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Jan. 13th, 2009 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdymonkeyThursday's festivities involved lunch at Annapolis' Amish Market with my mother, my Aunt Mimi, my Uncle Lee (who comes down from Philly every couple of weeks to do lunch with Mom), my sisters and brother in law (the last three doing so on their lunch break. See previous entry re: Shoofly pie.) I wandered around downtown Annapolis' historic district for part of the afternoon, then Elaine and I had dinner at The Federal House (See crab bisque, stuffed sea bass, etc.)
Friday, I attempted to invite Mom to accompany me into DC, but she was getting her hair done for the wedding and it sounded like it was going to be a Major Production, so I borrowed my sister's car, drove to New Carrollton and took Metro into the city, where it was freezing. First stop was the National Gallery for their exhibit on Pompeii and the Roman Villa. (Attention So Cal readers, it's heading to the LA County Museum in May. (No. I don't have photos - photography was not permitted in the special exhibition.) There's also a new installation in the tunnel connecting the East and West Buildings called "Multiverse 2008" by Leo Villareal, which is pretty cool. Enjoyed the Museum's salad bar, bought a nifty little book called Ancient Rome on 5 Dinarii a Day (finished it on the Baltimore to Chicago leg of the return), then headed down the mall to visit the Freer/Sackler galleries. As usual, my camera did not deal as well as I would like with dim museum lighting, but the Freer in particular has a terrific collection - and I ended up buying a book on Japanese theatrical traditions and another on tea ceremony. Came home and met Elaine and some of her friends for dinner at the Boatyard Bar and Grill. Their blue crab sandwich is a winner.
Saturday was my cousin's wedding. Nice to see everyone and weird at the same time because I haven't seen some of these relatives in a very long time. (I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea of my youngest cousin in Marine Corps dress blues, aviator's wings and captain's bars.)
Sunday, tipped off by my sister Miriam about a clearance sale, Elaine and I hit Coldwater Creek after stopping at Michael's in search of picture frames. I used a couple of my gift cards and got three semi-dressy tops. Elaine bought two of the exact same ones, plus a jacket and some jeans. I also hung out with my brother in law and my youngest nephew for part of the afternoon (the oldest was at a friend's), then we got take out from Squisito's.
Monday Alex (BIL) and I went for a chilly, but nice walk around the Naval Academy campus where I impressed him with my superior knowledge of things military and historical. Unfortunately the naval museum is closed for extensive renovations, but we did visit John Paul Jones' crypt beneath the chapel and check out the smaller exhibit at the Visitor Center, where Alan Shepard's Freedom Seven capsule is a major component. Met Mom for lunch at Grumps, then Miriam drove me to BWI. Arrived on time in Chicago, landed in snow - and watched the board light up with cancellations.
To anyone on my list contemplating a career as an interrogator, I highly recommend that you put your suspect in a chair too small to actually sleep in and leave him there for several hours with nothing but CNN repeating the same six stories over and over again, complete with badly synched closed captioning. . Send a big burly Chicago cop to rouse suspect with a brusque "You can't sleep here" after suspect has devoted a minimum of one hour or more trying to do so while some guy sits nearby having a cell phone argument with a girl friend who appears to be blaming him for being stranded in the airport by bad weather. Make suspect follow Scary Looking Cop on foot the ten miles to the concourse at the far end of said airport. Make suspect pick an empty cot - bonus points if someone blearily looks up and says, "I'm saving that for someone." Leave fluorescent lights on. Leave sound system blaring staccato jazz instrumentals on. Bonus points if some eager beaver uses a floor waxing zamboni during "sleep" period. Rouse suspect at 4 AM.
I didn't get a flight out of Chicago Midway to Oakland until 12:20 PM local time. The good news is that there was room for me on standby, there was a nice graduate student in the seat to my right flying out for an interview at Cal to chat with, and my luggage actually arrived on the same flight that I did.
Even better, I arrived home to find a package for me from Thailand. I burst into tears when I opened it. Several yards of gleaming bottle-green Thai silk, enough to make something out of, and a paperback copy of the Ramayana from Josh and Ellen. I have the most amazing friends.
Right now I'm trying to stay awake until a relatively normal bedtime on Pacific Standard Time so I'm not completely useless. I have, however, emailed Sensei indicating that I couldn't lift my arms to play taiko if my life depended on it.
Friday, I attempted to invite Mom to accompany me into DC, but she was getting her hair done for the wedding and it sounded like it was going to be a Major Production, so I borrowed my sister's car, drove to New Carrollton and took Metro into the city, where it was freezing. First stop was the National Gallery for their exhibit on Pompeii and the Roman Villa. (Attention So Cal readers, it's heading to the LA County Museum in May. (No. I don't have photos - photography was not permitted in the special exhibition.) There's also a new installation in the tunnel connecting the East and West Buildings called "Multiverse 2008" by Leo Villareal, which is pretty cool. Enjoyed the Museum's salad bar, bought a nifty little book called Ancient Rome on 5 Dinarii a Day (finished it on the Baltimore to Chicago leg of the return), then headed down the mall to visit the Freer/Sackler galleries. As usual, my camera did not deal as well as I would like with dim museum lighting, but the Freer in particular has a terrific collection - and I ended up buying a book on Japanese theatrical traditions and another on tea ceremony. Came home and met Elaine and some of her friends for dinner at the Boatyard Bar and Grill. Their blue crab sandwich is a winner.
Saturday was my cousin's wedding. Nice to see everyone and weird at the same time because I haven't seen some of these relatives in a very long time. (I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea of my youngest cousin in Marine Corps dress blues, aviator's wings and captain's bars.)
Sunday, tipped off by my sister Miriam about a clearance sale, Elaine and I hit Coldwater Creek after stopping at Michael's in search of picture frames. I used a couple of my gift cards and got three semi-dressy tops. Elaine bought two of the exact same ones, plus a jacket and some jeans. I also hung out with my brother in law and my youngest nephew for part of the afternoon (the oldest was at a friend's), then we got take out from Squisito's.
Monday Alex (BIL) and I went for a chilly, but nice walk around the Naval Academy campus where I impressed him with my superior knowledge of things military and historical. Unfortunately the naval museum is closed for extensive renovations, but we did visit John Paul Jones' crypt beneath the chapel and check out the smaller exhibit at the Visitor Center, where Alan Shepard's Freedom Seven capsule is a major component. Met Mom for lunch at Grumps, then Miriam drove me to BWI. Arrived on time in Chicago, landed in snow - and watched the board light up with cancellations.
To anyone on my list contemplating a career as an interrogator, I highly recommend that you put your suspect in a chair too small to actually sleep in and leave him there for several hours with nothing but CNN repeating the same six stories over and over again, complete with badly synched closed captioning. . Send a big burly Chicago cop to rouse suspect with a brusque "You can't sleep here" after suspect has devoted a minimum of one hour or more trying to do so while some guy sits nearby having a cell phone argument with a girl friend who appears to be blaming him for being stranded in the airport by bad weather. Make suspect follow Scary Looking Cop on foot the ten miles to the concourse at the far end of said airport. Make suspect pick an empty cot - bonus points if someone blearily looks up and says, "I'm saving that for someone." Leave fluorescent lights on. Leave sound system blaring staccato jazz instrumentals on. Bonus points if some eager beaver uses a floor waxing zamboni during "sleep" period. Rouse suspect at 4 AM.
I didn't get a flight out of Chicago Midway to Oakland until 12:20 PM local time. The good news is that there was room for me on standby, there was a nice graduate student in the seat to my right flying out for an interview at Cal to chat with, and my luggage actually arrived on the same flight that I did.
Even better, I arrived home to find a package for me from Thailand. I burst into tears when I opened it. Several yards of gleaming bottle-green Thai silk, enough to make something out of, and a paperback copy of the Ramayana from Josh and Ellen. I have the most amazing friends.
Right now I'm trying to stay awake until a relatively normal bedtime on Pacific Standard Time so I'm not completely useless. I have, however, emailed Sensei indicating that I couldn't lift my arms to play taiko if my life depended on it.
