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Tuesday, 31 October 2006

I really enjoy cooking, almost as much as I enjoy eating, but it's hard cooking when you only have a roommate who seems to consume mostly green leafy products and juice.  For someone who gets up so early, I still can't figure out where she gets her energy from, beyond illegal substances, which I doubt is the case.

So I cook for my friends who seem to have no discerning palate and for The Boy, who hasn't liked a single thing I have made for him (and who gets upset every time I say such a thing to his face).  This weekend I tried out a hazelnut chocolate tart that got a 5 out of 10 when I ployed for a better description beyond "It's not bad, it's not the best thing I've ever eaten." 

For the record, the following are things I have made for The Boy that have not passed muster:

1. Chilli - This was easily the most egregious error ever.  I followed my mother's recipe, which he deemed needed "more flavor," a phrase too often accompanying his assessment of my cooking.  WHAT KIND OF FLAVOR ASSWIPE?

2. Lasagna - As I recall, my (former) roommate and The Boy enjoyed it.  The Boy far less so than the roommate.  "It was good."

3. Mexican lasagna chicken chipotle casserole....thingy.  The Boy claims this has been his favorite dish, although at the time he proununced the amount of chicken in the dish to be insufficient.  FINE.

4.  Various easy pasta dishes (pasta + sauce + meat/veggie = dinner).  All "good," all probably needed "more flavor." 

5. Marinated chicken.  I doubt he even remembers this. 

6. Tacos.  "Good."

Obviously what The Boy needs (besides a swift kick in the shin) is a lesson in hyperbole.  "OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER PUT IN MY MOUTH EVER.  I CANNOT LIVE ANOTHER DAY WITHOUT EATING THIS EXACT CREATION COOKED ONLY BY YOU."

So I'm cooking dinner tonight and I have no ideas.  Suggestions?
by: DJGroovySlug at October 31, 2006 15:28 | link | comments (7)

Tuesday, 31 October 2006

Sure there's the whole polarizing Letterman vs. Leno debate (as if there was ever a debate)  but I think we can all agree: Conan tops them all in Late Night Network Television.  I wish I had the energy to stay up and watch Conan, but that pesky little thing called gainful employment always gets in the way.  I need to marry rich.

This hilarious skit has Conan interviewing a league of 1864 ball players, complete with dressed-to-the-nines lady fans.  Priceless.

by: DJGroovySlug at October 31, 2006 09:11 | link | comments

Monday, 30 October 2006

Since the Washington Post's Reliable Source is the least reliable place for idle gossip (they are constantly begging for tips and I totally sent one in about a minor DC celebrity I saw at the movies once and they didn't even respond.  When I run into Bill and Hilary at Cosi next week, I'll be damned if I don't go straight to someone who cares, like Star)  I'll be the one to tell y'all about Brad Pitt's recent US Weekly interview which hinted that Brangelina & Co. are thinking about moving to DC.  SUCK ON THAT RELIABLE SOURCE:

...is it true that you’re thinking of leaving LA?
"We’re thinking of that, yes. LA is not really a place to raise kids. We might move to DC, but nothing is settled."
by: DJGroovySlug at October 30, 2006 14:26 | link | comments

Monday, 30 October 2006

The creator of Arrested Development is Developing a New Show:

"Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz and Development writer Richard Day will develop a US version of the British sitcom The Thick of It, about inept politicians. The British series follows members of Parliament, so presumably the US version will be about Washington DC bureaucrats."
by: DJGroovySlug at October 30, 2006 09:37 | link | comments

Monday, 30 October 2006

This is mostly for The Boy and The Boy's YouTube loving croonies:  How to Watch YouTube on Your iPod. The Boy just accepted his first big city job and as the resident pro, since I've commuted via Metro into the city for work since college, I've been extolling the virtues of various sources of Metro entertainment.  My commute is actually way too short now to watch videos, but the boy could probably download all of McCoy's blog and it'll be like McCoy has a blogcast.  God I think I just invented a new word*.  Go me. 

*Okay, looks like I didn't.
by: DJGroovySlug at October 30, 2006 09:04 | link | comments

Monday, 30 October 2006

This title has nothing to do with this blog post: I want a Marc Jacobs Purse. That is all.

Our receptionist is out for the entire week and guess who has to fill in for her? 
<inappropriate complaining about work> Look I do like my job and while there are several people here that make considerably more than I do and do considerably less work, I don't complain but MY GOD WHY CAN'T THEY FIND SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T ACTUALLY DO WORK TO FILL THIS POSITION WHEN SHE IS OUT.  I swear I could watch VH1's CelebReality for 24 hours straight and still not feel like I've wasted brain cells like I do when I have to fill in for our receptionist.  The only silver lining to this is the fact that I catch up on all my internet browsing for easily an entire month.  Yeah, this blows, and it's starting to be a dealbreaker for me here. </inappropriate complaining about work>

So I'm going to institute a guerilla attack of blog posts this week.  Yay! Granted, there will be some times when I do have to do "work" but I'll be sure to update frequently here, since those times will be few and far between. My goal is to just post as often as possible, quality and usefulness be damned.  So here goes.
by: DJGroovySlug at October 30, 2006 08:53 | link | comments

Thursday, 26 October 2006

Still Treading the Dangerous Waters of Serious Relationship

Last night The Boy and I were having a sweet hugging moment that happens between mates, probably because I was emotional after watching "Shopgirl" on one of his HD channels and because he felt bad for spending the evening ignoring me while drafting FAKE PLAYERS FOR A FAKE TEAM (that, in reality, I don't care about).   Either way, I really think he thought I was crying, perhaps from my weird breathing and twitching around, because he kept asking if I was okay and I managed to squeek out a yes.

In reality, my left nostril was completely blocked and he kept squishing the spare one, so I basically couldn't breathe.  And in those situations you can't say anything because it's a sweet hugging moment!!  I still tried to enjoy it, minus the high chance of asphyxiation. 

Or maybe he did know.  I'm still not entirely convinced he's not trying to kill me half the time.  But the evidence is stacking up. 
by: DJGroovySlug at October 26, 2006 12:38 | link | comments (4)

Wednesday, 25 October 2006

I've been away.  Busy at work.  Busy not at work.  Wondering what to put here, in this space, and realizing that my worries are based on the fact that I've become acutely over-aware of my audience, of who is listening and will say "I read that on your blog."  Of who I don't know but yet they know about me, or at least have had a generous taste.

Last night I went to go see John Hodgman speak.   The performance itself was fantastic and I highly recommend making the trip if he comes to a town near you.

What was notable was that at the reading I saw the group of what you could consider "Internet Celebrities" of the DC area.  If you read blogs that focus on DC, you know these kids, or at least you know one of them or another online blog where they contribute.  If you are in the metropolitan area you have probably read the work of at least one of them.  [Yes, I'll acknowledge that I'm a creepy internet stalker with way too much time of my hands.]  I guess I should point out that these are not kids, but adults, well out of the realm of myspace. 

But most importantly, these were normal people, and not even particularly interesting people.  They surprised me with their lack of dazzling personalities.  As my friend put it "They were probably thinking about how they were going to put it all down in their blog."  They write such interesting ways but in reality, the writing didn't reflect what I saw but was obviously a carefully constructed portion of their life.
Obviously lots of blogs do this, when they are personal blogs.  I do.  My voice in real life is much more different.  I'm not as witty as I can be here with all the time I have to put down my thoughts and create wonderful sentences that don't end in prepositions.  I cuss much more in real life but like to avoid it as much as possible here.  I have a much less acceptable sense of humor outside of the blog.  I can be crass and ugly.  Selfish and loud.  I guess I like to put the best of myself out there on the web and be my generally unacceptable self in real life, where it matters.

Now the blog is at an impasse.  Do I continue to write here?  Using the same topics?  Do I do the DC focused blog I've been considering for so long? Do I tell everyone or start from scratch? 

I could get raw and maybe really tell how I sometimes feel when parts of me are exposed when even I don't realize they are there.  But then I risk talking about others, exposing people who aren't choosing to advertise  their lives on the internet.  I risk exposing myself and leaving nothing, not even the bad stuff, to myself. 

I think I'll keep it safe, keep it PG and just stick with the words.  And keep the emotions out of it.
by: DJGroovySlug at October 25, 2006 22:28 | link | comments (1)

Wednesday, 18 October 2006

So yes!! I'm home.  Back at work.  Sigh. 

We got back last Thursday after spending 5 days lying on the beach, drinking lots of Haitian rum and The Boy taking way too many pictures of me asleep on a beach chair.   I only just came back to work today, opting instead to lay miserable in my bed for a few days while it rained outside, missing beautiful beach and fried seafood.

Let me just say this: I have never felt sand so powdery soft and seen water such a beautiful clear turquoise color. We almost stayed an extra day, seriously, but we were so wishy-washy that by the time we had decided to stay, the flights home had gone way up.

We stayed at a fantastic hotel, so beautiful and tropical and well done, I felt spoiled.  I decided that my (new) goal in life is to make enough money to buy a condo here, and just live on the beach with my Haitian rum bottle. 

So here is the walkway from our hotel to the beach.  Not too shabby, eh?




Being the off-season and all, the beach wasn't crowded.  More like desolate:




The water was perfectly clear and like a jewel.  Cliche, I know, but how else can you describe it?  That is, in fact, a picture of The Boy snorkeling:




We rented a 4WD Jeep to explore other beaches on the island that were less accesible and ended up at one that was completely empty.  All over the beach were these mysterious holes in the sand.  I was too chicken to stick anything in to see what came out:




The island is small, driveable in about 20 minutes.  Here's an aerial view.  Our hotel is just along this strip.  See how developed? Hopefully the growth will remain slow.  Luckily there are no major hotel chains here, and the hotels are very adamant about creating a sense of isolation, so overcrowding doesn't seem to be an issue (yet).




So what have I been up to since I've been back?  Well besides doing god-awful in my football picks this past week, I won the previous week (while I was on vacation), went on several appointments, spent an inordinate amount of money on clothes, including my halloween costume, watched a lot of The Wire, went to Eastern Market, played tennis, saw a play ("Get Your War On" based on the comic strip), ate a ton of chicken wings, and lived in a dump.  I finally cleaned my room last night and now I can think again, except my desk at work is full of a week and a half worth of junk I need to work my way through.  Bah.

So I'm back.  At least it's not raining today. 
by: DJGroovySlug at October 18, 2006 09:37 | link | comments

Sunday, 15 October 2006

Why I Hate Dallas Fans

Nevermind that one could write a lengthy tome on the subject.  Today while parked at the bar stuffing our faces with the usual Sunday fare of buffalo wings and cheese fries, two groups directly behind us cheered for the Cowboys with the intensity normally reserved for the post season, if not the Super Bowl.  That's fine if you're fans, whatever.  But when your team is up 27 to 3 against arguably the worst team in the league and your most infamous player catches yet another touchdown pass with about 3 minutes left in the game and y'all get up with screams of "That's what I'm talkin' bout" and "What?! What?" I think even the scabbiest of fans (Pitt?) would agree you've gone too far, you giant buffoons.

Furthermore, busting out a rendition of "Hail to the Redskins" when the skins are behind 3 points and manage to throw an interception in the last seconds of the game, well that's just bad sportsmanship.  You deserve to die.  Die Texas Scum.  F*** TO.
by: DJGroovySlug at October 15, 2006 18:08 | link | comments (4)