This is Why I Always Listen to My Ipod on the Train...

Okay, who was it? Who put the weirdo magnet in my bag? It's not funny. That smelly man on the T who was yelling at me and gesticulating wildly with his Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup could have been dangerous, and I could have fallen over on the icy paths in my attempt to be out of sight as soon as possible since (of course) he got off at my stop.

If the manufacturers of The Weirdo Magnet (now with 20% more loser attraction!) also make The Hot Single Man Magnet, could I please have one for my birthday?

Thank you.

Exotic Acquaintances

Oh, the people I do meet in my travels...

I guess you're getting a new set of dueling banjos for your birthday, Rachel McCormick, since you're moving to BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

Just when I thought you couldn't get any more country, you go ahead and add another band of sequins to your ten-gallon hat.

Sigh. It's enough to break yer achy breaky heart, ya'll...

Leave it to the Pros

This site has way better pictures than mine! Obviously. Anyway, check it out.

President Obama

Greetings readers! I've been off the grid for a few days, down in Washington D.C. watching the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. It. Was. Awesome.

Things I wore to the inauguration:

• 2 pairs of socks, 1 pair of which was made for wearing in the Arctic
• 1 pair of thermal long-johns (thanks Mum!)
• 1 pair of comfy jeans
• 5 layers of polyprops, Icebreaker tops, jackets, jerseys and singlets
• 1 looooooonnnng scarf
• 1 ugly hat
• 2 pairs of gloves
• 1 pair of tramping boots
• 2 10-hour hand warmers

And despite all of it, I was bloody cold. Whose dumb-ass idea was it to have the nation's capital in Virginia/Maryland? I vote for Miami!

There's too much to say about the weekend, and what it was like. I don't want to bore anyone, so here's a few snippets.

I heard a little kid say to his dad: "So, Bush has to go home now, right Dad?".

I saw Navy boys with their arms around each other's shoulders, singing "Lean on Me".

There were almost 2 million people there on the big day, and not a single arrest. That's how joyous the crowd was. It was beautiful!

On the way to D.C. our train was stuck behind Obama's, as he made his way down. Every time HIS train moved, OURS had to stop. Man, we were late! We finally managed to catch up and pass him while he was giving his speech in Baltimore. The whole train cheered and clapped and took lots of photos of what was (really) just a normal Amtrak train.

I almost missed the whole thing because I was looking out the other side of the train at all the secret service cars! Every 100 metres or so between Baltimore and D.C. there was a state trooper, or a secret service car. Where they could get near the tracks, there were crowds of people taking photos and cheering.

Hmm. What else? Well, the concert on Sunday was great. Lots of big names, very happy crowd. Monday was Martin Luther King day. We went into town, but it was totally nuts.

Tuesday was a very long day, and the only really stink thing was that I never got to see the parade. I had a ticket for a seat, and everything! However, security was so puckery tight that people pretty much couldn't move. In 2 hours, I think I managed to move about 500 metres. So, I missed it. I went back to Annie and Sarah's house instead, and watched it on TV from the comfort of the couch.

Here are some piccies!

This is just after the Sunday concert. I'm standing in front of the Washington Monument, looking towards the Lincoln Memorial (where the show was). This was the back of the crowd, people! Can you even SEE the LM?



The obligatory shot with the Washington Monument as a head piece.



Sad Jody living in George W. Bush's America. With the White House in the background.



Happy Jody living in Barack Obama's America, with the Capitol building in the background.



A very zoomed in shot of Barack and Michelle arriving at the concert.




Alan (Caroline's Dad), Roy and Caroline on Inauguration Day.



Sneaky sneaky Jody somewhere on the National Mall.



And this is a video of the crowd having fun when Garth Brooks played.




The reason that there aren't many photos from the Big Day, is that I couldn't see dick anyway. I was standing beside the Washington Monument, and if I jumped up and down a bit I could see over the sea of heads to the very tippety top of the Capitol Building. Not really worth taking pictures of, to be honest.

O is for Oarsome and also for Oregon

Oh Boston! You have defeated Poor Jody.

Yes folks - I'm heading out of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in a couple of weeks. But it's not all bad news. I'm off to another Grand Adventure, on the other side of the country, in the home state of a whole bunch of my relatives.

Some things you need to know about Oregon:

• Oregon's state flag pictures a beaver on its reverse side. It is the only state flag to carry two separate designs.

• Oregon has more ghost towns than any other state.

• Oregon and New Jersey are the only states without self-serve gas stations.

• At 8,000 feet deep Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America.

• The hazelnut is Oregon's official state nut. Oregon is the only state that has an official state nut. The hazelnut is also known as the filbert.

• Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It was formed more than 6,500 years ago. Its crystal-blue waters are world renowned.

• Discovered in 1874 the caves located in Oregon Caves National Monument are carved within solid marble.

• The Carousel Museum contains the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of carousel horses.

• The small village of Bickelton is filled with bluebird houses seen on the posts of every house.

• Tillamook is home to Oregon's largest cheese factory.

I'm particularly excited about the cheese factory and the state nut...

Did You Know?

I'm inside for the umpteenth day in a row, mournfully peering out at the driveway that is newly covered in 5 inches of fluffy white doom.

The shovels await us...

I thought I'd liven up all the weather-related blog posts with a fun facts segment! Unfortunately, I don't know much about anything. Hmm. Let me think.

• The turnstiles at the T station have the most inexplicably loud BLEEEP when you swipe your card. Why? Why? I am going incrementally more deaf, every time I travel.
• Boston has more than 100 universities.
• Massachusetts isn't actually a state - it's a commonwealth.
• A fisher-cat is basically a big weasel, and it will eat your cat.
• The public library in Wellington kicks the ass of the public library in Boston. It's soooo ugly!
• You can get pink corn chips.
• Salem is the capital of Oregon. Not the witchy Salem - that's in Massachusetts. Not to be confused with Salem, New Hampshire. (nice one, Founding Fathers.)

God, I think that's about it! And that list took me 10 minutes to come with. Lame. I guess it's indicative of how much time I've spent here doing nothing, in miserable unemployment. Never mind - things are about to change.

I'll keep you posted.

FYI

I love Tracy.

Glass Flowers

I went to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and the Museum of Natural History at Harvard today.

And I have to say.

I've seen a lot of museums in my time, in a reasonably wide variety of countries. And I have hardly ever seen a collection quite this good. It was amazing!

Plus, (and I'm sure lots of you have heard of it) the MofNH has the Glass Flowers collection. This family of German glass-makers were commissioned by a couple of richies in Boston to make a complete collection of plants in glass, for Harvard. For teaching purposes. I spent most of my time in that room with my mouth wide open, trying to figure out how they made FLOWERS, and GRASS, and LEAVES out of glass. I didn't take photos because I don't think you're supposed to, so here's a link to it instead. I swear, they look real. I couldn't even see anything that made me think "ah yes, 'tis glass".

I also saw the most amazing collection of butterflies, beetles, birds, DINOSAURS, a live scorpion, and a collection of rocks and crystals and elements and stuff that would make you want to sleep under a cabinet so you could see it all again in the morning.

Tracy, you would have LOVED this place. Please come and visit! I know someone on the inside - I can get us in for free!

Also, I saw a Dodo.

It's All About The Weather, People

We're having an ice storm, apparently. It looks suspiciously like rain to me, but what do I know? I do know that a big pile of snow fell of the roof, and scared the cat.

I'm weathering the weather at home this week, as I am once again sans-occupation. Apart from the obvious, it's not too bad. I've got internet, coffee, a cat to chase, and Cheerios. I'll live. Better than hanging out with an insane woman, who spent 35 minutes one morning, speaking to every member of the 'team' to ascertain WHO ate all the Christmas cookies. Something that rhymes with 'schmet a scmlife' comes to mind.

10 days until I head south to D.C. to stay with Annie and Sarah, and soak up the vibe of Obama's inauguration! I think... (but don't quote me) that... it might be.... AWESOME.

Winter Musings

Happy New Year, gentle reader! I hope you were better behaved than I was.

Winter in Massachusetts has only been happening for a couple of weeks, and although I'm not exactly sick of it, I am sort of ready for it to be over. It just takes so damn long to get out the door!

Recipe for Outings:

• Two pairs of socks
• Gumboots
• Proper shoes that are nice, but no good for getting wet in the snow
• Hat
• Gloves
• Scarf
• Bag O Crap
  

Take all the above, don in at least 2 different orders, swear repeatedly while changing the order, eventually get everything on Self; leave house.

And did I mention that my ears seem to have shrunk in the cold? My ipod ear buds no longer fit in my ears, and fall out all the bloody time. Fortunately, they're mostly wedged between my hat and my head, so they don't go far.

New things that I now know about snow and winter:

• If you stick salt on snow, it melts.
• Salt is not good for your shoes.
• If you kick a big chunk of ice with cold feet, you will injure your big toe.
• The footprints in the back yard are probably from a raccoon, not an intruder.
• You should always shovel snow right away before it turns into a solid mass of frikking ice.
• That crazy nun from The Sound of Music was out of her tree when she included snowflakes on her nose and eyelashes as one of her favourite things. Nothing sucks more than snowflakes on your nose and eyelashes.

Here's some photos! This one is Ruby, the McCoys' dog. Isn't she cute? I like to sing her the 2 lines that I remember of Goodbye Ruby Tuesday, and rub her ears.



This is Caroline and Anna's collection of Santas. I know the photo is crap, but they're actually really cool.



And to round things off, this is one of the formal strawberries that Martha brought home on Christmas Eve. Kosal: you MUST learn how to do this! They're hilarious.