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)