I Want To Visit That Lone BlackBerry Store

Did anyone else read that sad story yesterday in The Wall Street Journal about that lone BlackBerry store in Farmington Hills, Michigan?  I read that and immediately looked on Delta‘s website to see how much it would cost to take a pilgrimage to what was supposed to be the first of many BlackBerry stores all across America (excluding their seven airport stores).  That won’t be happening any time soon, however, because I’d have to drive to Richmond in order to fly to Detroit.  That, and I don’t have time right now to do that.  Maybe I’ll go later this year, but I already know I’ll be going alone since I only know ten people at most, including myself, who still have use a Blackberry.

Personally, I don’t like the iPhone because I want a real keyboard, hence I’m still stickin’ with the Berry.  But, only because little Debbie from Season One of SNL nagged so much, I finally caved and agreed to let him buy me an iPad, partly because he offered and I wanted to call his bluff and partly because I’ve been told I’m not getting a new Mac for a few years so this will hopefully take some of the load off of my aging workhorse.  Plus, it’ll be great for traveling since I won’t have to take a computer anymore on trips.  I’m not really sure what I’m going to use this iPad for when I’m not traveling other than to read the newspapers I already read on my iPod because I’m still keeping my Kindle because I don’t want any distractions when I’m reading.  We shall see how this goes once it and I meet one another in May.

All that said about the iPhone, I did love that new ads they made with Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson:

Movin’ right along, I hate April.  It’s starts with a day that makes gullible people like myself seem beyond dumb, it gives us awkward weather for which we can’t dress (it’s not too cold to wear a jacket, but not too hot to wear shorts), pollen, and if you’re a university student, April means papers; lots and lots of unnecessary papers.  Oh yeah, and income tax day, which I don’t think anyone other than the employees of the IRS look forward to each year.

Yeah, I’ll admit it.  These massive papers I’m currently avoiding like the plague are such a waste of time and energy.  But, I need good grades on them so unfortunately, I have to write them.  Besides, Justin tells me that my problems are trivial and I shouldn’t complain.

Speaking of His Royal Unemployed, Justin is getting ready to move to his new apartment this weekend.  This is going to be hard for Justin because he has some stuff and an extremely small car.  I’m going to enjoy hearing how he does it, especially since he has actual furniture.  I’d say I wish Justin well with this “endeavor,” but I’m really dying to hear some story about how something fell out of the back of his car while on the two mile drive to his new apartment and reeks havoc on the brick-paved streets of Winter Park.  I know it’s mean and how can I think something like that, but in reality, y’all were thinkin’ it too!

Grace, on the other hand, had a most amusing last week.  And by amusing, I mean she’ll look back on it and laugh in a few months.  So Grace had this horse show in Spotsylvania, VA, a city adjacent to Fredericksburg made of two sides: there’s this very beautiful country side that is part of Virginia horse territory; the other side is filled with cheap motels, bad fast food and chain restaurants, gas stations galore, and that’s about it.  We stop there on our way to and from Maryland when we go to the Preakness and Mother and I were the 100,000th customers at the Friendly’s there in Spotsylvania; we get two milkshakes and use the bathroom before heading to the nearest gas station.

So Grace goes up there and makes her hotel reservation by calling hotels.com (don’t even get me started on that little detail) and arrives at whatever hotel where she was supposed to stay only to find out that they don’t have her in their computer system, but perhaps it’s at the other one not too far away.  When she arrives at the other location, they only have her staying there one night and it had a unique scent that was not tolerable.  Obviously, this was not going to work, so Grace gets back in her truck to start searching for any streamlined chain hotel and even though there are literally thousands upon thousands of usually empty hotel/motel rooms in Spotsylvania thanks to its location just off of I-95, they were all sold out!  Even the Ramada Inn that has the most terrifying, 80s kind of Vergas-style swimming pool in the middle of the hotel and therefore reeks of chlorine was booked solid.

Apparently, there were three reunions/meetings in town that night and so Grace has to drive almost to Richmond, which is a good 30-45 minutes away, and mind you, she’s just spent the whole day taking care of a very spoiled horse sans a militia of helpers so she was exhausted to say the least.  Princess ends up staying at a Quality Inn outside of Richmond in a “smoking room with a bloodstain on the carpet.”  She and I both agreed that it would have probably been a safer and smarter idea to just sleep in the backseat of the truck.

Back here in the land of all things Jefferson (where today, the only professor I’ve had while attending UVa who had yet to mention his class’s connection to Mr. Jefferson finally made the connection.  I swear, there must be something in the contracts of every professor at the university that requires them to make a connection of some kind to him because every single class has managed to somehow.), this past Friday was Founder’s Day, which celebrates Mr. Jefferson’s birthday.

Mother, who was here for two days with friends, and I went up to Monticello, which was a lot of fun and we just walked around and enjoyed the perfect weather and views.  Unfortunately, this was a somewhat spontaneous decision so I didn’t have my camera along with me.  We’re going to go back and take photos this time.  On the upside, UVa students can visit Monticello for free, which is nice since it costs $24 to see the house and grounds, which is kind of steep if you ask me.

Alas, I have to go because I have to compile a five-seven page annotated bibliography that’s due tomorrow, so until next time…

-JD

Downton Abbey Has to be the Most Intriguing Show I’ve Ever Seen

Okay, this post was supposed to originally be about how the show Pan Am is just wonderful and how y’all need to see it, but then today, I was told that I absolutely must watch the Emmy-award winning ITV series Downton Abbey that had been aired on PBS in four episodes, as opposed to the seven episodes that were shown in Britain.  I haven’t even seen all of season one, but I’ve never been more emotionally invested in a show before like I have with Downton Abbey.  Andrew doesn’t understand why everyone is talking about this show, and I didn’t either until I started watching this afternoon.  It’s not just Gossip Girl for more highly educated people with better things to do than watch the CW Network; the show provides the most interesting insight into the  social and political world of Britain in the early 20th Century before the Great War in Europe started.  Before knowing anything about these characters, let alone even knowing their names, I was screaming at my computer when something would happen.

As for the basic info on the show, let me make it as simple as possible: Downton Abbey is the estate of the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and his family, which includes his mother, the Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith), his wealthy American wife, the Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), and their three daughters: Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery), Lady Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael) and Lady Sybil Crawley (Jessica Brown-Findlay).  The series begins right after the death of the Earl’s cousin, who has died aboard the RMS Titanic.  His death leaves Lady Mary without a fiancée and no heir to the estate.  Then it emerges that there is a cousin, Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), who is a Middle Class solicitor who lives with his mother, Mrs. Isobel Crawley (Penelope Wilton) in Manchester.  His lack of pedigree and the fact that he has a job (the occupation of the Earl was to see that Downton Abbey maintained its perfection), worries everyone in Downton Abbey, including the staff of eight, whose lives depend on the Crawley family.

The eight staff members who live below the house have their own intrigue that is gripping and intriguing in their own right.  A new valet, John Bates (Brendan Coyle), joins the staff at the series’s start and his limp and use of a cane make the estate’s butler, Charles Carson (Jim Carter), the housekeeper, Mrs. Hughes (Siobhan Finneran), and first footman, Thomas Barrow (Rob James-Collier) in particular, annoyed over the extra work they’ll have to do because of Bates’s handicap.  Thomas Barrow is most annoyed as he was hoping to move up to becoming Lord Grantham’s valet.  Thomas Barrow seems to cause the most drama, both upstairs and downstairs.  Kitchen/scullery maid Daisy (Sophis McShera) finds Thomas to be the most amazing man to have ever lived, even though second footman William Mason (Thomas Howes) is desperate for her affection, which cook Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) tries to point out to the young maid every second she’s not yelling at the girl.  Mrs. Patmore is also one of a few members of the staff who knows that Thomas has a very scandalous secret; a secret that almost comes out when a Duke comes to visit the estate.  Head housemaid Anna Smith (Joanne Froggatt) and maid Gwen Dawson (Rose Leslie) have their own intriguing stories which unfold as the series progresses.

Downton Abbey is quite possibly the most brilliantly made show I’ve ever seen.  It has the drama of The West Wing mixed with the juiciness of Gossip Girl and set in Great Britain starting in 1912.  It is stimulating, a bit educational (in the sociological sense… Christ, I’ve gone intellectual, for which blame Justin and the University of Virginia), juicy, and at times, even kinky.  Nominated for eleven Emmy awards, it took home four, including best miniseries or movie, writing and best supporting actress in a miniseries or movie for Maggie Smith.  I just can’t wait for season two to start on January 8th.  I’ve watched Downton Abbey online at pbs.org, and if I haven’t managed to convince y’all yet to watch the show, here’s a little preview:

Finally tonight, I’d like to wish Justin a belated Happy Birthday.  I tried to write this sooner, but I had two papers due Monday and I was at the peak of my cold.  Also, I’d like to wish my little bambino, Buddy, a Happy 10th Birthday.  In human years, Buddy is Sixty-Two; Justin, who is Twenty-Two, wishes it was still 1962, hence I bought him the «Vintage Cocktails» book by Assouline for his birthday.

Okay, I’m off to go write/finish my third paper for the week that is due in seventeen hours.  Until next time…

-JD

PS: Just a reminder, the Twenty-Second anniversary of my birth is fast approaching (October 15th), not that I’m hinting at anything…

Charlottesville Has No Soul Cycle, No High Line and No Shake Shack!

Well, this weekend marks the unofficial end to the Summer and well, as y’all can imagine, I’m not exactly thrilled to be back in Charlottesville.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Charlottesville, but in the two short weeks since being back at school, I’ve already read well over six-hundred pages worth of books and reading assignments!

So let’s be honest, going from a full-time internship to school is not easy.  When you go from having responsibilities, a busy life and Soul Cycle to textbooks, schedules from hell, stress, and whatever else you want to throw into the college equation, it’s not easy to immediately adjust.  To makes things worse, Mother and Count Dooku decided that they didn’t need to help me move into my apartment this year, so I don’t even have half of my stuff with me because my car can’t hold a whole lot.  Now, I was going to go home last weekend, but first there was that earthquake, and then that damn Hurricane Irene decided to ruin those plans.  So aside from five pairs of pants I had ordered over the 4th of July weekend, the only clothes I have with me are from my last week of work in New York and a few polo shirts I managed to grab out of my suitcase before driving up to Charlottesville.  I’m now going to be missing the first football game of the season tomorrow so I can drive home in twenty minutes and spend all of Saturday unpacking what I bring back.  I’ll just be glad to have all of my belongings back with me.

Speaking of Hurricane Irene, Andrew experienced his first hurricane while still in New York.  Unfortunately, all he got was some heavy rain and wind.  I know it’s not nice of me to wish a hurricane on someone, but I just wanted him to experience what I’ve gone through way too many times: the no power for eight days, cold showers, being forced to walk down your street because power lines and trees are covering the road, doing homework by candlelight/flashlight, and all those other fun things associated with hurricanes.  Of course, a lot of that would require Andrew to live in suburbia, but that’s just a minor complication.

As for Justin, I had the pleasure of seeing him my last night in New York.  We went to a terrific dinner at Il Posto Accanto, which is just the greatest Italian restaurant made even more entertaining by its neighborhood Italian restaurant atmosphere.  Personally, I’m obsessed, and have found myself longing for the Bistecca ai Ferri, which is grass-fed Black Angus Hanger Steak resting on a warm pumpkin farro with wine-soaked raisins.  After dinner, we headed uptown so Justin and Andrew could meet for the first time, which went surprisingly well, considering that Andrew was moments from going to sleep.  It was also when Andrew and I said farewell until December, ending yet another wild summer in the city.  It was such a treat to see Justin as well, since it would have been December as well before we’d get to see one another otherwise.

As anticipated, Grace was ready and waiting for my return to Charlottesville and things went more smoothly than last time in New York.  Now, I have to be honest, Thomas Jefferson might have been a brilliant intellectual and yes, the Declaration of Independence is a great document, Monticello is lovely and UVa is wonderful school, but that man was horrible at picking real estate!  It is deathly hot out here in the summer and I’m told it’s beyond freezing in the winter.  Oh, and these hills don’t do much to help.  Needless to say, I’m greatly anticipating Fall.

Now that Summer is drawing to a close, I thought it would be good to reflect on what will be my final Summer break before graduate school.  This is a terrifying realization, even though Summer hasn’t been a break for years.  The six weeks in New York this Summer were more of a preview of what life after college than the year before when I only worked three days a week.  Honestly, I enjoyed the work week and can’t wait to get to it myself.  I found an athletic activity aside from running that I truly enjoy and sincerely miss; plus, I finally made it to Brooklyn, so that made the whole six weeks right there!

Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the BofA Intern brofest for helping to get me to kick my Starbucks addiction.  In the six weeks I was in New York, I only visited Starbucks twice: on my first day of work and one night with Andrew.  Well, that’s all for now, but I hope y’all have a good Labor Day weekend and until next time…

-JD