2008

London, England
Provo, Utah
Los Angeles, California
Wolfeboro/Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire
Boston, Massachusetts
Kennebunkport, Maine
Carmel/Pebble Beach, California
Washington, DC
Arlington, VA
Potomac, MD
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Orlando, Florida
Outer Banks, North Carolina
New York, New York

It's been a busy year.

Nuggets

As I was walking home from the metro after work the other day, I heard a band playing and saw a large group gathered in front of the ABC building. Because I was curious,and because I didn't have much else on my agenda that evening, I crossed the street and headed into the crowd.

I quickly found the free hot apple cider. Apparently I'd missed the free chili, which was really a shame (I hate missing out on a free meal...or free anything for that matter), but I was content with my cider.

I asked the old man I was standing next to what was going on, and why there was an enormous light switch, and why there were carolers surrounding the lightswitch. He explained to me that it was the annual "Light Up Rosslyn" celebration and that a "celebrity" was coming to flip on the over-sized switch and all of the buildings in Rosslyn would light up their Christmas lights.

So I stuck around.

It turns out that the "celebrity" was the meteorologist from ABC news. What fun. He made a speech before he, and several other "important" people from the community ceremoniously flipped the huge lightswitch and the crowd ooeh and ahhhed over the lights while the community choir sang The First Noel.

My favorite part of the night was his speech. Mostly because of the 8 year old boy and his family standing near me during it:

"We want to welcome you all to the Light Up Rosslyn celebration...I just love Rosslyn. Every night when I drive across the 14th street bridge, I look back and see it: this little nugget of a city, but then when I'm in it, I feel what a metropolis it is..."

"Mom, MOM, he said nuggets! Where are the nuggets"

"Be quiet honey, the camera crew is right next to us and can probably hear you. Don't interrupt."

"...and the area of Rosslyn is growing, with new buildings being built all the time.."

"Nuggets. Where are the nuggets? I want nuggets,MOM!!!"

"SHHHHHH, I said be quiet."

"...and this year's lights are energy-saving...well done, Rosslyn..."

"Do they have free nuggets here? He was talking about nuggets. I really want some, Mom, I'm hungry."

"Shhhh, I'm not kidding"

"...and we'd like to thank the small businesses of Rosslyn for contributing to the environment around the area...."

"Nugg..." (Mom pulling the kid out of the crowd and away from the camera crew)

I love kids.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

One of my new favorite things to do is something that isn't possible to do very often.

I make my way up the platform to where the front of the train will end up. Then, I elbow my way to be first into the first car on the train. Then the tricky part: getting one of the two seats next to the window that looks into the driver's area. This is tricky, in part because there are a very limited number of seats, but also because sometimes the glass is tinted and you can't see through to the drivers area and through to the tunnel: therefore defeating the purpose.

If, and when I get settled in my preferred seat, I turn sideways and put my head against the window. I realize that this may seem a little creepy to the driver, but I'm willing to be a creep if it brings so much enjoyment on my daily commute.

Then comes the best part. If I've made it past all these hurdles, I'm rewarded with the best ride east of Disneyland. I never realized how fast the metro travels, but it's definitely faster than any Disney roller coaster (and probably faster than any other roller coaster I've ever allowed myself to be coaxed onto).

I discovered the "ride" only a couple weeks ago.

Now I just have to figure out how to get people to trade me seats when they're in the optimum ride seat. Maybe it will be easy, seeing as they all have no idea what they're missing.