A few weekends ago, I jaunted over to the DC metro area for a visit/vacation, and I was able to check these places out.

• The National Museum of Health and Medicine. Seriously, the highlight of the trip, something right up my alley. Specimens galore. My personal fave was the stomach-shaped hairball. And best of all, it costs a whopping $0.
• Mount Vernon. Want to see where a smart presidential George W. hung his hat? Mount Vernon is the place to go. You could spend hours wandering the estate, and the Potomac views aren't too shabby.
• The National Aquarium in Washington DC. This was the biggest letdown of the whole trip. What charges $5 definitely should've been free. Just some tanks in the basement of the commerce building. Go to the National Aquarium in Baltimore instead. Please.
• Old Town Alexandria and Georgetown DC. Cute old neighborhoods with charming-looking shops and adorable townhouses.

Oh yeah, don't get gas in the DC area unless you like shelling out $3+ for fuel. No thanks. The Metro is convenient, and traffic sucks. Washington DC isn't one of my favorite American cities. Maybe it's because it doesn't seem like a typical city; instead of skyscrapers, it has the lone Washington Monument. To me, skyline=Big City.

I must've already mentioned it here, but reading The Other Boleyn Girl (by Philippa Gregory) sparked a big interest in me for Henry VIII's wives and children, and especially Elizabeth I (seriously, historical nonfiction doesn't get better than Alison Weir). That is why I'm so psyched for the movie version of the Gregory book, even if some folks don't like the casting. I'm also dying for the sequel to Elizabeth to come out, even though I didn't care much for the original.

Excellent: Winning Monopoly strategies: "Board game expert Erik Arneson has some great tips for winning at Monopoly; admittedly, there's a lot of luck involved, but if you can get some tried and true strategies under your belt, you can help that luck along a little."

Lifehacker pulls out a few of the best strategies offered. Boy, do I need strategies. No game gets me more competitive or more angry when I lose than Monopoly, and I always lose or give up in a huff. Now, if I could just find people who wanted to play me, I could finally win.

Who knew Macaulay Culkin and Mila Kunis were dating?!?!?! Apparently they also like to vacation in Israel, but have had to evacuate due to recent attacks. Who in their right mind would date Macaulay Culkin?!?!?!

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I've been hanging out with some awesome kids and took an awesome trip to Montreat, NC. We had a blast!! I don't have pictures, but we all know what happens at camp.

I'm back from my "great American road trip" through Mt Rushmore, Badlands NP, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. It was a lot for one week, but it was a blast. Here's a sampling of the pictures with no captioning whatsoever.

(actually, one little caption- the picture at the end of the Beartooth Hwy set is a forest fire we saw in Wyoming near Devil's Tower, not near the Beartooth Hwy.)

Favorites:
-- Prairie dogs at the Badlands
-- Custer State Park and the Needles Highway in the Black Hills
-- Beartooth Highway (a steep ascent into the mountains of Montana where there was still snow)
-- The Grand Tetons (I'm a sucker for snowy mountains)

Best Week Ever had a link to a fab music blog post at Trees Lounge: http://trees-lounge.blogspot.com/2006/06/50-states-july-4th-compilation.html. I didn't know there were so many songs about Iowa.

On a related note, would my co-bloggers be interested in adding Pandora to this here Alacrity? Just a thought. I was having fun playing with it earlier and creating a Jay-Z station.

Ebert's no fan of the new Superman movie, and he brings up some important (and funny) questions (maybe these are spoilers, but it's not like we didn't already know):

"As [Superman] positions himself in flight, straining to lift an airplane or a vast chunk or rock, we reflect that these activities aren't nearly as cinematic as what Batman and Spider-Man get up to. Watching Superman straining to hold a giant airliner, I'm wondering: Why does he strain? Does he have his limits? Would that new Airbus be too much for him? What about if he could stand somewhere?

Superman is vulnerable to one, and only one, substance: kryptonite. He knows this. We know this. Lex Luthor knows this. Yet he has been disabled by kryptonite in every one of the movies. Does he think Lex Luthor would pull another stunt without a supply on hand? Why doesn't he take the most elementary precautions? How can a middle-aged bald man stab the Man of Steel with kryptonite?"

I don't think I'll be seeing this one anyway, as my date doesn't like movies with magic in them, but I already agreed with Ebert after just seeing previews -- Routh is dull and looks computer generated. They grow them right in Iowa, though, don't they?

Buy (and sell) handmade all in one place? I'm in heaven! http://www.etsy.com

Have trouble remembering to include attachments on emails? (You know who you are and you drive the rest of us nuts.) My strategy is to always attach first then write the email, which is effective 95% of the time. However, two clever souls have now fool-proofed gmail and outlook so that the email program alerts you when you're sending an email that mentions "attachments" or something like that without anything attached to the email. Excellent idea!

Courtesy of Lifehacker

Every night before I go to sleep, I look under my bed, just to be sure no one is hiding there. Sometimes I check the closets, too. Then, I feel silly and paranoid.... No longer! I'm going to check everywhere and not feel bad, because there are psychos out there.
This guy not only hid under the woman's bed for two days, but he also set up a camera (another of my fears I previously thought irrational), and had a bag containing "condoms, a power cord, a change of clothes and gloves." I don't even want to know what he intended with those supplies. Eeeek!
All freaking-out aside, this is a classic example of why you only give the valet the key to the car and not all of your keys. It's also an example of why you can't be nice to people. I'm so freaked out.

AFI is still going crazy with movie lists. This time it's the most inspiring movies. Here's the top 10:
1. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946
2. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962
3. "Schindler's List," 1993
4. "Rocky," 1976
5. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939
6. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982
7. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940
8. "Breaking Away," 1979
9. "Miracle on 34th Street," 1947
10. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998

I've only seen 1,2,4, and 5 and I agree those are inspiring, so I'll believe them on the others. Personally, when I think of inspiring movies, I think of Legally Blonde which I used to watch on a very regular basis while preparing for the GRE, finishing my senior project, and applying to grad school. Seriously, when Elle studies for the LSATs and ignores the keg party, it used to empower me to no end. I could do it! Now, if only I could find a movie to inspire me to complete research projects and get published... I'll check out the rest of AFI's list.

Bored? I have something for you to try. We did this in class tonight with only one bottle and 4-5 mentos. It was awesome. But check out the video and then try it for yourself...you'll be amazed!

Via Lifehacker:
10 grammar mistakes to avoid
9 out of 10 of these mistakes bug me, the tenth is my personal downfall-- I can't remember lie vs. lay. Do these errors bug anyone else? I bet they do!

Awesome tip from Lifehacker (I've always wondered how to do this):

Save your PowerPoint presentation as a show:
"Loyal reader Mark writes in: If you want to really impress people with your PowerPoint, save the file as a .pps

This is a PowerPoint Show. Most people save them as a PowerPoint Presentation (PPT). A PPT shows the slides and the work that can be done on the presentation. By saving as a PPS (PowerPoint Show), when you double-click it, it will auto launch into the show mode. It makes it look so much more professional. I've always seen presentations where people open the PPT, then go to Slide Show > View Show. This cuts off that step.

Make sure you also save a PPT copy to work on it, but make your final output file a PPS.

Since, for whatever reason, PowerPoint presentations seem apt to go wrong, it's a great idea to cut out at least a couple of extra steps; not only will your presentation look more professional, but there's also less of a chance that something will go wrong between saving and presenting. — Adam Pash "

I am a HUGE fan of Dane Cook...he makes me giddy. I think you either LOVE him or hate him, but either way Tourgasm begins tonight on HBO. I'm excited!

Looks like a couple of taken hotties are no longer taken. Ryan Reynolds and Matthew McConaughey are both single!! If only Josh Duhamel could get rid of Fergie!

Movie Updates
After seeing The Da Vinci Code, my dad lamented that Paul Bettany might have sabotaged his career with such a cheesy part. However, having seen Dogville last night, I think he's still got street cred to spare. He just needs to avoid making any more Knight's Tales.

For the record, I liked him in Da Vinci Code because even as a scary, melodramatic albino, the man is still a fox. Overall, I hated Da Vinci Code only because it bored me to death. I already knew the story, so suspense was a moot point-- all I wanted was scenery and to be able to see the places featured in the book. When they skimmed over the effigies in the Templar church, I was so disappointed.

Since I'm talking about movies, I should add that Casanova was uninteresting and confusing (somewhat exacerbated by my falling asleep in the middle, but I don't think that was a coincidence). Over the Hedge was really funny and not annoying like kid's movies can be (when they have trite conclusions or forced conflict), but it was no Shrek.

Miss Jolie popped out future babe Shiloh. Celeb baby madness!

99, Kingston is a nice enough name. Do you agree? Reminds me of Jamaica though.

Should this have been a comment to the previous post or a new post? Parker will chide me if it's the former I'm sure.

Gwen Stefani FINALLY had her baby! I seriously thought she was gestating an elephant. I'm not a huge fan of No Doubt or of Gwen's solo career, but I love Gavin... so I guess congrats are in order!

For P:
Finished watching the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more had I never seen the 1995 version. Usually I like Keira Knightley, but she didn't seem right as Elizabeth. How was she nominated for an Oscar? And she and Matthew Macfadyen have zilch in the chemistry department. I read that Keira Knightley is dating the guy who played Wickham; maybe they should have cast him as Darcy, even though he looks like the poor man's Orlando Bloom. I told my mom (who watched this version too) that Mr. Darcy is supposed to be very handsome, and she was astonished. However, 2005 had some lovely cinematography and I liked its Jane Bennet better. The issue is the Mr. Darcy 2005 is dull and didn't seem very proud to me. Just dull and quiet. The ending is supremo cheesy.

(My favorite scene in the 1995 version is when Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth talk while dancing at the second ball. It's hot, but not blatantly so.)