Is that a.m. or p.m.?

I was in a bit of a hurry to get out the door today, so I forgot -- for the first time in many, many years -- to put on my watch. As a result, I've been staring at my wrist a lot.

I'm reminded of a friend who seldom wore a watch, and when you'd ask him what time it was, he'd reply, "Skin and hair."

Retroactive delivery

I'd like it yesterday, please.

Killjoys

I noticed this sign at a supermarket I occasionally stop into on my way to work:


If I can't crack open a beer and pop some pills while shopping for groceries, why bother going?

Culture shock

Consider that, in 2008, there still are people in Eugene, Ore., who look like this:


My parents arrived in the United States in 1968, and Eugene was their first stop. I've always wondered what went through their minds when they arrived. (Add in that their next stop was Pittsburgh, and you have a couple of huge, uh, transitions to make in the space of a year.)

It also reinforces my belief that anyone who willingly, as an adult, decides to uproot himself or herself and move halfway around the world is a lot braver than I am.

Squeezable

Anyone got a ketchup packet?

Faith in humanity

Driving to the mall before work today, I noticed two geese trying to cross a busy four-lane road. I slowed my car to a stop and fully expected drivers in the other lanes to blow right on past. To my surprise, everyone else also stopped and gave the birds a respectful amount of space as they waddled across the the first two lanes of traffic, then the median and then the other two lanes.

This made me feel so good about life that I promptly went to the mall and dropped $300 on stuff I didn't need (well, I did need the haircut).

Consumerism wins again!

My inner gambler

I've never been a huge gambler -- the most I've ever won in Vegas is $75 at video poker. I generally take $100 or $200 to a casino and proceed to blow through it in 45 minutes. Or I last about half an hour in a poker game with co-workers.

But a couple of months ago, I played poker with said co-workers and wound up with around $350 when all was said and done. This past weekend, I was in Connecticut visiting friends, and we decided to go to one of the casinos. So I got $100 in chips and ran through $90 of it at the blackjack table in about five minutes.

Then, something odd happened: I started to win. First, I was happy to get back to even. Then I was up $50. Then up $100. Considering my hot streak, I should have bet more aggressively. But I wound up leaving the table up $200 (after tipping the dealer) -- not bad for a few hours' work, I suppose.

Anyhow, a group from work is planning an Atlantic City trip in a few weeks. So I'm wondering if I'm on a hot streak or if everything just comes crashing down for me then.

Bad genes suck

The woman who cut my hair yesterday asked if I had considered hair coloring for men and added that they had a process that "leaves in some of the gray."

*sigh*

Northwest pipeline needed

For my birthday, my sister sent me an assortment of canned tuna from Oregon. Yesterday, a co-worker brought me some bottles of the awesome Rogue Imperial Red, which he picked up on his family's vacation to the Northwest and Canada. Today, one of the food boards I read had a discussion about Pacific salmon and oysters, which made me hungry and upset that my suspected shellfish allergy has been confirmed by a doctor. And I've been longing for Rainier cherries and Mount Hood strawberries every time I'm in the produce section at the supermarket.

It's a good thing I'm going to be in Oregon next month, otherwise I'd go a little batty thinking about all of the Northwest food I've been missing.

Thanks for the tip

Noticed this cart at the mall today:

In which I am an idiot

I got a few calls when I was at work tonight from neighbors who were concerned about my burglar alarm going off. I assured them I was fine, and then I told them it couldn't be my burglar alarm because it's disconnected.

Anyway, I arrived home to find the carbon monoxide detector going off and urgently flashing "GAS." (Unplugs carbon monoxide detector and slowly backs out door.) Turns out I left one of the burners on the stove on for, oh, about 11 hours. Sadly, this is not the first time I have done this. I had a similar episode at my place in Portland a few years back.

After throwing open the windows and turning on a fan full blast, I am now left with this problem: Having watched far too much TV, I am hesitant to turn on any lights, the TV, etc. (Though apparently I was OK with firing up the laptop. Eh.) Also, I am a tad reluctant to go to sleep, lest someone discover me pink and bloated a few days down the road.

Exciting way to kick off the ol' birthday, anyhow.

A Smart decision?

Some weeks back, when I was searching for a restaurant hidden away in the recesses of a suburban office park (I never did find it), I happened across the local Smart dealership.

The Smart cars were parked in a row in a lot slightly below the dealership's main lot, which held a fleet of gleaming Mercedes sedans and SUVs. I'm not sure if the juxtaposition was intentional, and if it was, were they going for: 1. Look how cute and sensible theses Smart cars look next to these luxury behemoths. 2. OK, here's your tiny cars, cityfolk, but check out how we suburbanites roll in our Mercedes.

Anyhow, if I didn't need to schlep out of D.C. and into office park hell every day for work -- and if I hadn't just gotten a new (used) car in February -- I'd probably consider a Smart car. I'm also not sure I'd take my chances on the Beltway or any other Interstate, although the car apparently did quite well in crash tests.

In Smart bandwagon news, our mayor just got one.

And even those jaded New Yorkers are impressed.

Odd definition of sports

If you run a news Web site, you have to let automation take care of some things. But it also means stuff like this happens:

Technological setbacks

For some reason, there was a lot of phone-slamming at the office today.

"Must be the end of the week," one of my co-workers commented.

And then I realized that for most people, the office is really the only place left where you can slam your phone.

I mean, most people have cordless phones at home, and no matter how hard you mash that on/off button, it's not going to beep any louder at you.

Same thing with cell phones. And even if you have the clamshell variety, they only give a moderate snap when you close them.

Phone-slamming: another victim of progress.

At 11:15 a.m. ...

I'll admit I was making fun of the local media outlets the other day for their breathless reporting on this heat wave. (Like it's never been hot and humid in D.C. before.)

But we could use a break after last week's fun storms, which featured the heaviest rain I've ever seen. And I was lucky enough to be out driving in it.

That's quite a look

So I spotted three lads at a local mall in these outfits:


I'm not sure if they lost a bet or if this is the current fashion among the college set.

Apologies for the photo quality. I was trying to be stealthy with my camera phone.

Be afraid

Robots are working out on the track and building their endurance.

Dietary restrictions

A couple of months ago, I was sitting at my desk at work, scratching my arms through the final several hours of my shift. It wasn't until I got home and changed out of my work clothes that I noticed my arms and upper body were covered in hives.

I hoped they would go away and went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, a good number of the hives on my upper body had gone away, but new ones were on my legs. As the day progressed, the hives returned to my chest. Concerned, I went to the urgent care clinic, where they determined I was most likely having an allergic reaction to something I ate. I'd never had any sort of food allergies, but I recalled the itching started a few hours after I had eaten dinner -- pad see ew with chicken and a side of fried calamari.

I was given doses of steroids, antihistamines and antacids and sent on my way. So the meds did their stuff and I later consulted with my physician, who thinks I've probably developed a shellfish allergy. I think I'll see an allergist to see if this can be confirmed, but I'm going to be really pissed if that's the case. I guess things could be worse -- I recently spoke to someone who developed a wheat allergy when she turned 30 -- but it kind of sucks that I've been able to enjoy shellfish for all these years and might be forced to give it up. (But I did just realize this might be a continuation of problems I've had since my 30th.)

And just the other day, I was joking to my sister as we prepared for a family picture that it takes me a good 30 seconds to get my body to sit down on the grass.

In the meantime, I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to have just a teensy serving of shellfish to see if I can without having another allergic reaction. Because although my last incident wasn't at all life-threatening, it was mighty uncomfortable. I still have most of the necessary medication (alas, I'm out of the 'roids), so I think I'd be OK.

But I'd really rather not die.

Ye Olde Cheeze Whizze

Spotted at one stand at a Renaissanse faire I attended (don't ask) over the weekend: nachos (in peasant and royalty varieties).

I will say the knight battles were impressive, though I was sorely disappointed we could not find the trebuchet.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

I have a 5:40 a.m. flight Tuesday to the West Coast, which will come after I work late Monday night. It's probably wisest to pack before work and just head straight to the airport after I get done, but we'll see what I wind up doing.

In any event, I'm pretty sure I'm going to regret this scheduling, just as I'll probably wish I hadn't booked a red-eye home Saturday night since I have to work Sunday, too.

The things I do to maximize vacation time ...

T-O-O F-U-N-N-Y

I meant to post this months ago, but there's this site promoting an Australian bank that is one of the most amusing, addictive and impressive marketing gimmicks ever.

Knock yourself out trying to get the kitties to sing dirty lyrics.

And the tune is pretty catchy, too.

Funky footwear

I was harassed by a shoeshine guy -- one who already had a customer, mind you -- the other day for having dirty shoes. How this works as a sales tactic, I'm not sure. But it did lead me to realize I do pretty much wear the same shoes every day, even though I have many other perfectly good pairs at home.

In the past, because I bought somewhat cheap shoes, I went through them fairly quickly. But this current, dirty pair has held up remarkably well despite near-daily wear for more than three years. So I suppose it's time to go out and by some shoe polish, lest I'm accosted by another shoeshine guy.

Note to self...

... accidentally showing up two hours early for a baseball game when it's 40 degrees is not a good idea.



But I did get to see my first game at Wrigley Field, which was very cool -- in both senses.

(Confession: I endured for seven innings, then left, so here's how the game turned out.)

About town

My Saturday morning included:

Cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin


The cool (relatively new) Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery


And the reason for a massive spike in attendance at the gallery:

A bumper crop of tourists

Spring has officially arrived in D.C. with the Cherry Blossom Festival, though I'm still undecided if I'm going to fight the crowds to go gawk today.

It's tough for me to get my head around celebrating spring in March, having spent most of my life in Central New York and then seven years in Oregon. At this time of year in Central New York, you're still very much in winter -- I think they got five or six inches of snow yesterday. In Oregon, you're still a good two months (or more) away from the end of the gray and the rain.

Here, it's been warming for weeks and everything is starting to bloom. Weird.

Going down the drain

Another in the occasional series of toilet-related posts:

It seems even millionaire athletes are impressed by high-tech toilets. (Yahoo! Sports)

But Olympic athletes are not athletic enough to handle squat toilets. (The Guardian via Deadspin)

I feel vindicated.

Earlier toilet coverage here and here.

Nice way to earn a living, I suppose

I am really tired (no pun intended) of someone at work who spends the second half of every workday falling asleep.

Maybe there are issues I don't know about that prevent this person from getting a full night's sleep every night. Perhaps it's mild narcolepsy. Regardless, why am I working so hard when someone else is taking a snooze?

Why bother?

Crust, too

Overheard at a pizza shop at Penn Station:

Mother: What would you like on your pizza?
Daughter #1: Cheese!
Daughter #2: Plain!
Mother: Just cheese?
Daughter #2: And sauce!

Take that, New York Times Metropolitan Diary!

Politics rocks!

Before I head off to Philly (mmm ... cheesesteaks) and New York (mmm ... everything) for the next couple of days, here's a gem from PRI's More Fair Game:

Andrew W.K. puts John McLaughlin to music. (Seriously!)

* McLaughlin Groove (.mp3)
* Complete show

Area blogger enjoys humorous publication

If you love The Onion, as I do, check out this episode of This American Life from a few weeks back. (I meant to post this last month, then forgot about it until now.) It's a fascinating look at what goes on in the writers' room at the newspaper.

The other segments are all really good, too. Especially the last one by The New Yorker's Malcom Gladwell, which will give those of you who haven't spent time in a newsroom an interesting look at what happens to your daily paper when professional journalists get bored.

(Aside: Why is it that The New Yorker is always on newsstands before I get it in the mail? Isn't that why you subscribe to a magazine? To get it first?)

Finally, I'm obviously in a weird mood today because this Onion story made me laugh hysterically:

Whale Expert Measures Everything in Elephants

Nerd alert!

OK, I found Stephen Colbert's discussion of the proper use of the hyphen (starts at the 1:11 mark) way too funny.

Stuff I don't get

I have so many questions about this product:

* How much money are they raking in that they can afford a full-page ad in USA Today nearly every day?

* Why are the Amish suppling material for a product that runs on electricity?

* How many people have burned down their houses using this product?

Answers appreciated.

Death is clickworthy

As I learned when I worked at a Web site, you have to be careful what you're attaching that "video" link to. LATimes.com is linking to TV coverage of the aftermath of a plane collision, but you get a completely different idea (snuff film!) from this blurb.

What a deal (?)

An electronics chain in the DC area found a novel way to display a price increase:

Mmm ... bacon

Since I'm having fun with video embedding ...

Use it or lose it

This clip, from last night's "30 Rock," entirely sums up how far my own German skills have deteriorated. I love the subtitles that show how much Tina Fey's character is comprehending. In particular: Hubcap (?)

My AC is running (so I better go catch it)

That's the current weather in DC.

And, yes, the air conditioner in my condo (set to 78 degrees) is running. I get direct sunlight, so the place heats up quickly. The plus side of that is that I haven't had to run the heater at all this winter. (I think the coldest it's gotten inside is 68 degrees, even with several nights of temperatures in the 20s.)

Here comes the neighborhood

Hello. Happy New Year.

I live a couple of blocks off the main thoroughfare through my part of town, a street the powers that be have designated a high priority area for development. (That is, "Hey! We promise you won't get shot if you come to this part of town. Pleeeaaaseee?")

So, I've noticed a restaurant going in on the ground floor of a condo building. (I'd considered buying a place in the building, but the floorplans were a little too odd.)

More interesting is what's going in across the street, in an old auto-parts store: Doggie daycare.

I suspect soon enough we'll have our very own standalone Starbucks, as until now they've been only bold enough to open a kiosk in the neighborhood Safeway.