Friday, June 30, 2006

This is Insane.

Ivan Basso AND Jan Ullrich are out of the Tour de France on doping allegations. Sources say that the investigation, held in Spain, will take upwards of six months.

Also cited here.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Gleeful.

Theresa and Shakespeare make me happy.


Wheeeeeeeee!

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Reading

New rules:
  1. No more buying books and not reading the ones you already have.
  2. No more starting books and not finishing them-- unless they're so boring they make my eyeballs pop-out!
I finally finished the Hodgman book, The Areas of My Expertise. John Hodgman is a very funny man, I just didn't know if I could take 250 pages of him.

This month, I also read my first Stephen King novel. I'd never read any of his works before, although, I've seen tons of his movies. I thought I'd start off with an epic, his book, Needful Things, and I loved every page of it (all 731, making it the longest book I've ever read). OK, so I was an English major-- I should be high-brow about my literature, right? Nah, don't think so.

Yesterday afternoon I tried to start Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Although it's story is somewhat outweighed by its (and Ms. Rand's) impact in the world of objectivism and philosophy, I thought I'd give it a go. Or not: I had just come off of a 700-pager, I didn't quite think I was up to read another. So, I thought of this little man:

hobbit

Yes, indeed that's Mr. Bilbo Baggins! I remember watching the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit when I was a kid. So why not read the book? So, yes, I've started reading The Hobbit and I'm very much enjoying Mr. Tolkien's sing-songy style of writing. And yes, I'm ready for an adventure.

(My brothers should regain some faith in me-- I was disowned after admitting I'd never read Tolkien or ANY of the Harry Potter books.)

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Oh, no, no, no.

Dang.

From Buzzgrinder.

You say "sink or swim", what a cruel cruel phrase
I'd rather fly, don't want to get caught in this endless race

Happy Birthday, Kate, Your Car's Flooded!

Rain, Rain.

Seems like that's the buzz going in the DC area. Friday night, rain. Saturday, rain. Sunday, clear for about 6 hours, rain. Monday, rain.

Notes:

-Kitty cat likes to hide in the bathtub when it's thundering:
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-Flooded basement (three inches), don't store any of my stuff down there thank goodness.
-Not as flooded as Jim's basement(s) next door. He owns the two houses next to mine and they sit lowest in the neighborhood. Asked if he needed help, said no. He spent the rest of the night outside, soaked, digging trenches.
-Street flooded Sunday night (my bday). Woke up Monday morning to soaked floorboards. John nextdoor has standing water in his Honda.
-Neighbors saved Pete's motorcycle that flooded. Parked in the front yard off the street. We're going high-class with this one, although it's not sitting on cinderblocks.
-Worked from home all day Monday. Skyline complex in Falls Church/Alexandria flooded and w/o power.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Quick Pictorial Update!

June 3, I joined the Snitzers in Titusville, New Jersey for their friend Keith's wedding.

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Keith and Hilary Dye

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Aaron and his mommy.

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Me and the groom. (Hair was up b/c it was rainy. Boo.)

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I like weddings THIS much!

After driving back to Virginia on June 4, I went out to Ashburn to catch Dwight Yoakam with bestests BR and Cherie...

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...and the rest of Loudoun County.

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Hawt. Oh, Mr. Yoakam, how I adore thee.

Wednesday, June 7, I adopted a cat from the Fairfax County Animal Control Department. Miss Georgia Brown the Slinky Cat just turned three years old. Her owners (the bastards) gave her up because they were moving. She loves to be loved and is very social, she always uses her litter pan, and she was already spayed and declawed (not that I would declaw a cat, but it's nice). She goes in for her first Vet appointment this afternoon. I hope she doesn't hate me for too long for it.

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She loves to play and have her muzzle rubbed. She sleeps with me in the bed, but not until 3 in the morning, before that she just hangs out in the living room on the chair.

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I know I keep saying this, but she's not fat, she just looks it with all her fur.

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This is her evil face.

June 10, my middle brother James graduated from high school.

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James and his best friend, Brad. James is off to the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) this summer; Brad's off to the Citadel.

And that's the update. Will have more to come. Found a cool used bookstore...for the next episode!