Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Last night I watched the new charlie and the chocolate factory and boy was I disappointed! In the initial movie Willy Wonka was weird and you just didn't question the whys of it, or if you wanted you could think of your own reasons he got so weird, but in this movie they blatantly tell you he is weird b/c he has daddy issues. They also cut out charlie and his grandfather sneaking fizzy juice and floating off. The rest of the story stayed fairly true to the book I guess. OH and the oompa loompas were weird, like they hired a shorter guy but then just digitally made him tiny...so why not hire anyone for that? Also the songs SUCKED. We watched the end of the original movie before watching the new one and peter even commented how good the music in that movie was (not just the songs) and it was all destroyed for the new movie. Ugh and to pour salt in the wound the ending sucked. All around I was very unhappy with the new movie :( I feel very annoyed about this since the original was so good, and Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are better than this. I had high hopes that were smashed.

Remember when

Whoopi Goldberg was a cast member on Star Trek? Thats crazy to think about right? How does that even make sense. I saw a commercial of her on tv the other night for like adult diapers and it made me really question how she was on star trek.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

I was mildly interested in seeing this movie when it was in the theater thinking it would be entertaining but a bad movie. We never made it and peter ended up watching it without me. He decided I'd like it and bought it so I could watch it sometime. That sometime was this weekend. Its actually a really good movie. Pretty unique, a little weird, and overall enjoyable. I really like that michael cera wasnt his normal awkward guy, i mean he still sorta was b/c its hard to not be awkward for some people, but it felt like a different character for him which was good.

My one problem is that I knew most of the actors and actresses from different movies, and had a hard time believing the ages they were given in this movie. Michael Cera was 22 (which is pretty much his actual age, but i'm use to seeing him as a high schooler), his sister was 18 but I had seen her last in Up in the Air as a working professional and i KNOW she is older than michael cera. Kieran Culkin is my age, and i think they are trying to make him 22 like michael cera. Lastly i had thought that Jason Schwartzman was MUCH older than he actually is, I just looked him up and he is only 2 years older than I am. Weird.

also my favorite part was the name of the band: Sex Bob-omb. I'd drop the sex from the name and just go by Bob-omb. I like it. Although i'm not sure if it violates copyright laws to just steal the name like that...maybe it needs the sex at the beginning

WTF Taxi Cabs

Ok we all know that taxi cab drivers for the most part are slimy business people who are trying to cheat you out of as much money as they can. Remember back in the day with zones when they'd blatantly just make up fares? And whats with the million dollar surcharge they plug into the meter anytime I get in? Well it turns out I live in the least taxi friendly spot possible. As i've experienced over the years when I get in a taxi in DC to go home they either try and trick me into a flat rate fee of 20 bucks (always decline this or get out of the cab) or make me feel bad for having them drive so far and not be able to pick up another fare in VA (due to law) in the hopes i'll give them a bigger tip (this never works on me).

Yesterday I experienced a new Taxi cab annoyance. I landed at DCA and got in line for a taxi. The driver told me "15 dollar flat rate, and I dont take credit cards". Great, I just flew for 5 hours and have no cash, and now this jerkbag is trying to overcharge me for a 10 minute ride? no thanks. I got out and got in the next cab. The problem is that this guy, although he used a meter and agreed to take a credit card, did the thing where he adds all sorts of additional fees to the meter when i got in so in the end this ride ended up being more than 15 bucks. WTF. Not only was this an expensive ride but the driver grumbled the whole way about how it was too short of a ride and I was making him miss bigger fares back at the airport. I couldn't have disliked this taxi driver more. I'd like to say I didn't give him a tip or at least gave him a bad tip, but that's far too mean for me.

So evidently my apt is either too far or too close for any taxi. The one thing i'll say is that when given the choice of taxi drivers, Red Top has much better drivers, a better meter, and an automated credit card reader. Hess Cab on the other hand along with other no name brands suck.

Things are Turning Around

As you all saw I had a sucky end to last week, which actually got worse because I woke up sat to pick Peter up from the hospital (his surgery went well to all that are curious), and found a sticker on my car from a private towing company who had come into our garage and noticed that my registration was expired and said if i did not move my car in 24 hours they were going to tow it. Luckily I had printed my recipt that proved that i was square with the DMV and just waiting for the stickers to arrive in the mail, and the towing company agreed not to tow my car if I left the print out in the window.

Monday morning in the pouring rain I left my apartment to begin the trek to colorado. With the unlucky streak i had, i wasnt looking forward to the inevitable delays etc. To my surprise, not only did we take off on time, but the travel agent had booked me "classic plus" tickets (which on frontier is the closest to 1st class you can get) this meant i could pre-board, and got free food, free tv, and if it hadnt been 8 am free alcoholic beverages (i'm already planning what to get on the return trip!). The man infront of me ordered scotch and the flight attendant laughed at him but brought it anyway.

I landed in denver, and my luggage came pretty quickly and I went outside just in time to catch the AVIS bus before it pulled away. Once at Avis I found out that they had upgraded me to a bigger and nicer car! Which is great since its an hour to Boulder.

Lastly I got to the hotel where I had stayed before (in the crappy side wing with a parking lot view and creepy hallways), and found out i had been upgraded to a supreme king room in the main part of the building with a beautiful view of the mountains!

Lets hope my luck continues and we complete all the work i'm here for today so that I dont have to re-book my flight for tomorrow :) Now the only question remains what to do with my morning tomorrow before my flight if i dont end up having work!

so basically everything went wrong today that could have

1. I woke up in the morning and went to make my bubbly water for the day, but the CO2 cartridge was empty. 2. I drove in to work and things were going fine till I decided to check my bank statement to find out my work travel for next week charged me THREE times for the same plane ticket ( still trying to sort that crap out). 3. Finally made it to the vibe test at the designated start time to find out we were still about 2 hours away from starting 4. started the test and got ridiculous results 5. ended test mid test b/c noone could stay 6. even though i drove home AFTER rush hour got stuck in more traffic than usual. 7. Came home to find out that verizon fucked up AGAIN and now we dont have TV again for an unknown amt of time. it wasnt in their system that they completed the setup of our tv last month and decided to turn it off today, when we called they admitted to their mistake and said it would be back on in an hour (like 2 hours ago) but its still out. FUCK YOU VERIZON. I think i just need to go to bed and have today be over.

lots going on little written down

I promised I'd be better at blogging, but clearly I'm still slacking. Check out this stir fry i made! I saw one of Sarah's blog posts with a photo of purple potatoes. This inspired me to try cooking with purple potatoes myself. Turns out they basically taste the same, but are really pretty! Peter's appendix is being taken out Friday so this is looking like it will be a really low key weekend playing nurse, but Monday I'm flying out to Colorado again for more vibe testing!

Good Timing I guess

Last night Peter Alan and I were walking home from dinner and I looked up to see a bright light steadily moving across the sky. I pointed it out to everyone thinking it was a satellite maybe. Alan quickly remembered that we should look later b/c there was something to be seen at 7:30, but he couldn't remember what. I pointed out that it was 7:30 right now and whatever he thought we should be looking for was probably that. Turns out it was likely the space shuttle flying overhead!!! Very exciting!

New Blog Name?

I was watching happy guilmore (then mr deeds then billy madison) this weekend, and I was thinking that I should re-name this blog. The current title is inspired by happy guilmore when he goes "looks like someone learned to putt...uh oh" to shooter mcgavin just before he kicks his butt. Anyway, its been maybe 4 years or so since I initially started this blog, and i'm well past having learned how to blog hence the need for a new title. Any Ideas? I'm thinking by the end of march hopefully I'll change this title.