Crowded shows

So, this week-end, I went out to the Kennedy Center to see Nickel Creek play as part of the Verizon Concert Series. I don't think that the Millenium Stage was a good venue for this concert. If you've ever been to the Millenium Stage then you know it's really nothing more than a stage at the end of a long hallway (actually the hallway spans the length of the building). It works for small performances, but Nickel Creek was big enough to draw a few thousand people. They cramed the back hallway full, then set up screens and speakers in the intersecting hallways and started to cram people in there. It was dissapointing. I heard that the acousitics in the back hallway were bad, which makes sense because it's a long marble hallway and then the screen and speakers that they set up in the intersecting hallways would cut out every other song. It was good to finally be able to see and hear the band play live, but it was a show that was not worthy of the Kennedy Center. I know that the Millenium Stage is like a poor relation of the Kennedy Center, but last night, it was like the bastard red-headed stepchild.

Other good things about the week-end. I got to see Season and Calvin and Marcus and came this close to seeing DE & Brenton. Thank god I was spared that. I'll put pictures up at the other blog.

And it continues...

Well, the housing search continues, kinda. I saw a place in College Park that I really like. Huge room, private bath and a way to go outside from the room. Perfect, right? No, two other people want it, and there are three rooms open in the house. So the girl who lives there now is giving all who want the room the chance to duke it out. Hmmmm I think I should challenge them all to a scuba-out. That's the only thing I've probably got on these guys. So, hopefully soon I will know if I am moving, then I can give proper notice and recoup my deposit.

My friend John called me late last night, it was good to talk to him. The first time we met, he swept me off my feet, we were ballroom dancing. Every so often we go out and dance, he's a much better dancer than me. Though right now I could probably do better than him in Argetine Tango. So, he invites me to Plush. I hadn't heard of this group before, but I was sure that they existed. Now I have proof and an invite. Hmmmm, do I want to go downtown and spend the evening drinking martinis with what the promoters call the Capitol's Freshest Asian Crowd?

If you are looking for something to do Sunday, may I suggest the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center? This Sunday as part of the Verizon Concert Series Nickel Creek will play. That'll be a good show, best part, it's free.

Quickly approching

Well, the week-end is quickly approaching and you've got to start now to plan on what to do. There's so much going on in the city, hey, July 4th will soon be upon us. What a better time for the sun to finally make an appearance and an air quality day of red to go along with it. For the past couple of week-end, I've escaped Washington, DC and headed up to Balitmore. Fun, fun. If you ever want a laugh, just compare the rental prices in DC to Baltimore, it's crazy how much people spend to live in a place where they don't even have a representative in Congress. Where have I gone, well Baja Beach Club. The first time I went, I just made fun of all the beer wenches dancing in string bikinis, the second time, I actually enjoyed myself and drank past my usual two drink maximum. The second time there was also Captain Morgan, himself (or at least a guy in a pirate costume), running around the club giving away keychains, bandanas, and T-shirts. I got a keychain and bandana that says, "The Captain was here." I have no idea what I would ever do with that thing, but it was free. So, if you want to try something new, try Baja Beach Club. When you go there, drop some of your pretentions at the door. Walk-in, get a drink and have a good time. If you're looking for a place where you can be seen, see beautiful people or spend outrageous amounts of money on alcohol, then don't go, it's not the place for you.

Festivals

There are many, many festivals that go on in downtown DC over the summer months. It makes it a pain to drive through downtown, especially the Mall and Penn Ave, but the bright side to all of the traffic is the festivals. Today the Smithsonian Institution's annual Folklife Festival kicks off. If you haven't been, definately go. This year the three groups/nations that the festival focuses on is Appalachia, Mali and Scotland. I think there will be very good food to have all around. Not to mention, wandering around the Mall listening to the Irish brogue.....I'm not going to finish that thought, Fuat might read this. It's open from today till Sunday, and the second week-end is from July 2-6. All the booths are open during the day where there is much food and shopping fun to be had, then at night there are performances. There will also be some demonstrations. Something for everyone.

Why do I like the Folklife Festival so much? I used to volunteer for them. I haven't been able to in the past two years, becuase of work, but it was always a great time. The last year that I did it, the three focuses were Architechture, New York City and Bermuda. I worked for the Bermuda section. The day was horrendously hot, a normal DC summer, but then it began to rain in the afternoon. The Festival carried on, but then a thunderstorm rolled in. We're on the Mall, with trees, and a lot of metal and electrical wiring around us. The officials started to tell everyone to get the heck out of the booth areas. So, we helped the exhibitors to move their items into a large shipping container. My friend and I were soaked to the bone, standing in a large metal shipping container packing it, and then we realized that probably wasn't the safest place to be, with the lightning and all. Even with all the wet misery, I'll always remember that day fondly.

Crazy cost of housing

Well, I went a saw two places last night. One was in DC, Mt. Pleasant to be exact. Beautiful house, fully renovated, washer and dryer on site and even parking in the back, five blocks from the metro. The catch you ask? It's $3500 for six bedrooms and a couple of the bedrooms are 8x7ft. Hmmmmmm, that's a little pricey, no matter what neighborhood it's in. So, I went and I saw a place in College Park, this is a little off the beaten path, a townhouse, but mintues to the Metro and a nice quiet neighborhood where I never have to worry about parking or safety and the price is right $425 for everything, even my own phone line. Hmmmmm, it's not what I want. I want a place of my own, in walking distance to the Metro and a little closer to the city. I have to decide soon though. The place that's in College Park, well, I've got to take it soon. I wish I could make a decision.

I read the other day something that is very true. Rob Sama says, "Bloggers blog most about blogging. It's an oddly self-absorbed culture of people making self-referential posts." Yea, very true. Blogging is like this odd cult where people have their own language (that includes emotioncons), concerns (such as uptime and bandwith usage) and can be obessed with how many people and who exactly visits their site (yes, good ole extreme tracking). We all talk about what we've added to the site, although it's self evident, we talk about the downtime becuase it's annoying, but then there's this group who talks about nothing but blogging or what they do in their daily lives with their blog...and that's where it becomes a little too self-absorbed. So, if you blog, try not to be narcissistic in your next post, don't be that guy.

Back in the saddle

Well, I'm seriously back in the housing hunt. Tonight I will go and see a group house at 16th and Park then later this week I hopefully I'll see a place in College Park. The apartment hunt with Sean has gone no where. I have no time to take a day and just drive around Takoma Park and Silver Spring looking at apartments. Maybe, maybe, I will find time this week-end, which should put me in good shape because then the apartment buildings will actually have an idea of what is available, then again, they might have waitlists and that's when I would be screwed. Oh well, have to see.

At least I have some concerns taken care of, namely furniture. While I don't have general/public use furniture, such as a dining table, chairs and a sofa, I do have almost all the furniture needed for my bedroom. I finished that up this week-end thanks to Ikea and Fuat. I am good to move into an unfurnished bedroom and I am really hoping to do that soon. I hope that all the furniture I got is not as crappy as my friend Andy predicts and that it actually lasts for a few years. I know it will last for a few years, but as Andy said, Ikea is what you get until you can afford something better. I know that I won't be able to afford anything better for a while, a long while, this better last until then. I'm really hoping of going out this summer to all the different markets that are around the city. Eastern Market is always a good one. Maybe I'll find some nice "vintage"(read:beat up but somewhat cool looking) furniture for my future abode.

Honking

Maybe I'm alone in this, but lately I have noticed an increase in the number of honks that I hear, It's not always directed to me, but sometimes I'll be at a light and the second it turns someone behind me will have already honked. It's not like they have their foot on the gas pedal in anticipation of the light change, instead they have their hand on their horn. Even if I'm just driving along or walking around the city, I hear a lot more car horns than I have before. Maybe the weather is making everyone iritable or maybe it's a horrible horrible trend. I don't even remember hearing this many car horns when I was in NYC a couple of weeks ago. I really hope that honking at everyone at the drop of a hat is not the new cool thing to do in the city.

If you haven't read it yet, may I suggest ontap magazine? And I don't only say that because I know the guy from college who works on their layout and website. I picked up a copy the other day when I was in RFD and they have some great info, especially for the intern/young professional crowd of DC. Hey, they had coverage of the Gold Cup. What says young professional in DC/VA like the Gold Cup, if not also drunken fun?

Housing Bubble

So, some say that there is this 'housing bubble' that will eventually burst. Others say that's just not true. Well, something's got to give. Housing in the District has double digit appreciation inspite of a flagging economy. Why does housing have to cost soo much out here? Why is it that some townhouse in the NE in a crack neighborhood still costs more than my parents' house in Kansas City that sits on 3/4 of an acre and the neighborhood is much better. Yes, I know, supply and demand, the fact that people earn more out here than they do there and so on.....but still....housing is overvalued here, any way that you look at it. I had a German roommate who lived in the group house. She moved out from her previous house, while it was in the NW, a little northwest of Georgetown, it wasn't that nice of a house and no where near a Metro station. Her room was about 7' x 6' and had no furniture. She was paying $550 a month to live there. She moved to my place while it isn't in DC, is about a mile from the DC border, is much larger than her place and paid $50 less for a room that was easily double the size of her previous room and was furnished.
I encourage everyone to stop paying insane amounts for housing that isn't, quite frankly, worth it. Why pay soo much for the 'prestige' of living in the NW or any other supposedly swank area? All you're going to pay more for is the chance to live somewhere cramped and that might very well be hovel-esque. This is my socialist tendencies showing, but if everyone banded together and refused to pay insane amounts, then well, landlords would be forced to stop charging them. I should have posted this on May 1st, proletariat unite against the bourgeois house/apartment owners!
I either have to:
1. Hope that everyone does unite and housing costs go down.
2. Wait for that housing bubble to burst.
3. Suck it up and pay more for housing.
Which option do you think I'll end up doing? Anyone want to donate to the I-need-good-housing fund?

Ikea

So, today the new Ikea in College Park opened. I was in College Park this morning to go the horrible, horrible Darcars Mazda. I'm driving along, listening to the Elliot in the Morning Show and who should call in but one of my roommates! Yea, he worked at Ikea on construction and even though he "hates" Ikea, he hated it enough to go there on the opening morning, which was also his day off. Well, he called in to give Elliot an update on the Barbara Eden sighting. I have to see if my roommate was one of the lucky ones to get a free chair, they gave out the poang chair. I was interested in it, but then again, we already have one in the house and I basically have two at home (my mother used to like Scandinavian furniture), so if I really wanted one, I guess I could just go home and get it. They look a little weird to me, not very inviting to sit in, but I guess you can rock back and forth in it. I heard from a co-worker who was out there this morning to get a chair, that they handed them out at midnight. That's a jip. Traffic will now on be horrendous at Rt 1 and the beltway, if you can avoid it, do so.

I also went to the National Building Museum for a meeting in my old stomping grounds, Judiciary Square. I parked where I normally do, but there is a new phenomenon in that part of DC, there's a ton of construction for apartments. I probably walked by five construction sites. Why does this merit mentioning? Becuase at each one I was cat-called, and I'm not talking your run of the mill whistle and 'hey, baby" that you get pretty much everywhere walking/metro-ing in DC, this was a little disconcerting. Men would walk beside me trying to whisper things to me or they would whistle the whole time I was in veiw of the construction site. Made me feel very much like prey or a side of beef that they wanted. Not a good feeling in that part of town. So, if you're a girl alone and you don't like guys to oogle you, don't go there or if you have to go to that area, take a friend.

Days can be Sunny...

With never a sigh, don't need what money can buy.

We've had some funny weather in DC for the past week. There was this period where the weather was like Florida's, very hot and sunny during the day, but then by mid-afternoon/evening, boom, thunderstorm. From this constant rain, the ground is very wet and muddy, and I know this from personal experience, I made the ground's acquaintance several times last night during the game. Today, again, rain. Tommorrow....rain. Thursday, you guessed it, rain. When will it ever end? Am I alone in yearing for the hot, sunny, humid weather that normally accompanies a DC summer?

This week-end is going to be Takoma Park apartment hunting week-end. My hopefully-soon-to-be-again roommate and I will make the rounds on Maple Ave and other places close to the Metro to see what we can come up with. There are a couple of buildings that I already have my eye on, I think both of us will be happy with the location, I want to be close to DC, no more than a 15-20 minute drive to Georgetown and he wants to be close to the beltway. Takoma Park/Silver Spring (and not that icky north of the beltway Silver Spring) should do nicely.

Being a good friend....

....sometimes makes me sad. I'm going to go a little off the whole dc/housing hunt posts here. Seeing someone at the Fairmont Hotel this week-end made me think. How have I failed some people, how could I have helped, could I have helped at all? Sometimes you've a friend and that friend is doing something that is clearly harming him/herself, but that friend likes it and won't hear of the contrary, do you stick by him/her and just watch? Do you tell him/her that you don't want to see him/her like this and walk away? Do you intervene and then loose the friend? It's happened before, I intervened, and lost the friend, a couple of times actually (and no, I don't have that many self-destructive friends), and I am in kinda the same situation again. It's not as dramatic as the times before, but I see someone clearly not acting in his/her best interest, clearly setting him/herself up for a huge fall and I question if there is anything that I can do. Rarely am I surprised by the actions of another person, people are very predictable, if I act, I'll loose this friend too. I know it, call it age, experience, intuition (all of which my friend is lacking), but I know it. I think sometimes I want people to be more than they are, to have conviction in something, mostly themselves, in what they think is right, it always dissapoints me people don't have that strength of conviction. By no means to I know what is best for everyone, there are times, and we've all been in them, when you are thinking more clearly than the next guy.....what do you do when the next guy is your friend and is/will hurt/ing himself?

Playing on the Mall

So, today I start WAFC, yes that's right, the Washington Area Frisbee Club. To further my status as a 'young professional in DC,' I'm joining one of those clubs that you can see almost every day of the summer playing in some park around the Mall or the Potomac. I am not much of a softball player and there are many many different soccer (or football for those non-Americans) games I could have joined, but for some reason frisbee seemed much more my speed. I guess it's not enough to just go to work, then go to happy hour to really call yourself a Washingtonian, you've got to get some game on on the Mall. I don't know why it started, this need to throw or kick or hit things around national monuments, but it is something that is integral to Washington, DC, and I'm joining in. And this isn't the only game I'm joining in either. I've also joined a pick up game that plays every Thursday at the mall at CUA/National Shrine. Wow, that's going to be two ultimate frisbee games for me some weeks. Hope I'm in shape.

After CPR/AED training this morning we are having a luau of sorts of work. Everyone had to wear hawaiian shirts, or in my case a skirt, and bring something for a BBQ. I have to see if anyone brought the jungle juice, now that would really make a party.

Something to do

So, if you looking for something to do this Father Day's week-end, or any other week-end till November 9th, may I suggest a trip down the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Back in the days that canals were used to haul large industrial loads, this canal linked Western Maryland with Georgetown. Today, there are still many structures standing from the 1800's. It's also one activity in Georgetown that does not involve alcohol, college students or shopping. The canal ride at Great Falls is not offered this summer due to damage to the boat, but the one in Georgetown survived budget cuts. It lasts about an hour and there are even park rangers in historical get-ups.

Country Quiz

This is quite possibly the best thing to hit the web since, well, I can't come up with a good analogy right now. Doesn't matter. Instead of a post about my housing hunt, which is going no where right now, and my outings in DC, I'm gonna write about this quiz. It's a good thing. We spend hours, hours, of enjoyment at work asking any and everyone who walks in if they have taken the country quiz. It's fabulous. There are only six questions, but 64, yes that's right, sixty-four different countries that you can be. For you math people out there it's as many possible outcomes that you can have from 6 questions. And the country descriptions are very smartly written too. If no one new coming in the office, we just try different questions to see what we can come up with or figure out ways to countries we want. We love it, you will too. The first time I took it, since I was at work, I quite appropriately got:

You're Vatican City!

You're pretty sure that you're infallible in all that you do or say, and it's hard to say whether you're right.  You have a lot of followers, most of whom will do whatever you say without question, or line up to see you ride around in your spiffy car.
Religious and reserved, you have some wisdom, but also a bit much contempt for everyone around you. You're also fabulously wealthy, no matter what you say to the contrary.
Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

And I spent some time looking for:



You're
the United Nations!

Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long way to go. You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of beating each other about the head and torso. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and you get very schizophrenic as a result.
But your heart is in the right place, and sometimes also in New York.
Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

Highly motivated and I can't escape

So, one of the skinheads has returned from bootcamp, he didn't finish and recieved a medical discharge. Well, the day after he returns, what does he do? Go to a nice restaurant and get a good meal? No. Go spend time with his family that he hasn't seen in 100 days or so? No. Rest up after the long and sometimes grueling excersize that he participated in? No. He and the other skinheads move a bar, yes bar into the house. I returned home last night to this very odd white monstrosity with a black top in our living room. I walk to the back of it and realize there is now a bar in the living room. Hmmmmmmm. It's one thing to have keggers, the kegs go away, it's one thing to have a large selection of liquer available, that's just giving people choices, it's quite another thing to have a bar, a physical bar, in the house and in the living room to boot. I am now highly motivated to move out of the group house.

Moving on. Last night I was walking around Dupont Circle and I see not one, but two people who I went to Catholic with. If you went to Catholic, you can't escape it, ever. Heck, once I was in a bar in NYC and I saw a kid from Catholic there. There aren' that many of them, but for some reason, kids from Catholic are everywhere. Can't figure out why it isn't like that with Maryland, I mean there are like literally 25,000 more Maryland students then there are Catholic students in a given year. And yet it's the Catholic kids that are everywhere. Watch out, you might see one soon.

Gaydar

This is worth a second post in the day. I guess you don't have to have a finely tuned gaydar in your head anymore, there is a keychain version. I have to ask around to see if this actually is still on the market. Till then an excerpt for your reading pleasure:

"Gaydar is a pocket-size key chain that sends out a radio signal, activating similar devices within 40 feet. When the gadget gets a compatible signal, it begins to beep or flash, depending on how it's set. It can be set to transmit to men or women....'I would insist on the vibrating function....'"

Section 8

So, from Kevin, who lives in what Jason calls Section 8 housing, I got the number to a place that leases capped income housing. I've seen a couple of flyers for buildings like this before and depending on the place, it can be really nice. It's really not Section 8 in that the government does not pay for any part of the rent, the leasing company got tax breaks to make the housing afforable for people of certain incomes. Kevin says that his place is not too bad and he's never had a problem. There this one building in SE goes for $700 a month for an effiency and that includes parking and has an income cap. That's still pretty steep considering you can get something like that in Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights and not have an income cap. So, I called the place, they have one two-bedroom apartment available now, but a waitlist of about 100, hmmmm, don't think that I will get that place. They will open a brand-spanking new building in........November. Yea, I wanted to move out by August. So, I'll get the application and fill it out and hopefully I'll have something before then. As Jason says, "Section 8 is great!"
I also went to see a place in Takoma Park, yea no. Why I would spend an extra $30 a month to park my car in that neighborhood, I don't know. It was no where near the Metro, shopping, or really anything and still you had to pay?!? Forget that. This week-end just maybe drive around and get applications week-end. Woo!

If you haven't made it out to Georgetown, do it now, it's supposed to be rainy the rest of the week. I was there last night and went to the movie theatre for the upteeth time. Love that place. I suggest going there then walking along the waterfront, it's fabulous.

Old home week-end and NYC

When you've lived in 10,012 places like I have, you have many roommates and neighbors to show for it. This week-end was the week-end for seeing many of them. My college roommate Alanna came down from NYC and almost everyone we like from our days at Catholic came out with us. We went to the very chic, uber japanese Dragonfly, in Dupont, to the very down home and cozy Tryst, in Adams Morgan. Either one is fabulous, even better to do both in a night. I also realized that night how much I can't wait for warm weater to fully enjoy all that DC has to offer in the summertime. If you haven't spent a summer in DC and gone out to do something at least 5 times a week, then you're never really summered in DC.

The next day Fuat and I were off for NYC and seeing my old neighbor Jenn! Fuat went to the fiasco that was Field Day and I wandered around the city for a few hours. Fuat had a great time and didn't even have to pay the $80 ticket and was finally able to see Radiohead in concert. I was able to pick up some things. The next day we wandered around the city together doing some shopping and pointing out all the obey giant and others stickers and spray paintings we saw. It was a great time.
On our way home there was a little back up on the Turnpike. I look over and see everyone trying to get around this Bronco with what looks like a pool attached to the roof. That was odd, then I look in front of the Bronco, there was a full size float going about 40-50 on the Turnpike. Hmmmmm, got to love the Puerto Rican Day Parade. I wonder how much the toll is for a float.

Singles

So, Washington, DC yet again made the top five of Forbes' list of Best Cities for Singles. And my hometown, Kansas City, MO, it was in the bottom five, number 36 our of 40 to be exact. Forbes looks at many things that seem to be very subjective such as nightlife, culture, coolness and buzzfactor. There are a few objective standards, singles ratio, cost of living alone and job growth. It's good to know that I moved from a city that has virtually no singles life to one that's one of the best in the country.
On a side note, I met Steve Forbes once. It was back when I was in college, actually I think my freshman year. I was at Princeton for something or other and a few of us went out to dinner in the town. There in the back of a restaurant was Steve Forbes, and yes, he really does look that weird in person, especially when he smiles. Very freaky in a way, but when you're that rich... Some in the group got his autograph, but I didn't, he was in the middle of dinner at all.

I also want to say that I hate going north of the beltway on Georgia Ave. For the second week in a row I've had to make the trek up to "Silver Spring" north. I really, really wouldn't call that area Silver Spring. It's Wheaton/Glenmont/Aspen Hill/Olney or whatever. Silver Spring is the nicely densely populated area at Colesville Rd and East-West Hwy. Up in Wheaton/Glenmont/Aspen Hill/Olney it's way too north, the traffic is horrific, the gas is expensive, and it's the epitome of suburban sprawl. If I wanted suburban sprawl I would have stayed in Kansas City. Why keep going there if you don't like it, you ask? Becuase, I scuba dive and I need gear and to go to meetings. Hmmm, maybe I will forego the meetings and just go on the trips.....that way I can avoid that area and that silly road.

Sun

Well, as you may have noticed, I went ahead with the layout change, although I haven't change my server host yet. This is much easier on the eye and less cutesy. I would hate to appear cutesy even though I love my cartoon characters. I also got a place for my pictures to reside, though I need to lessen the quality of each file so I can put more on. Yay for Fuat for the space! Also, after six days of no internet at the house, now have access to the virtual world again!

For those of you living on the east coast, you've notice a lack of sun in the last month or so. I heard from my dive instructor that in the month of May we had 27 days of deary dismal weather; and that was even before the month was over. Where's the infamous hot DC summer? How can we be well on the way to insanely humid by mid-June if we're not even hitting 70 on a daily basis now? Boo the current weather. Maybe I should move from this dreary, dismal, sunless place.
Well, being back in the housing hunt means a lot of open houses. Woo. Yea, not so much. I found the city of Takoma Park's housing online to be almost completely worthless to find housing. You're better off just doing it through different search engines like on msn.com or getting an apartment guide book. The only good thing about the prolonged housing search is that I am slowly accumulating furniture and other accessories for the home. I can actually have my own bedroom and fully stocked kitchen; that's a big step. Soon, I will start to accumulate things for outside the bedroom, like something to sit and/or eat on, could be important at some point. Ikea will get even more of my money.

Yea, baby swingin' NYC here I come. A week-end in the city, woo-hoo! Might even see Shuggie. If you don't know them, check them out, great band from Ireland.

Second post

I really try not to post twice in a day, but some of you may have noticed the layout change. In doing this, I created a whole set of problems of it's own, which I am trying to resolve. One being the comment script doesn't update the numbers anymore, not a big thing, but annoying.

Moving on out

No, I am not moving out, but the crazy roommate missing part of his head did. Yes, the filthy Howard University Law student is gone, and it's great. For two days in a row the kitchen sink has not had any dirty dishes in it. It's amazing. Kinda sad that that's what amazes me these days. He did leave a few things behind. In the six months that he lived in the house, he only cleaned the downstairs bathroom once. So, now we have a filthy dirty bathroom. He, the brilliant law student who was accepted to "Princeton Law," drove his U-Haul on to the lawn, not such a problem except that it had rained and rained and rained. Hmmmm, loaded down trailer plus muddy wet ground will give you: huge tire ruts in the lawn. It's one thing to drive a truck through a yard, it's another thing to leave ruts that are inches deep. The skinhead roommates think that he might have bought a bag of dirt that was on our driveway for a while, so he could fill the ruts, but then it was gone. Might have been stolen for all we know.

Thank god no more filthy roommate, but he was sure to leave something for us to remember him by.

Today is City Paper housing search day. Some updating to this site. Soon I'll fix that navigation bar on the left.

Changes on the way....

Well, some decisions have been made and changes will soon happen. I was thinking of doing a layout change, but then since I have chosen a server host and blog program(I really don't know what to call it), I'll just wait till I move over then I'll make the layout changes. In anticipation of the move I've finally updated my links. I think I have everyone down that I know with a page. I seemed to know more people with pages once-upon-a-time, but not anymore. Hmmmmm, could it be that pages just aren't cool anymore, and why then do I have a blog, or do I just hang with a bunch of people who DO NOT spend hours upon hours in front of the computer trying to choose the perfect colour for their banner on a Saturday night (and I really have spent Saturday nights with friends doing just that)? Yea, I'm thinking and hoping, it's option two.

Well this week-end I went "diving" and camping in NC. Why is "diving" in quotation marks you ask? Well becuase I didn't actually get to dive. Sixteen hours in a car, a night spent in a rainy, rainy campsite and god knows how much money and no dive. The dive shop's captains determined that diving on both days over the week-end would be too dangerous. We were blown out. Saturday we were supposed to dive in the morning and then we got bumped to a later time, the later time, blown out. Sunday, we thought the storm that we had weathered the night before would be all over and that we could dive, the captain took us out and we tried, but again, we were blown out. Stupid wind. It was a good time, I went with some UMD kids and we saw the Olney Dive Club and got to take two boat rides out in to the Atlantic. The kids were cool, except for a couple of last minute problems before the trip and right before they left. Hopefully we'll do this again sometime. Oh, and yes, I do camp, have camped many times this year and I even own my own camping gear that goes beyond a sleeping bag. Yes, I have worn heels and a skirt to a camp site and set up a tent that way.

The highlight of my trip: seeing Krystal and her boyfriend Greg. And ha-ha to all the njlc/cslc kids out there, I got to meet Greg before any of you did. We got to catch up on old friends and what we are doing. Then we went out to Chapel Hill and got to hear a lot, and I mean a lot, of Turkish being spoken. Oh, also, right before I left, I found out that I have a roommate to go housing hunting with! Yay for Sean! So, not a bad week-end in all.

I didn't want to go on this trip in the frist place, but it was ok that I did. I got to see Krystal and some squirrles mating.

Tommorrow/maybe after that:I'll start focusing what I'm writing about my blog. Maybe.