Halloween

This year for Halloween I decided to dress up as something that has been on my mind a lot lately. So I dressed as a stink bug! Josh made the main component of my costume, and it. was. awesome.

I wore it to work on Friday:



Josh dressed up as a zombie, and on Saturday we went to Richmond so he and Jay could be in the Zombie walk:



Josh was the tennis player and Jay was the plumber.



Sunni had fun watching the zombies.




Saturday night Josh and I went out dancing in Shockoe Bottom.







Sunday Josh and I carved a jack-o-lantern at my grandparents' house and I passed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Jay brought Bobby over in his dinosaur costume. His "Raawr" was pretty cute.

I went to Philly.

Hi guys. I know it's taken me a week to tell you, but last weekend I went to Philadelphia for a conference. Josh joined me for the trip, and we took the Amtrak train straight from Charlottesville into Philly. It was pretty great. I haven't traveled on a train in the states like that, but it was way better than trying to fly. No security or baggage fees, bigger seats with much more legroom, the ability to get up and walk around whenever you want, and more interesting scenery.

We got into the city around noon and checked into the hotel, then had lunch in Chinatown. Next I headed to a conference panel, but was informed I needed to go run an errand for work at the American Philosophical Society, so I grabbed Josh and we headed over there instead. It's a neat place, and from there we walked around the historic area a little and visited the printing shop by Ben Franklin's no-longer-existing house. That evening we went to a reception, then Josh and I wandered around the city for a billion years looking for the perfect place to eat. We finally found it, even though it turns out they only accepted cash and were a bring-your-own alcohol establishment. So we didn't drink or have appetizers or dessert because they either didn't serve it or we didn't have enough cash to cover it. But the food was delicious.

Saturday I was busy with conference stuff all morning and for part of the afternoon, minus a lunch break during which Josh and I wandered around some more and ate sandwiches. That afternoon while I was busy he visited the Academy of Natural Sciences, then we met up and did a whole lot more walking. We visited a brewery for beer and appetizers, then walked across the river over by the university and ate dinner at the White Dog Cafe, which a co-worker had recommended. The food there was also delicious, but we ordered way more than we could handle (we should have skipped the appetizer at the brewery) and pretty much rolled ourselves out of there. There was no way we could have walked all the way back (over twenty blocks) being that full, so we took the subway (or "el") back.

Sunday I spent the morning in the conference again, and as soon as it was over we hurried to the Franklin Institute, a science museum. We spent a couple hours there, and then had to hurry back to get our bags and head to the train station.

The weather in Philadelphia was perfect, the conference was good, and it was fun doing touristy stuff with Josh. I also look forward to another train ride some day.

Stink Bug Invasion

We are currently experiencing an invasion of stink bugs over here. I don't actually smell them, but other people do because apparently they spray some kind of stink. Hence the name. They are an invasive species not native to the U.S., and while they don't actually bite or hurt or anything (well, I think they hurt crops), they are quite a pest. Thankfully I have not had a problem with them at my apartment and the two or three I've seen have been easy to get out right away. But they are going crazy at work.

Let me show you.

Here we have a stink bug on top of a cubicle divider.



And here is one climbing the blinds pull.



This one is on my chair.



These are actually outside my window, but still unpleasant to see.



They can be clumsy, so this one flew over to my window but landed on its back. It turned over eventually. They make a whirring noise when they fly, and you can often hear them thumping into the window or wall or wherever they are headed. They startle me every time.



This guy (see him on the corner of the folder?) tried to climb down on my pom-pom, but had to rethink that plan.



This gang hangs out above the door to our offices. I'm always sure they are going to drop on me when I walk through, but they haven't so far.



Sometimes they even go inside the folders. Not a pleasant surprise.



They are all over outside, too. When I go to my car they are all over the place, including inside the little gas door and once under my door handle. This one was outside my window while I was stopped at a light.



But this one was inside.



I haven't seen too many while driving, which is good because they freak me out and make the driving part dangerous. But obviously they are in my car, because in the back under the windshield I have a sort of stink bug graveyard going on. I plan to leave them until it gets cold and they go away, then I'll get some poor kid at a car wash to vacuum them out for me.



Josh had an invasion in his apartment, and about 80 came into his bathroom through the vent. He put most of them down the toilet. I'm glad I wasn't there.

The whole thing is pretty gross.

One space?!

Three weeks ago I learned something shocking. Well, shocking to me. And maybe to you, too, if you're not in the know either.

Apparently, you are only supposed to put one space between sentences.

How did I not know this? When did this happen, and why did no one tell me? Where was the PSA, and how did I miss it?

I like to think that I'm still relatively young. But I did learn to type on a typewriter. I took a semester-long typing course in the seventh grade, and we were taught to put two spaces between sentences. Which was correct, because we were typing on typewriters. I haven't typed on a typewriter in a long time, but I have always kept two spaces between my sentences.

A few weeks ago a friend on Facebook posted a link to this, and it blew my mind. That was the first time I had ever heard about the one space rule. In fact, it was probably the first time I'd heard about any spacing rule since the seventh grade. Then on Monday night a professor at school also mentioned the one-space-for-word-processing rule, so I'm convinced it's official.

Now I just have to tame my eager right thumb.

State Fair

Today I went to the fair with my cousin Jay and his son Bobby.

We saw baby animals and big animals, looked at big produce, drank cider and tasted honey, watched a mechanical pig sing and play the guitar, visited an Oregon Trail camp, walked through a redwood tree house, cheered for racing pigs, and ate a little fair food. Good times.

this and that

I apologize for not blogging lately. Nothing too exciting is going on around here.

School is going well. I'm not overwhelmed (yet?) and I enjoy having reading to do again. Of course that means I always have reading to do... The drive up to Fairfax isn't too bad. It's not fun to do it two nights in a row, but that only happens every other week.

Last weekend Josh and I joined his grandparents in Lexington to see the Carolina Chocolate Drops perform. It rained so they had to switch venues at the last minute and the sound wasn't very good in the new place, but it was still a fun time.

In case you were wondering, I'm not running another half marathon any time soon. I know I talked a lot, but training takes so much time! I still run a few times a week for exercise, but only about 3-4 miles. Someday I want to do another half marathon, but not right now.

My parents sent me a fun fall package with lots of goodies to eat, including caramel corn, cookie and scone mixes, Girl Scout cookies, gummy bears, and gummies that are made to look like boogers (hehe). They also bought out the sale bin of glass tiles at a craft store, so I have plenty of tiles to work with for another mosaic.

A few months ago Josh and I read To Kill a Mockingbird together while on long drives. Now we're reading Of Mice and Men. It's like a book on tape only no tape! Sometimes we even do the voices.