Sunday, July 29, 2007

I'm sick of it already

I have to read what's going on in the presidential campaigns and I have to say, I'm sick of it already. S has Wolf Blitzer on in the background and I want to scream: "Just shut up already!" I don't care about this dustup between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It doesn't matter at this point. You can never say never if you're president. And guess what, guys of the press. The majority of voters don't give a flying you-kn0w-what. I live in DC but feel like the rest of America, probably, watching this circus.
There was a great article in the Washington Post on how the Democrats need to start talking to the gut instead of putting out intellectual talking lists. So true. I'm a laundry list kind of person. I'm generally attracted to the most knowledgeable candidates, like Bill Richardson in this race, Bruce Babbitt and Paul Tsongas in previous ones.
But most people go with their gut.
In the meantime, I wish the tv shows would just do the news.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Turistas are out of control

I used to think I knew tourists when I lived in South Florida. Nope, South Florida tourists have nuthin' on the Washington, D.C. ones. All they wanted in Florida was surf and sun, and other than the beach, you'd rarely run into them as a native.
Well, they clog the streets of D.C. and more importantly, the Metro. Several things drive me bonkers. Of course, the standing on the left thing that everyone dreads. The pole hugging. The hogging of the machines that operate the Smart Cards, leaving the regular fare card machines lonely. But what really drives me batty: the abrupt stop after entering or exiting the gate so that you trip over yourself not to ram into them. Ditto the abrupt stop at the bottom (or top) of the escalator.
Last night, as I raced to meet S at Union Station for a very important engagement, I groaned as I descended the Dupont Metro escalator at Q Street. Down below me, moving into the bowels of the tunnel was a clogged cluster. Someone must have been pushy, because it cleared up before I reached. As I passed the shorts-clad folks on the right, I heard a white bearded man say to a younger one, "Must be a local custom."

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Gah

I used to love For Better or For Worse. Of course, Calvin and Hobbes will always be my favorite comic. And I loved the edginess of Boondocks. For FBOFW was a comfortable pair of slippers you could return to.
No longer. I'm glad Lynn Johnston's ending the show. This year's series has been a train wreck. And now the worse has come to ought. Liz is paired with Anthony. Actually the way she's acted this past year, she deserves the whiny, passive, selfish drip of a man. I've always hated Anthony, way back when Liz was dating him in high school. He's boring and dull. And did I mention passive and whiny? As the feminist blogs put it, he's a "Nice guy" TM, not a normal nice guy, but the kind who thinks he's nice but isn't really. A truly nice guy doesn't visibly moon over another woman at his engagement party, his New Year's Eve party or any other time with his wife. A nice guy doesn't then wonder why his wife is jealous. And a nice guy, after his wife makes clear she doesn't want to have children, doesn't pressure her and berate her into having one and complain about her lack of maternal instinct. A nice guy, after rescuing someone from a sexual assault, doesn't dump his miserable emotional baggage onto the assault victim's lap only minutes later.
A nice guy doesn't have to be boring and dull. He can be well-read and an interesting conversationalist and have great hobbies even if he's in a "stable" job. I would never call my brother-in-law, who is an accountant, boring and dull.
And Liz, Liz, Liz. Used to be my favorite character. What happened to her? She's living an exciting life helping kids in a remote area of Canada and as soon as Anthony's divorce is announced, drops her interesting boyfriend, who had made all the effort in the relationship, to move back home, betraying her promises to her students.
She doesn't ask her boyfriend, after he's already requested one transfer, whether he'd be willing to move south. It's her way or the highway, no compromise. And then plays victim when he finds someone more suitable.
Gah. I'm through. Sorry, Lynn, I used to love you, now I don't. You used to have a wonderful comic strip.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Cruisin'

S and I are going on a cruise in August. 25 years in South Florida, Fort Lauderdale even, and I've never been on a cruise. I've been on a cruise ship a couple of times. We toured the Queen Mary (or was it Elizabeth?) when it was docked in Lauderdale when I was 10. And I covered a Project Graduation party as a feech on a cruise boat.
But this was easy. We just take the train to Baltimore and take the train home. It will, we hope, include lots of sun. It's a nice short trip with time to get ready for work, and presumably not much of a time change.
Never had the desire to go on one because I'm not into the Broadway show tunes scene, disco dancing or activities galore. However, we splurged on a room with a balcony, and one of my favorite vacation activities is to read. We'll be on the ocean, in the sun, only missing the sand.
We've got something else planned. Hint: involves me driving up to Baltimore/Towson to pick up the paperwork.
We'll see. Maybe I'll try the rock climbing wall.

Top Chef 3.3

Top Chef again. I really need to post more. Hung has shown his butthole tendencies in full flower. He had to know that Fromagerie Sara had put her chicken in the convection oven. Lee Ann notes in her blog that she turns all the ovens on an hour before competition, so clearly they're not responsible for the turning off and on of ovens.
Loser was Micah and deservedly so even though I was rooting for her as a PBCer. If you screw up meatloaf so that people say yuck, you deserve to go. Every culture has a meatloaf and I've made some wonderful meatloaf like recipes from other regions. There's some eastern European and Middle eastern recipes. Even a French one. Terrine anyone?
Or make it from lamb or veal or turkey or even tofu. eh.
Great one-liners in this one. The judge was very cool.