Month: February 2009

  • Doing Our Part …

    We spent Valentines Day shopping!  Helping out the economy as some would say. Taking money out of our pockets and into the various retailers around the area.  Why you ask?  In this downward economy one would think we should be holding to our cold hard cash and stuffing it under the mattress.  True dat, but there are a few things on our list of household items we’ve been thinking about and it seems like we make our purchases during holiday weekends anyways.    So why not?

    First it was off to the Home Depot for window treatments!  During our stay in Boston, I had the privilege of installing six celluloid shades in my in-laws TV room.  We liked them so much we bought some for our house.  But you’ve been in the house for over five years now, why get window treatments now?  Good question.  It mostly stems from the fact that we got new windows a year or so ago and the old mini-blinds don’t fit any more; plus we didn’t really like the mini-blinds.  That’s why our guest bathroom has “snowflake” Christmas paper up to block the window.  Yeah, so ghetto.  You can leave PG County but PG County won’t leave you.    So finally, the guest bathroom has some “natural” colored shades as well as the  windows that face the side of the house.  We hope that they’ll help save some on the heating and cooling since the townhouse is an end unit.

    While at the Despot, we noticed that the World Market by use is closing.  Personally, I think the World Market is a hit or miss for us.  There are things that seem nice and then stuff that is just weird.  I was a tad skeptical but we decided to go in anyways since EVERYTHING MUST GO!  There we found these dining chairs that we both sorta liked.  The colored matched and they were relatively cheap since they were 30% off.  After talking with one of the Sale Associates it seemed like they only had two floor models available so we were on the fence about getting them and then hunting for more of them.  After some research (they’re made out of rubber wood which is OK by Chewy’s standards) we found out that only a handful of the World Markets were closing down.  This prompted us to go back to the store to reevaluate the chair.  Maybe we’ll just buy one and see how it looks with our table and the rest of the room.  After going back and forth we decided we didn’t want the floor sample since it wasn’t in the best condition.  That’s when I found an untouched box of two of them.  (Just saying that makes me remember Double Impact.  There are TWO of them!) 

    We then broke down and bought it.  It was cheap enough and we both did like the design and feel.  So the hunt began because another World Market was closing down in Virginia. Unfortunately, after we got there a Sales Associate said they just sold their last box earlier that afternoon.  Too bad since getting them for the sales price would have been nice.  On a lark we decided to head to the Rockville store to see if they had them.  They did.  So we ended buying four more chairs while also getting getting 10% off.

    In total, we bought six dining chairs and three celluloid shades.  I also think Chewy got me a Transformer as well. But that’s to-be-determined.     Now we’re off to Yuan Fu Vegetarian for a post-Valentines dinner.

  • Weird …

    Sorta forgot to mention in yesterdays blog entry that during the ride home on the metro a lady sitting next to Chewy proceeded to throw-up in her purse.  There wasn’t much noise, she was extremely discreet about it and very apologetic between hurls about the fact that she was throwing up.  That and Chewy says she was extremely anorexic looking.  Like I said, weird.  Though, after it all happened the lady got up and got off at the next metro stop.

    That whole event haunts my sleep making me even more tired.  

  • Sleepy Randomness …

  • Longest Work Day, ever …

    Got to work at 7:15am on Tuesday.  Left work this morning at 7:30am.  Add about a 40 minute drive both ways.  My brain and body hurt.

  • I’m Getting Stooopid …

    Or am stupid.  I read this as the profession (which would be mispelled) as opposed to the country. 

  • I Need Stimulus …

    Or a spending bill.  Whatever you call it this whole huge bill has been interesting to follow.  I know some people call it a stimulus bill and the Big O has finally called it a spending bill, which when you look at that dollar amount it more looks like spending than stimulus.  CNN actually has a pretty good list of what got cut and for the things that did it’s pretty sad IMO (broadband, NASA, environmental stuff). 

    What interests me the most was the proposed $15,000 tax credit for buying a house.  Ever since it was introduced there hasn’t been much more info about it.  With low mortgage rates, a tax credit and depressed housing prices it might be a good time for us to consider upgrading.  Though, I guess with me writing this, I’m basically telling people who are on the fence to consider buying a house which would start to inflate prices again.  Something I don’t want to happen just yet.  Yeah, I know self-interest.  w_h_a_t_e_v_e_r   

  • Interesting Multi-Course Meal Conversation …

    During one of our multi-course meals while up in Toronto we had the privilege of sharing the table with a retired Anglican Reverend.  He was a friendly, talkative sort.  Sorta peering into our world as much as possible while having a kind and cheerful tone.  That sounds bad but really he was a nice guy and very genuine in nature.  Anyways he brought up a few interesting conversation pieces:

    • He proceeded to tell us the meal would have seven dishes.  No more.  No less.  That the seven is based upon the Buddhist meaning of the word which is death.  That everything comes full circle and that the last thing is death.  He specifically mentioned that the seven wasn’t based upon the Christian view of seven which is completeness or perfect.  And since a seven course meal would equate to death you then only typically see six or eight (or more) course meals for everything else.  A seven course meal is specific for one event and one event only.
    • There could be no leftovers.  He didn’t mention exactly why there couldn’t be leftovers or I just don’t remember it.  With that in mind our table proceeded to finish off all our food and even some of the other dishes from other tables.  Food was flying off the dishes to ensure our table would have no leftovers.  Oddly, other tables were taking the food home.  I think we got duped.
    • At one point in the conversation he ended his particular topic and then asked: So are you all practicing Christians?  We all answered “yes” and then he proceeded to talk about a different subject.  I find it weird, not because we all said yes or actually we all pointently said yes but even if you weren’t a practicing Christian, maybe a lukewarm Christian or not even a believer would you really tell a Reverend “no”?
    On the local front …

  • Visiting up north, eh …

    Last weekend we unfortunately had to go to Toronto to tend to a family emergency.  No, it wasn’t unfortunate that we had to go to Toronto.  The family emergency was unfortunate.  On the bright side we got to see all of Chewy’s immediate family and most of her aunts, uncles and cousins. (I’m still trying to get everyone straight in my head) Instead of driving 10 hours we decided to do a mix of flying to Buffalo and then driving the rest of the way for a total of 10 hours.  This was actually less stressful and allowed us to make it to a family event later in the evening.  First time ever flying with jetBlue and I must say that is a mighty fine airline.  Surpasses Southwest by far.  The DirectTV, extra leg room and low fare were all pluses!  It was just a pleasure flying jetBlue.
     

    jetBlue self-checkin Who’s that on
    the wing?    		 Sharka outline in
    the backyard    		 hmmmmmm,
    Coffee Crisp from Costco

    If you didn’t notice, Sharka joined us for the trip.  I guess they don’t require passports for sharks since he got through the border patrol with no problems.   Other than that, Toronto was cold.  Driving around trying to remember to drive in km/h instead of mph was fun or really just ignored to some extent.  That and there was a ton of eating.  Multi-course meal this, multi-course meal that and then we choose to eat at a All-You-Eat Buffet too.

    I’m fat now.  Ok.  I’m fatter now.