Beth's Contradictory Brain

Interesting

I've long had mixed feelings about Oprah. One the one hand you've got to give her credit for her longevity and all that m-o-n-e-y! On the other hand, well, I don't really like her.

That said.

I find that, for her, race trumps gender.

I think we can all agree that her longevity and money are both due to her loyal, white, suburban audience.

Yet, her first romp in politics is to back Obama not Hillary.

Really?

Isn't Oprah all about empowering women??

Because I can't really believe that she's baking Obama for his policies or ideas. Not that I could tell you with any certainty just what Oprah's politics are.

Too bad no one in the media/press has the balls to ask her if she'd be out campaigning for Hillary as the first woman president if Obama weren't in the race.

Somehow I don't think she would be.

Small Getaway

We didn't actually leave town, but it felt like getting away yesterday.

We got up and went to IHOP for breakfast because it's so filling.

Then we headed over to the National Archives. I was surprised to see a line of people waiting to get in. I wasn't sure how many people would be tourists instead of shoppers yesterday. It was kinda cool so many were being tourists. I've seen programs about preserving the Declaration of Independence and such, so it was cool to see it and the Constitution up close. They also had some other cool exhibits. School House to White House was neat.

Then we were going to go to The Spy Museum, but it was sold out for the next two or three hours and we ended up at the National Portrait Gallery and the The Smithsonian American Art Museum We were there for hours and still didn't see everything. It was amazing. We did see the 2nd floor where there are portraits of every president.

As always I found I'm just not a big fan of modern art. When looking at some of the pieces I thought, well, maybe if it had some sort of explanation that would be good - then I'd read the ones that did have explanations and it just seemed to make it that much more silly. The portraits in these three collections were neat to see: Twentieth-Century Americans, Bravo!, and Champions.

Anyway, it felt like a getaway from everyday life.

Mmmmm

Here are pics of the 19 pound turkey I got for the two of us. If you really knew how much Nerdstar loves turkey, and soup from the broth and leftovers, well, you'd know why I bought a turkey twice the size of what we need!

In fact, if you could have seen her face this morning as we were getting it ready to cook, or the little dance she did around the apartment when we could really start to smell it cooking, you'd know why I swear she loves food more than me.

I made a little cornbread dressing and bought some gravy and rolls to go with it and that was it. Nice and simple. It was yummy. We're still trying to decide if we can handle some pecan pie tonight, or if we're just going to make it tomorrow.

It was actually nice not having to travel anywhere this year. And it's making me look forward to going home for Christmas more. I've always thought that Thanksgiving and Christmas should be six months apart, not a few weeks.

I have to work tomorrow; Nerdstar doesn't.

We had about 130 patients show up yesterday, if you add the people who were with them, we had at least 200 people yesterday who had nothing better to do than come and get their blood drawn. What is wrong with those people??

Tomorrow will either be terribly busy or really slow. I can't decide which.

I really do hope you all had a really, really great day!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Be safe in all your travels!! Eat good food!! And be thankful - there's really so much to be thankful for!!

Too Damn Funny

Slapcountdown.com

And we've got Freaks and Geeks coming from Netflix for the upcoming weekend. I watched them all during one of Nerdstar's previous long voyages from home, so she gets to see them this time.

Closer

No, not the NIN song that the Asylum Street Spankers cover oh so well...

yeah, that's my random brain at work.

Nevermind.

She made it from Seattle to Chicago - and the flight from Chicago to DC is a little delayed, so technically she won't make it home today. Maybe by 1 a.m.

As Val realized in the comments - no, I'm not a patient person. I think for a while God tried to beat some patience into me, but I don't think it took. And almost nine years into this relationship, I've also learned I'm pretty darn selfish. I know all these travel nightmares must be really, really tough on poor Nerdstar. If it were me instead, I'd be killing people with my bare hands! But knowing that doesn't keep me from being more pissy and frustrated than sympathetic. At least I'm a self-aware jerk...

Again

Nerdstar's stuck at SeaTac airport - something about planes not coming in from SF and a shortage of outbound flights to the East Coast. She was due to get home around midnight tonight - now she'll be lucky to fly out at midnight Seattle time.

Ugh.

Thanksgivings Past

I think this is the first Thanksgiving/Holiday Season I’ve been employed in several years.

I started this blog back in December '02 – that year I was still working at Pearson in Austin.

Then in ’03 Nerdstar got sent to Iraq, the people at Pearson, knowing full well the stress I was under with Nerdstar gone, were pretty shitty to me, so I quit right before Thanksgiving. Hey, if you’re gonna have some time off for the foreseeable future, might as well make it for the holidays.

Nerdstar's Thanksgiving '03

'04 is more of a blur. Nerdstar was home from Iraq. Here and here are two entries from that time.

Let's see. So November '05 we were living in KC. I had a couple of temp jobs, but quit them because they sucked and I found out I'd be doing the phlebotomy program.

That Thanksgiving my parents actually drove up to KC with my nephew and we cooked for them. That was kinda nice.

Then winter '06 was our lovely time in small town PA. I couldn't find a job there either. Nerdstar spent Thanksgiving in Jersey and I spent it in Dallas.

You couldn't pay me to guess what this time next year will be like!!

Mixed Feelings

I did something today that will make Nerdstar very, very happy - might even bring tears to her eyes... on Thursday.

I bought us a turkey to cook for Thanksgiving.

And while food might be enough to warm her little heart, I'm feeling a little down about Thanksgiving this year. It'll just be the two of us and our furry little kids - no friends or family.

Saturday Fun

The Lesbionic Woman.

Still

Nerdstar had to head back to Seattle for more Army shit today - and once again the travel gods hate her. She almost missed her flight this morning due to people in the DC area absolutely not being able to drive in simple rain. It's bad to the point of absurdity. Anyway. I knew it was going to rain this morning and told her to add an hour to her estimated drive time - so she made it just in time.

She was supposed to have a brief layover in Chicago - but the plane was broken, she it ended it being a bit longer.

I'm happy to say she did actually make it to Seattle today.

But, she found out the meeting stuff she thought would be Saturday will actually be ass early tomorrow. No sleep for her.

Keep your fingers crossed she makes it home before Monday morning.

Amusing

While sitting in traffic on the way to work last Friday I was happily listening to Abba. (Shut up - it's Nerdstar's cd not mine.) The woman in the car behind me had something on her personalized plates about the opera and looked absolutely miserable. (I'm sure there was no correlation.) I had this thought, that if I could just run back and hand her the Abba cd for her to listen to, then she could have fun driving to work, too.

Then I had a thought about how much fun it would be if everyone's back windshield had some sort of display that showed what they were currently listening to. Especially with all the people out there with iPods on shuffle. Mine goes from AC/DC to Captain and Tenniel in no time.

Lazy Weekend

Although I had to work yesterday morning, it's really felt like a lazy weekend. Working Saturdays isn't too, too bad, except for getting up earlier than normal. We have a smaller crew on Saturdays - but it's also a better crew. The slackers work other Saturdays, not the ones I work.

The highlight of today was taking Ramen to the park.

I love this weather. The cats seem to think they're cold and I'm threatening to buy them sweaters.

Nerdstar's probably going to have to go to Seattle for more (different) Army stuff next weekend. I'm just hoping she doesn't get stuck there again.

How was your weekend?

Ahhhhh

My girl has finally made it home safe and sound. After a night in the Seattle airport, and twelve hours of traveling today - she's home!!

And we've been complete dorks and spent the evening updating our Facebook pages. So, if you haven't made us your friends on there yet, well, what are you waiting for??

Unbelievable!

Unfuckingbelievable!!!

Ok, so Nerdstar finally got the army to let her get out of Seattle - but apparently everyone in Seattle is leaving because she got bumped from her damn flight!

I have no idea why the travel gods hate her - but they evidently do.

Unless a miracle happens - and there's no way it will - she's now supposed to fly out at 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Missing

Still no Nerdstar... sigh!!

I can't really write about any of what's going on with her Army unit, but she's not in any trouble or anything. She's hoping to come home tomorrow - I'm not holding my breath.

Good Ones

Michele followed up on the Wisdom of Rock post and asked her peeps - go read her take and their comments - some really good ones there!!

Just Her Luck

Nerdstar was supposed to fly out of Seattle this afternoon and come home - somehow I knew that wasn't going to happen. I hate when I'm right about such things. I know I've written on here before at some point in time about Nerdstar's terrible luck with getting back home from trips.

It's not her fault, or even in her control, but when I was already pretty pissy about her being gone to start with - it sure doesn't make me any happier.

I can't really explain what's going on with her Army unit - but apparently someone in leadership is in trouble, so they canceled the entire unit's flights - yes even all the people like Nerdstar who have real, civilian jobs expecting them back at work tomorrow morning - to do questioning. There's some sort of investigation going on and Nerdstar doesn't even know what about really, they hadn't gotten around to talking with her last time we got a chance to talk.

One other little problem. Nerdstar isn't so great at packing and usually forgets things. When she went to Hawaii a couple of months ago, she forgot her phone. This time, she took my phone charger instead of hers. She has two phones, so she's ok - but other than Skype, I'm going to be phoneless pretty soon. I could buy another charger, but that seems like a waste of money because this one isn't lost, it's just not here now.

My hope is that in all of this hassle and, frankly, bullshit once again with the Army, Nerdstar will finally have had enough and get out. We'll see.

We're not even sure exactly when they're going to re-book their flights home. We're hoping for tomorrow, but...

All of this is a part of my midlife crisis this weekend. There's a lot more going on about houses and babies and careers and such.

Ouch

I think I'm having a mid-life crisis today - and it's mentally excruciating.

Wisdom of Rock

I've had this idea flitting about my brain for a while now, but haven't come up with much. It's really something much better suited for Michele, but I'll give it my best.

What do you think is the best advice/wisdom given in a rock song (rock being used very loosely).

The two I came up with are:

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."

And

"If you can't be with the one you love - love the one you're with."

(Not that I recommend that for Nerdstar!)

I'm not sure if I want to include country songs in this - seems that would be a whole different post... but I'm open.

Contributed:

Some very nice ideas from Val...
How 'bout "C'mon people now, smile on your brother, everybody come together and love one another... right now"? or

"Shower the people you love with love"? or
"If you wanna make the world a better place, Take a look at yourself, and then make a change"