Happy Fourth of July!

20 thoughts on Happy Fourth of July!

1. Well, I’m Canadian so we had Canada Day this weekend. I went to the Zoo on Monday. Most of the animals seemed happy, except for the polar bears. My friend got to see real, live giraffes for the first time, and he was awed. No homosexual penguins, unfortunately.

   I say ‘damn the thunderstorm, full grilling ahead’. That’s what umbrellas are for!

2. I picked up some chicken thighs and corn on the cob at Whole Foods this morning. I’ll have the chicken marinated in my mom’s special barbecue sauce and the corn for dinner and spend the rest of the time watching the Star Wars trilogy on DVD.

   It looks cloudy but hopefully it won’t rain on you. Can you rig a tarp or something to keep you and the food from getting soaked? Maybe an umbrella?

3. I celebrated being somewhere that is not even slightly the US by having a perfectly normal Wednesday. It’s great.

4. The spouse and kids are away, and I’m spending the day typing in edits to chapters five and six of the dissertation with the teevee on in the background.

5. Just make sure there are lightning rods around you! You do not what to be BBQed!

6. My husband is making me watch 1776 right now. No, really. He’s very proud that it’s the restored version that has an additional song (a song that, urban legend has it, was cut at the behest of Richard Nixon). After that, we’re going to my brother’s apartment for a barbeque.

   Can you send some of that rain over to California? We’re so dry that several cities have canceled their fireworks displays.

7. But damn it, I will grill through a thunderstorm if I have to.

   Wow. I thought only people in the South thought this way, Not New Yorkers.

8. Good NYT article, thanks.

   In theory, my plans today are to get some homework done, finally. In reality…I’m futzing around reading Battlestar Galactica podcast transcripts.

   may or may not hang out with pals later on, assuming they finish -their- chores. we’re supposed to go to a show tomorrow night, so may just literally take a raincheck for today. it does look most gloomy out, doesn’t it?

9. I will, Ole Blue, thanks.

   …wait, what? Oh. Never mind.

10. My boyfriend turns 24 today. He’s an Independence baby. We went to a local winery and took a tour and tasted wines. Now we’re heading to Target to buy some sort of backyard game. Hooray for days off! Happy 4th everyone!

11. It’s my brother’s 21st birthday, so we’re going out to someplace that serves alcohol so he can get himself drunk. Moreover, we are bringing his conveniently-younger friend along with to be the designated driver, which frees me from the threat of being made designated driver in revenge for him being mine back when I turned 21, so I can get drunk too.

12. Same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!

    (not really; just working)

13. About to fix up a mess of that traditional patriotic meal, enchiladas. After, a trek out to a bridge to try to see fireworks. But I have to say, having grown up in a household where my father brought back illegal fireworks from the midwest every year for a massive show in our yard, I’ve so far found “big fireworks shows” hugely underwhelming.

14. Was out and about downtown a bit earlier today. Current plans include watching Pickup on South Street, Get Carter (original), drinking Pimm’s, and, possibly, finishing The Amber Spyglass. Seems like a good holiday to me.

15. Had homemade lobster rolls, BBQ’d marinaded sirloin tips, grilled corn- off to watch fireworks in an hour at the local lake, weather permitting.

    My dad barbeques in SNOW. In Northern Maine. In January. Year round; that man’s GRILLING. We’ll probably grill at his wake.

    David T, great one! Huge Animaniacs fans here…

16. I attempted to change my back-up light switch, which is inconveniently located on the transmission. Turned out I lacked a socket of the correct size, not to mention the requisite upper body strength, so I watched a movie instead. I was put off the fireworks show by the rain and the lateness of the hour.

17. Had barbecued chicken and hot dogs and corn with friends (lugging the charcoal about half a mile and uphill), then watched 1776 of my own free will. I love that movie, and it reminded me of some of the reasons why I still love my country.

18. I worked on my dissertation for about 3 hours, read for another hour, then I went to some married friends’ apartment because they have an awesome deck and a great view of Lake Union so we could watch the fireworks show. If there weren’t trees in the way, we would have also been able to see the Elliott Bay show at the same time.

    In between arriving there and watching the show, I drank lots of Rolling Rock and ate a very nice bacon cheddar burger, a bratwurst, and some potato salad. Mmmm….

19. Turned out I lacked a socket of the correct size, not to mention the requisite upper body strength

    That’s why God invented Gator Grips and air ratchets.

20. Was on business in the DC area, so took the opportunity to go to see the fireworks on the National Mall. It was spectacular and the backdrop was amazing (fireworks over the Smithsonian castle were cool) but after years of watching fireworks sitting on the hood of a car in an open field, or on a blanket on the beach, it was really odd to be in a lighted urban area to watch. Still, one of those things where I can say I did it once. The bummer part was the crowds on the Metro getting back to the hotel in Fairfax.

    As for grilling… I grill everything from April to October. I love any cooking method that reduces the need for dishes 🙂 I have a cheap grill and invest no money into tools or anything, but it works great. We grill our potatoes, veggies, meat… make s’mores… and we even got this cool contraption where we can pop popcorn.

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