now there's a smell.

We survived! P-har, HotCop and I made it to bed about 5:00 Friday morning. I felt bad for our neighbors who had to listen to Miguel use his vaccuum thing to suck up the water in our place for an hour or so. That should cost the landlord about $1100 but that's what they get for hiring Surly & Unhelpful Maintenance Man, the one who did nothing but pull up our carpet at the bottom of the stairs despite three or so previous phone calls. Who am I kidding? I would be surly & unhelpful if I got called in to work at 3 am or on a Sunday afternoon.

Anyway, Beatrice, Mean Ol' Sandy, HotCop and I are all fine although the cats are like "Guys? Guys, seriously, can we just get this weird, loud machine out of the downstairs? Because, ya know, since all the furniture is pushed over to the side of both the living room and the dining room we'd really like to tear around and chase each other." Alas, they cannot tear around and chase each other with the carpet flapping like crazy as the industrial strength blower dries it out. The RIDGID AIR MOVER 3 SPEED 1600 CFM only comes in putrid orange apparennly which really does nothing for my decor. (The picture does not do the ugliness of ours justice). However, I love the RIDGID AIR MOVER 3 SPEED 1600 CFM. Let's face it, I also love Miguel.

• New carpet downstairs (this from the mouth of the property manager) because though the carpet looks fluffy and like it just had two nice baths, there is, in fact, a smell. Smell= mold or mildew or other grossness.
• A new vaccuum cleaner. Because no amount of water is good for a regular old vac.
• A new paint job in the front hall. Because Surly & Unhelpful Maintenance man seems to have exploded his wet vac there (you like how I made that his fault?).

After all of that I would just like the opportunity to live someplace without a broken toilet, crack in the bathtub, leak in the wall, squishy place on the carpet, or ANY OTHER REASON TO MOVE MY FURNITURE AGAIN. At least until the lease is up.

it's 3:35 am.

...and here P-har (Mr Hotcop) and I sit, waiting for Miguel. Or the plumber. Either one would be fine, we just need someone to come clean up the water that's all over the kitchen, dining room, front hall and laundry room.

Our hot water heater exploded.

i can feel it, we're going to have to move out.

HotCop and I are going to have to move out of the new place, I can just feel it.

When I came home early one Sunday morning a few weeks ago I found several wet places on the carpet downstairs plus there was one in HotCop's ceiling. I -knew- we were going to have to move out. I just knew it.

But we didn't have to move out then-- turns out the loudass-neighbors-to-the-right's kitchen sink drain was rotted out. No big deal, they were about to be deployed anyway and it would be replaced while they were gone.

Even after the new drain PLUS a new dishwasher next door, the wet spot at the bottom of the stairs wouldn't go away. Still hasn't gone away. Just getting wetter. And the townhomes aren't on a crawl space-- they're on a concrete slab. The water is just bubbling up from someplace (and also leaking into the HC's ceiling when it rains). HotCop's dad says it's probably a water main and replacing it is a "messy, dusty job." If he were us, he said, he'd "call every other day and hound them til it was fixed." I know that's what I should do, I whined, but "that's why we moved out of First Street." So we didn't have to do shit like that anymore. Gah.

If we have to move out [which seems more and more likely each time I walk up or down the stairs and feel *squish* on my bare toes] I'm so getting our fucking non-refundable pet deposit back. Pluse 100% security deposit. Seriously. I should just move to the Southside.

but...

How can there be a Clerks II if Dante died in the end of Clerks?

can you please spell "gabbana"?

Last night was a girls' night out to the movies-- a couple girlfriends and I went to see The Devil Wears Prada. I read the book a couple summers ago, Meryl Streep was in it, and I heard the clothes were fabulous.

The clothes were, indeed, fabulous. Sure, there were some made-designers, but there were also Calvin Klein Coats, Hermes scarves and a FREE MARC JACOBS handbag for the friend. Free. And NOT Marc by Marc Jacobs, which you can now find at Marshall's. Nope. Actual and real. Purse-gasm and all that. Sometimes I shock myself with my materialism.

Anyway, those of you out there in my blog-audience are unlikely to see it, so I'm gonna go ahead and have major spoilage. Valerie, turn away now. :-)

The whole point of the movie is that Andy [Anne Hathaway] changes her core values for her new job as assistant to the editor at Runway [the fictional Vogue], Miranda Priestly. In the end Andy sees what is supposedly the dark side of the fashion industry and decides to leave her job for a supposed more "honorable" position at X Random Newspaper. Once she's decided not to work for Miranda anymore, she suddenly has quite a bit less fashion sense.

To me, the "good" Andy is the typical boring, flat character. Wrote about the janitors union for her college newspaper, makes fun of the girls at Runway who wear stilettos, and shows up at her interview never having read the magazine. The "bad" Andy was proactive, sassy and interesting. She's two steps ahead of Miranda.

Why is it a big deal she needs to dress fashionably to work at a fashion magazine? Don't you need to understand and enjoy games in order to better design them?

Why can't she be smart, have integrity and know when she needs a flat iron?

Why can't she have both? I guess that wouldn't have made a very good movie.

just thinking about them gives me the willies.

Me: Want to hear something weird?
Joe: Uh, ok.
Me: You know that mysterious bug bite on my leg?
Joe: Yeah...
Me: Well, today I thought what if some bug laid eggs in my leg? And then I scratch it and all the bugs come out.
Joe: ...
Me: I mean, do you think that could happen?
Joe: ...
Me: Would you help me kill all the bugs?
Joe: Yes, I would help you.
Me: Aww, thanks. But seriously, do you think a bug laid eggs in my leg?
Joe: I think you have a better chance of breaking into a sweat tonight and becoming Spider-girl.

well, rats.

My gas tank holds 13.2 US Gallons according to the owner's manual.

I put 12.357 gallons in this evening. Rats. Turns out I could've run the A/C on my way home from work.

used vs. new

Me: Sigh. I really want a dog.
HotCop: We could always go to the SPCA and get one of those used dogs.

train in va

One of my new employer's clients is a concert pavilion here in SoVa. For the company picnic on Friday, we all got tickets to see Train. We were also VIP, and I snuck in a camera.

Here is my picture of the band. We spent most of our time in the VIP tent with the drinks but felt we needed to make a token visit to our Gold Circle seats. Life as a VIP, so hard.

During said visit, I took this photo of my coworker and her fiancé. In return, she took this one of Joe and me.

Also, my former colleague now my new colleague was very sad his wife wasn't there. I assured him the rest of us were as well.