Jared and I had a great time at the Gogol show. The Lyric Theatre was awesome. Take the layout of the Naro, shrink it by at least half, clean it up A LOT, and you’ve got the Lyric. (You can see our heads in this photo. 3rd center row, all the way to left.)
Everyone rushed the stage as the show began, which actually ended up working out really well for us. We were able to get to the center of the row, had an awesome view, and avoided any pushing/shoving/moshing due to our seat barricade. Perfect.
I didn’t really expect to ever see Gogol again, especially in such an intimate environment. It was such a treat. They played a lot of the new album, which was good because I hadn’t seen it live, but I was also kind of bummed that the entire show was either Gypsy Punks or Super Taranta. When they came out for the encore, I turned to Jared and said if they didn’t at least play “Baro Foro,” I would cry. Sure enough, it was the last song they played and it made my night.
The drive to and from Blacksburg was interesting. My little car is not a fan of the ups and downs. It would struggle to get up the hill, then it was fast as lightning going down.
On the way up I saw a pick-up truck with a dead rottweiler tied to a pole, laying on a pile of chopped wood. ????? We also saw a huge truck carrying tanks labeled “Radioactive Material.” Scary.
I had been noticing a decline in my car’s gas mileage, so I got an oil and filter change right before the trip. I was excited to test it out. The drive up there I got 35 miles to the gallon, which was an improvement, but not as good as before. I attributed it to the fact that I had driven around here for a few days beforehand, so it was a mixture of city and highway. On the way back I put it to a strictly highway test and managed to get 42 mpg. Yes! That’s a record. I used to get about 38-39.
On our way home, I decided to stop through Richmond to go to Ellwood and River City. Ellwood broke my heart, because they were out of veggie burgers, but I was excited to see that Tom’s of Maine now makes SLS-Free toothpaste. I’m always on the lookout for this for my hygienist.
I went to River City because I’ve been concerned about my nipple piercings. My body is starting to reject them, and I wanted a professional opinion (and I’m not comfortable with any of the shops around here). She said it was odd that after 5 or 6 years they would start to come out, but they definitely are. I went ahead and took them out to avoid any weird(er) scar lines, and I’m going to get them redone in 2 weeks. She recommends re-piercing with PTFE, which is the same stuff pacemakers are made out of. It’s much lighter, and your body doesn’t recognize it as a foreign material. It’s annoying to have to start over, yet oddly exciting.
Tonight I’m going to see Daniel Valentine in ODU’s production of The Rocky Horror Show. I’m so excited to see him. He is playing Frankenfurter.
And also, Whitney will be there and she has a present for me and Jared. I am expecting road kill, LOL.
A recent Georgia Tech study shows that some Roomba owners seem to become deeply attached to their robots. “They give them nicknames, worry when they signal for help and sometimes even treat them like a trusted pet.” Out of 30 committed Roomba users studied, 21 of them gave their robots names, and 16 referred to their robot as a “he.”
I totally fall into both of those categories. I have named them both, and I do refer to them as boys. I talk to them while they work, giving them words of encouragement and congratulating them on a job well done. I scold them when they knock something over or eat a cord, though quickly take it back and transfer the blame (usually to Jared). If I see a dust bunny in Roombie’s path and he manages to get it on the first try, I give him a cheer.
Each time a new version comes out, I am tempted to get it, but I feel guilty about the ones I already own. I don’t want to discard them or make them feel unloved.
My all-time favorite is when Roombie runs right into Clancy. That gets me every time. She’s too dumb to move.
This is the mascot for my tampons. I think it’s weird that my tampons have a mascot.
And if you go to the mascot’s website, you can download iron-ons to make your underwear “even cuter.” There are also ringtones and mp3s.
For tampons.
I passionately hate ceiling fans with remote controls. Our kitchen fan hasn’t worked for a few months and then yesterday it came on by itself. Today it’s off again. Also today our bedroom fan decided to turn off. And I can’t find the remote.
The kitchen one is long gone. I threw it away one day cursing its pointlessness. The bedroom one should still be living in the house, but he’s hiding. The fact that I have to rely on that little thing to control my fan is really irritating. Isn’t a wall switch enough? I’m perfectly content with flipping a wall switch when I want to turn on a light or a fan.
From what I’ve read online, this is a common problem. Remote controlled fans and lights turn on and off randomly due to interference from other RF devices. And if you lose the remote, the only real solution is to buy a new fan.
As many of you know, I’m obsessed with (many things) portable speakers. I just can’t stop buying them. I have more portable speakers than I have things to plug into them. It all started in the 4th grade, when I had a super cool lunchbox with a radio built in. We would sit around eating lunch and listening to Z104. You know - Tiffany, The Bangles, Michael Jackson, Bananarama, etc. All that great stuff you listen to when you’re 8.
For years I wished I was a great inventor so I could make some speakers that you wore around your neck so you could enjoy music while walking with friends. Light, portable speakers. Not oversized, monsterous ghetto-blasters. I would wear headphones around my neck and turn the volume way up, but it really wasn’t so great.
Then the iPod happened, and a marketing wonderland developed. It started with speakers built in to bags. At first, ugly “designer” bags, but soon I was able to purchase a cute canvas Badtz Maru bag designed to look like a ghetto-blaster.
And then there was the “flat speaker” trend. But those sucked, I didn’t keep them for long.
After Isabel we spent some time in the air-conditioned mall where I discovered the plastic box speakers that I loved so (what were they called again?). Those saved us. At least we had music all those days without power and water. I bought a few of those. One for lil’ Anne and one to destroy to make bike speakers.
Then came the little blue Sony ones that were too cute to pass up. They spent some time on my bike as well.
Oh, and the Soundbug. How could I not?
After that I got the cd cases with built in speakers for Chair and I. Then the cute woodgrain ones. Then the necklace one built just for the Shuffle. Then the little foldy black ones and the one that was even smaller than my fist.
Now there are portable speakers EVERYWHERE. Just this week I got two more.
The black one even came with a bike attachment. Now, you may being asking, “Atlanta, why do you need portable speakers with a bike attachment? Didn’t you outfit your bike with a pretty sweet speaker/xmas light setup already?”
To which I would have to respond, “Well, yes, I did do that. And it was cute and all, but you see - it was rigged. I had to rip apart one of my plastic box speakers and then make little cushions and use hot glue and clear duct tape to secure everything in place and it sucked when the batteries died and I would have to take it all apart, but it did give me a chance to clean it and make it look better, and even though it was awesome and functional, it just wasn’t perfect. But now, you see, I have these speakers that are meant for bikes. It’s great!”
And the other one pictured? Come on! It’s a change purse with built-in speakers. You couldn’t really expect me not to get those, right? I love that it is the perfect size for my Nano, headphones (in case), and a spare battery.
I guess I spent so much of my life longing for portable speakers that now I just have this subconscious need to catch up. Either that or I may be a little nuts. And have obsessive disorders.
I just got my much anticipated Epilady in the mail yesterday and today I epilated my armpits. Seriously. It was a little uncomfortable (ha ha), but strangely exciting.
I had been waiting days to be able to do this. I’m still waiting on my legs. It’s epilator mania around here.
