Cynically Optimistic

My little car knows the way to Washington, D.C. these days doesn't it? Luckily I was able to fix my iPod just in time so I wouldn't have to resort to the old-fashioned CD. Friday night was drinks followed by sushi. These little guys were almost too cute to eat. Almost. Tom and I ate sushi and drank sake until we almost burst.

Saturday we went shopping for trendy t-shirts, and then to Resluts Results to work out. I tweaked my hamstring a bit on the smith machine but I stretched a lot and it's not bothering me anymore. Dinner was at the Old Ebbitt Grill, just across the street from the White House. That's quite a place! It feels very old world classic and we had a fantastic dinner including the Oyster Platter

After dinner we walked over to view the National Christmas Tree, along with throngs of other people. We literally had to weave in and out of the crowd to get anywhere. This was just a quick stop on our evening tour. Next stop: Cocktail Party! Not that we didn't already split a bottle of wine, plus a cocktail, plus a digestive at dinner... Bring on the signature drink. Peppermint Martini
= Absolute Peppar + Creme de Menthe + Candycane. Pretty? Yes. Delicious? No so much. I could have suffered through, but was offered mercy in the form of Champagne. The Christmas Spirit sines through!!!!

We couldn't stay at the party too long, it was almost time for Blowoff. Quick costume change and off we scurried to the Nightclub 9:30 backbar (which is more like underground-bar, but whatev). Bunquitia at the door stamped us with some nasty blue ink that I still am trying to scrub off and we said hello to the DJ's for the night, Bob Mould and Rich Morel.
The evening was a lot lot lot of fun fun fun. I will put up a gallery album of photos I took from the weekend that will include many (not all) of the paparazzi photos I took while too drunk to notice people being annoyed. Many a DC blogger was in attendance, and I'll try to remember who everybody is.

Sunday we had brunch at Cafe Luna, did a stroll around DuPont Circle, and then it was time for me to meet Assmunch and the family in Virginia. We ate noodles, and then I zipped my way home. Luckily, I only hit 15 minutes of traffic due to some accident involving a super-stretch Cadillac Escalade limo. Now I am tired and need sleep.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

While the tourist portion of my trip to DC was only about 4 hours long, it supplied me with basically all of the postable photos from the trip. The drive took 4 hours from NYC when we left Friday morning at the ungodly hour of 8 AM. Had a bite of lunch and then was delivered to a Metro station all alone (as George had other plans for the day and night). In general I like the DC Metro a lot. It's clean, fairly convenient, and has a nice open feeling which is a big contrast from the NY Subway. The major downfall I feel is the confusing (espeically for tourists) ticketing system. I took the easy way out and bought the day pass instead of trying to calculate in advance the exact stations I'd be using throughout the day and the various fare prices in between the stations based on the time of day. I already took the damn GRE.

I rolled out of L'Enfant Plaza Station about 2 PM and took a leisurely stroll towards the US Capitol. One lap around the reflecting pool and I was inquiring about a tour. Luckily both the House and Senate were "in session" Friday. There was no line at the security booth, so the older man in a red jacket who was security helped me locate Jim Leach's office on the big board and sent me towards the Longworth Building to grab visitor passes. Now, had I been thinking clearly when I realized I was in the wrong building, I would have pretended to be from any state and walked into the nearest door to get the tickets. Instead, I ran into a young intern who thought perhaps I should look in the next building over, Rayburn. How, exactly, do we do this you ask? Why, through the secret tunnel in Sub-Basement 3 of course! Straight out of the X-files with the eerie lighting and everything. All those federal office buildings must look the same.

Eventually I meander down the correct hallway and the young Iowan staffer at the desk is WAY too happy to see someone walk into the office. Tickets acquired, I return to the House of Representatives and do the security dance 3 times to even enter the building. I'm eager to see laws being made and my tax dollars at work so I head down the hall to the elevator bank to access the viewing area. I'm handed a small red ticket that says, "superflous" for unknown reasons. Oddly, there's no one else waiting for the elevator so I get join the two young staffers and head up. Ding! Second floor. A middle-aged plump man with no neck and a tacky comb-over gets on the elevator. Suddenly, both staffers become entranced with their own shoe-laces. As the doors close I start to feel really uneasy as this man obviously emanating pure evil. I think if he touched a flower it might instantly wilt. I held my breath until we all exited on the 3rd floor.

It's at this point that the security checkpoint actually takes all your battery operated devices and then sends you through yet another metal detector. Apparently some people are either idiots or they don't think the rules apply equally to everyone. Lucky for us, the security guard was an enforcer. The disgruntled woman with rediculous fingernails and cute hair was my favorite person in the building that day. This guy comes through with a leather jacket in his hand and sets off the detector 3 times, making everyone wait. He takes off his belt. Beep. Removes his wallet. Beep. Finally he hands the coat to the guard and they wand it. Yep, cell phone is inside the front pocket. The guard gives this guy the best eyeroll I've seen in my whole life [and I was a witness to the eyeroll, with a head-flip and a door slam that has gone down in roommate history], and loudly exclaims , "CELL PHONE! BAAAAAAAACK OF THE LINE!" without sympathy. I could have applauded her on the spot.

Finally, I'm through the detector and they hush me and I quietly enter the viewing gallery where we are being directed to seats all together in one section. I sit. I look around. What.The.Fuck? The viewing gallery is huge, but they're funneling everyone into this one tiny section with 40 seats max. Best of all, NO ONE is in the chamber. So much for being "in session" when they're all, "back in the office working with leadership". I'm outta there and sprint to the Senate side since someone is actually giving a speech (I notice on the C-SPAN feed nearby).

I repeat the same basic procedure on that side of the building. They take my electronic devices and I'm re-re-re-re metal detected. The difference is the Senate will not share their elevators. You take the stairs. Inside, Senator Byrd from West Virginia is giving a speech. I can clearly read the speech as he says it because the font is that huge on his podium. The senate floor is littered with Senate Pages, mostly young men, who are literally napping. I saw at most 2 of them get up do bring a piece of paper from one desk to another. Hope that pays off down the road for those kids. Senator Byrd is older than carbon dating, and at one point in his speech he reminisced of the good-old-days when he was 82. I should be so lucky.

Next stop on the tour was the Library of Congress. I had hoped to maybe come up with some idea of a way to get access to some cool old book to peruse for the afternoon, but that didn't happen. Instead I casually eavesdropped on a tour led by (I'm assuming) a volunteer who must have been a former librarian from Virginia. She had a very pleasant accent and demeanor; I could have listened to her speak all day. The building is beautiful inside, and I was fascinated by the intricate ceilings that in different places were frescos, tiles, stained glass, and plaster inlays. Just give me a repeated geometric pattern and a long hallway and I can spend hours trying out different angles and zooms and whatnot. It's a good thing I only travel with my ultra-compact digicam these days, or I really would be out of control.

The Walt Whitman exhibit inside was interesting historically, but I was more fascinated by the photo displays they showed of the post-depression lives of people. All the photos were taken using Kodachrome film, a new invention at the time. It made me think of the few snapshots I'd seen from my grandparents album that were really old and rural. I went back into the main area to exit the building and noticed a beam of sunlight was bisecting the floor of the atrium in an "Indiana Jones" type of way. Wonder where the treasure is buried?

Next door is the Supreme Court and I wanted to get a few snapshots of the exterior before all the light faded away. They look ok, but I wish I had a fun fisheye lens sometimes. For one shot I lay down on the steps and waited for the security guard to wander out of my shot. I realize that someone has walked up to within 3 feet of me but isn't saying anything. Click. I stand up. "It seems I've just witnessed the court case of Perspective v. Distance", the man says to me. "Uhhhh..." "It took me 2 minutes to come up with that joke" "Oh, well, all right, yeah." *awkward pause* "Well, enjoy your constitutional right to take photographs, have a nice night." "Ok, thanks, bye." As he walks away I wonder if he was just being friendly, or if that was quite possibly the worst pickup line I'd ever heard.

It's now evening and I arrive at Titan, where I eventually meet up with Tom and am introduced to a whole slew of other bloggers. Earl, Mike, Carl (who I'd actually met ona previous visit), Cary, and I know I'm forgetting at minimum 2 other guys... someone help jog my fuzzy memory. We stayed out until around 10:30 and decided it was now dinnertime. Bussboys and Poets was very yummy. We had front row seats for the poetry show... that had already finished. Oh well.

Saturday after brunch we walked downtown to try and find a place to watch the Hawks kick some Gopher ass. The ESPN Zone gave us no love, so we were forced to brave the Lehigh Valley Fans in the sports bar at the Grand Hyatt and beg the manager to put ESPN2 on one of the screens so I could get my fix. I ended up having dinner with a couple of friends in Virginia and then returned to DC for more partying at various bars around the city.

Sunday I had lunch at the Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington, and then we on the road at about 3. Got home before 9 PM so it was pretty good time considering we lost a half-hour trying to avoid traffic due to an accident on I-95. And now I must finish my graduate school applications.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Headed back to DC for this past weekend. My trip included secret passageways, packed bars, chilly evenings, and even a brush with evil (among other things). I met a bunch of new people this trip again, many of whom are bloggers. My memory is cloudy at best (due to too much Ketel One and Miller Light) so if you feel left out I'll gladly accept complaints in my comments. And just because I'm sure you're all expecting it, the end of the rut (hopefully). Now I must sleep and recouperate.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

This is a public service announcement regarding my favorite Yank (and recent Apple convert) residing in Ireland. All is well, as you can see below.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 12:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had a few more photos from my trip last weekend that are worth posting.

This is the gangsta' treehouse across the street from the house where we stayed. Notice the siding that makes room for the branch.

This TV is Ginormous! And don't you love the giraffe print footstool?

This lion was totally stoned, although the lighting was great.

Here's Mommy and Gwen, a.k.a. Gwen-Munch, G-Munch, Baby-Munch, and The Munchkin.

Someone at the party handed me an Ann Coulter doll. ICKY!

You never know who you might meet at a Lebanese restaurant.

In other news, I will again be laptop-less this weekend, so you'll have to resort to using the phone or text messages to get in touch with me. I'll definitely be watching the Iowa v. Michigan game on Saturday. Go Hawks!

Posted by Jeff Smith at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As you may know, we've been having a lot of rain here in NY. I'd say we had 9 days straight of heavy rain, not scattered showers, or mist, or any of those wimpy kinds of rain. It was nearly time to begin rounding up pairs of animals and constructing a large ark. As many of you may also know, the roads and drainage systems here in NY and Long Island are not exactly what one would call "modern" or even "decent". En route to NYC on Thursday night, I hit a very large puddle near an overpass and curtains of water shot out from the sides of my car as I shouted "FUCK!" at the sudden speed decrease. In my rear view mirror I noticed there was what appeared to be a chunk of a tire where the puddle was. The next morning I realize that was actually my front spoiler. Damn. Guess that'll have to be replaced.

The next morning it took George and I a while to get out of the city and onto the NJ Turnpike, but from then on the drive was mostly uneventful. Lunch brought us to Chick-fil-A and we were in DC by 2:45. This was not a trip to see monuments and museums, it was a trip to meet new people (for me) and catch up with old friends (for both of us). First, we ran some errands, had coffee, then met a bunch of guys for drinks at Titan. We arrived early, but the place quickly filled up with friendly guys. We had to leave pretty early to see our hosts for the weekend in a community theatre performance of "Once Upon A Mattress". I was actually quite impressed with the performances and the show itself (not really being one for musicals, necessarily). Very fun.

Saturday started off a little slow, with a late breakfast and a parental visit for George, but quickly got moving as we met more friends and walked around the city. The weather was great, the company was great, and the city was great. Eventually we met up with more folks at a restaurant called Lebanese Taverna which was a treat for me, since I love trying new food. Assmunch and family made it out to dinner as well. Some of the company at dinner exchanged halfway through, as folks had to get to haunted pumpkin patches for the remainder of the evening. The rest of us (sans les Muches) opted to stay together and head to a house party. We hit the pavement in an earnest attempt to kill our buzzes.

Luckily the situation was quickly remedied upon our arrival at said party. The drinks were flowing, and the party host was trying very hard to get everyone nice and drunk. Except for the guys from dinner, I only knew one other guy at the party. It was a pretty good time, but we decided around midnight to head to the Eagle for a lung-full of secondhand smoke. *hacks up a lung* Reports from here on out get fuzzy. My phone began to ring off the hook, as apparently I was a pawn in a drinking game in the next time zone over. I feel special. Truly, I was shown the "Guaranteed Good Time" that DC has to offer. And then some.

After bagels for breakfast on Sunday, George and I split up so I could go see the new Ihde place in Fairfax, and get some more quality time with baby G-Munch (a.k.a. "The Munchkin"). We lingered for a bit later the afternoon at the home of our splendid and generous hosts, finally getting out of town around 5 PM. To wake up, we stopped at a Waffle House and I drank 3 glasses of sweet tea (I looooves me some sweet tea) and got some grits (hold the cheese). After dropping off George in NY, I made it home by 11:30 and asleep by midnight.

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Wednesday night, not Thursday. I'm early. Photos have been posted. I was going to put up Wendy's photos, but she said she's going to take care of it. No pressure.

I could try to recap the weekend, but I think there are chunks that are a bit blurry. Like some of my photos. I shall do my best. Luckily my flight into town was uneventful, and I met people for dinner at El Ranchero. Good times.

Friday, after a little car trouble, Wendy, Doogie, Josh and I had lunch at Atlas, followed by frisbee golf at Turkey Creek at the Res. Wendy made it 3 holes before giving up with a twisted lower back muscle. I played very well, surprisingly. Then we hurried home to change clothes and get downtown in time to pre-parade Party at Gabe's. You've got to love it when you walk into a bar only once a year and the bartender greets you with "Lemon Drops?". Good times. I think we had Lemon Drops, Tequilla, JŠger, Pucker, and then Wild Turkey. Some folks had double shots... and some people should have stopped before the Wild Turkey.

Back to the parking lot, where there was the unfortunate incident with the chipped tooth. And there was the odd Hot Dog Sale sign that amused several people. The parade itself was a bit unclear in my memory. It went very quickly. I remember spinning around a lot in my kilt. Thankfully I had the foresight to protect small children from being scarred for life. With stickers! The same courtesy was apparently not shown to bar patrons later in the evening. Oops!

Pizza on Dubuque supplied a nourishing slice of pepperoni and then I joined up with the Beer Band at the Deadwood (having had car issues and people be taken home in questionable condition). Then Mickey's, where the sign listing specials said that they have "$2 Woo Woo" which sounds like a heck of a deal. You know you gots to have dat Woo Woo!

Eventually we got to Brother's, where things kind of break down. I mean, it was 9:45 people! A few of us motivated kids meandered to Studio 13 and played a more limited set before the drag show started. The Dublin Underground was calling my name from earlier in the night, so I returned there to find a bunch of kids I knew and sat down to enjoy a Guinness pint after being accosted by a man from Northern Ireland. I had to promise him I did not actually have a position on the disarmament of the IRA. Honestly.

Then my phone rings, and 'somebody' needs to be picked up from the ER because she really didn't want to have a hangover and thought IV fluids were her best chance. Smart girl, except for not having shoes. Not one to waste a pint of Guinness, I hurried up and we fetched her and got home. 6:30 AM came waaaaaay too early the next morning.

Pre-game rehearsal was great. I'm so tired of the "hey let's march the S off the field" joke. Unfortunately our hurricaine-inspired vortex drill didn't go over well. Poor execution, methinks. Express tailgating followed. 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there, 10 minutes in-between time, 10 minutes late to line-up. Marching into the tunnel through the construction zone was really quite un-interesting. I hear reports that pre-game was right-on, but I wasn't watching myself on the jumbo-tron as I know some folks did.

The game was a lot of fun. We beat Illinois, and our special teams did well, although I was a bit disappointed by the defense in general. We did alumni-kickline with the pink-shirted junior-kickline. Oh, the pink shirts in the stadium in reference to the pink visitor locker room were too funny. Let's get over it people. It's a pink locker room, and it's not offensive to women or gays or anyone else. It's just pink. Get over it. I suppose all publicity is good publicity though.

A post-game nap was had, followed by a shower and dinner (where I wore the kilt again) with all the married kids, and their kids. Walking back to Wendy's from Boston's this girl completely gasped and squealed at me, "that guy's wearing a kilt!". I totally loved all the attention. Then I went and rounded up some people at the Vine and we rendevouzed at Frosty's place where there was poker. There was also Dr. Tran on DVD. I don't remember the website, but someone please remind me. And also send me a copy of that DVD, because that is HILARIOUS! Belive me, or I will dole out the harshness. Even Greg snuck out of his house to hang with us for the evening (along with Josh, Jenniffer, Donor, Micah, Julie, Nicki, Brad, Tara, Jamie, and Frosty). Very very sleepy Jeff went home at almost 3 AM.

As has become a Sunday tradition, everyone showed up later than agreed at Steak & Shake. Love that greasy meat. Surprise guests in the morning were Neal and Courtney! Sometimes wishes do come true. Slowly, everyone gave Reggie his or her order, and then re-ordered shakes and malts and he was amazing at getting nearly everything right. Then my parents showed up and we ordered more shakes.

Back to Wendy's for a bit of NASCAR racing car-crashing excitement and then on to the beautiful Eastern Iowa Airport. Flying home sucked, due to a thunderstorm in Chicago that caused my flight to leave CID 1.5 hours late and then I was delayed again at ORD. Luckily the pilot put on the afterburners and landed the plane at LGA at 11:55 PM. After midnight all LGA flights are re-routed to JFK and that would have royally screwed up my ride home. Safe and sound though, and my luggage was first off the baggage carousel.

Go, look at pictures. Leave comments with errors and omissions (or just randomness). And somebody get me a copy of Dr. Tran.

Update: Here's a clip for those of you who have no clue.

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US Open time!!!
We hit the road (in two cars) at 9 AM sharp, heading into Queens hoping to get a good parking spot. Luckily we arrived early enough to park in the best lot, right next to the subway station and boardwalk between the US Tennis Center and Shea Stadium. Zee Fwenchies always have some drama happen, and this trip was no different. Somehow, the keys to their still-running car were locked inside. D'OH! Last year it was the cell phone, this year the keys in the car. Apparently neither the NYPD, FDNY, nor the Park Service had any way to open the lock to his car. Luckily, our third party was still on Long Island and went by and got the extra set of keys to save the day.

Inside, we took our seats in Louis Armstrong stadium and watched Taylor Dent play Lars Burgsmuller (yeah, he's German). Dent won and we decided to head to Court #10 and watch some Japanese players. Ai Sugiyama gave us an exciting match against Michaela Pastikova. She came back from being down 1-4 in the second set, to winning 8 games in a row and eventually winning the third set. Good stuff! The Japanese fans aren't the most vocal group out there, as the Argentinians from the next court easily out-shouted our applause.

Next we saw Nadia Petrova finish off Aiko Nakamura in 58 minutes. We then went to the Grandstand too see the end of Lisa Raymond vs. Julia Schruff. After Schruff won we watched a bit of Francesca Schiavone's punishment of Emma Laine. After one set of that destruction we decided to check out the men's doubles match in Louis Armstrong. Paes-Zimonjic were beat in straight sets by some people I've never heard of: Delic-Morrison. Ok, truthfully, I have no clue about Zimonojic either. Leander Paes used to play mixed doubles with Martina Navratilova and they were excellent. That's the only reason I know who he is.

Finally, we went to sit and enjoy some time in the beer garden and have a bite to eat. Unfortunately the rain finally came down to get us wet, and we decided it best to end the day. Traffic wasn't so bad on the way home, but there was one major annoyance. Gas prices jumped 50 cents!!! Holy Crap! Apparently my weekend travel budget must be increased a bit to cover gas, thank you hurricane Katrina.

Today: Photos are up.
Tomorrow: Green Day Concert.
Friday: Natural History Museum

Update: I have some fairly creative tan lines as I did not apply the spray-on sunscreen in a liberal fashion. I missed my inside wrists and he top of my knees. Pass the Aloe!

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Summer is nearly over and I have been having a wonderful time so far, all of it in the area and mostly on weekends. Continuing with that theme, I'll be taking 6 days around Labor Day weekend starting today to have some more work-free bliss. Wednesday I have tickets to the US Open Tennis Tournament and I'm hoping that we wont be dealing with very much rain from the hurricane. It'll all be cleared out of the area by Thursday I think, for the Green Day and Jimmy Eat World concert at Giants Stadium with Donor and FerFer.

Friday I'm planning a visit to the Museum of Natural History in New York City, followed by camping in the woods of Pennsylvania. On Saturday I'm planning to visit Scranton, PA to see FerFer march in the DCA Championships. Oh, and to hang with Donor and watch the Hawkeyes play. More camping finishes out the weekend, hopefully with nice weather.

Currently, Andy Roddick is down 2 sets to virtual unknown Gilles Muller, who hails from Luxembourg. Let's hope the weather holds for tomorrow.

Update: Muller kicked Andy's butt in straight sets. Damn!

Posted by Jeff Smith at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Pop Quiz: When you realize on a Thursday that you've got nothing going on for the weekend, what do you do? Well last weekend I hopped in the car and went to Atlantic City, New Jersey. I know. Right.

George wanted to get his poker craving fulfilled, so we jumped in the car at 8:30 AM on Saturday morning and hit the tunnel. Then the Turnpike. Then the Parkway. I kind of felt like we were on our way to ditch a body, like in the Sopranos, as we drove past the giant tanks of oil that say "Drive Safely". Once we merged onto the Parkway, traffic hell began. We stopped for breakfast at a service area, skipped the long line at Starbucks and got Burger King instead. About half of the people in the service area were dressed in some sort of swimwear, because everyone goes to the beach on Saturdays. Everyone within 500 miles apparently, because we sat in traffic. Then we tried to outsmart the traffic (because in some universe that's possible) by taking Highway 9. Bad Idea.

Eventually, we made it to Atlantic City... at 12:30. Our hotel was hosting some Irish Dance competition, and all the little leprechauns were prancing and leaping and practicing how to move their little lower bodies without any arm movement. Oh, and pulling fire alarms. they liked practicing that too, much to the chagrin of the hotel staff and many parents. We quickly made our escape to eat lunch at the famous White House Sub Shop. They have so many photos of famous people on the walls there, they are mounted atop one another. The line stretches outside the tiny restaurant with people waiting for a booth. Once you get in, the subs come very quickly, and it's pretty cheap. And Delicious. If you go to Atlantic City, I highly recommend it. There's even a seating-Nazi lady in a house dress who will totally break your fingers if you try to sit at a table before she's cleaned it off. NEXT!

We returned to the hotel to digest and decompress from the drive. Traffic is so exhausting. Then about 2:30-ish we headed for the boardwalk in the oppressive heat. It was so hot and humid out the sky wasn't even blue. It was white. It was gross, even with the nice breeze coming off the Atlantic Ocean. We ventured north on the boardwalk, trying not to get run over by the push-carts (the boardwalks implementation of bike-taxis, sans the bike... almost a rickshaw) and strolled into Bally's. A wild west theme permeated the decor, complete with a robotic pan-handler in the fountain where people throw in coins... and dollar bills. Does anyone else find that bizzare, to toss bills into the fountain?

We people-watched our way up the boardwalk to the Trump Taj Mahal which has the best poker room in town. Allegedly. We roll up on the poker room and get on the waiting list to play, which at this time of day is only a few minutes long. I admit it right away, that I'm intimidated and feel very out of place, but there's always a first time for everything so I suck it up and go for it.

My bankroll is a whopping $80, and I head over to a $2/$4 table of Texas Hold'em and sit down with a load of characters. It must say something about me that I imagine them all with little TV captions underneath their headshots. Ethel: crazy lady. Bob and Cindy: gambling addicts bored with their marriage. Doug: barely old enough to gamble. Anna: almost Eurotrash/model wannabe.

I end up playing for about an hour. I win one hand and am up about $20, but even that doesn't really cause all the endorphins to rush. At one point crazy Ethel demands that she wins with a straight that exists only in her imagination. She's also accusing the other players of conspiring to help the ditzy model wannabe Anna, who has no clue what betting limits are. The next hand I get dealt King Queen, and I play. Then crazy Ethel starts betting wildly and if I was thinking straight I would have totally whopped her and taken her money, but I got freaked out chasing a 9 when I didn't realize an Ace was already on the table and I totally should have won but bailed. So I suck at poker, but at least I only ended up losing $20 before I got out of the game. Truthfully, it was way too stressful to play in a casino. Give me a home game anytime.

I escaped to a rooftop bar at the Taj where a local band was playing cover tunes. It was 8 guys: 2 trumpets, tenor and bari sax, keyboards, drums, singer, and bass player. They were very fun, and even had some dance moves. Eventually George found me and we drowned our sorrows (just a little) as he fared worse than I did. Then we headed to the Tropicana for dinner at an Irish Pub. The Boddingtons on tap helped the wait for a table and eventually found ourselves playing slots. Did you know they have penny slots in Atlantic City? Vegas doesn't have that.

Later on, we decide to check out the Borgata, the newest and hottest of the casinos. It's separated from all the others, and rightfully so, because it's beautiful. I felt like I was walking into the Bellagio or some other awesome Vegas strip hotel. Really really nice and made the other places look dated and gross. Apparently the Borgata realized this because table game minimums were $25. OUCH! They even had high-roller slots, for $100 a pull. That seems like such a waste. George slowly won most of his money back at the slots, lucky bastard.

The hottest restaurants and clubs were located in the Borgata also. And all the Jersey Shore kids knew it. The guidos were out in force. I saw more guidos and guido-ettes than I could shake a finger or roll my eyes at. Kinda like clone wars meets MTV's "Real Life: I'm a Jersey Shore girl". All the girls had that same purse, the one with the oversized shiny dangling sequins in various colors. Y'all know that purse right?

We escaped after midnight to get some sleep. Sunday we opted to head out of town instead of partaking in the breakfast buffet with the hoards of other gamblers. We stumbled into a nice little hole-in-the-wall diner. I could have sworn we stepped into a basement from 1972, complete with cheap wood panelling everywhere. The food was awesome. I love places like that. We opted for local roads most of the way back, checking out the fun beach towns that all kind of look the same.

Back to NY, I have awesome parking karma twice, but not such great bar karma. What can I do? I finally left about 6:30 to brave traffic on the way home and drove through a violent downpour of biblical proportions. Memo to Long Island road construction crews, "build better drainage!". I do love a lightning storm, though, so it was very cool to see the skies ablaze on the ride home. The nightly news told me there were tornados in that mess I drove through. And I survived, so all in all it was an awesome weekend, even if casino poker isn't my bag, baby.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The delivery guys showed up today just before noon with my new couch and loveseat. I live in a house. I have "window treatments". Holy crap I think I became a real, actual, suburbanite. SCARY!!! For my convenience, I have a roommate who can read minds and will show up with Chineese food just as I think about it. And she cleans! Who needs a wife?!?!

Last night there was a fierce thunderstorm. Those of you who know me well will remember that I absolutely love thunderstorms. I love the sounds and the smells they make. Most of all I love how the sky lights up the landscape like it's daylight, but just for a millisecond. And the streaks across the clouds. Love it! I stood on the porch yesterday and watched the sky for a good 20 minutes. I'm sure the neighbors thought I was nuts.

In other thoughts, apparently April is blog lull month. Spring's got people interested in other things besides posting the details of their life, and I can definitely understand that. I'm sure ya'll have heard it already, but this song "Switch" by Will Smith makes me want to jump around and clap. I must have seen the video about 10 times already on MTV-Hits (Channel 188). In other MTV Hits news: Trick loves the kids; Ciara has waxed Ludacris' car with her crotch; and holy hell Fantasia Burina has a video? And she just goes by Fantasia? The world must actually be ending.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 01:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kids are getting married everywhere! Photo Album to come soon (hopefully). Debbie, send me your email. Mine is bitterguy 2000 :at: hotmail :.: com.

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Oh what a trip. It smelled of Sunshine and Farts most of the time. I found Seattle to be a very agreeable place and I think if I was forced to live there I might actually enjoy myself. They have lots of good beer. The city is not too big, yet not too small, and there's a fun vibe that I fell like I could mesh with. And they say it doesn't rain too much there, so we'll see.

I think my 2 favorite beers from Seattle were Mack & Jack's Amber and the Pike Place Oatmeal Stout. Frosty has the list of beers we drank while in Whistler, so I'd have to consult that to give you a more accurate picture of what I drank this trip. I'm glad my liver still works.

Our first 2 days of skiing was pretty poor. The snow was roughly comparable to what I've skiied in Iowa during the winter - an icy snow-cone. We actually had to go way way up the mountain to find any snow. I suppose that's the beauty of having a ski resort with a glacier, you never actually run out of 'snow'. We managed to not damage our bodies too badly on the hard ice and slush. Some of us fared better than others.

We woke up on Wednesday morning and gasped when we saw the big white flakes falling from the sky. Three of us left Frosty at the internet cafe to do business and headed up the gondola. What a relief to ski on fluffy snow after 2 days of icy death. We finally met up with frosty at the top of the Roundhouse Gondola at the appointed time. Those of you who know Frosty know why this was virtually miraculous. Also, there were whiteout conditions everywhere so it was hard to see the piste. We did find one nice powder stash that was truly awesome to ski. We had absolutely no idea where we were, nor could we see more than 10 feet ahead. Our skis would suddenly drop a foot, or we'd hit a big mound, causing us to flail about wildly. Time for those other senses to kick in, thank you inner ear. We had to hike out a little bit from the area that we ended up, but it was worth it.

Thursday was St. Patrick's day and Lisa and Matt had joined us for the festivities. We spent most of the day in the haze that is the NCAA tournament. So much basketball. When we finally stumbled to the bar, a waitress in knee-high green socks and a green/white striped skirt greets us with, "So, Irish Car Bombs?" It was that kind of evening. We had lots of Guinness later, and Pizza, and RedBull. Unfortunately, green beer was running dry in Whistler. Le Sigh.

Friday more skiing, although we couldn't tear Frosty from the Tourney. The three remaining skiiers among us were greeted on the mountain by a couple of fresh inches on snow. Also I got a suprise call about a recent birth, so that made the day that much happier. We skiied from 9 until 3, and I definitely felt it. It would have been great to return skis and then go soak for a while in the hot tub, but it was a bit funky in there. Why so funky? We tried to race beer bottles in teh tub and ended up using a bottle with a lot of active yeast in the bottom and things didnt' filter properly, and... well let's say we all showered a lot after hot tubbing. MMmmmmm....Yeasty.

Saturday morning we checked out of the condo. Frosty decided to ski with his friend from Seattle who drove up the night before so 5 of us squeezed into Lisa's Honda Civic and headed back to Seattle. Actually, we hit Vancouver to watch UW play in the tourney, and to buy Lisa some shoes. Then we had a tiny snafu getting through the border because of BC's fire-hydrant fetish and my desire to take every photo I possibly could. I managed to not get arrested by the border patrol, and the customs agent basically thought we were a bunch of morons for all riding in such a tiny car. Cubans snuck thru succesfully. Sweet.

Vancouver was really nice once we were downtown, but the buildings there look pretty ugly since they're just repeated ad nauseum. They just need to build a highway so you don't have to drive downtown every time you want to go through the area. Some cities never learn. Good luck if you attend the Olympics there in 2010. Traffic, icky!

Upon our return to Seattle we were greeted with torrential downpour. I'm told that's not usual either, except they really need the rain, being in a drought and all. Look for lots of northwest fires this summer.

Also, I bought myself a very interesting souvineer while there. Those of you who know what it is, shhhh! Those who don't, feel free to guess. But I'll be wearing it at homecoming. Hopefully with some giant Hawkeye colored socks. Ah fuck it, I can't resist. I got one of these in black. Bring on the snide comments. It's not like I didn't hear them for a whole week already.

Oh, and if you didn't already figure it out, Pictures are up.

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But luckily it snowed on Wednesday. 6 inches of awesome powder saved our vacation.

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Seattle is beautiful. When I left from JFK it was 25 degrees and snowing. They had to de-ice the plane and we finally took off. I was lucky enough to have 3 seats to myself and got to sleep for about 3 hours. There was, however, an obnoxious child that saw fit to throw a 4 hour tantrum and I wanted to flush him down that tiny airport toilet. Birth control people!!!

Anyway, Lisa's here, we're off to go get Jack from the airport. I'm gonna go get a tan.

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Yes, I've been gone for a bit, but for a good reason. This was the first year that I got to present a scientific poster at a meeting. Specifically, the American Society for Cell Biology Meeting. Most of our lab goes to this meeting, and this year 4 of us presented, plus 2 who recently moved back to Japan. I really enjoyed the meeting, although it was mentally exhausting to listen and try to understand a series of talks for 5 days straight, plus poster sessions, plus exhibitor showcase. I did acquire loads of free stuff, albeit scientifically dull: flashing pens, a coaster, foam tube floats, posters, calendars, free samples, and even a little IDT doohickey. Finally, on Tuesday I presented my poster. I didn't really know what to expect, or if anyone would come by and talk to me about it. Turns out that I had plenty of people who were interested in my work, and many offered helpful suggestions. One guy I talked to even asked if I was interested in doing a post-doctoral fellowship in his lab. Too bad I can't just skip the Ph.D. step.

Overall, I thought it was a great meeting. Plus, I got to do some sightseeing in Washington, so of course there are pictures.

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Once again, Halloween rolls around and David and his buddies from the UK descend on NYC to partake in the spectacle this time of year. Because the subway really isn't a big enough showcase for the freaks during the rest of the year. When I woke up Sunday morning I seriously considered just staying in bed. It's been awhile since I had any sort of hangover, and I'm kind of a wimp. I finally cranked myself out of bed and hopped on the LIRR to meet the guys near ground zero. There was some general misunderstanding about the meeting time due to the fall time change and my train tardiness. The guys managed to find a bar in which to pass the afternoon until I arrived. They had been playing pool for about an hour and a half when I arrived.

Greetings were exchanged, and I figured we'd all head up towards SoHo and wander a bit until the parade started. I was wrong. Sean and Rob (David's friends) were playing a heated pool game against some random guy who was in the bar. At this point, we're dealing with a happy-shouty-patriotic drunk.

More pool is played. We learn that random drunk guy's name is Richard. We also learn (in between when he's shouting "we saved your asses in WWII" and "we kicked your asses in the Revolutionary War") that Richard is quite Richie, after winning $30,000 at Harrah's in Atlantic City a week or so ago. ALLEGEDLY! We also learn that Richie has been up since Friday. And he's been drunk the entire time.

This is the point where I realize we are now part of someone else's bender.

Richie really likes to talk. He's talking about Chicago, New York, his time on a farm, detassling, the south, how when he was in high school 15% of his class were African-Americans and how he could never beat them in sports, and how "rag-heads" all need to die. He's spouting off a load of bullshit at this point, and he becomes bigoted-barking drunk. We hadn't had our daily dose of hate speech, so with that out of the way the conversation switched to Richie's time in the marine corps. This is also a good time to tell you that he insisted on paying for all our drinks.

Richie had an interesting military career. He was in Virginia, Germany, Moscow, Lebanon, and somewhere I forget in Asia. ALLEGEDLY! He regailed us with stories of him jogging down a big street in Moscow in February in his gore-tex gear and the crowds parted to let him by. He told us about his time at the embassy and how his buddies got arrested one night because they decided it would be fun to steal a bunch of communist flags. Except for the part when they got arrested and sat in a Russian jail and missed roll call and then got sent back to their old unit. That unit was coincidentally the same unit that was in Beiruit, Lebanon when the Marine Corps barracks were bombed. And his friends died. Then Richie turned into weeping-sentimental-remorseful drunk. Seriously, he was crying and none of us could really relate on a personal level. He takes it one step further. Apparently the guys in his unit used to name each of the toilets and urinals after guys who died in combat. They all joked and told each other how much they wanted to have a urinal named after themselves. One day he walked into a bathroom and found his buddy's name on a plaque above the urinal he was using. Weeping progressed into crying, and at one point poor Richie almost punched a wall.

I'm wondering how the hell we are going to get ourselves out of this guy's reality warp. Miraculously, Sean and Rob steer the conversation toward the time when Richie got out of the military. Almost instantly, he was off on a story about how he convinced some girl to let him hit it doggy style in the bushes outside the Capitol. "So I'm fuckin' this chick, and lookin' at the dome of the Capitol and screamin' out 'Hell yeah, I love this country!'" ALLEGEDLY! And now we're back to happy-shouty-patriotic drunk.

At this point, we really do need to be heading to the parade if we're going to see anything. Sean convinces Richie to join us. The night promises to be more interesting that I expected.

We head toward the parade route, and Richie is way too drunk to walk the 15 blocks, so we decide the subway makes sense. When we near the subway station, a limo driver shouts out "I'll take you all to parade, $5 each". Richie orders us into the limo. I felt like we should be going to a wedding, this was a tackiest limo ever. And we're off uptown. First, we've got to pick up a six-pack. Next, we need an ATM. Then we need a toilet. Apparently, we're not getting to the parade on time.

I don't know what kind of convoluted route the limo driver used to get us to Sixth Ave. We finally got close and decided to walk. Richie, Rob and Sean watched about 5 minutes of parade and decided to find another bar. Whatever, we already missed the giant puppets. David and I watched the parade for about an hour and then met the other guys at the bar. Rich had now transformed into every-strangers-best-friend drunk. He also had plans to go to the Red Lion to see some "Rock and Roll MAN!".

Two blocks later, Richie is paying our cover charge to get into the Red Lion. On stage were two guys. The singer was dressed as an angel, and the guitarist was the devil. There was no drummer. We grab a table right in front. The band immediately seized on the fact that Rich was dressed in matching brown sweater, pants, and shoes. They dubbed him "Mr. Fall" and he appeased them by pretending to be a runway model. Now he's dancing-alone-crazy drunk for a while. He's also tipping the 2 guys on stage with $20s and requesting songs. He's requesting songs that they don't know. He doesn't care. We get some decent rock music for a while. He tips them another $20 and requests a Neil Young song which they don't know, so they substitute a semi-sad Neil Young song (the exact name of the song escapes me... maybe The One). Richie starts to cry again. Thankfully the band decides to not mention it, and changes gears to making fun of the evil bitch who stole the chairs they were using to hold their drinks. ALLEGEDLY!

A different drunken British guy named Pete decides to request a song which the band didn't know, and then refuses to get off stage, so the band mocks him openly. He comes back during the next song and flails about wildly to everyone's delight. Not to be outdone, Richie gets up and shakes it again. It's sad to say, but by now things really are starting to settle down. The band (which we didn't realize were just the opening act) plays Radiohead's Creep as the closer and I decide that I better head back home. Goodbyes, etc, and I literally jog to the subway station and manage to catch my train with 3 whole minutes to spare.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last minute roadtrip to State College, PA? Count me in! Follow that with a surprise appearance by a former President? Sweet!

It only took me 2 years of living on Long Island to figure out that it's possible to make good time on the roads, if you leave at 8 PM. Previously I had spent hours in traffic going towards Washington, D.C. This time, it only took me 2.5 hours to get from my place to downtown Philly, and it was an awesome feeling. For those that haven't put it together yet, I stayed with Jerry and Sara in their wonderful apartment right in the heart of Philadelphia. I wish I lived in such a nice place right in the middle of the city.

We got up very early Saturday morning for the projected 3 hour drive to State College. We should have left earlier than we did, but we were all sleepy. The drive through the mountains along the Pennsylvania Turnpike was really beautiful this time of year. The fall foliage was in full effect, and we even saw a few hot air balloons at such an early hour. I can't remember the last time I saw a sunrise, so that was very cool. Once we got close to State College, traffic started getting heavy. After navigating an accident, crazy merging, twisty mountain roads, and almost getting a speeding ticket, we arrived at Penn State.

These people have gameday parking worked out. All traffic is pre-sorted by parking pass (displayed in your window, and purchased with season tickets) so you get to the right lot quickly. No messing about, and while it looked like it would take forever to get off the highway, we were parked in about 10 minutes.

I quickly negociated a price for a scalped ticket, we had a beer and some chips and packed ourselves full of sandwhiches and snacks and headed toward the stadium. We had to rush, but we made it through the crowd just in time to see pre-game. Who do we spot during pre-game? Kirk, Micah, et al. Initially we tried to sit in the Iowa section, but Sara and Jerry decided to head back to their purchased seats during the first quarter. I lucked out and was squeezed into a row with pretty fun people. By halftime I snuck down and joined the kids from Iowa who made the trip. I'm sure those of you who watched the game on TV were very bored by the whole thing. It was much more exciting in person, I can assure you. The stadium was really really really really really loud. On TV, the We Are...Penn State cheer doesn't come across nearly as well. I'm pretty sure the stereo effect is lost. Too bad really, because it's cool. Especially when all the Iowa fans yell "LOSING!" instead of "Penn State".

The Penn State fans overall were very gracious losers. Not that either side was impressed by the performance of of the teams, but still. You should see the look on people's faces when you inform them that Iowa actually did score all 10 points, yet gave 4 of them to PSU. After the game we went to tailgate with the Iowa kids.

Interesting sidenote: The Iowa kids were the first people in line when the parking lot opened up in the morning, much to the chagrin of the Penn State Blue Band Alumni who were right behind them. Well done, fellas.

After the post-game tailgate, Jerry and Sara and I headed downtown to have a quick bite before driving back to Philly. Downtown reminded me of Iowa City. We grabbed some soup and a little coffee and drove back to Philly, which was traffic-free.

Sunday I was a big tourist, and my guides took me on a great walking tour of the city. We saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The national park rangers there really amused me. Both sites are considered national parks, and the rangers all have the same uniforms, from Yellowstone to the Liberty Bell. I had an authentic Philly Cheesesteak, because that's the law.

When we arrived back to the apartment, setup had already begun for the John Kerry rally, and it was quite apparent that if I didn't leave Sunday evening then I shouldn't expect to get out before Monday evening. I couldn't really pass up a chance to miss the rally from such a unique vantage point, so I stayed an extra day. It was quite a spectacle to say the least, and Jerry has posted an excellent recap of the rally. We had a nice lunch in the hotel's restaurant and watched the rally from the balcony and on CNN / MSNBC. I was a tad paranoid that we were being watched/taped/recorded by the secret service. I contemplated sending a paper airplane down towards the rally, but better judgement prevailed.

We had sushi for dinner and then I had another fairly easy drive back to NY. From now on, I'm driving everywhere at night. It's just easier.

And now I'm going to watch Lisa Lisa's video for "Lost in Emotion" on VH1 Classic and hopefully fall asleep. I also posted photos from the weekend.

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I have returned safely home from my brief yet action-packed trip to Iowa City. Iowa's homecoming weekend was a welcome relief from my recent stress at work. Although I wouldn't say the weekend was relaxing, I'm definitely recharged due to the change of scenery (and cold-ass weather). Friday's rains thwarted our planned outing to the frisbee golf course, but we managed to not melt into puddles of goo. It rained for the first part of the parade, not that I noticed since the shots at Gabe's eased away all of life's troubles. Beer Band was a crazy fun time, as per usual. This time we were interviewed by the WB network under the name "Bonaducci". Yes, that's spelled with two 'ucci's.

Saturday morning practice was fun, and only left us with 45 minutes of time to tailgate, which is really far to short in my opinon. I did manage to cram a lot of delicious meat into my mouth (thanks Ma Zillman, Frosty, Donor, Utechs, et. al). Pre-Game downfield march was great fun, and I'm fairly certain our lines were straight. A lot straighter than the HMB's. Just after that, we got shouted down by some random trombone player. I thought T-ra was going to tear his eyes out. Cooler heads prevailed and we had a lot of fodder for later in the evening. "Everybody hated you your last year in band!"

I made the lap around the newest suburb of IC, North Liberty, herefor referred to as NoLib (as all good neighborhoods should have an acronym). I did the tour of homes, a restaurant sampling, and played with D's and Andy's crazy fun new puppy, which is really too cute for words. Also, he's too quick to take photographs of. I think maybe you should have named him Heisenburg. Later that night, the Whitworth's hosted a rockin' party where we all probably cheered louder for Northwestern to beat OSU than at our own win against MSU. RedBull was thankfully present for the party (that's mostly the reason none of us can now run for Congress). Good times, and no broken beds.

Sunday morning we had brunch at Steak 'n Shake. Love that grease right before flying home. Go check out my Photos of the weekend.

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Yes yes, I've been away. Last Wednesday I left for DC after work and left from there Thursday morning with Diogo and headed for the North Carolina coast. After many hours in the car, we arrived at my grandfather's beach house. Quickly I realized that the air conditioning was not working, which was a bit of a bummer. At least all the windows had been cracked open last summer when the AC went out while my parents were there. After a trip to Food Lion for groceries, Jerry and Sara arrived. Actually, our reunion was in the beer aisle - like you do.

We had a really lovely time (aside from the lack of air conditioning) lying on the beach, playing cards, drinking beer, and enjoying seafood. We played a lot of Playmaker at this bar called the Sea Witch Bar and Tiki Lounge. I also had a lot of fun swimming in the ocean again. The water temperature was perfect, and we even had some good waves to body surf. I have a few thoughts that I'll get to later. For now, you can check out the photos from the trip via the link on the right.

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Ok, so I said I'd put up comments on the crowd, but I didn't. Yet. And they're not coming soon. I'm heading to the beach in NC for a long weekend. It will be nice and relaxing and maybe I'll get some writing done there, but we wont have internet access, so it wont get posted until I get back. Cope. Deal. One cup rice, Two cups water: Simmer.

And if you want to join me, catch a flight into Wilmington and I'll come pick you up. Pray the weather holds.

Beach Beach Beach Beach Beach

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I had the itch to take my new wheels out for a drive this weekend. My initial plans to visit these kids were thwarted by an ear infection (Feel better Sara). Instead, I decided to sit in the car for a few extra hours and hit Washington D.C. Why D.C.? My friend Diogo is living there for a few months doing an internship with World Bank through the Fulbright program.

I had a fun weekend of sightseeing and partying, and once again, I have posted pictures of the weekend. Details and thoughs on the trip to come this week, hopefully.

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The kids came to visit last week and it was really awesome (see a few entries back for a photo). We kicked back, relaxed, sipped on some wine and had a lot of catching up to do. We went to NYC on Wednesday, ate some Afghani food (yum!) saw some good comedy at the Comedy Cellar (highlights included Dave Attell, Jim Norton, and Hood), and watched the final episode of Friends with 3,000 other people at the TriBeCa Film Festival.

The best news of all, they're not going to be too far away for a few months. I will refrain from disclosing the mystery location until they decide to inform everyone. Until then, here's some photo documentation.

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I'm back from my ski week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I've posted a plethora of photos. We had a wicked good time, despite the fact that the snow was very very slushy. It was around 50 degrees all week and partly sunny. The last two days I skiied without a hat or gloves. Not cool when you fall, but wonderful when you're just skiing.

We had some awesome meals, prepared by BC, Frosty, and Donor. Lasagne, Chili, and Pizza respectively. We also played a lot of drinking games, and watched a lot of basketball.

The only unfortunate aspect of the trip was that Lisa was supposed to join us on Wednesday night, but she contracted chicken pox from one of her patients at the clinic and was not allowed to fly. Luckily they refunded all her money, and she has agreed to make an appearance at homecoming.

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Oh my God! We're gonna die!

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I have procrastinated shopping for christmas presents on purpose, since I was not going to see my family and friends in Iowa over Christmas, so I just decided to wait until after Christmas to do the bulk of my shopping. Also, I hate buying someone a gift just to spend the money so they'll have a package to open. I prefer to buy a unique item that cannot be purchased in that person's locality, or just give them cash. With my parents, giving cash is kind of stupid, because they stopped trying to buy me something and just send cash anymore - which I greatly prefer. So in brainstorming for gifts, and watching too much TV, I settled on the idea of buying some knock-off designer purses.

Saturday, after letting the garage door opener repairman into the garage, I headed to Canal Street in Manhattan with the hopes of finding some purses. It's quite an odd experience, shopping at a quasi-legal semi-permanant store where the inventory is covered by sheets, and stored in black plastic garbage bags underneath the tables. I kind of embraced the day and went hardcore purse shopping, with no idea what I was exactly buying.

As a man, I have really no concept of what I might want to carry with me in a purse. What I know is that my mom's purse is always at least 12" x 12" and heavy, while my sister wanted something a little smaller. So I just kind of guessed while making my selections. These places have everything, so it was just a matter of time until I found what I hope will be well received gifts.

I got my mom a Louis Vuitton bag that is black, with the multicolored flowers and logo on it. It was suede lined and seemed pretty well made. I got my sister a simple smallish Kate Spade black bag with white stiching. Sexy, kinda. Now, my mom will not know what the hell to do with a Louis Vuitton bag, so I'm going to have to beg her to actually use it for a couple of weeks. My only hope is that she gets some ooohs and aaahs from her co-workers or other people she runs into. So if you see my mom in Iowa City around Jo-Anne's Fabrics, and she's rockin' the LV bag, give her some props. It'll make her day.

Continue reading "Wanna buy a Rolex?" »

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