Golly Gee!!

Tiburon had a fun meme -- ask for a letter & once she assigns you one, list 10 things you like that start with that letter. I decided I'd play along and she assigned me the letter "G". So here, in random order, are 10 things I like that start with the letter G:

1. Going places -- I love to travel. It's been a while since I've gone somewhere new and I'm itching to go exploring. Ireland, Croatia and Italy are the places that are really intriguing me currently, but I'm open to lots of different places and ideas.

2. Getting organized -- something I'm working on & desperately need to do more of.

3. Griffin -- my 22-month old nephew. He's developing quite a good sense of humor and it's a lot of fun to be around him and to watch him grow/develop.

4. Cary Grant -- The characters he played in the old movies are just about my perfect man: smooth, sophisticated, intelligent, with a wicked sense of humor and a dazzling wit. He also trained as an acrobat prior to acting, so there is an extra "something" in his movements that step his performance up to a different level. See The Philadelphia Story or North by Northwest or Bringing Up Baby to see what I mean.

which brings me to

5. George Clooney -- I've already admitted to his being a guilty pleasure of mine. After this little exchange between him and his father earlier this week here in DC, I'd have to say he's about approaching my Kryptonite.

6. Games -- I'm a big time games and puzzle person.

7. Gargoyles -- especially those with a sense of humor. If you ever come to Washington, DC, I highly recommend visiting the National Cathedral. One side of the building has more traditional gargoyles & grotesques, but the other side steps out of the box, so to speak. There are alligators, elephants, cats, dogs, etc., as well as a construction worker whistling at the girls who attend the all-girls school right next to the cathedral. There's also a Darth Vader.
8. Gourmet Chocolate -- I'm not above a Reeses Peanut Butter cup or the equivalent, but when I have the opportunity to indulge in some fine Belgian or Swiss chocolate, I pretty much never turn it down.

9. Good friends -- for they make this ride worthwhile.

10. Google Reader -- the ultimate tool for keeping up on those blogs I like to read.

Anyone else want to play along? If so, just let me know in the comments and I'll assign you a letter.

Kudos to the Pilot & Crew

I've been watching the coverage of the US Air flight that crashed into the Hudson River just after takeoff from LaGuardia. Spectacular job by the pilot and crew!!

As someone who is flying tomorrow, in similar conditions (frigid temperatures, flight plan over water just off a major metropolitan area, etc), I sure hope the pilot & crew on my flights are just as good. And that we will never learn if they are!!

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday, which means it's time for a little "attitude of gratitude". This week, I'm thankful for:

• Getting to see my family. With my siblings and I being spread coast-to-coast, and not even all in the same country, it's rare that you get all 6 of us in one room at the same time & it takes some doing to make it happen. Last time we managed it was 4+ yrs ago, so I'm very much looking forward to it.
  


• The fact that my family all gets along & that we have a really good time together. There are lots of ppl who dread family get-togethers; for us, we've been looking forward to this!!
  


• That we managed to keep this a surprise for my parents. Dad wouldn't have noticed, but Mom is pretty perceptive & picks up on little things, so she was the one we had to really watch it around. She knows that 2 of us will be there (are already there actually). That was the "set up". She doesn't know that the rest of us are coming, along with more of my neices & nephews. Dinner tomorrow night when we surprise them should be wonderful.
  


• Warmth & Sunshine & Beaches!! It's really cold here -- we aren't supposed to even hit freezing today or tomorrow, which is unseasonable for here. Temps are forecasted to be the single digits when I take off tomorrow. It's supposed to be mid-70s to low 80s and sunny all weekend in Fl. I'm sooo ready for that!
  


• The internet -- what did we do without it? I managed to stop the mail, check in for tomorrow's flight, confirm the rental car, get directions from the airport to the hotel, and more, all online in the last 24 hrs. What a time-saver!!
  


• My new camera!! -- It came!! And I managed to get back here about 20 mins before the FedEx guy showed up, so it was much more painless than it could have been!....So far, I've only attached the strap and charged the batteries (mostly because I know that once I start playing, I won't want to stop, so I'm not doing anything else until I've packed and gotten all of the rest of that type of stuff taken care of). I'm so glad I'll have it for my trip; since it's difficult to get us all together, I want to make the most of the opportunity while I have it.
  


• A great dance/business partner -- we're in charge of running a dance here this weekend. When we were given our dates for 2009 (it's a RFP process & we never know what we're actually going to get from year to year), I already knew I'd be in FL this weekend, so he's got to do all of it on his own. It's doable, but it's a lot easier when there are 2 ppl to take care of all of the details & it means he pretty much only gets to work/manage things all night; no dancing for him. Thanks, Babe, for handling everything and doing so so good-naturedly.

Everyone have a great weekend. I don't know if I'll check in from FL or not, but I will report in later.

Venting!!

You may have heard that there are some big to-do's happening here in DC in the next week or so. Well, unlike the millions of ppl that are flocking to DC, I'm getting the heck outta Dodge. Actually, this has nothing to do with the inauguration activities; we are surprising my mom for her birthday and flying in for a mini-family reunion. It just happens to coincide with the inaugural.

This has been in the planning for over a year. Got my plane tickets last summer, booked the hotel last May, etc. Took care of the little details like arranging for 2 of the dogs to stay with a friend & getting a ride to the airport from another friend back in about November or early December. Yep, this time, the only last-minute scrambling was going to be packing and finding a good book to read on the plane.

Yeah, right.

First, the person who was supposed to take my dogs for the weekend forgot & he's not available. Luckily, there are more ppl coming into town than leaving, so it looks like I can still get them into the boarding kennel. Not ideal, but at least it's covered.

Then the person who was going to take me to the airport is backing out. Well, not officially backing out, but talking about how long/packed a day it'll be and hinting that it'd be nice if I could at least look into other options. Usually, I'd just take Metro & the subway itself would get me there in plenty of time, but the bus that I take to get to the metro doesn't start running early enough for that to be an option. I've booked an airport shuttle instead, so again, it's covered, it's more that I hate scrambling last minute & if I'd known it was an issue even a week or so ago, I probably could have made different arrangements/found someone else who could have given me a lift.

Adding onto that is the camera I ordered online & want to have to take with me was shipped with a signature required. Usually, that means the Fed Ex guy comes by, when he findsI'm not there, he leaves a slip; I sign the slip & he leaves the package the next day. Nope. Not this time. That's not good enough. Nor would it be ok to have a neighbor sign for it. Someone must physically be in my house when the Fed Ex guy comes by & must sign for it at that moment....I know it's something that protects both the vendor and me, but why this time/this week?

I had such plans of being able to neatly wrap up all loose ends, easily & smoothly, and gently glide into a mini-vacation calmly & unflustered. Not likely to happen. *sigh*

Update: I'm better now. I just needed to get it out of my system. Sorry for whining.

Another Oprah Giveaway

I'm home sick today & have Oprah on right now. Today's guest is Suze Orman & she has a new book out called Suze Orman's Action Plan for 2009: Keeping your money safe & sound. For one week, Oprah viewers can download it for free by going to http://www.oprah.com/download.

Given the economic environment, I don't know about you, but I can use all the information and advice I can get.

Happy New Year!!

Wishing you & yours a healthy, happy, peaceful and prosperous 2009!