Short Stops-

Breaking Wind: I was physically assaulted by the wind this morning. I could barely walk up 18th Street. My ears are still ringing a good 30 minutes since I've been indoors. This is the third city in which I have lived (Boston, NYC, now DC) where city planners have not taken into account wind tunnels and patterns. I think we should pass a bill that requires city planners to include a meteorologist in the planning of city roads and structures. It seems that these architects and engineers (like L'Enfant in DC) spend so much damn time making the roads into organized grids that they fail to note the way nature will respond to their creations. Plus, meteorologists aren't taken seriously enough. It's a major scientific field requiring very specialized training, and most of us just think of Al Roker or Hillary Banks on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.



CPK: At 26, I've learned to pretty much fend off the pressures of my peers. I'm still keen on joining them, but not just because I can't beat them. If I want to beat them, I've realized that I probably don't like them that much, and it's probably not worth my time to hang with them. But then there are the subtle suggestions toward incorporation within a group like going to California Pizza Kitchen with your girlfriends for dinner. I'm a meat lovers pizza, garlic and cheese foccacio, fried chicken when at Chick-fil-A, bacon, egg and cheese at brunch sort of girl. So last night while dining with SC & SG at CPK, I felt a bit uncomfortable ordering my chicken caesar foccacio sandwich while the two of them ordered half salads with balsamic vinegar dressing or dressing on the side. And I know it's just food, and I certainly don't watch what I eat, but that's the worst thing about dining with your girlfriends. When they eat healthier than you, it makes you feel like a complete fatty. Even if you're starving and don't watch what you eat at all.



De-Port the Bartenders: Went to happy hour at Porter's last night and was having a splendid time mingling with everyone. Two girls planned the evening and invited friends who invited friends who invited friends... well we all know how that goes. Turns out someone there who must have been a friend of a friend (of a friend of a friend, etc.) opened a tab with the exact same credit card and similar last name as APK. The bartender gave the chick APK's card and billed her tab to his card. Quite the buzz kill. No one who remained at the happy hour knew of this girl. We red flagged APK's card in the end. Some explanations of how this mistake could have taken place might be that this girl looks really manly or maybe the exact opposite is true and she's got Pamela Anderson caliber breasts that distracted the fraternity bartender types. Regardless, we had a Where in the World is Carmern Sandiego? game going last night... do you know AG? Does anyone know AG? Where do we think AG lives? Does the name AG sound familiar? Does anyone have a friend who was here with another friend that they didn't know? And so on. Sort of interested to see who AG might be. I've asked that once we find out we send a mass e-mail with her picture attached. I'm hoping less that she's wearing a long red cape and hat and more that she's wearing a red and white striped shirt and round glasses with black frames.