I Think I Stole Something from the Public Library

So I was at work and was going to listen to a CD - which is not something I do that often - so I opened the disk drive on my PC. There was a disk already in there - one I'd gotten from the library. And returned to the library. Or, so I thought. Um, oops. I had absolutely no recollection of even listening to that CD at work so I have no idea how long it was in there. It's been at least a couple of weeks since I returned it. Or, returned the case anyway. I'm not sure what to do next. My account says nothing about me still needing to return it. As far as the library is concerned, I returned it. I've checked items out since then and haven't been asked about it. Did they not notice the empty case? Or, did I put something else (one of mine) in the case? Has it been circulating with the incorrect CD in it? Wouldn't someone notice? If I did return it now, would I owe a ton of late fees once they figured out how long I'd had it out? It raises all sorts of questions.

D.C. Horticulture in Pictures

A couple weeks ago - Easter weekend, in fact - a friend & I went down to see the famous Cherry Blossoms. And I took pictures! Today, another friend & I went to the White House Spring Garden Tour. And I took pictures! I've combined the pictures of beautiful DC landscaping into a photo album, so feel free to click on the picture below for more pictures.

DC - April 2010

The Cherry Blossoms, and I hope I don't get kicked out of DC for saying this, were kinda overrated. Way too many people and a lot of walking just for some pretty trees. Yes, they were pretty but there are a lot of trees like that around the area and they are all pretty, not just the ones around the Tidal Basin. I was told by someone who had gone the same weekend that I did as well as the previous weekend that they were far more spectacular the previous weekend.

On the other hand, the White House Garden Tour, was way underrated. I remember I kind of wanted to go last year but another friend of mine wasn't so convinced so we didn't go, but what a mistake because it was awesome. I mean, we literally get to walk all over the White House grounds. We saw their front door, where the helicopter lands, the Rose Garden, the Oval Office, the garden that Michelle planted, the swing set installed for Sasha & Malia, and I don't know what else. It was super cool. Crowded, too, but totally worth the wait and the crowds. Enjoy the pics!

Shecky's Girls Night Out

I mentioned this briefly the other day but I attended Shecky's Girls Night Out on Weds. and one of the big draws with that event is the gift bag. This time didn't really disappoint, as you can see all the freebies I got in the picture below.



Another benefit of the event is the sampling of alcohol. I tried the Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry, which has an interesting non-beer flavor. It would have been a great option before I enjoyed the taste of beer. I also tried Budweiser Select 55, a beer that boasts only 55 calories. It honestly didn't taste any different than any other light beer, but with far fewer calories, I suppose. I wanted to try the Bacardi Silver Sangria, but they had run out of it by the time I got to the bar.

"Americans so caught up in the Net, they would set TV free"

We were discussing the very thing addressed in this article with friends a couple of months ago... would you rather live without a TV or without Internet? I said hands down the Internet, but most of my friends were shocked and said definitely the television. Don't get me wrong, I watch a lot of TV (probably too much) but pretty much everything I watch, I can watch online. Yet, you can get so much more online. I already stopped paying for cable years ago.

Of course, I'm going to keep both my TV and my Internet access for now!

Mid-Week Day Off

As some of you know, we get a "flex day" off each pay period, which we earn for working longer hours the other nine days in that pay period. The best thing is having 3-day weekends. This pay period, however, I didn't have many options for fitting in a three-day weekend. I had an out-of-town meeting last Friday, attended a conference on Monday, and cannot take off this Friday since the other person in my department has switched her day to then. I guess on rare occasions we can carry them over to the following pay period but considering I worked 58 hours last week thanks to three days at out-of-town meetings, I didn't want to wait any longer for my day off. So, I ended up taking today off, which kinda sucked. I guess it breaks up the week nicely but I also am the kind of person who builds momentum at work as the week goes on. Now, tomorrow is going to be like starting over.

I will say that I actually was pretty productive today, though, a lot more than I am on my usual Fridays off. I did a bunch of laundry, did my taxes, applied for a job, watched 2 movies, ran some errands and attended the Shecky's Girls Night Out event and got my super sweet gift bag. That might warrant a separate post, but not tonight.

Another Update: Grow a Christmas Tree Project

I just took these pictures just minutes ago and boy, have my seeds sprouted! It looks so much different since two weeks ago when I posted the last picture, doesn't it? It's amazing. They are over an inch high and the directions say to replant when they reach three inches. I thought that would never happen! Also, it looks like not only will I have one Christmas tree but I'll have three! I'm going to have to open my own Christmas tree lot.

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?