Damn You Williams-Sonoma For Knowing My Weakness

After writing about my last temptation from Williams-Sonoma, I casually cruised the sale site for the after-Valentine's Day stuff, and I ran across this: the Zarafina Tea Maker Suite.

It's 1/3 off! And every reviewer had awesome things to say about it - and rated it 4 or 5 out of 5 stars. And there are separate settings for different types of tea and the strength that you want.

Damn you Williams-Sonoma! I resisted the hot chocolate maker (which is still on sale btw) since I usually only drink it in the winter. But tea? I drink tea all the time! And the Zarafina Tea Maker Suite looks so convenient. And handy. And is such a cool kitchen toy, er, I mean, tool.

Must. resist. sale.price.

Everytime I Hear a Republican Say They Don't Want "Big Giovernment," I Want to Punch Him (or Her) in the Face

Please. Just be honest. It's not that you don't want "big government." You don't want big government in social services or in domestic issues. You don't want government employees handling the duties needed to make the federal government run.

Instead, Republicans just hire the work out to contractors who do the work for profit. And have lobbyists. The following stats were reported by Morning Edition on NPR in Dec 2008.

-Since President Bush took office, the government has doubled the amount of
contracts with industry. The administration paid corporations more than $400
billion last year to work for everybody from the Forest Service to the CIA.

-The administration has given the majority of that contract money to
companies that didn't have to compete to get it — or faced only limited
competition.

-There are actually more contractors handling the war in Iraq
than American troops.

The current batch of contractors have former President Reagan to thank for kicking off the start of the largest number of contractors working for the federal government. Former President Clinton continued the trend, "And then came President Bush, who said "big government is not the answer" and shattered all the previous records for contracting out [work]" (NPR, Dec 1, 2008).

So really, this talk of no big government is a farce. Sort of like John McCain spouting off about how deregulation of the banking industry is good. Deregulation means less government oversight and therefore "smaller government." Yeah, we see how well that's been working out.

So Republicans, think about the spin you keep trying to put to the American public and jsut be honest about what you want. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Democrats took the White House this last election. Or just STFU. Either one I'm good with.

Sources:
Obama To Tackle Explosion In Federal Contracts - NPR, Morning Edition, December 1, 2008.
McCain’s Pro-Deregulation History Exposed, Becoming a Major Liability in the Presidential Race - Rob Kellogg, Government Investment Watch, September 19, 2008.

IMAX: I Love Thee

I'm someone who is willing to travel for a movie in IMAX. I once drove 6 hours each way to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in IMAX in Houston when I lived in New Orleans (and left the now-ex husband home too). (Hey, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Aquarium where Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban played. And to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, "Once you go IMAX, you can't go back!")

I was in training in Houston when V for Vendetta came out and I organize a group of 10 from my class to see it. I flew to Orlando this summer to meet with the parents after two years of silence to hash out the past, and what was opening that very weekend? The Dark Knight. On IMAX. Fucking awesome. I liked it so much, when I flew home, I saw it again on IMAX out in Chantilly at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum a week later. It was that good.

I've got a good history with IMAX. IMAX and I go way, way back. The IMAX Gods have been kind to me.

My point is, I freaking love watching movies on IMAX. So when I first saw trailers advertising Watchmen on IMAX, I drooled in my seat. (And did I mention Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Matthew Goode are in it? I'm dying over here!)

So imagine my disappointment when I looked up my local movie theater (with a newly built IMAX), and found out AMC is NOT SHOWING WATCHMEN ON THE IMAX SCREEN. What the deuce? The local Regal Cinemas and Loews aren't showing it in IMAX either.

Ack! IMAX Gods: You are a fickle lot!

Despite information from here, the closest IMAX theater selling tickets right now is on the other side of Baltimore.

If you aren't from here, you don't know the Northern Virginia/Maryland travel rules. The only rule being, if you live in Northern VA, you never, ever go to Maryland. And vice versa. I think it's because people spend so much time on the beltway going to and from work, the last thing they want to do is get caught in weekend traffic on the same bridges. Just like during the week.

Not only am I crossing a bridge and driving into Maryland to see Watchmen on IMAX, I'm actually driving to the far side of Baltimore to do it (and the Northern VA/Maryland travel rule applies to DC/Baltimore, only exponentially so).

All I know is, I may be a movie geek, but at least I don't have to drive 6 hours each way to see it. Unless, of course, there is an accident on the beltway. Or on I-95. Or both.

In the Words of Stephen Colbert - "Facebook: You're On Notice."

Facebook, I know you've tangled with your users before. I realize the majority of your users are teens and twenty-somethings with some older people thrown in (and pedophiles who have been kicked off of Myspace). And , as a "free social networking service," you make money by selling ads tailored to the individual user.

I had a birthday last month. I'm now on the down side of 35. But I don't think I deserved the following three ads that showed up on my Facebook home page:

"Meet Elite Mature Men!"
"Face lifts!"
"Look 5 to 10 Years Younger!"

So, Facebook is now telling me I'm too picky and has found Elite men for me to meet? (I don't necessarily think being too picky is a bad thing when it comes to the dating department.)

And, really, I don't think I need any face lifts. I even stated in my "25 Random Things" that I want to grow old gracefully. And it's not like I've joined the "I'm Over 40 and On Facebook" group.

So screw you Facebook. With your judgements about my relationship status, my looks and my life.

I just wish I could quit you.

A Gastronomical Bigfoot

Got this from jezebel.com's Fat Chance: A photo of In-N-Out 100x100 Burger from thisiswhyyourfat.com. I can't even image trying to eat all that.

On the upside (or downside, depending on how you look at it), I've only eaten two of the items shown for the month of February: Deep fried cheesecake (so-so) and King Cake (the one shown on the site is the nasty dried-up coffee cake version with a ton of sugar and sugar frosting on top). Neither one I liked (although I do like the filled king cakes - with cherry and cheese, please). And so I can maintain my food superiority and look at horror at the rest of the pictures on the site.

Rated: NSFHC (Not Safe for Heart Conditions)

Sorry About the Lack of Posts

Ditto from the title of the post. I started the first of two courses to complete my MBA last week. The courses are six weeks long, and I'm considered a full time student with the weekly course load. Since I'm actually still working full time, and going to meetings, and resolving to cook more and eat out less, I've been pretty busy.

But April 15 is my very last class for the very last course! I'll be done! At this point, I don't care when I receive my degree - I just want to be done with the classes.

This is after I took a year off. I started and dropped the same two courses about six times. What's the definition of insanity? At that point, I realized I didn't have enough concentration to finish the MBA, get out of the Coast Guard, find a new job, deal with my continuing depression, and figure out where I was going to live.

Now, the dust has settled a bit. I'm pulling out of the depression, I found a new job, I stayed in the DC area, and I got some concentration left to finish the program.

Not sure what I'll do on the last day. (Other than pay the $400 I owe the Federal Government for last year's income). But in the mean time, I'm counting the weeks. 10 weeks to go!

My New Free Toy From NPR

Apparantly, plunking down money on a monthly basis to support NPR here in Washington DC will get you this:

If I'm listening to NPR and hear part of a story, I click the button, and the Radio Bookmark will mark the story. When I get home and plug it into my computer, the Radio Bookmark will automatically find the story and I can listen to the entire piece.

Pretty cool, huh?