Weekend with Barrie

Doesn't that title sound like Weekend at Bernie's? Except we didn't have a dead guy around. But we did party a lot!

Frequent commenter Barrie, a long-time friend of mine, came to visit me and Roommie this past weekend. I met Barrie and Roommie the same summer at camp- and it'll be 10 years this coming summer! They have known each other for longer though. Anyway, Barrie tried the new Boltbus that can take you from DC to NYC for as little as $1.00 (plus $.50 service fee), and the bus itself was really nice. She watched White Chicks, which she says is a funny movie, but I still don't believe her. Unfortunately, there was mega traffic on Friday, plus tons of rain, so instead of arriving at 5:30, Barrie got in around 7:30. Roommie and I met her at the bus and took the subway out to Brooklyn. We enjoyed a delicious meal at Zaytoons, although they messed up our order so we had to wait forever for our food. Then we went to Soda Bar and tried to have a wild night, but we were all so tired that after 1 or 2 drinks, we went home.

We had all been talking about how amazing How I Met Your Mother is, but Barrie hadn't ever seen it before. This didn't make sense, since she has great taste in tv, so we decided to watch an episode. (I have season 1 on dvd, and all of season 3 and part of season 2 are on my dvr.) Barrie fell in love! I mean, how could she not? The show is amazing!* Basically, she spent the rest of the weekend watching every episode that I have. But again, I really can't blame her. HIMYM is SO GOOD! If you don't watch it, something is wrong with you.

Saturday, Barrie had some family stuff to do during the day, so I wandered my cute tush over to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I had the good fortune of discovering that it is FREE if you get there before noon on Saturdays. Hello, new Saturday morning activity! The flowers were GORGEOUS, although the cherry blossoms are somewhat past their prime. I spent a really long time smelling every single lilac bush- and I'm still sneezing from it.

Saturday evening, Barrie came back and we grabbed Roommie and EVI and went to Pacific Standard to enjoy a wide variety of beer. (Tip: get the sampler, it's so worth it!) They also have a LOT of board games, so we decided to play Clue. There is nothing better than shouting out "Mrs. Peacock, in the lounge, with the revolver" in the middle of a bar. After Clue, we tried to play Boggle, but Boggle is hard when you've been drinking, so we gave up after a few rounds. Then we headed over to a BBQ in Carroll Gardens, which was so fun. I really want an apartment with a deck! They even had a pinata, and we took a bunch of candy with us when we left. Barrie loves the York Peppermint Patties and ate them for the rest of the weekend. Then we decided to meet Todd at The Dram Shop (his fav bar). Somehow, on the way to the bar, we decided that the walk would be faster if we leaped. So we leaped through the streets of Brooklyn (run, run LEAP!) and got to The Dram Shop in probably what would have been the same amount of time. Todd had clearly been drinking for many hours already (I guess we had been too?) and was excited by the pinata candy that we brought him. We had a lot of fun, but I was falling asleep pretty quickly so we went back home shortly thereafter. Then Barrie wanted to watch more HIMYM. I think I watched one more ep with her, then had to crash.

Sunday morning, we tried to brunch at Miriam's in Park Slope, which is the best brunch place in the world, but the Mother's Day line was crazy! The host told us it would be a 20 minute wait. After 40 minutes, he told us it would be another 20 minutes. We were starving, so we peaced out and had brunch elsewhere in a timely manner. Later on Sunday, we headed to Franklin Park, the new awesome beer garden in PPH! We met up with Cheese, who had amassed a large crew, and we also invited a few other camp friends out. It was chilly, but still fun to sit outside. After the beer garden, we went out to dinner and came back home where I'm pretty sure we watched more HIMYM.

But the weekend didn't end there! Barrie stayed Monday night as well. I had to work late, and so did Roommie, but eventually we all met back up at our apartment and laughed and sang and had a silly, awesome time. It was a great note to end the weekend on!

I'm so glad that Barrie came to visit us. We drank a lot of beer and ate a lot, which I guess could be considered a normal weekend for me, but this was so much more, and so much more fun. :)



*Midwesterner loves HIMYM too!

2 Things

1. I am an old lady. I had a really bad fall last night. Like, really really bad. The kind where I stood up and people asked if I was ok and I said "I'm fine, just embarrassed!" and then thought, 'actually I am embarrassed but I lied about the "I'm fine" part'. The kind where if I were your grandma, you'd have rushed me to the emergency room to get a hip replacement. (even though it's my knee that hurts the most) My knee is killing me today, even though I've been icing it since last night. The rest of my body feels like I was in a car accident or something. I have aching pains running all the way up my arms to my shoulders from catching my fall. The palms of my hands are scraped up and raw and very sore. Even though the reason I fell is a pretty good excuse, I'm still embarrassed that it happened. This is the first bad fall I think I've ever had. Does this mean I'm an old woman? I'm pretty sure it does.

2. Did anyone else use the typing program QWERTY when they were younger? I did go to a fancy private elementary school, but I think the program must have been fairly common. QWERTY was so cute, and he loved me because I could type really fast. I don't know why I just thought of QWERTY after not thinking about him for several years. I sure do miss him!

Brooklyn Gal Analyzes the News

Below are my one word analyses of today's online news.

cnn.com tells us that the US has listed the polar bear as "Threatened" on the endangered species list. Sad.

cnn.com also tells us that polls indicate that either Clinton OR Obama would whoop McCain's tush if the presidential election were today. Cheers!

msn.com reports about the Republican loss of a seat in a traditionally Republican area in Mississippi yesterday. Encouraging.

A 19 year old became a mayor in Oklahoma yesterday. Intriguing.

A man in Australia buckled up beer in his car, but did not show the same respect to his toddler. A family leaves their toddler stranded at an airport while they get on their flight a la Home Alone. IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO HAVE KIDS!

Grammar Bitch- A Public Service Announcement

Ok, I know everyone makes mistakes from time to time, my perfect self included, but...

I have always had the HUGEST pet peeve regarding people who can't distinguish the difference between there, their, and they're, as well as you're and your. THIS DRIVES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!!! I mean, did you miss the entire third grade??? Learn the difference- it's not that hard and you get the added benefit of no longer looking like a complete moron.

Anyway, lately I've been noticing a new trend that has me ready to run away from my email and never look back. Maybe this has been around for awhile, but I've noticed it with increasing (and frightening) regularity.

THEN vs. THAN

Are you kidding me, people? These are even less similar than the "their"s and the "your"s. They really don't even sound the same! (unless you're being lazy- which I suppose is the reason people can't get it right) These are not the same word. They are not interchangeable. Do you see what I'm getting at? DIFFERENT WORDS, PEOPLE!

So please, I beg of you, look up the difference between these two words. Learn it. Live it. Love it. For my sake and sanity, ok?

Thanks.

My New Favorite Blog Slash Political Website

Things Younger Than McCain

(shoutout to secondavenuesagas.com for the link to this incredible blog!)

I'm busy brainstorming good ideas to send in.

You know things have gotten out of control when...

... one of your best friends simply asks what you are doing this weekend, and you are catapulted into an anxiety attack.

(I need a vacation.)

Coming soon- recap of an awesome weekend with frequent commenter and long-time friend Barrie! But she's still in town until tomorrow, so I guess I'll wait to write it.

A Brooklyn Gal Rule

When work is rough, and it's nice outside, a Mr. Softee break is required.

Why Jury Duty Rocked My Socks Off

Ok, so I had to leave my apt a little earlier than usual. BUT I arrived at Jury Duty, sat in comfy chairs, listened to some people talk about some things, and then...

I did some crosswords.

I read a lot from a huge book.

I spent 2 hours observing a voir dire. (I was picked to be in the room, but not actually picked to be interviewed.) It was a mostly fascinating process, and when I was bored I had crosswords and books to distract me.

I took an entire hour for lunch. Outside. In the sun.

I finished reading the huge book.

I was dismissed at 4.

Home by 4:30.

Why can't every day be Jury Duty?

A Brooklyn Gal Decree

When the weather is this nice out, working should be illegal.

Everyone, to the park, now!

Hi People, Bye People

Have a really awesome weekend everyone! I can't wait for mine. I'm not even doing anything exciting, I just need a break.

It appears that I will be serving the fine borough of Brooklyn starting on Monday, in the form of Jury Duty.

Hopefully I won't get picked and won't have to be there very long. However, if posting is light next week, please know that for once it is not due to stress at work and/or lack of inspiration.

Thanks, and have a good one!

Brooklyn Gal Asks the Big Questions

When is naptime? Seriously, I am SO EXHAUSTED!

Can stress cause you to go deaf? Earlier today I was really stressed out and started to lose hearing in my left ear. I've been somewhat less stressed for the last 25 minutes or so and my hearing is completely back. I'm not sick, and my allergies went away since it got cold again. I really think it's the stress.

Speaking of the cold, isn't it time for the weather to warm up already? I am so fed up with this 50 degree rainy bullshit. Suck it up, Mother Nature, and give us summer!

If I've only gotten 2 really short haircuts in my life, and both were life-scarring experiences that should never be repeated... do you think it's a bad idea for me to get a short haircut?

You know how sometimes it feels like a different day than it is? All day yesterday, I thought it was Friday instead of Wednesday. So now it feels like I'm working on Saturday. And there's nothing worse than working on Saturday.

I used to go to the gym every day. Now it's a struggle for me to go more than twice a week. How can I change that?

Sometimes I have to fill in for someone else at work. When I answer her phone, I have a really strong urge to say her name instead of mine. Why is that?

How good is How I Met Your Mother?????!!!!!!!!!

Ok for real, when is naptime????????

SPAM- Not the Kind You Eat

Over the past few months, I have had a striking increase in the amount of spam email that I get at my work email address. I attribute this change to 2 things. 1- I have simply been here a long enough time to amass the same spam that everyone in my office gets. (When I was new, I barely had any.) and 2- Our IT person does not know how to have a good spam filter.

So each morning, I painstakingly go through the 60 or so emails in my spam folder. This is necessary because occassionaly things end up there (primarily evites, even though every time I find one, I tell Outlook that it's ok to "always trust emails sent from evite.com"). I've gotten all kinds of spam from all kinds of places, trying to hook me in in all kinds of ways. I eventually thought that my shock censor had been dulled by culling through this kind of email consistently. (I mean, "touch her womb with your wand"*? WTF?) But recently, I started getting a new subject title that literally made me stop in my deleting tracks.

"We caught you naked, [brooklyn gal's last name]!"

Um... whoa. I know that there's no way this could be true. And they obviously use my last name because it is part of my email address. But seeing that email made me nervous- nervous enough, in fact, to consider opening the email for a split second. Fortunately, my reasoning won out and I deleted the email. I have since gotten approximately one of these emails every day.

I overall find this whole thing offensive (as I do most of my spam), but I have to give props to whoever thought up that idea. It's possibly the most brilliant spam subject line since the "someone sent you a greeting card" thing became popular. Unlike emails that say "Hi big sausage"* and "just 2 months to increase your long schlong"*, this one was not an automatic delete. It makes you pause and consider reading it, just to see who might have some nakey pics of you and how they possibly could have obtained them. Or maybe that's just me.

All I know is, I am seriously sick of spam.



*These are actual emails that were in my spam folder this morning.