MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I am late for work. I am late because I could not find my Walkman. So I ended up using a substitute. The radio I am using is OK but it does not work as well as my regular Sony SRF-M37V radio.WHAT IM WEARING:
Today, I have on Nike MaxAir shoes, blue jeans, a turquoise hoodie, a v-neck short sleeved striped top of turquoise, lime green, pink, and white.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....12049
MILES....2.28
CALORIES BURNED....373

I did not do much of anything today outside of watching the movie trailer to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Despite having the book in my possession since it came out I am just now starting to read it.

The reason why I never started before was that I felt intimidated by the sheer size of it. The book is over 800 pages long! Hopefully, I will finish the book before the July release date of the movie. So far the trailer looks pretty good and so is what I've read in the book. Right now I am up to page 400.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....574
MILES....0.10
CALORIES BURNED....3

WALKING LOG

STEPS....6675
MILES....1.26
CALORIES BURNED....189

MORNING COMMUTE:
Im late, it’s raining outside and I have a busy weekend ahead. This weekend I have to adjust the digital sizes of Christmas pictures, finally do my taxes, print a letter, do laundry, grocery shop, and update my blog.

EXERCISE ROUTINE;
My main exercise routine consists of simply walking for 30-60 minutes a day 5-6 days a week. I also do yoga pretty regularly. Recently, I decided to include strength training into my routine. Last night I tried to figure out which upper body exercises to focus on. The main problem is that I have no idea what I am doing. I use elastic bands for my strength training. I also have 1 1/2, 2, and 4 pound free weights.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a red hoodie, and a brand new beige and white floral short sleeve blouse. I bought the blouse a couple of days ago to cheer myself up. Anyway, in addition to this I have on Nike MaxAir shoes. The shoes have a pink swoosh sign on them.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....8585
MILES....1.62
CALORIES BURNED....279

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning the bus was five minutes late from its scheduled arrival time of 6:02. I thought I was going to be late. The train lately has been arriving at 6:10 instead of 6:13. Luckily, this morning it showed up at 6:13. So it now looks like I will be on time for work.

BABY SHOWER
Today was the baby show for a co-worker. I had no idea that there was a baby shower today. I accidently stumbled upon it in the cafeteria/break room. Almost everyone was there from my department. I felt a bit weird about being excluded so I averted my eyes and quickly exited the room with my glass of ice water. Luckily no one noticed that I was there as they were busy watching the mother to be unwrap presents. I got back to my cubicle and noticed that I was not the only one excluded from the baby shower, co-worker Arnold was still at his desk busily working away. This in a sense made me feel a little better. I was not the only resident on the Island of Misfit Toys.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a long sleeve blue v-neck sweater, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....11035
MILES....2.09
CALORIES BURNED....357

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I am late for work. I spent too much time looking for a misplaced headband. I had to use a substitute brown one instead of my favourite black one.

AMERICAN IDOL
I felt seriously bummed out watching American Idol last night. I felt uncomfortable watching the judges go around and visit charity organizations. It did not feel right to me. I do not watch Idol to feel guilty about the sick and poor. Heck, I am the poor. To me the entire show was one big guilt trip. Hopefully, they do not make this an annual event.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on green khaki pants, a magenta top, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....11111
MILES....2.10
CALORIES BURNED....364

WALKING LOG

STEPS....13333
MILES....2.52
CALORIES BURNED....449

This morning I am late for work. Despite this I feel great. The main reason I feel great is because the sun has returned to the sky and Spring has finally arrived! I have to admit that for the last few weeks I have been feeling depressed because it has been cold and gloomy outside. Now that the sun and the warmth that it brings has returned I am happy again!

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a red and white pinstriped blouse, a red hoodie, and Nike MaxAir shoe

WALKING LOG

Ooops! I forgot to copy down my daily stats from off of my Omron pedometer.

This afternoon I finished my poster for the SOWEBO festival. I dropped it off up the street at their headquarters
The place used to be Cordetti’s glass studio. I guess he must have let them have the place. While there I met two women who I assume work there. One was black the other white. One of them I think was named Shirl the other one also had an ess or cee sounding name. Maybe her name was Cindy?

Anyway, one of them complemented the collage I bought in and asked if I was a student at Maryland Institute. I always feel uncomfortable when people complement my work. It makes me wonder if they genuinely mean it or if thay say it to be nice. Also have to admit that at my age if someone suggests that I might still be a student I take that as a complement. When she said that it really made my day. How nice of she to think I was in my twenties! :)

WALKING LOG
Oops! I forgot to take results off my pedometer.

Today, I have a prescheduled day off. I had no idea beforehand that it was 4-20, the mythical stoners holiday. For the record I do not drink, smoke, or do drugs. However, I do feel that certain drugs like marijuana should be legalized. If drugs were legal it would curtail the violence that surrounds the drug trade.

THE SUN IS OUT!
This afternoon the sun was out in full force as I went up to pick up my painting that did not sell. I felt absolutely giddy and happy to see the bright yellow ball in the sky. The sun is back and boy did I miss seeing it and feeling its warmth!

CONCERN OF THE DAY:
This morning when I woke up all it seemed people on morning radio shows were talking about was Alec Baldwin yelling at his kid. I did not see what the big problem was. I guess because I was raised in a different culture where it is not unusual for parents to yell at their kids I did not see what the big to do was about. So he called her a fat little pig. Humpf! I have heard kids in my hood called worse.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....5494
MILES....1.04
CALORIES BURNED...172

WALKING LOG

STEPS....8169
MILES....1.54
CALORIES BURNED....285

WALKING LOG

STEPS....8042
MILES....1.52
CALORIES BURNED....276

WALKING LOG

STEPS....8643
MILES....1.63
CALORIES BURNED....279

JURY DUTY
Today unfortunately I had jury duty. I left out the house at 7:50. I was due in the courthouse at 8:15. I was not too worried because I live a hop, skip, and a jump from the courthouse. I caught a cab. The cabbie charged me $8 for the ride before he even pulled off. It was fine with me. Throughout the ride he regalled me with stories about how in the past he got out of doing jury duty. One particular time he told them he had a weak bladder and had to frequently pee. Amazingly, they believed him and he did not have to do jury duty. Since then it has become his excuse of choice. I got to the courthouse at 7:11. To entertain myself I bought my iPod and my Harry Potter Book as well as art supplies. I was surprised that they did not confiscate the iPod. There was one annoying juror in the jury waiting room. It was old lady who kept coughing and coughing as though she were on her death bed. Was she really sick or working an angle to get dismissed from jury duty?

I almost got selected twice for a jury. One was for a burglary case. The defendant was a grey haired 50-60 year old man who seemed as though he was on methadone. He could not stand up without starting to slowly stoop down. My verdict would be guilty. I assumed be burglarized a house to get money to buy drugs. It was just so sad. He was an elderly man with a drug habit.

The other case involved a young 20something chubby alleged drug dealer who reminded me of a chocolate Pillsbury Dough boy. He did not look the slightest bit menacing. The only thing with him was that I wished that he had bothered to tuck in his dress shirt.

The movies we watched while in the jury waiting room were Akeelah and the Bee and Monster in Law.

Last summer my niece gave me Akeelah and the Bee to watch but I never got around to watching it. From what I saw of the movie in the courthouse it was pretty good. I think I will go back and watch it in its entirety at home. I especially loved that poem that Laurence_Fishburne>Laurence Fishburne had the little girl read. I want to find that poem and frame it. The movie stopped at the point where Akeelah is invited to a party given by a Latino kid.The other movie I saw a small bit of was Monster in Law. I did not get a chance to see that much of it because we were quickly dismissed for the day. At first when I was watching the movie I thought Wanda Sykes was Florence from The Jeffersons. Then I realized that Marla Gibbs who played Florence is probably ancient by now and it must be Wanda Sykes! Not until then had I noticed how much Wanda Sykes resembles a young Marla Gibbs. If anyone ever decides to make a Jeffersons movie Wanda Sykes should play Florence. She was born to play Marla Gibbs!

As far as the rest of jury duty went we were all dismissed from the courthouse at 4:00. I got $15 for the day. Oh, Joy! Im Rich......

WALKING LOG

STEPS....3858
MILES....0.73
CALORIES BURNED....141

Today, I am still feeling depressed about my impending jury duty tomorrow. I hope that I do not get selected to sit on a jury. I do not want to relive what happened with the last trial I sat on.

DOCTOR WHO...GRIDLOCKED
As per usual I watched yesterdays episode of Doctor Who on YouTube. The episode took me 10 hours to download on my dial up. This was highly unusual. It usualy takes five hours for me to watch an episode. I can not wait until my Verizon DSL gets installed next Monday.

As far as the episode goes it felt rather claustrophobic. It was about these people on New New Earth who have been driving on the underground expressway for several years never reaching there destination.

Weirdest creature in this episode was the Irish cat/ man hybrid dressed in aviator gear. He was married to a human woman and they had kittens. The whole scenario of that couple just freaked me out. Made me wonder if there were female cat owners out there daft enough to would marry there cats if they had the chance.

Nicest and eeriest moment in the episode was when all drivers stopped what they were doing and sang a hymn.

WALKING LOG
I misplaced my pedometer and did not realize it until the end of the day.

STEPS....45
MILES....0
CALORIES BURNED....0

Today, I am feeling major depressed. I have jury duty on Monday can not get out of it.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....573
MILES....0.10
CALORIES BURNED....6

MORNING COMMUTE:
Today is EEEeeekkk! Friday the 13th!

Amazingly, the #20 bus arrived at its posted time of 6:02. I took the bus because it was very windy outside and I did not want to aggravate my asthma. This morning the train arrived a little earlier than usual. It arrived at 6:10. It stalled a bit at the next stop and did move until 6:13.

EVENTS I MISSED
Yesterday, I missed going to An Die Musik for their evening Baroque concert. A co worker mentioned the concert to me. I thought it would be a good idea since after looking it up I noticed that the tickets were considerably cheaper than they are at the BSO. I was psyched about buying a ticket after work. That is until the weather turned yucky on my commute home. It was very cold and rainy when the train took me home from work. My coat got soaked from the rain. I was feeling apprehensive because these were the perfect conditions for coming down with a cold. I felt it best to just stay home. Besides I do not like going to events on a work night it plays havock with my sleep wake cycle.

Tonight is also Maryland Art Place’s Out of Order show. I hope that my painting sells. I will not be going because I imagine that all the artists and buyers know each other and I not know a single soul....

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a purple henley pullover, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG
Ooops! I forgot to record my results off of my pedometer.

An Art Adventure: THE OUT OF ORDER art show

This is the painting that I exhibited at Maryland Art Place's Out of Order Art Show. It is called Astronomer Dude. It is 8x10 and done in acrylic paint. I priced it at $40.

Yesterday, I finished up the small painting that I started last year around this time. I was going to exhibit it at Maryland Art Place’s Out of Order art show. The only problem was that I got my dates mixed up and ended up missing the show last year. This was not the case this year. I left out for Maryland Art Place at 9:16pm and made it to the gallery at 9:34pm. I came in the door just behind this man that a gallery worker seemed to know very well. She congratulated him on his work being reviewed in the newspaper. So I can only assume that he must have been a very well known local artist. He held this small wooden sculpture piece in his hands.

The gallery was teeming with artists hanging up there work for the show. The only artist who was friendly to me was a fellow African American female artist that does abstract work. All the other artists seemed to ignore my presence. I decided to hang my painting in the bathroom because the gallery walls were crowded with paintings. I figure that sooner or later someone will have to take a trip there. Already there were 2 paintings in the bathroom when I hung mine up. So I was not the only artist who got a wacky idea. After hanging the painting I left out the gallery around 9:59. Since I was famished I decided to get takeout Chinese food. I made it home a little after 11pm.

As you can imagine because of last nights busy activity I am late for work. I wanted to take a personal day so that I could reccuperate. However, I am not sure how many personal days I have left for this quarter.

Overall, I feel a since of accomplishment. I finished a painting and completed a goal of exhibiting at Maryland Art Place’s annual Out of Order art show. This makes the second Out of Order art show I participated in.

By the way I priced th painting at $40. I did it this way because it is a 50/50 art show. If it sells I get $20 for it and the gallery gets the other $20. I do not know if it will sell for tha much as it is small 8x10 painting. Right now I do not much care. I just feel giddy that I finished it!

Next up on my art making calendar is a poster for the Sowebohemian Arts Festival which is due next Saturday. After that there is the art show at my Church the Saturday before Mother’s Day. Then there is the Creative Alliance’s annual members show, called, the Big Show.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on Gloria Vanderbilt jeans, a black turtleneck, and a red hoodie that has black trim on it. On my feet are New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG:
Unfortunately, in my frenzy to complete a painting and exhibit it I neglected to write down walking stats off of my Omron pedometer.

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I was delayed from leaving out the door on time. I accidently spilled something on my turtleneck. I had to spot clean it as I did not have enough time go off and iron another blouse. I hope I did a good enough job removing the stain.

Despite being slightly delayed I caught the #20 bus. The bus was oddly on time. I had to jog a little after I got off the bus to catch the train. I made it to the train just in time. Oddly, enough I was not out of breathe or anything.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a brown turtleneck, a black cardigan sweater, khaki tan pants, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....16039
MILES....3.03
CALORIES BURNED....507

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I left out in time to catch the #10 bus. I had enough extra time to walk down to the Convention Center light rail stop.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on cocoa brown slacks, a yellow ochre turtleneck, a v-neck dark multi-coloured sweater, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....12329
MILES....2.33
CALORIES BURNED....372

MORNING COMMUTE:
Sadly, this morning I am late for work. Oddly enough, I went to bed early. I ended up catching a cab to the light rail station at Cultural Center in an attempt to head off the train. The driver gave me back a dollar extra in change. He pulled off before I could correct his error.

BC CARTOONIST DEAD

This morning I was sad to hear the news that cartoonist, Johnny Hart died. Hart did the comic strip BC.

This was in a way ironic for me because just this weekend I signed up to a comic strip web-site. Also in my younger days I used to be the cartoonist for my high school newspaper. I have nothing but admiration for people who can keep a daily strip going. Its a bitch coming up with new gags everyday. Anyway, RIP Johnny Hart.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a brown sweater, an ecru turtleneck with a design of red patches on it, and blue jeans.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....11046
MILES....2.09
CALORIES BURNED....357

A SUNDAY POST

Sadly, neither of my two nieces picked me up or called up about my grandniece’s birthday/Easter party today. I was not too bummed out about it it. I think I would have felt a tad bit uncomfortable being surrounded by 2nd graders and their parents.

Instead I watched the latest episode of Doctor Who entitled, The Shakespeare Code. I have to admit that it was rather difficult watching it. It took me about 5 hours on my dial up to watch the 42 minute show. I also have to admit that I felt apprehensive about watching this particular episode because the baddies were witches. However, since it is a sci-fi show I was relieved to find out that they were actually aliens. So after watching it I do not feel so... I can not quiet think of the words...

Anyway, even though I am watching the latest Doctor Who episodes on my computer I do not feel so pedantic as to also download the Doctor Who Confidential episodes that air after each broadcast. I will save watching the Doctor Who Confidential episodes for the DVD that I will eventually buy for season 3. I think that way I will have something new to watch and be amazed by.

DOCTOR WHO.......SHAKESPEARE CODE TRAILER

WALKING LOG
STEPS....4394
MILES....0.83
CALORIES BURNED....144

This afternoon I went to Center Stage to see Ah Wilderness. It was pretty good. It was written by Eugene O’Neil, a writer not normally known for comedy. Overall it was a pretty good production. However, in my opinion the play ended too abruptly.

LAMDA/LAMBDA
I noticed while reading the playbook that a number of actors in the paly were members of LAMDA. I was shocked by this information. I was shocked because I associate LAMDA with a gay political organization. It seemed upon reading the playbook that nearly all the actors and actresses in the play were members of LAMDA! I soon found myself wondering if the actor who played Richard in the play was a man who was once a woman. One thing for sure was that he looked pretty effeminate in the headshot of him that was included in the playbook. He looked from the picture as though he would make a pretty good drag queen. Then I looked up LAMDA after I got home and found out it was not a gay organizatin but instead meant the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. The gay political group is LAMBDA.

I wonder if I was the only theatre goer who after reading the playbook thought that the majority of actors on stage were out and proud lesbians and gays?

WALKING LOG

STEPS....5660
MILES....1.07
CALORIES BURNED....200

MORNING COMMUTE:
Today there is a frost warning until 10 in the morning. I feel a little afraid to walk down to the light rail because yesterday I was gasping for air. This was due to the fact that it was unseasonably cold and windy yesterday morning. Also, my asthma tends to act up more often in cold windy weather.

Anyway, this morning I took the #10 bus. It arrived at 5:52. I got to the light rail early enough to walk down to the next light rail station.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on blue jeans, a dark blue turtleneck, and my favourite sweater of beige, white, and blue. On my feet are New Balance 653’s. I also have on my winter coat.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....12086
MILES....2.28
CALORIES BURNED....370

MORNING COMMUTE:
The weather outside today is predicted to be weird. Ok, my words not the weatherman's. Anyway, they are calling for snow to show up sometime today. In the meantime we will have a high sometime today in the 50’s. Right now its 38 degrees. Its as though the weather can not make up its mind as to it being winter or spring.

When I was walking down to the light rail station this morning it was extremely windy. It was so windy that the creepy man who is always on MLK Boulevard was standing on the steps in the doorway of the Medical School instead of sitting on the steps. I suppose the wind must have been too much for him.

Because of the windy weather conditions I felt as though I was on the verge of an asthma attack. I made it just in time to the light rail station without having to grab for my inhaler.

I suppose that the train must have pulled off early again because he stopped at Mulberry Street and did not pull off until 6:15. I hope that the driver is able to acclumate himself to the train schedule. I would hate it if I had to leave out extra early in the morning to catch a train that always stalls at a stop to make time.

AMERICAN IDOL
I am not too bummed out that that faux rocker chick, Gina Glocksen, got voted off yesterday. She never really clicked with me. She never came off as being the genuine article. Chris Daughtry on the other hand when he was on the show always came off as being the real deal. By the way did you know that his current hit single, It’s Not Over was co written with pretty boy idol contestant, Ace Young? Im not sure how true it is I just heard Ace Young say it on a radio morning show. I suppose it could be true. Daughtry and Young were very close during there stint on season 5 of idol. They were like the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of the show. I recall Ace Young even saying at one point that he would jump in front of a moving train to save Daughtry.

By the way my faves are Melinda Doolittle, Jordan, and Lakisha.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a pink tweedy sweater, a pink turtleneck, stone washed jeans, and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....13690
MILES....2.59
CALORIES BURNED....429

MORNING COMMUTE:
Even though it was raining this morning I walked down to the light rail station that is until the #10 bus came by. An interesting sight at the bus stop was a man with a small yellow chinese style umbrella. The umbrella looked more decorative than functional. I suppose he must have been very desperate to keep dry.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on green khakis, a black turtleneck, red cardian sweater, and New Balance 653s.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....12255
MILES....2.32
CALORIES BURNED....377

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning I walked almost all the way down to the light rail station until I saw a #20 bus. Surprisingly, the bus was following schedule. Sadly, the light rail train was not. It showed up at 6:10 instead of 6:13. Despite this I was on time for work.

NEW BRITISH FEMALE SINGERS
I have to say that I love Amy Winehouse’s voice. Her voice is extreme old school. Old school remiscent of someone like Ella Fitzgerald. This woman sounds like a well?...WOMAN! The only thing I know about Winehouse is that she is an unabashed alcoholic which is kind of ironic given her name. Im sure that if she can pull it all together she will have a bright future in the music biz. Below is the video to Amy Winehouse’s, Rehab single..

Also I have noticed that recently in magazines Lily Allen has been given a lot of publicity. I do not get it? Her new single Smile, is not all that spectacular. Yeah, Yeah, I know her success has been attributed soley to her MySpace page. But still the only thing unique about her is her look. The song is below average to average at best. Anyway, below is future one hit wonder, Lily Allen’s, video for her single Smile

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on a turqouise hoodie, my second striped t-shirt of the season. This time the v-neck striped blouse I have on is turqouise, lavender, purple, lime green, and white. I also have on blue jeans and Nike MaxAir shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....11208
MILES....2.12
CALORIES BURNED....339

MORNING COMMUTE:
It took much longer for me to leave out for work this morning. This was on account of the fact that I decided to roll up my hair the night before. When I was rolling up my hair it did not occur to me that it might take extra time to unfurl the curls. Oh, well if I decide to roll up my hair again I’ll do it on the weekend.

I can do it that way because dreadlocked hair keeps curls like wire. So it would be a several days/weeks before the hair started to flatten out again. I’ll chalk today up as a learning experience. The lesson....never attempt any fancy stuff with your hair on a Monday morning wait till the weekend.

WHAT I AM WEARING:
Today, I have on indigo blue jeans, a blue and white pinstriped short sleeve blouse, a light blue v-neck sweater, and New Balance 653 shoes.

WALKING LOG
STEPS....11177
MILES....2.11
CALORIES BURNED....361

SUNDAY STUFF

This morning I went to Church. It was our April Fool’s service. Its a Unitarian church so there was not any of that Palm Sunday stuff. The service was entitled, Holy Laughter. It was a very lively. We did a laughing a wave and various presenters told Unitarian jokes that were submitted by the congregation.

DOCTOR WHO..... series 3 episode 1 ......SMITH AND JONES

When I got home I watched the first episode of season 3 of Doctor Who, entitled, Smith and Jones. The episode introduces the Doctor’s latest companion, Martha Jones. I was especially excited to watch this because Martha Jones will be the Doctor’s first black female companion in the show’s history.

Martha Jones is played by Freema Agyema. Agyema was previously on the show last season as a minor character that got killed off. Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. My favourite line in the episode was the Doctor saying, “The Judoon platoon upon the moon!” Also I was seriously creeped out by the seemingly innocent looking old lady and her straw.

You know I still can not get over the fact that the episode aired just yesterday evening on the BBC and here I am in America watching it the next day! Thank you 21st century technology!

DOCTOR WHO...SMITH & JONES TRAILER

WALKING LOG

STEPS....7065
MILES....1.33
CALORIES BURNED....222