Whoa …

A baby deer jumped into the lions den at the National Zoo.  Three YouTube clips – video1, video2, and video3

Walking Down The Burma Road …

Or at least eating in a restaurant called the Burma Road Restaurant.  This place originally was a northern Chinese restaurant that had a huge mock tree trunk in the middle of the seating area.   I’m glad the new owners (well sorta new since this new restaurant has been around for a year now) removed that thing.  It was hideous.  This place was pretty cool because they served both Chinese and Burmese food.  They even have an “exclusive” Chinese menu which you have to ask for separately.  We mostly got stuff from the Burmese side such as the Ginger Salad (Chewy’s favorite), Lamb with Masala Curry (my favorite), Fried Rice with Boiled Vatana Beans, Spicy Pork with Pickled Mango and some other Chinese chow foon style dish that I can’t remember what it was called only because it was just OK.  Wait staff was pretty friendly and even gave us a free sample of some fried tofu cake which wasn’t made of tofu but of smashed up vatana beans.  It wasn’t half bad. And vatana beans are chick peas from what they tell us.  Prices were pretty cheap and portion sizes were decent.  We’ll probably venture over there again since there were a ton of stuff on the menu that sounded appetizing.

The other day we finally had our cold-air, bug-allowing-entry front door and storm-door replaced by Home Depot.  The hard part in the whole process was making sure certain things were HOA approved.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of the old set of doors before they were removed but for the most part I think things match up OK.  While the guy was installing the storm-door he was questioning why I bought such a cheap door.  Well, cost was one but the other thing was that the style and color matched the best of what we had before.  So cheap it was.     The front door we were able to get approved to change the overall design with the larger half-moon window that has a flower design in it.  I’m still on the fence on whether I should continue to paint the white outline or not.  We’ll see if that happens or not.  The other cool part was that since I had to match the color of the original door paint but had no color codes Home Depot was able to determine the paint color just through a paint scrapping that I took from the old door.  The same was done to match the grey paint on the trim board that I had to have replaced.

Overall the installation took about four hours.  Not too bad to install two exterior doors (the door to the garage was replaced as well) and the storm-door.  The installers did, from what I can tell, a good job and seemingly pretty friendly.  Though the boss-man seemed like he was gonna have a heart attack or something.  Yeah weird.  After the installation and grabbing the paint from Home Depot the race to paint the door and trim began.  The directions on the paint can said that it’ll be dry to touch in two hours.  This also means that it’s not totally dry so there was no way I wanted the door to get paint on the new weatherstripping and potentially ruin it.  And since I bought such a cheap storm-door that had no exterior lock (was done on purpose since I’ve been locked out of the house a few times and it wasn’t by me) I literally watched the entryway to the house for about four hours.  Yes, watching paint dry.     Such a lovely time spent.  But it’s done.  And I’m happy.

• Sharka says it’s because there’s no Chipotle out in the middle of the ocean.
• Is there is a new category called Camera R-A-G-E?!?
• Good for you Madieu – I still can’t believe it’s been 8 years since you’ve left UMCP
• Joss, whatever you’re on, just stop.  For the fans and your family.  Just put it down and walk away.
• When someone illegally assumes someone else’s name, we say an identity’s been stolen; when someone legally assumes someone else’s name, we say…you’re married.
• Wheego, I go.  I actually saw a Tesla Roadster near my work.
• I AM MICHAEL JORDAN’S SON.  I AM BIGGER THAN THIS LITTLE SCHOOL.  FEAR ME.
• ooooh, a proposed $6.5k tax credit for non-new home buyers is in the works.  Will that just inflate the market even more?

Hit’em While They’re Down …

Here’s Sharka sporting the latest fashion for Skins fans.  I’m not too sure who originally created the logo but it is mildly hilarious.  A buddy of mine sent a few Skins fans a similar image a few weeks ago and now there are t-shirts. 

On the back it says: TRADE $NYDER

I’m sorta torn because I like the fact Snyder is willing to shell out the bucks to pay players unlike the LA Clipper owner.  The bad part is that Snyder is toying with the team like it’s a yearly Fantasy Football team.  It just doesn’t work that way.  As for Vinny, he’s not a great GM.  Probably not even a good one.  True he got Haynesworth, Dockery, and Fletcher as free agents but he also was the one who brought in Lloyd, Archuleta, Deion, and Jeff George.  Then you look at the lack of players from their draft picks.  Cooley is the only guy I can think of any significance.  Possibly Horton but he’s already lost his starting safety position.  Orakpo and Jarmon are still TBD though IMO look pretty good.

GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!!!  Papa Johns has a Washington Capitals Goal deal!!!  For every goal scored you get a free topping on a $9.99 cheese pizza.  Double the toppings with a win!  

• What’s next?  Paying for TP on the plane?  The state of the airline industry is bad.
• For those that didn’t take advantage for the $8,000 tax credit for new home buyers you maybe in luck.  
• For all the good Rhee has done for the kids, it all comes down to voters.  And we know students can’t vote.  Well unless they’ve been held back several times and then there’s a small percentage would could vote but really would they care?  At least someone thinks Summer school is important for the kids.

Happy All Hallows Eve …

Sharka’s ready.  Are you?
(He’s ready to stand in line for his free Chipotle Burrito!)

There Are Two of Them! …

Has anyone been watching this season of Bravo’s Top Chef?  Two of the contestants are fromFrederick, Maryland (brothers Michael and Bryan Voltaggio) with Bryan being the owner/chef of Volt restaurant in Urbana. We should get a group to go check it out.    I think the weird thing is there’s a contestant who reminds me of the cable installer from the Verizon FIOS commercials.  Which is which?

 

It’s uncanny that the two look alike.  Alas, we know the Top Chef dude is Kevin Gillespie and the guy in the Verizon commercial is Matt McCarthy.

A few reading links:

• I don’t see how you can be president without relying on the Almighty. Now when I was 21, I wouldn’t have told you that, but at age 63, I can tell you that one of the most amazing surprises of the presidency was the fact that people’s prayers affected me. I can’t prove it to you. But I can tell you some days were great, some days not so great. But every day was joyous. – George W. Bush
• Snyder is up to his old tricks again.  Banning posters and signs at FedEx Field unless they’re from official sponsors.  Talk about bad.
• Other than the Toyota Prius, the reliability of the four-cylinder Fusion and Milan ranks higher than that of any other family sedan. – An exert from the latest Consumer Reports 2009 Annual Car Reliability Survey
•  Microsoft’s new anti-virus package gets good reviews.  But do you trust it?  Do you?
• Does it matter what time of the day you recharge all your gadgets?  Nope.

One Man, Alone, Betrayed By The Country He Loves …

Ok, so it’s more like one TV Station, single-out by the President of the United States.  I’m sure most American’s have no idea whats going on or just think FOX is getting it’s just desserts for being soooo different from all the other media outlets.  Growing up with all the liberal media in this area it actually was refreshing to hear a different view point.  Even if you don’t agree with them because they do tend to blow things out of proportion (what other station doesn’t?) at least you get a different spin on things.  It’s just nice to see both sides of a story.

For all you Balloon Boy fans, there’s now a video game to play and a Halloween custom to wear.  yeah

Need a job?  This Georgetown student is look for a Personal Assistant.  And you thought college was difficult.

And who’s heard of Sarah Lawrence College?  Either way it ranks number 1 as the most costliest college in America.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions …

If you thought you were having a stroke or a heart attack what would you do?

1. Try to get the attention of those around you to let them know whats up
2. Call 9-1-1
3. Update your Facebook status or Tweeter feed

It’s quiet.  Too quiet …

A few weeks ago I went on a ramble about how car companies are trying to add “noise” generators in hybrids because folks like to live in their own self-absorbed world and don’t pay attention to their surrounds like my mom taught us.  Well it looks like there might be some selectable “car tones” ala cellphone ring tones in the future.

I’ve been trying to come up with a list of ones I’d like to get or at least suggest:

• Pac-Man sound – waka, waka, waka – Then when you hit a ped you hear the sound for when Pac-Man eats a ghost *gulp*
• Darth Vader’s theme song The Imperial March
• Europe’s The Final Countdown (just the instrumental) – Why did they take Arrested Development off the air???
• The flyby sound of an Imperial Tie Fighter
• Nelson’s laugh from The Simpsons

Tuesday Night QB …

This is how long it’s taken me to compose myself after a horrible football weekend.  Sure hanging out with my cuz and his family was fun while sitting through a rain soaked Maryland vs. Virginia game but UVA smacked UMCP again.  Not only that no Terp touchdowns!!!  Then Sunday rolls around and yes, I’d figure the Skins could lose to KC, I mean Dallas got lucky and beat the Chiefs the week before in OT.  But I thought the Skins would at least score more than 9 points!!!  No touchdowns either.  This has probably been the healthiest we’ve eaten at the beginning of a week in a long time.     Curse you Papa Johns pizza deal!!!!

And yes, the Skins are horrible.  The only good thing about all of this is that Snyder will blowup the team next year in a cap free year!  Hello new team.  Next years First rounder should be best athlete available no matter what the position (you never draft for need in the First round) then just start loading up on Tackles, Guards and Centers. *sigh*  It’s gonna be a long season without pizza.

A few links to keep our mind off our local football woes …

• I would have thought Jessica Rabbit would have been first.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  She’s not bad, she’s just drawn that way.    
• That’s MY barber!!!  No not really.  But mine is Asian and works up in Germantown.
• I realize there is money to be made on eBay but really how much does wholesale clothing cost for a person to make more than $100k on eBay?
• The Book of Genesis, comic book style.  Sorta reminds me of the weekly Bible Pixs we used to get at church as kids.
• WHAT!!!  NO CLUCK-U???  I tell ya it’s rigged!  Wait.  Looks like that’s what WTOP is saying too.