My Morning Commute

On most days, I walk to work. It takes me roughly 10 minutes door-to-door - it's one of the many things that makes me love my job! However, when I stay over at the boyfriend's it usually takes me 45ish minutes to get into work. We take a bus to the red line metro, and then I switch from the red line to the orange line, ride the orange for a bit, and then get off. Not too bad, especially since we do the commute together up until I switch to orange.

This morning however, things went horribly awry. We take the bus, get to the red line station when we hear that they are single-tracking for 3 stops, 1 of which being the stop we were at. We wait about 10 minutes before a single train arrives at the station. Since they are single-tracking, all trains are coming and going from just 1 of the 2 tracks. A train arrives, but it's not ours - heading in the wrong direction. About 5 minutes later, another train arrives - not ours again. Then we hear an announcement - the next 2 trains that are arriving will be heading in our direction. BUT, they are "express trains" meaning they won't be stopping at our stop. I guess that was for the best seeing as those 2 trains were packed to the brim when they went through. Finally, the 5th train arrives and we are finally able to get on a train.

Just when I think we are finally going to be on our way, we sit at the station while the doors keep opening and closing. I'm not sure if a door was malfunctioning, if someone was leaning on it, or if people just kept trying to dart on while the doors were closing, but it took about 10 tries before we were finally able to leave the station. We finally arrive at my stop, when I say goodbye to the boyfriend and run off to catch the orange line. I get down there just as the orange line is pulling away - of course! I look up at the sign and see that the next orange line train isn't coming for another 10 minutes! This is supposed to be RUSH HOUR!!!

I finally made it into work - after an hour and forty minutes. That's right one hour and forty minutes! And to think my commute could have been 10 minutes and stress free! Thankfully my boss could not have cared one bit that I was super late, and it looks like I won't be having my soccer game tonight, since they are predicting 5-10" of snow and the government has already shut down for the day (if the game is on, then I will have to leave work 45 mins early...of course, on the 1 day I come in late, sigh). Is it the weekend yet???

Bike Collecting

Last year for my birthday, my boyfriend bought me a bike. A vintage cruiser bike with fenders and a rack:


At the time, he had a vintage road bike:


But after seeing me on my cruiser, he decided he wanted on too:


Then, I decided I wanted a road bike, so I bought a Terry bike:


Finally, the boyfriend decided he wanted to build a fixed gear bike (and yes, he really did build this thing from scratch):


Wonder how long until I decide I want a fixed gear...

While we're walking down memory lane, a year ago today I was at my 1st week at my last job (which I ended up hating) and am so thankful that I now have my current job (that I plan on staying at for a long time). 3 years ago today, I was prepping for my move from Cleveland to DC. Taking a huge gamble on quitting my 1st job out of college to move to DC only knowing 2 people, and moving here with no job lined up. 3 years later, it's all worked out wonderfully - after bopping around a bit, I have an awesome job that I love, a wonderful boyfriend I would have never met if I hadn't moved (or would we...), an awesome group of friends, and of course 3 amazing roommates. Wonder where I'll be 3 years from today?

Interesting Article

I read this very interesting on tbd this morning all about stolen iPhones: http://www.tbd.com/articles/2010/12/stolen-iphones-got-robbed-sorry-you-re-on-your-own-37111.html

The gist of the article is that people are getting their iPhones stolen from them in the DC area, mostly from people either on or near a metro station (or sometimes just walking down the street), with the phone being snatched out of their hand. The article then goes to explain that neither ATT nor Apple seem to be doing anything to stop this. They conclude that if either company took any step towards making reported stolen iPhones unable to be reactivated, then this would eliminate these thieves being able to sell these phones in the black market, and iPhone crimes would significantly decrease.

Makes sense, and you're probably wondering why they haven't taken any steps to thwart this underground market. Well, let's say you're on the metro and next thing you know the doors are closing and your phone is being ripped out of your hand and then the doors shut and you can't chase after the thief. What do you do? Go buy another phone for $600 (like I did). Apple now makes more money. Then what happens to your stolen phone. It gets wiped clean, and sold to someone who sells it to someone else. They go to ATT and start a plan, 2-year minimum. ATT now makes more money. Seems like the perfect scheme to me. And to top matters off, I was one of those suckers.

About Time

This Just In

Amber Portwood from MTV's Teen Mom is facing domestic violence charges. She is charged with one misdemeanor count of domestic battery and two felony counts as the violence was committed in the presence of a child. I'm glad to learn that domestic violence (a misdemeanor) committed in front of your child is upgraded to a felony. If convicted, she faces up to 3 years in jail and fines up to $10,000.

You may remember some recent episodes of Teen Mom in which Amber shoved Gary against a wall, slapped him and choked him; slapped him 5 times and punched him; and when she slapped him and punched him repeatedly and pushed him down the stairs.

Such an excellent role model for her daughter Leah.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Today, while being extremely productive at work, I found this website which discusses the evolution of facebook. Here's a little walk down memory lane:

- Remember when the only pictures on facebook were your profile picture
- Remember when you had to go to the thefacebook.com to get to facebook
- Remember when you had to have an .edu email to be on facebook
- Remember when they opened it up to high school students as well
- Remember when it used to list on there "member since"
- Remember when facebook used to list out the schools that your friends went to
- Remember when they used to have the connections, so you could see who someone was friends with
- Remember before facebook had the news feed feature
- Remember before facebook had chat (fyi, i have never used the chat before, i think it's dumb and gchat is WAY better)
- Remember when facebook to look like this:



Also, just for fun, remember when google used to look like this:


Remember when youtube looked like this:


Remember when craigslist looked like this:


And remember when Wikipedia looked like this:


Ah, how far we've come! For more information, check out http://guestofaguest.com/social-media/internet-nostalgia-what-facebook-and-other-sites-used-to-look-like/

Cooking Recap and This Just In

The cooking adventure last night went fairly well. I made the mac and cheese with chicken and the coconut chicken strips. The mac and cheese was delicious, and I decided to take my friends advice and bread the chicken with rosemary, and pan fry it. Then i cut it up and put it in the mac and cheese, but there was way more mac and cheese than chicken. The coconut chicken strips were tasty, and super duper easy. I made a dipping sauce to go with it, which was key.

I was supposed to also make the soup, but forgot to get the potatoes for it, which is the key ingredient. Oops. Postponed to later this week.

Lunch was also a success, with a ham/salami/pepperoni sandwich, gigantic grapes, and individual-sized Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn. Yum.

Tomorrow is our company's Thanksgiving Potluck which I helped plan (I'm on the Social Committee), so that should be fun and filling. And tonight is my second official non-work related outing with work friends.

In random celebrity news, Eva Longoria and Tony Parker are getting divorced. Not sure if I should be sad about this, but I never really saw them as a good fit in the first place.

Diet Fail

After eating out almost every meal last week, I'm feeling fat and bloated. I decided to eat healthy today. Co-worker brought in bagels for the Patriots win last night, so I ditched the usual breakfast of instant oatmeal for a delicious Poppy Seed bagel with cream cheese. Then for lunch my co-worker and I decided to get salads from Cosi, to be healthy. I finished eating lunch approximately 2 hours ago, and I am now starving. Trying hard to resist the office candy bowl. Sigh, Mondays.

Tip of the Day

Looking for a gift for a special someone, especially someone who has it all - you should get them the Senz Umbrella. They boldly bill it "the best umbrella in the world".


The unusual shape (shorter in the front and wider on the sides, with an extended "tail" in the back), provides better coverage for couples sharing, and can withstand winds of up to 100km/hr. All this for the low, low price of only $78.

For more information click here.

Massive Reorganization

I decided that I had too much stuff and I needed to reorganize all the stuff that I do have. So I hit up the Container Store and bought a bunch of storage containers that all arrived yesterday.
I also bought a over the door shoe rack (that is me assembling it), and thanks to the help of my wonderful (and patient) boyfriend, it is now assembled and hanging over one of my closet doors. The closet doors were too short for the full length of the shoe rack, so we trimmed a bit of it off, which was surprisingly easier than I thought. Now I just need to decide what to get rid off...


When I started assembling the shoe rack, I saw that I would need a hammer, so I asked my roommate when she got home if she had one that I could borrow. She said she didn't have one, but knew where one was. This is what she gave to me to use:

As the boyfriend so eloquently put it, "I didn't know a hammer could be girly". In case you can't see the picture very well, the top of the hammer is covered in a floral print, and it's hard to tell from the picture but the hammer is miniature sized. But it did get the job done, so I guess it did serve it's purpose, even if it is "pretty".

The Real Real Housewives

I don't know if you've been watching the Real Housewives of DC, but the Salahi's have been telling one lie after another. Read this article which sums up the lies: Salahi 101: A Guide To The Lawsuits & Lies

Word on the Street

So word on the street is that Teresa from Real Housewives of New Jersey and her husband Joe might be headed to jail for failing to disclose all of their assets when they filed for divorce.

Speaking of the Real Housewives, I watched the Reunion Part 2 episode the other night and didn't really know how I felt about it. It seemed to be the entire season wrapped up in 1 show - Danielle getting caught in her lies and making excuses for them, Caroline being sane, and Teresa being dumb and hostile. I'm glad to hear that Danielle is officially off the show (Andy Cohen said it was because he thought the storyline had gone as far as he thought it could go with her) and can't wait for Atlanta to start soon!

This Just In

I cannot wait for this long weekend to come. But, I am excited for The Real Housewives of NJ reunion tonight - it is going to explosive! I heard that Teresa is coming out with a make-up line, that they are currently looking for 3 new housewives, that it is written into the housewives' contracts that they are required to "interact" with each other at least once a season (hence why Caroline met with Danielle in the season finale), and that all the trips the housewives take are all paid for in full by Bravo (not surprised).

Did You Know?

Feeling kinda blah this Monday and couldn't think of anything good to write, so I bring you some "did you know's" (DC-themed):

- Mt. Vernon Washington grows more tulips than the entire country of Holland.
- The difference between male and female blue crabs is the design located on their apron (belly.) The male blue crab has the Washington Monument while the female apron is shaped like the U.S. Capitol.
- Original copy of the Declaration of Independence is lost. The copy in Washington D.C. is what is referred to as a holograph. That is a term for a handmade copy of a document and is not the same as a laser produced hologram.