Good watching

Ok. I've mentioned a few times that I tend to listen to TV shows while I'm working, as if it's music. It actually helps me to concentrate when I have some episode of The Office that I've seen 1000 times on in the background for some reason. I don't know. But now I've watched every episode of The Office, 30 Rock, and Family Guy that are on Hulu.com like 30 times, and I'm not super duper busy right now so I figured I could watch something that requires a bit more attention (read: something that I can't recite word for word anyway).

I had heard a lot of good things about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so I went to see how many episodes Hulu had. Most networks only have the last 5 or 10 episodes that have aired available to watch. Not FX. FX is the shit. They have EVERY SINGLE EPISODE of the show on there. How could I resist? Monday afternoon, I put on Season 1 episode 1 to see how it went.

And oh my god you guys, I can't believe I've never watched it before. It's freaking hilarious. it's a bit like a 21st century Seinfeld, in that it's essentially a show about nothing, and the main cast is three dudes and a chick, but it is just completely ridiculous. If you've never seen it, you should give it a try. It's really just crazy good. It's funny in that "everyone on this show is a complete jackass" way. And I love it. I'm about midway through season 2, and I did think season 1 was funnier, but it's still pretty good. I highly recommend it.

Ok, I'm going to bounce from work now, I have to stop at the grocery store on the way home and I have pilates class at 7. Peace out.

Why?

Why is it so important for everyone to change their facebook status to something along the lines of "I voted!" today? Isn't that a little bit like making your status "I had lunch today?" Yes, you were supposed to vote and you did, congratulations. And yes, I realize that I discussed the fact that I voted on here the other day, but that was more to bitch about the three hour wait time than anything else.

Also - isn't there a reason why we vote by secret ballot? It's great that some people believe in something very strongly and openly support it, but openly supporting something is not the same as being openly belligerent about the opposing viewpoint. I feel like for the past several months, people have been jamming their preferred choice down my throat via putting down the other candidate's ideas. Isn't it a little sad that for some of us, we go to the polling location and vote for the lesser of two evils rather than someone that we 100% believe in? Because I gotta level with you, I did not 100% believe in either of the presidential candidates. I about 60% believed in who I voted for, and 80% hated what his opponent said, so that's how I made my decision.

And seriously, celebrities, you're regular people...stop throwing your ideas around like they should matter any more than mine or anyone else's. They don't. You're not famous because you're smart (I'm looking at you, Madonna. And Spencer Pratt. And Paris Hilton. And anyone else who didn't even bother to get a college degree but makes about 300 times the national average salary).

On this election day, I just sincerely hope that everyone (a) voted, (b) did a lot of research before they did so rather than relying on TV commercials and celebrity endorsements, and (c) realized that the current economic crisis wasn't completely caused by the Bush administration...it was caused about 50/50 by democrats and republicans. Using your vote as a punishment for the high price of gas is completely outrageous. You should be voting for the person that you think has the better way to get OUT of the crisis, not against the person whose party might have caused it.

Comment as you will...but I have no desire to know who you voted for. Just like I'm not going to tell you who I voted for. Let's try to get through this election with a shred of dignity here. That's more than the candidates can say, given the preponderance of negative ad campaigning that has been going on. Best thing about today being election day: no more having to watch effing political commercials. Thank GOD.

Good reads

I know I promised this post yesterday, but I got busy at work with some truly horrible nonsense, which will continue to plague me for the next two weeks, and will likely cause me to threaten to quit (again) but actually suck it up and stay here because no one is hiring right now. Anyway, I've been doing some reading lately, so I thought I'd share.

Several months ago, I was bored at the airport, so I wandered into the book store and picked up The Other Boleyn Girl. I hadn't seen the movie, but I am a huge dork who enjoys reading about European history as long as it's exciting. Enter the Historical Fiction genre. Basically the events that happen are all real, but the characters feelings and actions are fictional. A good historical fiction writer does a ridiculous amount of research before writing a book, and then you get to enjoy the fun book without having to deal with the boring research. See how fun that is? Anyway, the book was excellent, and I've always had a weird fascination with Tudor England (no, I've never watched The Tudors, because I don't subscribe to fancy movie channels, but I'm planning to rent the DVDs when I'm bored over Thanksgiving). Anyway, the book was excellent.

So I went to the author's website, and she has all sorts of stuff about research on there and about her books and whatnot, and I decided to buy The Constant Princess, which took place before The Other Boleyn Girl. It is about Katherine of Aragon. It was so good, that afterwards, I went back and re-read The Other Boleyn Girl in order to go in the correct time order (see? I'm dorky). Last week, I purchased and read The Boleyn Inheritance, which is about Henry VIII's marriages to Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard (wives 4 and 5). It was also excellent. The next book in time order should be The Virgin's Lover, about Elizabeth I. I started it last night.

Philippa Gregory's most recent book moves out of England and to Mary Queen of Scots, but it's not out in paperback yet, so I have yet to purchase it. Seriously. These are good books. I briefly searched for a good book to read about Marie Antoinette after seeing the Sofia Coppola movie, but never found one, so if I have any other dorks out there that know one, let me know.

Well, I have to get back to the grind now, so here's a brief summary: I'm a dork, buy these books, they are good. I'll try to update again soon.

How did this happen?

So remember my whole "I'm going to take the day off Friday and get lost of things done" routine? It wound up being crap. First, I decided to get to early voting ASAP because I had heard horror stories about the lines. So I went to the library when it opened and OH MY GOD. The uptown library takes up a full city block and the line was wrapped around the damn thing twice. I walked directly out and went to another place within walking distance. The line was much shorter, but it still took me THREE HOURS to vote. Well, it really took about 5 minutes to actually vote, but three hours to get into the room with the voting machines. Seriously. Crazy.

So that not only ate up a substantial portion of my day, but also put me in a foul mood. So I skipped working out and went directly to Target, ate a soft pretzel because I was STARVING from waiting to vote all damn day, and bought a bunch of stuff. Then I went home and made some chocolate rice crispy treats for the tailgate. Then Blake came home and proclaimed that he needed me to go ski jacket shopping with him, and when he added in dinner at Moe's rather than me having to cook, I joined. By the time we got home, it was after 9 and I still had to bake cookies. Crazy.

Saturday was a little bit better. I went to pilates in the morning and then stopped by Cooking Uptown before heading to Winston to sign me and Susan up for a cooking class in January that is all different kinds of risotto. You know how I love risotto. Then I headed up to the game, tailgated a bit, and then watched Wake come entirely too close to losing to Duke. Seriously. WTF. The game went into overtime, and if it hadn't been for Duke's missed field goal that caused us to go to overtime, or the awesome overtime interception by Wake in the end zone, we would have lost. TO DUKE. Not acceptable. The only think Duke is supposed to be better than us at is basketball. And that statement was all-inclusive.

We were super grateful for the extra hour of sleep Saturday night, because good lord, these football games really take it out of you. Yesterday was filled with chores and cleaning and such. I also made some tasty chicken marsala. And throughout last week and over the weekend, I read a book. There will be another post about that later. So, to sum it up, even my long weekend was busy. Good grief.

It's just another normal week in Charlotte now. I'm planning to post later or tomorrow with some suggested reading that I've been hoarding for quite some time.

Now I'd like to take just a minute to congratulate Kristin and David Washam on the birth of their baby girl, Lexie Blake Washam on Saturday night. Best wished to the family, and I hope I can come and see her next week. Look how freakin cute.

Another Early Weekend

Well kids, I'm not terribly busy at work this time of year, so I think I'm going to take tomorrow off. For two reasons really: 1) because it's boring here and I want to sit on my couch instead, and 2) some children are coming to trick-or-treat around the office, and I don't generally enjoy kids.

Most of the reason that I need the day off though is because I want to early vote. However, apparently that takes about 2 hours around here because everyone and their mom wants to early vote. I almost wonder if it would just be faster to vote next Tuesday, but when confronted with the possibility of taking the day off and using voting as an excuse, it's a pretty easy decision to make. I actually just registered to vote for the first time this year (I know, it's pathetic that this is the third presidential election that I've been eligible to vote for but I only just registered, blah blah blah). And really, without sounding preach-y or forcing you all to listen to my political affiliations, I only registered because the mayor of Charlotte is running for governor, and as a property owner in Charlotte, I want him to win. Because right now all the governors have been from Raleigh, a city where everyone thinks that Charlotte doesn't need any taxpayer money even though we provide a crapload of the taxpayer money in NC, and that is lame. To be completely honest, I don't care for either of the presidential nominees, and I have seriously considered writing in Tim Calhoun, the character from SNL, as my selection for that race.

Anyway, after I get the voting out of the way, I plan to hit the gym, get my first Starbucks hot chocolate of the season (a payoff for hitting the gym 5 times this week), lift and do some yoga, stop at Target, do my baking for the tailgate on Saturday, and make dinner. Somewhere in there I'd also like to sit around and maybe read, but I don't think that sounds like it's going to happen. It's going to be a pretty busy day considering that I was supposed to come to work too.

As I mentioned, our main event this weekend is the football game Saturday...we're playing Duke at home and unfortunately there is a very real possibility that we will lose. I will be thoroughly embarrassed if that happens. Other than that it's just errands and chores the rest of the weekend. And an office watching party at Cory's tonight. Yay.

Have a good weekend. And Happy Halloween! And don't forget to set your clocks back an hour on Saturday night (yay).

WTF

I came to NC for college largely for the weather. And I stayed here after college largely for the weather. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Three weeks ago, it was still 85 degrees outside. We went out on the lake when my mom and sister were here on October 7th for god's sake. I was preparing for the NC fall...a string of 70 degree sunny days where a no coat or the occasional light jacket would be appropriate until roughly Thanksgiving. And that's how it went for about 5 days. And then last week was a bit chilly. Ok fine.

This week is has been in the THIRTIES when I walk to work in the morning. SERIOUSLY. I wore zero jacket three weeks ago and I have now moved onto wool coats and gloves. WTF. Where did the fall go? So help me god, if it snows here before January (or at all, really), I'm going to have a coronary.

Remember when I used to complain about how effing hot it was during Wake's home football games in September? I might be a bit concerned about the 4 coming up in November...because it's going to be chilly. Good thing we sit on the sunny side of the stands. And that I have Uggs.

Damn you mother nature.

Weekend in FL

First, let's just start with the awesomeness that was Must See TV Thursday. Because I didn't work on Friday, so that counts as weekend time. I've been giving Kath & Kim a go, and it was really really funny this week. You just have to completely embrace its ridiculousness and you'll be good to go. The Office was also awesome, and the SNL Thursday was great, with Will Ferrell showing up to play George W Bush one last time. Can we talk for a moment about how crazy it is that Amy Poeler did that hilarious Palin rap on SNL last Saturday and then went into labor this Saturday? I can't believe she was that boisterous less than a week before having a baby. I imagine that when I'm pregnant, at that point all I'll be doing is beaching myself on the couch with a bucket of KFC. And a milkshake of some sort.

Anyway, Friday I just got up, lifted, packed, and headed to FL. It was hot and humid, but cloudy and rainy the whole time we were there, which was lame. It was good to see the family even though Wake lost an embarrassing game on Saturday. We had an early afternoon flight on Sunday so it was a short trip. But we had lots to do Sunday afternoon.

So this made me want to kill USAir. On the way down, I didn't get automatically upgraded. However, once I was on the plane in my seat, they came over and told me they had a seat in first class for me. I declined because I was already seated and Blake had the middle seat so I didn't want him stuck there if I wasn't in the window seat next to him. Apparently, when I declined the upgrade, USAir somehow "lost" the fact that I was even on the plane. Because when I got to my dad's, I went online to check my email and saw that I had been automatically upgraded for the flight on Sunday. So I go to USAir.com to pick my first class seat (I like the window) and it won't let me because my reservation has been "cancelled." 45 minutes on the phone with USAir later (including about 20 minutes on the phone with an effing recording), I find out that they somehow lost track of my being on the first flight so they automatically cancelled my return flight. Fortunately, I saw this on Friday and not Sunday, so they were able to fix it for me and put me back in first class. The flight was oversold Sunday, so if I hadn't seen this ahead of time, I would have had to scream at airport people, and I was not prepared to do that.

Other than that nothing big really happened. It's back to the grind now. I guess I have to work a full week this week, which is lame...if I actually sit here until 5:30 on Friday I'd be shocked. We'll see. I'm not really busy enough this time of year to stay amused in the office on a Friday afternoon.