Movie Meme

Via Terminal Degree.

Apparently, if you've seen more than 85, you have no life. There are 238 films on this list. Put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(x) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
() Airplane
Total so far: 9

If I could have tweeted (2)

If I could have tweeted the past couple days...

Cold. Fraking cold. Cold Cold. Fraking, frak, frak, frak cold. (Tue Dec 23, 2008 - 8:32 AM)

Ahhh hot cocoa! Good for aching feet and cold, cold, cold, me. (Tue Dec 23, 2008 - 12:48 PM)

Mmmm...Roch Voisine is still very cute. Remember swooning over him in high school French class. (Wed Dec 24, 2008 - 9:36 PM)

No, I am NOT afraid to make the drive home by myself. I realize that I'm a helpless girl, but lay off already! (Wed Dec 24, 2008 - 11:54 AM)

Merry Christmas everyone! (Thu Dec 25, 2008 - 10:14 AM)

Sigh. Missing home - either one. So "not my Christmas" here. (Thu Dec 25, 2008 - 11:58 AM)

Would you be grilling @akuchling about driving "such a long way"? Or is it just that I'm a girl? So tired of this. (Thu Dec 25, 2008 - 2:25 PM)

Score one for my grandma! Asked how long my drive would be Sat., told her 10 hours, responded "oh good, that doesn't sound too bad." Hah! (Thu Dec 25, 2008 - 5:10 PM)

Holy crap! We spent a lot in Canada! (Fri Dec 26, 2008 - 10:12 AM)

Packing, packing, packing. Hoping to get car packed up so I'm ready to just breakfast and go tomorrow morning. (Fri Dec 26, 2008 - 10:23 AM)

Kicking back and relaxing for the evening. Just about everything is packed up for the drive tomorrow. Yay! (Fri Dec 26, 2008 - 7:03 PM)

Quiet Canadian Christmas

We've had a quiet Christmas. Yesterday it snowed again - third snow storm this week, I think. We've decided to just hunker down and enjoy being in the house. Not much to report from here - we opened presents last night, slept in this morning, and are just kicking around the house. We've watched the Christmas specials that I brought with me (White Christmas, A Christmas Carol (the Patrick Stewart/TNT version), and A Christmas Story). Andrew's cousin came for a little while yesterday, and his Auntie and another cousin came for tea today. We may go into "the village" tomorrow to check out a new antique store.

We've been keeping an eye on the weather to see when I should drive home. It looks like I'm still okay to head home on Saturday -- the forecast is for rain and 50 degrees for a high in upstate New York. Hopefully I'll be home Saturday night.

Slushy and Cold Days in Montreal

After a bit of...um...schimpfing...we drove up to Montreal yesterday. Once we got onto the main highway, the roads were fairly clear. The wind was blowing, so snow swirled on the roadways, but mostly visibility was good. Montreal proper was actually worse than the highways - sloppy and slushy and slippery. But, with only one wrong turn (which actually made the directions easier), we made it to the hotel, checked in and parked in the underground garage.

On tap for the day? Shopping!

We bundled up (it was *cold*), grabbed lunch, then took the metro to Old Montreal. Jo came with us, so she could pick out a new outfit and a couple things for her friends back home. We also took in Notre Dame Cathedral in the snow -- very pretty.

After a bit more shopping, finally making into a little mall (for warmth!), we settled down for hot cocoa. I also got new mittens and a hat (tuque or tuke), which helped me keep warmer.

Next stop? A Hello Kitty shop!!!! I picked up a few fun things, and we headed back to the hotel for a while. We needed to rest from the trudging around in the slush and the cold.

Finally we walked down Saint Catherine's Street, stopping at Addition Elle - an awesome "plus sized" shop (unlike Lane Bryant, their most common fabric is *cotton*, not polyester or some crappy, shiny, wrinkle-attractor). I ended up finding a cute new winter coat, so I spent way more than I should have. Oh well - it's so much better than the one I had.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped to press our noses against the Ogilvy's window - dressed up for the holidays.

The morning was cold. Cold, cold. Frost-bite cold. Cold, cold, cold. (Woke up to -8 degrees F). We bundled up and went found a crepe place on St. Cate's. Very cold breakfast -- the crepes were warm, but we sat by the window, which was very, very, very cold.

Then we walked to the Canadian Centre for Architecture. We spent some time there - the special exhibit was about ways that people change and interact with their surroundings, featuring exhibits on guerrilla art and gardening, among other things. We also walked through the restored Victorian house which had been turned into a reading and meeting area (so no Victorian furniture or decor). Finally looked at the exhibit on sky lights. It didn't take us very long -- I'm glad we went once, but we don't feel the need to go again.

Finally we met up with Andrew's friend and his wife for lunch. We had been thinking about going to the Botanical Garden, but I didn't feel like walking much more (I'd forgotten how tiring it is to walk in the slush and ice), and I really didn't want to drive home in the dark. So, we headed back to the "country" and Andrew's parents' house.

If I could have tweeted (1)

Our cell phones don't work in Canada, and Andrew's folks are on dial-up, so I'm without Internet and without Tweets for this Christmas week. Popped on briefly from our hotel room in Montreal....

If I could have tweeted the past couple days...

Just heard @akuchling say "What dat?" by himself in the kitchen -- something we picked up from Ugly Dolls merchandise. (Sun. Dec 21, 2008 - 12:51 PM)

Enough with the futzing already. (Sun, Dec 21, 2008 - 4:46 PM)

It's totally weird to see "boxing week" ads. (Sun, Dec 21, 2008 - 7:32 PM)

So over walking in the crappy-slushy-icy sidewalks in Montreal. (Mon, Dec 22, 2008 - 1:31 PM)

Totally going to chop off all my hair when I get home. It's getting in my way. Long enough now to donate to Locks of Love. (Mon, Dec 22, 2008 - 2:26 PM)

Yay! Found a cute new winter coat! (Mon, Dec 22, 2008 - 6:15 PM)

Settling in back at the hotel for the evening. Tired from treking around the sloppy roads. (Mon, Dec 22, 2008 - 8:00 PM)

The drive...

Given the high price of airline tickets, at least prior to Thanksgiving and into early December, we decided to drive to Montreal to visit Andrew's family for Christmas, rather than flying. So, today we made the trek up. We had checked and re-checked weather in up-state New York to see if we would be able to make the drive or not - given that it's December, a time of snow and blizzards in the Northern US. It appeared that the weather would hold - with the chance of storms coming the yesterday and tomorrow, but not today.

We left the house around 6:30, but stopped for breakfast at a nearby Mexican restaurant, so didn't really get on the road until 7:30.

For the most part, the weather held - there was no snow on the groun in DC or Maryland. A small dusting had taken hold in New Jersey, but nothing on the road - it had probably snowed a few days earlier. By the time we hit New York, there was ground-covering snow. It started to become clear that snow had fallen within the past 24 hours in New York - the roads were clear, for the most part, but we ended up passing several snow plows.

Snow started falling, but just a little, as we were passing through the Adairondacs. Traffic had died down by that point, and we were driving a bit slower.

The real trouble came when we stopped for dinner in Plattsburgh - when we got off the highway, the roads were clearly not as well cleared. The first light we went through, I had a bit of trouble getting the car going and going straight. We slided around for a while, then settled on Applebees - only one of two restaurants we saw.

The border crossing went well, but apparently the Canadians don't know how to clear their roads as well as the Americans -- at least in Quebec. The roads instantly became more snowy and I was a bit more nervous driving on them. It didn't help that we got off the main road rather quickly. The side roads had maybe had a plow, but not for a while and they were slippery.

But, I drove slowing and carefully, and we made it to Andrew's parents by 7PM, in one piece.

I was there

I don't usually get emotional about voting. In fact, up until 5 years ago, I was one of the apathetic many who didn't believe that my vote counted for anything, so I didn't vote at all. Four years ago, I knew that I had to vote. Even if my state wasn't going to go the way I wanted, I had to vote so feel some power over the situation. I voted not so much for Kerry, but against Bush and his policies.

This year was so different for me. Sure, I was voting against Bush and his polices, which I really believe McCain would have brought to the presidency. But more than that, I was voting for Obama. I believe in Obama. When I listen to Obama talk, I feel inspired. I get that knot in my throat, butterflies in my stomach. Prior to this, I had NEVER felt inspired by a politician. NEVER. Ever.

I'm going to honest. Race never entered the picture in my decision. I honestly think that Obama is the best person for the job at hand, and he could have been purple, for all I cared. But after I cast my ballot yesterday, I found myself getting teary-eyed leaving the polling place. For the first time in this long, drawn-out process, I finally realized how historic it was that I got to vote for an African American for president. For the first time in a very long time, I was proud of my country.

And I get to say that I was there. I was there when the United States elected its first African American president. I was there for a truly historic event. I was there.