- Mood:
worried
This may look silly, but it's actually a serious commentary on the security paranoia that has consumed Washington since 9/11. Sadly, Oliver was blown out of the sky by F-16s moments after this photo was taken, in a gross overreaction by the homeland security apparatus.
Actually, Oliver is fine and I'm slowly figuring this software out.
- Mood:half-baked
- Mood:
curious
The new Madame Tussauds location in DC can't be doing very well, judging by the absence of customers. Unlike the International Spy Museum, there are never any tourists lined up outside. I walk by both facilities on F Street NW every day, and the contrast is striking.
By all accounts, Madame Tussauds is a smallish, low-key affair in a tastefully restored historic building. It blends in all too well with official Washington. Even the Marion Barry figure is supposed to be blandly posed and attired (no crack pipes!).
In order to boost attendance, if I were them, I'd quickly add new exhibits to mirror current events, and make the exhibits much more lurid. Right now, they should have their best wax artisans replicating Room 871 of the Mayflower Hotel, with a figure of NY Governor Eliot Spitzer wearing a robe, taking cash out of his wallet. On the robe is a monogrammed "Client #9." On the bed, a lingerie-clad wax figure of "Kristen" from Emperors Club VIP reclines; her appearance can only be based on the vague description from the FBI affidavit "petite, very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches and 105 pounds."
Just outside the door to the hotel room mock-up, a replica of the Governor's attractive wife Silda Wall Spitzer approaches, looking mad and holding a shoe/brick/frying pan in her hand as if she's about to whack him with it. A fictional addition to the scene, but it would certainly get people in the door of Madame Tussauds!
- Mood:inspired
It was just out of reach, stuck in the seam where the curved top part meets the flat back panel, so I tried opening and closing the door repeatedly. That failed, so I tried banging on the back as hard as I could with my fist. That also failed, and now people were starting to look at me. I didn't want to be hauled off by the police in this "homeland security"-crazed town, so I went to work to think of plan B.
On my lunch hour, I returned, and much to my dismay the letter was still hanging there in limbo: too low to be noticed from above, too high to be seen by the mail carrier below, when he opens the bottom. The mail had probably already been picked up once, with our bill left behind. Next, I fashioned a tool of sorts, consisting of an overstuffed large envelope, with double sided tape all over it, and a note written in permanent marker saying LETTER STUCK IN TOP PART OF MAILBOX. I reached in with this letter, trying to snag the trapped bill, but I couldn't quite reach it. I only succeeded in jamming up the whole door, because I lost my grip on the tape-covered envelope and now it's stuck in the back of the mailbox, too. It's now wedged into the door, and the double-sided tape is doing an admirable job of gumming up the works.
Then, I spotted a mail truck driving down the street, doing commercial deliveries. I ran after it, and caught up with the mail carrier as he was about to drive off again. I explained the situation, and he said thing like that happen all the time, and not to worry, they'd eventually find the letter. Perhaps noting the skepticism in my expression, he then promised to go and take a look at it when he finished what he was doing. So, that's good, but I'll definitely be checking that mailbox on the way home. And no, online bill paying isn't an option in this case for various reasons.
More later. Anyone have any ideas?
- Mood:panicked
In other news, this is shaping up to be a routine work week, except I'm taking the day off Wednesday, and will hopefully find something interesting to do. Then, J is off to Boston for the weekend, while I keep tabs on the kitty. He's going through an especially energetic phase, perhaps the feline equivalent of the "terrible twos." This evening, he jumped up into the kitchen sink, and started drinking the water in a dirty bowl left to soak. Yuck. Everything is a toy to this little guy: my shoelaces, J's knitting, electrical cords (yikes!), the cords that adjust the window blinds, etc. He'll eventually calm down, but for now, he's a handful!
- Mood:laughing here
Last weekend, I dragged J with me to Congressional Cemetery, to take some photos and do the compare-and-contrast thing with Rock Creek Cemetery. I'd never been there before, and my interest was piqued by several articles and blog entries about how it's been cleaned up recently after years of neglect. Before we left, I had lunch accompanied by a large glass of water. J and I then had the following conversation:
T- "Uh oh, I just drank all that water, I hope they have a bathroom there."
J- "I doubt it, you may have to just wait until we get home."
T- "If absolutely necessary, I can always drop trou behind a mausoleum." (not serious, of course!)
J- (silence, very long pause)
T- "Did you ever think when we first got married, that your husband would ever utter the phrase "drop trou behind a mausoleum"? (laughing)
J- (laughs)
It turns out that drop trou behind a mausoleum was a Googlenope, until now that is. I Googled the expression later that day, and again just now to make sure. In any case, as soon as we got to the cemetery, it started raining. I took a few quick photos, but we didn't have time to explore the grounds, or locate the graves of any important persons except for John Philip Sousa. The expedition was a total washout due to the sudden rainstorm. And they do have restrooms, but they were locked at the time, so I just held it in until we got home.
- Mood:
amused
- Mood:creative
Why do Mondays always suck? We had a relatively relaxing weekend, went out to the movies Saturday night, coffee with M on Sunday morning, grilled on the balcony, and so on. But starting at 5:30 AM Monday when M-kitty threw up on the stairs, things went downhill rapidly. It was harder to clean up than usual, and left a visible stain on the carpet, though J tried her best. We really need to get a carpet cleaning service in to give all the carpeted areas a good cleaning.
M-kitty wasn't finished though. She had nasty diarrhea in the litterbox, which I cleaned. It smelled really bad, so I reached up for the baking soda on the top shelf, intending to sprinkle some in the litter. Through a combination of stress and fatigue, I fumbled the box of baking soda which overturned and dumped its contents all over me and the floor. At that point I let loose with a loud series of obscenities that may have been audible well outside the Beltway. This was AFTER I took a shower, of course. On the plus side, the whole area has a fresh smell thanks to the baking soda all over the walls and floor in the vicinity of the litterbox.
Hopelessly behind, I rushed to clean up and get out the door, but I just missed a train and was late for work. Not a good day so far!
- Mood:
frustrated
During the warm-weather months, it seems there's a street festival in DC nearly every weekend. There's the Caribbean Festival, Taste of DC, BBQ Battle, the Pride Festival, the Folklife Festival, Adams-Morgan Day, Mt. Pleasant Day, and so on. Columbia Heights should have a street festival, too!
My proposal for a local street festival would coincide with the annual summer crime wave - it would be called the Columbia Heights Crimefest. To accomodate the festival, 14th Street would be closed to traffic, from U to Monroe Streets. There would be weapons demonstrations, displays of stolen goods (you might get lucky and find your cellphone or iPod!), a parade featuring local gangs/ "crews" and cops on horseback and Segways, demonstrations on how to steal bikes and cars, and for the little ones, face spray-painting, where kids will have their faces tagged by some of our famous graffiti artists. No porta-potties will be provided 'cuz urinating on the street will be encouraged. Fun for all ages!
OK, maybe not such a good idea... he he he he.
- Mood: cynical
- Mood:
embarrassed
Every time I go past this sign I laugh a little. My brother was amused by the sign the last time he visited, as well. We're immature, what can I say? Normally, I really dislike graffiti, but this is cute. The only other instance of graffiti I've approved of was the "Surrender Dorothy" painted on the Beltway overpass in sight of the huge Mormon Temple in Maryland. It has been gone for years, but the temple does look like Oz...
- Mood: amused
I forgot to mention that this week's Netflix movie was So I Married An Axe Murderer. J hadn't seen it, though I saw it when it first came out in the early 90s. The Scottish family bits with Mike Myers were amusing, and Nancy Travis did a good job of being cute but slightly menacing at the same time. Trite romantic comedy plot, but not as heavy-handed as the Austin Powers movies.
In other news, here is the dialogue from an actual Mr. T conversation yesterday:
(watching TV story on upcoming "American Girl" movie)
Mr. T: Will that movie have zombies in it?
J: You ask that about every movie!
Mr. T: Maybe the doll comes to life and murders the girl, like Chucky?
J: See, that's the kind of thing you can't say if we have a kid.
Mr. T: (muttering to himself) Yeah, right.. he he he.
- Mood: satisfied
J eats more typical things for breakfast, like cereal, or English muffins, and doesn't mind pulp in orange juice. Then again, she's normal.
- Mood: amused
Uhm, no, unless the 15th century Italian navigator wore a 20th century peacoat, sailor hat, bellbottoms and carried around a duffel bag! I suppose it wasn't a horrible guess, maybe they were thinking District of COLUMBIA = Columbus, but the iconography of the sculpture and surrounding memorial should have made it clear it was a US Navy-related site. J couldn't help letting out an audible laugh on that one. I went back today and made sure to get a quick cameraphone shot on my lunch hour for the blog.
PS I know the massacre at Virginia Tech is still on all of our minds today, but thought I'd provide a small distraction here. I started to write 2 separate entries on the tragedy but ended up deleting both.
- Mood:
okay
M-kitty set an all-time personal record for feline havoc this morning, causing me to be late for work, among other things. I noticed some unusual behavior Sunday night and she was acting weird this morning, too. J checked downstairs before taking a shower, and nothing seemed amiss. As soon as J got in the shower, M-kitty threw up in my library/office, making a big mess that I had to clean up, which was quite unpleasant as you can imagine.
After I got that situation under control, J came downstairs in her work clothes, sat down at the table, and M-kitty went into the litter box. This is going to eventually seem funny, but for now it's still blowing my OCD mind... the cat had diarrhea, stepped in it, emerged from the litter box, ran over to J and jumped up in her lap. That's right, she deposited a poopy paw-print on J's nice work pants. Poor J had to change her outfit, then rush off to work. It never ceases to amaze me how much chaos that little 7 pound kitty creates.
Then again, problems like this and the tax situation don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy, violent world, when compared to the slaughter at Virginia Tech today. All those innocent people, 30 33 dead and a score more wounded? Damn sad.
- Mood:aghast
The next day, the bumper was gone, and I found it stuffed in a recycling bin labeled for plastic/glass/metal bottles and cans. Fortunately, I had my camera on me and got this shot of the scene. Thank you to whomever the good samaritan was who picked up the bumper and attempted to recycle it! Later on I noticed that the recycling company had rejected the bumper, and stuffed it in a nearby dumpster for conventional disposal. I doubt it was the right kind of plastic anyway.
- Mood: amused
This was the very first shot taken with my new Canon Powershot A640 digital camera. It would have come out a lot better without the paper towels underneath, but the handcrafted bread was covered with a powdery coating, and it was getting everywhere. I considered a follow-up shot with a knife stuck in its head, with ketchup "blood", but J vetoed that idea. Because, you know, the only way to "kill" a zombie is to get the brain. I'll be sleeping with one eye on the cupboard tonight!
- Mood:
crazy - Music:Hair soundtrack
- Mood: amused
Thanks for the heads-up,
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
retrotastic!- Mood: amused
