Ashen

Well, it's Ash Wednesday. I actually forgot that there was a church service tonight until we were finishing dinner. (Maybe because I've been advancing everything a day all week; it really seems like Thursday to me.) We went to Walgreen's instead of church. Now we're watching Idol. We definitely didn't give up cheese popcorn for Lent!

So far, the Top 36 has been more painful to watch than the trainwreck auditions. I don't understand why this should seem like Thursday; it's really more of a Tuesday. We watched the President's speech to Congress last night, but someone needs to tell that man that his popularity is going to PLUMMET if he ever dares to disrupt the AI schedule again. I mean, the economy is important and all but let's not kid ourselves about America's priorities.

Things have finally slowed down a little at work. I made myself a promise to leave at 5:00 this week. (Then I get home and have no idea what to do with the extra time in my evening.) I'm actually thinking about reading a book!

Discoveries

I love watching Univision. "Sabado Gigante" reminds me of the 70's. The telenovelas seem to have the hottest guys. But the other day (Sunday, I think), I was watching the morning show and they had music videos. There was one song that was catchy enough that I went to iTunes and spent 99 cents on it. Apparently there's a whole genre of music called Duranguense. Geez, how did I miss that my entire life?

I took a tour of the local welfare office today. You know, I like to think I'm fairly up to date on the affairs of the world and savvy about life, but there's just so much I've never been exposed to (fortunately, I suppose, in this case, but still...).

It's also nice to be reminded of things you've connected with in the past. Last weekend I had the radio on while I was in the office. One of the songs I heard was "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes. I've always liked the song, but never knew the title. I had to Google the lyrics to find out. It is now an iTunes acquisition as well.

Another example of this is gay athletes. When I was in law school, I took a Sports Law class and wrote a paper on gay athletes. Today I run across this.

Holiday weekend

LOL! The title of this post could not be more ironic. Sure, the office is closed tomorrow. Just like it was closed last Thursday, when I was there for nine and a half hours. Just like it was closed today, when I went in for two hours. Oh well, I knew these would be a rough couple weeks. I just didn't expect to be dealing with crises that prevented me from doing the work I need to be doing (like water gushing from the ceiling of the office on Wednesday). Fun, fun.

In other news, we did manage to go out for Valentine's dinner last night. Not too romantic, but it was pretty much the highlight of the weekend. I have a bunch of stuff to do at home, too. (In fact, we spent most of Friday night in a huge fight on that topic.)

TV has been good, though. "Wipeout" was on this afternoon, and tonight was the premiere of "The Amazing Race" (with Mel White as a contestant!). Even though I fell asleep before SNL last night, we are through the prelims on "American Idol" and get to vote this week.

Also, I re-read part of Maya Angelou's biography Thursday night. She recounts so many encounters with people who were deeply involved in what was going on in the 60's. It got me to wondering: am I missing out on some level of experience of important events going on in the world today? Will I regret later not being more engaged today?

There's always a weird tension between the mundane and the monumental, the urgent and the important.

What a weekend

We are home. The Grammys are on, but I'm not really paying attention. We had a great weekend. The weather was just spectacular yesterday (in between rain on Friday and rain today for the drive home). Here's one of my fave photos from our day:

The Husband held up pretty well last night when we went dancing. There was a fight at the club, though, so that kind of put a damper on the enjoyment. We got to see several friends, in Monterey and on the way home. Stopped at Macy's, but didn't eat at any chain restaurants or even make a Trader Joe's run. Next up: Texas in March!

Rain, rain, went away

So far, so good. [Knock on wood.] We are at the hotel in Monterey, waiting for some friends who are coming down to spend the day with us. It rained the whole way down here and all day yesterday. We visited a friend, went shopping, ate dinner, then came back to the room and watched Comedy Central all night. But we woke up this morning to sunshine! That wasn't really in the forecast, but we'll take it. Hopefully this will allow for some outdoor activities today. Keep your fingers crossed!

I am most excited about tonight: dancing! Not so excited about the drive home, though. 8:00 in the evening seems much later when you've been in a car for three hours than when you've been on the couch for three hours.