Angela's Blog

Unofficially, Crohn's is on the rise

2009-01-22T14:45:00.006-05:00

As most of you know, I have been home recovering from my surgery for Crohn's, and I am doing very well. I am pain and meds free and my energy gets better everyday

I am not sure if it is because I am more attune, but it seems that Crohn's is everywhere! A friend's cousin lost a tremendous amount of weight (80 lbs I think) before being diagnosed. He had an emergency surgery. A co-worker's step-sister was diagnosed over the holiday and also had emergency surgery. A friend of my brother's has had symptoms and is being tested for the disease.

Man, what is going on?! Often when I share that I have Crohn's, people know someone with the disease: a co-worker or a cousin etc. But up until now, I have literally only known a couple of people with the disease.

I am thinking of starting a Crohn's blog...what do you think?

I am famous!

2008-10-23T12:37:00.002-05:00

A hysterical video about me

You can make your own and send it your friends: http://www.cnnbcvideo.com

Thanks Moveon.org!

Don't forget to vote on November 4, preferrably Democratic, but voting in general is good I guess.

Guest appearance by Mindydear

2008-10-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

Mindydear emails me on Monday with the subject line “I will be 30 minutes from you tomorrow night.”

Sweet!

Ed and I picked up Mindydear (after a little hotel confusion) and had a great dinner at Bertha’s in Baltimore. We also had some tremendous gelato at this cute shop in Fell’s Point. Baltimore has come a long way in its day, and Ed and I were commenting how we really have not been there in a few years. It is so close, yet so far away. J

So after some persuasion, we got Ed to drive us by Charm City Cakes of Ace of Cakes fame because I love that show. And who else other than Mary Alice was outside smoking a cig.?! I so wanted to open the window and say “hey Mary Alice” because I feel like I know her, but there was dissention to that idea by the other members of the car. I still don’t understand why. She looked like she needed a ride so I just wanted to offer her one.

We also—not really intentionally—drove through the JHU campus, which was the first time I saw the campus (since I go to the DC campus) of where I will get a degree this spring (crossing the fingers).

Mindydear looks great! It was such a fun night! Makes the rest of my week look dull…

Some much needed humor re: the election

2008-09-24T22:26:00.002-05:00

check out Wanda Sykes on the Tonight Show

OMG hysterical...

Where is the world is Angela San Diego? (hint, answer is in the question)

2008-09-17T16:57:00.003-05:00

My blog is back...

I am in San Diego for work!

The weather is great and our hotel is in the Gas Lamp district. I am excited to check out the restaurants and shops! The weather of course is perfect. If I moved anywhere based on weather alone, it would be San Diego.

Meanwhile, I am writing my thesis for school. Too bad I have to work on that while I am out here, but alas, I have no choice as a rough draft is due on Monday.

I do want to watch Project Runway. I am falling behind. I am not sure what time it is on though. It must be 9 like the East Coast. I don't know, though. All I know is that it is 3 pm, and I am ready for dinner!

The new 90210

2008-07-02T20:05:00.003-05:00

There is going to be a new 90210

I am not sure how I feel about this...can it ever be as good as the first time? Was it even that good, or was it just the phase in my life? Is the phase in my life that I want to go untouched, or is it the show itself? Regardless, I have mixed feelings.

Thanks to Meggan for the tip on the new 9-0.

Boo on Metro...

2008-06-11T10:24:00.002-05:00

So I love my commute...at least usually. Public transportation rules. Sure, every once and a while things are delayed or crowded, but man to not have to drive and be able to read my book. So. Worth. It.

However, the last two nights after work, I have left about the same time and been welcomed with a crowded, hot platform of already-disgruntled DC commuters. Last night was the worst, it was packed and no trains came for almost 15 minutes (I am not exagerating when I say that I usually wait about 2--the blessings of living on both the orange and blue line).

Then a train came and it did not stop. By this time, the once packed platform was now like a junior high dance mosh pit, and equally hot. I thought people were going to riot. Another train came a couple minutes later. It was essentially full, but like a clown car, they somehow fit more people. And then another train came, and again it did not stop. I have never experience this not stopping phenomenon before and apparently others hadn't either...again, I feared a riot. People peeled off to take cabs or the bus or whatever, but I was so hot and low-blood sugared at this point, that I was numb with indecision. I stood and waited...and then waited some more... Finally a few more trains came and I was able to get on, and after a few stops I actually finagled a seat, the crown jewel of the Metro commute. I felt like a queen compared to the groundling standers. :)

In other news, I ran into this guy at the grocery store last night who used to work with my dad in the early 70s in Minot at the TV station. Now if that is not a "small world" story; I don't know what is.

Exciting Celebrity Sighting (at least to me)!

2008-06-02T12:57:00.004-05:00

I almost forgot that Ed and I saw Antony and Cleopatra at the Shakespeare Theater this weekend and saw none other than Dixie Carter and Reese (that was his name right?? who I guess is her real life husband). I do love Julia Sugarbaker...remember the episode where she kept running over the magazine stand that was selling smut? or the time she did the catwalk modeling with her skirt stuck in her pantyhose?

Speaking of seeing weekend theater, Cynthia also treated me to Measure for Pleasure at the Woolly Mammoth, which I had never been to before. It was a little lewd and slow at times, but at the end the story came together nicely and some of the actors were pretty hysterical. It was a fun girls night out!

elfa kicks our a** and other news from the homefront

2008-06-02T12:48:00.003-05:00

We attempted to install the ridiculously overpriced, though highly functional elfa shelving from the Container Store. We picked out the shelves on Sat. am, went to the store and almost ordered them, but decided go home first to double check the measurements (a good thing because the ceiling was much shorter than we thought), and then went back to the store only to find that the bad thunderstorms had knocked the power out and ALL the stores in that area were closed. So we drove to the other Container Store (not very close) and got them. One weekend day spent getting shelving. Check.

Sunday, we woke up with delusions of hanging the shelves in about two hours. The sales people made it sound so easy, which it is if don't have a little hidden enemy known as concrete behind one of the walls. Well concrete fought hard, but we won after yet another trip to the CS, two trips to the hardware store, a broken drill bit and the purchasing of various screws and anchors. Finally, at about 6:00 p.m. all shelves were hung and we finally could start putting things away that had been living in boxes since we moved. The shelves are pretty incredible if you ever care to invest, but really, for what you pay they should install themselves...

Sad day...

2008-05-19T10:35:00.003-05:00

Last week was a sad day in our family. Our beloved dog of 14 years had to be put down. She had lost nearly all her strength and could barely stand up. We knew it was coming, but it was a sad day indeed.

Mom and I reminisced last night about the crazy Abby stories--her escapes and jaunts through the neighborhood and us running around like fools trying to coax her back...or the time she got out and went over to the school and was playing with the kids at recess. So many great memories...but it is hard to even write this post and think about her. She truly was a member of the family and like most pets enriched our lives for the better. I hope mom will write a book. We'll see...

pilates reformer

2008-04-14T17:06:00.000-05:00

has anyone done it?

i forgot to post yesterday...this guy in my building is going to start offering classes (and yoga too!) in the building. How great is that?!

anyway, I did the reformer on Sunday and it is incredible. It works muscles like nothing I have ever done--a good deep sore. I love it!!!!!

juror #8

2008-04-14T17:03:00.000-05:00

I was selected for the jury, just call me #8.

the judge thinks it will be over May 8...you've got to be f-ing kidding

but I am not.

at all.

this is going to suck people...royally suck.

i can't talk about the case, so don't ask. ;)

And friends, I won't be my avid email self either. I am going to have to respond to emails at home (obviously won't be by a computer all day), and I am at the height of school work for this all-ready busy semester.

Can someone send me an assistant from India now please?

Trash People

2008-04-11T12:24:00.002-05:00

I went and saw the "trash people" at the National Geographic Building over lunch. The trash people are cool...a little on the quiet side, but you can tell they have personality. I did think it was interesting how the artist focused on alot of American trash--especially Coke.

I accidently hit a trash person with my bag, and the ingrained midwesterner that I am actually said (without thinking obviously)...oh I am sorry. hahahahaha!

What is with jury duty?

2008-04-03T11:38:00.002-05:00

Ed is serving on a jury right now. He can't tell me anything about it, which makes me want to know more. He says it is actually pretty boring, but I still want to know. He can tell me after it is over. His schedule is sweet though. The judge has him report at 11 and he is out at 4:45. Not bad.

Sarah is also on jury duty and has reported on facebook that she is one of the 12 angry men. Which one though?

I have the best jury duty assignment. I may or may not be called to the US District Court. See the cool thing is that they don't really tell you. Nice of them, eh? I have to call in every friggin' day for 2 and half weeks to see if I need to report. I find this utterally annoying on 2 counts a) I am a planner and I like to know what I will be doing the next day and this makes planning hard b) they give you like no notice...so for example I have a couple of meetings planned that I am leading but I litterally will have to call people the night before and be like meeting is off. Now if you are sick or something else unexpected, people deal, but this is weird instance of knowing but not really knowing.

I find it annoying.

Busy days...

2008-03-16T06:07:00.008-05:00

If can't tell by my lack of posting, things have been a little hectic in our lives lately. School is really busy for this semester, work is intense for both of us, and we finally moved! Above are pictures of our condo from our final walk-through. We are officially out of our old place and have been in the new place for a week. It is great! (We're still unpacking and probably will be for months). We have big plans and have already started the shopping. Ed contends that purchasing a new home is spurs the most amount of spending. (He read that somewhere) Friday we went to the Francophonie event at the French Embassy. I have blogged about this before, but it is the event of the year in our book. We ate and drank from all over the world: Congo, Lithuania, France, Monoco, Belgium and others I am forgetting...all under one roof! So much fun!

Also, thanks for all the nice birthday wishes, cards, emails, calls and texts! Way to make a girl feel loved. :) It was a quiet (much needed!) birthday. We went to Agraria, which is a farm-to-table restaurant in Georgetown owned by the North Dakota's farmer's union (I proudly proclaimed my roots to the waiter, who I don' t think gave two sh*ts.). We had Mrs. Carlson's (wife of the ND farmer's union from Glenburn) chicken noodle soup which was phenom. Ed had a mushroom pasta that was out of this world, and I had a chicken pot pie that was good, but not great (it didn't gel right...all the flavors were there but it was hard to eat!). We had been to Agraria once before, and I highly recommend it to all my Washingtonian friends (or those who come for a visit).

For dessert, we went to Georgetown Cupcake, which just opened and is all the rage. They keep running out of cupcakes, so they had closed at 6:30 and reopened (luckily before we got ther). There were rumblings of them running out again when we were in line, but we did get one each for $2.75. I had red velvet and Ed and chocolate with coconut icing. Both icings were cream-cheese based and very good, but Ed (not a cream-cheese fan) was a little suprised. I thought the cupcakes were good, but not $2.75 good. I guess I am cheap, but for $2.75 I want a) something slightly bigger and b) something that just knocks my socks off. I guess it didn't live up to the anticipation. Maybe if I would have had one of the chocolate varieties I would have felt different. Anyway, it's an adorable place, and I will be back to try some other varieties.

The Social Security Office is on Crack

2008-02-12T09:10:00.001-05:00

Dec. 27, 2007

I go to the SS office and fill out the paper work to change my name.

It is supposed to come in 2 weeks.

Last week, I finally call the 1800 number and she says it was maybe returned, so I should call the office directly.

All I can say is Dis-friggin-aster.

The guy answers and is very nice and asked who I worked with, was it a man or woman? AA or white? Hell if I know, it has been 2 months. Supposedly I can only talk to the person who processed my claim. Um, say what?

I have a record number but he doesn't know how to look that up. Um, why the hell are you answering the phones?

Anyway, we have a 10 minute ridiculously circular conversation that resulted in me finally getting transferred to his supervisor. I got her voicemail and slammed the phone down.

I guess I am going to have to go back in person.

I have honestly never heard of such a thing. They give me a record number as confirmation, but then won’t use it to look up my record to see what the f happened.

Meanwhile someone is applying for citizenship as me because my SS is floating around DC. Wonderful.

Seriously, What is Up with the Dairy Out Here?

2008-01-29T13:31:00.001-05:00

It is confirmed by friend from Wisconsin, an expert in dairy, as well as my used-to-drink-a-gallon-of-milk-a-day brother, the dairy out here is gross/weird/not right.

Not right. I say. Just not right.

The biggest offender: cottage cheese. I love it. I don't care what all you haters say about the texture, cottage cheese is good (when done right, as in created in the Midwest) and is an excellent source of low-fat protein.

Anyhoo, the cottage cheese out here is undeniably disgusting. Except for a few select brands. I have tested, confired and learned the hard way for years as to what brands I can tolerate and which are so gross that I have to ralph my curds. After I thought I knew it all about the brands of cottage cheese out here, I took a chance. I bought a non-store brand of cottage cheese from a grocery store we don't shop often.

Big mistake.

It tastes so weird that I been putting it on my one-hundred calorie pack mini cookies to choke it down. Why did I bother? Well, if I don't eat it, I will be hungry in an hour because it is the main source of protein in my meal. And as an aside, the cookies do an awesome job of masking the taste. But that is beside the point:

It is wrong, people. So. Incredibly. Wrong.

And yet, I feel like people out here don't have any clue how bad it really is. They are unaware or oblivious to their own plight. It could be so much better or at least not gross. And yet, they stand by and let this travesty happen to them, unaware, uncaring or unwilling to take a stand against dairy products that no person should have to suffer through. It is an injustice to humanity to serve that crap and call it dairy, a blessed food group if there ever was one.

The challenges of even thinking about being healthy

2008-01-28T10:03:00.000-05:00

I was looking at some gov. websites for work, and came across this:
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/

You enter your age, sex, and activity level and it spits out the number of servings of fruits and veggies you need to get.

Easy enough...

BAM, I need 2 cups fruit and 2.5 cups veggies.

Not too bad, I think, that's less than "5/day". Then I read more about what constitutes a cup.

Sample day for me would be:
12 carrots
apple
large banana
1 cup salad
1/2 a sweet potato

I am not saying it's not doable, because I think it is, but that it will take an effort to actually achieve this as in that I will have to actually plan/think about meals.

I am still in the "contemplation" stage of behavior change in regards to see if I am actually going to pursue this (at least this week).

Cosi breakfast bar, you are dead to me

2008-01-24T09:55:00.000-05:00

I forgot to eat breakfast again this a.m., also a day when I hit the pool this a.m. Apparently I am not even awake on the mornings I go to the pool. I did manage to get flip flops in the bag though, so I am making continuous improvement...sigma 6 anyone?...in my packing abilities.

Anyway, I stopped by the overpriced, yet very tasty Marvelous Market (MM) after the pool and found me a "Mojo" bar by cliff. 180 calores and 8 grams of fat and I think 5 or so grams of protein. It was damn good too. Pretzels, dried fruit and an impressive amount of chocolate chips. Forget almost 500 calories for that stupid Cosi breakfast bar. Mojo is my new best-I-forgot-to-eat-breakfast friend.

I also got annoyed at MM when the guy was like, is this all you are having?

Me: Yes

MM guy: are you sure you don't want a coffee

Me: (In my head) "If I wanted one, I think I would have answered that in response to your first question. Why are you making me feel inadequate for purchasing an overpriced granola bar?"

Me: (words actually spoken)..."no, that will be all"

What's with the peer pressure point-of-purchase? (good illertartion, eh?) I hate that!

I really hate it when food lets you down...

2008-01-22T10:18:00.000-05:00

It is rare that I miss breakfast. I am a dedicated and consistent eater of breakfast. In the past year or so, I quit eating cereal which is what I ate for years. I have moved to South Beach Granola bars when I am running late or oatmeal when I have time (so basically I eat South Beach Granola bars).

I did my water areobics this a.m., but walked out the door without some key items including flip flops--don't go writing me emails about some gross fungus I am going to get from the pool, I am fully aware and equalled grossed out--a lock (I found one I had left on the door of locker, wouln't be the first time), and you guessed it: breakfast.

So I was going to go to Cosi on my way in and get the breakfast bar, granolly thinging. I decided to go into work first and unload etc. So about 9:00, I decided to just check the nutritional information online because I was curious.

463calories
24 grams of fat

It's granola and some cranberries and it is not very big.

Sad.

I went to Potbelly's and had some steel cut oatmeal, but I am still filled with sadness knowing that breakfast bar and I have had to part ways. Why did he betray me like that?

Are you waiting to be happy?

2008-01-15T17:32:00.000-05:00

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, get a better job, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

*I am sure someone wrote this and it was not me, but I liked it. :) *

and I would highly recommend this beer

2008-01-14T16:14:00.001-05:00

Afflingem Blonde

It's been a while...

2008-01-14T15:51:00.001-05:00

After several inquiries/requests about my blog, I have decided that I will revive it for my people.

Danny came to town this weekend. We had a splendid time. Friday night we went to Bit's housewarming, and I may or may not have attempted to introduce a friend to a guy who was gay. He was a really nice guy though. And an architect. I was just trying to help a sister out, yah know?

Saturday we got breakfast at Market Lunch and bought some jewelry from this guy who makes things out of nails, forks, screws, and whatnot. Very clever. Whenever I go to EM I think about what I could make and sell. Apparently nothing.

Anyway, we went bummed around Capitol Hill, ran into Donna Brazil who we chatted while she was at a stop sign (very DC experience), went to the Folger Shakespeare Library, but couldn't see the folios because it is closed for a new exhibit. After Ed made Pad Thai (and Danny helped), I took him out the asian grocery store to get supplies. We also stopped by Target so Dan could get some classroom supplies. I lived vicarously. I do love school supplies. :) Dan and then went to Belga for dinner while Ed headed to the Celtics/Wizards game. Belga is really good and really close and yet that was only my 2nd trip there. It's a little spendy, but not outrageous. I will be back for more mussels!

Our recruitment trip (I neglected to tell you that we are recruiting Danny to move to DC next year) concluded with some desserts from Tryst in Adams Morgan. Sunday was a lazy day of crepes, a tour of DC, and getting Dan to bus stop.

Last night I felt like I was getting a cold, but now I feel better. Everyone is sick, so I am afraid that is only a matter of time.

This was from the comments of the previous article

2007-12-10T09:40:00.001-05:00

“People spend money they don’t have, on things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t like”
I love that!

I thought this was an interesting article

2007-12-10T09:22:00.000-05:00

Caveat: I feel like I have a particularly supportive/non-competitive group of friends, but I do know people who really fall prey to peer pressure ala 7th grade. It's from this blog:
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/

Does Peer Pressure Keep Us From Succeeding?
December 6, 2007 @ 2:00 pm - Written by TrentCategories: Getting StartedBookmarks: del.icio.us, reddit

A few years ago, I used to spend a lot of my free time with a small group of friends. We did a lot of things together - road trips, games, and so on - and I had a lot of fun with them. What I later realized after the group broke up, though, is that we were all keeping each other from being successful in life because we constantly imposed a pressure on each other to do things that weren’t leading to success.

Here’s an example: I’ve always been an avid reader of almost anything I could get my hands on. I feel, for a lot of reasons, that reading makes me a better person, yet for a long while I largely gave up reading because of the peer pressure within the group that reading was a bad thing.
Similarly, the group developed a belief that anyone well-dressed was not to be trusted, and dressing well was very much eschewed by the whole group. You wore blue jeans and an ironic tee shirt, or maybe khakis and a golf shirt if golfing was the activity, but anything more than that was a sign of mistrust.

The years I spent hanging out with this group were fun, but they set me back greatly. I spent several years with these guys disdaining things that I saw value in, and eventually it was that conflict (and the start of my own family) that more or less caused me to move on.
This is an obvious case, but I’ve come to observe that in many cases friendships and social interaction prevent us from making good choices.

Here’s another example. Not long ago, I was talking about an automobile purchase with an old chum of mine. During the conversation, he basically made the statement that his primary interest was getting an automobile that would impress “them,” with them referring to people he only vaguely knew in a social context. Reliability? Who cares! Gas mileage? Doesn’t really matter. What matters most is the vague possibility of impressing someone you barely even know.

I notice this trend in younger people as well. One teenage boy that I know is a fantastic and weirdly creative artist - he can draw these little quick sketches that remind me a lot of Edvard Munch. In fact, a few years ago I got him a big book of Impressionist art that he absolutely loved - he spent days poring over it and sketching things.

I asked him not too long ago how his drawing was going and he gave me a rather odd look with just a bit of pain in it. He told me that he loved to draw, but that everyone else - meaning both his family and all of his friends - thought it was kind of pointless. Instead, he took up playing basketball, something he is fairly skilled at but doesn’t have a burning passion for.
Peer pressure can be a dangerous thing, even in a subtle way. You might watch the “big game” on Sunday just so you can talk about it around the water cooler on Monday morning, but deep down football seems boring to you. You might spend way too much on a gadget to impress your friends, but you barely use it other than to show off. You spend hours with your friends shopping for clothes and buying piles of them, but you just yawn and grab whatever’s handy in the morning.

Why do we do this? The easy answer is acceptance. Almost all of us strive to be accepted by others and to have things in common with the people around us - it’s completely healthy and normal and we should strive for this to a certain degree.
The big step, though, is to realize that the only person that you fall asleep with and wake up with every night is you. If you’re making choices that are drowning a passion of yours because of others, stop. If you’re buying things because others are convincing you to buy them, stop. If your image is your most valuable attribute, stop.

Instead, try these things for a while to see how they fit you:
Don’t spend a dime unless you see the purpose in it for you. If you’re out buying a car, pick the car that’s right for you - you’re going to be the one driving it, making the payments, and looking at it far more than anyone else. If you’re going clothes shopping, ask yourself whether you actually need anything new in your closet.

If you’re passionate about something and really want to try it or explore it, go for it! Don’t listen to the people surrounding you who try to poo poo what you’re most passionate about. Explore it, learn about it, and grow in it - don’t bottle it up because of what others say or think. This may lead you to making new friends and going new places, but that’s a good thing - it’s a sign you’re growing and understanding yourself.

Don’t make choices you know don’t fit you because you’re worried about the impression that it gives others. As soon as you do this, you’re starting to pretend to be something you’re not, and the inevitable day when you have to remove that mask will be a painful one. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.