From Trevi to Siena via Todi

We left Trevi this morning with the same trouble as we had finding it! Our GPS was basically useless on these tiny mountain streets, most of which are unmarked. But we finally found our way to the main roads and decided to stop by the town of Todi on our way to our next stop.

Todi has three sets of ruined city walls - the Estruscan, Roman, and "new" medieval walls.

We did a truffle tasting - oh my god - I liked the black truffle with porcini mushrooms the best so we bought some of that, and some truffle honey (to eat with cheese) and some local olive oil.

On our way to Siena we saw a countryside produce stand so we just had to stop! There were chickens and rabbits outside, and lots of produce, wine, and olive oil inside. We bought a bottle of wine and two interesting looking apples.

We didn't spent much time wandering around Siena. We wandered a little but are kind of tired to be honest. Tomorrow we've booked a half-day wine tour (we're in the Chianti region) and will have the morning to take a little excursion if we feel like it.

FOOD POST

This was the setting of our meal in Trevi. We’re in truffle country to be sure – our first course consisted of ravioli with olive oil and truffles. I haven’t smelled as strong a truffle flavor in… well… ever.

For our second course J had a mixed meat grill including lamb, pork, ribs, and sausage. I had grilled raddiccio with sheep’s milk and truffles. We shared a mixed fresh grilled meat (including zucchini, tomato, and eggplant) and then split a vanilla cake with ricotta cake and chocolate sauce for dessert. All this with a liter of the house wine for about EU40 in an absolutely priceless setting.

By far the best meal we've had so far. And we had the whole place to ourselves.

From Rome to Orvieto and Trevi

We left Rome and with only a bit of a hassle (picking up the rental car was... interesting.. we went all the way to the airport which we weren't supposed to do, then had to take the 30-minute train all the way back to Rome and get scammed by a cab driver who could tell we were just desperate only to find the rental agency was kind of in downtown Rome and it really wasn't the easiest to get out of town onto the freeway) hit the road to Trevi (in the state of Perugia) via the town or Orvieto.

Orvieto boasts a cathedral that took 30 years to plan but 300 years to build. It was started in the Romanesque tradition but then, as the years went on, was deveoped in the Gothic tradition as well.

We had some trouble finding it, and just as we were about to careen down a one-way street (because you don’t drive in Italy, you careen) – a man of about 70 driving a scooter approached us and asked if we were going to the “catyedrale” – which we were – and motioned for us to follow. Which we did. And when we finally got there, we really wanted to tip him a few Euro for him trouble but he simply waved and made a turn, and there we were. In front of this.

We loved the maze-like cobblestone streets, and the cathedral really was brilliant.


From Orvieto we made our harrowing way to the town of Trevi, near Assisi, where we would spend the night. I say harrowing because the GPS took us on one hell of a trip!! At one point the GPS tried to take us down a one way road the wrong way. We knew we couldn’t do this, but we could SEE the town. So we took our own detour which ended up being a non-road that wound through private yards and farms, dodging chickens along the way. Following the Roman and Medieval walls of Trevi, we finally found or way to our hotel with the help of some elderly Italian men hanging out in the piazza.

Trevi was an interesting town. Very quiet and no tourists that we could identify. The town itself wasn't even in our Lonely Planet guidebook! After wandering the streets we found some wine and around 6:3pm the residents - mostly older and very well-dressed - came out to sit and socialize on the piazza.

The next morning Trevi was bustling - construction, trash pick-up, a farmer's market, and a school full of laughing children. Who would think that such a tiny Umbrian mountain town would have so many kids!

From Rome to Trevi

Oh my goodness do I have some stories to tell you! Unfortunately, our hotel has only a communual computer so I cannot upload any photos.. I will do so hopefully from Siena tomorrow evening! Let me just say that we are well out of any touristy area (to the point where we almost ran over a chicken today!!), we owe our lives to a 70-year old on a scooter, we had the best meal of our lives (we are certainly in truffle country!) and we are in love with the town of Trevi. A town which is not even in our guide book.

I will upload photos as soon as I can.... be patient.... the Tuscan countryside with all its yellows and reds and fields of sunflowers is well worth waiting for!

Final Evening in Rome

Before meeting our friend we stopped at the Capuchian Crypt where the bones of over 4000 friars decorate the walls and ceiling. No photography allowed but I pulled this image off the web:

Those are bones!! Skulls, leg bones, vertabrae, pelvic bones, all bones! And there are at least four similar rooms. Everything - the light fixtures, the decorations, are made of human bones. Creepy and cool at the same time.

Since I am photographing our meals today I thought I would include lunch: a prosciutto and mozzarella panini:

We met with our friend at a cute little cafe on Via Veneto. This is a view from our table:

She recommended that we spend our last evening in Rome at Piazza Navona, a large square with three fountains, painting and crafts vendors, and plenty of restaurants to choose from.

There was an Egyptian obselisk in the middle of the square which was an interesting juxtaposition to the Roman architecture.


After a drink on the piazza we wandered around the back streets which had some very upscale and interesting shopping - and not clothing, either, just jewelry, home crafts (Asian trunks, handmade furniture, paintings, tapestries). We found a little cafe for dinner and judging from the people walking by - mostly older, well dressed couples - we could tell we were in a very nice neighborhood.

This was our cafe - you can see all the scooters parked outside the shop just across the alley!

We split a prosciutto and mozzarella pizza. Yes, I had two meals today featuring prosciutto and melted mozzarrella... whatev, don't judge. You know you're jealous :)

After dinner we tried to make our way back to the piazza for the taxi stand but got turned around. Never try to take a shortcut in Rome because the streets don't do what you expect them to! We were finally able to get cab - a female! Only the second female cab driver I have ever had in my life. And she was good.

Driving or walking in Rome is taking your life in your hands. There seems to be a mutual understanding between cars, scooters, and people but you still feel constantly on the verge of a major wreck. Our driver had Mozart on the radio and it was quite a nice feeling, actually, to be careening through the streets of Rome, past fountains and basilicas, swerving between scooters, listening to the piano and orchestra in the background.

She got a good tip!

Tomorrow we leave Rome and rent a car to spend a few days in the countryside. Hopefully we'll have internet access along the way, but in case it's spotty, do not fear. I guarantee I will be posting as fast as I can!

Rome Day Three

We had nothing planned for today so we just did some exploring. We hopped on the metro down the Circo Massimo and headed down toward the river. We crossed the Tiber River at Ponte Palatino and wandered through Isola Tiberina (Tiber Island) before settling down at a little cafe for an espresso and pastry.

I love walking across bridges.

Our breakfast:

This afternoon we have plans to meet with a friend of ours who works for the FBI office here in Rome, but first we're going to check out the Convento Padri Cappuccini where the bones of over 4000 friars are on display.

Dinner!

We took a restaurant suggestion from a friend of ours who has spent a great deal of time in Rome. The restaurant, La Pollarola, was a few miles from our hotel in an older part of town. It was nice to get away from the touristy area for a while, and good lord the food was great.

We started with a selection of six cheeses and some grilled mussels. We then split an amazing pasta cannoli - thin pasta rolled up and stuffed with spiced meat, covered with mozzarella and a creamy tomato sauce. As if that wasn't enough, we then each ordered a main course - veal wrapped in prosciutto and mozzarella for me, roasted baby pig for J. The pig was tender with a crispy skin.

I have already eaten my weight in prosciutto in the three days since we've been here.

By far this was the best meal we've had so far, and while things in Rome aren't cheap, this meal was surprisingly reasonable. All that food and a botttle of the house wine came to EU64, approximately $90.00

Across from our table was this great old apartment building. I love how the one balcony was completely overflowing with greenery.

Rome Day Two - Vatican City

This morning we had some free time before our afternoon tour of the Vatican. We took the (crowded, hot, smelly, sweaty!) metro to Villa Borghese and walked around the grounds for a while, having a lot of fun watching the dogs play in the dog park and the two-person, covered bikes cycling around.

There were some crazy statues to be seen:

The two-person bikes: Then we walked over to the Spanish Steps for some great people-watching.
The Vatican was really incredible. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. We started with the Musei Vaticani which had some incredible sculptures and tapestries, proceded to the Sistene Chapel and to St. Peter's Basilica. No photography (or talking!) allowed inside the Sistene Chapel but I wish I could have photographed a whole room of people craning their necks to look at the ceiling, which, by the way, is absolutely breathtaking and humbling.

Michelangelo's Jesus is beardless:

The Vatican Museum rotunda:

St. Peter's Basilica: How could I not photograph a sculpture of the Goddess Diana, my namesake?

A Mystery!

Yesterday morning J was looking out of our hotel window and observed a young woman approach a car, spent a moment looking around, slide a small photo under the windshield wiper, and hurry away.

The photo was of a young boy, wallet sized, the kind of photo taken once a year at school.

What was the purpose of this? Did the woman have an affair (maybe with a priest!) and her lover can never acknowledge their child, so she leaves small reminders of him along the way? Or something more sinister - perhaps the woman's child was killed and she knows who did it and she wants HIM to know that she knows and will never rest until he's brought to justice?

When we returned to the hotel later that afternoon for a nap before our tour, the photo was gone.

Observations

1. Scooters - Yes, scooters are as prevalent (or more so!) than I thought. There are more scooters here than cars! J noticed that the front line at traffic lights always seemed to be two to three deep with scooters, and we soon figured out why - riders stopped at lights have a method of lane-splitting and swerving to get themselves right up front. Crazy! I would never do that in DC. Talk about dangerous! But everyone seems to know the system.

The omnipresent scooter:

Also I see a lot of non-Vespa scooters here. I thought I would see all Italian brands, but I see lots of Honda and Yamahas and something called a Dink - or an Oink - I can't tell if the first letter is a D or an O.

2. Smoking! I've gotten used to the smoking ban in DC but in Rome we bought our train ticket from a guy behind a partition smoking up a storm. I bet his co-workers were none too pleased! I've gotten so accustomed to a smoke-free environment that I stop and look every time I see a person smoking.

3. Priests. I've seen more priests and monks here than I have in my whole life up til now. In fact, the person who helped us buy our correct train ticket was a priest. We figured he wouldn't scam us.

4. Quintessential Italians. Olive skin, dark hair (curly!), curvy. We've seen some gorgeous people in Rome, including this woman who I discretely snapped a photos of earlier today.

Rome Day One Photos

Temple to the Vestal Virgins:

The Colosseum:

Closeup of statue at Trevi Fountain:

Trevi Fountain:

Rome Day One

After one hell of a trip getting here, having been up for more than 24 hours, J was a good man and went out to bring pizza and a bottle of wine back to our room. We didn't eat or drink much before crashing, but we woke rested and ready to hit the streets!

And did we. We spend the morning traipsing all over Rome - from the nymph fountain at Piazza Repubblica to the Fora Traiana, over to Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, back down the hill (one of seven - the seven hills are indeed quite literal) after a quick lunch for a nap at our hotel and on to our first guided tour.

I'm a fan of a limited number of guided tours in foreign cities, not because I enjoy being crammed into a bus with other American tourists but because you easily bypass ticket lines and getting lost is a non-issue.

In intersperse tours with plenty of unstructured time to fill in the gaps and go back to see things I love.

Ten countries (and counting!) this method has served me well.

Of course like a complete idiot I brought the wrong tour voucher for today's trip. Ugh! What a rookie mistake. Thankfully the tour company looked up our reservation in their computer and all was well - but I could have stabbed myself in the eyeball I was so irritated.

Photos are uploading very slowly but I will try to have some a bit later!!

Another Word

We have since discovered through local news that the K9 at Dulles Airport hit on a pallet of boxes placed on the tarmac. J saw the boxes, and now I'm annoyed since I know what could have happened were they filled with explosives. Namely, the entire freaking terminal would have been blown to smithereens.

Hene my annoyance. Moving people away from gates 40-42 would have done zip zero nada to protect anyone from that explosion. So either treat the threat as serious and take serious evacuation measures - if they really think the threat is serious - or clear the freaking package and leave us alone.

This half stuff is security theater and nothing more.

In the mean time, while waiting crammed in with the passengers of one other intercontinental flight, J and I discussed our own theories as to why we were being held up. One was the possibility that large amounts of luggage were checked on board our aircraft without any corresponding passengers. Indeed this would (and should) arouse suspicion.

For a good ninety minutes prior to the official shutdown of our flight, the attendants were trying to locate approximately six people who had purchased tickets and presumably checked bags but were not checked in for the flight. One of these people was rather suspiciously named “Urban Person.” Heehee.

We Can't Let The Terrorists Win!

I guess I was naive to think that we could fly out of Washington DC the weekend of the tenth annviersary of the September 11th attacks without some kind of drama.

Everything was going smoothly until just about boarding time, when we were told that TSA wanted to perform some extra security checks on our aircraft. That turned into moving the aircraft away from the terminal, and then shutting down the entire section of the terminal and moving everyone to a different space.

All because an explosives K9 supposedly hit on some package, or cannister, or something - no one is really sure.

But they wouldn't move our plane back so we had to take shuttles across the tarmac in groups in order to board. Needless to say we were three hours late departing and missed our connection to Rome!

But here we are at the Copenhagen airport - which, by the way, is awesome - rebooked on a flight leaving in a couple hours, and, though exhausted and frustrated that our first evening in Rome will be eaten up with travel, happy to be starting our trip.

Shooting the Moon

Last month my favorite local photographer invited me out to shoot the daytime moonrise from Freedom Plaza. The weather left a lot to be desired - it was cloudy low which was where we wanted to shoot the moon. So our low shots didn't turn out but some of the higher ones did.

The moonrise over the Capitol:

And over the Old Post Office Pavilion:

RIP Ruslan Salei

The plane crash in Russia is tragic beyond belief. There were NHL players on that plane, including Ruslan Salei.

Rest in peace; you are already missed.





And to Pavol Demitra, the hero of the 2010 Winter Olympics, who scored the winning goal for Slovakia against Russia in seventh overtime, you are also missed.

48 Hours

I'm started to get more excited than nervous, though I'm still nervous about the trip.

So today on my way from one office to another for a meeting I decided to be a tourist in my home town. I walked through downtown, past all the K St law offices, down to Lafayette Square and the White House, past the Department of the Treasury, through Freedom Plaza and down Pennsylvania Ave past the Old Post Office and the court houses down to my meeting place.

The apex of my touristy walk was the POTUS motorcade that stranded me on the corner for a several minutes as it went by. I love DC :)

Old Anxieties are New Again

Every time I get set to travel I always come up with these crazy scenarios - I won't be able to find my hotel, the streets will be teeming and chaotic, I won't be able to get a seat at a restaurant, I won't be able to keep track of the days and I'll miss my flight back, etc etc.

I look back at some of the traveling I've done - some serious solo and, at times, risky travel - and never have I felt, in the moment, like I was on the brink of being out of control. Even when I had to turn over my passport to use the internet in Shanghai and when the police were in on a scam that I fell victim to trying to get to the airport to come home, things have worked out.

Explorations on foot have been wonderful, bars and restaurants around every corner, by the second day I feel like I've been there forever.

I should have enough experience traveling by now to be able to to talk myself out of these anxious thoughts. But for some reason until I get there I simply think the worst. Makes for a very stressful last few days Stateside as I try to get organized!

As my mom said recently, "Everyone who visits Italy wants to go back." So really - how bad can it be? I've had plenty of snafus - getting lost, following metro directions on the bus ("one stop" means something quite different on the bus than the underground!), dealing with language barriers, flight screwups.

No matter what happens, I've been there and done that. Lather, rinse, repeat and maybe I can start to get excited instead of worried!

What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?

Having the museums of Washington DC in our backyard is a blessing and a curse. Obviously it's wonderful to be able to walk three blocks, over the Capitol grounds, and down the National Mall to whatever exhibit we want to see. But since there's no sense of urgency ("We traveled all this way!" "We only have a weekend!") it's hard to get in gear. So after taking self-imposed rain checks for the past few weeks we finally decided to bite the bullet and see the 'What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?' exhibit at the National Archives this morning.

Food. We love it, fear it, and obsess about it.

We demand that our Government ensure that it is safe, cheap, and abundant. In response, Government has been a factor in the production, regulation, research, innovation, and economics of our food supply. It has also attempted, with varying success, to change the eating habits of Americans.

From the farm to the dinner table, explore the records of the National Archives that trace the Government’s effect on what Americans eat.

It was actually really fun, with some great old food ad posters, old food pyramids ("Aside from the foods listed, eat whatever foods you want!"), examples of ration books and victory gardens.

Trivia: the first ketchup bottles had a big problem with exploding. Yep! It was Heinz who first figured out what chemical to add to keep this from happening.

Afterwards we walked across the Navy Memorial and had brunch at Teaism - chicken sausage with naan and raita for him, cilantro scrambled eggs for me, and a pot of dragonwell to share. Metro home. A nice touristy morning!

Photos from Jim Thorpe, PA

The town of Jim Thorpe is charming:


We took an open-air train ride through the Lehigh Valley:

Endless To-Do List

We're leaving for Italy in less than two weeks. And while I'm excited, I'm totally bogged down with everything that needs to get done before we even leave for the airport:

Figure out how/where to store our scooter/motorcycle
Set credit card travel notification
Make copy of ID passport page
Go to Verizon store and get our aircard set up to work overseas
Print and organize all travel documents and vouchers
Get walking directions from Tremini station in Rome to our hotel
Laundry
Meet with cat-sitters
Pick up a few little things like a small notebook for photo notes
Figure out airport travel (cab? drive and park in economy?)

Six cities... planes trains and automobiles... my head is spinning already.

My Second Hurricane

Saturday marked my second hurricane since moving to DC in 2004 (my third hurricane total). It was uneventful. But I'm reminded of a quaint little news article that my college paper did after Isabel. Being the journalist's only source I am quoted rather extensively:

Isabel hits students' homes

By Jacob Harrison
Collegian Reporter


While the students of Hillsdale College were enjoying soft autumnal breezes last week, many of their families and friends were fleeing from their homes and fearing for their lives.
The core of Hurricane Isabel struck the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday, killing at least 37 people, bringing on flooding and destruction, and as jurisdictions in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergency, mass evacuations and losses touched the lives of several Hillsdale students.
The Virginia Beach area, where the James River meets the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic, was among the hardest hit regions and is home to several students, including freshman Jessica Chacko, who said though people from her area are not strangers to hurricanes, she and her family were surprised by Isabel's violence.
"This is the first time since I was in elementary school that the family has had to actually leave our home," she said.
The Chackos are from Suffolk and have a house on the edge of the James River basin. When the danger became clear, the family left. They stayed at a hospital in Churchland, where her father is a doctor.
Returning home, they found their house spared, unlike one neighbor, whose house was demolished by seven trees. Another neighbor, on the edge of the Nansomond River, lost half their property, as their land buckled and was swept away in the surge.
Senior Judson Alphin and his sister Leah, a freshman, are also from the area, as are many of their extended family members who live close to the coast. Judson had recent images of old neighborhood surf piers smashed by storm swells and ocean waves brought by winds flowing into hotel lobbies and down blacked-out streets.
"Many of the neighborhoods that I grew up around were more or less submerged by the rivers and the tidal surge," Judson said.
His grandparents were among the approximately 200,000 Virginians forced inland by the storm blast.
They escaped to a family farm 20 miles from shore, where 100 mph winds blew in windshields, tore the tops off the silos, smashed shelters and cut power to the whole region as the trees fell, snapping power and phone lines.
On Sunday 420,000 people in Hampton Roads remained without power, and Dominion Virginia Power, which had assembled the largest restoration force in its history, reported that it could take several weeks to fully restore. Surrounding rivers continued to rise for several days, causing crop, livestock and structural damage yet incalculable.
Judson said on Wednesday only a few gas stations had reopened and standing in line for ice remained a four-hour venture.
In Chesapeake, Va., tall pine trees fell in all directions, crushing houses and cars, blacking out the entire area in a tangled web of shredded electrical cable. Junior Christina Martinez said her home and mother were lucky to be near the hospital, so their power was restored after only 24 hours.
She said they faired far better than many neighbors, including the Fortenberrys-her pastor and his family-whose house was caved in by a tree.
Another family from her church also had their house destroyed by falling trees. Christina's mother, Cindy Martinez, provided shelter and aid to her neighbors.
Senior Erin McCormick, also from Chesapeake, said nearly all the secondary roads had been cut off by flooding and fallen trees, leaving only one navigable road into her neighborhood. McCormick's family was told power could remain off for up to three weeks. The family now drives to her grandparents' house to cook meals.
"In the streets, in every direction you look, there are pines down, and strewn out," McCormick said. "As a level two hurricane, everyone in the area was shocked by the damage it caused."
By Saturday, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., had been declared disaster areas, and President George W. Bush signed documents to release federal aid in response.
Bush inspected damage in Virginia, where 19 were killed, and held a briefing with the governors of several states, the Director of Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mike Brown, and Tom Ridge, of the Department of Homeland Security. Bush offered additional aid and praised FEMA employees for their continued around-the-clock emergency relief efforts.
Last Thursday Isabel cut power to over 4 million households and businesses along the Atlantic coast. By Monday 1.5 million people were still in the dark, including approximately 290,000 customers in the Washington region alone, and 90,000 in North Carolina and along its ravaged Outer Banks.
In Washington, D.C., Hillsdale alumna Diana Havlin was at the edge of the hurricane's eye.
"It looks like an alien invasion is taking place," she said. "The heavens are furious-beautiful and simply furious."
She later reported that 77 mph winds had not just snapped trees in half but also had completely uprooted them, leaving pothole scars all over the land. The suburb of Alexandria, Va., had waist-deep water and debris floating through their streets.
Havlin said that although power is expected to be restored to Washington by Friday, thousands are still without power and inoperable traffic lights, ice shortages and looting are some of the many inconveniences still taxing local storm survivors.

http://www.hillsdalesites.org/collegian/127/127_03/features/feature92503isabelhits.htm

Road Trip!

Using our GPS set to avoid highways and a great book about cross-country trips on two-land roads we set out for the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania for a couple days of relaxation before hunkering down for Hurrican Irene.

We decided to wing it with no advance lodging arrangements. Such ideas tend to be hit or miss. Our number one inn in Jim Thorpe, PA was full, the second two B&B stops were locked with "No Vacancy" signs posted. So, grudgingly, we booked a room the first night at the Hampton Inn. Not exactly quaint but doable.

After a couple of unintended detours and the snafu with respect to our room for the night, we were more than ready for a cocktail and nice meal. Not having the highest expectations for our drink order (the waitress thought that the "house" vodka I ordered for my martini was the liquor's brand name and didn't seem to understand the concept of a neat whiskey) we were pleasantly surprised at the drinks and fare at the little bar and grille next to the Hampton. It was a welcomed respite from a long day on the road and more than a little uncertaintly about where we would sleep.

We were blown away at the bill: my martini, a glass of wine, two pints of beer, two shots of whiskey, and two entrees for $45.10! Can you imagine. In DC such a tab would be at least twice that.

Jim Thorpe is a great mountain town nestled in the Lehigh Valley. It boasts 50+ miles of groomed trails (that intersect with the Appalachian), a haunted old jail, and a really cute open-air rail train that we took through the mountains and valleys.

The next day, fearing that the hurricane would come sooner that we hoped, we just headed south towards Gettysburg to try to minimize the final day's driving.

Once again we ended up at a Hampton Inn and, depressed at the lines accumulating outside the surburban Applebee's and Chili's, stopped in at a Mexican restaurant in York, PA for a(nother) surprisingly great meal. The beer was tall (32oz!), we paid $7.50 for a half-carafe of wine, enjoyed tableside-prepared guacamole (no jalapeno!) and delicious chicklen mole and soft tacos.

Back in DC now and awaiting the arrival of Irene. So far, anti-climactic. Just rain and a little bit of wind. We've had worse storms even recently but then again the worst isn't supposed to come through for another couple of hours.

Between an earthquake and a hurricane this week alone I'm hoping for some quieter weather to come!

Earthquaaaake!

Wow, what a crazy day! I was just leaving work and standing next to my scooter on the roof of the parking garage when it (the scooter and the garage!) started swaying back and forth. The light posts were swaying and hitting the sides of the ramp! For a split second I thought it was from something heavy being dropped at the construction site across the street but then everyone came running out of the building and our phones started ringing.

I always thought an earthquake would be shaky but this was definitely sway-y. Kind of like standing in a canoe or on a very rickety suspension bridge.

After my own legs stopped shaking I started home. Of course traffic was a mess as everyone fled the city. The offices and museums were evacuated and the sidewalks were packed. As I got closer to home, the Capitol police were attempting to direct traffic but their signals were against the lights which made it very confusing.

I finally got home and found things mostly in their place. A few things had fallen off a shelf in my closet and the cats were nowhere to be found. I went for a walk around town with a girlfriend. Now I'm sipping wine and watching the traffic mess on TV like the smug urbanite that I am.

Anyway - as if there aren't enough dangers in the world - earthquakes on the east coast too!

Celebrity Sighting!

I saw Dennis Kucinich at the grocery store! Actually, I saw his wife first. You can't miss her: 6-feet tall with waist-length red hair. And Dennis is small and elfish, so together they are an unmissable couple.

I ran around to tell J about it and he had no idea who Dennis Kucinish was. Typical ;-)

I could tell he knew I recognized them but I kept my distance. A few people asked for photos, they used the self check-out, and went on their way. Dennis copped a feel on their way to the cart return... of all things, J noticed that. Typical :)

We were behind them exiting the parking garage - she was behind the wheel. They drive a Ford Escape hybrid with Ohio tags. Way to be environmentally conscious!

Confessions

My mom is always asking me why I like to watch traumatic films. It's true - I like a film that leaves me shaking and empty. Not horror; I could care less about monsters and ghosts and blood and whatnot. I mean films about the human condition in all its awfulness, films about big evils and the small, everyday evils that people impart on each other, the ones that just slowly deaden the soul.

As to the why of it, I have a hard time articulating but I found this snippet from the Confessions of St. Augustine that seems on point:

The theater enchanged me with images of my own miseries. Its plays added fuel to my fire. What makes someone want to be sad? Why behold doleful tragedies, vicariously experiencing what does not have to be suffered?

Yet the spectator wants to feel sorrow at the stories, and this very anguish is pleasure. This seems to be wretched insanity. As more false emotion is elicited by what happens on stage, there is less freedom for one's own true feelings.

How odd that when one suffers personally, it is called 'misery.' When it is vicarious, it is styled as a sort of mercy. How is it compassion to feel made-up emotions about imaginary acts?

The one who watches is not called on to help relieve pain, but only to grieve. More applause is given to the actor who can elicit more grief.

Productive Afternoon

Getting things done feels so good. And since the fall is going to be quite hectic with lots of travel I can already feel my task-mastering and list-checking sides kicking into high gear.

Today after work I:

-Did laundry
-Practiced yoga
-Made a shopping list
-Got some personal papers clipped together that need to be mailed tomorrow

And it's not even 5pm!

It feels good to be in control of the little things in life.

Now if I can just figure out why blogger won't publish any of my posts. It will save, toggle back and forth between composition view and preview... but the "Publish Post" button goes nowhere.

Ebb and Flow

One of the great things and frustrating things about my life is my varied interests. Philosophy, religion, running, needlepoint, photography, Irish music, film, sign language, travel - one can't devote equal time to all and hope to get anywhere with any.

So, the ebb and flow is a reality. One simply can't do everything at once, in perpetuity.

Currently I've been catching up on a great TV series - Weeds. I've gone as far as I can on Netflix, and have moved on to reading. Photography remains in the background, in fact, I have on my calendar a wonderful opportunity to shoot a simultaneous moonrise and sunset with my favorite local photographer this coming Friday.

But lately I've been feeling the banjo calling. My poor banjo has been out of commission for a few reasons - shifts in sessions making playing out difficult, and playing out is a great motivator for practice. Also, my instrument is old (excuse me, vintage) and I feel frustrated by its stiff action and loose tuning. But I want to start playing more. So I will.

Decisions decisions

Ugh, Netflix! I love them and I hate them.

I love Netflix because a subscription allows me to forego cable and still have some kind of entertainment - movies and TV shows, many streaming directly to my TV.

I hate them because they just essentially DOUBLED their price!

It used to be that the basic one-disc plan plus unlimited streaming was available for $7.99/month. Great deal!

But now they've split the plan so that you can no longer get streaming and discs combined - you have to pay for them separately.

Unlimited streaming - $7.99/month
One disc (mailed) - $7.99/month

UGH!

So... since most of what I want I can get streaming, I cancelled the disc service. But since there are some TV shows that are not available on Netflix... I added Hulu Plus which is a paid version of a website that lets you watch TV shows. The paid version has many more shows than the free version, and tends to be up-to-date with the airing schedule.

So, I cancelled half of Netflix but replaced the cost with Hulu Plus (also $7.99/month).

A good fit for my lifestyle.

Still cheaper than cable.

Ah, men.

Men are so funny. Men and their egos, I should say.

A co-worker of mine has figured out that I've been using the treadmill in the basement of the station during the hot weather. So, today, he decided to join me, but I was nearly finished by the time he got down there.

So I was at about 3.7 miles (going to 4) when he got on the treadmill next to me. I asked him his plan and he said, thirty minutes. Which is great! So after about 3 minutes I got to 4 miles, and then started a five-minute cooldown. All the while my co-worker is huffing and puffing next to me and doing just fine, I thought.

When I got off the treadmill to go to the locker room, I did notice that he was looing a little... strained... I wished him a good workout and left the room. No sooner did I walked out the door than I heard frantic beeping and the treadmill slowing wayyy down... by the time I was finished changing and walking back upstairs I could hear that he was walking.

Poor guy - barely held it together for 8 minutes but gosh darn it he was NOT going to walk in front of me!

Wishing

I wish I were hilarious, and I wish I were a better writer. I wish I were a hilarious writer. But I'm not.

I write best when I write simply (as I think most of us are) but I just cannot seem to covey humor in writing. Perhaps this is related to my total inability to tell a funny joke. But whereas timing is everything in speaking, what quality is it in writing that makes a person laugh out loud?

Something More

It's funny how we humans always want something just a little bit more than what we have.

When I used to live six blocks from the metro, at first it was okay but after a while it got pretty tedious. Then I moved to about four blocks from the metro and at first it was great! But after about six months it started to feel way too long. Now I live one block from the metro and find myself slightly envious of those who's front porches are directly across the street from the metro elevator entrance. Sigh.

Another case in point - coffee. For a long time I used a French press. This is not something that can be set up in advance to any great end - it really needs to be made all at once. So when I got a programmable coffee-maker I was ecstatic. Coffee ready before I even get up! No effort - just pour!

Now I find myself wishing, on days when I'm not sure exactly when I'll be waking up, that I had a remote control for the coffee-maker so I could remotely start the process whenever I wake up without worrying that I might wake up before it starts percolating.

Oh well. Life is funny that way. I have so many creature comforts and yet in my lowest points I resent having to get up and walk 20 feet to press a button for my coffee.

Such a Geek

I discovered how to automatically send a mortgage payment directly from my checking account to my mortgage account. It's so fun! Even sending $20 or $50 extra per month can make a HUGE difference toward the overall amount of interest paid and years remaining.

Most personal finance gurus say "pay yourself first" - that is, transfer money to savings as part of your budget, not waiting for whatever might be left over.

And I do this. I send money to savings first thing upon getting paid. And since I pay my mortgage every two weeks instead of once per month, I end up making an extra payment per year without trying. BUT at the end of the money, after savings and all that, whatever is left over has been getting thrown at the mortgage via automatic transfer.

My goal is to be under 200k by the year 2014 when I am eligible to sell. Not that I need to sell right then, but it would be nice to be under 200k at that time so if I find a place I love, I'll make some money on my current place and possibly be in a position to upgrade to a small home with a patio :)

First 100 Pages

If a book doesn't hold me within the first 100 pages, I put it down. I used to suffer through, no matter now excruciating, no matter how long - but now I feel that my time is too valuable to waste on poor literature.

The most recent one to bite the dust was John Irving's "A Son of the Circus." I usually Irving but after 150 pages reading this one was just a chore. So back to the library it went.

Currently I'm working on "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" which isn't a typical genre for me (it's 'adult magic'... set in the time of the British-French war in the early 1800s, it's about the last two surviving magicians in England). One-hundred eight pages and still going strong but I'm going easy on myself - the book was picked up for free by J so I won't feel too guilty if I decide it's just not for me.

It's hard to find good books. The closest library is really small and I usually don't get around to ordering from the inter-library loan. Buying used online or in the store is pricey. And then there's the matter of needing recommendations.

But there really is nothing like diving into a long, deep, wonderfully spun story, one that's so good you're sad when it's finished.

Berry Picking!

For my birthday I requested a day at the You Pick Berry farm... we found one in Woodbine, MD that had raspberries AND blueberries in season. What fun! We picked more than ten pounds of berries by the end of the day - plenty to get us through a great summer of smoothies and cobblers!

What fascinated me was the variety of languages we heard - Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian... so interesting! How did all these people find their way to a berry farm in central Maryland?

Anyway, it was a great day with great weather. I didn't take any photos prior to freezing the berries... sorry :(

Happy Birthday to Me

I'm official *in* my thirties - yikes!

Though I wouldn't go back to my twenties for anything... all the uncertainly with jobs and moving around, struggling financially... I'm happy enough to leave that in the dust!

Tonight J is making dinner by special request: lobster mac and cheese and a pork sirloin wrapped in bacon. Tomorrow we're going berry-picking (weather permitting).

Gratuitous Cat Pics

Road Trip!

We love road trips! Anywhere within a four-hour range is game. We've been up to Gettysburg, out to West Virginia, down almost to the North Carolina border, on the Eastern Shore up to Delaware. Battlefields, national/state parks, teeny small towns with great dive bars - all equal destinations.

Today we're heading north through Maryland towards Pennsylvania. We'll stay off the main roads and see what we can find. Some good photo ops, some good food, good scenery, and time together... the only goals.

Frustrating

It's always two steps forward and one step back with fitness. Just as I get in a great, rock-solid groove I either a) go out of town, b) get my period, or c) some other circumstance derails my consistency.

That's what's happening this week and it's just so frustrating. I try to think of blocks of time in terms of a month rather than a week - working out/eating well 23 days out of 30 seems a lot better than 3 days out of 5 for some reason.

All I want is to feel like I'm moving forward toward some sustainable, high level of fitness rather than always scrambling up the hill and sliding halfway back down.

Ugh.

My scoot!

I took my scooter in today for it's first tune-up at a little over 600 miles. Man does it run smoothly after a total change in oil and fluid! What a great scooter. It's the perfect thing between a car (which I can't afford and don't need) and a bike (which is just not my thing and doesn't really work for what I need).

The extra mobility is great and DC is not a bad town to ride in - despite the traffic circles it's easy to find one-way streets, left turn arrows, and quiet work-arounds for avoiding the downtown traffic. Plus I can park it right outside my building.

This is what it looks like:




I can't even tell you how fun it is to zip (carefully!) around town. Instead of trudging 14 block with groceries or slugging on the metro every day to work, I absolutely LOVE errands and commuting.

Still Couponing

It's been a while since I posted a good grocery trip - and today was a decent one!

A couple things made this one a little better than usual: First, Harris Teeter was having one of their promotions where every coupon up to $1.98 in value was doubled. So that's big. This happens about every six weeks. Second, Harris Teeter has started offering online coupons that you load directly onto your club card. These can be combined with paper coupons and there are usually some matchups with what's been in the paper.

So. Keeping that in mind, here's what I got today:

2 Sesmark crackers 2 for $4.
-Two $1 off two coupons that doubled = free.
1 Always infinity pads on sale for $6.49
-One $2 off one paper coupon and one $2 off one e-coupon = $2.49
1 Playtex tampons on sale for $3.99
-One $1.50 off one coupon that doubled = $0.99
2 Garnier Fructis deep conditioners on sale for $2.79 each
-Two $1 off one coupons that doubled = $1.58 for two
1 bottle Vendage cabernet for $8.99
1 package fresh strawberries for B1G1 (item rings at half off) = $1.99
2 Cucumbers at $.79 each = $1.58
2 Yoplait frozen smoothie kits on sale for $2.99
-Two $0.75 off of one that double = $2.98 for two
1 Harris Teeter moose tracks ice cream = $2.50
2 Helluva Good cheeses on sale 2 for $4
-One $1 off two coupon that doubled = $2 for two
1 doz. Harris Teeter large eggs on sale for $0.77
SUBTOTAL: $47.87
TOTAL COUPONS/E-COUPONS = $17.50
TOTAL OUT OF POCKET = $30.37

Not a bad total when you consider it includes wine, personal care items, and fresh produce. And check out some of the individual prices - $1 for good sharp cheddar, crackers to go with it for free, $0.79 for the brand of conditioner that I would buy anyway. Without the wine my savings rate would have been even better!