Panda is Yummy

DAILY QUOTES

We are what we repeatedly do.
~Aristotle

To hide the key to your heart is to risk forgetting where you placed it.
~Timothy Childers

You seek to shield those you love and like the role of provider.



I ordered Chinese food from a place called Panda Maxx, their food is made with real bits of panda, so you know it's good. I encourage everyone to check out this blog by Neurotic in Ashburn, especially the ladies. Wink Wink Nudge Nudge.

The Wisdom of Uncle Ira

DAILY QUOTES

My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life.
~Miles Davis

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.
~Carl Sagan



Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

Your principles mean more to you than any money or success.

Top 5 iPod Nano-Nano Songs

1. Through The Fire ~Chaka Khan

2. I'm On Fire ~The Boss
3. We In Here ~DMX

4. No Bravery ~James Blunt

5. Shake That Thing ~Sean Paul

RayRay saw Lisa Loeb in the airport yesterday, and didn't even give her my number! Okay well maybe she was preoccupied with the airline because they lost her luggage. But a true friend would have hooked me up. (JK) Still it woudn't have hurt to slide her my number and tell her a young, boyishly good looking, Jewish writer absolutely adored her, would it? A prayer for the safe return of her luggage was said, not sure the Shahekianu was appropriate but it seems to be the good-luck catch all prayer.

In the words of Uncle Ira, "Sometimes you just gotta say, what the fuck?"

Another catch all phrase I love to use.

A to Z of me!

DAILY QUOTES

I was no petty thief, I wanted the world or nothing.

~Charles Bukowski

If you love large, you've got to hurt large. If you've got a lot of light, you've probably got an equal amount of darkness.

~Sarah McLachlan

I know of only one duty, and that is to love.
Albert Camus

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

You can open doors with your charm and patience.

Saw this on another blog thought I'd do one too!

A - Available: Yup
A - Age: 28
A - Annoyance: Complainers
B - Best Friend: Buttman and JD to name 2
B - Bad Habit: Being Lazy
B - Birthday: October 7
C - Crush: Orange
C - Car: goes by the name Blackbeard's Delight
C - Cats: The musical? Never saw it.
D - Dead Pets Name: Bunky, Pancho, Lizzy
D - Desk Top Picture: Tropical Island
D - Dogs: Not anymore, maybe soon!
E - Easiest person to talk to: Buttman and JD
E - Eggs: Overeasy
E - Email: All day.
F - Favorite color: Yellow (also Gold abd Black Go Steelers!)
F - Food: Mom's Potato Salad
F - Foreign Slang: Schmuck
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears,bouncin' here and there and everywhere.
G - God: Dunno
G - Good Times: Any time I'm surrounded by friends.
H - Hair Color: Brown
H - Height: N/A (hahahaha)
H - Happy: Sure!
I - Ice Cream: Birthday Cake Remix form Coldstone
I - In school?: Nope
I - Introverted or Extroverted?: A little from column A a little from column B.
J - Jewelry: Not anymore.
J - Job: Writer/Editor
J - Jokes: All the time.
K - Kids: Adopt for sure.
K - Karate: Nope.
K - Kung fu: Love the movies especially Sonny Chiba.
L - Longest Car Ride: Recently? DC to Talladega, Alabama
L - Longest relationship: Bout a year
L - Last phone call: Made: James Recieved: James
M - Milk Flavor: Plain
M - Mothers Name: Candy
M - Movie Last Watched: Goodfellas
N - Number of Siblings: 1 Bro
N - Northern or Southern: Like ot say southern but kinda on the cusp.
N - Name: Sammy
O - One Phobia: Wasps. The flying kind not the people.
O - Open or Closed?: Too open.
O - Orgasm: Giving or Recieveing?
P - Parents, are they married or divorced: Married.
P - Part of your jerking: Huh?
P - Part of your personality you like best: I'm jokey/smartass.
Q - Quote: Have you read my blog????????
Q - Question for the next person?: Are you sure?
Q - Quick or Slow?: Both.
R - Reality TV Show: Too many to name!
R - Right or Left: Righty
R - Right now: Startin' my day w/ a blog!
S - Song Last Heard: Heart of the City Jay-Z
S - Season: Spring
S - Sport: GOOOO STEEELERS!!!
T - Time you woke up: 6:30am
T - Time Now: 8:42am
T - Time for bed: I'd love to go back to bed, so yes.
U - Unknown Fact about me: I would say, but that's why they're unknown.
U - Unicorns: Napoleon Dynamite likes em.U - You are: Just a man.
V - Vegetable you hate: Dunno, I likes my veggies.
V - Vegetable you love: yes I love.
V - Voice: Deep.
W- Worst Habits: Bit messy.
W- Where are you going to travel next?: Out of the States: Cyprus!!!
W - Where were you born?: VA
X - X-Rays: Had a few in my day.
X - XXX: Never saw it, is that w/ Vin Diesel?
X - Xylophone: Not too many X questions huh?
Y - Year you were born: 1977
Y - Year it is now: 2006
Y - Yellow: See above under favorite color.
Z - Zoo Animal: Panda!!!!!
Z- ZodiaC: Libra
Z - Zoolander: La Tigra.

Jambalya

DAILY QUOTES

Bacchus hath drowned more men than Neptune.
~Dr. Thomas Fuller

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.
~Harper Lee

The only people for me are the mad ones. The ones who are mad to love, mad to talk, mad to be saved; the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.
~Jack Kerouac

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

You will be fortunate in the opportunities presented to you.

iPod Nano-Nano Heavy Rotation
Wisemen ~James Blunt
Crazy ~Gnarls Barkley
Soul Meets Body ~Death Cab for Cutie
Hey Ma ~Cam'ron
I'm on Fire ~Bruce Springsteen
Swallowed ~Bush
Stay Fly ~Three 6 Mafia
Gone ~Kanye West
Wonderful World ~Sam Cooke

I could ramble on about how many shots I had on Saturday night, especially the random Jack Daniels thrown into the mix (my idea of a joke), or how ridiculous the 40+ yr old couple making out at the bar looked, but it is all standard weekend fare and doesn't need to be re-lived. A new dessert crack was found in the process of the weekend: Fried Green Tea Ice Cream. A big thanks goes out to MG aka Mr. Pubes, aka Baba Ganoosh for introducing me to that one. I watched Waiting and loved it, having worked in food service I can attest to the crazy mix of personalities and attitudes restaurant workers are known for. The synapses are quite firing today, so sorry for the lousy post.

Things I'm Looking Forward To!!
1. Crown Royal 400 @ RIR (NASCAR Race)
2. Cyprus Trip
3. JD fixin' up the boat for fishin' and hijinx
4. All Good Festival (maybe)
5. NFL Draft

By the Numbers

DAILY QUOTES

Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
~John F. Kennedy

As soon go kindle fire with snowAs seek to quench the fire of love with words.
~William Shakespeare

1 Late night pizza ordered

2 Newport 100's Given to me by Austin from St. Croix for no reason, no asking

3 (+1 I was just informed) Shots consumed

4 The number that preceeds 20

5 PBR's consumed

6 Trips thru the kitchen to the bathroom (not by me)

7 times Louie's was mentioned

8 (+1 I was just informed) Total beverages consumed (by me)

9 Glasses of water before bed

10 ???????

Thank you for keeping me informed TD. The list has been properly amended.

My Ultimate Romantic Dinner

DAILY QUOTES

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
~Edgar Allan Poe (from Eleonora)

My Love Reveals Objects
by Isabel Fraire

my love reveals objects
silken butterflies
concealed in his fingers

his words
splash me with stars

night shines like lightning
under the fingers of my love

my love invents worlds where
jeweled glittering serpents live
worlds where music is the world

worlds where houses with open eyes
contemplate the dawn

my love is a mad sunflower that forgets
fragments of sun in the silence

Read the original en Espanol aqui.

(Much better in the original tongue)

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

Your dearest wish will come true.

MY ULTIMATE ROMANTIC MEAL
(That I would cook of course.)

1st Course:
Mixed Green Salad w/ Candied Pecans, Mandarin Orange Slices
and a Lemon Herb vinaigrette

2nd Course:
Duck Spring Rolls w/Plum Dipping Sauce

3rd Course:
Seared Tuna Steak w/pomegranate Sauce
Green Beans cooked Al Dente with Lemon Dill Butter
Pan Roasted Purple Potatoes

4th Course:
Creme Broulee w/Stawberries

YUM!

The Sexy Blue Genie is in Da House!

DAILY QUOTES

I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches.
~Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.
~Charles M. Schulz

Took a mental health half day yesterday, had too much on my mind. Luckily JD was available for a great lunch outside in Clarendon. If it wasn't for the bright and colorful umbrellas on the terrace we would have never spotted Tandoori Nights. Great lunch specials, best naan I've ever had definetly worth a try if you like Indian food. We also witnessed at least 4 SUV attempt to park in a practically unparkable space, which was enough ammusement to get through lunch. Hit the gym after a semi-long hiatus, slightly sore, enough to put me to bed, and combined with the Tylenol PM it was lights out. I didn't even make it through the new A&E favorite King of Cars (line from the theme song: "We dooz it large baby"). Such a nice day out the overpriced drinks at the G-Town waterfront were a must. Amusement there: a woman who stretched/posed near her bike for a solid 45-60 mins. No exxageration. TD and I were tempted to see if she would actually get on the thing eventually, but our dreams were slightly dashed when she started taking photos of her bike in between stretches and adjusting her helmet dangling on the handle bars. WTF??? Get on the damn thing and ride!!!

Can't remember if I've blogged about The King of Cars (A&E site here) or not but there is enough material to give it a second look.

Chop is the ringleader/owner of Towbin Dodge the number one dealership in the US!

A mix of Gangsta rapper, slick car salesman and savvy businessman, Chop is known for his weekly infomercial in Las Vegas. A thinker and innovator, Chop uses the infomercial to introduce crazee cahracters and used cars all available on the lot! He also has dunk tanks for the sales people to get dunked in, giant gongs u get to bang when u buy a car, and a moon bounces for the kids! By far the best thing are his sales people who dress in crazy outfits for the "Chop Show." Of ocurse everyone's favorite is the Sexy Blue Genie.

By day a timid Indian car salesman, but when the show is on he comes alive as the Sexy Blue Genie! I can just imagine all the stoners sitting on their couch in Las Vegas tuning in to the Chop Show.

A&E I can't quit you!

Most Under-Rated Cities

DAILY QUOTES

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
~Bertrand Russell

The best way to live is by not knowing what will happen to you at the end of the day...
~Donald Barthelme

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

To one who waits, a moment seems a year.

No time for love Dr. Jones!

Most Under-Rated/Under-Estimated Cities in the US

Accroding to CNG, JD and ME

1. Pittsburgh

2. Charlotte

3. Portland, Maine and Oregon

4. Madison

5. Minneapolis

6. Milwaukee

7. Charleston, WV

8. Indianapolis

9. Nashville

10. Santa Fe

What To Do With Leftover Dry Cleaner Hangers

DAILY QUOTES

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. ~Hunter S. Thompson

There is no remedy for love but to love more.

~Henry David Thoreau

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

New iPod Nano-Nano Playlist

Created for Windows Down Summer Weather

Drives To and Fro

(In Order)

1. Dani California ~RHCP

2. What You Know ~TI

3. Temperature ~Sean Paul

4. Say I ~Christina Millian

5. Stay Fly ~Three 6 Mafia

6. Head in the Zone ~Sean Paul

7. Chyna Black ~Anthony Hamilton

8. Grind With Me ~Pretty Ricky

9. Head to Toe ~Sean Paul

10. Back Again ~Dilated Peoples

11. Nuthin But A G' Thang ~Dr. Dre

12. Crazy ~Gnarls Barkley

13, Lucifer ~Jay-Z

14. Growing Pains ~Ludacris

15. Slow Motion ~Juvenile

16. Livin' a Movie ~Kanye West

17. Through the Wire (Remix) ~Kanye West

18. Twisted ~Keith Sweat

19. Your Body ~Pretty Ricky

20. Never Gonna Be the Same ~Sean Paul

21. Poppin My Collar ~Three 6 Mafia

22. U Remind Me ~Usher

23. Basically ~Gnarls Barkley

I finally began the art project I've been thinking about for a couple weeks, thank you JD for the tools. I was cleaning my closet, thinking HOLY SHIT I have a lot of white metal hangers from the dry cleaners. Normally I just pitch em' , which doesn't seem right, so I decided to bend snip and manipulate them in to a sculpture. Which would serve two purpose, alleviate some pent up creative energy and spruce up my barren place. I have no preliminary sketch, but a few ideas in my head. Soon I will have to decide on a direction though. One thought was to use the wire as a skeletal structure to wrap colored thread around and hang said object on the wall. But the beauty of sculpture is the possibility of working in 3 dimensions. I have previously made a cocoon like hanging structure which still hangs over my bed at my parents house. So maybe an updated version of that.

More creative juices flowed as I neared 1st draft completion of my 1st installment of a serial/cliffhanger fiction blog. Several more drafts to go.

recommendations:

Movie: Hustle & Flow

Music: Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
Not out yet but the single Crazy is really good. I saw this on someone else's blog on DCBlogs Live, and if I could remember which one I would give them props. A callabo effort from Cee-Lo and Dj Danger Mouse, 70's-ish R&B style, different but really good!

THIS IS ALL YOU GET TODAY

DAILY QUOTES

Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.
~Rose Franken

Love is my religion - I could die for it.
~John Keats

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.
~Eddie Rickenbacker



Top 5 iPod Nano-Nano Songs

1. Dani California ~RHCP

2. Grind On Me ~Pretty Ricky

3. Nuthin' But A G Thang ~Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg

4. You're Beautiful ~James Blunt

5. Since You've Been Gone ~Kelly Clarkson

This all you get today.

Passover Raspberries

DAILY QUOTES

Absence is to love as wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small and kindles the great.
~Roger de Bussy-Rabutin

Life is not the amount of breaths you take, it's the moments that take your breath away.
~Alex "Hitch" Hitchens

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

You're filled with a sense of urgency. Be patient or you may end up confused.
(Me confused??? That never happens...riiiiight.)




Top 5 iPod Nano-Nano Songs
1. Cabron ~RHCP
2. A Change Is Gonna Come ~Sam Cooke
3. Hey Mama ~Kanye West
4. Beautiful Mess ~Diamond Rio
5. Moment of Clarity ~Jay-Z

Ahh, Passover time is here! Whoohoo, if it wasn't for the required 4 glasses of wine that always turn into 5-6 due to side drinking I wouldn't make it thru. I'm gonna reminisce a little about the best Seder ever. Us "chosen people" have a knack for self torture, not to say the Seder (Passover meal) isn't a good way to re-tell the story of our people, it is. It';s just a little long and drawn out, and loses it's thrill after while. My family (like most) is known for wanting to get thru it as quickly as possible. God bless cousins is all I can say. My baby cousin who at the time was still literally a baby got us all of the hook. Not even halfway thru the damn thing she starts raspberrying (sticking her tongue between her lip and blowing). No matter what we did we could not get her to stop! I don't think we wanted her to either. I mean c'mon given the choice of reciting prayers and reliving a story you've heard a million times, or watching the cutest little adopted Korean 2 yr old openly mock the family, what would you do? Short post today, maybe a double today if the creative urge hits me. Can I please drive to MD one more time this week? Really? So your telling me there's a chance?

Perpetuating the VA vs MD Rivalry Pt.1

DAILY QUOTES

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.
~William Shakespeare

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

Top 5 iPod Nano-Nano Songs

1. Dani California ~RHCP

(Still Tops The List I Can't Get Enough)

2. Best of You ~Foo Fighters

3. Happy Valentine's Day ~Andre 3000 (Outkast)

4. Say I ~Christina Millian

5. Stay Fly ~Three 6 Mafia

It is long standing knowledge for natives or long time residents of the DC Metro area, that there is some kind of rivalry/grudge between Marylanders and Virginians. I am here to add fuel to the fire and uphold the animosity. I am a native born an bred Virginian gentleman, and proud of it, so let's be clear on which side I'm on. However I have many friends in the Bethesda area, and really enjoy the night life/bar/restaurant scene up there. So I know those people aren't all bad. One of the major contentions is driving habits, of course Maryland has some of the worst drivers, known for cutting you off just to move ahead one spot, no signaling because I guess they spent too much on the GPS and DVD players in their new Mercedes to afford turn signals. I can understand that maybe the awful roads there bred these bad habits, I fear for my tires and car until I cross back over the Key. I believe that the GW Parkway is one of the nicest drives in the area. It's pretty, usually uncongested (unless you're getting onto to 495 North to MD), and even though it's only 2 lanes and kinda close quarters people drive at reasonable (fast) speeds. I've tried several routes to Bethesda; GW to 495, Wisconsin thru the city, Rock Creek Pkwy, and lately I've been taking Canal Road/Clara Barton/Glen Echo, which seems to be the fastest. I've noticed though (and some of the blame goes to DC) but that last route is like a low rent GW Parkway. Just not as pretty, sorry it's not.

The majestic GW Parkway in the greatest Commonwealth in the Nation, Old Dominion, Virginny!

Ewww Maryland.

Crazee Neighbor Girl Pt.1 (A Tribute)

DAILY QUOTES

We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.
~Tom Robbins

...I look back and am amazed that my thoughts were so clear and true, that three words went through my mind endlessly, repeating themselves like a broken record: you're so cool, you're so cool, you're so cool.
~Alabama Worley

Feels like I step on fortune cookie! ...That no cookie!

Confucius say: show-off always shown up in showdown.



This portion of my blog is by special request:

I'm sure it will take more than one blog to cover the depth and complexity that is "crazy neighbor girl." We call Amy, Crazy Neighbor Girl out of affection, cuz shes crazy good, crazy fun. To explain some of the complexity here are some sometimes conflicting personality traits that make her so loveable: she is obsessed with texting (which we all know is fun), but she also traveled to India to go live with street kids (a do-gooder). 3 days into said trip she contracted Tyhpoid fever which incapacitated her, but still managed to see some of the sites when she had enough strength. She loves architecture, which may go too far as she has tried to date an architect partly because he was one. Grew up in Minnesota so she has the good wholesome midwest/Minnesota values, but has lived in many cities and definetly has her street smarts. Like I said a truly deep and complex person, but absolutely a great and memorable person. By the way fellas she's looking. (Part 2 coming soon including a pictogram!)

So JD, CNG and I had Lebanese Taverna last night, which was great. It has been a while since I've been there so it was like seeing an old friend. Oh wait I was because CNG was in from out of town and that's why we went. It was a cool night but still perfect for sitting outside and enjoying a half price bottle of Lebanese wine. Yum. The food was excellent as always the converstion even better. Afterwards we all went back to my place to chill, and watch Flip This House. We treid to introduce it to CNG, but she was baffled, and amused at our love for the show. Our explination: construction + juggs + drama = good TV.

Tickets to Cyprus came in the mail! It's official!

I witnessed a few different people go thru the ups and downs of applying to Grad school. So far all have been accepted to their first choices, so congratulations and Mazel Tov to all my friends!

Miller Lite Socks Bring No Luck, But A New Liquid Crack Found!

DAILY QUOTES

True love doesn't have a happy ending: True love doesn't have an ending.
~Anonymous

Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
~Brendan Gill

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

(I ate alot of Asian food this weekend, fo real doe.)

You have an ability to sense and know higher truth.

(Higher truth????)

You will step on the soil of many countries.

(True, considering the Cyprus trip was confirmed and set to go!!!)

Top 5 iPod Nano-Nano Songs

1. Dani California ~RHCP
2. Take My Breath Away ~Berlin

3. Say I ~Christina Millian

4. All The Small Things ~Blink 182

5. What You Know ~T.I.

New Source for Liquid Crack: Cafe Asia, sour creamy/cream cheesy dipping sauce that comes with the crab wontons. As if crab rangoon/wontons weren't good enough Cafe Asia upped the ante. And as a $2 appetizer Happy Hour special the news only gets better.

Weekend Highlights:

I wore my Miller Lite drinking socks out for the first time, but they didn't bring me any luck. Not even in increase in drinking stamina (not that I need it). Cafe Asia was excellent, we had a great group in quality and quantity, I forsee a few more HHs there. Then it was on to the Science Club. Not a bad place, luongey, a little crowded, but we lucked out with the big table in the basement. I felt like a proud papa taking the training wheels of his kids bike; the DJ was playing a slowed down/remixed version of Kanye's Golddigger, which I didn't even recognize. TD was pointing it out to me when JD frm across the table, unable to hear our convo pointed out the same thing. I was soo proud of JD. Sometimes I feel like his cultural attache', exposing him to pop culture, in particular hip-hop. For him to pick up on the beat/track when I couldn't was like a father watching his son get a base-hit in T-ball. (OK that may be taking it a little too far.) Then off to Porter's, which wa slike a sensory deprovation chamber the lights were so low and the music was so loud.

Rave: New Red Hot Chili Peppers Song, Dani California. The chorus has that harder, driven, tribal feel that I love from the Peppers. The new album Stadium Arcadium is gonna be the summer time album, just a prediction.

Now I Can Bring Work Home With Me To Do In A Vicodin Induced Haze

DAILY QUOTES

Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.
~ Billie Holiday
(My faucet must be leaky.)

Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage which we did not take, towards the door we never opened Into the rose-garden.
~T. S. Eliot

Wow! I made all the way to 2:00 without posting?! What the hell is wrong with me, maybe I was working or something. I think that's what they call it, but it might be Sweedish and pronounced varking, anyways it's supposed to be great, apparently you just focus and get stuff done. Actually most of my day was spent moving all my desk accutrements and whatnots 6 ft. across the room to the bigger L shaped desk and switching all of my stuff over to a new lap top! Whoohoo now I get to bring work home with me! I mean...it will make the trip with me and get stared at blankly when I get home, huh...kinda like what happens in the office. Hooray for telecommuting! Tonight shall be a night of rest, Vicodin for my back, Chinese for my belly (and I need more fortune cookies for the blog), and a movie for my brain. Gonna check out Science Club tomorrow, heard good things, maybe they have shots in beakers. Not gonna pop the collar but I may wear my Miller Lite Logoed drinking socks.

(Notice how I started this post at 2:00 but didn't get to publish until 3:30. Because someone told my boss I like to get work thrown at me an hour before departure tim on Fridays. May be stuck here a while longer, booooooo!.)

What's the Night Life Like in Cyprus?

DAILY QUOTES

In Honor of Robert Nesta Marley's Birthday:

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind.

The more people smoke herb, the more Babylon fall.

The power of philosophy floats through my head, light like a feather, heavy as lead.

~Bob Marley

So go light one up for a true prophet. jah rastafari.
That's what he would want!

Top 5 iPod Nano-Nano Songs

1. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons ~Sam Cooke

2. Breakaway ~Kelly Clarkson

3. Voodoo Chile ~Jimi Hendrix

4. Kaya ~Bob Marley

5. Born To Run ~Bruce Springsteen

Yesterday I got somewhat frantic phone call for JD alerting me to a great deal on airfare. Just $35 to go from Toronto to Cyprus in business class! Normally that's a $6000 ticket! Because I've missed out on great fares in the past like LA to Fiji for $0, I figured this would be the time to definitely take advantage. I haven't traveled out of the country in quite some time, and I was tired of being left out (by my own choice) of the great trips my friends go on. Usually these fares are mistakes and don't last too long on the web so I seized the opportunity and bought the ticket. It's commonly known that the airline can pretty much just take the fare away because it's a mistake, or offer vouchers which would be fine too. I'm really excited if this does happen, I know Cyprus isn't the number one destination on my list, in fact it's not even on the list, but WTF right?! I mean...What could be so bad about an island in the Mediterranean? Has anyone been there? If so any suggestions on what to do are much appreciated. Also I may have a full day layover in Milan any suggestions? I mean its Milan I'm sure I can find a model to show me around right?

A BIT OF A RANT:
I'm a little fed up with the grocery shopping situation around Arlington. Giant and Safeway the stores I grew up going to seem to have gone downhill. Harris Teeter is decent but the prices leave something to be desired. Shopper's Food Warehouse is only good for the monster sized donuts which I am avoiding. So that pretty much leaves Whole Foods, which is absolutely amazing, but if I shopped there more than once a month I'd go broke. I like to judge a grocery store on sale items and produce. The only one that really has it all is Wegamn's but hell if I'm gonna drive that far just for some Lean Cuisines and some apples!

Welcome to the Gun Show the Armory is Stocked

DAILY QUOTES

Where there is great love, there are always wishes.
~Willa Cather

Duty is the most sublime word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.
~General Robert E. Lee

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!...That no cookie!

In order to have great friends, you must first learn to be a great friend.

Irony= I'm on steroids but I can't go to the gym because of my back issues which I'm on steroids for. They're not anabolic and the last thing I need is to get bigger (Let's just say the Armory is full at this gun show), but give me the cream and the clear damn it! Was that a hint of roid rage?

April is here and I am excited for the warm weather. Thanks to the founding fathers our nation's capital was built on a muggy, humid, sticky, swampy area. I am a weirdo because I love the humidity, or should say don't mind it that much. But there is one added benefit. The number of thunderstorms that are produced by our climactic circumstances. Beautiful, but dangerous; life giving but full of rage and torment. Kind of the way I like my women; gorgeous but crazy and unpredictable (w/out Doppler).

This is how the Monument was really erected.

What a Day! The Ups and Downs of My Life

DAILY QUOTES
(AND A POEM)

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
~Mahatma Gandhi

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.
~Jimi Hendri

Palpar

Mis manos
abren las cortinas de tu ser
te visten con otra desnudez
descubren los cuerpos de tu cuerpo
Mis manos
inventan otro cuerpo a tu cuerpo

~Octavio Paz

After much prompting from friends and family, and pain so intense it cut through my stubbornness I saw the doctor yesterday about my back. (See yesterday's post for illustrations) I even left work early to make my appointment, the day was looking up already. Out of work early and most likely to be prescribed some kind of pain medication a little stronger than the 5 Advil I take. There is rarely any street parking on Columbia Pike so I did as I have always done and parked in the run-down shopping-mini-strip-mall-center that is up half a block. It didn't take long at the doc's to figure out I was in need of help and the best course of action would be steroids and Vicodin(yummy). As I limp/hobble to my car I call my pops to left him know what's going on:

Me: Hey pop!
Pop: Hey son, what did the doctor say?
Me: He's putting me on steroids and also gave me a presciption for HOLY SHIT! MY CAR IS GONE!!!
Pop: Are you sure?
Me: Ya can't really miss a big black truck that was parked all alone, F&*(K! I'm callin the Police!
Pop: Call me back(click I hang up)

Ok so I overeacted and called 911 to report a stolen car. But apparently the tow truck driver who missed his calling in life as an advanced eagle-eyed recon specialist watched me "leave the premises" and towed my car to Ballston. OY VEY!!!! JD picked me up thank god and took me to my car, ($ 90 and it was in the impound lot a total of 10 minutes!) I drop off my scrips and meet him back at my place. It is decided we order Outback, my treat for his birthday. Perfect! I can go back to the pharmacy and pick up my drugs at the drive thru on the way to curbside take away. As a creative writer I know that hyperbole and exaggeration are tools at my disposal, but none is needed here the literal 25 minute wait at the drive thru window is enough. From there on out the day got much better; we settled in and ate our steaks as we watched Flip This House. Quite possibly Ginger's finest episodes, absolutely booberific, titacular, and dare I say juggolicous. Too top it all off The Florida Gators came through wining the NCAA National Championship, and making me a perfect 4 for 4 in all my pools. Yes ladies and gents I won every bracket I entered! I am amazing! Those are the ups and downs of a day in the life, thankfully the ups were some quality ups and a little more plentiful than the downs.

The Doctor Said I Need A Backeotomy

DAILY QUOTES

Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.
~D. H. Lawrence
(and I thought Paris Hilton made "that's hot" famous)

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.
~Harper Lee

The doctor said I need a backeotomy.

~Sir Smoke Alot

Top 5 iPod Nano-Nano Songs

1. Slow Motion ~Juvenile

2. You Send Me ~Sam Cooke

3. Temperature ~Sean Paul

4. Black Betty ~Ram Jam

5. Your Body ~Pretty Ricky

Feels like I step on fortune cookie!
...That no cookie!

Sometimes a stranger can bring great meaning to your life.

Weekend Round-Up:

Had peeps in form out of town on Friday night. A great time when 9 of us get together as always. We went to a pretty good French place in Georgetown called Cafe Bonaparte. I tried my first escargot, and got crepes with smoked salmon chive/dill mixture. Drinks after dinner, and apparently I missed the after party, which was complete with someone falling down for no reason besides many many beers and a smattering of Thai Whiskey. Saturday I went to a surprise party, where the suprisee was only mildly surprised. Found out Sir Grottalot is to be wed to whom I will now refer to as Lady Grottalot. In other words one of my good friends got engaged! Whoo Hoo! (I think I'm close to being the only one left in bachelordom.) In other good news I have already won 3 of the 4 brackets I entered into various NCAA pools, and with a Florida win tonight I'll be a perfect 4 for 4! GO GATORS!!!!

Despite all the fun had with my friends, I had one thing on my mind the whole time...The intolerable pain in my back shooting down my left leg. I have something seriously wrong with my back, and probably should go to the doc, but instead I blog about it.

Normal back muscles look like this:

My back feels like this:

Yes, I garnish my back with leaf lettuce.