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Ah, Vancouver…

Saturday, July 3, 2010

The 3-hour time difference has so far proven more significant than expected. Luckily, C is also from the Eastern time zone, so we are on the same schedule. Last night, we managed to stay awake until about 9 PM, but then we crashed and didn’t sleep well because the beds are way too soft and sort of suck you in, which is initially comfortable, but then not so much because you can’t actually roll over. We got up around 6 AM this morning, wide awake. We leisurely got ready and had a leisurely breakfast and leisurely hung around the hotel room – all leisurely because the car rental place didn’t open until 9 AM. But we eventually acquired the car, and then off we were! Bopping hither and yon, all over Vancouver!

First up was the Punjabi Market, which is basically the Indian version of a Chinatown. It’s only about three blocks, but we wandered in and out of shops. I bought some treats and some veggie samosas. I LOVE veggie samosas.

Next up was the VanDusen Botanical Garden, which is fabulous. So, so pretty! We wandered around there for quite a while.

We then headed to the new Vancouver temple to take photos of the outside. I anticipated that my GPS wouldn’t recognize the address (and it didn’t), and came prepared with longitude and latitude, which worked perfectly.

Tired and with aching feet, we retreated back to our hotel, with a quick stop at a Walmart we drove past so C could stock up on Pepsi. And now… I am tired and want to sleep, but it’s only 7 PM in this time zone, and so I must remain awake. (Note: Photos from the day uploaded here.)

Oh, and one thing I learned while at the VanDusen Gardens: no, you’re not paranoid – the trees really are watching you…

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The most awesome city!

Friday, July 2, 2010

I am in Vancouver! Mountains! Cool air! An abundance of Asian languages! I find it fascinating that the airport has text not only in the expected English and French, but also Japanese, Korean, and Thai. Very cool.

The flights were painless. The planes were mostly on time and nothing of significance happened. I made it through customs (can you believe Canada actually let me in the country? The fools…) and found the hotel shuttle. I was a bit early to check in, so I left my luggage and wandered down to a drug store to get some supplies that I decided I’d rather buy than schlep across a continent, and then finally checked it. C arrived with Kinder chocolate as a birthday gift (isn’t she awesome? She knows I love Kinder eggs, and you can’t get them in the U.S.). Even though it was early, we’re both on an Eastern time zone setting, so we went to dinner and now I”m internetting.

I’m in Vancouver! Yay!

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Old Friends and Star Trek

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

It is most unpleasant outside today. I arrived at work all sweaty and gross, but I quickly cooled off because my office is approximately the temperature of Iceland. In winter. If the Earth were the same distance from the sun as Mars.

Monday was Star Trek III at Crystal City’s outdoor movie thing. I really like number III. I enjoy the humor (“The word is no. I am therefore going anyway.” “Don’t call me tiny.”). I enjoy the fact that Spock isn’t dead. I enjoy the mildly incompetent Klingons. I used to enjoy Saavik 2.0, but I’ve since decided Saavik 1.0 was much better. Saavik 2.0 is seriously lacking in anything resembling a personality. Oh well. When I was a kid, I was so happy to learn that Spock wasn’t dead… and then was sobbing as the Enterprise was destroyed. Noooooo…!

I almost didn’t get to see the movie in the theater when it was first released. When I was little, I wasn’t allowed to watch scary movies for a few years because I couldn’t handle them (even though I loved them), and for some irrational reason my parents decided it was better to just ban them rather than have to spend the following week trying to pry me out of their bed and back into my own because of nightmares and general freaking out. I know, they were so unfair. Anyway, I went with a friend to see Gremlins and my punishment was that I couldn’t see Star Trek III. Noooooo…! But my parents eventually relented and I was able to join the family for the movie. There may have been weeping and begging involved, but I don’t really remember. (By the way, after seeing Gremlins I didn’t spend a single night in my parents’ bed, though I did make my sister sleep with me in my bed that night. I then indignantly denied that Gremlins and the slumber party had anything to do with one another when my mom confronted me the next day.)

A friend from back when I lived in the middle of nowhere is living in the DC area for a few months. She and I worked together, and were even officemates for a while. She and her family arrived here a few weeks ago, so on Saturday she ditched her husband and kids and random relatives that are visiting them, and we hung out for a while. It was great seeing her. I introduced her to Eastern Market and Hill’s Kitchen so she could see a bit of the non-touristy side of DC.

The heat and humidity were miserable, though. After less than 2 hours I was ready to abandon the outdoors. Her husband called and invited us to join them to wander around outside the White House. That was more outside time than I was up for, but I joined her for the train ride to meet up with her family before ditching them to return home to sweet, sweet air conditioning. We absolutely need to get together again, though.

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Rain and Star Trek

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Last night was Star Trek II at the outdoor film thing in Crystal City. As the train I was on emerged from underground at the Arlington Cemetery station, it was pouring rain. I considered ditching the entire thing, but I heard a couple people somewhere behind me who were also debating ditching their plans, and one of them said, “It’ll probably only rain 5 or 10 minutes, and then it’ll be done.” I decided that was actually a reasonable assumption based on the recent rain pattern, so continued the journey.

Upon reaching my destination, I emerged from underground to find it still raining, so hung out under the awning waiting for it to stop, which was only a couple minutes later. I gathered with friends to watch the movie. We talked. We laughed. Et cetera. Before the movie started, the rain returned. Downpour. My showerhead doesn’t have that much water pressure, and it’s a decent showerhead. Oh well. Actually, the rain felt good. It was warm and, well, wet, as rain tends to be, since it’s composed primarily of water, at least here on planet Earth. It eventually stopped. I was soaked. Very, very soaked.

The movie started. We cheered. We cheered multiple times. I like an enthusiastic, interactive audience. ‘Twas a lovely time.

My friend S and I went home together, and after dropping her off, I managed to find a parking spot only 2 blocks away. Success! I didn’t want to carry my camp chair that far, though, so I left it in my car until today. It’s now drying in my livingroom.

When I got home and stripped off the drenched clothes and threw on dry clothes, the dry clothes felt exquisite. The wet clothes actually weren’t that uncomfortable until the train home, when the air-conditioning was way too cold when I was that wet. But the switch to dry clothes felt wonderful.

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Dear Districtites, Marylanders, and Virginians

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Dear Districtites, Marylanders, and Virginians,

That turn signal that has been conveniently placed in your car has a purpose. It lets people sharing the road with you know when you plan to turn left or right. It’s surprisingly helpful and was not installed in your car simply for ornamental purposes. Use it.

Bah!

Sincerely,
Someone who’d like to know when you’re not planning on going straight

P.S. Districtites? Districters? Districtians? I suppose I’ve seen Washingtonian, but I don’t like that because that seems to me like a different world – the world seen on CNN. Also, sometimes you then have to clarify you don’t mean the state (the two Washingtons hopelessly confused me when I was a little kid), and if you have to add a clarification, there’s probably a better option. But what is it?

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Fireflies and Star Trek

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Movies in parks are apparently the popular thing around here these days. There’s Screen on the Green, but now it seems neighborhood after neighborhood has their own variation. I approve. I haven’t gone until now (hordes of people, the miserable heat of summer – ugh, no thanks), but I approve. This year, however, Crystal City is showing all of the Star Trek movies: the original six, the Next Gen ones, and the most recent reboot. Awesome! Some friends sent out an email asking if anyone else was interested, and I immediately raised my hand (metaphorically since it was, you know, email).

So last night I hopped on yonder Metro (why, hello, blue line) and easily found the courtyard that is apparently counting as a park. (Crystal City is little more than tall office buildings, hotels, and I think a few high-rise apartment buildings; frankly, it’s pretty dead at night.) A– and I were the only ones who came last night (at least one other person said she’d come for the even numbered movies), and I got there before her, primarily because she got lost. I, on the other hand, had carefully mapped out the half-block walk from the metro station using multiple maps. I’ve been lost too many times to not carefully map out even a half-block walk. Her experience tells me I made the right choice.

Anyway, we were both there and settled in, and the fireflies started flying around, which filled me with glee. I love fireflies! There are no fireflies in Utah, so they’re still an exciting novelty, and these were the first I’ve seen this year. Eventually the screen was inflated, the horrible country music was turned off (I’m not sure if Star Trek geeks and country-western fans intersect much, so I question whether that was the wisest music selection, but I suppose I could be wrong), and the movie started. There were cheers and clapping. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the first movie, so I’d forgotten a lot of the details, which made it more interesting.

‘Twas enjoyable.

The movie ended, we clapped, and we headed home, she on the yellow line and me on the blue. Yes, I realize I could take the yellow line and transfer at L’Enfant, whereas the blue takes that long loop around, but it was close to midnight, so the trains weren’t exactly running with high frequency, so it was easier and quite likely just as fast to take the blue the entire way. By the way, the fact that Metro doesn’t run all night is actually annoying. It stops running at midnight (ish) on weeknights, which means it’s cutting things a bit close for the movie thing. What sort of large metro area subway system doesn’t run all night?!

But I digress. Anyway, I got to my destination Metro station, where I’d parked (trust me, it’s easier than transferring to a bus), and then ended up circling block after block of my neighborhood for about 15 minutes looking for place to park. Noted: good luck finding a spot that late on a weeknight! I managed to finally find a spot only two blocks away, though. Success! Wandering the streets of DC after midnight is not exactly safe, so I was keenly aware of my surroundings. But nothing happened and all was well. (I subscribe to the police alerts by email, and there was a nearby mugging right at the time I was walking home, but it was about four blocks away.) Yes, I love living in the city, but I’m aware it has its downfalls, and the crime does sometimes make me nervous.

I’m looking forward to next week’s movie, The Wrath of Khan. KHAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

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Today

Saturday, June 5, 2010

I had planned to go one other place today, but as I stood in line for asparagus and strawberries at the farmers market and sweat was dripping down my face and down my back, I ditched that plan. The steamy weather was too much (and it’s only going to get worse). So instead I bought my delicious fresh produce and bread and yogurt, dropped my groceries off at home, and drove to Old Town in Alexandria with the air conditioning on high. I wandered around Old Town a bit and was tempted buy a few things, but ultimately didn’t, and eventually made it to my target, a candy store. I bought taffy. They also sell Canadian candy, but they didn’t have the kinds I like. I’ll have to get Canadian candy when I’m in Canada next month. I wandered around Old Town some more and was eventually drawn to an ice cream place because, dude, it was ice cream and I was melting. The ice cream was perfect. I got rocky road and mint chocolate chip in a waffle cone. And then I came home. I believe October will be a good time to visit the other place I planned on visiting. The weather should be good again around then.

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First week of June midweek randomness

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

1. Courtesy of this post, I now have something new to haunt my dreams: the coconut crab.

Shudder.

I’ll be weeping in the corner, terrified of what other horrifying creatures inhabit the same planet as me.

2. Contract re-compete stuff at work is stressing me out.

3. My throat swelled up last night, and at first I was content to just ignore it and wait it out, but then I started wheezing, so I took some steroids so I’d be able to breathe and thus sleep, but the steroids ended up kicking my kidneys into serious overdrive, which meant getting up every freakin’ half hour most of the night, so there wasn’t so much sleep after all, and now I’m really tired.

4. Sometimes I’m just in a run-on sentence mood.

5. My computer is dying. The screeching and whining it emits is irritating, and also, I’m assuming, a sign of its impending death. It’s been sounding questionable for a few months, each day slightly worse than the last, and it’s reached a point where I really can’t ignore it anymore. I have iTunes busy consolidating my music files on one of my external hard-drives now. Everything else is backed up elsewhere (technically my music backed up elsewhere too, but it’s not organized, and the consolidation thing should fix my organization problem). Over the years I’ve upgraded the thing a couple times (more memory fixes a multitude of sins), plus had it in for repair once when I couldn’t fix it myself, so it’s probably time to go ‘puter shopping. Alas.

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A memory

Monday, May 24, 2010

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh,” he whispered.

“Yes, Piglet?”

“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw, “I just wanted to be sure of you.”

The above quote triggered a memory. My sister and I shared a bedroom until I was 8 and she was 6. Once we got our own rooms, it immediately became clear that, despite my protestations that our room was always a mess because she was a slob and her protestations that our room was always a mess because I was a slob, we were both slobs. Alas. Anyway, when we were sharing a room, most nights after our parents tucked us into bed and we were (supposedly) drifting off to sleep, I would say, “Kristina?” “Yeah,” she would respond. “Are you still awake?” I would ask, even though she obviously was since she’d answered me. “Yeah,” she’d reply. “Oh. Just checking,” I’d say. Night after night we’d have that pointless conversation. Sometimes she would initiate it, but I’m pretty sure it was mostly me. It was comforting, and I think I just wanted to be sure of her.

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Two things

Thursday, May 20, 2010

1. The power was off for about an hour this evening. It was unpleasant. Despite the irritatingly frequent power outages when I lived in the middle of nowhere, I’m not adapted to it and I’ve become used to reliable electricity. Even though I’m surrounded by books and have multiple flashlights and candles to use when reading those books (in other words, I had plenty of pleasant options with which to entertain myself), I found myself desperate to have the electricity back – the hum of the refrigerator, the whoosh of the computer fan, music or the TV on in the background. But no, all I had was silence except for the voices of neighbors greeting each other outside because they had no power either. My mental addiction to electricity does not bode well for how I’ll adapt when the aliens invade and plunge us into darkness.

2. I’ve been watching a good chunk of the final season of The West Wing. I love the first four seasons of that show and still enjoy watching repeats. Aaron Sorkin is so insanely talented. Brilliant stuff. I always stop watching before the last couple episodes of season 4 and wait until it loops around back to season 1. When the show was first airing, I watched about the first half of season 5 before bailing on it in disgust and frustration, and though I sampled a few more episodes as the show continued on, I could never finish an entire one without turning it off in disappointment at how annoying the characters had become. However, I wanted to see how it ended, and enough time has passed that I’m better able to watch it just as it is rather than comparing it to its glorious past. And to my surprise I’ve mostly enjoyed it.

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As the stomach turns

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I’m feeling mildly nauseated. Noted: They may be cool, cute and popular, but cupcakes are still cake, and I don’t like cake. Ugh.

Still, I finally experienced Curbside Cupcakes, and I’m glad I’ve experienced it. I’ve wanted to try their cupcakes for months, but I just don’t ever remember to check Twitter, and Facebook is blocked at work, so whenever I think about them, they’re nowhere near me. But at last, today the opportunity arose due a fellow minion, who gets a couple cupcakes every week, who clued me in to the truck’s arrival.

So… Curbside Cupcakes is this pink truck that drives around to different locations around DC selling cupcakes. They announce where they’ll be and when via Twitter and Facebook. I didn’t look carefully enough to notice that Tuesdays are apparently the day they come to the Navy Yard/Dept. of Transportation area. I now know this, except… I also now know that cupcakes… are still not my thing. So knowing Tuesday’s are the day I need to look for really doesn’t matter to me after all. Urp. Still, I rate them as quality cupcakes, nice and moist and tasty, if you’re into that sort of thing.

But like I said, I’m glad I finally got to experience it: the pink truck filled with cupcakes, the long line of sugar-craving fans. So hip. So cool.

Pie needs to become the next popular, cool thing. I like pie….

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Swords and saluting

Friday, May 14, 2010

The heat and humidity were unpleasant, but it was nevertheless totally awesome and much better than spending the afternoon in the office staring at a computer.

I speak, of course, of the retirement and change of office ceremony I attended today. I love a good ceremony, a bit of ritual, and this did not disappoint. There were even swords! (I must be honest here: of all the branches of the military, the Navy has the worst uniforms. Very unattractive. But officers in their dress uniforms do get swords, and that’s just cool.) The Captain has now retired, and The New Captain (who henceforth shall simply be The Captain) is now the program manager.

It was held at the Navy Memorial. We were all hoping for no rain so it could be outside (we did have a fall-back indoor option), and though thunderstorms were in the forecast, they held off. It was sunny, way too warm, and miserably humid. Mercifully, it was windy, which at least dried off the dripping sweat. I was also glad to have short hair, and I pitied the men in their suits. But anyway, it was outside. It’s loud, and tourists and businessfolk pass by wondering what is going on, and I felt cool because I got to sit in the chairs and have a program and know what was going it.

There were lieutenant commanders and commanders and captains and even a couple admirals. The guest speaker was the Mr. Sean Stackley, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition). The Navy ceremonial band was there, the colors were presented, and the national anthem was played. The honored guests [the two captains, the program executive officer, and ASN(RDA)] were “piped aboard”, wherein there was a lot of saluting and passing by a line of officers and then reaching the stage area.

The invocation and benediction were given by the program office’s technical director, a big, black guy with a deep, strong voice, who preaches on Sundays, which seems completely appropriate for him. There were speeches, and the official change of office. There were more speeches and the reading of orders. The speeches all spoke of service to country and honor. A bunch of awards for the outgoing captain were read and presented.

It lasted a couple hours, and I was miserably hot. I didn’t really care about the reception afterwards, but I went inside to it anyway and welcomed the air conditioning and red punch. I found the outgoing captain and shook his hand and told him congratulations and best wishes and that I would miss him. And I will miss him. I finished my punch (ah, sweet, sweet liquid) and left.

Definitely better than spending the afternoon in the office staring at a computer.

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What’s in your bag?

Thursday, May 13, 2010

(I know, two posts in one day. Just go with it.) This is a fabulous idea I’m stealing from my friend, S. Aren’t you interested in what is in people’s bags? I am! But I’m nosy that way. And so…. This is what I carry around with me on work days. Actually, most of this is what I carry around places besides work, but I carry it in a smaller bag. (This bag accommodates a laptop, but I only rarely carry one.)

These aren’t really directly rows, but let’s see if this makes sense….

Top row, from the left: cough drops, camera (okay, in this picture just the case because I was using the camera), magazine and book (usually I just have one or the other, but there’ve been more gaps in things this week, so I have both), umbrella (only carried when rain is threatening; rain has been threatening).

Second row down: wallet, iPod in a pink case, the green thing is a reusable bag.

Third row down: Metro card, work IDs, ridiculously outdated work phone numbers, flash drives, cell phone, check book (I need to stop carrying it; I never use it; actually now is a good time to move it out of my bag).

Bottom row: pens, hair elastics (no need for them anymore, I guess), random papers (mostly with directions or addresses on them).

And then the bag on the left. The pins on it are two wooden peace symbols, a Sea Shepherd pin (I had it before Whale Wars debuted on TV), and a Stargate-related pin (hi, I’m a geek; have we met?).

And for those who are wondering, no, if I were seated on base at work, I couldn’t have the flash drives, cell phone (because it has a camera in it) or camera. But I’m seated off base, so nobody cares, and I simply leave them at my desk when I go on base.

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It was annoying me and had to go

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Pre-haircut (my hair isn’t auburn; it’s just the lighting)

Post-haircut (still not auburn)

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Distractions!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Work has been slow the last couple of days. Today I was bored enough to read my company’s human resources policies. They weren’t as dull as you might initially suspect – or perhaps I was simply bored enough to find them interesting.

In any case, I had to stay late, as I always do on Wednesdays, to do a quick edit (it takes no more than an hour) of a weekly report. I edited it. I sent it off to the next step. I fled.

I fled to an excellent Smithsonian Associates lecture about the first couple decades (1789-1815 to be exact) of the American republic. Gordon S. Wood was the lecturer. I enjoyed it, but I would have enjoyed it more if it weren’t for the distractions. Oh, the distractions! A woman sat next to me who spent then entire lecture burping. The entire lecture. Whole thing. Every minute or two, she’d burp a few times. About 3/4 of the way through, she pulled out her cell phone and started playing Tetris. If it weren’t for the burping, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it – I too am drawn by the addictive powers of Tetris – but on top of the burping it was just too much.

But I retained my composure and didn’t strangle her. Didn’t want to disrupt the lecture, you know.

Unfortunately, the weird burping lady wasn’t my only distraction. My cell phone kept vibrating. One call, eh, whatever, it can wait. Two calls… this is unusual. I don’t usually get phone calls (and I like it that way; I hate talking on the phone). Three calls… oh holy crap, WHAT NOW?! So I dug out my phone and looked at the numbers. Two from a fellow minion and one unknown number (though actually it turns out it was a known number, I’d just transposed two numbers when I’d entered it a few weeks earlier). All focus completely gone, I nevertheless returned the cell to my bag to wait until the end of the lecture.

The lecture ended, I clapped with sincere vigor (okay, I didn’t get as much out of it as I would have preferred, but I really liked what I did get out of it), I considered buying a book and getting the guy to sign it but then decided the library would suffice, and then I listened to the voicemail left on my cell.

The first call – the unknown number that wasn’t really an unknown number – was my home teacher. Wanted to make an appointment. Cool. I’m delighted to actually have a home teacher.

But the calls from the fellow minion…. Work drama. The weekly report never reached the sort-of supervisor, and people were all a-freakin’ out. Sigh. There’s another step between me and the sort-of supervisor, and no one could reach the person at that step, so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what happened there, but they could (sort of) reach me, so I went home, sent a couple emails, made a couple calls. And then had to go back to work to email the weekly report directly to the sort-of supervisor. There’s just nothing I love quite like going back to work at 9:30 at night. (I can’t hate on the sort-of supervisor for it, even though I want to. It’s the government overlords who insist it reach them tonight. So I’m hatin’ on the government.) Sigh again. At least I live close to work. At least there is that small mercy.

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