dear pen pal*

dear pal,

i CANNOT wait for your arrival! we are going to totally have the best time! and i promise to NOT say “totally” the entire time you are here!

when you arrive on friday, i will be there to pick you up. you are going to stay in my room, whilst mags and i slumber in the guest suite (aka maggie’ room). that way you can have the whole bath to yourself and privacy as well. now, i did move any kind of TV out of the master in an effort to aid my sleeping abilities. however, worst case scenario, i do have my little 13″ and a cable jack in the room… also, i’ve got product (shampoo/conditioner, lotion, hair gunk – even a potential product trial for L&L wating for you in the halls). pack a toothbrush and some mascara…

saturday, not sure how early you will or will want to wake up! this can be our mellow day, just hang out, want to show you around were i live, take you out to the beach! i think you might enjoy sharing the seafood appetizer from catch 31 (aka “the tower of terror”) that i like to take my favorite peeps to enjoy when they visit!

eli says "two big claws up!"

trace's visit

included on saturday will be, hopefully, nice weather (nights not below 50 and days in the 70’s-80’s?) and a couple of nice walks with the magpie and a trip or two for coffee! let’s play it by ear, i know the time change is a bi-otch..

sunday is the go for broke day! i think i misspoke a bit when i said it was 2 hours to DC. i google mapped it today at work, and that says 3 ish hours. but i know we can make under 3 with timing. it would be best to leave as early as you can stand to (you can snooze in the car!). not sure yet exactly where will be the best place to park, but once in the city, we can walk and/or ride the metro to grab a quick, yummy and healthy lunch at one of the 8, 000,000 cosi’s around the city! the washington mall is cool – all the memorials and museums (we can see julia child’s kitchen!!) and a walk to the white house (maggie wants a picture of bo). still not sure where to find the bobble heads….

 

i”ll be driving back home (i actually registered the thought “i wonder what side of the road they drive on in canada?” running thru my brain – don’t be afraid!). we shall sleep.

monday we will attend the super neato lecture for which you are flying cross country. in my mind, i will ask the speaker’s “people” for a brief interview – i know my podcast listeners would totally dig it – but that scares the SHIT out of me! instead, i look forward to a great afternoon, hopefully some great weather and time spen with a new/old friend.

tuesday i will take you to the airport, sending you on your safe journey back home… oh, and don’t think you are getting off without an interview for MY podcast, a plea for advice on recording equipment and, by the way, i need to know what size T shirts the whole fam wears… and KA too. oh, and i have wireless but i know realize i don’t know the “password” to my signal that i had the nerd herd set up for me. so just use mine? its not a mac. sorry

xoxoxo,

your pal from the interwebz

*in the millennium, pen pal = internetz

podcasts and more podcasts

so on the latest lipgloss and laptops , miss airdrie mentions her upcoming trip to virginia (shameless self promotion of upcoming visit from pal from across this great continent) . she and her cohost, kerry anne, also read out some listener mail, and a question from someone asking for podcast recommendations has spurred me to finally start up on a series of blogposts i’ve been meaning to do for quite a while. and i think if i attack it a s a series, i can do a better job than trying to make some exhaustive list, at the end of which i will lose steam and stop linking and all that and what a mess it would be…. sigh…

OK!

soooo… fave #1 must go to….. the aforementioned L&L!

started in 2006, L&L is all the way up to episode #132. currently, the ladies are putting out a show every other week, earlier shows were on a weekly basis (hey, ife happens, people). truth be told, i was a bit worried when my favorite gals went to the bi-weekly (or is it bi-monthly? i never understand how that phrase is supposed to work) format – i was worried that it would be the beggining of the slow fade to black (or sometimes immediate fade to black) that podcasts can be known for – but no! and huzzah for that!

so, the show centers around beauty products and reviews from KA and air, usually some kind of “reality check” topic about beauty or the beauty industry, occasional interviews or guests and some podsafe music to round out the show. Intertwined with all that is the “laptops” portion of the show, that is, the influence technology and science have in their lives is obviously going to permeate the show, making it much more fun, modern, tech savvy and with a POV that is similar to my own.

i must say that i look forward to every episode of L&L – i’ve been listening since its inception (it is the only podcast i still listen to that i started following along with my first iPod!). and thats not only because i had a major heart attack the first time i heard a letter i wrote read out on the air! their canadian roots sometimes give the show an interesting twist, and the general “girl talk” format has provided many a LOL moment…. sometimes in embarrassingly public places….

ultimately though, its the “friendships” if you will, developed over time, with both gals, and listening to the trials and tribulations of theirs lives, how they parallel or completely differ from my own, and the honesty and humour they both bring that makes lipgloss and laptops my “must listen” of this week.

she’s the wiener!*

my on-line pal, kerry anne, was on a canadian TV show last night. sounds like a pop culture type quiz show, and it was bloggers v. celebrity look a-likes:

bloggers won! if you’ve never checked out her podcast, with another internet pal o’ mine, airdrie, please do! Lipgloss & Laptops is fun, informative, and probably responsible for me being on the interwebs in the first place.

you may want to send them letters of gratitude. or not.

* title refers to one of my favortie jokes:

Q. what did the hot dog say when he crossed the finish line?

A. “i’m the wiener!” (throw arms up in the air at end for extra laughs!)

why i’m nearly late for work every morning since i moved

i wake up. i have to walk miss maggie. ideally i would then hop on the treadmill in the buildings gym that is, like, 20 steps from my terrace, then eat a hearty, filling and healthful breakfast. then shower, shampoo and shine! first, however, i check out ALL of the following before i can get out of bed. then it’s like 5:45, mags barely gets a walk and i go to work with wet look. so, in order of their appearance on my favorites list – and in no way exhaustive of what sites i visit and read daily – these are my morning rituals:

• NY Post Page Six gossip column
• Matt’s studioscentral.com - and not just because he likes turtles (there’s also jentasmic!)
• the disney geek boys over @ imaginerding
• yes jennifer AGAIN - well, we’ve known each other since the 7th grade and she’s jentasmic!
• two eonline! sites: the awful truth (some times irritating but i do read every day) and the hum
• KA’s blog - she hasn’t been posting very regularly at all lately and she probably wonders who is the one weird blog hit every day. well, it’s me.
• mouseguest.com – now this can be a trouble spot. i often get caught up in getting some autographs and checking the forums.
• derek’s blog – i like his writing and pics! i sometimes get lost in the geeky MAC stuff, but probably i’ll have a MAC like in 6 months or something…
• talking to air - she just moved over to wordpress and is a somewhat frequent format tweaker – there might always be a surprise waiting. but also she – and KA – of lipgloss and laptops fame, really inspire me to expand into the internets
• the superficial – this is truly a guilty pleasure as often it’s pretty rude and square in the middle of the whole fame frenzy thing that is such a waste of time and energy. but theres always something amusing and well, i like to watch

usually i’m 2/3s down the list when i go “crap!” no gym in the am for me, but i always have the hope that i will get up and do it. or at least get to the serious internet sites etc.. that i do partake in. but usually not..

my crushes – celebrity, girly, and otherwise

one of my top podcast downloads every week had people write in about their celebrity crushes. i have an always changing, contracting and expanding list of crushes myself – some celebrity, some RL, some girl-crushes… i begin my non-exhaustive list here:

• jake weber - hotty hotty hotness! damn! the character of joe dubois is quite possibly the very definition of hotness – smart, sexy, monogamous (!) , and frequently seen looking very VERY post-coital… did i mention hot and sexy with shaggy blonde hair??
• tom colicchio – HOT HOT HOT! i want the hot, bald guy with glasses. who can cook. lay on me!
• george clooney – what kind of link is even necessary
• scarygary – yes, he thinks i am psychotic and i think him an ass. and yet, when i see him, i blush.. from the toes up
• biblioadonis – sorry, angel , he was actually my first #1 fan! again, another married guy, so my adoration remains unrequited, however, in his soul, i am sure he loves tube socks and feathered hair circa 1979
• dan! and eric- this is a junior high crush in the spirit of (the original) eric & carl. jennifer will understand… the completely random honor (!) really! – of getting to contribute to MGW is out of this world! it’s like 7th grade all over again! only without the comb in my back pocket and my chemin de fer outfit.
• KA & Air - these gals have inspired me to no end in more ways then they will ever know.. smart, beautiful, geeky! who knew?
• kittychan!- well, she is my BFF – i’ve known her since way back when and in the last couple of years i have been lucky enough to reconnect on a more continuous basis with her. she is brilliant, strong, awesome, a trailblazer and cute on top of all that (and rockin’ the awesome tattoos!). i wanna be her when i grow up! (cause she is WAY older then me!)
• honorable mention:  margaret cho, tim gunn, DINKS on TV, that other bald guy from craig’s list, any guy from QUEER EYE, kat von d (but too obvious), tattoo boy, han solo (“i love you” “i know”), BB…..

kerry anne wants to know

what’s in your fridge?

the truth may not be pretty.

i am not entirely sure what constitutes food in here.