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Homeowner

I'm finally house poor like all my friends. I'm also abandoning lovely Arlington and moving into Washington DC. I am very excited and can't wait to move, just booked the uhaul for next week.

I will be living in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. This is a great neighborhood that is getting better. I will only be three blocks from the Metro station. Next to the metro a Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Target all just opened. As well as a half dozen new restaurants. There is also a wonderful neighborhood bar just around the corner called Wonderland, nice little Alice In Wonderland theme.

Below is also a map of the house location so you can satisfy your curiosity and see where I am. I'm going to miss the bike trail right down the street, but that is the price you pay to have ownership, I guess. The pictures that are currently up on my Flickr are from before they finished with the kitchen and basement, I will have some new pics up once I get the place cleaned up.

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It must be that time of the month for Mother Nature

Mother Nature sure was a moody biotch this week. The week started with some beautiful weather in the 50s and sunny (after having a near 70 degree day the week before). I was walking to the always delicious Pot Belly's to get me some lunch and I even saw the first leaves popping out of a tree. I love that first vibrant green of spring it so beautiful.

But I was being naive. I should have know winter wouldn't go calmly. The very next day the high was around 28 and the wind chill was so bad on the Metro platform that I wanted to curl into a ball and huddle in a corner until my train came.

Then just a days after that we are back with temps in the mid 50s and constant sun (even possible to get into the 60s this week). I can't wait for spring, it should be here shortly, but until then I'll be skiing in Maine much of next week, where the weather only knows how to do one thing, be cold... very, very cold.

A Long Night

I was pleasantly surprised to discover a few weeks ago that my current favorite DJ would be coming to do a show in DC. I've been following ATB for the last three years and even traveled up to NYC to attend a show. So when I found out he would be at Fur I immediately bought a pair of advance tickets and convinced a friend to tag along.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not much of a club person. I'm that guy who just leans on the wall sipping a drink and enjoying the music. I feel no need to jump out in the middle of the dance floor and get all crazy and sweaty, which will lead to problems shortly.

When I arrived at the club the lines were predictably long, but moved fine. I was inside in no time. Even the coat check was nice and quick so I decided to avoid the hassle of carrying my coat all night (mistake). I arrived at 10, so quite a bit of time to kill be fore ATB came on at 1am (I'll never understand why clubs can't bring the headliner on earlier, would it be so bad to only have the crowd dancing until 3 as opposed to the 4 or 5 completion due to the late start). Got a nice spot leaning on the front of the raised VIP dance floor, nicely located toward the rear of the dance floor but with a view of everything (another mistake).

Things started getting bad around midnight. I've never seen so many people packed into a club before. I assumed that NYC would have had the big crowds but the club up there had so much free space to move around in that I know I was spoiled by it. So I spend the next hour waiting the headliner and trying not to get knocked over or crushed into the wall by the sheer mass of humanity that is trying to fit on the dance floor.

All the discomfort seems to be worth it as ATB takes the stage and performs an enjoyable set. At about 2:15am I'm feeling a little worn, the Jungle Party being the day before, and decide to call it a night so I have time time to get my coat and catch the metro. I had only had one drink and was wishing I had driven since it is such a long metro ride, but that is still better than the 30 dollar cab ride it would be to get back to Arlington.

This is where the night takes a downward turn. The coat check is off a room with a different DJ. Not as crowded, but still full. The coat check line runs in front of some VIP seating and then turns the corner to go to the actual coat check room. The line when we enter it is about 4 couches down from that corner. It takes about 20 minutes to make it down the first three couches, but another hour and ten to make it past the last couch, turn the corner and get our coats. You heard correctly, an HOUR AND A HALF in the coat check line. We were entertained by an inexperienced VIP guest, vomiting all over himself and his friends coats, and a helpless bouncer shouting into a megaphone trying to restore order to the coat check line. My friends in the line around me were all in the correct line from the beginning (I call them my friends because our shared trauma brought us closer together :-), however about twenty minutes after we got in line the DJ in that room stopped playing and everyone there decided to disregard the line and just try to walk straight into the coat check room. I still get a little shaken up just thinking about it, I still have a bruise on my elbow from being crushed into a wall about an hour into the line.

I witnessed the lowest state of humanity this night and vow never to return to Fur wearing a coat. Consider yourselves warned.

BTW. ATB rocks! I'll just stick with seeing him in NYC next time he is in the country.

Voting

For the first time in my life I got to vote in a primary election that mattered. Apparently everyone else in my prescint was just as excited because i hadn't seen lines this long since the last presidential elections. I have a complaint with how they do the primary here, though. Instead of the usual splitting of the line by alphabet they split it by which party's primary you are voting in. In Arlington, that means that only about 1 in 30 were voting in the Republican primary so to be fair they had everyone wait in the same line and just declare party when they finally made it to the front of the line, which took about an hour. So the whole time in line I would keep looking over and there was never more than one of the 4 voting machines in use, mainly since there was only one question because of a lack of local primary decisions to be made.


So I finally arrive at the front of the line and state my name and address for the whole room to hear and get my little paper to vote. They start up the machine and enter the party for me. But then I just stand there staring. In the weeks, days, and hour in line I am still undecided about who to vote for. In the end I just go with Obama, since he is listed first. But, as we saw, it didn't really matter since Obama won the state with sixty-some percent of the vote.


I can't wait till November, I might just have to take off on election day so I don't have to spend two hours in line to try and vote before work...

look at me!

I know, it's amazing. I am actually doing a blog post. Many of you may ask why (that is if anyone is even reading this after so few posts), but the simple answer is that i don't feel like working. Pretty pathetic since i just spent the last week and a half not working, but a reality nonetheless.

What I've been up to:

Christmas. A surprisingly fun time spent with the family. The best part about the little niece and nephew is that as long as they are around the family drama is kept to a minimum. Nobody can get pissed when you have a three year old girl running around shouting "I have the power". He-Man is just too cute.

New Years Eve. A fun party, even with a less than expected turnout. My new weakness is officially the ice luge. It makes shots waaay too much fun! But I think i managed to maintain my dignity, and stayed awake until most of my friends left (and provided entertainment for those who hadn't left yet). Overall a good way to welcome in the new year. The following day was another story. Plush carpeting and vomit, left to sit overnight, do not mix all that well, and cause an all day cleaning effort. That is the price paid to the party gods for our many vomit free events of the past.

Work, Work, Work. The last thing i've been up to, mixed in with all this fun, is working. One can not truly appreciate two full months of slacking until one has spend three fifteen to seventeen hour days in a row in the office. I admit I only have my self to blame, but that doesn't change the fact that I suck.

Now I look to the new year ahead. The NYC triathlon looms ahead at the mid point, and condo/house shopping should keep me busy in the near term. I hope I have all kinds of fun adventures to share along the way. I leave with my annual wish that this year will be better than last year, and hopefully the best one yet.