Movin' On Up

Dear readers:

As you may or may not know, this past weekend marked a momentous occasion in my relatively sheltered and Virginia-centric life. I made the big -- and some would say long overdue -- leap and moved out of my hometown of Springfield into a lovely place in Silver Spring, Md. with my cousin Steph.

This means: No more commuting to work with the rents, no more wonderful daily dinners cooked by Mom (my nutrition will either improve or degrade dramatically as a result; it has yet to be seen which way it will go), and basically being able to dodge that awkward part in conversations where I say I live in Springfield and hope it doesn't escalate to the point that I have to say "with my parents."

For all who know me and my parents, you know that living at home was the high life (aside from being the occasional damper on my social life -- but let's be honest, that wasn't the reason, was it?), and if there were any parents I'd want to share my meals and TV time with, I'd definitely pick mine. That said, it was time to move on and grow up, much to the disappointment of my near and dear companion, Auddie. But I'm fairly sure that once 8th grade starts up in about a week, all will be back to normal...

In any case, the blogging shall continue, perhaps slow at first, as I'm still delaying a laptop purchase and working on setting up WiFi at the apartment. (Who knew the new MacBooks were flawed by a random shutdown problem? Way to add fuel to my indecision!) But hopefully I'll be back to the regular routine soon, and for the most part it will be as if I never left homebase.

Can you Stop Pong?

Tonight, I saw the new Andy Roddick Amex commercial featuring Roddick in a tennis match versus the classic arcade Pong. In what is another great marketing idea from American Express, the commercial directs viewers to a web site where they can challenge Pong themselves. What can I say, I love a classic 2-D arcade game, and I'm a sucker for the My Life. My Card. campaign. I even find myself getting emotional when I read some of the one-page magazine ads for various celebs. Then I snap out of it and remind myself that in the end, it's just a credit card ad. Kudos, Amex, for knowing the way to my pocketbook!

Bermuda: Feel the Love

I'm back from Bermuda and begrudgingly getting back into the routine of things, starting with this here blog post.

The vacation was everything I wanted it to be -- relaxation by the beach, plenty of sun, delicious food (even if it was enough to feed me for a month), and quality time with the fam.

Bermuda itself is a beautiful island, and the fact that it is Britain's oldest remaining overseas colony is immediately apparent. From driving on the left side of the road (but no mopeds for us on those narrow, winding roads!) to daily tea time (mmm... who can resist tea sandwiches?), we were able to experience the feel of Britain with the perk of a clear blue, pool-like ocean and not a single cloud in the sky for most of our stay. We really lucked out!

Highlights of the trip were snorkeling with all the amazing fish, spotting a couple huge sting rays visiting us in very shallow waters (with one literally attacking Molly head-on!), jumping off the now-infamous Reefs rock, making the requisite tourist visit to the city of Hamilton, and playing Sorry! on the beach (even though I never won in 5 tries).

Check out my Flickr for a full photo diary. And if you know anything about my family, you'll know that despite the enormous number of photos posted on my page, there were about three times as many more where they came from. Enjoy!

Time for a vacation

Oops.. I'd been meaning to post all week since I've been so bad at it lately (apologies), but now it's Friday night and if there's any hope for me getting to sleep tonight, I must start packing for my weeklong Bermuda getaway, which starts tomorrow.

Looking forward to a week of relaxation and a much-needed vacation from work! I'll be back soon enough with a full update from the islands...

Sea Girt 5K!

I apologize if my blog posts of late have pretty much been weekend updates, but it seems everything else in between is fairly mundane, so really, I am sparing you.

I just arrived home from a quick but enjoyable trip to Sea Girt, NJ, on the northern part of the Jersey Shore. We happened to make the journey not only for a beach getaway, but for Sea Girt's annual 5K race, which took place this morning. It was really great mingling with all those laid back seaside folk and participating in what was clearly one of their biggest annual tradiations. Special thanks to Auddie and Natty (who was sidelined with an ankle injury) for being our supportive cheerleaders!

Now I am thoroughly exhausted and completely full (Chick-Fil-A on the ride up, snacking all day at the beach, and a meal at Squan Tavern will do that to you!), and I leave you with yet another Flickr album to browse at your leisure...

Not quite a quarter century

Just a quick post to say thanks to all who celebrated my birthday with me and made for a fun and memorable weekend! From Friday through Sunday, I saw many of my favorite people and basically indulged in more food and drink than any reasonable person should over the course of three days (But if not for your birthday, then when?). From Chocolate Donut Beer at Dr. Dremo's and the Taco Bell drive thru line at 2:30 AM, to an amazing feast and one too many margaritas at Cactus Cantina, to an obscene amount of food at the Georgia Brown's buffet/brunch, to finally, a wonderfully extravagant home-cooked meal by my Mom (and three, count 'em, three birthday cakes), it was all worth it to ring in my 24th year!

And as Auddie reminded me with her elaborate decoration of my bedroom, I'm still obviously a child at heart...

Thanks again to all my family and friends. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

A few more on my Flickr, and hopefully more to come soon...

Please Do Not Let Me Go

Yesterday, at long last, I finally broke my concert drought with an awesome experience that combined two of my most favorite things: Charlottesville and Ryan Adams.

I drove down in the early afternoon with Huan, Molly and Auddie (her second concert experience -- what a lucky gal) to enjoy some of the sights and sounds of my favorite little town. Despite the fact that many of my desired stops were closed on Sunday, we were still able to enjoy some delicious waffle fries from Maarten's and dessert from Arch's before heading to the downtown mall for the show.

Let me start off by saying that the Charlottesville Pavilion was everything I wanted it to be and more. This venue was being constructed while I was at UVA, but finally finished and opened for concerts about a year ago. It's such an assuming venue; one just strolls down the quaint downtown mall and suddenly comes upon it, this large white tent snugly wedged into a little corner at the end of the promenade.

It was a perfect venue, in that every seat in the house was a good one. Whether you wanted to kick back and sit up on the small lawn in the back, get inches from the stage, or mingle anywhere in between, the pavilion setup allowed for a clear view of the stage from any vantage point. I, in particular, like any venue that is equal opportunity -- that is, even short people like me can see everything on stage without straining their neck or pushing their way up.

The venue, combined with a cold beer and lovely evening summer weather, set the stage for a great night of music.

The show opened with a performance by Neal Casal, who, aside from being Ryan Adams' guitarist in the Cardinals, is also an established solo act worth hearing. Check out this old post from one of my oft-read music blogs for a great sample track, "You Don't See Me Crying," which was actually performed by Neal during Ryan's set with the Cardinals.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals took the stage just before 8:30, and instead of doing their usual 2-set performance, they wound up playing straight through for over two hours. In what was mostly a mix of Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights, highlighted by an inspired version of "The End," sprinkled with other standouts -- "Trains" --> "Dear Chicago" and "To Be Young" with a slow-tempo intro -- Ryan seemed to be in great spirits, engaging the crowd with goofy banter and moving performance. (See full setlist here.) Catherine Popper, the bassist, added to the great stage presence of the band, at one point remarking, "I think some guy up front here is looking for his friend -- Has anyone seen 'Rock and Roll'??" I gotta say, I'm a bit jealous of her... the awesome harmonies she sings, her ability to work the brunette-with-blonde-streaks look and get away with it, and the simple fact that she's a badass rocker chick.

Personally speaking, I think I'd give a slight edge to the 9:30 club show I attended last year, for its intimacy and killer setlist, even if it did play like a "greatest hits." But for overall experience, this show was pretty incredible. Great venue, great town, and Ryan and his band were simply solid. And I couldn't have asked for a better view.

More from C'ville on my Flickr.

Cartoon Auddie

Yesterday, Auddie got two of her wisdom teeth out due to some dental explanation which I still don't fully understand. She's only 13, mind you, but when I remind myself how she's 13-going-on-30, it all makes perfect sense. So today I came home and exclaimed, "Haha! It looks like you got punched in the face!! You look like a cartoon!" I can only say these things because I remember after I got my teeth pulled, I was pretty much down for the count for a solid two weeks, and still swollen after three.

Auddie was playing along and helped me pull up a photo of the cartoon character she most resembled. It happened to be Sharon Spitz as Braceface, another random kids' sitcom that I hadn't ever seen, in which Alicia Silverstone provided the lead character's voice.

Anyway, here's a great photo of her chipmunked face. Please pardon the poor quality/weird pixelation.

=

Digging myself out of the Rut

For the past few months I'd found myself stuck in a music rut. It's when I have nothing new grabbing my attention and when nothing in the ol' iPod seems terribly appealing. I actually blame the iPod for this; the thousands of songs at my fingertips make me completely indecisive and also cuts into my attention span. I was once content to put a new album on repeat for weeks, but now am more likely to feel like a week of not reading music blogs will leave me far behind what's new or what artist or album I should be getting into next.

Will Sheff of Okkervil River, in a messageboard post that has been traveling the Web, very eloquently describes his feelings on file-sharing in similar terms. Essentially, the ease with which technology has allowed us to obtain music these days makes us all a little less invested in the very music we so eagerly seek. Below is an excerpt of Sheff's post; or you can see it in its entirety here.

The internet – with its glut not only of information but of misinformation, and of information that is only slightly correct, or only slightly incorrect – fills me with this same weird mixture of happiness and depression. I sometimes feel drowned in information, deadened by it. How many hundreds of bored hours have you spent mechanically poring through web pages not knowing what you’re looking for, or knowing what you’re looking for but not feeling satisfied when you find it? You hunger but you’re not filled. Everything is freely available on the internet, and is accordingly made inestimably valuable and utterly value-less.

When I was a kid, I’d listen to the same records over and over and over again, as if I was under a spell. The record would end and I’d flip it over again, doing absolutely nothing, letting the music wash over me. My favorite record albums become like a totem for me, their big fat beautiful gatefolds worked as a shield against the loud, crashing, crushing world. I would have laid down my life and died in defense of a record like Tonight’s the Night or Astral Weeks. I felt that those records had, in some ways, saved my life. These days, with all the choice in the world, it’s hard for me find the attention span for a single album. I put my iPod on shuffle and skip impatiently to the next song before each one’s over. I don’t even know what I’m looking for.

Because my work is the most important thing in the world to me, I sometimes feel uncomfortable about it existing freely in the digital Library of Babel, these songs that I worked so hard writing and revising and rehearsing and recording and mixing (and re-mixing) and mastering (and re-mastering) shucked off the album and thrown up on the internet in hissy and brittle low-resolution versions with no kind of sequence or order, mixed in with odd leaked tracks and some sub-par live versions. In a world overstuffed with stimuli and choking on information, I feel like a musical album should have a kind of purity and a kind of wholeness, that every aspect of an album – from the sequencing to the artwork even down to the typesetting – should feels labored over and loved, and that the finished product should feel like a gift.

Anyway, point is, I'm recommitting myself to enjoying the purity and wholeness of an album, and trying not to get so caught up in the Next Big Thing. That said, after a long hiatus, I just picked up a few new gems, which I'm trying to appreciate one by one with the resurgence of my Grado headphones.

I started with a run through of Sufjan Stevens' The Avalanche, merely composed of "outtakes and extras from the Illinois album," but which comes together as gorgeous compilation that is as worthy as any studio album. Like Illinois, it's lengthy (21 tracks and more ridiculously long song titles), but worth listening to for three new versions of "Chicago," including an "Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version," among other standout tracks -- "The Avalanche," complete with banjo, woodwinds, and harmonies, and "Pittsfield," a simple, quiet, guitar-vocal harmony ballad. And just for fun, there are tracks like "Adlai Stevenson" which sound like they could be high school band performances.

Here is the title track for your sampling pleasure:
Sufjan Stevens :: The Avalanche

Next on the roster: Thom Yorke's Eraser. His highly-anticipated solo effort (though he's uncomfortable with the solo term) is full of drum beats and electronica and is sure to please Radiohead fans between albums. So the Kid A Radiohead was never my favorite, but this has potential so far...

Tales from Jersey City and beyond

I'm back from my first "Business Trip" (boy, never thought I'd say that!) to Jersey City and New York and it was quite the journey. Here's what I came away with:

-It's officially time to make Pouy my legal middle name. I'd looked up the process once before but decided it was too much work once I saw scary legal words like "judge," "notorized," and "affidavit." (Although one of the steps that excited me was the "notice of petition to the public, meaning an advertisement in a local newspaper." How cool would that be?? My 15 minutes of fame in the Springfield Connection!) But after my drama with the airports and having to get pulled into a special security screening area by TSA after my ticket reservation read "Pouy" instead of my legal name, I decided I was over it! I figure if I'm really trying to be Pouy in all facets of my life, I should at least have a piece of ID that shows that, right?

-There is such thing as cab driver karma. On my inbound trip, I had probably the worst cab driver ever, who insisted on driving a steady 70 miles per hour the entire trip, windows down, cursing at every car and leaving me praying I would make it to the hotel alive. Granted, he did cut down what should be at least a 20 minute trip to about 12. On the way out, however, I had the nicest driver I've ever met. He was on the phone checking to see if my flight was on time, scanned the radio station for weather and airport updates, gave me the option of writing out my own receipt in case I felt like ripping off my company and pocketing some extra cash (I found out he was testing me to see whether I was an honest person -- I passed!), and was basically a ridiculously genuine and sincere human being (not to say that's out of the question for a cab driver, but...). It was a little over the top, but he even gave me this big schpeel about how when he's behind the wheel it's his passengers first, and he'd never go all road rage crazy with anyone in the car, because it's his job and someone else's life. Anyway, point is, I was glad I got into his car, and in the end he got a nice tip.

-I had what was yet another random "only in New York" moment/experience on Sunday as I watched the World Cup final with Laura. Right around the bend from Lo's apartment is a little French café that, in honor of the final, placed a large flat screen TV in front of its storefront on the sidewalk and set up benches and chairs for some loyal patrons. Hours later, as the game entered overtime and eventually the PKs, there were probably close to 100 people crowded around watching the game, blocking the streets (that sure got the Po-Po's attention) as if it were a completely normal thing. And to make things even more interesting, sitting center stage in a seat right in front of the TV was none other than Andrew McCarthy, popular '80s actor of "Pretty in Pink" and "Mannequin" (or, as I like to remember him, "Weekend at Bernie's") fame. Like I said, only in New York.

-Bloomberg looks like the coolest place to work, ever. Ok, at least on the east coast (damn you, Google!). For one of our field trips -- the other was to see the NASDAQ opening bell, which was exciting, but admittedly not nearly as cool as NYSE would have been -- we got to visit an employee at the Bloomberg offices to check out how they use our company's services and basically what they do with it. What we found out, aside from very valuable information about how our clients use our news, is that Bloomberg takes good care of its employees. The interior of building itself was a ridiculous show of modern excess, complete with spiral escalators, tropical fish tanks, and basically lots of glass. I decided I definitely would love to work there, if only for the awesome free snack/café bar with fresh fruit and other tasty treats at my fingertips.

-During one of our classic corporate training sessions, I definitely confirmed myself as a combination of a "rational" (type A!!!) and "harmonious" (everyone's happy, right??) type after discussing the four communication/personality styles that people possess. Just ask Auddie about some of the conversations I'll have with myself about my daily schedules: "Ok, I'll wake up at 8:15, ready by 8:50, out the door by 9, arriving at destination at 9:30, allow 20 minutes extra for possible traffic/parking, etc..." Yeah, I'm nutso. It's amazing I'm ever able to settle on a time to set my alarm clock in the morning.

-Jersey City ain't so bad. Ok, so the hotel didn't exactly have my name under the group reservation and I had to throw down my credit card to book myself a room, and after much drama was told by an employee that I was just "the talk of the hotel all afternoon" as they tried to figure out where they screwed up, but in the end, they still gave me a warm and delicious chocolate chip cookie that seemed to be fresh out of the oven even though it was simply pulled from some mysterious place under the counter. And at least the room I got had a great view, right? (see below: looks just like the sunrise by the river house from last week, doesn't it?) Really, just a stone's throw to Manhattan...

Additional photos on my Flickr.

Little Break

I'm off to NY/NJ for work for the next few days, so that's my legitimate excuse for no updates 'til I return. Thanks and g'day.

Weekends by the Water

Spending time by the water is definitely becoming one of my favorite ways to spend my summer weekends. For the long 4th of July weekend, I was lucky enough to spend time at a family friend's river house right outside Annapolis.

Despite battling families of jellyfish who had moved in for the summer, it was still an awesome time and we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Aside from all the fun on the dock, in the kayak, on the rafts and on the wave runner, we managed to stay fairly entertained indoors as well. Between Wimbledon, the U.S. Open (gasp, Women's Golf!), World Cup, DVDs, and a ridiculous amount of food (are you surprised?), it was a perfectly relaxing weekend.

Wimbledon: Good job, Americans. Way to represent. Um, let's face it, Roddick, you're on a slippery slope to mediocrity, and I blame it all on your breakup with Mandy Moore.

World Cup: What an amazing game (Ok, so really, it was an amazing two minutes) between Italy and Germany. I'm telling you, this "football" is crazy, you watch the whole 90 minutes just for that split second of greatness, but it's so worth it to see the unbelievable plays they make.

And while I totally love the swapping of the jerseys between teams at the end of the games (can you imagine that happening after say, the NBA finals, or a Yankees-Mets game?), I can't help but think how disgusting it must feel to wear another man's sweat. Ok, except maybe David Beckham's. (Hah!) For more on why the World Cup is great, read Bill Simmons' thoughts.

Movies: I'm almost embarassed about how much I can't stop quoting "The Pink Panther," but Steve Martin is undeniably hilarious, and starring opposite Beyoncé, he gives a truly priceless performance. Also, I feel like a terrible person for having laughed so much at Johnny Knoxville in "The Ringer," and finally, despite what I thought was an aversion to Peter Pan-themed movies, I really enjoyed "Finding Neverland" and reaffirmed my love for Johnny Depp in any role he chooses.

For more weekend photos, you know the drill.

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and July 4th.

More on my weekend will follow, but for now, here's a shot from tonight's fireworks festivities downtown, this time from in front of the White House (notice in the foreground the silhouette of the Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Square). It was slightly more foggy, smoky, and obstructed compared to last year's experience, but still lovely. Happy 230th Birthday, America!

Happy Independence Day Weekend!

I'm off to another long weekend by the water, this time in Annapolis.

In anticipation of July 4th, here are a couple patriotic Washington shots...

The atrium at my office building (The Homer Building):

And the Willard Hotel, just down the street:

Door-to-door scam

So tonight after dinner, some random teenage girl rings the doorbell and launches into a little pitch that goes something like, "Hi, I'm going on a trip to Mexico and I'm trying to raise money, would you like to buy some candy?" So my dad comes back into the house and, being the good samaritan that he is, grabs his wallet and some cash.

Auddie and I go back out to the front so we can at least scout out the candy, and after some arguing (Snickers vs. Skittles vs. Starburst vs. others that weren't even in the running), we agree that we like Starburst. My dad has already handed her some money, and she meekly says, "Ok, you want Starburst?" And we all reluctantly respond, "Uh, yeah, is that ok?" And then she slowly hands us a Starburst package and just stands stands there, and we stand there, as if expecting something else, and eventually it gets awkward enough that she turns around and walks away (with my dad yelling after her, "Ok, have a good trip!!")

After we get back into the house, we realize we've given this girl $8 and all she offered us was a single bar of candy. Upon hearing this news, my mom becomes slightly upset, as clearly we've been ripped off by this 14-year-old scam artist (or rather, a really terrible salesperson -- or a really good one, depending on your perspective).

My mom says, "Uh, hello? Auddie, why don't you just go next door saying, 'Hi, I'm going to Bermuda, can I have some money?'" She suggested the following questions for the next time we found ourselves in a similar situation: "Who are you? Where do you live? What school do you go to? And why are you going to Mexico?" It's true, we should have been more inquisitive. But this is Springfield, and it was candy, and my dad answered the door. So we paid $8 for a pack of Starburst, which I will cherish every moment of, and all I have left to say is that girl better be going to Mexico, and I hope she sends us a postcard for all we've done.

The Lake House: Mad Libs version

What an incredible weekend! I drove down to Lake Anna on Saturday morning with my pals Heather, Skelbs, and Caroline, for what was an event many months in the making. Even though the forecast didn't bode well for a weekend by the water, we knew we'd make the best of it. After all, with beer, snacks, music and friends, what else did we really need?

We started with a ridiculously amusing game of Vacation Mad Libs, which began my weekend of girly giggles and laughs. Who knew they were just as fun as they were over 10 years ago?

Anyway, when we finally arrived at the Cable Lake House (not to be confused with the new, cheesy flick starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves), it was a bit overcast, but eventually when the sun broke through a bit, we headed out on the boat, Neptoon, manned by Heather's Dad, the skilled and experienced Cap'n Cable.

Then we went out dueling tube rides! Oh boy were these crazy. I just imagined your ordinary, run-of-the-mill tube being pulled by a boat at a leisurely pace, but what I didn't realize is that Mr. Cable takes joy in seeing his tube riders squeal and bounce and fly up into the air. It was actually an exhausting and adrenaline-inducing experience, and even if we woke up the next day with sore butts and feeling like we'd lifted weights, it was extremely fun and completely worth it!

Day 2 began with lots of rain, thus we had time to squeeze in an intense game of Scrabble, which entertained us far more than any Sunday morning board game should. Long story short: I played with much aplomb, and with the same aforementioned word I scored an early 39 points. After an admirable effort from Skelbs who battled me til the end, I ended up the big winner. Then, clearly having reached cabin fever mode, we started snapping photos of the Scrabble board like we were the paparazzi, including a shameless self-promoting board that featured all of our names on display. Huge dorks? Yes.

Thankfully at this point, the sun came out and looked like it was around to stay. We quickly suited up for the lake and headed out a lovely swim and lots of lounging under the sun. After cannonballs and other silly jumps off the dock, we headed back inside to prep for our last boat ride. Despite what looked like ominous clouds in the distance, we decided to take a chance and take Neptoon out for one last spin. The Cables treated us to dinner at what is believed to be Lake Anna's only real dining establishment, the Lakeview Restaurant. (How is that possible, right? Anyone looking for an untapped restaurant market, look no further!)

Well, as if Mother Nature was laughing at us again, as soon as we set foot on the boat to take the last ride back to the house, a huge bolt of lightning cracked and the sky opened up with rain. We all huddled underneath the small awning of the boat and covered ourselves with towels, but within about 5 minutes of the 30 minute ride, we realized our attempts to stay dry were fruitless. It was as if we were on a real-life Kings Dominion water ride, the rain coming down hard at first, then softer, then stopping momentarily, then beginning again almost like hail. There was even a small waterfall just like the amusement ride, splashing wildly as we crossed under the drain of the bridge. On this given day, Skelbs and Caroline were the ones who got the "good" seats on the ride, and by that I mean they looked like they had jumped in the lake.

Suddenly we all had a greater appreciation for what Heather had experienced all weekend long in her makeshift bathing suit: denim shorts and a t-shirt (p.s. if you remember to pack anything for a weekend at your own lake house, make it your bathing suit!).

After the stormy boat ride, we figured we'd done it all and there was no better way to end the lake experience. Little did we know, the trip back home would provide the real adventure.

Since I'd so enthusiastically volunteered to drive everyone to the lake -- I believe my exact words in an email were, "I don't mind driving at all. In fact, since I don't drive at all during the week, I kinda miss zipping around in my car..." -- I was behind the wheel as we approached 95 North, expecting nothing more than maybe a few weekend stragglers on the road. Boy, did I eat my words.

Almost the entire way home -- no exaggeration, it was a good 60 miles straight -- we were driving in torrential downpour and probably what was the craziest, longest-lasting storm I'd ever seen, much less driven through. I was averaging a steady 30 miles per hour almost the entire way, with visibility at about two car lengths. Anyway, as you can imagine, it was pretty exciting, and what I actually mean is miserable and slightly scary.

Just as it looked like things were calming down after I made my Springfield stops, Caroline and I headed back out to the main roads on our way to dropping her off in Georgetown. We hopped on the HOV lanes into DC and were cruising nicely before we slowed down a bit to witness the massive flooding on the regular lanes, right before the exit for 495 toward Tysons. A tractor-trailer had come to a complete stop, partially submerged, and up ahead, at least two cars were literally floating in a mini-lake that had formed across all lanes on the highway. No one was moving, and people who were stuck in traffic behind the lake were out of their cars and walking around, clearly with no way out. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped, as I'd never seen anything like that in all my years in this area. Just then, Caroline and I were having our smug "Glad that's not us!" conversation, and about 3 minutes later we found ourselves at a complete standstill, caused by what we presumed had to be a similar situation in the HOV lanes up ahead.

This is when we went into a minor panic attack, during which we pictured ourselves at 3 am still in the same place, questioning if we'd call in sick to work, where we would sleep, if at all. Just before the pee-in-your-pants moment set in, we started moving, and in what was just the next natural progression of this ironic experience, discovered that the half hour of non-movement on the HOV lanes was caused by rubbernecking an accident on the regular lanes. Yes, there was an enormous wreck on the far left of the regular lanes, yet that traffic was zipping by at regular speed. I guess we shouldn't have been so surprised. I wanted to scream with anger and relief at the same time.

Finally, just after the clock had struck midnight, I found myself indoors at Huan's place, definitely not willing to battle the floods back to Springfield and also vowing to never so quickly volunteer myself as driver for the weekend.

That said, it was an awesome and memorable weekend, and despite Mother Nature's mood swings and all the unexpected adventures, I can't wait to do it all over again!

The entire weekend album is on Flickr.

A Random Assortment of Things

Sorry for the blogging break. I'd anticipated fully updating over the weekend but when I wasn't out and about, I found myself glued to the TV watching World Cup and the U.S. Open (Phil's meltdown on the 18th was excrutiating to watch. Why must I root for the chokers?). I also found that watching soccer is also a surprisingly good way to pass time on the treadmill. It's not the action that keeps me going, it's the guilt I feel about wanting to stop running when I see the guys on the screen going up and down that huge field for 90 straight minutes.

In other updates, the fam got dolled up in cocktail attire and went out to celebrate Bi-Anh's birthday this weekend and a lovely and large gathering at 21P downtown. Here is a photo of me with the birthday gal, who has known me since before I could talk and had a large role in my upbringing, including introducing me to a world of fabulous music in the '80s and always letting me hang with the big kids. Thanks and Happy Birthday, Bi-Anh!

So I'd been delaying the post of my very first completed knitting project because the thought of scarves in June makes some people uncomfortable. But after persistent requests from Kam, I'm finally putting it on display. About a month ago I went to a Knitting "crash course" with Steph at the Chevy Chase location of Stitch DC. It was a nice refresher (Kam had made a few attempts to teach me prior to this occasion) on the fundamentals of knitting, and I actually stuck it out to finish my first real project!

I know it's so beautiful that the requests will be pouring in for birthday and Christmas gifts, but please don't be offended if I cannot meet your requests. But don't forget, there's always Kam.

So this first scarf goes to Auddie, who, as an aside, received the Best Dressed award as voted by her 7th grade team today. That leaves me as the only sibling in the family not to ever receive Best Dressed honors. Surprised? I'm not either. Everyone knows I've never been quite on par with either of my sibs in that department. Maybe the 'm' in middle child stands for 'mediocre' and I just have to accept that.

See additional photos on my Flickr.

Stalking Jake Gyllenhaal and more (food) adventures from New York

Back from another fun weekend in NYC. Additional photos to come.

Things I learned:

- Manhattan has the best food ever. Within a few block radius from Kim & Nathaniel's new place, one can enjoy the following unique delights, among dozens of other options: a tea sandwich or panino (singular of panini) from 'ino, a variety of delicious open-faced toasts from Blue Ribbon Bakery (or a delicious full brunch a few doors down at the full-size restaurant of the same name), various seafood from the new "urban" beach shack Ditch Plains (from 7 am til 2 am), delectable cream puffs from Beard Papa's, and even breakfast from the ever-reliable McDonald's, which brings me to my next point...

- McDonald's serves breakfast until 11 am. At least the location on the corner of Houston and Varick does. I could have sworn the cutoff was a universal 10:30, but sure enough, at 10:55 on Sunday morning, ever-so-slightly hungover and in desperate need of a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and hash brown, I rolled into the the Mickey D's on the corner in my pajamas, and to my delight I still saw all the breakfast sandwiches on the display window. I even got to see the diligent McDonald's employee turn the menu crank at 11 o'clock sharp to switch to the burger lineup. Perhaps it is a New York thing? Or is it just a Sunday thing? I need to do some follow-up research to get to the bottom of the breakfast hour. Either that or McDonald's can just start serving their full menu all day.. that'd be much easier.

- The new Fifth Avenue Apple Store is cool, but probably much more "oooh" and "ahhh"-worthy at night. The inside is not so spectacular, and in fact the SoHo store with its large classroom/presentation area is much more impressive. This is not to say I wasn't extremely excited about experiencing a little Charlie & the Chocolate Factory moment and riding in the great glass elevator at the new location.

- New Yorkers are nuts. We spent a few hours in Madison Square Park on Saturday for a big barbecue fest featuring lots of different BBQ experts from around the country, all selling $7 platters of their special recipes to any person willing to wait in a 2-hour+ line. That's right, on a relatively chilly and breezy June day, the park was packed with people who spent their whole afternoon for a single plate of BBQ that they probably could have gotten at a local restaurant for a fraction of the time. (Granted, I was there, but we had the luxury of waiting in the "fast" lines with our prepaid food pass, so we may be crazy, but not that crazy.)

- Speaking of lines, it seems everywhere you go you have to wait, but everyone is more than willing to do it. My two-day experience in Madison Square Park provided strong evidence to support this. On the Friday of my arrival, I waited at 2:30 in the afternoon in a fairly decent line for the chance to try a popular Shake Shack burger. As far as I understand, you either think this is the best burger in the city or the most overrated. I personally found it very delicious (although at that point I would have eaten a Tootsie Roll and loved it), in the same style of Cali's In-N-Out burgers, perfect with a side of crinkle cut french fries and melted cheese, and a cold and delicious chocolate milkshake to wash it all down. What made this experience even better is that when we were back in the park on Saturday for the BBQ extravaganza, we waited in that long line again for more milkshakes and more crinkle cut fries. Ok, maybe I shouldn't be calling New Yorkers so crazy; it's the damn tourists like me who cause all the problems...

- Just because Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman may have been spotted at a certain West Village establishment by some Paparazzi and pictured in a current issue of a popular celebrity magazine, it does not mean you will necessarily see them out at the same venue on a Saturday night. In fact, you probably won't. Ever. But it's still fun to try and stalk celebrities, though you usually end up seeing them strolling the sidewalk in their sweatpants when you least expect it.

- Finally, and this is for any of you who have never taken the DC-NY $35 round-trip bus: a reservation means nothing. From my personal experience, the policy for boarding the bus is absolutely, no-exceptions, first come, first serve. If you have a reservation number, you can present it to the bus people, if only to make yourself feel better and for them to feel like there's actually a method to their madness, but in the end, if you're past the cut off when they start doing a headcount for who will fit on the bus and who won't, if you have a reservation and the dude in front of you does not, it doesn't matter 'cause he got there first. Makes plenty of sense, huh? (Kinda reminds me of Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm and the outrage he expressed about his doctor's office policy to treat people according to the order they arrived and not by appointment time.)

- Oh, one last thing. Since I took Friday off and was able to spend a full weekday in the city, here is my question: Who are all these people in New York and what do they do? I mean, I know a heck of a lot of people who do work normal (and ridiculous) hours, but what about those people who are always outside? The thing about New York that always amazes me is that at any hour of the day on almost any given street, there seem to be so many people outside, whether they're eating, walking their dog, chatting on their cell phone, or just hanging out. Restaurants are always packed, and there are always tons of people leisurely dining and shopping. Are they actors? Models? Musicians? Rich bums? Workers on the overnight shift? I wish I knew. Ok, so maybe this doesn't count as a "thing I learned," but I'm still curious... I guess that's why everyone loves New York so much. So diverse, so busy, so mysterious.

Nadal on a Hot Streak

I was so thrilled to watch 20-year-old Rafael Nadal take home his second consecutive (and second in as many tries) Roland Garros championship trophy today after an impressive victory over the seemingly unstoppable Roger Federer. Granted, Federer was not at his best -- committing a whopping 51 unforced errors and never looking quite comfortable, but Nadal himself was tough and deserving of the win.

I'm glad to see at least one player rising to the challenge of playing Federer, who despite utter domination over the men's game in the past two years, has yet to win a French and has shown that he is indeed mortal. I'm sure Federer will end up using his runner-up tray to serve lunches, since -- until today -- he had yet to lose a Grand Slam final and is probably is unsure what to do with his consolation prize.

As for Nadal, I absolutely adore him... his bright, white capris ("pirate pants"), how intense and emotional he is, and all his bizarre superstitious/OCD behavior. The way he so meticulously places his water bottles on the ground during the changeover is borderline crazy, but I can definitely appreciate it and in fact like him more for that strange show of humanness.

Anyway, looking forward to more of Nadal and the possibility of seeing some more great matches at Flushing Meadows later this summer. It's about time we had a new rivalry to get excited about, particularly because American tennis is not looking so hot on its own these days!

The Hills

So here's my quick blurb on the newest summer TV addiction, The Hills, the Laguna Beach spin-off starring the less-than-charismatic L.C. as she follows her big dreams and lands an internship at Teen Vogue while enrolled in fashion school. (As a quick aside, this show has featured some of the greatest interviews I have ever seen. We won't even get into the train wreck that is Heidi, I just loved Lauren and Lisa Love's one-on-one. LL: "Can you write?" -- silence -- LC: "Yeah, I can write..." -- silence -- "...I mean, I like to... I can.. I.." And it's amazing, folks, she gets the job! It's great to see MTV really defining real-life career scenarios for the teen set. All around the country kids must be throwing their half-assed resumes into the fireplace.)

L.C.'s friend and roommate Heidi remarkably established herself as TV's most-hated -- and most entertaining-- character over the course of the brief 20-minute first episode. To make matters worse, Heidi is a real person. She could not be more stupid, self-centered, lazy, or heartless if she tried. And that's why this show is so damn great. Only two episodes in, I realized this is not a show about L.C. and her life in Hollywood, but rather, a progression about how ridiculous this girl Heidi can get, and how much L.C. can handle before she finally breaks.

This week we found out that, thankfully, it does not take much, and our little L.C. -- who allowed herself to be played by the loving Stephen for two years in Laguna -- is over people's crap.

The scene in which L.C. simply hangs up her cell phone while Heidi is in mid-conversation blabbing about her newly-landed "dream job" as an assistant with Bolthouse -- yes, getting coffee for people is definitely a dream, Heidi, and I'm sure your salary will be a dream, too, not that it matters obviously, because it seems you're doing okay without the job, sitting poolside in your amazing Hollywood loft, and where are your parents anyway, and what in the world do they think when they watch this show? -- was my favorite L.C. moment ever. I think all loyal Laguna viewers shared a similar feeling at that very moment... "Hey, this L.C., she's not so bad after all...in fact, I kinda like her."

And then there was Heidi, staring blankly and looking confused, repeating "Lauren? Lauren?" into her phone, then shrugging and bouncing away happily. I would say, "Let the cat fighting begin!" but unfortunately I think Heidi is too slow on the uptake to figure out when she's being mocked. That, and she obviously doesn't care. She's going to be rubbing elbows with Paris Hilton soon enough anyway, right?

All we need now is for Lo to visit The Hills and tell her best pal L.C. that she needs to start hanging out with cooler people. Oh, how good Kristin Cavalieri is looking right about now...