Avenue Q

For my Valentine's Day gift, Kenny got us tickets to Avenue Q at the Fox. Just let me say that if you want a good laugh, I hope you get the chance to see this show. For those of us who grew up watching Sesame Street, it's a riot. Just bear in mind, it's definitely an adult show so leave the little ones at home, no matter how much they beg and plead to go see "the muppets" as my nephew referred to them. Here's a link to a little bit of info on the show if you're not familiar with it.
Avenue Q

ARGHH!

"If metadata is data about data, then meta-metadata is data about the data about data." p.150
The Organization of Information
This is a quote from my textbook for one of my classes this semester. This is my second time through Chapter 6 and this sentence is an example of the writing in this book. My brain is about to explode!

Valentine's Day Gifts

Kenny and I are not the "into" Valentine's Day thing. For most of our lives, both of us celebrated this holiday alone, so I guess you could say we were more of the anti-Valentine's Day kind of people. But now that we're engaged, everyone has been asking me at school, "What are you two doing for Valentine's Day? Are you getting him a "special" gift?" They can't believe it when I respond, "We'll be cleaning house since my parents and niece and nephew will be visiting this weekend. I'll probably be doing some homework. We'll be trying to get everything done before 9:00 so we can watch our favorite show Ace of Cakes." Then they look at me like I'm an idiot. One even went so far as to say, "Oh, I guess getting engaged killed the romance."

No, getting engaged didn't kill the romance. Kenny and I kind of laugh about our tendancy to buy each other practical gifts for any occasion, or at least gifts that the other one really likes or wants. For instance, our main gift to each other at Christmas was an exercise bike. I did get him the final season of Hogan's Heroes. he got me a cover for my Kitchen Aid mixer and a salad spinner (this gift is a blast to use. I try to fix food that lets me use the salad spinner frequently.) So for Valentine's Day, there will be no silk boxer shorts or lingerie or stuffed animals. I may get flowers because he knows I love flowers but won't buy fresh flowers for myself because it's a frivilous expense. We might get each other a package of our favorite candy because it's a treat, but no diamonds, no frou-frou gifts. Kenny received his gift on Sunday because he was sick, I figured he could use a pick-me-up, and we were talking about what a drag it is to always drag out the vacuum cleaner to vacum up small messes in our kitchen. So here's his Valentine's Day gift:

I got him a Dustbuster. Instead of being bummed out, he couldn't wait to charge it up and try it out. When I told the people I eat lunch with what I got him on Monday, they all looked at me like I was crazy. One said, "But that's not romantic!" No it may not be romantic, but it is something he wanted and we both appreciate it. So on Valentine's Day, do what makes you spouse or partner happy. He's had way more fun playing with the dustbuster than he would with a stupid pair of boxers with bright red lips on them!

Super Tuesday and Fat Tuesday

It's Super Tuesday and I have already done my civic duty and went and voted. It was the first time for me voting in town and not in the little village of Krakow where I lived for the first 3 and a half years since moving to the Washington area. One of the things I realized when I went to vote is that I've apparently moved into a Republican neighborhood. When I walked to the table to pick up my ballot, the older lady sitting there didn't ask me which ballot I wanted. She automatically handed me the Republican ballot. I saw the elephant on the top of the ballot and said, "I need the other one please." You would have thought I'd grown two heads right there in the polling place. Oh well, there needs to be a rebel in every neighborhood and if I'm the rebel just because I voted for "the other party" so be it. In any case, I figure it's just a matter of time before our lovely Archbishop makes the pronouncement that if you voted for a Democrat to not present yourself for Communion, as he did in 2004. I enjoyed casting my "scandalous" vote and plan on continuing to go to Communion because I voted my conscience on multiple issues not jut one.

It's also Mardi Gras. While I didn't have time to make my King Cake (a fact noticed by the teachers I work with at school), I ate a big old hamburger tonight for supper. I also indulged in a bit of after school tv watching that I usually Tivo, namely Ellen's Mardi Gras show. Last night, I watched Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations. He was in New Orleans talking about what the restaurant trade has been through since Hurrican Katrina. Two years later, I found myself fuming at the pictures taken then and now in a city that holds a special place in my heart. Like Brooke over at The Four of Clubbs, I tend to not publicly voice my political opinions. However, I find what has happened in New Orleans and Mississippi reprehensible. While we can spend billions of dollars in a foreign country that we invaded even though our leaders were told that there was no credible link to Osama Bin Laden and there really weren't weapons of mass destruction, we can't seem to get real help, without tons of red tape and hoops to jump through, to AMERICANS who truly need help to get their lives and homes back together. If you feel moved to contribute to the rebuilding and cleanup efforts going on in the area (and face it, a lot of the work and money is coming from volunteers) there are several worthy ways to get help out. Check out Habitat for Humanity along with Make it Right and the Musician's Village. Even a little bit helps and the need is still great.