Some local economic stimulus action...

...my people call it "Saturday."

"Hey! The sun's out! The temperature consists of more than one digit! Let's walk into town!"

We missed out on getting to the bank in time, because I am full of fail. But we did finally get to check out the used bookstore we pass every day. We could have easily walked out with much more than we did, but I reminded myself of a magical place called "the library." Still, I like to support local bookstores.



Then it was time for lunch. Our goal for several weeks has been to try this new Mexican place. The inside was cheery...



...and I could have stayed for hours, reading my book...


...and drinking tamarind soda...

(which, much like Ikea cola, didn't taste at all how I expected; but, unlike Ikea cola, it was a pleasant surprise.)

How was the food? Not bad. Josh liked his burrito. It's pretty authentic for New England. I wish the tacos had used shredded chicken, instead of chunks. And I'm wishing I'd been a little more adventurous and tried something different, instead of sticking to my usual tacos.

Not this adventurous, though. 'Cuz yeah...that's on the menu.

Still a little high on Inauguration fumes...

I didn't go to DC, like Tom and Tina, or GL and Bill - who, incidentally, has a really excellent rationale for why it was important for him to go to DC for the Inauguration, which he lays out in this recent broadcast:



Nor did I take the day to celebrate with Katy, Traci, and Eleanor (which would have been my preference).

Instead, I had to work.

Luckily for me, work involves celebrating the Inauguration with a live broadcast at the Academy of Music, where hundreds of my fellow citizens and community members gathered to watch this historic event on a big screen:



Thankfully, our coverage ended before I got all unprofessional and unobjective.

It was a joy to share it with friends.

Oh Joyful Day....

Sing along with Michael....

Washington, Washington!

I stumbled across this years ago, while working at my former station. I have this vivid memory of everyone crammed into my office to watch it. It was especially amusing because my friend and former colleague Ronda Chollock (who is bad about updating her MySpace page) was actually working at the Washington Papers at the time.

Yesterday, I stumbled across it again, and had many of my River compadres huddled at a computer to watch.

WARNING! Not safe for uptight work environments, or children. Especially British children. And you'll be singing it for days. Consider yourself warned.

Cure for the Common Cold

*sigh*


How cold is it?

The normally skittish Sherbert has become a lap cat again:


Chloe is pretending she is a tropical cat:


They say the key to surviving winter in the northern climes is to get out there and enjoy it, with fun winter activities like skiing, snowshoeing, sledding...

...or shovelling.

Doesn't he look excited?

But sometimes, the best cure is to leave winter behind for a while, and remind yourself of what's on the other side of that long cold stretch of season. Some folks do this by taking vacations in warmer climes. Those of us with less time and/or money...

(or an inability to fly)


...have another option:


It is truly one of my favorite places in town, especially this time of year.


Like Chloe, you can surround yourself with greenery and pretend it's Spring:






But it's not just the riot of color...it's the sounds of running water - and the resulting humidity in the air. I love the orchid room, with it's pond filled with koi - and Mr. Frog. Every time I go, I make sure to locate Mr. Frog.

Here he is!


The orchids take my breath away:









I also suffer from orchid envy. Here's ours:

Bloom, damn you! Bloom!

The scent in the air is amazing. One room had this incredible spicy smell that I wanted to bottle and bring back to my house.

I love the concept of trees INSIDE spaces. TREES! INSIDE! Wacky!




And jungles! Again, inside!!!!




Did I mention I'm a sucker for waterfalls?


And so we emerged rejuvenated and fortified with a healthy dose of spring to get us through the next few months.

*sigh* Maybe once-a-week doses are in order....

"Hello, my name is Jaz....

...and I am a cheap date who gets looped on a glass and a half of pinot noir. And flan. Yes, I am drunk on flan. Happy Birthday to me."

Game Night, or My Tribe is Hilarious

It was SUPPOSED to be UberGeeky Game Night, in which we played Dungeons and Dragons. But our Dungeonmaster canceled, which is just as well, as I hadn't yet made it out to buy those special dice. Plus, I was wicked cranky from work, and dubious about the restorative powers of battling orcs. However, GL was nearly inconsolable: she had claimed the week before that UberGeeky Game Night was the most exciting thing about the new year. I am recording that statement here so I can call it up on a computer screen on June 14th, 2009.

Anyway, it was clear that the tribe would not be denied games, so a regular old game night was declared.



With snacks.

There were amazing caramels from Cornucopia, yummy cheesy chips made by Katy, some kind of organic cheese doodles (?), and Chocolate Newman-O's:



Oh, and conversation hearts. Which according to Katy should not be bought until February. Because these ones apparently weren't ripe yet. At least, the purple ones weren't:



There were many surprises in the evening's refreshments, including a particular beverage purchased from an unusual place: Ikea. This sparked a volley of wisecracks:

"Ikea root beer? Is it going to fall apart in two years?"

"It comes with allen wrenches."

"The root beer is strong until it gets moved. It will have to stay with the apartment."


Traci and Katy claimed it had been displayed under a sign marked "Root Beer." We called on local root beer expert Bill Scher to test the beverage:

"That is not root beer."

"Maybe it's furniture polish."

"The root beer is ... surprising..."
"The surprise comes later."
"No, the surprise is pretty much immediate."

We settled on Lingonberry cola.

"Lingonberry cola is made from people!"
"Norwegian people!"

The second most amusing/perplexing thing about Ikea cola, besides the taste, is the label:



Gnomes? Really? I guess this is the closest we get to D&D tonight.

At any rate, we settled on a nice relaxing game of Apples to Apples.



I had the choir boys card. Why are choir boys wicked, you ask? Well, they shamelessly seduced all those poor Catholic priests, is all.

Yes, I said it. And so ensued a night of ridiculous, inappropriate, and utterly hilarious wisecracking. For instance, I bet you did not know the ways that Keanu Reeves could be considered "comfortable:"

"Why is Keanu Reeves comfortable? Well, he's very soft, and he makes you feel smart, and he generates body heat..."
"...Yes, so if you are cold you can split him open with your light saber and crawl inside."
"Plus, you could knit a warm cozy hat with Keanu's soft hair."

Or that Dr. Seuss might be considered by some to be distinguished. Other poo-poo this notion, based purely on geography:

"Dr. Seuss is distinguished?!"
"He's a doctor!"
"Pffft! Yeah, from Springfield! I'M a doctor in Springfield!"

Things took a turn for the racy:

"I think I'll grow a pencil mustache tomorrow and just keep it for the day."
"You could totally make a porno in a day."
"I have an idea for a new game!"
"Okay, apparently now we're playing Seven Minutes in Heaven."
"Except our version would be Seven Minutes in the Cold Vestibule."

Coming (sorry) soon to a porno shelf near you.

I came close to passing out from laughter-induced oxygen deprivation. Which was the perfect antidote for a cranky day.

Good Dinner vs. Bad Dinner

Sunday night we went over to Tom and Tina's to make some dinner and introduce the T's to the joys of "Shaun of the Dead." (I know - they hadn't seen it! Nor have they seen "Evil Dead." Yet.)

Oh, and to visit the pups:

Abby


Grendel


We made veggie enchiladas. Well, by "we" I mean Tom and Josh. I let them do the veggie chopping. I can't be trusted with knives. My contribution was purchasing a few ingredients and making sure the dogs were adequately snuggled.

Tom was mortified at the aesthetics of the meal, claiming it was well below his standard. Whatever. They were tasty as all get out:



And then Tina just decided she needed chocolate and whipped up some brownies just like that. Delicious, gooey, molten center brownies:



It truly was a lovely dining experience, and a sweet evening overall.

And then...tonight happened.

Josh had been stuck in the house all day as I had to work, so I promised him an evening out. We figured dinner out would be a safe bet, since we both have to work tomorrow. I let him choose the restaurant. I promise I won't hold this against him.

(I am not going to name this restaurant here, since I believe all restaurants are entitled to off nights. But if you ask me in person, I will tell you. You may also be able to guess.)

Pulling in to the parking lot, we were a bit worried, since it was filled with cars. We feared a long wait. We had no idea....

We were actually seated very quickly. It took a while for someone to come take our order, but it took a long time for us to decide, so I wasn't too worried. As we placed our order, another family was being seated nearby.

When they brought the little crunchy things with the duck sauce, I had my first warning sign: the duck sauce was bland. It was like dipping my crunchies in water. Bleah.

We placed our order: Hot and sour soup and vegetarian beef in garlic sauce for me, veggie spring roll and shrimp in garlic sauce for Josh.

And then....nothing happened for a long, long time. Well, that's not QUITE true: a very harried waitress occasionally came by to tell me she'd be right back with my soup, and then fail to return.

When my soup - which I had been craving, by the way, because I have had a cold this week, and I adore a good sinus-opening hot and sour soup - finally arrived, it was neither hot OR sour. I thought maybe the blandness had something to do with my sickness, but honestly, I'm almost over it. I have been able to taste other things just fine. I had Josh test it, to see if the problem was me or the soup. The problem was definitely not me.

At this point I should mention that when my soup showed up, Josh's spring roll did not. In fact, the waitress thought that she had failed to bring him something he had not ordered: "You seafood hot and sour soup?" "Uh, no. Veggie spring roll." "No soup?" "No."

The other thing they didn't bring Josh? A fork. His little silverware bundle, which he had opened in order to test my soup, contained three spoons. "Are they tripping back there?"

They brought our entrees, and I asked for a fork for Josh. I wasn't holding out much hope, though, as they neglected to bring us plates on which to eat the entrees. We had to eat off of the serving platters. At least they brought Josh his vegetarian spring roll with his meal, which he started eating with his spoon. Have you ever tried eating broccoli with a spoon?

Meanwhile, the family that they had seated after us got up to leave. They never even placed an order. The mom had basically had her water glass filled about a quarter full before her brood was completely abandoned.

Again, my dish lacked a little 'oomph,' but it wasn't terrible. Josh was obviously very annoyed at having to eat with a spoon. I overheard a couple seated nearby being told by the waiter that something he had brought them was "no charge," in that apologetic tone of voice.

And then, the final straw: as I was chewing, I felt a hair. Normally this isn't cause for immediate concern, as I have a lot of hair and it tends to find its way into my mouth when I eat. However, this was not my hair.

I couldn't take it anymore. I spit the offending mouthful back into my napkin. "I'm done," I told Josh.

"Can I use your fork?" he replied.

Right after that, the couple seated nearby who had been treated to something no charge asked to see their waiter. Apparently the woman's favorite part of whatever dish she had ordered had been left out. I tried to stifle my giggles.

The waitress came by to ask if we needed anything. "The check," I responded. She pointed to the large amount of uneaten food on my platter. "You want to take home?"

"No."

"No?!"

"No. Well, he'll take his, I guess."

I told Josh to be ready to go once we got the check. I wasn't going to wait for our waitress - I'd take it up to pay myself. When the check arrived, I ate a fortune cookie and a couple of slices of orange. Best part of the meal. My fortune? "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the paycheck lighter." It should have gone to the waitstaff.

While waiting for the cashier to return, I tried to warn a woman who had just come in with her daughter: "Run. Run while you can." Too late; she had called in an order. "Good luck," I told her.

When I came back, Josh told me the couple near us had to call their waiter back AGAIN for another problem with the meal.

We couldn't get out of there fast enough. Josh suggested we get some ice cream to try and salvage the evening. Thank you Herrell's, and your chocolate buttercream ice cream, for salvaging my night out.