Posted by barb on Sep 11, 2004 in
Around DC,
Pictures We took our last panda hunting trip today. We had just two pandas left — the one at the Anacostia Museum (were we’d tried to go a couple weeks ago, but failed miserably due to DC’s Escher-like road lay-out), and the one at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is at 1330 Maryland Ave, SE — an address that according to both Yahoo! Maps and Mapquest does not exist. Fortunately, as we got close, there were green signs directing us to the hotel.
There is acutally one more panda, but it was stolen early in the Pandamania installation. Sigh.
One other note: the pandas are going to be gathered up over the next couple weeks and moved to one of two locations to prepare for the auction (the Mariott Wardman Park Hotel and American University — check out the Pandamania gallery page for more). They will be on display during daylight hours, so it’s a great way to see a bunch of the pandas without as much effort and Andrew and I have put forth over the summer.
As usual, I have pictures posted on Flickr.
| Panda Tales |
Emperor P’ing |
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| Me with the last panda! |
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Posted by barb on Sep 10, 2004 in
Random Thoughts I’ve lived in four different states in my 32 years — Minnesota for 24 years, New Mexico for 3 years, Maryland for 3 years, and now Virginia for just over 2 years. The first two times I moved across the country, leaving behind everything and everyone that I knew.
Needless to say, over the years and through these moves, I’ve lost touch with a lot of people. I often think about some of those people and wonder what has happened to them. As it turns out, my website is a great way for those people to find me.
For example, a few years ago, my sixth-grade best-friend, Lisa, stumbled upon my webpage and e-mailed me. I had not seen her since 1985 or so, when she moved out to the country to live with her Dad. While she was only 30 miles or so outside the Cities, that’s a long way for kids who can’t drive yet. We inevitably fell out of touch. I was shocked when I got an e-mail asking if I was, perhaps, the Barb that she had known. She mentioned our love for Star Wars and Harrison Ford, and I knew it was her. We chatted via e-mail for a couple months, and then lost touch again. I trust that we’ll cross paths again one day, and I look forward to it.
Of course, there are also several people who I was happy to lose touch with. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to censor my website from them.
Posted by barb on Sep 10, 2004 in
Random Thoughts From News of the Weird:
Among the reality-TV series being batted around in London, according to recent reports in the Daily Telegraph and The Independent, is “Make Me a Mum,” in which a woman reduces a field of men to the two whom she believes will make her the genetically best offspring. At that point, producers will inseminate the woman with sperm from both men and, using intravaginal micro technology, will attempt to record a “race” to see which sperm gets to the egg first.
Posted by barb on Sep 10, 2004 in
Memes, Etc. Haven’t gotten one of these for a few months, so I thought I’d actually fill this one out…
- What time did you get up? 5:40 AM, or so…though today I slept until after 6…what decadance!
- If you could eat lunch with one person, who would it be? Einstein — sometimes I just need to be reminded how little I really know
- Gold or silver? Plantinum — I’m allergic to gold and silver
- What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Collateral
- What is your favorite TV show? Clean Sweep
- What do you have for breakfast? Oatmeal if I’m at work, bowl of cereal if I’m at home
- Who would you hate to be stuck in a room with? Carrot Top — only one of us would emerge
- What/Who inspires you? The stars at night
- What is your middle name? Jo (soon to have two middle names: Jo and Mattson
- Beach, city or country? Country, but not too far from the suburbs
- Favorite ice cream? Phish Food
- Butter, plain, or salted popcorn? Butter
- Favorite color? Most of the various shades of blue
- What kind of car do you drive? Corolla
- Favorite sandwich? The ones we make at home with homemade bread and lots of veggies and cheese
- What characteristic do you despise? Dishonesty
- Favorite flower? Lilacs
- If you could go anywhere in the world on a vacation, where would it
be? Photo safari in Africa, though I’m more likely to do the whole European-thing before that ever happens
- What color is your bath robe? Blue with stars and moons
- Where would you like to retire? Southwest USA
- Favorite day of the week? Saturday
- What did you do for your last birthday? Bike ride, shopping and dinner out
- Where were you born? Minnesota
- Favorite sport to watch? Figure skating
- What fabric detergent do you use? Tide-free
- Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke (Vanilla or Cherry, preferably)
- Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night owl turned morning person for the sake of my commute
- What is your shoe size? 9.5
- Do you have any pets? Yup, three cats: Duncan, Ares, and Artemis
- Favorite alcoholic drink? Mudslide
Posted by barb on Sep 9, 2004 in
Wedding My aunt Maggie called me last night to see how I was holding up in the face of all the wedding plans. That’s weird, I thought. Why should I be nervous?
And then I thought a bit more….and realized that THE WEDDING IS ONLY 10 DAYS AWAY. I suppose that should make me a bit nervous.
Truth is, though, that since the dress arrived, I don’t feel terribly nervous. I’m constantly thinking about the wedding, and wondering if there’s something else that needs to be done. But I’m not actively nervous. Pretty much everything is in place. I just need to polish my circlet and print and assemble the programs, and I think that’s all that really needs doing until a couple days before the wedding.
Perhaps this is just the calm before the storm…
Posted by barb on Sep 9, 2004 in
Random Thoughts Frances may be a mere tropical depression now, causing rain and tornado warnings in the local area, but, surprisingly, hurricane Frances had wider impacts on my life.
- My grandmother is auctioning off the rest of her farm land and the farm house in October. Grandpa died last year, and she just can’t take care of the farm by herself, even without the animals and crops. After a difficult search, she found what seemed to be the perfect condo in Red Wing, MN, not far from her sister’s place. To manage the purchase, she needed to get a “bridge loan” from her bank to close on the condo a month or two before the house is sold. So, for the past several weeks, she’s been fighting the surveyor and inspector to get to the house so she could arrange the loan.
Long story shorter, she was supposed to close on Tuesday this week, but got a call from the seller’s lawyer saying that they aren’t closing. The house they are supposed to move to is in Florida between West Palm Beach and Daytona Beach — right where Frances did a lot of damage. The seller’s went into a panic. They couldn’t find out the status of their house, and the husband needs to stay in a place with filtered air because of his health. Nevermind that Gram had already told them that they could stay until at least the end of September, and probably the end of October if they needed it.
Now, I’m not heartless. I understand that this is stressful for the sellers. But, dammit, they’re screwing with my Grandmother. She needs a place to live, and finally found something in Red Wing that was not only affordable, but well-built and a good fit for her lifestyle. Now they’re trying to back out. Oh, and the best part is that my parents, who have been helping Grandma with this all, are leaving tomorrow for the wedding. Ugh. Things will work out, and hopefully the sellers will come out of their panic with clearer heads…
- Kennedy Space Center was hit pretty hard by Frances. The damage is certainly not as bad as it could have been, especially if Frances had remained Class 4 or 3, but this pushes the Swift launch by at least two weeks. Now with Ivan on it’s way to Florida, the launch may get pushed back even further. Just our luck, it will coincede with the Minnesota reception November 6…
Posted by barb on Sep 8, 2004 in
Science Musings The Genesis spacecraft did not deploy it’s parachutes, and ended up crash landing in the Utah desert, instead of getting picked up by helicopters as was originally planned. CNN has the breaking story.
It’s unclear whether or not the science instruments and samples of solar wind were damaged in the crash…we’ll just have to wait and see.
Posted by barb on Sep 6, 2004 in
Movies 3/5 stars
I don’t actually remember ever sitting down and watching The Music Man end-to-end. I know snippets of many of the songs, but couldn’t put them into context, so I decided to add this one to the queue.
Campy, cheesy, typical musical from the 60s. I ended up fast-forwarding through many of the slower musical numbers, as I started to lose interest in the 2 and a half hour film…
Posted by barb on Sep 6, 2004 in
Movies 3/5 stars
Vincent (Tom Cruise) hires a cab for the night, driven by Max (Jamie Foxx), to make five stops. However, after the first stop, Max discovers that Vincent is a hired assassin….
Not bad. I can’t remember any other films where Cruise has played a “bad guy”, and frankly he does a credible job.
Posted by barb on Sep 5, 2004 in
Around DC,
Pictures We are sooooo close to seeing all of the pandas around town. After today’s trip, we have seen 147 of the original 150 pandas. Sadly, one of them was stolen, so we only have two pandas left to see (one of those we tried to see today, but couldn’t figure out where it was).
As usual, I have pictures posted on Flickr.
Here are a few of my favorites from today’s adventures:
| Ocean Snack |
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| PANDAbandana |
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| Panorama Panda |
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