• TSA does not like when you try to take a ton of coins through airport security.
• TSA does not like when you pack barbeque sauce in your suitcase.
• The Kansas City airport is a relic from the 1950s and makes no architectural sense.
• News in Colorado is limited to human interest stories (oh how I missed my WJLA).
• I would fail getting into the Air Force Academy.
• My family still has cousins that live in Ukraine (too cool)!
• People in Breckinridge, CO are incredibly friendly.
• There are a lot of hippies in Boulder, CO.
• The Celestial Seasonings factory is one of the best smelling places that I have ever been in my entire life.

I’m back and missing the cool Colorado air. Apparently while I was gone, the hot, muggy DC summer weather decided to rear its ugly head. Ick.

How are you all doing?

It’s hard to believe that we are almost halfway through our vacation now. We’ve spent a lot of time with my mom’s side of the family so far. We had a family reunion for my grandfather’s family. His grandparents came directly from Ukraine and settled somewhere in the Dakotas. We got to meet a lot of cousins we hadn’t met and see my great grandparents whom I haven’t seen for a few years.  They love the Architect, which is really, really cool.

Today is the Architect’s birthday. We celebrated with the family last night and today we’re going to Breckenridge, a ski resort, to stay the night and then onto the Denver area tomorrow.

Today we’re leaving for Colorado to see the fam. Most of my family is still out there or has since moved back there. While I was born there, I never lived there for that long but its home all the same since so much family is out there. I’m excited to show the Architect my real home state. He’s only been to the Denver Airport and Ft. Collins pretty much. He’ll also get to meet my great grandparents for the first time, which is really, really cool. While we’re out there, we’ll be having a family reunion for my great grandmother’s family, which means that I will probably get to met some family that I have never met before.

So don’t expect me around too much, I’ll be busy enjoying the big blue skies and mountains

Yesterday there was a report that came out about how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration withheld information about cell phone safety (er… un-safety as it were) while driving due to the pressure of not angering Congress. The head of this agency was told that if it released the information, the agency could lose tons of its funding from Congress if Congress thought that the agency had crossed the line into lobbying. I honestly don’t see how telling people the dangers of cell phones could be construed as lobbying since there are many of us who realize that cell phones + driving = distracted.

The point about this story that kind of irked me was that people were in an uproar because had this report been allowed to be released earlier, there could have been PSAs and the like to warn against driving will talking on the phone and lives could have been saved. I’m sorry but if you don’t think that your cell phone distracts you while you’re driving, you may be a few fries short of a happy meal. The person speaking on the news cast made the point of PSAs being used to speak against drunk driving. I doubt that before there were PSAs to speak against drunk driving that there were many people that weren’t aware of the dangers of driving while drunk. It’s common sense. Talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous and that should be common sense as well. It takes away your concentration and it makes you less reactive to the things going on around you. I’m not sure if this report also included texting or not but texting is perhaps even more distracting than talking on a cell phone while driving. Anything that takes your eyes off of the road is just a bad idea.

I bought a car about two years ago and was really excited when it came installed with Bluetooth for hands free driving. It took about 5 minutes to set my cell phone up to sync with my car. All I have to do is dial and then I can put my phone down and talk to whoever is on the line through my car speakers. When my phone rings, I can push a button on my steering wheel and answer the phone once again using the speakers. It’s fantastic. I know a lot of cars are beginning to come out with systems like this. Even without a report like this one coming out, there are many states that have begun to start banning using cell phones without hands free devices. DC, while not a state, has had this law for years. There are others like my home state of Maryland that have begun banning texting while driving.

Do you think Public Service Announcements are necessary to warn drivers against talking on their cell phones? Do you think they make a difference?

The Architect and I seem to have a most unfortunate (or fortunate for entertaining blog writing purposes) run of sitting by the most interesting people in restaurants. Tonight we decided to go to Red Lobster and were seated in a booth near the bar area. We went at about 5:30 so I could get back with enough time to do some more homework.

There was a guy at the bar that was pretty drunk. He was doing the ol’ “bob and weave” sitting in the bar stool. He gets on the phone and starts shouting to whoever he was calling. Here’s an approximation of his side of the conversation (all in yelling):

-”Hey man, you want to hang out? I’m at the Red Lobster and you live on Connecticut Ave by where Mike used to live.”
-”Oh you don’t know Mike? He’s this guy…”
-”So do you want to hang out?”
-”Well me, you and your lady could hang out and there would be no trouble. This lady wanted to date me and I said no so yeah.”

After awhile and a lot of giggles from the table next to us, the drunk guy hangs up. He calls the bartender over and pays his tab. He goes outside and I’m hoping that I’m not going to have to watch this very drunk guy get into a car and try to drive… Eek Do any of you know bartenders can do anything about drunk people going out and getting in their cars???

After about 10 minutes, he comes back in and sits back down at the bar. Luckily the bartender seems to have grown some sense in the past 10 minutes since the guy went outside and tells him that he has to cut the guy off. The guy says okay and asks if the bartender will call a cab and then proceeds to start asking the bartender about every single thing at the bar (what is that bottle? what is that machine? etc…) He then gets up and goes back outside and starts walking down the road (at least he wasn’t driving).

He made for a very interesting dinner anyhow.

Of note: This morning at 6:30 we were woken up by a really horrible noise. We jumped out of bed and realized that it was the fire alarm (a little scary considering that we live in an apartment building). We gathered up the kitties and went outside. I was just in pjs and forgot to put on shoes. When we got outside, there was no smoke. We ended up being outside for about 20 minutes before the fire department showed up (again, very scary). It was just a false alarm luckily but I kind of wish that it had happened when we weren’t trying to sleep

How was your weekend?

For Kween of the Queen’s challenge, we were supposed to post about the person that commented above us. I had the good fortune to post below a lovely lady that I’ve known on Xanga for quite awhile. She goes by Buckeyegirl31 and she’s one of the genuinely nice all around people here on Xanga.

Things I like about here:
- She never seems to have a bad word for anyone on Xanga.
- She’s a reader like me which is super cool. She actually has another site dedicate solely to book reviews (Outlandisher).
- She along with another former Xangan started a book club on Xanga. While I haven’t joined it (I’m too busy with work and school right now to be dedicated), I have liked keeping up with the books that the group is reading. They’ve read some pretty good books so far.
- She has had some pretty thought provoking posts. I loved her latest post. Check it out!
- She’s an animal person just like me, which I love! Every once in awhile, she even posts pictures of her animals.
- She likes Dave Matthews (that fills her with WIN right there)

So go visit her!

“Leaves become most beautiful
When they’re about to die
When they’re about to fall from trees
When they’re about to dry up
Time is all around
Time is all around” – Regina Spektor

We’re walking fast, you and I. It’s October. You’ll remember that because it was the night after your birthday party. The leaves have already lost their color and they’re starting to fall. It’s amazing that a simple retraction of chlorophyll back into the tree branches has the power to do this year after year; to make things beautiful year after year. It’s our favorite season.

We make our way down the street. I don’t remember which street it was but I know that it’s the one with the big Craftsman style house with the maple tree out front. We said we’d live there. We said it was our favorite. We walked to that hole in wall coffee place. The coffee was never good but it had tables out front where we could sit and watch the leaves fall.

We sat there not saying much for awhile. You burst forth with something that I never thought that I would hear you say. After all this time, I am still not sure of what you exactly said but I’ll never forget the feeling it gave me. Those falling leaves and I, we have something in common now. Fall happens slowly in that part of the country. It takes its time. You didn’t. There was no time to digest what was going on. I needed more time; we needed more time. You left without your coffee. I watched you make your way through the falling leaves and disappear around the corner.

Fall has come and gone since then. It gives me comfort to know that fall will come every year whether I’m in my city or if I’m in our city. It is something constant. I need that. Time is all around, time is all around.

(This is another work of fiction)

That tricycle had to have been hidden away in the musty shed for years. The red paint was chipped badly. It had rusted handle bars and broken pedals. The remains of faded ribbons were still tied to the handlebars.  I reached out to squeeze the horn but it made no sound except from air slowly seeping out of a hole somewhere along the bottom. I walked out of the shed and into the sunlight. The sun was incredibly bright that day. It added a much needed juxtaposition to the task at hand.

 I never understood why Granny held on to so many things for so long. She was a pack rat in the worst sense of the word. We had only been at this for a few hours and I had found a Life magazine from 1962, a baby bootie that I’m pretty sure belonged to Dad or Aunt Cindy, and unwrapped hard candies in a china dish, so old that they seem to have welded themselves to the dish. Why hold onto these things? I understand preserving memories but how many memories can really be stored in a ruined candy dish?

She was complicated. We were never close after Grandpa passed and he left us when I was quite young. When Grandpa passed away, she changed. Her sunny attitude faded in to something almost macabre. She held us all at arm’s length. Her visits to our house almost ceased completely. We still visited but it seemed to more out of obligation then want. When she got sick, things didn’t change. There was no reunion and reconciliation. Dad visited her every day in the hospital after work and there would be many days where she wouldn’t talk to him or even look at him. He didn’t want her to be alone. He’s the type that doesn’t want anyone to be alone. When she passed, it was almost a relief. The visiting everyday had started to take a toll on Dad. The waiting for reconciliation fell hard on him.

I wish I could ask her now what the candy dish means. I want to ask her who’s bootie that was. Was there a reason that she didn’t throw out that particular issue of Life? Who rode the bike? When was it put in the shed for the last time? As silly as these items seem, I wish I had the answers. I really wish I did.

(this is a work of fiction)

When it comes to humor, it really takes me a lot to be offended.  In general, it takes a lot to offend me. I’m very much a “to each their own kind” of person. There is not too much that fazes me. And it probably doesn’t hurt that I have the sense of humor of an 18 year old guy.

Yesterday, the Architect and I went to go see “Bruno.” While I will admit that some of the stuff in the movie is pretty out there, I must say that I was really surprised at how many people walked out of the movie. I found myself wondering why so many people seemed to be surprised about the content of the movie as noted by them walking out. I mean, you can kind of see what kind of movie “Bruno” is from the commercials and from all the publicity that the star, Sacha Baron Cohen, has been getting because of the various stunts that he pulls in the movie. While I can see how someone could possibly be offended (there are people who will be offended about all sorts of things and there is nudity and cursing, which are two things that some choose to be offended over), I find myself wondering what the people who were upset were expecting.

Yes, Cohen does some pretty ridiculous things to other people in the movie as he did in “Borat” but to me, the greater point the movie makes is the dumb things that people will say when put into a position. “Borat” may have made a better point of this but “Bruno” attempts to make the same point. People will do and say ridiculous things if the situation presents itself. In one part of the movie, “Bruno” decides to do a celebrity talk show. He invites Paula Abdul to a furniture-less house and hires gardeners who are of Mexican descent to be the furniture. Now of course using other human beings as furniture is not right by any standards but what is actually offensive is that Paula Abdul actually sits on one of these guys when invited to.

Part of Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy or message whether he is playing Bruno, Borat, or Ali G (another one of his characters, is that he puts people in situations where he shows how some people act when they don’t realize anyone is watching. It’s an interesting message but one that people should think about.

Has anyone seen Bruno yet? Have you seen Borat? What did you think?

I just read a book that really got me thinking. It’s called “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” by Muriel Barbery.

In the book, one of the main characters, Renee Michel, is a lowly concierge at an apartment building filled with rich residents who look down on her because they believe she is just a lowly concierge and nothing of more consequence. Renee hides from the world and is content to simply let the residents believe she is stupid because she believes that is what the residents want to believe of her. She is anything but lowly or stupid

During another part of the book, another main character named Paloma makes this observation, “Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside, she’s covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary- and terribly elegant.“

This is the quote that got me thinking. How many times in life are we afraid of showing other people who we really are? How many times do we pretend to be something else because we believe that it is what is expected of us? How many times are we too afraid to show our true colors?

Why do we feel this way?

There’s people out there who act dumber than they really are just because they believe that’s what they are supposed to do. There are others out there that over-compensate for what they are missing because they are too nervous to be real and to be true to themselves. Is there a need to do this?

Why is being ourselves so uncomfortable for so many?

It’s a struggle to be totally comfortable with yourself. I know I still struggle with this. It’s not easy to just accept yourself automatically. Maybe if we weren’t so afraid… if we didn’t worry so much about what others think or see us as, it would be that much easier. Until then, we all just have to keep pressing on.