I’m usually on the look-out for fun and different things that we can do in DC, so when I saw the Glenn Gary Parlor Magic show on Groupon, I thought it would be fun to give it a go.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we had a great time! The show is in the Fireplace Parlor in the Westin Hotel in DC. The venue is small, and so only about 30 people can be in the audience at a time. This made the show feel very intimate, and ensured that nearly everyone was included in some part of the show. While tricks are important, a magic show is really only as good as the magician’s banter. Glenn’s banter started out a little slow, but picked up (and because a bit blue at points!) – by the end I was giggling quite a bit.
As far as tricks, Glenn did several standards, like handkerchiefs and rings. Also card tricks and sleight-of-hand. The most impressive was his closer…I don’t know how much I should give away, but Andrew and I walked out of there wondering how he did it!
If you’re in the DC area, this show is definitely worth a visit. (And yes, even at full price!)
The Incredibles – This is what movie-making should be all about. A favorite when it was in the theater, and a favorite today.
Independence Day – I don’t care how cheesy or cliche everyone says this is, I still like it. Maybe it’s Will Smith…maybe Brent Spiner in Area 51…maybe just the whole over-the-top-ness of it all.
Indiana Jones 1-4 – My favorite will always be “The Last Crusade”, because of when I first saw it. But, I have to say that “Temple of Doom” is not as bad as I’ve made it out to be in my mind. Not the strongest of them, but not as bad, either. And I don’t care what anyone else says, I liked the latest one, too. Cheesy? Duh…but if you tell me that “Raidiers” or “Last Crusade” aren’t cheesy, then you’d be a liar.
I, Robot – Yes, more Will Smith…so sue me. Yes, more cheesy scifi…again, sue me. I happen to enjoy watching it…and him.
Iron Man – Proof that Robert Downey Jr. may be redeemable. This is one of the superhero movies that actually works, even for a non-comic-book-reader like me.
Judgement: The Court Martial of William Calley – Ugh. This was supposed to have Harrison Ford in it, which is why I have it, but I only made it about 30 minutes in, before he showed up. The movie looks like a 70s TV show (which it might have been…at least a TV special?), and was essentially just a slow, plodding courtroom scene.
Just Like Heaven – Another romantic comedy, not my favorite, but one that I’ll watch occasionally.
We decided to cap our biking year last weekend with the Back Roads Century ride, doing the 29-mile route. The ride looked like it would have pretty scenery and the course was described as “moderately hilly,” so we didn’t think it would be too bad…especially since we did 50 just a couple weeks ago.
The ride starts in Berryville, VA, about 60 miles from our house, so we got an early start. The day started out on the bad note when we were just 15 minutes from home and the “check engine” light went on in Andrew’s car. We debated for a minute, then decided that it would be bad if we were off in Berryville and the engine conked out. So, we turned around and moved all of our stuff to my car.
We got to the start point in pretty good time, though, and took off after re-filling our water bottles. The scenery was very pretty…once I learned to ignore all the road kill. In fact, the ride could almost be called the “Road Kill Century.” Oh well, look up, not down, because this is far better to look at:
This is also horse country, so there were loads of horses at all of the farms along the way. For a while it seemed that they were all shy of the road, though, until we came upon this pair:
Note the home burial plot in front of the horses. I really wanted to take a closer look at the gravestones, but refrained – I wasn’t sure how the homeowners would take it if they were to see me stomping around.
Around mile 12 there was a beautiful rest stop at the Burwell-Morgan Mill. We actually kept a fairly good pace on the first 12 miles – there were hills on the way, but most of the uphills were immediately preceded by downhills that allowed a little momentum into the uphills. At the rest stop There were snacks and a Charlie Casabona’s Trio, a trio that included a hammered dulcimer. We stayed a little while to refuel and rest.
After the rest stop, though, things got ugly. There was a scary downhill, which I rode the breaks on (because I couldn’t see the bottom and it was very steep). Of course, this was later followed by an equally scary uphill. I made it about halfway up the hill and then walked the rest of the way.
Yeah, and there were more hills, and bigger hills than were on the first leg of the trip. And then more hills, and then more, and then more. I made it up a few of them, but not up all of them. The second, and last, really big one was killer. Several bikers were walking up it, so I wasn’t alone.
After Andrew and I stopped for some water and caught our breath, we went on again…and I had a flat. Yup. Flat, flat, flat. Turned out that there was a small piece of glass in my tire. When we pulled out my spare inner tube, it appeared to be the wrong size. So, with the last few electrons in my phone, I called the roadside assistance, and we waited.
It took a while, but the roadside car came, and the guy fixed up my tire very quickly. Then we were an our way again. There weren’t any more really big hills, but by this time my legs were pretty much spent. I made it up a few hills (very slowly), but I also walked up a couple…I just couldn’t do them all.
When we made it back to our starting point, there was a big picnic. We picked up our t-shirts and water bottles, and then grabbed a well-deserved lunch.
I wore my helmet camera for the ride (and only missed a small part of the trip due to not turning it on), and made a time-lapse of our ride:
Yup, we took a bike ride to celebrate our sixth anniversary! Wonder why?
This is where we were on our honeymoon:
Aren’t we cute? We’ve come a long way since then…both on the bikes and off. Best six years of my life so far…any moments that weren’t best (such as finishing my thesis) were made better by having Andrew in my life. I love you, honey.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here, but Andrew and I have been training since March to do a half-century bike ride. For those of you unfamiliar with biking “lingo”, a half-century is a 50-mile bike ride. This is a huge jump from last year’s longest ride of 30 miles, so we knew we had to train for it. Previous years we’ve just noodled around, adding a mile or two to our ride each weekend, but not seriously training. As a result, the 30 mile rides nearly killed us…okay, not really, but we were exhausted after them, staying in our jammies the day after those rides.
So we decided to train for this ride, and we have trained since April. Since then, I have put in nearly 950 miles between the real bike and the stationary bike in our basement. I’ve done 300 miles on the real bike alone. We started to find that 30 mile rides were no problem…much more than that was still a lot of work. We trained up to a 40 mile ride, which we did 3 weeks ago.
From the beginning, I wanted to do the entire length of the W&OD trail for our ride, but it’s only 44.5 miles long, so we had to add a little on. The plan was to take Metro to East Falls Church, which lies at mile 5 of the W&OD. From there take the trail to mile 0, then out to 44.5. The little extra getting to the Metro and getting from the Metro to the trail would take care of the extra 0.5 miles. Read more…
I didn’t exactly power through these…must pick up my pace if I’m going to finish by the end of the year!
Galaxy Quest – Sorry, I still love this movie. I thought it might lose its appeal, especially since I’m not quite the Trekker that I used to be, but it reminds of the days when I was more of a sci fi geek.
Gladiator – Beautiful, artistic movie about a former Roman general reduced to life as a Gladiator, bent on revenge. Not sure how often I’ll want to watch this, but I shouldn’t be afraid of it (as I was this time around: I put it off for a good long time), because I really do like it.
The Golden Compass – I wish this had done better at the box office, because I’d love to see the other books made into movies (no, I haven’t read them yet, but I will at some point). I actually quite liked this one, even if it was obvious that parts were compressed in translating the book to a movie.
Good Will Hunting – any movie that features combinatorics is a-o-k with me. Love movies that feature smart people as smart people relating to the world.
Hairspray – Not the musical; the original. I refuse to watch the musical…some things just don’t need to be re-made. I still believe that after re-watching.
Hanover Street – This is another of my Harrison Ford movies. It was an odd WWII love story where a married woman falls in love with an officer. Her husband gets tapped to do a spy job, watched over by the officer. It was so-so, but not a favorite movie.
Harry Potter 1-6 – Love, love, love. I could watching these again and again without getting bored.
Hercules – This is the Disney animated version of Hercules. The animation style is much different from most Disney movies, and its refreshing to see such a difference every once in a while. It’s also refreshing to have a main character who is not a princess.
History of the World Part I – Ahhh Mel Brooks. Throw in the kitchen sink, and everything else in the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, and the bedroom. Still, I can’t dislike this movie, not matter how “80s” it feels…that, and I love quick-time harch!
Hitch – Yum…Will Smith and romantic comedy. Another that I can watch over and over…love it every time, but I won’t admit to crying when they finally get together.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Slick version of the Douglas Adams classic. Quirky, as befits the book, so it’s fun to watch, if a little weird.
Hollywood Homicide – It’s nice to see Harrison Ford embracing a little comedy. This isn’t the strongest film, but it’s fun to watch.
Hot Fuzz – Big-town cop gets relegated to a small town where there’s never any crime…well except for the serial killings that have been hidden. Add in some British comedy and the cast of “Shaun of the Dead”, and you’ve got a fun movie. Just as fun on a second viewing.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days – Another of my favorite romantic comedies; a women’s magazine writer is looking for a guy to “lose” in 10 days using age-old bad relationship tricks, but gets pitted against an advertising man trying to win a bet that he can get any woman to fall in love with him.
I haven’t been scrapping very much lately…as many of you know, 2010 has been a difficult year, so motivation to do much other than go to bed has been pretty low. Then, when I would want to scrap, I’m faced with this mess:
Yeah. I have to navigate the mess, a commitment just to get started. So…no scrapping.
Enter the scrapbook convention and The Original Scrapbox. After much discussion, Andrew and I decided that it would make both of our lives a little better – mine because I could scrap again with an organized area, and his because he wouldn’t have to stare at that mess in the living room all the time.
Here’s the result:
When I’m not scrapping
When I am scrapping
Going up to Laurie’s to scrap this weekend inspired me to finish getting all of my scrapping stuff put away (I’d done most of it as of a couple weeks ago, but still had a few little bits of stuff hanging out until this past weekend).
Finally got back to my 2006 pictures, doing a few at Laurie’s, and continuing Sunday and after work Monday and today. It feels so good to be creative again. Here are a couple of my favorite layouts from the past few days’ efforts:
I’m definitely falling behind on the movie project, though I finished the E & F movies a long time ago and have just been too lazy to write them up. So, here goes.
Eagle Eye – Okay, this is not great cinema, but it’s a fun, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of action flick.
El Dorado – One of the few non-Disney animated flicks that I’ve liked…I’m usually opposed to animated movies that have to advertise their star voices, but this was one that I liked. Still do, and I love the music, too.
Enchanted – A fun take on the “princess” movies – I particularly love the scene where Giselle summons rats and pigeons to clean out Robert’s apartment.
Enemy of the State – The earlier version of Eagle Eye, I suppose. I love me my Will Smith, so can always watch this.
Ever After – The ultimate girly flick re-telling of the cinderella story. I could watch this every day.
Fantasia – This one has a special place in my heart – Andrew and I went to see this in the theater on our first date. The Firebird Suite is always a favorite.
Finding Nemo – I hadn’t actually watched this one since it was in the theaters, and I wasn’t really looking forward to it…can’t say why not. And after watching it, I really can’t say why not. Loved it the second time around.
Firewall – Part of my Harrison Ford collection. I can’t say its one of my favorites, but I can always watch him kick some butt.
Force 10 from Navarone – Another of my Harrison Ford collection…I had never seen this one. It’s a war flick, a genre I’m not terribly up on. I found some of the music to be disconnected to the action – for example a happy, peppy tune when they’re being captured or detained or something. Can’t say I liked this one much, but I’ll keep it as part of the HF collection.
Frantic – Yet another Harrison Ford movie. I didn’t remember much of it from my original viewing (when it was in theaters), so didn’t have many expectations going it. Not a bad thriller, though more low-key than more recent ones.
I’ve updated my website at long last. I’ve wanted to do this for YEARS, and even got a good start once, but then lost it when my external hard drive reformatted itself.
I’ve trimmed most of what used to live here because, frankly, a lot of it is out of date or is available elsewhere on the web. Apologies to those of you who still use that information, but I need to move on.
I will probably move my astronomy content over to my astronomy site at some point, but I can’t make promises as to when that will happen.
Back on May 1 my husband and I biked up to Reston for the annual Reston Pet Fiesta. I told Andrew that if we went to the Pet Fiesta that it was very likely that I would want to take a dog home, and that I would probably not take no for an answer this time. He still said we could go.
Once we got to the Pet Fiest, we started at one end of the row of tents filled with dog and cat rescue groups, dog treat vendors, pet charities, and pet product vendors. We stopped at every rescue looking for a dog who would “talk” to me. We made it to the end of the row, with no dog prospects. I was disappointed, but knew that I didn’t want to go home with the wrong dog. We turned around and made our way back to where we started, and I kept stopping at the rescues in case there was someone I had missed.
When we were nearly back where we started, I saw her:
I can’t say what drew me to her. Maybe it was because she wasn’t running around like a crazed dog, unlike many of the dogs up for adoption. Maybe it was her eyes. Somehow, though, she spoke to me, and I went to sit with her. It became clear that she was a real sweetheart. The rescue’s owner suggested we take her for a little walk and get to know her. That’s where I snapped this pic:
Long story short, we decided to take her home. We had to bike home first then drive back to pick her up, and I could hardly wait. She seemed to fit right in:
We’ve had her now for almost 2 months, and she really does fit into our household well. The cats still aren’t completely sure about her, but they are all starting to come around in their own time. Duncan has refused to hide from the beginning, and he’ll walk right past her without flinching (though he will sometimes grump at her for being to close even when he’s the one who put himself so close). Artemis comes out occasionally, even braving walking past Aurora to get onto our bed at night. Ares? Well, he’s been hiding most of the time, but today he did get within a couple feet of a sleeping Aurora by choice.
It’s still a little unbelievable that I finally have a dog – I’ve wanted one since my childhood dog died in 1992. It wasn’t practical until now. And even now I wonder if we should have waited given that Ares is going through chemo and it’s maybe not the best time. But I was tired of waiting, and Aurora has turned out to be the perfect fit for our household. It might go without saying, but I’m so happy she’s a part of our pack now.
I'm an astronomer, cyclist, scrapbooker, reader, movie-goer, cat-and-dog-lover, wife, gamer, and all-around-wonderful-woman...not necessarily in that order.
