Not Brushing Elbows

Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, and Danny Glover were all in DC this weekend. Despite going into the city Friday, I ran in to none of them. Go figure. Hmph.

Did get to see some very different art at the P&C Gallery in Tysons and had a very tasty, if somewhat noisy, dinner at Da Domenico. If you've never been, it's worth the trip to get yummy Italian and hear the a capella crooner.

Russell, Tom, Danny... next time, don't be a stranger! *insert hand gesture for 'call me' here*

Another DC Commute: A Play in Three Acts

Act I:
I am on the BW Parkway entering the district in heavy traffic during evening rush hour. Here's what it looks like:

















I am in the fast lane --yeahyeahwhatever-- behind a van. There are vehicles all around us and we are going about 60 MPH. I see out of the corner of my eye that the far right lane, the merge lane, is disappearing and people are working the merge.

In other locations people merge. Here people "work the merge." If you drive around DC, you know what I'm talking about. It's like when they went to driver's ed, the instructor defined merging as "stay in the merge lane until the last possible second and then plow on over because you have the right of way." But I digress...

So a reasonable driver (clearly one who took Drivers Ed in the mid-west somewhere), at the front of the line of mergers, puts his signal on and merges into the logical gap, like so:

















Act II:
I see the jerk in the truck who is next in line to merge, who I'll affectionately call Truck Jerk, decide to speed up and get in front of Reasonable Driver, despite two facts: 1) there is plenty of room to merge a few cars back and 2) there is no room to merge in front of Reasonable Driver. This forces Reasonable Driver, and several cars behind him, to slam on their brakes to make room. At this point I ease off the accelerator.

Sure enough, he's not done. Truck Jerk proceeds to, then, badly --like within inches-- cut off the van in front of me, represented thusly:

















Act III:
Van Guy transmogrifies instantly into Road Rage Guy and tailgates Truck Jerk for MILES on the constructiony, two laney BW Parkway. I back the heck up and give them room to have their joust and they do. They whip around each other, gesticulating wildly, swerving close to each other, cutting each other off, all in the midsts of heavy traffic.

It is another DC commute.

The end.

Great Link

http://www.exboyfriendjewelry.com/

Funny in a fatal attraction sort of way.

JoeBob says "Check it out!"

"I AM an Animal"/Focusing

There are people that walk down my hall at work and keep their eyes focused ahead of them, presumably staying trained on wherever they are headed. There are people that walk down my hall at work and peer into every office they pass. What's up with that?! Makes me feel like an exhibit at the zoo!

If you're going to stare at me, at least throw me some peanuts or popcorn. I may be inspired to do something entertaining. You know, beyond the usual butt scratching and feces throwing. Ook, ook.

Speaking of eye focusing, I went to the neighborhood eye doctor for a check up yesterday.

The bad news: she gave me a serving of "of course your vision is beginning to deteriorate, you're in your 40s" topped off with "it'll only get worse from here."

The good news: I can still see 20/20 even though the words aren't as crisp as I'd like them to be.

More good news: I don't have glaucoma.

Extra special bonus: She didn't dilate my eyes. Apparently, that's not always the standard these days. The equipment and the doctors have gotten better at peering into your eyes without dilating them. So that was way cool.

"Trails & Traminettes"?

The weather was so nice this weekend (50s!) that we consulted our Day Hikes Near DC book. We took a trip to Sugarloaf Mountain (in Maryland) and hiked up to the top for a picnic. We took the quickest and steepest way up so we were a little huffy-puffy on the way up but we got there and we were glad we did. Gorgeous views, not at all represented by my limited photography skills, greeted us.

Trivia: Sugarloaf is a monadnock.

What we didn't know until we were in the general area of Sugarloaf Mountain was that the Sugarloaf Mountain Winery was right there, too! Although it's a young winery, it's already winning awards. The folks there are very friendly and we enjoyed the tasting on the way to the mountain enough to stop in to enjoy a glass on the way back from the mountain. Look for the tasting tent--it's small but very popular.

Which leads to my next million dollar idea: a guide book that provides listings for nearby hikes with wineries in close proximity. What better incentive to get healthy, than a nice glass of wine at the end of the trail? We tossed around a variety of titles for this pivotal tome (Hiking & Hoisting, Wilderness & Wine, etc.) and the one we liked the best was: Trails and Traminettes.