The Freckled Diaries

One in.....how many?

The title of this post was going to be one in, followed by the number of car-free households in the United States, but that information does not seem to be readily available. I'm 100% positive that I could find it, given some time and access to the proper databases (librarian alert!), but it's just not that important to me.

What IS important to me is that I am now, officially and at what seems like long last, 100% without the car. After much drama and inertia, I wound up with two representatives from my local used car lot at my house looking at the car. We went for what I thought was a test drive, and wound up at the lot where I was suddenly in negotiations with the Boss. I had to think about it for a second, so I walked home, got my bike, rode to my local pub to speak with the bartender who'd expressed interest in the car (I wanted to not sell it out from under him, but the offers were quite different so I figured he wouldn't go for it). He didn't want it for the price, so back on the bike to the car lot it was and presto changeo, title signed over, key left behind and I cycled away a free woman!

I stopped driving it in October, when the state inspection expired and I didn't feel like paying to get it renewed. I turned in my plates to the state this winter when my insurance policy came up for renewal (so I didn't have to renew). I was going to sell it quickly after that but inertia set in and then it was buried under a thousand feet of snow a couple of times. Two weeks ago, faced with an offer, I decided to get serious. Under mandate from parents I had the car lot folks look at it and the offer was far higher and without the added messiness of doing busniess with friends. In the blink of an eye, what was going to be a quick once-over and casual offer turned into a "let's do this now, how's a check sound" kind of situation. Woo hoo!. Hooray for money. And no more car.

Now to negotiate the price of the rental of the parking space (already have a prospective renter waiting in the wings, impatiently at that!).

Saturday on Friday

So, Saturday. Last Saturday (just catching up!), I woke up early (for a Saturday, for me), at 10 and had two things to accomplish: go to Pentagon City (neighborhood of Arlington--there's a large mall and several other shopping areas there) to pick up a dress they were holding for me at Ann Taylor, and meet up with my potential car buyer and hopefully sell my car. They would only be holding the dress until 3, the car guy (Scott the bartender from Pat Troy's, actually) would be at my house at 1. A morning run to Pentagon City it was.

I took my bike on the Metro the 4 stops to Pentagon City because I wasn't sure exactly where the Ann Taylor was and bikes= getting around a whole lot faster. I made it to store, got my dress (ever so slightly too small, but if I swim more and eat less ice cream it'll fit by my birthday in May) and was about to head back via Metro, when I heard from Scott saying that something had come up and could we meet in the evening instead. Suddenly, my afternoon was wide open, it was 75 degrees and sunny and I was 5 mostly flat miles away from home, I had a bicycle and my regular commute route (Mount Vernon trail) was just down the street. I easily came up with Plan B. 

I stopped and got some lunch, then hit the trail and was back in Old Town in no time flat.  I was a bit of a spectacle on the trail for a few reasons:  the trail is full of "weekend cyclists" on the weekends--casual types out for a fun ride and Spandexies out for training. I was on a Dutch bike in a sundress and sandals and was very likely the only person out at that time of day using the trail to actually get somewhere. I was also, unbelievably, one of the fastest folks out there, which really surprised me. I'm usually on the trail with my electric bike, because that's what I use to commute to work. I've commuted on the Amsterdam many times before, but not since the fall. The Amsterdam is generally the scooting around Old Town/to friends' houses up to 5 miles away vehicle. I passed nearly everyone I saw, and kept up with a pack of Spandexies without breaking a sweat, until they stopped for a water break.  The hills/overpasses that gave me so much grief when I first started commuting (pre-electric bike)....I didn't even notice them. Literally, it wasn't until Monday when I was commuting home did I realize that I'd done that route sans-electricity easily on Saturday. My first few weeks of commuting with the Amsterdam, I pushed that bike up a few of those hills. How amusing.

Anyway, I was back in town before I knew it. The trail cuts through Old Town down by the marina, where there happens to be two competing ice cream shops across the street from one another (three if you count Ben and Jerry's, but I personally don't). I figured: pretty day, just got some unexpected exercise....ice cream (yes, even though I had just plunked down good money on a too-tight sundress). The ice cream shops also happen to be across the street from O'Connell's, one of Old Town's many Irish pubs (in case you've missed that fact in these pages). O'Connell's is a bit different from the rest--it's quite upscale, has no live music, lacks the drunken military dude contingent (for better or for worse...), has a proper restaurant that's not quite fine dining but is certainly in the "written about"/"destination restaurant" category, and is a (rare) rugby bar. As I was parking my bike, I saw someone I know from the parade-planning efforts who said "Hey, Catherine, you here for the rugby?". And it hit me: the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament! I'd been meaning to catch a game for weeks but I kept forgetting (largely because many of the games kicked off at 8am our time...). Ice cream ditched for rugby.

I stated for both the Ireland/Scotland match and the England/France match. I wound up getting drawn into a friendly group of rugby folks (mostly members of the various rugby clubs in the area, and many British/Irish expats), and had a grand time. One in particular was a friendly (and moderately pushy) Welsh woman selling raffle tickets for a fundraiser who insisted that I get involved with the Alexandria club even if I don't play. To that end, she thinks that I should get a ticket for the Rugby Ball (held at the French Embassy) in May. When I told her that I had no boyfriend and therefore one to go with she told me that I'd pull one there you silly girl. I told her she'd have to help me out with that and pointed to a few worthy candidates in the room, knowing that she's exactly the type of woman who knows everyone in the room and who you'd want on your side in date-finding. I'd be lying if I claimed that I didn't purposefully steer the conversation in that direction from the start. If this pans out, I officially have a middle aged Welsh wingman, which is awesome. We'll see where this goes.

I'd had a really nice time getting to know those folks (a few in particular) and wanted to stay and hang out, but I had my belated car-selling appointment. I went home, showed him the car and we talked about prices and the fact that his wife would need to come look and left it at that. We're going to figure this out next week.

After that, I headed to my friends Gabe and Mariah's house to celebrate National Corndog Day (yes, there is such a thing and my friends are the type of people who know of such things). They'd bought some really nice sausages from the farmers' market that morning, made a sort of pancake batter with something related to corn, I assume, and fried them up in a cast iron skillet on the stove. They were amazing. We made funnel cakes with the leftover batter, which was even more amazing. It seems unlikely, if I continue this way, that that stupid dress is going to fit by NEXT May, but it was worth it.

By 9, I was back on the bike headed to Old Town to meet up with my friend Mariel for some late drinks and general catching up. Neither of us lasted long (she had a headache, I'd had an unbelievably full day) so we called it a night at 11 or so.

This week, I kept up the busyness. This week, Congress was still losing its mind (the healthcare bill passed the House on Sunday, but the corrections had to be approved by the Senate, and the protesters got really frothy, even for them. There have been death threats and all sorts of nastiness happening. It's times like those where you really question the wisdom in the 1st Amendment (tongue in cheek!)). 

I bike commuted every day this week (finally!), including during a thunderstorm for the first time ever (the thunder was far away, no lightening risk!). I went to karate twice (and one private lesson), a French language discussion evening, my normal Wednesday happy hour, had a date (a nice one), and then tonight had dinner and a movie (Alice in Wonderland) with my friend Tammy. Busy. And loving every minute :)

Feeling Better :)

So it might have been allergies. One never can tell at this time of year, and I don't seem to own a thermometer, so I have no idea if I was actually running a fever or if I I just felt like I was running a fever (although simultaneous sweating and shivering while feeling as if you've just tumbled down some lighthouse stairs is a pretty good indication). Anyway, I feel functional and have since Saturday (which makes me feel guilty, of course).

Anyway. Some catching up.  The snow melted and then it rained. A lot. A whole lot. The Potomac reached its highest point in 15 years (and we've been hit by some hurricanes since then). Here's what the commute Monday and Tuesday looked like. Monday I didn't even bother trying and here's why: (photo from WashCycle)

 

All of the low-lying parts of the trail (of which there are many--my guess is totaling 1/3 of the thing) were like that, not just this small section. For reference, this photo was taken facing Arlington (the buildings in the distance are the Rosslyn section). The river is the Potomac. Standing at this point, if you were to look right you'd see the monuments of DC, and Arlington Cemetery is across the Parkway to your left).

Tuesday, I ventured out and took some photos in Founder's Park in Alexandria on the way in. These docks (or boardwalks, whatever) are generally pretty high out of the water (though Alexandria is no stranger to flooding, this is just pretty extreme even for us).

 

 

 

Here's what Old Town looked like (Monday, high water). This is (from NBC Washington) King and Union. Anyone who has been here before knows this intersection well-- the Torpedo Factory is there (not pictured), 100 King used to be there (sniff) Mai Thai (the Thai place that overlooks the marina) is just next to the Starbucks pictured. I used to live a mere 2 blocks from here (2 blocks straight up a very steep hill, thankfully).

Cycling folks: Union Street is actually the "official" part of the Mount Vernon Trail as it passes through Old Town. 

In DC, one of the locks on the C&O Canal broke, and the police apparently went door-to-door in Georgetown warning people. The towpath (along the canal), was closed (obviously). I wish I could find a photo of the canal from this spot when it's NOT flooded. This is all kinds of amazing (photo DCist)

Back to Tuesday, as the water went away, it left a huge mess along the trail:

 

(photo WashCycle)

But you can maneuver around a mess, you can't around water.  I made it in just fine. And then fell ill with whatever I had, and was out of work for the rest of the week. 
 

I made it out on Saturday and had a positively lovely day, which I think I'll write about next.
 
 

 

Whirlwind

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I've been busier than usual. Much, much busier than usual. If any of you follow the workings of Congress, you'll know that things are pretty much insane on the Hill right now, and the committee I work for has an awful lot to do with all of it, and in one instance of all the drama (basically, the jobs bill, the healthcare bill and recent ethics charges), is very close to the center of it. It's making for an interesting work environment for sure, but also an extraordinarily stressful one. 

There's filibusters, House-Senate ping pong (I literally had a dream one night in which the crypt of the Capitol--where you can see straight through from the House to the Senate--turned into a giant indoor tennis court, but we were playing dodgeball instead) and parliamentary acrobatics the likes of which are rarely seen.  I just so happen to have signed up for a Congressional Research Service course for Hill staff on advanced legislative processes (Senate processes, I'll have to do House another time). It meets once a week for 2 hours for 7 weeks. Even the person teaching this course, one of the nation's foremost experts in parliamentary procedure, is all atwitter over what's going down. I *barely* grasp it, which is only adding to the anxiety, because I feel like I ought to have this stuff down. 

One bonus is that because our regular conference/meeting rooms are almost always full of meetings, there have been a few occasions in which confidential meetings had to happen in my office space, which means that I've been periodically been told to get lost for an hour. I had a nice long lunch once, took care of some HR business on the House side (and got my shoes shined), and got a hair cut at the Senate Hair Care another time. Here's the cut---after riding my bike home from the Metro with a helmet on in the rain. Making a face demonstrating what I think of people who disobey leash laws and allow their dogs to attack me on my bike, making me swerve, lose balance and have to jump off into an ankle-deep mud pit (necessitating the shoe shine mentioned above):

 

On top of the nuclear meltdown that is work, I was still keeping my regular grad school/dance class/karate class schedule while parade planning kicked into high gear (our parade was yesterday--we do it a week early because many of the bands and other participants are in the DC parade too and we can't conflict). We had a final fundraiser on Sunday the 21st, a long and late meeting on Tuesday the 23rd (we went to the City Council meeting to get a proclamation, then had a normal meeting), then a dry run on Sunday the 28th, then our final-push meeting on Wednesday the 3rd, our Grand Marshal Ball on Friday the 5th (which spilled into the wee hours of Saturday the 6th), then the parade itself, with events (classic car show, community dog show) starting at 10am Saturday. It was a lot. I'll write a bit more about the parade, and specifically our Grand Marshal who is my new favorite person in the world, later.

Me personally? After Friday night shenanigans at/after the Grand Marshal Ball, followed by working the parade all day Saturday, followed by some social time on Saturday (I couldn't stay long, because the pubs are as packed, if not more, as they are on St. Patrick's Day itself, and I just can't handle those kinds of crowds), I went home for a nap. I got up and immediately went to meet up with some librarian friends at the piano bar after which we headed to Murphy's to try to meet up with a friend of mine who lives far away and who I haven't seen in a year who was supposed to be out last night. She wasn't there, but Mr. You Messed It Up was! Awkwardness ensued, but we eventually ran into each other in private, hung out for a while and long story short, we're cool. So he's around, but this is the last you'll be hearing of him because this is just not that kind of blog.

So that's about it. If I disappear again it's either because Congress is still insane or because I'm spending time doing the type of thing that I generally refrain from writing about here. For my sake, please hope that it's the latter!

Oops

"Someone" forgot to bring her bike in from the snowstorm. "Someone" also unwisely left it directly under the leaky downspout during the next day's thaw. "Someone" now owns a bicicle.

Welcome!

I've been getting lots of visits to this site and my YouTube video ever since Trish and Dottie from Let's Go Ride A Bike so graciously did a post about me and my bikes. So, welcome!  I don't do nearly as good a job around here as they do over there, sorry. I'm lazy with remembering to post, frequently skip posting pictures, and I don't cover cycling exclusively--just a little journal/ranting space that some people might find interesting. Oh, and for a librarian, the state of the organization and uniform application of my tags is an absolute joke. An embarrassing joke.

But all disclaimers aside, welcome!

Today, actually, I have some interesting bike news to share, so it would seem that the timing worked out pretty well.  Today, I did my bike commute for the first time in an embarrassing seven weeks. As you may or may not have seen in my recent comments at LGRAB, I wimped out in the first or second week of December after one very, very cold and uncomfortable ride home one evening (and a sick day the next day). I put a lot of cold weather "gear" (more on that later) on my Christmas wish list, and figured I'd start back up in the new year. Then the new year came along with near record low temperatures and very high winds, making the wind chill something frightening. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I have no idea how Dottie manages. I was half frozen just cycling around town--I can't imagine an hour-ish commute in 10 degrees with wind! Eventually, the weather went back to normal but I was being a bit lazy in my Metro routine but finally, today I got my act together and rode in to work.

I also finally got to give my new stuff a proper try--I've been using it all here and there, but never as how I'd intended it to be used (ie--the commute).

First--my helmet:

 

It's a Bern Berkley helmet, with a liner/ear flaps for warmth. It also has a little place to plug in an iPod, and speakers in the ear flaps. I've had this helmet for at least a month but because I don't like the idea of riding on the streets with music going and planned on the iPod feature to be an "trail only" thing,  I hadn't had the chance to try out the speakers. Until today. It's awesome! I suppose it's the same feeling as headphones, which I never used on the trail before. It really makes the trip even more fun than it already is. And because the trail was nearly abandoned this evening, and I'm kind of silly, I was singing right along with my music (and I'm pretty sure no one heard me).

Next: my coat.

 

It's Eddie Bauer's Insulated Girl on the Go Trench. It's some waterproof breathable material with a removable down liner (that's the insulated part). If I hadn't really wanted something for waterproofing AND warmth, I'd have gone with the Belted Girl on the Go Trench because I like the shape of it better, and it's longer and would maybe mean I wouldn't have to use the "mountain guide" waterproof pants I also got (more on those when I use them--only for rainy commute days though). This thing, plus the Under Armor I'll talk about in a minute, and an old Brooks Brothers cable knit pink wool sweater kept me nice and toasty the whole way (a little TOO toasty by the end).

Under Armor

 

My top is like day-glow lime green though. These things are amazing. Like wearing little toasters. I've never been a super-athletic person (and the closest I ever was to being super-athletic, I was a swimmer), so all of this "runners gear" stuff just never seemed to apply to me. But I'm a total convert, it's amazing. I was even sleeping with this stuff under my nightgown during that terrible cold snap I mentioned earlier.

On top of the Under Armor, I had regular yoga pants and the wool sweater I mentioned. Two pairs of SmartWool socks, sneakers, some North Face fleece type gloves under an old pair of leather gloves (all stretched out). Then, the coat I showed you and my helmet. Total success, except for the feet which were very very cold but not frozen or frostbitten or anything. I think I need to rethink the sneakers. The rest of me felt totally fine, even pretty overheated at times. Not bad for the mid/high 30s. I will need to find a better foot solution, and I know that if I give the 20s a whirl again, I will need something better for my hands. As it is now, I'm back in the winter commuting game!

Let It Snow!

 

 

So, we're having a major snow event. Like, not only "major-for-DC" (which is anything more than 6 inches....or 4 inches), but major, like major outside of ski resorts. 16-24+ inches expected.

I couldn't be happier if I tried. I freaking love snow, I love snowstorms, I love being snowed in, I love it all. It's the best thing ever. I seriously can't think of any better way to spend a day than watching the snow outside, while staying all warm and cozy (preferably with a fire in the fireplace) eating grilled cheese and tomato soup, watching old movies with whatever company happens to be snowbound with you (at the moment it's my kitties and my cousin Rebecca).

We knew this was coming--all but the most skeptical of us knew that we could get up to a foot of snow, maybe more (the totals, you see, have been seriously upped), starting about Wednesday. I mean, we knew about it starting Wednesday, the snow was meant to start last night, get serious at 2am-ish and continue all Saturday into Sunday.  

I was out at Bistrot Lafayette  last night for dinner and showtunes/ Christmas carol singalong at the piano bar upstairs. This time, I went with a group of librarian friends (all of us with quite impressive credentials, as we realized last night--me in the Senate, one at the Supreme Court, one at the US Institute for Peace and two at the Securities and Exchange Commission). We were also joined by my friend Erin and her friend Allison. It was like a scene from a movie--upstairs in this old building, a cozy bar, piano, elderly and spunky pianist, several "confirmed old bachelors" and us, singing away while snow gently fell past fairy-lit trees onto the brick streets outside. Lest you think it was all "O Holy Night", I must say that these guys can make anything raucous. I would pay good money to see our "12 Days of Christmas", each person getting their own "day" to sing, with instructions to act it out. I (of course, just my luck) got #6--geese a laying. #2 declined to sing, but rather flapped his wings and made some bizarre dove-like sound with increasing desperation each round, so much so that #1 was usually unable to chime in because he was laughing so hard. #10 (lords a' leaping) was also particularly hysterical and very nearly resulted in injury. It was as grand a time as was ever had there.

By the time we had to leave (early, at midnight due to snow), there was already a good 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground. I attempted to ride a bit on the sidewalks but the Uneven Bricks of Death are even worse when obscured by snow---and we get heavy, wet snow that is super slippery. The bike made a fishtail, and I jumped off. Wasn't going to risk it for just a 5 block trip. I did get some good pictures along the way, though.

Poor choice in footwear for the evening. 

 

The Amsterdam, the Old Town Theater, Snow, Fairy-lit trees on King Street. What's better?

 

Me and the Amsterdam, home from our journey. It was brought indoors for the evening due to the snowstorm. Check out my wreathes! (And, random fashion insert--I love how that dress is about the same length as the coat--must remember that combo in future!)

I have (what I think is) a funny little video from later in the evening, when I went out to get some video of the cat in the window. Will work on it and post later!

 
  
 
 

Lessons Learned

I learned a lot today.

(1) People WILL steal your bike helmet (and rear light, and purposefully break your front generator light). I'd always figured that you can't force people to wear helmets, so why would they steal the singular lest cool thing in existence?

(2) Higher end bike helmets have sizing charts and can be ordered online.

(3) I have an absurdly large head.

About the theft/vandalism: I left it parked at the Metro overnight, which I knew was a risk but I'd never done it before and figured "how unlucky can I get". Heh. I hate people.  I'm not upset about the helmet (I have another, and it was nothing special and I like having an excuse to get one I like), or the rear light (it wasn't expensive), but I'm just more upset that it happened. I mean--what the hell? There's no resale value for them--this was just done to be a jerk. I AM upset about the front light. I really hope it can be fixed--it's built in on the Amsterdam and is one of the features I like the most about it (it's so pretty!). I'll be hugely disappointed if I have to swap it with some ugly one.

Bastards.

 

Busy Day!

Ah....

That's the sigh of relief of having finished a very busy (but VERY fun) day in the life of....well, me. It's odd, because I've been nothing but busy for months now (or, well, really a year now...I started my job at the Senate Library on December 2 of last year and full time school plus mostly full time work=not so easy), but this kind of busy feels so different from what I've been doing these many months, but yet so familiar. Maybe it's the Christmas/Holiday season busyness that everyone goes through or...something.

Either way, I started my day at 10 am (don't laugh, I didn't get to sleep until 3 because I was up writing a paper that was due today), and prepared myself for karate class. I then exited my home to go to my bike (to take me to class) to discover that the snowpocalypse* I'd thought was predicted for Saturday night/all day Sunday was in fact for Friday night/all day Saturday. I must say, hats off to Dottie from Let's Go Ride A Bike and everyone else who rides in the snow (and enjoys it!), because my experience was abject misery. According to Google Maps, it is .7 miles between my house and the dojo (that sounds so long--I think of it as 10 blocks), and it was .7 miles of miserable awfulness. My feet were frozen solid, my karate uniform from mid-thigh to knee totally wet (and cold), my hair was wet and snowflakes and pieces of flying ice/"wintery mix" kept getting into my eyes. People in cars were even more humorless than usual (grammatically speaking, can you be "more" of "xxx-less"?). Put simply, it sucked. Now, I don't have the proper gear, or anything that could be defined as "gear" at all, and that's probably largely the culprit. But I was not a happy camper.

Anyway, I got to karate class, where I did get some serious "omg you're so tough" points for having ridden the bike there. Unfortunately, about a half hour into class, I very nearly passed out because I hadn't eaten enough and because that's what happens to me when I exercise vigorously before noon.

Straight from class (which ended at noon), I got back on the bike into the snowpocalypse to the Metro to go to actual class--the one for which a paper was due today. From 1:30 to 4, I was a slave to Information Systems for Libraries (the worst class I have ever taken at Catholic or any university), then back on the Metro. On the way home, I realized that being on the bike in the cold and wet could be much more comfortable if I had warm, dry feet and I should get some wellies and wool socks. I got off the train at Pentagon City (a major mall in the DC area) and went hunting. 2 hours later, I came out with some wellies (yellow plaid!), two hats, a flower headband, and two dresses. No wool socks to be found. But the dresses totally made up for it. Macy's is having a major sale and has awesome stuff. I got this dress (don't mind the huge pile of laundry on the ottoman) 

 

for $24. It was on the half off rack and the lady in line ahead of me gave me a coupon or an additional 25% off....all on top of Macy's big ol' sale.

I then got back on Metro, retrieved the bike, raced home (got there by 7) and got showered, blow-dried and dressed (in the new dress!) in 25 minutes. Back on the bike all spiffed up to go to Arlington. One of my friends from ballroom dance class is the conductor and director of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (his wife is also in the class and is one of "The Catherines". He offers free tickets to all their events. For some reason I don't fully understand (though I suspect has to do with Arlington trying to lure the Orchestra away from Alexandria), they were playing their holiday concert in Rosslyn. I was so pressed for time, I did my makeup on Metro. 

The concert was great, and I had fun catching up with folks from dance class. It started at 8, ended at 9:15 and at 9:30 I was in my cousin Rebecca's car on the way to Shirlington to see "An Education". We've both been DYING to see it for months now, and she texted me last minute to let me know there was a 10pm showing and this was her last free time until Christmas. The movie was great, I'm SO glad we made it and I had an absolute blast being out in my new dress. We decided we wanted to talk about the movie and "catch up" after not having seen each other for 6 whole days so we went to Murphy's in Old Town--got there at midnight on the dot.

This all brings me back to what I WOULD have been doing today had it not been for grad school. Today was Alexandria's Scottish Walk--our Christmas parade. Alexandria was founded by Scottish merchants in the 1600s etc etc....it's just a thing we do. As most people know, I belong to a group which plans, organizes and fundraises for the Irish cultural events in Alexandria (mainly the St. Patrick's Day parade and the Irish Festival). This organization's members march in the Scottish walk singing Christmas carols and pimping our own parade (and not drinking Irish whiskey from flasks. Nope.). If I hadn't had to be in class, I would have been marching in said parade and participating in the day-long liver-busting bar hop fest that was last year (long story short--a friend of a friend would up crashing at my house, but before I was even home, because she was too drunk and had like a 4am flight home and at some point got up and made herself soup in a skillet--we're lucky she didn't burn the place down). Those were the days. 

Instead, this year, I got to hop in at the very end. All the bars (Irish ones in particular) were ALL hopping and lit up for Christmas. Men in kilts and women dressed up all pretty were in abundance. Everyone was in good cheer. It's actually better to come in late, because then you get much of the fun, but without the hangover. Note to self for next year.

One of the many things I love about living in Old Town (I'll get more into all of them another day) is the walk home between 1 and 2am. The bars are closing, everyone's out and about, you see some crazy ass shit (excuse the language but seriously, there's no better way to talk about it--office wheely chair, drunk people, cobblestone, snowbank---you do the math), have random and funny interactions and everyone's, generally, in a swell mood. It's just great.

So then I came home, checked my email and started updating my blog. The end!

*The Washington, DC area and all of its inhabitants absolutely flip out beyond all reason every time something "not rain" falls out of the sky.  This snow wasn't even sticking to the ground and only UP TO 4 inches (in the far western suburbs--the Appalachian freaking Mountains!) was predicted and people behave as if Christ himself was floating out of the sky with four horsemen and a flying pig in tow. It's so extreme you'd think people were doing it to be "ironic". But they're not.

Bike Commute Video

Hey, look what I finally got around to finishing!

Disclaimers:

(1) I always stop at stop signs and red lights and yield to cars and pedestrians unless waved on. This video looks rather madcap, but that's because it's sped up nearly 500%.

(2) It jumps around a bit because I had to stop to futz with the camera a few times. Sorry.

(3) This was done one LATE morning (starting at 10:30 ish I think), I didn't have to be in until later that day. That's why the trail is empty. It's usually very busy during rush hour.

(4) Music not my #1 choice but it's what Audio Swap (Youtube's legal music) had available that was around 10 minutes. They (frustratingly) do not let you string several songs together. Also, yes, it runs out 20 seconds early.

General info:

I usually take the street all the way up the Mall (from the Washington Monument to traffic circle at the base of the Capitol), but I had to jump on the sidewalk because a bus driver pulled into traffic without first checking his mirrors and I had to make an evasive move. I then went up the sidewalk (really more a path) and then up the unpaved portion just to give alternate views.

The trip takes between 45 and 50 minutes. The Metro takes 35-45 (10 minutes walk from home to Metro, 5-10 minutes walk from Metro to work, about 20-30 minutes on the Metro itself, depending on luck with wait/transfer time). But this way, I get "dropped off" right at the door, get to enjoy the outdoors, get some exercise, not be stuck on the Metro, not have to depend on the ever-breaking Metro, have my personal space, arrive not seasick and get to not spend $6/day. 

Oh, and were I to drive that would take between 15 minutes (which is what it took during the week between Christmas and New Year's--a week I did drive) and infinity  depending on the traffic (usually about 35 minutes on your average DC day. But one baseball game or flake of snow can and has turned that into 90 minutes).  But with driving, I'd have to park off the Hill (no parking space) and walk it (at least 10 minutes). And pay $18/day.

I think this way is much better.

Ack! The margins of this blog aren't big enough and it cuts off the video. Go see it on Youtube HERE.

My commute involves colonial streets, the Potomac river, wetlands, an airport, two rugby pitches, a national monument and museum or two (or twelve), the occasional angry mob and a very steep finish.