tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28627992200476147542024-02-07T20:10:52.918-05:00A Life Of WeAntics. Absurdities. Good, clean fun.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.comBlogger524125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-40613001254114049372016-12-31T17:05:00.000-05:002018-08-27T09:39:44.560-04:00Another Era Comes To An EndBlogger has long been my blogging home. Change is not a favorite activity of mine, but since my entire web presence is now headquartered on <a href="http://www.christinamrau.com/" target="_blank">my website on Wordpress</a>, I'm gonna go ahead and blog there. I've blogged there before for different reasons. Now the reason is to keep it all together neatly as any good Virgo gal should. If I do not like it, I'll be back, but the plan is to like it and stick with it and keep it there for good. Because if I don't that would mean more change, and even a change back is not a favorite activity of mine. So thanks, and farewell. <br />
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Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-59672278840260618512016-12-27T12:41:00.000-05:002016-12-27T12:49:26.911-05:00Fake Gingerbread Fake VillageA warning upon the notion of misrepresentation: when you see articles and blurbs on Time Out New York and such about how you simply need to go to Madison Square Park to witness in person the fantastically fun Gingerbread Village to celebrate the wintery holiday season, and even when you click on said articles and blurbs and view the pretty pictures, do not add it to your Must List. Instead, add it to your If I Want To Waste Hours Of My Time List. In fact, simply add it to no lists. Click away, walk away, build your own gingerbread house.<br />
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Flashback: Last year, <a href="http://alifeofwe.blogspot.com/2015/02/never-too-old-to-learn-science.html" target="_blank">S and I spent a lovely day learning at the New York Hall of Science while also taking a stroll down Gingerbread Lane</a> which is exactly what it said it was: a lot of gingerbread houses built across a wall of the museum.<br />
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Flashforward: S and I stood on line for over an hour in the cold during SantaCon to walk through a gingerbread house that was not real gingerbread nor was it a village.<br />
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Village: <span class="dc_bld">a group of houses and associated buildings, larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town, situated in a rural area. (Thank you, Bing).</span><br />
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<span class="dc_bld">A <i>group</i>. A GROUP of houses. This is <b>one</b> house. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrVn7Ctr6ANOaTyexUDQjCM3YY0u0mMnCTGwrQSY4689xtoHtEGcQdDZYOEe8eo3z4V3t2QQAbB7QCEl0giNJY_IQHmARaSSO-EjhBMiNAYpAyjpT04oGMtk7hBHCAXsqoQHwNVSPP6A/s1600/01fc791154ec0982f51b90ffda911099162b0f0405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrVn7Ctr6ANOaTyexUDQjCM3YY0u0mMnCTGwrQSY4689xtoHtEGcQdDZYOEe8eo3z4V3t2QQAbB7QCEl0giNJY_IQHmARaSSO-EjhBMiNAYpAyjpT04oGMtk7hBHCAXsqoQHwNVSPP6A/s320/01fc791154ec0982f51b90ffda911099162b0f0405.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Okay, so it's not a village. But it's a house, right? A gingerbread house.<br />
<br />
S was disappointed because it wasn't real gingerbread. Nothing about it was real. Not the ginger, not the bread, and not the icing. I wasn't as let down because I didn't expect it to be real because squirrels and birds would eat it.<br />
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I did, however, expect a group of houses because it's supposed to be a village. I thought maybe there would be even cardboard 2-D houses and then one to walk through. Nope, this was it.<br />
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We stood on line because we were there already. At least we'd get to delight in whatever they thought the inside of a gingerbread house might hold. As we neared the outside, it was cute. Some decoration was questionable, but for the most part, cute.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vDrhPxGHFEsljM36vahHr4RaE6QNnzjCSW1oHedI6-c2j-izSR3nFvFROGg4wdykDOmAVDolMzIxgt7d4CZEm5GcqDnm4xE00BJWeDiWF3r0gWlGwM6P20r6MbhK3ZzkaOYz_XHELKE/s1600/01b311f359bf7826883d3dd9ff046baef4d1b77e7e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vDrhPxGHFEsljM36vahHr4RaE6QNnzjCSW1oHedI6-c2j-izSR3nFvFROGg4wdykDOmAVDolMzIxgt7d4CZEm5GcqDnm4xE00BJWeDiWF3r0gWlGwM6P20r6MbhK3ZzkaOYz_XHELKE/s320/01b311f359bf7826883d3dd9ff046baef4d1b77e7e.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6N-3RG6TNK5qbulGCwXn3ge7IqEKEmWlUUuZRIydGYqYiEUZxT0z5b03iSF0fJYqJixhXANot5sfqFIRgHgI1nUygKHvKYw-1tWzE4iEHefZYAOyA5hbiD8eGRGfzgIFq7_tw4jxGVY/s1600/01bea0d3738b1c9ded79726fa593deb44286ef746f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6N-3RG6TNK5qbulGCwXn3ge7IqEKEmWlUUuZRIydGYqYiEUZxT0z5b03iSF0fJYqJixhXANot5sfqFIRgHgI1nUygKHvKYw-1tWzE4iEHefZYAOyA5hbiD8eGRGfzgIFq7_tw4jxGVY/s320/01bea0d3738b1c9ded79726fa593deb44286ef746f.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're adorable, too.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IeN5brJIfYYEfcxp2mF2fK9laId9B4syhJQB_DH_8JV30gja2PgMitcWdLtoZckC3FjBK1jD3iSW-1K6MZn8K5R_DGET0Q2nyN0Vxgnwon3beJGQOpGk9FKj0N3Kfjb2Z8-DMjIliUk/s1600/01c6941ef8683e84ffdf5023f1f638be0ed10a701e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IeN5brJIfYYEfcxp2mF2fK9laId9B4syhJQB_DH_8JV30gja2PgMitcWdLtoZckC3FjBK1jD3iSW-1K6MZn8K5R_DGET0Q2nyN0Vxgnwon3beJGQOpGk9FKj0N3Kfjb2Z8-DMjIliUk/s320/01c6941ef8683e84ffdf5023f1f638be0ed10a701e.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's that square window in the middle panel that's questionable.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-OQIxHE_vjuMW49vtxfyevtJTKm8HM0LkuM32t3jfa7hjTsS6ldxW6uos4KsxLPy_jTpSf3LGcLbwTXtGnqPyPDeqtQ72fkJopc9foCVi3B1glhsnUj_Hji7Z5wA8ixtGvMFI9sLGV1s/s1600/011bf6c7fd48c9eeb99971296dd0452352e75cc1b2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-OQIxHE_vjuMW49vtxfyevtJTKm8HM0LkuM32t3jfa7hjTsS6ldxW6uos4KsxLPy_jTpSf3LGcLbwTXtGnqPyPDeqtQ72fkJopc9foCVi3B1glhsnUj_Hji7Z5wA8ixtGvMFI9sLGV1s/s320/011bf6c7fd48c9eeb99971296dd0452352e75cc1b2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have a version of this in which I smeared out the guard, but having the guard at the gingerbread house is funny.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIgWYOiOaQJ_DxJjOjbBcPVfNmQgZntU-tkSW9SxzS6SieiS40EgSYAZ2RurOnfDccaT9Xjpw3pVBiQYaWQ1YnX2_mViCrBCttk6X5-zTqsQ1r4HFzj20Xg29bApiBfHBe9taISkRjaE/s1600/016bee7599f396e63efed4ae293ae7ce9e7ae230a8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIgWYOiOaQJ_DxJjOjbBcPVfNmQgZntU-tkSW9SxzS6SieiS40EgSYAZ2RurOnfDccaT9Xjpw3pVBiQYaWQ1YnX2_mViCrBCttk6X5-zTqsQ1r4HFzj20Xg29bApiBfHBe9taISkRjaE/s320/016bee7599f396e63efed4ae293ae7ce9e7ae230a8.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of eight pictures S took of me in various poses.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Ky5TsB41PKVimkfRMo15UBUqk1_6vdcuuArznBXjsSvrmy3tqhoBKJlXpxVC9_cKWhh1rowEC2s6KHV-MvXyMn9bLMFM8HZXvXV6KAOKHUjo8ngE-V3AAZesepaY49laBNtTxQsG93g/s1600/016d2dc808fe70ac57eb7e323064673fa208c7ebce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Ky5TsB41PKVimkfRMo15UBUqk1_6vdcuuArznBXjsSvrmy3tqhoBKJlXpxVC9_cKWhh1rowEC2s6KHV-MvXyMn9bLMFM8HZXvXV6KAOKHUjo8ngE-V3AAZesepaY49laBNtTxQsG93g/s320/016d2dc808fe70ac57eb7e323064673fa208c7ebce.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute</td></tr>
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We wound around to the front and waited some more. I went to check the other side to see if there was anything special around the house. There was not. However, there was this pretty tree next to us.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSWLWvLUuvJT8awJHduLGOH6msyT4HQNIG0O7FtneiNEm2QvaSc5z_IfSHqa3mJqvInYhZFNFF6l-b5cn6bkZ-4YHVUIDTgLbnPrcdRqBlv90s5-Anh_FIpvcU5D_XqVxGzhSRQNcq1g/s1600/01ac32b6a8cd23fcb8534121355f9751d92bb1d5be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSWLWvLUuvJT8awJHduLGOH6msyT4HQNIG0O7FtneiNEm2QvaSc5z_IfSHqa3mJqvInYhZFNFF6l-b5cn6bkZ-4YHVUIDTgLbnPrcdRqBlv90s5-Anh_FIpvcU5D_XqVxGzhSRQNcq1g/s320/01ac32b6a8cd23fcb8534121355f9751d92bb1d5be.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
And across from us were where the hammocks have been outside of the Flatiron Building for a while. However, the hammocks were down; I'm guessing because of SantaCon.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNsGkY6-MEKYzONdHGeqz5DGrNkrmvTgUb14maU0Z5FmCD79zYJvjO_QfWsCTmGSziGZBRp_wNBd8zmevI65JcIFXa80vFWeGLFsQWXRGYEC-l0F8bWdrAvJeq3wvGrkOu2yjqM9xIlM/s1600/01a4314b24c49ddb39bd873a195ddac220c47ffa6f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNsGkY6-MEKYzONdHGeqz5DGrNkrmvTgUb14maU0Z5FmCD79zYJvjO_QfWsCTmGSziGZBRp_wNBd8zmevI65JcIFXa80vFWeGLFsQWXRGYEC-l0F8bWdrAvJeq3wvGrkOu2yjqM9xIlM/s320/01a4314b24c49ddb39bd873a195ddac220c47ffa6f.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SantaCon</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-bcG-CTsRpLvaaYS9xtqVlMy7H2Ha2mOLHy14JSHJ_o-p8jnRx7ObRrscDk6j-iay4ePFyuFIVJPKnCYgpbcK7CRLPTsuG35pts3ZX1Zw5yazMdpcex2zFR0aX-YYIzOY9vSBaZV0N1M/s1600/01ff8f002740837f45e42fdd28d140ed166b5b389b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-bcG-CTsRpLvaaYS9xtqVlMy7H2Ha2mOLHy14JSHJ_o-p8jnRx7ObRrscDk6j-iay4ePFyuFIVJPKnCYgpbcK7CRLPTsuG35pts3ZX1Zw5yazMdpcex2zFR0aX-YYIzOY9vSBaZV0N1M/s320/01ff8f002740837f45e42fdd28d140ed166b5b389b.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please explain.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOHm4WwfTEVmAGlNbKuLnxiUCzUhSbmCp_ekF5feC0d39NXawOTIcXnwKsn5DxUSQxFJoD47Se3Yqrvpg4PzeY8F_HyUusGCfJN_HVH826tdERrsXz_0AiIjCVJlcJe57w4vt3hRFwOs8/s1600/018e29994761735ef25ef38d987bc7dfbd4aa55e97.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOHm4WwfTEVmAGlNbKuLnxiUCzUhSbmCp_ekF5feC0d39NXawOTIcXnwKsn5DxUSQxFJoD47Se3Yqrvpg4PzeY8F_HyUusGCfJN_HVH826tdERrsXz_0AiIjCVJlcJe57w4vt3hRFwOs8/s320/018e29994761735ef25ef38d987bc7dfbd4aa55e97.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hammock holders</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPLx80Hd4t4XdTtc43_y-0ONphWnK22VaUZoE-J3OsntpXJWo7bcQXwQ6nsosgOr1SKDmluJAGQk0P7AhMHqdfVpAa8RTHc3xSAdvp7cpalldzQvMUlPeI9izmwA9vamNOy6ZjQDXoe0E/s1600/011717f82add1183d3d5c4e91813f3f87a64a5bbc0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPLx80Hd4t4XdTtc43_y-0ONphWnK22VaUZoE-J3OsntpXJWo7bcQXwQ6nsosgOr1SKDmluJAGQk0P7AhMHqdfVpAa8RTHc3xSAdvp7cpalldzQvMUlPeI9izmwA9vamNOy6ZjQDXoe0E/s320/011717f82add1183d3d5c4e91813f3f87a64a5bbc0.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cowboy Santa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeMXuLqiN4P_r0u9rZ1W0yQJM394zVnQHbEYDHA6OKtv7bJ0rjdZSnDSmJ6DzCLAFX_7E1WeIka7Y7uZpfEem5af0xKcD20xfWz66r30Ep6UE9OWKFM72uV_cz4ZV5-PWOoVk-HIBYAsY/s1600/0155112b6101207694e1f204d63a56949f47b673b0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeMXuLqiN4P_r0u9rZ1W0yQJM394zVnQHbEYDHA6OKtv7bJ0rjdZSnDSmJ6DzCLAFX_7E1WeIka7Y7uZpfEem5af0xKcD20xfWz66r30Ep6UE9OWKFM72uV_cz4ZV5-PWOoVk-HIBYAsY/s320/0155112b6101207694e1f204d63a56949f47b673b0.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Hammocks Here</td></tr>
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Finally, we made it to the front! And then we went inside! And! Then!<br />
<br />
You know how when you're a kid, you can take an empty cardboard box and turn it into anything you want? Like in 3rd or 4th grade, or maybe it was 5th, I made a time machine out of a cardboard box that probably once held a refrigerator and we used a real doorknob held on with duct tape (which was a really big deal from me because I didn't know you could just go to a hardware store and buy a doorknob) and on the inside were drawings we made of swans based on a book we'd read and a chair. Maybe S has a better memory of this than I do if she was involved in this project, and I think she was. Anyway, it was a cardboard box we turned into something neat.<br />
<br />
Back to the gingerbread house. It was empty. Our cardboard box had more in it than this house. This house had a projector on the ceiling. Instead of furniture made out of gumdrops--even if the gumdrops weren't real!--they had projectors. The guy who pulled back the curtain behind the door to let us in told us that we could stand in front of each projection and move around and the images would move, too.<br />
<br />
So that was it? Motion-sensored projections on the walls of a cardboard box?<br />
<br />
By now, everyone should know my problem with motion-sensored anything. In general, <a href="http://alifeofwe.blogspot.com/2015/05/in-redux-open-letter-to-automatic-doors.html" target="_blank">doors don't open</a>. Just last week, I was at FoodTown. I grabbed a cart and stood in front of the door. It wouldn't open. A woman came up next to me, grabbed a cart, and still, the doors wouldn't open. We both moved back and forth, further away and closer, and they wouldn't open. We expressed our dismay and disbelief until two other women without carts came up behind us and wondered aloud what we were doing. We explained that the doors wouldn't open for us. One of the women walked between us and the doors opened. I exclaimed, You have the magic touch! She didn't answer because, you know, me, so we all shuffled into the store quickly before the doors closed again. <br />
<br />
Also, the sensor light on my garage has not been working at all. It comes on when you swing the car really wide across the street to come into the driveway. Other than that, it doesn't detect anything, and I wind up parking in the dark where the raccoons may lie in wait.<br />
<br />
So back to the gingerbread. I spent a few minutes slinking back and forth in front of the projections, not getting much of a response, while right behind me, the children were jumping and delighting in cartoonish glee. S was not pleased, either.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAR-kL3TudUATa0D37he2mwa9aM_cLv5KeUeAxX_JSub6q6kEZT5deQH7U5qHCcor98lVPtgN3gcNiKOOIln4ywrtWruxTDgtjorIxaU-uWmEQRFWU1bjtj04URqohL-QZri13Gyydtyg/s1600/01c5c42eb8b85dabcbd6c4a8d360908ab54ae67051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAR-kL3TudUATa0D37he2mwa9aM_cLv5KeUeAxX_JSub6q6kEZT5deQH7U5qHCcor98lVPtgN3gcNiKOOIln4ywrtWruxTDgtjorIxaU-uWmEQRFWU1bjtj04URqohL-QZri13Gyydtyg/s320/01c5c42eb8b85dabcbd6c4a8d360908ab54ae67051.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The popcorn pops over the stove.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwZ0v4rUwtdJaNtXAHdMPb-UKpIW5vMlpVdN8DNSOIFssUBel71FXxPmB1nNbaZMk0JfBjdlfdrHsfx4BfeRNSO2Y7kqiDN6ziAIMZaP2nPmhyphenhyphenAIz8bQaCeMgeN3IYgxCl1TMB94Ly-To/s1600/01c7b5dc065ccc5f66ffe58f32698abd4f3f83275f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwZ0v4rUwtdJaNtXAHdMPb-UKpIW5vMlpVdN8DNSOIFssUBel71FXxPmB1nNbaZMk0JfBjdlfdrHsfx4BfeRNSO2Y7kqiDN6ziAIMZaP2nPmhyphenhyphenAIz8bQaCeMgeN3IYgxCl1TMB94Ly-To/s320/01c7b5dc065ccc5f66ffe58f32698abd4f3f83275f.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's a tree that doesn't do anything.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmEJaolQXbO-4NMkqiEnFq3cXhW5fq-gi4p1Z8SKSsBDA5tuFvQFCq1typTOATs378at6lpDkr9TNwXcS_9_JG0zyqVl4VaCWoR_QqssOIJs6tmPG6GRPGTepvy_N8WtQlim-k1CM86qs/s1600/01c156e12e3f016adcc0e8a9834b6e9082e611bea5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmEJaolQXbO-4NMkqiEnFq3cXhW5fq-gi4p1Z8SKSsBDA5tuFvQFCq1typTOATs378at6lpDkr9TNwXcS_9_JG0zyqVl4VaCWoR_QqssOIJs6tmPG6GRPGTepvy_N8WtQlim-k1CM86qs/s320/01c156e12e3f016adcc0e8a9834b6e9082e611bea5.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lollipops whir in a circle.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkaY5kr5yCxt7eKSOwAaSSHF9wUgE9zzZEqdzoUzxabaeQkDuEEPuEfY5WPH-QjRGe6LO7ZvIpR5RvbA0ugd684-nWg5xcc5wfZJblqU-AhJn6GcmQiXJ03FDWha31nEJH1Jjt8nl6O8/s1600/01deb73312c0823ce6c4f93680858d7f714f5a8ad6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkaY5kr5yCxt7eKSOwAaSSHF9wUgE9zzZEqdzoUzxabaeQkDuEEPuEfY5WPH-QjRGe6LO7ZvIpR5RvbA0ugd684-nWg5xcc5wfZJblqU-AhJn6GcmQiXJ03FDWha31nEJH1Jjt8nl6O8/s320/01deb73312c0823ce6c4f93680858d7f714f5a8ad6.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The snowman comes in and out of frame.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTo1JlFidATOMn02aAcsMl2tmL6n3raK7jwRl7BoOyOWjgURLJpvQWYZo9nlQxIJ3eu4D3CznW8Iog8j3OtTNcSiVSws07KEuczbcAuc1Ax9CGqL06z6RjHPtt2B4bck4RDbUzLLHr-g/s1600/01f93dde6eec689a79b6b35edb0a2320a7a15d4381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTo1JlFidATOMn02aAcsMl2tmL6n3raK7jwRl7BoOyOWjgURLJpvQWYZo9nlQxIJ3eu4D3CznW8Iog8j3OtTNcSiVSws07KEuczbcAuc1Ax9CGqL06z6RjHPtt2B4bck4RDbUzLLHr-g/s320/01f93dde6eec689a79b6b35edb0a2320a7a15d4381.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gingerbread man stands up and then his other friends do, too.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYTjGZToWNnz9ma6ETmh8wUFG8yK56utSeB4HN3_0GH_xqFF0WX2jsRQFFxl-NCCqh_ADFggxHbH6cWOzX5Np3rotIwuJg2Gi9Akz06Ug1xueeLPF7wszljcDtDhLn7NunGpVAC3fZrc/s1600/010cc9e1de300974f4633ce89f00fe7a340a0d277e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYTjGZToWNnz9ma6ETmh8wUFG8yK56utSeB4HN3_0GH_xqFF0WX2jsRQFFxl-NCCqh_ADFggxHbH6cWOzX5Np3rotIwuJg2Gi9Akz06Ug1xueeLPF7wszljcDtDhLn7NunGpVAC3fZrc/s320/010cc9e1de300974f4633ce89f00fe7a340a0d277e.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is mostly what I experienced. Nothing happening.</td></tr>
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<br />
There's also a fireplace animation that shows photos people have taken and tagged with #holidayheritage. I have no idea what the hell that hashtag has to do with what we were doing.<br />
<br />
When we came outside, we took a cute picture without the guard.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2KMQ-wCOvgKFHMQthbp5AQm6GJjOMHpsBga1u3vBCz611jhABdzRXniGNCmPrHTH5Iz_6qkXJgsoXrAeoegy-By3fpOh7ClMhNHfkruYtITpTfhQIicskbnX9XFZEIuUXQ-kk5lIVYx4/s1600/0137138eb1c9fdcc392a0db435f8cb845edbefa5bd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2KMQ-wCOvgKFHMQthbp5AQm6GJjOMHpsBga1u3vBCz611jhABdzRXniGNCmPrHTH5Iz_6qkXJgsoXrAeoegy-By3fpOh7ClMhNHfkruYtITpTfhQIicskbnX9XFZEIuUXQ-kk5lIVYx4/s320/0137138eb1c9fdcc392a0db435f8cb845edbefa5bd.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
And then people were asking if it was fun and if it was worth it and S was like, if you want to waste your afternoon, and I was like, well there are cute interactive animations if you like that kind of thing but the line is too long, and S was like, No don't do it, again.<br />
<br />
Then we went to Yamamama to meet up with LH and her sister, and that made it all better. If you plan to go next year to the gingerbread village, you can simply
go to Yamamama and look at the lone standing fake gingerbread house from
across the street.<br />
<br />
To end my day on a fabulous note, I saw this on my way home. <br />
<br />
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It's a dog in a coat on the train.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-80720225583842711262016-12-20T08:00:00.000-05:002016-12-20T08:00:16.097-05:00Zumba Takes A TurnFour dollar Zumba got even better when I finished ten classes and took a class for free. That's right: Zero Dollar Zumba! Just one class, but free is free.<br />
<br />
Every time I go, I learn a new dance, I get my sweat on, and I have a grand old time. Usually, it's a grand old time.<br />
<br />
However, the instructor found a song that says something like, you wanna battle with me? Then the class divides in half and we dance at each other. You know, like in the movie Step Up but with less coordination and more oldness with worse style.<br />
<br />
I don't actually mind the battle so much. I mind what it leads to. Usually a circle that gets us really close to each other. This is at the end of class. That means, most of us are sweaty, and some probably have a stench starting to build. The first time this happened, the instructor was like, It's okay! We all smell! Let's do this! And it was funny. But funny only once.<br />
<br />
In addition to the let's get in a circle, it's been Let's find a partner and dance and then hold hands and then do a soul train and then maybe hold someone's hand again.<br />
<br />
The reason S and I loved line dancing so much was that we didn't have to touch people. The no-touch dances work really well for people who don't appreciate strangers or germs or socially awkward people who know no boundaries. Sure line dancing had a few drawbacks--at the beach, there was a woman who would make us hold hands in a circle, but there were so many people there that we didn't actually have to do it if we opted out. Then there was that time the woman in Jean's class asked us if we would do <a href="http://alifeofwe.blogspot.com/2011/12/if-one-day-i-disappear-look-for-me-in.html" target="_blank">Scottish folk dancing</a> and we were like, do we have to touch people, and she was like, yes, and we were like, nope.<br />
<br />
During the free class, I drank a lot of water, but I didn't want to stop Zumba-ing. Then I thought, okay during battle, I'll go to the bathroom. I waited for the battle song, and it never came. I was relieved that we didn't have to do all that, and then I'd just go to the bathroom during cooldown.<br />
<br />
Except that the instructor decided to do a battle with a new song that doesn't even mention anything about battling. And it was too late for me to go to the bathroom without everyone noticing that I was leaving specifically because of battling. (I'm pretty sure no one would notice and no one would care, but this is me being me, here).<br />
<br />
So I battled against and through until we switched sides. Then the instructor yelled, Find a partner--someone you DON'T ALREADY KNOW! Everyone kind of knows everyone except me already, and the woman I was standing near I'd already danced with so I kind of know her so she couldn't be my choice, and it wasn't an option anyway because was looking everywhere but in my direction. Since everyone knows everyone but me, you may think that everyone immediately bombarded me, jabbing each other to be my partner. Again, this is me we're talking about. Those things don't happen in my life.<br />
<br />
Instead, people paired up with people they were near, and I could tell some people paired up with people they didn't really know, so that was good that some people were following directions. I was, you know, dancing by myself, but then a woman from the front came to the back. She wasn't there to dance with me. She was calling to another woman to come to the back with her and giving a reason for it, but the other woman wasn't listening, so she wound up kind of next to me. I said to her, It's so helpful you're in the front because I've been following you.<br />
<br />
I shit you not. This was her answer: Oh, I, yeah, well, um, okay, well, thank you. And she kept dancing and I kept dancing, but we weren't really dancing with each other.<br />
<br />
Then we all got in a circle really close and then we backed out into a wide circle and then we did that two more times until it was time for everyone to take a turn and dance in the middle of the circle.<br />
<br />
I am not shy to dance in the middle of a circle. However, people were all trying to go at the same time, and I didn't want to awkwardly set foot in the circle when someone else was going, so I didn't dance in the circle. I danced my way to the bathroom as the circle broke up and they started cooling down.<br />
<br />
With all this touching and battling and circling, Zumba is turning into something I enjoy for the first forty-five minutes and then dread for ten. With the price rising next year, I'm not sure how much longer I'll put in the effort to go. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-51254258317764183692016-12-19T08:00:00.000-05:002016-12-19T08:00:18.291-05:00LayersHockey games are fun! Hockey games are cold! Here's how I go to the Ranger Game.<br />
<br />
Period 1: Sweater and scarf, like any normal, fashionable human being.<br />
<br />
Period 2: Add a hoodie, keep my hands in my pockets, put my hood up.<br />
<br />
Period 3: Put on my hat and coat and gloves. Warmth over fashion every time.<br />
<br />
If we go outside, though, I'm super prepared. Like if Eddie and I decide to go see Macy's windows, we're cold but I'm already bundled up.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5-ATA2jyTnKVsjelHLsTsp66gH2Vdwl0hDcYHQwihEKMa_2cAELseOW44e5rcAmMQzNb8nSNcdchNHDj2qCjMiWNtqSaR2E_POcRBxAI7xTzeAre9_1qWT-PB53KS2faBp04mKSB9b3Q/s1600/IMG_7671.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5-ATA2jyTnKVsjelHLsTsp66gH2Vdwl0hDcYHQwihEKMa_2cAELseOW44e5rcAmMQzNb8nSNcdchNHDj2qCjMiWNtqSaR2E_POcRBxAI7xTzeAre9_1qWT-PB53KS2faBp04mKSB9b3Q/s320/IMG_7671.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eddie's Santa Doppleganger</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6UrZdL3T_eGfMWCzMHegpssI5nxMqzu5pmPvXe_o03iIbys7-7u61N5V_i9uqLUGxa7pdsBxr5hOcoSYjYd45SEDs7O98_mL8StTeo6M_Wow0sXIA13MOhchz5ePbDbAquihD5jrjk0/s1600/IMG_7672.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6UrZdL3T_eGfMWCzMHegpssI5nxMqzu5pmPvXe_o03iIbys7-7u61N5V_i9uqLUGxa7pdsBxr5hOcoSYjYd45SEDs7O98_mL8StTeo6M_Wow0sXIA13MOhchz5ePbDbAquihD5jrjk0/s320/IMG_7672.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We look so cute together.</td></tr>
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Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-4759752960645536752016-12-16T13:24:00.001-05:002016-12-16T13:24:21.726-05:00Train Time!One year when I went to Fresh 102.7 in the Park for a free outdoor summer concert with D and T, we almost melted because it was over 100 degrees even after the sun went down. You know, the type of night when you sit without moving and still sweat. It was gross. Fun but gross.<br />
<br />
A fun and not gross time is Fresh 102.7's Holiday Jam! It's in the winter! It's indoors! Yeay! <br />
<br />
Eddie and I went to see Train because seeing Train at a smaller venue is the best way to see train. We were at the Hammerstein, not in the general admission stand in a crowd part, but up in the balcony with the ancient seats part. I actually wouldn't mind paying a few dollars more for them to upgrade their seats to be not broken.<br />
<br />
With a chill in the air, we walked from Penn to Hammerstein in under three minutes and didn't have very long of a wait outside. As a bonus, we got FREE stuff! We got laminates that said Holiday Jam and had a coupon. We also got bracelets that lit up. The guy handing them out was like, Do you want one? <br />
<br />
Want one? I want all the ones!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sQbZoDRMG4iWP-CeiY3tvmuCXmz6xr71KKKXrdduCSa5f_xdxqvB4Z8yG3Vau8EoJolNCfO6WPtRlHIjrJV_nNpSPE-gijHz6IlehiB_ClrAehk0q6Aav0dxmTI-tWnw9ibt99EzMmI/s1600/IMG_7679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sQbZoDRMG4iWP-CeiY3tvmuCXmz6xr71KKKXrdduCSa5f_xdxqvB4Z8yG3Vau8EoJolNCfO6WPtRlHIjrJV_nNpSPE-gijHz6IlehiB_ClrAehk0q6Aav0dxmTI-tWnw9ibt99EzMmI/s320/IMG_7679.JPG" width="240" height="320" /></a></div><br />
O.A.R. opened the show. There was one guy in the back up band we really enjoyed who was in the spotlight because he's from New York and it was his birthday. We liked him because he was dancing and putting on his own show. A lot of the crowd who was cheering seemed to be fans who travel to see them and they knew every song. We knew some of the songs and the rest were entertaining.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2jGNosrFSwVOmdV37QrAzSORiaMgh_MsQpZEgBZcAH9ZqBFfs0c1sUGhfMSsX2noDHxxaNRASfPVZetQynnMUdNtkGAJY7RNUkk996YRwTxlrnd57o2A9iZtWiytEkj_yiYZX6ixS2Q/s1600/IMG_7684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2jGNosrFSwVOmdV37QrAzSORiaMgh_MsQpZEgBZcAH9ZqBFfs0c1sUGhfMSsX2noDHxxaNRASfPVZetQynnMUdNtkGAJY7RNUkk996YRwTxlrnd57o2A9iZtWiytEkj_yiYZX6ixS2Q/s320/IMG_7684.JPG" width="320" height="320" /></a></div>James Bay was up next. We thought it was going to be a little sleepy because he sings "Let It Go," not the song from Frozen, but the one by, well, him, and it's slow. Apparently, we don't know his music very well. He put on quite the upbeat frenetic show and then he sang "Let It Go." Then he covered "Proud Mary" and I kept insisting Tina Turner was going to come out as a surprise guest. She did not. Still, good cover.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFIDcg37FPugYONRsvEFHgxBazldnaOwEI4Jh983mysw1R61sBkirLjofqk_Yg9mSkIyXV2ibcz8dcocH1z7nMmVbF7r5LcreNbEjQoY82BhKQOZgq-VDehu_xqOqocyfMiFSgkVge8A/s1600/IMG_7686.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFIDcg37FPugYONRsvEFHgxBazldnaOwEI4Jh983mysw1R61sBkirLjofqk_Yg9mSkIyXV2ibcz8dcocH1z7nMmVbF7r5LcreNbEjQoY82BhKQOZgq-VDehu_xqOqocyfMiFSgkVge8A/s320/IMG_7686.JPG" width="320" height="320" /></a></div>Right after his set was done, a fight broke out in the crowd. Let me say that again: a fight broke out at the Holiday Jam after James Bay. Seriously, know your place, fight-pickers. It was a short fight. It was stupid.<br />
<br />
Then it was time for Train. The members of Train are all clearly thankful for being able to play music, and they are clearly having fun. They played mostly known songs and they included the new "Play That Song" that a lot of people already know. Pat Monahan then said that the bassist was going to sing a song. But there was also a special guest! Nope, not Tina Turner. Sorry. But it was Matt Nathanson! So close!They all sang David Bowie's "Pressure" and it was phenomenal. <br />
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Free stuff. A bonus Nathanson. This is what the holidays are about. <br />
Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-49634721026113243182016-12-04T11:01:00.002-05:002016-12-04T11:07:53.213-05:00We Know Stuff When We Pay Attention To StuffAnother glorious night of trivia at <a href="http://www.sipthisny.com/">Sip This</a>! So glorious because I put together a spectacular team (which, might I remind you, is my job--to put the team together), and this team did not come in last!<br />
<br />
The topic: Marvel, mostly movies but some comic books<br />
<br />
The plan: Read wikipedia daily to learn everything there is to know about Marvel. Look on YouTube to learn about Marvel (and then stop watching because it's just way too complicated). Read IMDB for everything about all Marvel movies. Look up all of Stan Lee's cameos. Go see <i>Doctor Strange</i>. Write as many words on the answer board as possible so that one word might be the right answer.<br />
<br />
After a month and maybe twenty pages of notes, I was prepared! Eddie was prepared because he has the ability to watch a movie and remember a lot of stuff about it simply by watching it. <br />
<br />
Sidenote: When I watch a movie, I don't know any of the characters' names, and I pretty much forget almost everything it was about except whether or not I enjoyed it. I need to start eating peanuts or whatever it is that makes your memory better.<br />
<br />
Also on the team were D and F. D doesn't pay attention to pop culture anything, so this was not her forte. F said he knew some stuff. Some stuff is better than no stuff, so our team was solid!<br />
<br />
When Eddie and I walked into Sip This, he told me we'd already lost. He saw someone wearing a Captain America jacket in the back. Maybe it's just a fashion choice. Maybe he doesn't even know it's Captain America. Plus, Captain America is on our side because that's the movie we watched on our honeymoon when the weather took a turn towards torrential downpours, so, you know, that matters.<br />
<br />
Trivia started with a question that may as well have been in Japanese because I didn't understand anything it was asking. Then F said, It's <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i>. I was like, oh, yeah, the one movie I decided not to pay attention to. And so the next two questions were also foreign because they were about the same movie. <br />
<br />
Then it took a turn. There was a question and I knew I knew the answer. I wrote it down. We got it right. A point! We got a point!<br />
<br />
And on it went. We got a few right in a row. Then we made up a really good answer for a bonus question: What does Jarvis stand for? I could tell you that Jarvis was in the Royal Air Force, but I couldn't tell you what it stood for, so I came up with Just for the J. And then we all added in words. Turns out, we got pretty close, as noted the trivia host. No points for close.<br />
<br />
In an attempt to earn points on wrong answers, I took to waving my hand in front of the answers like one of Barker's Beauties. I also waved around the whole board, to which the host replied, That's not working but if you flip it around and do tricks, then maybe. I did not flip the board around for fear it would hit someone in the head.<br />
<br />
I also tried smiling really hard and keeping the wrong answer up, which simply led to the host shaking his head "no." <br />
<br />
Eddie completed his self-imposed task of getting one answer right. He knew the thingie the Hulk spoke to was called Blue. Then he exceeded expectations during the written portion.<br />
<br />
Yes, there was a written portion! They gave us the super hero name and we had to fill in the real name and then the actor name. For any actor I didn't know, I wrote Zach Effron because, you know, why not. Also, I now know his name is spelled Zac Efron, so even that was wrong. There were two or three heroes we'd never even heard of. For those, I made up alliterative names like Bill Bobins and Ned Nevers because most real people names of superheros are alliterative i.e. Peter Parker and Wade Wilson (Spider-man and Deadpool).<br />
<br />
The last round was about the comic books, and the final question was about the sinister six, and I knew I had the answer written down on one of my many pages of notes, and I knew that Doc Ock was one of them. So we wrote Doc Ock and then a bunch of other names that may or may not have been actual names of comic book characters. <br />
<br />
When all the points were tallied, we came in fourth out of six. Actually, we tied, which according to the host meant there was no last place because no one came in sixth. Sure, I'll go with that. We got 22 points. The winning team got 77. Hooray for mediocrity!<br />
<br />
The best part about throwing myself fully into the Marvel world was that it's going to be really helpful for my next poetry collection. The one coming out in March is <i><a href="https://christinamrau.com/books/">Liberating The Astronauts</a></i>, which leans towards sci-fi and science. The one I'm planning after is moving towards superheroes, at least in part. Geekery and poetry and trivia--it all falls into place.<br />
<br />
Finally, whenever I start to put a team together, I get a lot of suggestions for trivia in the future, like, I'll be on the team if they have this kind of trivia. So, here are the suggestions even though I have no control over trivia topics:<br />
<br />
1. Chinese History<br />
2. History in general<br />
3. War history<br />
4. Cars, as in the automobiles, not the movie<br />
5. Another Seinfeld<br />
6. Another Disney <br />
7. The Big Bang Theory<br />
8. Music<br />
9. Indiana Jones<br />
<br />
My only suggestion is me winning. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-92028040804591360832016-11-28T09:39:00.002-05:002016-11-28T09:39:11.636-05:00ICYMI: Poetry Has Value For October <div class="tumblr-post" data-href="https://embed.tumblr.com/embed/post/wdxsUp-BQj8W6AxVQmO8IQ/153744491476" data-did="2798a476886dec995a3d3be98374dbe0e13b212a"><a href="http://poetryhasvalue.com/post/153744491476/phv-blogger-christina-m-raus-poetry-payments-and">http://poetryhasvalue.com/post/153744491476/phv-blogger-christina-m-raus-poetry-payments-and</a></div><script async src="https://assets.tumblr.com/post.js"></script>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-11646804627613881042016-11-08T09:00:00.000-05:002016-11-08T09:00:19.609-05:00Trivia: It Finally Happened<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My brother and I teamed up for October trivia at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SipThis/" target="_blank">Sip This</a>. The theme was October trivia. That meant Halloween and spooky movies. That meant we were not going to do well.<br />
<br />
We could've done well. We could've looked up the most basic information about Halloween like where it began and why we carve pumpkins.<br />
<br />
But no. We went in cold. We went in knowing this would not go well. We went in feeling like we could totally not come in last while knowing nothing.<br />
<br />
We came in last.<br />
<br />
We did not know that Halloween started in Ireland. We guessed Mexico after my brother changed his mind from Transylvania to Spain. Notice none were correct. I agreed with everything he said, anyway, and had no guesses of my own. This was about the time he said that if this were Chinese History trivia, he'd be doing better. Note to Sip This: Chinese History Trivia next time.<br />
<br />
We also did not know that people used to carve turnips before carving pumpkins. I don't remember what we guessed. It might have been potatoes. That would make sense considering the Ireland answer from the previous question. It doesn't matter. We got it wrong.<br />
<br />
Also wrong? Almost all our other answers. There were questions about shows like "Salute Your Shorts," which I watched<i> </i><b>more than many years ago</b>, so no, I did <b>not</b> remember that <b>one</b> episode about Zeke the scary guy. There were questions about movies like <i>Corpse Bride</i>, for which I thought to myself, Oh yeah I've always wanted to watch that movie. Then there were questions about movies and shows I'd never heard of ever.<br />
<br />
To be fair, there were also questions about movies I've seen and should have known answers to, and because I have a horrible memory, I didn't remember anything. Like who kills Freddie in <i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i>. Our answer: Jason Voorhees. Which is incorrect. Very incorrect. <br />
<br />
So, you know, we got 11 questions right. Out of like 40 something.<br />
<br />
The tea was good. Very very good. <br />
<br />
Now I have a few weeks to figure out how much I know about Marvel Comics and if I should brush up on what I know. (I should. I might. Probably not.) Gettin the team together....Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-73705889863902688742016-11-06T07:01:00.002-05:002016-11-06T07:01:21.263-05:00I'm Cuuuute! And Cooooold!The Rangers home opener came with a blue carpet pre-game spectacular starting mid-afternoon. Eddie and I got there maybe an hour before the game and still caught a few of the old players walking through and being interviewed. There was a lot of waiting around, but also a lot of excitement. When the sun started setting, I started to get chilly, so we decided to find one of the new entrances to the Garden to go inside since we'd come outside.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sure, go ahead and stand right in front of me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB26zCpACjISJGyJAnID7H8xmkR__Td2NQtdgJpjyITiQlId22_Yts7q-JZVjb6wqWACYHtFqzYFt1J_LNSdhxKBGvhHe4Y8xYEWM7n7SvWfeUf18MXB3uyNiYPN6GzWY2deTEunlgcis/s1600/IMG_7540.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB26zCpACjISJGyJAnID7H8xmkR__Td2NQtdgJpjyITiQlId22_Yts7q-JZVjb6wqWACYHtFqzYFt1J_LNSdhxKBGvhHe4Y8xYEWM7n7SvWfeUf18MXB3uyNiYPN6GzWY2deTEunlgcis/s320/IMG_7540.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Finding the new entrance was easy because we were wearing Rangers gear and I made a friend. We were walking down the street near Nick + Stef's restaurant and we heard "You two, over here! Right over here!" A guard at the door waved to us, very excited. He might have been 87, give or take a year. We got closer and he pointed at me and shouted, "You're cuuuuuute! She's cutttte!" Eddie was laughing and I said thank you and he kept it going as we went through the door and up the stairs: So cuuuuuute! You've got a cute one!!!!<br />
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I don't care how old I get. Cute is cute. I'll take it. <br />
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Where we went in, there were no crowds, barely any lines, and we found our seats right away. They were too close. <br />
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<br />
Too close means a few things:<br />
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1. It's cold.<br />
<br />
2. When the puck hits the glass, it looks like it's coming towards your face.<br />
<br />
Too close.<br />
<br />
Also, the level we were on didn't sell waffle fries, so we had to take a long trip around MSG to find the waffle fries and then had to take the long trip back. The trip isn't so long that it's not walkable. I'm talking long because we took some time trying to figure out how to go up and then how to come back down. Escalators. Stairs. Doors. Lines. Navigating the Garden takes some skillz.<br />
<br />
Before the game, they had a ceremony for the Rangers celebrating 90 years. For that, the seats were good.<br />
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The game started. We were excited. I was cold. The game got more exciting. I got more cold. By the time the third period began, I'd stopped talking and moving because I was frozen in place.<br />
<br />
The Rangers won. Yeay! A small price to pay for a freezer headache and finger frostbite. Yes, it was that cold.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pre-frozen cuteness</td></tr>
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<br />
I tried again. I love going to hockey games, so I sucked it up and went again, and this time, we were sitting in Eddie's season tickets seats. These seats? Were too close. I think there's a vent that's directly straight towards my face, and if I move, it moves with me. I'd come prepared. I'd layered up with a long sleeved shirt and a hoodie pull-over. <br />
<br />
Between periods, we left our seats to roam. It was a little warmer out there. However, by the end of the second period, I was an ice berg. We went into the store, and that, too, was cold. One of the sales people pointed out, "You look cold." That's far from cute, now isn't it.<br />
<br />
We went back in to watch the third period. The game was really fun and exciting (despite the jerk who was a row ahead of us who was screaming all drunken nonsense to the players who couldn't hear him). I put my hood up. Then I proceeded to slowly wrap the hood halfway around my face. The Rangers won. Yeay! I got to leave. Yeay!!<br />
<br />
So here's the plan. Next time, I'm wearing long sleeves, a hoodie, gloves, a scarf, and a hat. I am not joking. Third time's a charm. Plus, I'll look adorable.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-1412982457043333252016-10-26T17:16:00.001-04:002016-10-26T17:16:09.774-04:00ICYMI: Poetry Has Value September's Roundup <div class="tumblr-post" data-href="https://embed.tumblr.com/embed/post/wdxsUp-BQj8W6AxVQmO8IQ/152297091281" data-did="b950b2ee3a933acbcdf8d7325aafd8a0f6129170"><a href="http://poetryhasvalue.com/post/152297091281/phv-blogger-christina-m-raus-poetry-payments-and">http://poetryhasvalue.com/post/152297091281/phv-blogger-christina-m-raus-poetry-payments-and</a></div><script async src="https://assets.tumblr.com/post.js"></script>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-20645364630263197792016-10-17T11:45:00.001-04:002016-10-17T11:45:21.232-04:00Trailer 2 for Liberating The Astronauts<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Nq6Rr-VmtE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-28231462140096753452016-09-27T18:02:00.002-04:002016-09-27T18:02:45.799-04:00In Which Putting The Team Together Was The Only Thing I Knew<i>Star Wars</i> trivia is as intimidating as it sounds. You may think you know <i>Star Wars</i> until you meet those who really do know <i>Star Wars</i>. Then you can be like me and know really nothing about <i>Star Wars</i> and still enter into <i>Star Wars </i>trivia, and then really hope to win. <br />
<br />
My officemates-turned-trivia-team joined together once again to compete. I was helpful in that I wanted to win. I also nodded a lot to support the team. I knew not one answer.<br />
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In fact, this is what happened right before heading to trivia:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6p9xEBYnM_88t8sx8faXAc7_joDWM6OZ5rolmPayq1bkVIjnKxQgqGOhXcDVHYU0lyD8TAQaIZQYG5ujNPF9e0mr6C6la5sJzRlCzrJzEUorA9FBiKOI6DurNz-9vJ_00EQEBYwqw5_M/s1600/IMG_7489.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6p9xEBYnM_88t8sx8faXAc7_joDWM6OZ5rolmPayq1bkVIjnKxQgqGOhXcDVHYU0lyD8TAQaIZQYG5ujNPF9e0mr6C6la5sJzRlCzrJzEUorA9FBiKOI6DurNz-9vJ_00EQEBYwqw5_M/s400/IMG_7489.PNG" width="225" height="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidy5ozRg7AjkTdlSIMB5XYVtZyAlZWonP-U2sU8HOyY-bYiAaD6LgRw69r3ww6cnxi-k_WWOo4XYH2T-WtG4CIx8wihTTrzqv5vns_XORzeBN1yjzY1P2D00nBh7fBVxqOUh_yL4MnZoM/s1600/IMG_7490.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidy5ozRg7AjkTdlSIMB5XYVtZyAlZWonP-U2sU8HOyY-bYiAaD6LgRw69r3ww6cnxi-k_WWOo4XYH2T-WtG4CIx8wihTTrzqv5vns_XORzeBN1yjzY1P2D00nBh7fBVxqOUh_yL4MnZoM/s400/IMG_7490.PNG" width="225" height="400" /></a></div><br />
I also was very supportive when my teammates challenged certain answers. Supportive here means helping to catch the attention of the hosts and then again nodding feverishly at their claims. I'm very good at, "Yes, what they said!"<br />
<br />
When people challenge, it can get heated. Teams start countering as to why the challenge does not make sense. The hosts cringe a little inside. The thing about my team is that we all teach for a living. We are so used to a room full of people sending dagger eyes our way that challenging is really no biggie. We lost the challenges for the most part. I turned to my teammates, and seeing their faces, I realized that it was quite possible they were heading home to watch hours of Star Wars just to make sure the right answers were really right.<br />
<br />
The tea I had was delicious. We came in not last. So, you know, mission accomplished. All good things happen at <a href="www.sipthisny.com">Sip This</a> trivia night.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-18662389491660172992016-09-21T16:10:00.003-04:002016-09-21T16:10:52.871-04:00ICYMI: Poetry Has Value for August <div class="tumblr-post" data-href="https://embed.tumblr.com/embed/post/uKMVenu91o-iYyw0T50LlQ/150739778164" data-did="29e61c09054089dc40f50392bfa1148ab1887a32"><a href="http://christinamrau.tumblr.com/post/150739778164/phv-blogger-christina-m-raus-poetry-payments-and">http://christinamrau.tumblr.com/post/150739778164/phv-blogger-christina-m-raus-poetry-payments-and</a></div><script async src="https://secure.assets.tumblr.com/post.js"></script>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-56728439086151896712016-09-20T08:00:00.000-04:002016-09-20T08:00:33.965-04:00Trailer for Liberating The Astronauts <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AOATCxNxhA0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-60909036016101297472016-09-19T16:47:00.000-04:002016-09-19T16:47:07.865-04:00Another Virgo Day<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixCHWgRKElBuOxa8eLVSUoZeltf4zKIsEwocxINBAlpd1jCSn6siFU4zR1YrpXzVS-RzpiTPVtffOOk8qGefYbrGvUZ_yGbeHxeBNioL1m4AV7GAWJaqYnYn1zGwYzROTSRvNwAOAZUZk/s1600/IMG_7336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixCHWgRKElBuOxa8eLVSUoZeltf4zKIsEwocxINBAlpd1jCSn6siFU4zR1YrpXzVS-RzpiTPVtffOOk8qGefYbrGvUZ_yGbeHxeBNioL1m4AV7GAWJaqYnYn1zGwYzROTSRvNwAOAZUZk/s200/IMG_7336.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Bing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I had to work on my birthday. That doesn't seem like a big deal, but I haven't worked on my birthday in I can't remember how long. I went in early to take a workshop in how to use a system I already know how to use (incidentally, I screwed up something on that same system this past week--woopsie). Then I taught.<br />
<br />
When I came home, I found balloons in different rooms and happy birthday signs <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3W4pkhdNRxnAE4cJbM409R67n0d7y52DI1cnEhdhXwqKnjEzIFUXkopCFVP76ztHnNOUivhV-1eWRMXP8ADhLxkhs9ZJa7_vm4uebxJRSpBcuVocJogHm1pi0t7iFsL31Wh3ftBZzIbQ/s1600/IMG_7334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3W4pkhdNRxnAE4cJbM409R67n0d7y52DI1cnEhdhXwqKnjEzIFUXkopCFVP76ztHnNOUivhV-1eWRMXP8ADhLxkhs9ZJa7_vm4uebxJRSpBcuVocJogHm1pi0t7iFsL31Wh3ftBZzIbQ/s200/IMG_7334.JPG" width="150" /></a>and a card and a gift bag with bubbles in it. Does my husband know me or what? (Also, I have the wish list of a two year old). <br />
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When he came home, I squealed about all my balloons and signs and bubbles. Then we headed to Beginnings, a book-themed restaurant in Atlantic Beach. We had to pay a toll to go over the bridge because I couldn't remember how to avoid the bridge. This was so dumb.<br />
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Anyway, the restaurant has the best waitstaff in the history of restaurants. Also, the best decor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZjHfCfim26x9TDx_NTb8JaPrlxyoWKRkxproKFRtz7w4s4MU_6Zfnyi5AinjK6WDZm8CqXs-JUKhp4cdAcz_QvkRLClJ6CoTGP0KM0fPDrB2a1IDHGsaXet_XOCRuWIBAej0_XXQ5_E/s1600/IMG_7345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZjHfCfim26x9TDx_NTb8JaPrlxyoWKRkxproKFRtz7w4s4MU_6Zfnyi5AinjK6WDZm8CqXs-JUKhp4cdAcz_QvkRLClJ6CoTGP0KM0fPDrB2a1IDHGsaXet_XOCRuWIBAej0_XXQ5_E/s320/IMG_7345.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For $75, you can attend a food and cocktail pairing of five courses based on a book theme!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitvbDa36aktjTUU0h3NuPz1prFxBPOYg5OJcTHSaPrthDU7KTowMZU6jHpj6lM7jDQAkxnJfeVs_wBHg9u9AGmLDuEpcZke0dW673tgWykKKWOo0_eDW-kCwo7J36YLreoEPDGE1ut7A/s1600/IMG_7346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitvbDa36aktjTUU0h3NuPz1prFxBPOYg5OJcTHSaPrthDU7KTowMZU6jHpj6lM7jDQAkxnJfeVs_wBHg9u9AGmLDuEpcZke0dW673tgWykKKWOo0_eDW-kCwo7J36YLreoEPDGE1ut7A/s320/IMG_7346.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Any menu with a typewriter is a menu for me.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1lR0yyPOvazJCWlTTBFIrcDFuqU0mR8gBsw_09LoNjHSILb8uQsV3OwKwmhS6z-mqjgVlJLePvc5OibvBjC2WPeEGXZv62z8AAB8Yl2J0oQWT3fT2RJ_4dtZzvl9ylZSSGURlQ_HjIY/s1600/IMG_7355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1lR0yyPOvazJCWlTTBFIrcDFuqU0mR8gBsw_09LoNjHSILb8uQsV3OwKwmhS6z-mqjgVlJLePvc5OibvBjC2WPeEGXZv62z8AAB8Yl2J0oQWT3fT2RJ_4dtZzvl9ylZSSGURlQ_HjIY/s320/IMG_7355.JPG" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Random London phonebooth</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJva304QD3HTbJkt54jy5cJR0TgAuJzo_tEU8-qAb0zxW1SPHOGn4ksMoA3uMfcu3PzX2y2fKvJQuPpu84mbfwmfb_nzMzbp4KvDXGktdB-DknBH0mFBiBxYMHVmHMn5l6WfsmxDoRRI8/s1600/IMG_7358.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJva304QD3HTbJkt54jy5cJR0TgAuJzo_tEU8-qAb0zxW1SPHOGn4ksMoA3uMfcu3PzX2y2fKvJQuPpu84mbfwmfb_nzMzbp4KvDXGktdB-DknBH0mFBiBxYMHVmHMn5l6WfsmxDoRRI8/s320/IMG_7358.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9y2hlWaokn9iYIeyZDJeXLHOwj9N_9QA0PK51x8gDwEOE0D9nVo4B7Jjm75X2up6RMNBguMaF4Sj9xyEifY3vSo9AzOaB5AeSbWYqA9LU6eJzaSbR7OujGPaOFg5o_nChDk0qwe2IG0/s1600/IMG_7359.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9y2hlWaokn9iYIeyZDJeXLHOwj9N_9QA0PK51x8gDwEOE0D9nVo4B7Jjm75X2up6RMNBguMaF4Sj9xyEifY3vSo9AzOaB5AeSbWYqA9LU6eJzaSbR7OujGPaOFg5o_nChDk0qwe2IG0/s320/IMG_7359.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gPJh0jmkTQKjHxYSvuXSVVuS4r0pfiOWEEol47mD347BD_QLGYUej4X2EoV9jdZC4NOY7CC-NtTpr1XB4Z5dAlRbu2F06QPWK7RQj-I-EAdzGdMzldOgr93BtAmfW7ZW14YDzCf9JWA/s1600/IMG_7361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gPJh0jmkTQKjHxYSvuXSVVuS4r0pfiOWEEol47mD347BD_QLGYUej4X2EoV9jdZC4NOY7CC-NtTpr1XB4Z5dAlRbu2F06QPWK7RQj-I-EAdzGdMzldOgr93BtAmfW7ZW14YDzCf9JWA/s320/IMG_7361.JPG" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The check comes in this! It makes you excited to pay!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5tRmpC6HM7-NVl5nwVos_yUe_5DIdG8WqmYiLN1xpJZikK4jag54CxH-jeJqsZPXP1pGuifXcJkpPTBK0Fqk048ny1cGY1Jc-UrO1Wy8uJOLU1FjnWlUwijqmKcsy6Jz1t-XU2VEH9A/s1600/IMG_7365+%2528Edited%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv5tRmpC6HM7-NVl5nwVos_yUe_5DIdG8WqmYiLN1xpJZikK4jag54CxH-jeJqsZPXP1pGuifXcJkpPTBK0Fqk048ny1cGY1Jc-UrO1Wy8uJOLU1FjnWlUwijqmKcsy6Jz1t-XU2VEH9A/s320/IMG_7365+%2528Edited%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author portraits</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
I've been getting kind of courageous lately, sipping some beer and booze here and there. Beginnings has cocktails named after literary things. I had to drink. I had a DaVinci Code. It was amazing. <br />
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Also amazing was the food. And the dessert. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My husband could be a professional dessert photographer. This is peanut butter goodness with a fried banana, nuts, and chocolate and more nuts.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Posing for prom, apparently</td></tr>
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We went to my parents afterwards to open presents (I like presents) and eat cake but we didn't actually eat the cake because I had already eaten the dessert at the restaurant and neither of us likes ice cream cake. I blew out candles, though, because, again, I am a child.<br />
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Then, the next day, I got mini cupcakes at work because my colleague who ran the workshop found out it had been my birthday and decided that cupcakes make a birthday better. Yes, yes they do.<br />
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Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-27436965565813348532016-09-16T16:13:00.000-04:002016-09-16T16:13:09.486-04:00Freebie Collection Day!Right after my birthday, I travel around to various stores, collection my free birthday things that I've been offered through signing up for newsletters and joining free VIP clubs. I love this day, Freebie Collection Day. Eddie thinks of it more like Anxiety On The Verge Of A Heart Attack Day. His ideas about free stuff and my ideas about free stuff differ a little bit.<br />
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On my actual birthday, I went to Dunkin Donuts on my way to work and got a free iced green tea.<br />
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The day after my birthday, I went to Starbucks and got a free tall iced caramel macchiato. I could have gotten a bigger size, but with the amount of sugar that drink has, I was fine with the tall. I didn't want to go into sugar shock. When I ordered, I explained that I couldn't find the birthday offer on my app, but it had been there the day before. The cashier wished me a Happy Birthday and said that it would come up when she scanned my card. Then she wished me a Happy Birthday again.<br />
<br />
On Freebie Collection Day, I started at Roosevelt Field. I got a free cleanser from Sephora. I had a choice between that and an eyeliner/lipstick combo. I've never had a choice before! The cashier wished me a Happy Birthday twice. This was fun.<br />
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I then visited Teavana for a free sample of tea. This is not birthday related. I simply always go there for a free sample. Then I headed over to David's Tea for the same reason. There, I actually bought something. They had travel tumblers on sale, marked down from $10 to $5, and that included filling it with what would be a $4 cup of tea. I paid for it with a birthday gift card, so, you know, free. And now that I signed up with a frequent buyer card, I got another free tea that I can go get, plus <i>another</i> free tea for finishing my profile. Two more await. All free. All for me. I also found that Jamba Juice has free samples, so I tried two flavors there. Yum.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chatting with the Teavana gal</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Being sold by two David's Tea staffers</td></tr>
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Up in the food court, I hunted down where I could get a Chock Full O' Nuts coffee. The coupon I had said that I could get a $16 oz coffee in the food court, but there wasn't a Chock Store anywhere. Then I saw that one of the salad places sells that kind of coffee. I asked them if I could redeem my coupon there (while Eddie stood about a mile away from me). The cashier looked at the coupon all puzzled. Then she showed it to a manager. They both came over and told me I had to go to the place outside of La Bottega. So I asked, Even though the coupon says specifically to come to the food court, I have to go to the other place? They said yes. I said, Ok thank you!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me haggling</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Over in the corner, there's a pow wow going on.</td></tr>
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So I headed over to the grill across the way that also sold Chock coffee. I showed it to the cashier. She didn't know what to do, so she showed it to the guy flipping chicken on a grill and another guy standing around doing what seemed to be, well, simply that--standing. There was a lot of conversation about this whole coupon. Then someone came out from the back, and they all showed her the coupon. She read it a few times, and then she said, Give her a cup of coffee. It was less of a Happy Birthday coffee and more of a Just give her a coffee dammit, but still, free is free. <br />
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We went to Green Acres mall for the second round. I had a coupon for The Pretzel Maker. The deal there is to buy a medium or large drink, and you can get free pretzel bites. Last year, the cashier gave me sort of a hard time, but then gave in. When I approached the counter, Eddie whispered, It's the same woman from last year! I wasn't sure that it was or not, but I was certain that after last year, I'd get my pretzels without a problem. I'd buy my drink with my birthday gift card, and it would all be free.<br />
<br />
I showed the cashier my coupon, and she said, I don't know.<br />
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How do you respond to that? There was no question asked. The paper clearly explained the whole deal. So I went about explaining the whole concept: I did this last year. I come here, I hand you this coupon, I buy a medium drink, and you give me pretzel bites with it. Just scan the coupon. Look, your address is right here. It's your store. Okay?<br />
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She instead told me, I don't know. My manager isn't here.<br />
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I said, You don't need a manager.<br />
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She looked at the coupon and then asked, Is this your phone number?<br />
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I paused for a moment and then responded, No, it's <i>your</i> phone number. Like, for this store.<br />
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So then she asked for my phone number. I gave her a fake one because this was getting weird. She then asked what I wanted to drink. I asked for a medium lemonade, which would run me a little over $2. Then she told me the total was $4.69.<br />
<br />
I wanted to respond, I don't know, but instead I asked, How is it $4.69 if the drink is only $2?<br />
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She was like, I told you I don't know, and waved the coupon at me.<br />
<br />
So she asked for my order as if she would accept the coupon and then charged me for the whole order, though I'm not sure what she did exactly because pretzel bites are not $2 also, so the total should have been higher than what she said. I think she was making things up.<br />
<br />
I politely took back my coupon and asked that she cancel my order. I went over to Eddie, who was standing about a mile away looking mortified, and told him I couldn't get my pretzels. He told me to write a very strong letter. I said I was already doing so in my head. (later on, I wrote an email to the company telling them that if they put a store on their coupon, they should inform the store of the promotion--the store doesn't have to participate, but then don't put it on my coupon. They responded by telling me that the stores are independently operated so they would alert the store of the issue. Meaning I'm not getting my pretzel bites. For shame, The Pretzel Maker, for shame!).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxHLPhd_s1LOBj3kQcP3DMm051CqUJ4ZE0wAbttBnDC3yNAC94JTGXWeMyNpiPAfcWOK7FFj9UVBNfJR_GYpu_VzQEd5SoLEQFaiwcqIdtuJ6nvUM02qSvgVoq-K4nzOazDs1s0Oyij0/s1600/012320dfc37eff3737cbefcf57433f7bf0908bbd1d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxHLPhd_s1LOBj3kQcP3DMm051CqUJ4ZE0wAbttBnDC3yNAC94JTGXWeMyNpiPAfcWOK7FFj9UVBNfJR_GYpu_VzQEd5SoLEQFaiwcqIdtuJ6nvUM02qSvgVoq-K4nzOazDs1s0Oyij0/s320/012320dfc37eff3737cbefcf57433f7bf0908bbd1d.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The approach</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEDBlULaZYiB-jKjIst72u9AJQfvD0C2CrCBm39KX5aQuzRLMqcOj349yDPn2OWkK_O_4sQLIVICtncADbcjfTce4aCSNp7PWeJ1HT0mv-GuLNxO7MMoniC7KsOGHn2Dgctr9Wfe97Xo/s1600/01030331fdac8da2cf70cc7ece4b1dde69d9db0b91.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEDBlULaZYiB-jKjIst72u9AJQfvD0C2CrCBm39KX5aQuzRLMqcOj349yDPn2OWkK_O_4sQLIVICtncADbcjfTce4aCSNp7PWeJ1HT0mv-GuLNxO7MMoniC7KsOGHn2Dgctr9Wfe97Xo/s320/01030331fdac8da2cf70cc7ece4b1dde69d9db0b91.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The explanation: It says it right here on this coupon.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Th9aCw3XfJztJLf5C-qK1LKX8rq2_JV1wa0kXGRDwvmXLzm3AcjLOVqKdV52lg3t3VR_vijgxsPZigwR3yc3aokpMrQ0WDbqy7j1m-vY7RqH5KBymd0DjSCjmwrdPQwtfbxTEABxxEs/s1600/013a2a35a921dc82af83ca61868133140a5cb5ea4e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Th9aCw3XfJztJLf5C-qK1LKX8rq2_JV1wa0kXGRDwvmXLzm3AcjLOVqKdV52lg3t3VR_vijgxsPZigwR3yc3aokpMrQ0WDbqy7j1m-vY7RqH5KBymd0DjSCjmwrdPQwtfbxTEABxxEs/s320/013a2a35a921dc82af83ca61868133140a5cb5ea4e.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The confusion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We walked over to Panera. I told the cashier I was there for my birthday treat. She wished me a Happy Birthday and told me to choose any baked item. I had another choice! I chose a large festive candy cookie.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdaRSVkher7lYxmhWoWuZnW7_k6yxlD4zXZnAl0loJxCouVtu4qLhDUaw6NgWYFoQffjwfgw-NfdQRCxF3VgowSX_VbXTiGp0al8TSWXRfPU4pV3A_ZZty9sgLfHctHPy9dFne4pGhyRM/s1600/0191ad584d86a28a0a4deb3e729933b6e6aa0e4238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdaRSVkher7lYxmhWoWuZnW7_k6yxlD4zXZnAl0loJxCouVtu4qLhDUaw6NgWYFoQffjwfgw-NfdQRCxF3VgowSX_VbXTiGp0al8TSWXRfPU4pV3A_ZZty9sgLfHctHPy9dFne4pGhyRM/s320/0191ad584d86a28a0a4deb3e729933b6e6aa0e4238.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Easy Peasy at Panera (also I'm noticing my ass looks like a box in this skirt)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then we went to Baskin Robbins a few blocks away, and I got a free small scoop of chocolate chip ice cream. The cashier wished me a Happy Birthday.<br />
<br />
I brought the cookie and the ice cream to my parents to enjoy. I told my brother that I would have had pretzels for him but the cashier "didn't know." He was okay with that.<br />
<br />
Yesterday I took my coupon for a free Fribble to Friendly's. The cashier saw what was in my hand and told the other worker behind the counter, It's a birthday coupon. So I was like, Oh, you've seen this before! She was like, Happy Birthday, by the way. The other worker was like, Happy Birthday, and I was like, Can I have a chocolate Fribble please? Then she made a chocolate Fribble and handed it to me, telling me to enjoy the rest of my birthday. I brought it to my parents for them to share.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirhKzHot7g7knfA2-SqoqX-MNcH1ubaOonrdnIZOHAU4khcMDLK5ZblcDAXsqY8qlwjxbbHwx_n0i9uOf9ytyXTyIoWw_y9JRPWh5OXNHSeLPTjdbSbDY-XEVZV8efWAIkk7_shTw7M40/s1600/IMG_7397.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirhKzHot7g7knfA2-SqoqX-MNcH1ubaOonrdnIZOHAU4khcMDLK5ZblcDAXsqY8qlwjxbbHwx_n0i9uOf9ytyXTyIoWw_y9JRPWh5OXNHSeLPTjdbSbDY-XEVZV8efWAIkk7_shTw7M40/s320/IMG_7397.JPG" width="256" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0CViQgUouazPB5vTDXCXzK_tyamvYlStntUkctMzfmo2ZP-5pWSNGKplWP8G8u4GCs-158bxhWQnup8FF_QtqXfljrgJzy1DqX-I0Ura29NysyrAfmi6fCDS6FJXt1RmZQsxcMGPecHU/s1600/IMG_7398.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0CViQgUouazPB5vTDXCXzK_tyamvYlStntUkctMzfmo2ZP-5pWSNGKplWP8G8u4GCs-158bxhWQnup8FF_QtqXfljrgJzy1DqX-I0Ura29NysyrAfmi6fCDS6FJXt1RmZQsxcMGPecHU/s320/IMG_7398.JPG" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go right ahead...I bet you can't even try to tell me this isn't the most adorable picture you've ever seen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I also handed over my free meal from IHOP. I had my Pancake Revolution Anniversary last month for which I had a different free meal, so I probably won't make it to this birthday one. I have to see if they'll change my anniversary date so I can space out my free meals.<br />
<br />
You see, it's not that I want all these free things for myself. I want to share the love. And I want people to continue to wish me a Happy Birthday.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-34755493855297006262016-09-02T14:18:00.001-04:002016-09-02T14:18:49.457-04:00Why This Whole Verizon Fios Thing Is A ScamI have Verizon Fios auto pay. My most recent bill arrived and it was 80 dollars more than usual. Apparently, the contract had expired without them notifying me it was about to expire.<br />
<br />
Then came a chain of phone calls, each more interesting than the next because each person told me something different.<br />
<br />
I was told, you know, it's right on your bill when the contract expires. To which I responded, I have auto-pay. To which he responded, but you can click the link to get to your bill. To which I responded, I have auto-pay so I don't have to click a link to get to my bill.<br />
<br />
What I'm saying here is that they should send a separate email that says, Hey your contract is about to expire--call us now to renew!<br />
<br />
Instead, they send you a bill that's 80 bucks more than what you've been paying and expect you to pay it.<br />
<br />
Eddie spoke to the first guy who said we have a plan that no one else has. We knew that. We knew eventually we'd have to pay more. Someone messed up our order and gave us a plan that didn't exist about four years ago. However, two years ago, we called to renew the service, and they still offered us incentives. It went up, but not $80. So this guy told us we'd have to pay over $200. No, we didn't want to do that. So then he offered something else, adding HBO and Showtime in but taking out other movie channels that we don't watch. It was still pricey. He told us we could email him directly to take the quote he'd sent.<br />
<br />
I sent back a negotiation and asked him or a supervisor to call me back. <br />
<br />
Then I called. I got someone different. I told him about the plan the previous guy explained to us. This new guy said the first guy probably wasn't looking at our region because Showtime and HBO come with the our TV bundle and are not extra. Then he gave us options and other prices, offering a $35 incentive (as opposed to our previous $65 discount that no one else in the world had). Okay, that seemed doable, but we needed to do some math.<br />
<br />
We'd been looking at HBO Now and Showtime online to see the price difference if we ordered those channels separately, only for the months we'd use them. The cost would have worked out if we opted for a smaller channel package, but then I'd lose some channels I actually watch while keeping channels I've never watched in six years.<br />
<br />
I want to be able to pick and choose my channels instead of having bundles and packages. That has to be coming soon, right? Otherwise, no one will have cable and everyone will stream through Netflix and apps.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I asked this guy to call me back on Monday if we could keep the price he emailed me. He said that was completely doable.<br />
<br />
He didn't call me on Monday, so I called on Tuesday.<br />
<br />
The first guy I spoke to said that I hadn't had a contract since 2014 and he couldn't do better than a $25 discount. I told him it didn't make sense because we'd called in 2014 once our contract was up and renewed it. How else were we receiving service in the past two years. He understood my question and didn't have an answer for it. He couldn't really do anything, so he transferred me to customer service. He was a really nice guy, laughing and joking, but he had no authority to do what needed to be done.<br />
<br />
The second guy listened to my dilemma. He told me that he couldn't replicate what the guy a few days ago had done. He said that sometimes the offers that are emailed expire. So I said, Then when I asked if the deal would be good on Monday, the other guy should have said No. This guy was like, I can't say one way or the other about that.<br />
<br />
I asked for a supervisor. He said that he really didn't have the authority in the system and no one would be able to give me what the offer was because the programming didn't work that way. The choice was gone from the system. I asked for a supervisor. He told me he would transfer me but the software wouldn't allow anyone to do what I was told I could do. I asked for a supervisor, explaining that this exact thing happened two years ago--someone offered us something that didn't exist, put it in writing, and then they had to honor it and someone worked with the system to do it. He put me on hold.<br />
<br />
He checked in with me several times because the hold time was really long. He asked if I wanted to hang up and they'd call me. I was like, I'm staying on the line, thanks.<br />
<br />
Then I got a supervisor. She went into the system. She saw that someone was supposed to follow up (she suggested the guy might be out sick because the follow up was noted as missed). She found the emails that were sent. She was like, Yes I can do this for you.<br />
<br />
She added on a sports package that we'd pay for in addition to the original quote, but then she gave me a five dollar discount for a year that she found in the system. She had me on hold for a long time because she had to figure out how to put it in the computer properly. I gave her two phone numbers. She gave me her name and what office she was in and said she was the only supervisor there with that name, so I could track her down through Customer Service if needed. We hung up.<br />
<br />
Five minutes later (bringing this process to well over an hour), she called back, emailed me the deal, stayed on the phone as I clicked through the process, and then we happily ended our phone call.<br />
<br />
The cable companies work in the same way all big for-profit companies and financial government organizations do. They make the process tedious, confusing, and frustrating. They send you in circles. They tell you all different things, most of which are wrong. They send you things in writing and then say, nope, that was a mistake. They offer you the world and then you wind up paying for the world and Pluto. They want you to get tired and then in the end accept the raw deal.<br />
<br />
But they don't realize that I've got all day to talk on the phone. I'll talk and talk and talk. I'll passively-aggressively ask over and over for the same thing until I get what I want. I'll play the game. I'll jump through the hoops. I mean, come on. I got tenure AND sabbatical. This is totally my bag.<br />
<br />
However, maybe if they would make it simpler, they'd have a much better outcome. Happier customers who keep coming back and paying for quality service.<br />
<br />
And if that doesn't happen, I have thirty days to switch to Optimum.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-56451946747452303252016-08-31T19:40:00.000-04:002016-08-31T19:40:10.281-04:00Wahlburger BummerWith as much reality tv that I've watched, I haven't watched Wahlburgers, but my sister-in-law does. One of the highlights of her visit back to New York was that we'd all go to Wahlburgers in Coney Island. So after a long day out in the sun, riding rides and playing games and winning stuffed things, we went over to Wahlburgers.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFobXlrlhO-C54OLptCUV_a36XSD-jBWXB-Xwi6eCvQG2rftaoOTcHi9ULuxHUZzrOOV7Ndy114ZTNI6SEwNMviSiwX5GgzAT94oS5vKjPIj3-PK8gPCI3eJvc9O0Fhz7pUQz5bim6io/s1600/IMG_6708.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFobXlrlhO-C54OLptCUV_a36XSD-jBWXB-Xwi6eCvQG2rftaoOTcHi9ULuxHUZzrOOV7Ndy114ZTNI6SEwNMviSiwX5GgzAT94oS5vKjPIj3-PK8gPCI3eJvc9O0Fhz7pUQz5bim6io/s320/IMG_6708.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Later that day, I sent four emails. I sent one from my AOL account to a customer service email for the restaurant in CI. It got bounced back. Then I sent it from my Ymail account. It got bounced back. I sent the email to the customer service for the company itself from my AOL account. It got bounced back. Then I sent it from my Ymail account. Then it got bounced back. So then I took to Yelp:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The wait outside around 5 PM took less time than what they told us,
which was fantastic. They took us into the dining area on the first
floor where tables had been put together for us. There was one other
group in the restaurant who already had their food.<br /><br />We ordered quickly as there was no line, and then we sat and waited. We had three children with us who patiently waited as well.<br /><br />We
asked several times about our food order as we waited. Nothing seemed
to be happening. The staff was very friendly, but still, we were hungry
and thirsty.<br /><br />Our food--a few burgers, a turkey burger, some mac
and cheese, and fries--took 40 minutes to come out. That wait time seems
rather long, especially when waiting with children after spending a day
outside. [We checked at the counter several times, and each time they said it was coming soon].<br /><br />The food unfortunately was not all worth the wait. The
portions were terribly small for the price range, but we could deal with
that had the food been delicious. It wasn't. The burger in the
Thanksgiving Day sandwich was really bland as were the Sweet Potato
Tots. On the plus side, the sauce and squash on that sandwich were very
good. <br /><br />Overall, the experience was underwhelming, especially
after planning to eat there for months as we waited for my in-laws to
finally arrive. I hope that future customers have a better experience.</span><br />
<br />
On Yelp a few days later, I got an answer from Wahlburgers:<br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">Hello
Christina. Giving our Guests a great meal experience is our primary
goal. If you could message us the date of your visit we'd like to
investigate further. Thank you for the thorough feedback.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">So I messaged them privately. A week later, I updated my Yelp review to add this:</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">*Update: I messaged the business here because they asked me to, and no one ever got back to me.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">About three days later, I got a message in my private Yelp inbox from a guy named Mark, apologizing that no one got back to me, asking for my email.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><a href="http://alifeofwe.blogspot.com/2016/05/sabbaticalling-weekly-roundup-20-end.html" target="_blank">So you know how at the end of May I found a new best friend named Sinbad because Sinbad responded to my tweets?</a> Yeah, so I immediately realized that this person apologizing and asking for my email was my new best friend, Mark Wahlberg. Not that Sinbad was being replaced. No, Mark Wahlberg and Sinbad were now my Co-Best Friends. It's a thing. Don't judge.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">So here I am with Mark Wahlberg extremely concerned that no one responded to my issues with the restaurant. What to do? I sent my email addresses, explaining that he should email me at both because I was having a problem with bounce backs from his company.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">Wouldn't you know it? Mark Wahlberg emailed me back at both, asking me if I got his message.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">I did, and I asked him for this thoughts.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">He replied that I should call him on Monday. He gave me his phone number.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">Also, I should point out that Mark Wahlberg was cleverly disguising his identity by using a fake last name. So while Mark "Smith" was emailing me, I knew it was really Mark Wahlberg, my new best friend who is my Co-Best Friend with Sinbad. </span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">I called him on Monday. The first thing he did was give me his cell phone number. That way, if I was back at the restaurant and something was going wrong--even if I saw something that didn't concern me--I could call him and he'd immediately contact them to make it right.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">This guy? Is no joke. Imagine, juggling movies, television, family, and the management team at the Wahlburgers in Coney Island.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">I should point out that Mark "Smith" Wahlberg was cleverly disguising his identity by using a fake voice. Maybe it was computer generated. Maybe it's his mad acting skillz. Whatever the case, he did not sound anything like the Mark Wahlberg we hear on any screen anywhere. Gosh, my new best friend is so talented.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">So he asked me what happened, and I recapped what I'd wrote. Then he asked, So no manager came to you to explain what was going on? I was like, No, Mark "I Know Your Real Name Is Wahlberg and You're Using A Fake Voice" Smith, no one told us what was happening.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">He sighed a very exasperated sigh. Clearly, he was unhappy. The reviews across the board are really bad. There are some reviews that give 5 stars on some sites, but for the most part, it's just really bad. He explained that they'd already switched the way they do service so that there's no more ordering at the counter. I said it was a great change. He also said that re-training was on the way. I said that was a great idea.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">Then he said that to make things right and so that we could have the experience they wanted us to have, we could go back any time as his guest. He told me we should go on a Friday night to watch the fireworks from the rooftop. That sounded great to me.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">A few weeks later, I emailed him to ask if the offer still stood. He said of course it did, cc'ing the general manager to let him know we'd be coming and when. He asked me to let him know how things went the next day.</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">Eddie and I showed up. We dined. We left. </span></span><br />
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<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable">The next day, I emailed him this:</span></span><br />
<span class="js-expandable-comment comment-truncated" data-component-bound="true"><span class="js-content-toggleable"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Dear Mark [I know your name is Wahlberg],</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Thank you for having us as your
guests at Wahlburgers in Coney Island last night. We really appreciated
the chance to experience the rooftop and watch the fireworks. Great
views!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'm including this next bit of
information not as a complaint but in the hopes that it helps you
improve the restaurant. We unfortunately encountered several issues
again. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The wait staff could be more attentive.
Our server rarely came to check on us in the nearly three hours we were
there. It seemed he may have had too many tables to serve. When he did
come over, he was very attentive and friendly. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Getting
drinks, a water and a Coke, took over ten minutes. The Coke was not
good so we ordered a Sprite additionally, which was fine.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We waited for our food for over half an hour, but that wait time seemed typical for all the tables.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If
ordered the mushroom sandwich, asking for no onions and the sauce on
the side. I thought the sandwich tasted funny after a few bites. I found
onions in it. The sauce never came (again the server didn't come over
so I couldn't ask for the sauce or point out the onions. I should state
that our server repeated No Onions to me as he wrote it down, so the
problem was in the kitchen).</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNbB1NSyHddaElKn1mnkMVGe35MR8bC04RzAuhEFcKZGqBcIMH-8KTQyhv5wGeK3UAEP48DXeRgpbwEEf2RCEuzjtfTiOjt-RPsZDs-5RFC5e0r08UnHPUF9ksPJmA2wab_nybk5Qyi0/s1600/IMG_7271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNbB1NSyHddaElKn1mnkMVGe35MR8bC04RzAuhEFcKZGqBcIMH-8KTQyhv5wGeK3UAEP48DXeRgpbwEEf2RCEuzjtfTiOjt-RPsZDs-5RFC5e0r08UnHPUF9ksPJmA2wab_nybk5Qyi0/s320/IMG_7271.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ONIONS!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">My husband said his burger was ok.</span></div>
<div>
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</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The fries seemed as if they were made of plastic. The tater tots were good, so I wound up eating those.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We'd
been finished for at least 20 minutes before the server took our food
and we called after him for a dessert menu. He strongly suggested the
Fluffanutta, so we ordered that.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It took a half hour at least for dessert to arrive, but our server checked in with us to apologize and say it was coming. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In
the meantime, someone who seemed to be a manager came over and asked us
how everything went. I told him about the onions on the sandwich. He
said, Sorry about that, and then asked if we needed refills or if we
wanted dessert. We said we'd already ordered dessert, so he suggested we
have it with ice cream as he walked away.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The
dessert was pretty good. The server found out and explained that the
runner had tripped while bringing the dessert up so it had to be made
again (we hope the runner is ok-- we saw them all hustling).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So
that was our night. I know the restaurant is still fairly new, so
hopefully you can work out the issues. Again, I appreciate your taking
the time out to listen and to do your best to make it right.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
He emailed me right back, obviously exasperated (I mean, he's dealing with this AND producing <i>Ballers</i> AND maintaining his physique), explaining that they'd hired a consulting company that was going to retrain all the management and then the rest of the staff, and that my input would be really helpful.<br />
<br />
The staff isn't the problem, clearly. I mean, they hustle and they are friendly. They also seem to be running around like maniacs more than they should. It's clearly a managerial problem considering the manager's response to my having the wrong order was to run away while telling me to order ice cream. He had no idea that our meal was going to be for free anyway; he should have offered the meal or a dessert comped. The waiter was the one who knew and he made sure we had everything we needed right through to the end (even though everything took about 38 minutes in between. Yes, we left a tip. We're not savages.<br />
<br />
Although it wasn't a great experience, I'm coming out of this one completely on top. After all, it's not every day a gal can have the greatest Co-Best Friends in life. Me and Sinbad and Mark, BFFs!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-35015638103195845732016-08-30T10:48:00.002-04:002016-08-30T11:03:29.007-04:00Tasty Pop-Up MuseumThe Whitney offers contemporary art in a super modern building next to the Highline.<br />
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<br />
Across the street, there's a warehouse-type building that offers ice cream.<br />
<br />
It's simple. Buy tickets. Wait outside on line. Answer ice cream trivia while you wait. Tell everyone your favorite flavor. Eat Dove chocolate. Eat Nerds. Basically, while you're on the line, they treat you like you're a 5 year old so you don't get too antsy.<br />
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<br />
Then you go inside and you eat ice cream.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxMly0kBJSYxRzMvmmC96qOXTeEm1zLrSSBFUC1A9g952FubRfEOgxjdsieMolo8h0pr89mfBJkRGc4Ltb9ag' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Then you look at ice cream art.<br />
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Then you eat an ice cream flavored balloon but only if the ice cream balloon machine is working. It wasn't working when we went, but we still got to look at the ice cream cone wall.<br />
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Then you contribute a scoop to a larger ice cream cone in the hopes of being part of a world record of greatest number of scoopers to create an ice cream cone. Then you learn more about ice cream by reading what's on the walls and listening to the guide.<br />
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Then you wait in a chocolate room that's pretty dark. I suppose it's a dark chocolate room. Get it?<br />
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Then you go swimming in a pool of sprinkles. You can eat ice cream toppings from the containers on the wall when you're done.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPRu3ifj4K5HAmnuIn79lq-eS0AdIZLRZANRMy2syucPzkq7x7slp-sY3pDkLH5E-lZ5ya8bSDiR4KHsv1LVLqjV_evetDgBkIi6_7GHn8OwO0ecDG6HtcsdokzaQ57xp3wdXVD16XUGQ/s1600/IMG_7189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPRu3ifj4K5HAmnuIn79lq-eS0AdIZLRZANRMy2syucPzkq7x7slp-sY3pDkLH5E-lZ5ya8bSDiR4KHsv1LVLqjV_evetDgBkIi6_7GHn8OwO0ecDG6HtcsdokzaQ57xp3wdXVD16XUGQ/s320/IMG_7189.JPG" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slightly scared of sinking in and not getting out</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Then you go into the next room where they give you a small sucking thingie to put on your tongue. And you do it because you're in the Museum of Ice Cream and not at Woodstock or a rave, so you don't question if it might be the bad acid. Then you take an ice cream cone from the wall of ice cream cones. Hands appear with cones that go into cone holders, and you take one as it appears because you're in the Museum of Ice Cream. Any other place, this would be creepy. Here, it's delightful.<br />
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<br />
You suck on the lemon and lick the ice cream. Remember that thing you were sucking on your tongue? That's supposed to counteract the sourness of the lemon and the ice cream. That did not work for me, but everything was still delicious.<br />
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Then you go into the ice cream playground and see saw and swing and love love love.<br />
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Then you leave with sprinkles in your pants, leaving a trail behind you down the street, on the train, in the car, and everywhere until you shake everything out at home.<br />
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The Museum of Ice Cream wins. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-3280806957036659812016-08-19T09:00:00.000-04:002016-08-19T09:00:06.974-04:00Wood<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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Anniversary Weekend means...</div>
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<br /></div>
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Wearing my harlot wedding shoes in 100% humidity<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3LN4K8rLuQ8PN57IB3FiMHK8QNXQAkkXcNueLxXYmHakYIKHteRd5dW75YD85TOaMNOkDoqD-lEBEL_m0WZZLjswO8iopgMQZQqol_mYOR2-RPYWfD6xMxei46_LFgztS9T6EMiFjqM/s1600/IMG_7094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3LN4K8rLuQ8PN57IB3FiMHK8QNXQAkkXcNueLxXYmHakYIKHteRd5dW75YD85TOaMNOkDoqD-lEBEL_m0WZZLjswO8iopgMQZQqol_mYOR2-RPYWfD6xMxei46_LFgztS9T6EMiFjqM/s320/IMG_7094.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Giving each other cards and wood-related items for our wood
anniversary (he got me a mug that has a photo of wood on it and I gave him a
toothpick)</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Visiting Tanglewood, which is now overgrown and even worse
in humid weather<br />
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Heading to Plan B Burger in Stamford for what Eddie calls
the best burger he’s ever eaten in his life<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1nndSR5wOFDRLBbGTmZWqXSncgRbcCVVRIzrRs3t7Au7_mhKEiaiLmPsvQpjNdghD7SUHFXRDBcSBDHO2gWXLZ4NyyJVrazccozZaCm9av806YebJah-imaFCBOgmXjVUOG-jv-9xwV8/s1600/IMG_7120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1nndSR5wOFDRLBbGTmZWqXSncgRbcCVVRIzrRs3t7Au7_mhKEiaiLmPsvQpjNdghD7SUHFXRDBcSBDHO2gWXLZ4NyyJVrazccozZaCm9av806YebJah-imaFCBOgmXjVUOG-jv-9xwV8/s320/IMG_7120.JPG" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back to CT</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPQTzKP45kG5rXbbD4FTLxm0jZn6NC6I0nS9USTwubbKqU82_81ktZuCryt0W4hyJ2NLWdepD5mUrLvRxfYqO7qd9RSAk35JVslXeaf6P6uiT7StrXugHJqupDNNUqJs8B7exz41QQt50/s1600/IMG_7122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPQTzKP45kG5rXbbD4FTLxm0jZn6NC6I0nS9USTwubbKqU82_81ktZuCryt0W4hyJ2NLWdepD5mUrLvRxfYqO7qd9RSAk35JVslXeaf6P6uiT7StrXugHJqupDNNUqJs8B7exz41QQt50/s320/IMG_7122.JPG" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the road, not Kerouac style</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcLr8S1EQkCtxRAGeLrJc8LkIrKUH1XeBbIcX7r6kc_nE14z5Ya5z6v3t2mWyyKQOca51SzwebmD7MX1YIiOnOsshJdrtoPDi8G_JOm6b74bPwKIVlOweD4AKsrHx_3fvxeSSxEQiSEU/s1600/IMG_7103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcLr8S1EQkCtxRAGeLrJc8LkIrKUH1XeBbIcX7r6kc_nE14z5Ya5z6v3t2mWyyKQOca51SzwebmD7MX1YIiOnOsshJdrtoPDi8G_JOm6b74bPwKIVlOweD4AKsrHx_3fvxeSSxEQiSEU/s320/IMG_7103.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhtSutt6Z80_hv6lk7iQOn8dKmKJt5-3La2cNrxbuigsm6K_hBkYpjUCIy78wNuGojCq8KhyphenhyphenPNsRLSmbnirIXAa4DHLOvDaiQ66TJCW7YpQhHfLhtmWrpREa2s1zqpx26GWOGVNDgLEU8/s1600/IMG_7104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhtSutt6Z80_hv6lk7iQOn8dKmKJt5-3La2cNrxbuigsm6K_hBkYpjUCIy78wNuGojCq8KhyphenhyphenPNsRLSmbnirIXAa4DHLOvDaiQ66TJCW7YpQhHfLhtmWrpREa2s1zqpx26GWOGVNDgLEU8/s320/IMG_7104.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Excited to order</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKgR_FVdU8BRKVJ4aZ_LaYYoxmvTe5Xryej_35WCOOP-UvUjCrO6Z66LzwYyJHZy_hxw4V1JyNTwP27Sy7luda0vqRGLV61gVWW1tl9hzUwS56i5SHTVBNqiXXgp7EQTL9gAa2kVpm6us/s1600/IMG_7105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKgR_FVdU8BRKVJ4aZ_LaYYoxmvTe5Xryej_35WCOOP-UvUjCrO6Z66LzwYyJHZy_hxw4V1JyNTwP27Sy7luda0vqRGLV61gVWW1tl9hzUwS56i5SHTVBNqiXXgp7EQTL9gAa2kVpm6us/s320/IMG_7105.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Free instead of bread</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihq8ZzDvb4LLzV1a4whkxoo4ot7dsMfEfDDjL-vZKRh5U4fpkrAgBz7vb-I0yfn2vOJzsCFkYkj8uMjloN4Os9BrkBKzWnlBvT9QOIsl6JfZT-51EuA1ClbiLN7ZiKCERyupsYb-rNG38/s1600/IMG_7106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihq8ZzDvb4LLzV1a4whkxoo4ot7dsMfEfDDjL-vZKRh5U4fpkrAgBz7vb-I0yfn2vOJzsCFkYkj8uMjloN4Os9BrkBKzWnlBvT9QOIsl6JfZT-51EuA1ClbiLN7ZiKCERyupsYb-rNG38/s320/IMG_7106.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My turkey burger</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxnlRLh4_TjSnGyV2537g4QS1O6ziolmSrE2P1ZSZ5W9KCfhfp-mkewWSAi-xqAls1rnY1kkxDxjjBMu2IOQ2RpnjiZi_Xw2WXG08H4xs616D0CyE6_TK_hwgk-mocV_647IGLyFbp1Ig/s1600/IMG_7109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxnlRLh4_TjSnGyV2537g4QS1O6ziolmSrE2P1ZSZ5W9KCfhfp-mkewWSAi-xqAls1rnY1kkxDxjjBMu2IOQ2RpnjiZi_Xw2WXG08H4xs616D0CyE6_TK_hwgk-mocV_647IGLyFbp1Ig/s320/IMG_7109.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heaven is a double cheese burger and fries</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgotNamxf0edoUHR62MHCAudpOX5UB1p7tyIPbH1oDZWw-Fl7DSX_4wxmnLHTQ_WTh6A5rIMXjYiyn3L6ehFI1fDLR_Ga-Yu2a0F-_dIwCkP3hqt-v7bEPs6ueKDpgP49n5ofTmdhb5OO8/s1600/IMG_7129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgotNamxf0edoUHR62MHCAudpOX5UB1p7tyIPbH1oDZWw-Fl7DSX_4wxmnLHTQ_WTh6A5rIMXjYiyn3L6ehFI1fDLR_Ga-Yu2a0F-_dIwCkP3hqt-v7bEPs6ueKDpgP49n5ofTmdhb5OO8/s320/IMG_7129.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or a yummy side salad</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqKlq4dcU_s5QTSSTLT1YpUuqCdOuxbWEYwzkZu3sGhbCrg1nP9qZlnl1eHL4xDaRkNCAnsHiH66ic7YBqbenTrZF4mzsTljRcDqXv1algSOS3orZt4diP7atzm5t0RgzXVmU6OmvJrs/s1600/IMG_7130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqKlq4dcU_s5QTSSTLT1YpUuqCdOuxbWEYwzkZu3sGhbCrg1nP9qZlnl1eHL4xDaRkNCAnsHiH66ic7YBqbenTrZF4mzsTljRcDqXv1algSOS3orZt4diP7atzm5t0RgzXVmU6OmvJrs/s320/IMG_7130.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Stopping in to Mackenzies a few minutes away for lava cake<br />
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Coming home to watch <i>The Bourne Identity, The Bourne
Supremacy</i>, and <i>The Bourne Ultimatum</i>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Waking up and watching <i>The Bourne Legacy</i>, realizing too late
that this was not necessary to watch when following the story line of Jason
Bourne, and that this movie wasn’t as good as the others.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Going to the movies to watch <i>Jason Bourne</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSWYLceKY8vnvkXr_h_Mdzsmy4zvT1NGws19Wdj3lrZy1qq4V2uHWlDDLEZuKBHUoxpHT9iUX23YBBi8FY-f4wL6s2LLplIVgMqTwmMh82AbzPg7-NqFam4hvGHo9edgD_m7RtZRcKhRA/s1600/IMG_7136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSWYLceKY8vnvkXr_h_Mdzsmy4zvT1NGws19Wdj3lrZy1qq4V2uHWlDDLEZuKBHUoxpHT9iUX23YBBi8FY-f4wL6s2LLplIVgMqTwmMh82AbzPg7-NqFam4hvGHo9edgD_m7RtZRcKhRA/s320/IMG_7136.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This seat is slightly broken but the movie was fantastic.</td></tr>
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Our mini honeymoon after our wedding day was all about
seeing Captain America. On our five year anniversary, we went with Jason
Bourne. You'd think we were a couple of covert super spies or something. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipvZ9ECwGNck22lWU7pazOA5C1dVSDwY7HozxfffJ_XUVN9B_7Dt3CD0VdZP4VPV6tLsEW-N7GVYen2KId8S8ES2NQPuI1q39Sjkrv0XdNy86hE2oHNo-mb5rr5yuISUeb_EcJbAdvSqY/s1600/IMG_7091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipvZ9ECwGNck22lWU7pazOA5C1dVSDwY7HozxfffJ_XUVN9B_7Dt3CD0VdZP4VPV6tLsEW-N7GVYen2KId8S8ES2NQPuI1q39Sjkrv0XdNy86hE2oHNo-mb5rr5yuISUeb_EcJbAdvSqY/s320/IMG_7091.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby Supernova and Bud X </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-66347523089400061412016-08-17T15:01:00.002-04:002016-08-17T15:01:43.536-04:00Let's All Go To Connecticut A Connecticut-based reading brought about a day tripping nature run with my brother after having looked up all the possibilities of public parks in the state. It started with the idea of visiting the Dinosaur Park. We found that there weren’t actually dinosaurs throughout the park (we know they are extinct—we thought it would be like the park we saw in South Dakota), so we changed plans and chose four different parks. Actually, we chose three parks and then an arboretum suggested by the man who asked me to read for his series. The day of hiking would culminate in diner food at Curley’s. Diner food is my favorite. This plan could not be beat.<br />
<br />
We got to Devil’s Hopyard a bit before lunchtime, so we decided to hike first and then eat. We had no idea where we were going or what the park actually entailed except that it had a waterfall. Then we found that there were several trails and perhaps some bears.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafmyNkQJLAhae2oei7bi4bkVE2L6Fzej7XiEBhAo_XLxBRuob8B4jKuPGbALJ8uuiLxhrJ7F5cXuTT474pGUoU4ac9tWvC29jCIVwSRfh2k6NMjAr7Dr6g_6Woh8VyONa80cPDc5KywM/s1600/IMG_7033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafmyNkQJLAhae2oei7bi4bkVE2L6Fzej7XiEBhAo_XLxBRuob8B4jKuPGbALJ8uuiLxhrJ7F5cXuTT474pGUoU4ac9tWvC29jCIVwSRfh2k6NMjAr7Dr6g_6Woh8VyONa80cPDc5KywM/s320/IMG_7033.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhyming makes it less scary.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAe5FI83MRUGavaOGc61liJ-VOFy_TOy3Pcns1ehfOWUt5-M6Jmda6rLf97rlGW1CSl0ZWG39oMnakrMxsTxpq3w97-2wYAxskGaOrIojC5lh7B3H3SX58ATK49rRK_ZpLo2KTBbPLxHc/s1600/IMG_7052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAe5FI83MRUGavaOGc61liJ-VOFy_TOy3Pcns1ehfOWUt5-M6Jmda6rLf97rlGW1CSl0ZWG39oMnakrMxsTxpq3w97-2wYAxskGaOrIojC5lh7B3H3SX58ATK49rRK_ZpLo2KTBbPLxHc/s320/IMG_7052.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helpful!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After finding the falls that were right at the entrance, we went off to find the covered bridge.<br />
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Then we crossed it in the hopes of finding Devil’s Egg/Cornhole/Oven. Neither of us could remember the name of the landmark we were looking for, but we knew it was Devil something or other. We also thought we’d find the scenic overlook after figuring out how to read distance on the map. In our defense, the map used a star system that was quite confusing and had trails marked on it that were not easy to find. I’m writing a very strong letter to the trees for better trail markers.<br />
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The woods there offered the kind of quiet you find in horror movies when someone is about to be dead. Still, it was a Zen quiet. The ground was soft with a layer of composing leaves and other nature thingies that fall. The trees grew really tall really quickly. We found ourselves climbing steeper than expected hills. I stopped us after a few moments to look back. I wanted to make sure we didn’t get lost.<br />
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We encountered water and my brother put his hand in. It was cool. I followed suit. It was wet. We came across a swampy section, and with the balance of acrobats, we made it across several logs. Then we came across a swampier swamp. There was no crossing in our sneakers, so we turned back, encountering a slightly different path with inclines that measured maybe 45 degrees. “Lean back” became the motto so that “Tumbling Head Over Heels” did not.<br />
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We found our way out without falling or getting dead, and then we had lunch. I got a bit turned around on our way out of the park because the GPS simply stopped working. We had directions and new that the next park was close-by, so we managed to get there without the GPS and without getting dead. This day was shaping up to be a success.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A place for fine dining</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At Gillette Castle, we thought we’d find a furnace. This was not just any furnace. It was supposed to be the oldest furnace in something or other. We did not find a furnace. We found the castle. We found a nice man in the parking lot who was wearing long pants, long sleeves, a big hat, and combat boots in 90 degree + heat. We got out of the car and he called to us, “Wait up!” Then he pointed to the birds I’d told my brother to look at.<br />
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I was like, “Are those hawks?”<br />
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He was like, “Look at the ones with the silver tips” and then “the others have the white across, see?” One of them was a turkey vulture and one of them was a black vulture and of those two, one of them was rare. Neither was a hawk. I need to brush up on my mad birding skillz.<br />
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We thanked him and then hit the bathrooms, which were inside. Score! No porta potty grossness!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-q4_IsrTPFVp70qLtgwpA22FtNVwtOid-H-zo_hCx01yodLBeN9lm_Zq0zejRubnG6eMYrUyA8dwR6o4bvShSfjMWFjht9E9WPSeTZ2676cwaxVrYsg1xJ1lVyxUiMw0661Ueev-TRY/s1600/IMG_7059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-q4_IsrTPFVp70qLtgwpA22FtNVwtOid-H-zo_hCx01yodLBeN9lm_Zq0zejRubnG6eMYrUyA8dwR6o4bvShSfjMWFjht9E9WPSeTZ2676cwaxVrYsg1xJ1lVyxUiMw0661Ueev-TRY/s320/IMG_7059.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When you sit on the toilet, you can feel a breeze. Like from below.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Then we went all around the castle and found Grand Central Station in addition to some paths down by the river, which I think was the Connecticut River. Because we were in Connecticut. We then climbed back up and around the other side of the castle and took a peek inside through the windows. The room we saw looked like a sunroom. The castle is closed on Tuesdays because of budget cuts. The gift shop was open though, and we learned there that Gillette is William Gillette who played Sherlock Holmes in some film at some time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moody castle</td></tr>
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Once we finished checking out the road map on the wall in case the GPS decided to give up on us again, we headed west towards the Stamford-Greenwich line to see the Mianus River Park. The drive wasn’t bad at all. The arrival was the snafu. The GPS sent us in circles, literally, telling me to make four lefts around a block. The destination seemed to keep changing. Then it said, “Pull the car over and walk.” What the? Never in my life have I heard of a GPS telling someone to hoof it.<br />
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We decided that this park was not going to happen. We’d driven through and around and back and saw lots of trees on either side of the road, and that was good enough for us.<br />
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Onto the Arboretum! We parked at the first spot we could find in front of a trail map and started hiking the first trail we saw. The trails criss-crossed, orange over purple, purple over teal. We went onto the swamp walk, and this one was better than the first swamp we’d encountered because this had a wooden foot path built up in it. We had no idea how long it was or if it would end, but when we found the end, we couldn’t find the path we’d started to take, so we looped around to a different one. These paths were clearly marked even though the trails sort of morphed into each other.<br />
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When we got back to the car, I wiped myself down with baby wipes and put on makeup and took off my sneakers and put on my flippies. Ahhh, to feel human again after hiking all day. I’d brought my dress with me and decided to change at the diner and not out in nature.<br />
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On our way to the exit, we found that there was a whole other parking lot and some gardens that we’d missed. Having seen enough foliage for the dead, we headed to the diner.<br />
<br />
Curley’s is a tiny down-home diner in the middle of large urban modernity. The second we walked in, we were like, this is the place for us. We ordered. I changed. The food was delicious. Then I panicked that we were at the wrong Curley’s because I didn’t see any writers there yet. Not that I knew what anyone in the group would look like. Then in came the host for the evening and then the poets flooded in. Ahh, now I was really at home.<br />
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Before I read, they gave me an anthology of the group’s work, which was totally unexpected and really appreciated. Then I read and opened up to questions and they loved what I read and then they compared my reading to the poet laureate’s reading they’d attended the night before. Whoa. Imagine that. I’m laureate-level.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Ojmk0qaymaClYs4s1hPXlf6y6bZ3n7wSvgSDLITQoEco__Os0ruVeZMlaaFAENYvG4dPp6NfL-aG2h12Q-MstvGdHGMCdACmD7t8yGRLCRRrdRjVTcx0Qn6RznP3WHuo2pMhJXC6P14/s1600/IMG_0932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Ojmk0qaymaClYs4s1hPXlf6y6bZ3n7wSvgSDLITQoEco__Os0ruVeZMlaaFAENYvG4dPp6NfL-aG2h12Q-MstvGdHGMCdACmD7t8yGRLCRRrdRjVTcx0Qn6RznP3WHuo2pMhJXC6P14/s320/IMG_0932.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I clean up real good.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We heard from several of the poets who read their own works or poems by other people they liked. I sat next to the owner of the diner who entertained me with tales of ancient Greece and then read a poem of mythic themes. On the other side of me was a wonderful German woman who read a Rothke poem. I usually don’t point out ethnicities, but the first thing the diner owner asked when I sat down was if I was Italian. So funny.<br />
<br />
The night wound down a bit before 10 and then we hit the road home. From way out in Eastern Connecticut to closeby Stamford to Bayside to Long Island, through the woods, through the poems, through the diner and home: that’s how to do day tripping right.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-89369886663894286372016-08-15T14:40:00.002-04:002016-08-15T14:40:35.997-04:00ICYMI: Poetry Has Value in July <div class="tumblr-post" data-href="https://embed.tumblr.com/embed/post/uKMVenu91o-iYyw0T50LlQ/148991274249" data-did="faf1c5f6ee95f3cc13bea8368ef3c99c4e2e3a40"><a href="http://christinamrau.tumblr.com/post/148991274249/phv-blogger-christina-m-rau-poetry-payments-and">http://christinamrau.tumblr.com/post/148991274249/phv-blogger-christina-m-rau-poetry-payments-and</a></div><script async src="https://secure.assets.tumblr.com/post.js"></script>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-30852913280781595572016-08-07T10:09:00.000-04:002016-08-07T10:09:09.285-04:00The T Stands For TerribleTen weeks. That's all the time you need to get so friggin ripped you won't even recognize yourself. At least, that's what Eddie and I thought when we started T-25, a Beach Body workout with Shaun T. That's the guy who does Insanity. You know, the infomercial with all the very sweaty people. I used to want to do that, but Eddie bought this one because it's only 25 minutes every day. Except for when you have to do two workouts in one day. Plus stretching during the cool down for a few minutes with every workout. See? They don't tell you that in the commercials. And that's not the only thing they don't tell you.<br />
<br />
They don't tell you that every workout begins and ends with commercials. Seriously, you have to sit through ads for Shakeology, a supposedly very healthy shake that can replace a meal when you make a smoothie out of it. The gun thing about the commercials is that you get to see the workout people talking to you or you can see Tony Horton in an apron acting like a cashier. See? Fun times. Or you can see ads for making your skin look younger featuring the very tan doctor from that show that may or may not have been canceled called The Doctors. Someone that tan should not be giving advice on skin.<br />
<br />
The workout comes with a calendar that lets you keep track of each of your workouts and how you progress. Or how you don't progress. Whatever the case may be. There are boxes with each day that you can check off: Nailed It or Barely Made It. Then at the end of the week, you take measurements on STATurday. Get it? Like, not Saturday, but STATurday. And that pun works only if you start on a Monday, and for various reasons concerning scheduling and fitting in that stupid double workout, we started each week on Wednesday, meaning that Monday was STATurday, and the pun becomes even more stupid.<br />
<br />
Okay, so these are all minor issues. A workout is a workout, right?<br />
<br />
No. It is not.<br />
<br />
The Alpha round, the first round, starts off with running in place or slow jogging or kicking in place for every workout. There's no warm up. There's just bouncing.<br />
<br />
Having injured myself with a Jillian Michaels non-warm-up workout--actually the warm up was what I was doing, and it shouldn't have been a warm-up because it was jumping up and over a step and my non warmed up calf muscle felt like it ripped in two and I couldn't work out regularly for over a month--I had to add in my own warm up, meaning I was getting up before Eddie woke up to do a warm up yoga stretch.<br />
<br />
Sometimes I would get up even earlier so I could do my normal workout before instead of after the T-25 one. Yeah, that's right. I was doing my own workout because the T-25 workout is only 25 minutes, and I like to have longer workouts for cardio. Not that these workouts aren't jam-packed with exercise. They are. They require a lot of high impact jumping and jogging and knee lifting. There's also lots of squatting in Alpha.<br />
<br />
In Beta, the focus seems to be abs. In addition to an ab workout, there's a cardio based abs workout. There's also a lot of arms, and you start to use weights or bands. Instead of full body circuit, you get Rip't Circuit. I won't even go into the English Professor reason for disliking Rip't. Instead of Speed 1.0, you get Speed 2.0. How original. Instead of lower focus, you get upper focus. All the Beta workouts begin with some sort of non-warmed-up jumping-required bouncy move.<br />
<br />
Shaun T is motivating and funny a lot of the time. Sometimes, though, his face takes up the screen and I found myself jumping back. Everyone on the DVD sweats really badly, even Tania The Modifier, whose name we thought was Taia almost the whole first five weeks. We love Jam. Jam is the jam. She's the best worker outer ever. BTW: Jam
is a person who at first we thought was named Jan. Nope, it's Jam.<br />
<br />
And this shouldn't be important, but it is--in Beta, there are new people working out. It's very disturbing! Who ARE these people in my living room? Where's Derek with the Amazing Squats? Now we have Andy on the Bands instead. Who the heck is Marlene? We want Christina back!<br />
<br />
But for 25 minutes almost every day, we became angry and bored. Despite the motivation and positive vibes, we just hated it. Not at the beginning, but right around the end of Alpha, we were like, this is not working and this is terrible.<br />
<br />
Terrible #1: Those stupid boxes. For each workout, you're basically evaluating yourself. Did you Nail It? If not, the only other choice is Barely Made It. Some days, I wanted a box for, I Did Better Than Last Time But Not Completely 100%. Or Today I Just Didn't Care. Or I Did My Best. Nope, those boxes don't exist, so every workout comes with an extreme evaluation.<br />
<br />
I did P90X twice, and never did I have to judge my own workout. Instead, I wrote down how many reps I was able to do for each exercise. Sure, that interrupts the workout a lot, and it's annoying, and it won't work in a 25 minute work out, but at least I wasn't getting all judgey. Even when the numbers didn't change, it wasn't judgey. It was numbers. You know how non-motivating it can be to write Barely Made It after dying through a workout every day?<br />
<br />
Terrible #2: STATurday. We don't own a scale, so we couldn't record Weight. I never want to, anyway. Recording weight is stupid. Weight can depend on if I'm retaining water. Weight doesn't reflect how my pants fit. If this workout actually worked the way it was supposed to and I gained muscle while losing fat, weight shouldn't change, or it might go up.<br />
<br />
Plus, I'm pretty sure we don't know how to take measurements for Chest, Waist, Arm, and Thigh. If there are instructions anywhere, I didn't find them. Would you like to know my weekly measurements? Here you go:<br />
<br />
Weight: Unknown, for ten weeks straight.<br />
<br />
Chest: 30, for ten weeks, except for when it was 29 1/2 that one time. Plus I don't know if I was measuring the right way because I was measuring above my boobage.<br />
<br />
Waist: 25 1/2, 26, 25 3/4, 26, 27 1/2, 27, 25 1/5, 26, 26 1/2, 27 -- So, yeah, we don't know how to use a tape measure.<br />
<br />
Arm: 9 1/2 except for that one time it was 9.<br />
<br />
Thigh: anywhere between 18 1/2 and 19.<br />
<br />
Couple the judgey box with unchanging measurements, and you've got no reason to go on.<br />
<br />
Terrible #3: The 5 Day Fast Track. I know, I know. Some people live by smoothies. I just can't bring myself to advocate for drinking a meal, and that's what the stupid fast track does. It pushes smoothies in the morning, and you have to include Shakeology, which is incredibly expensive. Why not eat an omelet loaded with veggies? Or even oat meal?<br />
<br />
Some days, the snack for the Fast Track is an egg. One hardboiled egg. You get to put olive oil and black pepper on it. How about no?<br />
<br />
And there are so many different recipes that you have to buy a small amount of each ingredient, which is not possible. That means lots of leftover food that could probably go to waste. Especially when you live with someone who believes the food pyramid is simple a circle of burgers, grilled cheese, pizza, and PB&J. <br />
<br />
Since we had a very non-standard two weeks with family in town and lots of adventures at the end of Alpha and beginning of Beta, I was off my usual eating plan, but for the most part during T-25, I did my normal thing, which is very low sugar, very high protein, and mostly healthy. This didn't seem to make a difference one way or the other.<br />
<br />
Terrible #4: It's just not 25 minutes a day. It's a big fat lie. End of story.<br />
<br />
Terrible #5: I've noticed this in several Beach Body workouts. They say the name of the workout during the workout, and not only a few times. It's constant. Sure, it might be some sort of supportive advertising, but it's incredibly annoying. At some points, Shaun T says it to the rhythm of the workout. Sometimes, he says T stands for Time. Sometimes, he says T stands for Shaun T. <br />
<br />
Also, there's something about Focus. The actual workout is called Focus T-25, but in the logo, the word Focus is embedded into the T, so it's not that noticeable. And frankly, I don't care.<br />
<br />
Some days our focus was laughing because I'd be doing one thing, and Eddie would be doing another thing, and neither thing that we were doing was what was on the screen. Sometimes, I'd look over at Eddie and just start laughing because I'd be doing the worst squats in the world all ashamed and he'd be doing them the same way. The only reason we kept going is we got so far into it, we simply couldn't quit near the end.<br />
<br />
Near the end, I decided to do only T-25. Maybe that was the problem. I was working out <i>too</i> much with my additional regular workout. That, too, made no difference other than giving me more time during the day.<br />
<br />
I really like Shaun T on screen, especially when he admits that his workout buddies are laughing at him because he speaks of himself in third person. Which he does a lot. But liking someone's personality wasn't enough to save this workout from being a disaster. I'm no stronger or leaner than I was when I began.<br />
<br />
I'm still working on Project Pants Fit. I've returned to a regular workout, following a new routine from a fitness magazine. Eddie's doing a ten day bike challenge. So far, neither of us has checked off any boxes about what we've nailed or not, and we haven't taken any measurements. We seem quite happier in the morning these days.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-56270829202309605792016-07-12T10:08:00.001-04:002016-07-12T10:24:53.557-04:00But What About Sister Christian?A line up throwing back to the 70s: Tesla, REO Speedwagaon, and Def Leppard. It's gotta be a summer concert. It's gotta be at Jones Beach. It's gotta be awesome. And it was.<br />
<br />
More than several years ago, I saw Cinderella opening for Poison, and poor Tom Keifer could barely hit the high notes. For those of you unfamiliar with the Cinderella catalog, it's almost all high notes. Last night, I saw three lead singers hit high note after high note, holding them out, raising the roof, and bringing the house down. Though we were outside and there was no roof and no house, but you get what I mean.<br />
<br />
When my brother told me Tesla was one of the acts, I was like, Oh good! I like that one song! You know--Signs, signs, everywhere is signs....<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C9nM0AjCmKo" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
Come to find out that they have <i>other</i> songs. AND I knew another one! It's a love song called Love Song. And it's good! That's what they closed with. Then my brother and I had a conversation about Tesla, meaning Nikola Tesla. The guy who invented things that other people like Marconi and Edison stole. Poor Tesla.<br />
<br />
Fun Fact: He had an affinity for pigeons.<br />
<br />
Yes, this is the conversation we were having when the roadies were breaking down the stage. Because we are educator nerds. But then we talked about REO Speedwagon.<br />
<br />
Fun Fact: An REO Speedwagon is a fire truck.<br />
<br />
Yes, this is the conversation we were having. But then I was trying to figure out what songs I'd know. My brother has their greatest hits album and listens to way more music than I do, so he'd know more. Then I asked, pretty sure the answer would be no, if they sang Sister Christian.<br />
<br />
He laughed at me and was like, No, that's Night Ranger. Still, I didn't see why they <i>couldn't</i> sing Sister Christian. Maybe they would. I was pretty sure everyone playing would know it. And the crowd would love it.<br />
<br />
Then REO came out and that lead singer can get a crowd going, even when the amphitheater is not yet filled. They sang some newer songs I'd never heard. They sang some older songs I'd never heard. These were songs my brother knew, so he sang along, and I took pictures of the sunset while pretending to sing along.<br />
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<br />
<br />
I did not have to pretend to sing along to Take It On The Run or Keep On Lovin You or Heard It From A Friend. I knew songs!<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KkRsI11BEZk" width="420"></iframe><br />
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The sky grew really dark and finally finally finally Def Leppard came out.<br />
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The first thing I noticed was Phil Collen and how he doesn't wear a shirt and how he was already shiny as if he were sweating but he hadn't done anything yet so I had a sneaking suspicion that he had oiled up before the show but then thought how can you play a guitar with all that oil all over so maybe he was just warm. The reason all this was distracting is he's almost in his 60s and he looks like this:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He was shinier!</td></tr>
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Other things I noticed:<br />
<br />
1. <br />
Joe Elliott thinks he's a magician. He ends almost every song with his arms straight out to the sides and his head back, very Copperfield-like, and sometimes he wears a top hat.<br />
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<br />
2. <br />
Rick Allen is still the hardest working drummer in rock. Obvious reasons.<br />
<br />
3.<br />
When you sing a Def Leppard song, you don't necessarily have to form full words to sing along. Some of the songs are so high or so low that you can screech or grumble, and you're singing right along. Take the lyrics to Love Bites: Love bites. Love bleeds. It's err eh eee oh ah eeeeee. See? Singing.<br />
<br />
They have a new album out, and I've yet to hear it. My brother new some of the new stuff, but there was one song where we were like, Huh? as the video played behind them of a mannequin head--I don't know, maybe that's a throwback to Sugar? Aside from that one song (when everyone seemed to go get a snack or take a bathroom break so we were not alone in this), we knew everything else in some capacity. Speaking of everyone, there was quite a cross-section of humanity there. My brother said that a lot of the young people (omigod, I said young people--you know, because I'm old) were there because of the new album. I figured most of the older older people were there for REO. Who was there for Tesla? Well, there had been about twenty people standing right in front of the stage cheering and jumping when they were singing, so they had their fans, too. Also, we were in the upper upper seats. Like we were in the very last row, which had the best and prettiest views, so I figured that it was also a cheaper way to take the family out to something fun.<br />
<br />
Actually, I'm not that old. He asked Who here was alive in 1977? And I wasn't. Which puts me in the category of Young People At The Concert, and he said he needs us young people, Def Leppard needs us young people, and all of rock needs us young people. <br />
<br />
Anyway, back to the leppards. JE had three wardrobe changes, including the aforementioned top hat. Rick Savage and Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen and Rick Allen had solos.<br />
<br />
Oh! BTW, if you search on Bing for def leppard band members (because you aren't being lazy for once and want to spell their names correctly), this guy's picture comes up as Rick Allen.<br />
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Heh heh. I love the interwebs.<br />
<br />
When they got to Hysteria, my voice started to go and I fell back in time as photos of them popped up on the screen from when they first started (when I had yet to be born) and when the album Hysteria came out (when I was like 11). If you've never listened to the Hysteria album, stop what you're doing and go buy it on iTunes (if you can navigate that horrible site--if not, get it on Spotify or whatever else you tech-music people use) and listen to it straight through at least three times. It'll change your life. And if it doesn't, listen to it until it does. Even if you haven't heard the whole album, you've probably heard most of it since they had at least 7 singles from it that all played on the radio and were all popular, including Armageddon It and Pour Some Sugar On Me, and if you watched MTV when those songs came out, then you know that those two videos were almost exactly the same and no one cared because the songs were just that popular.<br />
<br />
Singing along is such a treat because if you actually do know the words, you know that a lot of the time, they are a little bit silly. Like, well, <i>Pour some sugar on me in the name of love.</i> Which would be really sticky, but that comes up, too: <i>I'm hot, sticky sweet, from my head to my feet</i>. <br />
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Or really simple like: <i>What do you want? I want rock n roll. What do you want? Long live rock n roll.</i> And back to silly: <i>Still rollin, keep a rollin.</i> Because a rock rolls, you know.<br />
<br />
This? Is brilliance. And no, I'm not being sarcastic. <br />
<br />
They encored with Rock of Ages (of the aforementioned rolling rock lyrics) and then Photograph, which is my brother's favorite song, so I'd like to think they did that specifically for him. Because it was his birthday. Which is a great way to celebrate. If not for my brother, I probably would've never listened to Def Leppard or any of the hair metal bands of the 80s or the classic rock bands before them, so it's more than kinda great that I have an older brother who listened, and still listens, to damn good music. Even if I don't get all of it. Still great.<br />
<br />
No one played Sister Christian, unless Tesla sang it before we got there. Probably not. But who needs Sister Christian when you've got an entire discography of Def Leppard at your fingertips? No one, that's who (in case you don't get rhetorical questions).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkJ3O7oMT6_fMtbuksdbrjXvS9asta2hhyphenhyphenIxdtIES_6j_ryhyphenhyphenaUxVB2DG1KSV8A3UZJFBgGdR_Xnh9h4fVBLV2Bu7ew-A2EajIzbcn6uJmVJDSmv654cEnEgctUNhW6wVhee-lAyBpBms/s1600/01c7590be14534a827cddc7ee72cc0c3c9578a2ffc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkJ3O7oMT6_fMtbuksdbrjXvS9asta2hhyphenhyphenIxdtIES_6j_ryhyphenhyphenaUxVB2DG1KSV8A3UZJFBgGdR_Xnh9h4fVBLV2Bu7ew-A2EajIzbcn6uJmVJDSmv654cEnEgctUNhW6wVhee-lAyBpBms/s320/01c7590be14534a827cddc7ee72cc0c3c9578a2ffc.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ok, so he also likes the Stones, so I badly photoshopped this photo to add his name over that guy's.</td></tr>
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<br />
And now for the encore:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jcQ12qcfDW4" width="420"></iframe><br />
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[As usual, not proofread, but this time, any errors can be blamed on my feeling hung over because I was out late and woke up early.]Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862799220047614754.post-35496179089014393332016-06-27T12:05:00.000-04:002016-06-27T12:05:03.537-04:00Dancing Girls And Poetry At The BookMark ShoppeIn 2014, <a href="http://www.dancinggirlpress.com/index2.html" target="_blank">dancing girl press</a> accepted and published my first chapbook <a href="https://christinamrau.com/books/" target="_blank"><i>For The Girls, I</i></a>. I was over the moon excited. I'd loved the work put out by dancing girl for such a long time, and then I was one of those works in the catalog.<br />
<br />
I've always been a get-it-together kind of poet, so as soon as I had book-in-hand, I put out a call for other dgp poets to do a reading together. I got a lot of takers. I contacted stores and cafes and things would line up and then fall through. The poets dropped out and the poets signed up and this happened over and again.<br />
<br />
Poetry rarely makes itself easily available. Poetry likes a challenge.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, <a href="https://christinamrau.com/books/" target="_blank"><i>WakeBreatheMove</i></a> found a home at <a href="https://finishinglinepress.com/" target="_blank">Finishing Line Press</a>. <a href="http://www.tesseractpoet.com/about.html" target="_blank">Kimberly Jackson</a> also had her chapbook published by FLP in 2015, so she put out a call for other FLP poets to read for At The Inkwell, a series that runs across the country; in NYC it's at the KGB Bar. I got to read there along with a few other FLP poets.<br />
<br />
Now that I'd read with other FLP poets, the dancing girls needed to make this happen. Almost two years later, I dropped a line to <a href="http://www.bookmarkshoppe.com/" target="_blank">The BookMark Shoppe</a>. They were like, sure thing let's do it.<br />
<br />
Sometimes poetry is just that simple.<br />
<br />
After emails and calls and poets signing up and dropping out, we coordinated a reading--we had a date, we had a time, we had a plan.<br />
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<br />
Then it happened. I don't usually go whimsy, so when I say it was magic, you know it was truly magic.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.susanlewis.net/" target="_blank">Susan Lewis</a> has authored several beautiful collections. Her prose poems captured and stunned.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://about.me/welhouse" target="_blank">Abigail Welhouse</a> offered a wealth of poetry, pictures, and ephemera of life. I now know I have to have my colors done to see if I'm an autumn or a spring.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://janeenpergrinrastall.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Janeen Pergrin Rastall</a> shared quiet, powerful verses. Her visions of lakes and nature resonate imagistically. (apparently imagistically is not a real word, but it's the only word that describes what her words do).<br />
<br />
I've known <a href="http://www.shewrites.com/profile/vickiiorio" target="_blank">Vicki Iorio</a> for years, and I've enjoyed hearing her read over these years. This reading, however, she shined at her best.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6953432.Katie_Longofono" target="_blank">Katie Longofono</a>'s work is fresh and gripping. She tells stories with her poems in a lovely way. I'm thankful that she read my bio to introduce me so I didn't have to read it myself because that would have been weird.<br />
<br />
I pronounced everything right with my mad hosting skillz except for calling Katie's next book Angelitis, making it sound like a disease rather than what it's really called, Angeltits, making it sound heavenly. Otherwise, it went great.<br />
<br />
I also made crazy poet face only a few times.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: emilyhegarty instagram</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpUOXbACMT47zKiWhGO71_pURR37dhuzjkQM-ya9ijfXBweEfdcx785dsrVT5qzkfqpt6vbgvfxvR0D5RbX6ySICrDfoXd6mBWfwrHgMxhZDPwMq1M1xiP-SXBHP3hjdhieUklBlw5p0/s1600/dgp+reading+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpUOXbACMT47zKiWhGO71_pURR37dhuzjkQM-ya9ijfXBweEfdcx785dsrVT5qzkfqpt6vbgvfxvR0D5RbX6ySICrDfoXd6mBWfwrHgMxhZDPwMq1M1xiP-SXBHP3hjdhieUklBlw5p0/s320/dgp+reading+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: Abigail Welhouse instragram</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0uj9QuvTmVfOFzptZYp5BRR365s3icHH_2SeowYRfQhdK0Ujtgt99bnvxXDqZl1Oj0emRImPgFz93s8_oPUGub6jkQ_sJDXLSAs6HaFQF962ZR7rz_XXjlyAPJ9HFXWP5xeCz353XmGw/s1600/IMG_6709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0uj9QuvTmVfOFzptZYp5BRR365s3icHH_2SeowYRfQhdK0Ujtgt99bnvxXDqZl1Oj0emRImPgFz93s8_oPUGub6jkQ_sJDXLSAs6HaFQF962ZR7rz_XXjlyAPJ9HFXWP5xeCz353XmGw/s320/IMG_6709.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: Eddie</td></tr>
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Riding high on the poetic magic, I gushed to Abigail that we could do this again, and then had the thought that we should do it every year, an expanding reading of dancing girls across the land. Starting to plan right now.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAA2ygnioKjhCMWgMuOxy9LU0EHnqwDBynsC5FbFXY9NY9RZ0CMjg1W-3U6uR4iGHY7L9C-RHNECk8SxNC1KvGj_RPmSArZJo3I-3kczA-6CynAF0GQ3zTtPjE7yVT7jigJdQK-b0pvU/s1600/IMG_6701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAA2ygnioKjhCMWgMuOxy9LU0EHnqwDBynsC5FbFXY9NY9RZ0CMjg1W-3U6uR4iGHY7L9C-RHNECk8SxNC1KvGj_RPmSArZJo3I-3kczA-6CynAF0GQ3zTtPjE7yVT7jigJdQK-b0pvU/s320/IMG_6701.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks like we've got it all together</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrpvgJsG8MdCKCl3wTD9ucftJT8coy5JR3kMVm_cbBoVt5UIgOwFEhHogXUKsYq3ky2UadzoxUpFDjnqRfzQBzmihrLbn4FZEiM4TO-XGSpGLLpBy52toJVNaiX8Ph-ojmgIwDoxHDYbg/s1600/IMG_6703.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrpvgJsG8MdCKCl3wTD9ucftJT8coy5JR3kMVm_cbBoVt5UIgOwFEhHogXUKsYq3ky2UadzoxUpFDjnqRfzQBzmihrLbn4FZEiM4TO-XGSpGLLpBy52toJVNaiX8Ph-ojmgIwDoxHDYbg/s320/IMG_6703.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then again....</td></tr>
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Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08494090681405393976noreply@blogger.com0