You Spin Me Right Round, Baby, Right Round

Today, I got a new dryer. It was a very exciting day, despite the fact that the delivery people were over an hour late. But they finally showed up, and brought in my new toy:

Isn't it pretty?! And when they moved the old one out, I could clean underneath it. There are no pictures, as it was fairly disgusting, but let's just say that there were three socks underneath it that did not belong to me. They must have come from the previous owner. And I've lived in this house for five years. But it is all better now - the prehistoric socks are in the garbage, and the dryer is in its new home with a clean floor beneath.

The new dryer is very cool. I wish I had taken a picture of the old one, or video so you could hear the beastly sound it used to make, but alas, I didn't. But look at the new one - it has buttons!

And it sings a pretty little song when you turn it on! (Apologies for the sideways video)

It also chirps when you turn it on!

And best of all - look how you can watch the laundry flip around! I could watch this all day. It's almost as good as television. And you know it's awesome when I say that! (Apologies again for the sideways video.)

So yeah - if anyone is in the Frederick area and needs to dry something, you know where to go!

I Could Not Love You Any Better

I'm sure all of you are going through as much Glee withdrawal as I am. However, they have been filming the new season, and spoilers are starting to leak. One such spoiler has to do with a much-anticipated guest spot from the illustrious Neil Patrick Harris (and seriously, he's awesome - click those hyperlinks!), who is playing an old nemesis of my boyfriend, Mr. Schuster. His character is going to sing two duets with Mr. Schu. The first is Aerosmith's Dream On, and the second is an undisclosed Billy Joel song. Given the character description, I have a few thoughts.

First of all, it's likely one of his more popular songs. They don't usually pick obscure tunes for this show, and it's not like Billy Joel is at the forefront of the minds of today's teenagers. (Not that he shouldn't be - those kids would do well to listen to more Billy Joel!) Unfortunately, that eliminates some of my favorite Billy Joel songs, including Summer Highland Falls, Stiletto, and Falling of the Rain.

Next, we can pretty safely eliminate anything with bad words or connotations in it. This takes out such songs as Captain Jack, I've Loved These Days, Sometimes a Fantasy, and Keeping the Faith. (Incidentally, I had never seen the Keeping the Faith video until I found that link. Holy crap is it awesome. If you click no other Billy Joel link here, click that one.)

The next category to eliminate is anything with a name that doesn't match a character on the show. This takes care of Laura, Downeaster Alexa, James, and the story of my last few days with respect to my thesis, Why Judy Why.

Any overtly political or historical songs can also likely be eliminated. This gets rid of Goodnight Saigon, Leningrad, and sadly, my beloved We Didn't Start the Fire.

This brings us to songs that might fit into the plot of the show. Given what they've said about NPH's character - he's an old rival of Mr. Schu's who had false hopes given to him by his prowess in glee club - I could see it being a song in which he expresses his anger, like Angry Young Man. Or perhaps something about how Mr. Schu is more beloved than NPH - Everybody Loves You Now, or the reverse - Mr. Schu singing about how everyone liked NPH better, with Big Shot or An Innocent Man. They might still be rivals - My Life would work here, or Movin' Out. Or maybe they're fighting over a girl, and they've changed Just the Way You Are or She's Always A Woman into a duet. If it's a girl who's too good for either of them, Uptown Girl would also work, or The Longest Time if they want to stick with an upbeat number. And then there's Piano Man. I can't think of a scenario for that one, but it would be awesome nonetheless.

What do you think? Vote in the poll!

You're As Cold As Ice

So on the first warm day of the spring, what did I choose to do? Go snowtubing. Makes sense, right? To be fair, we had scheduled the activity while it was still freezing and snowy out, and warm weather or not, we were going! Three Brakes and I headed north on our quest, stopping on the way for dinner at the best restaurant in Thurmont - Sheetz!

After eating, we continued to Ski Liberty It was much colder there, so we added layers to stay warm.

When we were ready, we headed to the lodge to get our tickets.

We took a quick break inside before we started,

and then headed back outside to get our snowtubes.

Snowtubing is awesome. It's like sledding, but for lazy people. After you get your tube, you get in line. There were actually two lines, and we were convinced that we were destined to always be in the wrong one. The line guards let the lines take turns, but were not at all even about how long the turns were.

Eventually, you made it to the conveyor belt that takes you up the hill so you don't have to walk.

The conveyor belt is covered, but you can see out the sides to watch people going down the hill.

They go really fast, too.

From the top, you can look down at all the lanes.

After you choose a lane, you sit on your tube and one of the lane guards starts you down the hill. Note this young lady's shorts - I told you it was warm earlier that day! (Either that, or they're crazy. Also possible).

It's a very exciting ride, although I couldn't keep myself from spinning around when I rode upright like that.

If you're more ambitious, you can get a running leap and ride down face first.

I had a much easier time staying forward this way.

You can also ride in groups linked together sometimes, like Jeni and Mr. Brake tried before the lane guard told them they weren't allowed. Apparently, the lanes were too icy and people riding alone were already going ridiculously fast and running into the staff at the bottom of the hill. Not that I did that. More than once.

Even without having to walk up the hill (except when the line was too long), the activity was starting to make everyone tired by the end of the night.

It was also getting really, really crowded toward the end of the night.

A youth group of what appeared to be middle schoolers showed up, and were not very well supervised. Jeni had to educate them on what a line was. But luckily, our time didn't overlap them for too long, and they were still outside when we finished and went inside to get refreshments. Which were very welcome - despite the lovely conveyor belt, we were exhausted and thirsty. Apparently snowtubing is a bit less lazy than I thought!

That's What She Said, Installment 5

So a few days ago, I was in Bed Bath and Beyond with my mother. I was on a hunt for a new dish drying rack. Boy, did I find a good one...