We interrupt this blog with a moment of awareness and activism:

Virginia is for Haters

Check out that website and learn about the appalling new anti-gay law passed in Virginia.

It's one thing to pass a law that says your state will not recognize any marriage besides one between a man and a woman (which I think is BS and hateful) -- but it's a completely different thing when your state passes a law that potentially forbids any form of contract between same-sex couples. That is hateful and mean-spirited.

Whatever happened to the jolly Republicans that didn't want any type of government interfering with our lives? Please bring them back!

So I like the website's message -- but I think boycotting J. Crew is fairly silly. Maybe not, but I think other companies should be targeted, ones that have more of an impact and are more public.

For example, I did a google search for companies headquartered in Virginia and came up with a much better list.

How about one or more of the following: Circuit City, Nextel, Capital One Financial, Gannett (a major media conglomerate), Advance Auto Parts, and US Airways?

Sigh. I just keep thinking that all these anti-gay things going on right now are the start of some major backlash, and that scares me.

But, **cue inspirational music** We can all do our parts. Drop these companies a line saying you won't shop at their stores or buy/use their products so long as their home state passes hateful laws. Some of you might say that businesses aren't responsible for this law, but I think they can have an impact. They're worth a load of money, and no state will ignore big cash cows like these.

That is all. We now return you to your regular dorky blog.

Since everyone's been so great about listening to me complain about bugs, I thought I'd post a great "in action" shot of the wife and me dealing with the bugs in our apartment. I think it captures the essence of our struggle.



Man, those bugs sure are wild!

Moving to a Different State: The Car’s Story

Someone, somewhere, is keeping a list of the states that make the “New License and Registration Process” very difficult. To that person, I say this: Please add Maryland.

I’ve been to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration office three times in the month I’ve been here. Each time, the conversation between me and the MVA employee is somewhat like this:

MVA: Okay, do you have the 2845 form for out of state registration?
Me: No
MVA: You’ll need to fill that out. Did you fill out form 2565-B?
Me: No, what’s that?
MVA: You’ll need to fill that out.
Me: What is it?
MVA: It proves you’re a moron.
Me: What?
MVA: That will cost you $85.
Me: Being a moron?
MVA: Are you calling me a moron?
Me: What? No, what form am I paying for?
MVA: Did you fill out the “Out of State Flim Flam MooShoo Form”?
Me: What’s that?
MVA: That’ll cost you $32.
Me: I don’t understand.
MVA: Oh, and you’ll have to get your car inspected first.
Me: I just did that.
MVA: That will cost you $59.
Me: I already paid for that.
MVA: Then it will cost you $120.
Me: What?
MVA: Are you from out of state?
Me: What?! Yes, I told you that.
MVA: That will cost you $45.
Me: I do have this form here, the “registration of title” form.
MVA: That’s only if you’re from out of state.
Me: I am, I told you that.
MVA: That will cost you $75. And you’ll need forms 567, 459-B, 567-V and 1-A.
Me: What are those?
MVA: And your car will need to be inspected again.
Me: Why? I just did that.
MVA: It’s the Official Second Out of State Inspection 2-B. It will cost you $90.
Me: Alright, so how much do I owe?
MVA: Let me see……that will be your right arm……here’s a saw……
Me: *sawsawsawsaw*THUMP*
MVA: Thank you…and……if you would just sign here to give us your first-born child…
Me: *scribblescribblescribble*
MVA: And now, just for us, I would like you to kick this puppy.


It’s just like that. And this morning, I finally got everything done.

Sometimes I hate being a grown-up.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture webpage is awesome, and that's because it contains lots of fun links.

See how many you can pick out yourself. My favorite is the Poultry Action Team.

I love run-on sentences. Here's the best one I found today. It's from a Montrose, Colorado, newspaper:

"The city of Montrose plans to take a pro-active approach to this year's mosquito season in an attempt to keep the West Nile virus from striking the area as hard as it did on the Front Range last year, and the county is working with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to help educate the public on how to avoid the summertime pest and the potentially deadly disease it may carry."

Please, please, fair blog readers of mine -- write me ones in the comments section that are better than that one!

Stand-Off

This morning I noticed the little bird feeder that was suctioned onto the kitchroom window was gone. I stepped out onto the balcony to look down and see where it had gone.

There it was underneath the window of the first floor apartment, its birdseed contents spilled out. Next to it, munching away, was the prime suspect: a big, fat squirrel.

Yet I think the squirrel will be acquitted of the crime, because I don't how that fat thing could've found a way to crawl onto the window screen next to the feeder, and then pull the feeder down. The only thing that made sense was that had his fat squirrel rear-end tried to sit on the feeder, it definitely would've come down. But, there are no tree branches near the window or anything, so I don't have any clear design of fatty's possible birdseed heist. Plus, fatty's fatness would've busted the screen out of its track. Okay, that wouldn't all happen because of the squirrel's girth -- the fact that our screens our old and very loose would've contributed.

So I couldn't pin it on him. I continued watching him dine.

He looked up and saw me staring at him, but did nothing except continue his buffet. I clapped my hands. He jumped and scurried about ten feet away, but then stopped and watched me. It was a stare-down. It's like fatty knew that my pajama-clad self wouldn't be coming down the front stairs and around the back to catch him. He was right.

But we continued the stare-down. He would inch closer to the birdseed and then look up. Scoot closer, look up. Scoot more, look up.

So I let Fatty win. I'd go get the birdfeeder later.

Let him enjoy the birdseed, I thought, At least some creature was enjoying the food. I hadn't seen any birds there yet.

And in exchange, maybe sometime in the future I'll get some joy out of watching fatty get his fat butt up into a tree.

One more thing

Excellent. I guess MSN is good for one thing -- I now have a photo album set up to share the joys of my pictures. Yeehaw. Click the "PICTURES" link on my toolbar up there.

Right now, the only thing in there are some pictures from my other job (I'm a reporter covering disaster response). So far some pictures I've taken haven't made the website, but I still wanted to share them.

Soon (tonight, probably) I will add pictures from that reality wedding that my sister-in-law was in for TLC's show "For Better or Worse."

Don't worry, I don't think I'll post any roach pictures on there. ;)

Enjoy!

Ettu, Roache?

For those of you who were waiting patiently for an update to the bug situation in my apartment, thanks.

An exterminator finally did come a little over a week ago. He rubbed some odd pest control stuff on various pipes and crawl spaces around the apartment and said that in the following days, we would actually see more roaches – but that’s only because they like to die in the open.

Apparently, roaches on their way to death have a flair for the dramatic. I thought that was pretty weird, but oh well, at least they would be dying.

The exterminator’s words were true, as over the next few days we had a small stream of theatric roach deaths throughout the apartment.

We joked about them quoting Shakespeare or some poetry as they shuddered and flipped over, shaking their little roach legs angrily toward the air. Well, maybe now I’m getting over-dramatic.

But they’re dying off now, and we’re happy about that.