Ramble on

I really like the new Dresden Dolls album. I have been listening to it a lot in the car on my early morning/late evening commutes to and from the office. I have been spending a lot of time at the office of late. The really sad thing I realized this morning: I had put on my name tag before I even left the house and I didn't bother taking it off during the time that I popped out of my event to run up to the office to answer e-mail and harass people about their details for their upcoming events. I am either getting really lazy or I am building up a tolerance to self-identification. Let's hope it is the former rather than the latter.

I thought that I had found a new place to live, but I don't think that it is going to work out (it's just too much money for a three flight walk-up,) which means I get to spend another Sunday going to open houses in Brookline... It is so horribly frustrating. I HATE spending my Sundays looking at crappy places and coming home utterly disappointed by aforementioned crap. I honestly wish that I could just pick my apartment up, like some benevolent giant, and move it to a nice quiet area within walking distance to Coolidge Corner. I don't think that is asking all that much, but apparently, it is. The good thing is, every day is a fresh start with promise in the house hunt. And I am not being sarcastic; every day something new comes on the market that outwardly meets my criteria. When I realized I couldn't buy the place that I really liked, I drank two Stella Artois, said to myself "fuck it" and got over it surprisingly easy, and that wasn't the beer talking. It makes a difference that I can take my time with this; the first time I bought, I was facing an expiring lease!!

The weather has been utterly springlike this past month, and it is absolutely wonderful.
Here are some other wonderful things:
* Peter Pan
* sharing silence with a kindred soul
* unabridged dictionaries
* a standing ovation
* tolerance

et in Arcadia ego

While I was walking from the parking lot at work to my office, I passed a large delivery truck with the company name "Christian Party Rentals" painted on the sides. Intrigued by this, I peeked into the open back to see what they could have been delivering, but sadly, the truck was empty. Christian Party Rentals: hmm. Do they rent Christian parties? Or do they rent tables and linens, etc. to people who are planning parties with a Christian theme? What happens if someone comes who is Jewish or Muslim? Does the stuff have to go back as it isn't a strictly Christian party? Or is it okay to have an eccumenical party? The mind boogles with these large existential issues before the first cup of Starbucks.

I am wearing my outfit that makes me feel like a combination of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly: pink three quarter length sleeve boucle cardigan over a white shell, black swirly skirt with black heels. Wearing that with my sunglasses, my black boucle lady coat and carrying my pink Kate Spade purse when I was walking in made me feel like I belonged in Paris, in the 1950s. April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom... so tempting... and yet, not. Maybe if it were the 1950s.

Airport security: feel the irony

A shout out and props to whomever has to travel a lot, either for work or life because I think that the airports on the eastern coast of the United States of America are the most ridiculous, mismanaged thing on the planet. The local 7-11 is better run!

Spent yesterday being personally searched as I was chosen "at random by the airline" to be one of the potential terrorists attacking the airport. I noticed that none of the people chosen randomly by the airline to be my fellow potential terrorists were elderly people or traveling with young children, just a lot of single women traveling on their own. Hmmm, yes, I suppose that we single women traveling alone ARE a threat: we could get all crazy and premenstrual on the flight attendant. SNORT. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be the TSA man who got the personal treat of going through my carry-on bag; it was full of dirty laundry.

I flew into and out of Heathrow three years ago while there were tanks on the tarmac as a security precaution, and I was treated better, less incovenienced and felt safer than I do flying around the US now. First off, there is no standard code followed by all of the airports: case in point - some people make you take your shoes off, others don't (stupid shoe bomber, I would SO like to kick your ass.) Next, in my experience, the people who work security for TSA are NOT happy employees, and, therefore, they take it out on their customers, ie. the traveler. I am convinced that some of those people are on a major power trip. Also, why do two separate TSA inspectors have to look at your I.D.? Thank goodness they have stopped doing the triple check at the gate. I am convinced that one of these days I am going to lose my driver's license at an airport, and THEN where will I be? Lastly, if you are going to subject someone to "the Full Monty" as my inspector jokingly referred to it, don't keep them waiting in line for fifteen minutes before you "get to them." It doesn't make for a happy traveler.

I know that these new procedures are supposed to make things better and safer for travelers, but I really think that the Europeans, who have been more actively concerned with terrorism in their airports for longer than we have in the US, are a model at which we need to take a long and serious look.