A circle has too much symmetry

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Off for a few days

The movers have just arrived and they are taking my computer. I will not have internet access until Saturday at the earliest so I will be absent for the next couple of days.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Men of Football

Well Ladies, playing coed flag football has been one of the best things in my life recently, but it has been bad for my frustrated libido too. I was recruited from the minor leagues to the major leagues in the DC flag football world this past winter and my first practice was amazing! My male co-players are serious athletes. All of the men on my team have played college football and a few players have played AFL (semi-professional) football too. These men have not let their bodies go either. They are phenomenal players, with an ability to catch any ball thrown in their general direction. They are super fast and can leap at least 4 feet in the air to catch a ball.

I digress, back to my first practice; I was so distracted by the wealth of beautiful men that I actually could not play my first few minutes of practice. Then I started to go with my distraction and flirted up a storm with my co-players. When we practiced a flag pulling drill I made wild comments about my bootie and ended up distracting my teammates so much that they couldn’t play. These men have beautiful bodies and are extremely confident too. Unfortunately, in general they are not dating material. They tend to have a lot more baggage than I can haul around, in spite of the baggage they are very fun to verbally play with.

The entire league is stacked with similar men, and I use it to my advantage. I am a rusher on defense and I talk so much smack to the quarter back that I get at least one sack by distracting the QB with my trash talk. I found these pictures on the league website, they are by no means the best the league has to offer in visual stimulation but at least you ladies have an idea of how I have been spending my Saturdays.


Monday, April 24, 2006

Weekend Ramblings

I finally started cleaning out my office on Friday and when I arrived at work this morning I was shocked at how clean my office was, however after 4 hours of organizing today I am not sure I am going to have it all cleaned out by tomorrow afternoon. It is amazing how much stuff one can accumulate in 19 months. I am very grateful that movers will be dealing with all my junk in my condo.

This weekend was full of fun stuff! I went out briefly Friday night to the Science Club. Yes I am that much of a geek, I am a scientist and I hang out at the Science Club. I might as well embrace my geekiness. Saturday I played in my very last football game and we lost. It poured in DC on Saturday and I don’t think I have ever been so wet and muddy in my entire life. I did not play my best on my last game but I can’t help but feel good about the entire experience. A year ago I had never played football and this season I was recruited by an A league team. I know if I was staying in DC and continued to play football I would improve even more.

Saturday night I went out on the town! I started the evening early (6 pm) and finished very late (4 am), and I was not hung over on Sunday. I was tired but not hung over. We went dancing and the club was a riot. They played old Bon Jovi and Foreigner music and dated myself by knowing all the lyrics to the songs. I am surprised I did not lose my voice screaming the lyrics that night.

Sunday night was my last hockey game. It was a playoff game and we won. I won’t be here for the Championship game next week but I am confident our team will win. It has been great playing for the best team in the league; we have not lost a game all season. Unfortunately my new place of residence does not have hockey or football, but I have signed up for softball and basketball. It is going to be a true test of my athletic ability, because I actually have played both sports before. I won’t have the excuse of not knowing what I am doing to hide my lack of ability.

Friday, April 21, 2006

I am easy to please

I can be such a simple creature at times, and so easy to please too. It only takes a small thing to make me very happy and today is no exception. I stopped at the local gas station on my way into work today for some caffeine. I don’t have anything in my house right now because of the move. Granted I look pretty cute today and that definitely worked to my advantage this morning. When I walked into the gas station a male customer at the counter commented to the male cashier. “Is she being recorded on tape?” To which the cashier replied “Yes she is.” And then the customer said “I need a copy of that tape.” Then they both continued to talk about how beautiful I was.

I was smiling and chuckling a little bit at this exchange. Of course the customers and the cashier continued to shower me with compliments, to which I just smiled my reply. Finally the cashier waited on me and I gave him cash for the amount of one penny over which I was charged. I said “You can keep the penny.” And he replied “I am going to keep next to my heart, since it is from you.”

Now it was funny and probably insincere but darn it if they did not make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world today. I have been in a great mood all morning!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

My Lost Sister

My parents have been at war for as long as I can remember. My first memory of this war was when I was about 5 years and my dad was telling me how much he still loved my mother and that afternoon they had a huge fight, similar to a lover’s quarrel. Now perhaps all divorced fathers tell their children that they still love their mothers. In my case I believe that my father continued to love my mother long after my mother had stopped loving him.

The war between my parents that involved me as a casualty of war started when I was 10 years old. I was spending the weekend at my father’s house. I hated going there. It was a combination of things; my father’s house has always been disgustingly dirty. I have never been comfortable around such filth. My dad openly did drugs around me at that age, but then again so did my step-father. I was treated very different than my youngest sister who lived with my father. I am sure as a child I was very jealous of her, but that jealousy did not survive adolescents.

During this one particular weekend my father and I got into an argument. I can’t imagine what it was about. Given that I only saw him twice a month and he had no control over any aspect of my life. Besides at that time I was a great kid, I was in advanced programs at school, I received prefect grades and I was a dancer with a very prestigious company. In the course of this fight he screamed at me what a horrible person my mother was and that I did not know her at all. All the things he told me were true. I did not believe it at the time and was sobbing through this attack on my mother. Among the things he reviled was that my mother had numerous plastic surgeries, which is true. But the other thing he said that haunted me from that day forth was that my mother forced him to abandon his other daughter. It turned out that 9 weeks and one day after I was born my younger sister was born. He just screamed it at me, that I had this other sister wandering lonely in the world without a father and it was all my mother’s (and my) fault.

From that day forward I would look into the faces in a crowd and see if they were my face staring back. I continually asked question about her to my father. I would get a new friend or an enemy and I would call him and ask him is her name such and such. Through out the years I was given just enough information to locate her on my own, which is exactly what I did when we both turned 18. This was not the happy moment that one might have imagined; in fact it pissed a lot of people off, including the mother of this girl who at one time loved my father only to be spurned by my dad. They had developed a pact, no contact between my sister and my father and she would not ask for or seek child support, but thanks to me the no contact thing did not work so well. It turned out that my father knew where she was the entire time and did not tell me because of the pact. All the evasive answers he had given me over the years painted a pained and tragic image in my life of strange faces in the crowd searching for love and family. The pained and tragic face of my sister was only in my imagination, in reality she looks a lot like me. Fifteen years later everyone is still estranged, and in the end it turned out how every one wanted it too.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

I wish there was a gum to quit you

I smoked for 16 years, and 8 years after I started I wanted to quit. I tried going cold turkey but that really did not work. A few years later and 10 pounds heavier I tried the patch. I made it until I took the patch off. A year later and another 10 pounds heavier I tried the drug Zyban. Which was too much drug for me, and I was still a smoker. A few months after that I tried the patch again, and did not make it a second after the nicotine was out of my system. A few months after that and a total of 30 pounds heavier I tried the throat lozenges. I was still a smoker and a fat one at that. Finally I tried the gum, and I quit. I succeed with the gum where I failed all the other attempts. I didn’t gain any weight, in fact I lost weight.

I really wanted to quit all those other times. I was surrounded by non-smokers. I was embarrassed that I smoked. I would hide that I smoked from my co-workers and friends. Only the people close to me knew I was a smoker but it took the gum to finally quit. And now I wish there was a gum to stop you.

I wish there was a gum for loneliness. I wish there was a gum that would stop me from thinking about you. I wish there was a gum to stop me from calling you, and a gum to not answer when you call. I wish there was a gum to not email you or reply to the ones you send me. I wish there was a gum to stop me from looking for your car. I wish there was a gum to stop me from caring about you. I wish there was a gum to take away the pain. I wish there was a gum to quit you.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

A new Drink, the Spinner

The other day while attempting to make a Cosmopolitan I invented a new martini and it rocks. I had all the necessary ingredients for the Cosmopolitan but my bottle of Grey Goose was unopened and I did not want to open it so close to moving day. I shuffled through my liquor cabinet and came up with my new martini

1 oz Raspberry rum

1 oz Cointreau

1 oz Coconut rum

A splash of orange juice

A splash of cran-raspberry juice

I spent the morning hours trying to find out if someone had already invented it and it looks like it is an original Spin Doc invention. I am not sure what I am going to call it, perhaps Spin Doc because I am that narcissistic. However that really does not sound like a drink name, maybe a Spinner. I like it, “Spinner” and it is my one true original invention, and who claimed there are no more original thoughts???

Monday, April 17, 2006

Washington DC

I am leaving DC in less than two weeks and thought I should dedicate a post to the things I have learned and/or will miss about DC.

  1. Not all hip-hop music sucks
  2. Having a big bootie in not a bad thing
  3. Utah girls are hot in DC
  4. DC weather is fabulous
  5. There is no logic to traffic, don’t try to find it
  6. 30 is not too old to go bar hopping
  7. Diversity is fabulous
  8. The south is still racist
  9. There is no such thing as service in Maryland
  10. The ghetto is a fun place to live
  11. Independent movie theatres rock
  12. Skiing sucks in the east
  13. Smoking is not cool or socially acceptable
  14. Trailer trash comes in all colors
  15. Friends of convenience are not really your friends
  16. It is totally acceptable to have a career instead of a family
  17. It is a good thing to wait to have a family
  18. There is no speed limit on the beltway
  19. Parking is a nightmare
  20. Traffic dominates your life
  21. The metro is not convenient at 1 am.
  22. Valet parking is the only way to go
  23. People make insane amounts of money
  24. The housing market is insane
  25. DSW is the best store ever!
  26. The military is still racist
  27. Football is the best game to play
  28. Hockey is harder than it looks
  29. Taking dance classes is still fun
  30. The National Art Gallery is the best museum
  31. There are no tourist in DC during the winter
  32. 5 guys is the best place for a burger
  33. Green is better than the desert
  34. Ethiopian food is amazing
  35. I love Indian Summers
  36. A mowed patch of weeds is considered a lawn
  37. People remodel the strangest places
  38. IKEA sells the same things as target only for more money
  39. Washing your car is a neighborhood event
  40. The Mormons will find you, no matter where you go
  41. Drinking in DC is expensive
  42. Strip clubs are better in Utah than DC
  43. Washing your car is a neighborhood event
  44. Putting air in your tires is an invitation to be hit on
  45. Potholes the size of your car do exists
  46. DC is one of the best places to live if you are single
  47. I would not want to raise a family in DC
  48. Living 1800 miles away from your family is a good thing
  49. There are good Samaritans in DC
  50. Everything is expensive in DC
  51. Maryland liquor laws are weirder than Utah’s
  52. How to blog
  53. DC is full of lonely people
  54. Babysitting pays bank!
  55. National is the easiest airport to use
  56. Dave Chappelle is funny
  57. Target should be said with a fake French accent
  58. Burger King is better than McDonalds
  59. Is it possible to spend an entire work day surfing the net
  60. I can’t live without high speed internet
  61. Comedy central is the best station on TV
  62. I am not a cat person
  63. I don’t like to cook
  64. Too much news is a bad thing
  65. I am not going to get car jacked just by driving in DC
  66. Parallel parking is hard
  67. Rats bigger than cats live in DC
  68. Humidity is great for my skin
  69. Humidity is also great for my hair
  70. Snow belongs in the mountains
  71. I like warm rains
  72. It really does rain buckets
  73. Altitude sickness is real
  74. Glass blowing is really cool to watch
  75. Light pollution makes it really hard to see the stars
  76. Getting lost is very easy
  77. Roads signs are a luxury not a given
  78. Taxis are convenient
  79. Being a Redskins fan is fun
  80. Football is a great social equalizer
  81. Conservatives are not localized to Utah
  82. A 6 Telsa field is large enough to move a beam stop
  83. Madeline’s has great pastries
  84. I learned how to do bootie bumps
  85. Quantum Computers are decades away from reality
  86. A bad boss can ruin even the best job
  87. I should have moved away from home earlier in my life
  88. Everything looks better in wine glass
  89. Out of sight is out of mind to my family
  90. I will miss running along the Potomac
  91. I will miss Adams Morgan
  92. I will miss people coming to stay with me because I am in DC
  93. I will miss my neighborhood
  94. I will miss Pixie
  95. I will miss Sara
  96. I will miss the Bavarian
  97. I will miss Hugh
  98. I will miss Jean-Marc and SVM
  99. I will miss Janeane
  100. I will miss Joey

Friday, April 14, 2006

Easter Weekend

My parents separated when I was a young child and all my childhood memories are filled with every other weekend and summers with my father. My holidays were also split between my parents. My mother always had Christmas morning, my father received Christmas afternoon and my father also had Easter. My father had me the entire Easter weekend, which was usually a four day event.

Easter at my Father’s place was an great but the credit probably belongs to my step-mother (SM). Easter weekend would start with Egg Decorating on Saturday night. My SM would buy the craziest non-traditional stuff to decorate our eggs with. We would decorate eggs as a family, the parents and the children. Sometime during the night the Easter bunny would visit and the bunny would hide all the eggs and our baskets. We would wake up and try to find our baskets. The Easter bunny even brought a basket for my father. We would play, hot and cold if it was too hard to find, and sometimes we needed the help. Then we would venture into the yard and find the eggs. The Easter bunny had rules and she had to hide the eggs in “plain sight”. Plain sight could mean you had to be on your tummy in order to see the egg or you had to be on a ten foot ladder before you could see it, but not buried or hidden in anything.

As I grew older and left my parents home I would still have Easter morning at my fathers. My SM would even get a basket for the significant other in my life at the time. I also started putting my own twist onto Easter. Easter eve I would host a huge bash, complete with a whole array of egg decorating paraphernalia. My guests would bring eggs and over alcohol we would decorate eggs and have an egg decorating contest. I hosted parties where at least 100 eggs were decorated.

These parties were co-ed and so along with the decorating a huge poker game would also commence. Sometime during the night a few of the drunken party goers (usually the men) would hide the eggs. In the morning the women (who spent the night) would go out into the yard and find the eggs. We would have a competition on who could find the most eggs, the same “plain sight” rules held when hiding the eggs.

I didn’t even realize Easter was coming this year until I started getting phone calls from friends informing they would be at the bash this year. However, this year is the first year that I am not going to have an Easter bash and I am bummed! I am moving in 11 days. I won’t be able to host the traditional Easter fling. I won’t be able to get up Easter morning and hunt for eggs this year. I also won’t be getting an Easter basket for the first time in my memory and I am feeling very sorry for myself. I did purchase decorating stuff and will decorate eggs alone on Sunday. I hope this is not the end of Easter for me.

Word's of Wisdom from Cartman

I said “Oh I think I am still hung over.”

He said “Do you know how to avoid a hang over?”

I said “Don’t drink.”

He said “No stay drunk.”

I said “I am not going to drink for the next couple of days.”

He said “That is not the spirit, when you fall off that horse you need to get right back on.”

He said “Alcohol is the mental Darwinism; it is killing off the slow brain cells.”

He said “Here’s to alcohol, the cause of and solution to all life’s problems.”

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Univited

At times someone else says it better than me

Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot-blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you, you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Must be strangely exciting
To watch the stoic squirm
Must be somewhat hard telling
To watch them burn me shepherd
But you you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Like any uncharted territory
I must seem greatly intriguing
You speak of my love like
You have experienced love like mine before
But this is not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

I don't think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

My First Tag by Genius

  1. I was tagged by Genius....
    Who was your first Prom date? His name was Ryan (I don’t remember his last name). I was the only freshman invited to senior prom that year and I was excited. I was lucky in that I was asked to every high school dance.


2. Who was your first roommate(s)? Darren B.

3. What alcoholic beverage did you drink the first time you got drunk? It was ever clear and mixed with a surplee, and I have never had one again.

4. What was your first job? I worked at a Cinnamon Roll place in the mall and I loved it.

5. What was your first car? A Datsun 210 and it was ugly!! The floor was so rusted that a tree actually took root and started growing in my car.

6. When did you go to your first funeral? Age 16, my step-grandmothers, I left early because I had a date.

7. How old were you when you first moved away from your home town? Age 12, we moved to El Paso, Texas. I was too young to really care. I did not move away from my family until I was 30.

8. Who was your first grade teacher? Ms Ashburn, it was rumored that she hit her students with a hanger but I never saw her hit any students.

9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane? It was 1979 and I flew to Florida to perform at the Steelers and Cowboys super bowl half time, and to this day I am still a Steelers fan.

10. When did you sneak out of your house for the first time, who was it with? Oh the first time, I was 6 years old and grounded but with the help of my older brother I climbed the fence to go and play with my friends. My parents were so amused by my actions that I didn’t get punished upon my return.

11. Who was your first Best Friend and are you still friends with them? I had two best friends, one at school and one at home, Bobbi and Andrea respectively. Bobbi was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 25 and is now in a near vegetative state. Andrea had 3 children by the time she was 21 and we no longer have much in common. Andrea did marry my cousin so I see her from time to time.

12. Where did you live the first time you moved out of your parents house? In a small house with Darren.

13. Who is the first person you call if you have a bad day? Without a doubt my best friend in the whole world Marge, but I call her everyday.

14. Whose wedding were you in the first time you were a bridesmaid/groomsmen? Andrea’s

15. What is the first thing you do in the morning? I head for the bathroom

16. What is the first concert you ever went to? Earth, Wind and Fire, I was a small child and I went with my mother. I tried to sleep but it was very difficult.

17. First tattoo or piercing? My step-father and I had our ears pierced together when I was 10 years old. He bought me diamond earrings and my mother was so jealous she made me take them out and give them to her.

18. First Celebrity crush? I have never had a celebrity crush, celebrities just don’t do it for me.

19. Age of first kiss? Age 11 (see My First Kiss).

20. First crush? Jeremy V. I loved him from the first grade until I was 21.

21. First time you did drugs? I had two older brothers (5 and 9 years older respectively) my second oldest brother got me high in the 6th grade.

I will tag Ellen, SVM and Trista. Though Ellen and SVM will claim they don’t have the time right now and Trista has probably been tagged before.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Superstitions

Throwing salt over your shoulder, not walking under a ladder, opening an umbrella inside avoiding a black cat and so on and so on; I have always thought superstitions were silly and ridiculous things until I recently discovered I have a superstition. I have to hug the person that is dropping me off at the airport, or if I am dropping someone off I give them a parting hug. The last time I flew Sara dropped me off at the airport and I gave her a hug. Afterwards while waiting for my plane I realized that I always hug the person who is flying or the person dropping me off. As quickly as I realized I do this the thought flashed through my head “Well what if that is the last time I see them?”

This is where the superstition comes into the equation. I have never been dropped off or dropped someone off who is not planning on returning. So why would I think they might never return. Logically the chances of them dying or not returning are almost none, so it is an ill logical response to the act of flying. Logically Sara has a greater chance of dying on the road than she does in an airplane crash but I don’t hug her before she leaves work everyday.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Sell Out

On Average, You Would Sell Out For

$193,633

Adventures in Cooking

I am not a cook, not by any definition of the word would one consider me a cook. However from time to time I forget that I am incapable of cooking and think today I am going to make myself something great. Yesterday was one of those temporary lapses in judgment. After spending the entire day recovering from a night of too much alcohol I decided that I wanted a full course meal. I was going to cook myself a three course meal. I planned the entire thing too. I went to the grocery store and purchased all the supplies.

I was going to cook myself lemon pepper fish, garlic potatoes and asparagus. Sounds great right? And coming from a restaurant or someone who can cook it probably would have been great. Coming from me it was a complete disaster. It started with the potatoes, now for starters they were from a box and they should have been easy. However I did not notice the recipe was for one package of instant potatoes and the box contained two packages until it was too late and both packages went into the pot. No garlic potatoes for me.

The fish was just disgusting. I really can’t tell you what went wrong there. I think I followed the recipe exactly and it should have turned out. Perhaps it was the quality of fish, I just don’t know. I do know that I took one bite of the fish and that was enough, no fish for me. The asparagus turned out just fine. I microwaved it with a little water and lemon juice so not a whole lot could go wrong. So after all my big plans and a trip to the grocery store I ended up eating asparagus and drinking two really big glasses of milk for dinner. I also ended up with a complete mess in the kitchen, from now on I am sticking to restaurants!

Friday, April 07, 2006

Rambling

I having nothing clever or interesting to write this afternoon but I am sick of working on my program so I am just going to ramble.

This afternoon, I was reminded why I will be so glad to get out of here. I had an extremely painful meeting where we discussed the same problem that we had been talking about for months. And finally today after months of meetings one member finally understood something. Well I think he did. I almost yelled out “Eureka, I think he is got it!” However he probably still doesn’t understand.

Today, I was also reminded why I am going to miss this place. E. brought me banana nut bread for breakfast, yum bananas. The Bavarian brought me a cup of peppermint tea this afternoon. Some of the guys around here are great. I am going to miss them, and I am really going to miss all the sweets they bring me.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

I am the queen of the geeks

Today I am a scientist and I am going to post something about science, inspired by a talk I went to today titled Relativistic Quantum Walk Algorithms for Superconducting Qubits. I know that is a bunch of scientific jargon that only means something to a handful of scientists specializing in the field. However this talk reminded me of why I love physics and why I became a physicist.

I never had the intention of going “all the way” in physics when I first started pursuing the major. I had the idea in the back of my mind that being good at science and math would get you a great job, and I was good at both. I also loved physics, from my very first class in college (Yes College). In spite of these vague thoughts of the future I did not have any concrete plans after graduation, and I wasn’t in dire need of money so I never really gave it much thought until my first full-blown experience with quantum mechanics. For those of you who don’t know quantum mechanics (QM) is weird! There is no other way to say it, it is just plain weird.

I could not, would not accept the traditional interpretation of QM. Among other things the traditional interpretation of QM states that a particle can be in two different places at the same time!!!! It also implies crazy things like you can have a superposition of half alive cat and half dead cat. I loudly voice my objections to my professor at the time and he would not hear it. He was dead set that this interpretation was correct and there were no objections in his class. I knew right then that I had to learn more because I would not, could not accept the Copenhagen Interpretation of QM, but I just did not know what the correct interpretation was.

Therefore I went to graduate school where I learned there are many interpretations of QM, Copenhagen (most widely accepted), Bohme’s (not complete), many worlds (impossible prove or deny) and my favorite Transactional Interpretation. My undergraduate professor did us an extreme disservice by not introducing us to the debate that still rages among theorist on the physical meaning of QM. However for the most part I now take the view hey is works; who cares if we are using an imaginary things to describe something in the real world?

Today I was reminded that Dirac’s equation (the Transactional Interpretation) is still out there and is still being used and still gives solutions that travel back in time. Now how cool is that, really? I am the queen of the geeks and I am super excited about Dirac’s equation being applied to quantum algorithms, there might even be a future experiment in this! Information traveling backwards in time, hey the physics is there.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Favorite Jokes

On a silly and trivial note today I am posting my favorite joke.

Two bored casino dealers are waiting at the craps table. A very attractive blonde lady comes in and wants to bet $10,000 on a single roll of the dice. And she adds, "I hope you don't mind, but I feel much luckier when I m completely nude."

With that she takes off everything but her necklace and rolls the dice while yelling, "Mama needs new clothes." Then she yells, "YES, YES, YES!! I WON, I WON, I WON."

She begins jumping up and down and hugging both of the dealers. Then she picks up her money and her clothes and quickly leaves. The dealers just stare at each other dumbfounded. Finally one of them asks, "What did she roll, anyway?"

The other answers, "I don't know. I thought YOU were watching."

MORAL: Not all blondes are dumb, but all men are men.

Now it is your turn, what is your favorite joke?

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Mormons in the Capitol

My guest and I also toured the Capitol Building. The tour was arranged through their congressional representative office and given by a congressional intern. My house guests are from Utah and yes they are Mormon. Normally we avoid all talk about religion because I am not Mormon and I hate (hate, hate, hate, hate) people trying to convert me. For those of you who don’t know, it is a common theme among the Mormon community to try and convert people. I am also very sensitive to how much of the Mormon Church is in Utah politics.

The tour started pretty standard but eventually the language of our tour guide really started to bother me. For instance he was very proud that Utah’s statue in the Capitol Building had never been changed from Brother Brigham (i.e., Brigham Young). First of all I did not know that our whole group was related to Brigham Young, and I thought he was dead but hey it is Utah it is possible we are all relented to Brother Brigham. This also sparked a conversation about how lucky Utahan are to have Brother Brigham as there first leader.

I was also surprised to find that all 435 members of the house were men. Well let me clarify that statement our tour guide constantly said “All 435 congressmen have offices….” Or “All 435 congressmen have student interns….” I was surprised to find such un-pc language and incorrect language (there are actually 63 female representatives and 14 female senators) from an actual staff member of a representative, but then again he was from Utah.

The other thing that was really annoying about our group was the number of children under the age of 10 outnumbered the people over 10 in our group. The sheer number of children in our group made our progress through the capital building slow and haphazard. But hey they were from Utah and what is an outing without 15 very small children in tow?

Sunday, April 02, 2006

White House Rose

This weekend was exhausting! From early Thursday evening until Monday morning I had to play tour guide. When you are vacation you want to take in all the sites and given the finite amount of time you have on vacation you crowd the whole experience into a couple of days. Well the last couple of days I crammed an entire Washington DC vacation in. However there were a few moments that really stand out, some in a good way and some not so good. I will start with the good one; Friday morning we toured the white house.

The white house tour was interesting considering the lengths my guest had to go through to get us access. As I walked through the few rooms our tour was allowed to view I noticed some really tacky silk flower arrangements. I thought the white house would have fresh flowers. In my mind I was really put off by all the fake floral arrangements. I love fresh flowers and have them in my place all the time. Towards the end of the tour someone in our group engaged the security guard in a conversation about the use of the room by the president’s family. After standing there a moment I asked him, “Is that floral arrangement fake?”
“What do you think?” The security guard asked.
“I think it is fake.” I replied
He plucked out a rose and handed it to me. I was shocked not only was the rose real he had given me one out the white house. I was the only one in our tour group that got one. Numerous other tourists said I should press it and keep it forever, which I am not going to do. However I spent the rest of the day feeling like one of the prettiest women in the world. It is funny what a rose from a man can do to a woman.