So I'll post about my bachelorette party, though really, I'm sure you've already read all about it in the papers. Oh ... but I kid. Nothing too wild, just good clean drunken fun. Sara and Alyssa threw me a rockin' bridal shower, complete with Australian (it's close to New Zealand!) wine and pavlova, an authentic Kiwi desert that looked very complicated and surely was difficult to make. Not difficult to eat, however, so its life span, alas, was short. But it did much good in its short life. Got lots of useful travel goodies for presents, and then Sara, Alyssa, Laura and I got ready to hit the town for the evening.

Wearing a white feather boa adorned with condoms in all sorts of scandalous flavors, I was treated to dinner at the Melting Pot (where Sara and the waiter got in a fight but later made up kind of) and drinks at all of the three Midtown bars we graced. Here's where I'm stupid: After drinking cosmopolitans all night, at the end I decided I didn't need so expensive and froo-froo a drink, so why not swtich to beer, eh? So I did, evidently forgetting all of the lessons learned in college and such about the mixing of liquor and beer (even though I will maintain that I DID consider that at least I was doing it in the right order!). Luckily we headed to Alyssa's home not long after the deadly mixing, where I got a whopping four hours of sleep (or passed-out-ness, one) and then had to get up to begin the drive with Geoffrey back to Atlanta.

Besides liquor and beer, another set of things that does not mix is hangover and 11 hour drives. Sheesh. On the way from Atlanta to Anderson I entertained Geoffrey and Marcus by puking a rainbow of colors (seriously! It was completely different every time! We don't know why this is, but I'm sure it's a marvel of science) into a plastic bag. In Anderson we stopped for a few hours, I got a little nap in, and then Geoffrey and I continued toward Virginia, him driving the whole stretch because I was to busy, you know, throwing up. Amid all that, however, we stopped at a rest stop where some feral cows were eating things just on the other side of a chain link fence from us (no chain link fence separating them from the highway, however, I should note). We stared at the cows for a while, and then G decided to be a bud and hand them some grass from our side. This, however, made them freak out and leave. Grass can, I suppose, be scary when wielded at you. At another rest stop, we became engaged in a chat with the rest stop manager, who kept us captive with conversation (huntin', 38s, trucks, Mexicans, deer meat dominated the discussion) for about 45 minutes. After all the delays and with Geoffrey doing all the driving, we decided not to press on to Arlington, so we stayed at a hotel 2 hours out and continued, far less queasily on my part, Monday morning. And so normal life resumed for a while.

Until Isabel.

Washington, DC, completely flipped out as it was coming, scaring everyone and boosting bread and water sales at grocery stores area-wide. Metro decided it was going to pack up and go home crying at 11 a.m. Thursday lest, and I'm not making this up, someone get blown on to the tracks in front of a train. Sigh. Why can't they just admit they don't feel like workin'? Speaking of that, the federal government, of course, decided against working Thursday and Friday, but apparently I am "essential." I mean, yes, we all know democracy as we know it will completely crumble if I don't get to work no matter what. Luckily, though, Thursday and Friday is my normal weekend, so I was on call, but not needed as it turned out. Those who were working had to spend the night at work, and not in a hotel next door, either, because the publisher said the feds won't pay for such frivolity (but we'd better get our sweet asses in anyway). I'm sure that sucked. Instead I just stayed in the apartment, watching the rain pour down and the tree outside blow crazily. Oh, and watching Geoffrey succumb to the effects of extreme stir craziness. That was fun.

Lots of places around here are hard-hit. Old Town Alexandria, just a few miles away, is badly flooded, and lots and lots of people are without power or water. For some reason (probably the fact that lots of richy-riches live here), Arlington -- at least our part of it -- seems to have fared well. We didn't even lose cable (though XM was a little messed up, sob!), let alone power, and there doesn't seem to be any flooding right around here. So we're lucky, wish everyone had fared so well.

LISTENING TO: ROBINELLA AND THE CC STRING BAND/Self-titled (I think). Very good band! We'll get to see them live at Merlefest next year, so even more exciting. Lyle's new CD, of course, comes out in just a matter of weeks, so I'm trying to hold off until then so my brain doesn't explode from too much goodness.

VERY SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT: To Johnny Cash. There's nothing I can say, but the world has lost an amazing person.