a horse is a horse of course of course

i took advantage of this gorgeous weather and ate lunch outside in freedom plaza. it's no waterfront, but it'll have to do. obviously there's a statue of some guy on a horse. which got us talking about how the number of hooves up on the horse corresponds to how the person died. i know everyone has heard it at some point. then, back in the office, i googled it and went over to fill my coworker in on my discovery. here's the conversation that followed:

me: so, i just looked up about the horses
coworker: oh, yeah?
me: yeah. so all hooves down mean the person survived a battle.
coworker: so it means they fought?
me: yeah. and one hoof up means they were wounded in battle. and they might have died later, but not in the battle. and then two hooves up means the person died in battle.
coworker: and then what about three hooves up?
me: seriously? a horse can't have three hooves up.
coworker: [kind of laughing] oh, they can't?
me: absolutely not.
coworker: well, i think it means that the person AND the horse died in battle.
me: ok, so what does four hooves mean?
coworker: that the horse is flying, obviously.

it's a flip flop kind of day

i'm absolutely loving this spring weather! it is officially flip flop weather! hooray! and on my recent search for new flip flops (and yes, i DO need more flip flops) i discovered these. so first reef comes out with bottle opener flip flops (which my sister has, by the way) - and now there's taking it one step further and putting a flask in the bottom of their flip flops. while the thought of drinking something that has been in your shoe and you've been walking on all day is slightly disgusting, i do have to admit it's a pretty genius idea on reef's part. and just in time for baseball season (the nats kick it off monday afternoon!) - can't wait for the lazy days at rfk!

go hoyas!

don't get me wrong, i'm still upset the hoos bowed out so early in the tournament. but, i'm pretty pumped the hoyas are in the final four. hopefully everyone's jumped on the hoya bandwagon by now. if you need more convincing go check these out. clearly some college student had entirely too much time on his hands. not that i'm complaining or anything.

don't forget tip off tomorrow is at 6:07 tomorrow. yes, nari that's 6:07. don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

also, i just rediscovered pandora. it was tragically blocked at my old office, but luckily downtown they don't block anything. you have to sign up, but it's completely free! and then you can just sit back, relax and let pandora be your personal dj.

happy friday!

goonies never say die

if you've never seen the goonies you are seriously missing out on life. for serious. and if you have never watched the deleted scenes on the dvd you need to do so immediately! i have the dvd if anyone wants to borrow it. one of the deleted scenes will have you laughing for hours. i guarantee it.

anyways you can imagine my excitement when this morning i came across this. i would pay good money to see that. i mean there probably wouldn't be anything better than seeing a musical rendition of the truffle shuffle on stage. well, maybe a song about one-eyed willy on the pirate ship would be better. or a giant singing/dancing octopus. yeah, that would be pretty sweet.

ps. on a somewhat random note - does anyone else thing of the goonies when they hear the fratellis playing? because i most certainly do.

the wonderful world of abbrevs

if you know me, you know that i live for short words. if anything at all, it makes typing/conversations so much easier. that being said, here's a quick tutorial on the essentials:

obvi- my favorite
brb- be right back, should be used in aim/gchat convos ONLY
lol- laughing out loud, see above
tmi- too much information
sal-suck at life, pretty sure this originated in 318 first year
lml- love my life, mostly used sarcastically, see above
mtb- meant to be
fr- for real

in closing you can pretty much shorten anything- take hilar(hilarious), gen(genius), favorite (fave), etc. now go out and simplify your life.

a day in the life

me and the roommates are email champs. case in point - today we had an email chain that printed out on 26 pages. we're ballers. yeah, i said it. usually we're pretty funny - and now you can see for yourself. i've reprinted one of our daily emails below. clearly i've taken out a bunch of filler and some inappropriate stuff. but you'll be able to get the gist of it. or maybe you won't. but either way, enjoy!

subject: there's a few things i'm good at...
[note: if you don't watch prison break don't even try to understand the subject]

susie 8:29 - and one of them is looking a man in the eyes and knowing when he's beat. oh linc! happy tuesday everyone! i must say i am in a surprisingly chipper mood. seeing dennis on the train really set the day off right.
...
susie 9:01 - it is soooooooo nice outside. i wish we could work outside!!
me 9:02 - let's have class in the amphitheater!
susie 9:09 - ohhhhhhh the good old days...
....
me 9:15 - ok i just answered my phone and it was some guy out in the tysons office saying he got my name from some girl heather (who i don't know) saying it would be a good person to play kickball. bizarre.
susie 9:24 - very weird! are you going to play? or does this cross into the coordination category?
....
nari 9:27 - 1. good morning 2. tragic new - i realized last night as i was falling asleep that my sister's graduation is on may 5th. you will have to carry on without me. [may 5 = cinco de mayo - think about it]
susie 9:30 - NARI this is tragic news. we must implement some sort of work around.
nari 9:37 - true. it also depends on when she's having her combined grad party.
me 9:38 - i thought she was having her grad party up here at home? i am very lost.
nari 9:39 - well she's a baller and is having two!
susie 9:41 - will the use of the word BALLER every get old? i think not.
me 9:43 - absolutely not.
nari 9:49 - NEVER.
me 9:52 - also, i talked to ***** last night. her poncho was authentic - FROM MEXICO. where are we going to get them? yikes.
susie 9:57 -do we know anyone going to mexico in the next month? do you think they sell them in puerto rico? ***** can pick them up. hahaha.
nari 10:02 - i'm going to the party store tomorrow to get a cowboy hat, so i will investigate ponchos.
me 10:13 - or i was thinking we could get heinous blankets and then cut a hole in the top. but then again - where would we get heinous blankets?
....
susie 10:31 - haha i know. i just realized that after i sent it. oh well. it can be done. WE SHALL OVERCOME. i will never get sick of saying that.
....
me 10:41 - nari - do you want to go to the mall later?
nari 10:46 - definitely!
susie 10:52 - BLAST. i want to go too. ugh.
me 10:53 - too bad you're salsa dancing...
susie 10:54 - no. tonight is my project happy hour at espn zone. right by you!
me 10:55 - oh, right. can't keep up w/ your busy schedule.
nari 10:56 - looks who's balling this week...
susie 10:57 - ME! it's my turn to ball. new topic: prison break. kellerman - ok so if you were actually really going to commit suicide, wouldn't you try to like unjam the gun? or maybe the severity of the situation made him realize he didn't want to do it?
me 11:00 - yes, i think he had an epiphany that he didn't really want to die. he's really come full circle, hasn't he?
susie 11:03 - hahahahahaha. so good rach. i love how you just casually threw that in there. everything comes full circle. did anyone else think michael was looking a little pale last night? this prisoner on the run thing is really starting to wear on him.
nari 11:04 - he was looking a little rough. good thing we have the gap ad to remind us of his true beauty.
me 11:05 - speaking of the gap ad - when are we getting the full blown version?
nari 11:07 - no die from my old pal. tragic.
me 11:09 - see, why'd you have to get our hopes up? i'll take this matter into my own hands and ask about it.
nari 11:13 - look i said i would ask. i didn't promise any results! i'm just not a baller. sorryyyyy.
me 11:15 - haha, sorry. didn't mean to overreact there. what can i say - michael scofield gets me all hot and bothered.
susie 11:16 - you're telling me. hahaha.
nari 11:21 - what are we going to do when michael is no longer a monday ritual? i got it - watch the first season dvds!
me 11:22 - or go to blockbuster and rent EVERY movie he's ever been in.
susie 11:24 - yikes. let's just say it was a good thing prison break came around for him.
me 11:25 - yeah, i just checked that out. did you notice what his first was? BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER! in the swim team episode!
nari 11:28 - your favorite show and sport. how convenient. mtb.
nari 11:28 - meant to be:)
susie 11:31 - WOW. even i didn't know that one! thanks for clarifying.
....
nari 11:46 - off to an early lunch - see you in an hour!
susie 1:14 - everyone has disappeared. come backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.
....
susie 1:36 - it is 81 degrees out right nowwwwwwwwwwwww. SPRING!
me 1:38 - hooray! me and ***** both tried to soak up as much sun as possible while lunching on the roof.
nari 1:40 - yay! can't wait for our run!
me 1:44 - me either!
susie 1:46 - off to a meeting. be back at 4!
....
me 1:50 - already got a response from gap! but it's a total DAGGER.
Dear Ms. Brown,
Your request for marketing materials is a real compliment, and we thank you. Unfortunately, we're unable to accommodate you, as our work is available for company use only and cannot be reproduced or distributed for external purposes. We hope you'll understand and do thank you again for writing.
Sincerey,
Shelly
Customer Service Consultant
nari 1:52 - huge dagger. the man is really holding us down.
me 1:54 - oh i am not done. WE SHALL OVERCOME.
nari 1:59 - haha. i love it. you should have seen tom burgeron (sp) say that to clyde drexel last night.
me 2:11 - i have no idea what you're talking about. i will continue to imagine mlk saying it.
nari 2:14 - whoopa. it was on dancing with the stars last night. obvi the real shout out goes to mlk.
me 2:15 - you're comparing dancing w/ the stars to THE martin luther king, jr.? no, i willn't.
nari 2:17 - well it was a little much because it was a white guy saying it to a lack guy. nice reference to willn't!
me 2:21 - always trying to sneak it in somehow.
....
me 3:31 - look at the email i just got:
Hello Everyone,

Now that the college basketball tournament is almost over it is time for the real tournament to begin, the CBRE Annual Ping Pong Tournament.

Returning Champion: ******
Time: Over the next few weeks
Place: 555 11th St.
Entry Fee: The courage to face ******

Anyone interested in signing up for the tournament, contact me as soon as possible.
susie 3:34 - who is *****? i wonder if he would win if the challenge was to play ping pong AND interpretive dnce? i doubt it. i think i reign supreme at that.
me 3:42 - some guy in my office - i have no clue who he is. i will need to practice asap at home!
susie 3:50 - i will help. you can boost your confidence by playing me. then get shot down when you play nari.
me 3:55 - oh, wonderful. maybe i will practice when i'm alone this weekend.
nari 3:56 - haha. i will not shoot you down. unless you get me mad
me 3:57 - no it's not your fault. you're just THAT GOOD. or is it that i'm really that bad? yeah, i thought so.
nari 4:02 - well my confidence has definitely gotten a boost today. you're not my gayles, but something so much better.
me 4:04 - are you referring to gayle king? if so, i willn't. ugh.
susie 4:04 - stop it MELINDA DOOLITTLE. i refuse to be anybody's anything that relates to oprah winfrey.
nari 4:05 - well i meant it in the same way...not that you are gayle or oprah.
susie 4:07 - i'd much prefer to be the kelly kapowski to your lisa turtle. (i get to be kelly so i can date zack. you get to be lisa cause you are a minority. HAHAHA). rach, you can be jessie spano.
nari 4:08 - that also means i get to be harassed by screech. thanks.
susie 4:08 - screech = ******.
nari 4:09 - hahaha. i'm going to bury him in the sand just like lisa buried screech in the senior skip episode i watched today.
me 4:09 - and i'm the tall freak who has frizzy hair? thanks, sus. let's pick another analogy please.
susie 4:11 - you guys are looking at this the wrong way. the analogy holds. i am the cheerleader (no need to explain this). nari, you are lisa - the fashion plate with the good gossip (you have great clothes, as evidence by my borrowing them all the time and you always have the good gossip cause you keep the drama factor up in our house). rach, you are jessie - the smart one with all the answers (hello - cafe deluxe?)
me 4:12 - oh, ok. i take back all the negative things i just said. oh, man this is getting out of hand. but for serious - i have lots of work. ugh.
susie 4:15 - are you insinuating that we should stop emailing you?
me 4:16 - no. but i just might not be able to keep up w/ the witty responses. that's all.
susie 4:20 - that's fine. nari and i can continue on. WE SHALL OVERCOME. remember history of civil rights? did you guys like that class? i liked it, but i know peeps that said they didn't cause they didn't like that jb lectured straight from his notes.
me 4:21 - you mean straight from his life? i don't understand how you couldn't like that class. that man's a living legend.
nari 4:22 - i loved that class! i remember not even taking notes because all i wanted to do was listen and soak it all in. WE SHALL always OVERCOME.
susie 4:24 - no like he basically had his lecture written out and he would just read from the pages. i say who cares? he's JULIAN BOND.
....
susie 4:36 - question: who was your favorite professor at uva?
nari 4:39 - oooo good one sus. i'd have to go with Chen Jian. East Asian American History.
susie 4:42 - mine is a tie. 1st year - jonathan haidt. psych 101. amaz. best lecturer i had at uva. 4th year - irina mitrea. numerical analysis. the nicest, most involved prof i had.
me 5:02 - ooooh i loved chen as well. especially his stories of seeing mao, dominating in ping pong and the fact that the general tso's chicken over here in the us is nothing like in china. and i LOVED the intelligence professors. that class was great.
nari 5:17 - nice brown! i always wanted to see chen play ping pong!
susie 5:20 - do you think chen could beat ***** from cbre?
me 5:21 - i've never witnessed chen playing. but i say yes. he has the whole asian thing going for him - and i mean that in the best way possible. THIS JUST IN - we're moving to 750 9th st. in december!
nari 5:24 - agreed. chen has to be amazing! ooooo exciting brown!
me 5:24 - AND allegedly there is a roof top deck.
susie 5:28 - SO jealous. i'm assuming you mean still in NW and not SW by me? ok, i am leaving. today has been great. thank you for distracting me. i will miss you guys at happy hour tonight!
me 5:29 - ooooh try to have fun with out us. not that that's possible. kidding.
nari 5:30 - see you all later.

fractured prune

remember how excited i was when the fractured prune opened in dupont? well you can only imagine my excitement when i heard a rumor that it was opening in the pan am shopping center fairfax. clearly i had to do some research to substantiate the rumor. i immediately called my retail broker friends over in georgetown to ask if they knew who leased pan am. they didn't. dagger. but, they suggested instead of going that route i should go straight to the source and contact the fractured prune people to ask. so i did.

i emailed someone at fractured prune yesterday afternoon - and this morning i got a response:

Yes Rachel!
The “Prune” is coming to Fairfax.
Will send email when open.

this might be the best news ever. well actually the best news is that it'll be so close to my house that i can run over so i won't feel as bad about stuffing my face with the world's best donuts.

hoya saxa

before i get into the georgetown news - rip tarheel. it's so tragic. and according to the unc alum here in my office the reason unc lost was because they didn't have their mascot there rooting for them.

but really we all know that the heels just completely ran out of steam. sorry, roy. and this game totally proves my theory that whatever team comes back to tie up the game in regulation generally wins the game in overtime because they have all of the momentum. the hoyas totally dominated the heels in the last half of the game - i mean unc just didn't even have a chance.

and i know a lot of you are thinking, "what does hoya saxa mean?" so, i'll just go ahead and answer it for you. you can read all about it here. the gist of it is that it literally translates from greek and latin to "what rocks!" and that's about the only part of the story that doesn't vary. some people say that the "rocks" part comes from the baseball team, who at the time was nicknamed the "stonewalls." other accounts say the "rock" part relates to the defense of the football team. yet another possibility is the stone wall that surrounds the campus.

reading all these stories in the wapo during georgetown's current run (they've won 19 of their last 20) about how the students have been camping out for tickets and running down m st. makes me miss college. and more specifically, hooville. those 16 days camping out for the duke game first year were so much fun. especially the nights of running laps and playing leap frog. or when we ordered chinese food and the panda express guy asked us which tent was ours (careful, sliiippppy). oh, college.

with georgetown playing in the final four for the first time since 1985 i imagine saturday is going to pretty wild in dc (and surrounding areas). game time is 6:07. yes, you read that right. 6:07. can someone please explain to me why sporting events always are set to start at the most random times? why not just say 6:05. i mean we all know the game's not really going to start at 6:07. why not just put 6ish as the start time?

don't forget it's supposed to be 80 degrees later! it's days like today i wish i was still in college and having class on the lawn. i'll just have to frolic around the city instead. enjoy the weather!

ps. does anyone know where i can get one of the we are georgetown shirts? so far, i've struck out.

wolftrap!

wolftrap announced their summer concert schedule this morning (but if you actually read this blog you would know that already, wouldn't you?) even though i was already privy to some of the concerts - i was pretty happy to find most of the usuals on there.

here are some of the concerts i plan on attending:

1. joss stone/common

2. doobie brothers

3. pat mcgee/carbon leaf/sk (!)

4. hootie

5. steve miller

6. temptations/four tops

wow - and they haven't even released the whole schedule yet!

and now here are the reasons you should always sit on the lawn:

1. you can bring your own food/drinks. yes, that included alcoholic beverages.

2. you get to sprint down the hill to lay out blankets.

3. you can freely get up and sing/dance along without the seats getting in you way.

4. it's cheaper.

i could go on forever, have i convinced you yet?

i'm not here to entertain you

went to celebrate a birthday saturday night. clearly we never go anywhere empty handed. but, saturday night we might have outdone ourselves. we each had two shopping bags full of goodies - and we surely didn't disappoint. we arrived at the door and right as we stepped in susie and i both, at the exact same time (clearly) said, "we come bearing gifts." if you haven't witnessed me and susie in action you're truly missing out. it's like we were separated at birth or something.

so we emptied all the bags to show what we'd brought. obviously the birthday gifts. boring. and then we pulled out all the leftover beer from last week - that really got the party started. then we pulled out the first surprise - a cupcake pinata! it was such a hit - we seriously could have stopped there. and then it was time for surprise number two - oreo cupcakes that i had baked in the afternoon. not to toot my own horn or anything - but they're rather delicious. half an oreo baked into the bottom w/ a white cake based oreo cake (w/ sour cream of course!) and white icing w/ oreo crumbles. mmmm mmmm good!

a few other observations from the night:

1. 99.5 is truly the worst radio station ever. they played akon every half hour. really, we kept track.

2. we learned the best kings rule. you have to call everyone by the name of their parent of the opposite sex. it's pretty hilarious.

3. watching music videos on mute while different music is playing on the radio is pretty fun.

i have a feeling we might be getting invites to many more birthday parties in the future...

things that annoy me (special edition!)

1. parking spots for expectant mothers
last time i checked, pregnant women could still walk. why do they need reserved spots right next to the handicapped spots? (note: i can’t wait til i am pregnant one day and complaining about non-pregnant people parking in the pregnant women spots.)

2. the kitchen at my office
probably the smallest, most poorly set up kitchen ever. if there is more than one person in there at a time, it becomes totally un-navigable. plus, it doesn’t have a ping pong table.

3. people who use non-musical electronics at the gym
there is a guy at my gym who consistently brings his laptop with him on the elliptical machine. really? are you really doing work right now? is it even possible to type/use a mouse while bobbing up and down on an exercise machine? and the guy on his cell phone next to me on the treadmills the other day? i don’t care about your weekend plans. thanks.

4. nickelback
do i need to explain this? chad kroeger, get out.

5. powerade commercials
do. do do. do do do do do. i don’t think the slogan for an energy drink should be “how much energy do you really need?” and the image of that girl with the one huge arm freaks me out.

6. office phones without a mute button
who thought this was a good idea? how can one be expected to listen in on conference calls without a mute button?

7. the upstairs dance floor at third edition
scary people. no air circulation. no escape route. get me to the guards.

date night at bender arena

so last night was the snow patrol/okgo concert at bender arena. and apparently we didn't get the memo that you had to bring a date. no, really. basically bender arena is like a large high school gym. and with all the hand holding, etc. it really made us feel like we were back in high school. especially with the plastic covering over the floor.

sus and i started the night off at guapo's. luckily the rain held out so we could sit on the patio, drink margaritas and people watch. it was glorious. the we made the (shorter than expected) trek over to american. who knew there were so many crazy gated communities up on nebraska avenue? on our walk we passed the national presbyterian church (which has a freaky looking steeple, by the way), some sort of naval barracks, the swedish embassy and the embassy of japan. pretty wild.

we arrived at the arena and immediately felt like we were back in high school. well, except for the fact that we felt super old. the opening band was already playing (which we already knew since the sketchy "security guard" told us in passing). silversun pickups - they were ok. a little to screechy for me - but whatever. then some genius had the idea to turn the gym lights on in between sets. ugh. bad idea.

so we stood around, bought some snacks and waited for okgo to go on. and then the lights turned off. and the crowd went crazy. no, they really did. college students, ugh. so okgo was pretty good. not as amazing as i was expecting. and in case you were wondering - they didn't bring treadmills. instead they had a pretty trippy backdrop. with animated treadmills. oh and random cameras on the microphones looking up in the singer's face - it was creepy. and speaking of the lead singer - he looks about 25 but is really 32. weird.

someone must have told them how heinous it was when they put the lights on before okgo - because the lights stayed off before snow patrol took the stage. snow patrol was pretty good (and they're scottish/irish in case you didn't know). the lead singer told somewhat funny stories. actually i think they were just funny because of his accent (and the fact that he called bathing suits swimming costumes. ha.)

we peaced out during the last song to try to beat the mad rush and begin the trek back to the metro. i'm not complaining, because i really like to walk, but why bother calling the metro stop tenleytown/au? kind of like how they added marymount to the ballston stop. everyone knows marymount is miles down the road. whatever.

the metro ride was probably the best part of the night. we returned to our people watching from the beginning of the night. and let me tell you - people did not disappoint. there was the woman with the flowers and the girl with the god-awful voice talking to her about it. there was the girl with about every color imaginable in her ensemble. and no, it did not look good. and then there was guys w/ the mini bottles in the corner. luckily they got off at dupont.

so we made it to metro center. and i decided to frolic ahead to see if our train was there downstairs. and what do you know? it was. so i looked back and told them to run. after zigzagging around everyone on the escalator we made it to the platform but the doors were closing. bummer. oh - but then the doors opened again. and people were standing in the doors letting people on. so i snuck in the door. but then i turned around and no one else had made it on. oh no! (that really is the name of okgo's album, by the way. who knew?)

apparently everyone else had tried to run to another door to sneak on, but that door was closed. so they came back to my door and somehow shoved their way on. luckily. it would have been one lonely ride home otherwise. so we recapped our night and chatted about how fun tonight is going to be (just wait for those surprises!) and then before we knew it we were home, sweet home.

what a great way to close out the work week. can't wait for all the other upcoming concerts!

it's a ping pong kind of day

i think i've already established that there is a ping pong table in our kitchen at work. but if i haven't (or if you didn't know) - there is. so yesterday afternoon my boss walked back over to our cubes.

pause - let me give you some background on my boss. basically he is the definition of baller. he's from jamaica. he once told me he got diamond earrings for his wife for her birthday at $17,000 cheaper than market value. he has four cars - the worst of which is a mercedes. and he once wore skull cuff links.

ok now that we got that out of the way - back to the ping pong. so he walked over to our desks after getting some water from the kitchen and said, "hey guys - did you know there's a ping pong table in the kitchen?" to which we replied, "of course we did." so then he asked if we would be up for a game. you don't have to ask my twice about ping pong.

so we gathered a few others and made our way to the second floor of our kitchen (yeah our office is that cool). first match was me v. the boss. i took my heels off so i would be a little more stable. must have helped, because i won! sweet. but then i lost the next game. bummer. so i grabbed some water and sat down to watch the next matches. by this point a few people had gathered to watch and one other guy inserted himself into our "tournament." big mistake. he was in the military, which by default makes him good at ping pong (forrest gump, anyone?). he totally cleaned house.

gosh, what a great way to spend 45 minutes on a thursday afternoon - at work. and there was talk about creating a tournament pitting different work groups against each other. i can't wait. and then this morning we were greeted with fresh bagels and donuts and fruit. apparently this is a friday thing they do in this office. maybe i can learn to love the bad things. and according to my horoscope, today i should.

TGIF! only a few more hours until snow patrol/okgo! i'm really pulling for the treadmills. but if not, the cowbell will do!

photo hunt...in the wapo?

susie and i arrive at the metro this morning and it's 7:38 (is that the new 7:41? which really is the new 7:44.) we see a train approaching through the windows and make a executive decision to "run" for it. we made the train and settled into some seats (we've now decided to only get on the very last car - that we we are pretty much guaranteed to get some seats). i pulled out the paper and we did our usual morning section break up. i read the front page first and sus gets the rest - and then we gradually swap it all around. i can only imagine what our set up looks like to everyone else on the train.

as we're reading the paper we always make it a point to comment on the blatantly absurd stories. like this morning when we noticed the high school graduation picture where the guy is wearing a tux and a baseball hat. a little inappropriate, no? and then there's the ongoing saga about trans fat. my honest opinion on the subject is that if trans fat is so bad for you then how can everything be made without it? and then there was the article about greg oden. and how he loves school and is so mature and how his mother always had to carry his birth certificate around to prove he was the age he said he was. and then there was this line: "at 2, oden wore a size-6 shoe." does anyone else find this completely ludicrous? i think we're going to need some photographic evidence on this one since as susie so kindly pointed on this morning, "size 6? that's like a woman's size 8 - which is what size my shoe is NOW."

we finished our morning read of the paper and got to the special thursday section - home/fairfax extra. and as i opened the section we noticed there was a mini life magazine inside. with brooke shields on the cover! we were intrigued. susie did a quick flip through the magazine and when she stopped on a picture of martha stewart i almost started to yell at her. but then i saw there was a (seemingly) identical picture of martha on the opposing page. wait, it couldn't be - could it? it was photo hunt, the magazine edition. so clearly we did the only thing we could do - we started hitting the pages when we saw the differences. after we got a bunch of those we flipped the page and discovered there was yet another "photo hunt" on the next page. i sure hope this life magazine shows up every thursday. it's like the sports illustrated on campus - remember that?

happy thursday everyone!

best blog?

as i was going through my morning blog reading this morning i noticed a lot of people mentioning the free coffee at dunkin donuts today (washingtonian, dcist, culturemedc, express). funny how i mentioned this on monday.

and as nari so eloquently pointed out:

1. you are THE only blog i read
2. that's because you're a BALLER

so don't forget to go get some free coffee. there are a bunch of dunkin donuts scattered throughout the city! good thing i got a free large coffee at caribou this morning - man i'm going to be wired this afternoon.

things that annoy me - part V

if you thought i was done w/ this then you clearly don't know me that well.

27. "the u".
you know, when they're announcing the starting line up and the nfl players say their name and their college? and all those cocky canes insist on saying "the u" instead of university of miami. and it figures that miami has the most ex-players in the nfl.

28. not a sermon, just a thought.
you know you've heard it. the mclean bible church guy trying to convert you on the radio. but actually it's so annoying that it's starting to grow on me. i might just start using it in regular conversation. watch out.

29. t-9.
i'm sorry, but i don't think t-9 makes texting any easier. i'll just stick to my texting ways and continue to be made fun of. it's ok, i can handle it.

30. metro pole leaners.
people - the poles on the metro are there so many people can grab hold. if you are leaning all up against the pole then no one else can hold on. think about it.

31. tourists.
it's about that time again. brace yourself. followed a bunch of tour busses into the city this morning and immediately came to the conclusion that they should not be allowed on the road during rush hour. and i just can't wait until they're full force on the metro early in the morning. honestly, who goes on vacation only to wake up at the butt crack of dawn to go to museums? sounds like a pretty lousy vacation to me.

32. vonage.
man is that little jingle annoying or what?? and i'll tell you what - it is NOT making me want to sign up with vonage. sorry if i got the "song" stuck in your head. honestly, i'm sorry.

not for (asian) tourists

i just came across a pretty crucial website. it's called not for tourists (nft) and bascially they publish a book every year (and keep an updated website) about cool local stuff to do in the area. they have it for dc, atlanta, boston, chicago, la, nyc, philthadelphia and san fran (for those of you who travel). and with tourist season upon us - it might come in handy to know some good places to go to avoid the inevitably annoying out of towners.

ps. if you don't get the title reference, then don't even bother asking. well, you could just check out the facebook album from the weekend - that might give you an idea of what's going on in our crazy little world.

to the left, to the left

ok, i can't stand beyonce (and especially that song) - but this is just hilarious. if you thought the chris brown little kid break dancers (who showed up out of nowhere from the crowd) were awesome just wait until you see this.

free coffee (again)

if you know me, you know that i love getting free stuff (it's something i get from my dad for sure). i just found out dunkin donuts is giving away free iced coffee on wednesday, march 21st. they're doing it all day long. go here to see where the closest dunkin donuts is to your office/home.

hooray beer!

the wapo had a genius idea to have a beer madness tournament. and i had the genius idea to copy their plan and initiate the first annual manhattan place beer madness tournament. and wow, was it a success or what?! the premise was simple. everyone brought a six-pack of their choice and we randomly picked them out of a hat (aka my hand) and put the beers in a bracket. and naturally the two brackets were orange and blue - i mean, would you expect anything less from the hoos house. (who's house?) we figured we didn't have the patience for a blind taste test so instead we tasted two beers at a time and the verbal consensus won.

first up in the orange bracket were tsingtao and young's double chocolate stout. i think we all were in agreement that the chocolate stout was delicious (but not nutritious), but it was a little too heavy to beat out the chinese beer. so, tsingtao moved on pretty easily.

the next match-up was magic hat #9 vs. red hook copper hook spring ale. these beers were a little more similar - but the fruitiness of magic hat easily beat out the red hook.

the third taste test was shiner bock vs. natural light (aka natty). i mean, do i honestly have to tell you how this round turned out? surprisingly it wasn't a unanimous choice, but shiner bock easily beat out natty light to move into the next round.

the last round in the orange bracket was left hand sawtooth ale vs. fuel cafe coffee flavored stout. like the other stout, this one didn't stand much of a chance against the smoother, more refreshing ale. but, it did taste just like coffee. weird.

onto the blue bracket. first up were leinenkugel sunset wheat (surprisingly from chippewa falls, not from germany or something like that) charlottesville's own starr hill amber ale. i guess the crowd was a tad bit biased towards charlottesville (well that, and/or the fact that the leinenkugel beer was a tad on the fruity side), but nonetheless the starr hill unanimously moved onto the next round.

next up were frederick, md's old leghumper robust porter and heineken. honestly, how could plain old heineken stand a chance against leghumper?? especially when we realized that leghumper's tag line was, "so many legs, not enough time."

after that were flying dog tire bite and dogfish head raison d'etre. this was the battle of the dogs. and this was a tough one. they both were rather delicious, but tragically only one could advance. and it happened to be flying dog.

last in the blue bracket were the chili beer and red stripe. and wow, was the chili beer spicy. i guess the giant pepper floating in the beer bottle should have been somewhat of a clue, but no one believed it would be THAT spicy. and it really was THAT spicy. not even the cool, refreshing red stripe beer could wipe the spiciness out of our mouths. so obviously, the jamaican beer easily moved onto the next round.

and then it was onto the elite eight. first up were tsingtao and magic hat. this was a close one, but the asian beer reigned supreme. however, i voted for magic hat - and probably because of the fun bottle tops ("hocus pocus...i can't focus," "the urge to create is always great," and my personal favorite: "and no oompa-loompas.") the other orange bracket match-up was shiner bock vs. left hand.

the blue bracket began with starr hill and leghumper. uva's basketball team might have bowed out early, but charlottesville's starr hill beer kept the wahoo dream alive. tragically the hilarious (and rather yummy) leghumper lost out.

and then it was onto the final four. but it wasn't in atlanta, rather it was in manhattan (place). the orange bracket match-up was asian vs. texan. and as they say, "everything's better in texas," (or is that "ninjas on the roof?") so, shiner bock was in the final. the blue bracket final was starr hill vs. flying dog. and this is where starr hill lost out. bummer. but, honestly flying dog is very delicious!

the final match-up was set. shiner bock vs. flying dog. and this was definitely the closest contest of the night. the final vote was 6-5, but in the end shiner bock was victorious. the shiner was crowned champion of the first annual manhattan beer madness.

and i'd say the first annual tournament was quite a success! if you weren't there you missed out. but, i think we'll be doing it again soon - with 16 new fun and yummy beers to try.

from the way our night ended up i would honestly suggest doing a beer tasting before heading out next time. just to give you a glimpse in the rest of our st. patrick's night: interpretive dancing while playing ping pong, dancing down the up escalator at the metro, meeting new friends (mainly mark and that girl) at garrett's and bartering with the cab driver on the way home.

also, that ride to the metro in the porsche was pretty crucial. thanks, andy.

virginia is for lovers, that's why we score more

well, that two hour lunch was definitely worth it. first ncaa tournament win since 1995! we tried to go to espn zone - but were turned away with a two hour wait (at noon!) so we sloshed up the street to capital city brewery. good food, good beer and most importantly flatscreens w/ the game on!

highlight of the game: when the perused the press area and PETE GILLEN was calling the game! amazing.

WAHOOWA!

national treasure 2

it can't be much worse (or better?) than the first one, can it? nicholas cage is set to reprise his role and they're going to start filming in dc at the end of the month. and here's the great news (wait for it, wait for it) - they're holding an open casting call at mcfadden's (!) on this coming monday, march 19th. i can only imagine what the scene is going to be like on monday. if anyone is bold enough to brave mcfadden's on monday make sure you fill me in on all the details.

free coffee!

starbucks is having their annual coffee break tomorrow - march 14th. stop into any starbucks between 10am-12pm to get a free 12 oz cup of coffee. and don't say i never told you anything...

last night we had de fun

was last night really only tuesday? yikes. and we were all over the place, so i will try my best to bottle it all up into one lovely blog post on this beautiful wednesday morning.

it all started tuesday morning when i was handed skybox tickets to the josh groban concert. maybe you've heard of him? no, probably not. but i couldn't very well pass up skybox tickets so i rounded up the roommates and we headed to verizon center. well let's be honest - first we headed to happy hour.

since we're new to the metro center/chinatown neighborhood we figured we'd try out a new happy hour spot. cha ching - we found a winner! mccormick & schmidt's is the new garrett's. because it's st. patrick's day week they had guinness and smithwicks (pronounced 'smidicks') on special. and who knew they had the best food happy hour specials ever? a half pound cheeseburger w/ fries - $1.95. corned beef quesadillas - $1.95. soft pretzels w/ spicy mustard (which according to molly makes your face feel great) - $1.95. and we definitely made friends with wayne and big nick behind the bar. no doubt we'll be back over there soon.

happy hour was over but we still had some time to kill before the concert so we frolicked across the street to gordon biersch. we got a round of "red label" beers (aka marzens) - and they were delicious! we chatted it up for a bit and then figured we should head over to verizon. way to chug it nari - i think you really impressed all my coworkers. no, really.

so we beelined to the third floor and into our suite. the suite was sweet - haha. we raided the fridge and ordered some chicken (wings and fingers) and popcorn. about five minutes after we arrived the lights went out and the opening act came on. her (yes nari, she was a she) name is angenlique kidjo. she's straight out of africa - and has a pretty amazing voice. she was singing in all different languages - and at one point the guy in our suite thought she was saying "two slurpees and a lotto ticket." but i assure you that's not what she was singing out - although honestly i couldn't tell you the real lyrics. consensus last night was she was good, but angelique raised up (pun intended) about 10 levels in my book when this morning wikipedia told me that junior vasquez remixed two of her songs.

so then the lights went back on. i took a look around and there was not an empty seat in all of verizon center. i'm not going to lie, i was impressed. and then it went dark again. and josh groban (or was it grohan? or grolan?) took the stage. and the curtain dropped - and the crowd went crazy - literally.

it was a pretty cool setup - he had a full backing band with a mini orchestra in the back and a violinist and cellist up front. if i had to describe his musical style (and i'm generally bad at this, but this time i think i got it) it would be a classically trained popish. and he has a really deep voice. but it's unbelievably powerful.

like angelique, he sang in a bunch of different languages. i could kind of follow the spanish song, but everything else was up pretty up in the air. but no matter what language he was singing in all of his songs sounded exactly the same. he can't dance, but he did try. and he tried entirely too hard to be funny - and in my opinion he failed miserably.

probably the best part of the whole night - no definitely the best part of the whole night - was when we almost got in a fight with the glow stick girl. actually there were two girls waving glow sticks who were sitting right in front of our box. they were waving blue and orange glow sticks and that couldn't even make up for their annoyingness. now we paid good money to be up in a box (well we didn't pay for it, but someone paid good money for us to be in that box) so the fact that glow stick girl had the nerve to stand up, turn around and tell us to be quiet (during a CONCERT!) really made us mad. luckily all our popcorn was gone at that point because otherwise i have a strong feeling it would have ended up all over her head.

after that debacle we decided it was best to probably hit the road. and we didn't even get to hear the one song we had heard before - "you raise me up." but honestly i think those lyrics would fit in any of his songs. actually i KNOW it would work since we tried it for every single song. oh well, the convertible ride home pretty made up for the fact that we didn't hear it live.

march mascot madness

i was over at my parent's house for dinner sunday night and it just happened to be right as the ncaa selection show was on. who knew it would be so entertaining? my mom was frantically waiting for uva to be announced - everytime they went to commercial she thought it was over and uva wasn't in it. we had to keep reassuring her. and then when they finally announced our game and that we would be playing the great danes of albany my parents went nuts. you see that's where they went to college. so the game on friday (at 12:15!) will be the daughters v. the parents. pretty funny if you ask me.

but onto the main story. my sister was home for spring break. so as the brackets were unveiled she started to act out the team's mascot. (yeah, don't ask). it actually was very humorous - and she had some good interpretations. and all this mascot talk got me thinking (well that, and susie's prodding). what if i filled out my bracket solely based on the mascots? so i've pitted each mascot against the opponent's and will pick my winners based on that.

some of the choices will be easy (like the davidson wildcats over the maryland terrapins). but some match ups will prove to be a little more difficult to choose. first of all, how do i even begin to classify mean green? or the islanders? too bad for the politically correct mascots - i have a feeling they won't fare so well in my bracket. and i don't know what to doooooo for the ky/nova and louisville/stanford games. i guess i'll have to judge based on what the actual mascots look like.

i might go crazy and do another bracket solely based on team colors. we'll see how slow this week at work is. less than 48 hours until tip off!

things have got to change baby

best. news. ever.

go ahead, read it for yourself.

i'll be first in line for tickets when she goes back on tour.

by the way, have you ever really listened to the lyrics of that (above) song? i think she could see into the future or something because that song is pretty much her life.

for the safety of the children

so saturday was fun. i love how the weather forecast did a complete 180. it was sunny and in the 60s - perfect shamrock fest weather if i do say so myself. we decided to take it easy saturday morning (sorry to anyone who thought we were coming over). we hopped on the metro at dl and surprisingly couldn't find a seat. i immediately realized that would be a problem (since we had a solid 45 minute metro ride ahead of us) and we did a little chinese fire drill at wfc and hopped on the car in front and found two seats. score!

once we were settled in we got to fully experience the awesomeness that was our metro operator. he might even make better announcements than the best orange line conductor ever. this guy literally made a safety announcement in between every single stop. the best announcement by far was: "for the safety of the children, [slower voice] for the safety of the children. parents please take a look at your children's shoes to make sure their laces are tied. and please don't let them swing on the polls. for the safety of the children..." tragically once our train got packed we couldn't hear him as well. i'm actually very surprised susie and i didn't punch anyone in the face - we had a bunch of obnoxious people on our train. ugh.

we made our way from the metro to the rfk parking lot (while eating our bagel and drinking our water, snatch!). i have to give it to the hiball folks - it was very organized - no long lines like last year. also made props for the event map - that definitely came in handy later in the afternoon. and the endless supply of "bathrooms" - they were definitely prepared this year! we decided to walk around and soak everything in. and then promptly went to the middle and made everyone come to us!

and did we ever pick a good landmark. who knew they would have a rock climbing wall in the middle of shamrock fest? we had a wonderful afternoon of people watching ahead of us, and we wasted no time getting started. gosh, i had forgotten how much fun people watching is. if only i could make a living out of it...

so we got some beers. no, actually we were given some beers. thanks for the thanks for the free vip beers (ipa is delicious!). and then all of our friends showed up. yay! and there were bagpipers. seriously? well, i guess it was within the whole irish theme.

and greengenes went on the main stage (after about 25 sound checks). wow, do they always sound that bad? luckily burnt sienna was better. actually the mere sight of the 15 year olds getting down in the front row more than made up for anything.

at this point it was time to actually go buy some beer for ourselves. we waited in line and got to the front. i handed the guy two tickets and the guy handed susie one beer and then handed me the other beer. oh, but that's not all. as he handed me my beer he slyly (whoa that word looks weird typed out) put the two tickets back in my hand and said, "keep these for later." thank you beer man.

so before carbon leaf took the stage we figured it was a good time to get some food. well, i guess everyone else had that thought as well. ugh. but, we made some great friends while waiting in line. our friendship formed when we were both (separately) discussing what irish nachos were. we never came to a conclusion (and both neglected to actually try them), but we ruled a bunch of options out by going up to random people with food and asking if they were eating irish nachos. i just did a few google image searches and it might have been a good thing we didn't get them.

carbon leaf was awesome. i wish i was in college and could go to kegs and eggs on friday to see them. but, alas, i have to come to work. but, i will be taking a long lunch to watch the hoos play! we watched them rock out with our other newish friends (well truly they were friends of friends). and they might have been my favorites because they gave us shamrock foamies (aka foamies from my homies).

so carbon leaf was over. it was dark out (remember it was pre-daylight savings time on saturday) and we were getting a bit chilly. but there was still one more stop we had to make before leaving. where? the hott 99.5 dj tent of course. we had consulted our handy dandy map/schedule and noticed dj am was currently spinning in the tent. how could we pass that up?

we made our way to the tent and then finagled our way to the very front. a few observations: dj am is absolutely amazing, he is not so unfortunate looking in real life, and we didn't spot mandy more (but maybe this is why we didn't see her). i'm not really into djs, but man is he good. he was legitimately playing ten songs at one time and it sounded good. we didn't have a camera, but seeing as he's so un-photogenic it's probably a good thing.

our day/night was now complete. we made our way to the exit and started our trek to the metro. and then we ran into a group of friends (we literally ran into them). when we inquired about their night's plans they told us they were going back to "rest and roll." such a better term than "rally." it will be so appropriate for foxfield (which is only 47 days away, by the way).

we managed to watch one whole episode of entourage when we got home. you know we were tired because we went to bed without ice cream. that NEVER happens. it's one of our house rules. seriously.

also you heard it here first: our neighbor moosh just put his house up for sale. now's your chance to live next to the girls w/ the pirate flag in their window.

wahoowa!

we're going to the big dance! a little surprised about a #4 seed (especially after the debacle that was friday night), but hey i'll take it. and we're playing albany. that's where my parents went to school. what are the odds? can't wait until the game on friday - good thing i work across the street from espn zone. let's go hoos!

fallback

yes, i know that we're "springing forward" tomorrow. but, i'll take any chance to use fallback. [fallback everybody. fallback everyone. mothers, daughters, fathers, sons. fallback everyone. i'm still bummed i missed out on that rap writing fiasco during isabel.]

so if your company is anything like mine you probably have gotten about eight hundred emails reminding you that we're changing the clocks this weekend. apparently there is going to be a y2k-like scare (i.e. everything will be fine) with all of the technology. i don't really care that i could be late for a meeting, i'm more bummed out that i'm losing an hour of sleep on saturday night. but look on the brightside (literally), we'll have more hours of sunshine after work!

so i guess the real question is will the bars be closing an hour earlier tonight?

ps. can't wait to play owndudes again!

thursday night happy hour, oh how i've missed you

wow, it's been a while. glad to be back in the swing of things though. gotta get ready for those rooftop happy hours that are (fingers crossed) just around the corner!

so i decided to swing by mcfadden's on my way home last night. except now it's not literally on my way home - so sad to have left georgetown. also, i totally recommend holding out on people because then when you actually show up they're so excited to see you!

mcfadden's never disappoints. never. i've been there when it's busy, when it's empty, when it's summer, when it's winter - it always seems to be a great time. or maybe it's just the company i'm with? but either way, last night was more of the same.

got there right after work and it was slammed with lots of big group happy hours. the state department (?) was totally hogging the back bar - kristen and i got excited at first at the prospect of free food, but when we realized there was none we aborted that mission immediately. so i, being the generous person i am, started a tab. wow, did that turn out in my favor or what?! more on that later...

so we got boxed out by lots of bigger groups and kristen and i ended up standing by the stairs. that particular spot happens to be right by the trash can too. kristen was a little upset about this, but i tried to be optimistic about the situation and said, "maybe we'll meet someone here." to which she responded, "like oscar?" touché, kristen, touché.

so the rest of our party finally showed up and we made our way back to the back room to get some food, etc. i guess it's been a while, but who knew mcfadden's had nice leather couches set up by the big screen in the back?? i certainly had no idea. but i have to admit, it is a nice addition to the place.

so in addition to the state department, the law firm patton boggs (no comma, no and) was having their own little get together at mcfadden's last night. they had the couches "reserved" from 6-8pm. but since when do i pay attention to reservations? seeing as no one was actually sitting on these couches (they were merely using them to put their coats down) i decided to take advantage of the prime game watching area.

at this point there had already been two upsets in the tourney - and i personally was hoping for another one in the duke game. i wasn't really rooting for the wolfpack as much as i was rooting against duke. of course we were surrounded by duke fans - but surprisingly they weren't all completely annoying. actually there was only one really annoying one - and he was from patton boggs - figures.

so at this point it was about 7:45pm and some patton boggs girl tried to sit down on one of the couches we haven't taken over. she failed miserably. she missed by a mile and landed right on her butt. how embarrassing. but don't worry - she had awesome friends who just kept feeding her more and more drinks. at one point she was cuddled up on the chair w/ the annoying duke fan. i would have paid money to be at the patton boggs office this morning to see that morning-after interaction. awkward.

the only thing i don't really care for at mcfadden's is the bathroom. well really it's the bathroom lady. i just find her completely unnecessary. but to my surprise she wasn't there last night! however, i wouldn't mind to see her next time because the bathrooms last night were in a sad, sad state (some lights off, two toilets broken, some overflowage at some point, etc.)

but, the bathroom did allow me to overhear the funniest thing ever. well, it was funny to me. but all you non-jews (aka all of you) probably won't think it's funny. at all. but i will tell the story anyways.

so i walked into the bathroom and got at the end of the line. there are two girls over at the sink washing their hands. the sink to the far left has been making weird noises all night, but i guess these girls didn't know that. one of the girls turned on that faucet it let out a large, deep squeaking noise. so she turned to her friend and says, "that sink sounds like the shofar." haha.

but, by far the best part of the night was when i went to go close my tab. (see i told you i'd get back to it). i frolicked up to the bar and gave the bartender my last name and asked to close my tab. a few minutes later she came back with my card and the check. now at this point i had amassed a tab of (not all for me, mind you): 2 yuenglings, 2 blue moons, 3 rum & diets and 2 pitchers of miller lite. so i was thinking maybe around $30-40, which totally would have been fine. so imagine my shock when i get my bill and it's only $8. i did a triple take and then left a tip and walked away. so either there was another brown there last night who totally got screwed or the bartender was stupid and/or really liked me. whatever - i'll take it. (and somehow nari's tab for all the food still managed to be more than mine. i just can't win, can i?)

and i'll leave you with a few closing thoughts:

1. don't chew orbitz mint mojito gum. it's just really not that good.

2. i want the captain morgan's pirate poster/mirror thing they have back by the bathrooms.

3. duke sucks. but not as much as maryland.

big game tonight. LET'S GO HOOS! (with the fist pump of course!)

it's time for the circulator

now you'll probably have that song stuck in your heads all day. sorry. but seriously, the circulator is great. they're about to expand the georgetown-union station route to go way up wisconsin ave. also, starting march 26th (the same day the summer wolftrap schedule is released!) they will be extending the night service from 9pm to midnight on sunday-thursday and until 2am on friday and saturday. that's a big step up from the 9pm cutoff they have right now! looks like i'll have to be frequenting georgetown/glover park a little bit more this spring and summer. (like i really needed an excuse to head down to the waterfront).

you can read all about the extended route here.

your celebrity gossip for the day

tom brady's been busy. well at least if this is true. woah. according to a friend tom must have done this to silence the critics out there who were mad he got bridget moynahan pregnant then ditched her. see, now he got the girl he's actually dating pregnant. way to go tom!

maryland basketball, it's a riot

i think that's my all-time favorite basketball poster. the only thing that would make it better is if i had come up with it.

so, the terps are one-and-done. hooray! can't wait to see what postive spin the wapo puts on their loss tomorrow morning.

and yes, this afternoon was probably the only time in my life that i'll actually root for the hurricanes.

blue light special

so i moved offices on monday. it has not been the most pleasant experience. in addition to all the packing and unpacking i've had to do, the new digs are not so hot (well actually they're really hot, but you know what i mean).

first of all, i am in a cube. it is completely miserable. before we had nice wooden desks in a completely open office with a whole wall of windows overlooking the canal in georgetown. wow, what a downgrade. but at least i'm downtown, right near chinatown. at least that's what i keep telling myself.

proably the most disturbing thing about the new office is that the receptionist randomly comes on the loud speaker (i feel like i'm back at marshall). she will come one periodically throughout the day to tell people to "call the front desk" and to "dial the front desk." not only do i not know any of the people she is talking about, you can barely understand her mumbly voice. it's completely annoying.

i'm totally waiting for velda to get on the microphone and belt out "attention kmart shoppers, blue light special aisle 13."

things that annoy me - part IV

i guess this list is getting kind of long...

20. hump day.
is wednesday really that hard to spell?

21. synchronized swimming.
and i thought dive coaches were worthless. these coaches just stand there with their microphone on and count to eight. over and over and over. oh, and they tell the girls to point their toes and keep their legs straight. and they pick the most annoying music possible that we are forced to listen to under water as we swim.

22. reply to all.
no, the entire company didn't need to know that you are taking next thursday off. maybe microsoft should just put the two buttons a little farther apart.

23. football sideline reporters.
suzy kolber. ugh. tony siragusa. double ugh. and i can't stand all the other women in the cutesy little hats either - i just haven't bothered to commit their names to memory.

24. american idol.
i just don't understand how millions and millions of people can support paula abdul. that clap is just heinous. and the only reason i don't completely hate randy jackson is because he played in journey. and it actually annoys me that everyone hates simon so much. he's just telling it like it is.

25. weak coffee.
this is definitely one thing i've inherited from my parents. we're defintiely coffee snobs. the blacker and stronger, the better.

26. winter.
it's totally overrated. if i didn't hate the south so much i'd definitely move down there in a heartbeat.

r.i.p. dremos

so arlington county approved zoning for another hi-rise apartment building. just what the area needs. but at least the dremo's people are actively looking for another location to move the bar. and we have another year until the doors close for good. the developers are estimating they'll be ready to start building sometime between february and april of 2008. so here's so many more beers on the outside patio. cheers!

you can read more about it here.

little miss sunshine

i went to the mall on sunday afternoon. i clearly didn't check the weather before i left and since it was nearly 60 degrees on friday and saturday, i figured i'd be fine in my chosen outfit of jeans, my little miss sunshine t-shirt and flip flops. i was completely inappropriately dressed for the weather - oops. but, luckily i wore that shirt because it allowed for the most random conversation to take place.

it was towards the end of our shopping trip. we were walking from the new hall and were coming up on ruehl. now you know i hate abercrombie, etc. but ruehl jeans are great. and they have the best sales. and as proven on sunday you can fit into normal sizes there. well, except for their shorts, but that is a whole other story.

so we walk into ruehl. the music was blasting as usual. i honestly don't know how anyone works in that store. the combination of loud music (but at least it's not techno) and the strong odor of their cologne/perfume always gives me a headache by the time i leave that store. i start leading everyone to the back of the store (everyone knows the good sales are always in the back room) and there's a ruehl girl that stops to welcome us.

ruehl girl: hi, welcome to ruehl.
me: thanks.
rg: oh, i really like your shirt.
me: oh, thanks.
rg: is it, like, from the movie?
me: oh, no. actually it is from the little children's books. [honestly, did no one else grow up reading these books?]
rg: oh, well i saw britney spears wearing that shirt in a magazine so i figured that's why you had it.
...and then i just walked away before i made an inappropriate comment...

ugh. actually make that a double ugh.

ping pong

so as of this morning i'm working downtown on 11th street by metro center. it's weird. there are cubes and the ceiling is only half finished (meaning they purposely letall of the venting stuff hang out - bizarre, i know). not being in georgetown for the springtime is going to be rough, but i'll somehow manage.

i was walking around the office this morning trying to get acquainted with everything when i made an amazing discovery. there is a ping pong table in our kitchen. it's so sweet. so now i can practice on my lunch breaks and at home in our basement. maybe moving downtown won't be such a bad thing afterall...

ninjas on the roof

springtime is here! well i hope so at least. since we're moving offices all our office shut down at 3pm on friday. couldn't have been a more gorgeous day to have the afternoon off! and susie happened to be home as well so we decided to go play tennis. well, play is a loose term. but we had fun.

friday night was a chill vienna night. we did dinner at sweet ginger. totally dominated the restaurant - but luckily we spared everyone from the ridiculousness that would have ensued if we had started sake bombing.

we went over to jammin java for a concert. we had to wait in line to get in. ugh. but we passed the time helping lauren pick out a new cell phone ring. and against the urgings of some of the group, she settled on "this is why i'm hot." and she got educated on crazy bitch. overall, a pretty successful line waiting experience.

so the concert was fun. actually eric hutchinson is pretty good. he was the opener. and his singing/analysis of jt was pretty hot. i mean justin, you really aren't going to write the girl a symphony, don't lie. and then dave barnes came on. probably the funniest concert i've ever been to. between the two of them and the mean game of botticelli we had going on on the side - i'm pretty sure my stomach was sore from all the laughing.

saturday was a b-e-a-utiful day! we took advantage of the spring like weather and grilled out for the basketball game. we had a board game marathon with the little kids my sister was babysitting. who knew playing candyland with a five year old could be so fun? luckily i intervened when they wanted to play jenga. our version is definitely not kid appropriate. and then when chelsea started reading our magnetic poetry - yikes. it's just a good thing she couldn't really figure out the big inappropriate words (i mean we do have the college edition - and apparently some friends with dirty minds).

good thing we had some distractions to get our mind off of the heinous game the hoos played. but the one good thing of us losing and having to share the acc title w/ carolina is that our acc game will be at 7pm on friday instead of noon. much better for all of us that have to go to work on friday.

so saturday was already off to a great start and best part hadn't even happened yet. we headed down to chinatown to check out rfd - the sister bar of the brickskeller. we got seated on a few couches in front of a big screen tv. it was like we were in someone's living room - it was pretty sweet. our waiter was crazy (no, really. we're about 99.9% sure he had a concussion). but the beer was delish! we started out with a dogfish brew that was made with pinot noir. it may sound weird - but it's really good - trust me. we made it down the list and tried anchor steam, hebrew, speakeasy and an assortment of others. and if we all didn't have mono before last night we'll probably have it now.

four rounds later we figured it was time to head across the street to the caps game. whoever told me hockey games were fun was mistaken. i mean no one even got in a fight. it was lame. and the caps are just awful. but the zambonis were fun, the beer was cold and the company was great. i guess it wasn't a complete bust.

we ventured over to rocket bar after the game. pretty cool place. they have shuffleboard, pool, and a wide variety of board games. we weren't really feeling the crowd though (and there was a long wait for the shuffleboard tables - which, let's be honest, is why we went) so we decided to frolic elsewhere.

after weighing our options, kristen made an executive decision to cab it to georgetown. i'm sure we were completely obnoxious and our cab driver must have hated us (but he didn't want to cut off his right arm, so it couldn't have been that bad). after a few rounds of 1,2,3 we pulled up in front of garrett's. man i'm going to miss that place. somehow we didn't manage to play photohunt, but we amassed an amazlingly arge group of people and went next door to the guards.

and we all know guards always delivers a good time. well, except for the time when there was an entire wedding party there (with the bride still in her wedding dress). but, i've blocked the night from my memory.

so we staked out on the dancefloor and got the party started. of course we immediately requested whitney. and he said he'd look around for it. i mean why even bother getting our hopes up? we really should stop asking. i don't think any dj in the dc area has whitney (well except for the guy at mcfaddens. we really need to go back there.)

i believe there were talks of a dance off, but tragically that never materialized. instead it was just a group dancefest all night long. but of course with no whitney. and with an unnecessary amount of gwen stefani. but honestly any amount of gwen stefani is unnecessary.

and just when we thought the night had ended, the metro ride home happened. we must have forgotten about the weekend track work, because when we got to west falls church we just kind of sat there. and sat there. and sat there. and i had the hiccups. ugh.

the operator kept coming on the loud speaker and telling us we'd be moving "momentarily." wow, what a lie. at one point some guy in one of the cars got on the emergency phone and literally asked the operator, "dude, should i just get out and get a cab? we've been sitting here for 15 minutes already."

that must have been what we needed because shortly after the doors closed and we were on our way. or so we thought. right after we got moving the train lurched to a stop and the lights flickered on and off. at which point the operator came on the loudspeaker and said "may i have your attention please, there is nothing wrong with this train." very reassuring, thanks.

so nearly twelve hours after we had ventured out - we made it home safe and sound.