RETURNING SHORTLY

Of course, getting back into the swing of things here in the District is proving just as time consuming as I figured. Plus, I have at least 3 posts of a goodly length planned out to recount last week's jaunt across Western Europe, with 300+ photographs to sift through. It'll be worth it.

In the meantime, to answer a question Welcome to Blog asked over e-mail: Of course they put mayo on their fries (they call them chips, chips are crisps, and fries are nothing) over there, but then I remember doing the same thing at Rennie's Landing in Eugene, so I'm not sure what the big deal is.

Hang tight. Could take me a couple days.

P.S. — Of course, Blog P.I. is still moving forward at full steam. Most importantly, OXR is staying on as a full-time contributor. Already it's at least twice as worth reading.

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posted by WWB at 7:16 PM |

 
NOW IS THE TIME ON SPROCKETS WHEN WE GO ON HIATUS

In just an hour or so, I'll be getting on a Metro train, then a commuter train, then an airplane, then another airplane, another airplane, another train, then one more commuter train, and if everything in that chain of events goes right, I will be in Ludwigsberg, Germany with Morgen Morgan by sometime tomorrow evening. I hope they serve beer on Sundays.

The whole of next week will be split between points unknown across northsouthwestern Germany and Amsterdam, with MM and The Color of Your Energy. Unless I hit an Internet cafe, this could be the longest I've gone without being on the Internet since, well, since the Internet. But I'll be taking notes and taking pictures, so I should have something to say about it upon return.

Blog P.I. will continue under the able stewardhip of one OXR, and I'll be back in front of this MacBook Pro in exactly one week (although not necessarily composing new entries yet).

Until then, Auf Wiedersehen.

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posted by WWB at 8:36 AM |

 
THINGS I HAVE DONE AND NOT BLOGGED ABOUT

The longer time I take off, the longer the list gets. Here are some noteworthy things I have done, off the top of my head, but haven't had the time or energy to chronicle at this here weblog. Until now:

• For the first time, I visited the pathetic National Aquarium down on the National Mall. It's in the basement of the Commerce Dept., Here are some pictures which will not inspire you in the slightest:
  
  
  
  
  They should really just call it the Commerce Dept. Aquarium.



• The District got hit by record rains, flooding federal buildings, wreaking havoc on the Metrorail system, and with it, my commute. I probably spent twice the time commuting as usual. This gave me plenty of time to take pictures of my environs, few of which came out. This is one of them:
  
  
  


• In twenty-minute bursts of rain and thunder and lightning, the rain continued:
  
  
  


• The skies cleared just in time to watch the fireworks from my apartment balcony for the third year in a row, and this time, the residents of Columbia Heights put on a better show than the feds. This is partly because clouds moved in and obscured the show on the Mall, partly because one rocket hit a nearby tree, and yet another rocket came within 20 feet of a friend's head. Here is a video which fails to capture the chaos:
  
  
  


• I swept my entire apartment for the first time in months, and took Pine Sol to the floors for the first time ever. This is from just a couple months' buildup in my tiny kitchen area, maybe 18 square feet at most:
  
  
  
  Yes, you needed to see that.



• It was a long July 4th weekend. Five days, in fact, since I got sick in advance of the scheduled four-day weekend. One of those days, I went grocery shopping, and along the way took pictures of the construction zones up on 14th. Because when that construction is over, all we'll have to remember it by is the condos. Memories:
  
  
  
  


• I went to the beach with a couple friends, camping for two nights on Assateague Island (yes, Assateague, we've been over this before) in Maryland. I went wave jumping, bonfire on the beach-ing, and then wave jumping again at night, going all the way out again up to my neck. A brilliant move, I assure you, in part because I'm told this is when sharks are out. But our animal troubles were fortunately more limited: robbed by a seagull for one piece of bacon, countless bites by mosquitos (my legs are covered in toothpaste right this minute) and just as I was typing this paragraph, a stowaway junebug flew into me and died on impact. I have no pictures, because I forgot to charge my camera's battery. Sorry.



• At long last, on the third opportunity, I saw international cult pop/cartoon sensation Puffy Ami Yumi perform live. It was easily the strangest crowd I've seen for any rock concert: a few hipsters and stoners, plenty of anime geeks, young teenagers and their supervisory parents, the occasional creepy old dude. In other words, a cross-section Cartoon Network's audience. Here are some blurry pictures I took before a polite Japanese man came up and told me no photos were permitted:
  
  
  



• And just minutes from making my live debut on national radio, I launched this blog.

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posted by WWB at 10:38 PM |

 
IN GOD WE TRUST (ALL OTHERS PAY EUROS)

For some reason, ESPN pre-empted the annual Coney Island hot-dog eating contest for the World Cup. This is simply unacceptable. I know, the U.S. stood no chance in that competition, but at least it was ours and at least we were in the running. (And how can you not love Kobayashi, who broke his own record again this year?) The Nats won their fourth straight game today... not that anyone outside of RFK saw it.

Also, there's a thunderstorm going on outside, which if memory serves, happened two ID4s ago as well. I spent 5 minutes trying to get a good video capture, and failed. No, my digi is not a true video camera, nor was meant to be.

For some likewise irritated July Fourth thoughts on matters of slightly more import, see the OHE.

Time to make burgers.

Update — To be honest, I would have preferred Germany win, but only because Morgen Morgan, whom I understand was watching the game from the Ludwigsberg town square.

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posted by WWB at 5:22 PM |

 
WHY OH WHY CAN'T WE HAVE A BETTER TELEVISION LINEUP? (APOLOGIES TO BRAD DELONG EDITION)


Of course, we know the answer why the Nationals game is not playing right now. Ozzie, please hurt them for me.

P.S. — Why oh why can't we have a better-updated Canard? Beats me.

Update — Thanks for nothing, White Sox. Jay Mariotti is rubber and you're glue.

Updated again — And I missed this for that? You know, I could maybe get behind punitive redistributionary socialism just so long as it only applied to Peter Angelos and Comcast.

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posted by WWB at 7:52 PM |