Winter, DC Style

So....I don't have any first hand pictures of the crazy winter weather here in DC. But I feel like this gives a pretty accurate picture of how the city was affected. This took place three blocks from my home:



Happy holidays.

Puerto Rico - Day 2-Day 4

I started my Puerto Rico blog quite optimistically - labeling Day 1 as if I would need to note each day of posting because there would be so many. In my head I had grand ideas of jealousy-inspiring pictures of beaches and tropical scenes. Instead, this was the most frequent view I had for a majority of the trip:



Puerto Rico is not a big island. I can say this confidently, because I have seen all of it. From the window of this van, of which I spent at least half of my trip in. A big part of our our visit was spent visiting the damaged areas and seeing first hand what the survivors experienced.

Overall, Puerto Rico was absolutely lovely. The people were more hospitable and generous than anywhere I've visited. However, I had very little opportunity to explore and enjoy the island (outside of the van) because we worked long hours and it was very intense. We were all completely exhausted by the end of the day. It was interesting, yes; insightful, yes; but incredibly tiring as well.

I definitely left with the feeling I need to return again.

Puerto Rico - Day 1

Yay! I'm finally in Puerto Rico. I'm here for work, on a site visit for a program following some severe storms and flooding back in September. I never thought I'd make it. I left my house at 4 something this morning, and didn't get into my hotel until after 5 pm. Yikes. I spent a majority of the day in the Ft. Lauderdale airport, a place I would list as awful. Seriously. I was in a terminal with about 10 gates, and wasn't able to leave to get food (weird). That left me with a hot dog stand and a dunkin donuts that offered old sandwiches. How do I know they were old? Because I ate one during my 3 hour delay.

Today was a good reality check for me that maybe the east coast is getting to me more than I realized. I found myself on several occasions getting very impatient by how slow people were - this included in any line, boarding a plane, etc. I really think I've gotten used to the faster pace that seems the norm in DC. I mean - even at starbucks. DC may have horrendously long lines but they know how to move people through.

I'm excited to see how the rest of this visit goes. Last observation - Ft. Lauderale was overrun by rhinestone watches. Who knew?

Mem Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend, I did what 75% of all DCers did and went to the beach. It was fabulous. We spent hours laying on the sand in the sun, strolled along the boardwalk, and indulged in ice cream and even a funnel cake. Who knew Delaware had so much to offer?

We also took advantage of multiple outlet malls.

All in all, a great weekend.

Of late

A quick overview of recent events:

Last weekend Corey and Jason came out to visit. We had a great time. We hung out, played some cards, played some pool, went to the great falls, and ate deliciously.



Last night I also enjoyed a delightful bbq with Maria and crew. Spring is finally making an appearance here. I can't believe how crappy our weather has been up until now. Seriously - it's the middle of April and I've only worn flip flops twice. I hope the good weather is here to stay.

Yodes!!!!

Because our schedules don't allow for more, Yodes and I picked this saturday about 2 months ago as a day for us to meet in the middle and hang out. The middle turned out to be Roanoke Rapids, NC, a town of about 16,000. It's a spicy place. We ate lunch at a local restaurant, perused the downtown, and took in some local shopping.



We also hung out at the Starbucks and got in a game of scrabble.



We decided to commemorate our special day with matching "best friend" ring watches, an item I didn't even know was available for purchase, but was pleased to find. I'm sure we'll both wear them proudly.

Texas Again

This past week I went back to Texas for work. It was an amazing visit. At the same time, I can't believe how much damage there still is from Hurricane Ike as well as how much has been done since my last visit. Unlike Hurricane Katrina, media coverage and national awareness has pretty much ended for this natural disaster. However, the communities there still have a lot of work to do to rebuild.







Some of my gracious hosts while there took us to "Gator Country", where we had to walk over a gator pit to get to our restaurant.



I returned from my trip to find that my housemates had procured the stage kit for Rock Band, complete with fog machine and lights. It was hilarious. You can hardly see them through the haze, and we could hardly see the notes to play.



Completely unaware of it's strength, we had the fog machine on a shelf, pointed straight at me. The first blast blew right into my face, completely obscuring all visibility. As you can tell from the picture, we're still fine tuning its use.

You too, can save up to three lives

I gave blood today for the first time. Even though I knew I shouldn't be, I was really nervous beforehand. They had to reboot the computer over three times to get me registered, and I was starting to think it was a sign that I shouldn't give. It finally went through and I ended up having no problems, although I took longer than average to finish.

I had a good experience and highly recommend everyone do it.

Catch Up

Since it's been a while since I've blogged, I'm going to review a couple of highlights from my last month.

Nick visited me at the end of January. We went ice skating on a fountain in the middle of the Sculpture Garden next to the National Gallery on the National Mall. I have been wanting to do this for so long and he was kind enough to humor me. I enjoyed it immensely.



Maria and I went out for a spicy night on the town.



My parents also came out for a visit.



We went to Great Falls. It was beautiful and way more than I expected to find. We were able to hike around and even saw a couple of kayakers go down the falls. Very impressive.



It was wonderful having them visit. I can't wait for them to come again.

Yodes-Jarvis

I had such a great weekend with one of my favorite people of all time, Yodes. Acknowledging the relativeness of distance, living six hours away from her felt incredibly close. Since I have heard so many stories about her life in on "the land" I had to actually see for myself.

When I got there, Rachael gave me a tour including the house, bunnies, and big lake. The bunnies were really cute, I have to admit. And although it was offered, I didn't partake. The area they live in is really beautiful. They are surrounded by so many gorgeous trees including a few palms.

Their house has a really great feel - even though Yodes is not a fan of the "real" tree trunks apparently holding it up. For anyone who knew us when we lived in Haury, you may find some karmic justice in the fact that her house is very cold at night. The entire house is heated by a gas fireplace located in the living room. It is quite cozy except when it is not on - which is every night.





Yodes and I ate some good Thai food with a friend of hers, followed by some crazy madgab. On Sunday Matt joined us for some tasty sushi.

Matt then exceeded all expectations of hospitality by helping me fix my headlight. This turned into way more work than either of us anticipated. We would have failed had it not been for a spicy YouTube video of some guy changing his own headlight to disco music and slow pans.


This is our victory over the headlight picture. Please note our "north carolina cozies". At many points in the headlight changing process we were amazed that we had use of both our hands while still having a beer within reach.

Inaguration

I have gotten a couple of questions about how crazy DC is right now, and all I can say is that I have no idea what it's like. Since today is MLK day and the entire city is shutting down tomorrow, I kind of have a four day weekend. I realize that people are flocking to DC in droves just as I am leaving it, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take the time and go visit my friend Yodes in North Carolina. So I left. Yodes and I haven't lived within 5 states of each other in so long, and now that we are relatively close, I hope to see her a lot more.

I'm nervous about getting back into the city. We'll see how it goes.

Montgomery County Library

Yeah! I finally have a local library card again! The entire time I have been living on the east coast I have felt a void, and I finally realized what was needed to fill it. Books. I have accepted the fact that few libraries will be as brilliant as the Denver Public Library. According to Hennen's American Public Library Rating Index, Denver was rated the 7th best library in the nation. The District of Columbia, however, was rated in the bottom 5. Yikes. I'm not exactly sure where Montgomery County ranks in comparison, but my card does include access to all District of Columbia libraries. While I may not have the service and selection I so came to appreciate in Denver, it is still library access, for which I am excited. And even though I only got my card today, my hold list is already growing.