I've had a busy week. My mom arrived in town last Thursday afternoon, and I took the day off (along with Friday) for a very Long weekend. We met at the airport and after lunch headed down to the National Zoo. There have been a number of new births there recently, including a tiger cub and a baby elephant and I think an ape or two, but only the elephant was out and about. Most of the other animals were taking their afternoon naps it seemed & didn't give us much value for our money.
After the zoo we had dinner at a nice Irish pub on Connecticut Ave., a surprise for my mom. The food was tasty but the beer was better. :-) We made an early night of it.
Friday we got up early and metro'd out to Ronald Regain Washington National Airport again, to pick up the rental car from Dollar. We picked up my tux and the wedding programs from Jenn S., and made our way out to the Wilds of West Virginia. We stopped along the way for lunch in Middleburg, a quaint town with many antique stores and arts & craft shops. We got out to the Barn about 3:30, in time for the Rehearsal.
It was good to see so many of Dan & Ainsley's friends out there to support them, and to see Ainsley's family again. The rehearsal was led by Dale Smooth, an old friend of her family, who at 88 has run more than his share of wedding ceremonies, and made a point to let everyone know that he was large & in charge & would appreciate everyone taking the rehearsal seriously & giving him the respect he is due. We ran it through four or five times before everyone was comfortable & retired to the picnic grounds for the bar-b-que dinner.
The weather had been forecast as lousy for the weekend, but it was merely warm & sunny up until this point. The Cacapon camping grounds were a short drive from the Foulds' Barn, and we had about two hours of daylight and feasting (even more of their friends & family showed) before a sudden soggy downpour ended the evening's activities. I got to see my relatives from Chicago, some of whom I had not seen in almost 20 years. We had a great time catching up, getting to know each other again, and making plans for the next day's party.
Mom and I checked into our Bed & Breakfast, Inspirations, in Berkeley Springs town center, and mom crashed soon after. I went out for a quick drink with Dan & some of his friends, and a stereotypical WV chick nearly tried to take me home with her. Good for a laugh. I crashed shortly after 1am and was thrown out of bed by a horrific air raid siren. I thought there was a tornado or Berkeley Springs was under attack or something. There wasn't anything on the radio (other than Constant Country) or on CNN, so I went back to bed. In the a.m. we found out that it was the call for the local fire department volunteers.
5:02:00 PM
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Once again Steve is going out of town, and has lent me his car so I can throw kibbles at his dogs while he's away. He also had a pair of tickets to last night's performance of Carmen at the Kenny Center Opera House, so I invited Beth to go with me. I really enjoyed it, even though it made for a very late evening (we just managed the last Metro home at 12:10am). The Washington Post review was pretty accurate. Placido Domingo conducted, and was the only Name I knew. It was nice to dress up and grab some culture.
4:58:00 PM
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
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I've just finished posting about a third of the photos I took this weekend, and sent out a mass email to most of Dan's contacts list. I struck me that most of the photos are of family and friends and people I know, and that some viewers may not care to see 18 pictures of me and my father's parental unit's other offspring's children, but hey -- they could have brought their own Image Capturing Device.
Work is slow, and that's a good thing.
9:50:00 PM
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I'll be posting details about the weekend's wedding festivities shortly, but in the interim, from today's BBC News online:
The Archbishop of Canterbury has given his blessing for churches to switch services this Sunday - so parishioners can watch England's opening World Cup match.
Dr George Carey, a big Arsenal fan, is happy for holymen and women to work around the Sweden game - which should ensure attendances aren't affected.
He said: "Worship comes first of course, but the World Cup only comes round every four years, so we can afford to be flexible."
3:40:00 PM
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
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The "About" and "Travels" buttons to the right should work now.
9:57:00 PM
Monday, May 20, 2002
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Yesterday was "Quality time with Dan & Ainsley" day. They had arrived in town late Saturday and invited me to brunch at their hotel. I metro'd over at 9:30 and met them, Ainsley's sister Leigha & her son David for the meal. It was the first time I had met my nephew-by-marriage-once-removed-to-be. Ains had a wedding shower planned for the afternoon so Dan drove out to Dad's and I went out to see Star Wars II. Dad & Dan picked up Ainsley and then met me at Ballston for dinner at Macaroni Grill. And yes, once again, because Ainsley and I were together we had lousy service. It's written in the stars.
8:48:00 PM
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There's an article in today's Washington Post which discusses how parents are getting their children involved in sports at an early age--some might argue too early.
Sylvia Singleton started her ... tennis program five years ago by offering lessons and classes for children 7 or older. Soon parents asked whether she would make exceptions for special 6-year-olds. Next came requests for 5-year-olds, followed closely by ones for 4-year-olds.
Now her lessons are open to children as young as 2 1/2. Singleton ... estimates that 70 percent of her several hundred students are younger than 7.
I understand the arguments for: Children ages 2 and 3 are like sponges. When you start young, it becomes like walking or talking, it's just the way you are. If you start later, it takes longer for it to go into your muscle memory. Parents also fear that their precious child will fall behind all the other kids.
I disagree, though. Surely kids that young get enough exercise through daily running and jumping and playing. And what four year old needs that kind of pressure?
8:28:00 PM
Sunday, May 19, 2002
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I just got back from seeing Star Wars II. It was better than I expected in some ways, and worse in others. I had read a review by Roger Ebert who complained at how dark and unclear the showing he attended seemed; he surmised it was because Lucas' digital film didn't transfer well to the analog prints distributed to most theaters, and suggested seeing it in one of the 30 or so digital theaters available at opening. One of those happens to be in Merrifield, where I saw Episode One, but they were sold out this weekend so I just wandered across the street to the Ballston Mall. The character development and dialog were flat, flat, flat. But the effects and scenery were off-the-charts unreal. And Yoda kicks butt.
11:25:00 PM
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Looks like I forgot to explain how the Mac refresh project is going.
It's not. The gov't decided not to take the advice of the technical group (which was to reject the project) and instead asked us to conduct a customer survey of each and every Mac user, to ask what their preference is for our next step: either deliver new hardware with an old(er) operating system, or deliver the new hardware with the new OS (and all its attendant problems). The Customer Relations Manager for our contract took a week to draft the customer survey, and the government rep has been "reviewing it" (read: sitting on his ass) for the past week.
Employee spot bonuses were handed out a week ago Wednesday, and once again individuals who should never have received one did, and those that should have didn't.
Morale is low, and my colleagues won't back off.
And how are you?
11:20:00 PM
Wednesday, May 15, 2002
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Work sucks. That's about all I can say.
3:51:00 AM
Monday, May 13, 2002
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Hmmm.. Sears, Roebuck and Co., a pioneer of catalog retailing more than a century ago, said on Monday it will buy Lands' End Inc., the largest catalog and Internet specialty clothing retailer, for about $1.9 billion, in a bid to revive its laggard apparel business.
I think this is probably a good idea for Sears, though I myself haven't shopped at a Sears or Lands' End in years. Actually, I haven't been shopping for clothes in ages. I had asked Ainsley to block out two hours from her busy schedule while she's here to go clothes shopping with me (years ago I would merely hand her my credit card & a cart of fashionable, coordinated clothing would appear) but apparently her wedding is all-consuming). :-)
I'll have to go myself, though, particularly before a move, as clothing--particularly dress clothing-- is much cheaper here.
6:29:00 PM
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Five months ....
3:51:00 AM
I need another 365 days of weekend
Generally a stress-free couple of days, and that's a good thing. Jimmy unfortunately left a message indicating he had unexpected family obligations, so I went downtown on my own. Picked up my favourite british mag, bought a copy of Robbie Williams Live at the Albert Hall DVD, and had a de-lish burger at Fuddruckers.
Saturday was clear and warm but not hot, so I took a couple magazines outside and read in the sun. Sad to say, I should have slathered some sun block salaciously.
Today I slept in late and then watched part of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet on DVD. I'm having trouble getting into it, which is surprising since I loved Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge so much. Beth had emailed me earlier inviting me out with her and her mom & Kelly to see Enigma at Shirlington, so that was the evening. I've been trying to catch up on email since.
Apparently, I made my mom cry. I had sent her a package on Thursday overnight, which she didn't receive until she got back from a trip to Dallas today. Some Cadbury's Fruit & Nut bars, a book on the Vicar of Dibley, and a framed picture set of photos of us taken when she got out of the hospital after Dan was born. Happy M-day.
3:45:00 AM
Friday, May 10, 2002
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Finally, news from the Jimmy Jim Jimster. He's alive, but just barely. We may get together this evening for a bite or a flick.
I have a delicious weekend ahead: absolutely nothing planned or on my plate for the next sixty hours. I really should tackle my apartment, as it's a total disaster, but I keep convincing myself that since I'll have to do a thorough cleaning next week before the relatives arrive, I can probably live with it for a few days more. Lazy slug, I.
7:57:00 PM
Wednesday, May 08, 2002
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Yesterday did not go as planned.
I'd asked my boss if I could take a long lunch hour, as I had planned to meet up with my sweetie darling friend Nicky from the Bank for a lunch and chat, and then visit the Penn Ave. Citibank, with a view to opening a checking account I could eventually move over to the UK.
Instead, we went back to the Bank after our lunch at TGI Friday's and I got to visit with some old friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in years (I left the Bank in Aug '98). It was nice to catch up and see how much things have changed (and how other things never change).
I didn't get back to work until after 4:30.
4:30:00 PM
Monday, May 06, 2002
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I've added a few more of my brother's travelogues.
7:55:00 PM
There is also an interesting applet which lets you see the number of hours of daylight for a particular location at a particular time of year. If you are interested in trying this applet, Washington and London are pre-defined locations, but you have to pick the correct Time Zone Offset (London is 0, Washington DC is -5).
Colorado Springs is at Time Zone Offset -7, and about latitude 37N, longitude 105W.
Oklahoma City is at Time Zone Offset -6, and about 35N, 97W.
The weekend turned into a Boivin fest. We got together on Saturday to contribute to Spiderman's record-breaking $114 million weekend, and then headed over to Olive Garden for dinner. Yesterday Beth invited a bunch of her friends over to her place to break in her new gas grill. Compared to Saturday, it was the perfect day to be sitting outdoors on the deck with a cold soda and good company. Most of the weekend's discussions centered around the end of the school year & plans for the summer, and Dan & Ainsley's fast-approaching wedding activities.
I could use another day to take care of stuff at home. Two-day weekends just aren't long enough.
I found out my mum has finally purchased her plane ticket for the wedding, so I will see her mid-day on the 23rd before we head out to the wilds of West Virginia on Friday the 24th. Guess I should get cracking on renting a car.
3:57:00 PM
Friday, May 03, 2002
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Even better: permalinks (the clickable dates at the end of each of my posts) and the new improved Archives are now on line.
12:46:00 AM
Thursday, May 02, 2002
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Work is just getting crazy. The technical group which reviewed my Mac Refresh project documentation voted yesterday to reject it, based on the limitations described in my report.
What's even crazier is that the non-technical group which usually rubber-stamps the technical group's analysis will be given an opportunity to override them during an emergency meeting sometime next week, so the project may actually be given the green light.
Why do I feel as if I have no purpose?
5:08:00 PM
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OK, I think we're done with the major rehaul. Finishing touches to come in the next day or two. Check out travels, on the right.
2:39:00 AM
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My weekend in Philly has been postponed. As it turns out Art will be out of town himself, so we'll have to reschedule.
You know what they say, though: when one door closes, another one opens ... Beth wrote me this afternoon and invited me over this Sunday for a mini bar-b-que (first of the season!) -- I think Cathie will be there too, along with some of Beth's college friends whom I've met before. Hope the weather holds!
2:30:00 AM
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I don't have a cell phone anymore.
The Nokia I bought when I left the Bank (almost four years ago) was on its last legs; it wouldn't hold a charge and the faceplate had enough marks and scratches to impede legibility. It gave up the ghost on Monday.
I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. I really hadn't been using it much except occasionally at work, and if they want to get me a phone they can go ahead and procure one for me. Saves me $30 a month, anyway.
Perhaps not surprising, I've noticed the number of people on the street (& driving) with cell phones seems to have exponentially increased. Unlike in Europe, though, hardly anyone over here uses text messaging.
2:11:00 AM
