Hail, Hail, The Gang's (almost) All Here

So I finally made it to Late Night at KH last night. It appears that we hit that rare intersection of back from vacation/haven't left for vacation yet/the yard's completed/there's a lull in the job/I started a new class that's not on Wednesday/my car works/I just needed to be here and the heck with everything else. It was amazing. The back table was packed with my favorite people. (at least my favorite people in the greater DC metropolitan area-- those of you in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, California, Ohio and points south-- please don't take offense.)
Kristine is back from Italy, with many tales of excitement, so check out her blog. I have a feeling we'll be getting some great stories for quite awhile. There were a slew of Irregulars present, including Holly, Cindy, Maeve, Shanti, Carolina, Shelley, Erin, Liz, Carol, Katie, and I'm sure I've left some people out, for which I apologize in advance.

Topics of conversation included Harry Potter-- How to "not" talk about it until everyone's read the book. Holly and Carol finished it in a day or so. Several of us are in progress. I'm working on it, but since I don't multitask well in visual and manual modes, it's relegated to bedtime, and I manage a few pages before exhaustion takes over. We also discussed bidets, their variations, and the various uses employed for them by those who had lived in places where they were. (doing hand laundry, bathing babies, chilling beer....)(I shall endeavor to avoid convoluting future sentences. I don't have the energy to fix that last one.)

It appears that many of us have well-loved projects on "hold" right now, tucked away until we can deal with them again. Meanwhile, progress is being made, albeit with different projects from those we are used to seeing. Such excitement!

The Car Situation
Well, we went from 1-1/2 functioning cars to 4. Life is good. The 1986 Volvo now has a new distributer, relay(s), a whatsydoodle coil and a somethingorother power stage. Anyway, it's working. Better than it has for years. It's a miracle.

We also purchased the Outback. It's a very sweet vehicle, except that the CD player doesn't work. And the Explorer and V-40 are both post-maintenance, so we are mobile.

Since the CD player doesn't work, I used the gift card rebates from buying the iPods to get a recharger-fm transmitter thing for the iPod. Since I LOVE audiobooks, it works well for me.

Playing Tour Guide
Yep, it's part of living in the DC area. My baby brother (I was 17 when he was born, and when he's 80, he'll still be my baby brother) and his beloved were in town for his conference, so I was so glad to be able to spend time with M. She's a sweetie, and I'm really happy for both of them. We decided to go to the American History Museum where I saw the Puffy Shirt, the ruby slippers, Kermit, "The Dresses", and my favorite, Julia Childs' Kitchen. It was awesome. I loved it. We then went to the WWII memorial. Not a terrible distance, but it was REALLY HOT-- very hi 90's with mondo humidity. It's a beautiful memorial, and although there was controversy about its placement, I think it's a good place. Then we trekked to the Smithsonian Metro, because I knew I wasn't up for a hike back to the convention center. (They really should have put another stop further down on the mall, in my humble opinion.)Well, we made it up to Chinatown, and I aimed M toward her hotel and returned to the refuge of Metro.

I'd parked at Pentagon City, so I had to do a bit of shopping, don't you know, and then proceeded to Target to pick up some things for our vacation next week. It's just a little thing, but I bought 4 new beach towels. Ours are ancient and threadbare, and these all match and will make me happy. I also got an electric ice shaver so we can have sno-cone martinis by the pool. It's a good thing.

On Sunday, The Husband and I met with The Baby Brother and The Beloved and the son of a friend of hers for dinner at Tony Cheng's Mongolian Barbecue in Chinatown. We used to go there frequently-- probably every month or so, and I hadn't been there for a number of years. It was great, and I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

And now I must be off to accomplish great things. Or at least survive the day.