Am I a horrible person??

originally written on 4/17 but due to technical issues I am only now able to post...
I hate standing on the train.
In order to avoid doing so I always hustle my butt across the Hill from Longworth to Union Station in less than 20 minutes so that I can get a seat on the train.
Assuming there are no train issues (mystery delays etc) I am always successful in getting a seat where I want.
Today was no exception. Left my office and was in the elevator at 5:35 and I had my butt in a seat at 5:53. 18 min. Not bad.
The 6:05 to Baltimore is ALWAYS crowded so for this train I hurried even a bit more than I do for the 6:40.
Everything was going as expected - I had my seat and was working on my soduko and the car started to fill. In a matter of 5 min the car was full and people were starting to stand and claim their "space".
At 6:04:45 one of the train conductors informs me and my seatmates (the other 3 people sitting next to me) that we need to get up b/c someone in a scooter needs to park in our area.
So we stand up and realize there is no where to go. The train is packed and people are even standing in the vestibule. Great. I successfully get my lean on against the folded up seat next to the door and that is where I am right now as I type this.
Now - in my mind there are a few things going on here.
1. We were sitting in the handicapped area and on the VERY rare occasion that someone in a scooter needs the seats we are bound morally, socially, and probably legally to get our butts off our hard earned seats to accomidate the handicapped.
2. However - after initial observation this particular handicapped person has ridden the train before and is familular with the general train customs - because of this I find it quite rude of her to show up at the train 15 seconds before we depart and expect us to get up when there are clearly no seats for us to go to.
I am irritated.
Am I a horrible person?

UPDATE 4/22: because of the above described situation I decided that I was not going to get displaced again if I didn't have to, so I got one of the individual seats near the door that is not in the handicapped area - and good thing I did b/c the same thing happened and folks had to vacate their seats for this same woman. At least this time the train wasn't as packed and I'm pretty sure they were able to find other seats - if not in our car then in the next car... fun times.

A word that is growing on me....

douchebaggery

I Want to Believe

I am VERY excited about this. David Duchovny is H.O.T.!!!

'X-Files' movie title revealed

New "X-Files" film, due July 25, will be called "The X-Files: I Want to Believe"

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The truth is finally out there about the new "X-Files" movie title.

The second big-screen spinoff of the paranormal TV adventure will be called "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," Chris Carter, the series' creator and the movie's director and co-writer, told The Associated Press.

Distributor 20th Century Fox signed off on the title Wednesday.

The title is a familiar phrase for fans of the series that starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents chasing after aliens and supernatural happenings. "I Want to Believe" was the slogan on a poster Duchovny's UFO-obsessed agent Fox Mulder had hanging in the cluttered basement office where he and Anderson's Dana Scully worked.

"It's a natural title," Carter said in a telephone interview Tuesday during a break from editing the film. "It's a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. 'I Want to Believe.' It really does suggest Mulder's struggle with his faith."

"I Want to Believe" comes 10 years after the first film and six years after the finale of the series, whose opening credits for much of its nine-year run featured the catch-phrase "the truth is out there."

Due in theaters July 25, the movie will not deal with aliens or the intricate mythology about interaction between humans and extraterrestrials that the show built up over the years, Carter said.

Instead, it casts Mulder and Scully into a stand-alone, earth-bound story aimed at both serious "X-Files" fans and newcomers, he said.

"It has struck me over the last several years talking to college-age kids that a lot of them really don't know the show or haven't seen it," Carter said. "If you're 20 years old now, the show started when you were 4. It was probably too scary for you or your parents wouldn't let you watch it. So there's a whole new audience that might have liked the show. This was made to, I would call it, satisfy everyone."

Hardcore fans need not worry that the movie will be going back to square one, though, Carter said. The movie will be true to the spirit of the show and everything Mulder and Scully went through, he said.

"The reason we're even making the movie is for the rabid fans, so we don't want to insult them by having to take them back through the concept again," Carter said.

Carter said he settled on "I Want to Believe" from the time he and co-writer Frank Spotnitz started on the screenplay. It took so long to go public with it because studio executives wanted to make sure it was a marketable title, he said.

The filmmakers have kept the story tightly under wraps to prevent plot spoilers from leaking on the Internet, a phenomenon that barely existed when the first movie came out in 1998.
"We went to almost comical lengths to keep the story a secret," Carter said. "That included allowing only the key crew members to read the script, and they had to read it in a room that had video cameras trained on them. It was a new experience."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

It's been one year...

So today is the one year anniversary of the tragedy at VT.
You know... emotional pain is an interesting thing. Why do we keep going back and forcing ourselves to remember and re-live painful events? Is this part of the healing process? I don't know.
I find myself looking for more stories about what's going on in Blacksburg today knowing full well that when i read them or watch them on TV I am going to get emotional. Why am i doing this to myself?
I really don't want to go to work today. Just too tired - drained.

A New Word I Can't Stand

(from Wikipedia)
Webinar: A webinar is a specific type of web conference. It is typically one-way, from the speaker to the audience with limited audience interaction, such as in a webcast. A webinar can be very collaborative and include polling and question & answer sessions to allow full participation between the audience and the presenter. In some cases, the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen and the audience can respond over their own telephones, preferably a speaker phone. There are web conferencing technologies on the market that have incorporated the use of VoIP audio technology, to allow for a truly web-based communication.

In the early years of the Internet, the terms "web conferencing" was often used to describe a group discussion in a message board and therefore not live. The term has evolved to refer specifically to live or "synchronous" meetings.

Update

I did pretty well in the Cherry blossom race. 1:44. Not bad for 10 miles. I think my pace was a little faster than the half marathon last October. My knees were killing me by the end of it. And it was cold and rainy - but i still had a good time.
Now i'm focusing my training on my triathalon in June. Fun times.
Wedding update: I am going for my dress fitting on Saturday. yea.
Not much else to say. I want to take Wednesday off from work and just spend all day in bed if possible... but not likely to happen. I have a meeting Wed afternoon.
S.O. is going to New Orleans this coming weekend for his bachelor party. I hope he comes home in one piece.

I Almost Forgot to Mention...

I am running in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Miler on Sunday. Woo Hoo!
Training hasn't been going as well as hoped. I've been doing the Tri thing but that means less running and more spinning and swimming.
I think i'll be ok though. I ran the half-marathon (13.1 miles) in 140 minutes (2:20)which is the max pace for this race and it is only 10 miles. So, if I maintain the same pace as I did for the half (a little less than an 11 min mile) then i should be done in about 110 minutes (1:50).
The race starts at 7:50 am so I am going to spend the night at my friend's apartment the night before - otherwise i would have to leave baltimore at the ass crack of dawn which i really didn't want to do. Anyways...
Good Luck to me. I'll let you know how i do.

40th "Anniversary"

So, today is the 40th Anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I don't like using the term "anniversary" b/c for me the word represents something good - and using it in this context doesn't seem right.
I had a moment this morning... I don't really know how to explain it... I think it may be a combination of a lot of different things. Stress from work, wedding planning, life.... I was thinking about this guy Zach Sowers in Baltimore who died last week after being attacked about 10 months ago in Canton. His new wife and friends created a blog to document his progress and their battles with the legal system in Baltimore. (All of those involved will be out of jail in 8 years or less and will not be charged or retried for murder since he died. WTF!) I digress... so I was thinking about this guy and his wife and how it really could have been any one of us who these kids targeted...
I've been thinking a lot about the people who were murdered at Virginia Tech almost a year ago...
I have a tremendous amount of respect for my father and always wondered why he never voted - Mom always did and always took us with her when we were little. When I was in high school I asked my dad about this and he told me that when JFK was killed in '63 and then MLK and Bobby Kennedy were killed in '68 he just stopped caring. He felt that the government let him down and that there was no real reason to vote b/c those people that he supported were not supported by their own governments and anyone worth a damn wouldn't/couldn't be elected....
So, this morning I had the Today Show on as I was getting ready for work and they did a piece on MLK and then they started playing his "I Have a Dream" speech and I just started crying.
It just all came out at once.
My profound sadness for what our country COULD HAVE BEEN TODAY if MLK wasn't killed. My sadness that my dad feels our government is worthless. My sadness about Zach Sowers - a guy I never knew. My sadness about what happened at my "HOME" - Virginia Tech...
I don't know. I don't really know how to explain it. Just sad.

More Overheard on the Train: "kirked out"

I think i have mentioned this before but it gets me everytime I hear it....

Some guy on the train said he "kirked out" on someone the other day.

I always thought this saying had to do with a guy I know named Kirk but apparently not. A quick search on Google for "kirked out" gave me 928 hits and the first one is from the Urban Dictionary: Kirk: To go crazy, to flip out, to wig out. "Timmy kirked out when he saw the guitar solo."

Who knew?

I am a slacker....

yes yes yes... this will look very similar to my last post. i only wrote once in the entire month of February and it is already the 3rd week in March and this is my first post...

sorry.

I do have some new stuff to report and new train/commute rants to post and i PROMISE i will get to them soon.

First a general update: work is slow at the moment now that approps season has come and gone (at least until july when my bill will be on the floor). Things will pick up again next week as the FBI and Attorney General will be testifying before my Approps committee. I am sure that my boss and the committee members will have something to say to the FBI Director and Attorney General Mukasey...

Home life: going well. really need to clean out the garage. we need to get two cars in there pronto before people start moving into the new condos down the street this summer.

March Madness: I am tied for 12th but I could possibly come in second place at the end of it all if things go my way.

Wedding plans are on-going. Taking dance lessons. Fun times.

More Train Stuff - but also a life message

It has been a while... I've been busy just like everyone else but I guess that's no excuse.
On the train this evening (originally written in mid-March) some schmuck sits down across from me and takes up both seats - he's not fat - he's just stretching out and flopping the tail of his coat purposefully across the other seat. As more people board the train he makes small jestures to move his coat and scoot over as people approach the seat. Several minutes and people pass him and that seat and proceed further into the train.
I'm watching this with some amusement. Sometimes I like to keep time on how long it takes from the time a schmuck sits down to when someone finally asks them to move off the other seat so they can sit.
It typically is about 5 minutes but this can be impacted by how early the schmuck gets on the train. I've seen it go to 15 minutes before - BUT every time someone has eventually taken that other seat. It is pretty funny. The other thing is that I will purposly take that seat even if there are other unimpeaded seats in the general area because it pisses me off that these guys think they can just spread out and take up more space than they need, deserve, or have paid for.
I've gotten some quizzical looks - no one has ever gotten mad - but they sort of look at me funny... Anyways - back to the current schmuck.... Someone finally sits next to the guy and the train starts moving.
So this guy is sitting here in a seat with his back to the end of the car and the train wall to his right side. A southbound train passes us at high speed and WOOSH - this side panel in the wall comes unlocked and totally swings for this guys head. The girl sitting next to me was able to grab it at the last minute so it didn't actually hit him. Then they together spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out how to lock the thing back up. Pretty funny.
The moral of the story is "don't be that guy."

Fuck You Very Much

People are full of shit. Seriously.
Yes - thank you for protecting that special seat next to you.
Your story that the occupant was in the bathroom was not convincing - especially when he showed up 5 minutes later OBVIOUSLY from outside the train and you lifted YOUR bag so he could sit there. Thank you beeeotch. I hope you enjoy his company.

Ok Ok

So I am one of the people called out by Capitol Swell for not updating my blog. Sorry - I've been busy.
So... what's new... let's see....
WORK: we are in the thick of appropriations season at work and my hearings start today so I am anticipating a few late nights in the next week or so.
TRAINING: i signed up for a new training program at the gym - a triathalon training program. In addition to running the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in early April I am going to do a sprint triathalon in mid-June. Sweet!
WEDDING UPDATE: we finally booked the DJ and the florist. We are now looking at invitations and working on scheduling a meeting with the caterer for a tasting and to pick our linens, etc.
HOMELIFE: is good. D and I are doing well. Had a lovely V-Day dinner at home and have been hanging out with friends (very few band gigs in Feb). Sister is getting settled in Hawaii. Mom is looking for retirement communities in Florida.
That's it for now. I will write something interesting later tonight...

More Adventures in Baking - Apple Pie (I meant to post this back in early Feb and forgot to... Sorry.)

Pre - Bake

Post - Bake

Yummy!

Birthday Present - Round 2

Here is the latest pic of my birthday present. Pretty!

People are stupid

upon seeing this barrier at the train station a woman came up to me and asked if that meant that we were not supposed to go on that part of the platform... seriously...

From the Washington Post

I like this article. Although i only fly 2 -3 times a year at the most, i think i want one of these....

Clearly, Some Are DifferentA New ID Lets You Skip The Line at the Airport. But Just How Fast Are You?

By Hank StueverWashington Post Staff WriterSunday, January 27, 2008; M01

Two of Washington's airports -- Dulles and Reagan National -- will soon be part of the federal government's Registered Traveler program, which offers passengers the happy prospect of getting through security lines faster, swifter, better. (Ninety thousand of them and counting have enrolled.) All you need do is pay an annual fee -- $100 to start, plus a $28 shakedown so the government can make sure you're, you know, okay. Next you submit all sorts of personal information, fingerprints and, because the future is now, an eyeball scan.
Then you are all clear.
In fact, the company that clears you is called Clear, and once you're good to go, they mail you a clear plastic ID card with a square blue logo that says Clear. ("The wait is over," proclaims the company's slogan.)
The mind immediately goes either way on this, first to a dark place: Depressingly, America potentially becomes still less like "America," where everyone was supposedly equal, no matter how bad things got. It's the "Lexus lane" syndrome over and over, where special people buy special access to get ahead of the losers. And yet, hasn't this been the essential human narrative all along? Me before you. People becoming Clear is simply another chapter in the self-deterministic struggle. Ayn Rand would totally have one.
After that comes a more tantalizing thought: Can we get a Clear card for everything else?
Some pre-Clears (if you'll excuse the Scientology undertones) have been waiting for this -- impatiently, of course. Clears are already the fastest people at airports even without the cards: shoes and coat off, laptop out of the case, X-ray buckets lined up on the conveyor belt, waiting for everybody else to get it together.
A few thousand people in the Washington area have already applied, and on a recent weekday, 35 people visited the American Express office downtown at 15th and K streets NW, to get cleared by Clear, says Clear spokeswoman Cindy Rosenthal. "What we hear most from people is that they want predictability," she says. "These are people who don't like waiting on line."
Clears are the simple and speedy people, who tend to know the price of things before they get to the register and always have the cash or debit card ready, and step out of the way immediately to a place where they can put away their change and receipt and reassemble themselves without obstructing the flow. Clears do not dig into their purses in search of engorged wallets into which they go a-huntin' for six cents so as not to break a bill, or to look for that Subway sandwich stamp card. Clears have amazingly uncomplicated business to do at banks and in post office lines -- places they almost never go to anymore -- conducting transactions so fast the teller or clerk barely has time to wish them a good day. Clears tend to order only sodas in movie concession lines. (Clears also get to movies 20 minutes early.) Clears have written pamphlet-length diatribes in their minds about a certain drugstore chain that rhymes with "Skeevy Mess" and the lackadaisical inabilities of not only its incredibly slow employees but its equally slow customers.
So why stop with airports? Clear is already thinking about that. "Major crowd events, like a 60,000-person football game," Rosenthal says, could be conducted more efficiently with Clear cards.
Clears are sometimes confused with "high-maintenance" customers, when, in fact, it is low maintenance that defines the true Clear. (Clears have doubtless eaten their share of the kitchen staff's spit for only suggesting that things could be going faster.)
Clears can give you a very long lecture about the economic concept known as opportunity cost, which is just another way of saying time is money, so why clip coupons?
Beyond a swift exchange of pleasantries, Clears never make chitchat with cashiers, because there are people in line behind the Clear, and the Clear is doing them the favor of clearing out. They almost never cause malfunction of the process, and are never more disappointed in themselves as on the rare occasion when they do take too long. Clears almost never special-order or substitute menu items, and are quietly horrified when their dining companions do. Clears love stores with names like Grab-N'-Go, or Git-N'-Gone, and long for the day when such establishments can honestly and consistently live up to such ideals. Corporate America invented self-checkout lines for Clears, which worked well for about five minutes, until someone who wasn't a Clear caused yet another human paper jam.
There is only one long line Clears accept, and that is the line to vote.
Clears come in all ages, but they get more Clear the closer they get to 40. (And less Clear after 60. You can always tell an old Clear by his polite resignation: Go ahead, all of you, he or she says, as the plane is disembarking. I'm just slowing you down.)
So far, the people who run Clear have only learned the obvious about their customer base: He is a he, a business traveler, and he's generally between 35 and 45 years old, Rosenthal says -- adding that the profile may change as Clear lanes open in other airports. He is affluent and may have a second home. He isn't merely antsy-pantsy. He just flies a lot and is sick of the lines. Clear gets him through airport security in about four minutes. In high-tourist travel markets -- such as Orlando or Denver -- he never knows if the security lines are going to be a matter of a few minutes or an hour, which makes him bonkers with Clear worry. One Clear customer, Rosenthal says, forgot important papers in his car and was able to cross back out into the terminal, retrieve the papers from his secretary, and go back through security in a matter of minutes. This is held up as the definitive Clear success story: zip, zip, zip.
Life, meanwhile, is not as zippy as all that. A Clear finds himself standing in line at a 7-Eleven, with a Big Gulp in one hand and a couple of dollar bills in the other, and realizes that he's going to have to wait for six Un-Clears in front of him to buy lottery tickets and the exact pack of cigarettes that the Un-Clear clerk cannot seem to locate. Shouldn't a Clear's Clear card work in this situation? Shouldn't a Clear be able to go to the front of the line at Starbucks when all the Clear ever orders ( ever!) is a simple grande coffee? If a Clear knows exactly what he wants in the Au Bon Pain or the Taco Bell, can he not flash his Clear card and grab-n-go, git-n-gone?
Not in America. Not yet. The Clear gets his airport privileges (and so far, he gets them only in airports like Albany or Indianapolis -- but also Newark and JFK at certain hours and certain gates), and he gets the nasty looks, too. Clears are sometimes troubled by this. They aren't so self-absorbed as to not feel true remorse and class consciousness. It's not like a country club or a gated neighborhood or first class. Clears encourage clarity in all people.
Here's the rub: The world is ending. Things are getting tight, desperate, short. Clearness is coming to airport security lines just in time for chaos to wipe out everything. Clears are good at things like mass evacuation, but not so great in soup lines. (Just listen to how loudly and repeatedly a Clear sighs when the express lane at Giant is too long.)
In the apocalypse, it's a good idea to stick close to your favorite Clear, but you should also fully expect to be left behind.

Waiting for the train this morning....

it's cold outside.

More Adventures in Baking

here is my frankenstein pie - supposed to be strawberry rhubarb but ended up being strawberry-cherry. I think it tastes better than it looks - and it only took me 3 days to make (b/c of my unsuccessful search for rhubarb).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

I had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve! I was able to spend the holidays with my family and also with D's family. NYE we had a party here at the house. We had a great turn-out.

One of my favorite presents I got this year is this Kitchen Aid Mixer. D's mom got it for us. She wasn't sure what to get us for Christmas so she just bought something off the wedding registry. Hey - that's cool with me! Also I am including a sampling of the tasty treats I have made using my new mixer.

My New Mixer

Rum Balls

Sugar Cookies

Thumb-print Cookies with Jelly Filling