georgi.zatloka.com

A day too beautiful to ignore

When I lived in DC, one of the things I missed the most is the fantastic views of Seattle. Barbara and I were driving home the other night and were marveling at Mt. Rainier, mostly amazed at how we realized that we would never get bored with it. Today was cold and so amazingly clear and since I wasn't really feeling like working anyway, I took a long lunch at Gasworks Park. I've been going there since I was 17 to clear my head and for the first time in six years I've been able to go back. It was a great Friday.

So here it is...

White Christmas!

For the first time in 17 years, Seattle had a white Christmas. What's that DC? Partly cloudy and 52 degrees? What kind of Christmas is that?

This is the view from our breakfast nook...

My phone doesn't take great pictures, but this is our house when the snow started falling...

Oh my, how we have grown...

The vultures won the war and layed two eggs next to our building. One hatched producing this fluffy mess. She was absolutely adorable until the day I caught her eating her unhatched brother.

She's grown quite a bit, from the size of a tea cup to a medium sized dog. About a month ago she entered her awkard teenage phase.

Her feathers are now coming out. She should be ready to fly by November. She's certainly not getting any prettier.

Nothing says "you may not make it through your work day" like having vultures perched above your office door.

Our most current nemeses at work are this pair of mating vultures that are nesting against our office building. (I first mistook one for a cat; fortunately I had an optometrist appointment that very evening.) We have been rotating through a plethora of ridiculous looking options to try to encourage them to move on*. These options have included mylar streamers, foil covered serving platters, blow up pool toys, and Bobby�s wooden owls (which, pictured below, the vultures first tried to intimidate but later decided that they could all coexist).

Aside from the vulture issues, our management company has also received the following complaints over the last two weeks:
1. Baby ducks have been abandoned by their mother and you should take them to a wildlife refuge.
2. (The next day) the baby ducks� parents returned but now they cannot get out of the pond and you should rescue them with a net.
3. The water is too low in the retention pond and I can see the fish struggling to breathe.
4. Your landscape contractor will try to kill me because I voiced concern over the carcinogens in their weed spray.
Seriously folks, I�m sure it�s just the heat. My advice; drink plenty of water and wear a hat when you go outside.

* Pigeons and house sparrows are the only two birds not protected by law in the U.S. so shooting one and hanging it off the building, though we�re assured would be effective, is not a feasible option.

The ups and downs of May (is it only the 12th?!?)

About a month ago, I got it in my head that I'm spending too much time and energy commuting (usually 2 1/2 to 3 hours a day) and it's not the driving so much as the sitting on the freeway listening to crickets chirp on the median that got to me. Also there's the constant threat of being rear-ended. After running through some different options, I have decided to move in with Chris & Laura in Sterling. For those living elsewhere or not familiar with the area, Sterling is in Loudoun County, VA solidly outside the beltway (aka bum-fuck no-where).
To demonstrate my point, at Christmas time, I found myself at the Tractor Supply Store in Leesburg (perhaps 15 minutes from my new home and if you must know, I was buying a cowbell for Karriem). There was a very cute high school girl working the register and I asked her for directions back to DC to which she wide-eyedly replied "Gosh, I ain't ne'er been to DC". No shit. The guy in line behind me informed me that I take the first exit off the highway right in front of the store and follow it back home ('bout an hour and a half).
So that's where I'm moving, to the boonies. On the upside, the significantly shorter commute will allow me to partake in more bike riding and other activities (some of which I forgot I had enjoyed in the past). I came to a terrifying realization one day when someone asked me what I did for fun and I couldn't actually remember. Ouch. So now we'll have plenty of quality Georgi-time, just in time for surfing season.

Other interesting points in May; I finally got my BBA, graduating summa cum laude and I've had what is most likely a food borne illness since Tuesday.

Back from Sweden!

I have finally posted pictures from my trip to Sweden and Megan helped me with the captions...

(Click on the picture to get into the gallery)

There are also some fabulous pictures of Stockholm on Ryan and Megan's site .

Highlights of my trip included some fabulous girly time with Megan, some good times at the bars, and quality time with old and new friends. Megan has become quite the little tour guide so we did a little of everything; shopping, touristy stuff (it was nice to be a tourist in someone else�s town instead of putting up with all the tourists at home for once!), I even lost horribly at cards.

Apparently Sweden has some extravagant surprises in its details. Firstly, the Swedes are a gorgeous people. Not only that, everyone I met spoke English really well. Secondly, the food is fabulous. They even did research to find that 2.6% milk is the perfect milk for steaming� and they are right. After working at Starbucks for 3 years, I had coffee in Sweden that put everything else I had ever had (or made) to shame. Needless to say, I had a latte at every opportunity.

The best bumper sticker ever as seen on Chapin Street

"Frodo Failed, Bush has The Ring"

Because Barbara wanted to see it

So I'm blonde(ish)....

And I've bought a surf board....

Cell Phones, Surfing, and Other Adventures

It seems to me that not much has been going on, but in retrospect, there have been a few notable things occurring.

First, my cell phone died (suddenly and dramatically, surely it is my phone!). I had to get it replaced and instead of buying a new phone out of pocket, I signed a new contract with my provider and got a super duper fancy phone (so basically I don�t know how to use it) for free. It has Bluetooth technology and a camera, neither of consequence to me, but the antenna works better than my old phone so while I thought my network sucked before, it turns out that for the most part dropped calls were the fault of my phone.

Gwen and I have gone surfing twice and we�re heading out to the beach this weekend as well. We�ve had some delightful company as well including Isaac (my new roommate), and friends of Gwen, Jeff and Valerie. Our adventure on the 4th of July proved to be quite eventful. The day started with an inadvertent detour to Baltimore when I missed our exit, there were TONS of cops out (being a holiday), we sat on the beach behind the water polo team who were absolutely ridiculous and incredibly entertaining, my swimsuit top hook broke (by the grace of god, during the one private moment I had all day in the porta-potty!), we ran into a freak heat storm on the way back, and experienced the unbridled joy of paying only $2.63 per gallon at a gas station we scoped out. The surfing itself is coming along�. I have the inclination to stand up on my board, I�ll let you know how that works out.

Other than that, I finally finished Statistics and got an A! I�m trying to quit smoking again/still, and I�m bleaching my hair blonde though currently it�s orange. So now I'm taking management accounting, we have two surf dates before Gwen leaves for Indiana, and Kyra, Jaime, Fred and I went dancing where I discovered a band called Mana (Mexican Ska - wrap your mind around that if you dare!).

Way to crash a funeral, Georgi!

So I was going to Centerville to meet with my friends Chris and Laura before work, but they were stuck in traffic so I decided to pick up my uniform because I was told it had just arrived. I was near work when they started closing random roads (no detours or contingency plans, they just started shutting down intersections) and I kind of got stuck. I was close enough to walk so I ditched my car and headed out. Last Monday, there was a shooting at the police station directly next door to my job where the first officer in Fairfax County was lost to an assailant in the line of duty. The whole thing was really sad (the gunman was apparently crazy and simply opened fire in the station parking lot). I'm walking and apparently the funeral precession was coming through that way so they weren�t letting even pedestrians pass. Before I knew it, I found myself right by the police station which was apparently the "friends and family area". I didn't want to be like "I just need to cut through to get to work" and I wanted to leave but I didn't want to "walk away" so I figured it was coming by soon and I could just wait it out and be respectful. I tried to turn off my phone, but just then Chris called me. I hung up on him really quickly but not before everyone had turned to look at me! Also, I think I blew a gasket because my blood pressure has been dropping out on me this past week and I got really faint. I didn't want to be disrespectful and sit down so I stood there for TWO HOURS fading in and out. I just didn't want to pass out and cause a scene and the whole time all I could think was "you don't belong here!"
The funeral precession did finally come and it was really beautiful. It was so sad to see the family members of the deceased (I believe her sisters) just staring into the crowd from their cars and crying. As weird as it was, at least at the end of the week, I still had all my loved ones.

A belated Congratulations!

Imagine my surprise when I got an email from some Plaxo thing (some computer social network I'm apparently signed up for) and I find this picture! JoJo and Dee Dee had their first child on (and I'm only guessing by the date the photo was taken) February 28th. I haven't been able to get ahold of them yet, but when I stop being such a looser and start talking to my friends again (gasp!) I'll have more details, I'm sure.

Also, I've posted pictures from my latest trip to Ohio with Laura.

And a big congratulations to Barbara for FINALLY getting a tattoo!

That's pretty fucking hot.

I hope you enjoy the update! (because I'm supposed to be doing my homework right now, oops)

It's soooo good

Last night I put down half a bottle of Sambuca and watched to OC. It's after 2 on Friday and I'm still hung over and have the first 4 bars of the theme song stuck in my head. Yet I'm still in a good mood!

Special thanks to my drunk dial buddy, Barbara. You've never judged me.

Slow and Steady

I haven't really noticed, but apparently I've been pretty productive lately.
I landed a full time position as an Admin Assistant which seems reasonably nice. Not exactly stimulating, but not too taxing either (which is fantastic becuase I'm really not trying to overwhelm myself while I'm finishing my degree). My schedule is office hours, but flexible when I need, and it's a lot more money than my last part time job. I work in Chevy Chase so I started riding my bike to work. It's a little over 5 miles each way, and since I haven't smoked for 6 weeks, I have been able to not pass out on the way (yet!). I figured since I'm not smoking and excersising, I might as well go on a diet too, so I'm on the second day of that. Yesterday was tough, but today is panning out well.
My economics class just ended last week and I got an A! This was actually a surprise and an accomplishment considering the changes that occured during the last five weeks (that's how long the classes are), and considering that I was piss ass drunk when I wrote my last couple of assignments (on which I got some of my best grades so far!). I'm still trying to pace myself and not leave all my homework till the last minute though, just for my peace of mind.
I'm going to Ohio this weekend, perhaps this time, there will be pictures, though for certain, there will be pie! (and baby swiss).
No tattoo yet, but stay tuned.

Another Friday night on Chapin Street

Interesting, the boys are out drinking and the girls are at home writing papers....

oh dear, it's been a while!

The year's been crazy already. Not so much for me as more for my friends and as I will not be sharing their laundry (some dirty, some not so much), I'll just cover what I've been up to.
I started school (doing online courses at AIU) towards a Bachelor's of Business Administration with a concentration in Organizational Psychology and Development. It's an accelerated course that will only take me 13 months (12 now) with each class running 5 weeks. I'm learning a lot already and my composition skills are improving. I'm also learning to do research online (not to date myself here, but we just didn't rely on the internet that much when I was going to school before). I got an A in my first class and just started Economics this week.
Summer is fast approaching (well, not quite fast enough) and we've got some great plans this year! Randomly, I decided that this is the year I'm going to learn to surf, and as I was sharing this with my roommate Kyra, it turns out she had had the same idea. As I continued to spread the joy amongst all my friends, Gwen, my roommate from last year, and my other current roommate Jon (as opposed to Joniqua or Eugene-Jon) were also recruited.
I got sick a couple of weeks ago and not being able to breathe really scared me, so I quit smoking. I'm on day 11 and I don't seem to miss it at all. To commemorate the not smoking/ finally learning to surf thing, I've decided on my next tattoo being an arm cuff of hibiscus flowers. I'm thinking this will get done in the next couple of weeks.
Last night, Karriem and I went to see V for Vendetta, which was really amazing. It's not as formulaic as many movies (so it doesn't settle as easily) but has some of the thought provoking themes of the Soylent Green/Brazil type stories. The cinematography fits well with the story (especially the fight scene towards the end) and is generally a worthwhile way to spend 2 hours.
Other than that, I got new glasses. One's a super cute pair , and the other is a pretty cute pair but more neutral. The latter has thin silver frames so I can wear them when I ride my bicycle in the city. I've never ridden with glasses on before, but my sight is slowly declining and I have a hard time seeing otherwise, but with my glasses, I'm almost over stimulated! I guess I just need to get used to them. As always, Karriem had to help me with the shopping (which he did willingly even though he's been working like a pack-mule!)
Between my last update and now, I also had the pleasure of going to Ohio with Laura where I was astonished by the low cost of living and took the opportunity to stock up on fabric, books, cheese and Amish pie (really there's just nothing like it!). Also, Chaz passed through DC on the way to Florida so I got to see him for the first time in a while. Kyra noticed a startling resemblance between my friend and Columbian superstar and Latin Grammy winner, Juanes. Really, it's uncanny!

Chaz:

Juanes: