Went to D.C. today with my dad and his fiancee and had a good day. We were going to go to see the cherry blossoms, but ended up spending the day between the Natural and American History Museums. We also saw the Imax movie The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti - which was cool. All in all, a great day.
After a later start than I would have liked, I made it down to DC. I met eternalmusings for dinner, then we went to to see Craig Ferguson perform.
The opening act was Josh Robert Thompson, who does the voice for Geoff Peterson. He's hlarious and awesome. And he does an amazing imitation of Morgan Freeman.
And Craig was hilarious as always. One of my favorite jokes is he was talking about Canadians and was going on about how nice, sweeet, and polite Canadians are - until you give them a hockey stick. And he figures the Canadian army should just do away with weapons, give their soldiers hockey sticks, and tell them the Taliban has the puck.
My dad and I went down to Washington D.C. today. I arrived at his place at 6am and we left a few minutes later. We drove down to New Carrollton, MD, then took the Metro in.
After getting breakfast at a little diner I'd found, we headed over to the Capitol. We took a tour - which was pretty neat. And poked around in the new(ish) Visitors' Center. Then we took the tunnel over to the Library of Congress (but didn't look around there, my dad just wanted to check out the tunnel).
And for once, my dad made me eat something. It was about noon when we were finishing up there and getting ready to go to the Smithsonian and he asked if I was hungry. I truthfully told him I wasn't, and he said we should get something to eat anyway, since it was going to be a while before dinner. So we went to a nearby restaurant we knew of and I had a salad.
We jumped around to a few of the Smithsonian museums. We started with the American History Museum and saw Julia Child's kitchen - which was neat, and looked at some of the display cases with smaller exhibits. Then we went to the Natural History Museum and saw the wildlife photography winners and the Titanoboa exhibit (that thing was huge!), as well as a 3D Imax film on pterosaurs. From there we went to the Ripley Center and saw an exhibit on Inuit crafts.
Then we headed out to meet up with eternalmusings and have dinner. We had a good time and it was kind of funny/weird to be able to say, "See you Friday!" when she dropped us off back at the Metro station.
The trek back across DC, since we were basically going from one end to the other took almost an hour and a half (granted, a good portion of that was waiting in Metro Center to change lines) before we got back to the car.
All in all, a great day with beautiful weather and surprisingly good company from my dad.
Today I trekked around DC while eternalmusings was at work. I hit the National Zoo first to see how the elephant house is coming and... it's coming. But I always love going to see the elephants. And it was cute - there was a little boy (probably about three), who said to his parents, "Ephelants! Ephelants!"
From there, met eternalmusings at her work and we had lunch together.
I then headed over to the Natural History Museum and went through the Dinosaur Hall and the Hall of Oceans. (Both of which I love.)
From there, I hit Union Station and got a small ice cream cone (it was a hot day!) and people watched for a bit.
Realized I still had some time to kill and went back to the Natural History Museum and looked at the Egyptian mummy and artifacts and went through the Hall of Human Origins.
After that, it was time to meet up with eternalmusings and we went to dinner near her work before coming home. (It wasn't oppressively hot today, which I'm thankful about, but it was still warm enough that I felt icky for most of the day and I don't think a cold shower has ever felt so good!)
We watched a Craig Ferguson special on Netflix. And then we messed around on Youtube and watched some music videos and blooper reels. The American "Whose Line?" ones were fantastic. And also very funny because we were like, "wait, THAT got cut? They've aired worse!" And we found out Stephen Colbert's been on two episodes.
We hit the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum first and grabbed some lunch in the cafe, then met my dad and C, his girlfriend. My dad bought us all tickets to Wild Ocean - one of the 3D IMAX movies. From there, we went through the new Hall of Oceans - which was cool.
Then luvxander, eternalmusings, and I went over to the American History Museum, since we wanted to look over there and my dad and C said they'd meet up with us. Not too long after, my dad called us and said they'd just meet up with me when I got home, since they wanted to go to the Federal Archives.
From there, we went back to eternalmusings' house. I think it's the shortest amount of time I've ever been in D.C. (about four hours). :-P Also, the "Metro" in "Covert Affairs" was *so* not the D.C. Metro - though I could've told you that before.
This evening we just hung out, watched some tv and had leftovers for dinner. And I signed up for another big bang. On the plus side, it'll help me finish a fic I've been trying to finish for a while.
I got to leave work early (schedule change) and after getting changed and making a couple of quick stops, I was on my way to eternalmusings's for the weekend. On my way south, I hit traffic that *stops* about an exit before the exit for I-695/the Baltimore Beltway. I had been listening to a Common Rotation cd, but I switched over and found a Baltimore radio station and found out that there was a multi-car accident just before the exit for the Beltway. In a way, I'm not surprised, since it seems like invariably the people in the left lane want to go West - which is on the right - and the people in the right lane want to go East - which is on the left - and the people who want to continue straight on I-95S are trying to not die. I am surprised that in the however many times I've been that way to visit either nakedwesley or eternalmusings, this was the first time I got stuck in traffic for an accident there. So I ended up waiting for about 45 minutes because the four lane highway was reduced to moving by on the lefthand shoulder. (By the time I got up there it was the left two lanes and there were still two cars that needed to be towed and they were in bad shape.) I felt bad for the people going North though, because they were backed up due to everyone rubbernecking. But once I got past the accident, things opened up and I made good time. Well, until I got off I-495/D.C.'s Beltway/Loop because I wrote down West instead of East and so wandered around the wrong side of the interstate for half an hour trying to find eternalmusings's road. But after a few phone calls from her asking where I was, we figured out what I had done wrong and I got to her place quite quickly.
Which promptly led to me then locking my keys in my truck while standing in her driveway. Thankfully, my dad put an extra set on the truck way back when, so it wasn't really an issue. We hung out for a while before heading out so I could buy her dinner for her birthday at a local pizza place that she had picked where we had yummy pizza and more good conversation. When we got back to eternalmusings's, we watched the new episode of "Psych". I liked it. I've seen two episodes so far of the show and while I find it enjoyable, it doesn't grab me. And we went to bed really late (aka 1 am).
The next morning, I woke up about 8 needing to use the bathroom, after which I went back to bed, figuring I'd wake up about half an hour afterwards, since I don't have a tendency to sleep very late. well, I woke up around 11:30. I think it was desperately needed, though, after things being so crazy with the start of school over the past couple weeks and then feeling crappy this past week (which I think was also due to things being crazy and then getting a weekend completely free).
We just hung out all day - which was nice. I got a bit of writing done and eternalmusings got some things done that she needed to do. We also ended up watching most of a "Hannah Montana" marathon because nothing better was on. Though, we did turn it off for a while to watch A Dog's Breakfast - which I found just as funny as the first time and eternalmusings definitely seemed amused by it. As she said at the end - "David's got a bizarre mind".
Okay, we did do something - we made dinner. Okay, eternalmusings made dinner and I set the table. As eternalmusings once said - we're so domestic. (We always cook at least one meal together.)
Then we watched High School Musical 2 because I hadn't seen it yet. And we laughed because it was the "Dance Along" version. luvxander was going to watch it "with us", but he fell asleep, so he didn't get online quite in time.
Sunday, we got up early to go into D.C. for the day because I wanted to meet up with spikesleman - who I've known for, like, ever and who was one of my first fandom friends. The three of us had breakfast in Union Station at the Corner Bakery before going over to the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. (Both spikesleman and I love it immensely.) The three of us enjoyed ourselves immensely as we wandered around the exhibits on the first floor and chatting about everything and anything. Then, sadly, eternalmusings had to leave early for a meeting. spikesleman and I wandered around on the second floor for a bit, then went over to the Ripley Gallery - which has a new exhibit on Mexican treasures - and poked around in there for a bit. Then we decided that since I only had about 20 minutes before I had to leave, we'd go back to Union Station and hang out for a little bit before I had to leave. Well, we ended up going the wrong way on the Metro's Orange Line and ended up at the Arlington (VA) Courthouse stop. So that ate up all our time. (Though, as spikesleman said, we'd've just hung out in Union Station, so it really didn't make that much of a difference.)
By the time I got out to my car, I was about 10 minutes later than I wanted to be leaving and then I ended up stopping at the first exit I left because I needed a drink. And, somehow, I made incredible time and got back in town in about an hour and a half. Yes, I do realize that this is not supposed to be possible from D.C. I swear, though, that I was only keeping up with traffic.
We had my Grammy's big 80th birthday dinner last night and we even invited her brother and sister-in-law down for it. It was lots of fun.
My dad called me at work yesterday and told me that my mom's house burnt down. My mom and John are fine. They were on vacation and had just come home. Their dog was at John's sister's. They did loose the cat, though. (Which I'm kind of surprised I'm so upset about - we got the cat when she was a kitten about 15 years ago, and when she became a cat, I realized I was more of a dog person and then my mom took her when she moved out at 2002.) They also lost pretty much everything. Apparently, someone broke into their house, stole some computer stuff and their tv and then set one of their couches on fire. (For those of you in the area, hers was the place in Pike Creek.)
Then today my dad and I went down to D.C. And we were probably the two people there that weren't there for the Cherry Blossom Festival. We went to the Freer Gallery of Art (which has a lot of Chinese and Japanese pottery), the Ripley Center (which had a neat display on the British, French, and Indian War), and the West Building of the National Museum of Art. And my dad and I couldn't resist humming the music from Rocky as we went up the Art Museum's steps. We got to the top the same time as some other guy who turned (I'm assuming to people further down) and raised his hands like Rocky and did a bit of the song. My dad and I also got to meet up with eternalmusings for lunch and got to see her place of work and hear about what exactly she does (which is pretty cool).
As fun as the 100th episode was, I think the 200th was way cooler. The 100th, I think, was kind of, like, a combination between a love letter to the fans and an admission of, "Yes, we really *do* know how all of this sounds." The 200th, on the other hand, was a full-on, tongue included, big sloppy wet one from the producers, et al, to the fans.
And I think one of my favorite scenes was the spoof on Team America. (I think the fact that they completely spoofed the beginning of the show and got Don S. Davis back had me laughing way too hard and negated my borderline phobia of marionettes.)
Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot else to report.
Work's been, well, work. We're gearing up for the start of our fall semester - which begins on Saturday with Freshmen Move-In Day. Starting Monday, I'm going to be working almost three weeks straight. The only day I have off is the third Friday, and then I have to work that Saturday. The upside is that I should be getting a hefty amount of overtime, which added to a small raise I recently got, I'll have a nice amount to put in the bank. (And have in time for the Creation Con in NJ in November.) I've also been slowly taking on more responsibilites and learning new stuff. Officially, training should be starting after Rush (the first two-three weeks of school) ends.
I did go to Washington DC with a lady from my church and her son last Saturday. She hadn't been since she was about his age (he's 11), and wanted to take him. And I had offered to act as tour guide, since my dad and I seem to make it a point to go down evey few months. The three of us had a lot of fun. We went to Ford's Theatre, the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum, American History Museum, and Air & Space Museum, and the International Spy Museum. I think S----- got a kick out of the Metro (subway) system.
I went down to the beach for a couple hours this morning and early afternoon, since I haven't been yet all summer (which is sacrilege, I tell you!) and who knows when I'm going to be able to go now. From there, I went straight to a Blue Rocks game with my church. That was a lot of fun.
Other than that, my time's been taken up by watching season 2 of "Dead Like Me" (thanks to lixta and libralyte. I'm also *finally* starting to make in-roads in the rather long list of fic I've stock-piled over the past several months. And, thirdly, I've been wandering around atlantis_vids *way* too much.
Why is it that I always keep meaning to post and then never do when I mean to?
- eternalmusings, my dad, and I had a great time in D.C. We met early and ended up wandering around before the musuems opened, and so ended up coming across the Japanese-American WWII memorial quite unexpectely and it was very neat to see. The Postal Museum was pretty cool too. And we all know the Smithsonian's always cool.
- I've been knitting like crazy the past couple days because I know that I need to get the bag I'm working on done, so I can actually have something to take future knitting projects out of the house in. Plus, once I get that out of the way, I'll be able to concentrate on finishing a surprise for psubrat's Boo.
- I've also been reading a lot of fic lately.
- CANDLES! The Partylite order came in earlier this week and anaidiana was kind enough to come over last night and help me sort it out. I now have 13.5 dozen Partylite votives, 3 dozen tealights, 8 Aromamelts, a bottle of Aromasimmers (like the melts, but liquid instead of wax), 2.5 dozen Yankee Candle votives, and a three-wick that my dad picked up somewhere. I guess we're not going to have to worry about power outtages for a while. :-P
- Have the rest of you heard of Tribal Forces? It's a little slashcon in King of Prussia (Philadelphia) that's going to be April 21st - 23rd. Seems like it'll be a lot of fun and I know that there are a few people from connexions that are going to be attending.
So the party I hosted (hostessed?) for anaidiana went *really* well last night. Over $700 in sales. Which I'm sure looks good for her in whatever way it does when she puts the orders in. Plus, I got just over $100 in credit to play with however I wanted, so I ended up getting a tart warmer, a pair of votive holders, a box of tarts, and about 5 dozen votives. For free. Plus, I got 78 votives for $5. (It was a special deal for the first part of the month - a half dozen of each of the new scents.)
So, between this stuff (when it comes in), the stuff I got at anaidiana's open house at the end of last month, and the two and a half dozen votives I got from Yankee Candle during their semi-annual sale after Christmas (they were all $1, what can I say?), I won't need any candles for the next year and a half. Or, knowing me, June.
Yes, I'm a bit of a candle whore/addict. Why do you ask?
I've also been sucked into SG-1. I've gotten through episode 2.12 "Spirits" within the past month-ish. (Probably would've gotten through more, if I wasn't getting them from Blockbuster.com.) But I caved in today and got the first four seasons from Half.com. This was partly because I didn't want to have to deal with Blockbuster.com in seeing the episodes.
The other part was because I've been attacked by this *huge*-assed fic idea that I'll never be able to read unless I write it and I know it'll be good for me to have the dvds at my fingers. (Nothing against Gateworld, it's just a tone of voice and gestures sort of thing.)
And I think Teal'c/Supersoaker just may be my new favorite OTP.
My dad and I are trekking down to D.C. in the morning for the day, because he wants to see some exhibits down there. (And I just love going to D.C. and going to the museums.) And we're going to meet up with eternalmusings and show her around a little bit of her kinda-sorta adopted city.
eternalmusings for dinner, then we went to to see Craig Ferguson perform.
drained
happy
atlantis_vids *way* too much.