End of an Era

The other weekend Al and I wanted to go to the Dime Museum, but it was closed and getting ready to auction off all its weird artifacts (elephant man, mummies, etc). Now everything's sold. Fortunately some of the stuff will wind up in my boss's sister's new restaurant across from the Charles Theatre, so we'll still get to see it eventually.

Baltimore passes smoking ban!

Read all about it.

Card-Carrying Non-Members

Shootin'

We went shootin' Saturday with Thuy and Wes, Mary Beth and Meghan. And Thuy's friend Stephen. First two targets I got 7/13 in the black (at 15 feet), and the next two targets were slightly less great. We were shooting Thuy's 9mm service weapon which had NO SAFETY. That's right - he likes to live on the edge. Instead it had something called a decocking lever which served more or less the same purpose. The picture here is pretty close to what it looked like. For those that haven't shot before, it was loud (we were in the NRA's underground range), and actually there were a lot more women this time than last time (Dec 05). I attributed this to the new Democratic Congress but you may have your own theories. It was a little scary walking in there and handinling the gun again for the first time, but of course pretty soon we were shooting off rounds and loading clips like it was nothing. MB unfortunately caught a shell down the front of her shirt and was waving the gun all over as she shimmied to get the thing to drop down out of her cleavage, but no one was hurt and she just has a little burn on her neck. I think everyone should shoot a gun at least once in a range - although then I wouldn't get those looks of 'OMG' when I tell people at the office what I'm doing over the weekend.

Guns and Shovels

Feeling pretty proud of myself for getting the car out of the parking spot it's been iced into since Tuesday. Peter and I were making fun of this girl in a sportscar the other day who got stuck, and generally, of people who don't know how to rock and not spin their wheels. My car was in an angled parking space pointing slightly downward - but I had a secret weapon. At some point, perhaps before I moved to Baltimore, someone gave me a military shovel, the kind that folds up and you dig foxholes with when the enemy is firing at you in a) icy tundra or b) a forest setting. I guess I thought I would use it for camping but of course I never did. Now it has finally served its purpose, slicing through sheets of ice and carving out a nice path for my front wheels to grab. It was nice using my hands, the snick and crunch of blade through snow and ice, and the satisfying crack as the blocks broke up and skittered away under the car.

Now I can use the car to go to Virginia and shoot guns at the NRA Range, and then go skating. Supa-dupa.

Ghana's Golden Jubilee

Did you know Ghana's 50th anniversary of independence is March 6? Neither did I! To celebrate, our project is creating a one page flyer about how far the country has come on malaria control since 1957, and where we still need work. I have like, 10 days to do this. Awesome.

A few more

Boy. I'm really bored.

New T-shirts

I ordered some t-shirts online from Threadless.com last week and they finally came, a little late for one of my purposes but in plenty of time for another purpose. Sorry - the secrets are still necessary. I promise all will be revealed later next week. Anyway - I had this void in my closet of printed tees, having only plain shirts from the Gap, tshirts that were vintage in 1998, or actual high school track tshirts that are pretty much translucent. I needed shirts for climbing and for going to rock shows. Here are some (I didn't get all of them), and you can see what else they have on their website. Be warned - I had to order a medium as the sizes run pretty small.

Snow Day

We got off work today. I celebrated by cleaning the mouse poop out of the kitchen and mopping. Also by watching two episodes of CSI: Las Vegas. And making cocoa. I did manage to finish a draft powerpoint so all was not lost. I may even do some reading now to make up for laying in bed like a slug for six hours!

Weakness

Oh, Patagonia, why must you slash your prices, forcing me to buy things I really do not need (except underwear!)?

Origami

It's sleeting out and I got to come home from work early. Instead of catching up on reading for work (The Economics of Malaria Control Interventions) I am catching up on the New Yorker. There's an article about Robert Lang, a physicist who folds origami. The article has no pictures, which is too bad, because the pictures of his work are amazing. The one in this post is actually by Brian Chan and is one piece of paper. Lang also has pics of polyhedra which are often several pieces of paper folded the same way, then fitted together to make buckyballs, etc.

Hoping for a snow day tomorrow.

Overheard at Dizzy's

Saturday night after climbing we went to Dizzy Issie's, the only place I am happy eating a hamburger, and my favorite bar in Baltimore. Next to us were a pair of old dudes, spry enough, somewhat hale, perhaps not as hearty as they once had been. Late 70's, early 80s maybe. They were discussing finances, the way you or I would discuss setting up a 401k or which mutual fund might give the best return. Only their conversation was this:

"I heard this thing the other day, when you die it's really hard for your relatives to get at your money. So what you do is, see, you make it a joint account with one a' them. That way it's in both your names and when you die they take care of it."
"That's good, you gonna do it? You should get your brother to do that."

...conversation about getting plots in the cemetery....insurance...and the recurring motif of the conversation, stated so matter-of-factly it broke my heart:

"See, what I'm doin' is preparing to die. I'm just getting my stuff in order is what."
"That's right, that's right. It's good to plan ahead! You want one a' these wraps here? They're pretty good. Got corn beef in 'em."

It was one of those special Dizzy's moments, not unlike the night I met the guy with the Colnago.

Rocket to Venus II

This weekend we went back to Rocket to Venus, on 34th and Chestnut in Hampden, so Alistair could have a real Ham experience. Sure enough the waiters did not disappoint, with their rock-star mullets, tight jeans, and nice-blasé attitudes. The hostess texted on her cellphone all night and read the latest issue of Tank Girl. They were out of pirogies so we got the bacon/pork dumplings (good), the potato-leek soup, which had great consistency but tasted mainly of ground pepper, the grilled cheese ("Wow, this is a lot of cheese!" said Al), the Szechuan noodles (spicy and good!), and the house salad (super boring, but the boys managed to eat it all). The table next to us got the wimpies, veggie and meat, and they looked pretty good. Maybe next time.

Apparently, they also have free wireless for customers! Too bad they aren't open during the day.

Bumpers are for Bumping

I am passive aggressive. Especially when it comes to parking. I really don't mind using my bumpers as guides, but noticed this weekend that it is REALLY MORTIFYING to be continuously bashing into people while other people are in the car. So my new goal is not to touch other bumpers while parking (or when backing up to get out of the drop-off zone at the train station...). This came in handy this morning when the car behind me was my friend Lisa's from work. If we start from this morning, with a clean slate, the score is H 1, bumpers 0.

Maintenance, or Why I Should Always Ride My Bike, Even When It Is 15 Degrees Outside

I took the Honda in. For an oil change. Of course they find three other things wrong with it:

- catalytic converter heat shields are missing. Hm, maybe that was what got ripped off on the entry ramp onto I-90 in Madison back in spring 2005?
- my power steering fluid is 'dirty'.
- something induction service something throttle flush something fuel injection system that costs $165.

Because I am a SUCKA, and I don't understand my own car, nor how to properly maintain and repair it, nor do I have the time to become an amateur mechanic (despite the fact that it would also help me get boys!), I will pony up the cash and eat hummous until December so that the experts at Honda can extend the life of my vehicle. Thanks guys!

For the record, I did ask Jiffy Lube how much they would charge for replacing power steering fluid, and they said they didn't do it! Jerks.

Air Vents

are very handy for overhearing my boss and my other boss on conference calls that I don't necessarily want to sit in on. Fortunately it's not really spying, since they would be happy for me to be on the calls most of the time.

We are working on this proposal, and last night it was a dog's breakfast. Our evaluator took it home last night and formatted it and added several pages of pristine, succint and supportive content. I think he's a demon sent from outer space to taunt us with his overwhelming productivity.

It snowed about two inches last night, big fluffy ice crystals that were easy to sweep off the car this morning. It looked like movie snow, or PVC shavings. Took the car into the Honda dealership for a checkup and oil change and found out it will cost me $130 bucks to get a replacement key (lost the other one at bowling a while back). Damn, Gina. I guess one has to weigh:

likelihood of losing key again (small)
with
how much calling locksmith/tow truck will cost (huge)

so maybe $130 is a good investment.

I am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

I just got this album from Yo La Tengo. I think it's my favorite album title ever. The songs are great too!

Festival in the Desert

The BBC has a nice slideshow about the Festival au Desert in Essakane, Mali, with music and lots of pretty pictures of camels. I told a few people not to go to this (from the US) because it's super expensive and hard to get to. But if you're looking for a way to drop several large and spend days in a broken-down SUV driven by a crazy ex-nomad guide, then maybe it's for you. I admit I've never gone and only heard the horror stories of travel, and ok, how great the actual show was. Four thousand people went this January. Now that Ali Farka Toure has died though, it's less of a draw, for me at least. Salif Keita was on the program but I wonder if he actually played. He's notorious for ditching out. Matthew McConaghey is also notorious for doing yoga half-naked on top of his SUV in the cool morning air at the festival - so I suppose you'd have to weigh those two things.

Thanks to Mom for the link.

Damn you NPR

I was driving to work today and on NPR there was a story that made me cry. It's typical of stories that make me cry, when a person's life is in real danger but someone else who's just doing their job saves their life. En plus, the story was from my hometown of Champaign-Urbana, at the airport that my parents and I fly out of all the time. There's a flight school there and a lot of opportunities for local folks to fly little Cessnas in the clear Midwestern skies. Anyway - this pilot's autopilot decided it would go into a nosedive, and the air traffic controller had to supply the guy with the right readings while the pilot fought against the pull downward. The tower records everything, so you hear the fear and the fatigue in the pilot's voice. You know the story's going to turn out ok and maybe that's what got me - the cognitive dissonance between being in that moment of fear and knowing that there would be a happy ending.

Which prompts another question....what makes humans cry?

Pennies

I throw away the pennies I get, because my wallet's change compartment is small and pennies are dumb anyway. I like to think I did this before reading about K-fed's drive to save the penny, and I probably did, but not on a consistent basis. Now Dubner at Freakonomics announces some guy's proposed scheme to get rid of the penny by revaluing it at 5 cents.

Guess I should've kept those pennies.

Rocket to Venus - Sprouts gone wild

A new pseudo-smoke-free kitsch cafe in Hampden!

Rocket to Venus, reviewed both in the Baltimore Sun and the Citypaper, has an awesome u-shaped bar made from yellow light tubing, porthole windows, and lighting so dim we couldn't read the menu, but boy howdy, did we have some good food. The brussels sprouts were carmelized and salty, the beet salad delicious, and the pirogies and mac n' cheese super-cheesy. Five minutes before nine the smokers were already lighting up and we skedaddled after some slight bill issues that our adorable Hampdenite waitress remedied with embarassment. Two dolla Natty Boh's and 2.75 Yeungling draft made the night that much brighter (and kept our wallets a bit heavier!). My new favorite place....? Heck yeah, for now.