Resonating Rhetoric

Where the Hell is Matt? Again

2012-06-23T00:20:00.002-04:00

Yes!!! Another Where the Hell is Matt? video surfaces on YouTube. You've got to check it out. I wrote about his dancing around the world in 2008, and this time around, it's just as good. Dancing can melt the boundaries that separate people. No matter your age, religion, gender, race, location, physical ability, education level, socio-economic status, or nationality--we all share a common humanity that these videos bring to the forefront. Dance can be a way of communicating, or sharing experiences, of expressing emotions, and creating art. Truly, we all do live on one world, and we are all more alike than different.

Vanity Plates

2012-06-14T01:23:00.000-04:00

Wow, Blogger has new Dashboard format for composing and posting blogs...When did that happen? Could be weeks (or months for all I know). Pretty good sign I've been neglecting you dear blog for too long. Oops.

Anyway, just wanted to share with you a photo from the other day. When I saw this car's license plate in front of me while sitting in traffic I didn't notice a thing, but then I read the plate again out loud (ok, out loud in my head--I don't make it a point to talk to myself alone in the car), and it gave me pause. H8 Rt 7. Get it? Get it. Hahaha. Made me smile and reach for my camera. Best license plate I've ever seen on the road. And if you've ever been on Virginia's Route 7 during rush hour, you'd totally understand. Whose brilliant idea was it to put so many red lights every 200 yards?

Sometimes, we all just have let the inner H8er out. Anyone else ever see a memorable vanity license plate out and about? What was the best?

State Skillets

2012-03-13T23:11:00.000-04:00

If I had $450 to throw down on a skillet...I would buy one of these.

From the artist:

Exclusively from the den of FeLion Studios, comes the 48 cast iron skillets of the “Made In America” original state-pan art piece. Now available for individual pre-sale, every skillet from the “Made In America” series fits together with the surrounding states, making these items fun to collect and build your own geographic regions of functional skillets !

They might look mini in the photo above, but total weight of the all the state skillets together is 550 lbs! Wowza. They're definitely big enough to put on your stove and fry up some eggs in.

Goodness, the options for breakfast would be endless. Today I'd have a Virginia omelette and tomorrow a Pennsylvania pancake.

A Big Thank You

2012-03-12T22:02:00.003-04:00

A big THANK YOU to everyone one who voted for Jamal and me in the dream wedding contest.

We are very appreciative of all your support and encouragement. We are two lucky individuals to have such amazing friends and family.

XOXOXO

One Last Chance to Vote

2012-03-11T12:18:00.002-04:00

You've got about one last chance to vote for us in the contest since voting ends tomorrow at 10AM: www.northernvirginiamag.com/dream-wedding/

One last big push. Vote Now!

The Mystery of the Missing 54 Pieces of Candy

2012-03-10T09:17:00.005-05:00

Shudder. I had bought several bags of Hershey's kisses (to persuade people to vote Jamal and me in the contest we're in, because everyone knows food is a great motivator). I wanted to know how many kisses were in each bag, so I could know if I had bought enough; thus I counted every piece in the bag and then laid the bag beside my bed. I counted exactly 54 pieces of chocolate.

Then I leave the house for awhile and come back to find a Hershey kiss wrapper by my door. I thought it was quite strange since I hadn't even eaten one piece of it. So I go to the bag of kisses to see what happened, and lo and behold, the bag is knocked over on it's side and when I pick it up, completely empty. Huh? That's so weird. I look around to see if the chocolate spilled out of the bag. It hasn't. Then I look under my dresser to find shiney pastel colored foil shredded and scattered everywhere.

What on earth? SOMETHING had unwrapped and eaten 54 pieces of chocolate, and that something was not me!! I call my landlord, and he comes with a golf club to search out the whole apartment and finds nothing. He promises to call pest control and in the meanwhile I call my mother who tells me, oh if it's mice they can climb. At this point I have a mini panic attack frought with hysterical crying and the inability to breathe. Of course I'm imagining the worst. The downfall of a creative imagination. Maybe it's a horde of mice who will climb up my bed while I sleep and eat the flesh off my bones. I'm a clean person, this shouldn't happen to me.

Fortunately, my very nice landlords allow me to stay in their guest bedroom until the extermminator is able to come and diagnose and eradicate the problem. There is no way I want to be in a space with something that can crawl and eat 54 pieces of chocolate in one night.

Boy this contest has turned to out be a whole lot more stressful than I could have ever imagined.

We can haz votes?

2012-03-09T14:44:00.001-05:00

Ah, meme generators. Who doesn't love making their own lolcats and what you think I do photos? Great for annoying all your facebook friends and imploring them to votez for you!!

We can haz your votes? http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/dream-wedding/

Have you seen our video yet?

2012-03-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

I think the folks at Northern Virginia Magazine did a nice job with our video. You can watch it below or pop on over to YouTube.

Jamal did such a great job. He's so cute (teehee). And he so got the thing I'd want throw away of his more right than the answer I gave (ugly shoes). I hate PC computers now that I've gone Mac. I won't ever go back. But I have to say, oh my goodness, do I really do those weird things with my eyes? And how many times did I like say "like" in our engagement story? I swear. I like, did not, like, even notice I was doing that, like. That was always one of my favorite exercises while teaching public speaking. Ok class, today we're going to count each other's inarticulates. Nothing like 30 19-year olds tallying every um, uh, like, err, aah you say. Leads to a profound amount of self awareness.

Anyways, how did I get so sidetracked? I meant to tell you to watch our cool video. And of course, the to VOTE for Jennifer & Jamal at: http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/dream-wedding/

Voooooting Time!

2012-03-07T18:15:00.002-05:00

Yes, it's that time again. It's time to vote for your favorite couple (cough, cough, Jennifer and Jamal) to win a dream wedding from Northern Virginia Magazine!

All you have to do is go to: http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/dream-wedding

Scroll down, under "You must log in to vote" click "here" to register. Put your information in (it doesn't take more than a minute) and check "register." Then go back to http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/dream-wedding and click on "JENNIFER & JAMAL" and then "Vote."

There, done. You've voted for us! Then come back tomorrow and vote again. Voting is once per IP address every 24 hours. We really really need your help on this!

Made it to the final round!

2012-02-25T10:09:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone who voted for us in Northern Virginia Magazine's Dream Wedding Contest! We made it to the final final round! We love you guys so much, and we're so thankful for you. And we're soooo freakin' excited. It would be such a blessing to win a wedding. Even though we've been engaged for awhile, we haven't been able to start wedding planning (much to my frustration), because we didn't know how we would pay for it. But this isn't just a wedding we're in the running to win, it's a dream wedding. Sigh.

We're going to need your help again in a week when voting starts for the final round. So get ready! I will blog throughout the voting period, and if we win, throughout the whole wedding planning process too. I've missed blogging, and I think I'm ready jump back in.

We filmed our second video for the contest yesterday. This time the professionals filmed it. They asked us some surprise questions...yikes! Let's just see how the video turns out. Jamal and I won't see each other's responses until the videos are posted. Oh goodness. For me at least, it was one of those things where I thought of waaay better answers an hour later. Like when you think of an awesome comeback 10 minutes after the relevant conversation went down, but by that point no one can appreciate your wit. Yeah, just like that.

Help me win a dream wedding!

2012-02-19T22:14:00.005-05:00

Could you help my fiance and me win a$75,000 dream wedding from Northern Virginia Magazine?

The video we made landed in the top 8, but now we need YOU, yes YOU, to vote for us once daily until to Thursday, 2/23/12.

How, you ask?
Vote for Jennifer & Jamal here: http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/dream-wedding/

All you have to do is scroll down, under "You must log in to vote" click "here" to register. Put your information in and check "register." Then go back to the dream wedding page and click on "JENNIFER & JAMAL".

We'll be eternally grateful, and who knows, maybe you'll be invited to the best. wedding. ever.

P.S. Watch our embarrassing video on that page too. Just in case you were wondering; humans do not spontaneously combust the 300 thousandth time they hear Lady Gaga's "Marry the Night."

Puerto Rico

2011-04-13T11:23:00.000-04:00

Hammock view.

Cherry Blossoms

2011-04-10T15:59:00.005-04:00

A "memorable" time was had by all when my sister & her husband came to visit DC for the cherry blossoms. First we couldn't get into the Library of Congress after waiting in line for a half hour because someone doubted the advice I gave NOT to bring an assault weapon (ok, maybe just a standard, run-of-the-mill pocket knife) with him into the city. Then someone got stuck on the metro train because it was crowded as the doors closed and whisked her away while the rest of stood on the exit platform eyes wide open like in the movies. Then it rained at Arlington Cemetery and the tomb of the unknown soldier and hail pelted our faces at the cherry blossom grove around the tidal basin. Then the line to get down into the Smithsonian metro station was so long that there was no way were going to take that stop. Then the restaurant we had planned to go to was closed. And even though everything went wrong that probably could have, we had an excellent time at the cherry blossom festival, rain, pretty trees, fireworks, and all.

Only in Pennsylvania

2011-04-05T23:46:00.004-04:00

Only in Pennsylvania edition 2. The Easter Bunny waving to an Amish family in a buggy.

Awwww.

Roadkill: You Kill It, We Grill It

2011-03-28T00:58:00.000-04:00

It's shocking, gross, disturbing, and it only happens in West Virginia. No, not incest, but the one and only Roadkill Cookoff. What would you be willing to eat?

In Pocahontas Country, WV, listed under "Exciting Events" the Roadkill Cookoff takes place in September. I couldn't even believe this was real, so I had to Google it, and lo and behold there it was. Featured in Lonely Planet and advertised on the county's website. As their saying goes, "you kill it, we grill it."

One travel blogger writes:

On a large, grassy field, the contestants were erecting tents, setting up grills, and preparing their meats and seasonings. Signs at the various stations advertised "Buzzard Breath Maggotini," "Turtle A1-A Road Soup," and "The Buck Stopped Here Pepper Steak." Boy, was I glad I'd skipped breakfast to save room for all this.

I decided to find out what might inspire someone to enter a roadkill cooking contest. Busily cubing pieces of venison for their "Deer Drop Chilli" were brothers Eric, Jerry, and Kevin Sarrett. "It's my thirtieth birthday and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it," said Eric. "I grew up here and moved to Florida, so I'm back, getting in touch with my hillbilly roots, trying to reproduce mama's good old cooking."

I wonder what the chances are of getting food poisoning after a visit to West Virginia's roadkill feast? I feel a little quesy just thinking about the cook off, let alone actually eating anything from it.

Nibble Nibble: The Easter Bunny's Gonna Get You

2011-03-20T20:57:00.006-04:00

It's that time of year again! Yes, it's make-your-kids-sit-on-scary-Easter-bunny-at-the-mall time! To celebrate the season, let me leave you with these especially creepy human-size bunnies, primed and waiting for your children! Can you say nibble nibble?

For your viewing pleasure, here are few good creepy Easter Bunnies collections you should take peek at:

The Ultimate Collection of Strange, Creepy and Scary Easter Bunnies
Sketchy Bunnies by FAIL blog
The 65 Sketchiest Easter Bunnies

Your Lucky Day

2011-03-17T07:02:00.004-04:00

I hope you find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Wear green so you don't get pinched.
And get kissed 'cause you're Irish(at least for the day).

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Day in DC

2011-03-08T18:53:00.006-05:00

After months of trying lure them out of their cave in Pennsylvania, my parents finally came to visit me. The weather couldn't have been nicer on Saturday. I gave them a lovely tour of DC featuring...drumroll please...metro stations. Kidding!--that was just the secondary highlight. Mmmm, the smell of homeless men in rapidly moving confined spaces 100 feet underground.

For real, we hit up the American History Museum in DC, the Old Post Office & tour of the clock tower, the Washington Monument, an Indian restaurant, Dalchini, in Dupont Circle, and a winning Wizard's basketball game. My parents had never eaten Indian food before or gone to a NBA game so it was a day of firsts. Hopefully, I convinced them that they have to return again when the weather is even better for more fun DC touring.

Sock It to Me

2011-03-07T06:42:00.000-05:00

The other day as I was changing my socks in the gym locker room, I noticed little purple threads in the toe. Immediately I thought, awwww, I love my mom.

There is nothing worse than putting on your favorite pair of socks only to find them all stretched out because a sock thief has worn your socks only days before you. When I was still living at home with 5 people in the house, my mom used to sew a few strands of different color threads in each of our socks. Each person had their own assigned color. That way when they all went together in the laundry baskets, we wouldn't have to fight over the pile of clean socks. Purple went to me, pink to my middle sister, blue to oldest sister, black to my dad, etc. This ridiculously easy, yet ingenious system, was very effective. My mom is so smart.

Online Calorie Counting

2011-03-02T20:06:00.006-05:00

I've decided to make good on new year's resolution #1. Lose 9 pounds. But let's revise that to 11 now, since my progress in the new year has, errr, gone in the wrong direction. So, in order to help me achieve this goal, I've decided to start an online food journal.

In 2009, I maintained a spreadsheet of all the food I was eating, but mostly it was just me guessing calorie content and typing it in a huge excel file. The format was very basic, but I really liked being able to scroll back through the days and see where my eating habits were getting the best of me and what trends I could notice in the way I ate. Plus, it was an extra dissuasion to eat that entire slice of cheesecake that would run up my daily total by an extra 1,000 calories. But, unfortunately the spreadsheet lost my attention over time, mostly because it was boring and not telling enough.

That's why I decided I'm going to start an online food journal. I researched a few (free) options online, and decided to go with Everyday Health's Food & Fitness Journal. I like that it has tons of foods already in the database, so I don't have to do independent research every time I eat something. I like that it can add exercises too. I don't like that it doesn't compile reports other than for the present day in addition to a very basic weight graph. I want to be able to look back and see the nutritional and caloric choices I've made in the past week/month/year. Like am I getting enough protein? Am I overloading on sodium? How can I make better individual food choices? I am open to any suggestions you might have for better online calorie/nutrition trackers, but for now, I'm going to fill out this journal and hopefully get a move on my weight-loss goals.

Speaking of which, you should check out 344 pounds. A great blog from a normal guy who lost 145lbs and kept it off. I've been following him for awhile now, and he inspires me to get healthier too.

Who chopped the cherry tree?

2011-02-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

Happy President's Day celebrating our one and only George Washington, perhaps the greatest hero in American history.

When I was a kid my grade school teachers told stories about Washington that now seem overly simplistic and moralistic. The Cherry Tree story goes something like this: Little George gets a hatchet and likes to chop down stuff with it. One day he chops down his father's favorite cherry tree, but tells no one. Then later when his father asks him if he knows who did it, GW responds, "Father, I cannot tell a lie; I cut the tree.'' His father tells him he'd always rather know the truth and forgives him for what he did.

Unfortunately the story is all a fabrication published in a biography by Mason Locke Weems. So why on earth do we tell this to children? Weren't there enough good things he actually did that we don't need to go making up tales to tell our children?

George Washington's reputation as a man of moral fortitude reveals more about America's view of morality than it does about the man himself. Washington was an exceedingly bland heroic leader, embodying an eighteenth-century ideal of republican virtue that emphasized duty, sacrifice and honorable disinterest. Flamboyance and daring were emphatically not required. Washington's virtue was admirable, but not overly interesting. Perhaps this is why the most famous example of his fortitude of character is, in fact, just fiction.

I guess morality is bland (and chopped cherry trees have a way of spicing it up). The power is in the (fictional?) narrative.

Laser Tag

2011-02-20T20:28:00.004-05:00

Pow Pow Pew Pew Ping. Deactivated.

Ahh, the sound of laser tag! One is never too old to shoot lasers at complete strangers in dark maze of obstacles and black lights. A groupon had a laser tag deal for half off 3 games in Baltimore so I grouponed that. So fun! If you go to play, make sure you wear dark clothes...unless you want be glowing human target. The funniest part was how good the 8 year olds there were. Must be all those video games they play. Gosh, they're violent!

Commuting Hell

2011-02-17T19:57:00.006-05:00

I'm sitting in Panera Bread right now while waiting for traffic to die down. I have my free coffee right beside me. All I had to do was open a mypanera card (for free). Recommended for all fellow bread addicts.

I have a long daily commute and my patience for traffic is wearing thin. I spend somewhere between 2.5-3 hours in my car a day; and that includes beating rush hour in the morning and waiting it out at night. I have been forced to organize my entire life around traffic. If I were to attempt the DC beltway during peak hours I'd be spending no less than 4 hours a day in my car. That is quite unbearable.

I remember some happiness studies I read awhile ago that suggested the length of your commute is directly correlated to your level of happiness. I still consider my self "happy," but I can understand why long commutes bring people down. I'm in the process of finding productive things I do while driving to take the misery out of it all. Note: painting my fingernails, reading journal articles, and napping have all been ruled out.

I enjoyed this blurb for The Atlantic Wire:

What About Commuting? At The Frontal Cortex, Jonah Lehrer confirms that a long commute is directly correlated to unhappiness before exploring a more interesting question: Why? "One reason is that it's a painful ritual we never get used to - the flow of traffic is inherently unpredictable," he posits. "As a result, we don't habituate to the suffering of rush hour." Lehrer contends the daily unknown of commuting explains its incongruity with human happiness, quoting Harvard professor Daniel Gilbert: "Driving in traffic is a different kind of hell every day."

One never knows what tomorrow holds.

Step into Marrakesh

2011-02-16T23:03:00.004-05:00

I had a great Valentine's day this year. Best one ever! I came home to a huge box delivered straight to my door, full of goodies--flowers, teddy bear, card, chocolates--the whole works.

Then I got treated to a seven course dinner at Marrakesh in DC. The food just kept coming. As soon as they took away a plate, another one came full of more scrumptious Moroccan delicacies. And then there was mint tea to top it all off.

The entrance is an ornate golden door that you must knock on to gain entrance and the inside is beautifully decorated. We ended up staying long enough to catch 2 belly dance performances; and I've decided that girl has an awesome job, getting paid to wear beautiful costumes and do ab exercises (my next career? heh heh). Overall, our entire dining experience lasted over 2 and half hours. For Valentine's, a perfect evening.

Love is in the Air

2011-02-14T09:36:00.002-05:00

To all of you hopeless romantics out there, today is your day! The one day of year you can ooze with mushy gushy expressions of fairy tale love and warm fuzzy sweetheart cheer. The one day you can prove your dedication for your snookum with the obligatory commercial tokens of true love.

Happy Valentine's Day Sweet Things!