random: July 2006 Archives

Yesterday I was looking at DCSportsChick's blog and she mentioned it was her one year blogging anniversary/birthday. (Happy Bloggiversary DCSC!) It dawned on me that I had started doing this about a year ago too. And while DCSC managed to mention her one year of blogging on the actual date, mine is coming 5 days late.

In honor of one year, here's a few lists I've compiled about this blog:

10 random things about blogging

1. I'm still not a good writer. Probably never will be.
2. From DCSC (she's getting a lot of shout outs from me today):

   On a side note, did anyone read the article about bloggers? I wonder if this dude even knows what a blog IS.

   "The average blogger is a 14-year-old girl writing about her cat," said Alexander Halavais, an assistant professor of interactive communications at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.

   No, stupid, that's a MySpace page. Did this guy do any research or read any blogs besides his daughter's? Way to go!

   Hmmm double the age, add a little, and substitute dogs for cat and that could be me
3. I'm not obsessed with my blog. I've read a lot of people's blogs where they've had to "take a break" from blogging because they had become obsessed with it. Every once in a while I think oh I haven't updated my blog in a while, but I don't do anything about it unless I have something to say. Sorry loyal followers, I may go weeks without an update.
4. I've changed the look of this blog three times. First it was some standard template, then it was the blue thing (yeah, not sure where I was going with that), and the eyes have been around since January. Time for an update?
5. This blog has moved addresses once. It used to be at ekota.blogspot.com (which is not a link because now it redirects you to some article on car insurance -- who knew people were cyber-squatting on blog URLs).
6. I recently removed the blogger toolbar from the top of this blog (did anyone notice?)
7. Not everyone updates their blog regularly which is fine. Some people seem to forget they have blogs (hint, hint to some of my friends with blogs).
8. I have 3 other blogs besides this one. None of them are as interesting or updated as often as this one (and this one isn't all that entertaining). No I'm not going to share the URLs with you.
9. There is a fine line between sharing your life with family and friends and having too much personal information on the internet.
10. I LOVE comments! I never get enough comments. I'm like a little kid on Christmas when I see an increase in the number of comments. I know people are looking as some days I have almost 30 people or more look at this blog (and they can't all be me checking for comments, can they?)

10 Highlights from this past year

1. Our Patio! It was the whole reason this blog was started. We still love the patio, it needs to get used more than it does.
2. Three weddings and a funeral. This year we witnessed the union of three wonderful couples and mourned the loss of one great man.
3. Our first cruise. Yeah, we're hooked. We can't wait to go again.
4. My new car. There is only a rare occasion where we miss the space of the SUV. Having to make two trips to the nursery to get the plants and supplies we bought, or our upcoming trip to Maine, or hauling things that are dirty. The XC90 was a tad more comfortable for long rides and there was a bit more space. But even for agility trials, I kinda miss it, but not really
5. Agility updates! Cisco got two novice titles and we brought home ribbons from both dogs.
6. We shared some of the agony of buying a new home.
7. Some steps were taken in moving forward with Ekota Design.
8. I shared my "she's no Martha Stewart" baking skills.
9. Our trip to the Cincinnati Zoo. I will freely admit the only reason this made the list is because I'm an attnetion whore and wanted to call attention to the pictures I took again. And incase you haven't seen enough, all 146 pictures can be seen on Flickr.
10. I began the 12 week challenge.

10 things I hope to blog about next year

1. More home improvement projects. We've been in our house for over a year now and most of the walls are still white and most of our pictures are still on the floor in the living room.
2. Going to a National's Game. We're coming down the home stretch of the second season there has been baseball in DC and I've yet to go to game. Maybe it's some sort of silent protest that the stadium isn't being built in Northern Virginia. Nah.
3. Cisco competing in Excellent. First he has to get his two Open titles of which we have one leg towards our jumpers title. And let's not forget about Berkley getting a title.
4. Visiting Washington, DC. We live so close to DC and we've yet to go to the Spy Museum, the american indian museum, the WWII Memorial, etc.
5. An Alaskan Cruise. hint, hint
6. More successes and progress of Ekota Design.
7. The birth of my friend Kathy's baby girl (coming up soon).
8. A mini trip. I'd love to get away for a long weekend. There is some talk of skiing over new years, but if that falls through, we have to plan a short getaway.
9. More weddings!
10. Me doing a 5K. Yup, you read that right. Me of all people doing a 5K. Notice I didn't say running. Ideally I'd like to run, but I'll be happy just having the courage to sign up for and making it through a 5K.

KermitFan80 has this in her blog and well, since I had nothing to blog, it seemed worth repeating here. Yeah everyone has probably seen it before, but yup, it's still true.

• You say you're from DC, but you actually live in VA or MD, but are too tired to explain where.
• You don't consider exploding man hole covers to be an unusual occurrence.
• You know where the Pentagon really is but never bother to correct anyone about its location.
• When it takes you 45 minutes to drive 3 miles on I-66, 95, 395, 495, 50, 123, 29, or 270, it's a pretty good day.
• There are at least fifteen ways to get everywhere and you know which way to go based on the weather, time of day, current political climate, terrorism road closures, and whether you are coming or going.
• You pay more money in parking tickets in a year than you do in medical bills, college costs and rent combined.
• You know that driving through Georgetown, you will hear the music of the car next to you louder than you can hear your own.
• "I got stuck behind a motorcade" is a common and real excuse for being late.
• "Finding a parking space" actually becomes an appointment on your calendar. (E.g.. 7:00-8:00 Gym, 8:30-9:00PM - find a parking space, 9:00-10:30PM - Dinner reservations.)
• When you say you're going to the mall and you don't mean shopping.
• You never refer to the 'Metro' as the 'subway'.
• You elbow tourists out of the way on the Metro escalators to "gently" remind them to WALK LEFT, STAND RIGHT.
• Going to work early means being there by 9:00AM.
• You don't bat an eye at 500 politicians and businessmen in suits running like their lives depended on it just to catch a Metro that will be followed by another in 90 seconds.
• You call it Tar-je not Target, and are well aware that the one in Alexandria is just a "tad different".
• When Washington National Airport is and will always be "WASHINGTON NATIONAL", not "Reagan National".
• You can tell by people's cars where they live and maybe even what neighborhood.
• You've claimed that there's nothing to do on a weekend night even when you have the entire nation's capitol to explore.
• You have the Metro map memorized, yet act like you don't know when someone asks you how to get to Metro Center.
• You meet someone else who says they're from the DC area and you realize they live two hours away from you.
• You notice that there's been construction on the same stretch of highway for the past 5 years and you've never see anyone working on it.
• You know you've crossed into Northern Virginia, without ever seeing a sign, only because your speedometer goes from 60 to 0.
• You know that Vietnam is no longer in the South Pacific, it's now been re-located to Seven Corners.
• The few times you have gotten lost in DC you have somehow ALWAYS ended up in Anacostia and every road out somehow leads back to Anacostia.
• You realize that I-395 is Northern Virginia's version of NASCAR.
• There is no such thing as North, South, East, or West on the beltway, it's just go "that" way!(Inner circle / outer circle)
• You go anywhere on the Eastern Shore, Rehoboth, Dewey, Ocean City, Skyline Drive, or the Outer Banks for vacation and everyone you meet is from DC.
• Snow means rain to you... Ice on the roads just means that you pay more attention to other cars, but still go 75 mph on the highways.
• You can see the National Cathedral from almost anywhere.
• You know at least 2 rowers.
• You know that Georgetown is NOT only a school.
• You consider Northern VA to be in no way similar to southern VA.
• You know which bridges to cross to get to Maryland or VA.
• You actually know what goes on in Dupont circle.
• You can't go to Tysons Mall without seeing someone you know!!
• You have a few friends who don't know what their parents do...It's Top Secret government work.
• People don't ask you if Chevy Chase is named after the actor.
• You can harmonize perfectly with the alert for "Doors Closing" on the Metro.
• 50 of your senior class went to Mason, JMU, Tech, VCU or UVA.
• You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from DC...

Where x = 2

We flew in to Dulles from Cleveland last night. Went to my cousin Scott's wedding on Friday.

Flight time: 45 minutes

Time spent waiting at baggage carousel number 1: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

I asked they said it takes 45 minutes to an hour to get the luggage. Well, we watched numerous flights come up, wait a maximum of 10 minutes, grab their bags and go. I even went and stood in the lost luggage line just to find out. All they could tell me was it had gotten on the plane. She even started to fill out a lost luggage claim for me. It wasn't just us from our flight. There were others too.

Next time we'll probably drive to Cleveland. We arrived at the airport at 5:15ish, we got home at 10:45ish. 5.5 hours. Time to drive: 6 hours. I think Chris is finally convinced driving to Cleveland isn't that bad...

Pictures from the wedding coming later.