Update: Operation Grow a Christmas Tree

I took a picture a few days ago to show the status of my little gardening experiment and, lo and behold, some green is poking through the dirt! It's working! You have to look closely (maybe click on the picture to see it bigger) but it's definitely started to grow. And, actually, it's grown a lot higher in the four days since I took that picture and I actually think another piece is peaking through the dirt, too. I'll definitely keep everyone updated, maybe post another picture this weekend. Who knows, maybe I will have a Christmas tree by December.

Movie Review: An Education

I just watched An Education, which was nominated for a few Oscars this year, including Best Picture and Best Actress, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The acting is good but it's also an interesting story of a teenage girl trying to figure out what she wants in life. She hooks up with a much older man and you know it's trouble, you just aren't sure exactly how that trouble is going to manifest itself. Anyway, I'm a big fan of it and definitely recommend it. I liked the few sarcastic moments of humor in it.

Netflix downgrade

I haven't found the time to watch many movies the last few weeks so I took the opportunity to save $5 each month and I downgraded to the one-movie-out-at-a-time plan. We'll see. I went through my queue of movies and realized that a good portion of the movies are available at the local library, plus I still have unlimited online "instant" viewing and my "instant" queue is pretty long. So I figured I would cut down my queues those two ways for the time being. I'll let you know if it doesn't work out!

Book Review: Loving Frank

Loving Frank is our latest book club book. We met on Monday, although I finished it last week! Woo woo. I really struggled with it, though. I found parts of it really boring. It's a historical fiction novel based on the period of Frank Lloyd Wright's life when he was with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, from like 1908 to 1914. Both were married when they met - Frank was hired to do the Cheney home of Mamah and her husband at the time in Oak Park, IL - and they fell in love and ran off to Europe together. Mamah left her children for years and Frank's wife refused to divorce him so the whole event was quite a scandal for the time. While it's written from the perspective of Mamah, I found her really unsympathetic. I realize the times were different and a divorced woman couldn't easily (if at all) get custody of her children, but it seems unforgiveable that she chose her own pleasure over even attempting to work something out to see her children. She met a tragic end so I guess there was a tiny bit of sympathy for her then but overall it was a so-so book about a very unsympathetic historical figure. Blech.

Book Review: Your Big Break

I have a large collection of chick lit because 1) that's what my mom buys me and 2.) those are the types of books that I buy for myself, mostly because those are the ones I want to read if I go on vacation. Seeings as how I rarely go on a vacation, they just sit here and pile up. So it is one of my New Year's resolutions to go through some of them this year. That's where Your Big Break came in. A lot of chick lit is pretty formulaic but I'm writing about this one because it sort of wasn't! Instead of being all about finding a guy, this one had a girl dealing with her parents breaking up. Don't worry, she found love, too. But, it was sort of a minor occurrence. The main character works at a company called Your Big Break Inc., which lets you hire specialists to handle break-ups for you. This might be quitting your job or it might be dumping a girlfriend. It's an ingenious idea, really. Pay someone else to do your dirty work. I'm surprised there aren't real companies that do that (there probably are). Anyway, I did enjoy this book. It was kind of mindless, like most chick lit but which I enjoy sometimes, but besides that, it kept me interested and was a little unique.

"Twitter users not so social after all"

I was interested in this article as I've been debating about getting a Twitter account for nearly two years now. It says that 73% of people with Twitter accounts have tweeted less than 10 times. Wow, interesting. And most people only use it to follow others, particularly celebrities. It's funny because I had a conversation with a friend about exactly that just a week or so ago... she is thinking of joining so she can follow celebrities. I told her each person's page has an RSS feed so she can do that without setting up an account. I guess people don't realize that. Or, they want to officially "follow" celebrities and hope that they get singled out like that follower of Conan O'Brien's. Regardless, the article has some interesting stats considering how much attention Twitter gets from the media.

"For the Dishwasher’s Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent"

An interesting New York Times article about how to properly use your dishwasher/washing machine/dryer. Most people put too much soap in there. I might be guilty of that in the dishwasher. But I'm definitely not guilty of using too many dryer sheets. I use one sheet for two or three loads, usually.

Liveblogging the Oscars

What's up with those actor/actress introductions? That's it? Bring them on stage and introduce them? (8:31pm)

The Neil Patrick Harris song intro was rumored, supposedly with Martin Short. However, he said he wasn't doing it with Martin Short. I guess that was the key part. (8:34pm)

Monologue (err, duologue?) wasn't bad. Seemed longer than it needed to be considering it was just making silly jokes about the actors in the audience (8:44pm)

Christoph Waltz was considered a shoo-in... so much so, that I barely even knew who the other nominees were. But I'll tell you Stanley Tucci was unrecognizable in The Lovely Bones so wow. (8:48pm)

Huh? What did he say? (8:50pm)

First commercial break and I'm already kind of bored. So not into the Oscars this year :(. (8:54pm)

Haven't seen The Blind Side yet but I do want to. Am gonna read the book first, though. (8:51pm)

That's two 'sleeping with Jennifer Garner' jokes in less than 30 minutes. Random. (8:56pm)

The animated movie clip was cute. Cameron & Steve? Not so much. Not a fan of Cameron's dress (8:58pm)

Up was amazing. It's definitely one of the top ten films of the year. (9:00pm)

Wikipedia tells me that Randy Newman has been nominated for 19 Oscars. Wow. (9:03pm)

Tina Fey/Robert Downey Jr. writer/actor banter was amusing. Quentin did not look pleased. I think he wanted to win. (9:15pm)

Molly Ringwald & Matthew Broderick - obviously this is the John Hughes tribute. (9:16pm)

Love how they showed so many different people in the John Hughes tribute clips, including our hosts! (9:21pm)

Macauley Culkin looks like he's still a little kid, even though he turns 30 this year. On the other hand, what happened to Judd Nelson? (9:23pm)

I think Pretty in Pink is my favorite John Hughes film. (9:24pm)

Not a fan of Zoe Saldana's dress at all. It look like it's a few dresses put together to form one dress. (9:29pm)

I think this clip about short films is probably longer than each of the short films nominated. (9:30pm)

Logorama? Did he have to get permission to use all of those logos in his film? (9:32pm)

Best Live Action Short? What was that last category? How many short categories are there? (9:36pm)

I hated A Serious Man. Hated it. It better not win. (9:44pm)

I always get Rachel McAdams and Elizabeth Banks confused. (9:47pm)

They should play sisters in a movie. Same with Amy Adams and Isla Fisher. (9:50pm)

Dude if you are going to continue to talk this slowly, you are going to get cut off. Yeah yeah, so you adapted a book into a screenplay. (9:51pm)

Steve Martin: "I wrote that speech for him." lol (9:52pm)

Mo'Nique: Expected. Art Direction: Yawn. (10:07pm)

While I do think some people look nice tonight, Sarah Jessica Parker is not one of them. Blech. (10:09pm)

Tom Ford, on the other hand, yum. (10:09pm)

Charlize Theron's dress: Pretty color, looks like two hands holding her breasts. (10:12pm)

Wow, we have another 75 minutes of this, at least. But a LOT of awards are left. (10:16pm)

Umm, how do you say that "It's been 37 years since a horror movie was honored..." and then show footage of Silence of the Lambs and Misery (both Oscar winners) in your horror montage? (10:22pm)

But, then again, Edward Scissorhands is definitely not a horror movie and that was in their montage. (10:24pm)

Since I've only seen 4 of the 10 nominated movies, I'm glad one I saw (The Hurt Locker) is winning everything (10:27pm)

Did I mention that I often confuse Elizabeth Banks for Rachel McAdams? This is the other one. (10:28pm)

See, I don't hate everyone's dress. I think Sandra Bullock looks amazing. (10:34pm)

Demi Moore too. Amazing. Her entrance to the Ghost music tells me this is where we mourn Patrick Swayze. :( And others. (10:38pm)

I think I'll be skipping Happy Town. (10:43pm)

I never saw Food Inc. for the same reason why I didn't like The Cove. I don't want to know. (11:03pm)

Hey! The one I saw won! I didn't know Fisher Stevens was involved. The doc was kinda unforgettable. (11:05pm)

Heh, Tyler Perry is funny. (11:06pm)

I'll be really surprised if Evan Lysacek doesn't win Dancing with the Stars this season. (11:12pm)

I really like the personal stories from other actors who have worked with the nominees (11:30pm)

It's just a great way to honor all of the nominees... make them feel special. Give us some insight to them. See the other actors in a little more personal light and not just reading straight b.s. from the teleprompter.(11:43pm)

I feel like this is the only acting award that isn't so completely obvious. Everyone seems to think it's either Sandra or Meryl. (11:48pm)

Yay! I'm happy for Arlington native Sandra Bullock! (11:50pm)

It seems kind of shocking that neither a female or African-American director has ever won. (11:56pm)

Yay! One of the four films I saw won! Go The Hurt Locker! (11:59pm)

Operation Grow a Christmas Tree Begins

I bought this little Christmas tree growing kit at Target after Christmas for about 25 cents and today, I planted it! I figured it would be a nice project to track on my blog. Who knows, by Christmas maybe I'll have a cute little tree to decorate! Somehow I'm doubtful that the couple of seeds and soil block that came in the package will result in a tree but hey, I did spend a lot of money on it so maybe it will surprise me. Ha ha.

"Hulu losing `Daily Show,' `Colbert Report'"

Oh no! This is awful news! That's how I catch up on The Daily Show! I know it says that you'll still be able to view full episodes via the Comedy Central Web site but it's just not the same. I've had quality/buffering issues with Comedy Central videos on their Web site that I rarely ever have with anything I watch on Hulu. Plus, what's great about Hulu is that the episodes just show up in your queue if you have a subscription, you don't have to make the effort to seek out the videos. (via)

Movie Review: Everybody's Fine

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. I guess that's because I'm nesting in my new apartment. Anyway, Everybody's Fine was just out around Thanksgiving/Christmastime I think but now it's already on DVD so I watched it last night and it was so profoundly sad. Ugh. Robert DeNiro plays this widowed father who seems to want to reconnect with his grown children, but all of them cancel their trips home so he decides to hit the road and surprise each of them. They live throughout the country and at each stop, each kid basically lies to him, hides their real life from him and sends him on his way as quick as possible. It's just sad. He's clearly trying and is clearly trying to find his way after the death of his wife. It seems like the kids were really close with their mother. And more tragedy befalls him on his journey. I don't know. It was a good movie, actually, just so so sad. I wasn't expecting that at all. Robert DeNiro's character reminded me of my own father in a lot of ways, maybe that's why it affected me so much.

Movie Review: The Cove

You know how at the end of my last entry I said that I like documentaries because you learn something new? Well, sometimes you really don't want to know anything about that new thing. The Cove is a perfect example. This is an Academy Award-nominated documentary about dolphins. It features this guy who was a dolphin trainer and then finally realized that dolphins are not supposed to be confined so he became an activist for their freedom. Along the way he discovered this cove in Japan where dolphins are lured each year. Once there, some of them are captured and sold to aquariums and petting zoos, while hundreds of others are brutally murdered and sold for food. It's really a gruesome story that shows these activists sneaking into this cove and planting cameras to record the footage of what happens to the dolphins. It's truly awful. And while I feel awful for the dolphins, it's tough getting the images out of my head. I guess that's the point.

Movie Review: Eleven Minutes

Eleven Minutes is a documentary about Jay McCarroll, who won the first season of Project Runway, as he tries to prepare his first official New York Fashion Week show. It was really interesting. I mean, you hear a lot about Fashion Week, especially if you watch Project Runway, but you don't really know what it takes to put on a show and this was Jay's attempt to bring us into that world. It's a lot of work, especially because not only is there the fashion show, but there's the attempt to sell the items to stores after the show. This is a perfect example of why I love documentaries - they give you insight into new worlds.

New boots!

I've been unhappy with my clothes the last couple of weeks, so I want to go clothes shopping this weekend. But, one thing I did buy recently was rain boots! I realized that with all the snow we got, my snow boots weren't really that waterproof. Plus, now that I can walk to work, it seemed worthwhile to buy rain boots! Here are the ones I got at Target... Cute, right? They kind of have that rubbery smell, though. How do I get rid of that?

Snow update

I guess I never updated everyone about the snow.... So, we basically had an unbelievable 5 snow days! Friday Feb. 5th was an early dismissal of 4 hours. Monday, Feb 8th through Thursday Feb 11th were full snow days. Friday Feb 12th and Tuesday Feb 16th were 2 hour delayed arrival days. That all adds up to 5 days - although I came in on time the delayed arrival days and worked from home for many of the full snow days, so it wasn't really like a super-long vacation really.

There hasn't been measurable snowfall in ten days but that doesn't stop the streets from being a complete mess. Some sidewalks still aren't shoveled so that means pedestrians have to walk in the streets. Many streets are only one lane because there is so much snow piled up on both sides of the street that there is only a clear space for one car to get by. Some streets that are plowed have ridiculously high snowpiles on the curbs, making visibility difficult when trying to make turns. It aggravates me that there seems to have been very little effort on the part of the city, county, state (whoever is responsible) to go back and do any kind of clean-up plowing. At this point, the plows could have easily come back through and made more room available on these one-lane streets. This weekend has been helpful because it's been in the upper 40s - some of the snow is starting to melt.

At work, my Executive Director berated the entire staff at our monthly staff meeting on Tuesday afternoon. She went on about how just because the office was closed for that long, that didn't mean that everyone should do no work. And, we should have all been checking emails and voicemails remotely. She didn't want to hear anyone say anything like "swamped" or "digging out" because of their heavy workload. And, she said that this would have been a great opportunity for those of us potentially interested in teleworking to show her how much could have been done from home. She finished by suggesting that maybe we should not use our flex day for that pay period since we basically got paid for not working all those days. Well, we were all shocked by her reaction and her assumptions and the more we thought about it, we got furious. Why does she jump to the conclusion that we did absolutely nothing during the time off? And, well, really, isn't that's what is supposed to happen the office is CLOSED! Pretty much every person in our office did check their email during the week and many of us conducted teleconferences from our homes. There is obviously a big difference between telecommuting and trying to get some things done with our limited resources during a natural weather disaster. But no one said anything to her and we all just muttered to ourselves about how wrong she was. Although most of us refused to give up our flex day as she suggested - it's one small act of rebellion. I thought about it but in the end, I took my day off. After all, I pretty much got everything done that I needed to do. I'm no longer swamped in the slightest.

Book Review: Under the Banner of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer was our latest book club selection, although our meeting has been postponed for weeks due to the snow. This is a nonfiction book that discusses the Mormon religion, particularly fundamentalism and their beliefs in polygamy and blood atonement. Now, I've read quite a few autobiographies of women who had grown up as FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) and lived in plural marriage and I find the topic fascinating. And although most of these books do try to provide some historical background for their faith (even though the only reason these women have written books is because they no longer are part of that faith), none of them provide the detail that Under the Banner of Heaven provides. So, I was thankful for that, and learned about founder Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the Mormon trek across the United States to find a place to fit in before ultimately settling in Utah. But, it also was kind of boring, as historical records can be.

All in all, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the book. Parts were very interesting, but other parts were boring. Some parts were thorough, others were lacking. At the heart of the story, the author talked about one family who committed murders but felt absolutely just about doing so due to the concept of Blood Atonement - basically the justification of the death of sinners. And Krakauer did a good job of explaining how this theory has been carried out by Mormons throughout their history. But, I guess I feel like there were points of view that were missing. Did anyone change their mind about the faith after seeing Blood Atonement carried out? I also guess I realized that I'm definitely more fascinated about the polygamous lifestyle than I am about anything else that the FLDS believes and that wasn't what this book was about. So, while it definitely served to inform me about the Mormon beliefs, it also kind of left me with more questions than answers.

Book Review: The Book of Fred

The Book of Fred is a quirky little work of fiction that tells the story of Mary Fred, a teenager who was raised in a bizarre fundamentalist religious cult and is sent to live with a foster family when her parents are sent to jail. Mary Fred is thrust into this bizarre world and with a foster family who was pretty disconnected with each other. The family has a teenage daughter about the same age as Mary Fred, a single mom who still hasn't gotten over her divorce, and Uncle Roy, who appears to be a jobless, lazy mess-up. The writing style is unique in that all four main characters serve as narrators at different points so you get to see the story from each person's viewpoint. But, I think it works really well. In fact, the last section repeats someone's point-of-view and I found myself wishing that things were wrapped up from everyone's point-of-view. Anyway, the story isn't particularly unique - how Mary Fred changes these person's lives and how they in turn change hers - but the writing style is unique enough and interesting to make this a pretty good read.

Movie Review: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

One benefit of being snowed in was that I've been able to watch some movies - although not as many as I would have liked since the post office is behind and so too are my Netflix arrivals. But yesterday I was able to watch Beyond a Reasonable Doubt , and I thought it was pretty good. It features Michael Douglas as a reportedly corrupt district attorney, Amber Tamblyn as another lawyer in the district attorney's office and Jesse Metcalfe (the gardener from the early seasons of Desperate Housewives) as a budding broadcast journalist looking for a big break and hoping to break the story of the corruption. To do so, he decides to frame himself for a murder with only circumstantial evidence and show how the district attorney convicts him with fabricated DNA evidence. Interesting plotline and interesting execution, too, with some twists and turns and surprises. I'd recommend it and I'm also thinking of tracking down and watching the original (it's based on a film from 1956).

Snow Day, Day Three

I guess it's actually Day 3 1/2 since we were dismissed 4 hours early on Friday. Today, though, is one of those blizzardy days with high winds, lots of snow, whiteout conditions, and freezing cold temperatures so I get why today is a day off. The previous few days just had a lot of snow that fell over a relatively short period of time, but the temperatures weren't particularly low nor were the winds particularly high. This city just doesn't know how to clean up after such a large snowfall.

I never thought I'd say this but I'm kind of bored. I've probably worked from home about 8-10 hours over the last few days - there's only so much I can do out of the office. But otherwise, I don't really have a whole lot of accomplishments to list after my five-day weekend. I'm curious to see if we have work tomorrow. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we didn't. It all depends on how quickly they can clean things up and I'm guessing the high winds make that somewhat difficult.

Still Snowed In

Yep, we in DC are still trapped by the snow that fell over the weekend. We had a snow day today and will have another tomorrow. Yay! Can't complain about that. All of the roads around me are really not plowed at all. They are all side streets and therefore low priority, I guess, but it's insane to me to think that the snow stopped more than 50 hours ago and a snowplow hasn't even made it down my street or the neighboring streets. Sure, most of the busier roads near me are completely clear but why haven't all the streets been cleared yet? Not only that, but the above-ground subway stops remain closed and 99% of the bus routes are not working. I guess I just expect a lot because I come from the Worst Winter Weather City in America.