The Nation's Capitol Made Me Ill!
To add to my litany of complaints below, I'm sick. My throat started hurting yesterday afternoon and absolutely killed this morning when I woke up. So I called in, slept in, and haven't been doing much since.
But, it gives me some time to blog.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I just returned from Washington, D.C. I was there to attend the Leukemia Ball for my employer, which sponsored a table. This was my first real black-tie gala event, and as we exited our hotel to walk to the event, we got protested by people who thought we were at yet another black-tie gala that was actually taking place at our hotel--one attended, we later found out, by George Bush. (As it turns out, this was only one of many protests I saw in D.C. this weekend. Others included the high-school squeakers playing "Taps" for unborn fetuses outside of Planned Parenthood; and the young woman wearing only bikini bottoms, painted from head to toe like a tiger, sitting in a cage on the sidewalk and holding a sign in front of her chest that read, "Animals aren't meant to be caged." This latter seemed to me to be a particularly effective protest.)
The weather in D.C. was just unbelievably beautiful this weekend: sunny, upper 70s. I walked quite a few miles while I was there. Where I went, and some highlights of each:
DuPont Circle: A good record store, Melody Records, and a good bookstore, Kramerbooks. All new stuff at both of these, so no real bargains, but nice places. I had a good lunch on Friday at a place with a not-so-good name, Thaiphoon. Overall, I'd (apparently) call the neighborhood "good".
White House: Enh. Hopefully I'll like it better in three years, ha ha. Actually, it's so well fenced-off, I didn't get much of an impression from it.
Washington Monument: Get tickets in advance if you want to go up in it. Not much need to bother walking all the way to it just to see the outside, either.
Smithsonian Museum of American History: There are a lot of flags, including, apparently, the one that inspired Francis Scott Key. There's a statue of George Washington as Zeus. Or Neptune. Some Greek god, at any rate. This was less inspiring than comical. There was a nice, though small, display about Duke Ellington, including video of old recorded movie and TV performances. I was the only one watching them. As with most museums, the gift stores were most prominent. One specialized in music. You know how they always call jazz "America's Only Original Art Form"? The museum store gave it about three feet of rack space. Meanwhile, there was a huge display of Beatles memorabilia. This is the Museum of American History, people! Sigh.
World War II Memorial: Enh. I went to the Vietnam Memorial when I was in D.C. last year and was surprised by how moving it really was to see. The WWII Memorial just seems perfunctory.
Arlington National Cemetary: Worth the Metro trip, even though it's weird that a cemetary is a Tourist Attraction. Maybe it's not that weird, considering all the other monuments to the dead. The eternal flame over JFK's grave; the simple cross over RFK's; the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (I didn't know it's "guarded" 24 hours--I wonder if the ceremoniousness of it continues all night long? I wonder if their rifles really have ammo?).
I wanted to check out at least one more museum on Sunday, but my feet were just killing me by then. I hung out at Borders for a while, had some Malaysian food, and took a cab to the airport.
I dig Washington, but one thing I noticed: It seemed like I got panhandled more times in the past three days there than I have in the past three months in Chicago. I dunno, maybe I've just become hardened and oblivious to my daily surroundings, and noticed it more there? Or is there really more of it there, and if so, does that say something about Washington, or about Chicago? Are there some kind of draconian crackdowns going on here that middle-class people like me just aren't aware of? Or maybe I was just more class-conscious than usual on this trip, attending a ball in a tux, taking cabs, staying at a nice hotel, eating in good restaurants.
Anyway, I'm off to drink some more tea and wait for spring to arrive here.
posted by Rob @ 2:33 PM
14 Comments:
The trip sounds good. DC is one of my favorite cities for some reason; I always feel really comfortable there. Sorry we didn't get together Sunday night, but between the weather, my sinuses and your throat, it was probably for the best!
When DC home of make sick Rob for blogging, I want yummy sore throat too for together contagious now!
The last time you and Susan didn't hook up it was because she "lost her cell phone in a cab". Did you even wonder if you two bloggers are just nervous to find out what you're really like in real life, away from the safety of your avatars and witty Tiger Crane style editing? Uh oh! What if Rob turns out to be a discarded high school driving instructor who's been directing a self-documentary in his head for twenty years but hasn't shared that secret with anyone except the squirrel that raids his birdfeeder, but yet will tell anyone who will listen that his cell phone shows stock quotes and can get reception in a walk-in fridge though he's never really tested that? And not a successful bank veep whose taste in music is about as misdirected as his passion for it, but who's about the best conversationalist there is. Uh oh! What if Susan turns out to be that one lady who's always trying to make eye contact with people at church, and you can't help stare at that scar on her nose because there's got to be a great story about how it got there, but it'll probably just turn out to be her latest cat? And, not some fun MBA marketer with great taste in the three R's (movies, music and books), who's way more beautiful than she thinks, and damnit is one hell of a fine writer if she'd just start focusing and not be so tempted by the blog muse.
I think fine citizen has a point. However, get back the the three R's, D.C. sucks.
Why won't you talk about the spoon crisis! Huh! All this fancy talk from a fancy man, and yet nothing at all about spoons! Hey, fancy man, what if maybe you don't know so much after all, huh? Who's the Self Proclaimed Fancy Man now?
For now capital take yummy days over best and kisses to you, you are drink coffee good in my heart and giggle place! I draw!
Hell, man, I don't have any idea what that broad's talking about, but you ought to ask her out. Unless, of course, she's Johnny Law.
Oh, yeah, well the Nations Capitol made me IV. So, you can stop your whining now.
The best thing about the mailman is he doesn't actually do anything to me when I make those funny noises. Sometimes I think he probably smiles a bit to himself. But, that's just a shared little joke between two professionals, and then it's on to the Johnsons because there's a new Redbook out.
You ought to do a post about mash-ups. Don't you think the people are interested and deserve to know. I mean, this is supposed to be a digital democracy, right? So, don't waste your fingerprint dust on topics like fruit, or gas prices, or how tired you get during Montell. I hear ya, buddy, but you know I heard ya the last time. How about a fresh approach? How about mash-ups?
Anyone ever get the feeling that Callero is multi-polar?
Somebody please help me.
There's probably too much spice in the sausage
one day i will eat my male owner. this will be a joyous day. there will be much celebrating in the midwest. woof.
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