Never gonna give you up...

I discovered today that several of my coworkers have never heard of being Rick Roll'd. "What's Rick Roll'd?" they ask me? As if the international phone pank and then internet pank sensation hasn't been out for years.

It was even in the news today for goodness sakes... yet another justification not to have an iPhone. Sigh. Just keep telling yourself its okay not to have an iPhone.

What to do with this glorious gem of information? Become that girl who sends out horrible spam emails? Nahh, needed to be more sneaky and less annoying than that.

Being too busy to go nuts with it, and not wanting to break key work relationships, I ended up just IMing two coworkers individually saying, "Hey, can you check out this story and see if you think it's a good idea? We're having a heated debate on my team about it right now: Find out how scientists got lost in an ice cave trying to find the world's coldest spot. http://tinyurl.com/2su3q3" and then of course they said "uhh wtf!?!?" and I immediately followed it up with a classy: "YOU'VE JUST BEEN RICK ROLL'D!!!! Have a nice day."

BTW if you clicked on that link, you're a total sucker. Not you, Mom and Dad. I'll explain it to you some other time.

Oh the things that get me through the work day...

DISCOVERY NEWS IS NEW!

This is the reason I've been too exhausted and drained to blog in the past week...


It's the Discovery News site redesign! Yay! I've been in meetings, discussions, arguments, training sessions and revisions on this very product for several months now and it all came to a head at last night's launch. It officially went live at around 1 a.m., but I didn't get home until 3 a.m-ish so I apologize again for not having a more meaty post.

BUT PLEASE CLICK AROUND!

Despite my 4 a.m. bedtime, I still had to be in the office at my normal scheduled time this morning and just to give you a taste as to how exhausted I am, when I went to get dressed this morning, I spent 10 minutes staring at my clothes and asking myself, "what are these things in front of me?" Yeah, two cups of coffee and some spicy Thai food later, I'm doing much better.

I want to send out a big thank you and infinite love to my patient parents, my dear and always understanding boyfriend Tad, Kasey, Smur and the rest of my friends and colleagues who nodded along sympathetically as I bitched and moaned about how all this redesign craziness was going to kill me. It was well worth it. THANK YOU!!!

Back in Business

Phew! Nothing like the flu to knock you and all your willpower to blog right out of you for a week.

No, I did not have the swine flu, thank goodness, just the regular kind. Bizarre that a virus that didn't even give me a fever still managed to keep me bedridden for two days and make normal breathing difficult for seven. Today is the first day I can breathe out of my nose. Gross, I know. Sorry.

In other news, the Discovery Store at work had their big end-of-the-year blow out sale open to employees today and it was PACKED. Coworkers came by the droves with IKEA BAGS, you know those ginormous blue ones (and that's bags, plural), and snatched up handfuls of items. All I wanted was a mug to complete my collection of "Mugs From Media Places I Have Worked and/or Visited." Most of the stuff was for kids though -- books, games and such -- so I ended up not buying anything.

The event did get me thinking about Christmas shopping... and then made me anxious thinking about Christmas shopping. Why is it that family, those lovely people you HAVE to (and usually want to) get gifts for, are the hardest to shop for? I know a great gift idea for a former roommate of mine, or for one of my coworkers, but what to get MOM?

Sigh, this would be so much easier if I could have just brought everyone a mug.

52 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS.

The universe finds this funny

And I jinxed myself.

Been up and down since 3 a.m. this morning with congestion, sore throat, aches in my muscles and joints and dizziness. Needless to say, I stayed home from work today and of course it was Pet Adoption Day, of all days!

(see end of previous blog post to understand what I'm talking about)

Feeling Fulfilled

I would describe this past weekend as fulfilling. Yes, I had a fulfilling weekend. I think it's because I got to do many things all over D.C. in 48 hours that I normally wouldn't have accomplished at all.

Friday night, Tad and I went out to a bar in Adams Morgan called Reef. I. KNOW. We went out!!! My friend Kelvin's birthday was the occasion, but when Tad was pumped for going out just to go out, I was very excited. We don't go out together at night much. Many of you remember/know what your bank account looks like while you're putting yourself through school.

Saturday was spent at the Silver Spring farmers market, and then ducking into Redrock Cafe for lunch to escape the rain. Then I left at 3:30 to meet up with Sara to see Where The Wild Things Are. Sorry fans of WTWTA, we hated it. Well, maybe 'hate' is too strong of a word. We strongly disliked it and thought it was weird. To describe it in a word would be to say it was 'angry' and I thought it ended without conflict resolution. I did get my first Mongolian BBQ experience afterwards though (again, I. KNOW. I'm way behind on trying that staple Bethesda restaurant).

Sunday, I rose early (so early that when I said good-bye to Tad, he said, 'have a good day at work') and headed out to Foggy Bottom to watch the Marine Corps. Marathon. It was the first time I had ever seen it -- first year I knew so many people running in it -- and I was completely blown away by the amount of runners (over 20,000!) and people dressed in costumes.



Best sign by far! So hilarious.

Kasey and Betty. GO SHARKRUNNERS! (Discovery's team)

Afterwards, I headed out to Ballston to meet my friend Nick for lunch, then eventually made it back to my apartment for a two hour nap. I was so exhausted from all the marathon watching and cheering, phew! Okay, so I need to go to the gym more. Followed by more TV watching and shouting later -- damn you, Darren Sproles for being so inconsistent and ruining my fantasy score!!!

In other news, I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to get a swine flu shot. The TV says I should, my coworkers say I should, the doctor says I should... part of me feels that as a young, healthy adult, there are people out there who need the vaccine more than I do. The other part of me doesn't want to be sorry for saying that later. The internal debate continues.

First Pumpkin

The preface of this dialogue is I have a friend who has never carved a pumpkin before so she wants to throw a pumpkin carving party. And action...

Me: This is going to be some party!

Friend: Ha. I'm not sure everyone will come ( I hope not, my apartment is teeny).

Me: Word to the wise... buy lots of newspaper for people to carve the pumpkins on, like one Sunday NYT is perfect.

Friend: Good point. I've never carved one before. I have NO idea how to do this.

Me: Ha I know. Pumpkin, knife, newspaper, candle. That's all you need.

Friend: A candle?!!?!?!? For what?!

Me: Umm to make the pumpkin glow?

Friend: Interesting.

Junk: It's What's For Dinner

Before you judge what I ate for dinner last night, you should know following situations occurred all in the past week:

Happy hour + getting lunch out + getting dinner out (note: this was different than the happy hour outing) + cooking and hosting THREE meals for three different groups of friends on three separate days + going to the grocery store + going back to the grocery store twice for things forgotten + attending a Caps game + sickness + horrible Maryland/Redskins football + Tad having a late night class last night + going to the gym for the first time in three weeks last night.

And that is why last night's dinner equaled this: some pretzels + about a cup and a half of Chicken Voila + a bowl of spinach with olive oil + a slice of peanut butter toast + four stripes of bacon + a piece of cheese and a cookie.

Did you notice how I became lazier and more desperate exponentially as the night wore on...

Swan Pond

Image courtesy of Barbourville, Ky Chamber of Commerce

I miss our place in Kentucky more than ever this time of year, when the leaves are at their peak yellows, oranges and reds. The air is crisp and cold. More importantly, the bugs are gone.

My family owns a plot of land in the mountains of eastern Kentucky and I have many childhood memories of visiting our cabin our there.

It's where I learned to fish, spent hours hiking, searching for arrowheads, discovering Civil War cemeteries and old coal mines, and hearing stories over orange juice cake and coffee made by Ms. Belva.

I did take this one last year though.

Swan Pond is a place you would think was a writer's imaginary mountain getaway, or a painter's vision because it's certainly a place to relax and clear your head. So remote, Google Earth couldn't find it until this year. The cabin, with it's real wooden log walls and wrap-around porch, is so cozy and overlooks a large pond that sits at the bottom of sweeping Applicachian mountains.

It's also one of those places that I didn't appreciate enough as a kid when we went twice a year or so, but I certainly long to get away to there now.

The "If You Want" Dance

Every couple has their squabbles, tiffs and all out blow outs. Often it starts over something ridiculously small -- like a miscommunication.

In one specific case, the simple, yet DEADLY phrase, "if you want," was the culprit.

While at happy hour with some college friends of mine yesterday, we all learned some rare, yet valuable insight into what men mean when they say this phrase to women, and in turn why women get upset.

A girl in our group came back to the table after an extended phone call with her boyfriend who, after she had asked "can I come over," had said, "you can come over IF YOU WANT." The girl took it as the guy meaning "I don't want you there," and was trying to be nice about, but then the girl was confused when later, Boyfriend got mad and said, "why aren't you coming over?" and buddy, it's just digging a hole from there.

So we put the question to the guys at the table. What do you all mean when you say "if you want"?

We, the women, attest that we've already put ourselves out there by asking in the first place, now it's your turn to respond. The "if you want" response makes us feel like we have to say 'no' so we're not crazy, clingy girlfriend. We want you to want us there. More importantly, we want you to say, "I would be happy to have you come over." There. Done. Clean, cut message delivered. Not looking for Shakespeare, just a 'yes' or 'no.'

The guys at our table broke it down. We, the men, do not care either way if you come over or not. Sure, it's fine if you do, but we're trying to make you happy here by giving you the option of choosing for yourself. And how do we know that you all aren't playing games with us by making us give in to you? We're not going to give in. Then you get all emotional and try to analyze the deep alternative meaning of our words. We don't give it a second thought.

So, I don't know about you, but that sounds WAY more convoluted than how the women had it. Perhaps I'm biased and it's true, being a woman I really can only related to one side of the argument, but also as someone who has AGONIZED over what "if you want" meant, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at hearing this (okay, I shrieked something more like "Wha?! Wha?! What!!").

To me, it seems simple. Women say, "can I come over?" meaning "can I come over," your turn, fellas, to say, "yes, please do" or "no, not tonight." It would save so much time and tears. Perhaps even stop a nuclear war. Am I right here?

Readers, where do you stand in the "if you want" dance?

And The Day So Fine

"I was drivin' home / By the river side / Richard Thompson on
And the day so fine / Pennsylvania towns / Sort of slip right by
In a soft line south / Under purple skies..." -- Cheryl Wheeler

Phew! What a whirlwind of a week and what a tornado of a week this will be too. Things continue to be busy for me as my department gets closer to launching a huge project at work and this dinner or that event with friends... so much going on! I'm much more busy now than I ever was over the summer.

I was able to take some time this weekend to leave the apartment (gasp! I know) and enjoy the gorgeous weather we had. Even as busy as I was over the weekend, I came back into work Monday morning feeling light and refreshed.

Friday night was calm with Tad and I substituting our usual Friday lunch date for a dinner date with his sister and her boyfriend at McGinty's. Nothing like homemade beef stew and a few pints of Guinness to set us all at ease after a rough week.

Saturday was spent staying in bed until roughly 3 p.m. (only to get up to make a small breakfast at 11:30. God, those mornings are the best and way too infrequent). By 3:15, I hauled my lazy butt out of bed and met Daozhong at Harp and Fiddle in Bethesda to watch the Ireland vs. Italy and Portugal vs. Hungary games (I wasn't trying to go for an Irish-themed weekend here, honest). Neither games had the outcomes Dao and I were rooting for (Ireland and Italy tied, Portugal crushed Hungary 3-0), but it was wonderful to chat it up with my old friend and former roommate.

Leaving the bar around 6 p.m., we headed over to our friend Ben's house where he graciously fed a whole group of us a delicious spinach and pastry dish and taught us how to make our own sushi -- a surprisingly easier task than I thought it would be.


Preparing to roll up our California roll. Photo by Ben Johnson.

After several reminders to continue to keep our fingers moist so the rice wouldn't pull apart, laying on layers of faux crab (Ben did apologize in advance to me for not having Blue crab), Ben's homemade spicy mayonnaise (excuse me for not remembering the proper name of this exquisite sauce), seaweed sheets (a completely new and foreign thing to me. It felt and looked like a poncho), and fish eggs. Yes, fish eggs. Who knew this came in a plastic tub like it was as natural to buy a tub of fish eggs as it is to buy strawberries.


My hands cutting the California roll Dao and I made. Photo by Ben Johnson.

Sunday was extra special because Tad and I took a day trip up to Gettysburg, Pa. with the intent to bike the entire battlefield - a leftover part of my birthday gift. Only an hour and a half away, we reached the visitor's center around noon and spent two hours exploring the museum, watching a brief movie about the war, seeing a century-old cyclorama painting of the battle of Gettysburg and eating lunch on the grass outside. Sunny, warm, with a nice crisp fall breeze -- we couldn't have planned it better.

With our bike rentals secure, we hit the 24-mile trail around the site, although it wasn't much of a ride because we kept stopping every 5 minutes to read this plaque or see this monument (and of course I was taking pictures, which I promise to add in here later). I hadn't been there since I was 8 or 9 so I didn't recall much, and so I was astounded at how littered the place was with monuments and tributes, each in the exact location where this general fell or this turning point in the three day battle occurred. It was so striking to me to know I was walking on places that had once been stained with blood and bullets, or gazing over the same vantage points where General Lee had once stood, knowing he was nearing the end.

Pennsylvania's monument was the largest one - by far. With marble pillars, a giant platform, enormous statues, it was the only monument you could see from any point on the trail. We rode through turning woods, down hills, past the Angle, Little Round Top, Devil's Den, Wheat Field, Peach Orchard, but I'm sorry to say we didn't make it round the whole track. Not that we didn't want to, but by 5:30 p.m. the time on our bike rental was running out.

After dropping the bikes off, we strolled through the Gettysburg National Cemetery where Lincoln had given his famous Gettysburg Address in dedication of the site (something I didn't know until then). I didn't take any pictures here because I'm uncomfortable, maybe even a little superstitious about that. I feel its disrespectful to the dead and I can't exactly explain why. If I had taken pictures, you would have seen hundreds upon hundreds of graves simply marked "Unknown" and only identified by the state emblems on their uniform buttons, if at all.

Driving home, I couldn't help but feel refreshed and accomplished with the weekend. I was outdoors, had exercised, left town for a while, yet still kept a leisurely pace. It was a great, uplifting feeling of satisfying some of that need for adventure that I hadn't had in a long time. Future trips are certainly in the works as far as I'm concerned. Understanding my time is getting short, I'm hoping to still get out to a pumpkin patch farm, or even an orchard to pick my own fruit before the season is over. My next free fall weekend can't come fast enough.