Hawaii: The runon sentence

Consider this notice of the fact that I will not be around to update the blog beginning Saturday morning and continuing through the following Sunday due to the fact that I will be vacationing in the sun on the white sandy beaches of Hawaii for an entire week, completely and utterly devoid of a schedule or any other form of mundane and useless work and I won't feel bad about it at all, not even a little bit, not even when I think of you back here working at your desk hour after hour, bored out of your mind, wishing you could be on the white sandy beaches of Hawaii when instead you have ample time to update your own blog and probably no remaining vacation days because you already wasted them on useless "pretend sick days" and therefore can't leave your little comfortable desk chair for approximately nine more months while you earn what few days you can in order to take just half a week's vacation, which you'll probably spend doing something like moving to a new apartment, which might as well be work anyway, and I probably won't bring you back anything from Hawaii either because I'm too poor now that I took a week off and paid for the airfare and the hotel, so don't expect any big jars of macadamia nuts or Kona Coffee because if I give you anything al all it'll probably be a really big picture of me vacationing in the sun on the white sandy beaches of Hawaii without you.

Aloha!

Word of the Day: Agog

agog \uh-GOG\, adjective:
Full of excitement or interest; in eager desire; eager, keen.

I am so excited! Tonight the coolest thing happened. I was at church with Cassie and just before the service was done, out comes Mercy Me, one of my favorite Christian bands. Now for those of you who know me, you are well aware that I listen to more Christian music than secular and though I can tell you all about Jack Johnson and O.A.R., I can, and probably will, recite all the words to every Switchfoot song, and I can tell you the names of all the tracks to every Jars of Clay song ever written (on seven albums, which I can also name and date). Mercy Me has been a favorite of mine for five years when I first hear their song I Can Only Imagine. So when they show up unannounced at church, YOU can only imagine my excitement.


Apparently they were just "stopping by" on their way to the airport for a flight to New York. They are promoting their new album Coming Up to Breathe, which isn't out in stores until Tuesday. But lucky us, they were selling copies for $5!!! And not only that, but after we picked up our $5 CDs the entire band was standing RIGHT THERE with pens and they all signed our CDs. Now I not only have the CD before it's even in stores for 1/3 of the price, it's just become priceless. Mercy Me can stopping looking -- they've just met their biggest fan.

Word of the Day: Specious

specious \SPEE-shuhs\, adjective:
1. Apparently right; superficially fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; as, "specious reasoning; a specious argument."

This word seems to sum up what occured here on Friday night. It was right and fair and just and correct that Tofu Todd or I were to win the game of Seafarers. However, the victory was apparently specious in that it wasn't attained in reality.

In reality, Timoni won the game. And not only did she win, she slaughtered us. Todd had 4 points. I had 5. We are clearly not as good at alliances as we once assumed. In the future we need to create a whole new game plan or else we will have to do some serious cheating. That win was ours! It was. Just not in reality.

Word of the Day: Domination

dom·i·na·tion ( P ) Pronunciation Key (dm-nshn)
n.
Control or power over another or others.
The exercise of such control or power.

You know I can't think of anything to blog about when I start rambling on about world domination based on a board game, but tonight is going to be a feat of total world domination never seen or heard of before. I dare say Tofu Todd and I are on track for taking over the entire civilized world in what can only be classified as a masterpiece of strategy and allure. Settlers of Catan (or more specifically Seafarers of Catan), is one of my favorite games of all times and some of my favorite people of all times will be coming over this evening to embark in a friendly game or two.

I'll report back on the outcome, but you can bet it will begin with the glorious victory of either Tofu Todd or the Empress (me).

Word of the Day: Allergies

al·ler·gy ( P ) Pronunciation Key (lr-j)
n. pl. al·ler·gies
An abnormally high sensitivity to certain substances, such as pollens, foods, or microorganisms. Common indications of allergy may include sneezing, itching, and skin rashes.

The allergy season is especially bad this season, if you couldn't tell by the itching eyes, sneezing and basic irritation of everyone around you. You're well aware if you've spent any time with me in the past few weeks. According to ABC News:

April is the cruelest month — just ask any seasonal allergy sufferer. But this April is especially pitiless, since a mild, wet winter in many parts of the country caused an early start to what has become a record-setting allergy season.

They listed ten of the worst cities and not surprisingly Washington, D.C. is right up there. I personally suffer from tree pollens (which are causing the misery this week) but even worse for me is the grass pollen, and those don't come out until June.

Here is a cool interactive map of the U.S. with highlighted pollen counts. Good luck out there.

Word of the Day: Consistent

con·sis·tent ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kn-sstnt)
adj.
Reliable; steady: demonstrated a consistent ability to impress the critics.

This is my 150th post. I feel a great sense of accomplishment. The best part about this blog is that I can go back into the catalog of my life and pull out little snippets of things that happened for reference. It's practically indispensible.

This weekend was Easter. I spent it with my dear friend Kim in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania. We cooked and ate, and ate and cooked and had the best time two friends could have. I made it to Season 2, Episode 17 of Lost, so I'm almost caught up. And that crazy ending with Hurley is just TOO much. And on the way back I got to test out the racing ability of my car, which is way too fun. I don't think I dropped below 80 the whole way. I love how no one drives in the right lane when it opens up to three lanes (for trucks). I'd get over there in the right lane and buzz by all kinds of slowpokes. Is "slowpoke" a bad word?

For anyone who cares, it is currently 57 degrees OUTSIDE and 79 degrees (and rapidly rising) INSIDE. Oh how I love my office.

Yesterday was a really bad bus day for me. Nevermind the fact that I was evaded by three buses and ended up 20 minutes late for work. On my way home I was reading a magazine and was, I can only imagine, totally engrossed in it, because when I finally looked up we were WAY past my stop. Like four stops and a mile past my stop. I had to walk all the way home. Here's to hoping today is better.

Word of the Day: Incorrigible

in·cor·ri·gi·ble ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-kôr-j-bl, -kr-)
adj.
Incapable of being corrected or reformed: an incorrigible criminal.
Firmly rooted; ineradicable: incorrigible faults.
Difficult or impossible to control or manage: an incorrigible, spoiled child.

Some of you may remember a little episode I had a while back with the office temperature lady. (What would be the title of a person who controls the temperature?) Back in December the office was so cold, we had to wear three coats, a scarf and gloves just to stay warm. It was anywhere between 67 and 70 degrees on a daily basis, which often led to us complaining incessantly about frostbite and hypothermia. Finally, one day I broke down and called the temperature lady.

Flash forward to April 13, 2006... I enter the building. I ride the elevator, walk down the hall... it's all quite pleasant. Until I set foot into the office in which I work and around me settles air so stiflingly warm that I almost can't breathe and my skin clams up instantly from unbelieveable humidity. I can only imagine they are trying to prove to us they have absolutely no control over the temperature of this building. It has been an incorrigible 80 degrees everyday for two weeks. Oh yeah, sure, occasionally the temperature dips to a low of 77 - but that is a rare occurance.

By the second week of this weather, my florescent light coworker was threatening to come to work in shorts and my boss had mentioned something about a speedo. I would have to take desperate measures if I was going to save my sanity. So what did I do? I called the temperature lady. She arrived with her laser temperature gun and pointed it around at various surfaces testing the temperature, which she found to be between 78-80 degrees throughout. "It's really hot in here," I said with a resigned sigh. "It's well within the acceptable range according to the GSA," she says. "We don't have to do anything about it."

I looked up this supposed "range" and the only thing I found suggested that during occupancy the building should be kept between 70 and 78 degrees. 80 is, as I see it, well WITH OUT the acceptable range. Furthermore "Overexposure to heat can lead to a decrease in physical and mental performance, resulting in an increased potential for errors and accidents," says the Department of Sustainability and Environment. I believe it is in their best interest to turn the heat down already and quit trying to run us out of here by threatening to melt our brain cells.

And that lady should really learn to calm herself down. I'm not asking her to anihilate the universe. I'm asking her to turn the temperature down a degree or two. It's really not that big a deal. It's a dial. You turn it. It goes down.

Word of the Day: Squalor

squal·or ( P ) Pronunciation Key
A filthy and wretched condition or quality.

I'm living in squalor.

The office refrigerator problem just became so much worse. On friday we were instructed to clean all perishable food out of the refrigerator because the power would be out all weekend. Fine. Some benevolent soul from the other office that uses or fridge cleaned it out and put all the old food in plastic bags and placed them near the door of the kitchen. It's just that he forgot one small detail. It was after 2pm, so the cleaning crew had already come for the day. And there is no cleaning crew over the weekend.

(Fast forward to Monday morning)

What is that smell? Ew. Is that the garbage from the refrigerator? All sitting there in neat little plastic bags, exactly where they were left on Friday? I wonder how many mice and cockroaches feasted on old leftovers over the weekend? You'd think an office full of people who were terrorized recently by a never-ending mouse problem would be a little more careful not to leave food laying out all weekend.

Anyone for some warm yogurt?

Word of the Day: deus ex machina

deus ex machina \DAY-uhs-eks-MAH-kuh-nuh; -nah; -MAK-uh-nuh\, noun:
Any active agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an apparently insoluble difficulty.

I can now tell the world what 2am and 4am look like in full detail. I have spent the past six nights researching what occurs when most sane people are tucked away safely and snuggly in their beds. During these hours when the world is quiet, I am awake bringing order to the universe by providing the rest of you lazy people with the answers to what you've always wondered: What do people do in the middle of the night?

(For those of you who have asked out of sheer concern for my well-being, the chanting has stopped. I know this because I am awake all night.)

My reasoning for being awake all night is three-fold. 1.) I believe the chanting is over because I have finally officially been brain-washed into staying up all night. 2.) I'm sick, and sleeping is prohibited when sick. 3.) I am suffering from "overactive brain syndrome" which results in being unable to shut down activity until approximately 7:43 -- two minutes before my alarm clock goes off.

Here is what I have learned in my insomnia:
1. There is more traffic at 4am than at 2am.
2. Traffic lights do not run on an abbreviated schedule even after 2am when instead of 20 cars passing per second there is an average of 1 car passing per five minutes.
3. If you listen long and hard enough, you can almost hear other people talking before you realize it's all in your own crazy head.
4. Peanut butter tastes better after midnight.
5. The only thing on TV is monotonous infomercials about food dehydrators and annoying ads for get-rich-quick real estate programs.
6. No one likes it when you call them before the sun rises.
7. If you try to write a book during the night hours, you'll have to erase it all in the morning when you realize it's completely incomprehensible.
8. You still have to get up at 7:44, so WHY ARE YOU STILL AWAKE??

The Great Scavenger Hunt

Last Saturday we ran around DC like the crazy people we are on a huge photo scavenger hunt. The point was to get more points than the other teams based on which photos you decide to take. We only had a disposable camera with 27 shots so it required a lot of strategic planning to get the most possible points. In the end, my team won by 15 points, despite a 30 pt deduction for being 22 minutes late returning. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the event.

Just tell me this photo doesn't look fake. Even the sky looks fake (35 pts).

Here's the team doing kartwheels with the Capitol in the background (25 pts):

And here's the team in a porta-potty (35 pts)

Word of the Day: Five Guys

Don't worry, I'm not going to actually write a whole blog entry about five guys... oh but I am going to write about FIVE GUYS -- as in the best burger place in the world, "...a little joint with all the charm of an RFK Stadium bathroom," according to a wash post writer. Here's a link to the story in the post...and a few excerpts:

Four years ago, before franchising, Five Guys was just a little family burger operation with five locations and a steady, if cultish following, in Northern Virginia. Today the business is by some estimates heading toward $1 billion in value. Five Guys has 87 locations. Most are in the Washington region, but a hundred more will open along the East Coast this year, and another thousand are being phased in. Each store, the company says, pulls in about $1 million a year.

An interesting question: Should the pickles go on top of the tomatoes or should the tomatoes go on top of the pickles?

Thus, you can't buy one Five Guys franchise. You have to buy at least five.

I used to work at a "Five Guys" type of establishment when I was in high school. It was called Burger Hut and was considered "medium fast food". I'm not surprised that I love Five Guys so much since my days at Burger Hut forever endeared me to a really good hamburger. I love it that you can now find Five Guys everywhere instead of just in Bailey's Crossroads and Springfield. I've decided officially that I can't move back to the West coast until Five Guys has become firmly established there. All you people who think In and Out Burger rivals Five Guys are wrong. It's not even close.

Cherry blossoms

Cherry blossoms
Originally uploaded by timoni.

One of the best things about Timoni, amongst hundreds of things, is that she always has a camera with her and is prepared to take photos of all the excursions we go on, including our trip to the cherry blossoms on Friday. So here is a lovely photos compliments of Timoni.

Word of the Day: Perambulate

perambulate \puh-RAM-byuh-layt\, intransitive verb:
1. To walk about; to roam; to stroll; as, "he perambulated in the park."

Well, I don't know if we were hoping to "perambulate" during our lunch-time walk to the tidal basin today, per say, but a trip to the National Mall during this particular week inevitably involves a lot of stop-and-go walking behind strollers galore and camera-totting gawkers.

It's the annual CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL.

The 2006 festival marks the 94th celebration of the original gift of the 3,000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to the people of Washington, DC in 1912.

It is a sight to see, and certainly worth the five-minute walk from my office during lunch (and it was gorgeous out today!). I just have a few words of caution: DON'T GO! Not only are there strollers (I mean thousands of them), that also presupposes that there are children. Children everywhere. And old people who walk really really slowly. Don't get me wrong. I love tourists -- except for when they are in possession of a map and a camera or within close proximity of a metro station. But today, and I gather tomorrow, are quite possibly the worst days to be within 20 miles of Washington D.C.

Word of the Day: Symbiosis

sym·bi·o·sis
A close, prolonged association between two or more different organisms of different species that may, but does not necessarily, benefit each member.

You'll have to excuse my befuddledness for the remainder of this post. They are vacuuming what seems like the entire square footage of this office. I haven't slept in at least a week thanks to the chanting going on next door. And I was verbally assaulted this morning, leading to a less than fresh and exciting perspective on the world.

Todd suggested I use this word today. I text messaged Timoni something really important over the weekend which she happened to receive while at dinner with a boy. Knowing it was rude to do the cell phone thing in the middle of a date, she also knew she couldn't *not* text back because it was a very important matter pertaining to the person she spends more time with than anyone on the earth, who was in need of consoling. That might make her a bad date, but a really exceptional friend. Todd suggested that ours was a rather symbiotic relationship, but upon closer inspection, it isn't because our friendship is mutually beneficial for many reasons. We do have a close, prolonged relationship though. If you wanted to determine how many hours a day we spend together, it would be more advantageous to just count the hours we're asleep and subtract that from 24 to get the answer.

I learned this week though that something that I had invested a lot of time and energy in and thought was mutually beneficial turned out to be the extreme opposite. That was made very clear to me in a less than compassionate way and tore down a lot of the beliefs I had that people are, in general, able to live together in harmony. What's the purpose of building a life where you are constantly at odds with the people around you? What I want more than anything is "world peace" and I really mean that. What is wrong with us as a people that many of our relationships are symbiotic disasters? Why can't we all just get along?

Question of the Week: Who is trying to brainwash me?

I'm convinced that someone is trying to brainwash me from the apartment next door. There is no other explanation.

For an entire week I've been having fitful dreams usually ending in me violently waking myself up in frustration and anxiety. Someone is repeating something over and over in a monotone voice which I can hear clearly through the wall dividing my condo from the one next door. Every night between 2:30 and 3:30am, the message repeats for an hour -- the same thing over and over and over and over until I want to kill myself. Why do you hate me, neighbors? Why do you want to steal my sleep?

A subliminal message is a signal or message designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. For example it might be inaudible to the conscious mind (but audible to the subconscious or deeper mind) or might be an image transmitted briefly and unperceived consciously and yet perceived unconsciously.

I've decided that the person next door is involved in a scheme to brainwash me via subliminal midnight messages played through the wall. Whoever this operative is believes that the plan is working and is not aware that I'm waking up every night and have now uncovered their sordid plan. I don't know yet what they're trying to accomplish, but I will not be subjected to this madness. I cannot be brainwashed.

Well, maybe they're chanting. Do people chant?

Word of the Day: Stolid

stolid \STOL-id\, adjective:
Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily excited.

Here's what I've been doing all week. ALL WEEK. I have all my email windows open on my computer and I'm rapidly and repeatedly clicking from one to the other, hopelessly waiting for something to arrive. What is that something? I'm not entirely sure. Just SOMETHING.

Is something big about to happen and my intuition knows it but it just hasn't occured yet? I told a friend yesterday that I'm rather boring these days and he immediately said "The calm before the storm." But IS it the calm before the storm? Is there ever going to be a storm or am I just waiting for nothing? (I just checked again, nothing new in any of my inboxes -- still nothing).

Waiting for that call on Saturday night, waiting for that great job to come along, or waiting for that perfect relationship; it never ends. According to this article the average person will spend 5 years of his or her life waiting in line, 2 years playing telephone tag, and six months sitting at red lights. That is over 7 and a half years either at best doing nothing, or at worst experiencing great aggravation. The bottom line is that even in our fast-paced world, with postmodern conveniences, we are all waiting for something.

We are all always waiting for something. But are we ever waiting for nothing?

Cube World Digital Stick People!!

Seriously, check this out. Timoni found the coolest thing ever...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/7b24/

I have to have one of these! No, not one, MANY. I want a whole colony.

Word of the Day: Ingenuity

in·ge·nu·i·ty ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nj-n-t, -ny-)
n. pl. in·ge·nu·i·ties
Inventive skill or imagination; cleverness.
Imaginative and clever design or construction: a narrative plot of great ingenuity.
An ingenious or imaginative contrivance.

Now THIS is genius in action if I've ever seen it. Completely brilliant this dude is, forming a whole new "unknown" life around an episode of what he says to be complete amnesia.

Here's the story in a nutshell. This dude wakes up in a subway and can't remember who he is, etc. The police call a number mysteriously written on a note in his bag, and he's picked up by a friend and taken to a posh Manhattan condo where he lives. He then spends the next years of his life relearning everything -- EVERYthing.

Believable? Sure. But now there's a documentary about it. And there's only circumstantial evidence that he's telling the truth because there have been no real tests done to prove it.

You see, here's what I think. As the story says "pre-amnesia Bruce was a slightly arrogant, hard-edged cynic". I think Bruce decided he was sick of himself and needed to change. How better to do it than one day miraculously get amnesia. As it says "He lost a lot of his cockiness. He became nicer." It's frankly a pretty ingenius plan for reinventing yourself. It's like a real-life Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Only with a few rather tedious drawbacks, such as the fact that you must remember what you don't remember. You might launch into a conversation about last Easter and forget that you weren't supposed to remember that. However, the benefits are apparent. You could snub anyone and everyone. "Do I know you?" You would never have to apologize for being a complete jerk the whole first part of your life, and now that you're really nice, people can't hold the old-you against you.

It's totally ingenius. Do you suppose I could pull it off before work tomorrow. So when I don't show up and my boss calls I can say "Do I know you?"

Word of the Day: Spring

Spring:
The season of the year, occurring between winter and summer, during which the weather becomes warmer and plants revive, extending in the Northern Hemisphere from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice and popularly considered to comprise March, April, and May.

A time of growth and renewal.

Today at exactly 1:26pm it turned Spring. I wanted to bring this to your attention because you wouldn't otherwise be privy to this information since the current weather.com report shows a blustery 42 degrees. Definitely not Spring weather. Oh yeah, and there's this little bit of breaking news from Wash Post: Snow Forecast for Second Day of Spring

"In the Washington area, we have a very, very slight chance of some snow tonight," Listemaa said. "By dawn, we think there's a 60 percent chance of precipitation, and we think it will turn to snow. We could have a changeover to snow and sleet in the afternoon. Then, after sunset, we expect a changeover to all snow."

Now that is just uncalled for. I mean, seriously. Haven't we had enough of old man winter for one year? Aren't we due a modicum of nice weather? We've been so accommodating so far -- allowing the 30 degree weather to ruin all hopes of ever leaving the house without a thick wool coat all throughout February, gritting our teeth but still not complaining while the wind lashed at us throughout the first part of March. But now, well, now it's just uncalled for that winter would continue. It's just plain mean, and I intend to write a letter to... well, someone... regarding this atrocity.

Today's Photo Favorites

Here are some of the photos I took in Tucson last weekend. They're too gorgeous not to share...


View from the backyard at Sundee & Eric's house


Catalina mountains with the blanket of snow


My favorite, the purple prickly pear


And the cool yellow cactus... and this is all landscaping around the pool.

Word of the Day: Marrakesh

Mar·ra·kesh or Mar·ra·kech
A city of west-central Morocco in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Founded in 1062, it is a commercial center and a popular resort noted for its leatherwork. Population: 602,000.



Saturday night ten of us got together for dinner at Marrakesh in Chinatown. Reservations were at 9pm and they wouldn't let us inside until one minute past. We all sort of awkwardly sat down and had our hands washed by the waiter at the table. Then hand towels were draped over our laps and the feeding began. One course after another was brought out, all requiring the use of fingers as utensils. I can't say I've ever eaten phillo dough, powdered sugar and cubed chicken with my hands before, so it was definitely an experience worth having. The wine was fabulous and so were the beef skewers and couscous and baklava and Moroccan hot tea. I could live on that tea alone. Oh and then there was the belly dancer. I'm not even sure how they move their hips that way, but it's highly impressive.

Question of the Day

And now for a new addition to our daily program -- duh..duh..duh

THE QUESTION OF THE DAY

1. Do people really care about their jobs as much as they allude to in town hall meetings that last for two hours and are a huge waste to taxpayers money?

I'm just asking because I almost fell asleep in said meeting and I can't imagine how anyone was so moved by the presentation to want to remain captive for an additional 40 minutes by asking pointless questions. The only reason I can think of is so they could show their great dedication and committment to the organization. So begs the question ARE THEY REALLY DEDICATED and COMMITTED or just suck-ups??

2. How many single men in Washington DC will I have to meet to find my soulmate?

According to a survey I just took online (results below), there are ZERO men in Washington DC that meet my requirements. I wasn't being too picky either. I just asked for someone in the upper 50% percentile of attractiveness and who had what I considered to be a healthy range of emotional stability. I didn't even base it on education, job or financial status. I did put in a height and age specification, but they were what I consider to be pretty relaxed. So what is the problem here? I think I need to get out of here!

I mean really. I have to meet 374 men before I find a soulmate here? Does that include random people I pass on the street, or just people I actually get introduced to? Does it count people I work with, because there are at least 10 guys here (ATM!) that meet the requirements but whom are non-candidates due to work status. So that's 10 down, 364 more to go. Now eliminate the masses of people I know from church, and I'm down another, say, 64. Subtract the people I've already dated and rejected (that sounds harsh), and remove the random people I've met over the four years I've lived here... I'd say I have about 84 people to go.

It took me 4 years to meet 290 people. At this rate, it'll take me at least another 1.34 years to find my soulmate.


---------------------
Results

Your Final Probability Coefficient: 2.6754765128952E-03

You have to meet: 374 male Washington D.C. singles to find your soulmate.

Total (selected) population in Washington D.C.: 572,059

Estimate male singles in Washington D.C. meeting your marital status and age requirements: 0

Word of the Day: Compartmentalize

com·part·men·tal·ize
To separate into distinct parts, categories, or compartments

I have a friend whom many would recognize by name, but whom many will never meet in real life. He's a true example of compartmentalizing. Today he sent me an email that said "Our worlds collide" and contained a Word of the Day definition for *compartmentalize*. A true oxymoron.

ox·y·mo·ron
A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined

The Rancid Goat examines the need for compartmentalizing your life (something he does very well, in fact. He refuses to allow me to meet any of his other friends), but I think I have the opposite problem. I need more compartmentalizing. Todd says that mixing different sets of friends is "like mixing dark and light liquors together, a potential devastating combination". I'm starting to agree with that. It creates a sort of sludge pile from which you can't seem to pull out anything that hasn't been tainted by another. A lot of people, like Kim, only eat one particular thing at a time. Potatoes first, chicken second, bread last, for instance. Perhaps that's how we should model our lives. I mean, if you just throw it all in there together and mix it up, you've got some strange bready potato that tastes like chicken. Keeping a nice wall between each allows you to partake of the true flavor of each particular dish.

So what I'm really saying is that friends are like chicken. With compartmentalizing, you could introduce a friend from Group A to Group B and it would be like dunking chicken into special sauce. Extra flavoring. Spicing things up a bit. When you allow everything to run together, the sauce is only going to dilute the mix.

What in the world am I talking about? I should really stop talking.

Word of the Day: Deliverance

de·liv·er·ance
Rescue from bondage or danger

I'm back from Tucson, where the weather has never been below a fine 83 degrees while I'm visiting. Well, that's no longer true. While it was a blissful 78 degrees in D.C. this weekend, I was off in Tucson, the notorious land of sun, where it was SNOWING and below 50. Snow and cold stalks me relentlessly. I arrived back at home on Monday night to... 50 degree weather.

I just want everyone to know that my sanity and well-being have once again been restored. The System 32 folder has finally been erradicated. I have been delivered from the dark and gloomy word of virusdom. My good friend Eric in Tucson took one look at my ailing PC and declared me virus-ridden. He even went so far as to say that someone had commandeered my computer and was probably sending mass quantities of spam (oh dread!) from my computer. Of course, he is trained to find and destroy spammers for AOL, so he sees through sniper-like glasses (I'm sure I wasn't sending spam). But nonetheless, he worked his magic and VOILA my computer is as good as new. No more System 32 folder. It no longer takes 15 minutes to shut down and start up. It's dreamy. However, I am out of space on my hard drive, which is presumably nearing a full-scale crash, and I need all new memory and the processor speed is antiquated and well... I should just get a whole new computer.

Word of the Day: Enterprising

en·ter·pris·ing ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ntr-przng)adj.
Showing initiative and willingness to undertake new projects

The past few days have been a flurry of activity and decisions. I am not too keen on writing things on my blog that have yet to occur but will give minute details as they pertain to the rest of the week. Less than a week ago I ran across a real estate venture that I cannot pass up. That has shaken the contents of my normal, calm life up a bit. The contract goes in today. Despite whether or not I buy the place, the whole process is just nerve-wracking and not conducive to my normal way of doing things, which is to research, think, pray, think some more... Making immediate decisions is harrowing. But the good news is that I can't screw up anyone else's life but my own.

Michelle and I finally figured out how to convince our boss to give us time off together. We bribed him with a chocolate sundae and he agreed to let us go to Hawaii together in May. We've got plane tickets but not much else, including a real plan. Any ideas or suggestions? We're going to Honololu. The real question is who will update the Word of the Day if we're both gone?? We clearly didn't think this through very well.

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Tucson!! YAY. It's warm and sunny there and the promise of great Mexican food always gets me excited.