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.