So I am working on a big photo project which I wanted to have done, but it is not...so in its stead I post the funniest online video clips from 2008...
Enjoy!
12.23.2008
book review: Stet: An Editor's Life
Stuck at home again today. I finished reading Stet: An Editor's Life by Diana Athill almost two weeks ago but have yet to review it. The book was written in 2002 and is a memoir of Ms. Athill's life.
The book was like a rich chocolate cake: best when consumed in small pieces. Hence it took me sometime to get through the whole book, but it was delicious. The book chronicles her life as an editor in London, from WWII to the 80's. She knew so many interesting people and described so many wonderful sounding books by authors I had never heard of. I must have added 10 books to my Amazon Wishlist.
I often wonder what my mom's life was like before she had children. She did not get started until 29, and kept working until 34. She would have been my age when she "retired." I feel like Stet gave me a peek into Linda's life. People were real, they ate, they drank, they slept around, they lived. I have this vision of anyone born before me as being very prim and proper, and this is what I felt was expected of me. So I have been largely prim and proper. Boy was I fooled. Yes, naturally some people tread the thin and narrow line, but others are out there enjoying life. I think my mom, like Ms. Athill, loved and lived a pretty full life before me. (Oh how annoying to realize that the world did not begin with me.)
One particular quote from the book that I loved follows:
"The chief difference, it seems to me, between the person who is lucky enough to possess the ability to create - whether with words or sound or pigment or wood or whatever - and those who haven't got it, is that the former react to experience directly and each in his own way, while the latter are less ready to trust their own responses and often prefer to make use of those generally agreed to be acceptable by their friends and relations. And while the former certainly include by far the creative proportions of individuals who would be difficult to live with, they also include a similarly large proportion of individual who are exciting or disturbing or amusing or inspiring to know." (pg. 244)
One of my girl friends in college and I had planned to live together, and then the opportunity never really presented itself. Then one semester it did. I assumed I would move in my group of girl friends. I remember one of my (still) very close friends telling me that living with me would be too much.
Given my inability to remember what I did yesterday, or what transpired in my childhood, why do I remember this statement? I know she did not mean to hurt me. Yet, even writing this now, it stings a little.
The quote above helped me understand what my girl friend meant. Which I guess is the point of all great literature: to help us understand the human condition. Loving me was one thing and living with me was another.
After reading this and thinking about it, I thanked Brent for both living and loving me.
The book was like a rich chocolate cake: best when consumed in small pieces. Hence it took me sometime to get through the whole book, but it was delicious. The book chronicles her life as an editor in London, from WWII to the 80's. She knew so many interesting people and described so many wonderful sounding books by authors I had never heard of. I must have added 10 books to my Amazon Wishlist.
I often wonder what my mom's life was like before she had children. She did not get started until 29, and kept working until 34. She would have been my age when she "retired." I feel like Stet gave me a peek into Linda's life. People were real, they ate, they drank, they slept around, they lived. I have this vision of anyone born before me as being very prim and proper, and this is what I felt was expected of me. So I have been largely prim and proper. Boy was I fooled. Yes, naturally some people tread the thin and narrow line, but others are out there enjoying life. I think my mom, like Ms. Athill, loved and lived a pretty full life before me. (Oh how annoying to realize that the world did not begin with me.)
One particular quote from the book that I loved follows:
"The chief difference, it seems to me, between the person who is lucky enough to possess the ability to create - whether with words or sound or pigment or wood or whatever - and those who haven't got it, is that the former react to experience directly and each in his own way, while the latter are less ready to trust their own responses and often prefer to make use of those generally agreed to be acceptable by their friends and relations. And while the former certainly include by far the creative proportions of individuals who would be difficult to live with, they also include a similarly large proportion of individual who are exciting or disturbing or amusing or inspiring to know." (pg. 244)
One of my girl friends in college and I had planned to live together, and then the opportunity never really presented itself. Then one semester it did. I assumed I would move in my group of girl friends. I remember one of my (still) very close friends telling me that living with me would be too much.
Given my inability to remember what I did yesterday, or what transpired in my childhood, why do I remember this statement? I know she did not mean to hurt me. Yet, even writing this now, it stings a little.
The quote above helped me understand what my girl friend meant. Which I guess is the point of all great literature: to help us understand the human condition. Loving me was one thing and living with me was another.
After reading this and thinking about it, I thanked Brent for both living and loving me.
12.22.2008
home sick and seeking nesting
I am home sick today with a head cold. Hoping to get rid of it before we head to St. Louis on Wednesday to see Grammy.
While laying in bed, dreams of houses danced through my head. (Is anyone else noticing the frequent use of the word head?)
Years ago, 1998 to be exact, I fell in love with my first home. The 1998 Life Magazine Dream Home caught my attention. The house is open in the middle, where the kitchen and living areas are. One wing has the bedrooms and the other wing the utility rooms. I loved this house so much I almost bought the plans then. I love the large fireplace. Click this paragraph to see a list of where some of these homes are located. Maybe a reader could do a drive by for me.
I started searching for the plans the other day and found that you can still buy the house plans for $600. How cool.
12.21.2008
12.17.2008
the economy
I was wondering what/if my loyal readers are doing anything differently in their lives because of the current economic problems? Thoughts?
Brent and I are cutting back on things, eating in more (which is better for our waistlines anyway), and we have been talking about money a lot more. My current job also concerns retirement savings, so I am both concerned that we are not saving enough and worried that putting more money in to retirement savings will be money wasted. We are both really focused on paying down debt.
We have also realized that we conceptualize money differently. He likes to know where he has spent money, and I want to know how much money is left over at the end of the month: what is the amount I have left after paying all of our set monthly costs.
Figuring out how to manage money jointly can be hard, but I think we are getting the hang of it. Each couple does things a little differently.
Grammy called a month ago in the middle of the night worried that the next depression was coming: "Nicole, I ate beans three times a day then, and I don't want to do that again." Wow, not a call you want to get.
In the spirit of the season, we have decided to give away our Christmas money. We were eying this cool desk at our favorite store, when we got an appeal from The House of Ruth, a non-profit in DC. They need money or are going to have close their doors. Click this paragraph to read more about their good works."House of Ruth's vision is to enable the largest number of people we serve to achieve trauma recovery, stable housing, mental health, addiction recovery, employment and abuse-free relationships."
We don't need a new desk.
Life is not a burden for us.
Brent and I are cutting back on things, eating in more (which is better for our waistlines anyway), and we have been talking about money a lot more. My current job also concerns retirement savings, so I am both concerned that we are not saving enough and worried that putting more money in to retirement savings will be money wasted. We are both really focused on paying down debt.
We have also realized that we conceptualize money differently. He likes to know where he has spent money, and I want to know how much money is left over at the end of the month: what is the amount I have left after paying all of our set monthly costs.
Figuring out how to manage money jointly can be hard, but I think we are getting the hang of it. Each couple does things a little differently.
Grammy called a month ago in the middle of the night worried that the next depression was coming: "Nicole, I ate beans three times a day then, and I don't want to do that again." Wow, not a call you want to get.
In the spirit of the season, we have decided to give away our Christmas money. We were eying this cool desk at our favorite store, when we got an appeal from The House of Ruth, a non-profit in DC. They need money or are going to have close their doors. Click this paragraph to read more about their good works."House of Ruth's vision is to enable the largest number of people we serve to achieve trauma recovery, stable housing, mental health, addiction recovery, employment and abuse-free relationships."
We don't need a new desk.
Life is not a burden for us.
12.14.2008
motivation
I need a to do list...we had a lovely weekend but I don't think I got nearly enough done! I wanted to get my desk all cleaned up so I could start Christmas cards and wedding thank you cards...instead we had a day of reading and relaxing and napping in the sun.
There is always tomorrow.
There is always tomorrow.
12.11.2008
twins
This weekend I was in Boise meeting Sean and Caitlin, my new nephew and niece! They are too cute. Click these sentences to go to more pictures at my smugmug site!
I feel kind of bad because I cannot really tell them apart...I think I have both kids here...in black and white it is hard to tell. Caitlin has really red hair and Sean's is more brown...and Sean is quite a bit smaller...but with out the frame of reference that is kind of hard too.
Stayed at a great converted Travel Lodge: The Modern Hotel. You can check it out by clicking this sentence. What is not to like about fresh French pastries and coffee every morning?
12.10.2008
russia
I have a few random obsessions: Easter Island, Socotra (click for more info), Armenia, Lake Baikal (click for more info), and Siberia. Lake Baikal is in Siberia, so they are kind of similar.
What is about the pictures above that lets the viewer know immediately that you are looking at a place in Russia? The colors? The relief of Stalin? The sense of cold bleakness? I don't know.
The photographer, Donald Weber, took this series of photos called "White Nights: Russia after the Gulag." (Click the sentence to see the rest of the photos.
The series is compelling because of the story it tells: you see people in their everyday lives and all you can really think is that is looks awfully cold.
30 million people went through the Russian gulags. 30 million people is equivalent to the population of both Los Angeles and New York combined.
Today Russia's population is only 142 million people today, and is expected to decrease to 100 million by 2050. I can't help but think that maybe they are thinking they should not have killed so many people in the 19th century. (Click sentence to read article from Economist.)
12.09.2008
holiday cheer
does anyone else remember schwetty balls?
click this sentence to see Alec Balwin and his schwetty balls...very funny.
12.08.2008
more on the lottery
Can you believe this...the New Yorker posted an audio version of The Lottery, mentioned here a few months ago. Click this sentence to link to the New Yorker.
If you have itunes you can also add the New Yorker fiction podcast, where they pick a fiction story from the New Yorker archives to read each week. I like the New Yorker in theory...but in practice it comes too often for me...and boy is it a dense read.
If you have itunes you can also add the New Yorker fiction podcast, where they pick a fiction story from the New Yorker archives to read each week. I like the New Yorker in theory...but in practice it comes too often for me...and boy is it a dense read.
address books: part deux
Ok, so I was a little over the top with the address book post. And I feel bad. Since I only have 9 regular readers, I should try to keep you guys...
I love mail, and will give out my address to anyone who asks...no address book lecture required.
I love mail, and will give out my address to anyone who asks...no address book lecture required.
12.03.2008
hiv
We take the Guardian Weekly. I love saying "we take." It seems so quaint. But really, we started getting it about a year ago because it was free. After a month of reading it's VERY left leaning news we decided to keep taking it, mainly because they cover things that the US media does not cover.
World Aids Day...The only reason I knew it happened this week was because some facebook friends changed their profiles in support of the day.
I opened my Guardian Weekly today to find the most interesting picture of HIV, also known as the virus that causes AIDS.
I just keep staring at the beauty of this cell. It is round, yes, but some parts are five sided and some are six sided. Out of the middle of each little five or six sided part, springs something that looks like a flower. Inside these flowers there are little tentacle like short protrusions, also symmetrical. And there are intermittent almost polka dots sitting on top of the cell.
What I can't get over is how beautiful it is. It seems so proportioned, so organized, so planned.
Here is the link to the original article and photo. (Click this sentence.)
12.01.2008
wow - who knew?
At first I thought this guy was a joke...wife beater and all, but he does an amazing job with Come Sail Away...really, check it out!
11.30.2008
today's favorite quote
Deep within us-no matter who we are- there lives a feeling of wanting to be lovable, of wanting to be the kind of person that others like to be with. And the greatest thing we can do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.
Mr. Rogers
Mr. Rogers
11.29.2008
cute place to stay in DC!
My friend Rachel rents out part of her house in Washington DC. I thought I would put a little promotion for her place here!
You can you check out her website with more pictures of the apartment by clicking this sentence.
As she says:
"Walking distance to Safeway, Wendy’s, Columbia Heights Coffee, Flip It Bakery, Temperance Hall restaurant/bar, Sweet Mango Café, etc.
Stop at the Safeway on your way to/from metro and prepare own meals in our full kitchen (stove, oven, pots, pans ... there is even a grill outside).
Just minutes to: Smithsonian, White House, U.S. Capital, National Cathedral, Convention Center, National Zoo, Rock Creek Park. Easy commute Howard University, Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Near to several wonderful DC neighborhoods: Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle, Mount Pleasant, U Street, Chinatown."
11.28.2008
11.25.2008
a real schreibtisch
How fun is this object!
schreibtisch aka writing table
"A mobile notepad/ piece-of-furniture made of paper. The die-cut paper-sheets (about 1000) are joined together with red colored bookbinder-glue. The handle is not glued so you can remove each sheet of paper as you you use it! The object works as communication tool, sketch-board, notepad, etc."
Made by...a German! Yep...(Click here to see more of the artist's work!)
cost of bailout
From BoingBoing.net:
Bailout costs more than Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, moonshot, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq war, Vietnam war, and NASA's lifetime budget -- *combined*!
"In doing the research for the "Bailout Nation" book, I needed a way to put the dollar amounts into proper historical perspective.
If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars.
People have a hard time conceptualizing very large numbers, so let’s give this some context. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history.
Crunching the inflation adjusted numbers, we find the bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined:
• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion
TOTAL: $3.92 trillion"
Bailout costs more than Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, moonshot, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq war, Vietnam war, and NASA's lifetime budget -- *combined*!
"In doing the research for the "Bailout Nation" book, I needed a way to put the dollar amounts into proper historical perspective.
If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars.
People have a hard time conceptualizing very large numbers, so let’s give this some context. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history.
Crunching the inflation adjusted numbers, we find the bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined:
• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion
TOTAL: $3.92 trillion"
11.24.2008
facebook dilemmas
We all know I have a lot of friends. I like people. When Brent and I started dating, I had to make him a friend chart for goodness sake...but who are these people friending me on facebook? WHO ARE YOU?
Would it be rude to ask people how they think they know me? In what capacity did we ever meet? Did I like you? Then why can't I remember you?
Brent’s policy is to accept any person who wants to friend him. I keep accepting people, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to be friends with most people with whom I have not stayed in contact. WE ARE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE. Can I scream that? No, because I am a wimp. I don’t want people to feel bad because we are not friends. What if this person, who I don’t know, needs a friend? How would I feel if someone did not friend me?
Brent also talks about filing facebook bankruptcy all of the time. Just sending out a message that he is done. No more facebook for him. Given how much he hates email, I am surprised that he has lasted this long.
Anyway, if you are my friend and want to friend me, then go ahead and friend me. If you aren’t my friend, but need a friend, friend me. If you aren’t my friend, and have a happy life, don’t friend me. Please. If I can get everyone to follow this rule, I can figure out who the needy are.
But really, has this happened to other people? I suppose that the new Facebook etiquette and mores are being written now...
Would it be rude to ask people how they think they know me? In what capacity did we ever meet? Did I like you? Then why can't I remember you?
Brent’s policy is to accept any person who wants to friend him. I keep accepting people, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to be friends with most people with whom I have not stayed in contact. WE ARE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE. Can I scream that? No, because I am a wimp. I don’t want people to feel bad because we are not friends. What if this person, who I don’t know, needs a friend? How would I feel if someone did not friend me?
Brent also talks about filing facebook bankruptcy all of the time. Just sending out a message that he is done. No more facebook for him. Given how much he hates email, I am surprised that he has lasted this long.
Anyway, if you are my friend and want to friend me, then go ahead and friend me. If you aren’t my friend, but need a friend, friend me. If you aren’t my friend, and have a happy life, don’t friend me. Please. If I can get everyone to follow this rule, I can figure out who the needy are.
But really, has this happened to other people? I suppose that the new Facebook etiquette and mores are being written now...
11.23.2008
Book Review: Foreskin's Lament, A Memoir
Foreskin’s Lament, A Memoir
by Shalom Auslander, 2007
What attracted me to Foreskin’s Lament was that Auslander grew up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family. I love these stories. Give me a misunderstood esoteric minority book and I will give you a few hours of my life.
Book summary in two sentences: The memoir forms the basis for what will one day be the case God puts forth against Auslander’s entrance into heaven. God: “Even though you kind of kept the Sabbath and you walked to the Ranger’s game for the Stanley Cup from Westchester to NYC on the Sabbath over the GW bridge, all bets are off because you did not keep kosher.”
While the books takes the occasion of Auslander’s son’s birth and potential circumcision to talk about growing up Jewish and the effect his upbringing continues to have on him, the book is really about his relationship with God. He prays to God, or rather makes deals with him all the time. And his reading of the Old Testament (Torah) is even funny, in a somewhat disturbed manner.
"The people at Monsey [Auslander’s grade school] were terrified of God, and they taught me to be terrified of Him, too – they taught me about…a man named Moses, who escaped from Egypt, and who roamed through the desert for forty years in search of a Promised Land, and whom God killed just before he reached it – face-plant on the one-yard line, --because Moses had sinned, once forty years earlier. His crime? Hitting a rock."
I had never thought of the story that way. Brent says one of the things he likes about the Old Testament is how black and white everything is in it. Do this, suffer this fate.
But real life is grey. Auslander deals in the gray everyday. In one poignant section of the book, (which I will not reveal too much of because it kind of gives the book away) he has made peace with a decision and he thinks this will appease his parents. But no, even what he considers his grand compromise gesture is seen by his parents as the wrong decision.
The book offered an opportunity for Brent and I to discuss religion more deeply, which I enjoyed. I believe in God. But God backed me into a corner of believing. Since Linda is dead, I can’t imagine that she did not go someplace, so I am kind of stuck. But I don’t believe in what one might call a “personal God.” I don’t think God sweats the details. A few swear words, a little crazy dancing, maybe even a few drinks. He doesn’t care.
I think Auslander shares my feelings on this. At one point in the book he gets an email from his sister where she substitutes the forbidden words in her email with symbols for the vowels. Really? You don’t think God can tell?
“When [the devout] are not preaching what a ... Maniac the Lord is, they’re behaving like He’s a ... idiot.”
I read this sentence and said, “Exactly.” If God is watching and knows everything, then he knows everything.
So I am the kind of person who largely subscribes to the Golden Rule, by which I mean, be a good person, be kind to people, and do good things. Everything else will work out.
“I believe in God.
It has been a real problem for me.”
This might be what Auslander should give as his defense if he has any trouble getting in to heaven. The book is a great, quick, yet thoughtful read, so don’t let the title put you off.
11.20.2008
a new GAO report of interest
Loyal readers may be interested to read this hot off the presses GAO report Department of Homeland Security: Billions Invested in Major Programs Lack Appropriate Oversight. (Click this sentence to read more.)
This USA Today article is about the report...
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department has done a poor job overseeing the purchase of billions of dollars of equipment and technology since the agency was created five years ago, according to a federal report scheduled for release today.
Senior department officials have "not provided the oversight needed" to ensure that purchases "with important national security objectives" function properly and stay on budget, according to Congress' Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO report is the latest to raise questions about the Homeland Security Department, which Congress has criticized for gaps in aviation security, a faltering response to Hurricane Katrina and slow progress in securing land borders.
The new report levels criticism at a complex process Homeland Security has used to beef up the nation's defenses by purchasing security equipment, including machines that scan suitcases for bombs.
In many cases, programs were delayed or went over budget, including planned improvements in Coast Guard rescues, luggage screening and the capture and removal of illegal migrants.
Although previous audits have documented problems with individual programs, the GAO report is the first to review Homeland Security's overall system of buying and maintaining $60 billion of new equipment and technology.
The main problem is that the department did not follow its own procedures, set up to make sure taxpayer funds are "being spent wisely, efficiently and effectively," the GAO said.
Rep. David Price, D-N.C., head of the subcommittee that oversees Homeland Security spending, said the department's purchasing system needs an overhaul to protect billions in taxpayer funds.
Major purchases "should not move forward unless they have been thoroughly vetted," Price said in a statement.
The report found that 45 of 48 major acquisitions were not reviewed regularly by a Homeland Security oversight board created to do the reviews. Fourteen of those projects had cost overruns, delays and shortcomings in how they functioned.
Homeland Security spokesman Larry Orluskie referred a reporter to a statement attached to the GAO report written by department acquisitions chief John Hutton. The statement said many improvements have been made, including the creation of two oversight divisions. He added that other improvements will be made in the next two years.
The GAO blamed oversight problems on insufficient Homeland Security staff and limited attention paid by senior department officials.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-11-19-spending_N.htm
This USA Today article is about the report...
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department has done a poor job overseeing the purchase of billions of dollars of equipment and technology since the agency was created five years ago, according to a federal report scheduled for release today.
Senior department officials have "not provided the oversight needed" to ensure that purchases "with important national security objectives" function properly and stay on budget, according to Congress' Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO report is the latest to raise questions about the Homeland Security Department, which Congress has criticized for gaps in aviation security, a faltering response to Hurricane Katrina and slow progress in securing land borders.
The new report levels criticism at a complex process Homeland Security has used to beef up the nation's defenses by purchasing security equipment, including machines that scan suitcases for bombs.
In many cases, programs were delayed or went over budget, including planned improvements in Coast Guard rescues, luggage screening and the capture and removal of illegal migrants.
Although previous audits have documented problems with individual programs, the GAO report is the first to review Homeland Security's overall system of buying and maintaining $60 billion of new equipment and technology.
The main problem is that the department did not follow its own procedures, set up to make sure taxpayer funds are "being spent wisely, efficiently and effectively," the GAO said.
Rep. David Price, D-N.C., head of the subcommittee that oversees Homeland Security spending, said the department's purchasing system needs an overhaul to protect billions in taxpayer funds.
Major purchases "should not move forward unless they have been thoroughly vetted," Price said in a statement.
The report found that 45 of 48 major acquisitions were not reviewed regularly by a Homeland Security oversight board created to do the reviews. Fourteen of those projects had cost overruns, delays and shortcomings in how they functioned.
Homeland Security spokesman Larry Orluskie referred a reporter to a statement attached to the GAO report written by department acquisitions chief John Hutton. The statement said many improvements have been made, including the creation of two oversight divisions. He added that other improvements will be made in the next two years.
The GAO blamed oversight problems on insufficient Homeland Security staff and limited attention paid by senior department officials.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-11-19-spending_N.htm
11.18.2008
ear wax
Me: Do you know why you have earwax?
Brent: No, why?
Me: To keep dirt out of your ears.
Brent: Oh, you meant why do people have earwax. I thought you meant me specifically. I must have played in the dirt too much as a kid so my body said, “We really have to ramp up the wax production people. This kid is trying to kill us.”
Read more about earwax in this book:
Answers to Your Weird Body Questions, by Dr. Beth Anne Ditkoff
You can take the weird body quiz by clicking this sentence. I got a 4 out of 10.
11.16.2008
the new capitol visitor’s center
Our good friend Christen who still works on the Hill hooked us up with a tour of the new US Capitol Visitor’s center. Since both Brent and I previously gave the Capitol tours, we thought it would be fun to check it out. We were actually on a test tour, since the Visitor’s center does not open for two weeks.
The first thing that caused a bit of concern about the trip were the instructions on the ticket that said no cameras were allowed in. Humm. I noticed this in the cab on the way to the Capitol. Brent had his iphone and I had the flip video with me. What if they wanted to take them away from us? We went through security without incident.
The amazing and really big underground center awed us into submission at first. We could not fathom why it was so big, what where they thinking. And then we realized it was not really a place where people are encouraged to visit, it is more like a cattle yard. Herd people in, herd them out.
The first stop, a 12 minute video, is stirring but lacks a lot of definition. The red shirts then move you along to the tour. On the tour now, you only get to see two actual parts of the Capitol: the Rotunda, and the empty room where the US House of Representatives once met. No more former US Supreme Court chambers, no more former Senate chambers, no looking around. Herd in, herd out. Oh, and the no camera rule: not true. Lots of people had cameras. The poor people who followed the rules were disappointed.
After your tour, you can check out the supposedly interactive exhibits about the Capitol. Admittedly, they have six detailed models of Washington DC showing how the area around the Capitol has changed throughout the years. Other than that, however, there was not much to see.
They asked that we fill out a review of the tour before leaving, but we saw quite a few of these nicely filled out reviews strewn all over the information desks, in no particular order, and decided that they really were not interested in our review. And there was no official place to turn in the reviews.
Overall we give the tour, on a scale of one to five Capitols, two Capitols.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the visitor's center was supposed to cost $300 million, and ended up costing double that: $621 million.
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