Tonight, I bought a TV in anger

I've been thinking about getting a new tv for myself for Christmas. (Merry Christmas to me!) So I swung down to Best Buy and wandered over to the tv section. I wandered around and waited for a helpful sales associate to show up. No one did. Eventually I noticed that there was one sales dude in tv, (ONE!) and that he was helping an elderly couple. It was clearly going to take awhile. I looked around for someone else, but didn't find anybody. So I waited. And waited. Eventually I decided that since I'm going to need a new computer soon, I'd wander over to computers and knock out two birds with one stone. I walked over and browsed, looked at some models, had some questions. But once again I couldn't find any helpful sales associates. So I wandered back to tvs. Still one dude. Still helping elderly couple. And I waited. And waited some more. I wandered through the phone section thinking I might get lucky. I didn't. I wandered back to computers. I finally found a sales guy. He said that he was already helping someone and three people were waiting behind them. He suggested I talk to his coworker. He pointed at a harried looking surrounded by 5 people. I went back to tvs. Still no help. A comcast guy who had been watching this fiasco the whole time but who was not allowed to help me (he wasn't wearing a blue shirt) went with me for another round of "Let's try and find a sales associate" he then informed me that if I went to customer service they could probably help me. That's pretty much where I lost it. I'm not going to sit in some hellish holiday customer service line for the privilege of giving Best Buy a bunch of money. Screw you Best Buy! No Freaking Way! Or, I pointed out, I could just go to another store and buy a freaking tv. So I went to Target. I pointed out the tv I wanted. Same model. Cheaper price. I was helped the minute I went to the desk and 5 FREAKING MINUTES LATER they had it out of the back room and were helping me load it into my car. Oh yeah Best Buy. 5 minutes. Take that. Fortunately both of my roommates were home, since I hadn't actually planned on buying a tv today. They helped me get into my room and hooked up. Now I'm making sure it works. And I'm not so angry anymore. I'm still going somewhere else for a new computer. There's a principle involved. Take that BestBuy. Ninja Corbeau stands triumphant!

Mesmerisizing

This is the best Griswold house...evah.

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Awesome

They've combined two of my favorite things, Jane Austen and Violence.

Halloween

This year I went Steampunk, with an outfit I've been putting together since Otakon in August.
The goggles are mirrored, so I can see through them, but they cut off all peripheral vision. Combine that with the corset and the boots and walking became an adventure.

I wanted to show off my awesome boots, so we took this photo, and my roommate called me a "tart" for flashing some leg. :) The other one informed me that since I have a front lacing corset, I was already a hussy. It's rough being a Victorian lady.

RED

This movie is a lot of fun. I had to pee so bad it hurt but I couldn't make myself leave the theater because I had to see what happened next.

Its that good.


Its way over the top action fun, but the dialogue is witty and you can tell everyone involved is just having a good time.

Plus Helen Mirren fires a 50 cal machine gun while in formal evening dress. Every word in that sentence should make you want to see this movie.

Navy vs. SMU

Last weekend I went with a big group from church to the Navy game in Annapolis. Because of our group we got awesome tickets. I was on the front row on the 20 yard line, on SMUs side. It was awesome. Some people asked if we were a sorority.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a game, and the midshipmen had a cannon, their goats, and the cutest bulldog sporting the Marine colors. It was really cool to see all the Midshipmen march on. They had a couple of random Air Force and West Point cadets with them too.

The first half they were behind 0-14. But then they came from behind to tie the game 21-21 with two minutes left, then intercepted to win. Everyone was going crazy and it was such an intense nail biter.

Afterwards we went down into historic Annapolis, which I will really have to visit again sometime during the day. I mean, I saw a fudge shop down there.

We got some Italian and found this amazing hat shop that was still open. It made me want to go the Kentucky Derby just so I could buy a huge fru fru hat.

I did end up with a fedora with this great cherry blossom band because it was on sale. I love hats.

Huzzah!

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate is back at Starbucks!! AND Krispy Kreme has their pumpkin shaped donuts out.


I love fall.

City of Music

This weekend I went to Nashville to see Dolly Parton sing at the 85th birthday of the Grand Ole Opry.
I'm not a huge fan of country music, but it was Dolly. She's a legend! It was a great show. It probably would have been even better if I knew more. They had a lot of country legends there, which would also explain the massive amounts of older folks roaming Nashville.
Seriously. They were really nice, but it was a little odd. A couple from Kansas City told us of a good restaurant, and when we caught the shuttle for the concert, the shuttle was filled with crazy old folks. They were funny though, and everyone was in good spirits for Dolly.
Trace Atkins and Taylor Swift also performed. Those were the only other names I recognized. I knew Trace from Celebrity Apprentice, and Taylor Swifts songs were much less annoying live.

Although watching her fans wig the crap out was hilarious.

Nashville is still recovering from the floods in May.

The culprit

The river flooded its banks and put a serious chunk of Nashville, including the Grand Ole Opry, under 4-6 feet water. We watched a video about the reconstruction of the stage, and it was weird to think of all the places under water.

Secretariat

I saw this Thursday night and I really liked it. They do a great job of showcasing Virginia horse country. I've only been out there twice, but its just as gorgeous as it looks in the movie.

Fun Fact: The farm where Secretariat was filmed is now the site for the VA state fair.

The shots of the races are also really well done. I guess this movie is a bit like Titanic, in that you already know how it ends, but they do a good job building up the tension anyway, and its just fun to watch the horses run.

Since we all know Secretariat is awesome, they build drama with the owner's story. I did wonder if her husband was as much of a jerk as he's protrayed. I think they might have beefed that up to make it more dramatic.

Its a good film though and an excellent one to see in the theater. Even if there's some dude snoring through the first third.

(Seriously, why did it take so long for whoever was next to him to wake him up?)

Star Wars Fun

Cave of Doom

Last weekend, during one of the hottest days on record, with a heat index of 120 and actual extreme heat warnings being broadcast over the emergency networks, I moved to a new house that's closer to work.

I've cut my commute in half. Totally worth it.

So my new room is in the basement. The lovely, cool, dark basement. And since I've been in it for all of 5 days I feel I know it pretty well, so I don't always flip on the lights before walking around.

And that is how I ended up lost in a storage space around 3 am last night.

Sweet

Although with work I have no time to play and with moving I have no money to buy it with. Sigh.

Chim Chim Cheree

We went and saw the musical Mary Poppins Thursday night at the Kennedy Center. It was a lot of fun, and we had great seats. In fact, we were right in the flight path of Mary Poppins, which filled me with wonder and a desperate hope that she wouldn't lose her grip on that carpet bag.

They used elements from both the movie and the book, but I think they used more from the book, because so it was much different than I expected. The children were actually naughty, unlike the movie, where they just run away to fly a kite. In fact, Jane was a real little snot, and even fights with Mary Poppins.

The story was more dark and far more dramatic, and there was one scene where Mary Poppins straight up sends an evil nanny to hell.


The numbers were really good, especially Step In Time with the chimney sweeps, and I loved the Mary Poppins struck a pose everytime she went up or down the stairs.

SYTYCD: Ninja!

They have a ninja dance! And it was awesome:

Blergh

My neighbors were out on their deck until 3 am. They weren't noisy or anything, just having a conversation. Which is fine except that their deck is right next to my window and the wall is apparently made out of paper and wishful thinking.

So I pretty much heard this all night. "Murmur murmur murmur Then I said murmur murmur murmur HA HA HA murmur murmur murmur Yabba Dabba Dooo!"

I kid you not about the Yabba Dabba Doo. That is a direct quote that occurred at 1:55 am. If I had known in advance, I would have just joined my roommates at the midnight showing of Sparkly Vampire 3.

Warsaw

Statue of Chopin in the park




Cool fountain

One of two remaining buildings from Warsaw ghetto, you can still see the bullet holes.

Weird Warsaw architecture. Seriously, this parking garage looks like its falling down.


Excellent example of Soviet art. Note the jackhammer.

Lublin

Lublin's castle


One of of Lublin's city gates.


One of Lublin's awesomely beautiful buildings.


Mejdansk, the concentration camp outside Lublin

The Salt Mines

The salt mines were my favorite part of the trip. They've been in operation since the 1100s, and we had to climb down 378 steps just to get to the starting point. The walls are all salt rock, and you're allowed to lick them and see how salty they are.



The miners carved all kinds of cool things into the salt, including this massive chapel, where even the chandeliers are made of rock salt, and the walls are decorated with carved frescoes of Christ's life.




They mines are also full of water, and now instead of mining the salt they collect and refine the water, which is heavily saturated. There's a point where they let you try drinking some of the water as its coming out of the pipe. I collected some in my hand, drank it, and it was so salty I almost gagged. After I finished choking and making funny faces I noticed one of the guides watching me with this expression that said "Well what did you expect dummy?"

The mines were awesome. The best thing to see in Poland.

Krakow

The town square




Milk bar!

Trumpet Church


The old city wall of Krakow

Poland

Poland was colder than expected. It is also under construction. Poland is a beautiful country with a very sad history. Most of what we saw had been stolen, hidden, burned, torn down, raised to the ground, and then returned or reconstructed from photos and artwork. Poland is still very religious. There are churches everywhere, as well as nuns and even monks still wearing their brown robes and rope belts. One of our guides told us that the only South America has more practicing Catholics. It was a fun trip. We started in the city of Krakow, which still has original older buildings and walls. It also had a great town square or Rynek. It had a church that we called the trumpet church because every couple of hours a trumpeter would climb to the top of the tower and play a sad Polish song that helped rally the people during a battle. There were also all kinds of shops. Poland has a lot of wood work. I bought a couple of beautiful little wooden boxes, and when we went to palaces and castles, they had the most amazing carved tables and chests, and intricate wooden floors. Poland also has a lot of amber, with a amber mine operating out of Gdinsk. I got some beautiful pieces there. We toured churches, and went to the castle at Krakow, which has a series of caves underneath which, as the legends go, used to be the home of a mighty dragon. The dragon is the symbol of Krakow, and you can find him everywhere. We also ate street food (there are donner kebab stands everywhere), belgian waffles, and pirogi (Polish dumplings). The dumplings we got at milk bars, which are little street cafeterias left over from the Soviet era. They now operate as a sort of Polish fast food. I had the best Russian pirogi (cheese and onion) at the milk bar in Krakow. Poland is also good at mushrooms. Ordering anything with mushroom in it was a good bet, and I got some amazing pirogi stuffed with mushrooms, cream, and parsley at a pirogi shop in Warsaw. I also tried Borscht, which is beet soup. But honestly I had this inclination to use the bright soup for an egg dye rather than a meal. While in Krakow we took a bus to Aushwitz. Every major Polish city has a concentration camp nearby. I never realized just how badly Poland fared during World War II, or how many of them died. Its estimated that 5.5 -6 million Poles died during the Nazi occupation, 3 million of them Polish Jews, the rest Polish citizens. And its everywhere. We were always running across plaques that said things like "Here is where 30 people were shot by nazis" Anyway, Auschwitz and Aushwitz-Berkowitz were hard places to tour. The size and scale are enormous, there's a room that has several tons of human hair, and another with thousands and thousands of shoes. Rough. We also toured Schindler's factory, which has been turned into a really good museum about Krakow during WWII, and the Jewish quarter. In Warsaw we went to the last remanents of the Ghetto, the Ghetto musuem, which was hard, the Gestapo headquarters, the uprising museum, and even during our day trip to Lublin the group I was with voted to tour another concentration camp instead of going to the castle. I don't know why. Both my roommate and I were pretty much done with horrible things by that point. So after 4-5 days of Nazi Atrocities, we got to see some pretty things, such as the gorgeous park in the center of Warsaw where they have professional pianists come and play free Chopin concerts every Sunday. We also saw the beautiful summer palace there, compeletly reconstructed after the Nazis burned it down. During the Nazi occupation, Warsaw staged a major uprising that lasted several months, and when it was finally put down, Hitler order the city to be destroyed. About 85% of it was. But they've done some amazing things. We went to Old Town, which has been so faithfully reconstructed from old photos and paintings that all the buildings down there looked at least 200 years old. We also saw the royal way, which was reconstructed to the prettiest street in Warsaw, where they have city benches that will play Chopin if you press a button, and we saw some amazing art in various palaces and castles. I took loads of pictures, mostly of buildings and statues, and honestly, anything beautiful that didn't have a horrible story attached to it.

Its been awhile AMV

I've been watching Fate Stay Night.

Stuff and Thingeys

I'm flying to Poland on Saturday with some friends. One of them served her mission there, and has set up an awesome trip plan, complete with her as our Polish speaking guide.

I can't wait, and given that I get sick everytime I even look at a plane (last year's Belgian plague put me out for a month) I'm starting a strict Airborne/Vitamin regimen today. Soon my immune system will be so buff, germs will simply implode on contact.

Team T-shirts

Every year my unit has a picnic where the work teams compete against each other. Every year my team loses horribly, but takes refuge in the fact that at least we look really good because we have the best team t-shirt.

This year we're going with roller derby, and everyone on the team is coming up with a roller derby name and number.

Mine is "The Spanish Inquisition."

The Great Diet Challenge

So the great diet challenge is finally over, and while I didn't make my goal weight, I still lost 12lbs. Which feels pretty good. Now that its over, I went a little crazy this week, eating all the bad food I haven't had in months. I've been to McDonald's twice, taco bell once, had pancakes twice, french toast once, and bought sugar cereal (cookie crisp and Cinnamon Toast Crunch) Not to mention my bday fudge. I really need to calm down, before I put all my weight back on. Friday we saw Iron Man 2, which is an awesome summer flick. It was all action and fun and bright, shiny visuals. There is an extra scene at the end of all the credits, so hang out til the bitter end. Saturday we went to Gadsby's Tavern, which has been around since the revolution. They offer Washington's favorite meal (duck breast) as well as other historical meals. I got the grilled filet mignon with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. It was really good. The owner came by a couple of times to talk with us. He wanted to know why four young ladies were eating so early. (we got there just as they opened at 5:30) we told him we were going to an art show that our friend was curating. He was nice and funny, and later he sent the Benjamin Franklin impersonator over to our table, and that dude was fricking hilarious. Especially once he started cracking himself up. He started by informing us that as we were four young ladies, unescorted, it was clear that we meant to ply our wanton wiles upon the town, and that the local constabulary had been notified, and that all single available young men and been locked safely inside their homes. He went on like that, cracking all kinds of jokes in that colonial manner of speech, for at least 10 minutes. It was awesome.

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Monday AMV

I spent the weekend watching Naruto battles:



Which are much better when they've been edited out of 15 boring episodes and then stitched together.

Tuesday Music Video

Ha ha ha!

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Beautiful Day

I've told myself that I need to start writing again. I've been slacking off these past few months.

I love cool, rainy days in Spring. The tulip trees are blooming, the cherry blossoms are about to start, and its been in the 70s.

It would've been a perfect day except that I took an elbow to the nose in Krav. What makes this even more exciting is that I have my work physical tomorrow, so let's all hope it doesn't swell or bruise.

Monday Anime

I watched Evangelion 1.0 this weekend.




Its basically the first 6 episodes or so smashed together, with updated animation and a few new scenes.

Somehow, these few new scenes make Shinji an even bigger passive-aggressive weasel than he was before. I finished this movie really hating me, whereas in the original series, I didn't hate him until the final movie.

Alice in Wonderland

I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. I wouldn't see it in 3D though, the 3D made parts of it hard to see and follow. I think I would have liked it better if I had just seen it normal. I liked all the Wonderland references, I liked his version of Wonderland, especially the Bandersnatch and the card soldiers. Helena Bonham Carter is awesome, Johnny Depp is Willy Wonka with new hair, and Anne Hathoway is horrible. Shortest review ever eh? I did two hours of Krav tonight and my hands are shaking.

Fun Videos

Work's been crazy this week, but I've been sent some video links.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter



A fanmade trailer of P&P and zombies



And an awesome ninja song:


Poor ninja kids don't get to see their ninja dad.

Pull Up Update

Tonight, during fit class, sometime during the 4th set of pull ups, I made a jump for a bar, got it with my fingers, swung forward in an attempt to pull myself up, slipped off the bar, and ended up crashing down on my butt.

Luckily, everyone else's workouts were so intense they didn't notice. The instructor did give me a "good effort" pep speech though.

Percy Jackson Review

*SPOILER ALERT* *This review contains spoilers*

The movie is okay, which is kind of a bummer because I was really excited for it. Its directed by the same guy who directed the first Harry Potter movie, and like that movie, it has some pacing issues.

I mean it is slooooow. It's only a 2 hour movie, but it felt like three. And sometimes it was really boring.

The best part was when they battle Medusa. That was actually exciting, scary, and the effects were really good. Everything else was kinda ... 'meh'

Storywise they changed a lot of things, and removed a lot of plot points that will make it much harder to make any of the other stories. For example, they took out everything involving prophecies, the oracle, the titans, and why the big 3 can't have children.

Instead, the just say that kids for the big 3 are "rare" and gods aren't interacting with their children because it just makes them too human. Seriously. They also reveal that Poseidon is Percy's father right away, so that whole mystery of finding out is gone as well.

Also the gods are still hanging out in togas and Greek armor, which made me sad. I liked how in the books, each one had modernized according to their personality.

They also combined Annabeth with the daughter of Aries that is always kicking Percy's butt. I can't remember her name, but the overall effect is Annabeth: Warrior Princess. They also took out the fact that Annabeth is in love with Luke, and she starts flirting with Percy from the moment they meet. They also downplay Percy's friendship with Luke, so at the end, when Luke's big reveal happens, there's no crushing sense of betrayal. Annabeth and Percy are more like, "Hey look! That smarmy jerk had it the whole time!"

My advice? Netflix it.

Monday AMV

I spent a good chunk of my weekend watching the new Soul Eater DVDs.



Its pretty awesome on HD. ;)

On Pull Ups

Krav has a new pull up bar installed in the gym. It hangs from the ceiling, can support about 8 people at once, and is high enough for tall guys to find challenging.

If I do a running jump I can usually grab it.

But I cannot do a pull up. I've never been able to do a pull up. When I was at my peak in the Navy the best I could manage was chin ups, but never a pull up.

Like the mighty T-Rex, I have weak and useless forearms. So I've decided that should be my Krav name. T-Rex.

Anyway, since I can't do a pull up they either get the box out so I can stand on it and do chin ups or, like today, I just have to grab the bar and hang as long as possible. My arms are killing me.

Monday AMV

Finally found a cool one.



That's almost enough to make start watching Naruto again. Almost.

Monday Movie Trailer

So excited!

Random Olympic Thought

We've been watching mogul skiing, which is awesome, but our ski suits make all our skiers look like their wearing big, fluffy pajamas.

Sweet

I love Lego games. They're my favorite.

I need to go outside

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Make it stoooopppp

Today we have horizontal snow. And its still snowing. It started yesterday afternoon. Sigh...it was supposed to be over by now. Fortunately we still have power here. We lost it briefly in the night when the wind was blowing really hard, but thankfully our power lines are higher than the trees.

Monday AMV

We've been stuck indoors for days now.

Thank heavens for the Wii and Samus Aran.

Snowpacolypse 2010

Work is canceled today, which is good since I'm still snowed in. Hopefully a plow will make it to our complex today.
It took me two hours to dig this little pathway out. We have two sets of outside steps, and the drifts on those suckers was ridiculous.

What our cars looked like after three feet of snow.

This is me, showing off my Virginia snow gear. A military watch cap, leather jacket, jeans, and "snow sketchers." Also notice the vast expanse of pristine snow behind me. That is our parking lot.

Sweet

An awesome rap for an awesome movie.




Its been snowing non-stop since 9 this morning.

Snowpacolypse

We're supposed to get two feet tomorrow. People are going insane, and the grocery stores have been cleaned out. You'd think it was the end of the world. On the upside, work might get cancelled, or end early tomorrow.

Monday AMV

One month into the great Ninja Diet Challenge and I'm down by 8 lbs. Yeah me!

I've been watching Tsubasa, mainly because of a friend of mine at work is getting me into all things Clamp, and a little because its February.

Sigh..bring on the romance.

Monday AMV

Wiggity wack or normal wack?

Restaurant Week!

Needless to say, my diet was blown this week. On Wednesday we went to Sushi Taro, which boasts authentic Japanese cuisine. This had a set restaurant week menu, which started with a Japanese New Year Platter. On the platter was a bowl of sweetened black beans, two fish cakes (which didn't really taste like anything) some slices of duck (very good) a pickled beet salad, (okay) and six candied baby anchovies, staring up at me with their wide fishy eyes. They were odd, and had a strong fishy flavor, but I ate them all in one big bite. I figured that my chopstick skills were bad enough to embarrass us already, I didn't need our waitress to think I was a wuss on top of it. The second course was tempura shrimp and vegetables, and then a sushi box with miso soup. We drank the miso and the sushi wasn't rolls, but slices of fish on rice. There was tuna, yellowfin, salmon, flounder, omelete (cooked eggs on rice) shrimp, and salmon roe, which was seafood wrapped around rice, and then filled with salmon eggs. It was gooshy. For deserted we got a little square of jelly filled with fruit pieces. It was good. It was an interesting experience, but not one I would rush back to. On Friday we went to Cheff Geoffs, and since one of our party was late, we started with hush puppies served with maple butter, and fried plantains with guacomole. Then I got grilled lamb skewers, served with cucumber-yogurt sauce, and onions, tomatoes, feta, and cucumber salad. It was a gyro without a pita. For my main course I got bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin which was amazing. It melted in my mouth it was so tender. It came with sweet potato gnocci and greens glazed with a sour cherry glaze. For dessert I got pumpkin cake with marscapone filling, and came in the shape of a giant moon pie. It was awesome. Starting Monday though, back to the diet. ;)

Monday AMV- late

I was at book club last night, so I didn't have time to get online.

I weighed myself yesterday and ... after the first week of my first ever diet...

*drum roll*

I have gained a pound. This is very discouraging, causing pain that can only be soothed by Cookie Monster singing German Rock.



It really is frustrating. Apparently, I've been hitting the granola a little hard.

Info that would've been Helpful on the bottle

Much like swimming, one should wait an hour after eating before irrigating the sinus.

The sugar cravings started today when I found a root beer I'd forgotten in the office fridge.

I wanted it ...SOOOOOOO BAAAAAAD. I managed to fool myself with a cherry coke zero, and then I went and bought some dried fruit for the next sugar attack.

Monday Movie Funtime

I finally saw Twilight.

I saw it with the rifftrax by the MST3K guys and laughed so hard it hurt. Here's a taste:



I joined this competition at work. Everyone weighed themselves today and then put 50 dollars into the pot. We have 4 months to lose 10% percent of our body weight. If, on May 1st, you've lost the weight you get your 50 bucks back. If not, it gets divided by those who had more self discipline.

I've never tried to lose an actual amount of weight before, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I have a great workout program with Krav Maga, but I LOVE to eat. And I love to eat a lot of really crappy foods.

It is Day One. So far I have not cheated.

I have also learned that when it comes to sinus irrigation, lukewarm to your finger feels like an icy torrent of death once its shooting up your nasal passage at speed.

I hate being wretched sick.