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The part about Cheney almost sounds as though they're sad he escaped unscathed ... or am I just reading into it?

Why I'm bummed out

We didn't win the case competition.

The cute boy who flirted with me all weekend long during the case competition finally admitted (sheepishly) that he has a girlfriend -- but not until we were at the freakin' Denver airport in the super long security line.

No more Studio 6o on the Sunset Strip. In protest, I refuse to watch its replacement.

After getting very little sleep over the weekend, I had to prepare for today's finance quiz, public policy presentation and information systems midterm.

I've worn off the letters e, d, and c on my one-year-old laptop and my 4 key keeps sticking. Weird.

Gone with the wind

I left my house this morning without my keys. And didn't realize it until I got to school and tried to get into my locker, which I couldn't do since my locker key was at home with the rest of my keys. Yesterday, I left my house without my wallet and didn't realize until I made it halfway to the train station. Last night, I went to study accounting and couldn't find my textbook and had to borrow one from a nearby Gang member at 9:30pm, making me miss the second half of American Idol. I'm gonna go ahead and blame my absentmindedness on this head cold that I'm trying to shake off.

So here I am in Boulder, CO. After the past few days I've had, it's a wonder I made it here in one piece. I better pull it together in the next few hours though -- I'm here because my team made it past the first round of a Net Impact Business Case Competition and we're here to compete in the final round. We gonna kick some butt, as my kindergarteners would say. Not that we let them use such language without a reprimand. Of course, it's usually a reprimand given with a repressed grin -- it's so hard not to laugh when these little six-year-olds tug on your arm, show you a dried up a gluestick and say "Ms. V, this glue is all jacked up!"

Girl Meets Guinness

A play in three acts. A true story. By The Lady V.

ACT I

Girl sidles up to bar in a typical Irish pub. Wooded walls, Guinness signs, sticky floor, etc.

GIRL: Barkeep, could I get a Guinness and a Smithwicks?

BARKEEP: Sure.

Girl waits patiently, notices a small, bearded, un-cute man in a sweater next to her.

BEARD: Hey.

GIRL (a little wary): Hey.

BEARD: What perfume are you wearing?

GIRL: Dude, I'm not wearing any. It must be someone else.

BEARD: No, it's you. You smell like a girl I knew in middle school.

GIRL (slightly freaked, thinking who the hell says that?): Um. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

BEARD: Oh, it's a good thing.

Awkward pause. Girl is relieved to see the bartender with two beers coming her way.

BEARD: Do you use Herbal Essence?

GIRL (now totally freaked out, thinking BEARD has just stuck his nose in her hair): Uh, yeah. But that's not at all okay for you to say that.

Girl throws down money, grabs the beers, leaves the bar.

ACT II

Girl is now near the stage, eagerly waiting for the band, a group of Ukrainian men who play Irish music. (weird, right?) She's with friends.

FRIEND 1 (male): I hear this band is fantastic.

GIRL: Do you think they're single?

FRIEND 1: I have a source. Let me find out.

Friend leaves in search of "source." Band starts to play. All four men are hot. Especially the one on fiddle and the one on guitar. Hot like I want to jump you, tear off your clothes and take you down on stage right now hot. Friend 1 returns.

FRIEND 1: My source says the fiddler is single but that "he's mine."

GIRL: Yeah, well, that's what she thinks. But what about the guitarist?

FRIEND 1: Let me find out. It'll give me another excuse to talk to my source.

Band is rockin' out, Girl starts dancing with her friends. The dancing is more like a let's be silly and fun and do a jig and be The Lady V O'Leary for the night. It is Irish music, after all.

FRIEND 2 (female): I want the fiddler.

GIRL: Okay, I'll take the guitarist.

FRIEND 3 (male) : Are you guys really talking about the guys in the band?

GIRL and FRIEND 2: Hellz, yeah.

Girl notices the semi-cute boy next to her who keeps looking over.

BOY: You're a great dancer.

Boy ceases to be semi-cute. Girl moves on.

ACT III

Girl makes eye contact with the beautiful specimen on guitar. He grins. She grins back. Hot guitarist winks at Girl. Friend 1 chooses this instant to drop his pint of Guinness on Girl's bag.

The end.

Bring it on, Wintry Mix!

It's 1:26am and already schools have announced closings. I noticed three things:

1. My school isn't listed yet. But I still have hope! It's nice to know that the anticipation of a snow day doesn't fade even in graduate school. I'd try sledding too, if class were canceled, except that it's sleeting out there, not snowing.

2. Manassas Park City Schools have put employees on "Code Blue." What the heck does that mean? Initiate the phone chain? Make sure the crayons don't freeze? It's not like a man with a live bomb embedded in his body has rolled into the school on a stretcher...

3. City of Manassas is open with liberal leave. Um. I guess the conservatives have to work in this wintry mix. Sucks to be them.

Then again, maybe we should keep all schools open b/c our children r not gettin smarter & hafta use IM speak more than ever B4, so sez The Washington Post. TTYL.

Why Amazon Rocks

C'mon, that's pretty funny. Amazon even put together a whole shopping list for the V-Day haters out there. (Don't worry, there's a page for you romantics, too). No, I'm not one of those anti-VDay pessimists but I did enjoy the "dark side" writeup:

Welcome to the dark side, where no one has to fret about trying to get a reservation for an oppressively crowded restaurant on February 14. Instead, you can watch some great films (even though they're bad date movies), rejoice that you don't have to worry about avoiding any Valentine's gift pitfalls, and, best of all, shop for yourself. We've been keeping a tally of how many of you loathe Valentine's Day and how many are starry-eyed fools in love, so if you haven't already, please cast your ballot. Then, if you like, you can chat about this silly holiday on the I Hate Valentine's Day forum at the bottom of this page. And think about where you might like to go for a leisurely dinner on February 15.

On a somewhat related note, the more money you have, the better sex you have. According to a study entitled "Money as an Aphrodisiac -- Being Rich Means Getting Lucky on Your Own Terms." Ah but money can't buy class, can it?

Grammy fever

Knock award shows all you want, but I still love the Grammy's. Mary J is up for eight freakin' Grammy's, the object of my lust is going to perform and I love surprise performers!

On a different note altogether, men will be able to buy Viagra over the counter on Valentine's Day. Gotta hand it to the old fogie Brits. More here.

Blah

I've been behind on blogging lately. Mostly 'cuz I've been in such a funk, without any good explanation. School work is the about same, I haven't been sick this winter (thank you, flu shot), I've been so well-behaved financially, I'm getting sleep, got some kissy action recently, and I think I'm eating right.

Which only leaves one explanation -- I need to get out of the country. Yep, that must be it. I haven't left the U.S. borders since Bolivia and that was 10 months ago! My general rule of thumb is to leave the country at least every six months and I've adhered to that heuristic for the past 5 or so years. I must be in withdrawal. Since Habitat for Humanity won't call me back, I've given up on the humanitarian Spring Break mission and am planning to simply soak up the sun in either Puerto Rico or The Dominican Republic. Now that sounds like a perfect way to re-energize ... and meet a Latino lover.

Of course, an alternate hypothesis is that there hasn't been much Gang of 100 gossip in recent days. Everyone has been busy with case competitions, hunting for internships and fulfilling our newly appointed roles as club officers. Boring!

Baby it's cold outside

God hates the Indianapolis Colts too. That's why he made it so frickin cold today. There's a severe weather alert in the DC area. I like the last part. It makes me feel like the National Weather Service cares about me just as much as my mom, even if they don't send me dried oysters.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM EST TUESDAY.

VERY COLD TEMPERATURES AND LOW WIND CHILL VALUES WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE REGION THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. WIND CHILLS BETWEEN 10 AND 15 BELOW ZERO WILL BE COMMON BY TUESDAY MORNING.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. WHEN OUTDOORS...DRESS IN LAYERS...AND WEAR A HAT AND GLOVES.

BEAR DOWN!

Bear down, Chicago Bears, make every play clear the way to victory;

Bear down, Chicago Bears, put up a fight with a might so fearlessly.
We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation with your T-formation.
Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why you're wearing the crown.
You're the pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears, bear down.

For more Bear-ilicious delights, check out why Chicagoans are the best fans in the world.

Less than 24 hours to go!!!