Tuesday Timewarp: Forget Nicole... Here's Lionel

I wasn't a huge Lionel Richie fan in my day, but he did create one of the best Latin based pop songs of the early 80s and one of the best dance videos ever made. (Think of how NEW some of this dance was to the American public.)



Doesn't this totally make you miss bright colors, chunky jewelry and perms?

Ok, there's a new Law & Order on tonight. Gotta go!

Timewarp Tuesday/Wednesday: The Late/Early Edition

My dear boyfriend got back from Germany yesterday. In the fall and spring, my boyfriend travels enough that I get a lot of "me" time, for better or for worse. Thankfully, he is a very attentive boyfriend. I certainly have had boyfriends who are more physically present, but who have otherwise checked out.

So, last night, we had a computer moratorium, which was quite remarkable since he is also quite the computer nerd (heh, heh). Hence, today's late/early edition.

Since I am taking German these days. This is Dienstag Timewarp. Here's my favorite German punk.

Timewarp Tuesday: Photography of Me

My scanner arrived today. True to my name... Analog in Digital...I've taken on the ambitious project of digitizing important family photos and other critical documents.

So, here's a little song about photographs. If you didn't try to style your hair like A Flock of Seagulls, then you can hardly call yourself a child of the 80's.



And here's a little taste of things to come. Here are my brother and I at the Silver Dollar Fair, circa 1974 is my guess....Vrrroom, vrrooom....

Saturday Sighting: Obama and Me

One of the cool things about living in Washington, DC are the "celebrity" sightings. Friday I was walking down Connecticut, iPod on (learning German... "Woher kommst du?"), when a woman in a black trenchcoat and an earpiece puts her hands up, stopping the sidewalk traffic. Out from the Washington Sports Club (a local health club chain), come a group of men in black, including in a black athletic wear and a baseball cap, Obama! Off he went into his getaway vehicle. It all happened so fast.

I wasn't quite this close, but almost. This is from the Obama campaign office in the building where I work. While I vote in DC, I'm thinking of volunteering for the campaign since I spend almost 1/3rd of my current life in the swing state. Obama's looking especially shiny. It must have been the workout.

By the way, this morning while I was on my way to German class, the streets were blockaded for, I presume, Bushy. *Yawn*

Timewarp Tuesday: Vintage U2

Another vintage clip. Why U2 this week? Well, as I've been developing my guitar calluses, I actually learned how to play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (chords, not all the cool stuff the Edge can play) this week in addition to having a "Sunday Bloody Sunday" this last weekend. (See last post for clues.)

I can't tell you how many times I've watched this footage from U2's "Live from Red Rocks" concert. It came out in 1983, during the early MTV days when they still had lots of music on "Music Television." They broadcast the whole concert several times. Do you know how many times a 14 year-old music lover can watch this seminal concert?

The answer: many, many times.

I own the live album on vinyl, too.

Timewarp Tuesday: The Bee Gees Vortex

This week I'm going a little further back in time, but my contemporaries will appreciate this one. How this week's timewarp came to be... honestly, I was a the gym and heard the song "Emotion" by The Bee Gees. As I'm in a premenstrual funk/bloat, I thought. How appropriate!

Except then I got suck into the vortex of YouTube. You know, the one where you watch one thing, and then it suggests a bunch of new videos and then you watch one of those, and so on and so on, like a bloody shampoo commercial! Anyway, I went from Bee Gees to Andy Gibb to Leif Garrett to Leif Garrett with Brooke Shields to The Blue Lagoon and then I knew I was in the deep end.

So, back to dry land and to the Bee Gees images that are emblazoned in the minds of any girls who ever had disco dancing contests in their basements. Enjoy. (But don't get dizzy. I kinda did, but thankfully, I was sitting down.)



And here's "Emotion" in case you were curious. I vaguely remember the late 70's negligee-lip gloss-bedroom eye style. Man, were those wild times! (FYI: The Bee Gees do the back up vocals, if you're not clear on the connection.)

Sunday Sober: Welcome to DC

A few days after the fact...but on 9/11 the Dupont Circle metro station was swarming with police. Not putting together that they were on alert because of 9/11, I decided to take a picture, as I often take pictures of cops, ambulances, and motorcades.


I snapped this shot, the cop turned around, having noticed my camera flash, and I ducked into the train, my heart racing. "Shit! What have I done! He's going to memorize the car I'm on and I'll be picked up at Metro Center and put under suspicion as a part of a terrorist plot! What I am thinking taking photos in the Metro in DC on 9/11!"

Well, that didn't happen. I made it to work as usual. Phew.

Tuesday Timewarp: Vintage Bjork

I was out late again tonight, so not much commentary. I always enjoy Bjork's otherworldly music to take me to dreamland. Here is some true vintage Bjork a la the Sugarcubes. I saw the Sugarcubes in 1989 at the Shorline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California when they were touring the album "Life's Too Good." I could have sworn PIL and New Order were on the same bill.

Bjork looks like a baby here. Enjoy the fun, predigital effects in this video, too.

Saturday Stay-Inside: What You Can Do When Staying Overnight in the Munich Aerport

As we on the lEast Coast are hunkered down for Hannah, I will share an informative photoessay I produced especially for AiD readers called "How to Entertain Yourself Late at Night in the Munich Aeroport after Everyone Has Left the Building."

Simulate the view from the cockpit and realize that it is actually incredibly dull, especially since the stewardesses stopped wearing cute outfits.

Experience the podlike structures straight out of 70's sci-fi movie sets. Runner!!! (This is where I slept, btw, and I didn't feel as renewed as I thought I would sleeping in a pod.)

Help yourself to as much kaffee and news as you like! Wilkommen!

What you do after you've drank all of the kaffee you like. (Until they shut off the TV at 11.)

Pretend you are the bionic woman by running up and down the moving "walk"ways.

Hmmmm. Tempting.....

Admire Bavarian Motorwerks engineering in Bavaria.

Take your time choosing a seat for you 6am flight.

Timewarp Tuesday: The Wednesday Edition

As my friend Jessica calls it, this is a SUPER timewarp since it is in fact late. (I haven't really figured out the relative physics of that. Let me know if you do.) As I was gagging myself with a spoon listening to Rudy Guiliani tonight at the RNC, I was hoping to come up with a thematic timewarp. Jessica said anything from the 80's would work since the Republicans appear to be stuck in the 80's. Good point, Jess!

Since I wasn't really feeling the love from the Republicans, here's a whole lot of love from ABC.

Monday Mellow: Scenes from a More Tranquil Sea

A big PHEW for my beloved New Orleans this evening.

As promised, more sights from my vacation.
Here is a video to contrast with water lapping over the Industrial Canal in NOLA.



And since that one is a wee bit short, here is another of Wood, Florian and Richard playing in the water.

Tuesday Timewarp: Cool for Cats

Squeeze was in town recently. I was out of town, but here's a flashback to the early 80's. Romeo and Lucky especially like this song. The German subtitles are for my boyfriend's benefit.

Sunday Slow-Down: Back from Vacay

After just a mere 40 hours of travel back to civilization (Washington, DC) from the birthplace of civilization (Greece), I return to blog central.

I took a rare pic of myself on this trip, but here is one from day one, after lazying about in bed most of the day one (jet lag-induced). It hardly looks like summer, right? It rained 2 of our 3 days in Berlin. Thankfully, we had a very cushy bed and the Olympics on tv.


We headed out to eat shortly there after at one of Wood's favorite Turkish restaurants. (Berlin has the largest Turkish population outside of Turkey.) I admired the place's multicultural touches. And then we enjoyed our celebratory, vacation-commencing glasses of German beer.
Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, Wood got violently ill in the restroom and we rushed back to the hotel. By 2am the next morning, I insisted we go to the hospital so he could get IV fluids. It was an inauspicious beginning.

We spent a fair amount of the next day in our very lovely hotel room with its very lovely view.

To be continued....

Saturday Sojourn: Kittens Left to Their Own Devices

I'm about to leave for Berlin and Naxos (Greece), so the kittens are being left to their own devices (and the pricey catsitter).


Here is a rare picture of them lying next to each other. It was Romeo's idea. Lucky likes her personal space. This lasted for, oh, about a second. Romeo will try to work you in trance.... turn away before it's too late!!!!

I may or may not blog over the next two weeks.

Tuesday Timewarp: These Are The Days

One of my favorite bands in college hands-down was 10,000 Maniacs. Much like R.E.M.'s Murmur was to my older brother's cohort, In My Tribe was to my friends, meaningful college pop, full of idealism. (Remember idealism?) I saw the Blind Man's Zoo tour while in college. Natalie Merchant is one of the most genuine artists I have ever seen perform.

Here's a little bit of Our Time in Eden. This particular song always inspires me to live life to its fullest. It also reminds me how popular baggy clothes and bob haircuts were in the late 80s/early 90s.

Saturday Sentiment: Oh, Sh*t!

I was going through my photos and just realized what I caught on camera. Just moments after that cyclist was struck.

Friday Freeflow: Waiting for the Catsitter

Yes, I admit it, friends. My first decent blog post in a while...

It's Friday evening, and I am waiting to meet with the catsitter that will take care of my kittens while I go on vacation to Berlin and Naxos. Friday evening is a good time to unwind and process all the stimulus from the week... kind of like how your dreams process all the random sights and sounds from that day. Basically, Friday is the colonic of days, which is why I tend to like to sit still, so I can flush everything out of my system. It also makes me feel better to think there is a reason I'm at home talking to my cats and waiting for the catsitter.

Remember that cyclist that I featured in the blog a few weeks ago? You probably remember the photo. The ghost bike still sits at Connecticut and R Streets.

I had been talking to my boss about how I wished I could ride a bike in DC, but that the bad drivers make me nervous. He mentioned that this cyclist was struck by a garbage truck. Ugh. Wow. A helmet doesn't protect you from that.

It's getting down to the wire on So You Think You Can Dance? Can you stand it???


I know my fellow dance fans totally get it. Believe it or not, I'm so addicted that I've resorted to reading the forums on the SYTYCD? website although I don't understand the strange dialect they use there. The posts overwhelmingly include comments like "OMG! That wuz so hot!" and "Puhlease! I h8 (enter dancer's name here)!!!" Perhaps someone can e-mail me a translation.

I FINALLY reunited with one of my good gal pals from college. Amy lives in Bristow, Virginia which is about 40 miles outside of DC, with her husband Jim (also a friend from college) and their two kids. We got back in touch last summer when I was "between jobs." That was June 2007. Please note that it is now August 2008. It was great to see her, but I now realize why I sit home on Friday nights. Between kids and commutes, thirty-something people are too damned busy here to have social lives. Case in point...I am getting together with my friend (a new mom) Susan next week and I haven't seen her since, oh, last June! And then there are a couple more friends from my past: Jay, who I've been trying to meet up with for about four months, and John, a more recent project, but both have kids under 5. Surprise! Not that I want to live in kid-ville. (I don't) But I'm so over hanging with twenty-somethings. (Minus a few especially cool ones.) Albeit my boyfriend is 28, but deep-down he's 45.

Speaking of reunions, my friend Beth came to town a week ago.


One benefit to living in DC is that it is a place people visit (for work or "pleasure"), which can't be said of Salt Lake City, except for a small winter sport contingency. Beth was the most recent in a trio of friends who have had conferences in DC in 2008. (Shout outs to Erika George and her annual international law conference and Susan Rutherford and her, uh, sprinkler runoff conference or whatever it was.) Anyway, I always enjoy the visits, especially since it reminds me that I do, in fact, have friends. Come to DC!!

Ok, where is that cat sitter?

Tuesday Timewarp: Dark Rooms and Liz Phair

I have a ticket to the sold out Old 97's show at the 9:30 Club tonight, but have decided instead to stay home watching Weeds. (Unfortunately, not smoking weed.) I think my body, my shoulders in particular, is reconfiguring itself. Between the hot baths, icing, weight training, yoga, and racquetball therapy (ask me later), I hope to eventually get over a hump physically somehow. In the meantime, the pain has gravitated to my neck and head, so I am lying still in a dark room.

Here's a sold out show at the 9:30 to which I don't have a ticket.



Ok, back to Weeds now.

Saturday SYTYCD: My Faves

A few weeks until the So You Think You Can Dance? finale... Here are some of the highlights this season. Catch it on FOX Wednesday nights at 8pm. You'll see that I obviously love Katee and Joshua since they appear in half of my fave dances.

Tuesday Timewarp (x 2): Return to Our Roots

It's been a few weeks since we did a true "Timewarp," so here are two from Visage... Enjoy all all the boys in make-up and the neato visual tricks they employ.

Sunday Sweetness: Bella Birthday

Tonight we celebrated Wood's mom's birthday at the Parthenon (the restaurant, not the ruin). Happy Birthday, Bella!

Tuesday Timewarp: Telephones

Since I left my telephone at home today... today's timewarp theme is telephones. Hence, a little Blondie.

First, an oldie but goodie. I especially like her two-toned hair. It reminds me of my Tuesday Taylor doll.



And then Blondie/Debbie Harry more recently. I saw her a few years ago in concert and was stunned. She looks great for 60+, doesn't she? I want to grow up to be her.

Sunday Sickness: Bad Behavior, Part Deux

Ok, so if only the bad behavior ended there. Today, while Wood and I were at our favorite breakfast spot, there was a shooting down the street. Nice, huh? This is the second shooting in my neighborhood in the last two months and apparently muggings happen weekly. Welcome to the big city.

When we got on a bus, these two women started going at it, too, cussin' up a storm. I think they were having some dispute over a seat. From the looks of them, my guess was that one of them had to squeeze into a seat and accidentally sat on the other and then the daggers started flying.

To make up for bad behavior, I gave this elderly woman wearing mismatched socks on and no shoes sixty cents for the bus. While we were waiting for the bus, she proceeded to recount in detail her last several medical procedures. (I'm not sure the karma I received there was worth it.) As a veiled excuse to get away from her, I gave a dollar to one of those Street Sense guys. He proceeded to tell Wood he was blessed to have a girlfriend (a.k.a. "hot girlfriend") like me.

That was the excitement in my 'hood.

Friday Frustration: Bad Behavior

Ok, so here is a sad memorial in my neighborhood. I'm not really sure if it is a memorial per se, but someone was hurt, nonetheless.

So, am I surprised to see that a driver struck a cyclist? No. Why? Because so many people are so self-centered that they don't see other people or cyclists. I can't count the number of times that I am in a crosswalk on Columbia Road and a car speeds through it. I play a regular game of "chicken" with the cars these days, just to make a point.

Today at the gym, there was a woman alternately talking on her cell phone and texting while she was sitting on a crunch ball. Note: this is the Northeast and my gym is affordable, so that means that my gym is very small and crowded, so I'm sitting about a foot away from this woman having to crank up my iPod to drown her out.

Also today at the gym, another woman asked how many sets I had on the leg extension machine.

"I have two more."

"Two more!" She exclaims.

"I just got on."

"I was just asking." She made a face at me.

Huh?

Then on the way from the gym to the bus stop, there was a guy who decided it was alright to drive on the sidewalk. In downtown DC?

Huh?

Is it city living? Is it DC? Is it "people these days"? Or is it me?

Tuesday Timewarp: Furry Happy Monsters

This just cracked me up...

Monday Mania: The 100th Post

Something you should know about me if you don't already. I need lots of sleep. Most of today I've been feeling the effects of my sleep deprivation. Last night my bus from NYC was an hour late, so I got home at just before midnight. So today I've been feeling pretty grouchy.

Fortunately for you, I have lots of fun pictures to share from my weekend in NYC with one of my best friends, Moya. Here is her glamorous self.

It was a rather quiet and unseasonably cool and rainy weekend, but we did see some important landmarks.

In particular... Carrie Bradshaw's apartment building on Perry Street. This brownstone in the West Village plays an apartment on the Upper East Side on TV and movies.

(Sorry for the poor color on both of these... for some reason my camera was in low res mode.) Here's a set of stairs that often doubled for her stoop, in the proper resolution. Notice they actually look brown as in brown-stone?

And another landmark... for fashionistas, er, Project Runway fans. Tim Gunn was no where to be seen.


And these next few are for my boyfriend, who likes to "eat his way" across New York. A Mexican food cart outside the Jackson Heights Subway stop in Queens.

An automat in the East Village. I promise we won't waste one of our meals on this. I guess hipsters eat there.

And a sentiment... also from the East Village.

Tuesday Timewarp: Sergio and Zap Mama

Wood and I just got back from Wolf Trap. A true flashback, this is who we saw:



Of course, Sergio Mendez was a bit older. And, as Wood pointed out, the music in its new iteration sounded more like something from "The Love Boat."

Zap Mama was amazing, however. In fact, she has a fascinating story, having been born of a Belgian father and a Bantu (Congan tribe) mother. Her father was killed when she was only a week old by Simba rebels. In fact, she nearly didn't survive, but her mother and siblings were relocated to Belgium because of her father's citizenship. She creates the most beautiful Afro-European music: a mix of R&B, hip hop and African-inspired a capella.



She appeared tonight sans Erykah Badu, by the way.

Sunday Snapshots: The Neighborhood

Since the post I just posted (see below) was sans photos, I thought I'd share these:

Aren't these doors pretty? Sights like this are everywhere in DC, which is one thing I love about the city. I think this is an international labor union of some kind.

And you gotta love the metal elephant statue among the lilies in front of this townhouse on Biltmore. Even better is that he has these strange spikes all over him. Random statuary in DC is common, too.

Sunday Sentiment: Too Much Information

I believe that I've shared with you my commitment to myself to slow down, yes? Smell the flowers a bit? Well, this week---as usual---I managed to work myself into quite the tizzy, contrary to my best intentions to be Zen.

I'd been reading this book called The War for Wealth. Imagine, if you will, Thomas Friedman of The World is Flat as a realistic but pessimistic German, and you've got an idea of this book, which pretty much says that the U.S.'s glory days are behind us and that we're sliding into permanent status as a second-tier economy, right after we've pissed everyone off. Good stuff, yeah?

THEN, we had an economist and geo-political expert visit us at work. He squeezed us in between his meeting with Dick Cheney and some Pentagon officials to deliver to us with cool objectivism his message that oil is likely to be at $400 a gallon by next year and that Israel is likely to go to war with Iran and that Iran has nukes in about 50 different locations.

So, after a long week at work and all the running around that my week tends to entail, I had a total meltdown on Thursday night. I can only take so much. And to have all this information is one of the liabilities of living in DC and working with insiders. You see, I love listening to NPR, reading the latest business book during my Metro ride, and then promoting the world 's thought-leaders for a paycheck. In fact, I drink it up, and I feel like I've become smarter since I've come to DC. But Thursday, I had been on a global economy binge, and it was time to resist the temptation for information. After all, I have to live in this world, too.

Tuesday Timewarp: Happy Birthday

(Pardon me if you've seen this photo on my blog before, but its a great one.)

Two of my favorite ladies were born in June, and I am late in publicly wishing my dear friend Lisa a happy birthday. My other dear friend Moya celebrates tomorrow. Since they are a bit like the dynamic duo, I figured they wouldn't mind my wishing them well a deux. In fact, we're a terrific trio; once when we were strutting down a street in DC, we had a random person drive by and yell out to us, "Charlie's Angels!"

So, I dedicate the Timewarp this week to the other 2/3rds of the Angels... Here's Scottish cutie Claire Grogan of Altered Images.



Did you know that Claire Grogan has appeared in both Red Dwarf and EastEnders and the British version of Hell's Kitchen? Thanks, Wikipedia.

Saturday/Sunday Summary: Doing Less

Part of my commitment to slowing down has been, well, less blogging. So, while we are getting some pretty killer thunderstorms (the sky is the color of peach ice cream), I'll summarize my "crazy" weekend with a few photos.

Kicking it all off, I worked late on Friday, staying until after 6pm. (During the summer, our office closes at 3:30pm on Fridays.) Then I met Wood at the gym. I had a 7pm appointment with my trainer Darryl. Later we ate at Mixtec, which was the most over-priced, bad Mexican I have ever had. In fact, I just wrote a scathing review since no bad Mexican should go unpunished. Yes, I am a snob about Mexican food. And boy, do I miss Red Iguana.

On Saturday, we slept until 11 or so and then went to get brunch at Tryst where we shared a chaipuccino, my very favorite frozen drink. It made up for the bad Mexican, but it undid the good I did with my trainer. (Not the animal crackers you get with your coffee at Tryst!)

We watched the Euro Cup at Wood's place. (The Ruskies beat the Dutch and as of the time of this posting, they will be playing the The Spainards.) Then we went grocery shopping. Wood got his blood pressure taken at the new Harris Teeter! His b.p. was at first a bit high, but we attributed that to all of the fun we were having.

Later we watched our NetFlix pic Walk the Line to which Wood commented in all seriousness, that I am his June Carter. (Awww.) I didn't let on that I do believe that is the sweetest thing he has ever said to me.

Today, we got up, watched CBS Sunday Morning and then I took a field trip to a part of town to which I have never been---a sleepy neighborhood called Brookland, near Catholic University. I was checking out some real estate, which I've been known to do, just to see what kind of interesting opportunities abound in DC.

Timewarp Tuesday: Pop Will Eat Itself

This is another great political song, brought to you by the late 80's/early 90's band PWEI. I used to play these guys all the time on my weekly radio show. (Yes, I was a radio DJ in college on WTUL. This surprises you how?) As an aside, the late Ernie K-Doe, famous for the song "Mother in Law" was also a DJ while I was there. And I guess Jerry Springer also got his start at WTUL's news department. (Why, so did I!)

Anyway, the vid is a little hard to see, but the song alone is worth a listen. It's an anti-Nazi song called "Ich Bin Ein Auslander."



Man, do I miss spinning those records. It wasn't nearly as fun after CDs were invented.

Saturday Sentiment: New Orleans

I've been thinking about what's truly important to me. One of those things is New Orleans.

There are few things that have captured my heart like that city, so for this post, I'm borrowing a post from fellow native Californian and part-time New Orleans resident Harry Shearer. It's called "The New Orleans You Don't Know."

Friday Finale: Transportation Nightmares in DC

The following two images sum up why you can't win with public transportation or parking your car in DC.

This morning there were power outages at several Metro stations and two fires at Metro Center. When I got to Farrugut West station today it looked like this: pitch dark except for the train.

Not to mention that we had a derailment on Monday.

And here's the other curiosity: DC Parking Enforcement. Notice where the car is parked.

No wonder I got so many tickets when I had a car.

Tuesday Timewarp: Sheela na Gig

This week I am sleep deprived and right now I'm experiencing a wine haze. Here's this week's flashback vid.




Yeah, that's kinda what the 90's looked like. See Wikipedia for the fascinating origin's of Sheela na Gig.

Sunday Sentiment: Dog Days of Summer

It's 94 degrees out and HUMID. Heat index is into the 100s. And I made a new friend on my way home to enjoy my newly-installed air conditioner.

This little guy was unfazed by the heat. Just a baby beagle/daschund/basset hound, the world is totally new and exciting to him! I'm sure I'm not his only new girlfriend.

Wildcard Wednesday: Philosophical Thought of the Week

The rain dumped in buckets today. I waited for the bus for almost 25 minutes. Usually my bus (the 42) comes every ten minutes. About 20 minutes into the wait, a woman asked me, "Have you been waiting long?"

"Yes."

This being a bus stop for multiple routes, I then thought to myself, "Well that depends what you're waiting for."

And then I realized I was no longer talking about buses.

**********************************************************************

And today being the "day after," I just wanted to share this heartfelt show of support from someone in the neighborhood. I especially like the "Want change? Vote for a WOMAN." (All caps with the "female" symbol next to it.) When I first saw this sign, I thought it had been made by a kid. Then I realized that even if it weren't, it was still pretty cool.

Read the post from when I officially became a fence sitter.

Tuesday Timewarp: Two Kinds of Oil

On this political evening, I bring you one of the great political bands from the 1980's: Midnight Oil.



MO's lead singer, Peter Garrett, left the band in 2002 to further his political career. In November 2007, Labor Prime Minister elect Kevin Rudd named Garrett Minister for Environment, Heritage and Arts.

Ok, shifting gears... the second oil.

My friend Rob sent me the following information on what oil companies to boycott. I thought I'd share this with you. Here's an excerpt from Rob's e-mail.

COMPANIES TO AVOID.
These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell................................. 205,742,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco.................. 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon /Mobil....................... 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway............ 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco.............................. 62,231,000 barrels

And CITGO oil is imported from Venezuela by Dictator Hugo Chavez who hates America and openly avows our economic destruction! (We pay Chavez's regime nearly $10 Billion per year in oil revenues!)

The U.S. currently imports 5,517,000 barrels of crude oil per day from OPEC. If you do the math at $95 per barrel, that's over $524 million PER DAY ($191 BILLION per year!) handed over to OPEC, many of whose members are our confirmed enemies!!!!!

COMPANIES TO PATRONIZE:
Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco...................... 0 barrels
Conoco..................... 0 barrels
Sinclair...................... 0 barrels
BP / Phillips............... 0 barrels
Hess. ........................ 0 barrels
ARC0....................... 0 barrels
Maverick................... 0 barrels
Flying J. .................... 0 barrels
Valero........................ 0 barrels

I AM GOING TO ADD THE FOLLOWING:

Murphy Oil USA sold at Wal-Mart is from South Arkansas and owned USA

Not only that they give scholarships to all children in their town who finish high school and are legal US citizens.

I encourage you to share this information with friends.

Monday Musing: Utah Redux

I returned from West Coast last night. (California pictures and stories forthcoming.) Today I am embracing a Zen attitude and smiling and greeting people more, even if the favor isn't returned. Just because I live in DC, I don't have to become it. I'm always up for a cultural challenge.

Speaking of cultural challenges, my Utah friend Jeremy who is attending med school in Cleveland alerted me to the following article on the curious experience of Blacks in Utah that ran in the Washington Post yesterday. Of course, there being few African-Americans in Utah, I was not surprised that my dear friend Erika was featured it this piece!

And just in case you wanted to get a little taste of Utah, here's a snippet from So You Think You Can Dance?, the Salt Lake City auditions.



(FYI, last season's winner was a black girl from Utah!)

Saturday Sign of Life: On Vacay

Analog in Digital has been on vacation in California and sans necessary Internet access.
See you soon!

Saturday Seasonal: The Nats

Here are Nick and I at the Nats game. Wood and his mama were with us, but they don't like getting their pictures taken.
The Nats lost to the Brewers 2-5, but there were a lot of happy Wisconsinites.

And Nick added yet another ball park (and the newest in the country) to his long list.

Friday Fave: SYTYCD?

What better way to start my vacay than watching the season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance? I am thrilled that dance has found its rightful place in American media. I am also convinced that this show could have not skyrocketed if we did not have the multicultural landscape that we have today. I mean, would a boardroom full of white men ever have put this on TV? (Ok, not to say that Fox isn't still full of white men, but the audience demand is there.)

Here's one of my faves from last season.





For the not-yet-converted the show follows the model of American Idol, so the first few weeks are chock full of freaky auditions. (Not my favorite part of the show, but entertaining nonetheless.)

Next week's show the auditions go to SALT LAKE CITY, at last putting the region on the dance map, as if the championship ballroom dance team at BYU, the reknowned dance department at the University of Utah, and the numerous national-touring dance companies based there didn't do so already.

Tuesday Timewarp: The Stranglers

Sure, I've been busy with my baby brother (as he calls himself) in town, but I wasn't going to forget Tuesday Timewarp. God, I love YouTube for making accessible video of my favorite bands that I never saw back in the day. This is especially good and has to be about 30 years old. Enjoy.

Saturday/Sunday Senses: A Sunny Day in NYC

My younger brother Nick and I went to NYC for the weekend. Straddled by two rather rainy days, Saturday was absolutely glorious! I'd never taken the Staten Island Ferry, so he, his friend Amanda and I did. Here's a terrific shot from the ferry, just in case you didn't believe how perfect of a day it was.

Earlier that day we stumbled upon Trinity Church, also looking gorgeous in such lush surroundings.
Right as we walked through the grounds we heard wedding bells. I love how urban this wedding looks. Goes to show there are surprises around every corner in Manhattan.

Wildcard Wednesday: Prince of Petworth

My younger brother is coming to town tomorrow. In fact, he's getting on a flight in less than three hours. So I'm running around getting ready.

I was reading the blogs I regularly read and I wanted to point you to one that I love for its simplicity in its appreciation of the everyday in DC and its role as a community builder.

Check out Prince of Petworth, if you have a chance. I aspire to be this guy.

Timewarp Tuesday: The Cure x 2

Anyway, so Wood was telling me a story last night about how his friend Eric called from work. Eric told him that he had just seen The Cure.

And then Wood said, "Who's The Cure?"

"You don't know who The Cure is?" Eric asked with disbelief.

Wood could hear Eric's co-workers break out in laughter in the background.

My dear sweet boyfriend took it in stride. This post is dedicated to him.

Because The Cure had SO many good songs, I had a hard time picking just one, so you get two this week. Here is the video that, if you were a pre-teen or teenager in the mid-eighties, has to be burnt into your memory.



And even this next video suprised me, since while I LOVE early Cure the most, I don't believe that I have ever seen one of their earlier videos. The later quintessential goth (although arguably only in appearance, since The Cure wrote mostly infectious up-tempo pop songs), Robert Smith appears with short hair and no makeup! He's actually looks a bit like Ben Affleck, don't you think?

Monday Money Shot: Beignets and Bachelors

In another birthday post... here is the money shot I wanted. It's not the strawberries, but I think the beignets, the candle, and the "Happy Birthday" in chocolate icing takes the cake! Way to go to my Sweetie for giving me not one surprise dessert, but TWO! Even better is that he did partly because he knew I needed the photo for my blog.

The beignets didn't rival Cafe Du Monde. (My choice, not Wood's.) Though I highly recommend the pecan tart.

Ok, I'll confess that right now I have the finale of The Bachelor on in the background. I have extremely mixed feelings about this show. It's like watching a car crash. Something is so ridiculous about 22 year old women feeling so desperate about getting married, so convinced that they have met the man they want to marry, that I take pleasure in it for its complete disconnect from reality. The sad thing though is that it's not far from reality and that a lot of people get in bad marriages because of that kind of delusion.

That said, I'm hoping Matt asks Shane to marry him.

Sunday Sentiment: Happy Belated Birthday to Me!

Thanks for all of the well wishes from friends and family near and far. Wood and I decided to double up the fancy birthday meal with Mother's Day, so we'll be heading to Acadiana today, making me officially one day younger. (Isn't how that works?)

I wish I would have taken a picture of the lovely slice of strawberry cheesecake I had, surrounded my clouds of whipped cream and more strawberries and lit with a candle. Must have had my sights on eating it more than photographing it. Wood was responsible for all of the extras.

Birthdays are always a mixed bag, aren't they? I think we did a pretty good job making the best of it.

Friday Farewells: A Few of My Favorite Things

Red Ginger closed on Wednesday for good.

And my iPod is toast.