Another fun day...

We spent a good part of the afternoon on Monday at the National Zoo in Washington DC. We got to see lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!). Not to mention the illustrious panda bears that get so much hype and attention. :) However, my favorite exhibit at the zoo must have been the web spinner spiders that they have living out in the open (sort of) in the invertebrate house. We got to witness first hand a spider attacking, paralyzing, and eating a live cricket. Yum. Heh.

Still enjoying my vacation immensely, however today is one of those agenda-packed days. Jen & I are going to try & hit the Whole Foods Market this morning, then we're considering taking the kids downtown to see some of the Museums, and then tonight we're going to Baltimore to eat dinner & see Phantom of the Opera (which my dad got us tickets for as an early birthday present).

We leave tomorrow to head back home - definitely NOT looking forward to the long drive ahead of us.

So far so good...

8 days and counting...

That's how long I've been on vacation. And what a vacation it's been. For a change, I haven't been running around like a chicken with my head cut off to see all the sites and listen to the sounds that I had planned for. For a change, I haven't had a set daily agenda that needed to be met on a day by day basis.

I've been able to go to bed when I want, get up when I want, nap when I want - mostly tuned around the Olympics for the past couple of days. Table tennis at 5am? That meant going to bed early and waking up early. U.S. women's softball at 2am? That meant struggling for 10 min to figure out how to program my parents' VCR.

And visiting with my sister & my newborn nephew has been majorly fun. Man, what a cutie pie. He's almost as cute as Braden was at his age, but not quite. ;) He sure seems to be a mild-mannered, colicky-free baby for now. *knock on wood*

I've also been able to put work out of my mind, at least for a couple of hours at a time. Yep, this is the vacation that I needed. One in which I can say after I get back home that I actually HAD a vacation - and not that I need a vacation from my vacation.

The high point of my vacation thus far?

Receiving this from my in-laws as an early b-day present! Probably the best birthday present I've ever received! I posted on the Ascend users forum that I felt like the kid in America's Funniest Videos that screamed at the top of his lungs for minutes on end when he received his dream present. Heh. Nowhere in my wildest dreams did I expect to get anything like that from my in-laws. I expected a CD or a book from Amazon, not a high quality home theater speaker. Wow. My in-laws are the best.

Small change

[Suggested writing topic from A Writer's Book of Days]

As I lay there on the hard, unyielding pavement, hundreds and thousands of footsteps rushed by me, seemingly oblivious of my presence. It did not matter if these feet were connected to giant trunks with a cotton-like bark, slender willowy columns of porcelain, or unsightly hair-covered supports - they were all equally prejudiced toward me.

I am helpless and immobile - the only way I am able to move is if someone accidentally kicks me in my side, enough to roll me over and over until I come to a stop, staring up again hoping some kind soul will stop and rescue me.

After an indeterminable amount of time, my prayers are answered. I feel some soft fingers grasp me around my midsection and lift me up. The fingers are coated with some sticky, dark substance that fouls my shiny skin, but I no longer care. I gaze back into wonderous eyes, as a giggle emerges from childish lips.

"Look what I found, dada!" she exclaims, "my very own quarter!"

Nothing can beat the instanteous change of feeling worthless one second, and then priceless the next. I am truly loved and wanted once again.

Un Aperitif

Narrative urges - they come and go as unpredictably as the spawning of twisters on a muggy, summer eve. One moment, the blood rushing through my fingers as they fly across the keyboard can barely keep up with the ideas cascading out of my mind, but the next instant, a blank wall staring back at me with deafening silence.

Lately I've been sensing a pulsating beat, emanating from somewhere within my being. Words and phrases, cooking under a gentle boil, simmering in wait, occassionally rising to the surface where they pop and spew their creative juices onto my canvas primed for alphanumeric characters.

Not yet, but soon. I promise.

Useless Mutant Ability #1554

UMA: #1554 - Ability to discern make/model of vehicles within 0.2 milliseconds of seeing them.

I must say that I can probably pick out the make/model of nearly any vehicle on the road simply by glancing at them. Is this a guy thing? It's not like I frequently spend my free time loitering in car lots. It's not like I sit down with a pile of car magazines and stare intently at every car listed to memorize them. It's not even remotely close that I have a list of cars that I don't recognize right off the bat that I need to improve my memory on. I just find myself driving around and noticing that I can pretty much instantly tell you what any car is that you see. Yes, my powers of vehicle recognition are keen.

And the scary thing is that I sometimes play a game where I try to name every car that I see. Yes, Cliff has truly gone off the deep end when he's reciting makes/models of cars to himself.

That's why when Jen told me one of the ladies from church bought a new SUV but couldn't tell me anything about it that I was truly astounded. "What make is it?" I interrogated her. That way if she said "Chevy", it could have been a Suburban, or a Tahoe, or a Trailblazer. If she said "Ford," it could have been an Explorer, Expedition, or Excursion. Perhaps one of those would jog her memory hard enough to recall what her friend had told her. But she couldn't tell me one detail or even what color it was. Whereas if I saw a friend's new vehicle, even if for a brief instant, or was told about it, I could tell you exactly what it was from that point forward.

Is this seemingly innate useless ability to know stuff about "cars" a guy thing? Or am I just a freak of nature - a mutant, if you will?

Guilty pleasure

Is it me or does Norah Jones have a deliciously saucy sultry yummy voice? I'm sitting here, reading Ars, listening to her newest album, feels like home, which I got Jen for Mother's Day, and Don't Miss You At All comes on. Result? Cliff is reduced to one big mushy puddle. And the piano in that song. *further melting* A peek into the CD liner reveals why it is so awe-inspiring - "music by Duke Ellington". 'Nuff said.

Am I Expecting Too Much?

To the lady who won my latest Ebay auction:

Is it too much to ask that you email me and tell me you're not interested in the item anymore? Or do you consider giving the cold shoulder perfectly fine netiquette? I've sent you numerous emails, asking you what the deal is. And day after day, I get nothing back. I understand if circumstances change and you really shouldn't have bid on the item to begin with. But at least show me the common courtesy and inform me that you changed your mind. Please? It's not that much to ask. That way I can either list the item again or sell it through other means.

By not responding to any of my emails, now I have to drag it out and file a non-paying bidder report. Now I have to wait *another* 10 days to see if you respond to that before I can consider the auction null and void. That's 10 days more that I have to wait until I can get the much needed money that I was counting on.

Thanks for nothing lady. Because that's what I've gotten from you. Nothing.

Sincerely,
--A