DC

Rami schmoozes on Crossfire,
originally uploaded by Island Spice.

My friend Rebecca, who is one of the coolest chicks you'll ever meet, and who has exotic stories about adventures in Sinai, and who works for a women's rights organization in Cairo, came all the way to DC this week and met me for lunch. Well, I'm not the reason she came, but I got to see her while she was out here doing Important Grown Up things for her job, like asking people for money. Anyway, it was neat to see her again after a year and a half, and tonight we are going to Chi-Cha, which sounds like a fun time. Plus, they have hookah, whose smell I grew addicted to living in Beirut. (But I only smoked it once.) Click here for amusing website about hookah!

...Maybe it's just me, but Abu Mazen and Dick Van Dyke look remarkably similar.

Why do busses ALWAYS have squeaky brakes?

Sara, Lori, Meg, this made me think of you, mainly because I saw this SNL episode with you.

My esteemed co-worker Rami persuaded me to go with the other interns and watch a taping of Crossfire (which, as you know, has been in the news lately in its own right) the other day. Having never actually seen the TV show, the experience was slightly less exciting for me than it could have been, perhaps, but I'm still glad he convinced me to go. Usually I am glad when people convince me to go somewhere, but I never think I will be glad. I'm kind of a homing pigeon, and once I get home, I don't want to leave, even if I know that I am leaving to go to a fun place ad I will have a good time.

Anybody know of cheap places to live in DC? (Ok, how about relatively cheap?) I'm in the market for an apartment due to upcoming house additions, which will mean no roof on my bedroom. And when it snows, that can get uncomfortable.

I had to drop off a packet at the State Department yesterday, which should have been very easy. I had the address, 301 4th St. NW. I saw 400 4th St, so naturally I thought that 301 would be across the street on the next block. Just to make sure, I asked a security guard, who had no idea. So I walked in the direction of 301. But 301 wasn't there, so I turned around and asked a bunch of employees who were on their smoke break. "Is this 301?" and they said, "Yeah...what are you looking for?" And I said, "State." And they said, "This is 301." So I went in and halfway through security check, I asked again, "Is this 301, where the State Department is?" But Ms. Security Guard said, "Oh, that's 401, across the street by McDonalds." And I said, "Oh, I have written down 301." to which she replied, "301, 401, yeah, whatever." (Which makes one wonder about the effectiveness of even HAVING numbers on the doors...) But I found it, 301, right next to McDonalds, which is 400. This numbering system does not make sense to me.