Update for April 24th

Just wanted to give y'all a quick update so you know what's going on with us while I eat my raisin bran. :-)

Actually, not a whole lot has happened in the past 10 days. We've both just been working, and living... Things have been good, though! My job is starting to grow on me more... The only time I really don't like it is Sunday nights when I realize that I'll have to get up early the next morning.... Blah. So that's good. It's different than what I thought it would be, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Plus, we get paid to play! Next Monday, our conference call will be done while playing Socom 3. I haven't decided yet if my screen name will be "XB360Chic" or "JessTehDestroyer"... I think they would both make me wanted targets. So we'll see. Maybe I'll pull a Monty Python and be "JessTheMeek" and have my own theme song, or "JessTheScaredPleaseDontKillMe", or "JessTheLuckiestGalInTheWorldToHaveABossLikeDave", or maybe just, "DaveIsAwesome". I dunno... So many choices... Can't decide.. I should just be "YourOwnHand" because nothing is funnier than getting a kill only to have it say, "You've killed YourOwnHand" or "You've been killed by YourOwnHand". Either way, they're ultimately hurting themself. All I know is that I better go rent it and start practicing, otherwise I don't stand a chance! Lucky for me, there are a bunch of gals on our team, so I won't be the only one who doesn't get a kill (nothing against the girls on my team... but they sounded just as scared.

That's all work wise... We had a lovely Easter. Jeremy and Stephin went to the sunrise service at the Lincoln Memorial (6:30 am!). I was gonna go, but wan't feeling well that morning. I was fine once they got back. Then we went to the 'rents house for "dinner". It was good... Mom made pulled pork with some yummy sides (she even made lobster as an appetizer!) Much better than your traditional roasted ham.

Let's see... We met up with the Boyz on Friday to go see Silent Hill (I almost said Resident Evil there... same difference!) What an event that was. We went to Tysons to see it, and while we were eating dinner in the food court, we saw the lights of the theater flashing on and off. Eventually, they just stayed off, so we had to rush out to get to another theater. Of course, by then everyone who'd been in the theater was also leaving... So it took 15-20 min. to just get outta the garage. But we made it just in time... Walked in during the previews. By the end of the movie, though, we were all thinking, "We rushed all this way to see this?" I dunno, I didn't care for it. It was kinda stupid. Though it seems like fans of the game really enjoyed it (too scary for me to play). None of us really liked it though. Had some cool scenes, but overall there was more laughing than jumping going on.

And that brings us to the end of our weekend. Mercy Me was at Mclean last night, so that was neat. Then they sold their CD's for $5, so that was pretty cool. We picked up 4 of them. Good gifts for peeps.

That's about it. Sorry, my creativity is lacking now that I have to devote most of my energy to pushing Playstation! I will try to get the creative juices flowing more later! :-)

Take care!

Tired.... so tired....

Hello all.

What a crazy week. It was my first week on the job at my new job, and I am BEAT! Tuesday was pretty easy, as it was strictly a training day. We sat in a conference room for 9 hours and talked business. Yay... Wednesday, though, left me sore. After a brief morning session, we went out in the field and I got to do what I am to do everyday with my boss and the District Coordinator. The job itself isn't that bad, it's the "repairs" that can get to be a little tiring. Such as repairing a PSP interactive... This requires squatting for an extended period of time, then sitting on the floor, then kneeling on the floor, and if you're lucky, you've removed the necessary components by then. If not, it's more of the same. So needless to say, I worked muscles I haven't worked in a while. Add to that the fact that since I'm between Tall and Regular lengths in pants, I tend to buy tall pants that require heel wearing to compensate the extra length. Heels + standing for hours + squatting+ kneeling + everything else= sore legs, sore back, sore knees for days afterwards. I think I need to visit a tailor.

But I must say it was uber fun! I'll enjoy it more when I know what to do flawlessly, but for now it's been good. And today I slept in... 'til 8:30. Wow. I thing the last time that was sleeping is was when I was in school (or maybe working at Starbucks... but I'm pretty sure I slept 'til 10 on my days off during that time). So it's been good. I've gotten lots of freebies thus far, which Stephin is here enjoying right now. I think they (Stephin and Jeremy) called it a night around 3 this morning? That explains why Jeremy is still in bed right now. Stephin, though, was up before I got up, so he's just crazy.

Since my going back to work, we have had one home cooked meal all week--sandwiches and cereal make excellant dinners after all. :-) I'll be more up for cooking as long as I don't wear the heels to work again... Those just kill me. But it's all good. I think we're going over the parents' today, and if they've gotten the pool open (it's supposed be around 80 today), I know Jeremy will be up for a swim (too cold for me!) I think maybe we'll be going to a traditional Passover dinner tonight, which'll be nice. I've only done it in a summer camp setting, on a much abbreviated scale. So that'd be neat to check out. We'll see. Jeremy has to wake up first.

That's about all that's happened thus far. Jeremy's been working, I've been working, our house is a mess, y'know, the same old stuff. The house part will be rectified this weekend, though. I hate it.

Alright, I'm signing off. Take care and have a HAPPY EASTER! Remember the reason for the season is not the Easter bunny--Jesus has risen! Remember that tomorrow on your egg hunt. :-)

First week of April

"Hello everybody? Hello everybody!"

Hullo, hullo, hullo! Long time, no chat, eh? This week was a great week, from a "good news" standpoint. We got lots of it, though it's a secret so you'll just have to wait to find out (if you have our phone numbers, feel free to call and ask what it is! and no, we're not pregnant... it's something else).

This week was my Dad's birthday. Well, it was tuesday, but we tend to celebrate at least all weekend. He turned the big 5-2! Which isn't that big, considering he's 6-4, but you know what I mean (age vs. height? Okay, moving on...) So we hung out at my parents out in old Warrenton from Sunday evening thru Tuesday morn. We had some friends over for lunch on Sunday afternoon and headed out after that. It was some good times. Their phone has been out all week, though, so I can now only communicate with them via telepathy and carrier pigeons... Well, telepathy in the form of my Dad's cell phone, and carrier pigeons via the internet. :-) I hope they got that fixed already! sheesh...

So that was beginning of the week. My Mom and I spent my Dad's birthday walking around DC looking for the Portuguese Embassy so that she could update her passport (it still has her maiden name on it... yeah, I'd say it's a bit outdated...) The plan is to go to Portugal around Christmas, so she needs to get that going soon. However... we had some unexpected.... issues?

Okay here's what happened:
I looked up the embassy based on the address my Mom had, and charted it out via metro. We were to get off at Woodley Park/Zoo and walk about .62 miles. No problem. So we do that, and we're walking along, only none of the street names are matching those on our map. So we walked about a mile (reached the Cleveland Park stop), got lunch and then tried to figure out what was wrong. Well, turns out we were supposed to get off at Dupont Circle, not Woodley (grrr...), so we had to metro back down, and tried again.

Finally, success! We found the embassy. Only once we get there, we read a sign on the door.... "The Consulate has moved to a new location at 2012 Mass Avenue" AHHH! Okay, my map didn't have that address on it, so we called Jeremy to see if he could google it for us, but he was in a meeting. So I just sent GOOGL a text message with the address and got the directions that way. FINALLY we're on our way again, only .8 miles to go.

Trudge, trudge, trudge we go, walking through Embassy Row (very pretty buildings these Embassies are in), and da da daaaa! We found the new location. Yay! Of course, something else has to go wrong... We buzz in to find out where to get it only to discover that the consulate is only there until 1 pm, monday thru friday. Can you guess what time it is at this point? 3 pm. AHHHHHHHHH! Well, it was a nice walk, and now we know where it's located. So we'll try again... monday.

I would update this with some new news of Jeremy, but all he does is work... :-( And work and work and work. So nothing new there. Oh, well, he got a really cool hat in the mail yesterday! That was exciting. I got a big surprise on Wednesday, myself. The front desk called to let me know that FedEx was there with 20+ boxes for me. WOO! My boss had told me not to expect those until the 10th, but I guess someone was afraid of pissing him off, so they overnighted them to me instead of sending them 3-day ground. Aww, darn. Now, the best part is that I get this "new hire" pack that has some really cool things in it (like a PS2, games, accessories, etc.) Well, it's supposed to be kinda a surprise on my first day, to be presented with this stuff, but they screwed up on the "surprise" part--they sent me the PSP with my boxes, and a list of my "surprise" with the manifest for all the other boxes I got. So I know what's comin'. But it's cool. I can wait. I just wish I had something to play on my PSP! Right now, I just surf the net. Yay...

My laptop is also waiting with my boss. Grr... that I was really looking forward to getting. I guess I can wait just a few more days, though. I'll survive. :-) Wanna see the boxes I got? Okay! :-)

Isn't my pull bag cool? It's all teal and black and stuff. And check out my drill! Woo, that's fun to play with (I might actually put up the rest of my shelves before we move! or maybe not...) So I'm very excited to be starting on Tuesday. It should be uber fun! :-) I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes!

My Mom discovered a Portuguese food store down the road from my house... When we went Tuesday, they didn't have much, but I went yesterday and found some really great things, such as chourico (the Portuguese kind, not that yucky spanish kind...), san jorge cheese, covo cheese (it's kinda like brie), paposecos (Portuguese bread), queijadas (custard tarts), and so on and so on. The chourico is actually VERY good! Just like Avo used to make, though not spicy. I guess we don't need to drive all the way up to RI to get it anymore! Woo! That's very exciting for us, you have to understand...

Anyways, that about updates you on everything going on. Until next time, we remain....

j2

UPDATE!!!

Wooo! What a week! It's been eventful/noneventful but good and fun for the most part.

However, I did promise a review of V for Vendetta (and I will also add one for Thank You for Smoking) so here it be!

V for Vendetta
I loved this movie! I told Jeremy as we were leaving the theater that it was probably one of the best movies I've seen in a loooong time! You want to know why??? Because it has everything I love about movies in it: dramatic action poked with bits of comedy and satire, and of course, based on a comic book!

Now, you won't know it from the title, credits or movie poster, but this movie was actually based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore, the same guy who is responsible for bringing us classics such as "Watchmen" (if you haven't read it yet, and are not easily offended, it's a great read! Might be a little over the top for the uber-conservative, but very very good story... It's about superheroes, after all). I'm not going to bore you with the entire premise of "V" since if you have any interest in the movie, you already know what it is from the trailers (and if you haven't seen the trailers yet, now is a good time to view them!). Basically, it's set in the futuristic London, post-war, and the government has plunged its citizens into fear and keep them in place with curfews, and other rules for their "well-being" (I agree that making butter illegal could benefit some, but c'mon! sheesh...) V has decided the people have had enough--and starts blowing stuff up in the process (to classical music, nonetheless! It's great stuff!)

So why do I love it so much? Probably because it mirrors "The Phantom of the Opera" in many ways (which I LOOOOOOOVE!). Shall we draw on their similarities? Okay!

POTO	V for Vendetta
Lives under the opera house.	Lives underground.
Wears a mask to hide deformity.	Wears a mask to hide deformity.
Loves Christine.	Eventually loves Evey.
Has a passionate cause (Christine).	Has a passionate cause (revolution).
Highly intelligent--puts it to use to get what he wants.	Highly intelligent--puts it to use to free the people (and get what he wants).
Writes operas.	Listens to classical music/"conducts".
Troubled past.	Ditto.
Wins, then loses.	Wins (then kinda loses...)
Does things the dramatic, complicated way.	Yup, same here.
Crazy.	Crazy?
Kidnaps the girl.	"Saves" the girl.
Almost gets the girl.	Gets the girl.

And on and on and on... I like the ending of V better than POTO, though... POTO kinda left ya hanging--there was no closure! See the movie and you'll know what I mean. :-)

That's V in a nutshell. Definitely rated R for a reason, however I will probably take Stephin to go see it (he's 13). But I wouldn't recommend for the youngins. Oh and there are some homosexual moments and "revolt against your goverment" themes, but I don't take those seriously... I don't go to movies like this for their political stance or comments--I go to watch the stuff blow up. If you're easily offended by those things, don't go... It'll bug you the entire time (and for the record, while I was aware of those things in the movie, I didn't really think about them or acknowledge them until someone pointed it out to me... so sorry if I've spoiled it for you... :-( ) Have fun! It's great stuff! I can't wait to see it again!

Thank You for Smoking
Again, not one for the easily offended, since most of the movie is from a tobacco lobbyists point of view, and therefore, seems to promote smoking. But it does show other sides of it as well. I just think that some people take these things too seriously to go watch in the theater--if you're wondering if you're one of them, just ask yourself if you're appalled that we would even entertain the though of going to a movie about smoking--if you are, don't see it. :-)

It was very entertaining, much more amusing than I expected it to be (much more usage of the "f" bomb than I expected, too). Check out the trailers for more info, and keep in mind--it's a movie. :-) Jeremy and I liked it a lot, and will probably check it out if it his the Draft House (it'd be great if they have both V and TYFS back to back... that'd be an awesome night!)

All in all, TYFS is far more comedy than drama, and gets a thumbs up in my book.

SO GO TO THE MOVIES AND ENJOY!