My blog

So... very... bored. My office-mate and another co-worker spent, no kidding, 30 minutes talking about driving in traffic. It's my fault for taking a job as a computer scientist, I guess. Every time I try to talk at work about current events, or pop culture, or something, I don't know, HALFWAY INTERESTING, I get blank stares.

So to cheer myself up and try to feel somewhat relevant, I went to the Dupont Circle movie theaters to see The Cooler. Not the best multiplex ever; the theaters I was in had room for only about 50 people, and the screen was tiny and at an unnatural neck-stretching angle. The heating system causes the ceiling to crackle while it's running, and the sound from the screen isn't that great anyway. Which didn't stop them from charging $8.50 for a ticket and $8+ for a popcorn and coke.

Basically, it's not too different from Visions; if you love movies, it's hard to watch them this way.

In an attempt to dodge the cold, I stopped by the Four Courts pub in Arlington for a pint of Bass. Four Courts would be more authentic as an Irish pub if it wasn't filled with MBA yuppie scum. The choad next to me was showing off his wireless PDA and making himself feel self-important by checking his e-mail. Which I'm sure was necessary at 10:30 p.m. Then, for the next 20 minutes, he and the bartender discussed which satellite radio stock is better to buy, Sirius or XM. I think they thought it was strange when I started banging my head against the bar.

I must, I must... I must get out of this city. For my own sanity.

If only the DMV worked as hard as the car jockeys

Tom Knott tackles the D.C. DMV, the new cell phone driving ban, and car jockeys.

The cell-phone ban really does seem odd to me, because it allows you to use hands-free devices, which don't really alleviate the distraction:

"The intuitive belief is that if it’s hands-free, or voice-activated, it is safe, but we haven’t seen any proof of that," says one source who asks not to be named but is actively involved in driver distraction research. "The research we have seen is showing that is not true at all."

So far, the National Traffic Safety Board seems to agree.

"Our studies seem to show that cognitive distraction can be more significant than visual distraction."Of course, in D.C., with its confusing network of one-way streets, dead ends, traffic circles, traffic-snarling construction, and the lack of adequate lighting and signage, it's sometimes distracting enough just trying to figure out where the hell you are. Talking on a cell phone probably doesn't help.

My suggestion: force D.C. drivers to play Mario Kart at home for at least one hour a day. That's helped me immensely.

More cartoons, vich ve love

Not my work, but I agree with the sentiment

Way to go

There was a big accident on I-95 yesterday south of Baltimore, involving a tanker falling from a ramp onto the Interstate and melting everything and everyone nearby.

No big deal; you live in a big city, you have to expect a mammoth road-melting accident once every decade or so. But here's the part that I hate:

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said there were no indications that the crash was an act of terrorism, a possibility many in the area feared when they heard the explosion and saw the tall cloud of smoke climbing from the fire.

People, I'm just going to go ahead and say what nobody else will: the terrorists won.

OK? Happy, 9/11 hijackers? It's almost two and a half years later, and you've got us fearing the worst every time something bad happens. Hats off to you. Mission accomplished. You've given us the Patriot Act and double-secret arrests; we fought all these wars throughout our history to protect our freedom, and now we're our own worst oppressors. You gave us the asinine "terror color scale", which I predict will never fall below yellow in its lifetime, and the unnecessary full-scale invasion of a similarly brown-skinned country. You wanted a jihad and you got it!

And we're so skittish that we cower in fear every time some bad accident happens. We're not a brave country any more; we're a bunch of Chicken Littles, running around with our heads cut off.

So way to go!

Anyway, I've got to return these books to the library before Ashcroft gets suspicious, so see ya...

Bang your head

If not for these freely available remixes, I would have thrown myself out of my office window. Get them before the RIAA finds out and they go away.

Beats make work bearable (or at least enough so that I don't actually kill myself). MORE BEATS PLEASE!

Mail

Non-binding Democratic primary update:

You may wish to consider revising the 10% turnout your cite in your Jan 14th entry to reflect the most recent numbers from the DCBOEE.

The turnout for the Democratic primary was 16.5%, which is about twice the turnout for the last couple of primaries. Overall turnout, including Statehood Green & precincts 63 & 64 recall effort was 12.6%.

greg

So there you go. Still 0% binding though, compared to 100% binding in the last election.

A "non-binding beauty contest"

The first Democratic presidential primary in the nation was held yesterday in the District, in an attempt to get out the message to the rest of the country that D.C. has no actual voting representation in Congress. It was a challenge that D.C. accepted, and then hilariously failed.

Because what better way to demonstrate your willingness to be enfranchised than... holding a non-binding primary that only four of the nine candidates participate in, and that only 10 percent of registered voters show up for? Oh right, any other way would be better.

"Were we going to get record turnout? No. I didn't expect that," said Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), who did not endorse a candidate. "But what we've gotten here today was more exposure on the issue of D.C. voting rights than any other time."

[crickets chirp]

Logic surrenders

Still no baseball in Washington or Northern Virginia. But apparently Norfolk, Va. has a shot at the Expos!? Fuck you, Bud Selig and Peter Angelos. Fuck you up your stupid asses.

Meanwhile, the RIAA has some people impersonating police officers to shut down on-the-street piracy. "Drop that From Justin to Kelly soundtrack, put your hands up and back away slowly!"

It's very cold

I'm in my apartment. I can't feel my toes.

I wish my apartment had been built after heat was invented.

Primarily retarded

D.C. is gearing up for its Jan. 13 presidential primary, which is sure to bring all kinds of attention to the fact that D.C. has no representation in congress. The nation is on the edge of its seat, waiting to see whom the District will annoint as the best Democratic candidate for President in this non-binding primary.

Now, if you'll allow me to close the HTML sarcasm tag...

</sarcasm>

Ah, that's better. Only four of the major national candidates are on the ballot: front-runner Dean, Kucinich, Mosely Braun and Sharpton. One of them didn't show for today's big debate at George Washington University... you guessed it, Dean.

So the big debate today was between Kucinich, Mosely Braun and Sharpton. Yeah. The probable 7th, 8th and 9th place finishers squared off in a battle of wits... to the death!

Hey, now there's a way to garner attention for the District. Have them battle to the death. Not sure who I would bet on. Probably Mosely Braun.

Icy Roads, Metro Delays Cause Commuting Headaches

Washington combines the worst parts of living in the Northeast and the South into one city. Apparently, we inherited the South's penchant for being unable to deal with a "nano-layer" of snow, as the city comes to a complete standstill this morning after a light dusting.

Jen Waters' new (unpublished?) masterpiece

Brace yourselves.

From the moment the sun comes up in the morning to the second the moon and stars appear in the night sky, human beings see everything around them because of light, says Anthony Johnson, director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. In fact, every time someone listens to a CD, watches a DVD, buys something at the grocery store or makes a phone call, light is most likely enabling the activity.

I... wow.

Light is most likely enabling the activity.

Human beings can see things because of light, according to this random expert in photonics research.

Why are those presses still running? STOP THEM NOW, DAMMIT!

Summing it up

Bad Boys II soundtraaaaack!

I'm glad the Redskins have finally found their next Joe Gibbs. But I can't help thinking that Spurrier better represented the spirit of the town, making $5 million a year to sit on his ass and basically not care about the kind of job he was doing.

I've maintained that the Redskins represent Washington not just on the football field, but in all the ways this mish-mash of a megalopolis suuuuucks. Someone wrote a letter to the Post after attending a miserable Redskins game in the cold rain that summed up my theory nicely:

I don't begrudge Dan Snyder's profiting by offering expensive options to fans who want to pay for them. I do mind how he's been "squeezing more revenues" out of the average fan in ways that degrade the game-day experience.

My personal last straw came on the day of the Redskins' miserable loss to Dallas on Dec. 14. It was raining, with temperatures in the 30s, and I bought a cup of coffee on the mezzanine. For $3, I got a cheap, thin cup, powdered creamer and no lid.

Anyone buying that coffee had to carry it back to his or her seat. I spilled some on my coat sleeve and the rest promptly got cold.

Mr. Snyder probably saved a half-cent a cup by not buying lids, but he just lost a $2,400 season-ticket customer.

And that's life in Washington in a nutshell: paying three dollars on a cold, rainy day for a small coffee that tastes like shit, because you have no other option if you want to stay warm.

Hmm. My wife says I need therapy. She's crazy.

Meanwhile, I sold the tickets I had to the last two games of the season, and used the profits to attend the Ravens-Titans playoff game in Baltimore. And my critics will be happy to know I didn't drive to Baltimore; I Metroed (not a word) to Union Station, trained up to Baltimore's Penn Station, and light railed to the Ravens' product-placed bank stadium, which by the way is about 20 times better than the Redskins' product-placed shipping company stadium.

But what I don't get is: why did it cost me $12.60 to go from Washington to Baltimore via Amtrak, while going to New York City on the same train would have cost me $77? I don't understand... it would cost me less to fly there. And yeah, it's further, but it would also cost me less to go to Chicago, which is a much longer trip.

I would totally be willing to train up to NYC, a city with actual personality and life, to escape Washington, avoiding all the tolls and traffic along the Northeast corridor, if it were priced somewhat more reasonably. Instead, stuck here. And paying $1,035 for my two-bedroom apartment, which oh-by-the-way has very little heat on this 24-degree night.

God, I can't believe I've been here almost two and a half years. I'm beat down.

That's the best way to describe it. Work is a chronic beat down. I dread going in now; it's all meetings and conversations that go nowhere. Projects that go nowhere and have no direction. There's no interaction, no feedback. I stay up late, sleep in until 9, show up at 10. Flounder around on the Web for hours because I can't bring myself to do the work. Nobody cares; nobody looks at or acknowledges any of the work I actually do anyway.

I long for a job that involves some shred of creativity that will also keep me from being homeless. There are none here. I lack the capital to start a business of my own that will keep me from being homeless. Instead, I trudge into the boring job every day. Aimless. Beat down.

Therapy? Fuck therapy. Just get me out of Washington. I hate being bled dry and beat down, and nobody cares.

Nobody. Cares.

Welcome to my blog.

Bad Boys II soundtrack.

Update coming eventually

I've been busy lately, and there's been so much as been going on in town (or not). For the record, the 2003 homicide total in D.C. was 148, lower by about 6 percent from last year.