Greetings from Washington, D.C. on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, where I should be outdoors, but instead am inside blogging.
Elsa was kind enough to let me sleep in until 7:36am this morning before putting her wet nose in my face. My bed is a platform style, so my head is directly at her eye/nose level. My last bed sat up much higher, so she couldn't nose me, but she did have a knack for half-jumping up on the bed, and a wet nose is a more gentle way to wake up.
We had a nice morning at the cemetery and then I had something of a first: using the grocery store circular and using coupons!
Now I know in theory that coupons are a good thing and get you stuff, but I never really paid much attention to them, chiefly because I wasn't the one doing the cooking, nor did I really need to think about watching my money. Well of course that has changed, and so the last couple of weeks I've actually started to pay attention to the ads in the food section of Wednesday's Washington Post. Imagine my excitement when I saw that Harris Teeter was having a buy one, get one free sale and Safeway was having Redskins weekend specials! Conveniently, both stores are only one block apart and both have parking. Highlights of Harris Teeter were the buy one get one free laundry detergent and coffee. Safeway sold me 2 jars of pasta sauce (already on sale for $4) and then threw in two free boxes of pasta. I then used an additional $10 in coupons.All told, I saved over $55 off list prices for things I purchased today, and I am now a confirmed coupon clipper!!!
Spent a couple days in Brussels this week. After running all over in Argentina last week I was in the mood to relax, and I never made it past the cafe on the corner down from the hotel. The evening was spent watching a DVD I checked out from the library (free too - see a theme here??) called The Kingdom with Jamie Fox and Jessica Garner. It started out as a political thriller, segwayed into an action/adventure and ended on a real bleak note that really made me take pause. I actually spent an hour watching the DVD extras and apparently they created a much tamer (tho not happier) ending because they thought audiences couldn't handle the ending as written. I agree!
Sat with some worksheets that my neighbor dogwalker Peter gave me to start thinking about career changes. He works as a career coach and is not cheap, but has agreed to cut me a deal on his hourly rate and work with me ala carte so that I get just the things I want, which are really help with a resume and trying to determine how to package my skills in sussinct language. And he's encouraging me to dream big and not settle for a "stepping stone" job, at least not right away. I've gleaned from my writings that what I really like about my job now is the travel and the freedom I get from not being bound to a desk. But there are quite a few negatives as well and there are all sorts of new career opportunities that would let me travel and not be stuck at a company with its morale in the crapper. I worked on a 747 this week (and will again the day after tomorrow) and we are now feeding business class passengers snack boxes; its totally embarassing when you consider that other airlines, like Continental, are still serving hot meals in coach.. for free!
So that about all the news I have this week. Just lounging on the chaise listening to my tunes thinking the house is starting to feel like home....
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Buenos Aires Part Dos
After a quick shower it was time for dinner.... A steak... a big steak!~
After a bottle of wine (per person.. it flowed like manna from heaven) we walked dinner off and I went to bed.
Arose Thursday to a sunny day full of action-packed activity. Another coworker and I walked downtown to Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest boulevard in the world, for a quick photo op. It wasn't that exciting, but at least I can say I've been there. We stopped by their "Washington monument" called the Obelisk which sits in the middle of the road..
Next, we hopped the subway to the Recoleta neighborhood to visit the Recoleta cemetery.
It felt a bit like being in a leafy neighborhood in a newer part of Paris, complete with lots of dogs:
It is a far different cemetery than the one I am used to walking in. This cemetery (which is younger than the one I walk Elsa in) is chock full of mausoleums and crypts jammed up next to one another. The oldest ones (from the 1830s) are very grandiose (think columns and cupolas) and as time went on some are sold off and torn down, so that now there are hodgepodge of styles ranging from roman and egyptian temples to art nouveau to quite modern. They are arranged in a maze with lots of rows and rows to get lost in. Here are some fun photos from that tour:
Recoleta is also the home of Eva Peron, and of course I had to have my photo taken there.
Then it was back downtown to watch the march of the "Madres de Plaza de Mayo". Every Thursday at 3:30pm, a human rights group marches in the square to keep the memory of alive of the 30,000 citizens killed during the military regime. During the regime, the mothers began to silently march in hopes of learning the whereabouts of their sons and daughters, and today they keep their memory alive in an attempt to bring the murderers to justice. Today there were no riot police.
After a bottle of wine (per person.. it flowed like manna from heaven) we walked dinner off and I went to bed.
Arose Thursday to a sunny day full of action-packed activity. Another coworker and I walked downtown to Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest boulevard in the world, for a quick photo op. It wasn't that exciting, but at least I can say I've been there. We stopped by their "Washington monument" called the Obelisk which sits in the middle of the road..
Next, we hopped the subway to the Recoleta neighborhood to visit the Recoleta cemetery.
It felt a bit like being in a leafy neighborhood in a newer part of Paris, complete with lots of dogs:
It is a far different cemetery than the one I am used to walking in. This cemetery (which is younger than the one I walk Elsa in) is chock full of mausoleums and crypts jammed up next to one another. The oldest ones (from the 1830s) are very grandiose (think columns and cupolas) and as time went on some are sold off and torn down, so that now there are hodgepodge of styles ranging from roman and egyptian temples to art nouveau to quite modern. They are arranged in a maze with lots of rows and rows to get lost in. Here are some fun photos from that tour:
Recoleta is also the home of Eva Peron, and of course I had to have my photo taken there.
Then it was back downtown to watch the march of the "Madres de Plaza de Mayo". Every Thursday at 3:30pm, a human rights group marches in the square to keep the memory of alive of the 30,000 citizens killed during the military regime. During the regime, the mothers began to silently march in hopes of learning the whereabouts of their sons and daughters, and today they keep their memory alive in an attempt to bring the murderers to justice. Today there were no riot police.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Buenos Aires
I sometimes think that perhaps I should feel a larger sense of amazement when exiting the aircraft in a foreign land. I was talking with a coworker with it on the way down south the other night and here's what we agreed:
1. We step into our office and board passengers.
2. We throw some drinks around (and if you're lucky) some food.
3. We read the paper and do some crosswords.
4. We occasionally walk up and down the aisle.
5. We take a nap.
6. We leave the office 8 hours later.
7. Said office doesn't move (at least it doesn't seem to when you don't look out the window).
9. Voila its all over. Sometimes I think that I haven't moved at all and someone just changed the scenery.
But it was nice to see someplace new. I've figured out that I've been on 4 continents this year alone (well 4 1/2 if you count Kuwait as a semi-continental area unto itself. I'm never really sure if its considered Asia or Europe).
It was cloudy and rainy when we got in. I took a nap for a couple of hours and then popped out to tour the city before meeting up for dinner.
We stay near downtown B.A. in an area of renovated piers. The actual downtown is a mishmash of building styles from the belle epoque to art noveau to, well, gaudy and 1950s ugly.
I stopped first at the Casa Rosada to see the balcony where Madonna sang (the guard says its there on the left, but he was awful young and I don't think was there to actually see her).
I walked along Florida Street, the main shopping thoroughfare (some beautiful buildings that they went and ugly-fied on street level and prices that I thought were not all that much of a bargain) and then came to Plaza San Martin (named after the founder of the country. And right at the bottom of the square was this tower - the British clock tower. The name was changed after the Fawklands war in 1982 but apparently everyone still calls it the clock tower.
I hopped on the subway and headed back towards the main square (a 15 minute walk from the hotel) and found a fun march through the square so I stopped to watch.
And then I started hearing the firecrackers and noticed the SWAT team in formation ready to respond and realized that perhaps this wasn't a "happy" march!
So I moved along and walked by this building , which has something to do with the military (either that or the military just decided to use their front lawn as an outdoor museum). I think this was my favorite building that I saw that day....
1. We step into our office and board passengers.
2. We throw some drinks around (and if you're lucky) some food.
3. We read the paper and do some crosswords.
4. We occasionally walk up and down the aisle.
5. We take a nap.
6. We leave the office 8 hours later.
7. Said office doesn't move (at least it doesn't seem to when you don't look out the window).
9. Voila its all over. Sometimes I think that I haven't moved at all and someone just changed the scenery.
But it was nice to see someplace new. I've figured out that I've been on 4 continents this year alone (well 4 1/2 if you count Kuwait as a semi-continental area unto itself. I'm never really sure if its considered Asia or Europe).
It was cloudy and rainy when we got in. I took a nap for a couple of hours and then popped out to tour the city before meeting up for dinner.
We stay near downtown B.A. in an area of renovated piers. The actual downtown is a mishmash of building styles from the belle epoque to art noveau to, well, gaudy and 1950s ugly.
I stopped first at the Casa Rosada to see the balcony where Madonna sang (the guard says its there on the left, but he was awful young and I don't think was there to actually see her).
I walked along Florida Street, the main shopping thoroughfare (some beautiful buildings that they went and ugly-fied on street level and prices that I thought were not all that much of a bargain) and then came to Plaza San Martin (named after the founder of the country. And right at the bottom of the square was this tower - the British clock tower. The name was changed after the Fawklands war in 1982 but apparently everyone still calls it the clock tower.
I hopped on the subway and headed back towards the main square (a 15 minute walk from the hotel) and found a fun march through the square so I stopped to watch.
And then I started hearing the firecrackers and noticed the SWAT team in formation ready to respond and realized that perhaps this wasn't a "happy" march!
So I moved along and walked by this building , which has something to do with the military (either that or the military just decided to use their front lawn as an outdoor museum). I think this was my favorite building that I saw that day....
A crack in the asphalt
Well after a few weeks of hectic activity, I am trying to get back in the swing of writing. Dear Aunt Veronica emailed me the other day asking wondering why there wasn’t anything new in my blog. Well here ya go!
I can’t really tell you where September went but off the top of my head I can’t remember going on any really exciting trips. Mostly I seem to sit in the hotel room and watch tv (yawn).
I did have a nice date last weekend. We went to lunch and then to see the new Ocean hall at the Smithsonian Natural History museum. After having been to some really great aquariums across the country (with real, live animals) this place was a disappointment (from my perspective) as it had exactly one (1, uno, eine) tank of fish: everything else was either dead (in formaldehyde) or skeleton. I’m sure that the youngsters were intrigued (I had to push several on the floor and climb over them to see the cases) but for an adult, it was boring. The Hope diamond room hasn’t changed. Had to push the Asian tourists out of the way there so we could see them (I know that sounds harsh, but having been to Asia and seeing how they act in crowds, it wasn’t a big deal).
But the visual highlight had to be the coffee stop at the National Gallery of Art’s sculpture garden. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t resist:
Was it rude of me not to say anything?
I can’t really tell you where September went but off the top of my head I can’t remember going on any really exciting trips. Mostly I seem to sit in the hotel room and watch tv (yawn).
I did have a nice date last weekend. We went to lunch and then to see the new Ocean hall at the Smithsonian Natural History museum. After having been to some really great aquariums across the country (with real, live animals) this place was a disappointment (from my perspective) as it had exactly one (1, uno, eine) tank of fish: everything else was either dead (in formaldehyde) or skeleton. I’m sure that the youngsters were intrigued (I had to push several on the floor and climb over them to see the cases) but for an adult, it was boring. The Hope diamond room hasn’t changed. Had to push the Asian tourists out of the way there so we could see them (I know that sounds harsh, but having been to Asia and seeing how they act in crowds, it wasn’t a big deal).
But the visual highlight had to be the coffee stop at the National Gallery of Art’s sculpture garden. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t resist:
Was it rude of me not to say anything?
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