farewell to charleston edition

things i will miss about charleston...
1.) The people. Which means the HAs. Because, seriously, they put us in an isolation chamber.
2.) Los Potrillos. Truly the Casa Fiesta of Charleston.
3.) Lincoln Springs Family Resort. Who can argue with the world's tallest statue of Abraham Lincoln? "Honest fun for everyone."
4.) The streets named after the presidents in order. Because I always know where I am.
5.) The gym. Elliptical machine with attached cable tv heaven.
6.) The lab. Where else will I ever find a computing station, cafe, seminar room, sauna, igloo, movie theater, kitchen, hangout, bomb shelter, art studio, non-climate controlled storage facility, pumpkin-carving venue, and banquet hall all rolled into one?

things i will not miss about charleston....
1.) The lab. Temperature fluctuations that could kill cold-blooded animals, unyielding fluorescent lights, uncooperative network drive, faint coloring of panic and desperation in the painted walls, sinister cocoon-like atmosphere wherein no matter how awesome I am, there are very few jobs for historical administration butterflies constantly hanging overhead.
2.) Route 16. Most fast food joints per capita, ever.
3.) Mattoon Depot. Am all for restoring it to former glory, but the five mind-numbing hours I spent there waiting for the inexcusably late Amtrak really served to dispel any architectural nostalgia.
4.) Wal-mart, Wal-mart, everywhere. And not a good freaking piece of produce to be found.
5.) The convoluted layout of the library. Keeping the old facade = good. Creating a firetrap with a dearth of entrances/exits and one stairway = bad.
6.) Explaining to people that no, I am not living in South Carolina.

things about charleston that will haunt me for the rest of my days...
1.) Vinyl siding. I will never be able to escape it.
2.) Lincoln. He's here, he's there, he's everywhere. And sometimes those chainsaw statues appear in my nightmares.
3.) The origins of Jimmy John's and "Burger King." Is it sad that these are the best Charleston/Mattoon stories that I will bear to the outside world?
4.) The two-story outhouse. A conceptual problem for any designer worth his salt.
5.) The F drive. Never again will I be able to hear a description of "lacy" dresses without visions of "Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of exhibit label text 12-05 8pm" dancing in my head.
6.) Tilford Dudley. Sometimes, at night, when I'm diligently reading, and not dancing or dating women, I can feel a pencil-stached presence nodding approvingly over my shoulder...

best things about bbc's robin hood

1. Richard Armitage in black leather
2. Hilariously anachronistic costumes and dialogue in quasi-historical setting
3. Insertion of moral ambiguity into cut-and-dried legend that normally resembles morality play
4. Dubious but wonderful premise that hooded cloak serves as universally adequate disguise
5. "We are Robin Hood" - friendship, loyalty and ridiculously intricate plots and plans
6. Kick-butt Marian who has romantic tension with both Robin and Guy