More Reasons to Hate Northern Virginia

Dear VDOT:

You may want to consider not closing the East Bound Toll Booths at Reston Parkway during the day to alter the signage. I realize that the choice to close them at mid-day is an improvement for you and that you usually would do this at rush hour. While *some* thought obviously went into this decision, perhaps the fact that you caused a line-up 50 cars long and backed up Reston Parkway all the way to Temporary Road did not escape your notice.

In the future, you should consider doing such planned maintenance in the middle of the night when you won't cost so many people so much money in lost productivity.

Nicole

I've finished two books this week, and I'd recommend both to folks who are into those sorts of things. The first is Connie Willis' Doomsday Book. It's SF, and Bellwether is also excellent. The second is The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. It's...I don't know how to explain it. It's about girl's and relationships, but it's not anti-man or anything like that. The main character is really funny. I wish I were that funny.

And is Kirsten Bakis ever going to write another book, or was Lives of the Monster Dogs all she had in her? And what has Matt Ruff been doing for the last three years? It seems like I've been waiting for a follow-up to Sewer, Gas and Electric forever. And what happenned to Donna Tartt anyway? Again, is A Secret History just her one great American novel?

So, we went shopping again last night. Tino needed some clothes, and I felt obligated to attempt to be helpful. There were no arguments, so maybe I *was* helpful. He didn't comment on the whole experience, but usually a mall trip involves arguing. I'll have to ask him later for a review of the Mall Experience With Nicole.

Anyway, I bought a Stila lipstick in a plummy color they call Piaf. I had to buy a pencil for it as well, since my others are pink and brown and plum is neither. I haven't tried the lipstick yet because I went with the taupe/salsa (this is a mango color actually) eyeshadow today. Thus, the lipstick is the brownish color, Lily. I'll check it out this weekend.

I'm disappointed with the Azur mascara. It's very dry and crumbly, and since I usually use their black mascara and it's not dry and crumbly, I'm thinking there's something wrong with this one. It's going back, along with the Stila powder that I've never even opened.

I also bought a pair of shoes. The are lace-up boots made in Canada. They are waterproof, but do not look like it. They are a classier, more adult version of my Doc Martins, basically. The fill the same wardrobe niche, in any case. I bought the shoes on a lark, so I didn't bring my insoles. I haven't checked if they still fit with those in there. They often make the instep too tight, but here's hoping.

I also bought a sweater at LL Bean. It's chenille and two-tone green. I love it, so if it wears well, I may go back and buy the beige/brown two tone one as well. The other colors all kind of suck.

LL Bean overall was not a good experience. Tino spent over $100 there and a salesperson never even offerred to help him. They were *there*, they just were unhelpful. He tried things on and even THAT didn't get any attention. I wandered around the women's department for a good long time and saw multiple sales people, none of whom offerred to help me. And I had questions too. Furthermore, the cashier didn't even say thank you.

See, you open a good branch store in Fairfax County and staff it with locals and it starts to suck. I think I may write to Bean about it because I'm sure their intention is not to give such a horrible impression of their customer service.