♦ I hate kicking off the work week with an “agency only” status meeting that always quickly devolves into a “let’s bitch about the contractors” meeting, with the direction and blessing of the people who called the meeting. The negativity really kills the mood for a good productive week for me. Part of me wants to write a whole dedicated rant about this phenomenon, but the whole thing just makes me too angry.

♦ When I someday visit the British Isles, one of my must-see destinations the Torchwood parking structure/location in Cardiff, Wales. I figure it’s gotta be something to see, since they manage to work it into every episode.

♦ There was a guy mentioned in the newsletter portion of the company intranet the other day with the last name “Deatherage”. That’s not quite as bad-ass as the guy mentioned in this article, but hey, we can’t all be named Staff Sgt. Max Fightmaster.

♦ Is it weird that after spending so much time in the Washington DC area, when I read novels set here, I try to build mental maps of the geographic routes the characters take, and get frustrated when I can’t get them to make sense?

♦ Monday was St. Patrick’s Day (observed); some of us went out for dinner and drinks. For the record, having drinks in more than one establishment constitutes a pub crawl. Also, if someone’s wearing a green hat, any bar becomes an Irish Pub, even if it’s in the lobby of a Raddison hotel in Northern Virginia (where the bartender needed to open up a book to figure out how to make the Manhattan a member of our party ordered). All the places with vaguely Irish names were packed too solidly for our delicate imbibing sensibilities.

♦ Archie and Pulp (or alternately, Shatner): two great tastes that taste great together.

♦ Wanna know what makes me feel old? Mary got an American Girl movie from Netflix the other day, and Molly Ringwald was cast as “the mother”. I know I have three kids myself, and the lovely Ms. Ringwald is several years older than I, but wow…I mean, she’s supposed to remain forever sixteen, blissfully unaware of Ducky’s affections, and ready to give her underpants to Anthony Michael Hall so he can impress John Cusack the dorky freshman while OMD plays in the background , isn’t she?

That is All.

For Now.