Monthly Archives: October 2009

quarters to spare? anyone? pretty please?

Let’s talk for a bit about how strange and awkward I am. So the washer and dryer in my building only take quarters (yeah, those kind still exist), and this always presents a bit of a conundrum for me because I, um, have yet to get signed up with a bank in DC. I know, it’s not smart and I’m wasting money on ATM fees and yada yada, but it’s the truth. This means that when I need quarters, I can’t just go to the bank and get a roll; instead, my strategy is to go begging at various CVS’s and grocery stores. For the most part, this has worked just fine. Occasionally I have to go to a few stores, but with a couple dollars here and there and the quarters I find in my purses, I can manage.

Today did not go so smoothly. I first go to the CVS across the street and the lady is like,”Sure thing! I can give you a dollar!” Um, lady? It’s 2009! It costs $1.25 to do ONE load of laundry. And rather than begging her for more, I sheepishly walk away. Then I move on to the Dunkin’ Donuts next store. They have donuts! They must be nice! As I’m waiting in line, I decide that I should probably order an iced coffee, because that’s what people order from Dunkin’ Donuts, right? The problem is that I don’t drink coffee, so I paid three dollars for a drink I can’t finish, and THEY HAD NO QUARTERS. Boycott your local Dunkin’ Donuts! Don’t listen to Rachael Ray! Also, anyone want this?

i hate you iced coffee

When you’re on your way over to pick up the coffee, feel free to pick me up an iPhone so that I can upload normal-looking photos to my blog. Thanks!

After the Dunkin’ Donuts attempt, I decide to take a break, throw in the two loads of laundry I can afford, and smoke a cigarette. (Okay, I don’t smoke. But if I did I would have totally smoked a cigarette right then.)

My next stop was Safeway. Club soda, sure! I need club soda! As I wait in line to buy my club sode, I prepare my pity plea, and when I get to the register, I lay it on Danny: “Um, hi sir! I have a favor to ask! You see, I really need to do laundry, and see, I’ve been begging all of these stores for quarters, and no one will give me any. Look, I didn’t even want this iced coffee, haha! [Shakes iced coffee in Danny’s face.] So, um, if I give you some cash, will you give me some quarters??” And Danny’s all, “Sweetheart, you know that if you give ten dollars to the Customer Service lady, she can give you a roll of quarters?” And I’m all, “HALLELUJAH SAFEWAY IS MY NEW FAVORITE STORE!!!”

I walk over to the Customer Service lady, a 60-something woman, and she’s cold teasin’ me and says, “Aw Danny said I could give you quarters? Only for a fee!” And my natural response is, “I’ll give you a kiss!”

REALLY, Mallory? You’ll give the woman a kiss? Really?

Moral of the story: sometimes, when I whore myself out for quarters, I end up hitting on grandmothers. Happy Friday to you too!

[Posted my Mallory]

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Filed under adventures, money, post-college depression

halloween costumes, testosterone and iphone reps.

It’s almost Halloween, one of my favorite holidays, and I am freaking out because I have absolutely no idea what I want to be.  I feel like this year needs to be particularly good, since I was so entrenched in the campaign last year I didn’t even realize it was Halloween. Somebody call the wahhhhhmbulance.

Anyway, my beloved HuffPo has posted some hilariously adorable costumes for babies.  Perhaps I’ll just take one of the ideas and adjust it a bit.  I’m thinking the WALL-E costume would be super cute in my size.  No?  Okay.  I always forget that Halloween means I’m supposed to dress skanky.

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Click here for the slideshow!

Speaking of last year’s election (Yes, yes, I KNOW that’s it’s almost been a year since the election, but this study just came out!) this news story kind of sucks for our male McCain voting readership. I have a feeling that demographic isn’t very high on this blog, but we are committed to reporting the strangest news to ALL of our readership.

According to a story from ABC news:

Republican men nationwide may have experienced a drop in testosterone levels the night Barack Obama was elected president, according to the results of a small study that found another link between testosterone and men’s moods.

But don’t worry boys, I’m sure you’ve gotten it back. I meant the testosterone.  Not the election.  Love you!

In case you’ve been living under a rock, here are some Youtube videos that you should have seen by now:

Teehee, it’s a drunk guy.  And this one:

Cleverness abounds in the Democratic party! HUZZAH!

And ONE MORE THING.  My friend over at Herding Scapegoats has been writing again.  You should probably check it out.  He is providing a rare look into the male psyche, addressing serious things like male jealousy and pooping.

[Posted by Kathleen]

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Filed under blogging, education, fashion, humor, news, pictures, politics, pop culture, random, sex, thoughts, weird, YouTube

youtube clip of today: philip spooner.

Awww, shucks.  This made me tear up a bit.

Philip Spooner, a lifelong Republican and WWII veteran, makes the case for gay marriage at a meeting in Maine.  I can really picture my grandfather, who was also a Republican and WWII vet, saying these exact words.

Happy day before Friday!

[Posted by Kathleen]

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Filed under family, history, news, politics, thoughts, YouTube

who says i can’t get stoned?

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, because of interviews like this, but I’m in love with the new John Mayer single. I even like the video, and find it strangely depressing and authentic-seeming:

Thoughts?

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under celebrities, music, pop culture, YouTube

here, read a quote i love.

“We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.” [Richard Feynman]

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don’t go running! you will die!

PEOPLE. Running is not safe. No one should do it, ever. We already know that running leads to sprained ankles and general misery. But now we know more: if you go running — like, say, in a half marathon in Detroit — you will die. Read for yourself, from the Detroit Free Press:

In the span of just 16 minutes, three men collapsed and died while running the 32nd Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon — the first deaths in the event since 1994.

The first to collapse was Daniel Langdon, 36, of Laingsburg, at 9:02 a.m., said Rich Harshbarger, vice president of consumer marketing for the Detroit Media Partnership, which handles business operations for the Free Press and Detroit News. Langdon was on Michigan Avenue between the 11- and 12-mile markers.

Rick Brown, 65, of Marietta, Ohio, collapsed at 9:17 a.m. near where Langdon went down, Harshbarger said. And Jon Fenlon, 26, of Waterford collapsed at about 9:18 a.m., just after finishing the half-marathon in 1:53:37, he said.

Consider yourselves warned.

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under health, news, RIP, sports

fine, i’ll write about balloon boy.

balloon-boy

Ohhhh Colorado. My beloved, beloved Colorado. Why do you have to be in the news because of Balloon Boy? Why can’t we just talk about the pretty mountains and the lovely people and the funky neighborhoods? Balloon Boy (but mostly Balloon Boy’s parents), you SLAY ME.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, let me update you on the story (from memory, without sources, because I’m lazy): for one whole day everyone was terrified because they thought an adorable little boy whose family was on “Wife Swap” had floated away in a giant fake UFO. People spent all day staring at the Colorado sky and wondering, “Is this every kid’s dream, or every kid’s nightmare?” (My answer? Dream, assuming he lives.) Then the balloon/fake UFO landed near the Denver International Airport, and Balloon Boy wasn’t inside. Everyone was all “Ohhhh shit. Did he fall out?” But as it turns out, Balloon Boy didn’t fall out. Instead, he was hiding inside a box in the attic, because his dad was mad at him for playing with the giant fake UFO, or so they said. Then, in an interview, Balloon Boy provided a very suspicious response to the question of, “Why didn’t you come out of the box even when you heard people looking for you?” He answered: “You guys said that, um, we did this for the show.” (Okay, I swiped that quote from a NYT article. I’m such a legit journalist.) In the end, everyone realized that we were dealing with some bonafied crazies, and that the entire thing was a publicity hoax, allegedly because the family was making a bid for reality show stardom. Now we hate Balloon Boy’s family, because they toyed with our emotions.

Falcon-Heene-famil_1503209c

Seriously, though. I think that’s why everyone is mad. The Heene family’s story elicited all sorts of real emotions from people across the country — from fear to excitement to sympathy, surely, for that little boy (not least because his name is Falcon) — and then stomped all over them. The situation sort of mocked us: “GOTCHA GOOD, suckers! It was all a hoax!” No one wants their emotions messed with. One time, Korean Correspondent Walshy (who is currently hanging out in my apartment while I’m at work, courtesy of a cancelled flight from our beloved United Airlines) told me that she didn’t get into the study abroad program that she wanted, and I felt awful and comforted her and then she was all, “BAHAHA, kidding! I got in!” I’ve still never forgiven her.

baloon boy 2

The point is, we Americans don’t like to be tricked. And that the punishment for tricking us might be felony charges. Lesson learned!

[Posted by Mallory]

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yours to decide, cute or creepy?

disneySorry that I have been “the worst guest blogger ever” to directly quote Mallory.  I recently got back from a fantastic trip to Ireland and London with my Mom, and then we had a long-femurred visitor a few weekends ago.  I know, poor me.

All excuses aside, I wanted to share this youtube video to see how people felt about this marriage proposal.  So far, we’ve got 2 votes for creepy, 1 vote for cute (sorry, Caroline).

To me, it seems like the girl being proposed to in the video would vote creepy as well, but that’s just my observation.

Here it is:  Disneyland Musical Marriage Proposal

[Posted by Shannon]

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Filed under family, humor, movies, news, pop culture, thoughts, weddings, weird, YouTube

how chris cillizza fixed my day.

So I had one of those days. Well, not really one of those days. Just one of those afternoons. I had a great morning, and then I left my apartment. It was MISERABLE weather in DC today, rainy and gross lie-in-your-bed weather, and my umbrella recently broke. If I were a rational human being, I would have bought an umbrella at the CVS that is literally across the street from my apartment, but I have a problem with boring umbrellas. I hate rain, so when it rains I want to at least have a cute umbrella to make things a little more bearable. This has led to me walking around in the rain umbrella-less for the past two weeks. I managed to get to campus and do some work without getting too wet or too angry about life in general, but then the computers were behaving badly. And then I needed a bagel. And when I went outside it was raining. And I had a frustrating phone call. And then I decided to walk to J.Crew to buy a cute umbrella. And then J.Crew had no umbrellas and I told them, “FINE, I’ll just go to GAP then!” And then my button (the essential middle button, mind you) popped off of my coat and I almost burst into tears. And then I paid $24 for a new (very cute) umbrella at Anthropologie, even through I know it will break, like, tomorrow, because it’s an umbrella from Antropologie. FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, PEOPLE.

It was at this point in the day (circa 4:45 p.m.) that I thought maybe I should just call it a day, go back home, maybe pop some popcorn, and hide under my covers because my heat doesn’t seem to work yet. In a feat of exceptional courage, however, I pushed through. And I went to the event I was supposed to go to at 5:15, which was with Chris Cillizza from The Fix. (Feel free to give my title a high five for punniness now.) Guys? He is great.

I don't know the context of this picture, but I like it.

This is just a guess, but I don't think that's his real body.

As I watched him talk, I was like, “Hmm, I wonder if he’ll be my best friend.” He was smart and self-deprecating and had funky glasses and talked about his baby. I was obviously a goner. And he made an interesting point about the difference between voice and bias, which was interesting. As in, it’s one thing to call out Sarah Palin for objectively being an idiot (or, to use the example he gave, to commend her for rhetorically delivering a solid speech at the RNC), but quite another to condemn every Republican action simply because it’s a Republican action. In other words, there’s a difference between having an opinion and being partisan. Not that that’s what we do here at SWTCTW, but I appreciate his point. Mr. Fix also commiserated with me about the meanness of bloggy commenters (I obviously told him about the Great Monkey Debate of 2008), so that made me like him even more.

I think what I’m trying to say is that my day got better. Thanks, Chris Cillizza!

Big college reunion this weekend, which means our SWTCTW “correspondents” from all over the country will be flooding the District with inside jokes and obnoxious dance moves. Watch out, people.

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under blogging, crushes, humor, politics