Elmore Leonard, Still Delighting Readers – and Interviewers

My good friend and 630 WMAL's morning anchor, Bill Thompson, has been interviewing authors in his spare time for over twenty six years. Teaching himself how to code websites, along the way he created EYEONBOOKS, a resource dedicated to housing this vast pool of these one-on-ones.

Well for the first time ever, he let me take the reins and posted an interview I did with Elmore Leonard. So making me EYEONBOOKS debut:

Elmore Leonard, Still Delighting Readers – and Interviewers

By The Numbers

Crystal City Summer Screen on The Green films are out! Mark your calendars - and your wine bottles! Action happens at the courtyard of 1800 South Bell Street, Arlington, VA 22202 (near Crystal City Metro)
June 6, 2011 Air Force One
June 13, 2011 Four Weddings and a Funeral
June 20, 2011 The Sixth Sense
June 27, 2011 District 9
July 11, 2011 10 Things I Hate About You
July 18, 2011 Oceans 11
July 25, 2011 Apollo 13
August 1, 2011 16 Candles
August 8, 2011 The 40-Year-Old Virgin
August 15, 2011 50 First Dates
August 22, 2011 (500) Days of Summer
August 29, 2011 2001: A Space Odyssey

For All Us Crystal City Peeps - Spread The Word

Looking to ditch that old tv or last decades' lap top? I know we've got a tv that will be headed towards the great bulb in the sky.

Crystal City (Arlington, VA) – Old electronics can be diverted from landfills and sensitive paperwork kept out of the hands of identity thieves when brought to the Crystal City Business Improvement District’s (BID) Power Purge & Shred on Wednesday, April 27th from 7 AM to 7 PM. The annual event has safely recycled almost 90 tons of electronics over the course of the past three years including monitors, printers, CPUs, servers, cables, batteries, and more. Added for the first time last year, the Shred securely recycled more than four tons of paper.

The event is conveniently located in the surface parking lot located at the intersection of 20th Street and S. Bell Street, directly adjacent to 220 Twentieth Street. Owned by Vornado/Charles E. Smith, use of the parking lot is donated to the Crystal City BID to help promote this key green initiative. For more information on Crystal Green and other Crystal City events, visit www.crystalcity.org.

The April Fool Elves Have Hit Us At Work

Programming Directors Office!

One of the perks of working in news is getting to work before most are even out of bed. But these elves beat us all to the office to play a little April Fools mischief.  Luckily they did the dirty work because I don't have the guts to do any of this....

Need a few more ideas? Here are a few to make you giggle from the WASHINGTON POST:

Geektastic April Fools’ Day pranks By Hayley Tsukayama
April Fools’ Day is all about harmless fun, so if you have access to a victim ... er ... friend’s computer, here are some light-hearted prank ideas with a techy twist that we’ve found floating around the Internet:
1. Push some buttons: It’s pretty easy to switch the primary and secondary buttons on a friend’s mouse. Head into Windows’ System Preferences mouse control pad and — bam! — one-click prank accomplished. Just be sure to tell your victim how to switch it back before he or she goes insane.

2. Feeling blue: The Blue Screen of Death is one of the most-feared sites in all of techdom. Strike some good-natured fear into the hearts of those you love with the BSoD screensaver. Microsoft is willing to help you out on this one; you can download the screensaver from the Microsoft site.

3. Screenshot wallpaper: Set someone’s wallpaper to a screenshot of their normal desktop and then use the “Arrange Icons By” menu to hide all the desktop icons. After that, just sit back and enjoy the frantic clicking.

The old bathroom sign switcheroo!

4. Tricky linguistics: Google offers several interface languages to make search easy for everyone — including Klingons, Elmer Fudd and the Swedish Chef Muppet. Head up to the search settings menu on any Google search. Other options include 1337 and Esperanto.

5. Too many mice: If your victim uses a wireless mouse, switch out his receiver and watch him like a hawk. When he’s moving his mouse, send the one on-screen in an entirely different direction. Those particularly good at stifling their giggles can probably keep the prank going for quite a while.
These are all pretty low-tech pranks that require almost no technological prowess.

For The Late Ones In The Peanut Gallery

You all may have seen this yesterday, but for those of us behind the viral curve I'm throwing it out there again. Make sure you have the cc selected when you watch this, it's hilarious.

Wednesday Brain Tease

Look at these signs very carefully. Now if it is 7pm on Sunday evening....which side of the post can you park on?

****SPOILER ALERT****

Look at Sign #2. Linds and I nearly left the car to the right of this post, but luckily a good Samaritan tapped on the window and pointed it out to us. He nearly did the same thing, and sure enough, the cars behind us all had tickets. We payed it forward just in time to warn a fellow parker before he made the same mistake.

Classy Is As Classy Does

Mixing the New York and DC crew can be a challenge, especially if you're lazy like me and strong arm the New York crew into regular visits in exchange for 2-buck-chuck (there may have been a coupon involved as well.), but after some intense negotiation the NYC ...ok just Adam...managed to talk us into meeting him halfway. Literally. Atlantic City.

It's the perfect overpriced getaway to enjoy all the fruits of life...the beach (with a hazmat suit), gambling (only when lubricated with plenty of free booze), and shopping (of the pretend discounted aka "outlet"). So of course I mobilized the team for a little weekend getaway!

Being the stellar cruise director, I immediately delegated the heavy lifting to Adam - booking the hotel room. Which, like a good bureaucrat, sat on for three weeks, before sending it right back. Then proceeded to keep his travel plans nice and loose, as I assured him that if we left DC at 11, we would promptly arrive at 1pm - just in time for lunch. Only on a good day, yes even with an easy pass, takes the average lead foot 3 hours.

Now throw in a little gas stop, breakfast, and said cruise directors inability to pack until after the departure time so she was appropriately briefed on the latest Real Housewives of OC episode, and you have a recipe for a wee bit tardy for the party - I mean fashionably punctual.

Fear not, Adam booked the later bus. Relieved we stopped for breakfast. Now there is no road trip to long or short for a little Cracker Jack (Barrel) stop. In an attempt to exit though somehow we missed the turn. Luckily for us Stephanie saved the day with a little introduction to the Waffle House! HOLY HASHBROWN - where has this dive chain been all my life! Roach coach doesn't begin to describe the level of awesome happening under this roof. On Steph's endorsement, we had, yes, waffles, and customized hash browns - chopped, covered, and smothered. Then it was back on the road.

We had four objectives in AC, and 24 hours to complete the mission: gambling, shopping, eating, and dancing. Within 20 minutes of checking in at the Marriott - (no need to Sh** where you eat), we zoned in on some blackjack at Trump. Within 10 minutes I had downed both my gin and tonic, and my $45 daily gambling limit. So while Katie and Adam raked in $250 together, we took a tour of the stellar shopping scene. That killed 30 minutes, 20 of which were spent trying on some elegant stripper shoes, which double as casual heels to wear with your weekend jeans the sales woman assured me.

Then we glammed up for dinner at Buddakan in Ceasers. After all the overwhelming decadence of the day, I was surprised by how genuinely fabulous this restaurant was. From the Saki and cleverly named cocktails to the over-the-moon edemame ravioli, wasabi mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked scallops. They offer a tasting menu at $60 per head, but we opted to go family style and order a la carte. Well worth it.

Then we finished the night learning craps and paying too much for their night club, dusk, which seemed appropriate for bachelorette parties and underage drinkers. I learned a valuable lesson - I am too old to put up with overpriced cover, lycra uniforms, and underwhelming cocktails. I am kicking myself for not suggesting Ri Ra at the Tropicana.

After sleeping off my poor life choices (and a bottle of pinot) we detoxed at 6ix in Bally's. Not the greatest turkey burger, but the back waiter made up for it with a repertoire of jokes you'd find inside bubble gum, spiced with expletives for good measure. While we had a few hours to burn we thought we do a little outlet shopping, not to be confused with discount shopping.

Steph got some baller high tops, circa 1987, and I fell in love with a pair of tennis shoes shaped like penny loafers. CLASSY. We thought we'd finish the tour with a little trip through Coach., which should have been like a spa for spending therapy, but it was more like a blue special at k-mart on Christmas Eve. Every second person with mammary glands in the greater Trashville area turned up to slip a monogrammed wristlet home to their hive. We barely made it out alive (and I got a clutch thank you very much!).

To complete the glam trifecta, on our drive home, I awoke to a motorcyclist outside my window waving. Then his pleasant waving turned to a pat on his seat inviting a little ride along. When our car full of chicks giggled like kindergartners, he popped a wheelie...at 80 miles per hour. Then the Suburban behind us, pulled ahead to sweeten the offering with donut holes. Ah armatures. Too obvious.

Janet ...Miss Jackson If You're Nasty

Miss Jackson hit DC last night on her Number Ones Tour and rocked DAR Hall last night. Thanks to a last minute ticket swoop by Stephanie, as of 3pm I had it locked into my calender.

Having the concert in a smaller venue like DAR Constitution Hall put us close enough to see her dripping sweat off her silver plastic suit. (She was quite zipped in) But her Louboutin boots had nothing on Steph's neon high tops she picked up in Atlantic city, or my super stylish Havaianas and yoga pants.

The 45-year-old Jackson rocked it like she was 19 again and the house followed suit. I thought I was a fan, having the lyrics memorized from the womb, but the guys one row ahead of us, had every song choreographed, compete with turns and fist pumps, damn near knocking their neighbors off the terrace. Both the show, and the subsequent fan-induced sideshows were a perfect end to a long day.

The Ideal Husband @ Shakespeare Theater

No, not my ideal husband - they're still manufacturing him on the island of perfect men, should be delivered at a quarter to never, this is the latest Shakespeare Theater Company production. Linds and I went to see the show last Sunday night at the new Sidney Harmon Hall.


The story is as snarky as the costumes are breathtaking. Written by Oscar Wilde 100 years ago, the satire's cynicism still bites today, and what a better spot for a political satire than DC . The story circles around a prominent London politician, known for his upstanding morals, matched only by his wife. But his success is overshadowed by his dark secret that created to his wealth.  (Sound familiar?) He must choose between letting his wife down, or lose public face and power.

As tense as that story line is, there is plenty of comedic relief. A friend of the politician, with his razor sharp tongue tries to help the situation, but his price is nearly stealing the show with his bumper-sticker zingers and witty repartee.

Yes, it was that good. Go see it now through April 16th.

Wouldn't Mind Having These Guys

Is is just me, or is Gold making a comeback? I'm not a huge jewelry-for-jewelry's sake kind of gal, I love my staples ie: watch, stud earrings, and ring, but this year I was more interested in the glam pieces than dresses when watching the Oscar's. Shocking I know. 

Then I came across these little beauties while doing some internet er...research (shopping) Wouldn't mind having these in the new jewelry armoire. (Rose Gold Diamond Earrings by Simon G)

Friday Warm and Fuzzy

One of my awesome newsroom buddies went to school with this guy. She sent me the link for his Granade cover - which I think is far better than the original (Bruno Mars). But after spending a few minutes on the site - I found the rest of this guy's stuff- and he's flipping awesome. So today I'm posting a few extras! Enjoy!

Home Sweet Homestead

After a year like this one, the last thing on my to-do list was live it up in town for the big-27. In fact, I have been on quite the cool it down kick. And after logging over 66,000 jet miles, the thought of hopping on another flight was about as attractive as poking myself in the eye with a ruler.

So when Linds and I kicked around ideas for the birthday weekend, we broke out the big book. (1,000 Places To See Before You Die) and sure enough it didn't disappoint.

Just 4 hours west from Arlington sits The Homestead; one time playground for presidents, now family friendly retreat.

Talk about spontaneous – with a week, we were packing up and heading for the Allegheny Mountains. Just minutes after dropping our bags (and putting our wine outside to chill - al fresco style in the 20 degree weather), we were off to tour the campus. It took us an hour just to hit the highlights; there is just so much history (and lounging equipment).

After a little Christmas ornament shopping and huddling around the fire (next to the ice skating ring) we headed over to the spa. As part of our Divine Duo package we each had an hour long Swedish massages and as much Spa time as we could stand.

I have to say, it was one of the best massages ever - I was sore the next day..but in a good way. There was nothing frilly about it, no special potions or smelly shiny things- just lotion and a solid, strong, deep rub down, followed by some reading, tea-ing, and jibber-jab time in the Serenity Room. (Apparently we were the only ones who thought serenity equals chit-chat because within 10 minutes, we were the only ones left.) Also good to know - they serve Harney and Sons so of course we helped ourselves to a few extra tea bags for later (but fyi if you’re trying to be discreet - only 4 fit in each pocket of the robes).  BONUS!

Once thoroughly numbed we switched back into our adventure gear (yoga pants and all stars). We had booked ourselves for a little hayride with all the kiddie pops to see the Christmas lights. Our tractor carriage was certainly more entertaining for us then the sippy cup crowd as 90% of the ooing and awing came from Team Chez Copa. The kids were more focused on the cheerio distribution system on board.

But shivering five minutes later, we wondered what grade of crack we were smoking when we signed up for this cry-wagon - and then the tractor hauling my heavy-ass screeched to a stop. Seriously?

Too far (and too cold) to walk back , I started considering our options as snow bunny hitchhikers, when the driver (operator, captain, whatever) starts opening the latch to let everyone out. Not one to assume lemming status (or follow rules for that matter), we stay seated and make our best confused puppy dog faces – while everyone else pops out, with zero hesitation. Hello –we’re in the middle of nowhere – and we’re all popping out why? To check the tires – come on people…..Then el Cap-i-tan practically hand signs it to the smug Washingtonians….SMORES (you idiot).

Clearly we didn't get the memo! We weren't broken...we were all getting gooey marshmallows! You would have thought we just won Oprah's favorite things! It was the best birthday surprise EVER – even for Linds!
Also part of our package was a fancy shmancy dinner and waiting back in the room (well technically outside the room) we had our bottle of wine we smuggled in. Not one to waste - we cracked that sucker open while we dressed up.

I am a terrible day-of packer - despite what I tell myself the night before - and forgot a few of the biggies - as did linds. So dressing up was more of a wish than reality.
Two glasses deep we checked in for dinner. The very American pre-fix dinner was delicious salmon, crab soup, and apple pie, but tack on another Pinot Gris and I couldn't fight the red-faced giggles followed by the sneaky-sleepies. By 11 I had arrived to ZZZ-ville Population-1.
Sunday morning we slept in (-ish) - and although dinner may not have been fully digested - we hit the breakfast buffet anyway. All the classics were also in attendance - eggs, bacon, waffle station, grits, and so much more.

The last thing on our agenda was the Jefferson Pools before heading home. The resort offers a free bus ride to the historic baths, but we figured it was five miles up the road so we might as well check out and make the trip ourselves.

Once we hit the five mile mark with no mineral springs in sight, we figured we missed something. Pulling over and ducking into the Pit Stop, a delightful and helpful shop-owner gave me what I assumed to be directions, which I can imagine it was supremely difficult to manage with so few teeth. After a few minutes of gumming, I mustered my best doe-eyed beauty pageant smile, and started to back out slowly. Luckily his daughter popped out and translated for me.

We still managed to mess up the simple directions and it took another 20 minutes to go a mile. In our defense, it had started to snow, and we were expecting a few signs.
What we saw was a rapidly deteriorating shack. But under the shack are the hot-spring pools and for $17 bucks you can strip down to your skivvies in 20 degree weather and jump into the 100 degree sulfur reeking natural springs for an hour.

The getting in is fine - the water is actually very nice (although the healing properties are debatable) it's the getting out that becomes the issue. It's like polar bear swimming in reverse. But if it's good enough for 200 year old presidents (Jefferson) who are we to be denied the opportunity? You'd think after 27 years of surviving ...I'd learn a few things...

Once we finally restored our core temperatures to habitable - it was back on the road...and reality.