Author: Jon

Local Nanowrimo participants?

I just realized that the movie script version of National Novel Writing Month is kicking off its inaugural session in 21 days.

Since last year’s Nano ended, I’ve moved from Northern Virginia to DC, which means that have a whole new group of fellow participants to not go out and meet.

Is there an active group of Columbia Heights (and nearby areas) Nanoers who plan to do Script Frenzy?

Youre a pain, Cingular

I’ve been having some problems at work.  It’s a really long story that I won’t go into because it’s not that interesting, but the end result is that I need wireless internet access for my work computer.  I did some brief research, and decided that online reviews suggest that Sprint has the best internet service.  Corporate tech support vetoed Sprint.  “We would prefer not to use Sprint”, they said.  Whatever.  Verizon was pretty expensive, and they have this really cool reputation for selling “unlimited” access and then cutting off service for people who use too much bandwidth.  Plus they’re trying to kill Vonage over some ridiculous patents (Search Techdirt if you want more info), which makes me salty.

Anyway, we went with Cingular.  The only other option was TMobile, and everything I’ve ever heard about them suggests that they are the Hyundai of mobile phone providers.

The Cingular card has been basically unusable.  I tried to download a large text file today and the connection cut out.  I tried to remote login to our server back at the main office to tweak some settings and the connection cut out.  I can’t talk to my wife on GTalk because it keeps signing me in and out.

To top it off, I need the wireless number attached to the card to even be allowed to speak to tech support.  I don’t have that because I didn’t buy the card, work did.  And work tech support took the day off today or something, so I couldn’t get the number I need.

In any event, I have my work laptop at home, and I’m seriously considering doing some work from here, where I have a reasonable internet connection.  But we’re going to have to figure this out, because I can’t work from home all the time (Not that I would mind).

So, Cingular, your tech support will get its chance to try and help me, but if you tell me to reinstall the connection software, I will seriously come to your house and do something really awful, like use your restroom and leave the toilet seat up.

A good habit

I don’t like to throw away food. I mean, who does? But sometimes you’re left with some kind of random stuff in the fridge, and you don’t feel like going to the store, but you really would like some dinner. What do you do?

Well, if you’re me, today, you order pizza.

Actually, I’m just kidding. What you’d do, if you were me this evening, is go to Hi Market and buy a six-pack of Sierra Nevada, two Vitamin Water XXX’s (Because you’ve never seen that flavor – it’s all rich in antioxidants and stuff), and some corn tortillas. Then you come home and wait for your wife to get home from happy hour. Late, as usual. And her cell phone died over the weekend, and you haven’t replaced it yet, so she couldn’t let you know. It’s okay, though. You just naturally assumed that she’d be late, and it didn’t bother you that much.

Next, you take the leftover onions and green pepper from making veggie burgers the other night. You saute them in some organic canola oil because you just ran out of organic olive oil over the weekend. Then you add some Quorn fake chicken, the spicy black bean salsa you made last week to serve with fish, and serve in the tortillas with some rice.

Your wife might then have to add the tail ends of two bottles of store-bought salsa and a bottle of picante sauce because it’s a little dry, but luckily that’s not enough to give her credit for cooking, so she still has to clean up.

You might later have to do some work, because you’ve been spending a lot of the work day checking your site traffic after not one but two links from Wonkette this week (A slow week, you guess. You swear you’re not paying anyone on staff there. Really.).

Anyway, that’s what you’d do if you were me.

Are you kidding me? The trash cans?

Who steals a trash can? My wife tells me they’re kind of pricey, but seriously. I’m still hoping that someone in the building will offer an explanation, but I really can’t imagine what explanation there could be. I put the cans out at the end of the driveway last night around 10pm. At 6pm today, they were gone. I don’t know what happened in the meantime. Perhaps one of the building residents who parks out back can tell me the last time they were seen, but they haven’t responded to my email yet.

What can we do about this? I don’t think there’s any way to secure the cans and still leave them free enough for the garbage men to pick them up. We can put our address in big numbers on the side, but I don’t think that will be terribly effective.

To whoever has our trash cans: I hope you enjoy them. I hope, very soon, you accidentally place something very dear to you in one of them. I hope you then realize that you’ve done this about an hour after the bins are picked up. To quote my 6th grade math teacher in a moment near nervous breakdown (It wasn’t my fault, it was Lucas’), “Karate Kid says, ‘What goes around comes around’.” I’m not sure he really said that, but it’s true nevertheless.

About nothing in particular

The Metro was empty this morning. Is there some holiday I don’t know about?

It still amazes me how different a city neighborhood is from a suburb neighborhood. I lived in my condo in Falls Church, VA, for two years. The only neighbor I spoke to more than once was the guy two doors down who signed for my vaccuum cleaner, and the women one floor down because the seal on my toilet broke and started leaking into their ceiling.

Now, I’ve been in the city for about two months. I’ve met a few of the people next door. Someone who lives down the street contacted me through Flickr to welcome me to the neighborhood. And I know everyone in my building, although that’s partly because of the condo association meetings.

I find myself feeling very smug about moving into the city. Walking to the neighborhood market, hopping on the bus to meet the wife for happy hour, listening to people talk through the open screen to the cat sitting in the windowsill . . .

In any event, I’m very happy with our decision to move. I’m glad we decided that we couldn’t afford anything we liked in Ballston and Clarendon.

I realize that this is a little rambling, and I’m not sure I ever really had a point. Maybe I’m just confused because it’s Monday morning and I’m not actually in a terrible mood. There’s probably a full moon or something tomorrow.

Now Im a donor and an independent

I got my DC license today. It was a pretty painless experience, contrary to what I’d heard about the DC DMV.

I had two choices to make that I had totally forgotten about. No, not whether or not to lie about my weight. I’ve been losing weight, and last I checked I was under 200 pounds, so I’m good with my real weight. The questions were my political party and whether or not I wanted to be a donor.

First, the donor question. I’ve never been one. It kinda creeps me out. I mean, I’m not so paranoid that I think the paramedics are going to let me die so some adorable little kid can have my liver. And I do, on some level, like the idea of saving some lives with my body parts after I don’t really need them anymore.

But I also like to think of myself as solid all the way through. I don’t like the idea of veins and organs and whatnot. Frankly, it makes me queasy. I nearly failed biology in high school because of it. Or maybe it was because I was lazy and bored in class. Whatever. The point here is that I don’t like thinking about my organs or what’s going to happen to them.

However, as I was filling out the form, I decided that my desire to help others outweighed my queasiness at checking “Yes” on the donor section. So I’m a donor now. I’ll try and take care of my organs. Someone might need them one day.

I also decided to register to vote in DC as an independent. I know that means I can’t vote in the primary, and that pains me a little. I know that I don’t get to vote on a lot living here, and I shouldn’t be voluntarily giving up opportunities. But I just couldn’t bring myself to register with a party. I might change my mind if there’s an important primary, but right now I can’t do it.

I was a Democrat when I was little because my parents were. I had a Dukakis sticker on my lunchbox in middle school. I didn’t really know what that meant. I know that one of the guys in my class who had Republican parents gave me a lot of crap about it. Then, in college, I was a Republican, probably because a bunch of my friends were, and it seemed like a good idea. I really do agree with a lot of the Republican ideals. Not that the current crop of Republicans demonstrates any of those ideals, but that’s not the point.

The point is that I don’t see either the Democrats or the Republicans working for the people. Their first responsibility is to the party, and I can’t get behind that. Do people really go into politics thinking, “I really love the RNC. I’m going to dedicate my life to increasing their fundraising power”? I can’t imagine they do, because I like to have a little more faith in human nature than that.

So I’m an independent and a donor.  I’m pretty happy with that.

DMV in SouthWEST – Not so bad

I’ve heard many, many horror stories about the DC DMV. In fact, I’ve heard nothing good about it. So imagine my surprise when I got to the DMV on M St SW this morning, just as they opened, and got my brand new DC driver’s license in about a half an hour.

The metal detectors at the door were a little unexpected, but the rest of the experience was totally pleasant. The staff was, without exception, pleasant and efficient. I have had equivalently nice DMV experiences in Maryland and Virginia, but never better than what I had this morning.

So, kudos to you, M St SW DMV. You exceeded all my expectations this morning, and I appreciate it.

The real test will be when I get back from my friends’ wedding this weekend and try to get my car registered in DC. I’ll be at the Georgetown DMV for that one, because I’ve heard it’s the nicest. I’ll report back after that experience.

Featured Complaint of the Week

Complaint: Dumbass Major League Baseball

There is no reason to freaking block a game because it’s on ESPN. IDIOTS!

So, one of my more obnoxious friends has been badgering me to upgrade the Your Complaints section of Complaint Hub for a while.  I haven’t done it because I’m lazy.  He wants to be able to reply to complaints.  I’ve told him to go to Ventbox, but he ignores me.

One of these days I’ll get around to it.  Probably not this week.  But one of these days.

Come back soon, Eastern Market

Washington Post: Eastern Market: What We’ve Lost

It’s all over the news, so you’ve likely heard, but Eastern Market burned down last night. I’m very glad that I finally made it out there for the first time a few weeks ago. I don’t think I could hope to retain my DC resident status, parking tickets notwithstanding, if I had never been to Eastern Market.

My fear now is that it won’t be rebuilt without some kind of “anchor store”, like a chain grocery or a Starbucks. That would certainly ruin some of the feel of the market. I can’t claim to be a regular visitor, or claim any nostalgia at the market being part of my life, so it’s hard for me to talk about the feel of the market. But even my one visit was nice, and I can’t imagine it being reborn as something like Dean and Delucca in Georgetown.