Emjay

The annual DC Caribbean Carnival was held on Saturday and as we live only a few houses from the parade route we went to watch. The carnival is a popular event celebrating the island cultures and featuring a parade of floats representing the islands. Mixed among the floats were Steel bands playing festive music and people performing traditional dances, wearing cultural garments and proudly displaying their nation's flags: Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago. Haiti and Puerto Rico were also represented.

It was sticky-hot standing on the side of the road - it was in the 90's - the performers in their magnificent costumes must have been unbelievably hot!

This guy came right up in front of me and posed - complete with lolly pop!

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Flowers for the Princess

nobody@vox.com(Emjay) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:52:52 -0700

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The Princess has her first "real" job!! She went for an interview last week and got called back for a second interview yesterday. She starts next Monday as a Receptionist for a small company.

She has been working weekends and evenings at McDonalds since she was 14 & a half.

For all that I think about their food (not much) I do think that McDonalds is good grounding work experience.

My marigolds are happy for the Princess too!

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A little Thursday humour

nobody@vox.com(Emjay) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:35:25 -0700

Girls -- Please have a sense of humor! This was allegedly written by a guy....

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so
much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have
never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart.

One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed. Well, the
passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says, 'I don't feel like it, I
just want you to hold me.'

I said, 'WHAT??!! What was that?!'

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear...

'You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me
to satisfy your physical needs as a man.'

She responded to my puzzled look by saying, 'Can't you just love me for who
I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?'

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with
her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big
unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on
several different very expensive outfits.. She couldn't decide which one to
take, so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to
compliment her new clothes, so I said, 'Lets get a pair for each outfit.'

We went on to the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond
earrings. Let me tell you... she was so excited. She must have thought I was
one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because
she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play
tennis.

I think I threw her for a loop when I said, 'That's fine, honey.' She was
almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement.

Smiling with excited anticipation, she finally said, 'I think this is all
dear, let's go to the cashier.'

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, 'No honey, I don't feel
like it.'

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled,
'WHAT?'

I then said, 'Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're
just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy
your shopping needs as a woman.'

And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, 'Why
can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?'

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either....but at least that bitch
knows I'm smarter than her.

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New Game

nobody@vox.com(Emjay) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:07:33 -0700

I was tagged by Karen to do the following:

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer."

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Living the life of a sole parent with three children.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

Get this questionnaire done

Make it to 5pm without hurting anyone

Survive the metro trip home without hurting anyone

Text the Princess to wish her luck at her first "real" job interview

Watch the weather and decide what to wear to work tomorrow

3) Snacks I enjoy:

chocolate, cheese, macadamia nuts.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Being a billionaire would allow me to spend time thinking up new inventions and then developing them. Hopefully after that I would still have enough money to do the usual things - buy my children fabulous houses, sail the world in a beautiful yacht, own fast cars and generally live a glamourous retirement!

5) Places I have lived:

Grew up in the middle of no-where in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Then lived in the following suburbs of Sydney: North Ryde, Cremorne, Mosman, Neutral Bay, St Peters, West Ryde.

Now Washington DC

6) Jobs I have had:

In order: Tomato picker (school holidays), farmhand, babysitter, receptionist, Field Supervisor & then Area Manager (in a catering company), "Home-maker", Night Packer, Gym Instructor, Personal Assistant to GM, Receptionist (again) and Office Manager.

7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:

I would love to know about everyone ... so if you are reading this consider yourself tagged!

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City Mouse

nobody@vox.com(Emjay) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:57:26 -0700

The other night I had a sense that there was a mouse in the kitchen. You know the suspicion which comes from that slight rustling/scurrying sound as you turn the light on.

I examined the foodstuffs on the kitchen bench. There were two large packets of corn chips, a couple of packets of StarKist Tuna Creations (Zesty Lemon Pepper), a packet of trail mix, a packet of macadamia nuts and a box of mini moos. I checked everything except the tuna & mini moos - no teeth marks.

Next night I came out in the dark and was almost deafened by the rustling! I examined the chips again and again no nibbles but this time I saw the mouse scurrying away so I investigated further.

Well, our mouse had enjoyed nearly a whole packet of Zesty Lemon Pepper Tuna and a good helping of the macadamias!!!

I am surprised that it chose zesty tuna over the corn chips. Those foil packets are much tougher to get into than the chips and everything was laid out in easy buffet style.

I think we have a gourmand city mouse.

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Chinese Menus

nobody@vox.com(Emjay) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:28:55 -0700

`
This was the menu of a restaurant where we had dinner one night in Nanjing

Doesn't Hog Intestines in Spicy sauce sound great? How about Wing & Web? - a juicy wing and a webbed foot.

Menu 1

Might you be tempted by the Fried Sparrow Gizzard? If not there is always the Yu Fu with Shepherd's Purse (not so sure this is the herb!).

Menu 2

Mmmm - what could be better than Large Intestine with Stinky Tofu:

Menu 3

I love how every item is a vegetable!

Menu 4

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Comcast ....

nobody@vox.com(Emjay) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:28:50 -0700

I used to complain about RCN Starpower but now that we have Comcast I see that RCN actually had exemplary customer service by comparison and far fewer glitches in their service. I yearn for those just plain annoying days. What we have with Comcast is something above & beyond frustrating.

On Sunday our television, internet and phone started "misbehaving" - cutting in and out and then the internet ceased totally.

The astro-dweeb called customer service on Sunday night - he was watching the NBA basketball so he did have time to spare. Each time the television lost cable signal it would only be nano-seconds before the phone flickered out and then a few seconds later service would be resumed. The astro-dweeb persevered on hold, listening to how important his call was - for just over TWO hours!!! Just as a real live person finally answered there was the tell tale flicker on the telly and the phone reception started sputtering - "don't hang up, don't hang up" he shouts into the phone. She hangs up!!

Sometime in the middle of the night we get excruciatingly slow internet back and he composes & sends an angry email to Comcast. Monday morning we have passable internet and get this response:

We apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry. We have received your e-mail regarding your cable service. This is a follow up message to ensure that your service is working to your satisfaction. Again, we apologize for the delay in responding to your
request.

If you are still experiencing service disruption at this time, please chat with us directly by using the following link: http://www.comcastsupport.com /chat for assistance.

We are not sure if they are apologising for keeping him on hold for 2 hours or the turnaround time of the email (which actually was not that bad!). Internet worked all day Monday but once evening came and we turned on the telly, things ground to a halt. Not a flicker of service on televsion, phone or internet this time!

Oh, hold on - they sent us this handy "chat" link ..... Um, note to Comcast - that's not helpful without internet!!

Yesterday, Tuesday, astro-dweeb called again & this time they have done the RCN thing and put a message on telling callers that they are having issues with their service (& basically saying "don't bother holding on"). He calls back 3 or 4 times during the morning just checking up and finally the message has gone & he gets a real person. Real person tells him all our problems are solved ... and they are - until last night when the television & phone went back to flickering and the internet disappeared.

This morning all is fine again.... So we are in some kind of conundrum hell as it works in the mornings when we can contact Comcast - just to have them tell us it is "working fine". But, when we need to tell them it is not working fine we can't "chat" or call them! !

It is no surprise that some little old lady took her hammer into a Comcast office last year to complain in person!Washington Post story

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