The lovers, the dreamers, and me

There were no riots yesterday. What a nice trend! Let's hope it continues.

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An email conversation I had yesterday with Bryan:

Bryan: Check it out. project watch - Cesar Pelli Finally Sees Red -"Long-awaited LA building will complete triad at Pacific Design Center - First there was the iconic "Blue" building, known affectionately as "The Blue Whale." Then there was the distinctive "Green" building. And now there will be the "Red" building, the long-awaited addition the Pacific Design Center complex, designed by Cesar Pelli, FAIA, Pelli Clark Pelli Associates, and executive architect Gruen Associates. "Red" completes the triad of buildings the architect first envisioned for the 14-acre site in the mid-1970s. "The PDC is an idea that has been pending to be completed. It will complete the composition, but most importantly, it will help define a public space," Pelli says.
Me: What's next – yellow?
Bryan: Primary colors.
Me: Green is not a primary color. Yellow, red, and blue are the only primary colors.
Bryan: Hey, you're right. I wonder why he didn't do that. That's usually a very architect type of thing.

And he's the designer in the family. Right.

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I don't live in a small town - There are something like 90,000 people in my city. And even so, Yesterday I ran into my neighbor at Costco (literally - I ran into him with a cart. Whoops. Luckily he has a good sense of humor about those things), and when I was at the grocery store a woman stopped me in the produce aisle and said "aren't you [my MIL]'s daughter-in-law? She's so excited about your pregnancy. How are you feeling?" It was bizarre, and though I vaguely remembered meeting her before I didn't remember who she was. It was only after I got in my car that I remembered she and her husband own one of my favorite restaurants (Keely - she owns Tutti Mangia in the village, Spaghetti Eddie's in Glendora, and Eddie's New York Pizzeria in Claremont). Damn. I should have kept her talking longer.

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I got a prenatal workout video from Amazon a few weeks ago and I've been pretty good about doing it a few times a week. I've really enjoyed the salsa dancing segment so that's what I've done each time, and while I'm sweaty at the end I always feel great the next day. Yesterday I decided to try the yoga segment, and I feel like I've been hit with stones and stretched on the rack. And what's sad is that this isn't my first time doing yoga - Bryan and I used to do it together. Granted, that was many moons ago. 

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I've found a 7 day Alaskan cruise on Princess that is r/t out of Seattle for $629/person, and I found airfare for $280/person. I'm hoping we'll do that or something similar.

If you've looked at my user profile you've seen that I list American University for one of my previous schools. It's not where I graduated from, but I will always consider it, and thus Washington, DC in general, to be a second home. I haven't been back since I left AU in the winter of 1997, but I've thought about the city and missed it greatly. When I found out that I was going to attend a conference there in March I was thrilled- I'd be able to visit with friends in the area, see my old hangouts, and fall in love with the city all over again. The hotel the conference is located in is a bit too pricey for me since I wouldn't have anyone to split the cost of the room with, so I made arrangements at a local bed and breakfast. I knew it was a good alternative (especially for the price) but I wasn't thrilled about the walk I'd have to make alone back to my B&B after the day was done. I figured I'd just suck it up and deal with the walk (I did perfect my "don't mess with me or I'll kick your ass" attitude while living there, after all) or take a cab. And then I got an email from the conference saying

2006 Conference — Dorm Rooms Available at American University - Over the dates of the 2006 [organization] Annual Conference, American University will have approximately 100 dorm rooms available to conference registrants as another option for your stay during the conference. You can [click here] for more information and an application for a room. 

The opportunity to visit the city I love AND stay at my old university? And right off the Metro just three stops from the conference location? YOU BETCHA! So I'm staying in the AU dorms on the Tenley Campus. For $33 a night. I can't wait. :)

a tease: > ( Paris: my version, part 1. With PLENTY of photos. )

This being up in the middle of the night again is bullshit.

I've always had issues with slight insomnia, but generally a dose of Tylenol PM or something similar is enough to at least get me back in bed before the sun comes up. But this freaking flu's got me about as medicated as I dare to be. So here I am. All I can say is if I ever meet the person who came up with the model for the first small and affordable laptop I'm going to launch myself at him/her and prostrate myself accordingly.

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((moved London recap to http://www.livejournal.com/users/ves_heill/150538.html so I could include photos with it))

I'm trying to send an email to our Paris hotel telling them that we'll be arriving in the evening and need a late check in. I studied Russian and Spanish, but French leaves me feeling rather like an idiot. I translated what I wanted to say from http://babelfish.altavista.com and you never can tell with that site if the translation is correct...

Does this make sense?

Bonjour,

Mes compagnons de voyage et moi arriverons à votre hôtel 5 novembre. Nous arriverons à l'hôtel a 20 heure. Veuillez assurer nos salles sont tenus pour nous. Les noms sur nos réservations sont:

[name 1]
[name 2]

Si vous avez des questions, repondez à moi s'il vous plait. Merci beaucoup.

Any sugestions would be appreciated. Merci. ;)

ETA: I took up Amy's suggestion from the comments. Because Amy? Is wonderful.

I found two little stowaways in my carry-on luggage. They explained that they had just gone through sort of a family crisis and were trying to rebuild their relationship, so I invited them to come along with me on my trip. These two have got ISSUES.



Leia: What's the movie on this flight?
Vader: Movie?
Leia: Yeah, you know. Movie. It's where people move and talk and periodically dance about on screen? A movie.
Vader: You do realize you can't fit into the headphones, right? You're about forty times too small.
Leia: I can try.
Vader: You'll embarrass us.
Leai: You mean I'll embarrass you.
Vader: Exactly. I forbid you to do it.
Leia: Excuse me?!? You can't forbid me to do anything. You're not my father, Vader!
Vader: Actually, I AM your father, and I think I deserve the respect of being called "Dad".
Leia: You want me to call you Dad?
Vader: Got a problem with that?
Leia: Not... really... it's just wierd, you know?
Vader: Get used to it.
Leia: You're a bit of an ass, you know.
Vader: This is going to be a long, long trip.
Leia: Tell me about it. Hmph.




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