Tonight I put in an extra hour at work and came home to the painter finishing up. I mowed the lawn and went around with a pair of sheers cleaning up the edges then went out for a run since it's been a few days. I went with shirt and sans ipod. It was at a quick and strong pace (for where I'm at) -- first mile around 8:00, last mile about 7:10. It was a good run-night.
The hairs on the side of my head had been getting long, and with the trip to California just a day away, I figured that it was time... time for the mohawk! I skipped a lunchtime department meeting for a hair appointment with my friend Robin.
When I got back to the office, I heard that my engineering manager had mentioned the Running Zone Racing Series brochure with the disclaimer that my hair is now different (meaning blonde). He said that I would be available for autographs afterwards and tried to point me out, but I wasn't there. My boss informed everyone that it was because I was getting my hair done. Oh goodness.
With that, and my other co-worker's out-of-office email, it's been a pretty jovial at work. Weird.
*shrug* I'll take it.
Anyways, here are tonight's kitchen pic and a couple shots from an impromptu photoshoot:
----- And just because I've been wanting to for couple weeks now, here are some pics of the new signs near my subdivision for the traffic circle:
We are proud products of the South Carolina public school system. Kids such as in South Africa and the Iraq, uh, wish they were as smart as we is, uh. For our children.
--Cinonymous
----- Cedric here... Here's a transcript I pulled from rickey.org:
Question: “Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?”
Miss South Carolina’s Answer: “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uhmmm, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the US should help the US, uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us.”
She got Third Runner-Up... seriously?
----- Wow, Miss West Virginia must have sucked to come in Fourth Runner-Up...
----- What The Buck!
----- Today (8/28/07) from the Associated Press:
COLUMBIA, S.C.(AP) This time, the question was a little easier for Miss Teen South Carolina. After being stumped by a Miss Teen USA pageant question on live television Friday night, Lauren Caitlin Upton's confused, mangled response has been drawing a lot of attention.
The 18-year-old got a chance to redeem herself Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show when she was again asked why one-fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a map.
"I would love to re-answer that question," Upton said. "Well personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don't know anyone else who doesn't. And if the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography." ...
I'm realizing that my deprivations are not serving me well -- first with the cable and now with the Disney. I just feel like I'm punishing myself for not enough of a good reason -- saving money at the expense of what it is that keeps me going.
But a promise is a promise, and no pass until I reach $375, so I did a couple hundred push-ups this weekend and will hopefully keep up with mileage in the coming weeks. ----- Goal: $375.00 So far: $60.00 (16.0%) To go: $315.00
Today, I took the afternoon off to be home with the painter ... will be in ... ???? Please pass the word ... Thanks,
I mean...
I had to be at home so that the painter could work on the garage door and front door. Right after the first coats, it started to rain. We waited it out (30 minutes?) then he went on to re-pressure wash the driveway and walkways. He had something that looked like one of those buffers from elementary school days, and it didn't take him long at all. The driveway looks so white now! Anyways, after the second coats, he worked on the front trim.
Everything looks good... just needing some touch ups all around. And the back porch needs a second coat. I'm looking forward to the end of this project. Here are the pictures:
After a good number of years, my house is finally being repainted. "Rodeo Tan" with "Calcite Trim". Last week they came and pressure washed the outside of the house, and yesterday they started painting.
They worked on the sides of the house and got half of the back done. Today (Day 2) they finished the front and the back, but not the . Here's some pics from both days:
The stress of preparing for this contest contributed to some whack-sleep schedules this week (okay, the stress of worrying about preparing). I went to bed way early yesterday and woke up a little past midnight thinking that I might put together my visual aids (not to mention my outline for the speech) But I wasn't feeling it. So I just went back to bed.
When I walked into work this morning, I told Nga that I wasn't going to speak. She just said "okay". She didn't give me a hard time; she asked for help carrying the food over to the meeting though.
I was planning on coming right back to the office to make up the two hours I sliced off of yesterday but ended up staying. The speeches by our four contestants were really good. One could just be a winner for trying, but in my case I feel like a winner for not trying. My boss (who's also in the club) gave me a hard time about my bailing out, but he went overtime.
INAH. Monday wasn't a good day. I'm not going to elaborate here as to why -- it'd just be a d&t road.
I couldn't find my walk-around-the-lake buddy at work, so I made the walk myself and ran into another friend who offered to walk around with me. He really saved the day and got me through the rest of work.
But heading home, I was drained and fazed. I drove home without any music and didn't realize it until I pulled into the garage.
Once home, I was planning on sitting in the shower for an hour then remembered that I promised my neighbors that I'd take pictures of them with their dogs. I did get a hug from one of the dogs (black labs). I miss the bullies.
Afterwards, I went for a run... a long run in the dark to get my frustration and energies out. I wore compression shorts, brought a bottle of water to the first mile, and carried music. The pace was pretty steady, and I got a good sweat. I took pictures but decided not to post.
This past weekend was 3-day-er. On Friday, I stayed home and performed my domestic duties. On Saturday, I went for a long run (8-miles!) and toured downtown Orlando with some friends. And on Sunday, I went to go see the Orlando Gay Chorus perform then had dinner with a new friend.
Now it's Monday, and I'm pretty tired. I did the coffee thing, and as expected, am dehydrated and feeling like I can do without food so as to make up time for the late start this morning -- but also knowing that I really should hydrate and feed. Bah (knowing what I need to do, but not really feeling like doing it).
Anyways, gotta keep pushing through. It's a case of the Mondays.
Sorry for the long delay in getting this third episode out. I was kind of procrastinating it because honestly, I didn't get a whole lot of photos at the AKL and no there wasn't a YouTube video to post either -- so it would've been/is an anti-climactic post. Nonetheless, here it is:
After our day at Epcot, MOM and I drove to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at their African buffet restaurant, Boma. This was also a chance for her to meet two more of my good Orlando friends. MOM and I got there half-an-hour early to change into our clothes, then we met up with POM and Mike.
We discovered that our reservations were for the wrong day, but the ladies at the counter were nice enough to fit us in without much extra wait -- and we took the opportunity to out back behind the resort and look at the animals in their reserve. We saw a giraffe, a zebra, a few large birds, and some big horned oxen-looking animals.
There was a cast mate from Pretoria, South Africa that was there to answer questions, and she took our picture: And here's a picture I took of POM and MOM (cute!): We headed back and were quickly seated. The dinner was delicious as before. And asides from that, it was nice that each of us were able to take a break from busy schedules, away from the Orlando city and be there together.
After dinner, we were all stuffed and decided that we wanted to go check out the suspension bridge that stretched high above the lobby. We made it to the 4th floor only to discover the 5th floor (where the bridge was) was being renovated. So we went to Plan B: those mythological night-vision goggles that guests could use to see the animals in the dark. This took us around the Lodge. We hit each floor at least twice. Seriously. If this was The Amazing Race, not only would we suck, Phil wouldn't be able to find us to eliminate us and tell us that we sucked.
Anyways, the place with the night-vision goggles ended up being the Savannas, which was past the pool area, but there wasn't a Cast Member there, so we just toured around the area and checked out the Mara, the AKL market service. We headed back inside and checked out the gift shop, and that was a lot of fun too.
I'm so happy that MOM got to meet some of my Orlando friends and that they got to meet MOM! It was a long and wonderful day at Disney -- Thank you Billy, Pom, and Mike!
I'm about to get ready to head over to Orlando for the weekend. But before I could go start packing, MOM caught me on GChat:
Luisa: Hi, Cedric! me: Hi MOM I'm trying to get everything done over here so I can head over to Orlando... Luisa: What did you do today? I am tired again!! So I am trying to finish the last load of laundry..all whites and finish the papers to get out the clatter. ... Have not heard from Camille yet. She maybe working today. Got to get off the computer so I can finish my chores here! Drive carefully. me: okay, thanks mom! [smile] Luisa: I wish I can put a smiley face too. I have to learn that next time! me: don't forget to change your status to domestic goddess Luisa's new status message - domestic goddess #1 9:12 PM me: HA! Luisa: I did it! HA!! I hope Cindy will not grab the title back. me: she knows your password
Today, I'm at home trying to clean my desk. In doing so came across a piece of paper on which I had written down a conversation from one of my favorite shows, Brothers & Sisters on ABC.
It's of when Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) the gay lawyer son of the family, meets Chad Barry (Jason Lewis) this attractive actor, and Kevin's getting mixed signals from this guy who's supposedly straight. I like the exchange not only because of the inherent giddiness factor but also because of the pug reference...
Here's a pic of the two at the gym (Chad on the left, Kevin on the right) followed by the exchange: Chad Barry: I know this great off-leash trail. Kevin Walker: I don't have a dog. Chad Barry: I do. Lola, my pug. Kevin Walker: You have a pug named Lola? Chad Barry: Yeah, short for Lolita, and she's getting pretty fat dude.
I found this picture in a stack of photos in my house. It's of my friend Kelly and me about 4 years ago. Wow, we look so young. We started our jobs down here at about the same time, but she's left Florida since then -- she went back to school in Chicago. She was so much fun and so real. She took care of me during a kid-hostage-gone-wrong episode. I miss her.
After Future World, MOM and I headed to the World Showcase starting from the Mexico-side. The Gran Fiesta Tour reminded MOM of the couple trips to Mexico she took this year (for weddings). I glanced over at the San Angel Inn restaurant and saw Alberto, which reminded me of Irene and Masayo, my crazy friends.
We didn't take any pictures there, but we made up for it when we visited China: MOM was more interested in the shops, to see what there. She saw these lanterns and told me that both said "Love" but that the one on the left (with the red-marking) is the original, more correct writing -- and that the red portion of the character stands for "Heart" love -- and the other writing is a short-hand and is more friendship.Who misses the doggies? Outside, mom saw this banner and said that the middle character was her name. *shrug*, okay, let's take a picture! From there we walked to Germany. MOM said "Ooo, so colorful", then quietly and slowly started backing up away from me. I started walking towards the next country before I realized that she wanted me to take her picture. Here you go, MOM: When we walked by Italy, Auntie Rita called MOM, so we stopped and took rest under some shade before moving on.
Next was the American Pavilion, we went into the building to watch the Voices of Liberty singers perform and for the air-conditioning. When the singers came out, they invited everyone to get closer. So MOM got off the bench we managed to get and went to go sit on the floor like a kindergartener. Awww, MOM is so cute. We didn't stay for the American Adventure show and just headed over to Japan to look into their shop. MOM was fascinated by the area where people can choose an oyster and get a pearl. She also liked the delicate string globes with the figurines inside. By this point, we've done a lot of walking and were already getting hungry, so I suggested we go to my favorite place to eat, the Yakitori House, and split a Tomosama Combo -- big and very flavorful portion at a very reasonable price -- and it got MOM's approval (woo hoo!).
After that, we both figured that there wasn't too much shopping to do with the rest of the countries in the World Showcase and rushed to Morocco to catch the ferry back.
We had a couple hours free before we had to leave for dinner, so we went back into Future World and over to the Universe of Energy. I keep thinking that it's not a very popular attraction, so I was surprised to see so many people there. I actually really like the ride and knew that MOM would also like it because 1) it's educational and 2) it has Ellen! She did cover her eyes at the part where Ellen was fighting the snake-like creature though. Awww.
After the Universe of Energy, I brought MOM to Project Tomorrow, at the Spaceship Earth exit area, where she did the Super Driver game. It's so weird to see MOM playing a video game. Watch the video and you'll see why I do all the driving when she visits! (HA!)
Video clip:
After that, it was to the exit and to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner. Stay tuned for the third and final part of the series!
This morning on the way to work, someone tail-gated me for about a mile all the way to work -- all the way. We both ended up in the back parking lot of the office building, and the guy was pretty adamant about staying close. I didn't get angry, just more confused, then amused. I was thinking, "Seriously?". And very funny that the guy jumped out of his car and rushed through the turnstiles and into the building, hoping that I wouldn't be able to identify him. Seriously? All I've got to say is:
Before I left for work, I took a picture of MOM. She's watching news on the big tv and her Chinese soap operas on the portable DVD player. I told her that I was going to work and to give me a hug, but she wouldn't get up. She's getting lazy.
This past Saturday, MOM and I went over to Orlando/LakeBuenaVista for a day at Disney. We met up with my friend (i.e. the doggies' Uncle Billy) late morning at Epcot. First we took pictures in front of SSE (look at the wand-removal progress!):
then we headed to the Land Pavilion and got in line for Soarin'. Mom thought the new interactive games were cool and she tried them out (she's so funny): And Billy was there to coach her:
I took a 2-minute video of Billy and MOM during the "Build the Land" game. The video's dark and there's a lot of arm-waving all around, but 37 seconds into it MOM says "Oooo... there's my flower!". Here's a link.
MOM enjoyed the Soarin' ride a lot (her favorite now). She was a happy kid.
After that, we rode the educational Living With The Land then sat down in the center area to eat our packed lunches (bulgogi sandwiches, cherries, and chocolate wafers) before Billy had to get back home. He's such a wonderful friend and tour guide.
We headed next to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Mom hasn't seen the movie yet, but she's seen Cindy's mini. And as we passed the characters, MOM said that she wanted her pictures with Nemo:
We also went to sea... I mean see Turtle Talk with Crush. MOM thought it was neat and laughed at the bikini top joke and when Crush got "the Bubbles".
After that, we were off to the World Showcase: Tune in next time for Part Two of this Three-part series!
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