Examination Termination

Yay! Finals are finished. I just noticed that it's been two weeks since our last burst of posts, and its been getting too quite around here. The past two weeks have been filled with my preparation and completion of four exams and a paper. Kate has been trying to stay clear and cheer me on, with the special assistance of providing me with hot tea as I needed it during my study sessions. Many thanks to her for the little pleasures that make exams endurable.

For those of you that have not seen the news, our last little post about "snow" has just been blown out of the water by the current "snowpocalypse"/"snow-urricane" or blizzard hitting DC as I type. The snow has been so heavy that the Metro, or subway, has been shutdown in the above ground areas. As the press release stated, the snow is high enough to cover the electrified 3rd rail, or 8 inches for those counting at home. The prediction is for 1-2' for the weekend. Yes, I used the marker for feet, not inches. This morning I felt like I was living in a snow globe. After venturing forth into the snowy madness, Kate and I have concluded that we, in fact, live in a snow-cone machine.

Pictures will be forthcoming after the conclusion of the snowfall, and don't worry, I made a snow angel, and we threw our obligatory one snowball apiece. Our friend Marie made a snow-Vulcan out in VA, we hear, and she is working on a snowman.

Last night Kate and I took pictures of all three branches of government and their decorations (not surprisingly, the Supreme Court had nothing) for Christmas. On our way home, Kate and I saw the Grey Train! It was just as strange the second time.

For now, we continue to watch the snowfall out our large windows and we think of you all out there. Our recommendation is to try out the homemade marshmallows by either Alton Brown or the easier, but less tasty one from the food network magazine. Toss 'em in hot chocolate or do like we will later today, make s'mores.

'til next time,
-Pete

P.S. Weather channel says its 28 F but feels like 13 F.

Dark When The Snow Falls

Well, we've had our first real sign of winter in the big frozen north land. This morning we woke up to see heavy snow falling outside our window, and it really hasn't quit since! It's definitely lighter now, but we're watching football anyway, so it's ok. ;) (Roll Tide!)

We didn't get out much to enjoy it today, as Pete was studying and I'm still not up to full mobility after hurting my knee last week, but I did take a few pictures on our street. It's still crazy to us how a snowfall doesn't shut down the entire city! People were still out today, walking and driving around to get their Christmas shopping done! I hear that sometimes a heavy snowfall will slow things down, but this didn't really even stick very much- just a bit on the trees and rooftops. It was definitely pretty though, and I really enjoyed watching it fall outside our big windows all day!

Here are a few pictures for you!

Pete took this from our living room window. The place next door is a nice restaurant and bar. Obviously they weren't using their patio today.

The courtyard in our building. It was closed because of weather (not sure what that means, but whatever), so I couldn't do much except take a picture through the window. But it looks nice.

This is looking the other way out of our living room window. The freezer and trash cans go with the restaurant, and the rest of the buildings are pretty typical row houses.

I had to go out to Target this afternoon... it really wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be, for a Saturday in December. This is what we see as we're walking up the street.

Nerd alert! This is a shot of my laptop screen... the little boxes (calculator, weather, etc.) are part of a Mac program called Dashboard. It's also got a calendar and a clock. You set the weather box to your location and it shows you the forecast in your area with a picture of whatever the weather's doing. I pulled it up this morning and realized I'd never seen what it does when there's snow in the forecast! Isn't it pretty?

That's all for now. Stay warm, everybody!

(Oh, and if Rosie happens to be reading this, I hope you'll notice that my title comes from an Emmet Swimming album :) )

Snow Watch '09!

We're expecting snow tomorrow.

Depending on who you ask, the chances range from small to about a 70% chance of seeing 1 to 3 inches.

Now, in the last 4 years, we've seen maybe 2 inches of snow total, most of which was last January in Macon, so this is ridiculously exciting news for two Southern kids. I'm considering staking out a place in front of a big window somewhere and setting up an all-out Snow Watch. This big window will probably be in my living room, but hey, it's pretty comfortable there.

Earlier today, I was out doing some Christmas shopping (more on that in a minute), and stopped by Target on the way home to pick up a couple of things. We're very lucky to live 3 blocks from the only Target in the District, so we walk past it at least twice a day, it seems. I grabbed some gift-wrapping supplies, a hanger for the gorgeous wreath we got yesterday from my parents, and then headed to the grocery aisle to pick up some cereal. That's when it hit me-- the grocery section was empty! There was no frenzy for bread, milk, and beer, because the threat of 2 inches of snow won't shut down the city. What?!

Buying groceries in a reasonable amount of time before a snowstorm got me thinking about all the differences between the sunny South and our Nation's Capital... and before anybody tells me that D.C. is a Southern city, let me just say right now that it isn't. Sorry. The thing is, D.C. kind of has its own culture. Very few people are actually from D.C., so it's an interesting mix of people and backgrounds. I'm working on a post about all the various things we've had to adjust to since the move, so be on the lookout for that. However, since I've clearly been having some writer's block (it's been, what, a month since my last entry? For shame), give me a hand here. Is there anything you want to know about our life in the big city? Any difference you might wonder about? Leave a comment and let me know.

Oh, and as for Christmas shopping? I've found it- the greatest mall on earth. (Ok maybe it isn't better than the Mall of America, but I haven't been there, and besides, that's in Minnesota. Who wants to go there anyway? Eww.) The Tyson's Corner Galleria? Heaven on earth. Seriously- Bloomingdales, Lord & Taylor, L.L. Bean (!!!), Teavana, Sephora, Lush, CakeLove-- oh my gosh, it's amazing. Every time I turned a corner it got better! It took every ounce of my self control to leave with just the pair of boots I went to find for myself (Christmas present from my parents), a small Christmas present for Pete, and a cupcake from CakeLove, which was delicious despite being slightly squashed on the trip home. (Also, be on the lookout for an entry about all the fabulous places to acquire a gourmet cupcake up here. The world needs more fancy cupcakes, I tell you what.)

So yeah. I'm thinking of moving in to the Tyson's Corner Galleria. As I told Michelle and Pete, it was kind of a pain to get out there, but once you got settled you could live quite happily for a long time before ever needing to leave the building.

The Grey Train

Have you seen the Grey Train in the Metro?

The Grey Train,
Unannounced on the track,
As if out of the mist?

The Grey Train,
Petulantly wailing in tortured resistance as it slows down,
Headlights bright,
But with uncaring and soulless cars permanently silenced,
Silenced by the sign over the door,
"No Passengers"?

The Grey Train,
Reluctent in unsealing its taciturn maw,
Unwilling to reveal its Silent Sentinels?

Silent Sentinels,
Obsidian against their dingy, dismal, steel ferry,
Gold badges glinting against the silvery prisoners within,
Charcoal shotguns at the ready?

Still Sentinels,
Standing granite as another prisoner,
Shimmering and shuddering,
Is collected from the end of the platform?

Mute Sentinels,
Their task done,
Retreat into that somber embrace,
The leaden, voiceless lips of their ashen bearer?

The Grey Train,
Vanishing down the tunnel,
Back into its abyssal haze?

Have you seen the Grey Train in the Metro?

The Grey Train,
With shining metal carts coldly lining the sides within,
Prisoners shrouded in feeble light,
Light rebuked by opalescent windows,
Dead as an old man's eyes,
Blind with age?

-Pete

Day In, Day Out

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving!
I don't have much to say today, so I'll keep it brief. I have a bunch of pictures that we've been taking from our daily lives. Without further ado, a day in the life:

Rain on our windows.
Photo by Kate

The view from our apartment. It was a great rainstorm.
Photo by Kate

Our metro station. I didn't have my tripod, so I couldn't really get a steady shot. This tunnel is the southern end of the south-bound track.
Photo by Pete

Northbound train arriving.
Photo by Pete

Part of the gardens/lawn at Georgetown's Law campus. This is what I see every time I come to class. Its a beautiful place; the camera barely captures it.
Photo by Pete.

-Pete

quiet contemplation

Its been two weeks. Kate has hit a writer's block. I dove into my schoolwork. The cats can't type. There are nothing but empty chairs in the writing room, so nothing has been produced.

The reality of big city life is not so glamorous. We're looking for work, which means we're poor. We're doing well enough (genteel poverty is the Sewanee term), but you can't go out every night like that and "live high on the hog" as Sarah Palin put it (how she can use a proudly southern phrase such as that and complain about the media portraying her and her family as a bunch of frozen hicks in the same sentence with a straight face is beyond me). With that in mind, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that we don't actually go out that much. We're masters of the television and prepaid entertainments such as our music, playing with the cats, and our guitar and bass. I cannot tell you how happy it made me to be able to let Kate go to the Bob concert last week (which is pretty cheap as concerts go) and observe her post concert happy dance for the next day and a half. The concert itself contains a mountain of material--including the tale of the quest for the zipcar on the top of Mount Everest. *spotlight swivels onto Kate's side of the stage* But she's too shy, so I am now doing my best to embarrass her into telling you about how much she loves Bob, and all of the fun she actually got to have.

The last thing I have for this post is a repackaging of a letter I sent to a dear friend who is applying to law school. He asked me for some help in writing an essay question, "what skills and traits do you possess that will help you in the practice of law?" As he put it, applicants would have to know what traits were needed to be a good lawyer without ever having spent a day in the practice itself. I have not practiced, but I have studied the topic for a little over a year. Here's how I lit a stick of dynamite in the dam of his writer's block:

To answer your question about what skills and traits you possess, I feel that I must first explain what lawyers do. Lawyers are the champions of their client’s cause. Lawyers use their skills for the protection of their client’s rights and the advancement of their client’s goals. In representing the client, the lawyer must know what a client wants, and where necessary, advise the client on the best legal course of action—whether in or out of the courtroom. In the advancement of the client’s goals, the lawyer must be informed about the facts and laws that apply to the client’s needs. In adversarial matters, the lawyer must know the facts and laws that apply to the opponent’s position as well. Above all, a lawyer must have good judgment. A lawyer must know when to advance, when to stop, and when to retreat. A misstep in judgment can result in bad advice, a botched document, a ruined negotiation, or a lost case—all with potentially disastrous consequences.

Lawyers are also officers of the courts. They are the agents of the court system and ultimately responsible for society’s ultimate belief the that the justice systems (both criminal and civil) are a better system of conflict resolution than self-help methods such as vigilantism or clan feuding. People need to believe that the court system is fair or else they will stop using it and seek other, more seemingly gratifying means of conflict resolution. It is the need to preserve the court systems’ image of fairness that drives legal reform. Fairness is for this reason that lawyers are restricted in the lengths they may go to serve their client’s needs. Fairness is what is causing so much discussion over what lawyers are ethically allowed to do. Fairness is driving the discussions of alternative dispute resolutions such as arbitration and mediation; as well as the discussions of how to make quality legal assistance available for all of society, and not just the rich. Fairness is what gives life to the questions that challenge the profession and quake the foundations of the legal institution.

With that food for thought, what do you think makes a good lawyer?

-Pete

Homecoming

To write about this week as building character in the big city would be cheating. The defining portions of this past week were about 800 miles from the city. I speak, of course, about going to Montgomery for my admission ceremony. To keep in the spirit of the blog, I tell the tale of our travel, and not of our destination.

Our trip began drearily enough with the misty, grey, clammy, Victorian-era muck-for-weather usually reserved for big “R” Romantic short stories. Onward we trudged, sleep-deprived, bleary-eyed, ill-tempered, half-drowned and rushed. Did I mention I had to do my own homage to the “Tin-man at the airport” skit? (Rings, change, wallet (magnetic money clip), belt buckle, keys, D-ring key holder, cap, sunglasses, phone, Bluetooth, jacket, shoes, and a partridge in a pear tree.) At long last, we made it to our terminal with time for food. I don’t know if the cashier had reached her top rung on the McDonald’s corporate ladder, or if her command of the English language needed that much more work, but either way, Kate and I nearly broke our noses running face first into that reinforced wall of a language barrier. After slowing our order down (as Southerners. Southerners! Southerners have to slow speech down for you? Really? REALLY?) and giving her several Mulligans, we eventually got food that was close enough for government work. Food does wonders to improve the spirits, and we were soon amusing ourselves until our flight began boarding.

We climbed aboard and found our seats. Tumbleweeds lazily bounced down the aisle as I scanned the rest of the craft for the other passengers. We stowed our bags and waited for take off. Moments before our scheduled take-off, the captain came over the speaker. In a moment of passenger pilot empathy, our captain spoke with a mixture of mild appreciation and minor annoyance that our flight was delayed due to a missing screw in one of the wing panels. The panel was held on by 20 other screws, but we weren’t allowed to take-off until that make-and-model specific screw was dug up from distant, dusty, long forgotten bin and installed. I’m glad the FAA requires these things to be done. I’d rather wait for a replacement screw than be told that maintenance doesn’t matter. (pfft, so what if one wing falls off, why do you think there’s another on the other side?)

So we had a delay. That’s what laughing at SkyMall is for. Let me tell you, people will try to sell the most bizarre things to a captive audience. Penny Arcade did it best years ago, and I think it deserves a tip of the hat here. Oh, see the map and the crossword? They still sell those! An hour later, the part was installed. I swear it must have been in the obscure hoard of some greasy shrieking gremlin that ambushed those poor unsuspecting mechanics in a shack on the far end of the airport. Those guys never knew what hit them.

Finally we took off. Let me just say, it was not a trip for those that don’t like air travel. The pilot handled the turbulence quite well. ‘Still felt like we were in the pre-crash sequence of every movie known to man. We went from “we will be passing out snacks and offering drinks momentarily” to “the captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign” mid-sentence. An hour and a half later, we were descending. The descent was smooth as gravel. We were glad to be on firm ground.

The rest of the trip was just fine. The rain was pouring on us most of the way, and most of I-85 towards the state line was under construction with closed shoulders and Jersey barriers on both sides. I hadn’t driven in two months, so it was a crash course in …er, steep relearning curve in foul weather driving. Adrenaline is your friend. Jeep-Jeep proved its value once again, and we made it just fine. Here are some of our pictures. Enjoy!

-Pete

I'm a real lawyer at last!

Due to construction, we couldn't take any photos on the courthouse steps. Still, nothing says "Special Occasion" like a picture next to a chain-link fence.

If you've ever wondered what Kate and I will look like in 25-30 years, check out the people on our left. This is Kate's mom, Carolyn, my dad, Sam, Kate, and myself after the ceremony.

Lunchtime! We went down the street to Dreamland, an Alabama barbecue institution, for some good (much needed) southern barbecue and a decent glass of sweet tea.

A more perfect union

As Pete looks forward towards our weekend plans (or lack of plans, or confusion over plans, or whatever it is he's doing), I'm going to look back several weeks to the celebration of our anniversary.

Way back on the 10th of September, we celebrated four years of being husband and wife. (*waits for a smattering of applause*)

It's a long-standing tradition (or four-year tradition now) to make an anniversary activity out of the traditional gift for that year. (Does that make sense?) For example, we both agree that the best was the second year, when we bought each other t-shirts at a Bob Dylan concert. (Cotton is the traditional gift for year 2.) This was the fruit and/or flower anniversary.

For a year, we tried to come up with something creative to do, without much success.

Finally, we had the idea of going to the National Arboretum. We figured, it's not exactly flowers, but trees are plants, and that kind of works.

After a thoroughly fantastic lunch at The Diner in Adams Morgan, which might be among the greatest places on earth, we changed our plans. Realizing that we didn't really know how to get to the Arboretum, and that I still wasn't really sure how to pronounce it, Pete suggested we take a detour to the National Zoo instead. I gladly agreed.

Here's a quick background on me and zoos. When I was a very small child, we lived near the zoo in Birmingham. Close enough that we could hear the lions roaring and the sea lions barking (which made for some interesting dinner parties). The peacocks would sometimes leave the zoo and hang out on our street, which was not so fun when they built nests and screamed, but was very cool when one decided he'd rather become the neighborhood pet than stay at the zoo. (His name was Henry. He ate cat food. Yes, really.) We didn't really live near a park, but because the zoo was so close and my parents had a membership, we went all the time. Probably once a week, at least in the summer. I'd been to the National Zoo once, when we came to Washington on a family trip when I was about 11. I loved it then and had been dying to go back ever since we moved.

Something you may not know about the National Zoo: it's part of the Smithsonian, which means it's completely free! It's also not a bad walk from our apartment, so we've been back several more times since this first trip. I'm only going to post pictures from the anniversary outing, as that's my subject for the day, but I'm sure there will be many more zoo stories in our future.

Without further ado, here are a few shots from our day:

My sandwich at The Diner. Plymouth Rock grilled cheese-- roast turkey, swiss, and cranberry sauce. Mmmmm.

Pete's lunch. Barbecue chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries.

One of the Giant Pandas! We got there right at nap time, it seems.

In the bird house. This bird had some cool feathers!

We stalked one of the peacocks, who seemed to enjoy posing.

Me with one of the elephants. No, he doesn't live in that cage-- this is inside the elephant house, and he was eating. They're in the process of building a huge new elephant habitat, so their space is a little limited just at the moment, but they do have a nice big outdoor area as well.

We took the obligatory self-portrait before heading home. See, there are flowers in the background! The way we see it, that's good enough. Plus, there's not a panda anniversary.

Be brainy; don't B negative

What is our flavor of undead? This Saturday there are two events. On one end of town is the Vampire party, but on the other there’s a Zombie Walk!…or is that shuffle?...lurch?...dance? Anyway, we now face the peril of choosing our undead fates.


Before we found out the party was vampire themed, we’d planned on going as Clue characters—ala Tim “Antici…pation” Curry—but the idea was nixed as sadly, Miss Scarlet, in the Billiard Room, with the fangs is not and official part of Clue canon. *hinty hint hint, Hasbro!* So, there we were, idea-less and uninspired. I know I’m not the only one who thinks vampirism is a little too attached to the jugular of pop culture. That aside, if we could find something to dress as, it could be fun.


Around the same time, we found out about the Silver Springs Zombie Walk. We’re no strangers to this, as Macon had its own little homage to choreographically inclined brain connoisseurs. However, this one features the best zombie comedy of all time at its fantastic conclusion. We love our Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

We stand at a precipice, having to choose between an eternal hunger for blood or brains/flesh. Either way, this should be a lot of fun.

Elsewhere this weekend, Boo at the Zoo!

The Enchanted Museum

We all know that one place that all our friends want to go see when they come visit. You've been there an untold number of times, and frankly, the shiny has worn off. You could recite the salient features and trivia in your sleep. You'd rather be strapped to a chair and forced to watch Manos: Hands of Fate on repeat for a day than go back. Under normal circumstances, your very same visiting friends would do the same thing to avoid an extended inspection of the topic, and yet... like a dark, unseen foe, it sneaks into their heads and lies in wait. It waits, ever so patiently, for the one question--"What do you want to do while you're here?"--and then it strikes. Black tentacles shoot forth, wrenching control of the vocal cords and jaws from they're owner's sane minds. Unable to control themselves, these unwitting victims utter the same sentence as so many before them. "Let's go to the Air and Space Museum."

The transformation is complete. Sane no longer, these zombies must submit to the necromantic summons and complete their ebon pilgrimage to the aeronautic ziggurat. Only then will the enchanted museum relinquish its control, but for how long?

Now the museum broods. Its obsidian mask frozen in dark contemplation. It waits. It waits for its next tragic victim to feel its icy compulsion, and to welcome them all to its splintery, steely maw.

_____

If you ever come see us, we don't want to go to the Air and Space Museum. Its fun for tourists; but only ONCE. We're done there. It was fun, but note the "was." If you want to go, we'll be glad to show you the way. We understand. The place has an enchantment. If you want to go someplace with us in tow, please consider the Museum of Natural History or the Zoo. Those are just plain fun.

In the Beginning

Yes, we're both aware that we've already been here for about 2 months.

Several weeks ago now, we went for a late-night exploration to the Lincoln Memorial. (Did you know it's open 24 hours? Neither did we! I was sitting on the couch reading a tourist magazine around 10 p.m. one night and saw that there was a park ranger on duty until midnight. Thinking that was odd, I investigated a bit, and discovered that the place never closes! We jumped up and went right then, figuring that was the first time in our lives that we wouldn't have to catch a plane to go to the Lincoln Memorial. Anyway.) We had so much fun wandering around at a National Park in the middle of the night that we thought we should share the story.

Neither Pete nor I did a study abroad program in college, but several of our friends did. A few of those friends started email lists or blogs to share what they called the "photo of the week." It is in that spirit that this blog came to be. We have no formal plans about how many pictures we'll share per week (or per time that we get around to writing), or if this will become mostly a forum for sharing stories of our wacky antics. Likely, it will be both. (Other pictures will be posted on Facebook, or if necessary maybe we'll start up a flickr account or something. Details to come, once we figure them out.)

So much of Washington is worthy of being explored, and Pete and I are so excited to have a whole year to see it. We're trying to do one touristy-type thing per week, which is really quite easy since so many of the great things to do are free! We're both big fans of getting to know our community, wherever it may be, and it's great to have such a fun place to do that. I think you should do the same in your own town, but that's only my opinion :).

I'll leave you now with a few shots from our first adventure.

Pete waiting to catch the train

Lincoln Memorial. This photo doesn't come close to showing how gorgeous it is at night. Seriously, if you ever get the chance, go.

Reflecting pool and Washington Monument. Again, I don't think there's a camera good enough to show how pretty this is.

On the way back to the train, we ended up going through the World War II Memorial, which is breathtakingly amazing. Up close, it kind of reminds me of the cathedral ruins I walked through in England.

Photographically, I think this is my favorite. Clearly, this is the Washington Monument. It's also our last photo of the night.

That's all for now, people. 'Til next time!

~Kate