<2103>

Last night we went to a wine tasting at Homewood. It was pretty tasty, and there were people there we knew. Today I had to get up early to do TASS/TASP interviews, and now I'm just tired. But Joe got me a cheeseburger, because he's super sweet. :)

<1726>

As soon as I decide to suck it up and stay in Malawi the extra week and not go to Commencement, they announce Bill Gates as afternoon speaker and Bill Clinton as Class Day speaker. I can't believe I'm missing it.

<1145>

My flight is booked! I will head to Atlanta on Saturday, April 7th for G's wedding, and then I will leave there Easter Sunday for Malawi. I will arrive there on Tuesday. I'll be back June 12!

People can contact me on Skype when I'm on the internet. My username is same as always.

If you want a postcard, email me with your address.

<1742>

24 was last night, and then I came home and bugged the boy to see if he could get Skype to work. He did, which lead to a conversation about wanting to have a champagne party and snugglage, which lead to pajama driving. There's no reason not to be spontaneous.

Today I've been trying to figure out flights. If I get the okay from the Malawi crew on my flight plans, it looks like I may be able to swing through Atlanta on the way out of the country... just in time for Gwen's wedding! I can't imagine they'll say no, so I'm pretty psyched.

<2056>

Saturday we had dinner at Afghan Kabob (delish!) and then went to Maggie's. It wasn't smoky through one beer, and so I thought we'd be in the clear, but boy wanted to stay for a second beer. This made me grumpy, a) because said it was up to me whether we stayed, but then told the bartender to bring another round when I wasn't fast enough to respond, b) because I knew it would get smoky because it was getting more crowded, c) because I knew after 2 beers he'd be too drunk for champagne, and I had gone out and bought champagne for his birthday weekend, and d) because the basketball game had ended, meaning it was time to go home. Being grumpy about all those things gave me another reason to be grumpy, which was that we'd been having a perfectly nice time, and now I was feeling disappointed that we weren't going to continue to have a nice time at home. This lead to me picking on boy for everything else that made me feel grumpy and disappointed, namely the fact that despite already having a lively conversation about how we never stay at my house, we continue to never stay at my house. Then I just felt frustrated about everything, which made me feel teary, and I just felt more frustrated when he tried to talk to me, because I just wanted to be silent and get over my frustration.

It was all very stupid. But, like always, we got to a feeling-better place. He means well, and he's a sweetie.

Sunday we wandered over to Best Buy and Whole Foods, and then I made black bean burgers. Yummy. We had a very nice evening... I think Sundays are the best.

Today I found out that we got IRB approval, FINALLY, and so I will probably leave for Malawi Easter weekend. If I can figure out how to book a flight without violating the stupid Fly America Act, which is crap. If I can book my whole flight for cheap on South African Airways, why should I have to use a US carrier? I think I need to talk to the travel agent at CCP, if she'll actually book me a cheap flight and not this unrestricted shit that costs too much.

<1359>

Boy returned from campus. He'd gone to student health, and the doc there thought maybe he got a bug bite, like maybe a spider. Damn sneaky spider if it didn't happen in the middle of the night. But the swelling seems to have gone away. He also emailed crazy bitch to tell her not to contact him anymore or he'll have to get the authorities involved. I hope that will make her go away for good.

We went to Red Star with his friends last night. It was fun, and we managed to snag a table. I also got to watch some hoops.

<1143>

Argh! I missed all the good games last night! It was Joe's birthday, so I guess I couldn't really have made him watch basketball. We're going out with his friends tonight, so maybe I can sneek a peek at the games at the bar.

We had dinner at Dukem last night, which was delicious. Even though he had to go to campus today anyway, boy wanted to sleep at his house, so we went to my house, which I had decorated a bit for him, and grabbed a ton of stuff. Back at his house I made some No Pudge brownies (pretty tasty!) and then all hell broke loose. The crazy woman he dated last summer started emailing him again this week, and she emailed again last night, which rightfully put him in a terrible mood. And then as we were going to bed, something happened to his face around his lip and it just swelled up out of nowhere. We think it was an allergic reaction to who knows what. This morning the swelling had migrated to the lips, making it look like he got socked in the face for his birthday. He left to go to campus, and I am unsuccessfully trying to get more sleep. Urgh.

<0051>

Happy Birthday to Joe!

I got some work done today, but not loads. Tomorrow I'll try to do something before entertaining boy for his birthday.

<1357>

Went out for a jog... I should have gone a little earlier when it was cooler and less humid, but it's a lovely day out. Yay spring! Of course, my house was freezing the other night when it was cold. The heat came on last night, thank goodness. And then it came on again late this morning... wtf? The thermostat said it was like 73. I managed to shut it off by kicking the thermostat all the way down... I don't think heat is really necessary when the high is over 70 today.

There is this radio station here called Jack FM. Its station format is pretty much like my mp3 collection. They play the randomest stuff from all over the place, generally the kind of stuff that makes you go, "Oh yeah, *that* song! Wow, I haven't heard that in ages." The other day I heard a Traveling Wilburys song on there (after a commercial featuring, among other songs, NKOTB's "The Right Stuff"). I couldn't remember the name of that group until I had slept on it. Anyway, it's pretty amazing.

<1512>

I went out for a jog, since it's sunny and I couldn't bear the thought of exercising indoors. Toward the end I was surprised by a giant SPLAT on the ground right next to me. I shrieked rather comically and thought I was being attacked by a water balloon. But I looked up and saw some birds fly away, so then I thought it was poop, but later I thought it might have been an underdeveloped or unfetilized egg falling from above. I dunno, but the people standing outside the hospital seemed pretty amused.

<2055>

Animal activists everywhere were set back today by some jackass in Germany saying it would have been preferable for a zoo to have killed an adorable freakin' baby polar bear once its mother rejected it. OMG, look at the baby bear hugging the soccer ball. This is so not the battle you want to be fighting, animal activist.

<2058>

Joe has found my blog. I guess I can't make fun of him any more on it. Also, I should note that he beat me at Monopoly last night, since I've mentioned all those many times I have beaten him. :)

He also would like me to note that when he was mocking me afterwards, I totally socked him in the gut with my little fists. He almost cried like a little baby!

;)

<1935>

The weather was mega crappy yesterday... nothing worse that wintry mix. We went to Maggie's last night, because it was the closest place, and it was pretty busy with pre-St. Patty's folks. Today is probably nuts there, so I think we'll stay in.

Today I've mostly been watching hoops while the boys works. I managed to cut and paste parts of my proposal into my grant research plan, but it still needs a lot of work.

<1953>

I'm glad I got MMOD to work on my computer... I had to download some crap, because apparently Mac doesn't support WMV files anymore, and of course MMOD is only on that. But I got it to work, and traffic seems to have leveled out enough so it's behaving okay. I don't like having my hoops watching experience dominated by ACC and local concerns when there might be better games on.

<1934>

It's so nice to be able to leave the house at 5:30 to pick up some stuff at Rite Aid. It's not a place I like to walk to after dark, so it's nice when darkness is later!

Also good about DST: Malawi is only 6 hours ahead instead of 7.

I had brunch at Ami's this morning. It was delish, and there were mimosas. I've been fairly productive since then, working on some grant stuff. I even managed to get the bullshit one out of the way, even though I'm sure it's mediocre and won't compare to the people who apply who have actually cared for sick children in developing nations or something like that. I swear I'll be more awesome if you give me six grand!

I may hear from the review board soon too, which means I'll be able to actually book a friggin flight.

Tomorrow begins the madness of March. I have no bracket, for the nth year in a row since someone beat me that I just couldn't tolerate. I have discovered that having a bracket distracts me from my natural rooting interest, which is whoever is down close to the end of the game. My goal is to see as many games come down to the wire or go into quintuple overtime as possible, so I root in that direction.

Boy is not too happy about the prospect of me watching basketball all weekend. I think he has this idea that I'm not really going to do it. He is so very wrong. I love the kid, but there's no love greater than March Madness.

<1718>

Such a nice day today!

Leaving this afternoon was particularly hard. In part because of staying an extra day, in part because of bedtime drama (resolved before sleep), in part because it was just such a fun weekend.

B Rich signed the NM smoking ban! Hooray!

Am is recovering from having her tonsils yanked out. Hooray for that too, because I guess they were nasty.

<2239>

Last night ended up being just fine. I beat Joe at Monopoly. :)

Today we had to get up too early because he had a doc's appointment in DC. So we MARC'd down there, went to the appt, and then goofed off all day. We had lunch at his favorite Chinese restaurant near his old dorm at GW, had a little campus tour, and then hit the zoo. Due to the lack of sleep and being old, we were totally useless by the end of the day. We crashed on the train back, and then had to lay horizontally for many minutes upon our return. My legs still hurt.

24 was pretty rad tonight, and I'm sad I missed the bug group reactions.

<2051>

Bleh.

Sometimes the littlest stupidest things just sting and sting.

<1617>

Last night we went to Mem Sahib for dinner (buffet night... it was delicious), and then we saw Spamalot. It was a fun show, and the seats weren't really LIMITED VIEW as it said on the ticket. They were just in the back, but we could see everything just fine... there wasn't a pole in the way or anything. I think we're going to try to see some more shows next season, except we'll buy the tickets far enough in advance to be cheap.

Afterwards we went to Maggie's for several beers and came home.

Tonight I'm off to Tim's birthday party, probably sans boy because he's antisocial like that. He's also working on his proposal. Productive, unlike me.

Tomorrow is the selection show!

<1921>

What does it mean when your car doesn't start (lights comes on, but no growly starty noise and it feels hard to turn the key), but then it does? I'm interpreting this to mean that my next driving destination is a mechanic, which I was hoping to postpone until summer.

<2347>

I passed my orals! Afterwards I went and bugged Joe. We came home and took a nap and then went to Afghan Kabob, which was delicious. Then I came back home and watched ANTM and have been vegging big time.

<1436>

Birds are tweeting. But it's only 31 feels like 21 outside.

Working on some orals stuff right now, and then I'm going to go to school to run some errands. Then I'm meeting with the cohort crue, then TV Night.

<2249>

Last night I beat Joe at Monopoly again, no cheating this time. Tonight I had dinner with Lynn at Tamber's, and then there was 24.

<2300>

So, despite the incredible lameness of my Baltimore "friends," I had a good time out for my birthday last night. Joe has entertaining friends, and they all mocked me just like my friends everywhere always have for my slow beer drinking. I got the sampler and it came with 8 tiny beers, and it took me forever to drink them. Afterwards, we went with Joe's colleague/neighbor to Red Star for another drink. We're clearly getting very old, because after three drinks, both the boy and I were tip-say. A general lack of food throughout the day may also have been the culprit. We returned, and I cheated shamelessly at Monopoly, but was still not outright winning when we decided we were too tired to play on.

Today we went to the library for a few books. I also got my mail, including a package from my mom with decorations and an awesome aquamarine ring.

<1609>

27!

Dinner last night was good times. Afterwards we went to the grocery store for supplies, and then Joe made me a cake. What a sweetie.

When I finally turned my phone on at 1:30, I had 4 messages. Yikes. Two more calls since. It's a party. Tonight we're going out for drinks with some folks. Poor boy tried to get all my friends to come out, but apparently it's a busy weekend (and some people are just lame, let's face it), so there are going to be more of Joe's friends there than my friends. His friends are proportionally cooler, I guess. But it'll be fun. :)

<1813>

You know, this would have been a good weekend to go to Boston.

<1333>

I can't figure out what to do today before my meeting with my advisor. I have a few errands I should run, and it's nice out, so I'll probably go do that. After my meeting, boy and I are going to dinner at this new place he's been to but I haven't. Should be fun. I'm bringing Monopoly along with me for later. :)

<2250>

I was actually productive today. It was amazing.

Birthday fun this weekend!