DC Wrap & The Ensuing Market Madness

Ok, so today is the 2 week anniversary of our return from the DC trip. I figure anything outside of that timeframe, and I'm not even allowed to comment on days 5 & 6. But as all of it is still kind of hazy (margaritas + time = fuzzy memory), I'll just say this:
Day 5 - Like everything else in DC, the zoo was half closed, so we could only half enjoy it. Of course, the fact that it was 180º made us enjoy it half as much as we halfly did. We did a twilight tour of the city that night. This on the other hand was fantastic - we got to see a few monuments again, and also made it to the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial. Cool stuff at night. The WWII Memorial is VERY cool at night.
Day 6 - We did a tour of Arlington Cemetery on Monday morning. The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is always cool. We also went to the White House visitors center, which I'm assuming has considerably less security than the actual White House does. Oh, and we went to Old Ebbitt Grill for our end of the trip lunch. It was much more relaxed in there on a holiday, that's for sure! One last note, the Dunkies coffee stand in the terminal at DCA is a pour-your-own, which was legitimately strange. But it was ok, and I really needed some DD after 6 days without.
Anyway, it seems like a year ago since we went. I can't believe its only been two weeks. Oh well. Anyway, a few random thoughts on the state of the world since then.
- Thank you, Apple for IPhone 2.1. Better. Not great, but better. Keep working at it.
- Thank you, Matt Cassel. Thank you.
- What exactly is the point of a zune, and has anyone ever bought one? Just wondering.
- If I have a great fantasy team one week and lose, and a terrible one the next and (potentially, as of writing) win, does it mean anything? Ok, well, don't take that question literally. Of course it means nothing. But its kind of annoying. For me.
- Why do bars have to be loud? I'd be so much more inclined to go if I could hear. Anything. Else.
- And I'm not waiting in lines. I didn't wait in lines in DC, I'm certainly not doing it in a bar that I've already gotten into. Lame.
- I've got a great new idea for a facebook game: a word jumble with all of the ticker symbols of failing banks. LEHBSCAIGMER. I mean, there's gotta be something in there, right?
Anyway, that catches us up. Now I've got to go and get caught up on everyone elses life. I'll be sure to update again when my thoughts are near-expiration.

DC Day 4 - Smithsonarific

Ok, so we're past the DC trip. In fact, a week ago, I was writing a post about day 1, and today I'm just exhausted from work, and school. But here were the day 4 highlights:

- Meghan and I have differing views on breakfast & lunch. But one thing is certain, if neither of us eats, we get a little grumpy after a couple hours.
- Of course, when you get up late, lunch comes quicker than you would think, which really solved that problem.
- The Museum of American History, and Arts & Industry were both closed. But we hit up all the others.
- And the Museum of Space & Aviation, though open, should have been closed about 15 years ago. Lets put it this way... one of the star attractions was brought to you by Digital Equipment Corporation. WOW. Now that goes way back. Please send your donations. They need it.
- The Museum of Natural History is great and all... if you're interested in the heretical ideas that they display. Evolution? Wow. Just plain evil. The next time I go to Washington, they best have put up signs at the Smithsonian saying that evolution is but one viewpoint, and that it is not widely regarded as correct.
- Rounding out a Smithso-tastic day, we did the National Portrait Gallery. This was actually very cool. And who knew we had so many former presidents? I swear there were at least 37 of them.
- We went to the Union Grill in Union Station for dinner, and we were the only people sitting outside on a beautiful night. People in DC are weird, that's for sure.
- And then we went to Thunder Grill, also in Union Station, for an after dinner drink. I had an 1800 margarita (or two). Uhm, and we made it home, later. But the details may be a bit hazy... mmm...ritalicious.

DC Day 3 - Introducing Mrs. Palin

I'm a little behind at this point. There's reasons, but none of them are good. Read on and you'll (eventually) see why I'm writing about Friday on Sunday. Here's a recap of Day 3:
- Third day in a row that our foray into DC starts with the Federal Triangle Metro stop. Its getting old at this point. And once again its raining. What the flippity-eff!
- The National Aquarium seems at first to be a $7 scam. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in butt ugly fish. Its nothing like what we've got back at home in Boston, but it was a good way to spend some time in the AM.
- The Metro is an interesting system. Its like each line works on the buddy system. Anyway, we took the LONG way out to the Pentagon for our 1:00 tour. The Blue Line goes ALL the way around the north western part of the city before crossing the Potomac, and shooting down to the Pentagon via Arlington. Still, its a hell of a lot faster than taking the Red Line from Boston to Quincy, so it has that going for it.
- I was expecting "airport" security virtually everywhere down here, and I've been conveniently disappointed. The Pentagon definitely had the toughest security of every place we've encountered, but we were able to crack it with two forms of ID, and a handy reservation email.
- Nothing like military precision. Our 1 pm tour started at 1:20.
- Nothing like military accuracy. The nice enlisted gentleman that lead us around didn't bump into a single thing while walking backwards for 45 minutes.
- The woman in the yellow "Jazz-ercise" t-shirt on the tour that didn't understand the well armed military man's instructions to "STAY TO THE RIGHT, ESPECIALLY ON ESCALATORS" annoyed me greatly. He would have done the world a favor if one of his buddies with an MP5 had put a couple in her for her insolence.
- Exiting the Pentagon: more rain. Yay.
- Big night out on the town (don't worry, we came back to the Courtyard for a quick afternoon nap before going out!), we hit up the Regan International Center for a performance by the Capital Steps. It wasn't until we were seated in an auditorium that reminded us of the Dana Center at St. A's that Meghan and I realized that we've been Capital Steps before. At St. A's. In the Dana Center.
- It was still well worth it (definitely go if you are in DC on a Friday/Saturday) - they managed to work Sarah Palin into their show, even though her nomination had been announced just hours before.

DC Day 2 - The Yeungling Effect

After a pitcher of Yeungling, I'm posting a little late, and I'll have to make this brief. Here's a recap of day 2:
- Apparently it rains in Washington.
- When you walk out the door, and you've checked the forecast, and it says rain, and you're outside, and it is lightly raining, this is generally a sign you should buy an umbrella, or two. Most people would take that sign and stop at the local CVS... not hop on the train.
- Getting to Nat Geo in the rain? Not very fun.
- There aren't enough Dunkies around here, and not nearly enough near me.
- Nat Geo. I'm disappointed in you. Not because the exhibit wasn't cool, but I was just expecting a lot more!
- Red Line, Green Line, Yellow Line, Orange Line, Blue Line, they all make the same stops it seems. Just get on a train.
- OK well its not that simple, but it seems it at times.
- Went to an authentic Mexican restaurant for lunch. Cows tongue and grasshoppers on the menu. You'll be shocked to find out that I had a chicken taco.
- Congress, its not just for congressmen anymore. Apparently they have congressladies these days too. Interesting tour. Kind of. Meghan was disappointed with the tour, but I like that it was brief.
- Newseum? She wanted me to go into a place called a Newseum? Well, it was very cool. Check out the better half's blog for more details.
- Found a sports bar for dinner. It was fab, and I got to have Red Hook, which is always a bonus. Red Hook in DC! Who knew!
- And then there's that pitcher of Yeungling in the hotel bar last night... well, lets just put it this way, after a few glasses, Obama almost seemed appealing to me... and not just politically...

DC Day 1 - Nationals Baseball - Feel the Excitement

Here's a quick recap of day 1 in DC:

- 4:20 AM is WAY too early for anything, especially getting up to get on a plane.
- Random made up word of the day: bobulate. Meghan told me that I was all out of sorts while we were waiting for our 9 am flight (I call it sleep deprived). She said I was all discombobulated, and that I should take a walk around the terminal, until I was "bobulated".
- The walk worked, oddly enough.
- Commuter flights are my new favourite way to travel. Nothing like an empty airplane for a 1 hour flight that lands 10 minutes early.
- I hear Vegas was taking bets on whether Meghan would grab the diet coke cans that they gave us on the plane and recycle them when we got home. Degenerates everywhere were disappointed to hear that she didn't.
- Navy Yard, Washington, District of Columbia. From the looks of it, it used to be, well, a rough neighborhood. To say the least. And its going to be a fairly nice area in a couple years right now. But while we're here? Its a bit of a mix... brand new Courtyard where we're staying, with the ballpark (more later) virtually right next door. Yet its still a bit sketchy. Yeah, I'm still triple deadbolting the door...
- In all of our geekdomly genius, we broke out the phones to look for a place to eat near the White House. We decided we'd take a quick walk around the WH to start out our trip, but we needed lunch... and before I could come up with anything, Meghan found Old Ebbitt Grill. Come to find out, it wasn't exactly a tourist-showing-up-in-jeans-and-shorts type of place... but the food was very good, and they didn't rush us out the door to make room for Capitol Hill's movers and shakers (ok, i just wanted to say that.) Overall I give it an A- for food/presentation/snootiness of the maître d'.
- Walked around the White House. Its still white. I found it amusing that there are hardly any tourists at the fence at the back of the building, which provides a great view at a reasonable distance, and yet there are hoards of tourists out front, where you have to wedge yourself in for a much more distant photo op. Strange.
- World War II Memorial, very well done. Expansive, tranquill, water fountainy.
- Korean War Memorial. More peaceful, more tranquill, kind of creepy with the 125% of real life size soldier statues. But still, very nice.
- Vietnam War Memorial. Wall. Really, we've got to stop getting ourselves into so many wars. Also, do people still rub the names of the fallen onto paper? Didn't see anyone doing it today, but I did when I was a kid (back then that was about the only war memorial the city had...). Can I get a verdict on this?
- I understand not putting Metro stations underneath all of the important buildings... but what is the point of having a subway if you can't get to it when you are sick of walking?
- One other note on the subways... Boston should look into the creepy dark carvernous approach to train stations. Very cool. I forget how much the T sucks until I go anywhere else.
- Nationals Ballpark. Wow. I mean, Fenway is great, but WOW. Tix are cheap (beer, dogs and the like are still pricey enough to necessitate a second mortgage though), and the stadium is just beautiful. I hear that they'll get a big league team in there one day. Wait, what? Oh, right, that was a National League team out there... riiiight.
- Gotta love any oportunity to boo Manny.
- Sad moment of the night, after moving seats a couple of times, and each time Meghan dutifly grabed and moved them for me, I forgot the Nationals commerative beer cups that we got with our hot dogs. I probably could have gone back for them, but we were already half way down from the top level (oh yeah, that's WAY up there in these new fangled stadiums). I guess I won't be able to show off my Nats pride at home.

Next up: Congressional follies, Nat Geo, and attempting to find lunch at a place that doesn't employ a wait staff of 200.