Last night I almost caught up on the sleep I lost devouring Book 7 of Harry Potter this weekend. Tall Guy and I watched The Princess Bride and I was reminded how much I like that movie. And the book; it's a great book, written by William Goldman. I should read some of his other books.
--------------------------------------------------
We switched up our trivia night last week, going to Margarita's on Wednesday night instead of RiRa's on Tuesday (and you thought Maine was boring). We were a team of 9 and we absolutely blew the competition away. The place had about 1/4 of the people that RiRa's gets, but we ate some tasty Mexican food while we answered all but 5 questions right (scoring 32 out of 40). We won two free dinners and a huge Mexican vase-thing stuffed with margarita glasses and a pitcher. Not bad. Here're the questions I can remember 6 days later:
*What is the largest seed?
*Statistically, what is the safest age for a human?
*The Abominable Snowman is associated with which part of the world?
*Which army was the first to introduce canned food?
*Where on the human body can 20 moons be found?
*Where was Rocky Racoon’s home?
*How many horses on a polo team?
*What are the 3 kinds of rocks?
*What color is the Teletubby Dipsy?
*How long does antibacterial soap have to be left on the skin to work?
*What is the plural form of the word scampi?
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And, as I've mentioned before, trivia reminds me of our search for a place to call home. So, the BIG news: Tall Guy and I are HOMEOWNERS. Well, almost. It's all contingent on a home inspection and financing, but we're pretty darned close. The house is a very cute 3BR colonial in South Portland. The inspection is Thursday so I'll take some pics and post them after that.
------------------------------------------------
Answers:
Coconut
10 years old
Himalayas
Napoleon’s
Finger and toenails
black mountain hills of Dakota
4
Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic
Green
Two minutes
Scampo
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Potteritis
That's right, I have it. And it's contagious. The reason I didn't blog all weekend? I was absorbed by Book 7, which arrived at 3:45PM on Saturday. I finished it last night at 2:30AM. All I can say: Wow. It was absorbing and well-written and had a mostly satisfying ending. Now I have a little hole in my heart. I hope that Rowling continues to write, even if she never writes another word about HP&Co.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Headin' for Canada
Sweet, Jesus, it's time to get out of the country. This article has me more terrified than watching Paris Hilton giggle her way through a SADD meeting. A taste:
Bush butt probed, Cheney in charge
"President Bush would be having his butt checked out which meant that while Bush was going through the colonoscopy, Vice President Dick Cheney would be in charge of the nation.
"It's a chilling thought," one passerby told AXcess News when asked if they were concerned over Cheney's short-term rule of the White House."
Chilling. Can that even begin to describe the thought?
Lots of big goings-on in Portland, but it's 6:25 and I'm still at work. I am going to go and drink a beer. I may blog again tonight. I may wait a little longer. I'm pretty sure I have some good trivia questions from this week's foray into a different restaurant's Trivia Night. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we bought a house this week.
Bush butt probed, Cheney in charge
"President Bush would be having his butt checked out which meant that while Bush was going through the colonoscopy, Vice President Dick Cheney would be in charge of the nation.
"It's a chilling thought," one passerby told AXcess News when asked if they were concerned over Cheney's short-term rule of the White House."
Chilling. Can that even begin to describe the thought?
Lots of big goings-on in Portland, but it's 6:25 and I'm still at work. I am going to go and drink a beer. I may blog again tonight. I may wait a little longer. I'm pretty sure I have some good trivia questions from this week's foray into a different restaurant's Trivia Night. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we bought a house this week.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Ketchup Post
Prolly gonna be a long one...
Things I've learned in the past week:
*Face-to-face negotiations are hard. We decided to put an offer on a house that was for sale by owner. So with no realtors to do the whole back-and-forth thing, we had to stand in a kitchen and give our offer (which I typed up, of course). We had to justify it and watch the immediate reaction of the sellers. Then, we had to go downstairs so they could talk about it, come back up to hear the counter-offer, go into another room to talk about that, offer our counter-offer. Tired yet? It was nerve-wracking and weird, but a little heady, too. The sellers ended up asking for the night to think about our "final" offer. They called us in the morning with an even worse counter-offer so we had to walk away. Basically, they were willing to pay a buyer's agent 3% so they were only willing to come down from their selling price by 3%. We have no buyer's agent and no mortgage contingency and no financial speedbumps to hinder a quick close, but they couldn't see any of that. They wanted their asking price minus 3% and that's it. We didn't feel the need to come "up" to their price - there are 4 other houses for sale on this same street. So, we will keep looking. Also thinking of getting a buyer's agent, which I just haven't wanted to do. Drat real estate.
*Losing sucks. We lost in the first round of the kickball finals on Thursday night. I think that the week off hurt us, made us rusty. At least that's what I tell myself. We had a terrible 1st inning in which our opponent scored 3 runs; we just couldn't recover, so we went down 5-2. The upside, Tall Guy and I got to luxuriously ref the next game with a beer in our hands. And, the team that beat us went on to beat the #1 seed in the semi-final rounds, which was sweet since the #1 seed is made up of uber-competitive, college-aged kids who did not expect to lose.
*TOOL rocks. Hard. Fulfilled a music-fantasy by seeing Tool in concert at the Cumberland Civic Center on Friday night. I have loved this band since college though it probably would have been better had I seen them closer to my post-college days: by the end of the 2.5 hour show, my ears felt like they were bleeding and my feet were killing me from standing the entire time. Seriously, I only think I can hang with the young kids. Still, a great show filled with a mix of songs from their 3 major albums, "10,000 Days," "Aenima" and "Undertow."
*Ocean waves are so much fun with little kids. Had a belated father's day celebration this weekend in Portland. Both of my brothers came up, along with my dad, and we went to the beach, one with big waves. My niece and nephew had a heckofa time jumping over waves, well, being lifted over waves by Aunt Me and Uncles My Younger Bro and Tall Guy. My back was sore on Sunday morning, but I haven't had that much fun at the beach since I was probably their age.
*Silent movies shouldn't be over 90 minutes. Sorry film snobs, but a silent movie, i.e. D.W. Griffith's Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916), shouldn't come close to being 3 hours (the version we watched, the short version, was 2 hours and 58 minutes). I understand that this movie was ground breaking and ambitious and artful, but I clearly lack the capacity to sit through that much sepia-toned film and orchestral music. I give props to my husband, who not only sat through it, but really enjoyed it. It did make a rainy Sunday afternoon seem lazier, but so would watching puddles fill.
*Trivia is overrated. We went back. And it was as painful as Tall Guy remembered. The emceeing was still terrible and some of the answers suspect (we found out that the game orginates from Germany), but this week we got to stand through the entire 2.5 hours! We have decided to try a different trivia night, at a different restaurant. But, if you actually got all the way down to this part of the post, you deserve a treat:
*On the show "Married with Children," what kind of dog is Buck?
*During the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were famous for what, aside from their athletic success?
*What famous children's book character was created by Astrid Lindgren?
*On what plant do silkworms exclusively feed?
*What actor played Blake Covington on the tv show "Dynasty"?
*Who gave up his seat to J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson on the fatal flight in 1959 that also killed Buddy Holly and Richie Valens?
*During his presidency, Abraham Lincoln had a residence in which state?
*According to Roman legend, who pulled a thorn out of a lion's paw?
*What type of craft is the Breitling-Orbiter 3?
*How old was the Lindberg baby when he was kidnapped?
*What does a viticulturist grow?
-------------------------------------------------------
Happy nuptials to Corissa & Brian in San Francisco. This means that every friend I made while living in Connecticut back in 2000 is now married. If you want to get married, go live in Connecticut.
-------------------------------------------------------
Answers:
-Briard - here's a picture:
-"Black Power Salute" while receiving their medals
-Pippi Longstocking - great books
-Mulberry tree
-John Forsythe
-Waylon Jennings
-Illinois
-Androcles - He was a slave. The lion later recognized him in a gladiator arena and spared his life. The emperor Tiberius was said to have freed them both.
-Balloon
-20 months
-Grapes
Things I've learned in the past week:
*Face-to-face negotiations are hard. We decided to put an offer on a house that was for sale by owner. So with no realtors to do the whole back-and-forth thing, we had to stand in a kitchen and give our offer (which I typed up, of course). We had to justify it and watch the immediate reaction of the sellers. Then, we had to go downstairs so they could talk about it, come back up to hear the counter-offer, go into another room to talk about that, offer our counter-offer. Tired yet? It was nerve-wracking and weird, but a little heady, too. The sellers ended up asking for the night to think about our "final" offer. They called us in the morning with an even worse counter-offer so we had to walk away. Basically, they were willing to pay a buyer's agent 3% so they were only willing to come down from their selling price by 3%. We have no buyer's agent and no mortgage contingency and no financial speedbumps to hinder a quick close, but they couldn't see any of that. They wanted their asking price minus 3% and that's it. We didn't feel the need to come "up" to their price - there are 4 other houses for sale on this same street. So, we will keep looking. Also thinking of getting a buyer's agent, which I just haven't wanted to do. Drat real estate.
*Losing sucks. We lost in the first round of the kickball finals on Thursday night. I think that the week off hurt us, made us rusty. At least that's what I tell myself. We had a terrible 1st inning in which our opponent scored 3 runs; we just couldn't recover, so we went down 5-2. The upside, Tall Guy and I got to luxuriously ref the next game with a beer in our hands. And, the team that beat us went on to beat the #1 seed in the semi-final rounds, which was sweet since the #1 seed is made up of uber-competitive, college-aged kids who did not expect to lose.
*TOOL rocks. Hard. Fulfilled a music-fantasy by seeing Tool in concert at the Cumberland Civic Center on Friday night. I have loved this band since college though it probably would have been better had I seen them closer to my post-college days: by the end of the 2.5 hour show, my ears felt like they were bleeding and my feet were killing me from standing the entire time. Seriously, I only think I can hang with the young kids. Still, a great show filled with a mix of songs from their 3 major albums, "10,000 Days," "Aenima" and "Undertow."
*Ocean waves are so much fun with little kids. Had a belated father's day celebration this weekend in Portland. Both of my brothers came up, along with my dad, and we went to the beach, one with big waves. My niece and nephew had a heckofa time jumping over waves, well, being lifted over waves by Aunt Me and Uncles My Younger Bro and Tall Guy. My back was sore on Sunday morning, but I haven't had that much fun at the beach since I was probably their age.
*Silent movies shouldn't be over 90 minutes. Sorry film snobs, but a silent movie, i.e. D.W. Griffith's Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916), shouldn't come close to being 3 hours (the version we watched, the short version, was 2 hours and 58 minutes). I understand that this movie was ground breaking and ambitious and artful, but I clearly lack the capacity to sit through that much sepia-toned film and orchestral music. I give props to my husband, who not only sat through it, but really enjoyed it. It did make a rainy Sunday afternoon seem lazier, but so would watching puddles fill.
*Trivia is overrated. We went back. And it was as painful as Tall Guy remembered. The emceeing was still terrible and some of the answers suspect (we found out that the game orginates from Germany), but this week we got to stand through the entire 2.5 hours! We have decided to try a different trivia night, at a different restaurant. But, if you actually got all the way down to this part of the post, you deserve a treat:
*On the show "Married with Children," what kind of dog is Buck?
*During the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were famous for what, aside from their athletic success?
*What famous children's book character was created by Astrid Lindgren?
*On what plant do silkworms exclusively feed?
*What actor played Blake Covington on the tv show "Dynasty"?
*Who gave up his seat to J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson on the fatal flight in 1959 that also killed Buddy Holly and Richie Valens?
*During his presidency, Abraham Lincoln had a residence in which state?
*According to Roman legend, who pulled a thorn out of a lion's paw?
*What type of craft is the Breitling-Orbiter 3?
*How old was the Lindberg baby when he was kidnapped?
*What does a viticulturist grow?
-------------------------------------------------------
Happy nuptials to Corissa & Brian in San Francisco. This means that every friend I made while living in Connecticut back in 2000 is now married. If you want to get married, go live in Connecticut.
-------------------------------------------------------
Answers:
-Briard - here's a picture:
-"Black Power Salute" while receiving their medals
-Pippi Longstocking - great books
-Mulberry tree
-John Forsythe
-Waylon Jennings
-Illinois
-Androcles - He was a slave. The lion later recognized him in a gladiator arena and spared his life. The emperor Tiberius was said to have freed them both.
-Balloon
-20 months
-Grapes
Thursday, July 5, 2007
What I haven't mentioned
Despite feeling disillusioned by the current administration, I have managed to have some fun times with new & old friends in the past week. A sample:
Last Thursday, "Rick is 21" lost the last regular-season kickball game. However, we drowned our sorrows with pitchers of beer and had a grand time at $3 Deweys. Despite the loss, we clinched fourth thereby securing a "bye" in this week's playoffs. So, tonight we go to scout the competition, cheer on the underdogs and minister cold ones to the losers.
Last weekend, after watching the Babe Ruth championship game on Friday night (our boss's son plays and we really like watching baseball), Tall Guy and I went to CT for a bbq with some of my old friends (not that we're old, I've just known them a long time). The bbq was at the Dancing Queen's house and her bro, Dreds, was there. He brought with him Guitar Hero 2. Tall Guy and I quickly fell in love with this game. By the end of the weekend we were able to strum our way through "Free Bird," hitting over 80% of the notes. If only you didn't need a Playstation or XBox to play - I would've owned this game by Monday.
Tall Guy's sister, Legs, moved into town on Saturday to enjoy the gorgeous Maine summer. She's lived here before so we didn't have to introduce her to delicious Maine beer, but we can show her our favorite Happy Hour spots (okay, I really only have one, but I've heard there are some great ones :)
We attended a very fun 3rd of July party at a friend's that I wish I knew better. Just as I moved in to Portland last fall, she moved to Atlanta. Luckily, her parents have a house in Falmouth so we got to eat grilled meat (a requisite for parties occurring near Independence Day, see last post), play with sparklers and dance in her mom's living room to some classic songs from the 70s. One of the highlights of the night: one of her mom's friends, a fit man in his 50s (60s even) went up on their second floor landing and put on a show, spanking his own ass with two hands. Fabulous.
And, of course, the 4th of July. Hung with some kickball peeps and had one of the most enjoyable holidays ever. There was beer, lawn games, Italian sandwiches and strawberries soaked in Grand Marnier. Then, despite the rain, there were fireworks. Portland put on a pretty good show and Tall Guy and I watched them under a large tree overlooking the ocean as the rain fell around us. I say again, fabulous.
Last Thursday, "Rick is 21" lost the last regular-season kickball game. However, we drowned our sorrows with pitchers of beer and had a grand time at $3 Deweys. Despite the loss, we clinched fourth thereby securing a "bye" in this week's playoffs. So, tonight we go to scout the competition, cheer on the underdogs and minister cold ones to the losers.
Last weekend, after watching the Babe Ruth championship game on Friday night (our boss's son plays and we really like watching baseball), Tall Guy and I went to CT for a bbq with some of my old friends (not that we're old, I've just known them a long time). The bbq was at the Dancing Queen's house and her bro, Dreds, was there. He brought with him Guitar Hero 2. Tall Guy and I quickly fell in love with this game. By the end of the weekend we were able to strum our way through "Free Bird," hitting over 80% of the notes. If only you didn't need a Playstation or XBox to play - I would've owned this game by Monday.
Tall Guy's sister, Legs, moved into town on Saturday to enjoy the gorgeous Maine summer. She's lived here before so we didn't have to introduce her to delicious Maine beer, but we can show her our favorite Happy Hour spots (okay, I really only have one, but I've heard there are some great ones :)
We attended a very fun 3rd of July party at a friend's that I wish I knew better. Just as I moved in to Portland last fall, she moved to Atlanta. Luckily, her parents have a house in Falmouth so we got to eat grilled meat (a requisite for parties occurring near Independence Day, see last post), play with sparklers and dance in her mom's living room to some classic songs from the 70s. One of the highlights of the night: one of her mom's friends, a fit man in his 50s (60s even) went up on their second floor landing and put on a show, spanking his own ass with two hands. Fabulous.
And, of course, the 4th of July. Hung with some kickball peeps and had one of the most enjoyable holidays ever. There was beer, lawn games, Italian sandwiches and strawberries soaked in Grand Marnier. Then, despite the rain, there were fireworks. Portland put on a pretty good show and Tall Guy and I watched them under a large tree overlooking the ocean as the rain fell around us. I say again, fabulous.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Birth of our Nation, blah, blah, blah
Every year, around this time, we're supposed to wax patriotic. I am not sure what waxing patriotic actually is, but I think it has something to do with taking down the picture of our commander-in-chief from the dartboard, digging out a flag bandana to wrap around your harley and eating a lot of grilled meat.
I really do love the concept of this, my homeland, so I probably shouldn't belittle this holiday. I mean, I am thrilled that we won our independence from England and I heart fireworks, and grilled meat, but it is tough to rally around this holiday when I feel so angered and betrayed by the administration. Here is a great website, Crooks and Liars that I visit and I think that they just say it better than I could, especially the post about impeachment.
I look forward to the day when this country is not being controlled by liars and cheats who think it is okay to do what they want, the people be damned. I believe in democracy. I was not thrilled when my candidate of choice was not elected, but I guess I naively believed that the candidate chosen would do his best to serve the needs of as many people as possible throughout the entire country. Instead, he rewards his friends and covers his own ass while doing whatever he pleases to push an agenda of the few.
HappyBirthday, America.
I really do love the concept of this, my homeland, so I probably shouldn't belittle this holiday. I mean, I am thrilled that we won our independence from England and I heart fireworks, and grilled meat, but it is tough to rally around this holiday when I feel so angered and betrayed by the administration. Here is a great website, Crooks and Liars that I visit and I think that they just say it better than I could, especially the post about impeachment.
I look forward to the day when this country is not being controlled by liars and cheats who think it is okay to do what they want, the people be damned. I believe in democracy. I was not thrilled when my candidate of choice was not elected, but I guess I naively believed that the candidate chosen would do his best to serve the needs of as many people as possible throughout the entire country. Instead, he rewards his friends and covers his own ass while doing whatever he pleases to push an agenda of the few.
Happy
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