In Vino Veritas

This weekend I spent a bunch of time palling around with an old pal, whom I oft reference in this blog. Friday evening I was feeling in the mood for a quiet night in and this pal was more than willing to oblige my desire. After work I quickly ran to get some a fine box of wine for our enjoyment and some sunchips. I later learned that against all logic my pal hates sunchips (though seemed to enjoy them quite a bit after a few glasses of vino). I am still confounded by this discovery. Sunchips have a great multigrain taste that I find irresistible; oh well, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum. Anyway, my pal came over and we had some wine on the front porch and then shared a tasty frozen pizza. After doing this, I thought it might be a good idea to sit on top of the porch. There's a sturdy awning and I've wanted to "chill" on top of it for a while. So, we brought the box of wine and my guitar on the roof and proceeded to rock out. We sat on the roof for a long time singing songs and drinking wine. The night ended with an episode of The West Wing, I mean we are political science majors at heart.

Saturday, after shaking cobwebs out of our brains we met up by the Washington Monument for a nice bike. We made it within seven miles of Mount Vernon before we realized that we were quickly losing daylight and should head home. All told I got in thirty-five miles on the bike, I would consider that a decent ride. After going home, showering, and collecting myself I headed over to my pal's house where we watched more West Wing and I drank some more wine. The pal wasn't feeling quite up to wine after the night before so she enjoyed a refreshing Heineken. During the third episode of the West Wing, there was an incident wherein I spilled my wine onto the white carpet of the house I was in. Thanks to quick actions, the carpet now shows very few signs of the carnage.

Finally, it was time to come home and I headed to the bus stop to pick up the D6. After waiting for quite some time my pal suggested that cab would be a quicker route home as there was no bus in sight. I agreed and decided that I should try hailing a taxi to take me back to my place of residence. I flagged one down, told the driver where I wanted to go, and was then told he would not give me a ride. Okay, peculiar, but I tried again. The second cab I hailed did the same thing. The third cab, the same thing. It took the forth cab I tried to get me a ride home. I'm not sure why this happened. I did not have a gun, I was not falling down drunk, and I had plenty of cash. I'm pretty sure refusing me service is against the law, but I didn't have the wherewithal to jot down any pertinent information to lodge a complaint. I eventually made it home and all was well. But seriously, what the hell?

Stay tuned for more news from the city with jackass cab drivers.

These Days

Well, it occurred to me that I haven't updated this blog in a few days, and I'm sure that my huge reader base is in withdrawal. There hasn't been too much going on lately that is interesting or exciting, at least nothing that I am comfortable posting on teh intarwebs (at least not yet). In the interests of having this post not solely discuss my anger at the D6 bus, I will share with you some of the things I have been reading lately.

The two books that I read most recently are The Shipping News and Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries. The former is a piece of fiction and the latter is a book about black holes. I should say that The Shipping News was recommended to me by a good pal and was a great recommendation. It is quite possibly the best piece of fiction I have read in a long time (if you've checked my facebooks recently you'll notice it made it into my "Favorite Books" list.) I have already passed it along to one of my roommates in the hopes that he will read it and enjoy it as thoroughly as I do. It's sort of dark and I was worried a lot of the way through it that the lose plot ends wouldn't be tied up satisfactorily, but they were. I've been thinking about it a lot lately about what makes books good, but having not majored in English, and being not nearly as pretentious as people give me credit for, I have trouble quantifying what makes literature good. This one was good though.

The second book I mentioned is something I have been wanting to read for a long time. It is by Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is definitely my favorite astrophysicist. It is a compilation of essays Dr. Tyson has written throughout the years and they are all witty and informative. I learned a lot about space and I am now armed with more useless facts to spout out about space and bore others. I would suggest it for anyone who is interested in science! and wants an easy read (that is not to say that it is elementary, but I am even less of an English major than I am a science! major and I had no trouble understanding it.)

Also, I have started two new books, Le comte de Monte-Cristo (that deserves a double italics) and Dreaming in Cuban. I am enjoying the former more than the latter but will continue to work my way through both of them--presumably I will be done with the latter before the former as it is 900(ish) less pages.

Finally, a ridiculous occurrence today with the D6. As I walked home two buses passed me. The past three times I walked home from work I did not spot a single bus, today two! What the hell! (Said in the style of you know who.) Anyway, that's all for today folks. Stay tuned for more "interesting" stories from the city designed by a Frenchman.

A Touch of Class

Two cool things happened in D.C. today and both of them took place on "The Mall." For the uninitiated, The Mall is the Smithsonian complex. Contrary to some belief there are many Smithsonian museums, The Museum of Natural History, The Air and Space Museum (but there's no air in space), and so on and so forth. Around one I went for a jog after a week and a half hiatus. I needed to get back into my groove. Anyway, on the way back on my jog I ran past some war protestors. They get pretty fancy on the weekends, public address systems, big tents, et cetera. This particular group had a stage with speakers and some microphones, I can only assume they were trying to rouse rabble at some point. But, the story has gotten off track. The song that was being played while I ran past their booth was Masters of War, a classic Dylan song from his second album, “The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.” For those of you unfamiliar with this song I would direct you here. The point of this story is to say, nothing like a little Bobby Zimmerman to put a spring in your step as you go jogging.

Now, as awesome as Bob Dylan is, he isn't the touch of class that I am referring to in my title. Today I was reminded by an old pal of something I had intended on doing on The Mall. Today was the day that La bohème was performed on the aforementioned mall. Once a year, for three years now, the Washington National Opera Company simulcasts their performances on a large screen with large speakers. The audio-visual display is set up on the north side of the Washington Monument, the side facing the White House. For those of you who are not familiar with La bohème, I would direct you here. This was my first opera experience and it was pretty cool. It began at two and was a two and a half hour performance with intermission included. I have to say, though, that if I knew these people in real life I don't think that I could stomach them. Everyone was quite melodramatic and the fact that they never talk but sing could become a little taxing. Like all good opera goers I had Coors Light and cashews. Not exactly caviar and one hundred year old scotch, but it was classy enough for me. Anyway, things are shaping up.

Government Pork

Yesterday was an exciting day at work. Since I have been in my office I can't think of a day that was more action packed. I am speaking of course of the National Pork Producers dinner. It is apparently the place to see and eat copious amounts of pork. Reportedly, most of the Hill shows up for this glorification of the dirtiest of animals. I, being as mindless and sheeplike as the rest of my compatriots, decided that going to this reception would be a great idea.

The event began at six but knowing that it would be crowded I decided that showing up at 5:35 would be in my stomach's best interests. When I got to the door I was, naturally, asked if I had RSVP'd and I, naturally, replied that I had not. I asked if it would be okay to just fill out a name tag and proceed in. This led to questions about the closeness of my office. I was also informed that the event was not scheduled to begin until six, and might I be able to come back later. I informed the kind woman that my office was in another building and asked her if she was instructing me to leave and come back. I never had my question answered and took this as tacit approval of my admission.

So, I am now through the door, but what to do first? The only people in the room at this point were pork producers/lobbyists and little ole me. The line for the pork was a little long so I did what any sensible person on a budget does, and went to the bar. I finally managed to tried a Pilsner Urquell (the only thing they had cold in the indoor bar). I would give it a B. With my frosty beverage in hand I queued and waited for my turn at the pork. I eventually had some rib tips, Frenched pork chops, scrambled eggs with sweet corn, bacon, and cheese, and a ham and some other meat (I assume a type of pork) panini slice. I took this food down fairly quickly, grabbed another beer (Sam Adams (they had them cold on the balcony)) and got back in line. To be tangential for a moment, the setting for the reception was excellent. It was the Agriculture (unsurprising) hearing room. The hearing room has a door that opens to a balcony that overlooks Independence Ave., and by virtue of the building’s placement, the Capitol. As I was saying, I grabbed a Sam Adams and got back in line. I was mostly full at this point, but in exchange for letting me duck out of work before 6:00 I promised a co-worker a plate laden with meat in return. Luckily, the teeming masses showed up as I was about to leave. I managed to abscond with my pilfered meat and no one was the wiser.

An interesting end note, I walked home from work again last night, I was full of pork and it was nice out. And yes, I beat the bus home.

Stay tuned for more news from the city with the most visited museum in the world (for those of you in Paris, that's the Air and Space Museum). (The Paris comment has nothing to do with any prejudices against the French or admirers of the French, simply that is that city that contains the Musée du Louvre. You see, the Louvre is the most visited art museum in the world but the Air and Space Museum routinely boasts more visitors a year (by a couple million.))

Alumni Affairs

On Tuesday my alma mater had an alumni event on the rooftop of a law firm on Eye street. I, being hungry and always in search of free food and drink, thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to schmooze with big wig alumni. (As it turns out I spent most of the evening talking to my fellow '07s.) Four members of my university were flown from Illinois out to D.C. for this event—The President, the Director and Assistant Director of Alumni Affairs, and the chair of the Business Department. I guess they figure that Washington Alumni have deep pockets because it seems like that's a hefty bill to foot for what is essentially a fund raiser that had about thirty guests (not to mention all the beer I drank and food I ate). I often wondered why it was my tuition continued to increase at a steady rate while I was a student, and I think the picture is becoming clearer.

Throughout the course of the evening I very rarely left the bar or the buffet table (I cannot stress how poor I am enough, free things are fantastic (and the buffalo wings were the most elegant I've ever eaten)) but I did manage to have a couple of conversations with people I didn't go to college with. The President was making his rounds dutifully and naturally stopped by to say hello to me. Shortly after realizing that I work on Capitol Hill and barely have enough money for rent he moved on to those with deeper pockets. I remain fairly well amazed at his ability to discern my ability to give back to IWU and judge me as unworthy of continued conversation within a minute or so.

The evening was not a complete bust, though. Across the street from the law firm is one of my favorite night spots in D.C., The Bottom Line. I was introduced to this establishment by an alumnus who was working on a master's degree while I was spending a semester in D.C. a little while ago. It has a good feel and decent drink specials and someone, I'm not sure who, suggested that after the event we retire to The Bottom Line for perhaps an oat soady. I then lobbied the aforementioned chair of the business department to join our motley crew at the aforementioned bar. It may very well be my Capitol Hill experience is working because I got him to come along. We enjoyed a few drinks and went our separate ways worse for the wear. The aftermath is unimportant, but I believe good times were had by all.

Links

Also, F.Y.I. I had added a tasty link to my page. It is the link to my former college roommate's blog. There you will find tales of whimsy and wonder from the Land of the Rising Sun (for those of you in the House of Lords, that's Japan).

D6

My hate of the D6 bus line is very well documented; in that I complain about it all the time to everyone I meet. I have two ways to get home from work, take the train then walk ten minutes, or traverse the Capitol (complete with tram ride to Senate Office Buildings (yeah, I know you’re jealous (because it’s so awesome))) take the bus and get let off right in front of my house. I take the train to work because the D6 bus either gets me to work 20 minutes early or 10 minutes late. Coming home, though, I don't have to worry about punching in on time and can take a slower route if I so choose. Since the bus costs $.10 less than the train I take the bus home everyday. (Interestingly, taking the bus home recently led to me running into an old classmate from American University.)

The weather was pretty nice yesterday—about 68 degrees when I left work at 6:05 pm. When I reached the point in front of Union Station where a co-worker and I normally split ways I decided that I would walk home. The stroll was nice and my iPod kept me company. The best part of the walk, though, is that I tied the bus. It literally took the same amount of time to walk home from work as it would have if I had stood on the bloody corner and waited for the bus to pick me up. Last week after coming home from Silver Springs I also decided to walk home, not because it was breezy and I wanted to clear my head but rather because I waited twenty minutes for a bus and none came. Oh, and during the entire walk home no buses showed up, and I walked the bus route back. Several days ago I went to visit a pal in Georgetown. I had to wait at least twenty minutes for a bus each way. Between the waiting time for the bus and the time spent sitting on the bus, I could have biked to her house faster, probably even have jogged there faster.

If only I lived on the D8 line, I'd be made in the shade. Normally three D8 buses run past the Union Station bus stop before a single D6 shows up. The bottom line is this America, the D6 bus line needs to get its act together. Start running more buses during peak hours of transportation. There is no reason that there should be a forty minute wait between buses at 6:00 pm.

Stay tuned for more tales of woe from the city whose license plates read “No Taxation Without Representation.”

Inagural Post

Good morning internets. It is pretty early in the morning and I am unable to sleep. It is too late to keep drinking and too early to start so I've looked to my mistress the intarwebs to pass the time. Where's a picture of a big truck when you need one?

I'm sure all of you know this already but I am in Washington D.C., the Federal City, the birthplace of democracy, America's Capital. If you want to watch democracy inaction, this is where you go. (See what I did there?) Currently, I have a job on Capitol Hill (or as Washington insiders call it "The Hill"). (Also an interesting note, Washington insiders don't call Washington D.C. Washington, it's D.C. So if you want to come here and sound initiated into all of D.C.'s glory make sure you don't call it Washington, or Lexington for that matter.)

Now I know what you're all thinking, "You work for the United States House of Representatives, you're so kickass!" And, while I am pretty kickass I don't think that it is tied to my current job. There's a little saying around D.C. about Capitol Hill (The Hill), I haven't learned it yet because I haven't been here too long, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with all the Rogers that work there and how you have to be an idiot to take a job there. But, I was a political science major, (like every other person on Capitol Hill) so I guess this is my calling--much like moderately priced soaps. There is one thing I know about the Hill that is pretty awesome though, it has the nickname of "The Last Plantation." You see Congress, being the lawmakers, decided that they should exempt themselves from virtually every labor law on the books, pretty much the only thing they're not allowed to do is ask you if you are a Republican or Democrat. For those of you keeping score at home, they do anyway. Several weeks ago there were fliers going around for a blood drive. The posters asked that each Congressional office have one intern volunteer to donate blood. They went on to say, "Interns on Capitol Hill are treated notoriously poorly. Everything is taken from them but their blood, and now we want that too." I thought it was pretty cute, and yes an intern from our office gave blood. Brilliant.

Stay tuned in for more stories from the city with more lawyers per capita than any other city in the United States.