Do All Dexter's Have A Laboratory?

B and I might be the last people on Earth who haven't been enchanted by Showtime's Dexter.

Well, until last week, that is.

There is something oddly sympathetic about Dexter. He seems to genuinely want to fit in with the rest of the world. Now, I understand the crux of the show is that Dexter doesn't feel. As he puts it, he's "empty." But I think that either begins to change for him, or he can just fake it. Really well.

When we first started watching this show, my first reaction was "I don't like this guy. I don't care if he's helping the world by killing bad dudes. He's creepy, and I want nothing to do with him." This reaction is quite a different reaction from every other show that I like, which usually goes "OMG this is awesome/hilarious/bad ass/by Joss Whedon! I love it, and we're not even at the first commercial break!"

But the more B and I watched, the more hooked I got. It even got to the point where I wanted all of the sick and morbid stuff to continue.

I was thinking about the average viewers moral compass, and how much this show effs with it. The premise? There is a serial killer out there. He's the main character of the show. But, he only kills people who deserve it. As a viewer, at first I was quite squeamish about all of the bloody/gory/power tooly stuff going on. But once you get used to the premise (which took me a few episodes), you start to want to see him take care of the bad guys. You want to know more about what made him who he is, Harry's code for killing, and (during the first season) the Ice Truck Killer.

I'm pretty excited about starting the second season. I hope there's a lot more about Rita and the kids, Harry, Deb, and Dexter slashing up bad guys.

Happy Holidays!

Well, I know that Halloween isn't even here (but it is just around the corner), but B and I have already discussed our holiday present to ourselves.

I'll give you a hint- it looks like this:

This year, we are going halvesies on a Wii!

I thought it would be an awesome idea because of this game:

I mean, we all know how much I enjoy Animal Crossing: Wild World (which I've mentioned on at least two occasions). How much cooler is Animal Crossing for the Wii?! The graphics are intense!

Well, as intense as getting on a bus or hanging out on the beach can be (and I swear, those two things can be super intense).

Oh, and I should also mention how excited I am to be able to play Mario Party and Guitar Hero: World Tour...

But, Animal Crossing!

(Super Geeky Bonus- The four funniest Penny Arcade Comics about the Wii. Not for the faint hearted, those who hate practical jokes, people who are against Harry Potter, or people against Wii Sports, which is awesome.)

Rainy Days

Apparently it is supposed to rain this weekend.

Really hard. Like, cats & dogs type rain.

(How this'll compare with a Florida Storm, I'm not sure, but I'll let you know)

If that's the case, no one in their right mind would want to leave the house (not even if their super adorable hounds tooth printed wellies didn't end up oddly discolored from sitting in the back of their car). So what's a gal to do when she's stuck inside for the weekend?

Well, here's a list of the things I will most likely do (unless it has to do with cleaning. I'd really prefer to stay away from that):

1. Make fancy felt purses using the sewing machine and yards of felt that I got the other weekend
2. Watch Dexter. B and I have only recently begun this, so why not marathon it?
3. Catch up on Chuck/Pushing Daisies (I like television. Especially fanciful television).
4. Watch Netflix movies

Thank You For Smoking


The Dinner Game

5. Brave the weather and go to the gym (doesn't fulfill my need to stay in, but I will feel accomplished afterwards)
6. Clean the kitchen
7. Do laundry
8. Sleep for two days straight

I think that's a pretty sizable list of possibilities... of course, numbers 6 & 7 are the least likely to happen. But let's not rule them out...

More Sewing Projects!

I have decided that I really need to work on my sewing skills, since my ultimate goal is to make clothing for myself and B (note that I haven't attempted fabricating anything clothing like yet...).

So to practice things like sewing a straight line, and appliqué making skills, I made two purses! The red panda one is mine, and the purple bunny one is for co-worker T (yes, I swear, it's purple...).



They're both made of woolen felt. And thread. Yeah, that's pretty much everything that made them. I'm thinking about attempting something bigger, with more pockets (because while that little panda pocket has been really handy for carrying my ipod and reading glasses, I'd prefer both of those objects to be less exposed).

And, as promised month(s) ago, here is a picture of the entertaining apron that I made for TAG. Not the best picture, but you get the idea...



My favorite part is the part that took the longest- the ruffles!

Since I feel like I'm getting back into the sewing of things (oh, ouch. That one hurt me... but felt necessary anyway), there should be more projects to come!

A Ridiculous Campaign

Have you been to a California Tortilla recently? Because I went today for the first time in a while, and found that they are adding more silliness to the current Presidential Campaign's than already existed.

The difference between the O-Chili-Bama Burrito and the McCain-Chilada Burrito?

The McCain-Chilada: Mexican rice, mesquite chicken, tortilla strips, velvety queso, fresh salsa, and shredded lettuce, rolled in a warm flour tortilla, smothered with green enchilada sauce and garnished with sour cream and cilantro.

The O-Chili-bama Burrito: Mexican rice, turkey chili, tortilla strips, jalapeño peppers, sour cream, and shredded lettuce, rolled in a warm flour tortilla, smothered with velvety queso and garnished with fresh salsa and green onions.

Oh, and it gets better... apparently, by ordering these political themed burritos, you're "voting" for that candidate.

Vote with your mouth! Choose the McCain-chilada or the O-Chili-bama Burrito. We'll be tallying the number of each of the candidate's burritos sold from October 13th through November 3rd and we guarantee that whosever burrito sells the most will win the election.

And who is winning this war of the stomachs?

Obama - 1,904 (48%) * McCain - 2,063 (52%)

Unfortunately for those around the country, the only people whose votes will count come November 4th, will be located in Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

I also snapped these pictures outside of this bi-partisan dining facility:

Classy!

A Quickie...

No, not like that... I just wanted to say that a have recently branched out in the world of blogging to discover a few blogs that I'm absolutely in love with!

1. Clever Girl Goes Blog- Not really about anything specific. It's kinda like the Seinfeld of blogs, only more amusing to me.
   
2. Chocolate and Steel- I know, I haven't just discovered Christine's blog, but I think that her jewelery is absolutely amazing. I might (or might not) have already expressed to B that I want a necklace from Chocolate and Steel for my birthday... (::coughdecemberfirstcough).
   
3. Daddy Likey- Just as snarky as Clever Girl Goes Blog, but focused on fashion. Be sure to check out the section called "Don't Show-cha Your Chocha," about the new (and disturbing) trend to wear shirts the size of shirts and to call them dresses.
   
4. jewish girl in wasp's clothing- Once again, not really a new blog that I follow, but TAG is the one who really got me into blogging. Hopefully I can make a trip to NYC and have a lovely GNO (girls night out... hey TAG, should that be in your glossary?!)
5. A Collaboration- The collaboration (surprise!) between two extremely talented embroiderers (since they're both lady's, can I call them embroideresses?). Every two weeks they get a new (and random) word that they are supposed to interpret into art with linen and floss. Watching this project evolve is incredible!
6. Cake Wrecks- A hilarious blog about when professional baker's go bad... and not in a good way. I could (and have) spend hours perusing the oh so wrong doings of bakery's all over the world, from inappropriate messages to disasterous wedding cakes.
   

My Boyfriend is an Evil Genius.

He's down right diabolical. Who could have ever guessed that this face could make me do something that is just... against my DNA?

B's new job at Borders Books & Music requires that he be there by 6am on some days. Where we currently live (hopefully not for long... as my friend Z says, fingers and toes) is in an awkward public transportation area. To get to Borders by 6am, B has 2 options- either take a bus into downtown Baltimore, transfer buses two more times, and arrive at work 45 minutes early... or take a direct bus, but constantly be 10 minutes late. So B went with option 3- convince his caring and loving girlfriend to wake up at 5:30am (an hour and a half before I normally wake up) to drive him to work.

After going to bed at 11pm, my morning went a little something like this:

5am- Alarm goes off. B lays there for an unknown amount of time, while I attempt to stay awake to make sure he gets out of bed. After this unknown amount of time, B gets out of bed and proceeds to get dressed in the dark.

5:30am- B wakes me up, in a kind and gentle way since he knows that I'm helping him out quite a bit. I roll out of bed, put on jeans, a black hoodie and some socks (all over my pj's). We go upstairs, B puts on shoes and packs his Squidfire bag for the day while I stumble about for car keys, coat and shoes.

5:45am- Walk out into freezing cold, glad I'm still toasty warm in my pj's and various other layers of clothing. We get into the car, and I tell B to put on some music. He chooses Reel Big Fish (Beer), which I'm surprised by.

5:50am- I drop B off at Borders. He is the first one there (I think. I really don't know. I left before he went inside. I'm a good girlfriend- I swear!). Drive home, now listening to the Once Soundtrack, because I can't decide if I want to attempt to sleep when I get home, since it's still dark out.

6am- Get home, strip back down to pj's and get back in bed. Decide I should probably be productive this morning, so I take a shower. The cats are locked outside of the bathroom while I do this, much to Isis's dismay. When I get out of the shower, she yells at me. A lot. And loudly.

6:45am- Decide that I have enough time to eat breakfast (for once!) and make a Tofurky and Provolone Veggie Cheese sandwich on Challah. It was good. :)

7am- Get bored, decide to channel surf. Find out that the Style Network plays Clean House at all hours of the day. I also take care of my Animal Crossing town (I'm watering red turnips. I'm going to have so many Bells!).

7:30am- I grab my microwavable lunch and head out the door- it's time to go to work!

The morning ended up alright, but man, am I sleepy right now. Here's to hoping that I can get to bed early tonight!

Little Gordon...

...what a sweet little f*cker.

Little Gordon Ramsay 1



Little Gordon Ramsay 2



Little Gordon Ramsay 3



You can find all of these videos (and potentially more, but there aren't anymore at the moment) at the Little Gordon site.

Family Life

How does that old saying go? The one about choosing friends and family?

"Friends are the family we choose"

Well, that's true sometimes. Other times, I think that it's possible to adopt an entire family as your own. Those are the best ones.

B's family has two sides: his mom's and his dad's. Both sides appear, at first, to be quite similar. But really, they're quite different.

His dad's side of the family is small(ish). It's easy enough to know everyone's name, along with somethings about them. A few of his cousins are really great, but there are a few people on this side of the family who ruin it for me. They're self absorbed, to the point of ruining other people's lives.

On the other end of the spectrum, his mom's side of the family is huge. His mom had 8 siblings- and they all have offspring. After being with B for going on five years, I still can't keep everyone straight. His immediate family on this side is wonderful. His mom, sister and brother-in-law all treat me like part of the family. They are warm and loving, without being smothering.

Throughout my time with B, I've felt included in every activity that happened on his mom's side. I went to his sisters wedding, I've stayed at her place, I've stayed at his mom's, I'm able to go to both of them for advice and I invited them to my college graduation. While I've been included in some of the activities on B's dad's side of the family, I'm constantly reminded that I'm not family.

But it's okay, because I know my family. My dad, aunts, uncles, cousins- along with a mom, sister and brother.

A(nother) Life Decision

Well, this past week has been crazy. Not really a physical craziness, more of a mental one.

For the second (or third) time in this blog, I have decided that I know what I want to do when I grow up.

I want to be a Librarian.

What does this entail? Well, quite a bit actually. To become a full fledged librarian, you need a degree. There are many choices (Masters of Library Sciences, Masters of Information and Library Sciences, etc...) and which degree you end up with seems to (mostly) depend on which institution you acquire your degree from. The biggest part about choosing an institution is making sure that it's ALA accredited.

To get said degree requires the following:

1. Decent to good GRE scores
2. Decent to good GPA in undergrad (which is apparently sometimes called a QPA?!)
   
3. Entrance into an acceptable school
4. Money to pay for education from acceptable school.

I have... well, I have one out of four. But I'm working on the rest... Well, planning on it.

Then the question arises: Why a Librarian?

My thought process was thus: I want to be a teacher. No, wait, I don't want to teach. But I do want to have something to do with books. I live in the wrong city for publishing... and I like the idea of working in a school and helping kids... Okay, I can be the school librarian. What does one need to become a school librarian? Oh, a Masters in Library Sciences... Well, how much do regular librarians make? HOLY JEEZE I SHOULD BE A LIBRARIAN.

See? It fulfills everything I want from a career!

Now all I have to do is to take the GRE, get good scores, apply to grad schools, get accepted by one of them, find some financial aide, and make it through two to three years of classes! Voila!

Don't Talk About It part 2

It's another one of those topics that is taboo in polite company: Religion.

I'm Jewish.

Well, I should say that I was born Jewish, to Jewish parents. When I was young, I went to Sunday School (up to a point-but that's a story for another day). We made hamantash, learned prayers, sang songs, painted ladders (I'm not too sure why... but we did. At least once), and went to Temple on the High Holy days.


Cut to 15 some odd years later and it's a totally different story. I'm a "Holiday Jew". Pretty much, if presents are exchanged, I participate. But you'll never find me at Temple, or praying, or painting ladders. Heck, it's Yom Kippur and I didn't even fast.

It's not as if my "un-Judaism" is connected to a conscious decision. I just didn't learn it. Sometimes I'm pretty sad about it, because I always viewed being Jewish was something to be proud of. I have a rich heritage that I don't know much about.

I do go through bouts of curiousness. In college I took a History of Judaism course (which I got an A in). In Orlando, I tried joining the on-campus Hillel group- but I got scared. I couldn't help thinking "What if I'm not Jewish enough?" I suppose it's a stupid thing to be afraid of, but people in college tend be ruled by their heart- and there's no arguing with someone who refuses to listen.

Do I ever think that I will become "more Jewish"? I'm not sure. It seems that Religion is one of those things that took a back seat when the world grew smaller and people got busier. I thoroughly respect anyone now-a-days who is actually religious- any Religion. I define these people as those who go to Temple/Church every week, allow the teachings of their faith to dictate parts of their life (diet, moral compass, etc.) and can actually have a religious argument backed up by scripture and (religious) fact.

Of course, there are zealots in every direction, which turn me off to Religion. These people turn a blind eye to the world, and tend to hold beliefs that their faith has dictated for two-thousand years (give or take). They are willing to attack women going into abortion clinics, not allow their children to participate in courses offered by their schools on sex education, have their kids leave science class when learning about Evolution and pass a world view to their children that involves racism, sexism, bigotry and homophobia- all while citing religious scripture.

The more I think about it, the less I think I will ever become a religious person. I try to live by my own moral compass- be nice to people, give back to the community and care for those around you.

What Does Cori Do When She's Bored At Work?

She surfs the internet for ridiculous things. I've for some reason stumbled upon a baby/toddler costume website (because when you're a parent, there's nothing better than the ability to dress up your helpless little ones in stupid costumes).

Top five ridiculous baby costumes, in order from least crazy to most crazy:

#5



#4



#3



#2




#1

And the runners up (because they were too good not to share, but not good enough to make the list:

Personally, I find this child intensely disturbing. I'm not sure if it's the smile/gas/crying face or some unknown element...

I love that the Little Dutch Girl Costume has clogs and wig (attached to hat) included.


I don't know what's so amazing about this. Is it the little boy's hand gesture? The way his feet are positioned? Or that his shirt says 'Word to Yo Mommy' on it. Either way, it's amazing!

What Makes Long Drives Bearable?

The scenery.

What makes the scenery on long drives even more bearable?

Amusing Billboards.

Anyone whose driven through the Carolina's using I-95 must know the billboards I'm referring to.

Oh yes, I'm talking about the South of the Border billboards. I-95 is littered with these tacky, wondrous billboards. Heading North on '95, you're treated to these monstrosities for the entire state of South Carolina. If you're heading South, you see them throughout North Carolina.

"South of the Border has a history as colorful as its lights at night. It actually started as a beer stand. Alan Schafer and his father were in the beer and wine business in North Carolina, but when the area went dry, they moved across the border to South Carolina to set up shop in 1949.

Legend has it that when Schafer ordered building materials a few years later, they were delivered to "Schafer Project South of the (North Carolina) Border." He thought that was kind of catchy and named his new enterprise South of the Border. From there it was a no-brainer to add Pedro and the Mexican theme."

I guess the signs used to be more offensive, using exaggerated broken English, but were eventually taken down.

My top 5 South of the Border Billboards (from least for most):

#5

#4



#3



#2



#1

The Drive

I like driving. It's one of my favorite activities. I find it to be an activity that is extremely susceptible to being emotionally charged.

If your upset, driving can be one of the most frustrating experiences. People don't seem to understand the concept of "Right of Way". They tailgate. They don't go fast enough.

But if you're in a good mood, driving is one of the most enjoyable things. You can put your windows down, let the sun shine on your face, listen to whatever music you want and just enjoy the moment.

Tonight I'm driving down to South Carolina, to visit B's family. I get the pleasure of leaving after work and driving through the night (just about). But the weather's nice. And I've got music that I enjoy. I'm going to stop at a health food store to pick up dinner and snacks for the ride down.

Here's to hoping that I don't fall asleep!

Update: My trip from Columbia Maryland to Columbia South Carolina took about nine hours. I'm sleepy, but Clerks 2 is on the TV and B is giggling like a girl... so I think I'm going to stay up :)