The scoop

Well, gentle readers, here's what I've been up to:

- Finished shredding all old receipts and unnecessary documents and filing all the needful;

- DH Jeff & I re-org'd the "workroom" for aesthetics and better space usage. It looks SO much better now. Then,

- I tackled the closet...and continue to tackle it. I re'org'd all our clothes & shoes and am now trying to decide what to give away or throw out. And I keep finding more things. Gaack. This weekend, I will finish off that task.

- Perhaps this weekend I can also find time to finally give myself a pedicure, and

- Finish a book for a book club on the 29th, and

- Catch up on my book & movie reviews. And other blogging.

Who said I would have so much free time once I finished with school?

Also, I'm trying to lose ten pounds. That's it. Unfortunately, I love libations and victuals a bit too much. Well, I decided that I probably could shave off a few hundred calories by not drinking alcohol every day of the week. So, it's kind of one day on, one day off and on off days, I just drink water with dinner. No real progress yet, but I haven't gained any weight.

A few weekends ago, we went with a friend to her mountain home (Blue Ridge) to chill and went wine tasting. Lots of fun! I took lots of pictures, some of which I'll share with you soon.

Oh, and I joined Netflix. I figure, I can check out all the movies I want & then MAYBE buy ones with bona fide replay value. The plan I signed up for (after the free 2-wk trial) is $8.99 per month for one movie at a time, but unlimited rentals within the month. I just got The Kite Runner. I think this will be a good deal and I can save some money without foregoing entertainment.

And I need to replace the photo of me on this blog, because my hair is longer now.

Whew!

Scotch Watch 2008: The story continues

Last Friday evening DH Jeff & I met friends for happy hour and dinner at Vidalia (review to come), downtown. Instead of dessert, I opted for a single malt, preferably one I hadn't tried before. I chose Dalwinnie (12- or 15-year, I'm not sure) and was very pleased with my choice. It's very smooth and mellow - a pleasing finish to a good meal.

So, I'd say it gives Glenfiddich a run for its money; however, I'd like to taste them side by side to see which I like best.

For more information on the Scotch and the distillery, go here. Looks like the 15-year is comparable in price to most good 12-years at $50 and change per bottle.

Meaningful ceremony

Instead of focussing on those reports of the cruel knobs who leave their small children and pets in baking vehicles (there were a few reports in the paper today), I'm pleased to highlight something really positive.

Those recently taking the oath of citizenship were treated to a truly meaningful and beautiful ceremony. U.S. District Court Judge, T.S. Ellis III, decided to hold the naturalization ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery, emphasizing the service and sacrifice that has made our country great. Judge Ellis, himself, is an immigrant from Colombia. Read the whole WaPo article here.

Nice to have this kind of news for a change.

Some good things

What's happening...

1. I finally received my Forensic Science certificate. It's official. But come on, folks, couldn't you have made it a little more impressive? It's really kind of boring. I mean, when I worked for a Navy contractor, I used to make & frame 5-year employee certificates - and they looked sharp. That was just using Word to print them. Hmmm.

2. Our "workroom" is looking better and better. Over the weekend, I shredded (literally) reams of old statements and receipts. It's liberating.

3. (This is for you, AJ) I used all those CVS plastic bags I've been stockpiling to dispose of the shredded material.

4. We've been really trying to avoid wasting food. And save money. And lose weight. So, we've been taking our lunches in with whatever's in the fridge (think hummus and lots of veggies).

5. I'm writing to you this morning which is 1) great because this is part of an effort to blog more often and 2) impressive because I'm actually doing something in morning besides dozing and putting off work (ok, I'm still putting off work...).

Have a beautiful if toasty day!

And the outrage spreads

Today in WaPo's Metro section was an article about two teenage girls in Virginia Beach who were killed by - wait for it, wait for it - an illegal alien drunk driver. And what's neater is that he had been convicted before of - drunken driving! Wahoo! Now Virginia Beach residents are getting riled up about illegal immigration. Hmmm.

I guess if folks like La Raza had their way, the whole US would be a lawless cesspool like Mexico. Fortunately not everyone is an open-borders idiot.

Here are five costs of uncontrolled illegal immigration:

1. Crime - including gang activity, rapes, murders, identity fraud and, yes, drunk driving.

2. Healthcare burden - of course they don't have insurance.

3. Education burden - don't speak English, no problem! The taxpayers will pay for more ESL and other "assimilation" programs!

4. Social services burden - welfare and food stamps anyone? No money for children, but what the hell? Everything's free in the US!

5. Increase in US poverty level. Although there's little way of actually knowing how much -to what extent- illegal immigration increases the poverty level but look - the (minimum of) 12 million illegals in this country are generally poorly educated, low-wage workers, many of them with children to support.

Anyway, food for thought. I'm sure to come up with another five costs of illegal immigration soon.

We're ok

You'll be glad to hear that even if the DC area was hit with severe thunderstorm and tornados, DH Jeff and I are safe and sound. All we suffered was a brief power outage and that happened before we got home...so the clocks had to be re-set. Minor.

I impress myself...

...and you're like, "yeah, so what's new?" Well, remember I said I was rising early in the mornings with DH Jeff because of his training? And how I've been organizing? Well, this morning I out-did myself in productivity! I did laundry (and folded it - can you stand it?), unloaded the dish washer, made my lunch, blogged, made the bed, shredded some more old statements, took out the trash and recyclables, labelized some file folders filled with school-ly goodness (yeh, I keep my notes) and made it to work before 5pm. It's only 1pm, but I think I should get some time off for good behavior.

Movie Review: Educating Rita

Educating Rita is the story of a Cockney hairdresser, Rita (played by Julie Walters), who wants more out of life than attempting to make middle-aged matrons look like Princess Di (this movie was done in the 80s). So she enrolls for tutoring at the local august university. Rita's assigned tutor is a washed up, alcoholic English professor, Frank (played by Michael Caine), who wants nothing to do with teaching any more. Rita demands that he teach her and thus the adventure begins.

This gem of a film wasn't available in DVD until recently. So when I discovered it was offered on Amazon, I grabbed it. It is a charming story of how this diffident yet bright and persistent gal struggles to read and write critically, to find a new life of the mind, and to feel "good enough," ie, equal to the other university students for whom a good education is birthright. Along the way, Rita encounters vexing obstacles, not the least of which is her boozy tutor. In less capable hands, this film could have been saccharine, content-light drivel (ie, the typical Hollywood dramedy) or at least sickeningly sentimental, but with a really good script and superb performances by Caine and Walters, it truly warms the cockles of the heart. And it's not strictly a chick flick, DH Jeff liked it too.

What's more, you can get it for a song, so why not treat yourself?

Home progress

DH Jeff smiles benevolently while I race around the apartment, excitedly querying him, "isn't the apartment clean, doesn't it look better, see we have more room?! Shred, shred, shred!" The impetus for this result has been bubbling away for a while, but it wasn't until Jeff had to start these early morning training classes this week, that I've been on overdrive.

Overdrive to what, exactly, you ask? Well, our apartment has gotten pretty cluttered thanks to the fact that both of us are pack-rats and I'm totally OCD about keeping every important document that I might conceivably need some day, going back to, oh, 1985. Well, because he has had to get up really early, I join him for coffee and noshes before he heads out. Then I bound into action, straightening up, vacuuming and in an unexpected burst of energy yesterday morning, dusting the whole apartment (yes, you heard me right). I'm also weeding out my files and shredding the unnecessary, because I just don't need all the time sheets from when I was temping in 1986. I just don't.

The result is that when I come home from work, I feel much better about the place and am provoked into doing more. Eventually, I'll have a neat inbox and a continuously emptied shred box, instead of various piles all around. Life will be beautiful. Then I can work on reorganizing the "workroom" for aesthetics and function. I dare to dream.

Justice?

There was a follow-up article in today's WaPo regarding the illegal immigrant drunk driver who killed a Marine and his girlfriend in 2006. I opined about the original story here.

The scumbag had a blood alcohol level or FOUR TIMES THE LEGAL LIMIT (I believe it was around .32) and decided to get behind the wheel. He had been previously been charged with drunken driving but the case was dismissed because of a police screw-up. The Marine had just served eight months in Iraq. Both Marine and girlfriend were in their early twenties.

Today's article tells us that the wetback got only ten years in prison. The original sentence was for twenty years (a more fitting sentence, to my thinking), but the stupid judge suspended ten years of the sentence. The article doesn't say why. So, for killing two Americans, one who managed to not die in a war zone, this criminal only got ten years. My only thought is that the judge wanted to make the sentence shorter, so that the felon could be deported faster and off the U.S.'s dime. OK, but we all know how competent this country is at permanently deporting anyone. [end sarcasm]

A very old disease

This morning's WaPo Health section carried a very interesting article about leprosy AKA Hansen's Disease. This article resonated with me because back in the early 80s, when on post with my family in Mexico City, our Mexican maid, Suzie, was diagnosed with it. It came as a shock that this biblical disease was still around. Indeed it is, and the U.S. has the world's best center for research and treatment in the world, the National Hansen's Disease Clinical Center in Baton Rouge, LA. Some fun facts about this disease:

- 95% of the world's population is thought to be immune to it
- it is actually a neurological disease that comes from a bacteria
- humans and armadillos are the only known animals to contract this disease
- it is not that contagious, but
- it is not known definitively how it is spread

Read the whole article here and more about the disease here.

What happened to Suzie, you ask? Well, we took her for treatment and arranged with a friend to have that treatment continued after we left post. Now, the friend was trustworthy and sympathetic, but unfortunately, Suzie was surrounded by friends and relatives who were superstitious and believed in the "treatments" of the local witch doctors, called curanderos. I don't know what evenually happened to her, but hope that she finished the legitimate medical treatment and did not resort to those purveyors spurious "medicines."

The problem with liberals

I'll confine myself to just five today, boys and girls.

1. Entitlement without responsibility. Defined in terms of "rights." Otherwise known as "freedom to do anything I want and never having to deal with the consequences." And someone else will pay (taxpayers). This can be seen by non-glue-sniffers as "reinforcing undesirable behavior."

2. Racism and other dialog stoppers. Accuse someone of being racist, anti-immigrant, guilty of human rights violations, etc., in order to thwart any conversation about the actual issues.

3. Open borders lobby and "world citizens." Support unfettered, unrestricted migration into and out of the U.S., especially for the little beaners who do low-level work, and then demand and defend the invaders' "right" to all sorts of benefits, public assistance. Then offer them citizenship. Because after all, U.S. citizenship doesn't mean that much anyway. These are the sophisticates who consider themselves "world citizens" and not-so-much American citizens, because patriotism and allegiance is so passé. Until they need their country to do something for them.

4. "Reproductive Rights." This is both the "right" to have your unborn child vacuumed and/or yanked out of you for any reason, at any time, and to have as many children as you want without the means to actually pay for them. This also means excoriating someone (in an outraged manner) of suggesting that "poor people shouldn't have children." These attitudes relate to #1 above.

5. America is always wrong. Whether it be war, foreign policy, border control, you name it. All that freedom, rights, upward mobility, education, relative safety...if you can find a better place, go there.

Progress of demolition

The downtown corner demolition proceeded very efficiently and amazingly neatly. I just had to mark their progress. Evidently, they imploded the building from the outside-in, in stages, so at one point there was this bizarre tower with all sorts of metal and wire hanging out. It looked like some sort of prop from a dystopic future. Anyhoo, here are some pictures...

Eating away at the corner.


Spooky tower.


Extreme close-up spooky tower.


After Armageddon.


And...it's a pile of rubble.


I'm sure you feel edified seeing the very neat demise of a building. Thank you for your cooperation.

State of the union...um, I mean, job

I have extreme ennui. Call it "wage-earner" blues. Yesterday I played hookie from work and hung out with DH Jeff. It was good. But now I'm at work and I'm very whiny. Help.

Rwandan progress

Yesterday in WaPo, I read a story whose outlook was unexpected - good news from Africa. Because of the genocide, many Rwandan women were left without husbands, fathers & brothers, and had to fend for themselves and their children. Coffee plantations which had been owned by their male relatives passed to them. The article tells of how a new female entrepreneurship has grown out of the need to survive: women started running these plantations and improving the quality of the coffee they grew. Now, some of these businesses are so successful, that they export their coffee around the world. The article also goes into how microcredit factors into this commercial evolution (which reinforces my belief that microcredit is the doorway out of poverty). Interestingly, these female business owners are more likely to cycle their profits back into the business for development, but also improve their family's wellbeing (housing, sustenance, education, etc.). What's more, their new economic power is strengthening their political power as well. Read the whole story here.

Movie Review: Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises is a story about a midwife, Anna (played by Naomi Watts), whose teenage patient dies in childbirth, leaving no identification except for a diary. In an effort to track down relatives who could take custody of her orphaned baby girl, Anna must find someone to translate the diary, which is entirely in Russian. These efforts lead her into the cut-throat world of the Russian Mafia. One of the characters she encounters along the way is a mobster's chauffeur (played by Viggo Mortenson), a quiet man with a lot he's not saying.

This is not a movie for the faint of heart. It's very violent but at the same time, none of it is gratuitous. The whole cast is great, kudos especially to Mortenson whose character, at one point, has to fight two would-be assassins in a sauna while buck naked. Watts is a very sympathetic Anna, trying against odds to achieve a happy ending for the baby. I would highly recommend this intense film - it'll keep your attention to the very end.

Economic innovation

You know that I love the concept of microcredit as a direct way to combat poverty in a very tangible way (versus just throwing money at programs), empowering individuals. Well, in the WaPo today an article about a young South African company, Wizzit, that another way to address poverty: banking services to the poor, accessible by cell phone. The idea is that since cell phones are actually much more numerous in South Africa than bank accounts, there's opportunity in providing bank accounts that customers can access through their cell phones without actually having to go to a branch. One can set up an account over the phone, have pay deposited directly into the account instead of in cash, then can pay bills, send money, buy groceries - all through a cell phone. Read the whole, very interesting article here.

If only the Feds had been doing their jobs...

...in the first place, we wouldn't need detention camps for immigrants awaiting deportation. WaPo is doing a series about the EVIL U.S. Government and how it's mistreating the detainees. Today's piece was about how some of those detainees are committing suicide because of inadequate or neglectful mental health care at the centers. Disclaimer: I understand that (as DH Jeff has reminded me) if we're going to have detention centers, adequate conditions should be provided. Adequate. Not lux. My heartless self, though, really doesn't care if a few commit suicide, drop dead, etc. I didn't ask them to come here and at this point, am unconcerned with their wellbeing. Since time is short and I must scurry to work so I can pay for their care, I will opine no further. Besides, my blood pressure rises every time I think about this and life is just too short.

Grousing about grout...

...otherwise known as "the many uses of school glue." Case in point: some of the grout between our bathroom floor tiles has, in recent weeks, started to crumble. I reported this twice as a service request. Each time, the request was "completed" within 24 hours. That's the good part. The bad part is that not only were areas completely missed the first time, but the treated areas immediately started to crumble…both issues necessitating a second request. In the second go-round, all areas were patched but just yesterday I noticed that those areas were crumbling.

My two responses: 1) this burns my butt because we pay a premium to live here and should have handy men/women who actually know what they’re doing…and actually do it, and 2) I retrieved my CVS school glue and patched the crumbling areas. Not an optimal choice of grout material, but hey, I wasn’t going to submit yet another service request. The glue dried clear and secured the crumbling grout. Jeez.

Thoughts on…

…recycling. DH Jeff & my apartment building provides bins for newspaper, cardboard and mixed recyclables (plastic, glass, aluminum) and we are conscientious about depositing our recyclables therein. Recently, though, I’ve been thinking that there are so many things we “use” once and throw into the bins. It does in fact take energy to transport and recycle all these things. It seems a waste not to use some of them more than once, when practical. Case in point: we frequently buy those yummy mini croissants for breakfast and toss the plastic containers in which they are sold. But if one washes them, they’re great for saving leftovers, half-used vegetables, etc and for packing lunch.

So, small effort to reuse these containers, but in the aggregate, I’ll bet it really pays off. For instance, using these instead of ziplock bags. We’re terrible at cleaning and reusing those…so not only do we save money on frequent ziplock bag purchases (not doing away with them totally, though), but we’re also saving the energy that would be used in recycling the containers. Also, I’m not even sure that Arlington recycles the particular type of plastic of which they’re made, so if not, we’re keeping plastic from ending up in the waste stream. Yeah! I wonder why I didn’t think of this sooner!