Weekend at Peace

Given the hectic month we've had, a weekend of downtime was very nice and welcome indeed. For date night we did go to see Faustus at the Shakespear Tavern, which was very well done though rather expensive now that Jennifer's MidTown connection card is not accepted by them any longer (we used to get 2 for 1 on balcony seats). We'll still go from time to time but not quite as often.

Watched 4 Netflix-Dr. Who (Invasion of Time), B-Movie, Rope and Lost end of season 2. The end of season 2 was quite good, though I'm annoyed because I understand Season 3 is one big stall, which I absolutely hate. Why not just skip to Season 4? But Jennifer wants to watch it, so we will. Rope (a hitchcock movie) was also very good. It was an excellent way of showing just HOW GOOD Jimmy Stuart was an actor and how he could easily dominate the industry today just as well. Though some of the jokes etc were a tad transparent, but Hitchcock did them first so they're more tolerable. B-Movie had some interesting moments but I am *SO* glad we didn't see it in the theater.

I got finished reading "Princep's Fury" by Jim Butcher which is fun to read but not quite as good as his Dresden Files books. Started reading "Inkheart" which Jennifer really liked. Its OK and looks to hold promise but the writing is a little to YA for me...then again, its written as YA, so what can you do? :)

Home again Home again lickety split

Lickety in this case being 11 and a half hours.

But we got home. :) Overall, it was an awesome trip, but with things being the way they are, there won't be many like it. We're going to my graduation in May (if I graduate) and maybe one other place but otherwise this will be a relatively low key year.

Never know what might happen.

Inaguration

We woke up at 6am. We had fruit loops. Always a good way to start.

By 6:30am, we were out the door and spent $20 between the two of us for a shuttle from our hotel to the nearest Metro station. There were several older black folks on the bus, talking (we were mostly silent) and it was obvious they were stoked. It occurred to me, that this day is the closest I will ever really come to sharing something of their rather fascinating culture as if I were a part of it, not just simply borrowing from it or visiting it.

We arrived at the train station and it was PACKED. On Monday, we got there, and spent 15 minutes trying to get a ticket in line and that seemed like a long time. It took a half an hour just to get in the door, and another 30 minutes to get from the door to the train. We took the train for 12 stops without daring to transfer, because every stop we went by had people wanting to get on the train.

We got to the mall about 10:15. It was COLD. There was some nifty singing in the background. They announced lots of people who came, some of whom pleased more than others. The crowd went absolutely bonkers any time Obama or Biden or family thereof appeared. It was definitely a uniquely American Affair of State. It might not have a thousand years of tradition like a European power, but in my opinion it had just as much majesty and decorum.

The President's speech was masterful, and restored my faith in him that had been lost with ....(see the Codex in September). It spoke of the need for hard work, but it also spoke of the true American Philosophy and the ability to go forward and do great things. I am pleased, and more sure of anything than I have been in a very long time that this man is the right man for the job. It may be the most memorable event (aside from my marriage) in which I will partake in my entire life.

Re: The periphials. Aretha Franklin was cool. The instrumental was awesome. The National Anthem was well done. The poem would have been awesome but should have been BEFORE Obama's speech. Afterwards, it just seemed lame.

The invokations.....both well spoken, but there was a world of difference. I'll write more on that on Codex tomorrow.

And then....the way home. 5 hours. All of the amazing planning that made the whole weekend work like clockwork fell apart. There were no instructions on where to go, no places to warm up, no places to eat that weren't crammed full of people. At one point Nature called for Jennifer and we spent 45 minutes trying to find a place where she could go. She had to go through office building security to get to a place. We finally got to a metro station we could take, and stood in line for ANOTHER hour and a half. We were very glad to get on the train. Neither of us had the stamina to wait 30 minutes for the charter bus so we just took a Taxi home.

Overall, it was amazing and awesome. I'm glad that we did it, but whoever planned the end departure belongs in charge of the Federal Zoo instead. Strike that. They belong IN the Federal Zoo.

Inaguaration Eve

So we started out the day in the Washington D.C. Metro, which was a bit zoo. It took us 20-30 minutes to get through the whole thing although eventually we did. We bought two one day tickets so we won't have to wait in line tomorrow.

Our first stop was Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. When we got out we were immediately bombarded by hawkers selling every kind of Obama merchandice imaginable. Jennifer's favorite was the Obama Air Freshener. To quote the guy selling it, "Yes, Obama smells like New Car!" There were lots of volunteers, and it was very well organized. Once we got through the rat maze, we were seated in chairs where we were given instructions (and where we did the 'fired up, ready to go' thing' we went down to a heated tent in the middle of the stadium. We put together care packages for our soldiers, which basically consisted of being a human cog in a giant wheel that we went around 12 times each. We held the bag, and another volunteer dumped something into it. After we were done we wrote letters for the troops. Jennifer and I each wrote four.

Then we took the Metro to the National Portrait Gallery. We've been here two previous times in two years, so we've already seen a lot of other stuff, and we hoped to find Colbert's portrait. We didn't find that, but we did see a lot of the Presidential Portraits. As you can imagine, we skipped the last one. We found a lot of cool pictures, including a women's exhibit and a general American art exhibit. We got pretty tired towards the end.

We ate dinner at the Spy City Cafe (Which we attended at the Spy Museum last year) and then headed home. Of course, thanks to the @#$@#$#@ navigator, we took another wrong turn and ended up in the 395 HOV lane and all the way back down town before we finally turned around and headed back to the hotel room.

Tomorrow we will be going to the Inauguration but don't have tickets, so we'll be in outer space.

Agraria

We took today pretty light. Did some reading and watched the Inaugural concert on TV. We thought about going but we didn't have tickets, and we're going to be doing enough walking around for the next two days. Taking a break was kind of worth it. Later, we went to a restaurant called Agraria which had very good food. Jennifer heard about it from a coworker. It is an interesting restaurant because it is family owned, and also part of a co-op of family owned farms from North Dakota. On top of everything else the food is quite top notch.

We also stopped off at Barnes and Noble for another book on tape for the way home. I got "Guns, Germs and Steel" (another politics/history book.) Jennifer got a crocheting patterns book.

We've now come back to the hotel to watch TV.

Bilbo Baggins

So we get to the hotel and see a cop car parked in front of an empty parking lot.....interesting but we still check in. When we go out to get the stuff, there are three more. We're still not entirely sure what is going on, but down the hall there were two officers with some crime labby stuff and a girl sitting their talking to them about stuff that was going on in the room.

Fortunately, we have a safe in the room.

We ate at a cool restaraunt called "Bilbo Baggins" which basically has American style foods. It was good food. We tried to see a movie afterwards, but the Navigator system we pay $50 a month for between the two of us on our phones is mentally challenged. It took us to a park. We asked it to take us to a theater and it took us to this tiny little play ground....and then it took us to a school play ground...and then it took us down town which is crazy with all kinds of people and streets blocked off.

But it was kind of funny getting to the tiny park. We eventually came home and watched Juno which is pretty cool.

On the way up here we listened to "Presidential Courage" which is interesting but probably not to anyone who isn't a political freak like I am. :)

Tonight we Leave for Washington D.C.

Jennifer and I had been planning to go to her graduation in Utah for quite some time, but in October she noticed that it was at the same time as the Inauguration, so we decided what the heck, why not. We don't have tickets to anything, so we'll probably see nothing live, but who knows what might happen. We do have reservations.

Like Ireland, I'll try to, as I can, update the trip with details of how it is going.

Bad, Worse, Good, Better

Going back in time from now:

Root canal this morning. It wasn't just a root canal, it was a redo root canal because the dentist who did it a year and a half ago screwed it up. It's cost without insurance is $3000. Insurance will cover some, but not much of it. Won't know the full damage until mid February when the new cap is placed in it.

Last night my Mom and Step Dad's cockateel died. It was pretty cool. I kept trying to teach her Bridge over the River Quai....I don't think she learned it. She did a neat Shave and a Hair Cut and Wolf Whistle though.

We spent most of the weekend playing board games at a local convention. It was pretty fun. Jennifer and I enjoyed spending time with each other and with friends. It was $55 for both of us for as many games as we could play and I think between the two of us we got in around 12....and we played about 10 of those together.

We have finally decided to drop La Femme Necrappa from the Netflix Queue without watching the last for disks! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Reason #548 Why Jennifer Rocks

Yesterday we watched the Extended Edition of Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers and the Return of the King. That's a combined 685ish minutes, or about 11 and a half hours. We really enjoyed it, and I intend to make it an annual event as close to Tolkien's birthday on a weekend (Jan 3) as possible.

Jennifer made it complete however, for when I suggested that we have some middle earth themed food, she took the quote from the movie involving First Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevensies, Lunch, Luncheon, Dinner and Supper. She created seven small meals that we had over the course of the day, all of which fit within my 1800 a day calorie limit. On top of everything else, she pretty much made the meals fit with the Middle Earth cook book/recipes that she found over the internet.

It made a neat movie going experience into a unique and repeatable ritual that I hope to have in our family for a long time.

Goals for the Year

Physical: Reduce my weight to 225lbs. Losing 30lbs, at an average of 1800 calories a day for diet with 1-2 free days a month, exercising aerobically 4 times a week for 300 calories each session for 22.5 minutes, lifting weights 2 times a week using at least the 30 pound weights. Currently at 180 calories each session with the goal to raise 20 calories a week until I reach 300. The goal is to start with 1 weight lifting session in Jan and then adding another in Feb.

Mental: Read 1 Good non fiction book a month + 2 slowly over Wed. I plan to start with Fast Food Nation. The two slow books will be "Search Engine Marketing" and "Philosophy and Super Heroes."

Graduate Grad School with at least a 3.0 average (preferably with honors) in May.

Spiritual: Continue scripture study, prayer and other activities.

Read at least one major spiritual work belonging to another religion.

Emotional: Be kinder. Have Less Anger.

Social: Get involved with a service project at least once a month starting in April.

Writing: Covered on the Writing Blog.

Film: Write two film scripts. Produce two films, one directed by Mom and one directed by Jennifer. Submit at least one of the two to a film festival this year. The film should be no shorter than 4 minutes and no longer than 10.

Invention: Buy and read at least two Law School text books on Patent Law.

Economic: Maintain my job. Pay off more of Credit Card. Make preparations for child. Obtain 5 most important items as determined by Jennifer and I.

Make Red Anvil Productions Gaming have its first profitable year.

Family: Improve relations. Be slightly less annoying.

Friends: Have at least 3 non game related social events over the course of the year.

Children: Have 1. Have all physical preparations made at least 2 months in advance of birth.

Other:

Create at least one podcast a month (probably short stories already written)

Create a fourth blog by March involving unknown quantity or subject for fun and/or profit.

Create a group of new life goals by March.

Ensure that all selected items in the Christmas Coupon Book I gave Jennifer are delivered/fulfilled.

Make arrangements for Jan 3, 2010 Tolkien's Birthday LOTR Marathon Party.

Go to Gencon 2009.

Go to DragonCon 2009.

Go to Boston for my Graduation.

Learn to Juggle.

Learn to Shoot a Pistol.

If Brett is sent to a Spanish Speaking Mission, Refresh and Brush up on my Spanish.