the big move

so, moving day finally arrived, and it all went fine, and i'm writing you now from my new place. it's totally adorable and i'm excited - but i'm also excited because now i can stop talking endlessly about the move. whenever some major thing comes up in my life, it totally consumes me and i feel completely boring because it's all i can talk about. which is why i haven't updated in a week, because all i could think of to say was "so, today i rented the moving van for this weekend," etc. but now, the move is complete, and i'm my normal witty self again!

um.

tonight, my local indie theater is showing rushmore at midnight, and helen and i are going to see it. so exciting. rushmore! at midnight! how cute!

so, i guess i should go start unpacking. and that is the last i will mention of my move. except for all the times in the future when i will talk about how kick-ass the new place is, because that's not the same as talking about the move.

knox in 5 days! yay!

attention, ladies and gentlemen, etc.

so, tonight after work i went to capitol hill because the center for american progress was going to show mr. smith goes to washington in defense of the filibuster. (they ended up not showing it because there was a copyright issue at the last minute.) so, i was on the metro going from my office to the Hill and, you know, on the metro, the conductor person always gives information about which train we're on, where the next station is, which side the doors will open on, etc. well, tonight, i got a very, very chatty conductor, and it was excruciating. so my first thought was to share it with you.

now, a normal conductor might say:
"blue line train. next stop federal triangle. doors open left side."

or, even more succinct,
"blue line, federal triangle, left side."

that gives you all the information you need, right? well, the lady tonight, at every stop, said:

"good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for choosing metro. this is a blue line train with service from franconia-springfield to largo town center. the next station that this train will service will be the federal triangle station. as the train approaches the platform, the doors will open on the left side in the direction of travel." then, as we approached the next station, she would say "attention ladies and gentlemen waiting to board this blue line train. please step back from the platform edge and allow the passengers who wish to exit at this station exit the train before attempting to board. passengers on the train, if you do not wish to exit at this station, please step back from the doors to allow passage for those passengers who do wish to exit the train."

i mean, come on! i almost screamed. at certain points in the city, the stations are close enough together that she literally never stopped talking. she went straight from the welcome aboard speech to the step back and let people off speech. and rarely, when there actually was dead air between the two speeches, she filled it up with public service announcements about how you should give up your seat for people with disabilities, don't leave your candy wrappers lying around, etc. even though i know it's not rational, i felt like her incessant prattling was actually making the train move slower. i don't know that woman, but i hate her from the very pit of my soul.

movin' on up!

guys! i'm moving into my new apartment next weekend! isn't that exciting? i'm excited. check out my new walk to work.

over the past two days i've watched like 15 episodes of arrested development, and it's beautiful. i watched downfall with david earlier this week, and tomorrow i'm going to see born into brothels with helen.

also, total non-sequitur, but today i was thinking about one time at knox when i was helping one of my professors code some data, and i ran across a guy who had 3 kids, and i'm totally serious here: corey, corey jr, and coreydon. he had two kids named corey and corey jr! hilarious.

and finally, a drunken nate ewigman just signed onto instant messenger and told me not to give him any money because he is a sandpiper. he's amazing.

rob the poor and shoot the money

so, i've been in an unreasonably good mood for the past week or two. the weather has been absolutely gorgeous (80s!), my boss has been gone a lot, and i finally received my shipment of back-issues of Evolution & Human Behavior. plus, i'm thinking about my travel plans for the summer, and i'm so excited about visiting knox in 2 weeks, going to austin in june, and going to my best friend's wedding reception thing in august.

PLUS, i'm actually doing something exciting for my job next week: i'm going to a senate hearing on the reauthorization of the higher education act. it's so nice when you actually get to do the job you were hired to do!

but still, the arrival of spring does make me sort of sad, because i guess it reminds me that i don't have that many friends here yet. i mean, i'm lucky that there are a few excellent people here from knox, and i've made a few good friends, but it takes so much more effort to sustain friendships in the real world that it did at knox. now everyone has jobs, and everyone works different hours in different parts of the city, and it's just tough. yesterday after work while i was waiting for the train i was sitting in a little park just outside the train station, and there were couples and groups of friends everywhere, and it made me a little sad. so i tried to call a few people and no one was home, which was sad too. ugh. i guess everyone goes through this when they move to a new city. i think that moving into the actual city this month/next month will help though, because it will be easier to invite people over to my place or whatever, and i'll have more free time since my commute won't be so long.

ugh! sorry. i was trying so hard to be all upbeat too. i really do love this city. it's just taking some time to get adjusted.

anyway, if you're reading this, i probably miss you and wish we were spending more time together. sigh.

travels this summer!

so, i've been planning my summer travels, and it's very exciting. here's what i've got so far:

May 5-9: Knox! very exciting. i'll arrive on thursday night, go see nate play some mean saxophone at wherever they're doing jazz night now, then probably get drunk and raise hell every night. hopefully bogdan can coordinate a knox visit at the same time and it will be gorgeous.

June 1-5: HBES in Austin, TX, probably. it will cost me a shitload of money but it will be well worth it - carin, frank, steven pinker, and my darling mario from the dean campaign. i'll call it an investment in my mental health.

July 8-10: Home to Indiana for my best friend from high school's wedding reception. she got married in Alabama (no, i'm serious) last month, and she's having the indiana version of her reception on july 9, which will be totally hot. again, getting drunk and raising hell.

now i have to get back to work, because i was a total slacker on friday and i have a ton of stuff to do before my boss gets back tomorrow, and i also have to write a recommendation letter by wednesday...

oh, and if you haven't seen it already, netflix the woodsman right now. it's fucking amazing. and it's only an hour and 28 minutes long, so the goodness to time ratio is very high. it's like one of those quick-burning cigarettes that janeane garafolo invented in romy & michelle's high school reunion.

oh my god, is that chris matthews?

so, this morning, i shared an elevator with chris matthews. you know, the guy from hardball that yells all the time? it was literally unbelievable. i saw him in my lobby while I was waiting for an elevator and i was like, holy CRAP! then he ran over to catch my elevator and we had a little conversation about how annoying it is to lose your cell reception in the elevator, and how he was going to go watch someone do his taxes, and he got off the elevator on my floor! i actually gave him directions to his accountant's office. he looked totally disheveled though. they must put a lot of makeup and hair product on that guy.

yesterday i heard a rumor that george stephanopolous goes to my gym. again, not surprising since it's so close to the abc news building. but if i see him there this week, i'll complete the news celebrity trifecta.

oh my god, is that ted koppel?

so last night after work i was taking a shortcut through our parking garage and i walked past ted koppel. how random is that? not really that random since my building is right across the street from ABC news but goddamn, i love it when stuff like that happens. i mean, ted koppel!

tomorrow i'll be receiving the woodsman and hotel rwanda from netflix. i'll let you know how i like them.

and, now that it's spring, and having been inspired by ruth, i'll probably learn how to post pictures soon so you guys can see all the gorgeous "spring in DC" sights. like ted koppel.

also, i've had a recent impulse to send everyone postcards. if you suspect that i don't have your address, email it to me: stefanie.turner@gmail.com.

the unthinkable has happened...

guys, something awful has happened. i just downloaded the decemberists' new album (picaresque) and, well, i don't like it. i just don't like it at all. i never thought something like this could happen to me. i mean, i absolutely fell in love with castaways and cutouts from the first listen. same with her majesty the decemberists and five songs EP - and the tain too. when i saw colin meloy on his solo tour a few months back i didn't really like the new songs he played, but i thought it was just because i love the old stuff so much, and that maybe they weren't as good as they are on the album because he didn't have the band with him. but i like them even less on the album than i did live. the one exception: eli, the barrow boy. that has a very castaways and cutouts sound, which makes sense because it is intended as a sequel to leslie anne levine, that album's opener. 16 military wives is okay but just okay. the picaresque opener, the infanta, is just plain awful.

any thoughts? anyone else disappointed by this album? perhaps we can form a support group of some sort?

this really deflates my euphoria about seeing them in concert next month.

stop the internet, i want to get off

this is why i love craig's list

no sex in the champagne lounge

my goodness, has it been a week already? i hate having a job!

victor yushchenko has been in dc all week, which i think is totally rad. he was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his refusal to back down even after his political opponents made an attempt on his life, and today he was on the hill talking about what the ukraine needs from the US in order to become a successful democracy. (note: i think it's bullshit for bush to claim any responsiblity for what happened in the ukraine. for bush to try to ride yushchenko's coattails is just shameful.)

anyway, today, while i was outside basking in the sun at lunchtime (80 degrees and sunny today!) i saw yuschchenko's motorcade drive by. it was so freaking cool. like 25 police cars, sirens wailing, surrounding a black limo with a ukrainian flag. on monday i saw the presidential motorcade go by, which really gives me a thrill every time i see it. even though i think bush is totally evil, i'm still sort of impressed by the drama surrounding the presidency, and i can't help but feel awed when i'm standing on a street corner and the president and all his security people go whizzing by, 10 feet from me.

oh, and to explain the title of this post: on saturday, helen and i went for lunch and to visit my new apartment (adorable, right, helen?) and afterwards we stopped by this place called like duke ellington's champagne lounge and [something] garden. it was really cute, and it was basically a bunch of grey armchairs facing each other in little pairs. helen ordered a mimosa, which she declared to be "not as gross" as she thought it would be. how charming!

also, on the way to visit my apartment, we took the shortest taxi ride in the history of taxi rides. it was raining and my lazy future roomie david didn't want to walk the 2 blocks to the metro station to pick us up - so we took a taxi instead of the metro. so, we stand on a corner and hail a cab, and a guy stops and picks us up. i gave him the address and he said (after he started driving) "oh, i can't take you there. i'm on a radio call, and i just picked you up because i thought you might be going the same direction." so at the next street corner, he dropped us off. i mean, i'm not now nor have i ever been a taxi driver, but i'm pretty sure that's bad technique.

okay, over and out.