Not here

So, I haven't posted in a week or so. Well, I haven't been here, more on that later. For a nice fall activity, I would suggest something that I did back at home: apple picking. There's just something fabulous about going out to an orchard, running around the fields, maybe taking a hay ride and then picking your own apples right off the tree. Nothing tastes better than freshly pressed apple cider. I found out that there are 21 area orchards. Go, check out one close to you. Now if we could only get haunted houses out here like they have in Kansas City.

Well, I've been out of the country, in the last ten days I've flown over/drove through, 9 states and 2 provinces, and was actually in 6 different states and a province. Also, I was forced to speak in French to be understood by hotel and wait staff. I visited two airports for the first time and was almost stuck overnight in airports twice due to weather. I don't think that I ever want to have three trips back to back again. I'll slowly update as to my happenings over the last week. It'll be a sort of travel guide.

I was going to do a post for every day that I was gone, but then things just got crazy, instead I'm going to post about each city that I visited.

Montreal
I wish that I could figure out how to do accents in this, but oh well, this will do and you know what I am talking about.

I have found a new store and I love it. I can't wait for this incarnation of Club Monaco to come to the states. It's kinda like the idea of Ikea, but with much smaller more centrally located stores. It's called Caban and it has almost everything that you could want to furnish and decorate a house with great style, but not all that expensive. I love it!

Une nuit, je suis allé à une caban de sucre. Elle s'appelle Sucrerie de la Montagne. Elle était dans la forêt près de Montréal. Elle était très belle là et beaucoup d'amusement. Bien que je fasse l'amusement d'Alanna pour le sirop de érable dans la neige, elle était agréable.

McDonalds Canada has a very odd marketing strategy and it makes me wonder what has been said about their burgers north of the border. The marketing line is, "Fait do boeuf pur a 100%" or made with 100% beef. Hmmmmm....I know that many a time I've even made fun of the quality of the beef at McDonalds, but never have I thought that a marketing campaign would be needed to tell me that a hamburger is made with beef. What did they used to add? Chicken?

I remember in my younger days going to Montreal and spending quite a bit of time in the clubs/bars. But it was different then, the clubs/bars that we went to was either bought out for us or the night planned for us, so that I spent most of the time surrounded by a bunch of americans. This time the group of club go-ers was much smaller and we were able to mingle and notice the French-Canadian ambience a lot more. The club that my group frequented on this trip came complete with a revolving floor and skeevy Eastern European women who were wearing clothes that should not have even been made. I use the term wearing very loosely. Later that night I was literally assalted by some French-Canadian guy who thought I couldn't understand a word of French and therefore it was ok to force me to kiss him and put my hand up my shirt. Woo. I think I should stick to the American crowds at bars/clubs, at least they only grab my ass.

I watched the oddest thing in Canada. There used to be this TV show, Due South, it was about a Canadian mountie who went down to Chicago to avenge the murder of his father and stayed south of the border. The fact that they showed this in Canada is funny enough, but then to dub it into French-Canadian made it all the more surreal. All the shows from America are dubbed her to quebecois, I thought they didn't like the Americans. There was also a tourism show for Washington, DC, but in French. The best was Ikea comercials in french. Woo.

Cincinnati
There really wasn't much to do in Cincy as they call it out here. I will mention two things. First is the Contemporary Arts Center. Within this very modern museum as an unmuseum for kids, a room with opposing high power fans, so that winds could reach 75 mph; a serenity/traquility room complete with a songbird, meditation rocks and a whirlpool that visitors are invited to use; an exhibit that on certain days was transported into a working restaurant; and a room with only disco balls, very cool. This museum is all about the experience of modern art, I am normally not a fan of modern art, but I loved this museum. It made me think, it engaged me and I think that unlike a lot of modern art today, it could engage anyone. The one thing is that with all that experiential modern art came a lot of nudity pieces, recordings of pieces of people nude in certain places and such. Wasn't all that engaged by that. Still, if you're ever the Cincy way, I would recommend it.
Did you know that Cincy is also known as Porkopolis, I had no idea. Till I got there and there were flying pigs everywhere. Very odd.

After the storm

Picture from the BBC


So, DC was able to survive the storm. A few million people up and down the East Coast are without power, the flooding was worse than some expected, but at least the eye didn't go over DC. It was a little odd, the rain and wind came in waves as the tropical storm passed. There are downed trees everywhere and my house has lost power, but I haven't seen any horrible damage. At least for me, this is like a normal severe weather storm. Just seems like people out here aren't as prepared for severe weather as they are in other places, I guess there isn't much severe weather, though the last couple of years would belie that.

Either way, I'm off for nothern parts, beautiful, somewhat foreign and european Montreal. You cansee me!

If you can't go to Montreal, see what the brits like to do on holiday.

The calm

Today was a beautiful day....tomorrow.....well, keep checking.

Isabel will come aground sooner than anyone thought. Today should have been an indication, it was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky in the morning and warm and sunny. The intense low pressure of Isabel sucked all the atmosphere towards its eye, causing high pressure and fabulous weather around Isabel. Becuase of the early arrival both the federal government and the Metro will be shut Thursday and will make a decision about Friday later. YAY, that means no work for me. So, the day before I leave for Montreal, I won't have to work. Woo-hoo! Many places have pre-emptively shut, or they have shut in response to the Metro and Fed shutting. Only time will tell if Isabel will be as bad as predicted and will have justified all the declarations of state of emergency. NC, VA, MD are all under states of emergency and DC declared one tonight. Hopefully, this time with all the preparations, my power will stay on. I think that the flodding will be the worst thing to come from the storm.

So, today, I left work early to enjoy what will probably be one of the last warm sunny days of summer. I went to school to take care of registration and see some friends. It was a fabulous day, sitting outside and chatting, a good dinner, just walking around with no plans. Fabulous. I might have even seen the elusive Mr. Haw.
Then I went home and napped with a turk and then went to the grocery store with my roommate. I should always remember not to go to the grocery store the day before a bad storm comes in. It was insane. There were no shopping carts, my roomate and I had to go around with our bags carrying everything. Thankfully the line was short. Well, we've stocked up as well as we can with the expectation that the power will go off. Tomorrow we will go and get liquor to enjoy the night of storms.

DC sniper: the movie

So, the USA Network has made a movie about the DC sniper case. It's called D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear and Charles S. Dutton plays Chief Moose. There's been a bit on controversy about the whole docudrama genre and this movie has caused a stir. The great problem with docudramas in gereral is the timing. The producers and directors have to ask themselves if enough time has passed for the victims and/or survivors of the crime. In this case, the trial hasn't even happened yet. Although this is cable television, how much will this movie influence the public and their view of the defendants? The air date for the movie has been moved from November to October. There doesn't seem to be a trial date set yet, both defendants are embroiled in pre-trial motions. Beyond all the legal reprecussions, I don't think that a movie could ever do justice to what that month was like, how much it had ripple effects across this whole area. Every white van was stopped time and time again, musuems and local attractions and restaurants lost thousands due to loss of business. The already hurt tourism industry was hit even harder. Millions lived in fear and now close to a year after the first shooting, actually 15 days from the anniversary of the first shooting, USA will have a movie about it. Just great, I'm sure it will be realistic. I'm sure that sort of thing comes off very well through a camera lens. They are going to take 23 days and condense it into two hours and purport to be real. Right. Sure.

For something real life: Moose in his own words.

No more women's pro football. That's really sad. At least I was able to see a game before the end.

Inside the beltway and the storm

So, K Street premeired last night to mixed reviews. It blurs the lines between reality and fiction. It also seems like a show where politicians can go play Hollywood. It seems like it's for those who want to get what will seem like a behind the sceens look at how politics really works. It's for politico-wanna bes. Also-rans. I don't know why people will think that what goes on behind closed doors will really be shown to the American public. Politicians don't really want their constituents to know the barganing that goes on, and if you really want a sneak-peek into it, well then you'd work in politics. Really, how many people know that a lot of lobbying firms and law firms are at K and Conn? Only really people inside the beltway, and if you're inside the beltway, why would you go to some TV show to find out about it. This TV show would be about as inside as knowing about the whole Roll Call verses the Hill thing. It definately is interesting show though.

Maybe Isabel will come and shut everything down this week-end. For some reason I think no, but I have to keep on checking. All that is predicted right now is thunderstorms, I have to fly on Friday, I really hope that this is just like some bad Nor'Easter. Though, it says, "heavy squalls". I'm from Missouri, we don't have squalls, we get tornados and severe weather, what's the difference? You'll have to show me. (Oh, god, I just didn't say that....typed it, worse, it's permentent.)

This week-end and other things

Although I wasn't able to do what I originally planned, I had quite an enjoyable week-end. Well, barring one incident. The nice thing about living in a pseudo-college town is there are sometimes interesting places to go. It seems like I can find two other female friends and three male friends and hang out at a Central Perk of my own, which is appropriately named College Perk. If you're up the College Park way, definately check it out. It's a great place, very nice and laid-back.

[This next part is going to have nothing to do with Washington, DC, but is just me writing about this week-end, so don't read if you don't want to, it's going to be long.]

Speaking of two female friends, I actually had two female friends come and stay with me this week-end. All we had to do was find the three guys and then all live above a coffee house, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, not to mention, I'm not white, so no Friends-like existance for me, unless I'm some periphery character that propmtly gets dumped after a few months.
Oh well, moving on.
My friends used to live above me for one summer. That was a great summer, if I could summer like that in Washington, DC, I would do it every summer. The three of us haven't been together since last year's spring break and it was good to have all of us in one place, we of course started talking a lot about relationships. TWC was known as a great relationsip-ender. Almost everyone I knew who walked in with a bf or gf, walked out without one or with a different one. The only two relationships that I knew to survive had his gf in town or she went and the other saw her bf every week-end in Ohio. Surprisingly enough my friends and I are all in a bit of a transition period, so we talked about moving and relationships and starting a new life somewhere and enjoying it. We've agreed on a couple of things.
We've all decided that it's good to have a life outside of your bf/gf. My friends and I can't even imagine spending every waking moment with the person we are dating and the moments that we're not with that person, we miss them and think about them constantly. No, that's kind-a high school and it's a lot obessive. One of my friends made it a point to never take classes with the one she was dating. She was fine if she met someone in class, but then she wouldn't schedule classes with that person. All of us make it a point to have several different interests from that of our bfs. If you do everything with the one that you're dating, what happens when you break-up? Why can't you stand to be away from that person? Actually that question should be the more important question. Why don't you have a life or intersts of your own? Most importantly, have friends of your own. If all your friends are also friends of your bf/gf then, find some friends of your own. And big no, friends from high school or back home don't count. These are friends you can talk to and go out with on the week-ends, and very pointfully, not hang out with your bf/gf.
This is kind-a happening to one of my friends, and although who needs to read this won't, I'm still going to say it: If you've ever said that the one you're dating has brought happiness to your life and no one else can make you that happy and you're pretty serious about that statement, then you need to dump whoever you're dating and find happiness on your own. How sad and pathetic are you that someone else has to make you happy? Yes, sure, you say that the one you're dating makes you happy, and he or she should, but you shouldn't say that the one you're dating brought happiness to your life, that you're life was boring and/or nothing without them, and no one else can do that. No, really truely, you should be able to make yourself happy on your own and your life fulfilled on your own.
One other thing, that's kinda on this topic: don't kill yourself. We've decided this is very key. Don't over extend yourself, don't do too much, make sure that you have time to just sit back by yourself. If every minute of your day is planned and that plan includes time with your bf/gf, or you schedule things around them, then you really need to evaluate your schedule and not do that. Life is so much more than constantly doing something with someone, sometimes you need time to just have fun, unplanned, that means away from your bf/gf too.
My friends are also making long term decisions about whether or not not move in with the ones they are dating. Not surprisingly, their bfs are for it and my friends are not sure about it. Never move in with the one that you are dating, not unless it's some emergency. It's just never a good idea, things can go so horribly wrong. Also, I think it's just weird. Unless you have a wedding date set, why move in together? I don't like to flaunt it in my family's face that I'm schtuping my bf. Also, I like my own space, I like alone time, me time. If you don't feel like you want/need time alone in space of your own, well grow up. Needing space of your own is a major motivating factor in moving out of your parents house. If you don't feel that need after you've started college or graduation, then you really need to grow up and mature into yourself. You shouldn't use other people as crutches.

There ya go, three nice points, following the rule of three. Have to see if that stands

Fares

So, it seems like those who use the Metro will face another fare increase. Man, that sucks. The Metro increased the fares this summer, from $1.10 as the base fare to $1.20, they took away the 10% bonus for any fare card purchase over $20, but at least they have extended week-end hours to 3am, so you actually can make last call at a bar. Now, it looks like fares will increase twice over a year period. That really sucks. I say WMATA should squeeze all that they can from the NFL. Make them pay!

Remembering

I think everyone today will sit and at least think about where they were two years ago. I did the same thing this morning that I did a year ago, and then two years ago. I was at the pool at UMD in scuba class. The difference is two years ago I was a student and the last two years I've been a TA. That and anything and everything dealing with security has changed. Now Bush would like to extend the provisions of the Patriot Act. If there is a more badly named law in the nation, I would like to see it, becuase calling that patriotic is ridiculous. We question if we've made any head-way into quelling terrorism, and we wonder if we're any safer, especially considering the price of the war in Iraq is more than double the amount we spent on Homeland Security. I guess money and budget should really be a whole post alone.

There are of course many memorials taking place today. There are some regoinal ones, some ones across the nation, and of course ones at each site.

Nap-town

If you've ever wondered how many teeny-but-trendy(read:god-awful) clothes stores you can fit into a single mall, well, look no further than Annapolis Mall. My lord, it had it all, LVL X, Forever 21, Wet Seal, Charlotte Russe, Aeropostale, American Eagle, PacSun, Rave, Limited Too and then some I hadn't even heard of before like Gadzooks. Lord help me if you ever find me at any of these stores shopping for my wardrobe. On top of all these more economically priced stores, there are more expensive stores like Bebe and Abercrombie and Tommy. Geez. I almost forget what kids do after school in smaller towns, but then I remembered, they go to the mall. I saw so many Catholic school girls, it was like being in Kansas City all over again. So, if you want the small town feel and as many teeny-but-trendy clothes stores that you can shake a fist at, then Annapolis Mall is the place for you.

Blurring the lines

I really didn't have a topic today, I thought about writing on the $87 billion that Bush requested on Sunday night, or about spending almost every waking moment with your significant other or some bar in DC. I guess those topics will have to wait a bit.
Yesterday in Germany, Leni Riefenstahl died. If you don't know her name, you definately know her work. She was the documentarist for the Nazi party, and from her position filmed Olympia, from which we have many images and film of the 1938 Berlin Games and, most notably, Triumph des Willens or Triumph of the Will a film that both made and destroyed her career. She was asked in the early 1930's to make films for the Nazi party. She filmed the 1934 party congress in Nuremberg (the film is one of the reasons why Nuremberg was chosen for the war crime tribunals). It was an amazing film, for many reasons. It's argued to this day how much of a role she played in the congress, but she definately had some say in the staging of the congress. The film angles, the positioning of the people (an aside, most of the people filmed in the documentary are actually not soldiers and they are farmers, that's why they are carrying forks and hoes), the speeches from Hitler, it all had one purpose, to show the greatness of the Nazi party. Riefenstahl would say that it wasn't propoganda, that she was only showing a focused truth. A truth that she focues with her camera lens. Either way, it was a breakthrough film. Breakthrough on many fronts. It is an early example of a wartime propadana film. She made the film complete, from the planning and execution, to the use of innovative camera mountings and the post editing, Riefenstahl had a story to tell through her film, a story that she told most effectively. So much so that Frank Capra was inspired to make his own documentary on the war, Why we Fight. She was cleared of all propoganda charges, but was never able to seperate herself from her earlier work for the Nazi party. She continuted to be a documentarist and eventually became interested in naturalist documentaries and even became a scuba diver.
Her work is amazing, though you can never seperate it from the fact that her most famous work was for the Nazi party. If you haven't seen Triumph of the Will from begining to end, I suggest renting it. But also rent something from the Capra series, Why we Fight or a great british war film, like In Which we Serve.
To this day, we can see echos of the of using film and cinema as propoganda. Both sides did it during WWII and we continue to do it today.

Summer's over

Well, I'm very sorry to say that summer is over, but at least another kite season is here. The Smithsonian has kite making days. Or if that's not your speed, then I suggest Third Thursdays or First Fridays or Second Tuesdays. If you haven't been before, different neighborhood art galleries get together and have night-time open houses. They are great, some cheese and crakers and wine and art. There is one a Georgetown, Dupont and Chinatown, so there's got to one near you.

Along with the end of summer, comes the start of the school year. This was a very odd summer for me. In some ways I wanted this summer to be much like the summer I spent with good friends at The Washington Center. Not that much responsibility and a constant social whirl. I almost got what I wanted, except for that responsibility thing. Lord knows I had/have a lot to do. But I was still able to keep up with the social calendar, much to the detriment of my planning to move, my move and moving into the new place. Though, I was able to enjoy Washington, DC in the height of the intern season, when everyone goes out and is actually willing to talk to new people. But now school has started, along with traffic being sometime horrendous in my neighborhood, is all the school students. I see them all around, even in the city. It's funny, there are the freshman, sometimes with their parents, excited to "start a new chapter" in their lives. Then there's the sophomores who are so very happy to be back from a summer at home and just might be with their 'rents. There are also the juniors who think that they are jaded and have done it all. Finally there are the seniors who think they own the school and are all excited for what might be their final year. For me and my friends, well, all these kids are just funny. Really, in the end, who are they trying to kid? I guess themselves and those who are immediately around them. In a way it's cute, in more ways is very annoying. Well, at least I get to end the summer and start another semester of TA-ing with a TWC end. Yay for my good friends from TWC. Even better, my love from TWC has moved to town. I have the joy of her in town for at least the next year. I was reading something, this girl said she felt old because it had been six years from her freshman year in high school. Hmmm, I've already been to my fifth year high school reunion, how old should I feel?

Did they like it?

I wonder if the Washington Post liked yesterday's NFL kickoff on the Mall. Wait, let's read:

"American bad taste is the most powerful bad taste in the world. That seems to be what was really being celebrated on the Mall last night at an excruciating 55-minute rock concert ostensibly convened to herald the new pro football season and televised live on the struggling ABC network."

Hmmmm, I don't think that Tom Shales, style columnist, liked it. He goes on to go after the President (like that's hard, he's an idiot) for likening American values to American football, then he goes after Brittney and all her sluttly glory and the comericials that everyone on the Mall was forced to watch. And Shales ends with: "You'll have to be a giant corporation to take over this precious public space and, in effect, spill a ton of garbage all over it."

The Post in an another article one that wasn't so slanted, quoted a Naval officer likening American football to war. I think that the Naval officer was being serious, but having that quote definately made fun of the tribute to the troops that the kickoff supposedly made. The not-so-slanted article describes the event as a, "gaudy fete for football," and National Mall as, "a pop stage with fireworks."

I guess in the end it wasn't that bad for local transportation. There were no great traffic snafus and now the NFL and the Metro have to resolve a small matter of a bill, I say make the NFL pay! But overall, I guess it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, but then again, I would be iterested to know just how many people didn't come into work yesterday or left early to avoid the crowds, that's probably what made the difference. That and the turn out was 3/4 less from last year's Times Square kickoff.

On a completely somber note: what's with all the odd deaths lately? First a formerly Amish boy is killed after a tomato throwing incident. Then there's the story of the the PA man who died with a bomb chained to his neck after robbing a back and being apprehended by the police. What people will do these days, it's really frightening.

Finally it's the week-end and it looks like I've got my travel schedule under control. Woo, Montreal here I come! Downside: dealing with french cannucks. At least the cannuck I lived with spoke english. Yay for scuba! While I'm cheering, yay for turks! It's been a couple of odd last few weeks for me. Been insanely busy, and then it's been weird living in a college town, I'll post more later.

The weather and the NFL

So, if you live in Washington, DC and haven't heard of the NFL Kickoff on National Mall, then you need to come out of the rock you're hiding under and do things either than read this blog. Yes, tonight there will be mayhem on the Mall and all around it, right about at rush hour. Add the normal end of summer, start of school traffic increase and thousands of concert and NFL fans, and well, there are going to be a lot of traffic and transit problems. Why is DC and the National Park Service putting everyone through this horror? Well, the NPS is getting a lot of free advertising through this venture and DC hopes to make a bid for the Super Bowl. The Office of Personal Management encouraged employees to take annual leave time and WMATA encouraged everyone to take the Metro, which by the way will run till 2am Friday morning to handle the extra people.

In addition to all the fun, it looks like we will have thunderstorms tonight. Woo, imagine, you too could be wet, cold, muddy and trapped in a metro car with a few hundred tourists, after watching a concert in the rain and probably only see little itty-bitty bodies dance on stage(there are already people camped out for the good seats). Fun. This year has been a record breaking year with all the rain. If I wanted Seattle or San Francisco weather, I would live there, at least they don't get a couple of feet of snow along with all the rain. Why so much rain, well, it looks like we can blame it on the jet stream. Darn jet stream, I'll get you yet!

The White House

If you haven't heard yet, today the White House announed that tours will resume for the White House, but a reservation system would replace the old timed ticket system. YAY! Stupid Bush and his stupid war and his stupid Homeland Security Advisory System helped to stifle the tourism industry in the Nation's Capital. Yes, he did encourage visitors and tourists to come to DC, yet he wouldn't open his own house up for tours for those tourists and visitors. The tourism in DC survives from people being able to visit the places where decisions that impact their lives are made. That's kinda the whole point. It really makes me happy that after a nearly two year ban on tours, the White House has once again opened it's doors to the citizens that pay for it.

In odd inside the beltway news, it seems that the Bush administration has been promoting Sesame Street abroad to globalize American values. Hmmmm, that's a new one. Never would have thought that the ever tough flight-suit wearing, walking on a carrier Bush would use a stuffed muppet to further his agenda.

Very sad

Today the Post published an article about the increasing number of battlefield casualities that the coalition forces expereiencing in Iraq. It amazes me about the lack of outrage that the american public is exhibiting. It's almost as if we are apathetic to the continuing attacks after Bush (damn republican) declared the war 'over.' On August 27th more american soldiers had died after battle operations ceased than before. Really sad. Thankfully the British forces haven't taken such casualties. Learn a little about those who have died.

On a much lighter note, I came home on Thursday to find my power restored, yay! On Friday Fuat and I were on our way to the Outer Banks. We stayed in Avon, a lovely little town on Hatteras Island. The house we stayed in was beachside and less than a five minute walk to the water. Fabulous. The house was amazing, less than ten years old, had an elevator, fully stocked kitchen, hot tub, grill and decks with views of the ocean. While we were there we went: to the beach; crabbing; to have a bonfire on the beach; to Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Lighthouse and the Bodie Island Lighthouse; mini-golfing complete with a train ride and a water aided hole. I was able to see many friends this week-end, scuba people at the house, Season and Calvin in Virginia Beach and MH at a random rest stop along 95, thank god for cell phones, it was really good to see him before he left for Japan. While we had a very full week-end and was sure to includes some very east-coast activities such as a crab feast complete with Old Bay, it was actually relaxing. There wasn't any schedule and when we saw something that we wanted to do, we did it. It was fabulous. An hour and a half after I returned, Jennifer came over to my house for the day and to spend the night. She is my love and I love her and am in heaven that she is once again in DC.
I realized after I got back that it was a very odd couples week-end. Half of the people in the beach house were either married or engaged to other people in the beach house, actually only one person didn't have his significant other in the house, then we visited Season and Calvin who are engaged. I think I'm getting old. Scary. Or at least people in my circle here in Maryland don't marry before they can drink. That makes it sound better, I'll ignore the perfect couples I know back home.

Wow, my IQ makes me gifted, now that some website has told me that I'm sure to be proud. I also found out that my Intellectual Type is a Precision Processor. "This means you're exceptionally good at discovering quick solutions to problems, especially ones that involve math or logic. You're also resourceful and able to think on your feet."