At Long Last

For someone who loves TV as much as I do, or at least as much as I used to, cable in my solo apartment has been a long time coming. I'm not exactly sure what "basic cable" means, so I don't know if I should expect five channels, or a hundred channels, but either way -- it was time. Time to surrender the Arrested Development episodes I've seen a thousand times.

The Underworld

Take note, evil-doers: the devil is no match for Farragut West.

Cheated

If there's one thing DC does right, it's autumn.


I'm a little sad that fall is almost on its way out. I feel cheated; this year we were denied a spring, and our autumn was peppered both with January cold and unseasonable warmth. What happened to my favorite season? I merely tolerate DC's other seasons, with their oppressive humidity and bitter windchill. Here's hoping the fall we have left holds out until Thanksgiving.

A New Day

I'm not going to write about what a victory our country experienced last night circa 11:15PM EST. Nor will I yap on about how President Obama (ooh, sounds good, no?) has given our great nation a newfound glimmer of whatever and blah blah blah. You already know.

All I'll say is this:

Obama. FUCK YEAH.

Growing Weary

I can't sleep. Some A-holes are setting off firecrackers behind my apartment building.

You know, I started this blog back in February because I was bored and needed some kind of outlet. That's no longer true. And while I love a lot of my earlier posts, it is clear to me that the last few months' worth have been extremely forced. I wrote them not because I wanted to say something, or because I had a great story, but because I felt like I should post something.

I've grown weary of that feeling. In the spirit of change, I'm going to try something new; something with less commitment for this bored sometime-blogger. Tonight my boyfriend gave me a 2GB memory card for my camera, as I've been pitifully using the tiny 32MB one it came with.

So I'm going to use it. Because tomorrow, November 5^th, is a new day.


Thank god.

Cycling Occasionally

The Mad Hipster used to get all Judge-y McGee on me when I'd take the metro to work.

"Why didn't you take the bike this morning?" he'd harrass me via email. Or sometimes just a guilt-laden gchat message: "No bike?" I therefore used to feel ashamed of my occasional bike negligence, feeling that I was a pox on the DC hipster community. But gradually I have gotten over this shame, and I am ready to declare it to the world. You ready? Here it comes.

I am a fairweather cyclist.

My god, it feels so good to finally say it! Such a burden off my shoulders. I know people like the Mad Hipster jump on the bike when it's 15° and iced over, or when it's pouring rain, or when it's a sticky 98° with oppressive humidity, or when the wind kicks up to 30mph. In his circle, I'm sure that's the norm. But I've realized that fairweather cycling is nothing to sneeze at.

Having a city full of fairweather cyclists should be something to shoot for. It's unreasonable to expect all the district's suits to go from zero to fixed gear in sixty seconds. Occasionally eschewing the train and riding one's inexpensive hybrid bike a few short miles to work and back may not earn you any street cred, but it's respectable all the same.

Let's keep a little perspective: it's not like I blow off my bike for a leisurely jaunt in the ol' Hummer. Because, really. My Hummer's nearly impossible to park.

KIDDING!

Using BlackBerrys

Everyone in this city seemingly has a stance on the ubiquitous BlackBerry.

Hill staffers are glued to theirs, news avenues are reporting physical injuries related to BlackBerry users stepping out into the street while emailing (or running into walls... yes, seriously), and anyone who's ever stopped by The Anti DC to peruse Marissa's e-musings is surely familiar with the opposition's stance (that they're toys for tools).

I must confess, I have one. And I hate it.

I never use it, even as a work cell. When I first got it, I was vaguely excited, as underneath it all I'm a big nerd who loves to play with techie toys. But then the reality sunk in. Wait, you mean work can contact me anytime, anywhere? And they expect me to answer back? ALL THE TIME? Gross.

My IT department sent me an email this morning to inform me that they haven't detected any activity on my BlackBerry since October 10^th. I was shocked to my core. Partially at the creepy big-brotherness of the email, but mostly because WHY ON EARTH was I using it on October 10^th? I would have put money on mid-September as the last time I touched the damned thing.

I left work and was walking to the metro a couple of weeks ago when a guy came breezing out of his office building, BlackBerrying furiously. Almost smashed right into me. To reiterate: he had JUST LEFT HIS OFFICE. Surely this man was important. Surely something life-altering happened during the elevator ride to the ground floor, to be BlackBerrying so soon after leaving his computer. I don't envy him that.

I assume these devices were originally intended to make business travel easier for high-level officials, as being able to check one's email when nowhere near one's office actually does sound pretty handy. In theory, BlackBerrys are useful tools (ZING! Get it?).

Anydouble-entendres (okay, that's the part where I pretend that I am Marissa... and now I'm done), what's the point of this post? I have no desire to discuss the device's tool-ish qualities (though they are numerous), nor will I mock those who choose to glue themselves to their BlackBerrys (though I'd like to). I just want to issue a plea to those who do use them every waking minute, and this plea is as follows:

Please, PLEASE follow normal email etiquette when Blackberrying. That irritating little "Sent via BlackBerry" disclaimer at the end of your note is not a valid excuse for repulsive grammar, wickedly terrible spelling, or inappropriately familiar slang. If you don't work on my immediate team, or even in my entire organization, and we have never met, do not refer to yourself as "i," and to me as "u." And for the love of all things holy, use apostrophes.

cuz, like, i cant beleive ur actually makin these mistakes.