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May 31, 2005

Old People are Adorable

How cute is this!

LONDON (Reuters) - A British couple who hold the world record for the longest marriage said Wednesday their success was down to a glass of whisky, a glass of sherry and the word "sorry."

Percy and Florence Arrowsmith married on June 1, 1925 and will celebrate their 80th anniversary Wednesday.

The Guinness World Records said Tuesday the couple held the title for the longest marriage and also for the oldest married couple's aggregate age.

"I think we're very blessed," Florence, 100, told the BBC. "We still love one another, that's the most important part."

Asked for their secret, Florence said you must never be afraid to say "sorry."

"You must never go to sleep bad friends," she said, while Percy, 105, said his secret to marital bliss was just two words: "yes dear."

The couple have three children, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren and are planning a party soon.

"I like sherry at lunch time and whisky at night and I'm looking forward very much to my party," said Florence.

Viva Vienna

If only every weekend were a 3-Day weekend! I could list the stuff that I did but how boring is that? Instead I will regale you with the scaryness that is Viva Vienna.

Every year my home town (Vienna) has it's annual Memorial Day weekend Town Festival. Growing up I almost never got a chance to go since I always had out of town soccer tournaments. It is, however, a Vienna institution, much like the Vienna Inn where you can get crappy service and good chili dogs and where I have only been once. Anyway, even though Vienna has grown and is just down the street from one of the busiest and most traffic choked areas of the entire DC area (Tyson's corner), Viva Vienna remains the sort of small town festival you might see off route 29 somewhere between 66 and Charlottesville. There are booths selling cheap sunglasses, balloons everywhere, ridiculously overpriced hotdogs and funnel cake, a ferris wheel and a terrible band on a makeshift stage. And there are of course way too many people that I only half remember from my childhood.

Luckily, I only ran into a couple people that I knew, but I knew there were more everywhere lurking and waiting to jump from behind say the huge bright red caboose (another Vienna institution I never really paid any attention to) and begin talking animatedly at me while I attempt my best impression of knowing exactly who they are and what they are talking about. As I have mentioned before, my memory for people I've known in the past is not very good. One contributing factor is the close family resemblance between my Mom, my sisters, and I, so it seems that all of their friends who I have met maybe once can recognize me instantly. Once I went to visit an old highschool friend of my mom's who lives in Adelaide, Australia. I'd never met this woman before in my life but she instantly knew me from about 200 yards away almost as soon as I'd stepped off the train from Melbourne. I'm surprised I don't have more nightmares about this.

On the whole, I'm glad we stayed to hang around Viva Vienna but I was also relieved to leave, and I was very glad that I did not see one clown.

May 25, 2005

"It has come back for its love of home, its mate and for you."

The Brits are weird, there's no doubting it. The inventors of Cricket (spelt like the insect, as my coworker told me yesterday), Extreme Ironing, and Cheese Racing have been keeping Pigeon Racing on life support for years. Now, however, Pigeon Racing is in danger of going extinct.

Even though it seems to be a very moving article, quotes such as "We are losing about 2,000 members a year -- they are falling off their perches, I'm afraid" and "British pigeon racers are pinning their hopes on high technology and big money prizes to lure more young people into the sport as older enthusiasts die off" lead me to think that this is not a sport I'm at all interested in becoming a part of. So I'm sorry even though they are related to the peaceful dove, they're still rats with wings as far as I'm concerned, and breeding more of them is not my cup of tea.

Side note- I came across this potato chip review earlier on Marmite flavored potato chips.
Taste: These potato chips were thick, crunchy and very crisp, and the flavor was definitely an original one, as I had never heard of Marmite before. They tasted quite good, and most of the patrons of the chip bowl enjoyed the taste, even if they found it very hard to place the flavor. The great crispness of the chips really helped to make the flavor sharp. One of the tasters didn't like the taste at all, saying, "It tastes like someone's toes."

Yummy, toes you say? Having accidentally tried these chips before I can verify that someone elses toes is exactly how they taste. Stay very far away!

Update: Here's an even better review of a really nasty snack.

May 24, 2005

Scrubs and Bums

So the last three weekends I've been heading out to my parents boat, scrubbing away the mildew and attempting to not be like that house in your neighborhood that just never mows their lawn. The boat looked pretty bad before we got to it, there was black and green mildew all over it, we've now gotten most of it off but it's still not looking perfect. Hopefully there will be enough wind out on the bay this weekend for a proper sail, I'm afraid the constantly changing and flagging wind of last Sunday just isn't going to cut it for me.

Here's a picture of Gianluca, Mom, and I hard at work, I think the water streaming out of the hose is somehow just a little silly. Put your mouse over top of it to see the picture taken without us knowing. (Pictures courtesy of Dad)

I meant to write a really witty post about us almost ramming this other sailboat at about half a mile an hour or about our yearly troubles pulling in and out of the slip for the first time, but sadly, I've got these edits that I'm way behind on at work and all creativity is sapped out of me.

May 20, 2005

Lub Lub!

Last night I found out that I wasn't even born yet when Empire Strikes Back came out! For some reason this surprised me. Anyway, in honor of my plans to see the last Star Wars movie tonight I give you the Star Wars Personality Test. It's sort of obviously geared towards the nerdy skinny teenage boy but I'll let that slide, since I'm very happy with my results.

Wicket is my favorite! Did anyone else ever watch those Ewok movies that came out in the 80's? They were great, and I have to admit that I used to have the Ewok Celebration song from Return of the Jedi on my computer in college. It just makes you want to dance around the room like an idiot, don't you think?

May 17, 2005

Monday night debauchery

I cannot stress enough how lucky I felt to live in the DC area last night when during Naomi's kickball game I went for a 40 or so minute run around the mall and memorials. It was perfect running weather. I finally got to see the FDR memorial, which until now I've somehow missed. And I felt really good about running dispite my pre-run trip to McDonalds, my constantly complaining left ankle, and the abundance of teenage school trips that seemed to be everywhere.

After kickball is bar and flip cup. I had a great time last night, this is probably due to the fact that we were the first people at the bar after the game and I decided early on that since I wasn't eating dinner there and I wasn't driving home, I might as well get drunk. Only three teams showed up at our bar, which was nice. We played our requisite post kickball flip cup challenge against the grey team who trounced Na's team in kickball, but seemed to be rather evenly matched at flip cups (we won 3-2). Then we had several rounds of a mixture of all three teams. By this time I was, how do you say, rather tipsy and screaming at my opponents facing me across the table. Na and I went head to head a couple rounds and much trash talking ensued.

Fun was had by everyone except the non-kickballers who made the mistake of sitting outside at the Exchange on a Monday night. I ran right into this one couple's table, and the horrified looks on their faces was enough to make me slightly ashamed for about a minute, at which point I decided it was their fault for not getting the waiters to move them to another table in the first place. Poor innocent bystanders.

May 13, 2005

Snoopy, I need you!

Something happened to me in Italy. I have become Gelato obsessed. The strange thing is that I was never an ice cream person before. I don't crave it, except for the occasional Friendly's Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Sundae (droool) or perhaps a box of Fudgcicles, when they're on sale. Other than that I just about never buy ice cream. Sometimes I even convince myself that I don't like it. Anyway, Snoopy has changed all that. The best ice cream related product I've ever had, and this includes that 7 euro monster gelato I had in Florence, was from the Snoopy Gelateria in Cortona. I just about melt with longing as I write this. It's amazing and I think that anyone on our trip would agree with me. Probably my saddest moment in Italy was when we came back from dinner one night and went into Cortona specifically for some Snoopy, and sadly they were closed. I was heartbroken I tell ya. The thing is I guess I hadn't realized just how much I'm now obsessed with gelato until this morning. I am now demanding it for services rendered, in my dreams!
No, no nothing like that, get your mind out of the gutter!

Here was my dream:

I'm at the office sitting at my computer. Coworker Steve knocks on my door and walks in.
Steve: Hey Julie, do you think that you could help me with this Word problem? [then proceeds to ask random Microsoft Word question involving setting columns or something, which apparently I'm the local expert on]
Me: Yeah no problem Steve, but before I do anything you have to get me a Snoopy Gelato. Frutti di Bosci, please.
Steve: Uh, sure OK.
Steve leaves and returns minutes later with the supreme Snoopy gelato, half frutti di bosci and half some other flavor with cake bits and some sort of creamy peanut buttery taste. I snarf (yes, snarf) it down like there's no tomorrow.
End Dream.

There is seriously something wrong with me.

May 12, 2005

Salties attack

Every year in Northern Australia after the wet season park rangers drag many of the popular tourist rivers to make sure that they are "saltie free", in other words, they expel all of the big dangerous saltwater crocodiles. They leave the "freshies" (freshwater crocodiles), which are not completely harmless but much less inclined to maim the inquisitive visitor. After the rivers and watering holes have been dragged they are declared safe to swim and thousands of people, Aussie and foriegner alike, take advantage of the partially croc free waters (during the daylight hours of course when the freshies are more or less inactive).

It was rather exciting knowing that you can swim all day, maybe do a little cliff diving and then at night paddle around in a row boat with a flash light and spot crocodiles, in those same waters. Anyway, so I came across this article over at Reuters, apparently this year the wet season was too much to handle and the Australian authorities are not able to guarantee that certain popular swimming places are saltie free. This all seemed so far away and remote, until I realized that the place where many of the attacks are taking place is none other than Kakadu National Park where I spent several amazing days hiking through the very same rivers that are now infested with saltwater crocodiles. The place it mentions at the end, Twin Falls, is gorgeous and I spent a full day swimming in the now closed off section.

Sidenote: not the same place but in that area is the wateringhole from Crocodile Dundee, this place is also dragged for crocodiles every year and is home to this great sign.

May 11, 2005

Morning Warning

I have often commented on the virtues and all around goodness of the drivers on my bike rides from Arlington to Reston. However, today my faith in the apparently fragile coexistence of bike and car commuters was shattered. Just outside of Vienna, on the Arlington side, this morning I came across a very troubling scene. At an intersection, that up until now I thought was relatively safe, there were a couple of cars pulled over and several people standing around. It wasn't until I got closer that I saw the biker lying on the grass with his fellow biker kneeling beside him, holding his hand. Also standing by was a man in a suit and a little girl probably about 8 or so, and a woman on a cell phone. I stopped at the road and asked if everything was ok, the kneeling biker, looking very upset and concerned, told me that an ambulance was on it's way, and that everything would be ok. I got the distinct impression that he was trying to convince himself more than me. The injured man lay very quietly and he had some sort of cloth tied around his knee. I couldn't see his face to tell exactly how much pain he was in or even if he was conscious. I rode on, not wanting to interfere since I was pretty sure there's not much else I could do besides get in the way.

I don't know what happened, I don't know if it was the biker's or the driver's fault, I assume it was probably a combination of both. I think that maybe the man in the suit was the driver and that the woman on the cell was a witness. The little girl obviously belonged with the man in the suit and looked quite shaken up by the whole thing. It was quite a shock for me to see so early in the morning and I really hope the man is ok. Needless to say I'm going to be a bit more careful when I cross intersections on the way to work.

May 10, 2005

San Fran, Mumbai, and now Krypton

Ok so maybe I'm a little behind on this one but I was browsing Craigslist today for the first time in a long time and came across this at the end of a posting.

"yes -- ok to transmit this posting into outer space"

there was a link here. Is this serious? are they actually going to do this? Does this mean that Naomi's post about the hokie she met at Bailey's may be transmitted for all ETs to see? Watch out Na you might get more than you bargained for.

May 09, 2005

From the Anthropology Corner

As I'm stuck a holding pattern at work, I decided to take the time to catch up on a little blog reading. Here are a few interesting links to some Deinekes' posts.

Parents take better care of pretty children
This seems to be a highly flawed study from what I can tell. It doesn't seem to take many confounding factors into consideration. For example, as far as I can tell the researchers do not take the parents attractiveness into account at all. Aren't ugly people more likely to have ugly children? In which case perhaps its not that the children are treated worse cause they're ugly but because ugly people make worse parents? Anyway, the study hardly seems rigorous but at least it's interesting.

And here are two posts on Homosexual social issues:

Gay Parents tend to have gay children
As far as I can tell they are talking about adopted children and not biological children so this seems to be due to social and cultural influence. It does not mention (at least in the Dienekes' post) whether or not the fact that homosexual children of homosexuals are more likely to be open about their orientation than homosexual children of heterosexuals is taken into account. So as far as I can tell this is not a conclusive result for the nature vs. nurture debate.

Gay men are 3.5 times- and lesbians 2.15 times more likely to be mentally ill
This is not so surprising I guess considering the amount of social stress incurred by gays and lesbians, I wonder if similar studies have been done for other minorities.

Cheese Racing

For a good laugh and a little bit of procrastination go here. It's a website my Dad found after googling the word "cheese", I forget why exactly he was googling cheese but well, that's my dad for you. The rules for Cheese Racing and the history reminds me a lot of Tom and companies' Beer Day website. Especially funny are the pictures sent in by fellow cheese racers from around the world. Next time I get the chance I'm going to try my hand at Cheese Racing. An Olympic Sport in the making? What do you think?

Those crazy brits.

I saw a Llama, did you?

Long time no talk, eh? I've been extremely busy the last two weeks, the first with vacation and the second with work.

Italy was amazing, gorgeous doesn't even begin to describe it. I was so surprised how different Tuscany and Umbria were from the more northern areas around Verona and Venice. More details will follow as I think that there are at least a couple of you that read this, that didn't go to Italy with me.

Last week was PRMRP hell, long days (except for friday) and crazy doctors all over the place. They stranded me on Cinco de Mayo which I was very bitter about. But I believe I recovered admirably after a Margarita at the Hotel Bar. It was a very weird couple hours to say the least, with word vomit everywhere and one reviewer talking excessively about he prospects of taking his big breasted Portuguese wife to a topless bar. There was also some spanking but I won't go too far into that.

After I got home early on Friday I planned on taking a nap, but ran 5 miles instead. Marathon training begins. I guess the 5 miles was good for me since I probably needed a destresser from the week, and running always helps me with that.

Saturday was supposed to be a hill workout, or some form of distance run but instead I got talked into (well actually it probably wasn't that hard, since I seem to be a glutton for punishment) a bike ride to the end of the W&OD and back, starting in Vienna, with Brian and his two friends, Andrew and Everitt. At the end of the day I ended up riding 72 miles. I think the longest I've biked in a day prior to this was the 24 miles to work and back. But that prep seems to have been sufficient as I didn't really start to hurt until about mile 50, and the bike shorts helped a lot. Poor Everitt had no such luck, we started missing him at about 3 o'clock when he still hadn't shown up for some lunch. I got back on the bike and rode back about 3 miles before I found him face up lying in a ditch by the side of the trail. His legs were completely shot and he was not going to make it the 27 miles we still had to go to get back to Vienna. So I left him my phone and we decided on a place where Brian and Andrew could pick him up with the car after we made it back to Vienna. The rest of the way back was uneventful except for a psychotic rabbit that we scared so much it ran straight into a chainlink fence about 4 times. Meanwhile, it turns out that Everitt, having made it to the pulled-pork place not far from his trailside ditch, had a bad allergic reaction to the "special sauce". His throat swelled so much that he couldn't swallow any food and barely any water. And he still had to wait another 3 hours or so for Brian and Andrew to get there with the car. It just wasn't Everitt's day.

After a relaxing dinner with my parents, in which I tried desparately not to collapse in my A1 sauce, I met the guys over at Andrew's house for a very much needed hot tub and homemade creme brulee, yum.

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