A trip to Charleston

Well, what can I say - working life sucks! Of course, I gotta work to make money, but wouldn't it be much nicer if I were to win the cash though? I mean, then I could do what I want to do most - travel.

Finally, last weekend we got out of Daytona and went to see my cousin Olga and her husband Noah at their new place in Charleston, SC. Of course, because of our jobs, we couldn't leave until Friday evening. And of course we had to be back on Sunday evening. Now figure in 6-hour drive (one-way) and you get the idea of how much time we got to spend in Charleston. And, to make it all even better, my boss absolutely insisted on me working overtime on Friday night! So we didn't get out of the house until after 7pm. But we made it to Charleston and even managed to spend an hour or two talking with Olga and Noah, Russian-style, in their little kitchen.

If you think we didn't wake up too early next morning, you just might be right. Either way, after spending time eating breakfast, talking, and getting ready, we finally set out on a tour of Charleston. First, Noah drove us all around a local getto. It looked very Southern - some of the people on the streets might have come straight out of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or "Gone with the Wind". The whole place didn't look dangerous or scary, not by the light of day anyway, just very sad - old row houses that haven't seen any maintenance in decades with their peeling paint and grimy siding, with walls leaning in every-which direction and sagging porches, with old rust-covered air-conditioning units practically falling out of the half-boarded windows.

After such a great start, things started to look up. We parked in the Historic Distric and walked around a bit. Since neither one of us really knew any appropriate historical facts, we just read occasional plaques and mostly gawked at the architecture or landscaping details. Here's the thing about Noah - he walks very fast, almost at a running clip. What's more, he walks very determinately, as if he had some particular destination in mind. Put the two together and you turn a leisurely sigh-seeing stroll into an endurance race with a couple of short stops to read an inscription or two. The thing is as far as I figure out, there is no particular destination we MUST get to. May be it's Noah's propensity as a journalist to move quickly, always on a look-out for a story.

Still, our walk was most enjoyable, if somewhat short. We returned to a car and drove to Mt. Pleasant to "keep it real", as Noah jokingly suggested. What a nice place it was! The word "pleasant" would describe most of what we saw - tastefully rich houses (with their expensiveness merely suggested by architectural details, location, and landscaping, rather than by size and gaudiness), narrow sandy beaches, remains of old fort that gave South Carolina its Palmetto State status, a small diner on a tree-lined corner, and a tiny and welcoming elementary school.

After a short drive and a shorter still walk on the beach, we returned to Charleston for some afternoon drinks on a rooftop terrace of some posh restaurant. The sun was shining straight down on us and the temperatures must had been well above 80. We found a cool place under a striped umbrella and I started imagining a large frozen drink - a daiquiri perhaps - so cold that the beads of water slowly run down the side of the glass, cooling my fingers... I was almost tasting my drink, when the waitress announced that they do not serve frozen drinks or tap beer. By the looks on some other faces I could tell that it wasn't just me who just seen a dream die. But there were plenty of other drinks to have and so we ordered. My Flirtiny with Smirnoff Raspberry vodka was mild and sweet. Olga's Perfect Manhattan was perfectly strong. And Chris won the prize for the fruitiest drink of all - bright pink in a tall glass full of ice-cubes and with a cherry on top.

Later that evening we went on a short walk in the park by the Citadel, trying to find some magnolia pine cones for Olga. But it was getting dark and as we couldn't see too well, we returned home to some food and wine and a totally weird Russian movie about the Hermitage Museum.

The next morning we had little time to waste and yet we wasted it plenty. The time spent on getting ready to get out of the house is apparently directly proportional to the number of people involved. And so we didn't step out until noon (and that's without spending time on breakfast, mind you). First we head straight to a local bakery for some brunch (oh, the delicious grilled portabello mushroom sandwich!). And then we decided to briefly stop by the library that was having the book sale. Hehe, that was a major mistake since we spent at least an hour or two there.

Finally, we said goodbyes and exchanges invitations and were on the road home. The most memorable part was a small country store on Rt. 17 that was selling peach and cherry cider. If you ever drive in those parts, make sure to stop by - it's worth a small delay.

Talented Mr. Xander

Сейчас Зэндер - еще котенок. Но когда вырастет большим - непременно станет библиотекарем...


А может быть - строителем...


А может быть - разработчиком баз данных...


Но пока-что он у нас - кот в решете...

New week - new hurricane

Do you know that we have about 2 months left of the hurricane season (in Atlantic Ocean) and only 4 hurricane names left? I kind of wander what if we run out of names before the year is over?

In other news, Xander's flees have a conference today on his neck. I used to think it was more of a mating meeting, but I firmly believe it's a war conference now. They are strategizing how to resist our repeated attempts at exterminating them.

Anne Oakley and I

Anne Oakley: As a youngster, Oakley learned to shoot in the woods of Darke County. During hard times, she helped support her family with the game she caught.

I: As a youngster, I learned to shoot in the woods of Fort Jackson. The best way for me to support someone with my rifle is to lend it as a crutch.

Anne Oakley: She captivated the royalty of Europe. Queen Victoria was quite impressed with her. And on one famous occasion the crown prince of Germany encouraged her to shoot a cigarette from his mouth.

I: I captivated National Guard range safety personnel my poor shooting skills. I was repeatedly encouraged to keep my rifle pointed "up and down the range" and to remember "breathing and trigger squeeze".

Anne Oakley: At 30 paces, she could slice a playing card held edgewise. She could shoot holes through coins at a smiliar distance. It was even said she could "scramble eggs in midair."

I: I shoot 4 out of 4 at 300 meter and 250 meter targets. And I shoot 2 out of 4 at 100 meter targets.

Anne Oakley: At the height of her career, she was one of the most famous cultural icons in the United States.

I: Six years after enlisting (I guess, it can be considered as the height of my career), I shot 37 out of 40 on M-16 rifle range (paper targets) and 26 out of 30 on M-9 pistol range (pop-up targets).

By the way, the whole entire Army structure is rigged towards the officers. If I had any doubts left after 6 years in, they were dispelled at the Camp Blanding, FL firing range last weekend. Most officers have to qualify with M-9 pistol only. It's very light and easy to shoot (and easy to clean, by the way). The targets are much closer, with the furthest being just 31 meters away. You shoot from the standing position only and hold M-9 with both hands for greater stability. And to top it all off, you are given extra bullets!!! Yes, I am not kidding - officers are given 40 rounds, but only 30 targets to shoot at! What a life! Oh, and to shoot expert you only need to hit 26 out of 30 - that's 86%. In comparison, on a rifle range, you must shoot 38 out of 40, or 95%, to qualify as an expert.

Labor Day

Ok, so I changed the name of my blog and its purpose. Now I'm going stuff that I do during my LEAP YEAR. For explanation of what the Leap Year is all about, see blog description. If it's still not clear - e-mail me.

So, here are the latest developments:

1) Before you read any further, please go to the Red Cross website and donate whatever you can to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

2)
My cat, Xander, is growing just fine. He must be 5lbs now, if not more. But in his mind, he's still a tiny kitten. No doubt, he's very spoiled already. There are certain things that just have to be done every day, like letting him play with water out of the faucet, or allowing him to mess up a perfectly made bed. Or playing with him whenever he wishes. A couple of days ago Xander discovered two things - toilet paper and paper towels. Here's a picture of a paper towel roll. Believe me, toilet paper roll looked MUCH worse.

3) Gas is $2.95/gallon here. A pound of tomatoes is $1.99. Now, at least gas is as good as it can get. Tomatoes, on the other hand, look like crap and taste like cardboard. Same is with other veggetables, except for potatoes. Apparently, this lack of taste does not bother most people here. I suspect they simply don't each too many veggies. What gives me this idea? Well, first of all, these 200-300lbs "dieters" at Wal-Mart or Publix always fill their carts up with sodas, chips, and frozen dinners. Second, every time we're at the register, I have to educate a cashier on the names of different produce items. For example, yesterday one lucky cashier learned three new veggies - red cabbage, radishes, and zuccinies (which were originally mistaken for cucumbers). So, what to make of all this? Nothing other than this - wanna good food cheap - grow it yourself! Our old dacha came to mind and Chris and I ran to the nearest Home Depot. Half an hour later, we ran out carrying several pots and some plantings. Now we're testing our green thumbs on two tomato plants, two bell pepper plants, an italian parsley and a chocolate mint. To top it all off, we are attempting to grow our very own pineapple.

4) Since it's Labor Day today, we'll be having a cook-out right outside the garage (remember - we live in a townhouse). The usual American holiday fare of grilled chicken, steak, and potatoes will be supplemented by a no less typical Russian holiday dish - a beet salad.

Elenora's Birthday

My friend Ela had a birthday this Saturday. But we started celebrating on Friday. You see, originally we (Chris, I and Ela's husband, David) were planning a great big surprise for her. Namely, we were working on getting Ela's mom, Olga, to travel from Ukraine to Florida just in time for Ela's birthday. Due to the stupidity of the staff at the American Embassy in Kiev, she was refused a visa. So much for this plan...

Well, last Friday we all decided to go to a baseball game, but there was none (imagine that!). So we had to re-group and choose some other sporting venue. And so we ended up at an ice-rink. Now, I should note here that none of us can skate. The only difference is that some of us can't skate more than others. Unfortunately, these "some of us" included Ela. At first she refused to even get on the ice. We had to resort to the carrot and stick method, alternately shaming her for wasting our time and money and telling her that she'll do great in no time and that it's very good for toning butt and thighs. After about 2 hours she made much progress and was able to peel herself away from the railings and skate more or less on her own.

At this point we decided to stop. Our feet were hurting from the improperly sized rental skates anyway. Plus we had to celebrate Ela's success, right?! So we went to Stock Exchange, an 80-ies themed bar in the Halifax Marina. Yes, the place is a bit cheesy in its attempt at catering to young professionals. And yes, they even have a tiny dance floor and a disco ball. And yes, they play 80-ies music, but only for the first hour or so. After that the whole thing degenerates into a more "normal" rap party. Which is hilarious considering that most clients are well past their prime. Oh, and DON'T drink beer there - it'll kill you with its sour taste! Apperently, other drinks aren't all that great either, since we all woke up with headaches next morning.

On Saturday, Ela and I went shopping for her gift. We decided that she needed some awesome club outfit for two reasons. One is that she and David are going on a cruise later this year. The more important reason is that we decided to have a total "party" year - eat, drink, do crazy things, travel, and be merry so that we can have a sense of accomplishement in the partying department before having children. Ok, so the outfit thing... Here in Daytona, clothes shopping (or any shopping at all for that matter) is an excruciating experience. We only have one mall and it's tiny. To make matters worse, it doesn't have ANY good stores. The only reason to go there at all is to eat at Mr. Dunderdack's. It's a German-themed deli with walls covered floor to ceiling with hundreds of jars, bottles, cans, bags, and boxes full of delicious or just plain weird food stuff from Europe and with a scattering of tiny tables that only accentuate the generouse portion sizes of the delicious sandwiches served there... A mere recollection makes my mouth water!

We did buy a little hoochy outfit for Ela, after hours and hours of combing through the racks mostly filled with crap destined to become dish rags in some Third World country. Then it was time to go grocery shop for a barbeque on Sunday.

Now, yesterday we had this epic barbeque. Those in attendance (Ela, David, I, Chris, Albina with Bianca, Tanya, and Mike) had plenty to eat and even more to drink. The general atmosphere was that of merriment. Unfortunately, the designated photographer (me) got too involved in eating, drinking, and generally having fun to care about her primary duties. Sorry, no pix this time.

Unexptected day off

It's Friday morning here and my weekend has just started. How come? Well, it's because of the hurricane Katrina. But don't worry, we're perfectly safe and doing fine. But down in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area many people have no electricity. Of course, our server is down and it's unlikely that FPL will re-prioritize its missions to fix it first thing today. Consequently, I can't work even though we have no problems with electricity here, in Daytona. Such are the drawbacks of technological progress.

Of course, I can't do much in terms of entertainment either. Chris is at work until about 5:30 and he's got the car. So I'm stuck at home. Such are the drawbacks of living in suburbs.

But I do have time to update my blog with news. Our biggest success this week is that we moved into our newly renovated office. It's actually much nicer than I thought it'd be. The floors look fabulous, no less! And we bought some bookshelves, which are slowly filling up. We also got a new desk for me and office chairs for both of us. So now we can work in comfort. The biggest winner is, of course, Xander. He quickly found a couple of places to hang out at, as you can see.


Funny enough, most my news revolve around Xander. That's probably because I spend so much time in the house with him and get to observe him a lot. He got over his cold completely and gained a pound and a quarter in the past 3 weeks. But more importantly, he's super-curious. And he has some kind of fixation on two areas in the house - the bathroom and the kitchen. He's still too little to jump up on the kitchen counter. But he figured that he can climb up our legs and backs to get there. In the bathroom he's mostly interested in everything that has water in it - the shower, the toilet, and the sink. Sometimes I let the water run just a little bit in the sink and he tries to break the stream with his paws. If I slow the flow of water down to a dribble, he attempts to bite every drip and it looks absolutely hilarious.

Chris' News

I really don't have much to say about the last week. Chris, however, has tons of news. So, I'm just going to quote him:

"I started a new job last Thursday working as a clerk in a Accounts Payable office for a company called Delco Oil. Delco Oil is a 20 year old company that buys and sells and transports petroleum products to gas stations here in Florida, but have aspirations to go nation-wide. For right now my job consist of paying invoices using a program that looks like an old DOS program that has had a few upgrades. There is nothing hard about the job, just a lot of program commands to memorize. After I get comfortable with this I'll start coding invoices. There are codes for different vendors, product/service purchased, and location that the product/service was sent to. Those codes are how the invoices are entered into the system. This job fits right in with what I am going to college for, Accounting. Oh, that is the next piece of news - I start my courses this Tuesday. In almost 2 years, assuming no deployments, I'll finally have my B.S. in Accounting. After my first 3 courses I'll have an Associates."

In other news, we're continuing to renovate our place. Our big project now is creating a workable home office for both of us. We already replaced an old, stained, crappy dirty-blue carpet with pretty laminate flooring. And we got some large bookshelves and a new desk. So we really hope to finish setting it up by the end of the week. For now both computers are in the living room. So it's very crowded and uncomfortable. More updates are to follow.

Weekend is here - nothing to do

Xander is recovering from his cold. Now he spends most of his time chasing everything that moves and biting it. His specialty is cursors (the little thing on a computer screen that you control with a mouse). When he gets tired of chasing and biting, he comes over to me or Chris (or both), flops on our laps belly up, and requests to be scratched.

He also finds ever-more creative ways of waking me up in the morning. Today he started off with laying on my face. After he realized that suffocating me is not in his best interest, he started tugging my hair, then moved on to sniffing and ultimately sneezing into my ear. Let me tell you, it really worked!

Chris wants to find a part-time job to supplement our income. Of course, a job must have some fringe benefits (since most jobs here are uber-low pay). He pointed one out to me today - a candy-maker at a local chocolate factory. Sure, the pay sucks ($7/hour), but think of all the free chocolate!

Gas is $2.42/gallon for regular. Now more than ever I am thankful that I work from home. Other than that, ain't nothing going on now. Daytona is increadibly hot and boring this time of the year (it's boring any time of the year, actually).

Sleepless...in Daytona

Ok, the title of this post is not very original. But I'm running on very little sleep and am completely worn out, largely thanks to Xander. Yeh, not much sleep last night. First, Xander jumped on the bed and tried to hunt our toes under the blanket. He was surprised at our general lack of enthusiasm and shocked at our rudeness in returning him back to the floor. After several attempt at conquering my side of the bed, he decided that Chris looked like a big softy and tried to approach him. Big mistake that ended in Xander getting kicked out of the room. After which, Xander had nothing left but to try to negotiate his way in. He started off with outrageously demanding "I'm a part of this family now", quickly escalated to "But I'm so soft and cuddly and nicely behaved", and piqued with "Please, let a poor little kitten in so he can spend the last few moment of his young life laying humbly on the floor by your bed". On this last meow, I gave up and went to open the door to the bedroom. A millisecond later the kitten was making himself comfortable on the blanket. This battle continued, with small breaks, for several hours. I would kick Xander out of bed and he would retreat, just to return a few minutes later, when I was fast asleep. Finally, I gave up. The sound of the alarm clock scared Xander and he left. I pretended that I never noticed him sleeping in our bed. And he pretended that he slept all night long on the floor under the bed. As if!

Xander

Chris picked up Xander today and completely surprised me. For the first hour or so the kitten was exploring our place. He was so curious, but so scared, even got scared by his own reflection in the mirror. But little by little he became more adventurous, found out a couple of hiding places in case he poops in Chris's shoe, ate a little (probably in preparation to said pooping activity), and played with one of the toys we got him. We decided to leave him alone and not to fuzz around him. Big mistake - he quickly got in Chris's lap and demanded all the scratching and petting that a little kitten can possibly get.


Then came an unpleasant surprise - our kitty brought his own pets with him. Yes, he's got flees. But we should've expected that from a cat picked up at a shelter. So we bought some anti-flee medicine which seems to bother Xander more than flees ever themselves.

I would write more, but I'm dead tired - woke up at 3:00 AM today. So I better be going to bed now. Until later...

My Birthday

Happy Birthday to ME! Happy Birthday to ME! Happy Birthday, DEAR YELENA! Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

The picture is self-explanatory: me looking pretty, a nice cake that Chris baked for me, some red roses...

Other birthday activities included going to Bucca de Beppo with David and Elenora and getting a cat. He shall remain nameless for another couple of days until we get him back from Humane Society mostly because we have't come up with some really great name for him. Any suggestions? E-mail me or post as a reply. Or call me (if you know my number).

Parallel Universe

Moving sucks. As Russians say - oдин переезд как семь пожаров or something like this (after all, I haven't been back to Mother Russia for over eight years). The whole experience is like living in a parallel universe for a couple of days. In this universe you eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, use paper cups and plastic forks, and wear same T-shirt two days in a row. In this parallel universe everything is done on the floor - sleeping, eating, watching TV, and even typing this blog, since all the furniture is already in the truck. It's almost like urban camping experience - we sit in a semi-circle in the clearing, on the floor, surrounded by a forest of boxes. Ordinary stuff, like spatulas and silk orchids that stick out of the open boxes throw odd shades on the walls. The TV screen glows softly in the middle, drone of the "talking heads" is cricket-like. Kumbaya, oh Lord, kumbaya...

Until Monday then, boys and girls. Wish us safe passage and попутного ветра.

Everglades...in July

Ok, so as promised, here's the account of our trip to the Everglades.

So Everglades is huge, some one and a half million acres. Most of it is a total wilderness - no roads, no trails, no human presence. There's a 37-mile long two-lane road that goes through the park, from Homestead to Flamingo. Along it there are several stops, some more entertaining than others, that serve as getaways for hikers, kayakers, and even casual walkers. The guidebooks are quick to point out that Everglades are teaming with exotic wildlife, such as panthers, alligators, and rare birds. Of course, most of these animals are hard to spot (we only saw 2 alligators there). The one animal that makes itself known and presents itself in abundance is a mosquito. Somehow the brochures fail to mention the extent of mosquitoes' presence in the park. And naive tourists like us tend to trust the brochures...

Here's what one of the guidebooks says about a short trail accessible from the Royal Palm stop: "The Gumbo Limbo Trail, a 1/2-mile jaunt through a tropical hammock, begins near the end of the parking lot". Nowhere does it say that billions of mosquitoes that inhabit every cubic inch of space on this trail will mount an attack on you body. And the only ones who are bothered by the stench of the industrial strength insect repellent is you and your buddy. Oh, wait, no it's just you 'cause your buddy ran off at a fast clip, his mosquito-covered t-shirt disappearing in the dense hammock, arms flying wildly around his head in a vain attempt to scare the bugs away. The park brochure has the following to say about this experience: "DO NOT FEED WILDLIFE".

Anyway, we survived this experience and drove on to a famed Pa-hay-okee Overlook. No mosquitoes there, but no overlook either - it was closed for repairs. We decided to skip the rest of the stops and to drive straight to Flamingo. At first it was great - beautiful view of the Florida Bay, cute little cottages, small boats bobbing on the water. And then we got out of the car... Ok, here's me trying to hide from mosquitoes under a palm throng.

The moral of the story is Everglades sucks in summer.

Last Weekend in Ft. Lauderdale

Yes, it's almost time for us to move back to Daytona Beach - only 4 more days. I have mixed feelings about moving back. Of course, I'm glad because we won't have to pay both mortgage and rent. Plus I have friends in Daytona. The beach is much closer and a lot nicer in Daytona as well. But at the same time I feel a bit sad about the move, since there's always so much to do and see here!

So this weekend we decided to not waste any time on grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning. Instead, we wanted to get out of the apartment and explore. We started on Friday by going to the movies to see the Island. Let me tell you, boys and girls, don't waste your money, wait for the DVD release. Here's a quick run-down: a couple of clones run away from an evil doctor/owner of a cloning facility. Of course, tons of stuff gets destroyed, a lot of people get killed quite needlessly, and the clones fall in love with each other. Basically, wakefullness (lots of action) without detectable awareness (no mental effort went into writing the script) - persistent vegetative state.

After the movie we went to the Sofa Kings Sports Bar, an R-rated bar with scantily clad dancers pretending to be naughty schoolgirls. Obviously, 11:30pm was too early for a Friday night, since the place was not too busy. But things started heating up as the girls played the Twister and danced on the tables. Our cash money ran out after the first round of drinks, so we couldn't tip the dancers. Watching them shaking their money-makers for free seemed a bit unfair to the hard-working ladies and so we left.

On Saturday we woke up late and decided to go to Miami Beach. I was anxious to re-visit the Art Deco distric and to show it to Chris. Once we got there, two things became apparent
1) Chris had no interest in Art Deco
2) It was increadibly hot

This left us with only one choice - to go to the beach. I'm not going to describe how gorgeous the beach was or how warm and blue the water was. Just look at the pictures.


And on Sunday (today) we went to the Everglades. Hmm, that's going to be a separate entry since I have a lot to say on the subject.

In the mean time, my brother returned from California and posted some really cool pictures of his trip here: Arkadiy's pictures. Check them out NOW.

This Little Piggy

... we finally picked up our piggy. Now we can start saving money! Hurray, we're going to be rich now!!!! Except first we stopped by a beer-garden for some wurst (quite ironic if you think of it). And then we even had some gelato, which, by the way, did not taste much different from a regular ice-cream.


So, here's our little piggy, in all its glory. Chris painted one side and I painted the other. It's up to you to figure out which one. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Here's a hint, just in case: Chris is really into investments and my biggest hobby is travelling.

Weekend

FRIDAY NIGHT - Release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". We just wanted to see the crowds, so we went to the Barnes&Noble at midnight.

SATURDAY - we went to Joe Picasso's on Las Olas and painted some pottery. We chose a piggy bank so it would inspire to save money for future travel. But we had to leave our piggy there until Wednesday, so - no pictures.


SUNDAY - wanted to go to the Science Museum to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But all the shows were sold out. So we just walked around the Riverfront and looked at how we will live when we are millionairs (thanks to our new piggy bank).

Dinner and Dancing

Traditionally, Wednesday nights are our coffee outings to a local Barnes&Noble. And since each small mint mocha frappuccino is 190 calories with 30g of sugar, it calls for an extra cardio prep beforehand.

However, I do get bored with regular jogs around the neighborhood. So today I tried Crunch Dance workout. Man, it sucked! I can't believe how uncoordinated I am. I got messed up during the warm-up! So I quickly switched the DVDs and finished strong with Crunch Boot Camp workout.

Oh, here's a quick vegeterian recipe:

Combine 2 cups of uncooked lentils, 2 14oz cans of chicken or vegetable broth, 1 1/2 cup of water, 1 cup each of chopped carrots, celery, and onion, 2 teaspoons of curry spice, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, and some black pepper in a large pot. Bring to boil and let simmer for about 30 min or until lentils are done. Then drain. Mix 1 cup of light sour-cream and 1 chopped tomato and use as a topping on this dish. It's really tasty and very healthy.

I would love to write more, but the Daily Show with Jon Stewart is on. Gotta go.

A Trip of the Lifetime?

To all my friends and relatives that LOVE to travel - wanna pick it up a notch?

Things To Do on a Rainy Weekend

The weather is pretty crappy this weekend because of the hurricane Dennis. Even though it's going throught the Gulf, it manages to bring rain and wind to the entire South Florida.

That's ok. We decided that it was time to do something more culturally elevated than snoozing on a beach blanket. And so we went to see "War of the Worlds"! All the future members of my not-yet-existent book-club would agree that the book is SO much better! However, cudos do go to Steven Spielberg for sticking to the original Wellesonian tripod machines equipped with death rays and for casting Dakota Fanning.
The one thing I learned from this movie is that in case of an allien invasion Chris and I are screwed. There's no way we can make it from Ft. Lauderdale or Daytona Beach to Boston (by the way, why Boston?).

Oh, another thing that I learned yesterday which might be of higher practical value is DO NOT BUY CHEAP SUSHI! A 6 rolls mix for $18.50 sounds too good to be true and it is.


However, you can never go wrong with free stuff. Even if it turns out to be crappy, so what - you got it for FREE. But there is nothing crappy about Museum of Art here in Ft. Lauderdale. And thanks to something that's called BankAtlantic, it's free for all any day of the week until the end of September.