Desert Living Life Lessons, Part 2

• Eventually the ants will find the pet food bowl inside the house. Its only a matter of time. Those ants are crafty little buggers. So smart. The other day I walked over to check on the cat food bowl and it was crawling with tiny, tiny ants. They had made it through the door near the bowl and found treasure. Sigh. I cleaned up and moved the bowl to another part of the house and now I will be more diligent. A friend gave me a good tip. If it keeps happening you sit the food bowl inside of a larger bowl with just a small amount of water all around. Clever,  and good to know.
• And of course - after an evening with friends outside on the porch, always remember to bring all the glasses inside. Especially if they contained sambuca! I know this, but I went to bed early before the others and wasn't there to clean up. I woke up in the morning and looked outside to witness the ant party going on all over those glasses and the table. Do ants get drunk? I have to think these ones were.  
• Don't get complacent just because you haven't seen any rattle snakes around for a long time. Because when you aren't paying attention, and least expect it, and are foolishly wearing flip flops, you will almost step on one. That happened to me one evening last week on our building site. We were there with a friend discussing design things and walked out to the car and oops there it was, right by the car. I didn't even see it because I wasn't paying attention. Lesson learned. And I need to read up on what you do if you do get bit.
• If you put vegetable scraps out for the cottontails, they will become very bold and trusting and show up regularly. We have bunny entertainment every evening in our yard. 
• If you use too much water at once - for example we water the landlord's plants and trees frequently - you might drain the water down too low in the well tank and then you are going to have some pretty unsightly brown water for awhile until it refills itself because you will hit dirt and mineral residue at the bottom.

House Building Obsessions

Things I never thought I would spend enormous amounts of time thinking about (but I am because we are building an off-grid house in the desert):

• Window heights. And shapes and sizes and styles. How high off the ground should you place a window? Seriously I bet most of you have never spent time thinking about this, or as much as I have. Its a big pain, and once they are in, they are in. Have you ever noticed that all of the windows in all houses (at least all the ones I've seen) all have the same top height? I never noticed this before. We spent an enormous amount of time deciding the number of windows, their sizes and styles, and placement, and of course how high off the ground they sit. And be prepared, because windows will be one of the biggest chunks of your home building budget.
• Placement of absolutely every little thing. Where do you place doors? Which way do you want your doors to open? Where do you place everything else? Electric sockets? Lighting? Ceiling fans?
• Colors, colors, colors. For the outside wood, outside windows, shutters, porch beams, doors, inside walls, inside window frames and trim, baseboards, floors, bathroom fixtures, kitchen counters, cupboards, and on and on and on and on. Never have I had to make so many color choices! Its exciting and overwhelming all rolled into one.
• Kitchen Design. Probably my biggest obsession with this house building adventure has been the kitchen. The layout of every square inch. How to place appliances and shelving and cupboards and everything so that the kitchen makes sense - so its user friendly and happy. Having an open slate to design your kitchen is like a dream come too, but it involves a lot of decision making (not exactly my strong point, but boy building a house will sure cure you of this). What can I say? I dream of a bitchin' kitchen. I know I make my husband nuts with all of my kitchen ideas and freak outs about how things have to be just so.
• Cement. I've learned more about cement and concrete than I ever thought I would know or care to know. We had to make a color decision there too. We had six huge cement trucks and like 20 guys to pour our foundation and I was there to watch the whole exciting and stressful thing. Cement is actually pretty cool.
• Water. Will the water from our well be drinkable? We haven't had it tested yet.
• Communications. What do you do when you don't have a cell signal on your property? We are hoping a satellite service is going to handle our computer and tv needs. And I am praying the internet will be fast enough so that I don't lose my mind as my job requires fast internet services all the time. What does one need to do to get a land telephone line installed at your home when the phone company won't do it for you? They will hook up a number, but its up to us to trench and lay line from the nearest connection up to our house which is about 800+ feet away. They advise, but we do all the work. Bet you never had to think about digging your own telephone line trench. :)
• Heating and Cooling. How do you properly design a house, in the high desert, for heating and cooling, so it can handle a lot of sun and high temperatures in the summer, and cold temperatures (even snow) in the winter - powered only by solar. We hope we've got it right, but we'll just have to live in it to really know.
• Balancing energy supply and use. How will we ensure energy use balances with supply? Is it going to be a problem running various kitchen appliances, an iron, hair dryers, etc off of our solar system? We are going to have a large solar system, but I imagine it will still take time to figure out how to balance out energy use so we don't ever drain the system. I've never lived in a solar powered home. Its very exciting but full of unknowns.
• Snakes and scorpions oh my! We are going to need a snake bite kit and to know what to do and where to go in the event of. We are, after all, building in rattlesnake country. We also need to buy one of those poles you use to capture snakes and move them away from your property.

Its one big exciting adventure full of endless choices and decisions. If you get the chance to do it, I recommend it. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time thinking about things you never thought you would, and to be a little crazy during the process.

For a Good Laugh

Our daily lives are full of a lot of not so fun or funny things. In addition to our own daily goings on, we are exposed to a lot of news from around the world and a lot of it is not very much fun. I think it is important to read the news (note I said read, not listen...I believe in NPR and the BBC, but I don't give much credit to other "news" on the radio and even less credit to the "news" on the TV), but I think it is also important to take some time to read things that less intense and real and more fun and funny. I like comedy and I like a good laugh. Facebook helps. I find a lot of funny videos or articles from friends, and if you are one of my FB friends you know that I post and repost a lot of what I believe to be funny and/or ridiculous stuff.

In the interest of spreading the funny around, I want to share just a few websites that I review often for some laughs. Over time these have been some of my best go-to sites for a good time. I realize comedic taste varies. Also, just like any comedian or any comedy, these sites can be hit or miss. Some days they come out with something that is worthy of a lot of laughs, and of sharing, other days, not so much. Anyway, I hope that sometime when you need a good laugh, you might find it on one of these sites.

Awkward Family Photos. The title says it all. Bad family photos. We all can relate. You could consider this one as mean, but since most of the people send these photos in themselves, they are in on the joke and happy to share their awkwardness with others. So, to me that makes it even more fun to look.

Cracked. I just discovered this site recently. I don't find it consistently interesting or funny, but there is a lot of wacky and interesting and yes, funny, stuff there. They create a lot of lists such as "5 amazing things invented by Donald Duck" and "6 things from history everyone pictures incorrectly" that are factually based and designed to be funny and often dumb.

Found. I wrote about Found before. It has been a favorite for a long time. This one can be funny and a lot more.

The Onion. I can't believe everyone I know does not know about this. I think The Onion was the first funny website I ever knew about. It has been around for a long time and you can read it online and also pick up its free newspaper if you live in a major city. I used to read it in Washington, DC. It is America's first real fake newspaper. Articles meant to sounds like real news, but totally fake and often hilarious. This American Life (love true love) did a recent story about The Onion - a look into their process for selecting and writing stories. It was really enjoyable and I recommend a listen if you are an Onion fan.

Eject. This is a blog from a Canadian woman - wife and mother - named Kelly Oxford. She is quite harsh and crass (not for the kiddies) and tells it like it is on a lot of things. Sometimes I find her blog entries hysterical. She has quite a following.

Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like. For those in my line of work, a hysterical site making fun of that whole world/culture. Along the lines of Stuff White People Like.

Do you have any recommendations of other sites that I should be visiting for some laughs?

Websites for Travelers

Are you traveling soon? Planning a trip? To help my own travels on the Scenic Byway, I have been creating a list of helpful travel websites. Some are the expected ones, others are a little more wacky and fun. I am not including in this list sites such as orbitz, expedia, kayak, priceline, travelzoo, etc. I look at all of these sites to find travel deals, and have used some of them, but this list has other kinds of resources - information for driving or finding lodging or a good place to eat or how to find unusual local sites.

Maybe my list can help you plan your next travel adventure. Click on the links below to see the sites. And, I would love to learn about other travel-related sites that you use, so please send recommendations.

Trip Advisor. I find myself using this all the time these days to find hotels, and I swear that this year I will sit down and write reviews for the great hotels I've used in places like Liberia, Republic of Georgia, Belgium, and the US. I feel its only fair that if I use this resource so much for reviews, I need to contribute to its information base. You can get useful information such as their annual Dirty Hotels list to steer you from the bad hotels.

Roadside America. Described as "your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions." Search by attraction, town or state to find wacky sites to see on your journey. Great for road trips.

The Bed Bug Registry. I think the name says it all. Unfortunately it only covers the United States and Canada.

Historic Route 66. If you want to learn about Route 66 or drive any part of it, this site offers a turn by turn road description of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. Not a very fancy site, but cool information.

Eccentric America. Described as "Your guide to all that's weird and wacky in the USA." I think there is quite a lot of weird and wacky in the US and I don't think this site can highlight it all, but it is a start. Great for road trips. I love the wacky sites.

Road Trip America. "Routes, Planning and Inspiration for your North American Road Trip."It is commercial and has a lot of information to digest, including a travel forum, travel photo share, travel routes, map center, information on road trip attractions, etc. - but if you are looking around for ideas and resources, it can trigger some ideas.

Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet is a trusted name to me. My main experience has been buying and using the books over many years, but lately I have found myself checking out the information they offer online. It is basic, but useful.

Seat Guru. This site gives you information about airline seating charts to help you pick the best seats when you are booking a flight. I find this site helpful.

The Bathroom Diaries. Ok, I haven't used this, because I am not the type of traveler who would, but it can be very funny to read. I can't believe this site exists.

Qype London. This feels like a UK version of Yelp. Find any service (eating, drinking, shopping, nightlife, events, arts, entertainment, health, beauty) you are looking for in London.

And when I am on the road here in the US, I rely heavily on using the Yelp iPhone application to find places to eat. You can use the website (check out the link), but I find that I use it when I am on the road in an unfamiliar place and trying to find a decent place to eat besides your typical chain fast food places, so the iPhone application is ideal.

Happy Travels!

Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts while not feeling well, lying in bed half asleep listening to Pandora's Ambient radio station...

• Could I have gotten sick from the massage I got on Saturday evening? Can massages make you sick maybe pushing all the toxins out of your body? Or maybe the massage therapist was sick and passed it on to me?
• Does the cat drink out of my water glass that is next to my bed when I am asleep? Should I worry about that?
• What if cats are really ancient aliens that have infiltrated our world, lying in wait for their mother ships to return? If they do return, will they cut me some slack given all that I've done taking care of my two rugrats for the past 15+ years?
• Do vitamins really work?
• If I eat a lot of pickles can that kind of be considered as getting a portion of vegetables?
• How much is too much salsa to eat in a week?

Can you see how my mind works?

Bad Music

This morning going through my music collection to put together a new mix, I came across an album that I love - ELO's Greatest Hits. Now don't laugh. I have a very eclectic collection of music. And I love a lot of old music that I grew up hearing on the radio. Some of ELO's stuff is fun. Listening to ELO reminds me of my youth and it also brings up some fun memories driving around Zambia on a work trip with a friend and former colleague years ago). As so often happens with greatest hits collections, I love most of the songs (isn't that the purpose of a greatest hits collection), but there is always at least one loser, sometimes a few, in any greatest hits collection. You accept those loser songs into your life because you want the rest of the "best of." Do you have bad songs in your music collection because of this?

It suddenly struck me that the beauty of storing all your music on your computer is that you can REMOVE a song if you don't like it so it never appears again in your shuffle or when you are listening to an album.  Do I care if the complete collection will be missing a song if I can't stand that song and never plan to listen to it? I just use the skip function. Old school. Epiphany. I should remove these bad songs completely.

So what song was it that made my skin crawl? ELO's Hold on Tight to your Dreams. Oh man. Just saying the title makes me cringe and suddenly I can hear it in my head. Sigh. And as soon as that song hit my senses, my brain started sifting through data and cranking out all the other songs I can think of that I cannot stand. Songs that I really dislike. The kind that make me want to walk out of a room. The kind that I cannot understand how any human being could like them. I do not understand how these songs got made, and sold, and in most cases played over and over and over again on the radio and thus accepted by so many people. How does it happen???

Here is the list that came to my head at one sitting...

• Kokomo - Beach Boys
• Dancing on the Ceiling - Lionel Ritchie
• Heart of Rock & Roll - Huey Lewis & the News (actually anything by him)
• Any Chicago music from the 80s onward
• She's Got Betty Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
• Rosanna - Toto
• Africa - Toto
• Anything by Phil Collins after he left Genesis

So...there are just some artists that consistently put out crap and I can say I don't really like anything they do - I just do not like their style of music (as noted above). But then you have some artists that you like and think they put out some decent music, but then they put out a real bomb of a song. I think that is the worst. I mean I like the Beach Boys for what they are, but that song Kokomo? It makes me want to rip my ears off and run screaming from the room. And I know there are a lot of people out there who LIKE that song. I just. do. not. get. it.

Interesting that this list all comes from my teenage years (80s) isn't it? I realize there are so many more truly bad songs out there (from earlier and current), but this is just what popped into my head in one sitting and I can't waste any more brain space on this. 

I thought about linking the videos for these songs, because I love to do the links for you, but I decided these songs just aren't worth the effort and I don't want to inflict pain on you. If you know these songs, then you already know what I am talking about. If you don't know them, then do yourself a favor and never listen to them. Run! Stay away.

What is on your bad song list? I mean "make you want to run from the room kind of bad."

Random DC Memories

Having just visited Washington, DC, and also reminiscing on the phone with a dear friend and former roommate from my early DC days, these random memories came to mind from my time (1989-2010) in DC. I arrived in Washington in September 1989, age 22, after graduating from college and spending the summer in Kenya, and did not leave until last year (except for a brief stint in New York for grad school, but DC remained my home where I returned during breaks). The early days were about being on my own for the first real time (college did not count): first apartment; first real job search and then first real job secured; roommates; paying bills; struggling; roaming the city on foot all the time; parties and happy hours and crazy times. Over time I built a career, made many friends, lived in many apartments, bought a car, left briefly for grad school, got married, bought a house, etc. Life progressed. So many friends left DC, but I stayed. So much life happened there in DC for me - in that little diamond of earth along the Potomac. With no car, I remember in my first few years in DC I never really left the NW quadrant. Back in those days we never traveled out to VA or MD and rarely to other parts of the city. Later my world would expand to cover all of the city and the suburbs, but that happened mainly when I moved to Rosslyn and had a car. Then I moved to Takoma Park, just over the DC line. But I was always in the city. I drove through the city every day to work and spent most of my social life still in that little diamond. So many changes in the city over 20 years. It sometimes blows my mind driving around the city and remembering how it was and is now. So many memories. I guess that happens for all of those who live in a place for a long time and witness its changes. I think it is fun to remember those things. Reach way, way back 5, 10, 20 years ago.

Some of you who will read this list will know these things because you lived them with me or you were also in the city in those days. I've missed a lot, but these were the things that popped readily into my head. Do you remember some of these things?(this list is in no particular order)

• a friend swimming in the Dupont Circle fountain
• a rat running across our feet walking down the street
• blow out parties at the California Street apartment
• our first apartment at the Chaselton
• seeing the Clintons coming out of church on Sundays as their church was around the corner from one of my old apartments
• the Obama inauguration - freezing my behind off but in a crowd of so many people and so much awe and love
• shopping at the Soviet Safeway back when $20 went quite a long way
• G&Ts at Fox & Hound on the patio then pizza at Trios
• the peeping tom (and the crazy building managers) at one apartment building in Arlington
• running the marine corps marathon
• Mr. Eagan's happy hours - pitchers of beer, popcorn, darts and stealing the glasses with Mr. Eagan's portrait
• Seeing a free Captain & Tennille concert at the Washington monument one evening - that was hysterical
• Seeing Ella Fitzgerald perform one sunny afternoon at Wolftrap - that was amazing
• working at the Gap on Connecticut Avenue (old location was right near Lucky Bar) so long ago...when there were no restaurants on the street except for a nasty Roy Rogers
• being mugged at gun point outside of my apartment on California Street (Embassy District - supposedly safe) at around 2 am
• dancing at Kilimanjaro, not soon after I had moved to DC from Nairobi
• going to the old 930 club with an old friend who worked there and then going to dance across the street at the Vault
• the riots in Columbia Heights
• the hookers on 14th street
• U street before it had restaurants and shops and condos and crazy nightlife and Adams Morgan before it became the way it is now
• Hell, when they first opened and there were no signs and only the locals knew (it was there before Heaven)
• 18th street lounge at the beginning, before it became crowded and trendy - it was so awesome when it first started
• great farewell parties and New Year's Eve celebrations at Stetsons, back when it was a really fun, neighborhood bar
• Kemp Mill Records
• DC before Starbucks
• the homeless Vietnam vet who used to hang out by the Dupont Circle metro, circa 1989-1990
• the singing homeless woman from Connecticut Avenue (made famous in the "She's Homeless" dance club song)
• Going to Trax, wearing overalls and not much else, and dancing all night long in a sea of gay men
• temping at a law firm back when people smoked at their desks (1989)
• Restaurant Club and Hike Club and Book Club
• George Peppard feeling up my backless dress at the American Cancer Society Ball

There are so, so many more. I would love to hear about memories from other long time DC people...please share.

Things I Just Do Not "Get" (part 3)

• All you can eat buffets. The food on buffets is often not that appetizing. And picked over. And I am not sure I eat enough at them to really get my money's worth.
• People who use their cell phones in public restrooms. Really? I am sure whoever is on the other end really enjoys the sounds of flushing toilets.
• People who stand behind you in line and talk REALLY LOUDLY on their cell phones so that you can't help but be involved in their business, whether you want to be or not.
• Keeping tarantulas as pets.
• Blueberry bagels.
• Why the commercials on television are so much louder than the shows.
• Why, after a life of travel, I still continue to pack exercise clothes and sneakers for most trips, fully expecting to work out every day, yet NEVER work out when I am on the road.
• Why anyone would want to glue plastic fake nails to their real nails.
• Littering.
• Justin Bieber.

Things I Just Do Not Get (Part 1)

Things I Just Do Not Get (Part 2)

Missing Washington, DC

Last week I wrote about the crazy energy I felt returning to Washington, DC for a visit. And I know that I've written a lot over the past few months about all the wonderful things about moving to Salt Lake City and the things that I do not miss from my life in Washington, DC. I don't mean to sound negative when I write about those things. Washington was my home for a very long time, and in some ways it will always be a home to me, and there are a lot of wonderful things about the place.

The other day a colleague asked me if I missed anything about DC. My response was "only my friends." It is true that the thing I miss the most is all of the people I love who live there. However, having just spent a few days hanging out in DC, I was reminded of many other things I do miss about the place:

• My friends - former colleagues, old friends, newer friends, friends of friends, family. Living in a place for like Washington, DC for 20 years, where people come and go and return, I have created many networks and groups of friends. I love and miss all of them. This will always be the number one thing I miss.
• The Potomac river, Roosevelt Island and the C&O Canal. Hiking in these places. Seeing the change of the seasons.
• Driving through Rock Creek Park. For six years I drove to work through RCP. Commuting was not fun, but if you have to do it, that was a good route to drive. 
• Walking across the Memorial Bridge. 
• Driving from VA to DC across any of the bridges and seeing the moon rise up over the city, huge and low to the sky.
• The architecture. I miss looking at all the beautiful houses in the different neighborhoods.
• Chopt. Best salads ever. I miss you all the time. Please come to Salt Lake City! Please come to the west coast.
• Driving by all the monuments - day or night.
• The international flavor of the city and the fact that there are always interesting and fun things going on.
• Happy hours in Dupont Circle.
• Axis - my hair salon for many, many years.
• The African taxi drivers.
• Going out to dinner at the enormous number of excellent restaurants.
• Neighborhoods - there are some places (bars, restaurants, coffee shops, stores) and things I love and miss about all of them: Dupont, downtown, Georgetown, U Street, Logan Circle, H Street, Capitol Hill, etc.
• Being able to walk the city.

This list is not exhaustive...just what comes to mind at the moment.

If you lived in Washington, DC and moved, what things do you miss about the place and the life that you lived there?

The List

I haven't had time to blog much this week and I can't seem to download my beach photos onto my Mac right now (sigh), so I have to bring up something I wrote awhile ago and have been saving for the right moment. Happy weekend! Enjoy...


My husband keeps a list of celebrity women who he would like to...let's just say date. Yes. He does. So this got me thinking of my own list. So I present to you my top ten list. Of hot actors...

1. Viggo Mortenson. No one else holds a candle to you. I don't even care about the others on the list.

2. Robert Downey Jr - Bad boy. Beautiful. Talented.

3. Johnny Depp - You had me at 21 Jump Street. You get better with age.

4. Steve Martin - Renaissance Man: Actor. Comedian. Musician. Artist. Writer.

5. Clive Owen - Strong, hot British man. Love the eyes and the accent.

6. George Clooney. Classic.

7. David Duchovney. Tormented, funny, sexy.

8. Brad Pitt - Just easy on the eyes.

9. Keanu Reeves - Your acting can be silly but I still think you are hot.

10. Jake Gyllenhaal - dreamy eyes.

I am also building: an "old school list" which includes a number of actors no longer with us but who I always thought were hot; and a musician list. So stay tuned.


And all of these photos were lifted off the internet. Of course I did not take any of these photos. I assume that for this purpose, that is ok, as I don't think any of these guys are going to let me take my own photos.

Things I Just Do Not "Get" (part 2)

• People who use airplane bathrooms in their socks. Don't you see that people pee all over the floor! How can you feel comfortable walking in people's pee? You know you are going to end up touching those socks, right? And then touching your face. You are disgusting!
• The creepy King in those Burger King commercials. It is not funny. Its creepy. Remember the one where he is looking in the window, like a peeping tom? It freaked me out. I had a peeping tom once. It is not funny Burger King. Not funny.
• The fascination with the Kardashians. They make me ill. And America's amount of attention to them makes me more ill.
• "Chick lit." I guess some of it can be mildly entertaining, but be honest...a lot of it is really, really stupid. The last chick lit book I looked at, someone loaned it to me at the beach. Five pages in I knew I couldn't read it. And I was at the beach, where you know, you can usually read anything because its the beach. The woman who gave it to me gushed and gushed about how wonderful it was. I just smiled and listened...
• How much bacon I can eat (a lot).
• Regis & Kathy Lee and now Regis & Kelly.
• Black Friday. What is this obsession with shopping? I can't believe people go to stores at like 3 am and wait in long lines for hours to get a 'deal' on electronics and toys. And sometimes this turns into violence because people are so freaked out about missing out on the deals (remember the store security guy who was trampled and killed by the crowd looking for tvs??). Life is more than shopping and possessions. This is crazy.
• Cottage cheese. Nasty. Any way you serve it.
• Tv sitcom laugh tracks.

Things I Just Do Not Get (part 1)

Things I Just Do Not "Get"

A random list of things that come in and out of my head.

• Watching the Today Show. It is so INANE it makes me crazy. I can't stand all the people. And this is not news.
• Eating liver. Or any animal organs for that matter.
• Celine Dion.
• Fast food/chain restaurants offers of cheap food. I am sorry, but I really do not want to pay $3.99 for a burger and a blizzard at DQ or 99 cents for shrimp at Long John Silver. Yes, I enjoy a bargain, but I know how much food costs. If it is that cheap, then trust me, it is not real food.
• Watching any of the tv "news" programs on Fox, MSNBC, etc. Talking heads spouting crap and fueling anger and resentment. I don't care what party you identify with. This is not rational discussion. This is not civil discourse. This does not help us. This is not news. And all of these talking heads do not deserve their salaries, the attention, the publicity, the following. Ugh.
• Why anyone thinks Terry Hatcher is hot. I always see a lot of photos of her where she looks like she has had really bad plastic surgery (and I don't think she has). Maybe she just photographs weirdly.
• This obsession with the Jersey Shore. I admit, I've never watched it.
• How Jerry Springer can live with himself.
• The SkyMall catalogue.
• Why in this day and age it is still considered wrong for Mormons to drink coffee and tea. I understand the alcohol thing. I get that. But coffee and tea?
• How to hook up my DVD player correctly to the tv.
• Why I am still using Comcast (the devil). They suck.
• How I could have dated a guy named GWB (seriously). But that was long before GWB was president. My GWB turned out to be a personal disappointment, much like the other one (again, all personal here).
• Agreeing to be a part of, and thus humiliate yourself, on the reality show "Real Housewives of DC." Seriously?
• Going to the Olive Garden for a meal. Sorry.
• The over choice we have for products. The other day, buying toothpaste, I was stressed out trying to decide which one to buy from the WALL of options. I swear there were far more than 20 brands and types to choose from. COME ON!
• Why we can't have good bread like in Europe.
• Clowns.

Now...back to work!

My Favorite Signs from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

I can't believe such an awesome rally occurs AFTER I move away from Washington, DC! I've heard from friends who attended. I've seen a lot of photos. How awesome is it that this rally not only presented a unique free for all opportunity for thousands of people to create funny signs, but because it took place the day before Halloween, said people also had the green light to wear kooky costumes while carrying those funny signs. A missed opportunity for those of us who couldn't attend to be creative and get our freak on. Sigh...

After reviewing about 1000 (yeah, that is true) photos of the rally, here is my list of favorite signs (in no particular order). Enjoy!

• Freaking out for Freedom
• I thought this was the line for Georgetown Cupcake (DC insider thing)
• God Hates Figs
• I'm Holding a Sign
• Immigrants, Muslims and Gays Oh My!
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And Zombies.
• If your beliefs fit on a sign, Think Harder.
• I can has Sanitee??? (with a photo of the Cheezburger cat)
• Arrgh!!! This Sign is so Angry!!!
• I'm ok with the mosque...but Walmart really scares me
• Meh (with a :| face)
• My political views are too nuanced to fit on this sign
• We are a 2 party couple, yet we manage to have great sex!
• Yes Virginia, there is a Sanity Clause.
• I screwed you all, but thanks for blaming it on the black guy (with photo of smirking George Bush)
• Hug it out
• What's your zombie plan? (I loved the countless zombie references and zombie costumes)
• Thank God for Mexican Food (I agree)
• Fear the Amish
• I will respect your opinion as soon as you stop making sh*t up
• I will not tolerate lactose (ha!)
• Fear Bed Bugs! (see, again, I am not the only one obsessed with this problem!)
• I hate taxes but I like: roads, firemen, some cops, traffic lights (not red), national parks, the coast guard, etc so I pay them anyway
• I understand your stance and while I disagree, I'm pretty sure you're not a Nazi
• Best. Rally. Ever.
• I don't know why I'm even out of bed
• I heart the post office
• WTF, I thought I voted for a Muslim!
• Jesus says relax (love this)
• I want more tortillas when I order fajitas at a restaurant
• I support Long Island Iced Tea Parties
• Yes we can...but it is not going to happen over night
• We have nothing to fear but fear itself - and spiders
• My wife is a Muslim and not a terrorist, but I'm scared of her anyway

I admit the visuals are better. I love looking at costumed freaks carrying signs...and wish I could have been one of them.

What was your favorite sign?