October Sand

I spent last week on the beaches of the Outer Banks in NC, where the surfing conditions were unseasonably bad (no weather systems to stir things up) but the weather was awesome. My dad and I also tried out some beginner's hang gliding on Jockey's Ridge, which was interesting but also frustrating (it was really too windy for a beginner's lesson). And Marty is a dog who pretty much refuses to get into the water at all - she just laid on the beach for most of the week. I think she still had a good time though.

One piece of unsettling news - the Weeping Radish Brewery and Restaurant has moved from its sound-side location in Manteo to a mainland location along Route 158, in Jarvisburg. Dumb move - please explain the brilliant business plan that advocates relocating to an area the most people simply drive past? I wish them luck, if only because their beer is so tasty and the Eco Farm idea sounds interesting, but I just don't know whether I'll ever visit them at the new location.

It All Started When We Washed Our Cars...

That happened this past Saturday. Something we don't do too often, and since they're both black cars, they looked really scummy. So we washed them, quickly (and badly). The next day, it rained. And kept raining, on and off, for the next few days. Great, because we needed it. But last weekend also saw:

• problems with our new Dish Network service, which a technician thought he had fixed on Sunday. Turns out he managed to make the problem worse.
• Marty developing some problem with her GI system, and needing to wake us up multiple times in the middle of the night on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
• our Verizon DSL, 100% problem-free for close to a year, all of a sudden experiencing intermittent connection problems.
• one of our window blinds randomly breaking and almost falling on a dozing Maya.
• the home team having a historically bad night.

But it the cosmic scheme of things, all small matters. I tend to react poorly when something goes wrong that I have little-to-no control over, especially if it's a technology-based problem, but I think I'm getting better [you'd have to ask Jenny for confirmation though]. And a little perspective is always helpful. We have food, electricity, clean water, and lots of alcohol. All things we take for granted every day, but that billions of people go without. Just need to take a deep breath occasionally, look around, and realize how fortunate I am.

Besides, all these things will work out in the end. Our local, friendly satellite TV technician returns tomorrow to give it another shot. Verizon is sending a tech to take a look at our phone lines and modem next week (and thanks to dslreports.com, I didn't have to beg them to do so, or even get on the phone with customer service!). Marty's poop has returned to normal consistency, and she's in a much better mood. I should be able to repair the window blind so it's like-new. And we go to the Orioles game tonight - my first baseball game of any kind this season! - where thing's can't possibly be as bad as last night (Right?!?).

Ah, Winter

So I go out running on Saturday morning, and then following that, I take Marty over to the park for her walk. Now, it's around 70F, I had just run 7+ miles, so I'm obviously wearing shorts. That must have been the reason that local human-interest TV news reporter dude (for the city's NBC affiliate) comes over to me and wants to ask a few questions about the weather. I'm caught off guard, but I don't want to be a jerk, so I agree. What followed was an exercise in banality, as he asks me what I think of the weather (um, it's warmer thasn usual?), isn't it weird to be wearing shorts in January? (uh, yeah), et cetra, ad nauseum. I'm not sure whether it was the dumb questions, or the fact that he didn't look the least bit interested in my oh-so-profound responses, but the whole thing was a bit annoying. Plus I wasn't looking as pretty as I could have, because I had just been out running. Then the cameraman wants to get a shot of Marty, who by this point is really impatient to get on with her walk, and is wondering why this camera guy won't give her a treat in return for her allowing him to film her. Anyway, we were out in DC that night, and weren't even home to see the evening news, but Liz & Jarriel's friend Derek saw it, and I got a call from Jarriel the next day.

Now Marty think she's a TV star, and is demanding a limo to the park and the expensive dog food. And while this morning (32F) felt a bit more like winter, our BGE (gas & electric) bill for December was less than $26. We should probably get used to these winters, because even if we do figure out how to stop global warming in our lifetimes, how are we going to reverse the damage that's already been done - build a big ice maker in Greenland that spits iceberg-sized cubes towards the North Pole?