BrockLi Soup

I wish I had wandered through Chinatown that night:

Commenters at DCist have been reporting on the taxi strike that’s happening today, and it’s not pretty. For those of you living elsewhere, DC’s taxis operate on a zone system, so you pay based on how many zones your trip takes you through. Mayor Fenty has been pushing to get them on a meter, like every other city in the nation, but the drivers want none of it - at least partially because they can easily take unsuspecting tourists on winding, four-zone trips that could really be done by crossing only two zones.

Still, I’m all for worker’s rights and making a decent wage, so I supported the cabbies that wanted to stick to the zone system. But this is just ridiculous - making traffic even worse during rush hour is no way to win the sympathy of your customers. I can only imagine how much support they lost thanks to this stunt.

Update: Apparently I was misinformed. The zone fare is based on what zone you start in and end in, not how many you pass through. I don’t know who explained it that way to me, or (in retrospect) why I bought it, but that really wouldn’t make much sense, would it?

This year’s DC PHP Conference & Expo is going to come earlier than last year’s: June 2-4, rather than in November. I’m hoping to go again, because it was pretty interesting and informative last time, and I’m sure this one will be even better. If you’re a web developer in (or near) DC, consider registering - or, better yet, submit a paper!

From Examiner.com:

To combat the street gangs warring in Shaw, 3rd District police are going back to basics: Foot patrols are visiting with 10 residents a day, officers are taking names of suspicious people, and roll calls are being held outdoors as a show of force. On Friday afternoon, a dozen D.C. police officers formed a blue line on the corner of O Street and 7th Street Northwest, between two large, boxy public-housing apartments. Stern faces peered down from the windows.

7th & O is about four blocks from my apartment. Thankfully, we’re on the southern edge of Shaw, at the fringe of gentrification that’s brought nicer condos and lower crime rates, and most of the places we go are in the other direction. Unfortunately, my old roommate was mugged a few blocks away last month - not far from the police roll call, actually. We still try to avoid going north later in the evening, but the grocery store is up that way. The comments on that article make it sound like previous efforts like this one haven’t gone well, but I’m hopeful that our neighborhood will continue becoming safer.

Erin and I got blindsided by some Jesus tonight. We went to the Kennedy Center for the MLK Day Let Freedom Ring Celebration because she wanted to see this opera singer that was part of the show, but it was all about the Jesus’in. So here’s to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a quick reminder: review the program guide before going to a show.

I wasn’t going to do anything at all yesterday, because I really just needed a day off to recover. And I did get to spend most of the day just relaxing, but last night was pretty awesome.

I spent most of my afternoon doing that boring crap I’ve been putting off - opening a huge pile of mail, copying a bunch of media off the hundreds of CD-Rs I’ve had lying around for years - then I went to see Transformers, because I like doing matinees by myself now and then. It was actually pretty good, but I went into it with incredibly low expectations, so it would have been hard to disappoint me.

After that, I stopped by Olsson’s. Both Gogol Bordello and Against Me! have new albums coming out Tuesday and I wanted to special order them if Olsson’s wasn’t going to stock them (I like to buy the actual CD for bands I really like, and I’d rather get it from a local chain than Amazon). They actually had a box full of the Against Me album in back already, but wouldn’t give me one till Tuesday (obviously), so I’ve got one of each on hold.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the more time I spend hanging out in DC, the more I like it…especially if it’s with Schmitty. I seem to meet at least two or three people every time I hang out with the guy. Fotios moved back to DC yesterday, so we went to Science Club for drinks. I’ve been there a couple times before and always liked it. The place is really laid back and they have a big chalkboard by the bar where people write out equations and stuff when they’re arguing. The last time I was there was a Wednesday, so it was pretty quiet. No one checked my ID at the front gate, on the way into their patio, so I assumed that the guy standing at the door with a book and a cigarette was the bouncer. Turns out, he had just stepped out for a smoke; he spent the evening sitting at the bar, reading about philosophy. It’s that kind of place.

So we had a good time hanging out, and later learned that more people we knew were upstairs for Compton’s birthday. We got to talking with a guy and girl that work there and found out both of them had seen Against Me! and the chick had seen Gogol Bordello (this was after I’d convinced the guy to get tickets for their show next week). In the past two weeks, I’ve met a half dozen people that know one or the other - until recently, no one seemed to know who they were. Maybe I’ve just been meeting the wrong people.

I got home around 4:30 and slept till 2. In a few hours, I’m heading down to Chinatown to see Live Free or Die Hard with the Film Club. A pretty nice weekend, I’d say.

It occurred to me, as I Frogger-ed my way through families at the Metro, that most schools probably finished up this past week and I’ll be elbow-deep in tourists until Labor Day.

I can’t believe Daniel Tosh re-used so many jokes from his Comedy Central Presents show in his Completely Serious show. Doesn’t make him any less hilarious, though.

I’m 23 and my hair is thinning, significantly. I am equal parts depressed and intrigued. Depressed because I’m only 23, but intrigued because I think I might look good with a shaved head.

I sure to enjoy beer. Also, rum.

I’ve been living in the city for three weeks now. I really like it so far, mostly because I can walk to a lot of stuff. I’m sort of in between everything: Metro Center (is that considered downtown?), Chinatown, Dupont Circle, U Street - it’s all within ten or twelve blocks. I’m hoping to get a bike before too long, to save some walkin’ time. Paying to Metro to work kinda sucks, but it’s not bad. And, my place is quite a bit smaller, so I was forced to get rid of a bunch of crap I didn’t need. A win on all fronts, really.

Is Condoleezza not running for president like everyone thought she would? I’m OK with that. And isn’t Cheney due for another heart attack by now?

A while back, there was a study that more Americans were willing to elect a president who was Mormon, homosexual, Muslim, black, or female than atheist. I am equal parts elated and depressed. Elated because a lot of people are willing to vote for minorities, but depressed because people are still so ignorant to believe that atheists are somehow bad.

Against Me, Gogol Bordello, and Smashing Pumpkins are all releasing albums on July 10. It’s almost good enough to take a vacation day for.

I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday.

Great news, non-believers! The Atheist Alliance International Conference is being held in Crystal City - the neighborhood where I live and work - in September! Granted, I won’t live there by then, since I’m moving next weekend, but that’s not the point.

The point is that this is wonderful news, because I definitely wouldn’t go to it if it would require any travel, but now it’s a viable option. Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens will be there, among others, and it’s unlikely that such an event will be so conveniently located in the near future. I’m not registering yet, but hopefully I’ll know soon whether or not I can go. For you out-of-town folks that are interested, I can house a few people; the place I’m moving into is smaller than my current place, but it’s better than paying for a hotel, right?

After work yesterday, I went up to the place I’ll be moving into to sign the lease and all the other paperwork that comes with it. It was quick and dirty, and now I just need to get the key from the guy who’s moving out.

Once I took care of that stuff, I wandered around the area for a little while, looking for some coffee shops. I had no idea at the time, but I was totally spoiled by Java Wally’s while I was at RIT. As it turns out, most coffee shops (by which I mean Starbucks and Caribou) DON’T have a bunch of couches and big tables that encourage sharing when the place is crowded. I didn’t go there often, but every time I did, I’d wind up chatting with some stranger and running into a handful of people I knew. I’ve never really found another place like that, but I hope to find a place like that near the new place.

I had no luck with the coffee shops, but that’s not the point. The point is that the city is a cool place to wander in the evening. Crystal City - the neighborhood I live in now - is nice enough, with lots of restaurants and things, but it is absolutely dead by about 6 on weekdays. A lot of people pass through the area on their way to and from DoD offices, but once they go home, it’s like a ghost town.

So for that reason, I’m psyched to be moving into the city. I’ll need to take the Metro to work, but the apartment and my office are both on the yellow line, so I’ll only spend about 15 minutes on the train and maybe 10 minutes walking to and from (I’ll get some reading done, if nothing else). I’ll be five blocks from Chinatown, and about eight from Dupont Circle, so I’ll be within walking distance of a lot of cool bars and such. I’m planning to get a cheap bicycle once I move, so I’ll can get around the city without waiting for a train or bus. And, with a cheap bike, I won’t have to worry much about thieves, because I can replace a $10 bike with no problems.

This move should be good for me. The lease there is up at the end of August, and it’s month-to-month from there, so I’ll have some flexibility. What more could a guy ask for? Maybe a harem on the first floor, but let’s be realistic: that would be out of my price range anyway.

Friends in DC: I’m moving. Again.

Our lease here at Brockstone Manor will be up at the end of May, and Jym and Mel (understandably) want a place of their own, and I can’t afford the place on my own, so we’re all heading out. My new place is up near Mt. Vernon Square - I found a guy on Craigslist that was looking for a roomate.

The problem is the moving bit, particularly the way the scheduling worked out. I’m going to be packing up a truck here on Sunday the 27th - I’ve got the freight elevator 5-8pm. I’ve got the elevator at the new place until noon on Monday - which is, unfortunately, Memorial Day. This all worked out a lot better last time, when I did it all in one day before the holiday, but things got a little screwy this time around.

So, I’m imploring you, dear friends, for a little help. I’m planning on selling off some crap, I’m getting rid of some furniture, and I’ll be taking smaller stuff over on Saturday, but I’m looking for a few people to help load up Sunday evening and a few to help unload Monday morning. I know that moving the morning of a holiday Monday totally sucks, but please please please consider giving me a hand for a couple hours. Folks that pitch in will be compensated somehow - I’m not how, yet, since the usual beer-and-pizza deal doesn’t make much sense at noon on a Monday. A Memorial Day BBQ/Moving Extravaganza would be great, but the new place doesn’t have any grills. But, we DO have the old place until later in the week, so maybe we could move stuff to the new place, have a quick shower, then go back to the old place to BBQ and make friends with everyone else who’s doing a Memorial Day BBQ (of course, there won’t be any furniture or dishes left in the apartment, but we’ll be down on the patio anyway).

Anyone who’d be willing to help out, please drop me a note, and let me know how you feel about the beer ‘n pizza vs. afternoon BBQ issue. Thanks!

So I bought a pack of cigarettes tonight.

And I know, I’m a terrible person, but I’ve been all sorts of pissy lately and I figure it’s best for everyone if I just go back to smoking so I’m deal-with-able. I installed Call of Duty so I could kill Nazis, but that hasn’t been as therapeutic as I hoped.

But anyway, Casey and Matt are in Baltimore for the weekend, so a few of us went up to hang out with them at Matt’s sister’s place, and then we spent the afternoon today wandering around DC and protesting a little bit, and then I took a nap. It was nice.

I’m trying to get the DC chapter of the Sunday Night Film Club going. Last week, a few of us saw Curse of the Golden Flower (which was disappointing), and this week, we were going to see The Good Shepherd, but I’ve heard it’s pretty slow and boring, so I’m going to pick a different one. But I’ll keep y’all posted on SNFC dealing.

Ed had been telling me for months that I should meet him at Madam’s Organ on Wednesdays for their bluegrass show, but this is the first week I actually took him up on it. It helped that Ricky was in town (despite the fact that he got sick and couldn’t come) and that Andy, Will, and Schmitty were also going - I’m a sucker for peer pressure.

That place is pretty great. Bob Perilla & the Big Hillbilly Bluegrass Band was playing - not half bad - and the crowd was just my type. I spent most of the evening chatting with Alicia, a Native American, and Storm, a half-American, half-Jamaican guy from London, with whom I argued about David Beckham, the ridiculous taxes on tea, and whether or not he was more Irish than I because he spent a few months living in Dublin. There was also a cute little redhead who kept scampering about - Schmitty and I agreed that ’scamper’ was a good word for her - but I forget her name. She stopped to chat at one point, and I told her that she was like a very small tornado. She took it as a compliment.

On the walk back to the Metro, I was telling Schmitty how friendly people around here could be, and in the course of the conversation, asked four different groups of smokers if I could bum a cigarette. How many smokes do you think I got? If you guessed four, you’re off by about four. In Rochester, I would have had a dozen cigs in no time, but down here, where people tend to have a bit more money, they’re stingy with their cancer sticks. Maybe folks aren’t so friendly after all.

(Blessing in disguise, of course. I’ve had less than ten since I quit two months ago, so why spoil it?)

BP and Klem are down here for the weekend, and we’ve been having a hell of a time.

BP and I have been marauding as the O’Malley twins all weekend: our mother Shannon - rest her soul, she died when we were nine - slept with two different men, Patrick and Seamus, in the same evening, thus two different sperm fertilized the same egg, thus two twins from different fathers.

Yesterday, we had dinner at the pub and met a ton of college kids in town for this solar power contest thing, then went out to Whitlow’s to meet up with a bunch of Sharon’s friends, and convinced this chick Jen that BP and I really WERE twins. After some pant-less Scrubs and pizza, we turned in around 4.

We finally got up around one today, grabbed lunch (breakfast?) at Five Guys around four, and had some more napping, Scrubs, and beer. We were going to get drinks at Fado, but a long line sent us up to Dupont Circle, where Schmitty invited us to a full-up apartment party for a bit (just long enough for me to fall halfway down the outdoor stairway in front of a bunch of people). We wound up downstairs at The Big Hunt, then had an absolutely delicious dinner at Kramerbooks & Afterword Cafe, then met some cool chicks on the Metro ride home and spent pretty much the whole night yelling “O’Malley!”

It’s been rowdy and fun and lovely, and I wish we could do it every weekend.

UPDATE: I feel it’s worth noting that while I was writing this, they both fell asleep in front of the TV. Damn college kids got nothing on me!

Waking up in my apartment this morning was very much like living in the RIT dorms in late spring or early fall: it’s 80 degrees in my room, the air conditioning is useless, and all I can do is throw open the windows (and here, my balcony door) and sit really still, waiting for a cool breeze. When I look outside, there are people in shorts and t-shirts playing soccer out in the quad (er, the building’s courtyard).

I know they say that Global Warming only causes small temperature changes over several years, and that this unusual heat is all thanks to El Niño, but if this is an indication of what’s to come, I’m moving to Canada. I’m also wondering if our summer will also be abnormally warm, in which case I won’t be leaving my apartment between April and October.

But we’ll worry about that then. For now, I need to find some shorts so BP, Klem and I can go do whatever it is we’re going to do today.