It's Snowing...

We're supposed to get 9 inches from now through tonight. Pictures may follow, watch flickr.

Maggie Got a Haircut

Who's that pretty dog?
Originally uploaded by The Smooze.

Isn't she cute?

No, seriously....

I'm supposed to be impressed by this?

I don't think so. Especially knowing this and this.

Peach Bowl

Having worked for and and seen a few great Peach Bowls (esp. '98 UGA v. UVA), I have to say that this year's Florida vs. Miami match-up has to be the best side-effect of the expanded ACC. Though I hate the two teams, I'm gonna' watch.

Home, Home Again

Maggie and I returned home today from Atlanta. I am exhausted from getting up early and traveling, and she is a very tired dog after a weekend of playing with Cousin Larry Max and stressful plane rides--this morning we were one of three dogs on board(!). We went for a quick walk when we got home and since then we have both been napping off and on (more on than off). This afternoon between naps I watched a few South Park Christmas episodes (the best being the one where the children recreate the original South Park cartoon (Jesus v. Santa)). I then watched the Redskins/Cowboys game which was impressive. I have to say it was nice to watch TV with the sound on after having to watch it while Sarah studied, trying to follow the action while reading the closed captioning. I have to say that it has heightened my awareness of the necessity for more closed captioning--What do you mean there's no captioning on The Thirsty Traveler?

Sarah went on to Paducah, where she opened her presents from her parents and then called me so she could open mine over the phone. I must say I got some pretty good stuff.

I return to work tomorrow, and then I probably will go on to Louisville on Friday for New Year's Eve, as long as I can find someone to take care of Maggie.

Thank you to Geoffrey and Jennifer (and Max and the cats) who were very gracious this whole weekend, even as Maggie and I woke the whole place up when she needed to go out.

Yeah, We're Fine...

...just a little busy. Sarah just finished exams, work is picking up for me, and we're getting ready to head to Atlanta for Christmas. We also have to finish our shopping.

Exams

Sarah's got her first law school exams starting Tuesday. She's studying hard, and I, of course, can't stop being nosey about how it's going, etc., since, after all, "I've done this before." Hard to be just the supportive husband without quizzing her about the ins and outs of Civil Procedure. Just realized that it will be six years straight where law school exams will impact my life in some way, shape, or form--great.

Thanksgiving visit to the eastern mid-West was great fun. We flew Independence Air, and our outgoing flight wasn't delayed on a day when almost everything else was. We plan on flying them again, especially since they will let us take Maggie in the cabin with us, which ought to be an adventure. Speaking of Maggie, she has fully recovered from her bite, though her hair is slow to grow back. She has been relegated back to her crate for now, because she kept taking ornaments off the Christmas tree. Pictures from both Thanksgiving and the Christmas tree are coming once I can get a free moment to upload them on Sarah's computer. She's using it for some tests she has.

I also bought a new suit today. It's navy. Can someone please explain to me why these things cost so effin' much?

Off to TN, IN, KY

Sidenote before I get to the Thanksgiving post: I got a new Wusthof Grand Prix 8-inch Chef's Knife today , which replaces my Chicago Cutlery knife (which, while inexpensive, actually was a good first "real" chef's knife). The new knife is going to take some getting used to, but it's exciting to me anyway.

Tomorrow late we leave for Nashville from which we will travel to Evansville, IN and then to Hopkinsville, KY, and finally to Paducah. We are looking forward to seeing all of Sarah's extended family, but we will be thinking all of our family and friends this Thanksgiving.

Of course, Sarah and I are thankful for so much these days, but here's a partial list: that we live in DC and are doing exactly what we wanted to do when we mapped it out two years ago, that Sarah has acclimated to law school, that I passed the bar exam, again that I passed the bar exam, that Maggie is such a good, well-adjusted (if slightly bitten) dog, that we both have our health and each other and loving families.

Christmas Gift For Nicholas?

I really want some Fun Slides Carpet Skates. They are among the 10 most dangerous toys this year, but in a totally carpeted apartment, they look like awesomeness.

Also, please, if you think anything is funny, check out this week's Strong Bad e-mail.

Spaghetti Alla Cousteau

Spaghetti Alla Cousteau
Originally uploaded by The Smooze.

I was inspired by Christina's post to make the green spaghetti that my parents used to make. I now have a fifth of Blue Curacao and nowhere to go. "Fruit of the Millennium" here I come!!!

Sarah was not fond of this dish (it tasted "sour"), though our friend Dylan and I enjoyed it.

Good Times

Daddy is in town on Corps business and we had a really good time going out to dinner with him last night. We went to Neisha Thai in Tenleytown, which was delicious.

This is the first post here since the election, which is only somewhat purposeful. Needless to say, we were pretty disappointed with the Democratic showing. Despite the fact that I've done a lot of it in the last week, I don't think it's terribly helpful to disparage those who voted for Bush, and I think Sarah would agree. It's better to figure out how they won and try to emulate it. The next few years should be interesting. VIVA Democratic obstructionism!

Oh, by the way...

I was sworn into the Virginia Bar today. It was very ceremonious...

So I'm Probably Way Behind Here....

...but I just found out that Martin Freeman (of The Office and Love Actually fame) is playing Arthur Dent in the forthcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, and can I just say, "What a perfect choice."

I'm probably just saying that because I've watched the final two special episodes of The Office about ten times in the last week, but I think he's great. Apparently, Lucy Davis (who plays Dawn on The Office) is in Shaun of the Dead, but I haven't seen it.

Changed my mind! Law school rocks b/c I got a big old A on my first memo! YEAH!

I hate law school. I can only imagine it's like having kids. You convince yourself that you'll handle it better and that you will be more orgainzed or else you would never do it. Then you do it and realize - nope it just sucks and is really really hard no matter how "prepared' you think you are. By then of course it is too late.

If You Think That's Bad, You Should See the Other Dog

Maggie's Injury
Originally uploaded by The Smooze.

This is a shot of Maggie from this afternoon. As you can see, she is wearing an Elizabethan Collar and has had most of her face shaved so they could treat her wound.

She is not a happy puppy right now.

Thursday Night/Friday Morning

We're sitting in the all-night emergency vet right now waiting to see the doctor. Another dog bit Maggie today at the park. Apparently, the other dog is "not friendly" (this is what the a-hole owner told Sarah after the incident).

Looks like we'll be here until early Friday morning...

Don't worry, my unprofessional opinion is that she's just got a flesh wound, but you can never be too careful...

Not the Way I Would Want to Find Out...

A story about a guy who found out he passed the VA bar in (what I consider) a terrifying way.

Beautiful Downtown Lancaster

Sarah and I headed to Lancaster, PA yesterday on a bus from Kerry's DC headquarters. We spent the day canvassing the residential parts of downtown Lancaster. I think we hit the one Democratic corner of Lancaster County, a place known for it's large evangelical population.

Most people weren't home, and most of the ones who were already had John Kerry window signs, so our goal ended up being to remind people of the importance of making it to the polls or making sure they get their absentee ballot applications in on time.

We returned last night, exhausted, but hopeful that we had done something to help get John Kerry elected President.

Fantastic

If you have 20 minutes, you should watch Jon Stewart's appearance on on Crossfire. Seriously, y'all, he calls Tucker Carlson a dick...

It's available at iFilm.

Sarah and I are off to Pennsylvania tomorrow to canvass for Kerry.

I FREAKING PASSED!!!

That's right boys and girls. I passed the Virginia Bar Exam!!!

Celebration to come.

Big D Makes News, Again

An interesting, though factually incorrect, piece from Creative Loafing about "Bicycle Shorts Man," AKA "Big D." Those of you who knew me in my high school days know that all was revealed about this mysterious character in one of the last issues of the kindling. That is all.

Until I moved to DC I had (fortunately) never seen anyone get hit by a car. Since I've moved here, I've seen it twice. One pedestrian (not so bad, she was more grazed than hit) and today, a motorcyclist (looked pretty bad). I'm not sure why I'm telling you all this, but I thought it was pertinent.

Pamela is in town again this weekend. We had lunch and watched Dr. Strangelove at our place and then went to buy produce at Eastern Market.

Sarah and I have also started occasionally using Zipcar, which is a shared car service in DC. For $8.50 an hour you can rent a car anytime (gas and insurance included), and they are all over the city. We have driven a Ford Focus and a Scion xA so far. Next up, a Mini Cooper. It's pretty useful for things like taking people to the airport, big grocery shopping trips and getting out to the closest Target.

Anyway, I don't have much else to say. Happy Columbus Day?

Maggie's "Gotcha" Day

Mmmmm....
Originally uploaded by The Smooze.

We have had Maggie for one year today. As a treat she got something from the doggy bakery near Eastern Market. Yes, we are goofy pet owners, but she's such a goooood doooooog....yes she is! ...yes she is!!!

There Goes the Neighborhood

We have had Maggie for almost one year. For some reason, she has never jumped on the couch or on our bed. Until yesterday. Now she does it all the time. At first we were excited, we had always been a little worried about her inability to jump two feet up. Now we aren't so sure...

Things to do in DC

The Polyphonic Spree
Originally uploaded by The Smooze.

We saw a free Polyphonic Spree concert tonight at the Kennedy Center. It was a really good show, if a little absurd. For anyone who doesn't know about this group, maybe this article will fill you in.

Things I Like

- Having wireless DSL, did I really use dial-up for two years??

- The New National Museum of the American Indian-- a little overwhelming, but well done

-The Cheese Guy at Eastern Market-There's a special place in my arteries for all the cheese this guy convinces me to buy (most recent, "Sage Cheddar")

- New Mini-Break-and-Bake Cookies from Pillsbury

- Vegetarian Times Magazine

- The Washington Post's Free Daily "Express"--all the news you can read in a 10 minute Metro ride.

- Our dog--Goes without saying, but she's done a really good job adjusting to us being gone most of the day, and is still as sweet as ever.

Happy Birthday Toey!!!


I know I promised a picture, but BloggerBot is acting up and doesn't want to upload the picture.

Here's a link for those with a flickr account. Word.

It's been a long time...

I started work today, mostly orientation stuff. I also got to see my cute little ultralight laptop (Dell Latitude x300). It's definitely light, which is all I know about it because they haven't given me a passowrd to access it yet--that comes tomorrow.

Sarah is enjoying law school as much as any first year, which is to say not that much, but she seems to be working her way into a routine.

Maggie is doing fine, she isn't thrilled about us being gone during the day, but she gets exercise in the morning rather than at midday like she was getting. It's a new routine for her, too, I guess.

I'll be in Atlanta this weekend dropping off the Corolla. In related news, I just got my DC drivers' license, which took only 30 minutes. I was prepared for an all day affair a la the Georgia DMV, but was pleasantly surprised by the first efficient DMV office I've ever been in.

Cincinnati Trip

We went to Northern KY/Cincinnati this weekend for the Weatherholt/Turner wedding extravaganza, where I served as a groomsman. We drove the 9 hours on Friday from 6 am to 3 pm so we were tired when we got there, but Sarah and I had a wonderful time seeing everyone from Transy and meeting a bunch of new people. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was great, too.

On our way back we stopped to see Amy and Tanya in Columbus. We were very happy to see them and to eat Donato's pizza again. Though we didn't want to leave, we made it back on Sunday at around 11 pm.

Unfortunately on Monday morning we took Maggie to the vet and found out that she had a urinary tract infection, requiring an antibiotics regimen for the next ten days. She's still a very happy puppy, but we have to do the open-up-and-force-the-pill-down dance every morning and night.

Sarah got her iBook yesterday and is busy learning all about OS X. I am very jealous, but I, too, get a new laptop (from work), so we'll have dueling computers soon.

It's Over

The Bar Exam is finally over and our lives are returning to normal. I will only say that I feel okay about how the exam went, not great, not terrible, but just okay. I'll know on October 15, I'll let you know how it goes.

We're off to Cincinnati next week. It's going to be a long drive through Pennsylvania and Ohio (two swing states, maybe we'll pass by the Kerry or Bush campaign on our way), but we look forward to Tim and Emily's wedding.

DC Living

Moved into the apartment yesterday. Sarah painted the living room yello today, under my rent-house inspired guidance. We have no furniture, food, etc. (it's all on a truck over the 4th of July Holiday), sleeping on an air mattress and eating PB and J. Maggie is learning to be a city dog, though she's been imprisoned in the back bedroom because of the painting today.

T-minus 24 days to the bar exam. I may never learn it all.

E-mail us for the new address and phone number.

Coming up for air

I just wanted to come up from my constant Bar studying to say thank you for all of the birthday wishes and gifts of a week ago. I don't have much free time these days, as moving and studying are occupying me. I did get to see the Pistons embarass the Lakers this evening, but I felt guilty the whole time.

Hope everyone is well, see you on July 29th.

Lookie here...

I'm not saying that we were the first couple to have a wedding website, but this is strange:

nicholasandsarah.com

Ch-Ch-Ch...Ah, never mind...

As you can tell, big changes around here at The Best Blog EVER!!! A new blogger template means a little easier on the eyes, but I have switched to the Blogger comments, which aren't nearly as intuitive for users as Haloscan, I may end up going back if I really don't like it...(I hate livejournal's comments, and these aren't far off.)

I have begun Bar Preparation "for real" now. Unfortunately, despite being promised by the Bar/Bri people that my home-study CDs would arrive tomorrow, I have been informed that they won't be shipped until Wednesday. That's okay, I have some other materials that can keep me busy in the meantime and I can catch up on the weekends, but I wish they had let us know a little earlier...The task looks more daunting every time I look at the absurd amount of material and number of practice questions that have been provided me. If I live through this, I can live through anything, I'm convinced.

We're back to DC this weekend, with hopes of finding a house/condo that we can make an offer on. We don't want to be back and forth between here and there too many times, so we are hopeful that this weekend will be fruitful. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Alright, back to Constitutional Law for now.

Where has all my initiative gone?

I tried to listen to some bar exam lectures on tape this afternoon and promptly fell asleep on the couch, waking only when Maggie saw another dog out the window and began barking. Even though this is pretty early to be studying, I certainly hope that I can find a little more energy for this stuff soon. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............

We're having Tim and Emily in this weekend and next weekend we return to DC to look at houses, and may even be making an offer if we see something we really like--now wouldn't that be all grown up of us?

I also really want to change the template on our blog, but I am too lazy to reinsert the Haloscan comments code. Also, the new blog templates all have that annoying stuff on the side telling everyone about your interests--I don't want it. Ah, well, I guess we're stuck with this for now.

March for Women's Lives

Two weeks ago today, I set out for Washington, DC to attend the March for Women's Lives. The March held on April 25 was to protest for "Choice, Justice, Access, Health, Abortion, Global and Family Planning." Over 1,115,000 people attended the march and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I went up early to volunteer at the National Organization for Women's (a co-sponsor of the March along with my current employer Planned Parenthood) headquarters. Immediately I was put to work Friday morning helping recruit people to promote NOW's new voter mobilization called 10 for Change. It was really wonderful seeing everyone I worked for this summer especially my boss Linda. This summer one of my main tasks was to secure memorabilia for the PAC auction held every summer at the NOW convention. In a lightbulb moment, I realized the March would be stockfull of celebrities and if we could get them to sign March posters they could be auctioned off for lots of money. I told my idea to Kim Gandy, the president of NOW, who told me she like the way my mind worked but we needed someone to be charge of the poster. Well of course I volunteered and secured myself a backstage pass.

After leaving the NOW office on Friday, I went to visit American University's Washington College of Law where I am now convinced I will be attending in the fall. It is everything I want in a law school. Laid back, feminist oriented, focused on government/non-profit service. It really was exciting.

The next day, after looking at houses in Virginia with our realtor, I made my way downtown to the DC Armory for the March kick-off event. From 3-12pm, my good friend Hannah and I passed out information and sold T-shirts till we about passed out from exhaustion. I've never seen women so excited about T-shirts in my whole life.

The next morning, the day of the March, we woke up bright and early and greeted buses coming from out of town at the Branch Avenue until about noon. I even got to personally greet all my coworkers arriving from North Carolina. Finally, we got to the mall and the excitement was truly palpable. There is nothing like being surrounded by a million people who feel the same way you do. Honestly, there were so many people I didn't think we would be able to logistically march around the capital. Thinking I had more time than I did I made my way backstage but instead ended up following Whoopi Goldberg and Christine Lahti to the front of the line. Suddenly, I looked around and I was right behind Ted Turner, Ashley Judd, Calli Khoui (screenwriter of Thelma and Louise and from my hometown), Camryn Manheim, Tyne Daly, and a ton of other celebrities. I introduced myself and had them all sign my NOW round and then the next thing I knew we were marching. In the midst of the hubbub I got pushed farther and farther back but I ended up marching the entire way with Tyne Daly's three daughters Alisabeth, Kathryne , and Alyxandra who adopted me and were incredibly kind. The marching itself was incredibly surreal. We were in this group of people as far as the eye could see walking towards the capitol. The truly surreal moment came when I glanced over and saw Gloria Steinem,far from the celebrity held front, marching with us normal people. I reintroduced myself and walked beside for about 15 minutes. It was of course a top ten moment of my life.

After the march, I went backstage to start gathering my celebrity signatures. Cady Lornell, Kim Gandy's daughter and a really sweet child, wanted to meet the celebrities too so she followed me around as we met everyone from Susan Sarandon to Moby to Carole King. I had my picture taken with Sheryl Crow and Julianne Moore - two of my absolute favorites. It was just another surreal moment from the weekend to look around you and realize your next to Candace Bergen, Ed Harris, the Indigo Girls.
The whole afternoon was fantastic and I stayed until the very end at 6pm and set out for North Carolina.

The whole time I was on such an andreneline high because I knew we were truly making history. While meeting all the famous people I've admired for so long was very cool, I think my favorite thing was how connected you felt to everyone. All weekend long if another marcher identified you as "on their side" it was like you were long lost friends and you could talk about anything. As cheesy as it sounds, we were all truly sisters that weekend. My only prayer for myself and my sisters is that we can transform all the positive energy and experience into incredible change especially on November 2!

The Fix Is In

Well, since I haven't received any correspondence telling me otherwise, I guess Duke Law School is going to graduate me on Saturday. Right now I'm going to the Durham Bulls game, right after I take Maggie outside.

Maggie's Triumphant Return to Dogster

Dogster lost a bunch of their pages to a server error about 3 months ago, and Maggie's page was one that was lost. I recreated her page today. The link on the left should work, but if you're too lazy, I'll put one here, too.

Update: For those of you who don't read comments, Maximus has a Dogster page, too. Maggie and Maximus are Dogster Pup Pals!

Iron Chef America

Just finished a study break during which I watched Iron Chef America. A couple of observations that struck me while watching it:

1) Japanese actresses in translation (on the original Iron Chef) seem much smarter than American actresses. The actress that they had on from "The OC" was amazed by the taste of the wasabi until she was told that she'd probably never had it fresh because most wasabi paste you get is made from wasabi powder and water. Even J. Peterman knew that. She also did not have a very endearing anime-character giggle.

2) Alton Brown is a legitimate chef. This may seem obvious to any who have watched his show, but one of the joys of watching Good Eats is that AB comes across as just a guy who really knows how to cook instead of a guy who has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things culinary. This show allows him to show just how knowledgeable he is, without having to dumb it down for me. Of course, this sometimes leads him to come across a little like a know-it-all, especially when he constantly corrects the guy who reports from the Kitchen Stadium.

That is all.

Busy Weekend

I had my second to last exam yesterday (Trusts and Estates--perhaps the hardest exam I've ever had, and not because I didn't study). My last one is on Monday (Federal Courts), so I am studying that now. It is really hard to believe that I will have finished three years of law school after Monday ( I don't want to say "graduate," because that might jinx it, especially since exams aren't over). It's trite but true that it seems like only a few months ago that I moved in with Pete Reaves at The Forest. Of course, when I really think about what's happened over that period, it seems like it's been forever...

Sarah is in DC for the March for Women's Lives/Pro-Choice March tomorrow. She also went to look at houses in Virginia with our real estate agent up there.

It is also Benjamin's birthday, today--I didn't forget. That also means that Granddaddy's birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday to Both!!!!

Final Final Exams

I've started studying for my last set of finals in law school. It shouldn't be too terrible, though there is the added pressure of the fact that failing means I don't get to graduate this year, which could really put a kink in my life plans..

I also received my Bar study materials yesterday. They consist of two legal paper sized books of about 1000 pages a piece, one for Virginia, and one for the Multistate portion of the bar. The cost for this course and the multistate course I am taking is about $2500--luckily, the firm pays for it. I am sufficiently afraid of the bar exam now.

Sarah and I (mostly Sarah) did a lot of Spring Cleaning today. The apartment looks better than it did when we moved in. I also bought a basil plant today, because I was sick and tired of paying 2 bucks for a quarter cup of basil every time I needed it, which is too often. I don't have a green thumb, but maybe my "punishment garden" skills will pay off.

Hives Suck!

On Friday night, my arms started to itch. Upon closer inspection, I found a few small red bumps. Reassured by Nicholas that it was just a little heat rash, I took an Aveno bath and tried to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. Halfway through the film, I go to the restroom to discover my left eye is swollen and the bumps have spread to my back. At this point I totally and completely freak out and start to cry. Nicholas takes me to the ER where they are surprisingly quick in getting me in a bed and pumped full of benydrl. A couple of hours of doped up sleep later the hives are gone and we go home at approximately 3am.

The next morning I continue to take benydrl and steroids but the hives come back with a vengeance and I am starting to look like a science experiment. We decide not to go back to the ER b/c they are only going to give me more of the drugs I already have and tell me they don't know what's causing it. By Sunday, the hives are still in place although mainly on my arms and legs. On Monday I get into to see my dermatologist who gives me a prescription for allegra and tells me they won't be able to tell me what caused the hives either. They're pretty sure it wasn't anything topical but beyond that I just have to pray I don't encounter whatever the hell it was ever again. Like I said...hives suck!

The Sloganator

I'm admittedly the last person to blog about this, but this slideshow of posters created with the Bush-Cheney sloganator is one of the funniest things I've watched in a while.

Calling all Georgians!

Get your senator UNDER CONTROL!

Georgia Senator Stumps for Bush

This however does not suck. In fact it is dang near awesome.

GAS BUDDY

I want to be really clear about this. It completely and utterly sucks. I don't know what else to say.

http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/03/031704fedWorkers.htm

Now that I think about it...

Last night I chased Maggie around for five minutes trying to retrieve a razor blade from her mouth that she had dug out of the bathroom trashcan. Once I caught her, she ran to the corner and promptly took a shit on the carpet which she hasn't done in months. Did I mention Nicholas had just taken her outside?

In other words, maybe one dog is plenty.

Two is better one?

Well people are starting to complain so I suppose it's time for a new post. Although, everyone might want to get used to sparse posting as we are entering a very exciting but stressful period. In the next six months, one of will graduate from law school, one of us will enter law school. One of us will leave our first real job and the other will start their first real job. Nicholas will take the biggest test of his life. We will both be in a wedding a piece. We will be moving from North Carolina to Washington, D.C. where we will buy a house and a car. It's a darn good thing we just went on vacation. (We had a lovely time by the way)

On top of everything else, we (well mainly me) are considering getting another dog. This is the primarily the result the vacation Maggie had while we were in Wilmington. My wonderful boss, Karen, agreed to keep her. Karen has two dogs, Rudy and Haley, who weigh about 60lbs apiece. You would think our own little 12lb dog would be frightened or anxious but oh no! Maggie can definitely run with the big dogs. Karen said she ran and romped with Rudy for hours on end until Rudy finally gave up in exhaustion. And she is the same way at the dog park. She runs and chases other dogs and just has a grand old time. Being the lazy jerks that we are, we could never give her the physical exercise and fun another dog could. So there it is...now I'll just set back and let the warnings come from my mother and grandmother who didn't even want me to get Maggie. I wonder if this is the same reasoning people use when having more kids?

Bleahhhhhh....

I don't feel well today, I've got a head cold. I'm also trying to figure out all this Bar preparation stuff and apply for the bar. Come to think of it, maybe I can get some help from you people. $0.75 per answer to anyone that can answer any of the following questions. One winner per question.

1) What's the number for the Dekalb County Traffic Court?

2) What was the last year that USA Pools ran the Decatur Pools? (I will take the first year that Alpha Pools ran them.)

3) What was the date of my suspension from DHS?

4) Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Me and Cars, Part II

Last weekend, I visited one of my best friends Elizabeth Ferrell and her new little baby, David (better known as Punkin'). Aimee Hicks (another close friend) and I set out on the long seven hour trip to Louisville, KY at about 4:30pm on Thursday afternoon. Aimee was concerned that her engine was running a little hot so we decided to stop in Auto Protocall for quick check-up. Unfortunately, we got there at 4:50 and they close at 5pm. However, the man at the front generously agreed to come look at our car in the parking lot. He established that we had plenty of coolant and that nothing on the service seemed terribly wrong. He also informed us that as long as the temperature gage on the dash didn't pass into the red we were fine. Now, I'm pretty hard on cars (perhaps why I've already been thro two) but Aimee leans more toward safety or paranoia which ever you prefer. She wasn't comfortable just turning on the defrost and therefore cooling the engine so we decided to try Walmart. (I know I know but it's not my car)

Upon pulling up we quickly established that this was only a Tire and Lube Express. However, I decided it wouldn't hurt to ask for some help. I did decide it would hurt to ask the purse-lipped lady inside at the desk so I yelled at one of the mechanics in the garage. He informed me they couldn't do the work at Walmart but he would be glad to take a look. So Duke (our new best friend) came outside and quickly established that Aimee's thermostat is broken. He then informs us that he can call his cousin who could come over and fix it in about 15 minutes if we could get the part. Meanwhile time is ticking away and we decide to ask our respective fiance/husband if we can borrow their cars and both our respective fiance/husbands say no. Well Aimee gives up but I kick and cry till NIcholas relents which is about the same time Duke says his cousin is on the way and Johan (Aimee's fiance) volunteers to rent us a car. We decide to have Nicholas go get the new thermostat (which the people at Autozone say they have but then change their mind but then find it again).

By now it's about 7:00pm and Duke's cousin has still not shown up. Everyone is getting anxious including Nicholas who has shown up with the new thermostat. Finally, Derrick the infamous cousin shows up and goes to work on Aimee's car - in the middle of the Walmart parking lot. He works and works and works. Finally about an hour later he's finished and he says wants to take it for a test drive to make sure everything is working. After instructing us to remove our pocketbooks(his word not mine), he takes a couple of laps around the parking lot and established the fans still aren't kicking on. Seeing our desperate faces, he explains he can cut some wires and hook the fans directly to the battery or we can trust that the high speed wind will keep the engine cool. We chose option two. We thank Derrick and ask how much we should pay him. He instructs Aimee to pay him "whatever you think is fair" We give Derrick as much money as we can afford and the promise of our firstborns. Around 9:00 we set out, Derrick's girlfriends phone number in tow "in case we run into any trouble."

We arrive in Lexington at 3:45am and spend the night there. We go to Louisville and spend a lovely weekend with our friends and the baby, who are just glad we're there. Although my friend Erin asked in amazement, "Where do you find these people?!?"

As Expected

Maggie now has her own Dogster page.

Ed.note: The last post about what I've been doing lately disappeared for some reason. Rest assured that it wasn't that interesting, and most of the links can be found on the left hand side of the page

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

I have now received acceptance (or rejection) letters from all the law schools I applied to. The final tally goes a little something like this:

Georgetown: Rejected
George Washington: Waitlisted
George Mason: Accepted
American: Accepted

Overall, I am very happy with my lot and there were no major surprises. Now of course comes the hard part.

I visited George Mason this weekend. While there were certain aspects of the school I liked, overall I don't think I would be very happy there. They are extremely competitive and have a strong focus on economics (not something I'm terribly interested in). The clincher however was when I asked my student guide about gender studies and my interest in this area she pretty much told me to go to American.

American has basically built itself up to be THE feminist law school, obviously something that appeals to me. Also a friend from college visited there and really liked the overall feeling of the school.

Yet, I would still like to see what will happen with GW. Unfortunately, the chances of me hearing from them before my seat deposit at American is due are slim. Ughhh....I'll keep everyone posted.

Only at Centre

Centre College, sometime rival of our alma mater, has a class called "Basketball as Religion."

Interesting Tidbits

When you run spell check on a blog entry, it pulls up blog as a misspelled word (Replace with bloc, Bloch, blow)...

A woman in France married her dead fiance yesterday. She had to get special permission from the president...

I found out yesterday that in some government language schools they serve diluted wine to lower people's inhibitions so that they feel more comfortable practicing their pronunciation...

My husband sent me tulips yesterday officially making him the sweetest man ever!

Were the Grammys held in a high school gym this year?

Though I liked the fact that they pulled Prince out of the closet and dusted him off, the Grammys have pretty much sucked so far. And what's with the early-90's graphics?

Sarah May Just Be Right

According to this article in the NY Times, gay marriage may be one of the issues that defines this campaign.

I don't even know where to start...

I read two stories yesterday that helped me reach an important decision. One was "The Note" an election commentary by abc news. The second was the cover story of Newsweek entitled "Why We Were Wrong" which explored the evidence given for the war in Iraq. My conclusion: that there is a serious chance I could go crazy before this election is over.

I say this because I suddenly realized something very important. Instead of talking about why our commander-in-chief led us into a preemptive war on faulty evidence during this election, we're are going to be talking about whether or not the government should be able to tell me who I should marry. (The answer to that question by the way is no.) This is not to say that I do not believe gay marriage is an important issue. I do. I believe it is an issue based fundamentally on your moral beliefs in homosexuality which last time I checked every person gets to decide for themselves. However instead this is going to become another hot button issue to distract from political issues of governmental importance...like the war on faulty evidence previously mentioned. The true irony here is that the party of "personal responsibility" is going to be calling for it on one issue while passing the buck on the other.

So that is the end of my rant and Nicholas is now officially kicking himself for asking me to blog more.

Why God invented Tivo...

Since the four blogs I check regularly haven't mentioned the incident, I will now state how I feel about the Super Bowl/Janet Jackson incident...

It was just a boob (and what I imagine was a very expensive nipple medallion) get the frick over it.

I feel better now.

Congratulations Are Due...

Sarah was accepted to George Mason Law School today. She is waiting to hear from GWU and American, and we have plans to go visit these schools soon to help her make her decision.

Congratulations are also due to Shelly and Elizabeth, who welcomed a baby boy, David Shelly, into the world on Saturday. He was 9 lbs. 5 oz. and 21.5 inches long. Wow.

No, No, No, No, No, No,....Please Don't

Someone make this stop.

Snowing

We got about 3 inches of snow yesterday and expect more ice and snow tonight. Good thing we stocked up on milk and toilet paper.

Maggie is especially interested in the snow, having only experienced it once before (see West Virginia Christmas story). We went to the apartment tennis courts yesterday and let her off her leash to let her explore it on her own. We have mini-tennisballs that she can get in her mouth, but she wasn't interested in the icy tennis ball yesterday. She would run with it for a few seconds and then drop it. After a few minutes we were all too cold to continue, so we went inside and watched Back tot he Future and Back to the Future II on the DVD player. The inDemand video isn't working right now, so even though we purchased Harold and Maude, we weren't able to watch it--rats.

Celebrating Choice

Today is the 31st anniversary of Roe v. Wade. As one can imagine, this is quite a big deal at Planned Parenthood. There was a press conference this morning and tonight is Rock n Roe, our benefit concert. All proceeds will go to the March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC, April 25. (If you are prochoice, plan on being there!)

Being raised Southern Baptist, I have a constant voice in my head that argues against my pro-choice beliefs. It places blame, hands out plenty of guilt, and sounds an awful lot like my old youth minister. When the voice becomes too much, I usually find myself looking around me at the amazing people I work with and the patients we serve everyday. My coworkers are kind, passionate, dedicated people that stand up for the women everyone forgets - minority women, poor women, immigrant women. The patients are always relieved to find a place free of judgment and full of kindness. These people remind me that choice is not really about politics, religion, or government. It is about women and the life decisions they have right to make. Or as my coworker says Pro choice is pro life when women's lives matter.

Spam Poetry (Written at the end of an advertisement for I don't know what)

Support open-source. She will work it out on her own; let her be. I think the purple was better than the blue. What a good idea?
Is it really so different from TV? People like to be spoken to as they speak -- simply and to the point.
I am scared of watching the news and reading the newspaper. Rainbows dont' just appear out of nowhere. I love to kiss and tell. There is a great conspiracy brewing.
He talks and looks like a puppet but loves to be called george. I love you dearly.Will work for happiness. Here's my point: The rich are benefiting at the expense of everyone else. The proposal is going as planned.
Sit back and relax--this will all be over soon. A lot of people are talking about this.I believe in the golden mean. You are my best friend.

Amazon.com marketplace--What did we do before the Internet?

In the past two weeks I have sold three textbooks for about 40 bucks a piece on Amazon.com marketplace. If I tried to sell these books back at the regular bookstore rather than to another poor student, I probably would have gotten about 12 dollars total. I know it doesn't need to be said, but how great is the Internet???

Not much else to say. I have started my last semester of law school. I am excited, but a bit hesitant to end my run as a professional student. Tangentially related to that, I was filling out my Bar application and found myself writing a narrative of the time I got suspended in high school for cursing too much at a soccer game--those were the days. BTW, does anyone remember what date that was? The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners wants to know.

Over the weekend, I noticed that one of Maggie's ears had fallen back down. That's right they were both down, then one was up for about 2 months, now it's back down. Weird...

Clean Sweeping

If you don't know by now, Clean Sweep is new (meaning we ripped the idea off from the Brits) home improvement show on TLC. They clean, they purge, the organize, they decorate.

Inspired by the show, I finally threw out the yard sale stuff. Since I don't have a yard in which to sell and probably won't for awhile. I also purged a lot of books and Nicholas and I sold them around time town.
Nice Price books gave us $15.00
Book Seller gave us $20.00
Books on Ninth gave us $35.00 in store credit to buy more books we don't need.

A grand total of $70.00 (sort of). Way more than we would have made selling them for .25 cents a piece!

Since my husband uses the blog to rant occasionally about sports and my New Year's Resolution was to write on the bog more, I have decided that I will share my thoughts on a subject that is very close to my heart...the upcoming presidential election. It seems appropriate considering the election is exactly ten months to the day away.

I'm not going to predict a winner or any such nonsense because truthfully I have no idea what will happen. I do however know that in the circles I run (excluding DeWayne and my stepdad) everyone wants Bush to lose. The problem is no one is willing to do anything about it. Everyone wants to offer their opinions but no one wants to get up off their butt and do anything. My fear is if this complacency continues we will soon be looking at another four years of Dubya - another four years of war, greed, and everything bad in the world.

If we are to stop this from happening, then we must start campaigning NOW. I don't care who you support. I personally support Dean and spent last night writing letters to citizens of Iowa hopefully convincing them to do the same. However, if you like Kucinich, that's fine. Tell everyone you know about Kucinich. The important thing is not only to inform people how good your candidate is but how truly bad Bush is and how absolutely essential it is that they vote.

It doesn't take much. Spread the word. Pass out flyers. Write letters. I promise you they'll take your help. Lord knows they/we need it. It's now or never and November is just around the corner.

An addition...

Nicholas forgot to add my explanation to said truckers and receptionist of what I do at Planned Parenthood.

I was able to explain the difference between emergency contraception and the abortion pill to both. While as previously mentioned, the receptionist will not be needing EC anytime soon perhaps she will pass on this valuable information to everyone she knows.

Another positive result of the day was that I discovered the BEST new show on TLC called Clean Sweep. All I can say is it involves organizing, decorating AND a yard sale. Can you sincerely ask for anything more?

As Promised, A West Virginia Christmas

Due to the unfortunate passing of Sarah's great-grandmother, we (Sarah, Maggie, and I) started our trek to Paducah on Saturday instead of the next Tuesday so that we could attend the funeral. We had planned to leave Durham at 7:30, reaching Louisville by 4 pm, and then travel the the last 3 hours to Paducah on Sunday so that we could be at the visitation that evening. Unfortunately, someone had other plans for us.

At 11 am, about 20 miles outside of Beckley, West Virginia (for you regular Sarah and Nicholas followers, you know that Beckley holds a special place in our hearts), the engine in the previously trusty and problem-free Corolla began to rev really high. Since there is no tachometer in the car, my first thought was that it was just the mountain incline, the thin air, and the fact that we were in a storm that was dumping 5 inches of snow on the snowy peaks of Central West Virginia. I was wrong.

As we continued, the engine revving got louder and when I slowed and put the car into fourth, the transmission didn't respond properly. We pulled over and (after I freaked out for a few seconds) decided that we needed to see if we could make it to the next exit. To its credit, the Corolla made it the 2 miles to the next exit, where we pulled into the nearest gas station and started demanding answers (Well, actually we just asked where the nearest service station was.) This being Saturday, we were pretty unhopeful of finding someone to fix our car, and had resigned ourselves to live in West Virginia for the rest of our lives.

After determining where the nearest service station was, we got back in the car and made it about a block before the car decided that it had taken enough abuse that day and that it was not going to move any longer, no matter how much we begged it. At this point, the first kindness of strangers moment occurred as the man behind us jumped out of his car and began to help me push the car to the next closest gas station, about 75 feet. He then disappeared without a trace (that is, he got back in his car and went home). At this service station, things really started to look bad as the manager told us that the service station we were going to was closed. Fortunately, another stranger overheard us and informed us that he knew a place that might be able to fix our car, and might be able to do it "today." Needless to say, I was a little bit incredulous at this possibility. I knew that we'd need a new part and that this was at least a 4 hour job, if not more. The mysterious stranger (we'll call him Jim, since that was his name) called the station and ordered us a tow truck and told the manager to "treat us right." He also informed us that we were in Ghent, WV (pronounced "jent" as in gentleman, despite the famous treaty of the same name which is pronounced with a hard G).

After about 20 minutes of waiting in the car, the tow came and (after we pushed the car into three different places to position it for the tow), took us down the back roads of Ghent, Beaver, and Beckley until finally we came to a turn off. Almost immediately I got an eerie feeling, as there was no service station actually within the sightline of the road. Thoughts of Jim telling them to "treat us right" raced through my head, as I bemoaned our decision not to train Maggie to sic. Fortunately, after a few turns, we were at a large service station/junkyard and they unloaded our car. Though we were uncertain about our fate for the day, we thought that the worst of it was over. We were only partly right.

After unloading Maggie and a few of our belongings from the car, we were told that we should go sit in the lounge and wait while they worked on some of the other vehicles that they had in the shop. In the lounge on top of the painted concrete were two faux-leather couches, a TV (with cable), and two 30-40 something truckers. They were watching Fox News and talking when we walked in, dog in tow (because she wouldn't willingly walk across the concrete--primadonna) and plopped down on the couch. Being the second-comers, we didn't get a say in what we watched, so we got to see a fair and balanced look at the war on terror for about an hour and a half, with the two truckers (who were exceedingly nice), discussing their takes on the issues of the day and talking about what it was that was wrong with their trucks. Eventually, one of them got to move on and the other had to go discuss his vehicle with the mechanic, so Sarah used this window to change the station to TLC. When the trucker returned, she decided that instead of changing the station back, she would try to convince him that "What Not to Wear" was entertainment the whole family could enjoy. She explained to him the premise of the show and as they watched, they both commented on the progress of the young high-school teacher that was being made over. At one point, this exchange occurred:

Trucker (talking about the male fashion consultant on the show): That one's queer ain't he?

Sarah: Yes, I think he's a homosexual.

Me: (Stifled laughter)


And a few minutes later:

Trucker: I need to get my daughter on this show.

Sarah: Really, why is that?

Trucker: All she ever wears is black...I mean, she ain't one of those Goths, but she wears a lot of black.

Sarah: Ohh...

By the time of the reveal on "What Not to Wear," the second driver had left, but not before giving us a case of bite size Quaker Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, which were (and continue to be) delicious. On a side note, apparently it's not uncommon for drivers to take or give away some of their inventory. The dispatcher at the mechanic's told us that he had a year's supply of detergent from the last time they fixed a Big Lots truck.

By this time it was about 1:00 and out car had just been moved into the mechanic's bay. Much to noone's surprise, at about 1:10, the mechanic came to the conclusion that our clutch was burnt out and would have to be replaced. I was not hopeful that he would be able to fix it by close of business, but he then informed me that they have mechanics on staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (including Christmas). Unfortunately, he also told me that he wouldn't be able to work on the car straight through the day because he would have to go out occasionally to do roadside repairs. He told me that if he could get the part, he could have probably have us on our way by 7 or 8. This was a lie, but at least it was a little lie. He also told me that it would take about 5 hours to fix and gave me an estimate of about 550 dollars. Meanwhile, Sarah sat in the lounge and began to go slowly crazy.

After several hours and a number of circuits around the junkyard (with and without the dog), it didn't look like we were going to get close to leaving by 8, and Sarah began to cross-stitch "All wait and no drive make Sarah go crazy" over and over again. She also began to ask for a time estimate about ever hour from 6 on, each time being told that it would be a "couple more hours." It was a little bit like "Groundhog Day." We also started to talk to the night dispatcher and the night-shift tow drivers. The two drivers were pretty strange. One of them suggested that the other might sodomize our dog, making West Virginians everywhere proud that their reputations as strange and toothless people was not to be thwarted by the kindness of the rest of the people we met that day.

The night dispatcher, after hearing about Sarah's job, also informed us that she "couldn't have no more babies" because, as she put it,"I's spayed." Sarah then left the room and reentered with an axe, screaming "Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!!!" (Okay, so The Shining references are getting a little ridiculous, but we really felt at some point like we might never leave the driver's lounge, and the snow storm made the effect all the more creepy).

We also found out about the newest craze in potpourri. The night dispatcher had a plush teddy bear dipped in scented wax which is used as an air freshener. Apparently they are hot sellers and "if the smell ever goes away, you just hea tit with a hair dryer and the smell will come back." We resisted the temptation to ask where we could purchase one, mostly because, as Sarah put it, "the bear smelled like rancid cough syrup."

Finally, at about 10:30, the mechanic took our car for a test drive to make sure it shifted correctly and (after another thirty minutes of tinkering because it was "making a sound.") we paid for the repair and tow (580 dollars altogether, of which the 80 for the tow is going to be reimbursed by AAA), and headed to Louisville at 11 pm, arriving at 3 am to a surprisingly still awake Elizabeth, Shelly, and Aimee.

For all of the strange events we are truly thankful for all of the people in Ghent and Beckley who actually cared about our predicament and helped us to (miraculously) get a relatively major car repair done for a fair price, on the Saturday before Christmas. Sarah has made a full recovery from her stir-craziness, and Maggie survived, too. I, however, never want to travel again.

West Virginia Story Coming Soon

On our way to Kentucky our clutch burnt out and we were stuck in a mechanic's lounge in West Virginia for 11 hours. (The mechanic is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day). Hilarity did not ensue. More later. Merry Christmas.

Funny, in that The Onion-sort-of-not-that-funny-anymore way


So-Called Obese Pets Held To Unrealistic Body Standards

Ah, well, there's always next year

Decatur lost to Buford in the state semi-final. I think the final score was 42-13. That's a shame, but at least the Bulldogs can be proud of a great season, and build on this next year.

Can this man make Duke football great again?

No sportsfans, I speak not of Ted Roof, newly installed head coach of Duke University Football, but rather of Duke's Next President, Richard H. Brodhead, current dean at Yale and and the A. Bartlett Giamatti Professor of English at Yale University. He was chosen recently to replace Nannerl Keohane, and once knew the man that his professorship is named after, the same Bart Giamatti who was Commissioner of Major League Baseball and kicked Pete Rose out. Most importantly, though, he says that he is an "avid college sports fan, which I clearly will have an opportunity to experience at Duke." He's probably talking about basketball (you can't have a discussion about Duke anywhere without someone talking about the basketball Blue Devils), but I hope he doesn't forget the best sport in the land.

Either way, his name is WAY easier to say than President Keohane's.

Aaaaaaacccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk....(Or, How I Came to Love One of the Largest Financial Institutions in the Country)

So, since Sarah and I have started a budget, I have stopped obsessing about checking our account balances online every fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, today this bit me in the ass to the tune of 120 bucks in overdraft fees. I was none too pleased, and I still haven't figured out what happened accounting wise (though I have taken the precaution of now assuming that we have about 125 bucks less than we do according to the latest B of A statement). Because of the amount and the fact that we don't really have 120 bucks to give the bank, I decided that I should overcome my fear of talking to people and call to see if anything could be done to salvage a generally crappy afternoon. Turns out there was.

I calmly explained myself to the uber-polite Bank of America representative that I thought that I had "overdraft protection" on my account (and, honest to God, I thought I did, I can probably even find the literature about it), and that this should protect me from exactly this eventuality (buying a 3 dollar coffee and getting a 30 dollar fee), by transferring 100 dollars into my account automatically for a five dollar fee. She looked at my accounts, and found that for some odd reason I did not have said protection, but that she would link my accounts from here on out, and would credit me for the 3, 30 dollar fees that were visible on her screen (the last one is still pending, and she said it may not actually show up, but if it did to call.) Thus, as of now I stand only 30 dollars in the hole for my stupid mistake. Though I had thought about changing banks in the near future, I have decided that Bank of America has earned my business for as long as I can find a close-by ATM. I guess it never hurts to ask.

Update: I called today and got the last charge refunded. Woo-hoo!

New Comments

Although Squawkbox always told me that it was a "free" commenting service, apparently that's only good for a year. I was informed that I would pretty soon be required to pay for their service. Therefore, being the extreme cheapskate that I am, I have switched to Haloscan, which is not only free, but also has more features than Squawkbox.

Unfortunately, all of the old comments have gone away, never to return. I know this is a blow to all of you who frequent this blog to reminisce about the old days when you commented on our spelling and grammar, but, alas, those days are no more. (At least until you make new comments about our spelling and grammar. (Hey, you leave my grammar out of this!))

That sucks

Though it doesn't damper my excitement much, it's a little disheartening to know that the team that Decatur plays next has won 43 in a row, and that their running back is attempting to break the single-season touchdown record shared by Herschel Walker and Charles Grant. Ah well, maybe he'll go to UGA, where I can one day cheer him on. Kind of like Tim Wansley (also from Buford).

Exams are sucky. I have Federal Income Tax on Friday. I often wonder why I decided to take this class, and I still don't know.

Wow

Could it really be true that Decatur High School is in the semi-finals of the state championship for AA? They play Buford next and they get to play in the Georgia Dome. Tonihgt in the Georgia Dome, UGA plays LSU for the SEC Championship.

I really don't like the fact that one of the most exciting weeks in college football falls in the middle of exams. I was going to make a cheesy law school joke, but I've decided against it....

The Past Couple Weeks

A quick update:

Sarah is absolutely loving her job.

Maggie was spayed, micro-chipped, and received her first rabies shot. I think the experience was more stressful for us than it was for her. She also chipped a canine tooth, which required another trip to the vet. The vet says her tooth is fine (she's going to lose it anyway), and since she was Maggie's foster mother, there was no charge for the visit. She will be traveling with us to Atlanta over the break. The parents have graciously allowed us to give this a try, so we'll see how Maggie deals with the scent of cat in the air.

School is going along quickly. I'm rapidly approaching the "oh-shit-it's-exam time already" stage. Though I don't think I'll be in any way laid back this time around, having a job already for next year certainly takes the pressure off.

In the future:

Sarah is traveling to Lexington this weekend to throw a baby shower for her friend Elizabeth, who is expecting in January. I will be remaining at home to study and spend some quality time with my favorite dog. I hope Maggie has some insights into the Earned Income Tax Credit that she could share with me.

Dog Alarm Clock

If anyone wants to know when it's 7:30 am, just ask Maggie.

Holy Crap

Yahoo! News - Eleven Die After Grasshoppers Swarm

Halloween Festivities

After last night's unexciting and generally boring Duke Law Halloween Party (which, sadly, is labeled "The Best Duke Law Party of the Year), we are headed out tonight to Chapel Hill, which is apparently one of the best Halloween experiences this side of New Orleans/Transylvania University.

"They" expect that 75,000 people will descend on Chapel Hill tonight. For those of you who have been there, you know how amazing that is given the size of Franklin St. Sarah has to go for work, she's dressing up as Rosie the Riveter and handing out condoms and info about the EC line. I'm not dressing up, but I think they are going to tape condoms to me. I hope the condoms are still in the wrappers. I'd better go check on that...

Maggie Update

Maggie has gained about 2-3 pounds since we got her three weeks ago. The vet says that she will double in size from 4 to 6 months, so we're guessing that she will be about 15-20 pounds.

She's growing really fast, and we're trying to break her of her puppy habits, though largely unsuccessfully. She still likes to nip at hands and feet, which terrifies children at the park. She also likes to chew the ends of shoelaces until the plastic part is no more. Recently she learned that she could jump off of the couch, which has ruined one of our techniques for keeping tabs on her when we're in the kitchen, etc. Does anybody have a baby-gate they don't need anymore???

Best. Homestarrunner. Ever.

I know almost no one appreciates homestarrunner.com as much as I do. But the Halloween cartoon this year is hilarious. I especially like The Cheat as the 1996 Olympics Mascot, Izzy.

Cars Are Funny

You may recall that about 8 months ago, I had to get a wheel-rim replaced on the Corolla because I ran into a curb while driving after an ice-storm. It sucked and it ended up costing about 150 bucks after the new rim and the alignment, etc. All in all, not too bad an experience, though I could have done without it.

Well, in a stroke of genius, I managed to bend another wheel rim, this time while driving in seventy-degree weather. This time, unlike last time, the tire went flat and I thought I had really screwed the rim up bad. It more or less put a damper on our weekend because we had to wait until today to go get it fixed and we had plans to go driving in the mountains to see the leaves change. This morning, really frickin' early, I went to Firestone, where I had it fixed last time. This time, they looked at it, took it back and beat it with a hammer and checked the balance, and then they handed it back to me. Charge: 12 bucks. I don't really know how this time is different from last, but it was, so I'm not complaining.

I Didn't Believe in Curses, Until Last Night

Poor Red Sox. Poor Sox Fans.

Poor Cubs. Poor Cubs Fans.

Poor rest of the world not in New York or Florida, who once again will not get to watch a good World Series. Think about it, the last Four World Series have been awful.

2000, The Subway Series--Not a single person outside of New York cared, especially since everyone knew that the Yankees were going to kill the Mets.

2001, Yankees-Diamondbacks-- A couple of good games, and it was nice to see the Yankees finally go down, but were you watching?

2002, Angels-Giants--Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...what's the time difference between here and Caleeforneah?

2003, Marlins-Yankees--Team that no one's ever heard of vs. team that no one wants to hear about again. The two teams that nobody wanted to win end up in the Series. Somebody tell me who wins. (Can MLB get a losers bracket so we can see who wins the more interesting match-up?)

At any rate, I don't plan on this becoming a sports blog, but I've been watching a lot of sports on my week off, including repeats of the World Series of Poker. We also got a DVR from the cable company. It's not quite TiVo, but it works for us.

Maggie is doing well. She had her first vet visit with us. We took her to the clinic where her foster mother works. She was very brave, and barked at dogs at least 12 times her size. She's currently snoring in my lap.

Sarah is enjoying her job, especially the fact that the staff at PPCNC is mostly female. The office seems happy to have her, as well.

Sarah has uploaded pictures of Maggie and of the Holland parents' visit, which we'll send around to interested parties soon.

Explain This to Me

I know I usually don't complain about this stuff on the blog, but can someone explain to me why Georgia v. Tennessee, the #10 and #14 teams respectively are relegated to ESPN 2 while Notre Dame (unranked) vs. Pittsburgh (#16) gets put on the main network? Anti-SEC bias I tell you.

Maggie

Yes, it's true, we have a dog. Unfortunately what we also have is an unreasonable transfer restriction on our Geocities account, which will probably cause more than half of our faithful readers to not be able to accessthese pictures of her first day in our new apartment. Please bear with us, as well will put together an Ofoto scapbook and send it out as soon as we can access the high-speed connection at Duke.

Meanwhile, you could always watch this.

J-O-B=D-O-G

Since this summer, the deal with Nicholas has been I have to get a job before we can get a dog. So two days after becoming the newest employee at Planned Parenthood we are now the proud parents of a small terrier puppy named Maggie.

It was fate. We have been looking at shelters for a while. I was becoming discouraged because we couldn't find a smaller dog like we wanted. Last night, I had started looking into buying one and was going to start calling today. However, we were in Chapel Hill showing a visiting friend when Nicholas suggested going by the shelter. Right inside the door, they have cages for featured pets, usually cats. As we walked in a woman was closing the cage door for a little puppy. Turns out it was Maggie's foster mom who had just dropped her off so people could look at for a little while. We were the first ones to see and of course adopted her immediately. We get to pick her up tomorrow so we spent the rest of today stocking up on puppy supplies and doing our research on house training.

And yes for all those who are wondering...she is the cutest puppy EVER!

Sarah=Gainfully Employed

Starting next Wednesday, Sarah is employed as an administrative assistant in Chapel Hill. Let the party begin!

What?

Honest to God, someone wants to start a student group called "Students for Genital Integrity," here at Duke Law. They support getting patient consent prior to circumcision. Great.

Excuse Me, Four

Sarah got another call this afternoon. She's on a roll.

Addendum: Make That Three

Sarah just got a call from another job interviewer. After a month of hearing almost nothing; this....When it rains, it pours.

Friday

I promise at some point I will get Sarah to blog again, but I'm not guaranteeing that it will be soon. Until then, you're going to have to put up with me.

Sarah has two (count 'em two) job interviews today. One is with a temp. service and the other for her current dream job, which is as an administrative assistant at a non-profit organization headquartered in Chapel Hill. It looks like she'll be gainfully employed soon at one of these, but there's no telling. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for her.

Annie and Kyle are visiting us from the DC area this weekend. This has given Sarah a reason to use the china again, which gives her more joy than it should give anyone. I guess it's better than just letting it sit in the cabinet like it does now--though that way it never gets dirty. This looks to be the first of a string of weekends where we have visitors. I think we have people "booked" through October 17.

BTW, does anyone else think that Osten should have been kicked off of Survivor last night? I mean, Ryan S. sucked a lot (okay, a whole lot), but Osten didn't even act like he wanted to be there (which, by the way, would really piss me off if I were the last survivor candidate to get kicked out in favor of Osten).

Sarah and I have wondered aloud out at why these people don't sleep during the day. It's not like they really have that much to do and if they're not sleeping at night anyway...I don't get it.

Also, what's with having to see Lady Scoutmaster Lillian in her underwear last night? Feh. (BTW, Lady Scoutmaster reminds me of that Prince song "Lady Cabdriver" from the 1999 album.)

Well, having survived the first hurricane of our marriage, we thought that we had made it without a power outage. Apparently not, though, because the power went out for a couple of hours on Saturday for no apparent reason. I think this usually happens when they start reconnecting everyone's power and they have big power surges when everyone's toaster/oven/TV/vcr/iron/lamps all turn back on at once and they overload some transformer somewhere. Ah well, it could've been worse.

In other news, with the final addition of slip-covers for the couch and love seat and a few pillows, I think we have also weathered our first home-decoration. Although I kicked and screamed the whole way about the necessity of certain items, I'm a cheap bastard and the apartment really does look good, especially for our budget. Of course, we couldn't have done it without the generosity of all of you at our wedding, so we thank you as well. Now we get to do it all over again in 9 months in DC, although I've been promised that much of what we have now, we can use later.

Also, does anyone know a high school student that might want to apply to Transy? Sarah and I received an application with a fee waiver to give to the high school student of our choice. Unfortunately, we don't know any anymore. Do you?

Hurricane Isabel

Well, chalk it up to karma from the ice-storm, but we didn't even lose power last night, except for a couple of 5 second outages. The winds were high and the rain was plentiful, but we're fine.

It appears that much of Durham, including most of my classmates, lost power and have not had it restored yet. I haven't seen many crews around my area, but my guess is that most people should have power by tomorrow night--but what do I know?

More later.

The Day-to-Day

Well, Durham gets more the same all the time. Not much has happened since the last entry, but I guess that's good.

We've got this hurricane coming our way, which should make for even more crappy weather as the week continues, as well as possible power outages and other massive inconveniences. After living through an ice storm with no power for a week, I can honestly say that I think that losing power this time won't be as bad because of the mild weather. This winter was honestly the crappiest unintended cold-weather campout of all time. Nevertheless, losing power is still not something I welcome anytime.

Sarah had a "group" job interview today, which she described as "new agey." It consisted of some asinine individual questionnaire, followed by a group portion. She's supposed to hear back about that soon. She's also looking into leads at a non-profit in Durham and Lexis-Nexis. Anyone have a job they can offer her??? I have started a research assistant job at the school which requires that I transcribe jury deliberations. It is easily the most demanding thing I have ever done patience wise. It requires almost no skill, yet takes FOREVER.

Well, enough bitching. Almost everything is good here. I saw Freddy vs. Jason last night, which was surprisingly decent even though I was certain it was going to be about a lawsuit for copyright or trade dress infringement and it ended up being a horror movie (actually I guess that would be Freddy v. Jason). Moreover, I saw Duke football win a game against Rice University in overtime n Saturday, which was even more horrific. Who could ask for anything more?

Back to School, Back To School

After returning from our honeymoon, which was fantastic, we have settled in Durham quite nicely. I have started school and Sarah has been in the midst of her job search for the last two weeks. We think she may be close to getting a job she'll like at a non-profit, so everyone keep their fingers crossed.

School is school, but it's even harder to get motivated because I recently received and accepted an offer for permanent employment from the firm that I worked at this summer. This was really great news and finally solidifies that we'll be in Washington, D.C. for the foreseeable future- as long as I pass the Bar Exam that is.

Josh Davis lives in Chapel Hill, so we went to lunch with him this weekend and got caught up on the Decatur happenings. We also saw The Magdalene Sisters, which was good, but made me feel really lucky not to have any Catholic-nun baggage...

Anyway, it's good to be in a routine again after such a crazy summer, and maybe that means the blog will become more regular too. I know how happy that would make you guys...

Bang! Pow! To the moon!

We leave Saturday for our honeymoon. We're going to St. Thomas for a week, and we are going to do absolutely nothing. It should be a good time, we'll let you know when we get back.

Moving In, Again

Sarah and I are no longer in Washington, DC. We left Saturday morning, and drove the four-hour drive in just under seven hours. Apparently, all the people from DC, Northern Virginia, and lower Maryland flock to Virginia beach, clogging up I-95 for 100s of miles on their way. It was amazingly frustrating, but it's over, thank God. Also, thanks to Annie and Kyle for helping us move out of our DC apartment and for countless other unrepaid favors over the summer.

We're now in Durham. We've been moving into our apartment for the last day and a half. We also made a trek out to Target in Raleigh to spend our Target gift certificates on more of our registry stuff. It was a good time. The place is a wreck, but we're getting through it.

In other news, I found out last week that if you need to, you can get 1) a birth certificate delivered to your door in under a week or 2) a passport in a day if you're willing to pay for it. These realizations came soon after I realized that I needed one or the other to travel to St. Thomas. What I don't understand is why if I'm traveling from the US to a US protectorate I have to prove that I'm a US citizen? Didn't we spread our empire to the beautiful Caribbean for a reason? Jeez. By the way, you can only get a passport in a day if you live in DC or NY, and it's by appointment only. However, you can pay a service to do it for you in 3 days, but it'll cost you...a lot. I should be getting a birth certificate delivered tomorrow via FedEx.

I'd better cut this short, I'm not holding up my end of the deal on the unpacking thing (Sarah's just so good at it and seems to enjoy it, so why should I ruin her fun?).