Friday, September 30, 2005

Goreham fecking AWESOME

Just got back from seeing Serenity with the crew. I've been watching Firefly via DVD all week to ramp up and while the show is good (I never watched it when it aired on TV, much in the same vein as other great series that I now consider life necessities like Seinfeld, Freaks n' Geeks, and Sex and the City) the movie just blows the series out of the water. I'm exhausted from being so in the movie that I forgot I was in a movie theater and was covering my mouth, gasping, exclaiming out loud, and fidgeting in my seat (when I wasn't on the edge of it). I will more than likely see this one again in the theater and you can consider the DVD pre-ordered. Plus I saw the preview for HP and the Goblet of Fire so I = happy camper.

Tomorrow: Monticello Wine Trail Festival.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

an-NOY-ing

When someone says the year using the "20" method...i.e. "Twenty-oh-five" instead of "two-thousand five". NPR, I will cut you. Just ask Bill.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

It's no XO London post, but here goes...

M. Ward, gravelly-voiced genius



My new boyfriends, The Shins. I'm fighting with Pam for the guy on the far left.


Pam and I went to Merriweather Post Pavilion last night for the M. Ward/The Shins/White Stripes show. Personally, I was there for the first two and could have left without seeing the WS, but we stayed for the whole thing and it was a great night. Perfect fall weather--upper 50s and clear. We got there early enough to be at the very front of the lawn and rocked some old W&M stadium seats that I have. We also rocked 2 24-oz. Stella Artois each, but that is neither here nor there. NPR featured the whole show as part of it's All Songs Considered and you can hear all the sets here.

I'd never been to MPP before, and while it's no Wolftrap, it was still a great venue. M. Ward was first, and very bare-bones in his set. Just him, a killer girl drummer (whom Meg White could learn a thing or two from) and a bassist. He played 5 songs and owned every one of them. I am now on a mission to buy his entire oeuvre to date. I was familiar with his stuff (most notably and ad nauseum O'Brien) but the guy is phenomenal on the guitar and his voice just sort of finds a place in your spine and stays there.

The Shins were, no shit, the best thing I've seen in a long time. First, and very cool, is that their lead singer is NOT the guy who does all the front interacting with the crowd. That honor goes to Pam's and my BF who dropped choice phrases like "We're gonna deliver your rock by the thick slice." I have both of their albums and while I've enjoyed them, didn't come to full-on lerv them until last night. They are lively, engaged, un-selfconcious guys who played the hell out of every song and infused them with so much more energy than you get from the CDs--I hope they put out a live disc soon. They played at an instant where the sunset and beer buzz combined for a perfect September moment.

I think the best evidence of how killer both of the acts were is that M. and the Shins both broke guitar strings inside of 2 songs. Rockin' OUT.

After that the White Stripes paled in comparison for me. The music was decent, and far more hard rocking than it comes across as in their albums. Meg essentially plays the same drum beats for every song, and Jack just musical geniuses her through the rest of it. Guy is seriously talented, but pale and skeevy and sweaty and just so FUCKING ODD. I really don't know how Loretta Lynn got mixed up with him (don't get me wrong, their results were spot-on, but on the surface he just grosses me waaaay out).

All-in-all a GREAT show. So glad I rallied, drove the hour (each way) and had that night.

Monday, September 26, 2005

I sorta saw this on Saturday. I was in Norfolk, unloading a car, and heard aircraft engines nearby that sounded kinda low. When I looked up I saw the Yak flyby with the L-39 alongside. The next pass was just the Yak, and I noticed the single landing gear down, but figured that he had just taken off and had retracted one gear and was about to retract the other. At least all's well that ends well. Yikes.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

HIGHLY recommend:

Flightplan. Just saw it, nearly jumped out of my seat. Jodie still brings it f'shizzle.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Happy Birthday to one of the most fecking awesome people on the planet:

Bill "Cinderella Story" Murray.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Endlessly charming:

Referring to your wife of 20+ years, repeatedly, as "my bride". Melt.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

I'm always surprised at how much time gets eaten by doing a whole lot of little things. I'm on 3-11 this week which you would think would mean not much for me to do. I'm off when everyone else is busy, so how do the hours still fly by? Who knows, but I'm glad that they do--better occupied than bored.

I did boring stuff Tuesday like BD's emissions inspection, running errands, and buying birthday gifts. The first guy from my gaggle of high school friends turns 30 this weekend. There'd better not be any bullshit old man "over the hill" gifts at his shindig. I hate that shit. I think it's out of place at any party before your 50th. Ahem.

Yesterday I met Steve and Sonny for lunch in Dupont Circle--my first time back to the old office since my last day. It was great to see everyone. I really did have the most fabulous coworkers and cushy environment but everything was as I left it and I think that answers right there why it was time to go. We hit up Front Page for my favorite California Wrap and then I read by the fountain until it was time to go to work. I walked around the area a bit, too, and felt like I finally saw a lot of things for the first time. Funny what you miss when you see something everyday, but in your haste to commute or get lunch or get out of the rain or avoid the crazy man who yells at himself, you don't really see it. Y'knowwhatImean?

And now all of a sudden here it is, Thursday, and I'm off to lunch with Erin Dempsey. Woo!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

I caught the first half of the Falcons/Eagles game last night and it was good, but rowdy ball. Seriously, why do these guys act like a bunch of playground baffoons? I guess my answer and my reprimand can both be couched in the phrase "it's just a game." On the one hand, when you let adult men earn their (very good) living by playing a(n aggressive) game, are we really surprised when they let the thug out? But by the same token, have some perspective, dudes. Just a game. Not saving lives, changing policy, providing education, or improving anyone's day-to-day existence, generally speaking. Look around you. On the flip side of the 4th anniversary of 9/11 and in the aftermath of all that's happening on the Gulf Coast, GET A GRIP. I don't care what he called your momma or what he says he did to your wife. Walk away and just play your game.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Someone got to this blog by googling "blogsport tits." Wuh? Seriously...what does that even mean?

It's a boring day in this neighborhood so today's paragraph won't give you much. The idea of motivating myself up and out of the house to run errands is so unappealing--times like these I so need a personal assistant. The line between lazy and inert is so fine...

Had a long catch-up conversation with Corinna last night. She's been mad busy in her job at Current TV (Al Gore's cable baby) but in general is rocking steady in San Fran with her usual flair. I miss that girl ferocious-like.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Dinner...

Not really, but an accompaniment to dinner and I just liked the pic.

I've been woefully inattentive to the blog lately, for a lot of reasons. I was talking to Suzi about it today and we were wondering aloud about why we blog, and why would I feel guilty or unfinished about *not* blogging. Because really ultimately blogging is something I do for me, and if I'm not into it, then why continue? My answer is two-fold: one, I've always said I like the fact that this register tracks what I'm up to, for me. I can't tell you how many diaries I started in my life and never stuck with, nor can I properly convey how much pleasure I've gotten from the running tally of what-who-when-where-why that I have had in the 18 month-life of the 'Sport. And two, I so enjoy reading my friend's blogs, and hope to return a little of that in kind with the odds n' ends that I paste here.

So, Blogsport reinvigorated. In baby steps. I'm trying for a paragraph a day. The trick is not letting too many days go by without writing, because backtracking then feels like a huge task. I hope to get to the pictures and stories of the past few weeks, but if not, c'est la vie. Forward from here.

Today I started a new book and enjoyed the cool late summer morning before meeting up with Kristin, Todd, Clarence, Jonathan, Suzi, Tom, Chang, Des, Bry, and Annie for lunch at Afghan. Man. That food. Just....wowyumohmygahsofullfoodcomazzzzz. After bidding K&T goodbye (sniff!) I headed to CostCo with Suz, Tom, and Chang. I'm only friends with Suzi for her membership, I won't lie. I finally got a flash drive for my computer to back up my most precious info, scored a $30 anorak for winter hiking, and have enough PowerBars to fuel a Michigan militiaman. That place is so dangerous. I can convince myself that I need a gross of just about EVERYTHING and require vigilant chaperoneage. Other than that the afternoon and evening have been about lazy perusal of the paper, catching up on email, watching the Redskins win (WOO!) and other teams do whatever, and trying to sort out the many tasks for this week into "must do" "should do" and "will give into my natural inclinations and just put off" piles. The third is by far the biggest. But my will is strong.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

I know, sorry...lots to blog, including pictures, but I'm either swamped, working, fraternizing, or exhausted, so in the meantime enjoy Kristin's blog because most of what I've been doing is chronicled there (better than I could say it) .

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Boring grown-up FYIs

This morning I dealt with 2 important but crap-I'm-turning-into-a-grown-up things via the Internets. The first was getting a free copy of my credit report. As of today, September 1st, our area of the country is eligible for free reports from any or all of the 3 main reporting agencies. Pretty astonishing how fast and thorough that biz was, and good to see that I'm more or less where I thought I was.

The second thing I did was to go to this website and opt out of eligibility to ALL pre-approved credit card and insurance offers. You can elect to opt out for 5 years or permanently; you can also use the same site to make yourself eligible again if you need to. Super easy and fast, and it just means far less crap junk mail coming to the house and also a measure of safety since more than once I've not only gotten the letter telling me I'm approved for the card, but THE CARD HAS BEEN IN THE ENVELOPE TOO, meaning anyone could heist that shit and start a'spendin'.

Go on, be good. You know you don't have anything going on at work anyway.

Oh, and PS, last I checked I still couldn't get on the Mercy Corps or Red Cross websites. Anyone have other charitable organization suggestions?