Mt. Vernon

Mt. Vernon

Saturday, I went to (one of my) boyfriends’ house and had a party on his lawn.  

George and Martha Washington hosted an awesome holiday party.  There were horses, and hot apple cider, and fireworks choreographed to Celine Dion, and it was basically Heaven.  It was not freezing, which was great, since we sat on the lawn to watch the fireworks because we didn’t have time to run back and get chairs from my car.  It was a mild night, beautiful weather, and the fireworks were reflected over the glassy Potomac River.  

Paired with good company and good health, one simply could not ask for anything more.

I’ve never been to Mt. Vernon when it’s been warm out.  I don’t know why, but I always end up going when it is freezing out and there is nothing green or floral to see.

Last year, I went to Mt. Vernon for the day and spent a great deal of time walking around the property with Kate.  

Fast history – George wanted to be buried here:

which was an old family crypt in a lovely nook of the property, but they moved his tomb (after realizing the crypt was just in bad condition, and then someone tried- and failed - to steal his body, so it was time to go) to a new mausoleum which is further away and gigantic, and now Martha was buried near him (along with the other family members.)  

The old crypt still stands, but is in disrepair.  It still is one of my favorite spots on the property because it is so lovely.

When I went with Kake a couple years ago, there was hardly anyone there because it was freezing and windy.  

This is one of our favorite photos of us.  

I hug the trees (I know, it's embarrassing) when I go to Mt. Vernon, especially this one, which George himself planted.

We got to the mausoleum, which is always guarded.  We were not being disruptive, just casually chatting about things we were seeing, but this lady was being such a jerk and was giving us the side-eye and shushing us.   It was outrageous. There was no one else there.  

I mean, I get it; it’s a place of sanctity and silence.  If there were other people around, I would get that it’s really a place for just walking up, paying respects, and walking away.  But, as there was no one there, we were just casually talking about the trees around and the architecture and whatever else, but this lady was being such a b.  So, I went up and hung out with George for a minute, just to hang out with his presence and say hi, and then I turned on my heel to leave, and looked down, and there was a $20 at my feet. 

It’s as if George himself said, “Hey gurl.  Sorry about my betches, you know how they can be; they’re just looking out for me.  How much was your ticket?  $18?  Here’s a $20.  Sorry, boo.”

Someone remind me to go back to Mt. Vernon in the Spring.  Actually, let's go together.  

(Are you still wondering why someone would try to steal G.W.'s body?  Me, too.  I mean, what... why?... what would one even do... Maybe we don't want to know.)

Side note, I just Google image searched George Washington, and this site came up, which YOU HAVE TO GO SEE.  Maybe I am the only one who finds it as funny as I do, but I am sitting here dying at my computer from choking back the fits of laughter.  I can only look at one at a time and then I have to look away, because they are so funny.

Well, I hope you have a great Christmas.  I'll be traveling for a while, so I will post again upon my return, boasting of several adventures, I'm sure.

Merry Christmas!!

Goodbye Forever, Hong Kong, Army/Navy

Look at my neighbor's house.

Complete with life-size, talking waving Santa.

And that is just the front.
I love it.

Goodbye Forever

I don’t know when it happened, but at some point in my life, I picked up the habit of saying, “Goodbye forever!” whenever I leave work.  

This can be traced back to one of my very first jobs, when I was 15 years old working at Taco Bell. My friend (with whom I worked there, and several other jobs to come) said that was one of the things he loved about working with me;  at the end of my shift, I would say, “okay, I’m leavin’ y’all!!”  And then I would come back in about 3-4 more times because I kept forgetting things, and then finally, when I actually had everything, I would say, “OKAY GOOD BYE FOREVER!!” 

I must do it still to this day, more often than I think.  One day recently, I was leaving work, and I said, “Okay, bye.”  I was answered with a choir of “Okay, goodbye forever,” from all of the guys.  I just started laughing and laughing.  We all took a minute to talk about it.  I said, “Do I say that?”  And they said, “Yes, you say it all the time, and we didn’t know what to make of it at first!”  

I told them that I’ve always said it, and I don’t know why – I guess you just never actually know if it is goodbye forever!  I have to walk across a lot of streets in the city!  And the one guy who is from Kenya (we have a pretty cultural group) told me, “See, that’s what we’ve figured, and now we get it and think it’s funny, but at first I was really worried, because we don’t talk about such things in my culture.”  And I told him that you have to talk about things!  And he said, “Well, now I get it, now it is okay, but it was a learning experience.”

It’s like that story in “The Princess Bride” where the Dread Pirate Roberts says every single night, "Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning."  Click here for the reference.

Hong Kong

I have to say “goodbye forever” to two of my very good friends soon.  They (husband and wife) are part of the archery family, and they are moving to Hong Kong in a couple of weeks because they were both offered jobs at a college over there.  Can you even imagine being given 3-4 weeks to just move across the world?  They have to find places for everything – from furniture to their cars and pets.  Neither of them speak the language.  I can’t even imagine.

Well, I need them to learn quickly, so that they know what is going on over there by the time I go to visit them.  I have never in my life wanted to visit the Asian countries.  I don’t know why; it’s just never appealed to me.  But now they are going, so I have to visit.  It’s just like Florida – I do NOT like Florida, and yet I’m always there for some reason or another. 

Well anyway, if you have any helpful tips for my friends, please feel free to pass them along, and I am sure that they could use all the help they can get.  I will miss them.

Army/Navy Game

I have weird hearing, and can hear things very far away, like music in restaurants that no one else can hear, and I can process three conversations at once. 

(Although if one conversation takes me away from the others, it can lead to a lot of confusion.  For example, yesterday, this guy Kevin was at my desk talking about how his hair was really long in the 80’s and then I noticed that the box marked “produce” which was delivered to the lady across from me was walking away.  I started chasing the box, not willing to miss out on the opportunity for free quality pears.  I tracked down the girl carrying the box, and expressed my concern, and she laughed and said we could open the box together.  We opened it, and lo and behold…. Cookies.  DARN THE LUCK!  I said how disappointed I was, since I really thought I was going to get free produce, and then it was noted that I was probably the only person in the whole office who would be mad about cookies not being produce.  As we were discussing this, Kevin slowly rounded the corner, with such a confused look on his face, and I just started laughing and apologizing.  He said, (whilst laughing) “I was in the middle of a sentence, and you just ran away…” I said, “Yeah, I know,  I’m sorry.  I tend to do that a lot.”  And he said he was used to it by now.)

So I heard what sounded like a bunch of low-flying helicopters in the distance yesterday, and I ran over to the window to see what was going on.  Turns out it was a bunch of low-flying helicopters coming over the harbor.  I also saw a ton of people gathering, so I grabbed my coat and went outside.  Army and Navy were outside having a huge pep rally for the Army/Navy football game today, and I gotta admit – I had SO MUCH FUN watching the pep rally.

Go Army!

Go Navy!

I usually would lean towards considering myself more of a Navy girl, but, when the Army band broke out into some Taylor Swift yesterday, I must admit that I was nearly swayed:

The pull-up challenge - Who can do the most pull-ups in 5 minutes?

Very fun to watch!

Now I REALLY want to go to the Army/Navy game.  :-(

Star Wars, Thermal Engineers

Star/Office Wars

There was a minor explosion at work yesterday when it was discovered that I have never seen Star Wars. 

I think I just heard the sound of half of my followers slamming the door behind them on their way out.

I didn’t know it was such a hot button issue, okay?? 

The conversation went something like, “And I showed the website to Veronica, but she didn’t think it was funny because she didn’t get it.”  So I say, “I’ve never seen Star Wars.” 

Just then, a cold, dark chill swept the room.  The lights flickered.  The hanging florescent lights suddenly started shaking and swaying in a sudden inexplicable, icy gust.

A choir sounded from all around me.  “You’ve WHAT?  Not even ONE?”   

I told them that I feel like it’s normal for people to not have seen Star Wars, and that they are all nerds, and not by any means a proper representation of the US populous as a whole.  They completely disagreed.  I said that I thought it was weird that none of them have seen all of the Twilights.  They said that was TOTALLY different.  I said it wasn’t different to me.  Or how about Lord of the Rings?  Harry Potter? 

It was a stalemate.  None of us had anything to say to each other.  You could have cut the tension with a knife.  There was fire in every one's eyes.   The temp was inconsolable.

Anyway, yadda yadda yadda, now I’m not friends with any of them, and I’ve been uninvited to all company holiday events.

Thermal Engineers

Speaking of the holidays, it is so hard to buy Christmas gifts for men.  I say this as a woman, since men are probably saying how hard it is to buy for women.  But really, with women, you can’t go wrong with anything that smells good (lotions, candles, food) or you know… money.   

But what do you buy for a man who 1) has everything (and is all set in the BBQ area)  and 2) is not into things like golf, or golf packages, or golf retreats?  This is what I was running into with my step dad, and everyone at work is very unhelpful, since they all like golf.   So, he finally actually made a Christmas list, and now, ladies, I have the answer to all of your holiday buying guide needs for the NASA thermal engineer YOU know! 

 Here it is!!! (This is the link to the item)

And, don't forget one of THESE!!!

Please disguise your jealousy.  I know, now you want one.  Well, get in line!

Okay, I've run out of things to say to you for right now.

IM from temp (I am so proud.)

9:40 AM Temp

(*_*) Q------(-_-Q)

Knockout

Kids these days are so clever with their internets.