Sooo last night our little group (which was part of a bigger group called “USC”) converged onto Adams-Morgan last night for a private party.
Besides Washington DC having traffic planners imported from San Francisco (which meant that traffic dun move at all because of poor traffic planning), it was hot and sticky, which meant the club inside was hotter and stickier.
There was also a shooting in front of the club as well. DC ain’t boring!
Stayed out too late, drank too much and got back to the hotel waaay too late. And on top of it, I’m still on Pacific time which means going to bed at 0400.
Slept in today and took it easy, getting ready for the game. Then we queued up for the bus ride to Lanover, MD. It took us through “scenic” Anacostia. SE DC. At least the traffic moves quickly through the slums. It was worse than South Central!
Before the game, the local Alumni club arranged a corporate tailgate.
Trailers of Bud and Bud related beers with taps attached and lots of food. That was a good deal because inside FedEx field, it was expensive.
We won. Which is all that matters.
But by the time we all got back to the hotel (0145 or so), I found out that I blew out my voice because I was screaming, errrr cheering so hard during the game.
Bleagh.
Koff Koff.
Halls of Power
I’ve been to DC 4 times in the last 7 years. Not a lot changes here. People are still leisurely, the weather sucks and the traffic blows.
As Matt Harper says, “Northern Charm and Southern Efficency“.
Seeing how I’ve seen some of the old sights during my previous visits, I thought that it would be neat to see some things I dun usually see.
Like a staff-led tour of the Capitol building. It wasn’t too different than the regular tour except…
we got to go into the Chambers! No pictures allowed though. This is the place where people vote and fillibuster and raise your taxes! It looks a lot bigger on C-Span.
Don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow prior to the game. Maybe I’ll just sleep in and relax…
Naaaaah! That never happens!
WWII Memorial
This is the big big WWII memorial, located inbetween the Lincoln and Washington Memorials.
A lot of people were out, taking it all in. Each end (like the one above) is a theater in the war (Atlantic or Pacific) and has a listing of all the big battles that the US was involved in.
Not as solemn as the Vietnam War Memorial because WWII had a better ending, I guess.
Sleep Deprived
Sleep? What’s that?
After last night’s adventure escaping Dulles and trying to find a place to eat that’s open after 2200, I met up with some old friends in the bar.
The great thing about away SC games is that you always run into old friends.
Two friends of mine came in about 0300. They were detoured from BWI to Annapolis due to StupidShuttle.
The relevance of this is that we all woke up at 0700 for a Library of Congress tour.
Yes, that’s the same Library of Congress that has a copy of practically anything that has been printed over the last 500 years.
The building is very ornate and detailed. And it was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, back in the day!
Probably because it wasn’t a union job…
DC Redux
I’m in DC now. It’s hot and humid. To be fair, a day in May in Singapore is far far worse and I survived that.
So I guess I shouldn’t complain TOO much.
I flew into IAD on Thursday evening around 1800. Got in 15 minutes early. Nice. Then it took me over an hour to get out of the damn airport!
Follow: Once we got off the plane, we got onto these shuttles which looked like rooms on wheels. We then cross two runways (stopping inbetween to let a 747 cross the road) and finally get to Terminal 1.
Then it’s an adventure trying to find the bus terminal that takes me to a Metro stop to continue heading into town.
By the time I was able to find the stand that sold tickets, I had to wait 10 minutes for the next bus.
So it took just about an hour to get out of Dulles. Sheesh.
Have any of these people heard about an express train?
Good Signs
The weather has been weird here in SFO for the past few days.
It’s been humid, extremely foggy during daylight hours and socked in except for 2 hours in the afternoon.
In other words, like many of the places I usually go (Singapore).
Labor Day is next next weekend which means my travel blackout period ends. That means I can go places again!
Actually, I’m cheating on that blackout period. I’m flying to IAD tomorrow AM for a weekend in DC. Haven’t been to DC since early 2001 when I had to wear a tux and it snowed.
Mah numbah-one Trojans are playing in the BCA Kickoff Classic against the Hokies. May there be lots of Hokie butt being kicked on Saturday!
The trip is getting off to a good start. I was able to use 500 mile upgrades outbound! 1st Class, food AND powerports!
yay. Pix and blogging to follow.
urgggg…
OK, I GET it!
LA has crap traffic. Otherwise, why would it take 7 hours to get back to San Francisco instead of the usual 5?
Got on the 405 yesterday at 1600 at the 190th Street entrance. Sat in weekday rush hour grade traffic.
WTF?
Had to get outta there. So took the 105E to the 110N via the carpool lanes. So far, so good. Traffic is flowing like crap through a goose.
Then the carpool lane ends and BAM, back in congestion so awful that only a San Francisco traffic planner with its head full of traffic calming ideas could love.
Creep creep creep through downtown and get to the 5N. It moves for 1/4 of a mile and then BAM, more congestion. Remember, this is “weekday grade” traffic, which means in english, traffic just like the weekday commute. That means bad, folks.
The 5 is not moving. So I decide to try to bypass the entire San Fernando Valley. I take the 2N to the 210W which connects to the 5N right before Magic Mountain. Or somewhere out there in the Santa Clarita valley.
Gettting out of LA yesterday took over 2 hours! Bleagh!
On the other hand, we made it to Pea Soup Andersen’s before they closed. Strangely filling.
Got back to SF after midnight. That was a drive that was much too long…
USS Midway
Visited the USS Midway today.
When it was active, it was the oldest carrier in the fleet. It was launched near the end of WWII, so it’s not as big as the current Nimitz class or even the decommissioned Forrestal Class.
Despite that, it’s still pretty big. A big tourist trap as well with pitches to buy stuff, get your picture taken and eating at the overpriced Fantail Cafe (that doesn’t take credit cards!).
It’s still an interesting piece of history. Even if it was slutted out as a beeg tourist trap.
PetCo Park
I went to PetCoPark this evening.
Like PacBellPark, it’s the lynchpin of a big redevelopment area. It’s adjecent to the Gaslamp District and near the Convention Center where there’s a lot of neat places to eat and what not.
PetCo and PacBell are also compared because the stadiums are very similar. But PetCo seats 1000 more.
They also have a park area for US$5.00, you can picnic and stand in the standing room area to watch the game. That’s pretty cool.
Other quirks:
They have a dancing groundskeeping crew.
Fun.
Their mascots include a Padre (for the team) and a dog and cat (for the park).
Kinda tacky (the park mascots) since the team is supposed to be the star attraction here.
They serve Hebrew National Hot Dogs (cool) and the food is affordable.
Excellent!
I got a free t-shirt.
Always cool. That means they like their fans. Dun take them for granted.
Despite all these things, I like PacBellPark better. The Giants play there. Barry hits home runs into McCovey Cove. And even though you have to take out loans for it, the food is better. Even if food for four is equal to the price of a new motorcycle!
Car service
One of the excuses, I mean reasons why I drove down to Southern California this week was to get my car fixed.
I had some struts installed in my car 8 years ago by a shop down here. The struts have a lifetime warranty. In order to use the warranty, you need to swap them out at the original shop you went to.
So today was the day that I had the work done. It took longer than I thought it would (partially because I got out of the house at 1000). Brought the car in at 1030, got it back at 1500.
Forgot about the wheel alignment though. So I had that done. By that time, it was after 1800 and the day was done. So in short, it took all day.
Bummer. No Mexico today…