bearable. But, also shrill.

It was pretty cold in Hilton Head, like low to mid 50s every day. Coupled with the wind, it was downright chilly, probably close to 40. And, of course, colder at night. There was one really nice day where it might have even hit 70. I mostly spent my time just vegging with the family and reading. We did go shopping a couple times, of course, and I happily got a few really cute tops for a good price. And I watched a few movies, including some kids' ones that my nephew insists on watching during dinner. But, as a result, I got to see a genre of movies that I don't typically see!

Although I flew down there and landed in Charleston, where my parents picked me up on their drive down, I rode home with my parents. The drive wasn't too bad at all. We got home Saturday evening at about 11pm, but I think that was pretty good time considering we really didn't leave Hilton Head until 12:30pm, plus we then stopped for lunch, went to an outlet mall, and then stopped again for dinner. But I'm glad I didn't drive the 10-11 hours by myself. My parents stayed in DC for Sunday so I hung out with them and they finally went back to Cleveland yesterday while I went back to work.

Surprisingly, things didn't get too backed up at work while I was gone. I think that it was a good week to be gone. Anyway, just wanted to fill you in on the basics and let you know that I'm back and might possibly post more often. And I might upload some pictures from the trip.

FML - F*&# My Life

Heh. So when you think your life sucks, go to the FML site and see what shitty things have happened to other people and maybe you won't feel so bad! (via)

Bacon

I have no idea why anyone would invent this but it's pretty funny anyway. Display any Web site with a strip of bacon over it. For instance, here's my site! Find out more here...

Dallas libraries let you pay to check out hot titles

Interesting business model for a library. So you can pay $5 to get first priority to check out a hot new book or DVD. Loan periods are the same as if you don't pay the $5 but paying the money puts you at the top of the waiting list. I know library waiting lists for hot items can be pretty long so this is an intriguing way for the library to get a little money and patrons can maybe be a little more satisfied, but I wonder how many people are actually going for it. In the article, someone mentions that they can just wait their turn and spend the $5 elsewhere and I would tend to think that many might feel that way, especially in this economy. I know if I am spending $5 to get a new release movie at the library, I would probably rather go to a video store and spend less than that to rent it, or maybe I would consider spending the $10 or $15 more to just purchase it outright rather than $5 to keep it for a week. As for books, if I'm that interested in a hot new release, I likely will buy it anyway. (via)

Inauguration Day

Yes, I went to the Inauguration on Tuesday! We got the day off of work plus I live about 2 miles from the steps of the Capitol Building, so why not!? And before that, on Sunday, I went to the We Are One free concert that took place in front of the Lincoln Memorial and which apparently you can watch online from that link. My pics of the two events are below (Click on it for more):

Inauguration Events

There were a LOT of people at both events but I think things went mostly smoothly. On Sunday, the bridge we would have walked over super conveniently was closed so we took the Metro and yes, it was crowded, but there were no problems. It wasn't even that cold. And we got a pretty decent spot even though we didn't really get there until about an hour before the show. On Tuesday, we had zero problems. We walked over from my apartment, it took about 30-40 minutes, and yes it was crowded, but everyone was relatively polite and friendly and we just kept walking towards the Capitol until we could not walk anymore, so we ended up near the Washington Monument, which is not close at all really, but again, we probably got there an hour or 90 minutes before the ceremony started. We couldn't even see the Capitol from where we were standing. And, it was much colder on Tuesday but definitely bearable for the four hours or so that we were outside. For both events, I would estimate 95% of people had to watch via the Jumbotrons anyway so we made no extreme effort to get there extra extra early to get a front row spot. But it certainly was fun to be there!

Finally! General Hospital available online

I found out that ABC.com has finally added General Hospital to the shows it offers online! It's been a long time coming, with every other network offering its soaps available online for quite some time. If only ABC's media player didn't mess up every time I tried to watch it on my computer. Access the free episodes here.

Christmas movie review: 2008 Wrap-Up

Yes, finally, I know you all have breathlessly been awaiting my one post that wraps up all the Christmas movie reviews from 2008. Fifteen of them in total, very exciting.

This year kind of sucked in terms of Christmas movies. None of the new ones were that great (only one new made-for-TV one even cracked the A's), some of them were awful, and I kind of got sick of the genre, which is highly unusual for me. I'll admit that I don't think my grading was consistent this year (some of those B's were probably me being overly generous) but that has a lot to do with the things mentioned in the previous sentence like me getting sick of the genre. I did get comments from a director of one of the movies, though, so that was a highlight of my posting. Here we go:

A+
The Christmas Wish

A-
Borrowed Hearts
Four Christmases
Fred Claus
A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride

B+
The Christmas Choir
A Christmas Proposal

B
Flirting with Forty
Moonlight & Mistletoe
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Our First Christmas
Snow 2: Brain Freeze

B-
Will You Merry Me?

C
Christmas in Wonderland

D
Together Again for the First Time

I Can't Stop Shopping

I've been on this shopping kick for a couple weeks now, shopping online, shopping in stores. I think I've been to just about every mall in Northern Virginia in the last two weeks. I can't stop really. I got two pairs of pants and a pair of tights from TheLimited.com for $32 total. I got two new sweaters from The Gap for $28 total. I got a really cute shoulder bag from Old Navy for $9. I got about 10 items from Bath & Body Works for $25 total. I got a daily calendar for 2009 for 14 cents (I had a really old gift card with a small amount left on it). I've gotten some really good deals but on Saturday I think I found the best one yet. Hopefully, that will curb my shopping fix for awhile. See, I got these boots:
Apparently, I had put them in my "Shopping Cart" at Macys.com awhile ago, when they were $59.99. Macy's recently sent me an email to remind me that they were in my cart and tell me they were no longer available. So I removed them. But before that, I kind of admired them again. I looked online to see how much they would cost elsewhere and if they were available in my size at all. The best price I could find in my size was $79.99. Nah, not worth it.

However, as luck would have it, I was volunteering in Fairfax Saturday and decided to go to the Fair Oaks Mall afterwards. They happen to have a Bandolino store (who manufactures the boots) and there they were for $39.99 plus 20% off. Well, surely they wouldn't have my size, would they? But, they did! So I bought them! I'm very excited about it.

Cavs vs. Wizards game, part two

Last spring, I went to the Verizon Center to watch the Cavs eliminate the Wizards during the NBA Playoffs. I had an awesome seat. They won. It was fantastic. Yesterday, I tried it again and had another pretty good seat (no, not as good as that one) but the outcome wasn't as good. I guess I'd rather them lose a regular season game than the playoffs, especially when it was only their sixth loss of the season, but again, I took a lot of pictures and thought I'd share. Enjoy.

Christmas movie review: Snow 2 - Brain Freeze

Rating: B

Yes, I've been slack about posting the last of my Christmas movie reviews. I apologize. I had a busy weekend. This is the last one and hopefully sometime tomorrow I'll manage to write up the summary.

I am biased in favor of Snow 2: Brain Freeze if only because it stars one of my secret crushes, Tom Cavanagh (from Ed). In it, he plays Santa's son, who has taken over the Christmas responsibilities (as seen in the first Snow film) and currently is concerned about the reindeer's weight. While investigating ways to keep the reindeer in shape, he gets knocked unconscious and loses his memory away from the North Pole. His wife, played by Ashley Williams (who I'll admit normally annoys me greatly but didn't too much here), tries to find him and then make him remember who he is before Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Ashley's ex-boyfriend, who is still bitter about losing her to Tom's character, sees this as a great opportunity to maybe get her back and also get the power of Santa Claus. It's pretty predictable and, of course, everyone lives happily ever after, but it's sweet and it wasn't too bad. About average.

Christmas movie review: Borrowed Hearts

Rating: A-

I wanted to watch more good movies after what seemed like an entire season of bad ones so I recorded and rewatched Borrowed Hearts, from 1997. It stars Eric McCormack (pre-Will & Grace, I think) and Roma Downey and it's a cute romantic comedy with a touch of Christmas magic. Eric's character needs a family to pull off a big business deal. Roma and her daughter could use extra money and magically find themselves at Eric's house right when he's looking for a family. So they move in and start the charade.... only to eventually find themselves growing closer and closer and - surprise! - fall in love. And, Eric's character starts to become a nicer guy and even messes up the business deal so that hundreds of people do not lose their jobs.

Christmas movie review: A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride

Rating: A-

I mostly enjoyed A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride, which debuted on Lifetime this year, and was just basically a romantic comedy taking place around Christmas. The main character, played by the very appealing Joanna Garcia (seriously, I think I might start watching Privileged now), is a wedding planner who finds herself shockingly planning her mother's sudden wedding. When Luke Perry shows up as the son of the groom, the two join forces to try to destroy the wedding. Of course, they have very different reasons for doing so and Joanna's character starts to rethink her motives and let her mom by truly happy. It's cute, everyone is a decent enough actor and there is even a cameo by Jason Priestly in the movie so overall, not bad.

The kids at Christmas

Thought I'd share a pic of my niece and nephew from Christmas...

And here is a link to a few more pics.

US News & World Report Names Best Careers for 2009

Guess one of the professions that was named as one of the best for 2009? Yep, LIBRARIAN! There is a nice write-up of the librarian profession there. Also, I like the part under "Smart Specialty", where it names Special Librarian. That's what I am!

"Football Yes, Libraries No"

This article from the San Diego Reader isn't all that interesting unless you care about the city of San Diego's financial woes but the opening quote is quite interesting:

"The pride and presence of a professional football team is far more important than 30 libraries."

That comes from Art Modell. Yes, the same Art Modell who stole the Browns out of Cleveland and moved them to Baltimore. Typical that it would come from him. The truth is, though, that a large number of people probably agree with that statement. (via)

Christmas movie review: Our First Christmas

Rating: B

Our First Christmas is a Hallmark Channel original movie that debuted this year and like most of the ones that debuted this year, it's meh. It's about a new family - a blended family of two widowed spouses and three children from the first marriages - who do not want to give up any of their old traditions to truly blend into a new family. There are grandparents involved (John Ratzenberger and Dixie Carter) and they of course are used to their grandkids spending time with them but quickly realize that maybe some sort of compromise should be reached. The kids are having none of it and the parents are total pushovers and agree to go along with what the kids want. For awhile... until - surprise! - the kids soon realize that old traditions are fun but new traditions with their new family can be fun too. It's not a horrible movie but it's not really something I want to watch year in and year out.

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Wish

Rating: A+

Ah, The Christmas Wish. This one is from about ten years ago and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Debbie Reynolds and Naomi Watts - a pretty impressive cast! And yes, I adore Neil Patrick Harris so I might be biased but this one is a very good one. I'm pretty sure I'd seen it before but I didn't remember the ending so it was worth watching again and it's good to have something positive to say about a movie after the disastrous ones that were produced this year.

The gist of The Christmas Wish is that Neil plays a young man brought back to his small hometown to run his grandfather's real estate business after the death of his grandfather. It's nearly Christmastime and he's getting ready to move back to New York City. His grandmother asks for one Christmas wish before he goes - for Neil to find some "Lillian" that the grandfather wrote about in his journals and that no one knew anything about before he died. As Neil embarks on the journey to discover who Lillian is (Was Grandpa having an affair? Is Lillian a love child? Is it a charity case he took care of?), he also discovers a little more about who his grandfather was and of course who he is. It's sweet and touching and the mystery is a nice added element to keep you interested. Plus, Neil is a good actor and you enjoy seeing his journey. Highly recommended.

Christmas movie review: A Christmas Proposal

Rating: B+

Now I'm to the point where I watched like 6 movies in the last couple of days (they are the perfect backdrop to wrapping presents) and they all kind of run together. A Christmas Proposal is a pretty okay romantic comedy. A guy who looks distractedly like Patrick Dempsey brings his new girlfriend to his hometown, where he had planned to propose to her. And, oh yeah, the girlfriend and her father are planning on building a ski resort in the hometown, much to the chagrin of the inhabitants, including his ex-girlfriend and high school sweetheart who basically single-handedly leads the effort against the plans. It pretty much works out as expected.... guy realizes the plans to destroy his hometown are bad and that his feelings for his ex-girlfriend are good and still there and there is a proposal, of course. It's not bad and kinda cute, pretty predictable but in a good way. All the actors were likeable enough. Except I'm not kidding, the main actor looks exactly like Patrick Dempsey, except he maybe weighs 15 pounds more. Way too distracting.

Christmas movie review: Christmas in Wonderland

Rating: C

Had I not just seen Together Again for the First Time, this ABC Family movie might have gotten a lower rating but I think it was just a tad more bearable. Christmas in Wonderland features Patrick Swayze as the struggling dad of three who just moved to Edmonton a few days before Christmas and lost his job. He takes the kids to the mall to get some Christmas shopping done and mayhem occurs. Patrick's character basically disappears then and we follow the kids around. The two youngest kids find a bag of counterfeit money, go on a spending spree and then get chased by the criminals who want their fake money back. Then it evolves into Home Alone. It's slightly cute and, of course, everyone lives happily ever after at the end; I'm sure kids would enjoy it. The best part was the real mall where they filmed the movie. It's gorgeous! The West Edmonton Mall has an amusement park, water park, ice rink, aquarium, miniature golf course and of course tons of stores inside the mall!

This link, by the way, takes you to the full movie online, if you want to watch it after the great write-up I gave it.

Christmas movie review: Together Again for the First Time

Rating: D

Together Again for the First Time was awful. Just awful. It's about a blended family (Mom, a Martha Stewart wannabe, has two sons while Dad has three daughters) where the kids do NOT get along at all. Kids is kind of wrong - these are all young adults. And there's a lot of drama. The oldest guy and girl bicker constantly. The middle girl is engaged to someone that the oldest gal used to date. The oldest guy brings his girlfriend and then proceeds to ignore her the entire time. The oldest guy has arranged for his younger brother to come back to the college town where he lives and enroll in school, even though the younger brother apparently doesn't want to. And, meanwhile, the Mom has a radio show that she apparently is trying to turn into a TV show and decides forcing the kids to participate in a pretend holiday craft session is an ideal pilot for her show. The show (did I mention it is live?) doesn't go particularly well, presumably because it seems like it was sprung on the kids at the last minute. Anyway, on the live show, the movie turns into an Afterschool Special with the reveal that the older son is doing drugs. He is banished immediately but, of course, it only takes about ten minutes for the family to realize that the younger son is really the one on drugs. Then, the family pulls together and tries to save the son, who has taken off without a word and his drugs. It's just so melodramatic and annoying and not well-acted at all. I get the premise of family starting to heal but it's just ridiculous. Ridiculous.

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Choir

Rating: B+

Inspired by a true story, The Christmas Choir airs on the Hallmark Channel this year and features Jason Gedrick and Rhea Perlman. Jason stars as Peter, a workaholic accountant who seems to have nothing going his way... he works too much, his fiance dumps him, he has virtually no relationship with his father. One evening, a couple weeks before Christmas, he meets a homeless man in a bar and they bond over their love of music. The homeless man takes Peter to the shelter where he lives and suddenly, Peter decides to organize a choir for Christmas. This will give him something to do and also will help these men at the shelter raise some money for Christmas. It was a sweet story and it's definitely appealing that it's based on a true story, but I had to drop the rating a bit based on the extreme hokiness of the plot. Pulling together a choir might be one thing but the extent of circumstances that befall this group in supposedly a 2-week period is just way too ridiculous for me to get past. In this two week period in which the movie takes place: 1.) Peter and his fiance break up yet he falls in love with someone he meets who works at the subway; 2.) Peter makes amends with his father; 3.) the homeless shelter burns down; 4.) the choir gets pulled together and is able to perform songs cohesively; 5.) the choir realizes that they are not allowed to just show up at the subway and start singing but instead need to get a permit and coincidentally, find out the permit tryouts are the very next day; 6.) manage to pull off a benefit concert to rebuild the shelter. Like I said, it was just a little too much for me to get past for such a short timespan. But besides that, enjoyable.

Merry Washington DC Christmas

I stopped by the National Christmas Tree madhouse last night before heading home from my day downtown and here are some pictures of the tree all lit up at night. It was prettier than last year. And also way more crowded.

"Breaks on the Bailout"

Last night, WUSA Channel 9 kept advertising a story for its 11pm news about the auto industry bailout plan with the words "Breaks on the Bailout," implying that the bailout plan was delayed. I'm sorry but shouldn't that be "Brakes on the Bailout?" If you are trying to be cute by inserting a word from the auto industry into your headline, you should probably spell that word correctly, no?

Christmas movie review: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Rating: B

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is new this year from Hallmark Channel. It stars Brooke Burns (not to be confused with Dancing with the Stars winner Brooke Burke, although I'm sure you wouldn't be the first one to confuse them and yes they both formerly hosted reality shows. This Brooke hosted Dog Eat Dog and was on Baywatch for awhile.) Anyway, Brooke is a hard-working single mom who doesn't particularly like Christmas but does like making lists. She apparently is very organized, cautious and not a risk taker. Her uncle, played by Henry Winkler, shows up for Christmas and brings with him someone he met at the airport. Of course, random stranger guy turns out to be a pretty great guy and helps Brooke out a lot, with her neighbors, with her house, with her cooking, with her son. The only problem with random stranger guy is that Brooke's boyfriend doesn't like him! Overall, it's kind of a cute story of what happens when someone opens themselves up to a little change and throws caution to the wind just a little. The two main characters have some chemistry and Henry is sweet and adorable. But I won't lie... I dozed off a few times while watching this. Really, it has nothing to do with the movie because I've been really under the weather today and would probably doze off watching anything. But the truth is, I had zero desire to go back and watch the ten minutes here or there that I slept through. So that's why it gets a 'B'.

Christmas movie review: Will You Merry Me?

Rating: B-

I had somewhat high hopes for Will You Merry Me?, which is new this year from Lifetime. It sounded like a cute romantic comedy where a newly engaged couple has to deal with the I'm Jewish/he's Christian issue that I'm sure a number of couples do face this time of year. It's very rare that these holiday movies address any type of Jewish traditions, so I was excited to maybe learn something. Instead, this was the hokiest movie ever. It was completely full of cliches, not just about religions but about dating. This couple has known each other - lived together! - for six months and get engaged but when they end up visiting his parents at Christmas (her parents come too), they realize that they know absolutely nothing about each other. Which I still think is a theme that could have been done better... but nope. Everything from "Wait, you want kids?" to "You want to get married in a church?!" to "You just kissed your ex-girlfriend" is included in this movie. I just did a lot of eye-rolling throughout, which is obviously not a sign of a good movie.

Sell your books online!

Book store Powell's Books has started allowing people to sell their used books to them online. Instead of putting your books up on something like eBay or Half.com and waiting for them to sell to some prospective buyer, you can enter the book's ISBN on the Powell's Web site, they'll tell you how much they'll give you for the book and if you accept, will send you a postage paid envelope in which to mail them your books. Instead of getting cash money, however, you get store credit. So it seems pretty win-win if you have any books you want to get rid of!

Wet

So I've been walking to work for about four months now... well, I walk about ten minutes and then take the train a few stops, although I also regularly walk all the way home. And in all of these four months, I have not had to worry about rain at all. It has not once rained either in the morning on my way to work or the evening on my way home from work. Or, at least it has not rained during the actual time I'm walking.

Until tonight. And it was really coming down. And I got drenched. Yes, I have an umbrella but it's very petite so it fits nicely in my bag. And not only was it raining but it was windy so I struggled to hold onto the umbrella at all and then got wet anyway all over my arm and the bottom of my coat and my legs and shoes. Yuck.

On the plus side, I had quite a record of avoiding rain going and maybe it will now start over and I'll go another four months! Also, it seemed like good arm exercise struggling to hold the umbrella in place.

Christmas movie review: Flirting with Forty

Rating: B

Tonight was the debut of a new Lifetime holiday movie. I personally wouldn't call Flirting with Forty a holiday movie but Lifetime, who produced this one, calls it one so I'll go with them and review it as such. It's basically just a movie that happens to start and finish around the holidays. It's missing the major holiday movie elements of magic or turning over a new leaf or Santa or the spirit of Christmas.... those types of things.

Regardless, this movie has Heather Locklear as someone who is divorced and about to turn forty who ends up taking a vacation to Hawaii by herself, where she then meets a very hunky surf instructor and falls in love with him. The movie then goes on to tell the story of their romance over the course of the year, during which some problems occur since he is significantly younger and lives in Hawaii and she is a busy mom of two who lives in Denver. It's a cute story and the two main characters are very appealing (particularly Robert Buckley, the surfing instructor!!) but I'm rating it a little lower than I normally would just because if you are looking for a sweet Christmas movie to get you in the mood for the holidays, this is not for you. It is, however, a kinda cute chick flick.

Christmas movie review: Four Christmases

Rating: A-

A couple weeks ago, I was able to see a sneak preview of Four Christmases, which is another Christmas movie starring Vince Vaughn and is in theaters now. Alongside Vince, it stars Reese Witherspoon and I quite enjoyed their pairing. The story here is that Vince & Reese are like a perfect couple who don't get along too well with their families and don't want to get married or have children but are very content in their lives. They spend every Christmas holiday on a vacation to the beach. This year, however, massive fog ruins their plans and they end up on television when the news stations are broadcasting live from the airport. Next thing they know, their relatives have called and they must go to four Christmases: his dad's, her mom's, his mom's and her dad's. There's a lot of over-the-top goofiness but also some very funny moments. Vince and Reese both have their moments to shine and the supporting cast is pretty stellar (Jon Favreau, Kristin Chenoweth, Mary Steenburgen, Robert Duvall, Jon Voight, Sissy Spacek). Pretty much every bizarre type of family member that a person might have is represented here and spending time with all their family makes our two main characters question if their relationship really is ideal and if it has any longevity. So, it's not all light-hearted humor. Overall, I definitely enjoyed it.

Christmas movie review: Fred Claus

Rating: A-

Fred Claus was a theatrical release last year and is new to DVD, which is where I caught it. It also stars Vince Vaughn, who is one of my most favorite actors, so I can't imagine me ever giving a low rating to a movie of his so there's my admitted bias. But, it was kind of enjoyable. The storyline of Fred Claus is that Fred is Santa's older brother who has turned into kind of a scam artist and pretty much derides the whole Christmas holiday but flies to the North Pole to see his brother because he needs money and Santa only agrees to give him some if he comes to work for a week. While Fred's there, he kind of spices things up a bit and messes up some of the processes and procedures and threatens Santa's whole operation. Of course, he's given a second chance to save the day and pulls through with shining colors. But Vince is charming as always and I found myself chuckling a decent amount so I gave it an A-. It does run a little longer than it needed to and, of course, it's extremely predictable but Christmas movies are the one type of movie where I think predictable is okay.

Christmas movie review: Moonlight & Mistletoe

Welcome to my first Christmas movie review of the 2008 season! I've reviewed 33 Christmas movies over the last two years. Here are my wrap-up posts from 2006 and 2007. Maybe I'll get to 50 by the end of the year!

Anyway, as a reminder, a true Christmas movie generally follows a few basic formats. There's the twist on A Christmas Carol, when someone is cranky, grumpy, a workaholic and given up on Christmas but by some sort of magic, they regain their love of the holiday and become a better person. Then there is the person or organization or company that is struggling and has until Christmas to try to turn things around. They always do, of course. There are the ones that personify Santa or reindeers or elves and bring those mystical creatures to present-day US to get help from some lucky kids or single women. Also, there are a lot of romantic comedy Christmas movies where someone desperately wants to find a husband/date/boyfriend by Christmas. They always do, of course. Each year, Lifetime, The Hallmark Channel and ABC Family dedicates most of their December programming to Christmas movies and typically introduce at least a couple new movies each year so there's plenty to go around. Anyway, on to the first of 2008...

Rating: B

Moonlight & Mistletoe is new for Hallmark Channel this year and stars Tom Arnold and Candace Cameron Bure, who I didn't even realize was still acting. So, Tom's character is obsessed with Christmas, fancies himself a Santa stand-in, and runs a tourist attraction called Santaville that - surprise! - is struggling. Candace plays his daughter who left home a long time ago, fed up with Santaville, and only comes home after her dad gets in a sleigh accident. She of course realizes the financial problems of Santaville and through trying to fix those problems and reuniting with a boyfriend from when she was young and just spending time at Santaville again, learns to love Christmas all over again and gives up her workaholic, father-avoiding ways.

It's an okay if not somewhat overdone storyline. Candace is enjoyable, very pretty and not a bad actress at all. Tom, who I normally like, is less enjoyable in what really is a minor part. I found Candace's romantic interest to be entirely unappealing, too. Overall, while it wasn't a bad movie, I felt like some of the plot was unexplained and rushed, like they tried to put too much into one movie. I'd recommend it if you are bored but there are many out there that are much better.

Desmond Tutu

The first opportunity I had to use my new camera was at a reception featuring a short "inspirational speech" by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It was a reception put on by the American Program Bureau and my coworkers (those who arrange for speakers at our seminars & meetings) were invited. Luckily my boss was out of town so there was room for me to go! The reception was very nice and Desmond Tutu's speech was quite enjoyable. There's actually information about the speech and a link to it here. However, so far I'm a little disappointed in my camera as the pictures of Mr. Tutu (below) did not come out too clearly. Then again, the room was dark and poorly lit and we were near the back so maybe it's not my camera.

Now I REALLY need a new camera

What are the chances that one of the few days I find myself without a camera happens to be the day I see ten celebrities up super f'in close?

My friend Vince & I went to the Kennedy Center today to see a free performance on their Millennium Stage. They let you come in for free and watch a performance every single night of the year at 6pm. Pretty sweet deal. So the band tonight was something called Previously on Lost, which prides itself on solely providing song recaps of episodes of Lost. It was amusing although difficult to understand what they were even singing. Well, about 30 minutes in, we decided to walk around the Kennedy Center a little since neither of us had ever been there before. There was like a little red carpet set up with a bunch of photographers and velvet ropes. On the far side of the carpet were clearly fans, waiting for celebrities. Well, never one to pass on an opportunity to watch for celebrities, I convinced Vince to stand with the fans and wait for celebrities. I had no idea who to expect but we found out there was a Tribute to George Carlin show scheduled for 8pm so I figured there must be famous people attending that. Turns out all the scheduled performers hit the red carpet before the show. So, we saw: Lewis Black, Richard Belzer, Bill Maher, Joan Rivers, Garry Shandling, Denis Leary, Lily Tomlin, and Jon Stewart! I was SO excited, you have no idea. Some of the celebs walked over and talked to the fans! Bill Maher was ALMOST right next to me! Denis Leary WAS right next to me. Joan Rivers SHOOK my hand!!!!! I think it's good that Jon Stewart didn't get much closer than about ten people away or I would have probably fainted. I've had a crush on him since college. It was all very very exciting but did I have my camera in my bag ready to pull out to show you all the great pictures of the evening? No, because it's broken. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Actually, I did take a couple of pictures on my camera phone but that sucks ass so I doubt they'll be worth posting. And Vince took some pics on his camera phone, but again, not the best quality. I need a new camera pronto.

I need a new camera

I was going to walk over to the Lincoln Memorial and see the Obama message wall today - and take pictures, of course - but when I grabbed my camera, I saw that it wasn't working. I messed around with it for awhile but something's wrong and I can't seem to fix it. It lets me take pictures but they all show up as black (or black with purple streaks when I put it right into the light). It's not the screen that's the problem, though, because pictures already on my CompactFlash card show up just fine on the screen. I just can't take new pictures. Bummer. But I've had that camera for a few years (four, I think) and I have dropped it a few times so I guess it's not shocking that there's something wrong with it. Ironically, I had been thinking that I would like to get a new one that's smaller and maybe more powerful so I guess now I have a good excuse to go ahead and do it. Plus, I have birthday money that was recently given to me (thanks family! and yes, better late than never).

Lost Returns January 21st!

Start the countdown for Season 5... I'm so psyched. Lost will be back on January 21st with a three-hour event and will have a Wednesday at 9pm timeslot. Hmm, I wonder what that means for Private Practice... not that I'll miss it. I'm kind of annoyed that I watch that show regularly anyway.

To prepare for the new season, a friend of mine & I are going on Monday to see Previously on Lost, a band that writes and performs songs that are recaps of Lost episodes. I'm picturing something like the Barenaked Ladies do Lost, which sounds super entertaining.

SitOrSquat.com

SitOrSquat.com seems like a pretty good idea but, so far, information is pretty lacking on its site. It's still fairly new, though, less than two months old, so it's worth keeping on eye on. Anyway, it's a site for bathroom reviews! And beyond that, even without a review, it's just a list of where to find public bathrooms. So you know, if you find yourself in the middle of somewhere desperately needing to go to the bathroom, pull up SitOrSquat and find one near you. Better yet, find one with a good review! It seems ideal for cell phones and, in fact, an iPhone application was just created and approved. (via)

Spell with Flickr

Way cool! So you type a word in the box at the top of this page and then it spells it out from pictures of letters available on Flickr. Above, you can see I typed in my name! If you don't like the letters that are used in your word, you can click on each individual letter over and over again until you find one you like. Here's another:




And obviously, they are embeddable.

Swaptree

I'm intrigued by Swaptree. A swap meet meets the Internet. It's a site where you list items you want to get rid of (books, CDs, DVDs and video games) and if someone wants it, you can swap them for something they have that you want. Swap as in no cost. The only price you pay is the shipping cost. However, for books, they recommend you ship via Media Mail and all else, they recommend you ship First Class. So it's hardly a hefty investment. And it doesn't have to be a one-on-one swap; the site uses some sort of matching technology to help you find items.

I do have a bunch of books I'd like to get rid of and it's not a bad idea to try to swap them for something else, rather than say trying to sell them on ebay or donating them to the library. I'm just not sure if there are too many items that I want. I prefer downsizing to staying the same size. I'll let you know if I try it out.

Library Elf

Library Elf claims to be "Your Personal Email Library Reminder Service." Basically, it's a one-stop spot for you to manage your library accounts. Assuming you frequent multiple library systems, I can see the usefulness of being able to go one place to check due dates, requests, etc... I guess they'll email reminders to you to ensure you never miss a due date. You can pick when & how often the reminders come. And if you have children who have library cards of their own, you can manage theirs under the same account. Interesting for sure, although the two libraries I sometimes go to around here send email reminders a few days before items are due already.

Go Cavs!

I got really excited about the upcoming Cavaliers season after reading this preview on ESPN.com today! Season starts on Tuesday against the World Champion Boston Celtics.

My Neighborhood Profiled

They did a short blurb about my neighborhood in the Washington Examiner this morning, so I thought I'd share it with the world. I do really like my neighborhood; they are right with the "spectacular views" and the "mix of suburb and urban."

I am a idiot, cell phone edition

So last night when I went to bed, I had the feeling that I wasn't entirely sure where my cell phone was, but went to bed without looking for it anyway. Today, I realized on my way to work that I never did get around to looking for it. At work, I checked and it definitely was not in my bag. When I got home, I searched high and low in my room, my apartment and my car. No phone anywhere. My roommate came home and I asked him to call my phone and when he did, it went straight to voicemail. Not a good sign to me.

Well I became convinced I must have left it at Target last night, which was the only place I'd gone and was the last place I knew I'd had it. I drove up to Target (and wouldn't you know that traffic was AWFUL) and checked there and no one had found a phone. So I assumed this meant that it was not only lost but that someone had found it and kept it for themselves.

Great. So I figured I better report it ASAP and do what needed to be done to get a new phone since that is my only phone. We have no landline in my apartment. I went to a nearby AT&T store but it was insanely crowded. There had to be about 20 customers and it was already nearly 8:00. I was guessing the store would be closing before all the customers would be helped so I figured my best bet would be to go home and try to cancel it online. There had to be that option available to me, right?

So, back at home, I went online to deal with AT&T and decided to first check my email. An old habit. But, what do you know? There was an email with the subject line "Cell phone". What? I was so confused as to how someone knew my email address from having come across my cell phone. Then I read the message. Apparently I had somehow returned my book-on-CD to the library with my cell phone inside the case. Phew! Idiot, yes, but at least I don't have to buy a new phone!

"Some Cities Will Be Safer in a Recession"

According to a report from Businessweek.com and Policymap.com, the best place to live during this recession is... Arlington, VA! How lucky am I? (via)

Let the Internet Decide the Winner of your next Fight

SideTaker lets you air your dirty laundry online and lets outsiders decide who is right. Oh yeah, who doesn't want crazy Internet readers deciding that? Basically, you post your side of an argument. You get the other person to post their side and voila, the Internet plays judge and makes comments. An interesting idea. I wouldn't mind trying it out with a silly issue... but I know that Internet users can get quite passionate about things which they know nothing about, so that's the scary part. (via)

Back in NoVa

I'm back in northern Virginia after a 4-day trip back home to Cleveland. In Cleveland, I did a little shopping with my mom (of course), visited with my brother & his family (including newborn power sleeper Mia), caught up with some old friends, saw the Browns beat the defending Super Bowl champs, finished my book club book, and worked my way around the mess that is my parents' kitchen while they remodel it.

Back in Arlington, I came home to:
1.) a kitchen light that has all of its fluorescent bulbs burned out. Thanks roommate!
2.) a book club that has been postponed for two weeks - to a date that I can't make. Thanks for making me read a book I didn't enjoy for nothing!
3.) the girl I manage back to her old ways of doing absolutely nothing. She was gone for about two weeks dealing with the death of her father and had a really productive first day and a half. Now she's returned to her useless ways.

Book Club: Shattered Dreams

I've been meaning for months to write entries after my book clubs meet but haven't done it. Today is different! On Sunday, my Bethesda Book Club (as I call it) read Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife by Irene Spencer. I had the opportunity to meet Irene at the ALA conference in Anaheim this June and she had offered me an hour of her time to talk to our book club and we finally made it happen. It was really awesome of her and seeings as how I'm already FASCINATED by polygamy, I was extra excited to try to get some insight into her life.

I'd already read a couple books about someone "trapped" in polygamy as part of the Fundamentalist Mormon Church so the lifestyle was not new to me, but what was new in Irene's story was that she talked a lot about sex! She was craving it constantly and well, when you share your husband with multiple wives and dozens of children, it should be no surprise that it doesn't happen often. Add to that the fact that technically, the religion believes that you only have sex to procreate and it should be no surprise that Irene was often lamenting the lack of love she received from her husband. Besides sex, she talked a lot about jealousy. She seemed constantly jealous and got enraged when her husband took another wife on a trip or spent time with another wife when it was supposed to be her time with him. While this shouldn't come as a surprise, this was the first such memoir I'd read in which this was a real issue. Interesting, for sure.

Overall, it was an interesting book and I was left with a lot of questions. Talking to Irene cleared a few of them up but overall, she spent more time telling us her "message" than she did answering specific questions. She's very, very anti-polygamy and doesn't think it's natural and is trying to get a couple of her daughters who are still living that lifestyle to get out. She realizes education is the key and that most of the people who live that way are kept sheltered from other possibilities. Her desire is to educate them. Of course, she's absolutely right that education is the key. But how?

Woman says rat from sewer climbed up through house toilet

Oh my god. I don't even want to read or watch the news story that goes with that headline because that's like one of my biggest fears. But if you are braver than I, here's the link. (via)

Ah! I wondered why the increase...

I noticed this morning when checking my Netflix queue that there seemed to be quite a few more "Watch it Now" options and this article explains it. Starz & Netflix came up with a deal to stream movies that air on its network. Pretty cool. (via)