The Blind Julia Roberts

My morning bus attracts a lot of different characters.  There's the regular blue and white collar folks who ride to work but we also get the occasional homeless person and the day laborers who aren't that far from being homeless and aren't part of the regular bus crowd.  These guys are functional but smell, look and act like alcoholics.  Today one of these "fuctional" alcoholics boarded the bus when I was already sitting down (in the handicapped section).  I had my sunglasses on because the sun was right in my eye.  The next thing I know this guy is having a one sided conversation with himself.  Well, with me, but it was one-sided because I couldn't see him (the glasses) and I decided not to engage him in conversation.
 He asked me if I was blind and then when I didn't respond he started talking to me about blind people.  He then started hitting on me by telling me that my hair looks like Julia Roberts, but I couldn't see it because I was blind.  The Hispanic ladies next to me started giggling because they could understand part of the conversation and realized I wasn't blind.  I then realized I had to get off the bus before this guy, but he was hitting on one of the other women on the bus when I got to my bus stop.  

Art

On Saturday Kelli and I went to the National Gallery after eating the election burgers at Good Stuff Eatery.

Guess what?  The Mary Matalin won.  The James Carville?  Just had this odd "fried" taste to it.

I've found that the best time of the year to hit up the Smithsonians in DC is Saturdays in the late fall and winter.  We were headed to the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at the National Gallery.  However, I'm pretty sure we went to the West building first so we could ride through the lighted walk-way.
The Lichtenstein exhibit was interesting.  I'm still not quite sure what to think of his art..but I like the fact that his made me question what is art...just like Warhol's work does at times.

One of the Lichtensteins we saw. 

Bus Stop

Monday evening I happened to be at the Pentagon Bus Terminal at the end of rush hour.  I had about 20 minutes until my bus came so I sat down to read a book* for the paper I'm currently writing.  As I was reading, I noticed a handsome black man trying to catch my eye.  I looked up at him and smiled.  He came over to me and asked what I was reading and then asked for the book.  I gave it to him.  His first question to me was, "are you Mormon?" I said yes.  His face immediately turned angry and disapproving.  I thought, "oh crap, he's been reading all the crazy stuff Randy Botts said in the Washington Post."  He asked me, "Why are you Mormon?" I immediately asked him what faith he was, but that didn't diffuse him.  He asked me again.  I answered him but he didn't like my answer.  He then asked me again and I answered.  At this point, my bus came and I asked for my book back because I didn't want it to end in the trash and I wanted to finish it.

As soon as I sat down on the bus, a gentleman engaged me in conversation (not that it matters, but he was black too).  He wanted to know what the other man said to me.  I told him the story and he shook his head, "Muslims, Mormons and Jews. People get so riled up over you."  He then told me to keep my head up and be proud of what I believed in and other words of encouragement.

Anyway, I've had similar things happen in the past, but never had a stranger give me a verbal pat of encouragement.  I found myself half-way wishing I was reading the book on my Kindle though.

*Dispensation: Latter Day Fiction 

Foo Fighters Friday

Kelli's "Instagram" of the concert Friday night.

Kelli, Chris and I attended the Foo Fighters Concert at the Verizon Center tonight.  Two opening bands and the Foo still played for almost 3 hours.

Heaven...

Last week, I was headed to lunch with a co-worker when we walked by the "Wicked Waffles" cafe.  This waffle shop serves sandwiches with waffles as the bread.  Needless to say, I grabbed a menu and now I can't stop thinking about eating one of their sandwiches.  I'm afraid when I actually go there, the sandwiches won't live up to the hype in my head. 

One More from the Del Ray Halloween Parade

Yoda doesn't have his/her ears on quite right, but.....these two were still pretty cute.

Wordless Wednesday: Del Ray Halloween Parade 2011 Edition

Kelli (best friend), a friend of ours and I attended Del Ray's annual Halloween Parade on Sunday.  The parade starts a little more than 1/3 of a mile from our house and although the parade has a small town feel, an estimated 8k people and dogs participated.  Very fun!
Oh, that "Just Hatched" entry above?  The entry, complete with a zonked out "baby chick" won one of the categories. c

What I Saw Today...

That's an engineer rappelling on the Washington Monument.  Cool eh?  Photo courtesy of NPR.

Craig's List Misers

I've got a couple of Craig's List RSS* Feeds that I've been following for a while.  One thing I find on there is people asking less than 40-50% off retail for a product that's clearly been used. For example, check out this bike rack.  This car rack has been sitting on a car for 3 years in the Virginia area (roof bike racks are notorious for rusting out after a year or so out here) and the owner is asking 33% off or "Best Offer" for the rack.  I'm pretty sure someone could find a comparable deal online for a new rack.  

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

Shake, Shake Shakin'

So, the earthquake yesterday?  Honestly, it wasn't the strongest quake I've ever felt, but that might be due to the fact that I was sitting in a building that was dedicated in the 1930's and is rock solid.  The first 10-15 seconds felt like someone moving furniture on the floor above us.  After that, the building started shaking.  I realized immediately what was going on and moved into the doorway.  The quake stopped after about 45 seconds or so.  My co-workers immediately started speculating. One thought it might've been a bomb, but that idea was shot down pretty quick.  We weren't evacuated immediately, but after about 10 minutes.  Then we stood outside for a while until we were excused to go home.
The buildings in DC aren't built to earthquake regulations to my knowledge, and as my building takes up two city blocks, it's going to take time to inspect the whole building.  I headed to the metro, but a co-worker stopped me at the station and told me to find an alternate way home.  The platforms were crowded and the trains were running at 10 mph.  After that, I walked down to the bus stop.  Another co-worker stopped me, told me that wasn't a great idea and asked me if I wanted to walk with him over to Virigina to another station.  We walked over but as soon as we got to that station, we realized we weren't going to get on a train there anytime soon.  After that, I walked back outside and waited for a hour and a half before getting on a train.  The trains were still crowded and running 10mph but I was able to get on one and home a little after seven in the evening.

Wordless Wednesday: DC Spring Edition

Weekend Accomplishment

I did this to a friend's kite on Saturday on the (National) Mall.  So, uh...how was your weekend?



Footnote:
Flying kites is a great time when you don't put someone elses not cheap kite into a large tree.
I did get the kite out with no damage inccured to the kite.  Yeah!

In Latest News...

I really do live in a quiet neighborhood. Really. But in the almost three years we've lived there, there's been drug deals go down in Kelli's parking spot, a couple of shootings, and last week a body was discovered in a vehicle just across the street of our house. Apparently, a man decided to kill himself next to the park/tennis courts which is kind of unsettling to everyone. Did I mention it really is a quiet, safe neighborhood?

Who Murdered Robert Wone?

In August 2006, Robert Wone spent the night at an old college friend, Joseph Price’s house after working late that evening. Wone, a heterosexual male, lived with his wife in the outer DC suburbs.
Price lived in DC near Dupont Circle with his partner Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward, with whom Price had a relationship with. Price, Zaborsky, and Ward considered themselves a family and Zaborsky and Ward knew Wone fairly well.
According to statements given by the three men, Wone arrived at their DC row house about 10:30 pm. Wone had a glass of water in the kitchen, then everyone went to bed. At 11:49 p.m., Zaborsky called 911 and Wone was found dead with three stab marks in the chest and various needle punctures in his body.
The statements the three men gave about the murder have been contradictory, and it was clear to the police officers and first responders that Price was dictating the story the other two were telling. The defense is trying to prove that Price was obstructing justice because his brother actually killed Wone with the other two going along with Price because they love him.
By late 2008, DC charged the three men with obstruction of justice. The trial is going on right now, and although it’s not a national story, many people in DC are following the day to day trial, partly because of the salacious lives the roommates led.

The summary above has been edited somewhat, but here’s some links if you’re interested in learning more. The best place to learn as much or as little of the details of this case is: http://www.whomurderedrobertwone.com/

The Washington Post also is following the story daily on their local crime page: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime/?hpid=newswell

Return of the Ants

Sunday morning I made 12 muffins. Andrea (our next door neighbor) received 4, Kelli ate 3, I ate 3 and the ants tried to eat 2. Not to mention the ants also made a run on our recycling and my honey yesterday morning too. Greedy ants.

P.S. I can't think of muffins any more without thinking of Jenna from 30 Rock's hit single, "muffin top."

Wordless: Today in DC

Before and After.....

Mother Nature tried to make-over my car last weekend. And by make-over, I mean completely cover it. Well, with the help of some neighbors, we fought back. Here's the pictures.

Roundup:

1)4th of July

My bureau coordinators and I put on a Department of the Interior Length of Service Ceremony several hours before the fireworks go off on the 4th of July. The cool part? A meal and a roped off place to see the fireworks with 600 or so Interior employees and guests. Not to mention, one of the best places in DC (if not the best place according to a few locals I know) to see the fireworks display. Oh, the event went off fine, I even thought to snap a few pictures, which hasn't happened before.

Secretary Ken Salazar with recipient

M. Allen leading the audience in the National Anthem

2) Web Site Story

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

There's few musicals whose soundtrack is better than West Side Story in my world, and this parody hits most of the right notes. The best part? It's really not that over the top. I know people whose lives are like this. Me? I'm hoping I never am this tuned into the net. ;)

Roundup:

1) While I was in Baltimore.....

President Obama took his girls to my neighborhood's icon, the Dairy Godmother.

2) Lungs:

I've been struggling with asthma/sinus infections since October, so my Pulmonologist ordered a sinus cat-scan and blood work to measure the reactivity of my lungs (IGE level). The Cat-scan shows that I've got fluid in my left maxillary sinus and I've got a referral for an ENT. The IGE level came back 153 (35 is severe), which means my lungs are extremely reactive and we're going through the paperwork to get me on Xolair Therapy. I'm just happy that we've figured out what's going on, and there's medicine out there that'll help me get better.

3) Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins singing "El Paso" live in the '60s.

Ah, Marty Robbins. I could write pages about this guy. If you can't stand this video, blame my parents.

Check out this move at :10 seconds. What a fox!

4) Disney Princesses I can get behind:

Photographer Dina Goldstein decided to photograph "what happened if the Disney Princesses didn't live happily ever after"... The outcomes are above.

Via Gnomie, Via Cup of Jo:

Ups and Downs

Downside: Out of my own knuckleheadness, I "missed" my first flight
Upside: I made the next flight on standby.

Downside: Plane was delayed two hours in Miami, and another 1/2 hour in National.
Upside: I'm back in DC

Upside: I got to watch "Bride Wars" and "He's Not that Into You"
Downside: We were stuck in the cabin of the plane for two hours

Upside: I like Drew Barrymore.
Downside: Neither "Bride Wars" or "He's not that into you" were great, or even that good, really. Upside: I learned "life lessons" from both films.

Upside: Kelli Kay is feeling better.
Downside: She's still struggling with the bug she got.

Upside: When I finally made it back? An unbirthday present from a sister-in-law. Nicole, you're seriously the best. Smokey picked well when he married you.