Author Archives: MALA


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Lessons Learned Review

Scott McClellan

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan says the Bush administration is conducting a lessons learned review into what went wrong with the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina when it hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

So I thought I’d conduct a lessons learned review of my own.

  1. If there is a national emergency, I am on my own.
  2. Have a plan – when the infrastructure collapses around me, knowing where I’m going will save stress and ease heartache.
  3. Keep cash on hand – I probably won’t have access to ATMs and banks.
  4. Being insured isn’t the insurance it once was. Save now for that rainy day. If there’s an incident of national significance, I need to be prepared to pay my way for months.
  5. Be prepared to help others along the way…. karma is a two way street.
  6. It is not crazy to stockpile water, cans of tuna, first aid supplies and batteries.
  7. Don’t panic and remember to breathe.
  8. Expect long lines and lots of delays — so carry a couple good books to read during the waits.
  9. It’s better to travel in pairs…. so find a buddy to commiserate with.
  10. Count my blessings and maintain a sense of humor.

 

Do you have anything to add? Or maybe you’ve got your own lessons learned review?

 

 


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Curses

 curses

I’ve become a believer in curses.

In November, on the flight from Providence to DC, I put my mp3 player in the pocket of the seat in front of me. I was preoccupied, because of flight delays and reading reports for work. In my hurry to leave the plane, I left the mp3 player behind.

One week later, I was on my way home from a news briefing at the National Press Club and pulled out my Samsung camera phone to call a client. Well, when I opened the flip phone, each piece fell apart in my hands. And because the phone was completely destroyed, I lost all of my contacts information.

About one week later, as I was getting ready for a meeting, I heard a strange pop come from the living area. Something was wrong with the television. The picture was in shades of pink. Alas, my tv broke.

I carry my digital camera with me everyhere. The Panasonic Lumix FX-7 is tiny and portable and takes fantastic photos. I traveled to Massachusetts for Christmas and took about 400 pictures over the holiday. After I got home, I noticed the menu pad was bent. The camera no longer works. Broken.

I take very good care of my laptop – always protecting it with padding if I carry it around, shutting down properly, constantly updating virus protection software. The laptop is less thank one year old. One week ago, I was typing away on my Dell 700m, when the screen froze. I turned the computer off and when I tried to restart nothing. Well…. nothing but a bright blue error screen and a funny clicking coming from my hard drive. Diagnosis…. the hard drive died. Out of the blue. With no warning.

Not only did it die, but no files could be retrieved. And because Mala doesn’t back up any information, she lost all the music she ripped off her CDs, all her documents, and most importantly – all of her photos. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g GONE! All the photos of Portugal I took in April, and of my gorgeous niece when she was one-week old, and of Independence Day with the baby niece, and of Thanksgiving. All gone!

These last 14 days, I’ve been sick with bronchitis. I’ve seen the doctor three times and am trying my third antibiotic – hoping this one will clear all the crap in my chest and lungs. So I’ve been stuck on the couch watching a lot of DVDs. Yesterday, I popped in National Treasure. The movie started to skip. Thinking it was the DVD, I ejected the disc, checked it for scratches, wiped it with a papertowel anyway and popped it back in. The problem wasn’t the disc, but the DVD player. Broken. No longer plays any dvds.

Since the last week of November I’ve either lost or had to replace – an mp3 player, a cellphone, a television set, a digital camera, an 80GB hard drive, and now a DVD player. All, with the exception of the television set, were less than one year old.

Not to mention that I never ever ever get sick and am stuck battling a nasty case of bronchitis.

Is this normal? Or have I been cursed? What do you think?


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Even numbers

I’m a big fan of meeting people, making friends in distant places, and learning all about their thoughts and opinions.

When I was a wee lass of ten, my parents noticed the exorbitant amount of mail I received on a daily basis. I don’t remember how or why I started writing to my first pen pal, but after one year I was deeply enmeshed in the world of international pen palling.

Each afternoon, I’d stroll up the walk to our mailbox and retrieve a stack of envelopes… all addressed to me.

At first those envelopes consisted of letters. Then the letters included stickers (yes – I was also an avid sticker collector). And later, my pals started sending me slam books… only they weren’t called “slam books.”

These tiny books were pieces of paper stapled together with a heading on each page. The booklet would make its way cross country or sometimes around the world. Each person would include their comments before passing it on to the next person. When the book was filled, the last person was supposed to mail it back to the creator of the book.

So while I faithfully corresponded with my 40 most favorite friends, some of whom I’d met in real life, the little slam books provided the opportunity to reach out to new people and learn about what life was like in say Moss, TN or Sheridan, WY.

I kept at least two books of stamps in the slender top drawer of my desk. When I got low, I would coax one of my parents or my grandfather into driving me to the post office to purchase a book of 20 stamps with $4.00. For me, twenty cents was a small price to pay for keeping friends in California or Texas or Indiana.

I also kept an assortment of international stamps for those precious few pals from France and Italy and Sweden.

Since those glorious days of the $4 book of stamps, postage has increased to puzzling numbers. There was the 29 cent stamp (why not an even 30 cents?), the  32 – 34 cent stamps, followed by today’s 37 cent stamp and, starting on Sunday January 8th, the 39 cent stamp.

So while most of my correspondence is done via email, and I comment on blogs instead of circulating tiny poll books, I do still mail out cards on special occassions and my monthly rent check. I do still purchase books of 20 stamps.

And I wonder why the post office can’t skip over the odd 39 cent stamp and go straight to 40 cents? The penny honestly does not make that much of a difference. I prefer to dish out an even $8 for my book of 20 than the odious $7.80. Who makes up these rate increases anyway?


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My pigsty

Six years ago I moved into my junior one-bedroom home. I was thrilled to finally be living alone. No more roommates. No more compromise. If I wanted to sit on the couch and eat Häagen Das in my underwear, I could.

At the time, the apartment fit me like a glove. It was the perfect size with room for growth. I moved in with:

  • my queen-sized canopy bed
  • a small end table
  • an IKEA entertainment center
  • a glass covered coffee table
  • a beat-up old couch
  • a small dinette set
  • 2 bookcases crammed with books
  • a vanity with chair
  • a microwave oven
  • an eclectic CD collection
  • about a dozen VHS tapes and
  • one flat screen 27″ television

Today my dinette table is hidden beneath seven towering stacks of books. Six 5-shelf bookcases line the walls of the living “area.” Matted black and white photos hang on every available square inch of wall space. Files are piled on my hard wood floor beside the vanity that now doubles as my “office.”

Not to mention the two suitcases I carried home from Christmas are still unpacked and standing in the small entryway. The DVDs are overflowing out of the entertainment center. And I’ve still got a small area devoted to wrapping paper and ribbon and scotch tape and scissors.

How did I let this happen? My bachelorette pad is a complete mess.

This morning, the agent who manages my apartment phoned to say she’d like to drop by sometime next week to inspect the apartment on behalf of my landlord. It’s been a few years since she popped in, and she just wants to make sure nothing needs fixing or an upgrade.

How thoughtful.

So now I have no choice but to organize the pigsty I call home. In six days. S-I-X! And I don’t know where to start. It’s that bad.

How did I accumulate so much STUFF?


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Photographs

The theme for this year’s gift swapping was framed photographs.

Among other things, I gave framed pictures of my niece to my parents, my grandmother, my brothers, and to some of my cousins. Meanwhile, my brother gave me a gorgeous studio shot of the baby in a beautiful frame. My cousin filled an antique frame with a sepia portrait of my niece. And my godmother restored two black and white photos of my grandparents.

I’ve been taking pictures for as long as I can remember. My first camera was a Yogi Bear Instamat. I’m a firm believer in capturing those Kodak moments, evidenced by the stacks of photo albums piled in an enormous chest at the back of my parents’ shed.

Christmas tree

A picture captures a memory. Funny that I don’t feel the same way about home videos as I do about a set of photographs.

And I love looking through other people’s snapshots. Or walking through photo exhibits in galleries and museums. Or buying someone else’s black and white night shot of a momument I’ve already photographed.

What is it about pictures?


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Face Lift

The theme for the last thirty days was travel and reinvention.

I visited my family in Massachusetts for the Thanksgiving holiday and my niece’s baptism. Cousins I hadn’t seen in years guest-starred in the holiday festivities. It was fantastic.

It also got me thinking about family and how I can better balance my desire for independence, my guilt for ‘abandoning’ them, and my longing to play a larger role in their lives. I haven’t reached a perfect plan, but I’m working on it.

After five fun-filled days of family love, I returned to DC and focused on work. I managed press at two big events, edited a newsletter and finished a direct-mail piece.

I also started dissecting how I spend my time and reevaluating my priorities. When I’m in ‘work-mode’ — it’s all about the client, the job and deadlines. And when an assignment is completed, I’m all about celebrating and fooling around.

Same goes for exercising – I’m either all about the workout… or completely M.I.A. from the gym. There is no happy medium, only extremes.

So I took a break from contemplating life changes and squeezed in a trip to Manhattan – all play and distraction.

Christmas focused on the baby. Little kids make the holiday so much better. I was in heaven, rocking my 6-month old niece to sleep in my lap. I spent a small fortune on presents this year…. but like my mom always says, “you only live once.”

In the midst of all the festivities and travel and frantic last-minute shopping, I found time to do a little winter cleaning and give the ol’ blog a facelift.

I hope you all enjoyed a memorable holiday and are looking forward to the new year. I’ll be with a few friends at an intimate soiree this New Year’s Eve — a welcome change from the usual crowded black-tie bash.

What do you have planned for New Year’s Eve?


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I had a secret

Giorgio’s

This tiny unassuming pizza joint made the best grilled chicken salad on Earth. That’s right – on the entire planet.

I’m addicted to Giorgio’s grilled chicken salads. Two, three times a week, I’d call in my order for pickup.

One grilled chicken salad, no olives, extra peppers.

My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

Two weeks ago Giorgio’s closed. I think. The number rings and rings. But it doesn’t look like they’re closed. There isn’t an official sign that says they’re gone forever. Cans of soda still sit in the refrigerators along the back wall.

It’s like everyone went on vacation for two weeks. And forgot to tell the neighbors a.k.a. customers.

But it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t get my salad.

Now I’ve tried others. I ordered the Shanghai chicken salad from Cosi – which was alright. I went into DC Cafe and ordered their version of the grilled chicken salad, only to be sourly disappointed. I’ve tried California Pizza Kitchen and Bertucci’s.

Then I went upscale… to Levante’s, to Daily Grill, to Spezie. But alas, none compare to Giorgio’s.

To all the Washingtonians out there…… can anyone recommend a place to get a good grilled chicken salad?


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Sweating in November

fan

It’s too bloody HOT!

What is up with this weather? It’s 70 degrees in November. This is not normal.

Unfortunately, back in October, my entire building converted from air conditioning to heat. So now, it’s 80 degrees in my apartment and I can’t sleep. There are three fans whirring away on high and I’m still sweating.

The weatherman just warned it might get cool on Thursday. I say bring it on!