Lounging and then Hiking in Red Rock Canyon

The first day in Las Vegas was spent lounging by the pool as I attempted to recover from my jet-lag.

The pool at Tahiti Village was pretty sweet. It was large with various little coves; one with a volleyball net, one with a basketball net, and one with a beach! Actual sand that led right into the pool so it was like a mini-beach. Very cute.

Here was my view from the deckchair.

Not bad, eh?

And here's part of the pool.

Carly performing a cannon ball. Isn't she graceful?

And let's not forget the lazy river. Or the small part of it I was able to photograph. Seriously, lazy rivers are one of the best things EVER.

That afternoon we drove out to the Hoover Dam and visited a ghetto casino where I learned how to play craps AND won $200, but more on that later.

Saturday morning (Vegas Day #2) we all stumbled out of bed bright and early to go hiking in Red Rock Canyon. It was already 85 degrees by 7 in the morning, so getting an early start was imperative.

Background on Red Rock (from wiki): The conservation area is one of the easternmost parts of the Mojave Desert; the character of the sandstone layers is such that a number of year-round springs may be found in the recesses of the side canyons.

The Red Rock Area has a complex geological history, which over millions of years, helped to create the dramatic landscape that characterizes the region.

The Red Rock area was located under a deep ocean basin during the Paleozoic Era 600 million years ago. Sediments up to 9,000 feet thick were deposited, and eventually lithified. This sediment eventually formed into limestone.

Around the Mesozoic Era 250 million years ago, the earth's crust started to rise due to tectonic shifts, forcing the water out and leaving behind evaporite formations. Exposure of the former sea bed allowed some of the rocks to oxidize (literally rust) and formed the area's characteristic red and orange rock layers.

Eventually a lush plain with streams and trees developed in the area. Some of these trees were covered with mud from the streams and eventually became petrified wood. Many of these fossilized logs can still be found today at the base of the Wilson Cliffs.

By 180 million years ago, the climate continued to change and the area became a desert featuring vast expanses of huge shifting sand dunes. These dunes would pile up and were lithified, and are now called Aztec Sandstone. During a mountain building period called the Laramide orogen around 65 million years ago, the Keystone Thrust Fault developed which ran through most of North America and through the Red Rock Conservation Area. The movement of this fault forced the older grey sedimentary rock over the younger red rocks, forming the striking red line that can be seen in the mountain today.

Long story short (too late), the place is huge with these awesome red rocks where you can easily see all the eras of geological change reflected in the layers of differing colors in the rocks.

Now, when we came up with this great plan to go hiking, I made it pretty clear that I was not an experienced hiker. Easy to moderate difficulty was what we all decided on. And yeah, we started on the trail. And then the group's collective ADD kicked in, and all of a sudden everyone was wandering off the path and we ended up picking and climbing our way over large rock formations.

It was a little scary, since a fall would have been pretty disastrous, but I was able to do all of it and I was pretty darn proud of myself by the end. Everyone knew my propensity to fall over, so there was definitely a lot of "put your feet where mine are" and "you're doing great, Maggie!" but it just goes to show they cared.

The only real area of difficulty was the very end when we had to clamber up a very very steep incline to get back to the road. I'm not very good at extreme angles, so I was not only huffing and puffing by the end, but I could feel my throat closing and I was doing the gasping and wheezing dance. But after sitting down for a few minutes, I recovered. And at the end of the day, it was a great time, and I definitely hope to get out there again and try another trail!

Pictures!

After our hike and the scenic drive through the conservation area, we headed over to the gift shop. Because you always have to stop at the gift shop, right? I was aware of how dangerous and well, foreign, the desert was, but in the gift shop we began to hear all about the scorpions, snakes, tarantulas, and other venomous creatures that inhabit the area. It really inspires me to stay on the trail, you know? And not go wandering into the desert. Because, DAMN. Like the ocean, it is not our territory and you need to have a healthy respect for that environment.

Red Rock's Website.

Viva Las, oh forget it.

I have returned from Vegas in one piece! But honestly, there wasn't that much of a danger of any other outcome. When you're in bed every night before midnight there's not much trouble you can get into. Yes, I'm getting old, and yes, I went to bed early. I jet-lag pretty bad, ok? Back off!

So, Vegas: first impressions. Dirty. Like, disgustingly, grimy, dirtiest shithole of a town ever. Sorry if any of y'all out there are really enamoured with Vegas, but the city itself was not impressive. It's a microcosm of what ails America; it stands for our obsession with consumption, greed, tackiness, and disposable life.

But I actually had a really great time. The company was great (Chris, Kent, Carly, and Stephanie), the resort we stayed at was awesome (Tahiti Village, located on Las Vegas Boulevard just a little over a mile from the casinos), but the Strip itself was just...ick.

Before I get to the pictures, here are just some quick recollections:

--Funniest moment (by far) was me falling into the hot tub. I'll just say that I misjudged the distance to the step and leave it that. And I swear that child was fine; I barely grazed him!

--We went to a ghetto casino off the strip where they had dollar craps and I 1) learned how to play craps which is totally fun and 2) won $200! In fact, we all won and ended up taking the casino for over $800! Take THAT, probably mob-connected casino owner.

--Laying by the pool constituted my entire activity for almost 2 whole days which was TOTALLY worth it.

More stories coming in future posts including fun with Patrick and my new friend Rosa, hiking in Red Rock Canyon, and M&M World!

Here are some pictures from around town....

The famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign!

New York New York Casino at night. Note the roller coaster on which Chris, Carly, and I had a ride.

The Venetian.

Fremont Street, for that old school Las Vegas feel. And random Queen tribute-ness.

Famous Las Vegas neon cowboy. He got moved to Fremont Street some years ago. Booted from the Strip, so sad.

Carly and Chris in front of New York New York


Looking down the Strip from a pedestrian walkway.


Excalibur! Now with even more Arthurian sparkle magic!


Paris casino.


The view of the Strip from our room's balcony.

But it's a dry heat.

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving on a jet plane for a week long vacation in sunny Las Vegas. It's my first time to Sin City, but I don't intend to do anything too crazy or even gamble.

I intend to lie by the pool as much as possible.

So why go all the way to Las Vegas? Well some friends have a timeshare which means almost-free lodging and a group of awesome people are also going which means fun friends to hang out with...but it also means almost guaranteed sunshine. Sure my pool is opening this weekend, but with our high temperature only reaching 70 degrees during the past week, I'm not entirely convinced we're going to have usual Memorial Day weather.

Also, I've been planning the trip for about 8 months. It's kind of like that quote from Ghostbusters. If someone asks you if you want to go to Las Vegas, you say yes!

Despite my pool (and lazy river) plans, there are some other things I want to do. See LOVE at the Mirage, visit one of those famous Las Vegas buffets, hike through Red Rock Canyon, visit M&M World, go to a nightclub, and just take some time to walk along the Strip. And with the news that my college friend Patrick will also be coming into Las Vegas for the weekend, there are surely some 99 cent margaritas in my future. But for the most part, the week will consist of as much lounging as I can squeeze in.

Of course, as with all best laid plans....things are subject to change. I'm just going to play it by ear and see what happens. And isn't that really the best attitude to have when visiting a place like Las Vegas?

I can make one promise: I promise not to come home married. That's what annulments are for!

Kicking it (really really) old school.

I've been wanting to visit Medieval Times for some time now. Even before The Cable Guy came out and brought the absurdity of the place to the masses.

The $50 price tag always seemed steep for about 2 hours of entertainment, but goldstar.com offered some discounted tickets the other day, and who am I to pass up a bargain? So Chris, Kent, and I made our way up to Hanover, Maryland (ugh...Maryland) for an evening of knights, kings, jousts, and eating with our fingers. Because they won't give you silverware, but you bet they have a whole array of Coke products!

Our trip didn't get off to the best of starts, what with the hellacious traffic on I-395. We were armed with Chris and Kent's GPS (named Judy) who led us on an alternative route through the ghetto of South East, but we emerged safe and sound onto the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and still had plenty of time to make the 7:00 curtain. Or whatever the alternative is for a show of this nature.

Medieval Times is located at the end of a mall in the middle of urban sprawl. Which somehow seems appropriate, don't you think? You're seated around a large arena divided by colors which designates the knight you cheer for. We were in the blue knight section, who may have gotten his ass kicked in the sword fight part of the show, but was by far the hottest knight. So I prefer to think that we actually won.

It's true they don't give you silverware; you eat with your fingers which is...interesting. But fun in it's own way. First course: tomato soup that tasted like spaghetti-Os without the pasta. Second course: Half a chicken (not kidding) that was really well cooked and seasoned, a piece of pork ribs that were also delicious, a large potato wedge, and a piece of garlic bread. Third course: an apple pastry that was kind of eh. Not even as good as McDonald's apple pie. But then, those things are pretty delicious.

I had to splurge for the strawberry daiquiri in the signature glass, because come on. Everybody needs a Medieval Times signature glass, right?

The show itself was entertaining; there was a loose plot about the Prince being captured by a kingdom that wanted to break away and be independent, represented by the green knight, but blah blah. There were sword fights and jousting and merriment and rivalries and that's what we were there to see. We booed for the evil green knight, cheered for our guy (even when he got his butt whopped) and in general had a great time. It was about 2 hours, but actually felt a lot longer so I think we got our money's worth. I'm not sure about paying $50 for it though.

Here are some pics!

Outside the mall entrance.

The empty arena.

Capturing the Prince.

Parade of the knights.

Me and Chris with our crowns.

Me and the Queen, er, Kent.

Sparks fly during a sword fight.

Bringing it in at the end of the show.

The family that nerds together, stays together.

The lights were dimming, the trailers were starting, and all of a sudden, I had to call my brother.

“The movie is starting!” I whispered into my cell phone.

“We decided to go see it tonight too!” my brother replied.

“Call me as soon as you get out!” I told him.

Why the fuss? The newest Star Trek movie is finally out, and my brother and I both went to advance screenings on Thursday night.

I really liked the movie, but what made it special was all the little nods to the old school fans that were included. Sulu knowing how to fence, Uhura’s eyeliner, Bones with his eyebrow raise…every time I spotted some little homage, it made a big grin spread across my space.

But I was surprised by how emotional I got. Due to a nifty time-travelling plot device, Leonard Nimoy showed up as old Spock and when he comes face to face with young Kirk he tells him, “I have been and always will be your friend.” It made me tear up a little.

But why? I mean, I’m not a die-hard Trek fan. I’ve seen every episode of the original series and TNG (Picard is my favorite captain), and I know a good deal of the mythology and stories behind the show, but I don’t dress up, I don’t own any of the DVDs, I haven’t even watched anything Star Trek-related in probably 5 years. So why was watching this movie making me so emotional?

And then I figured it out.

Growing up, my brother and I couldn’t have been more different. I was a ditzy chatterbox who was constantly singing and dreaming of one day appearing on the Broadway stage; extrovert = me. My brother was three years older, quiet, bookish, a guy who preferred to stay in his room and work on his computer or design a hovercraft than interact with his little sister.

But the one thing we had in common was Star Trek. I can’t remember when I started watching it; it was probably out of some typical little sister impulse to emulate my older brother, to like something because he liked it, to get him to pay attention to me. The result was family evenings spent watching marathons of classic Trek on television. Of weekly viewings with my mom and bro to watch the new episodes of TNG. Having my Dad take me to my first ever fan convention: a Star Trek convention at a hotel in Maryland. At holidays, when the new Trek movies would come out, my brother, Aunt, and Dad would go see them. And it also meant I would borrow my brother’s Star Trek paperback novels as soon as he was done reading them, paying heed to his threats of what would happen if I dared open the book wide enough to break the spine.

So when it comes down to it, Star Trek was pretty much the first thing my brother and I had in common. When we were as different as night and day, it was the one thing we could share. So when he called me at 10:30 last night after having seen the movie and we kept interrupting each other to mention one other cool thing about the movie, it just made me really really happy.

“It had the creepy bug things from Khan!”
“When he came onto the bridge and said, ‘Bones,’ it was just like William Shatner!”
“Did you see how he sat in the Captain’s chair with his legs crossed?!”
“The uniforms were perfect; like more believably futuristic version of the classic ones.”
“Captain Pike was perfect”
“And they had him in the wheelchair!”
“I know, the wheelchair was awesome!”

Spring is upon us

This year, I was afraid DC weather would do it's typical tap dance: skipping right over Spring. We would get maybe a week of weather in the 60s and 70s, and then we would be right into the humid bitch that is Summer.

This past weekend didn't really do much to assuage my fears: late April and it was already 90 freaking degrees. And since my air conditioning doesn't kick on until tomorrow, it meant that I spent the weekend slowly roasting to death in my condo. I couldn't really leave since I had put off doing all my chores and housework for that weekend, so me = screwed.

But! Blessedly the weather has cooled off again, and the other harbinger of Spring (other than the cherry blossoms) has returned! I am of course speaking of thunder storms.

I love thunder storms. I love sitting on my balcony and watching them roll in. The wind picks up, the temperature drops, the air feels heavy with the promise of rain....and I love the anticipation of when the rain drops will actually fall.

When I was a kid and a storm would approach, I would pretend that I was a character in some natural disaster movie (think Twister) and would turn my face to the wind, let my hair blow around, and stare meaningfully into the distance as if I was sensing some kind of oncoming danger. Yes, I was a giant dork, but I bet most of us have done the same at some point, right?

Right?

Hmm.

Anyway, just such a storm rolled in last week, and I snapped some pics from my balcony! Enjoy!

Edge of the storm.

Cloud cover.

Rain falling over the trees of Fort Ward.

Random heart-shaped balloon caught in the winds.

Chocolate World

This I had to share. Earlier this month, Lori and I drove up to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Why, you ask? Duh. CHOCOLATE.

And oh did we find it. And in addition to the chocolate, we found the world's best ice cream sundae.

Observe.

And another look...

What you're looking at is culinary perfection. Chocolate Hershey's ice cream, chocolate syrup, peanut butter topping, crushed up Reese's peanut butter cups, whip cream, and of course, a cherry.

This was more than a sundae, people. It was a meal. It was a legend. While eating, all Lori had to do was look at me, and I responded, "I know." It was that good. Hands down, the best ice cream sundae I have ever had in my entire life. This sundae alone was worth the 3 hour drive. And that's not counting all the different kinds of chocolate in the factory store and the awesome deals we got at the outlet mall.

All in all, totally worth it. Even if we kind of sort of maybe possibly got a little lost on the way there. And back. But I stopped at a gas station and got a map. So it was alllll good.

Atlantic City!

I finally got around to uploading my most recent pics from my camera, and I realized I have so much to share! Most recently, my trip this past weekend to Atlantic City with Chris and Kent. That's right! The travelling trio reunites for a quick mini-break one nighter at Las Vegas' older more scuzzy sister.

Driving into town on a cloudy Sunday.

I've been to Atlantic City I think five or six times, mostly with Chris and Kent. They love gambling, so they get free hotel stays on weeknights (including Sunday). Since the three of us get Mondays off every so often, it works out pretty well.

Two things of note on the drive up. First, I randomly saw a guy with a donkey. No, that is not a euphemism. You know how the suburbs have built right up to I-95? I was looking into a cul-de-sac and I saw a dude with a donkey in the road. At first I thought it was like a wooden donkey or something, but then it moved. It was a real donkey.

The second story is more gross. Chris noticed a car on the side of the road with some girl standing next to it. Right at the moment he looked over, he figured out why the car was on the side of the road. Because one of the passengers was getting sick, and happened to upchuck right when he looked over. Fun, right?

Moving on....this trip we stayed at Harrahs Marina, which is off the boardwalk so it's a little less crowded. But the BIG draw is their huge indoor heated pool. There are cabanas and hot tubs all around the sides and the servers will bring your drinks right to the edge of the pool.

Living the good life.

Chris and Kent (and me, let's be honest) love the slots. The good news is, they let my push the button occasionally when they're playing so I don't have to wager my own meager funds.


Kent won $229 at the quarter slots. Here's his winning ticket. THEN at around 6 in the morning on Monday he won another $200. And proceeded to wake me up by slapping be on the ass to tell me about it. Here's the full conversation:

Kent: *slaps ass* Guess what?
Me: WHAT.
Kent: I won $200!
Me: Sweet! *snore*

All in all, it was a perfect mini-break, and we definitely plan on going back to the Marina. And the awesome outlet stores certainly helped. Retail therapy, FTW!

One last look at the pool!

Nebraska: Where the Cows Are

Last week, I was in Lincoln, Nebraska for work. While travelling there I learned several things about myself, Nebraska as a whole, and life in general.

1. I am, in fact, an East Coast liberal snob.

2. They keep the good beef, and ship us the leftovers. Damn, I had some good steak!'

3. It's possible to go into culture shock by being surrounded by white people. Very nice white people, but all white people nonetheless. Everyone in the service industry in Lincoln is a well-mannered white college student. Even my taxi cab driver.

4. Seafood is not "fresh" if it has to travel in a plane to get to you.

5. I had no idea single roads could stretch so far and be so straight.

6. People in the Midwest are actually very nice and much more relaxed...but that does not make them right.

7. I need me some rolling green hills to be happy.

8. Flying out of tiny airports is the best.

9. My perspective of how far away things are was all screwed up since the land is so flat. Example: "Oh, I see the grocery store up ahead on the left.....and we're still driving.....and we're still driving....ok, we should be there by now, but no."

10. Grain elevators look strange. And the locals like to talk about when they break and they have to flee the falling grain so as not to get crushed.

11. I can rock a University of Nebraska corn cob hat.

Told you.

Britney, Live!

On Tuesday, I attended the Britney Spears concert at the Verizon Center with 4 friends. So yeah, she’s not that great (or even that good) a singer, and yeah her life has imploded a couple times, and yeah, she’s richer than any 27 year old has a right to be…but you know what? I like singing along her to music so just shut it with the “blah blah Britney sucks blah.”

Any girl who tells you she has never rocked out to a Britney Spears song is lying.

Anyway, we decided to brave the vicious tweens (more on that later) and see if the reality of a Britney show could live up to the hype.

Quick review: Great show.

Ok, more in-depth thoughts: first off, my only real disappointment with the show was that they did not have large screens set up to allow for close-up views of the action. But I think the logistics would have been too difficult to pull this off. Mainly because the concert was performed in the round. The center of the Verizon Center contained three rings (the tour is named after her newest album called “Circus,” natch) and the entire space was utilized. I think having cameras try to capture all the action would have been impossible. However, this meant we couldn’t see any details of Britney herself; we were in the cheap seats and honestly it could have been some chick in a blonde wig and we wouldn’t have know the diff.

While it was pretty clear Britney was using a pre-recorded track, I can’t really fault her. There was a lot of dancing in that show and I can’t imagine anyone moving as much as she did and being able to sustain vocals that sounded anything close to good. (Side note: the Pussycat Dolls were the opening act, and as much as I find them kind of heinous, I was impressed by their ability to furiously dance and sound good…they were clearly singing live).

More on the dancing, in the beginning, it didn’t seem like Brit-Brit did all that much moving, but by the middle of the show she had hit her groove and was working it. A lot of her costume choices were questionable though (as you can see from the pics I have included).

But the coolest thing wasn’t even Britney. Continuing with the circus theme, the show included, dancers (duh), contortionists, acrobats, aerial stunts, guys on stilts, everything except live animals. Say what you want about Britney, but she know how to put on a show.

As for the songlist, I was surprised by how many of her songs came from her album Blackout that preceded Circus. She did the singles from Circus of course (opened the show with Circus, closed with Womanizer, and hit If U Seek Amy in the middle), but the majority came from Blackout with a few In the Zone songs thrown in. The only “classic” numbers I can think that she performed were Hit Me Baby (One More Time), remixed to awesome effect, Boys, and I’m A Slave 4 U. The only song that I could tell she sang live was a slower one, Everytime, and she sounded fine.

Regarding those vicious tweens, we definitely saw a brief fight break out before the show during the Pussycat Dolls. Two groups of girls converged with much yelling over who was sitting in whose seat. Cries of, “let me see your ticket!,” “let me see your ticket!, “ Bitch, don’t touch me!” were exchanged and then a brief shoving match occurred. I think they all figured out that shoving each other while standing like a hundred rows up from the floor was a bad idea and people seemed to calm down.

I was disappointed nobody pushed that drunk bitch who was dressed up as schoolgirl Britney down. She kept making us get up and down so she could walk past us to the aisle, and then started smoking in the middle of the show. But then she tripped and almost fell down the stairs, so that made me feel better. She was wasted.

All in all, like I said, it was a great show. Entertaining, definitely. I wasn’t expecting a performance of say, Kelly Clarkson proportions, but that’s not Britney’s shtick. For what it was, it was great, and I would definitely see her again.

I’m still only paying for the cheap seats though. I mean, I have some standards.

By the way, if you want to see even more concert pics and some more ridiculous outfits from the concert, go here.

Heavy Tomes

For the past two weeks, I've been reading Normal Mailer's book, The Executioner's Song. I finished it last night at 9:47 pm and did a little happy dance. Why? Because the thing is 1,050 freakin pages long. Getting through it all felt like a real accomplishment.

After finishing it, I realized that there are very few huge books I have tackled in my life. Now, I'm a big reader; I usually go through two or so books a week, especially since I spend so much time reading during my commute (I'm a public transportation kind of girl). Despite this, I don't usually gravitate towards the really long books.

I tend to stay away from biography and other non-fiction books. (except for true crime). I read for pleasure, and I find fiction to be more fun. And it seems like those big books are either non-fiction or Russian lit, and sorry, Tolstoy, you are not for me.

Having said that, I can point to 5 books that could definitely be considered tomes that finishing resulted in a definite sense of accomplishment. There's a feeling of having climbed the mountain and a sense of a job well done in getting all the way through these kind of books. So here's a list of my 5 greatest literary challenges (in terms of length, not content...James Joyce, I'm looking at you):

1) Gone With the Wind: I'm not sure what gave me the bug to read this book when I was in sixth grade. I just remember having a deep desire to read it...maybe that was around when the "sequel" was being released? In any event, I tackled my Mom's old copy with a vengeance and felt mighty proud of myself for having finished it as an 11 year old. Then I watched the movie and was depressed.

2) Helter Skelter: I developed a love for true crime during high school; maybe it was the titillating details of the mixture of murder and sex, but anyway, I stumbled across Helter Skelter probably about the time I fell in love with The Beatles as a sophomore in high school. Coincidence? I think not. I ripped through Vincent Bugliosi's account of the Charles Manson murders in about a week and was hooked on true crime ever since. It still remains one of my favorite books.

3) Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel: This book came out about 4 years ago I think, when I was in law school and working at the Barnes and Nobles. I saved up my pennies and bought it determined to read it over Christmas vacation. And I did. But I failed to consider how it would take ALL of Christmas vacation. Dear lord, this book felt long. I remember liking the beginning, but somewhere around the middle becoming less enamored. In the end, it came down to nothing more than a contest of wills to see who would win: me or the book. I pulled it out in the end, and sometimes, on a rainy afternoon if you listen really carefully, you can still hear the book weeping from its shelf because of the ass-kicking I delivered. Take THAT, book!

4) Sacred Games: I pay attention to book reviews I read in papers, and often immediately jump on to my library's system and place a hold when I come across something that looks good. Vikram Chandra novel of murder and deceit in modern day Mumbai was one of these I discovered by reading the newspaper. I dutifully hauled the almost 1,000 page hardback copy around for 3 weeks (the people on the Metro must have thought I was crazy), but really enjoyed reading it. I think it would have been better if it had been slightly shorter, but it's one of those books that you can really dig into. I couldn't breeze through it since it was chock full of references to Indian culture and Hindi phrases that demanded I take my time, but upon finishing it, I felt like I had been shown a glimpse of a world previously hidden. And there aren't many books that can really make that claim.

5) The Executioner's Song: As noted, I just finished reading this one last night, and it's another one of my true-crime opuses (why is it non-fiction books are so big?). After reading the book The Stranger Beside Me about Ted Bundy and surfing around Wiki, I found references to Mailer's book about the killer Gary Gilmore. I'm not sure he's technically a serial killer, but the book was fascinating and I liked how it was almost more about the people who surrounded Gilmore than it was about the killer himself. The book demonstrates how one person's actions can have catastrophic effects on everyone else they come into contact with.

So there you have it. My top 5 "big" reads that for one reason or another I have always remembered and considered feathers in my cap.

No more clowns!

Why????

Why would they do this? AGAIN? Look, the first movie (er, miniseries) screwed me up. I had nightmares for weeks. It was scarier than the book for several reasons: 1) seeing an evil clown is always worse than just reading about it; 2) TIM CURRY. He is like, the scariest man ever. He manged to be frightening in Home Alone 2! Come on!

So why would they want to improve perfection and also subject a new generation to the horror? Oh, right. The money.

Sorry, you could not PAY me to see this movie.

AHHHH!

DE-NIED.

For the past two weeks, I have been looking forward to Monday, March 10. Why, you ask? Because that was SUPPOSED to be the day that my new television would be delivered. The television that I had scrimped and saved for, that I was devoting a big chunk of my tax refund to, and that I had discussed ad nauseum with my friends and family.

And what happened? A big fat nothing.

My delivery window was between 12 and 4 on Monday. According to the tracking number, my appointment was actually scheduled for 3:00.

At 3:15 I called the company who said they called the driver and my tv was 10 minutes away. Woot!

4:15: I call again. I was told that they couldn't get ahold of the driver and would call me when they heard something.

5:00: Still no word from the driver. They would attempt to call him again and call me back. "Fine," I said. "But if I don't hear from you I am calling you back in 15 minutes."

5:15: "We're sorry, Ms. Riley, but there was a mix-up and the tv never made it off the loading deck even the computer said it had been put on the truck. We can't get it to you tonight since we don't have a driver, but will deliver it at your earliest convenience."

I was so angry I couldn't even really talk about it on Monday. The thing that pissed me off the most was that they essentially lied to me at 3:15. They never talked to the driver, they only looked at where the GPS signal of his truck was and saw it was near me. So now tomorrow morning is the new D-day. And I'm telling you, they better be here, ON TIME, or there will be hell to pay.

It's been one of those days...

I stepped out of the house this morning and had taken approximately 10 steps across the parking lot (headed for the bus shelter) when WHAM. Slipped on the ice and ended up on my back. Typical.

Look we all know that I am not the world's most graceful person, BUT, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Or in this case, our worst snow storm to hit in March. I mean, COME ON. In any event, it was not an auspicious start to the day. And the part that really pissed me off, is the dude who was walking maybe 15 feet away from me, saw me fall, kept walking, and didn't even ask if I was ok. ASSHOLE.

Nothing really major happened at work, other than it took me way longer to finish a case than I expected. But on the way back, there was traffic on the highway and all the buses were running late. So I was stuck outside the Pentagon in the 20 degree air for 20 minutes waiting for the bus.

Which meant I was tired and hungry when I got home so I wasn't paying attention and bent my entire fingernail back when sticking my steak in the oven.

I think I should be thanking god that I didn't fall off the elliptical machine and break my leg.

Ok, so I know in the grand scheme of thing, this day wasn't that bad. Nobody I know died, got sick, lost their job, but still. For an ordinary Tuesday, it sure had some annoying parts. But the Heroes episode I watched when I got home sucked. Thank goodness tomorrow is my work-at-home day and I can sit around in my PJs.

The lone shining star of joy for the day was my discovery that U2 3D would be returning to the Smithsonian Imax screen. More Bono is always a good thing!