inauguration pics

We stood right in front of the Washington Monument. It's a good spot - it's on a hill, so you can see the Capitol.


Our view while waiting for the festivities to get underway:
(The Capitol is the building in the middle, a mile away. Those trees are blocking the dome.) Our view at 12:05 p.m.:


So many tacky t-shirts, so little cash:

inauguration report

I went to the inauguration. It was way fun. After months of dire warnings, let me share Alsho's and my experience:

7:45 a.m. Arrived at the metro. Spent about three minutes in line. Got on a half-empty car on the first train that arrived.

8:35 a.m. Ok, it took about twice as long as usual to get to the stop we were planning to walk from. But we were sitting down, and we were warm, so who cares?

9:15 a.m. Got to the grounds of the Washington Monument, found a spot, stood there. It was cold but layers pretty much worked, and sometimes the sun came out.

12:05 p.m. Watched Obama get sworn in on the jumbotron.

1:00 p.m. Started walking away from the Mall. Decided it would be a good idea to use the, er, restroom. Walked up to a port-a-potty, didn't wait in line, walked right in.

2:00 p.m. Got on the metro. The car we got on had exactly one person besides us. (When we got on, which was before downtown - it filled up a bit more, but not much.)

2:30 p.m. Sitting on the couch watching TV and drinking hot toddies.

So, basically: It went pretty darn smoothly from my point of view. I love big public events. Also, a new love: the sound of millions of mittens clapping. It sounds like thunder.

belated summer recipe

I don't know how frozen yogurt is doing in other places, but here in D.C. we've suddenly got three trendy places offering yogurt that tastes like yogurt, not like fake ice cream, and comes with various delicious toppings. I've been to two of the stores, a number of times now, and every time I've gotten my yogurt with blueberries and honey.

So last week I was walking back to the office with compatriots, eating one of these, and I thought, hey, I have yogurt at home. And blueberries. And honey. I consulted a number of recipes for frozen yogurt, and here's what I did:

2 cups lowfat (2%) plain yogurt
1/2 cup honey
1 cup blueberries (or whatever)
1 tablespoon vodka (or kirsch or whatever) - supposedly this helps it not get icy

1. Mix yogurt, honey, and vodka. Stir in the blueberries. Mush some of the blueberries up, but leave most of them whole.
2. Freeze overnight in a 9x13 inch cake pan, covered tight with foil or plastic wrap. Stir every 45 minutes or so. I mean, don't stir all night - I did this for like the first four hours, then went to bed because it didn't seem to be freezing. But I can't even tell you if the stirring was necessary at all.
3. Break up the frozen product and transfer into a container with a tight top.
4. Enjoy!

The texture is icier than ice cream. The blueberries freeze solid, which is pretty fun. Worst case, if the freezing doesn't work out for you: stick it in the fridge to thaw. It'll still taste good.

actually, the occupants can stay

Yesterday I took a bus that goes past the White House and as we passed behind Lafayette Park, I saw some people standing around wrapped in Georgian flags, which was mildly exciting. Things got better when we turned the corner and there was an actual little crowd marching with signs and banners:


That big banner is illegible, so I'll help you out: "RUSSIAN OCCUPANTS OUT OF GEORGIA." "Occupants" was kind of squished in and hard to read (the girls behind me: "Russian...something out of Georgia.") Also, I think they meant 'occupiers.' But anyway. An exciting day in D.C.

kayaking

Much better today, thanks to J.Bro - still waiting for the rest of you layabouts to leave me jokes. (They don't have to be good jokes. Seriously.)

Tonight after work I kayaked around on the Potomac for 45 minutes or an hour. This was about 10,000 times better than the rest of my day. (In which thing #1 from yesterday became no longer true.)

The kayaking was part of a party for my department. And, I'll admit, I was completely dreading this party. But then I got there and the host was all, Towwas, cmon, let's get you in a kayak! And I said, uh, ok, because she can be difficult to work with and I would like to please her. She picked out a particularly stable kayak for me and held it while I got in. Five minutes later I was halfway to Virginia. When she caught up with me later on the river, she said, "Towwas! You're like a duck!"

There was wide, slow-moving water. There were trees and baby ducks. A great blue heron and big sky with clouds and glorious sun rays. And after that, sangria and hummus and chocolate chip bars and so on. And now I am very tired.

commuting news

Apparently the local commute made national news today, so let me tell you, yeah: It was truly awful. For everyone but me.

First, the overview: Power went out in a big part of downtown, so tons of office buildings lost power. Dead traffic lights meant traffic was such a disaster that three pedestrians were hit by cars. There were two fires, several hours apart, in the biggest downtown metro station (little fires, but big enough to shut down one tunnel). Several stations lost power; one had to close because the escalators are so long that people walking up kept needing medical attention. One guy's implanted defibrillator went off (ouch).

Now, my morning: At 8:30, I got on the metro. The train was a little slow, but got to the station at close to my normal time - I think I managed to travel in the window between the two track fires. The power was out at my stop, but there were emergency lights so it wasn't too dark. I strolled out the open fare gates. I walked up the short escalator. The one street I crossed had working traffic lights. The power was on in my office.

Yup. On the most disastrous commuting day of the year, in the most disastrous commuting week of the year - a day when, I note bitterly, lots of people didn't have to work 'cause their offices had no power - I had a perfectly normal day.

tornadoes

We are having a giNORmous storm today. It's in wave two right now, with tornado warnings in a bunch of Virginia counties and a tornado watch in D.C. This afternoon at work I was looking out my window and in about 15 minutes it went from a little overcast to yellow to dark as night, then started raining in sheets. I was following warnings online and called my mom after I saw a tornado warning for their county. Then I called again after I saw the somewhat more specific one about a storm with "severe rotation" headed toward a list of neighborhoods including the one where my parents live. (All is fine at home.)

This is one of the many times when it is particularly awesome to have huge south-facing windows. Rehearsal tonight (the first meeting for the Christmas show!) was cancelled because the power's out where we were supposed to have it.

Seriously, though. Aren't tornadoes supposed to stay in the Midwest? I only remember one tornado from when I was growing up around here.

Question of the day: Do we have more tornadoes now or better detection? Or do we just get more worked up about them than we used to?

embassy roof

Tonight I took a mini-vacation to Sweden with S.Ball and Mr. Ball-to-be. The Swedish embassy has great public programs - tonight it was a free concert by a Swedish big band. They played on the embassy's rooftop deck, people stood around and chatted, the Potomac was brown and flowing fast, the bar was well stocked (*two* kinds of aquavit!), a good time was had. All embassies should have this kind of programming.

The other day my aunt and uncle were greatly shocked when I told them how much I pay for my apartment. They live out in the middle of the country, and pointed out that I could be getting a three-bedroom house there. But...yeah, I think I'd rather be here.

small town

The exit at my metro stop is aaaallll the way at one end of the platform, so on the way home most people going here ride in the last car. I know a ton of people who live around here, so whenever I get on the train, I look around for anyone I know. I decided I have to be proactive about it after the second time I happened to be caught without a book, had an especially deadly boring ride, then realized at the end that someone I knew and would have enjoyed chatting with was sitting right near me.

You'd be surprised how often I find someone - a few weeks ago I saw a hand waving when I got on and it belonged to my Norwegian dance sister (people assume we're sisters - apparently we look that much alike). She'd just gotten back from Norway and we had a grand old chat about our respective European vacations. Tonight I'd been sitting there for a while when I realized a woman sitting across from me used to give me rides home from this choir I used to be in (with Tall L). Her son is in the same high school program I was in and is about to go on the awesome 10th grade trip.

It's nice when I find people to make up for my failure to carry reading material. Although I'll admit I'm less happy when I run into people in the morning, when the metro is silent as the tomb, any talking is against the unwritten rules, and I personally would rather be sleeping.

elephants!

Ever since I saw the circus train go by a few weeks ago, I've had circus on the brain, so this year, for once, it actually stuck in my mind when I heard that the annual elephant walk was coming up. They unload the elephants from the train in Southeast D.C. and walk them the three miles or so to where the circus performs. So yesterday S.Vix and I were ready and waiting across the street from Union Station (about two miles along the route).


It was really kind of adorable - they walk holding onto the tail of the elephant in front of them, just like a bunch of kindergarteners holding hands on a field trip.


After the elephants came some horses, then some clowns in convertibles, and finally this guy bringing up the rear, although I can't imagine that those spinning brushes really do much for elephant poop other than, like, fling it around.

After the elephants went by I decided to try and catch them again as they arrived at the Verizon Center. I caught the metro at Union Station, rode two stops, speed-walked the block to the loading dock - and got there just in time to see the street sweeper. So I think that answers the question: Is it faster to take metro from Union Station to Gallery Place or ride an elephant?

buses

Check it out, in Berlin they can tell you exactly what buses are coming and when. D.C. is supposed to get a system like this, but...I'll believe when I see it. Actually, I won't even believe it then. They have the displays in some bus stops, but I've never seen them show any information.

In Berlin some of the main routes also have double-decker buses. They're yellow and awesome. Part of the awesomeness is that they go along major tourist routes and allow you to feel superior to the people who pay $30 a day to ride the tourist buses. Here's the view out the front of the upper level of one of the buses:

office of security

Last night I was on my way home from Miss Shirley's when I saw a bunch of flashing lights up ahead. This is on the 2-block stretch of sketchiness, so this was not that surprising, and actually a little reassuring - it was 1:30 a.m. and I'd just as soon have a bunch of cops around when I go through that bit of the route. As I turned onto M Street, I saw a lot of police cars, a lot of cops, no apparent bad guys, and a bunch of white things all over the street. Turned out the cops were collecting pieces of paper and putting them in big clear plastic bags. I was mildly tempted to open my door and grab one while I was stopped at the light, but instead I settled for staring and figured out that many of them were pages of signatures that said "OFFICE OF SECURITY" across the top.

money

Is it just me, or is this one of the dumbest articles ever? I mean...seriously, there are people who don't realize that if you're making $47,000 a year, maybe you shouldn't be spending $300 a week on going out? Ok, obviously there are people who don't know this, because she writes about them.

But this quote is what really annoys me most about the story:

D.C. is also a town where networking is part necessity, part hobby. It's a town of lawyers, lobbyists and consultants, a town of power lunches, happy hours and party-hopping. There are people who make tons of money and people who make so-so money, and you don't want to be shut out of the social scene even if your salary is not up to par.

"It's a town where people want to fit in, so I think sometimes people will spend in order to fit in, and that might mean dining out a little too much or buying clothes that are a little too expensive," said Kim Reed, a financial planner with Garrett Planning Network in Chevy Chase. "It's a very prestigious town. . . . If you live here, you kind of get sucked into that."

I don't think I need to point out that that all this has basically nothing to do with my social life. Those stupid stereotypes about D.C. are so. infuriating. And it's particularly annoying when the big local newspaper, which I expect to have a more comprehensive view of the city, runs the same tired old stereotypes as if they're established fact.

omg click now

I try not to blog at work, but I cannot resist linking to this anagram metro map my editor just sent around. This morning I took the Red Lien in the direction of Harvey's Dog! And I used to work near Woof-Gym Butt Gog....

dmv redemption

You may remember my fully-illustrated visit to the DMV a few weeks ago - there was much waiting, much sitting around, and to top off the fun, I failed for having a bad seal on my gas cap. (Oooops - sorry 'bout those fumes, atmosphere.)

Today was my last chance to get the car re-inspected without having to pay another inspection fee, so I had to go, even though it's a Saturday and a holiday weekend and everyone else would be there, too.

I was ready for a major ordeal. I left the house at about 7:15 with a bag of magazines, snacks, and cough medicines. (The inspection station opens at 7 on Saturday, but I have limits.) When I got close to the DMV, there was no line of cars around the corner and I thought, oh no, it's closed. But no - there just weren't that many people. I waited about 20 minutes, they tested my car, it passed, and I went around the corner to register and get a new title.

Anyway, I am now the proud owner of a pair of D.C. license plates. I thought the Maryland plates were better-looking, but I defy you to find a better license plate slogan than D.C.'s.

Since I said last time I'd bring my real camera on my next visit, here's one of the few photos I had time to take, displaying the extraordinary cleanliness of my back window:


Yesterday I paid my mechanic to get the rest of the tinting film and the horrible glue off the back window - I was afraid some overzealous inspector would fail me for the shreds of purple left behind after the scraping party on the last visit. I kept looking in the rear-view mirror and being shocked at how much I could see.

not so good guys

Holy cow! Tonight I was driving to Norwegian dancing and a bunch of firetrucks and police cars passed me, and it turned out Wisconsin Ave (major thoroughfare) was closed off. There was a big ol truck with its ladder up and everything. These things are usually way less dramatic than they seem, of course, but when I went by again three hours later, there were still lots of emergency vehicles. Turns out it was this. Yikes!

dancin'

Yesterday I was waiting for a friend outside a restaurant and this guy was totally gettin' down on the sidewalk. The whole time I was there, just dancin'. It was no particular surprise that he didn't have any music, but I thought at least he could put out a cap or a cup or something for quarters. He had about 100 people within 50 feet, some of them would have given him something. (Apologies for the photo quality - all I had was my phone.)

stripey street

Tonight on our way to drink with N.Lu, S.Vix was alarmed when I suddenly started digging for my camera. She thought I'd lost the camera; in fact, I was just really excited about this street. (That's the National Archives, in case anyone else wants to go find the stripes.)

But the much, much more exciting visual thing that happened today was this: I got my old office back. When I started at my new employer six months ago (not so new anymore, is it?), I got a beautiful window office, and I was in heaven. Heaven, I tell you. Suddenly, the world had sky and clouds and weather and birds and other things that I never used to see. Then after six weeks, due to various ridiculous political machinations, I was moved to an interior office/sensory deprivation chamber. Now, four months later, the machinations have put me back where I started. And it is good.

talking to strangers

Today I was walking to get some lunch when this guy asked me if this was the downtown part of D.C. It took me longer to answer than it should have ("downtown" has a specific, boring geographical meaning and I have a literal mind; "yes" would have been a fine answer), and I asked him if he was looking for something, and he said he'd just moved to town this morning. Anyway, I ended up talking to this complete stranger in front of the empanadas store for, like, 10 minutes. Now, don't go thinking this is the opening scene of a romantic comedy - he was old. But he has an interesting job, and maybe he can feed me story ideas.

Since when do I talk to strangers? I feel like this is a relatively new thing. Ok, talking to a complete stranger for that long, not normal at all. (Only possible explanation is that he'd just moved here from the west coast and hadn't figured out that we don't do that over here.) But I find there is more chatting with strangers than there used to be. If I had a tween daughter, can you imagine how embarrassed she would be by me?

today

Today I sang in a little concert at the World Bank. Does it get more D.C. than that? I also saw a ridiculously large motorcade. It better have been the president, because no one else could possibly need a half-freakin-mile of entourage...although I think for the president they also have circling helicopters and random cop cars (DC, Park Police, Secret Service - a potpourri o' police) stationed at all the intersections.

Once when I was walking to work from the metro, a few years ago, there was this Park Police helicopter going around and around and around and around, really low. Finally, as I was walking across Rock Creek Park, it landed - this freaking huge helicopter - on a tiny, tiny bit of grass. One of the dudes inside got out...and checked out an open manhole. I can't remember if he actually got into the manhole, but he definitely poked around in the back of the workers' pickup truck. Then he got back in the helicopter and they flew away. That was the entire point of the whole 15-minute thing. To check out a manhole cover along a motorcade route. Dontcha think they could've sent a dude in a car to do that? There were plenty of cars around, seeing as how they were stationed at all the intersections.

Anyway. Don't forget to scroll down to the next entry and tell J.Bro how awesome he is. Only two more awesomeness comments to go, my friends.