DC.Licious.com
by George, it's cricket
Posted on April 09, 2006 #
Hundreds of extra cars in the Mason lot this Sunday. Why, I asked, and found it's the int'l student association games. An 8-team cricket tournament in the main student parking lot. And a lot of associated hooting and celebrating.
I do like this place.
update
Posted on April 02, 2006 #
Back to reality. Mason's run has ended. At least we've got some furniture, and a whole lot of name recognition. Ok, so the furniture has nothing to do with basketball, but the apartment is a lot more comfortable since this weekend's influx of stuff. Once we get blinds and the shelf for the kitchen, it'll be almost time to worry about how it looks.
Research has fallen way off. Not at all clear on how I'll be able to handle all these jobs in the fall. Can't imagine dropping the income, but I can't even pull off the workload as is. Then again, if my professors/advisors are any indication, that doesn't matter. The more you bite off the better, regardless of one's ability to chew.
MASON!!!
Posted on March 26, 2006 #
OH MY FREAKIN GOD!
OVER UCONN! IN THE FINAL FOUR! GEORGE MASON IS IN THE FINAL FOUR!!!!!
mason!
Posted on March 24, 2006 #
Redemption!
Mason > Duke
Mason > the ACC
Mason > the Big 10
Mason > the Missouri Valley
Mason > all odds!!!
blue
Posted on March 23, 2006 #
What a crap game. Here's hoping Mason shoots better than Duke's stellar 30% and redeem this not-yet-sweet 16.
chapter
Posted on March 16, 2006 #
Hey, I'm a coauthor for a chapter! Who knew? Well, I did. But it's in print now. Cool receiving a copy of the book in the mail.
wheels!
Posted on February 28, 2006 #
I've got a car!
moved
Posted on February 22, 2006 #
So we moved. And now the semester is really getting under way. See you this summer.
research
Posted on February 16, 2006 #
Research is going to take a lot more time and focus now. It'll be spotty over the next 2 weeks, and then classes are going to get in the way. Could be a frustrating month if somehow I don't find time through all this to move things forward convincingly.
moving
Posted on February 16, 2006 #
fun.
regime
Posted on January 28, 2006 #
It's still a bloody regime. The far right gets too much out of the current deal. People have to see that sometime. Governor's races looked good, right?
Where are the "la paz; hamas' jokes? links?
eastern motors
Posted on January 28, 2006 #
Modern legend of DC auto sales and marketing, Eastern Motors, is clearly out-marketing our old friends, the Koons. Crystal's commercials got nothing on Lavar, Clinton, Brendan, Carmelo, and now Carlos, Sean and Robert. Oh, and Biz Markie.
Links (some include audio):
Eastern's New Ad
Eastern Motors Ad History
Eastern Motors club mix
Crystal
Low-rent videography with superstar personnel. Who knew it could be so catchy?
PS the dude in the black polo in the new ad is the CEO.
moving
Posted on January 28, 2006 #
Signed the lease! Move-in is Feb 20th.
interviews
Posted on January 20, 2006 #
Job interviews that we do are interesting. A suprisingly good part of these I/O jobs is learning a lot about what people do. Read a lot of Studs Terkel's Working while in Tokyo, and it's like that but out loud.
whoa!
Posted on January 20, 2006 #
Renee got offered Germany!
moving
Posted on January 20, 2006 #
Looking to move. Maybe near Tenley.
hail hail
Posted on January 08, 2006 #
Man is it good to be home for the playoffs.
really
Posted on January 04, 2006 #
Playoffs, and now a 3-year extension for Williams. This is truly hard to beat. What a phenomenal start to 2006.
all better
Posted on December 17, 2005 #
Well, not entirely healed, but home and healing, sans appendix.
ha!
Posted on December 15, 2005 #
I'm not a wimp! I have appendicitis!
* * *
Not to worry, it's not bad. They're not even sure they're going to operate yet. Waiting on a white blood cell count to come back. Phone's dying, though, so call GW hospital if you're concerned (in the ER now).
overseas
Posted on October 28, 2005 #
Working on a plan to spend some time overseas next summer. Not sure where, or how to fund it yet, but it's in the works. Currently I'm aiming for Japan and Spain.
neverending survey
Posted on October 13, 2005 #
I think I still have a brother. If I were he, I'd strangle me for all the changes to the recent survey. We've been working together on an online survey of repatriation adjustment, and his programming work has been outstanding. Unfortunately, I think my indecisiveness (due to general ignorance and inexperience) has been the biggest drain on this overall process.
His handiwork is spectacular, though, and he's managed the whole project on his end (with other programmers and a server thrown in for luck). If you know anyone who has recently returned home from overseas, please let me know (there's a contact link on this page) so I can send them the survey link once it's live.
If I'm going to have anything to say at all, this site is going to now become doctor.licious. You thought it was tedious before, my friends--just you wait until we get to polynomial regression. oh, wait, that's right.... Things are that bad already.
headline
Posted on September 13, 2005 #
"Disaster relief expert set to replace head of FEMA"
(From USA Today)
sim city 4: rush hour
Posted on September 05, 2005 #
Good grief am I tired of playing this game. (Yes, for those unaware, it is actually a large part of one of my jobs.)
bottoming
Posted on September 02, 2005 #
I can't believe I'm this busy.
centipede bite
Posted on August 31, 2005 #
Hey! Shoepal's right--this centipede is just like the one that bit me the night before the wedding. (Ok, the one in this picture is about an inch or two longer.)
of polynomial fame
Posted on August 30, 2005 #
Talking about this semester's plans for my assistantship, when a 2nd year prof walks in and announces that I'm his hero. I don't understand. He continues that he's been talking about me, saying that I'm bold and his hero. Apparently my question to the listserv on polynomial regression and my response to the reply from the God of polynomial regression came across strong in his opinion. Too strong for a mere doctoral student? Strong enough to be someone's hero, so it can't be all bad.
Ah, polynomial regression.
jen & jake
Posted on August 30, 2005 #
At this point, they're out of New Orleans and riding it out in Lafayette. Playing Clue and drinking mojitos from what I understand. Glad you all got to meet over the wedding, and get to know them well enough to be concerned. I'll update as I hear.
wedding photos
Posted on August 03, 2005 #
While not a permanent fix, licious now has some pix of the wedding (link at left).
I'm hoping to post about it as well, but you'll never get thank-you notes if I get started on that, too.
This is by no means where I plan to post all the photos; jeffandonika.com will be the center for that. This is just a quick fix for those looking at licious anyway and jonesing for a few images from last week.
home again
Posted on July 30, 2005 #
We're back. :-D
mmmmm
Posted on June 13, 2005 #
Crabs.
ny
Posted on May 30, 2005 #
Memorial Day weekend in a palace in SoHo. Got a suit for the wedding (black) and saw a bunch of friends and even their families.
Should remember that a weekend away, just the two of us, is a very good thing.
but i'm not 30
Posted on May 09, 2005 #
Thank you all! It was a great weekend. :) She loved her birthday celebration, and we made it 25 dishes. Not too shabby.
The apartment's clean and you'd never know we'd been here except for the cell phone (kyocera with car charger) and the dishes everyone left behind.
parting ways
Posted on April 29, 2005 #
No offense to the dozen that came before, but Ian has been the greatest roommate find in our history of craigslist. An outside consultant who was here just six months, he's become one of the best friends I've met since moving to DC.
He's moving to Atlanta tomorrow. I hope that works out for him, and if not, I hope that he finds a mountain where he can make peace with humanity instead. And run himself ragged while he does so. (Probably a better wish, but best not to jump the gun.) He's gotten to know the two of us easily, and I believe we got to know him pretty well, too. Hm. On second thought, I wonder if we did. Time will tell.
If you haven't yet, you'll meet him at the wedding. Ask him about Panama; he's got more stories than you can shake a $500 fly rod at.
laotian music
Posted on April 23, 2005 #
Seriously. I've come to respect the Laotians as the partiers of the globe, but this is hilarious. They've had a huge tent and sound system up for days, and music blaring--truly blaring--all day long. It's 7pm now, and it shows no sign of stopping. Especially now that the rain has ended.
I'm fearing a switch to karaoke. I feel it's inevitable.
it's official
Posted on April 19, 2005 #
The new restaurant in Cleveland Park will be the place to go, starting this summer. Way to go J!
He's now off on a trip to Italy for nearly two weeks with the owner and head chef to try the foods and wines of their various suppliers. Hopefully liminalshift will have some info for us??
american!
Posted on April 12, 2005 #
O got into American Law!
ohanami
Posted on April 11, 2005 #
Couldn't ask for a better weekend off from school work. With the national SIOP conference coming up this Thursday to Sunday, two of three classes are cancelled along with all research groups.
Preparation for the conference looks to be done, so 6 of us headed to the Tidal Basin for a not-so-traditional cherry blossom viewing. We did bring onigiri, sushi, sake (shh!), mochi, karl, kinikoyama, takenosato, etc. I'll put links to these Japanese oddities shortly.
It was a beautiful weekend.
official
Posted on April 09, 2005 #
I'm in the PhD program.
liminalshift
Posted on April 03, 2005 #
Things may be looking bright for liminalshift--not that you'd know it from his site, though. Final word isn't in yet, but the whole crew is astir with excitement for a new restaurant in Cleveland Park. It's about time he gets the opportunity, environment and position that'll both make use of what he's so good at and involve him in what he loves.
Licious will keep you posted, and be far less cryptic once things are hard and fast. Until then, it's best not to say any more.
not a call to arms
Posted on March 27, 2005 #
Really, people. Get your acts together. I'm working on mine. Let's make it a collective effort.
the shame, the shame
Posted on March 26, 2005 #
Gone too long (though some may say long enough)... As we have just bid farewell to Ryan on his week-long, $200 trip to Tokyo, I have found that I am so out of touch as to fail to recognize even a chuu-hai. The Economist aptly printed a photo of two young Japanese lads drinking canned alcoholic beverages for an article on drinking in Japan (March 26). Reading what was visible of the canned beverage, I mistakenly thought these were but tea. It is in fact alcoholic, being among TaKaRa's line of spiked teas.
reorganisation
Posted on March 24, 2005 #
"We tend to meet any new situation in life by reorganising. And what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation."
Petronius Arbiter, Rome (circa 1st century AD)
Quoted in The Economist, 3.19.2005
greatest hits
Posted on March 23, 2005 #
I doubt I could fill a thimble with the Best of Licious 2000-2005, but check out site buddha for his Greatest Hits of Postemployment.
NIT
Posted on March 22, 2005 #
News flash: Maryland fans are delighted to avoid tv ads of coach K by choosing the this year.
spring break
Posted on March 20, 2005 #
After a long spring break, things are back to normal. The weekend is full of things to do, but with less urgency. Family and friends are all over the place. Seems like plans for the wedding are getting decided--at least for all the nagging details before the open auction on rooms.
Flights have been getting more expensive, and it still looks like a great time.
Honeymoon: Peru. Hot springs, Macchu Picchu, and Cusco are the only things on the agenda so far.
School's back in session on Tuesday. Presentation in LA on April 15th. Semester's over in mid-may (I don't even know the day yet).
"remember"
Posted on March 17, 2005 #
"The road less travelled is usually less travelled for a reason."
J. Cortina, Professor
Student Evaluation Form
state of being update
Posted on March 12, 2005 #
O and I took it pretty hard this week. Wedding planning has had its ups and downs, but as Graf's email pointed out, this is just going to be a whole lot of fun once we're down there. And that's the best way to put it.
Today I have a presentation to prepare for and a couple of games to watch. O is off becoming a yogi and I'm getting back to work.
wedding apologies
Posted on March 09, 2005 #
I apologize to those who didn't realize that this wedding isn't a cheap trip to a rustic bungalow on a third-world beach. I don't say it to be snide at all; I think I have given a number of people the wrong impression and it's now coming around to bite my villa reservation in the Coppertone.
Thursday to Sunday should come to about $100 per person per night plus about $40 food per day. For those traveling from the East Coast of the US, expect about $500-$600 for the flight (depending when you book). For West Coast, it's more like $750; internationally, I'm afraid I'm not sure. Try mobissimo.com for info. Alternatively it's 30K - 35K miles to travel free. Oh, and set $6 aside for amazing coffee beans.
Please check out the wedding site and let me know if this is news--and in particular, if this is a problem for you. I thought I had made everything clear, but judging by responses, it's probably been my poor communication that is causing people surprise at the reality. We've reserved villas for everyone, which means that individual reservations are going to have to be made through us, not through the "hotel." We'll have room info (prices, amenities, a few photos) before long, and there are a range of options.
Again, my apologies if this has turned into an unpleasant surprise. I never intended it as such, and hope to hear from anyone and everyone who has questions about the arrangements.
2 days
Posted on March 08, 2005 #
I can't wait to get through these next 2 days.
araraagghhghgh
Posted on March 06, 2005 #
aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhh
schnee
Posted on February 24, 2005 #
Snow day!
no rush
Posted on February 23, 2005 #
No, no. Not moving anywhere anytime soon. But thank you for the concern. It only reiterates the previous point.
president's dinner
Posted on February 22, 2005 #
Presidents' Day at J&B's in Alexandria. Executive treatment -- 7-course dinner as follows (and my humble apologies to the chef in advance of any errors):
1. Amuse bouche / Fritto Misto, including zucchini, chicken and lamb kidney over sliced lemon wheel
2. Garlic soup with coddled egg in truffle oil with sourdough bread
3. Tagliatelli with broccoli and anchovy rabe and broccoli florets
4. Boudin blanc with trophy pasta, black trumpets and bacon, flavored with juniper
5. Roasted marinated leg of lamb with swiss chard and cannelini beans
6. 3-cheese course with black mission figs
7. Cookies
If I were any kind of a fiancee, I'd have the names of the Chablis, Riesling, Burgundy and the last Italian red. I do recall finishing off the 6 grapes port.
It would feel decadent if it weren't for the obsession on the part of those involved. It's not food for the taste alone; it's art and it's an event.
It'll be hard to leave DC. The friends of friends that accompany these various events are testament to how well we've got it here.
campus news
Posted on February 09, 2005 #
The I/O department is recommending me to the Admissions Committee for acceptance into the PhD program. :-D
We'll just have to wait and see if I deign to accept. ;-)
hotel rwanda
Posted on January 25, 2005 #
An incredible and moving film.
update
Posted on January 24, 2005 #
I'll be slowing down the blog for a while, and may change format.
This new semester is going to bring a different approach, and I need some additional motivation just to put one foot in front of the other and get the work done. I believe it's possible, but also believe it's going to take more self-directed effort than anything since that last year in Japan.
In the meantime, the wedding date looks to be July 23rd, with a rehearsal dinner possibly that Thursday prior, the 21st. Cabrera, Dominican Republic, at Cabo Fino.
augh!
Posted on December 22, 2004 #
The holidays!
bon nadal
Posted on December 20, 2004 #
"Eat well, sh*t forcefully." Link
free rides
Posted on December 14, 2004 #
Metro is free on Thursday.
little help
Posted on December 10, 2004 #
Can we get a little urban backlash over here?
update
Posted on December 06, 2004 #
It's been a while, and I'm older. Banged up rib and ugly looking pinky finger from that most macho of manly endeavors: flag football. Winding down the semester with the most challenging paper yet due tomorrow, and a few exams next week.
Still wavering in decisions for next year, which will likely hinge greatly on the results of O's LSAT. She took it Saturday and felt fine about it. Not good, not bad. Results are in on January 10th. She's also looking at business schools, and has an interview today.
The wedding is now looking like summer 2005. Anyone up for the Dominican Republic?
Off to work. Next week after finals, I'm in for what sounds like a very advanced (invitation-only) conference on team research in Orlando.
wedding bells
Posted on November 26, 2004 #
What a wonderful wedding. The best time I have ever had at one, and I'm so very happy to see them official. I didn't ever think it was necessary for them to go through the formalities, but from where I stand now, it just makes so much sense that I'm glad they've gone ahead and tied the knot.
Congratulations to you both, and thank you so much for making me part of it.
much angrier
Posted on November 23, 2004 #
The gall of the two families managing the liquor store of the damned has upset me more than I expected. As much as their behavior is nothing if not consistent, I can't believe that they're just such bad people. It amazes me. Truly it does.
They are one of many low-end employers in the District, many of which are food, wine and hospitality. Serving the 20% with the money, and abusing staff with rabid abandon. I suppose the face of fine wine, with its pretention and price, misled me eary on, but I'm over that. Working in fine dining pointed out just how similar the kitchen in any restaurant is to your neighborhood Waffle House: the characters are the same (though fewer have actually been caught for the felonies they commit), only the skill level is higher.
I do think that mistreating others is the norm in work situations in this country, at least in private sector where profit is up for grabs. I hate to see that belief in myself, but even fully aware of this, I'm horrified by the dynamic that exists between bosses and subordinates.
I am now even doubting the relevance of my ivory tower approach to organizational behavior. If this is the mentality of so many, what could I do but play into their hands? I read a study a month back that found no relationship between perceived organizational support (how much an employee believes he or she is supported by an employer) and performance and turnover for conscientious and agreeable employees. Basically, if you hire moral people they will work hard no matter how you treat them.
The study didn't put it that way, but the implications were obvious. For small businesses, the law doesn't require much in the way of fair practice, and TLSOTD has integrated that into their business model. They hire a golfing buddy or two to spy on the staff and then churn through floor staff until they come to a couple willing to act right without support. They give no time off for the first year; no sick leave; and any holdiays are made up by the entire staff that same week. This while management regularly takes the busiest days off for personal reasons that employees wouldn't dare request.
It's obscene. While I'm mad, I don't know that an acute attack of scurvy among management will change anything for the better for anyone else. I am going to have to look into the system and find out how the law encourages employers to be this way. Capitalism has its perils, sure, but that's the point of labor law. Is the definition of a 'small business' too broad? Should there be a medium-sized business crackdown on unfair employment practices? What are the costs of that--to the employees?
...After talking with her again, it seems that they will remember her as one of their best employees and this shouldn't taint the relationship. I'm still amazed that she has the strenght the stick to her principles and that people remember her for it, even through situations like this one.
those MOTHERFUCKERS
Posted on November 23, 2004 #
Fuck 'em. I hope...
(censored for general propriety)
They fired her for taking one day for a wedding. She didn't even call in sick the morning of. She played it honest.
They interfered with my engagement plans; so be it. Montreal was great. I can't reschedule someone else's wedding for them, though.
more bad luck
Posted on November 17, 2004 #
And it continues this month, as Grace and Scott watch their apartment burn down.
On Thanksgiving, I will be just glad that we're all still alive.
dad2
Posted on November 14, 2004 #
Home now, and doing much better. Cough still bothers him, and he's moving slowly, but is on his way to a full recovery.
dad
Posted on November 11, 2004 #
He's doing much better. May be home as soon as tomorrow, though still weak. It was serious, and he'll be out of work and symphony for a while. Thanks to everyone for the support.
mpio fl300
Posted on November 06, 2004 #
Happy birthday to me! I'll take belated gifts like this any day!
ouch
Posted on November 05, 2004 #
On a lighter note, two trains on the red line collided yesterday, only affecting a tiny proportion of this nation's populace.
dark ages
Posted on November 03, 2004 #
Oh no.
nerves
Posted on November 02, 2004 #
Been keeping pretty calm until tonight. Now I'm scared. It's been fine adjusting to being here again, but if things go awry tonight I'll feel surrounded by aliens again.
How can this country fuck up so badly???
I'm starting to feel sick to my stomach.
indeed
Posted on November 02, 2004 #
Yikes indeed.
one chip for Kerry
Posted on November 02, 2004 #
I voted! My first time in a presidential ballot box, and it was a near failure. Virginia never recorded my voter registration, so after 2 attempts to vote there (one absentee and one in person), I returned to the District of Columbia and cast my ballot.
Never did like Virginia much.
the call
Posted on October 29, 2004 #
She got the call! She got the call!
scavenger hunt list (temporary post)
Posted on October 24, 2004 #
SIDE 1 – WITHOUT CAMERA
1. Go to Rosa Mexicano at 7th and F. Ask the bartender for the famous Rosa chili.
2. What dinosaur used to be on the mall for kids to play on (near the museum of American History)?
3. What’s Jesse’s last name? He (she?) has a yellow sign at the Wharf between Pruitt and Captain White. (1 point) Also, what’s he/she advertising for sale? (1 more point)
4. Photocopy your face. No, make it two. Together.
5. Talk to Buddha (before he reaches Nirvana).
6. List all 7 M states:
7. Go to Teaism on 8th and D. How many outlets are there downstairs? (Not a trick question. Count ‘em.)
8. Go to 15th and Independence SW. What’s Raoul’s last name?
9. Hotel soap, shampoo, toothbrush or shower cap.
(No bonus points for multiple items.)
10. How many domes are there on top of the Museum of African Art?
11. Take the whole team to F Street between 1st and 2nd street. Look around the quad; if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you haven’t found it yet…
(This is worth multiple points!)
12. Go to the WTS statue south of the Treasury Building (15th and E). You’ll know it by the four soldiers on the corner. Describe the statue on the west side of it.
13. What’s standing between the dancers in the lobby of the Corcoran? (500 7th Street)
14. How many steps lead up to Lincoln?
15. From what year is the quote “The capitol is the … temple”? Look on Western Plaza, at 13th and Pennsylvania.
16. Get an Amtrak ticket stub.
(+1 if the route does not pass through or end in New York or Philadelphia)
17. How many U.S. flags are flying in front of 370 L’Enfant Plaza (on the Promenade level, i.e. the second story)?
18. Make a match using the City Paper.
19. Get a flyer, poster or other ad for a show or concert that’s already finished.
(+1 for the oldest one)
20. Tackiest postcard you can find.
(+1 for the tackiest of all)
SIDE 2 – PHOTOS
1. Imitate a diorama/scene in any museum--every member must be in the photo.
2. Team member demonstrating emergency how-to procedure on a public transit vehicle (a la flight attendants).
3. Tug-o-war with at least 7 people participating.
4. 2 team members caught in bed together, to all visible evidence apparently nude.
5. "I'm crushing your head monument."
6. “Hands Across the Mall” (3 points—all hands must be touching clear across the Mall.)
7. Catwalk presentation of the new Derelicte line. (Remember Zoolander?)
8. Smoke a *fake* joint in front of the FBI building. (E street between 9th and 10th)
(+1 with a cop or federal agent in the photo) Repeat: fake.
9. Inside the Botanical Garden, act out either Robinson Cruso-esque survival techniques OR a Survivor parody. Either way, you must involve at least 1 person not in the Scavenger Hunt.
10. Team member making a pizza.
11. Find the Juan Muńoz works in the sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn do your best imitation (with the sculpture in the photo).
12. Bill & Monica –OR– Dubya and Iraq.
13. Whole group imitating the Natural History museum elephant with the elephant in the photo.
14. Washington crossing the Delaware (all team members must be IN photo) with the Washington Monument in the background.
15. Human pyramid: are 3 levels possible in a museum?
(+1 with a disapproving staff member in the photo)
16. 2 team members smooching in front of a street sign that is CLEARLY in southwest (SW) DC.
(+1 with tongue) (+1 same gender)
17. Mr. Smith goes to Washington with the capitol dome in view.
(+1 with more than 5 spectators, i.e. congressmen/women, who are not in the SH; at least one of whom should be a "junior statesman")
18. A senior citizen (not in Scavenger Hunt) striking a Saturday Night Fever pose.
19. ‘ Pleasure’ the lonely sailor at the Navy Memorial.
20. Strangers (up to 2 group members included ok) spelling out the name of any of the presidential or vice-presidential candidates in front of the White House. (Any angle of the building is ok as long as it's CLEARLY the White House.)
21. Protest something (anything, but it must be readily understandable) in a pointedly inappropriate location.
22. The World War II Memorial: don't swim in it. For Pete's sake, people, come on. Show some restraint...
23. ‘Custer's last stand’ in front of the Museum of the American Indian.
24. A child left behind—in front of one of the red schoolhouse facades at the Department of Education (400 Maryland Avenue SW; near 4th and Independence).
25. Team member wearing at least 3 pieces of tourist paraphernalia (must include a shirt).
Huge kudos to Buddha for co-planning this one from start to finish.
off and running
Posted on October 24, 2004 #
The Scavengers are back and they're in motion...
and then there was 1
Posted on October 21, 2004 #
How odd. I haven't so much been let go as I've been descheduled from the restaurant. (One might wonder at the power of a blog.) To be fair, though, it had already begun last week. This will be the second weekend in a row that I have off--apparently the second of many. I am absolutely giddy about having the time back.
It's weird thinking that people there are finally reading this.
Hi, there. It's been lovely. Hugs and kisses to all.
ohayoooooo
Posted on October 21, 2004 #
I normally drink tea. Oolong, green, sometimes black. Through a minor reading error today, I put espresso in the coffeemaker to fulfill O's request.
I'll be walking down the wall and heading off to school momentarily. Just as soon as I'm through talking to myself in an extremely loud voice.
pardon me this moment:
Posted on October 20, 2004 #
One congressman -- the Hungarian-born Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California and the only Holocaust survivor in Congress -- mentioned that the Scandinavian countries were viewed more positively. Lantos went on to describe for the president how the Swedish Army might be an ideal candidate to anchor a small peacekeeping force on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sweden has a well-trained force of about 25,000. The president looked at him appraisingly, several people in the room recall.
''I don't know why you're talking about Sweden,'' Bush said. ''They're the neutral one. They don't have an army.''
Lantos paused, a little shocked, and offered a gentlemanly reply: ''Mr. President, you may have thought that I said Switzerland. They're the ones that are historically neutral, without an army.'' Then Lantos mentioned, in a gracious aside, that the Swiss do have a tough national guard to protect the country in the event of invasion.
Bush held to his view. ''No, no, it's Sweden that has no army.''
The room went silent, until someone changed the subject.
A few weeks later, members of Congress and their spouses gathered with administration officials and other dignitaries for the White House Christmas party. The president saw Lantos and grabbed him by the shoulder. ''You were right,'' he said, with bonhomie. ''Sweden does have an army.''
As Bush himself has said any number of times on the campaign trail, ''By remaining resolute and firm and strong, this world will be peaceful.''
scavenger hunt
Posted on October 19, 2004 #
This Sunday at 2:30. 'Contact' link below for details if you'll be in DC.
beehive
Posted on October 19, 2004 #
Took the weekend off the restaurant to catch up. Seems I'm actually easily on schedule, I just can't get very far ahead. I'm starting to see why they only let PhD students take 2 classes per semester after the first year. How else would you get any original research done?
food "industry"
Posted on October 12, 2004 #
So at O's place of employment, the Liquor Store of the Damned, they've fired their best stock guy and most versatile employee. Seems Ben, who can do every job but perhaps manage, and who makes his own schedule, was fired for helping a colleague move. He had decided to take Monday off this week (Columbus Day, btw), and work his 5 days from Tuesday through Saturday. They left him a message at home on Monday that he was fired for taking a day off without permission.
Another friend, who'll remain nameless for the moment, has apparently been...
*Removed upon request.
movin' out
Posted on October 02, 2004 #
Tom is moving out at the end of the month. Looking for yet another roommate (our 9th! in a year) for November 1.
most diversity!
Posted on September 23, 2004 #
Seem that in one way at least, I came back to the right place.
scavengers
Posted on September 21, 2004 #
Save the date: 10.24.04. The scavenger hunt is back.
musings of one closer to the grave
Posted on September 17, 2004 #
It's my birthday, and I'm a good 8 years older than the youngest of my classmates. (Last Saturday was her birthday, at that.) I don't think I'd feel old with just a birthday. It's got to be something more.
It could be that 8 years have passed since I last took a class. It could be that I'm convinced I'll have a dissertation and a child to take care of at the same time. At the moment, I think the growing pains have more to do with lifestyle change than anything.
At least I'm a guy. Grey hair will look distinguished.
There are now a few things that matter more than work, than school, and unlike at 19, they're not just my mood anymore. Pulling a 3rd all-nighter in a week is iron-man bravado when everyone on the hall is a student. Doing it while there's someone sleeping alone in your bed starts to look like neglect.
While I'm at it, am I paying all this cash to go to class and just squeeze by? To structure priorities like I did at Duke, where grades were "earned" without concern for digesting the material?
The research element of this degree is reputed to be important enough to outweigh the losses in the classroom learning. There's only so much time, and I can only neglect a fiancee so often, but does it feel strange to only me to let go of the textbooks in just the second week? All the veteran students (read: recent graduates) slough it off like a 5:30 alarm clock ringing in suburban Tokyo. It's all part of the plan.
I already went through the beard phase, too, so she won't have to deal with that. (I would get those 5 minutes a day back, though.)
As for this program, I've tried paying back college debt, and have recently learned that we are reputed to be the first generation expected to NOT do as well as our parents. To never see the end of debt. $400K condos? $150K undergrad educations? Kudos to all you who have hand-me-down engagement rings (pardon: "family heirlooms"). Don't mind the bitter envy dripping onto your keyboard.
This program is affordable. Sure, it's housed in a backwater corner of D.C., but it ain't Bowling Green. It's at least near a real city, relatively accessible, and I don't feel gouged as Swiss like I would have in New York.
As for the people, you may all go to tomorrow's 80's party without any recollection of the actual decade, but you look to be an unbelievably bright and kind-hearted group of individuals. If we don't kill each other in moments of mindless, self-obsessed tension before the end of the first semester, and you don't strangle me for my Wisdom of the Ages crap, I'll be convinced this program has the makings of greatness.
29
Posted on September 17, 2004 #
happy birthday to me
works well with others
Posted on September 13, 2004 #
One thing I am now confronting is working with others. It is enormously different being back, working with Americans, in American environments, and with people significantly younger than me as well. In these higher academic groups, unlike restaurant teams of servers, I expect a certain amount of collaboration. I expect people to work together for the common goal and to include one another in praise and cooperation. If we are to be the core professional group that we develop at the start of this career, I would think that our mutual success would do wonders for a professional network down the line, not to mention the steadily increasing quality of collaboration in the meantime.
Still, people, much like management that I've dealt with in crappier industries than this, do like to take credit for themselves. Not in an outwardly competitive manner; more in a self-centered, look-what-i-can-do, forgetting-about-the-others way that's so strongly supported in our culture.
It's actually made me more angry today than others have in some time, and over little than the cultural difference in a team approach. Good that I'll be focusing on teamwork as a concept, and good that I feel I have to act the responsible adult.
weekend update
Posted on September 11, 2004 #
First couple weeks haven't been too hard, but there looks to be a lot of work ahead. Had a good evening out in DC with a number of the other first-year students and have faith that if for no other reason than working with good people, this program is a good choice.
fair warning
Posted on September 04, 2004 #
I'm likely to pull back from everyone for a little while as I find my equilibrium.
first day
Posted on August 31, 2004 #
Calculator in hip pocket and pocket protector in place, I am off to my first day of graduate school.
orient
Posted on August 25, 2004 #
I am in fact old. Seems a number of my new classmates were just starting high school when I finished college (even though I don't look but a year older than them at most). Orientation was helpful, more for seeing everyone together at once in a relaxed setting than anything. The group looks comfortable (here come the 1st impressions), one that I can imagine working with. Not overly studious nor overly lazy, and not overly businesslike nor overly academic.
I met a few of the doctoral students before the Masters-only orientation. I could be mistaken, but was surprised to sense a distance already between students on the two different tracks. Seems absurd on the one hand, in that we'll all be each other's professional network before long, but I suppose that any distinction between groups will lead to something akin to a hierarchy.
It sounds like there's a lot of intramural and club involvement among the grad students, which I hope will drag my old ass back into motion. Haven't been much for team sports over the past decade, but flag football appeals, and I might see if I can play a little softball.
We'll have to resurrect the old scavenger hunt, which died with Graf in Tokyo. Already planning it for November; the word will go out in plenty of time for those interested--but it will most likely be on campus.
Off to happy hour tomight, and the return to the cheapest food and drink available.
virginia bound
Posted on August 20, 2004 #
Here I thought I'd covered all the massive changes of the past 24 hours, but a call came in today from the real estate agent. Month-to-month from here on out as they're putting the place on the market.
And I'd just completed the sublet arrangement, too. Ah well. Looks like we'll be moving to Virginia.
new era
Posted on August 19, 2004 #
Today was a turning point. Know those days when it all seems to change at once?
J walked out of the restaurant. I finally got an assignment in my day job. Noah's done with his traveling to Phoenix, and they move out on Tuesday. We confirmed the next roommate, Tom, who'll move in mid-September.
Our room's even furnished now. It's a brave new world out here.
at long last
Posted on August 19, 2004 #
I miss Japan. I miss the "otsukaresama" at the end of a day and the daily languague learning. I miss the food and how it made my body feel light but full. And I miss the life and energy and chaos of Tokyo. Not so much that I'll be boarding any planes soon, but after adjusting to being home it was only a matter of time.
i'm really engaged
Posted on August 15, 2004 #
*Thank you.*
Sunday's engagement party was more meaningful than I expected. Having everyone so unquestioningly supportive makes an easy and wonderful choice immensely more enjoyable. Marrying her wouldn't be the same (and probably wouldn't work at all) without marrying into your group of friends. I've been working on it for years and am glad it finally paid off. ;)
For those who come with me, making the effort to be there on a random Sunday was more than I ask for. I appreciate it more than I've shown. Thanks for making this year what it's been.
All right. Enough of that. Back to work, and back to bitchin' about it...
prince
Posted on August 14, 2004 #
Prince! With Maceo! From the second row you can really see just how silly/funky/freaky/sexy he is. It was *amazing*. One of the best shows ever. From Peach to Purple Rain and Whole Lotta Love to Soul Man, he was even better than I'd hoped.
The show felt like a party the whole way through. He was smiling and enjoying himself the whole way through. He would mouth along with the wa-wa and make eye contact with what seemed like everyone. The stage was shaped like a plus in the middle of the MCI Center, giving everyone a great seat, and dozens of people were pulled up onto it to dance.
So funky. The music was spectacular. The jams were beautiful. The 7 or so song acoustic bit in the middle, which went from Little Red Corvette to some improv (?) about funky breath and a girl eating "that other kind" of chip. Pass the Peas! Nothing Compares 2 U!
violent japan
Posted on August 09, 2004 #
Again and again.
oui!
Posted on August 01, 2004 #
She said yes. :-D
If you're curious, look here. Walter had this made specifically for us, and actually liked it so much it's on their front page!
montreal on Sunday
Posted on August 01, 2004 #
The weather's perfect!
We're off to the botanical gardens now. . .
o canada
Posted on July 31, 2004 #
In Montreal for the weekend. With the beautiful and wonderful O.
maryland blue crabs
Posted on July 25, 2004 #
Today was a great day. Steamed a bushel of crabs for a dozen of my favorite friends out on the deck. Had a great time and realized that this summer has been one of the best. Different from any other and good in that rare way when things go right for a change.
D.C. lacks a lot and is still frustrating for its social conservatism but there's a group of people here that I trust. At least today, I feel at home for the first time in three years.
the beauty of social science
Posted on July 14, 2004 #
"The results indicated that those sewing-machine operators with higher cognitive abilities and more previous job-related experience had higher initial job performance but improved less over time, which suggests that there may have been a ceiling effect..."
organizational bureaucratic poop
Posted on July 13, 2004 #
Joined a couple of the (delightful) admin staff on a trip to the govt-only supply store. The new system didn't have a number of items catalogued yet, so even though they were on the shelves we couldn't buy 'em. At least half weren't tied to their new bar code numbers, and took 20-30 minutes of searching to get prices. Once we got them all, vinyl folders came up as being $110.67 each, which we managed to fix. As well as the $7 plastic badges which should really cost $0.65.
halfway to class
Posted on July 08, 2004 #
So I've been promised a way into the 3rd class I need; here's hoping. I trust what I've been told, for what that's worth. I also called the registrar this morning and found space in the Thursday lab section, meaning I'd just have classes Tuesday-Thursday. Should make it much easier to work.
And Beth moved into her new apartment in Silver Spring! It looks great.
incensed
Posted on June 29, 2004 #
The few classes George Mason does see fit to offer are virtually inaccessible.
I got a spot in 2 required courses. Two. That's right. I'm getting a Master's degree full-time. Two classes at a time.
I got stuck with the Monday lab, though, which means that if I somehow do get a third course, I'll be at Mason 4 days every week. The commute from there to work is between 90 minutes and 2 hours, so any day I'm at school I can't work. That shouldn't be an issue now, though (ironic sigh of relief), because I've been dropped from the waitlist for the third course. Apparently waitlist options for registration changed without notification to the students. Now, if a position opens up on the waitlist, you have to accept within 3 days or be dropped from the list altogether. In order to know this, you therefore have to be checking the web registration page every three days without fail. Again, I was never notified--just dropped from the waitlist from the ONLY OTHER COURSE I CAN TAKE.
I have been impressed with the individuals so far, true. But I am so thoroughly disgusted with the lack of course options, availability and access that if it doesn't improve, I waste a second year waiting around to study.
open and shut and open again
Posted on June 23, 2004 #
So it seems we're both still at the restaurant. I could be more embarrassed to admit it, I suppose, but the money's good, and I'll stay as long as it is. It's gotten better, I should say, which is the difference. What he'll do, though, I'm not sure. If he leaves, it'll leave me with 1st dibs on the best shifts, but without a good friend I'll be alone behind enemy lines.
open door policy
Posted on June 13, 2004 #
He put in his notice. The last of the full-timers at the restaurant who I call my friend, and the best of the lot. There's no way I'll stick it out without him, despite finally having the best and most lucrative shifts. The place is just too unhappy.
He actually had a guest threaten, swear at, lie to, and attempt to fight him last night before management stepped in. And they told him it was a blemish on _his_ record. This just before writing me up for a minor infraction, to which I admitted immediately so they would be aware. I was asked to sign it and told that next time I would be fired. (fyi, no one else at the restaurant has been there for more than 3 weeks, and only 1 has any significant experience.)
It's absurd. I genuinely believe I'm more valuable than I'm being treated. I could be wrong. But he definitely is, and it's time for us both to move on.
still readjusting, san?
Posted on June 10, 2004 #
Waiting tables last night, I had a moment of charismatic clarity. As cultural leftovers from 5 years in Japan, I still work my utmost to fit in anywhere I work and get along with everyone as best I can. I can't help it. I seek out rules of conduct and harmony everywhere I can swing it. Makes for a weenie of a server, I tell you. And an even more ingratiating bartender.
Moving to Japan, the traits I had as an American abroad--outspoken, self-assured, outgoing--made for a relatively smooth social transition but required a lot of self-control and self-regulation at work. The skills I developed in response, which were reinforced when I traveled across Southeast Asia, are really mediocre at best back home. Like the typical country boy in the big city, I try overly hard to be nice, and it just doesn't go down well. It demands of others the same, an it's a burden to people in massive, individualistic environments.
So I'm rediscovering charisma. Inappropriate jokes and assertive, self-assured service; I hope this translates to a confident introduction to a new job. I wonder if the military atmosphere will be a comfortable synthesis of both collective and individualistic or a rule-obsessed, back-slapping good-old-boy disaster of the worst of both worlds.
in the army
Posted on June 05, 2004 #
Looks likely that I'll accept the offer to work at ARI beginning in early July and through the academic year. Full-time over breaks, half-time during school. I wonder if I'll pass the background check.
block island, ri
Posted on June 04, 2004 #
In Block Island for a chichi Catholic-Jewish wedding.
Matrimony. Hm.
damn
Posted on June 03, 2004 #
Damn! that's good fruit salad. Home from the 'rant, finally got a shift in the back and it was the easiest fucking money I've made in ages. Had a scare; thought the couple celebrating an anniversary on table 30 was going to be the guy I interviewed with at the Army this morning.
Been offered an hourly wage position at the Army Research Institute. Sounds like a good deal, but I don't know much about what's out there, and they ask for a year commitment. For an hourly job that just seems pushy. Then again, who am I to be choosy. I'll prob'ly take it. Starts in June, so the new waiters and bartenders will find an extra shift or two--if they can hang on to their jobs and their sanity for another few weeks.
I'll stick around, though, and inflict a little more misery on myself. A few shifts a week should be enough.
classified interview
Posted on June 03, 2004 #
This whole secrecy/national security thing is going too far. I have an interview this morning with the wholly benign Army Research Institute and can't for the life of me figure out where.
mem day
Posted on June 01, 2004 #
After a Memorial day full of Mojitos, a Long Island, and a handful of Espresso Martinis, we've ended up with 10 lemons and 10 limes left over. Before flying to Block Island this weekend there'll be lots of juice on the deck.
Driving back to DC on Sunday night with li'l sis and the following weekend Noah and Shannon move in upstairs.
Saw Donnie Darko for the 1st time today.
another 17 years
Posted on May 13, 2004 #
After 17 years, the cicadas are back. Only seen 1 to date, and it was being (quietly) dismembered by an enthusiastic sparrow. From what we're hearing and what I remember, it should be a noisy summer.
multicultural bunk?!?
Posted on May 08, 2004 #
Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich is a complete ass.
His number is (410) 974-3901.
back
Posted on May 07, 2004 #
Back in town.
O is 29 and had a great time of it.
this whole vacation debacle
Posted on April 26, 2004 #
She's off, her only vacation of the year taken without me, and look what licious signed on for. Galoshes, anyone?
Look for licious in london at trip.licious
GMU
Posted on April 24, 2004 #
Sold. Already working on setting up research projects for the fall and considering beginning in the summer for a head start.
Went to a meeting Friday with 10 speakers from different consultancies to get a head start on long-term planning, and found a few good options for internships as well. Also learned to eat first talk later; by the time I had chatted with a few of the speakers, the grad student shark pool had demolished the free sandwiches, and I was left with a Sprite and a brownie for lunch.
house
Posted on April 24, 2004 #
Now that I'm all but sold on George Mason, though, the two of us spent Sunday wandering through Capitol Hill neighborhoods looking at real estate. It won't be easy filling a place if we land one, but I'm itchin to own something.
anniversary
Posted on April 20, 2004 #
Speaking of Nippon, it's 2 years to the day since I moved out.
Moving out was horrendous. It was the last time I had stuff to sift through, and the experience itself largely accounts for why I have accrued little since. I haven't so much as owned a bed or a couch, even a single appliance, over the last two years and four apartments (five if you count the week in Beijing). I'm proud, in a way, to own little more than two pans and a teapot.
always lost in retranslation
Posted on April 19, 2004 #
I disagree that Lost in Translation doesn't translate. I tried showing Gung-Ho to a Japanese audience and found they didn't get enough of the jokes at the expense of the American characters to see the balance. Ever watched a movie by Japanese about Japanese living in America? You'd be put off and bored, too.
Oversensitivity to the Japanese self-image is easy to assimilate, but not appropriate here.
the breakdown
Posted on April 16, 2004 #
Looks like George Mason is leading the pack.
More than any negatives I could associate with the programs in New York, Mason seems to have all the bases covered. They feel cooperative, both among MA and PhD students and professors, as well as between the I/O department and the business school. They're less expensive and more highly ranked (for whatever the latter is truly worth), and the economy in DC seems more reliable.
I have yet to make a decision final, but as I'm leaning this way after just returning from New York, Mason has 4:1 odds at least.
nyc
Posted on April 13, 2004 #
Off to New York for a couple days. Had to turn down a free flight to Buenos Aires this morning; too many trips planned for the next two months. Mammoth Caves over Memorial Day may also have to get nixed. Sigh. I make for a pretty half-ass traveling vagabond these days. Haven't so much as hitch-hiked for years now, let alone slept in a cave.
To NYC to evaluate Columbia University's Teachers College and their Org Psych program as well as the dark horse NYU program in I/O. Have essentially written off Baruch; if I'm going to save money, I'm taking George Mason. The most interesting contact at Baruch isn't even full faculty, and brushed off my emails like so many flakes of dry scalp.
Manhattan. Tempting. I never did get a chance to live there but for a brief period of decompression in 2002. Doubt it would be the same city of legend without any dough.
Regardless, I'll be on a train in a couple and up in Washington Heights for 2 nights. Hopefully I'll have it decided soon after where licious will put down a root or 2 in the fall.
moments like these
Posted on April 11, 2004 #
Still having these moments. Woke up this morning rolling mental boulders through bad dreams to keep them from recurring and found myself playing the Yamanote-sen game (graphic;,text) against myself. I still miss being on top of my game, being great at something difficult and complex, being successful and excited and challenged and proud.
Still, my legacy?
"Expert: 15 points or more. You know the Yamanote line frighteningly well. You spend your days looping the loop, staring out the window. In shorter moments of free time you like to hang out on the platforms. A job as one of the oshiya rush hour pusher is a lifetime ambition."
Probably best that I'm back on the East Coast, stressed and busy and caught up in America's debt-for-higher-education game instead of the moebius of Japan Rail.
baruch
Posted on April 05, 2004 #
Baruch!
gmu
Posted on March 31, 2004 #
George Mason!!
kitchen confi...er, classified?
Posted on March 31, 2004 #
On the way home from work Saturday night, Chef runs across two bikers weaving all over the highway. Failing to see one driving on the shoulder, he cuts him off. Threatening him openly, the two give chase and pull a hard U-turn to keep pursuit when he veers suddenly onto an exit ramp hoping to escape.
Worse doesn't come to worst; he gets home safely. But the retelling of the incident strangely results in the loss of one of our line cooks.
Seems that after the story is told behind the line the next afternoon, Chef leaves the room. Motorcyclist Line Cook is teased about the likelihood of he himself being one of the two hoods, and he starts in about how 85% of all bike accidents are the fault of automobiles. Chef returns, hearing half the story, and flies into his all-too-common fury and berates Line Cook up, down, left, right, and g***amn center. Unable to explain persuasively that this conversation was contextually unconnected to the Chef, Line Cook quietly continues prep work for a few minutes, makes a list of what remains to be done, and packs up his knives. He calmly walks out after responding to the inevitable question from a colleague with, "It's not worth it. It's only food."
A good cook and a decent guy, if a touch Napoleonic himself. Sad to see him go.
corporate daydream
Posted on March 30, 2004 #
When I'm lashed to a chair behind a steel desk again, staring over papers at a computer screen and jabbering convincingly over the telephone, I'll look back to the oodles of free time and the easy-going atmosphere of restaurant work. The great quality product being served and the lovely interior design will make me laugh at myself, ruefully, when I look at the Ikea shelves and ragged file cabinets surrounding me.
I'll probably have more money, and more junk to spend it on. I hope I'll be able to travel a lot, and enjoy the travel, but I'm sure I'll look back on my current plans to go to London next month and San Diego the month after and laugh at what I thought I was working towards. I'm sure I'll laugh at my current attempts at customer service and remember how the people to whom I speak sweet nothings in the interest of company image and personal gain are undoubtedly more famous and influential than the ones I'll interact with for quite a long time yet.
Sure, bartending is what it is and I don't feel it's my true calling, but this latest transition I'm living is still life as a working holiday.
nyu
Posted on March 29, 2004 #
NYU!
good morning
Posted on March 26, 2004 #
No better way to start a 74-degree day in March than by listening to Rush sing about what a fat, obnoxious fuck he is:
Link also at left.
teachers college
Posted on March 22, 2004 #
Got accepted to Columbia!
grilled
Posted on March 15, 2004 #
Phone interview today with what I presume to be an I/O psychologist herself. Grilled on everything they tell you to prepare for in books on interviewing: what would your employers say you have to work on? what are your four greatest strengths? have you ever become physically aggressive on the job? what's your religious/ethnic background? how do you feel about the republican party?
Ok, so not the last two. All the legal ones they can throw at you to see where you'll be a problem to the company.
We'll see next week how that turned out. That and the 3-hour personality inventory and intelligence test I had to take last Thursday. You'd think I was applying for jobs in the Secret Service with all this poking and probing.
bumper prose
Posted on March 12, 2004 #
Bumper of the day:
"I love my country. But I think it's time to start seeing other people."
admissions
Posted on March 12, 2004 #
I should hear from my top choices (George Mason and Columbia) by the end of the month. Already edgy when the mail flap clanks shut.
aprenden espanol
Posted on March 09, 2004 #
Reason #1 to learn Spanish: the world around you opens up.
I've heard the most incredible--while at the same time, the most common I'm sure--stories of Central Americans making it to the US over the past week.
One guy hasn't seen his wife or 3 daughters in the 3 years since he walked across the desert to the US. Costs US$4000 per immigrant, no discount for kids, so he's here until he decides to go home--no chance of affording them all.
The other came here safer, by trailer, to take part in his uncle's drug-running business. Running for him, and more lucratively for himself on the side, he was pulling an easy $400+ per week, but lost it all when his girl turned him in after a fight. Now she's apparently trying to get him back, and he'll have none of it.
football vs ultimate
Posted on March 07, 2004 #
The secondary question: how to spend a 60 degree day in March? Today, along with Justin's astounding Kansas City pulled pork sandwiches, Memphis bbq ribs, potato salad, deviled eggs, cole slaw, spring rolls for the herbivores and banana pudding, we did both. Rock Creek Park is indeed a great place.
MA vs MBA question
Posted on February 29, 2004 #
Been productive on the job front, but am more and more interested in the grad degree these days. Here's the Burning Question: an MA/MS in I/O psychology or an MBA in (international) organizational development?
[Click link above to comment.]
real voices
Posted on February 20, 2004 #
Woke up this morning to voices. In my head, they're one thing; I've had a run of dreams over the past year that would have the masses lined up to watch in theaters. In the apartment, they're a different story. The landlady, who has been great before, neglected to say she was bringing an appraiser. I woke up with them in my kitchen. It was more disturbing even than the slow-motion zombie battle with the impossibly heavy sword on Wednesday.
balmer
Posted on February 18, 2004 #
Lexington Market, the old Power Plant, a bench in the Inner Harbor. State cop nabs me on the way to a Barolo tasting, dinner at Petit Louis Bistro, home to catch Kristina's Joey on Law & Order and watch Duke drop their second in a row.
run this.
Posted on February 09, 2004 #
Wow, do I hate food running.
setsubun
Posted on February 03, 2004 #
Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!
Setsubun Link
it's about time.
Posted on February 01, 2004 #
It's about time someone told these trowel-waving Terps what kind of fans they are. Thanks, Gary. I hope they listen.
one empty bed
Posted on February 01, 2004 #
I can't believe no one has bit on the apartment yet. Amazing that that extraordinary room has been on the market for over a week now. It looks to go this week, though. Hector? Chris? Mark?
super sunday
Posted on February 01, 2004 #
It wasn't Samuel L. Jackson in a kilt, but the Super Bowl kicked ass. I don't know what to say about you Survivor aficionados, but ending it with this year's viewing of Groundhog Day rounded out my Sunday very well. In the meantime, stay tuned to Phil.
in with the new?
Posted on January 25, 2004 #
Patricia is moving out, so anyone looking for a shared apartment within easy walking distance to Dupont Circle metro, here's your chance. A floor to yourself, private full bath, huge roofdeck, easy street parking, chef's kitchen, and the whole place furnished. It ain't cheap, but contact me asap if you're interested; we're looking for someone within the week.
hbty
Posted on January 25, 2004 #
Happy Birthday, JuBu!
email clips
Posted on January 22, 2004 #
"I am still trying to get the hang of the Washington-area network of govt-bandit-ngo-diplomat, and am glad to be living outside of its inner sphere."
"I am applying to graduate programs, I/O psychology at the moment, pondering business school, and want a change from sales. I see a personal future in a human resources role."
"Good luck with getting ready for the wedding, ..."
"Happy New Year; I hope the Year of the Monkey is a good one for you."
patricia out, ??? in
Posted on January 22, 2004 #
Time to screen the locals for a new flatmate. Patricia's out this Saturday, and we've got a few people lined up to take her place...well, not exactly take her place. We'll be moving into her room, and whoever comes in will be taking over ours.
I hesitate to comment, but won't be able to resist for long.
devil of a time in maryland
Posted on January 21, 2004 #
You know, Maryland's not so bad.
Link
just a pig in shit
Posted on January 17, 2004 #
Finding myself back in the world of essays, GRE tests and recommendations, I remember just how comfortable I am in academia. I'm going to end up a college professor, aren't I?
applications and gin at the bar
Posted on January 16, 2004 #
At home, sipping on a Sapphire martini, and working on the 2nd application. Benefits of the present lifestyle shouldn't be disparaged.
Next is probably George Mason, thanks to US News & World Report for the #4 rank. Columbia just went out, and it feels good.
disaster on I-95
Posted on January 13, 2004 #
The hospitals aren't on disaster relief; there aren't bodies left from the explosion to treat. It really is that bad.
Link
(licious note: link soon to shift to sidebar)
fulfilling prophecies
Posted on January 13, 2004 #
I now have hearsay confirmation that 2004 will indeed be better than 2003. Will it bear witness to the overthrow of the evil empire? Well, perhaps not. I'll take a little charity, goodwill and personal success, though, which would be more than enough to wipe 03's dirty face in the mud.
The first application to grad school goes out tomorrow, and I'm back to actually pursuing job leads and networking. Sure, self-fulfilling prophecies damned me this past calendar year, but they're going to have to help me out now that my head's turned around straight.
In the meantime, all you lazy bums (read: Ben), it's Restaurant Week, so come out to the bar, fulfill yourselves for an evening, and tip heavy. ;)
blessed, blessed 2004
Posted on January 07, 2004 #
The return of Joe Gibbs? All is right with the world once more.
citiplayed
Posted on January 07, 2004 #
Finally getting the laptop back from its month-long holiay with the hp repair center, I find in my email this official communique from Citibank Japan:
"Thank you for banking with Citibank.
As recently reported in some media, a few of our customers were deceived and defrauded by a former Citibank employee. We would like to offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused to you...
- When you wish to contact our staff in Citibank Japan, please call either the Free Dial listed below 24 hours a day or the branch telephone number. We will not inform you of any other phone numbers such as a bank staff's own mobile phone number.
- Our staff in Citibank Japan will not receive any cash or signed documentation from you outside the branch to make transactions, even in the case when we visit your home or office with a consultation appointment. For transactions, please visit your nearest branch or give us a call..."
Link
addendum
Posted on January 07, 2004 #
Apparently I've been amidst the wild parrot for longer than I'd realized...
january 3rd & sunny; no parrots.
Posted on January 04, 2004 #
Once again, it was January 3rd and 65. DC, Barcelona; what's the difference? Must be the feral parrots that keep the cost of living down out there.
And the greatest search string of 2004 (so far) landing someone on licious.com?
"marrying for money in spain live in spain"
desmond....smeagel's calling...
Posted on January 04, 2004 #
To keep their chatty 2-year-old from hogging the phone while they're talking, my favorite Omaha fuufu (couple) tells him that Smeagel is on the line--and he avoids it like the plague.
domesticality
Posted on January 04, 2004 #
Anyone else find a woman being domestic really damn hot?
Just me?
2004
Posted on January 01, 2004 #
Finally! 2003 is bloody over.
NYE went swimmingly, with a visit from the ubiquitous Shoe and the illustrious JuBu, and the fabulous Emily. Wonderful people and a wonderful time, even better than last year in Barcelona....but can't top two years ago in Paris. :)
A huge thank-you to everyone who helped last night go so well.
12.25
Posted on December 24, 2003 #
Frohe Weihnachten!
No loot for licious and family until tomorrow, though. Curse those government swing shifts for shutting Santa in the workshop for an extra 24 this year.
Making up for it on the slopes of Mt. Zugspitze, and there's nary a complaint in town.
end of days
Posted on December 23, 2003 #
And the persistent man gets the recommendation letter. While the CEO of the APA turned down my request, not recalling my work well enough from undergrad, the president of ORC Macro, my former supervisor at UMD, has offered to both write a letter and pass along my resume to his headquarters in DC.
2004 is close. I can feel it. Goodbye to the baggage of 03. Got a bottle of schnapps today to celebrate with on New Year's. I can't wait for the New Year.
greta revisited
Posted on December 21, 2003 #
It's looking more and more like a Greta Garbo reunion this New Year's. If you can lay claim to a visit to the original Home for the Wayward, drop a line; you're invited back.
vestiges of japan
Posted on December 17, 2003 #
I don't know if it's ever going to go away.
After two days of calling around and hitting psychologists up for information on various graduate programs, I actually feel better about applying to Industrial/Organizational Psychology programs than I did last week. I'm suprised at this, but at the moment, I'm far more surprised at the simplicity of all the phone calling and low-rent networking.
This is something I'm sure I used to do well, before a heaping spoonful of reticent, rule-coveting culture overtook my personality. They say it takes half again as long to get over a relationship as the relationship lasted--at least for a meaningful one. I wonder what the timeline is for a relationship with a whole island nation?
Ed addition: Ever feel a bit overlooked while in Japan?
dc .37
Posted on December 17, 2003 #
There's a swell new postage stamp for DC. Take a look here. And look for it on your holiday card. :)
how's life? what's it like?
Posted on December 14, 2003 #
Funny you should ask.
12:14am at the end of a Saturday night, behind bar. Two guys at the end of the bar, last customers of the evening, are at it--still--after an hour of nonstop Bush bashing. Between the two of them, their check total for the evening is $2.20. One is a regular, in for a burger or a chicken at least three times a week, the other I've never seen. Got some weird name that I'll never recall.
The whole staff is upstairs, even our reclusive head chef, and we've collectively worked our way through the second of two delightful bottles of the 2000 Ai Suma Barbera d'Asti. (Powerful even through a stuffed nose.) Both are a gift of a favorite regular, though more honestly a product of his seemingly limitless expense account; as he was leaving, he decided we all needed something nice. And that after that, we needed at least one more. So what's a couple grand between friends?
This has improved my night. I'd've pulled down a buck thirty, minus tip out to bussers and runners, but the bill he leaves me on these two wines turns a long Saturday into a solid one.
Rewind. It's early, and my beautiful lover and her closest colleague are at the bar, at the center of seven wide, comfortable, low-backed chairs. She is rambling with the woman to her right about something I can't quite follow, while Beth is deeply engaged with one of our most consistent patrons, a senior member in media relations for an organization championing the rights of Arab-Americans. A very busy, very public, and very noticeable man, though numerically just one of seven in front of the glassware.
Tom, two seats to our heroine's right, is 6'7" and can eat almost as much as the 400lb man four seats away. (A testament to the quality of these seats, for certain.) The gentleman at the near end of the bar leaves 30%, and I can't determine whether his return 40 minutes later is in hopes of catching a look from me, or simply a traveler's loneliness. The last couple share a single blini, and are sold; they leave the last glass in their bottle for the staff to taste. The next couple insist on settling their tab, rather than transfer it, to be sure I receive my proper gratuity. A busboy brings bread. The front waiter fumbles an order. The lights dim.
There are three moments over the course of the evening: the first during these ambiguous conversations among such vivid personalities; the second when the kitchen staff pours upstairs for a rare convergence of the two halves of the restaurant; and the third the second swallow of wine, leaning back against the register, watching the bar ease graciously from business to community. These are my everyday, the fruit of the bitter vine of 2003.
hp pavilion: buyers beware
Posted on December 08, 2003 #
Foiled again. Just replaced the hard drive a few weeks ago, and now the pin inside the laptop that connects to the power cord has snapped off. No power, no laptop.
There is a 50% chance that the pin can be repaired for a mere $115. There is a 50% chance that the whole motherboard will need to be replaced if any of it was damaged.
Notes for all those buying hp products:
The extended warranty wouldn't have covered this (considered "carelessness/negligence on my part"), so it's a good thing I didn't waste that money up front.
$600-$900 to replace the motherboard for the 5-cent DC-in pin snapping off? Think twice before buying.
focus, suddenly
Posted on November 30, 2003 #
I dedicated the first six months of this year to finding balance, after 2002's phenomenally lethargarian existence at The Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls. Leaving San Francisco for D.C., "focus" became the primary goal of the next six months--which are nearing a close.
Having flailed about, hoping to miraculously land a high-paying post to transfer me to Barcelona within two years... and then just any corporate job in Manhattan... then just any old job, etc., etc.... I think it's now time to go back to The Plan.
I left the country (back before the advent of licious.com) with the idea that no one should teach before living a life of their own. How much can you really look up to a teacher that never left school, and just switched sides of the desk?
My high school psych teacher was a fantastic role model, having done graduate work, working in hospitals, ad ultimately deciding that teaching was how he wanted to share what he loved with the world. (He's now even growing pumpkins commercially on the side!) With that type of life in mind, I set out to live life, planning on going back for an advanced degree later, settling into university professorhood and applied research afterwards.
Time's almost up on this Focus period. The way I see it, if I don't arbitrarily grab a deadline somewhere, I could muck about like this forever--or worse, end up in a job that chose me without any say in what I do for the next 10 or 15 years.
So I'm now looking at battling my mid-life crisis with a spankin'-new PhD in clinical psychology. 37 years old and just out of grad school? Crikey.
go fannie!
Posted on November 22, 2003 #
Walk for the Homeless was amazing. I'd guess numers in the tens of thousands, and much credit to Fannie Mae for their sponsorship criteria. Even a talented young (and local) trio performing on stage, and a visit to the spankin new Mammals wing of the Natural History Museum. Who knew Saturday mornings were good for anything but sleep?
homelessness
Posted on November 22, 2003 #
Help the Homeless. (<--Click for link)
response from an application
Posted on November 12, 2003 #
"I have received your e-mail with your application and supporting documentation. However, as your application was sent electronically, it indicates that the applcation was sent at 4:01PM, November 10, 2003. The closing date and time for accepting application was 4:00PM, November 10, 2003. Therefore, I am unable to accept your application."
ed note: I did not make this up. Received this morning at 8:14am.
p.s. On second thought, maybe government work is not for me.
november
Posted on November 09, 2003 #
November, Week 2
Tomorrow begins a round of phone calling. Necessity. Friends and leads and follow-ups. Can't consider merely sending in a resume to be applying for a job; got to beat on the door a few times and get at least one talk face-to-face.
Also wondering now what the field of international research on the effects of homelessness is like. Maybe that will narrow down the NGO and government focus for a starting point. After a week away--with the wedding and then the makeup shifts to make rent--it's back to the old momentum on Monday.
phuckt
Posted on October 22, 2003 #
And in a small but spectacular burst of microchips, the laptop ignites and sets his workstation into a inferno of counterproductivity.
Cafe Sofia is now history, and I may become full-time Palena staff within a week. This Friday is off.
Two coals look up at me from the smoldering remains, cock an eyebrow and ask if I'm going to let this get me down.
Hey, I bought my girl flowers yesterday, pal, and even got another outrageous $100 tip. It's not the entire world that's against me, just your unreliable, infected ass.
one less job
Posted on October 21, 2003 #
Tonight I begin training as a server at the good restaurant, as this Friday will be my last at--I now can admit it--the dive in Adams Morgan. (Sigh of release) Therapeutically speaking, admitting that is a weight lifted. I would have loved the place and its easy-going atmosphere, but that laissez faire will likely drive them flat, and make no one any money. Ah well. Luck to them in the future, but drinks this Friday are on the house.
welcome
Posted on October 18, 2003 #
Again, I am humbled by the reality that I run the simplest text in a blog you'll ever find.
To wit, Sadia.
bartender's lot
Posted on October 18, 2003 #
Only one shift left at Cafe Sofia, so any of y'all who want to take advantage of your Adams Morgan connections will have to make it this coming Friday night. After that, the manager will be hiring a former colleague from the Park Hyatt who wasn't supposed to quit there until December.
maguilla
Posted on October 15, 2003 #
Maguilla Jiu Jitsu looks to have won the battle of the dojos. More rough and tumble than the others; less discipline, more street fighting.
Maguilla had me work out with him on my trial day to get a feel for the style. While sitting on top of me, he comes out with "I'm going to start using strikes now." Great. A 4th-degree black belt cop, crushing me with perfect balance, and pounding my mug from close range with fists and elbows. And head, it turns out.
Gently, of course, or instead of typing, I'd have to post by drooling my words onto a waterproof touchpad.
worldwide opinion poll, 10.10.03
Posted on October 10, 2003 #
And now, faithful readers, we here at licious are granting you the once-in-a-lifetime (read: regularly occuring) opportunity to have a hand in directing the future of our favorite overeducated global wunderkind of chronic unemployment.
Throwing up a pathetic plea for help yesterday (caught only by two of the most avid licious readers), we here at the site have found ourselves with new and interesting suggestions for where to look for our next boss and lifestyle overlord. UNESCO? JCPenny? Take it seriously or take the piss; take me somewhere, people.
What should licious do? <-- That is a link. Click the link.
(Bear in mind this will impact directly the content on your favorite afternoon procrastinatory reading. Choose inventively.)
rebirth of a salesman
Posted on October 07, 2003 #
It is now upon me to sell myself to a salesman. An executive VP of international sales and marketing at that. Wish me luck. I have found, at least, that salesmen are often willing to give you a shot; professional courtesy if you will, maybe even a quick chance to learn something. I'll never forget the hyperspastic Japanese 25-year old who erupted into our Tokyo sales office extorting with every ounce of energy in his body the benefits of a stuffed cow that mooed. A truly remarkable feat of financial and professional desperation; I'd be lying to say I learned nothing from his passion...or that I wasn't tempted to waste the 1500 yen just to help him out.
yom kippur
Posted on October 06, 2003 #
So I decided not to eat today. Atone, sinner! Atone!
Grumble, grumble. (stomach) Kvetch, kvetch. (mouth)
I do feel closer to the Jew in me.
Kvetch.
another d.c. scam
Posted on October 06, 2003 #
As close as moving to this city continues to feel like a homecoming (I get increasingly riled up about the local colisseum fare), there are ways it astounds as much as any foreign culture.
The D.C. cab fare system is as bizarre as any I've seen, and could rival the Japanese arrangement as Most Able to Gouge a Customer. The city is divided into Zones, and travel within any one zone will run you $4.50. Crossing into the next, $6.90. During rush hour, add $1. After dark, add $1. If two people--now here's the kicker--share a cab to different destinations, each person pays the full amount from the point of origin. Drop me off on the way? We both pay full fare.
I haven't found a driver yet who can touch D.C. Cab in entertainment value; why should I pay $7.90 for the pitifully dull 10-minute short?
jiu jitsu dojo #2
Posted on September 30, 2003 #
If anyone is interested in seeing a list of dojos in the area, try the DC City Pages entry. It has been useful, and I'll post my reactions to the various places once I've seen a few more.
So far, Yamasaki is in the lead, though not on the list.
capoeira
Posted on September 24, 2003 #
Capoeira makes for a very practical second session following Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Rather like putting the cat in the drier after having the brilliant idea of washing it on "permanent press" in the first place. 3 hours of martial arts in a row?
Seriously, the continued aerobic activity and stretching out of tight muscles is excellent. Wonder how to afford the $125 a month.
cost-free customer support line
Posted on September 24, 2003 #
How long should one consider it reasonable to have a former employer's sole contact phone number forwarded to one's personal cell phone after all arrangements have ended?
Taking suggestions on what to do with such phone calls once a month has passed. (e.g. "who? no, you've reached Hubba-Hubba Hirsute Honeys," or "i'm sorry, sir, but the company is presently on vacation until further notice.")
Any better ideas? Please comment and I may use yours.
jiu jitsu
Posted on September 23, 2003 #
First class at a dojo in the DC area turned out to be a success. Also quite a pleasure attending a gym that seems to be properly run as a business. Introductory class is not free; it's $20 for 3 classes of your choice, and you get a T-shirt. Mat time for free sparring was a full third of the 90 minutes, and the instructors were relaxed and personable in their teaching.
Even got invited to jump into a recently begun Capoeira class afterward (and yes, I am feeling it), which I recommend as what felt to be an excellent counterbalance to the tightly balled up exercise of grappling. And to those studying Portugese.
28
Posted on September 23, 2003 #
Turned out to be a fantastic birthday. All your cards are on the desk, and licious is not alone in DC.
first looks
Posted on September 15, 2003 #
Walking up Massachusetts Avenue past the Greek and Togoan embassies, I reflected on the people I've seen over the last few days. This is not an attractive corner of the world. Nor does it outwardly express a great flair for much of anything.
The neighborhood around Dupont Circle has more than its fair share of stately nooks and crannies, and on the streets surrounding this apartment, the embassies and consulates outnumber both commercial and residential buildings. The trees are a delightful, lush, green expression of the humid mid-Atlantic environment. Skinny-legged centipedes skitter and the damp air drives you indoors if the mosquitos can't first. It feels more and more like coming home--especially with a down-to-the-wire Redskins victory on Sunday.
on
Posted on September 08, 2003 #
This thing is now on.
Four days in DC now, and the storm clouds have passed and left in their wake a week of beautiful weather, both meteorologically and metaphorically.
I leave this afternoon on a Greyhound for New York, and am looking for work more seriously than I have in a long time. Glad to have had the time to adjust in San Francisco; it was as close to the perfect location for re-entry as I can imagine.
Now that the feared year of 2003 is nearing a close, though, it is time to go out and get something to show for it.
This is a test
Posted on September 05, 2003 #
"Is this thing on?"
