After a visit to the National Zoo, you would think the most interesting part of our day might have been the animals we saw.  Or perhaps it would be the fantastic dinner we had at a Sweetwater Grill (the roasted chicken salad is fabulous).  It might even be the traumatic site of watching an SUV take out two deer at once on our way up.  However, in the style of our family, the most interesting part of our day was, in fact…..wait for it.

The escalators.

That’s right, the escalators on the metro.  Evidently Don and I are kryptonite to escalators.  All we had to do is look at an escalator, and it went down.  The real problem began at the Woodley Park-Zoo station.  We got off and got packed into a HUGE line.  It took a while to figure out what was going on…we eventually found out the escalator had, in fact, become stairs.  However, Metro has a problem with escalators being stairs, and had shut one side down to “fix” the problem.  This meant that both people going down and those going up had to use the same escalator.  You can probably imagine that the zoo station is going to be pretty darn busy on a pretty day like today.  We finally managed to make it up the escalator/stairs, but it took some fancy maneuvering.

From there, we went to the zoo, saw lots of cool animals and generally had a good time.  Eventually, however, it was time to leave…and this meant returning to the metro.  Imagine our surprise and laughter when what is one of the longest escalators on the line has been stilled (it was working earlier in the day).  We then proceeded to ride to Metro Center.  We were watching the escalator when it became stairs right before our eyes!  And the Vienna station…yeah, those escalators were not moving when we returned to that station, as well.  It really got to be funny….others were not amused, but we had a good time laughing about the escalators.

So, with a big trip to the big city, the big event from the day is broken escalators.

But so you’re not left disappointed, here is one of my favorite photos of the day - a flamingo:

Yes, my husband and I can even make buying a lamp to be an adventure. 

Buying furniture, no big deal.
Buying a washer/dryer, no big deal.
Buying a car, went pretty smooth.
Buying a lamp, an adventure.

Perhaps we should have just gone down to the local Texaco and bought some of the lamps they have for sale.  We’ve been joking for years about a gas station selling lamps.  And no, they aren’t little desk lamps.  They look like lamps that someone would put in their living room…if that someone were a redneck.  However, purchasing a lamp from Texaco would have saved us from the adventure that followed my query “Where else can I find a lamp?”

This started Friday night when I’d looked at a few lamps at Target.  I need one for my desk, and they had some really cute bases with lamp shades.  Small ones that would be perfect for my desk.  However, while I found the perfect base, I did not find the perfect shade. 

Let me give you the quick summary of what it took for us to buy a lamp:
1.  Go to Lowes…find lamp shade I love, but no bases to suit.
2.  Go to Target…realize the base I love doesn’t have the hardware for a lamp harp.
3.  Learn what a lamp harp is.
4.  Go to Home Depot…realize Texaco has more lamps than Home Depot, but do manage to get lamp parts that will allow us to attach the harp to the base I love.
5.  Go BACK to Target…purchase lamp base.
6.  Make one more trip to a different Lowes for the final part of the lamp.
7.  Put together…*Poof* Lamp made from the parts from four different stores.

In retrospect, going to Texaco might’ve been the way to go.  Sure, the lamp would be ugly, but we would only need one store.

I have decided I have a future goal in life.  To be famous.  I, however, do not want to be famous while I’m alive.  I don’t think I could deal with the paparazzi, heck, I can’t spell paparazzi (thank you spell check).  I do plan on becoming famous after I am dead, though.  Even if the paparazzi dig me up, I doubt they’ll bother me much if I’m dead.

My plan for fame:  Writing Prophecies.

Assuming we make it past December 21, 2012, I have the perfect plan.  I will write prophecies and then bury them in a time capsule so they’ll be found many, many years down the road.  Of course, they’ll be in the whole “Nostradamus” vein.  My hope is that there will be shows on the History Channel dedicated to my predictions, like there are for Nostradamus.  Perhaps they’ll have some really attractive actress all decked out in weird clothes acting like she’s writing prophecies to represent me.  That would be a certain level of awesome.  Not everyone has a show dedicated to them.  I’m not entirely sure why it’s worked out for Nostradamus, but I plan on following his format to fame.

My first prophecy is even written:
“In the year of the flaming dragon,
dark clouds will descend.
Haikus will be written,
and trees will fall to the ground.”

I think it’s got promise.