Rut-roh: walking and airports

Continuing on my walking in and out of airports theme, I have a pretty fun story about getting screamed at by a cop and doing my best playing dumb routine, and then getting to continue to walk into the airport. No time to explain now, but email if you would like details!

Another day, another flight

Got back from DC last night, back on the MARTA to the airport now to New Orleans. In less than a week, I'll be flying to Australia, with a stop in DC in between.

Breathe. Travel. Repeat.

DC: random observations

It's always interesting to me how radically different the personalities of different neighborhoods in the same city can be. After spending a couple days walling around Midcity, the national mall, Georgetown, and Falls Church, I'm now waiting for a meeting in Northeast, about a mile north of Eastern Market. A relatively quiet residential neighborhood with some mixed use, and the MPD truancy and curfew patrol making regular rounds.

Out in front of the 7/11, a guy asked me if it was going to rain today, and when I said no, he asked me why I'm wearing this shirt. It's a standard shirt for me: shortsleeve, lightweight poly, rusty orange, no markings.

Poor illustration, perhaps, but this neighborhood has a texture and depth that the more touristed ones don't: it just keeps it a little quieter.

DC!

I'm in DC working on an upcoming event.

What blog post about DC is complete without a picture of a very famous phallus?

At the corner of Constitution Ave. This was a little weird, since I didn't see any other signs leading away from it. So maybe the message is: "just get your ass off of the National Mall."

Spied in Midcity.

New sharrows installed! Woo! It seems to be having little impact on the local cyclists, however, at least half of whom are still opting to ride on the sidewalks.

Had a nice lunch yesterday at Busboys and Poets, a tempeh "panini" that was mostly a hot tempeh sandwich that happened to have been stuffed in a panini press. Can't say I'd go out of my way to go back, but nice enough if you're in the neighborhood.

Now I have some time to kill, since my next meeting isn't until tomorrow morning. Normally I'm predictably boring: I love the Smithsonian American history museum, but really feel like I should branch out to natural history, or the national gallery of art. We'll see.

Vegan Vegas!

This is the vegan "burger" at Burger Bar, in the Luxor shops. The buns are portobello mushroom caps. At $12, spendy, though not by Vegas standards, and very tasty.

The beer is a Widmer DIPA. Their bottle list is deeper but very expensive, and there are a couple wins on the draft list.

Food, court

But not food court. This is today's lunch at Red Velvet, a crispy hot "chicken" wrap with oddly vegan mozzarella that was ridiculously good, and not at all healthy.

Trial was... the single weirdest day in court I've ever done, hands down. We had a victory, at least for the day. The judge deferred ruling for four and a half months to try to see if he can reconcile the law with justice.

If I were religious, I'd say to pray for the Creech 14. If I were superstituous, I'd say to cross your fingers. Il only ask you to think of them, and their beautiful and courageous witness resisting the horrors of drone warfare.

Vegan hotel!

It's actually a surprisingly good breakfast, especially since it's "free": toasted english muffin, peanut butter, and granola. Unfortunately,  they ran out of soy milk (but I was amazed they even normally have it.)

Vegan airline!

Believe it or not, my breakfast in first class (yay for complimentary upgrades!) was actually vegan. You just have to ignore the butter packet, like I did. The weird slice thingie was some sort of cornbread with vegetables in it.

When is a minute a minute?

Sitting here waiting for a flu shot, and the wait is 45 min to an hour. One woman already pissily stomped out, declaring "A minute doesn't mean an hour!"

I think "minute" might be figurative.

Amusing health note:  swype  wanted to auto correct "hour" to "gout". Whoops!

Painting, Part II! And a Reader Poll!

As previously discussed, I kinda loves me some painting. I'm headed out on a super busy travel schedule tomorrow, so the previous week was a good time to get some painting done.

The rusty pink color mentioned in that last post was pretty goopy thick, and had a lot of debris, but looks gorgeous on the wall. Here's the more or less, kinda sorta play by play (the critical parts, anyway):

Everyone uses a tofu container as a cut cup, right? That's our second best brush, since J was using the best one. And actually, she insists there is a material difference between the Purdy she was using, and the Wooster I was using; I don't really see it, but she's way better at trim and detail than I am, so she's probably right.

Wrapping up your roller in plastic wrap to use it again for a second coat is a good idea. So is storing it in the fridge; you just have to pick off the cilantro.

I'm not sure the picture does it justice, but it looks awesome. Those energy-gobbling 150W halogens were kind of a pain in the ass to deal with, and I try to not use them, but the light they throw on the paint is great.

And since we were on a roll (GET IT?!?) we eliminated the last vestiges of babyshit beige in the condo. This is the shelving just inside the front door, before, and:

after, with the same sage green that is on the rest of that wall.

Now the only parts of the condo we haven't painted are the walk-in closet (and to hell with that) and the kitchen. I'm not sure what color to do the kitchen: it has black-ish cement floors, a ton of black tile backsplash, "stainless" appliances, and dark cherry wood colored cabinets. Here are a couple examples:

This is just inside the entryway, where you were just looking at the sage green. Black-ish granite countertops, black tile backsplash, white walls, reddish-cherry cabinetry, random painting supplies staged, and a bonus to anyone who recognizes the pint glass!

This is the darkest part of the kitchen: the "stainless" and black fridge, white wall, open cabinet door looking into the liquor department, and hot water heater closet.

I'm thinking either an extremely light rusty southwest orange, or an ivory with just a hint of rusty orange or red.

So, trusty readers: should I play it safe, or go big? Drop me a damn comment, if nothing else just to let me know you're reading!

The Making of a Sangria

Continuing in the theme of step by step assembly that gobbles up storage space in my picasa account, here is the sangria in the fridge:

Some black plums,

joined by some golden plums,

with a shot of the condo building across the street, which, along with the granite countertop and thrift-store pitcher, indicate what a high class operation this is.

The peaches weren't terribly ripe, but, look: you go to sangria with the fruit that you have. (I love that paraphrase: it goes over particularly well with the progressives and leftists I spend most of my life around.)

We're getting there!

Artistically arranged pear.

Less artistically arranged pear.

Oh, yeah. This is getting good.

It's about to get better.

Yep: better. Yum!

The Making of a Salad

Our good friend A2 was in town, and we cooked our asses off. Even when A2 was too smart to bottom line annoying, ultra time-intensive projects like vegan croissants. (J headed up that project, which is good, since I, as executive chef, was far too busy to head it up.)

This is a salad, step by step:

VEGGIES. (Duh?)


Organic salad greens.

With green peppers added.

The green peppers were feeling kinda lost in the forest, so they got some yellow friends.

Then the orange peppers barged in, and

some carrots crashed the party.

Then some GRAPEFRUIT(!) which I love in salad.

And who doesn't love ONIONS in salad?

No worry, A: when you come visit, we can cook MUSHROOMS!

Painting!

I LOVE PAINTING! Well, okay, maybe I just like it. But it sure is satisfying. I just repainted several of the walls in the living room from the babyshit beige color that most of the condo was when we moved in, to a bright sky blue. We like it. And now the beige is mostly gone: only the entryway to go.

(hey, E: do you remember the babyshit reference? Sue N. used to refer to her car as "babyshit brown.")

These aren't great pictures, but unfortunately, they're the best before and after, since the flash made it look weird. This is the wall beneath the bar that looks into the kitchen.



I also got a crazy deep rusty pink mistint from Home Depot for five bucks, so it's well worth trying it in the bathroom. Worst case is that it's too deep, and essentially becomes primer, and I paint over it. Updates to follow: keep your grip on the edge of your seats, loyal readers!

Texting.

Recently emailed:

Dear Friends,

You are receiving this email because you have texted me in the past, and I have heard the cries (uhhh, read the texts) of the assembled masses. Yes: as of now, you can text me without me paying $0.20 each way. Ultimately, it made sense with all the travel and conventions I have planned in the next few months. I now have 250 messages per month (so don't get greedy!) until further notice.

But, uhhh: talking on the phone is still more fun for lengthy exchanges, right? Right?

Really?

Really? Another oil drilling explosion in the Gulf of Mexico? Really? What the FUCK? When are we going to address our addiction to oil, especially artificially cheap oil?

Sorry that his blog post sounds more like a tweet: I'm just boggled by this.