Saturday was the night for my birthday present to myself – tickets to the Maroon 5 / Counting Crows / Sara Bareilles concert. Actually, a few weeks ago, I was telling Amy that I wanted to go to the concert, but didn’t want to pay the $40 a ticket to sit on the lawn of an amphitheater. Just a few days later she sent me an advertisement for a super sale on tickets at that venue - $10 for lawn seats! So, as a present to myself, I bought 2 tickets (together, they were still less than the regular cost of a single ticket!). Anyways, the day is finally here!
Amy said that she would go with me, which is good since I don’t have any means of transportation. We headed out to Bristow – about forty minutes outside of DC. We got there just after they opened the gates and were able to get some great seats on the lawn. There was a bit of time before the show was supposed to start, so I pulled out my secret time-killing weapon: Travel Scrabble. Amy is a Scrabble fan like I am, so I was excited to play a match with her. We took a few pauses during Sara Bareilles’ set and the performance by Maroon 5, and in the end I beat Amy by a very slim 12-point margin.
The concert was great! It’s not often that you get to see three good sets (two of whom are fairly big names). Sara Bareilles is still gaining popularity… most of her music is just her and her piano, and I listen to her CD (Little Voice) almost everyday on the Metro. And she did not disappoint in her concert. I LOVE HER! Maroon 5, too, had a great concert - love them! I was less interested in Counting Crows, but they were good, and a lot of fun to watch. They even had Sara join them for one of their last numbers.
After the concert, there was a long wait to exit the parking lot, so Amy and I started another round of Scrabble and waited for the traffic to die down. After about half an hour, we headed out. I hadn’t eaten dinner, so Amy suggested we go to a local diner for a quick bite to eat. The Barnside diner was a small, family-run place and I had a great time as we sat at the counter, ate, and I gushed over how much I enjoyed the concert. All in all, it was a great birthday present!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
goodbye, janice!
On Thursday, Janice and I visited her favorite Vegetarian café for a last dinner out. Honestly, the soy chicken was much better than I expected! I will have to try cooking it myself sometime. The highlight for sure was this mint cookies and crème vegan cake – delicious! I’m sure Janice wished she could buy a box full of the cakes and ship them home. :)
After dinner, I hopped on the metro to visit the Natural History Museum. I decided to swing by the White House first, to take a few pictures. I got a bit lost and was wandering around the Ellipse a while before finding the front of the White House. Unfortunately, I spent too much time walking through the city and didn’t make it to the Natural History Museum before they closed. I will have to try and make it back there another day.
Friday was Janice’s last day at work, and I was sad to see her go! Per our Summer Associate tradition, we all went to Chevy’s after work. I got a good chance to chat with another Social Psychologist (Dena, who goes to Princeton), and it’s great that I will get to reconnect with her at conferences and other events. Janice ended up arriving late to her own party (she was waiting for the FedEx guy) – but at least we had an hour or so of fun before we had to say goodbye. Janice was off for a two week vacation in Mexico, and I have two weeks of LOTS of work to look forward to. And no Janice to commiserate with. :(
After dinner, I hopped on the metro to visit the Natural History Museum. I decided to swing by the White House first, to take a few pictures. I got a bit lost and was wandering around the Ellipse a while before finding the front of the White House. Unfortunately, I spent too much time walking through the city and didn’t make it to the Natural History Museum before they closed. I will have to try and make it back there another day.
Friday was Janice’s last day at work, and I was sad to see her go! Per our Summer Associate tradition, we all went to Chevy’s after work. I got a good chance to chat with another Social Psychologist (Dena, who goes to Princeton), and it’s great that I will get to reconnect with her at conferences and other events. Janice ended up arriving late to her own party (she was waiting for the FedEx guy) – but at least we had an hour or so of fun before we had to say goodbye. Janice was off for a two week vacation in Mexico, and I have two weeks of LOTS of work to look forward to. And no Janice to commiserate with. :(
Sunday, August 24, 2008
excitement around town
Janice and I headed up to Columbia Heights for Ellie’s goodbye party. There were a few friends gathered in the backyard, and we played games and relaxed in the cool evening. Eventually, we had to say goodbye to our new friend, and wish her well as she headed back to school. I really enjoyed getting to know Ellie, and she was great company for happy hours, Jazz in the Sculpture Garden, and the Newseum! I miss her already!
me, ellie, and janice
The next day was a beautiful Sunday, so I met up with Amy and one of the neighbors at the pool. The weather has been really incredible (I hate to jinx it!). My first weekend here it was unseasonably hot and humid, and it was also pretty hot and sticky over the 4th of July, but other than that it hasn’t been too bad. I have been fully expecting to hate the 100° weather and ridiculous humidity, but so far, August has been great! Today, for example, it was warm (maybe low 80s?), but with a cool breeze and almost no clouds in the sky. Not as nice as California, but not too bad!
Tuesday was a day for celebration – my birthday! (Remember how I mentioned being way behind?) Unfortunately, I had to go to work – we had a couple of meetings and I had too much to do. On the good side, I entered my office to catch Janice writing me a birthday greeting on my whiteboard! She even brought me a cupcake. It was vegan, but still DELICIOUS! How do you even make good frosting without butter? It’s a mystery. A delicious mystery.
After work, Janice and I grabbed a birthday drink downtown. Then, we met up with Amy, neighbor Katie, and Amy’s friend Jason for dinner at Matchbox. The waitress even brought me a dessert to share, complete with candles! Although I don’t have very many friends here, it was great to have dinner and chat with people who I’ve gotten to know and love here in DC.
me, ellie, and janice
The next day was a beautiful Sunday, so I met up with Amy and one of the neighbors at the pool. The weather has been really incredible (I hate to jinx it!). My first weekend here it was unseasonably hot and humid, and it was also pretty hot and sticky over the 4th of July, but other than that it hasn’t been too bad. I have been fully expecting to hate the 100° weather and ridiculous humidity, but so far, August has been great! Today, for example, it was warm (maybe low 80s?), but with a cool breeze and almost no clouds in the sky. Not as nice as California, but not too bad!
Tuesday was a day for celebration – my birthday! (Remember how I mentioned being way behind?) Unfortunately, I had to go to work – we had a couple of meetings and I had too much to do. On the good side, I entered my office to catch Janice writing me a birthday greeting on my whiteboard! She even brought me a cupcake. It was vegan, but still DELICIOUS! How do you even make good frosting without butter? It’s a mystery. A delicious mystery.
After work, Janice and I grabbed a birthday drink downtown. Then, we met up with Amy, neighbor Katie, and Amy’s friend Jason for dinner at Matchbox. The waitress even brought me a dessert to share, complete with candles! Although I don’t have very many friends here, it was great to have dinner and chat with people who I’ve gotten to know and love here in DC.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
a childhood enjoyment, grown up style
(I’m sorry to say that I am still over a week behind in my writing :( Hopefully, I will be able to catch up soon!)
This week we had two more Summer Associate briefings: Ellie and Carter. Ellie had to fly to Pittsburgh to give her briefing, but we listened in from Washington. The next day was Carter’s presentation on cost factors of Navy ships, and I was surprised to find it more interesting than I expected. To celebrate both of their accomplishments, we all walked across the street to Chevy’s for happy hour after work on Friday. Although the service is usually on the slow side, something about $3 Margaritas and free chips and salsa keeps us coming back. (I think it has something to do with all of us being poor students in our normal lives!)
Once I got home from Chevy’s, Amy (my housemate) mentioned that the neighbors were having an Olympics Opening Ceremony party. So, I wandered over to the neighbor’s driveway to check it out. Someone had borrowed a projector and they set it up so that we were watching the Ceremony play on the garage door. The ceremony itself was so beautiful – it was even more incredible in giant projection!
The next day was another neighbor event, this time hosted by Andy and Katie Rogers (the friends of my roommate who helped me find a place to live). This was the Rogers’ 2nd annual Slip N Slide BBQ, and Andy decided this year he would improve upon the technical deficiencies of the traditional Slip N Slide and create his own. Let me tell you, this man takes his Slip N Slide duties seriously. The Slide was at least 50 feet long and 8 feet across, with two separate sprinklers spraying it, and soap to increase the slipperiness. It was ridiculous!
(if you look closely, you can see Andy on the Slide)
As the host, it was Andy’s responsibility to take the first run. He was fiddling with his drawstring, and some jokester in the crowd shouted, “Take it off!” Obligingly, Andy dropped his pants and took off down the Slide. Fortunately (I guess), Andy had prepared for such an occasion by wearing a silver man-thong. It was hilarious and horrifying at the same time. All I could think was, “Chris totally would have done that.”
After Andy’s trial run, a few of the guys headed down from the balcony to take their turns. At first some of the other women were too timid to try, but eventually, we convinced them to try it. Katie (the hostess) changed into a simple black one-piece bathing suit with a pair of shorts – a good choice for sliding (no accidental bikini loss). The guys, however, thought it was hilarious in comparison to her previous two-piece and kept asking why she was dressed in a suit from the 1940’s.
We had a few good runs on the Slide… Some of the girls tried sliding from opposite ends so that they would meet in the middle of the Slide, but they often didn’t quite make it all the way to the center. We also tried a Slip N Slide version of croquet, where Amy tried to slide under the legs of the other three women. I thought this would surely end in tragedy for at least one of the “wickets” – of which I was the first (and most likely to meet a violent end). It actually went fairly well, and only took us 2 tries to get Amy successfully through all 3 “wickets” – go us!
There were also a few tandem slides – the best of which was Amy and neighbor Bill’s celebratory slide. (see the video below)
After some excellent slides (if I do say so myself), I had to change and head out to meet Janice to go to Ellie’s goodbye party – more on that in the next entry.
This week we had two more Summer Associate briefings: Ellie and Carter. Ellie had to fly to Pittsburgh to give her briefing, but we listened in from Washington. The next day was Carter’s presentation on cost factors of Navy ships, and I was surprised to find it more interesting than I expected. To celebrate both of their accomplishments, we all walked across the street to Chevy’s for happy hour after work on Friday. Although the service is usually on the slow side, something about $3 Margaritas and free chips and salsa keeps us coming back. (I think it has something to do with all of us being poor students in our normal lives!)
Once I got home from Chevy’s, Amy (my housemate) mentioned that the neighbors were having an Olympics Opening Ceremony party. So, I wandered over to the neighbor’s driveway to check it out. Someone had borrowed a projector and they set it up so that we were watching the Ceremony play on the garage door. The ceremony itself was so beautiful – it was even more incredible in giant projection!
The next day was another neighbor event, this time hosted by Andy and Katie Rogers (the friends of my roommate who helped me find a place to live). This was the Rogers’ 2nd annual Slip N Slide BBQ, and Andy decided this year he would improve upon the technical deficiencies of the traditional Slip N Slide and create his own. Let me tell you, this man takes his Slip N Slide duties seriously. The Slide was at least 50 feet long and 8 feet across, with two separate sprinklers spraying it, and soap to increase the slipperiness. It was ridiculous!
(if you look closely, you can see Andy on the Slide)
As the host, it was Andy’s responsibility to take the first run. He was fiddling with his drawstring, and some jokester in the crowd shouted, “Take it off!” Obligingly, Andy dropped his pants and took off down the Slide. Fortunately (I guess), Andy had prepared for such an occasion by wearing a silver man-thong. It was hilarious and horrifying at the same time. All I could think was, “Chris totally would have done that.”
After Andy’s trial run, a few of the guys headed down from the balcony to take their turns. At first some of the other women were too timid to try, but eventually, we convinced them to try it. Katie (the hostess) changed into a simple black one-piece bathing suit with a pair of shorts – a good choice for sliding (no accidental bikini loss). The guys, however, thought it was hilarious in comparison to her previous two-piece and kept asking why she was dressed in a suit from the 1940’s.
We had a few good runs on the Slide… Some of the girls tried sliding from opposite ends so that they would meet in the middle of the Slide, but they often didn’t quite make it all the way to the center. We also tried a Slip N Slide version of croquet, where Amy tried to slide under the legs of the other three women. I thought this would surely end in tragedy for at least one of the “wickets” – of which I was the first (and most likely to meet a violent end). It actually went fairly well, and only took us 2 tries to get Amy successfully through all 3 “wickets” – go us!
There were also a few tandem slides – the best of which was Amy and neighbor Bill’s celebratory slide. (see the video below)
After some excellent slides (if I do say so myself), I had to change and head out to meet Janice to go to Ellie’s goodbye party – more on that in the next entry.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
I am not a programmer!
On Monday, I went with Ashaki to the Alexandria train station to see her off, and then headed in for an afternoon at work.
Other than Ashaki’s departure, I had a relatively uneventful week. I started on a new task at work… The big project I’m working on has a gigantic dataset of student grades, that they are going to use to look at grade changes during parent deployment cycles. I don’t really have anything to do with that part of the project, but my supervisor asked if I could help out, and of course I said “Of Course!” Basically, I have to take about 80 different datasets and fix them so they can be put into one massive set of data. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big problem for me – time consuming, yes, but we learn how to do this kind of thing in my stats classes, so it is totally do-able. Unfortunately for me, we learned how to do it in one statistical program (SPSS) and the data we have for this project is in a different program (SAS). Although there are ways to take the data from one program and put it into another program, I would have to change it back to the original program before handing it off, and if I ran into any problems, there wouldn’t be anyone to help me (or finish the work).
So, I’ve been spending a lot of time learning how to use SAS. And learning how to write program code. BLECH! Thankfully, the programmer who is helping me has been really great. She is in Santa Monica, though, so sometimes it is hard to coordinate our time zones. I was on the phone with her the other day, and in the middle of our conversation she says, “Um, I think we’re having an earthquake.” I laughed and told her to call me back – the joys of California!
Anyways, the SAS programming definitely has me pulling my hair out some days. It’s especially tough because if I write some code and it is wrong, I don’t know how to fix it myself – I have to call the programmer for help. :( Fortunately, I love the rest of the job, so I am trying to focus on that.
Other than Ashaki’s departure, I had a relatively uneventful week. I started on a new task at work… The big project I’m working on has a gigantic dataset of student grades, that they are going to use to look at grade changes during parent deployment cycles. I don’t really have anything to do with that part of the project, but my supervisor asked if I could help out, and of course I said “Of Course!” Basically, I have to take about 80 different datasets and fix them so they can be put into one massive set of data. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big problem for me – time consuming, yes, but we learn how to do this kind of thing in my stats classes, so it is totally do-able. Unfortunately for me, we learned how to do it in one statistical program (SPSS) and the data we have for this project is in a different program (SAS). Although there are ways to take the data from one program and put it into another program, I would have to change it back to the original program before handing it off, and if I ran into any problems, there wouldn’t be anyone to help me (or finish the work).
So, I’ve been spending a lot of time learning how to use SAS. And learning how to write program code. BLECH! Thankfully, the programmer who is helping me has been really great. She is in Santa Monica, though, so sometimes it is hard to coordinate our time zones. I was on the phone with her the other day, and in the middle of our conversation she says, “Um, I think we’re having an earthquake.” I laughed and told her to call me back – the joys of California!
Anyways, the SAS programming definitely has me pulling my hair out some days. It’s especially tough because if I write some code and it is wrong, I don’t know how to fix it myself – I have to call the programmer for help. :( Fortunately, I love the rest of the job, so I am trying to focus on that.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Beautiful Sunday
On Sunday, Ashaki and I spent a quiet morning finishing the previous night’s crossword puzzle. Eventually, we headed into The District for some sightseeing. After a quick brunch at my new favorite restaurant (Matchbox), we walked through the downtown area and strolled through the Mall. We headed over to the National American Indian Museum. We didn't have much time at the museum, but we started with a quick video on American Indians today. Then, we toured an exhibit about some of the traditions of tribes across the country. The next exhibit we saw, which was by far my favorite, was about the "evidence" of Natives in this country and through Central America. There were artifacts found from centuries ago, gold coins, jewelry, and a few crowns that were shaped a bit more like a stovepipe hat with no top than what we consider a crown. It was great, but we quickly ran out of time and were shephearded out of the museum by the security.
After getting kicked out of the museum, we headed over to Arlington Cemetery. The weather was fantastic – blue skies and not an drop of humidity in the air – I’m pretty sure it was a miracle! It was perfect for a long, sober walk through the Cemetary. The memorial that Ashaki wanted to see was towards the back, so we headed down the paths, stopping to capture a few photographs of this moving place.
After getting kicked out of the museum, we headed over to Arlington Cemetery. The weather was fantastic – blue skies and not an drop of humidity in the air – I’m pretty sure it was a miracle! It was perfect for a long, sober walk through the Cemetary. The memorial that Ashaki wanted to see was towards the back, so we headed down the paths, stopping to capture a few photographs of this moving place.
We continued on to visit the burial place of Pierre L’Enfant, the man who was charged by George Washington to design the capital city. L’Enfant’s final resting place is on a hill in Arlington Cemetary, overlooking Washington, DC. On a such a beautiful day, the view was incredible.
Unfortunately, the Cemetary was closing, so Ashaki and I hopped on the metro and headed to Old Town Alexandria – I really wanted to walk down King Street and visit the waterfront so that Ashaki could see Alexandria before she left. Since the weather was so great, there were a lot of people at the waterfront, and it was great to sit on the pier and watch the families, dogs, and generally interesting people walk past.
Eventually, we made our way home, and after buying a Sunday Washington Post, we finished the evening attempting the week’s crossword puzzle.
Eventually, we made our way home, and after buying a Sunday Washington Post, we finished the evening attempting the week’s crossword puzzle.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Another visitor!
This weekend, a friend from school (Ashaki) was in town for a conference, so we planned to meet up Saturday afternoon. Before that, two of the other Summer Associates (Janice and Sara) and I traveled to Farragut (another DC neighborhood) for brunch at a vegan café. I was pleasantly surprised by my Belgian waffle! They also had some delicious looking cakes, but we are going to have to try and make a trip back for the cake.
After brunch, we headed over to the Library of Congress. This, one of the largest libraries in the world, is housed in four buildings. We toured the Jefferson building, the main building. The first thing we saw was an exhibit about the declaration of independence and the constitution. The items I liked the best out of that exhibit were personal journals and hand-written letters from the founding fathers – very cool! We also saw two of the oldest Bibles still in existence (one is an original Guttenburg!), and almost complete set of Jefferson’s original library. Apparently, he was very particular about the books he selected for his library – and he maintained an incredible collection of great works. Some of his books were ruined in a fire, and the Library of Congress has replaced most of them with the original pieces. It was incredible – I just wish I could have picked one off the shelf and leafed through it! The Jefferson building also has the Main Reading Room, which we could look into but not visit. Sara and I are going to go become registered readers so that we can go into the Main Reading Room – more on that next week!
Library of Congress
The Capitol
After the Library of Congress, Sara headed home, and Janice and I walked around the Capitol building to the reflecting pool. After taking a few photos in front of the Capitol, Janice and I headed up to meet Ashaki at her hotel. It was great to see Ashaki, and after she grabbed her bags, we decided to head out to get a bite to eat. We were surprised to see it was pouring outside! We adjusted our plans and hopped in a cab to a nearby restaurant for dinner and catching up. After dinner, we headed home and Ashaki and I relaxed with a crossword puzzle and some TV.
After brunch, we headed over to the Library of Congress. This, one of the largest libraries in the world, is housed in four buildings. We toured the Jefferson building, the main building. The first thing we saw was an exhibit about the declaration of independence and the constitution. The items I liked the best out of that exhibit were personal journals and hand-written letters from the founding fathers – very cool! We also saw two of the oldest Bibles still in existence (one is an original Guttenburg!), and almost complete set of Jefferson’s original library. Apparently, he was very particular about the books he selected for his library – and he maintained an incredible collection of great works. Some of his books were ruined in a fire, and the Library of Congress has replaced most of them with the original pieces. It was incredible – I just wish I could have picked one off the shelf and leafed through it! The Jefferson building also has the Main Reading Room, which we could look into but not visit. Sara and I are going to go become registered readers so that we can go into the Main Reading Room – more on that next week!
Library of Congress
The Capitol
After the Library of Congress, Sara headed home, and Janice and I walked around the Capitol building to the reflecting pool. After taking a few photos in front of the Capitol, Janice and I headed up to meet Ashaki at her hotel. It was great to see Ashaki, and after she grabbed her bags, we decided to head out to get a bite to eat. We were surprised to see it was pouring outside! We adjusted our plans and hopped in a cab to a nearby restaurant for dinner and catching up. After dinner, we headed home and Ashaki and I relaxed with a crossword puzzle and some TV.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Back to the routine.
Friday night, after Chris left, my roommate had a couple of friends over for a game night. We played Apples to Apples (one of my favorites) – it was a much needed laugh after sending Chris back home. I spent the rest of the weekend catching up at work and at home (hello, laundry!)
Every Wednesday here in the ‘burbs is Neighbor Night – at least in my roommate’s circle of friends. There is a group of about 8 neighbors who get together every week, to hang out and have dinner. As a “guest / neighbor,” I get the privilege of attending Neighbor Night without the requirement of bringing a potluck item. So I try to make it to Neighbor Night at least every other week, not only for the delicious food but also to chat with the neighbors. This past Wednesday, we had berry cous cous, Asian noodles, fresh fruit, and homemade vanilla ice cream with Oreo cookies for dessert (I wasn’t kidding about delicious food!). After dinner, we played Catchphrase and enjoyed the evening weather. I am really fortunate to be immediately connected in a great community of friends!
The next day at work was my friend Janice’s briefing. Every Summer Associate has to present their work at a briefing some time before they leave (mine’s not until the 26th), and Janice was brave enough to go first! The briefings are an hour-long, fairly informal, presentation, with about half of the time spent on questions (that, to me, is the scary part!). Anyways, Janice’s presentation (on Iraqis’ social identity and attitudes about political violence – ask me if you want more details) went flawlessly, and to celebrate, she, Sara (another Summer Associate), and I went to Chevy’s for happy hour. Can’t beat $3 margaritas and appetizers!
Every Wednesday here in the ‘burbs is Neighbor Night – at least in my roommate’s circle of friends. There is a group of about 8 neighbors who get together every week, to hang out and have dinner. As a “guest / neighbor,” I get the privilege of attending Neighbor Night without the requirement of bringing a potluck item. So I try to make it to Neighbor Night at least every other week, not only for the delicious food but also to chat with the neighbors. This past Wednesday, we had berry cous cous, Asian noodles, fresh fruit, and homemade vanilla ice cream with Oreo cookies for dessert (I wasn’t kidding about delicious food!). After dinner, we played Catchphrase and enjoyed the evening weather. I am really fortunate to be immediately connected in a great community of friends!
The next day at work was my friend Janice’s briefing. Every Summer Associate has to present their work at a briefing some time before they leave (mine’s not until the 26th), and Janice was brave enough to go first! The briefings are an hour-long, fairly informal, presentation, with about half of the time spent on questions (that, to me, is the scary part!). Anyways, Janice’s presentation (on Iraqis’ social identity and attitudes about political violence – ask me if you want more details) went flawlessly, and to celebrate, she, Sara (another Summer Associate), and I went to Chevy’s for happy hour. Can’t beat $3 margaritas and appetizers!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Chris's Last Day
Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to Chris eventually. His flight was scheduled to leave around 5pm, so I planned to hang out with him in the morning, and drop him off at the bus stop in the early afternoon (and then maybe head in to work). We had a good morning, with brunch at home and watching TV. Amy (my roommate) even offered to drive us to the airport so that we wouldn’t have to leave so early.
On the way to the airport, I got a phone call from Jet Blue saying that Chris’s flight from NY (his only connection on the trip home) had been cancelled! After a long call back to Jet Blue, and a few frantic calls to our friends in Monrovia, Chris was booked on a flight to Burbank. The only problem was that instead of leaving at 5, his flight was leaving at 7pm. I figured that I would stay with Chris to make sure that he made it onto the flight to Burbank, so I thanked Amy for the ride and said I would take the bus back home. After checking in, Chris and I stopped by the information desk so that I could get the bus schedule for my return trip. While we were standing there, we saw a brochure for the Udvar-Hazy Museum, an extension of the National Air and Space Museum. There was a shuttle headed there from the airport and it was only 50¢ each way! Now, when Chris had visited the NASM, he was a bit disappointed because the Enola Gay was not housed there – it is at the Udvar-Hazy! It was the perfect way to spend our extra time.
The museum was a large airplane hangar, housing planes and aircraft from across history: early planes, WWII fighters from both the US and Germany, commercial planes (like an early United Air plane and a Concorde Jet), and even spacecraft (a shuttle used for flight testing, missiles, and satellites)! And, the Enola Gay.
We had just enough time to wander through the Museum and get a quick snack before hopping on the shuttle back to the airport. As soon as we got back to the airport, Chris had to go through security and I had to catch the bus back to the Metro. It was the perfect way to spend our last hours together, except that I had left my camera at home. :(
I wish he were still here!
On the way to the airport, I got a phone call from Jet Blue saying that Chris’s flight from NY (his only connection on the trip home) had been cancelled! After a long call back to Jet Blue, and a few frantic calls to our friends in Monrovia, Chris was booked on a flight to Burbank. The only problem was that instead of leaving at 5, his flight was leaving at 7pm. I figured that I would stay with Chris to make sure that he made it onto the flight to Burbank, so I thanked Amy for the ride and said I would take the bus back home. After checking in, Chris and I stopped by the information desk so that I could get the bus schedule for my return trip. While we were standing there, we saw a brochure for the Udvar-Hazy Museum, an extension of the National Air and Space Museum. There was a shuttle headed there from the airport and it was only 50¢ each way! Now, when Chris had visited the NASM, he was a bit disappointed because the Enola Gay was not housed there – it is at the Udvar-Hazy! It was the perfect way to spend our extra time.
The museum was a large airplane hangar, housing planes and aircraft from across history: early planes, WWII fighters from both the US and Germany, commercial planes (like an early United Air plane and a Concorde Jet), and even spacecraft (a shuttle used for flight testing, missiles, and satellites)! And, the Enola Gay.
We had just enough time to wander through the Museum and get a quick snack before hopping on the shuttle back to the airport. As soon as we got back to the airport, Chris had to go through security and I had to catch the bus back to the Metro. It was the perfect way to spend our last hours together, except that I had left my camera at home. :(
I wish he were still here!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Wed and Thurs
Wednesday I left work a little early to meet Chris and visit the National Archives. The line was a bit long, but we ended up only waiting about 30 minutes. Inside the Archives, we headed straight for the Rotunda and the Charters of Freedom. First, there was a display housing the Magna Carta. Then, in the Rotunda itself, were the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It’s incredible that we have preserved documents over the past 200+ years. Looking at those charters, I could see the signatures of our founding fathers – to think that they stood over this very parchment, reviewing it, and signing it together – it really makes history come to life! I tried to take pictures of the documents, but the Rotunda is dimly it and you aren’t allowed to use flash photography (to help preserve the documents), so my photos did not turn out well.
Chris and the Declaration of Independence
After our trip to the Archives, we dashed into the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Chris really wanted to see the Dinosaur exhibit and the Hope Diamond. We only had half an hour, so we dashed up the stairs and spent a few minutes with the dinosaurs, and then raced over to the Hope Diamond. It was totally worth the quick trip.
Chris vs. the T Rex
Next, we grabbed a bite to eat at the Gordon Biersch Brewery, which happened to be celebrating it’s 20th birthday with an 80’s party (our waitress was dressed up with giant plastic bangles and serious blue eyeshadow - at least I hope she was dressed up). After a delicious dinner (complete with garlic fries), we were set to head home, when we exited the restaurant to a complete downpour. We had an umbrella, but it was fairly small and didn’t keep either of us from getting soaked. After a half-block dash, we took cover under the awning of a steak house. I was certain the rain would lighten after a few minutes, but we waited, huddled by a window, with no let-up in sight. Chris suggested we get a drink at the bar of the steakhouse to help pass the time. We darted into the restaurant and relaxed for a few minutes. After our one round of drinks, the rain had slowed to a sprinkle, so we headed home.
On Thursday, Chris and I met up for lunch. I wanted to take Chris to Potbelly, a sandwich chain that toasts their sandwiches, and puts Quiznos to shame. Although they seem to be all over DC (and I saw some in Chicago and Boston), I don’t think they’ve made their way to the west coast, so I wanted to make sure that Chris got a chance to enjoy their delicious subs. As I expected, he loved his pizza sandwich!
After our lunch, we walked over to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. I didn’t have enough time to stay, so I left Chris to enjoy the exhibits and I returned to work. After a few hours, Chris called to say that he was finished with the museum… and that he was bored. So he came to the office for a visit. After signing him in and getting him a Visitor’s badge, we did a quick tour of my office and the Visitor’s Center where some of the other interns work. I did a bit more work and then we headed out for a scheduled happy hour at a sports bar in Chinatown (The Greene Turtle). We were there about 20 minutes before anyone else showed up, so when they finally did arrive and took a seat out on the patio, we didn’t stick around for very long.
Leaving the Greene Turtle, we headed down the street for an early evening stroll down the National Mall. It was a nice night out, and it was a great way to enjoy the evening. We eventually got on the metro and came home, ordering pizza and watching TV for the rest of the evening.
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