Birds go flying at the speed of sound, to show you how it all began.

I was on vacation last week in Florida, visiting my parents for Easter down in Sarasota. Shortly after 8:30pm on Wednesday night, we were interrupted while watching a movie by a very loud boom. None of us knew what the noise could have been, and my dad went outside to investigate. It sounded like an electrical transformer exploding (which I encountered in college the night the lights went out in Woo) or even a bomb going off! I was concerned about him going outside, but there was nothing to be seen except the neighbors going outside to investigate too. At a loss, he came back in, and we restarted the film. (It was Enchanted, by the way. We all hated it.)

The next day we read in the paper what the noise was: the space shuttle Endeavor broke the sound barrier when it was landing. For a moment, I felt like I belonged in The Right Stuff!

Thursday's Child

Despite how it may look, there is not a uniform policy in the office at work. Diana just happens to idolize my style, that is all. :) I don't think we could have dressed more alike if we had planned it.

Heading with some lovely friends to the Gardner Museum after work to partake of the Third Thursday activities. I hear that it is lots of fun, and the gross old man quotient is at a low. Plus, art and socializing is always good.

My friend Emily gave me a whoopee cushion for my birthday. I don't think that I have ever had one of these before. I think that I might need to make up for lost time. Look out, office mates. I might need to use this on the Protégé. She also gave me a retro penmanship kit which reminds me of the time in the second grade I tried to teach myself cursive from a book and misread it thinking that the capital "J" was actually a capital "I". I ended up writing my mom an interesting letter about how much "J love her."

I wonder if she saved that.

There is going to be tea this afternoon. Tea is always a good thing. I am very much looking forward to the tea.

Note to WBOS 92.9FM: people who are in their early 30s (for at least one more day) seriously do not need you to identify yourself as an "oldies" radio station when you are playing songs like "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana or "Back on the Chain Gang" by The Pretenders. You are going to end up giving me a complex.

Under Pressure

I am so out of it/stressed out that yesterday I walked into the shower and took a shower with my glasses on. It was only when they fogged up that I realized that I had forgotten to take them off!!

Seven random habits/quirks/facts about myself

1. I like to eat breakfast every day. If I don't have breakfast, I get cranky. Really cranky. Like the Hulk cranky.
2. I tidy up my work area each night before going home. I can't stand coming in to a mess.
3. I usually am reading three to four books concurrently. I don't think that you need to finish one before starting a new one, especially if you vary up the genres.
4. I treat the Pottery Barn catalog like it is porn. When it arrives, I stop everything and read it from cover to cover.
5. I check the locks on the doors twice before going to bed, just to be sure.
6. My favorite kind of cake is homemade yellow cake (from a box) with chocolate frosting (from a jar). I prefer Betty Crocker, but will certainly eat Pillsbury. Sister B once made a coconut cake from scratch, and I didn't like it nearly as much as I like the frozen Pepperidge Farm kind.
7. I have an obsession with high end pocketbooks that are utterly impractical and, yet, are so lovely to look at. Shoes are difficult because sometimes they don't fit right, but I haven't met a pocketbook yet that I didn't like.

"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write."

A link to the below was on my receipt from the Post Office today, where I went to buy stamps at lunchtime. I thought it was great, and as I have been a pretty good letter writer in the past, I thought it was important to share this news.

Power of the Letter

Today, it's easy to forget the value of a heartfelt, handwritten letter or card. But the written word holds a singular place in the American story.

In his prolific correspondence, John Adams left us a remarkable first-person account of the birth of our nation, as well as a candid portrait of his life and personal relationships. John and his wife Abigail's letters offer a window to our past; we can be inspired to revive this tradition, to return to the enduring power of the written word, and leave a legacy for future generations.

And to celebrate letter writing, First-Class Mail® letters will be postmarked with our special Power of the Letter cancellation in February and March.

Is this addiction?

Compliments of my friend Emily, I am drinking a Diet Coke. I can feel it starting to kill my digestive system, and I just don't care. It it THAT good. YUM!

Cleanliness

You know how in My Big Fat Greek Wedding the main character's father uses Windex to fix everything that goes wrong?? Aches and pains, even zits! It works! (Well, in the movie at least.)

Well, Sister K told me about a trick for stains that she learned from a friend of hers whose father was a dry cleaner. If you have a spot on your clothes that is a grease spot, use baby powder to blot the spot up, and then brush away the powder and POOF! the spot is gone.

Today at lunch, I got something on my shirt. I don't know what the something was, but it didn't come off with water. And while trying to get it off with water, I soaked my shirt. One of my favorite shirts. I was not remotely happy about this. Then, I remembered that a colleague, who I had told about this powder trick, had given me a small bottle of Johnson and Johnson's baby powder for Christmas.

So I let the shirt dry as I hid behind my desk. Then I hit the shirt with the powder and brushed it off. The spot... nearly invisible. (It would be invisible to anyone other than me.) POOF! Just like that.

And now I smell like happy babies. Bonus!