Today's Favorites

Favorite food: Caribou Coffee granola bars - chocolate mocha (these things are the bomb! I tried one yesterday and I am totally hooked)

Favorite beverage: Mango Black Tea (from Trader Joe's - which leads to my next fave)

Favorite store: Trader Joe's (where else can you buy dried mangoes, peanut butter-filled pretzels, and Pinjur?!)

Favorite kitchen appliance: Crock pot (without this, I probably wouldn't be cooking at all lately)

Favorite workout routine: NYC Ballet workout (for the coordinationally challenged - like myself - this is funny as well as fun. I can't stop laughing at myself trying to be graceful!)

Favorite song: Santa Fe (from The Newsies - it makes me think of my sisters)

Favorite time of day: Bedtime =P

Movie Review: Breach

Great movie! I loved it!!! For anyone remotely interested in the topic of espionage or counter-espionage, I would highly recommend Breach. I'm currently reading Spy Handler: Memoir of KGB Officer, by Victor Cherkashin (fascinating to read his story from a Russian perspective). And I think Breach was done very true-to-life (well, except for the cute SSG guy... I don't know what real-life Eric O'Neill looked like, but I have never met a good-looking SSG guy before =P ). They did a fabulous job telling the unclassified version of the story. Obviously, classified information could not be shown on the silver screen - actually, at the end of the movie, a statement was made to the effect of, the extent of the damage done by Hanssen is classified. Ironic, don't you think?).

It was very interesting to get a view of the man behind the monster. In Breach, Robert Hanssen comes across as a very brilliant and arrogant man, who, while difficult to work with, loves his family (or at least is loved very much by them). His brilliance is what made him such an effective spy, especially, considering he had never had any formal training. Yet, intuitively, he knew how to protect himself because he knew how traitors thought and knew the only way to stay alive was to stay anonymous. "Meeting in this country is not really that hard to manage but I am loathe to do so not because it is risky but because it involves revealing my identity. That insulation has been my best protection against betrayal by someone like me." However, it was his arrogance, in the end, that was his undoing.

I think the reason this case is so interesting is that no one quite knows what his motivation for spying was. Money didn't seem to be it. In one of his notes to the KGB we wrote: “As far as the funds are concerned, I have little need for more than the $100,000. It merely provides a difficulty since I cannot spend it, store it or invest it easily without triping (sic) ‘drug money’ warning bells. Perhaps some diamonds as security to my children and some good will” would be better." The movie did a good job in portraying this aspect of the case. Really makes you wonder...

This time you are just wrong

My dear sisters, I'm at a loss as to why you do not like Josh Groban's latest CD, Awake. I think it is my favorite of his CDs. I know you like a couple of the songs (especially You are Loved, which happens to be my absolute favorite), but, personally, I LOVE all of the songs on Awake, except for the last one, You are a Machine. I think you need to re-listen to So She Dances, In Her Eyes, Lullaby, February Song, and Now or Never. I've been waking up to it every morning (fitting don't you think?) for 2 weeks now and the more I listen to it, the more I love it!

More pics from Monday

For those of you who check my blog, I thought you might enjoy these pictures. They are a couple of my favorites. Of course, I altered them a little (I love playing with Picasa!).



 

Word to the wise: when in doubt, keep your mouth shut.

Here are some blunders I've witnessed in the past week (just rejoicing that they were not my own =P)...

Girls, talking about a pregnant friend: "She's getting big, isn't she?!"
Unassuming male coworker: "What's up with that?"
Girls: "Ummm... she's pregnant."
Male: "Oh."

Crazy coworker: "They have such a stigmatism to them!" (I am not positive what she was referring to, but the word she was looking for was "stigma," not "stigmatism").

I was reminded of something someone I once knew used to say: "Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you are dumb, rather than open it and remove all doubt."

Now this is what I would call a "Rude Awakening"

I think it is quite obvious from his position, that he is enjoying the cold about as much as I am.

I mean, look at that expression!

Ooh! Scary...

There is nothing worse than cold feet (I think my mother would agree). I just wanted to give him a pair of wool socks. =P 

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

What to do with a whole extra day off...? Why, take out the camera and go for a walk, of course! =)

Despite the fridgid air, I covered a lot of ground. I started along water street, then went to the title basin. From there, I headed to Haines Point, and walked (or should I say, slid - it was a sheet of ice the whole way) all the way to "The Awakening."