Time to Dig Out the Presidential Placemat

I received the following very exciting email yesterday evening:

Congratulations! You have been selected for a follow-up appointment at an upcoming Jeopardy contestant search for the Washington DC area, exclusively for those who successfully passed the online test. This is the next step in becoming a Jeopardy contestant. We have reserved the following appointment for you:

When: Friday, August 1st Time: 9:00 a.m.
Where: Washington DC

You must RSVP within two business days of receipt of this email to secure your place in the audition. When you RSVP via email, please provide the following:

1. Date and time of your invite
2. Your name
   
3. Your City & State
4. Your Phone Number

Due to overwhelming demand we can only hold your spot for two business days. If you respond after that period of time, and if we still have space, we will be happy to provide you with an appointment.

Your appointment is non-transferable, and only those who receive this invitation directly from Jeopardy may RSVP to book an appointment. Each RSVP will be matched against an invite list and forwarded invitations will not be honored.

The auditions will last about 2 -21/2 hours.

Once you RSVP, we will email you a letter of confirmation within five business days that will give you the exact location and other information regarding trying out. Should you have a major conflict with the time and time provided, you may respond to this email to explain the nature of the situation. Again, please provide your name, city and phone number.

Needless to say, I RSVPed within about 15 seconds of reading the email. So, thank you Katherine for the Presidential placemat, which I will be adding to the pile of things that I want to read/study/review between now and then. Feel free to pepper me with random questions. And wish me luck!

To Your Health and other Random Musings

So, after two trips to the urgent care center over the weekend, it turns out that the fever and crazy sweating that I was blaming on the heat earlier in the week and hot flashes later in the week was really a rampaging case of strep throat. Which, by the way, I diagnosed myself, by shining a flashlight at my tonsils. Can you tell who had strep a lot when she was younger? I learned several things from the strep incident: 1) Arlington Urgent Care is open 24/7, the staff is very nice, the service is fast and my co-pay there is CHEAP; 2) unless something changed this morning, the boyfriend seems to be immune to my particular brand of cooties, because I made him go to the doctor Monday and he's fine; 3) the aforementioned staff at Arlington Urgent Care has a miracle rinse for a sore throat that is made up of lidocane (pain), benedryl (swelling) and mylanta (to make it sticky) which you can use before you try to eat a meal. Anyway, I've been on a Z-pack for two days now - it still hurts a bit to swallow, but I feel much better.

In a related note, while I really can't recommend it as a weight loss technique, the strep did make me feel so bad last week that I didn't want to eat much of anything, so I lost about five pounds (by randomly bursting into flames most likely). Now that I am past the same two pounds that I kept gaining and losing for the last six weeks, hopefully I am back on the forward track.

In a totally not related note, I got economically stimulated yesterday. Well, a third stimulated. Like most everyone I know, I am using about a third to pay off some debt, putting a third in my savings account and spending a third. Yesterday, I ordered the textbooks for my accounting class and I was able to get them both used. I'm starting to get excited about it now.

It's Too Darn Hot

It is especially too darn hot for there to be no power in my apartment complex. The word is that a transformer blew around the corner at 3:00 this morning (I didn't hear it, but was told that it was quite an impressive explosion). They have the end of the street closed to traffic and everything. I was also told that it won't be fixed until about 3:00 this afternoon. I have two concerns. First, that they get it back on in time for the apartment to cool off before I get home. I'll be really depressed if I get home and it's 100 degrees in there. My other concern is that the refrigerator stays cold enough that I don't have to throw out the $200 worth of food in there.

The heat and humidity has been so bad here since Saturday. Yesterday, there was a heat index of 105 in the city and the Metro buses were giving a free ride day (they do this when the ozone level reaches red). Furthermore, a train derailed on the orange line yesterday during rush hour. Trains were on one track from Foggy Bottom to Clarendon, which backs up the blue line that I take home because they share track for part of that section. I ended up in a car that was packed like sardines and went the opposite direction through town to L'Enfant Plaza and switched to the yellow line. This was complicated by the large volume of baseball traffic at L'Enfant trying to take the green line to the ballpark. I made it to Pentagon and caught the bus home. I was only one bus behind the one I usually take but it was a miserable ride. They think the heat caused the derailment by making the track soft.

Are you on crack? What were you THINKING??

Well, kids, it seems that I am back in school.

Ok, I'll confess that statement makes it seem bigger than it is. Please refer to the 101 Goals in 1001 Days list to the right. You will see where it says "Take two accounting classes." I really am a brand new student at Northern Virginia Community College and I just registered for Accounting 211, Principles of Accounting I, which starts August 25th. I wanted to take these before I left Athens, but it didn't happen, so I had to wait until I'd lived here for a year to qualify for in-state tuition.

It's an online course, so I can take it anywhere. I'll probably do most of the work at my desk - I can justify that as work related. It is also career enhancing. If, for example, I ever wanted to return to the Feds, most of the jobs that I'd like to have require a degree in accounting or 24 hours of course work. So, I'm building options.

A World of Voices

We got to see the coolest thing yet at the Kennedy Center last night, courtesy of Jim's mom. As a part of A Cappella: Singing Solo, we attended the World of Voices concert, hosted by Bobby McFerrin. The show featured several a cappella groups, including a girls group from the Czech Republic, a group that sang Mexican pieces from the colonial period, Chanticleer, Sweet Honey in the Rock (DC natives), a female group from Bulgaria - the only group I didn't care for - and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. There was even audience participation. It was a late night for a work night, but very much worth it. We had a great time.

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, we made it back home safe and sound after a whirlwind trip to Athens and Chattanooga. We had a great time both places and wish that we could have stayed longer and seen more people. Next time...

This was Jim's second time in Athens. We went to see the T.R.R. Cobb house, which I hadn't seen since it's restoration and, of course, Jim hadn't either. It is amazing and you should check it out if you get a chance. We also squeezed in a trip to Ramsey for a workout (thanks, Christine).

It was my first trip to Chattanooga, after driving through it about 195 times and a chance for me to meet Jim's brother and nieces and nephews (his sister-in-law was out of the country). Left to right, it is Katie, me, Jim, Lacey, Carson and Troy.

I finally got to see Rock City. That's where these pictures were taken. Mom says I've seen it before, when I was much younger, but I don't remember. On Sunday, we went to the Tennessee Aquarium.

Wine and Running

Yesterday, Jim and I went to the Spring Wine Festival at Mount Vernon. We took the tarp (because the ground is still wet) and the picnic blanket, bought a fruit and cheese box and a bottle of cabernet and sat on the south lawn with all these people and listened to the jazz band. It was lovely. We also tasted several wines and toured the mansion. This wine festival is the only time of the year when the cellar is open and you can go under the house.

In other news, I've been working on a running training program called Couch to 5K. It is a nine week program that builds your endurance until you can run a 5K start to finish. You run each week's program three times. I am currently in week 4 and I was able to finish the week four set for the first time yesterday. The first time, I had to walk the last three minutes of the final interval. So I am probably going to do week 4 two or maybe three more times before I move on.