Not having Internet access is really killing me.

First of all, it’s frakking boring as hell when you’re home all day, every day. Especially if you’re used to hopping online, checking news and blog sites, the general surfing around stuff that most of us do these days.

Secondly, it’s aggravating. When you’ve got bills to pay, or train tickets to buy, using dial-up on a phone that gets shoddy reception at best in my apartment is not the best way to navigate through a seven-page secure sign-on/purchase process.

Third, it’s frustrating. I am looking for jobs and filing my unemployment online weekly. Again, it’s possible to do this on my phone, but it would be very tedious. I also can’t email out my resume to anyone, as it is now isolated on my hard drive.

Verizon I supposed to be out today to figure out what is wrong with the modem. They have a ridiculous arrival window of 8am-7pm. That’s eleven hours long and can’t they narrow it down any closer than that? Imagine if you had that kind of leeway with your clients. Phone companies have such a scam going on.

And if they don’t come out today and fix it (something tells me they’re not going to, just my luck) then I’ll need to go to the public library or somewhere that I can use a computer to go online to at least do some job researching and file then file my weekly claim. Do public libraries still have free computers? Rephrase: Have DC public libraries ever even had free computers? Luckily I’m able to write this post as a local draft using WordPress’ mobile app and then post it all at the same time, instead of having to be online the entire time that I’m writing this.

So, if I did have proper Internet access I would be writing about such riveting things as this:

Yesterday I did a grocery store run mite out of necessity of getting outside of the apartment than anything else. I don’t think I’d been outside since Friday. It turned out to be a convenience run more than any kind of investigating what else was on sale: milk, deli turkey, cheese, bread, eggs, etc.

Purchase: $31.14
EBT Card Balance: $89.81
Club Card Savings: $9.77 (24% of purchase)

Update: Interwebs is back online! (Heavy sigh of comfort.)

In anticipation of the heating contractors coming in all afternoon I’ve moved the computer from the concrete-enclosed den to the living room and I’m amazed at how fast the wireless connection is now. While tempting to make this move permanent, I don’t want to have the computer occupying my entire tiny dining table. I know how cluttered my computer space normally gets and I don’t want that out in the middle of the room. The dining table also receives its own share of clutter. Doubleplusbad. I do like the full-bar signal strength indicator and the speed though. We’ll see. Come back in a week.

The heating contractors have been here, literally, all winter long trying to get the heat to work. The heating system installed is one of those split systems, where the fan unit is inside and the condensor thingie is outside on the roof or, in this case, around back. The A/C worked fine last summer, I don’t remember it being uncomfortable. But the heating systems in these things do not work, I’ve come to the conclusion. This is the 3rd one they’ve installed and today they’re dismantling the whole thing and then re-installing it. I think they’re biding their time until the weather turns seasons and the heat is no longer needed.
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DC is dead on the jobfront, at least in my field. As is Balmer, hon, Philly, Pittsburgh. But I discovered last night that NYC actually has three or four positions available that might be a good fit for me. Is the Big Apple calling me? I love New York but the idea of living there, trying to find an apartment, and not being dirt-poor is daunting. I’ll have to discuss this with mcG. And Single. Both are previous NYC residents and will have some insight.
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I guess I should head out to Safeway to spend down the remaining $36 on my EBT card. I won’t lose it; the money rolls over with tomorrow’s monthly deposit. But I should hit those weekly specials before they expire. And now that the heating guys are here (and will be here for a while) I could leave without having to let them in, and also knowing that they’re not going to finish and leave the joint unlocked.
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iTunes is pulling up some random, wacky stuff today. Right now: Journey’s Ask The Lonely. WTF? I have 4903 songs in my library and apparently I’m not aware of all of them.
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Walking to Safeway I called to check my EBT card balance. I knew it was about $36 but wanted to verify. It turns out that my monthly deposit was made on the 1st, while I thought it didn’t go in until the 4th. The balance was $212.70, which didn’t add up with the $148 original credit and the roughly $36 balance I thought I had. I checked the account activity and this month’s deposit is $176.00, $28 more than last month’s deposit. I started benefits last month on the 6th, so maybe it was prorated for those five days unused? Regardless, I’m happy the deposit had been made and thrilled that it’s even higher as a monthly standard!

Purchase: $37.00
EBT Card Balance: $175.70
Club Card Savings: $13.10 (25% of purchase)
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The contractor just walked in on me groovin’ to Andy Gibb’s I Just Wanna Be Your Everything. Now do you understand the invasion of privacy? Yikes.

How do you sum up yesterday? Is it a feeling of optimism in the air that hasn’t been felt in the last 10 years (or longer)? Is it the thrill of the future coming one day, yet a huge leap, closer? Is it the euphoria of bringing together of the largest gathering of people the country has ever seen?

This is what I did: I found out the night before that Chris & Jeff were having an inauguration breakfast at 8 and then leaving the school (their home) around 9. After Sunday’s madhouse trying to get home after the inaugural concert, I  seriously contemplating staying home and watching it on tv.

I set an alarm for 8, hoping that I could rally and meet up with them by 9. I knew the 8:00am breakfast was out of the question. At 8:20 I pull myself out of bed, knowing that if I hit the snooze one more time I’ll miss out on joining them.

I have neglected finishing this for three days now—maybe because I can’t believe it’s real.

I meet up with the gang on Maryland Ave since it was the closest place with two groups meeting in a straight line. The gang is: Judy, Velma, Ammiie(e), Jen, Cari (?), Kimmie, Scott 1, Doug, Shawn, Olive, Scott 2, Princess. Did I leave  anybody out? While waiting for them I used my debit card for the first time in five weeks at Jacob’s: small regular coffee, $1.86.

From there we start to join the masses walking towards the Capitol. We’re directed south of the Cap (because going north would mean crossing Pennsylvania Ave—the parade route) and already all the streets are closed off to vehicles and the streets are full of people. Turning south on Independence we skirt the Cap for a while until we are forced to swing it wide, south and way around to L’Enfant Plaza, where we’re actually walking on a closed freeway. Can you believe this craziness? And before that we saw the elevated freeway of 395 which was basically being used as a tour bus parking lot. Incredible.

After being routed back onto Independence around the Smithsonian castle we’re noticing that all entrances onto the Mall (just a block north of us) are closed off due to maximum capacity. At this point I’m starting to get a really bad feeling that we’re going to be standing on Independence Ave while Obama is getting sworn in.

20 minutes later we’re down to the Washington Monument and we see some clearing of people. We head over there and after some slight pushing and maneuvering we’re all situated in a great place to watch (considering), about 20 feet south of the Monument, with flags standing outright in the wind. Have I mentioned how cold it was? Yeah, it was about 30° before the wind chill. We don’t care, we’re all bundled up and ready for the proudness.

The atmosphere around us is euphoric, and in a political sense something I’ve felt only before at the 1992 Democratic Convention, being on the floor while Bill Clinton gave his speech. I’ve never been more proud or hopeful.

The aftermath: of course the entire ceremony is fantastic. We’re all in great moods and now starting to evacuate along with two million other people. Everything is fine until we get to L’Enfant Plaza (retracing our steps) where all the out-of-towners are trying to crowd onto the two Metro stops there. It’s crazy, it’s a Who concert circa 1978, it’s starting to get dangerous. We double back and find a way out and around the madness and then continue the walk home.

Chris & Jeff have invited everybody back to the school for chili, which is what everybody desperately needs on such a cold day. We eat (it turns into a feast) grab cocktails from Dick & Kitty’s and head up to their airplane room, which is where their home theater is. We watch taped events of the day unfold, and it is only then that I see the aerial shots and I’m in awe of the day and the people and the participation.

Here’s the Kicker

It’s around midnight, we’re all exhausted (those who are still awake) and it’s time to leave. Walking the five blocks home, I come up to C St which has motorcycle cops closing off the streets, Secret Service black minivans SUVs everywhere, and I am being told to STEP BACK from the sidewalk. Thirty seconds later, with flashing red and blue lights, comes THE MOTORCADE. Obama’s new tank/limo, complete with presidential seal speeds by. Is this real? They whiz by, traveling way too fast but they’ve got all the side streets closed off so the traffic lights don’t even matter. Once they’re gone, I ask one of the cops “Was that him?” and he says “Yeah, that was him.”

It was nice to have the Prez speed by my house, kinda returning the favor of doing all that walking just to go and see him.

Note: some of these photos were pilfered from friends.

After waiting all afternoon for the heater guys to show up and view/test/fix the fan heater unit, they tell me they’re not coming until tomorrow. Even after I talked to the dispatch at 1:30 and they said he was finishing up at a site and would be right over. I’ve had cabin fever all day but couldn’t leave because they said they were coming over and now I’m pissed. Actually I was pissed off earlier because of Facebook’s software update (which created just as many new bugs as it fixed) and this just sent me over the edge.

I’ve got to get out.

I can’t walk north for too far because after H St it becomes ghettoland (and also murderville); south is too familiar and short and eventually ghettoland, too; east becomes freeways & rivers); so it’s west I go. Again.

I figured I’d walk to Union Station and back, maybe come back down on H (if it’s not too dark) or maybe see if they’ve blocked off the entire Mall for quarantine yet, which I’m sure they have so I avoid that route.

When I get to Union Station though, I keep walking up Mass Ave. The next thing I know I’m crossing the 395 underground freeway, the convention center, Thomas Circle and Scott Circle. Dupont’s next. I figure I’ll hop on the D6 and ride it back but when I get there I realize it’s rush hour (for those employed folk) and I could probably walk home quicker than it would take to take the bus through downtown. 

So I spin a loop about the Circle and head back down Mass, headed back east. Once I get back to Union Station I’m really starting to feel my legs getting tired and my feet too.

All-in-all it was a pretty quick walk, quicker than I thought it would be: the roundtrip taking about 2.5 hours. I think the bitter cold kept me going at a pretty good pace. Distance: 7.25 miles.

I haven’t been outside since Wednesday evening. What’s going on out there in the world? Anything I should know about?

I woke up Thursday morning feeling congested and with a pinched nerve down the back of my right leg. Coughing spasms (which were becoming more and more frequent) would send bolts of pain down my entire leg so I tried to remain as still as possible but even rolling over in bed was a chore.

Friday I felt even worse, still with a pinched nerve but even more congestion, coughing and sneezing. With the nasty cold wet weather I couldn’t even muster energy to go outside for medications. Luckily I was scheduled for a Peapod delivery on Saturday so I hastily added $30 worth of flu, cough and cold meds to that order.

Saturday the pinched nerve had mostly subsided so at least I was able to have a sneezing fit without wincing in pain. Putting away the groceries exhausted me though; I chomped meds and collapsed in the couch.

Today I’m feeling better but still have some head congestion. I’m setting a 4-hour alarm to not forget my next dose so hopefully tomorrow I’ll feel back to normal, just in time to go back to work! Nothing says wasted vacation days like Thursday and Friday by spending them sick in bed.

List of tv/movie watching over the last four days: countless cooking shows, five episodes of The Office, the awesomely hot Ryan Bader win the light heavyweight UFC championship, The Fury, I Think I Do, The Empire Strikes Back, THX 1138, Die Mommy Die, Ed Wood. Number of parties not attended: four.

With the leftover ingredients from last weekend’s N.E.B. I have three quiches to make today. And some more potatoes. And some more bacon. I’m eating the last of the mini-bagels as I’m slightly dreading make them this huge brunch meal again, if only for the mess and dirty dishes it will produce. But I don’t want to waste the eggs and all the other ingredients that have taken over my refrigerator.

While I’m munching on my bagels and contemplating pouring a bloody mary (there’s that leftover too) I am face(booke)d with an offer from Patty to go out and have brunch. She’s practically saying that we’re going out and I have no say in the matter. Looking around at the quiche ingredients I’ve assembled on the counter I invite her over to 1526 to help me put a dent into the impending brunch extravaganza. I tell her we may need some champagne or vodka to make some brunch drinks and she says she’ll stop by the store and she’s on her way. Now I really have to get it in gear.

I recreate almost verbatim last week’s menu: veggie; sausage and green chile; three cheese. I don’t have any pics of them after cooking because we were so hungry but here they are still in liquid form before being put into the oven. So easy to make.

Let me say that Patty and I may or may not have ever met each other in person. We’re still trying to piece that together. We have a mutual friend, the self-described Funbags, and Patty and I have become Facebook Friends and since we’re both never more than 18-inches away from our phones there is a lot of Facebook status updating and commenting and all that it seems like we’re old friends now.

Patty, obviously distracted by shiny and/or pink things, arrives with a slew of liquid bevvies. The first that we tackled was Nuvo, which resembled a huge perfume bottle by J.Lo. Twas very pink, very girly and very sweet. It’s incredients are “ultra premium” vodka, sparkling wine, some peachy-nectar and extra carbonation. This bottle didn’t last very long.

Next was the 4-pack of Sofia Mini Blanc de Blanc from Francis Coppola. Again, cute, pink and sparkly, these reminded me of the ill-fated Tab Energy drinks from a few years ago. Small and compact, these didn’t last very long either.

Then we popped open the discoball-contained bottle of Absolut and tried to make an actual discoball out of it but apparently I don’t have enough pinpoint lighting. I’ll have to work on that. To complete our disco theme we launched Rhapsody (Patty has an account) and started playing DJ well into the evening.

All in all it was a fun, unexpected turn of events of the day’s planned laundry-a-thon. And I had someone to help enjoy at least some of all the food that was made.

(Sorry G—forgot to save before posting.)

The six-egg quiche for a 9-inch pan is a good rule of thumb. Different recipes I had gathered called for anywhere from 4–10 eggs. The first recipe I was making called for six eggs and that seemed to fill up the pan nicely so that’s what I went with for the remaining recipes.

I had invited five people over for our New Economy Brunch, four of whom showed up. Having never made quiches before I was a little uncertain about how many to prepare. I figured on four but then had enough extras on hand to produce six. I was also serving mini-bagels, fried potatoes and fresh fruit so I really had no idea how much quiche each person would be eating.

I figured three pans would fit easily into my oven at a time so I prepared those first and then held off on cooking the 2nd round of three, but everything was chopped and ready mix, all I had to I was crack some eggs and start whiskin’.

Quiche 1: egg, tomato, onion, fresh parsley, cheddar and mozzarella cheese;
Quiche 2: egg, pork sausage, tomato, green chile, cheddar cheese;
Quiche 3: egg, cheddar, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

With the potatoes I had prepared, bacon and fruit, it turned out that those three quiches were more than enough for everyone (leftovers), so I didn’t get to try out the mushroom/spinach combo or my bacon recipe. I have enough extra ingredients to try them out this week, although I think I am going to be all cholesteroled out.

People I know are starting to get laid off from their jobs. Frankly, I’m expecting to get the same talk any day now, or at least someone in the studio getting let go. My department hasn’t had much (if any) work for the last couple of months, and with three of us tenured in that department something’s got to give.

In addition to a friend in Chicago, a local good friend’s husband was recently laid off. She says they’ll do fine, that they’re in good shape and is optimistic about finding new employment, but it’s still a little scary.

While our gang of friends try to get together for a brunch whenever we can (and is not often), we were planning for this Saturday afternoon. With the recent news, and everybody’s financial belt tightening, instead of going out and spending money on brunch I’ve decided to serve brunch at my place. Hopefully this will be more cost-effective for everyone involved.

I spoke with Franklin last weekend while I was contemplating hosting this and he had a great idea for quick quiches instead of me making omelettes for everyone. Some potatoes, fresh fruit and maybe some muffins and I figure that should be a pretty good spread. Add to that mimosas and bloody marys and we’re good to go!

Not a lot has happened this weekend. At least not a lot that I participated in. Saturday I woke up with a sty-eye which after some interwebs investigation I found out is actually chalazion. TMI? Maybe. I didn’t even go to Blowoff but I reluctantly found the energies to run to the co’ sto’ before they closed up last night to get garlic and onions for the sauce I didn’t get around to making today. It was cold out!

Now let’s get to the sauce. One of my favorite smells ever is olive oil, garlic and onions heating up in a pan. I didn’t have any meat to put into this batch, and I wasn’t about to go outside in the cold to get any. Since this was to be a straight tomato sauce I decided to double up on some of my ingredients.

I had a huge white onion which I chopped up and added to it an entire head of garlic, which ended up being about 10 cloves. Yum! After those two started to sweat in the olive oil I added: tomato sauce, stewed, diced and crushed tomatoes, mustard, a beer, crushed red pepper, cumin, sugar, ground chipotle, whole black peppercorns, oregano, adobo seasoning, ground mustard and salt & pepper. Is that everything? I can divulge the amount of each ingredient because I don’t measure; I just season it to taste. Cook all of that down for three or four hours and that sauce was good to go.

While Food Network today was all about Thanksgiving recipes (with lots of great stuffing recipes) this sauce is good to eat for a few dinners. After that I will usually freeze the remainder in single-serving bags for later use. And that’s how the weekend went.

This has not been a good evening for public transportation in the District. First I was dissed by the D6 driver downtown as I was hurried to catch the bus. I had crossed the street and waved at the driver, who was starting to accelerate from the stop. He saw me and pointed forward as if to indicate he would continue through the intersection and pick me up on the other side. So I’m running back across the skreet obli to see the bus not even slow down, buy continue full throttle on its route. Asshole.

This makes me about an hour later from when I wanted to get home so that I could pack for tonight’s trip. Buy it turns out I had plenty of time, even to shower up after the humidity of today’s persistant drizzle.

Then it’s back outside to wait for the 7:59 to take me to Union Station to catch my train. Oh, I’m going up for the weekend to visit with Franklin. I’m outside ten minutes early and Shreve(port) from upstairs comes outside too; he’s going out to party in Georgetown and is waiting for the D6 as well. The bus is more than 15 minutes late and I resort to desperate measures: call Goldy to see if she can give me (us) a ride to the station. Luckily she’s home and comes and picks us up. (She did, however, look as if she were planning to spend a night with a pirate.)

At the station I find that the line for the 198 Northeast Regional is redonk but getting on the train it isn’t that bad. Right now I’ve passed BWI and everyone still has a seat open to their side. The Conductor has told us this is a 7-car train. Amtrak has finally upgraded their notification system in the terminal from circa-1986 Zeniths with IBM-multicolor (cyan, magenta, that green- you know) to a refined monochromatic look that is actually easier to read.

The blond cutie across the aisle from me has popped open his Macbook and a scientific calculator. And of course an iPhone.

My car’s number is 44234. Nice.

Dude directly across the aisle from me gets on at Balmer, hon, and has an iPhone. That’s three within eyeshot.

I’m having a rum & diet Coke. J’adore le train travel.

Wow, iPods really are everywhere.

Franklin is driving me back on Sunday, and bringing down his old home theatre system which he’s giving to me. Ain’t that sweet? I’ve already warned Shreve(port) to tell the J/Ts if they hear lasers or explosions coming from the basement, not to worry.

Coming up on Aberdeen, MD, only about 30 mins to Wilmington! I better rush up on this cocktail.

How many times have I visited Franklin while he’s lived here? Hmmmm… Maybe six or seven? His place now is so much nicer and bigger than the studio he was in originally. Although it was cramped, he fixed it up nicely and we still had a great time.

Soundtrack for the train: Yaz. But now a text from Goldy makes me want to hear Ebn-Ozn.

Nice touch: 120v outlets at every seat to keep all batteries at their maximum.

Uhoh. Train stop 10 minutes south of Wilmington. Smell of burnt disc brakes. Okay, we’re moving. Keep chugging along 198. I think you can I think you can!

Wilmington!