JAN 31 :: [just average] So, as it turns out, January was just an average month. With the 2.2" of snowfall this past weekend, we hit 6.2" in DC which is right at average for January (who would've thunk it). Temperatures were above average - hard to believe considering the past two weeks! - and other than that, winter was just about average. Of course, the reality is this winter was a clash of two extremes: zero snow for the first two weeks of Jan combined with temperatures TWELVE degrees above normal including 1/3rd of the days with highs above 65 (!!), contrasted sharply with the final two weeks where 6.2" dumped on us over 9 snow days and temperatures NINE degrees below normal including 9 days where it was entirely below freezing, 10 days where the mercury dropped into the teens and only one 40+ degree day. Amazing, huh? I wasn't here for the warm part so January was quite brutal, to be honest!
I forgot to mention my Saturday night. Cobalt, 'nuff said. Walked home at 3am on icy sidewalks which almost made me do half-gainers a few times. Not fetch. But Cobalt was really fun though. Giggle!
I can't believe February starts tomorrow. January flew by so quickly, not that I'm complaining considering the winter we're having. My family starts flying in beginning Thursday and on and off, we'll have family members in town till President's Day. February is officially "family month". Ugh. No time for my own social life, me thinks!
[news galore] Sen. Clinton faints, merger mania grips Wall Street (Ma Bell acquired by a Baby Bell, MetLife buys Travelers from Citi, and the biggie P&G-Gillette - $57bn!). And Apple rises to the top of the global brands. Google, IKEA, Starbucks, Al Jazeera (shocker!!), BMW's Mini, Coca-Cola, Virgin, eBay and Nokia round up the top 10. Iraq voted 1/30/2005.
Phew! At least the weather hit 40 degrees today - heat wave! ;)
JAN 29 :: [fresh snow] It's snowing outside. Again. Woohoo. We just got back from yet another stock-up-on-stuff-before-my-parents-get-here shopping trip to Target and an Asian supermarket. The white stuff has barely accumulated so driving in it wasn't so bad. The snow started about 6pm and they're forecasting it to last till tomorrow morning with minor accumulations (2" tops) with some sleet mixed in. Lovely.
Yoga was fun today. It wasn't frigid walking to yoga today (it actually got above freezing after the crazy cold on Thurs/Fri) which was nice for a change. I almost forgot about my flat tire story from yesterday. Just as I'm about to get on 66, I realize that my front tire was totally and completely flat (the steering wheel was unnavigable). So I pull into the Chevron to get air but the tire wouldn't inflate! I was *so* annoyed.
Anywho, Tony came to the rescue and swapped out the flat with a spare but by then, I had been standing outside for close to 40 minutes (in 15 degree weather!) and I was so miserably cold I couldn't feel my fingers and toes. I couldn't even feel the paddles to engage the clutch or accelerate. It was quite weird. It took me 30+ minutes of setting my car heater on max to warm up my body and even then my toes were still a little numb. Not fetch at all. You know how you always think that you can withstand the cold and this happens like once per winter season and now I can safely say: never again! I really, really hate the cold.
[another weekend...] Another winter storm! Isn't it funny (and lucky) how it only snows during the weekend? Giggle. I was kinda hoping that all the snow would fall while my parents are here (my mom has never seen snow, can you believe that?!) but I guess we'll just have to wait to see what February has in store for DC.
For a while there, I was getting kinda worried coz they were predicting an ice storm (yuck) but as it turns out, the air is cold enough that we're likely gonna get moderate amounts of snow instead (woohoo!). The Potomac was beautiful last night as I drove home from work - the surface was frozen over at some spots and it looked like the Arctic ocean with mini-"icebergs" floating everywhere. Very cool.
So, snow is expected to start in the early evening today. I got up way too early this morning considering I got home at close to 4am last night (!!!). Yea, baby. Friday nights in DC are fetch! I'm so hungover and starving this morning. Tony's making yummy noodle soup so that should make it all better.
So where did I go last night... Hmm. Kinda X-rated to mention but oh what the heck - we went to Secrets! And no, we weren't even pretending to watch the drag show ;) Oh my Beyonce. Hot, hot, HOT boys last night. And I spent WAY too much money on the strippers (particularly this one from Eastern Europe... but let's not go there).
*evil giggle*
JAN 27 :: [never forget] Today marks the 60th anniversary of an evil time during WWII. We must never forget lest history repeats itself.
JAN 25 :: [disgraceful] Dr. Condoleeza Rice - the face of a policy of "catastrophic failure" and Bush's nominee to the Secretary of State position. As former national security adviser, Dr. Rice provided false reasons for launching an unprovoked, unjustified and unnecessary war against Iraq, a pathetic legacy of lies, deception and deceit. And her continued insistence in her testimony to the Senate that the war is still justified for other nonsensical reasons is proof that she is so far from reality that she should be disqualified from the highest diplomatic and foreign affairs office in the country.
Dishonorable, untruthful and shameful. Zero integrity. And a disgrace to the moral values of the United States.
JAN 24 :: [snow squall] I just drove through a snow squall on the way home just now. What is a snow squall? I have no idea. To me, it was basically a short period of heavy snow. They have a name for everything, don't they? Anyway, it was pretty cool as the flakes were falling down big and heavy, making "splat" sounds on my convertible roof. I drove across the Potomac River which was frozen over and covered in snow. Very cool. Quite a fun commute actually.
We haven't gone above freezing since last Thursday. It may tomorrow but we're getting cold arctic air again on Thursday. It's frigid now but it doesn't feel as bad as when it's windy.
I'm all sore today. We took a Level 1 -> 2 yoga workshop yesterday and it was hard. It was challenging as well which was a good thing but I'm such a lazy prick when it comes to challenges. Let's just say we're not ready for Yoga 2 just yet :)
Update: Oh and here's a really cool graphic on how much snow fell during the Blizzard of 2005 in the Northeast. It also shows how far south the extent of the snow cover is. Pretty neat stuff!
[cny banquet] Oh, yes I almost forgot. I have the menu for the Chinese New Year banquet on Feb 8th! Yay! It's gonna be fabulous. Here it is:
Deluxe China Garden Cold Cut Platter
Saute Milk with Seafood Varieties
Shark's Fin Soup with Crabmeat
Sliced Abalone with Sea Cucumber and Chinese Mushroom
Roast Crispy Squabs "Cantonese" Style
Baked Lobsters with Ginger and Spring Onion
Stuffed Whole Duck with Varieties and Sweet Rice
Saute Filet of Flounder with Seafood Combination
Crabmeat with Soft Noodles
Sesame Balls
White Fungus in Rock Sugar Soup
Doesn't it just sound SO yummy? :) It better be since this is the highest-level set menu that they have (I didn't want the lower ones coz they didn't have shark's fin soup - gotta have it).
JAN 23 :: [freedom?] Orlando Patterson, NYT, in an article today titled "The Speech Misheard Round the World" (hehe):
"...tyranny breeds terrorism. Freedom is opposed to tyranny. Therefore the promotion of freedom is the best means of fighting terrorism."
"...while it may be implicitly true that all terrorists are tyrants, it does not follow that all tyrants are terrorists. The United States, of all nations, should know this. Over the past century it has supported a succession of tyrannical states with murderous records of oppression against their own people, none of which were terrorist states - Argentina and Brazil under military rule, Augusto Pinochet's Chile, South Africa under apartheid, to list but a few. Today, one of America's closest allies in the fight against tyranny is tyrannical Pakistan, and one of its biggest trading partners is the authoritarian Communist regime of China."
"The president speaks eloquently and no doubt sincerely of freedom both abroad and at home. But it is plain for the world to see that there is a discrepancy between his words and his actions."
"He claims that freedom must be chosen and defended by citizens, yet his administration is in the process of imposing democracy at the point of a gun in Iraq. At home, he seeks to "make our society more prosperous and just and equal," yet during his first term there has been a great redistribution of income from working people to the wealthy as well as declining real income and job security for many Americans. Furthermore, he has presided over the erosion of civil liberties stemming from the Patriot Act."
Yes, the President believes in freedom only by his definition and on his own terms. Nothing sounds less like freedom to me than that. Read on.
"The problem is that what the president means by freedom, and what the world hears when he says it, are not the same. In the 20th century two versions of freedom emerged in America. The modern liberal version emphasizes civil liberties, political participation and social justice. It is the version formally extolled by the federal government, debated by philosophers and taught in schools; it still informs the American judicial system. And it is the version most treasured by foreigners who struggle for freedom in their own countries."
"But most ordinary Americans view freedom in quite different terms. In their minds, freedom has been radically privatized. Its most striking feature is what is left out: politics, civic participation and the celebration of traditional rights, for instance. Freedom is largely a personal matter having to do with relations with others and success in the world. Freedom, in this conception, means doing what one wants and getting one's way. It is measured in terms of one's independence and autonomy, on the one hand, and one's influence and power, on the other."
No points for guessing which version of freedom I subscribe to. What's the point of all these so-called freedoms when civil liberties and social justice are not part of society? Who gives a fuck about democracy when our collective rights and freedoms are not upheld? And what are we fighting for if there is no social justice, tolerance and equality for all, not just the privileged and the rich?
Anywho, the article is a thought-provoking read, I must say. Don't miss it.
[16 hours] That's how long it took after the end of the snowstorm for the first DC snow plow to make a pass through my street. For a 3in snowstorm, that's a shameful record. And then only one lane was plowed to the asphalt. My street is a two-way street. Sigh. Some things never change in this most inefficient and heavily-bureaucratic city run by incompetence.
[arctic city] Here's the snow report (so far; more today?) - 3" in DC, 3.3" in VA and 4.5" in MD. Way below forecast but it seems we dodged a bullet - both NYC and Boston were buried with 9" of snow by the end of the day and it's still snowing there now with blizzard conditions closing down major airports and roads and prompting evacuations from coastal areas. The winds are very strong this morning. It feels like the arctic in DC right now. The temperature is 12 F (-11 C) and the windchills are -17 F (-27 C)! Snow is blowing around and it's absolutely frigid outside. Even I'm not that crazy to venture outside.
Last night though, it seemed safe enough to go shopping. Giggle. We went to Home Depot and Target with a stop at Safeway on the way back. It was absolutely deserted. Everyone heeded the call to stay off the roads. Those poor businesses were as empty as if we just had 12" of snow. If you thought the impact meteorologists have by making wrong forecasts is minimal, think again! But anyways, it was fun coz getting help at Home Depot was easy (never the case) and Target's shelves were amazingly full of every single item (it usually looks like a bomb went off in the store). And no one to jostle through the aisles with. Very fun.
Oh and I have to say that DC is absolutely hopeless when it comes to snow removal. None of the roads in DC that we were on were plowed to the asphalt. None. Not one of the major thoroughfares (22nd, P, Rock Creek). This was like an hour after the storm had ended. Once we got to 66, it was smooth sailing all the way to our destination. You could see the black asphalt clearly. And on the way back (about 3 hours later)? Just as soon as you cross the TR bridge into DC, the roads were covered in snow again. How pathetic! I saw numerous dump-truck-sized plows in VA but only one in DC and it was sitting by the side of the road doing nothing. Looking out onto O St today and it still hasn't been plowed. What a joke. I should be used to the inadequate level of DC gov't service by now but it just makes me angry each and everytime this happens. It just never gets better. Sigh.
JAN 22 :: [ok, it's snowing] What a difference a few hours makes! We walked to yoga two hours ago and there was but a dusting of snow on the ground. Walking back was a chore! The snow is not too deep but deep enough to make it hard to walk on. My trusty measuring stick says 3 1/4" so far. Giggle. Snow started falling (well, more like a drizzle) at 9am and got heavy just about the time we were leaving for yoga and it's still going strong although I think we are past the heaviest snows of the storm. Maybe? Temps have held steady at 21 F (-6 C) pretty much all day and there is almost no wind to speak of which makes it feel warmer than the past few days.
Anywho, it's almost 3:20 and big flakes are still coming down in moderate amounts. More snow!!
[hooey] It's close to 10am. I expected the city to be blanketed by snow by now. But guess what? We've had barely a trace of snow so far, two hours after it was supposed to start pouring down on us. Apparently, the snow cutoff line moved way north and much of Virginia and DC is barely getting any snow. In fact, it has pretty much stopped snowing at this point. All that blizzard talk was a bunch of hooey. Once again, you can thank our very accurate meteorologists.
Yea, it might snow harder later. It looks like it anyway. But whatever. I'm not staying home any longer. It's Saturday and I'm in the mood to go shopping!!
JAN 21 :: [winter storm] Our first winter storm of 2004/05 will blanket the DC metro area (and much of the Northeast) all day tomorrow with snow, snow and more snow. They are predicting 4 to 8 inches but it's hard to tell at this point. The clipper coming in from the MidWest will be responsible for some snow but the real badboy is the immense swirling coastal storm off to our East that will kick up blizzard conditions up and down the Northeast corridor this weekend. The blizzard may not affect us but we'll still get lots of snow. They are predicting 24 hours of snowfall beginning at 7am tomorrow. Our first major winter storm this season.
Fun!
[deep freeze] It's cold. Very, very cold. It hasn't gone above freezing all day today and it won't until Monday at the earliest. They are predicting single digits on Sunday (9 F/-12 C). This weekend is gonna be in a deep freeze. Brrr. Not fetch.
[inaugural fun] Last night's dinner at CityZen was amazing. It wasn't mind-blowingly good but the food was good enough for it to be reminiscent of our fantastic gastronomical adventure in Per Se a few months back. The food was inventively simple yet complex enough to be amazingly delicious. Compared to Per Se, it was a pretty simple menu (6 or 7 courses, no fuss). And we didn't get the wine pairing. But still a very memorable meal.
Now for the minor annoyances. Our waiter wasn't shabby but wasn't great either. He pushed us towards a "pared-down" tasting menu without explaining that the "expanded" regular tasting menu was priced at a much higher price. He never mentioned that there was an à la carte menu. It was just a little too pushy, in my opinion, of him to steer us towards his choice as opposed to aiding us in our decision. And the dining room, while very beautiful and stunningly decorated, was a little crowded. The tables were too close together for a $100+/pp (and that's just the food; you don't want to know how much we spent) restaurant. Service was also a little mechanical but efficient nonetheless. All of the above did not amount to much and I really had to search for flaws in an otherwise flawless evening.
We had just a little bit too much wine, I think. Tony was drunk. Like, off his ass drunk. And Tom was a little tipsy as evident by the fact that he did a half-gainer while trying to throw a snowball at me. LOL! It was quite funny.
Ooh, I forgot to mention the sea of Republicans that we saw on the way there. We, for some bizarre yet appropriate reason, decided to Metro to the hotel because Tony didn't want to drive (in retrospect a very good thing) thru the city in shutdown mode. The Metro was a sea of fur and mink and tuxedos; all no doubt attendees of Inaugural Balls all over town. Imagine that: Republicans taking public transit. It was quite a sickening sight but I held it long enough to get to our destination. But like a locust of irritating insects, their presence was so pervasive throughout the city it infected the Mandarin Oriental as well. Walking up to the hotel, there was a long line of Bush supporters waiting for cabs (in the cold! Hah, they deserve it) flanked by a gigantic fiber-glass elephant. And it gets worse. The lobby of the hotel had a topiary centerpiece of an elephant. And a replica of the Oval office was also there. Everything just screamed Republican. I mean, what was I expecting on Inauguration night, right? Still, it was all quite sickening and annoying.
And the final insult to injury: We got gouged on our cab fare home. $20 from SouthWest to Dupont Circle! That'll teach us to try to party counter-inaugural style on the same night as the Inauguration. Four years ago, I was in Malaysia - just far enough away to escape the first installment of this annoying spectacle. No such luck this year as we had just gotten back from Asia last week. Four years from now? Oh please let it not be another Inauguration of Evil.
Anyway, it was a night to remember. And we had an amazing time. Not the least because it was Gen's birthday celebration and it was one of our last dinners together with Mike/Gary before they move to LA. It was bittersweet. More sweet, of course :)
JAN 20 :: [pomp and circumstance] Good morning, Washington DC! It's Inauguration Day. It didn't really hit me until this morning that today is a HUGE deal for our city and our country notwithstsanding the fact that I personally cannot stand the guy being inaugurated today. Anyways, every four years, DC turns into a huge party zone in the frigid month of January and history is made with pomp and circumstance to match the fabulous occasion.
Fireworks lit up the night sky last night with massive loud bursts as we "mourned" at Duplex and L'Enfant, shuttling back and forth between the cute boys at Duplex and Gen's birthday get-together at L'Enfant. We had a fetch time while motorcade after motorcade passed by with police sirens blaring every few minutes. Ahh, life in DC. And true to the post-9/11 paranoia, the ENTIRE city is shutdown today. An enormous swath of the city from the Kennedy Center to Capitol Hill has been cordoned off and almost every business in the City including the Federal government is shut down today. Which made for an eerie ride out to work today; the outbound traffic was heavy (and got REALLY heavy pass the Beltway) but there were ZERO cars inbound. Like a scene from Armageddon or something cataclysmic. Here's a quote from Jeanne McManus of the WP in her article "Our City, but Not Our Parade":
"Many of us have found that it's a nice life here if you are impervious to the changes wrought by an electorate. Parents keep their jobs regardless of who's in power. Children don't vanish from the classroom at the start of second semester, sent back to their home state with their vanquished mother or father. The breathtakingly beautiful monuments that people travel miles to see are the backdrop for our daily commute or jog. But increasingly the benefits that make life here so exceptional and often enjoyable are diminished by concrete barriers and stringent security, and this first inauguration since Sept. 11, 2001, will screen pedestrians and stop cars as never before."
"We've always led parallel lives with those in power. But it's getting increasingly difficult to even run alongside them. I can live with the knowledge that I'm never going to be on the Capitol steps in a significant hat, braced against the wind, with a view of the swearing-in ceremony. I humbly accept the fact that I'm not invited to the ball. But can I just find a small empty spot to watch a parade?"
Even if I wanted to, there is almost no way to witness this historic event taking place so close to my home unless I had an invitation (hah!), a ticket, some credentials, political connections or piles of cash.
Anywho, we are 2 hours away from Bush's second Inauguration. There'll be lots of protocol involved followed by more fireworks, more parties and more festivities tonight. Half the nation is celebrating and the other half is wincing. We (Mike/Gary, Tom/G, Tony and I) are "celebrating" at CityZen tonight at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. My guess is most of the Republicans from out-of-town who are guests at the hotel will be at the many Inaugural Balls tonight so I won't have to sneer at them while I'm having my fabulous dinner (or choke at the thought of being surrounded by "them"). It'll be a fabulous evening, I'm sure, though for wildly different reasons on my part :)
Hope, peace, and a better future is what I'll be celebrating tonight. That will be in complete contrast to today's Inauguration where a man who believes in war and intolerance is once again assuming the highest office in the country. It's a tragedy for world peace and a huge affront to humanity. The "expansion of freedom" theme is extremely inaccurate as freedom does not involve the killing of innocents and launching wars based on false pretenses. It is a slap in the face to those whose freedoms and liberties this Administration is trying to take away. Freedom IS "God's gift to mankind". And democracy IS the "unstoppable force for good". But Mr. President, it is shameful when you decide that "mankind" does not apply to all (the poor, the minorities and the disadvantaged) and you take the meaning of "force" literally. Imposing democracy with force is as farcical as imposing communism with force. Surely we can do better.
[$291.50] Is that a fair price for a tune-up and a solution to the overheating-while-stationary problem of my car? I thought so and gave the mechanic a go-ahead but you just never know. Apparently I have super-duper spark plugs that cost a fortune (what doesn't in a Bimmer) and they are going to purge the coolant system for air pockets. I think I just wrote Greek back there. I don't even know where the coolant system or the radiator is. I hate being ignorant about stuff like this but I hate learning about it even more. And that's why car repair and maintenance is such a gamble it makes Vegas look like a sure bet. I always feel like I'm being taken for a ride but I've gotta believe in the honesty of people otherwise they wouldn't be in business for as long as they have. Right? Ugh, so confused. I knew I should've sold my car as soon as the warranty ended. Sigh.
JAN 19 :: [one snowflake] That's all it takes to send DC drivers and traffic into a tailspin and bring our nation's capital to a standstill. What a joke. It took me one whole hour today to get from Dupont Circle to the vehicle inspection station in SE. One hour!! Independence Ave was a nightmare and South Capitol was just as bad. Coming back was a breeze though. Still, the whole process took 2 hours! The pre-Inauguration road closures did not help any, I can imagine. Every single artery in DC was completely gridlocked and clogged. What a nightmare!
And the best part was the inspection only took 15 minutes which is in total contrast to my experience a few months back. I guess no one wants to get an inspection in the snow :)
Yea, the snow came down pretty hard as I was driving around today. Fortunately, I had Tony's Audi 4WD which made driving such a complete joy in the snow. BMW, please please PLEASE make a 4WD convertible in the next redesign. Anyways, got my haircut, had lunch at Rice with Rick and then wasted my day away in traffic. Not bad for a snowy day in DC...
There is potential for a major snowstorm or, worse, a blizzard this weekend across the Upper MidWest, the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic (us!). Who knows what's going to happen. But I imagine not being able to drive into work on Monday if the forecasted snow materializes. Ugh, more shovelling - not that I do much of it to begin with :D.
[snow!] It's snowing pretty hard outside right now, just like they said it would. The forecast is for 1 to 2 inches of white stuff. It's cold enough outside (19 F/-7 C) that all the snow will stick and turn to ice as cars drive over the snow. And since it won't get warm enough for the next 7 days at least, that means I'll have to shovel some! I hate shovelling.
The forecasters are dangling the prospect of a bigger storm this weekend. We'll see if it happens. I just want the Potomac to freeze over and for snow to cover the entire river. How pretty would that be? You'd think now that I've lived here long enough I wouldn't get excited over a few white flakes. But I still do! Snow is cool. It's so pretty and quiet outside. Which it seldom is in a big city like DC. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
[212,611] That's the revised death toll from the tsunami disaster that hit South and South-East Asia three weeks ago. Indonesia alone accounts for 166,320 of the dead. It's just a number to many, and a sensational one at that for news organizations around the world. But in that number are loved ones, families, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors, entire towns and villages. It is almost beyond belief. What can you do at this point besides give money and pray for the living and the dead.
JAN 18 :: [winter sucks II] Yes, it's a lovely day. Bright sunshine, blue skies, mildly cloudy. And FUCKING cold!!! This cold is NOT funny anymore. My office was 64 degrees when I got here this morning (yes, my company is cheap) and my fingers are so cold I can barely type. I was outside briefly to get gas this morning and my whole body was shivering! Trust me, I was bundled up. I had three layers of clothing on, heavy scarf, heavy gloves, etc. No this is not fetch. And snow at this point (which we are most certainly going to get tomorrow) is not going to help. The windchill this morning was -5 F (-21 C!!!). Ugh, ugh, ugh. I am SO over winter. I have no idea how my parents are going to survive this cold weather when they arrive in 2+ weeks.
So now we've had two whole days of subfreezing temperatures all day, a slight warm-up on Inauguration Day, and then two more days of subfreezing temperature after that. Snow tomorrow, maybe Thursday, and likely Friday and into the weekend. Normal temps return next Monday. Aah! The only place that's comfortably warm right now is SoCal (80s!! Can you believe it??!). Even SF is in the 60s. This is unbearable!
JAN 17 :: [winter sucks] Another deep freeze has settled over DC. The sun has just barely set and the mercury is already down to 19 F (-7 C). It will be 13 F (-11 C!) tomorrow morning. Way, way, WAY too cold. They're also calling for light snow for the remainder of the workweek and more snow into the weekend with no end in sight for the freezing temperatures. Winter sucks!
It's officially Inauguration Week in DC. The big swearing in is on Thursday, the 20th. I just have absolutely no interest in the coronation of a war criminal. So, we are "celebrating" (aka mourning) that night with a dinner at CityZen. Yum, I can't wait.
[one after another] What's going on in Thailand? First the tsunami, now this. We took the subway many, many times while we were there and most recently a week ago today! It's a great system and it goes lots of places, not to mention air-conditioned and dirt cheap (for foreigners, not locals). Still, you could kinda tell that it wasn't very popular, at least not as popular as the Skytrain which goes through the busy hubs of Silom and Sukhumvit. And now the subway is being shut down for a week or maybe more due to this accident. That's too bad.
Ahh, I miss Bangkok.
[holiday snow] Did you see it? Snow last night! We were at JR's when it started flurrying and as usual, when one is slightly inebriated, everything is a cause for celebration. I think I shrieked "snow" so loud that everyone in the bar looked at me like some nut who just flew in from Hawaii. Giggle.
It's MLK Day today. Holiday for me but not for Tony. How weird. The funny part is his CEO is black! And when on earth are they going to start building the MLK memorial? Way overdue, if you ask me.
The parties resumed this weekend where they left off last year. We had a fun-filled evening with Rob, Rick, Tom/G on Friday night at ESL (Eighteenth St Lounge, d'oh) followed by dinner at Beacon, our second time there and the food is quite good if I may. Apparently it was Restaurant Week (who knew?) and everywhere else we went to was packed (incl. our stalwart Dupont Grille!).
Saturday was yoga day followed by a run to Home Depot and then our gang-of-8 dinner party at Brad/David's in Alexandria which was très fabu. The theme was 50s so we had shrimp cocktail, caesar salad, beef wellington, baked alaska, etc. And then yesterday was another shopping day (IKEA) which flowed into a predictable end-of-the-weekend ritual at JR's. And then there was Cheesecake Factory with Rick and M2 last Friday for lunch. Talk about HUGE portions!
My talk about jet-lag has been premature to say the least. My sleeping patterns have been erratic lately; 4 hours on one day followed by 12 hours the next, waking up at 4 or 5am every night to pee and tossing and turning for another 2 or 3 hours before falling back asleep or not at all. Grr. I have no idea what's up.
Desperate Housewives last night was oh-my-beyonce funny! Edie throwing Mrs Huber's ashes onto Susan's face ranks right up there with Brie's "Rex cries after he ejaculates" outburst. Totally priceless.
It's cold as balls today and getting colder tonight into tomorrow. It won't go above freezing today and tomorrow, yippee. Snow again on Wed, they say (yea, OK, whatever). CNY plans are shaping up - my entire family (yes, incl. my younger brother) will be here the first weekend of Feb and Tony's parents arrive soon thereafter. The CNY banquet will take place on CNY eve (Feb 8th) and the coming year will be the Year of the Rooster in case you are culturally challenged and need to know :D.
OK, back to tidying up the house before the parents arrive. Gotta make it look like we're not slobs, y'know? :)
JAN 13 :: [nothing left] Remember: Calang, Kreung Sabe, Panga. Remember: Banda Aceh, Khao Lak. 160,000 dead. Unimaginable grief and penetrating sorrow. People who have little have less, or nothing left.
Remember.
[what jet-lag?] Apologies for the late post. Yes, I am home in DC. We got back 9ish on Tuesday night and have been unpacking ever since! Giggle. We brought so much shit home it's not even funny. Even with an additional gimongous suitcase, we had to handcarry one large paper bag of stuff! We seriously went overboard this time.
For the first time in recent memory, I arrived home without any jet-lag. Cool, huh? I've been sleeping midnight till 7 or 8am every night and haven't felt sleepy during the day at all. I'm beginning to fear transpac flights less and less. Surely, another trip to Asia will be coming along soon ;)
At work. Work sucks. What's new? The next few weeks will be extremely busy as we prepare for my family's upcoming visit to DC. My parents arrive on the 3rd followed by my elder brother the next day and Lord only knows when my younger brother is coming (if he is at all). Tony's parents show up some time thereafter. I have no idea how we are going to accommodate everybody. Must rent Minivan! (or borrow one). Younger brother is throwing a wrench into all my carefully laid-out plans. The Chinese New Year dinner might have to be brought forward to the weekend instead of the day we usually do it (the day before CNY). Grr.
So we came home to a mountain of mail; most of which were bills that have already been paid thanks to Internet technology. I am quite surprised we had hi-speed internet connectivity in both Saigon and Hanoi even though we paid through the nose for the luxury. We also came home to a clean house! Our maids (yes, all 5 of them) are fabulous. And also came home to a little note attached to MW's final edition of 2004 - "Not once, but twice!". No idea what it meant until I flipped through the pages and realized that in 2004, I was truly EVERYwhere. LOL! Yes, Tony and I were featured once in B&W and once more in color (under Lip-o-suction). How fetch!
Not much else is new and exciting. We have a dinner this Saturday and another one on Inauguration night. We just couldn't get out of town for that day and decided to share our misery with 4 other ppl by drowning our sorrows at the potentially fabulous CityZen at the Mandarin Oriental. I am hoping to be able to throw food at other Republicans present that night :D. I am so over thinking about Bush's second "coronation". Nothing is more disgusting than a President presiding over WMD-gate and torture-gate, while launching wars of choice and attacking the constitution. So over. If the country is so myopic about the destructiveness of this Administration, so be it. They can all rot in their decision to re-elect this asshole. Fuck 'em all.
Oooh, and I've been catching up on the oh-so-juicy Desperate Housewives and OC. Oh my Beyonce. Desperate Housewives last Sunday was très fabu! The scene with Bree trying to go on a date in front of Rex was PRICELESS! "Please, you're dating my wife. Call me Rex!" - ROTFL!!! Yes, I miss American television. And almost nothing else.
JAN 11 :: [on the ground] In Chicago! There's snow on the ground but no weather issues, thank God. Nonetheless, earlier weather issues caused arriving flights to be delayed which pushed back our flight to DCA by about 75mins. Ugh. We arrived early into Chicago (2:15) which compounds the issue; two early arrivals and two late departures resulting in two 3-hour airport layovers today! Grr... Usually, the wait in Chicago is torturous coz I'm super tired and sleepy but the sleep on the plane left me refreshed so yea, it could be much worse.
At least the lounges have wi-fi (the one here is noticeably faster than in Tokyo). Anyways, 8pm arrival into DC. Can't wait. Have been in too many airports and airplanes today. Food out of Tokyo was marginal - the Obento going to Japan is always better than the one leaving, strange huh? Slept for about 6+ hours followed by some chicken-spinach-mushroom thingie which was OK. Watched Vanity Fair (don't bother). Yawn.
OK, enough for today. I just want to be home. Now. It's now 24 hours since we left our lovely hotel in Bangkok (with 3+ more hours of travel time!). That's 24 too many!! Need my bed and my fluffy pillows. Sigh.
[setting sun] The sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun is absolutely beautiful today. The sky is dotted with a few thin clouds and the sky is bright orange, red and yellow. 20 more minutes before departure, this will be my last note from Asia. I'm looking forward to dinner (hopefully another Obento meal?) on the plane and some much-needed sleep. I also love the instant noodle snack midway between dinner and lunch before we land.
Am I looking forward to getting back to my life in DC? Not so much. It just seems that these days, DC doesn't appeal to me so much anymore. Maybe it's coz some of my friends are leaving the city soon, maybe it's because I can't stand my job any longer, or maybe it's coz there is just so much more out there that staying put is looking less and less appealing by the day. I am fast approaching 8 years in the DC area; 4 of them in DC itself. I have now been in Dupont Circle longer than I have been in Northern VA - my first home in the US! Amazing. Times flies so fast when one's having a good time. Eight years is a looong time. Isn't it? I'll let that question go for now just as the sun is leaving for the day right outside the window of this huge and beautiful lounge in Tokyo, Japan.
[3 hours] OK, you're gonna think I'm a drama queen but I find being stuck in Narita for 3 hours rather annoying. Yes, it's my fault, I booked the flights this way; the next flight to Chicago actually leaves in an hour. But I'm still allowed to be annoyed. We arrived into Tokyo early (2pm local time - just what I needed, right?) and the next flight boards at 5pm for a 5:50pm departure. The time difference is 14 hours, btw, just in case you are geographically and timezone-challenged ;) It's so annoying that they didn't let us on the 3pm flight because they needed a whole hour to re-tag our checked bags. What happened to Japanese efficiency? *eyes rolling*
Anyway, we arrive in Chicago at 2:20pm today (yes, we arrive earlier than we depart thanks to the International Dateline) which means it's gonna be just shy of 12 hours in the air. Woohoo. And then we have about 1.5+ hours to sort out immigration and customs in Chicago before making a mad dash to our DCA-bound flight at 4pm, getting home at close to 7pm - a full 24 hours after we took off from Bangkok!
Thank God for wireless internet access in the Red Carpet Club here. That's how I'm typing this lovely note to the website :) Also, the view from where I'm sitting now is not half bad. A NorthWest 747 just pulled up to Gate 27 and they are patting down the cleaners before letting them onboard to clean the craft, how fun! The women are in green jumper suits and the men are in white ones with a blue stripe down the side. It's all very hi-tech, industrial Japanese, if you ask me. The sun, which was full-on blasting its heat into the lounge an hour or so ago, is finally making its downward descent into the horizon. It's a beautiful day in Tokyo; we even saw Mt Fuji on the way in. Very fetch.
OK, I'm at the halfway point of my wait. Only 90 more minutes to go. Groan.
JAN 10 :: [uh-oh] OK, we might not be coming home by Tuesday after all. They are expecting freezing rain throughout the day in Chicago on Tuesday. Our flight to DCA leaves O'Hare at 4pm which may be jeopardized by the weather. Ugh. Our flight to Tokyo and onward to Chicago will definitely depart. But once we get to Chicago, I am already fearing the worse. Fingers crossed. I wish they would just postpone our flight by an entire day. That way I get to stay here longer! :)
[homebound] We are in fabulous Bangkok. Finally. I just couldn't take much more of the polluted air in Vietnam. As one guide book put it - the fumes and the dust are "hannoying". Anyways, we are in the Oriental Bangkok, supposedly one of the best hotels in the world. I still think the Peninsula is better. But whatever, right? At these prices, this level of luxury will be unattainable in North America/Europe.
We have roughly 12 hours left in Asia. We will probably make one last shopping run (notwithstanding the fact that the extra suitcase we bought is already chock full!) tonight followed by our final Thai meal in Bangkok before heading out at an unhumane 7am tomorrow - waking up at 4:30! - for Tokyo, then Chicago and finally DC by evening time the same day (Jan 11th). We're both well. My sinus issues disappeared as soon as we left Vietnam this morning. Good thing too coz Hanoi's weather was reverting back to winter frigid (low 50s) as we were leaving.
Asia is fabulous. And cheap. Vietnam was fun but not spectacular like Angkor was last year. Bangkok is hip and fabulous as usual. Can't wait to go back to the DC winter *eyes rolling*. See y'all soon!
JAN 8 :: [yes, i'm alive] And well :) Had a little avian flu scare but as usual, I was just being a drama queen. Last night was pretty miserable as I had a higher than normal body temperature on our first night in Hanoi. I had already felt a little something coming on while we were in Danang but it blossomed into a full-blown 24-hr fever last night. I think my "fever" was due to the pollution. The air in Vietnam is unbreathable. The pollution is intolerable. My lungs and eyes are on fire pretty much as soon as I step outside. Much better now. Went out sightseeing and shopping after noon for about 6 hours. Bought a big bag to cart all our souvenirs and knick-knacks home :) Oh yea, we went shopping with a capital "S".
So, let's see... the communications blackout between Saigon and Hanoi was due to the craaawling internet access in Danang. It was so bad it took 5 minutes to load united.com. Ugh. Lots happened in Danang; we took day trips to Hoi An and Hue and Tony got an overcoat made in Hoi An. Those are just the highlights.
So yea, we're in Hanoi now. We landed yesterday afternoon to a city blanketed by fog as is the case almost everyday in winter here. The weather is cool here (50s-70s). The airport was like a Soviet monolith built in the middle of nowhere (45mins from the city). But contrary to Saigon, there were comparatively big highways leading to the city with wide expanse of nothingness until we reached the Red River (how appropriate).
Hanoi is nice enough. The Sofitel Metropole is an amazing hotel. The city - especially the Old Quarter - is extremely dense. There seems to be just as many motorcycles here (I was told 2mn but who's counting) as there were in Saigon. But there's something missing in Hanoi that was evident all over Saigon - a can-do spirit and an air of commercialism that makes Saigon so intoxicating and Hanoi a little subdued. Oh well, we have one more full day here tomorrow to explore and drill down into Hanoi's bustling streets before we leave on Monday to Bangkok.
OK, I'm trying to keep this brief as we have lots to do tonight - Water Puppets Theatre (don't ask) and dinner at Wild Rice. It is Saturday night in Hanoi and I can't say for sure that I like, much less love, Vietnam but everything here is cheap so what's not to like! ;)
JAN 4 :: [the next bangkok] Mark my words: In about a decade or two from now, Saigon will be the next Bangkok. Saigon is absolutely bustling with commerce and capitalism. Yes, the reminders of communism are everywhere; from the yellow hammer-and-sickle and yellow star on red flags of communist Vietnam to the images of Ho Chi Minh all over the city. But the city is begging to lunge into the 21st century with all the vitality of Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.
This was not at all what I expected. I have been constantly surprised by the hard-working nature of the Vietnamese people and their desire to join the global economy. Nonetheless, the cost of living here is miserable. It's almost sad to contemplate. The locals on average earn a dollar a day; more in Ho Chi Minh City. Things cost a pittance; almost everything is under a dollar. And then there's the tourist economy whereby dinners can cost up to $100/pp and 5-star hotels are $150/nt. The Japanese and the Europeans descend upon Saigon by the hundreds and spend their yens and euros like there's no tomorrow while the poor Vietnamese watch in horror as we don't even blink an eye spending hundreds of dollars per day which is how much they earn in a year.
But slowly and surely, Saigon will morph into a fabulous Asian metropolis. The signs are already there: fabulous bars and restaurants, chic shops, luxury hotels, and tourist attractions that run the gamut from kitsch to cheap-and-cheerful markets. With careful planning - something the communists are not good at - the city has even more to offer than the other cities in Asia. Beautiful tree-lined boulevards, lovely legacy colonial French architecture, superb food and a population eager to serve and please. But the danger signs of any developing country are far too prevalent: choking pollution and unbelievable congestion. I shudder to think how Saigon's infrastructure will cope when the 5 million or so motorcycles are swapped for automobiles as the 8mn people in Saigon yearn for a better life. What happens when the city demolishes beautiful buildings and cuts down trees to build new expressways to cope with the growing traffic?
Another sign of Saigon's growing prosperity - hi-speed internet access in our room! I had expected a complete internet blackout for the 10 days I'm here but lo' and behold, there's a data jack in our room. How fetch!
Saigon is up and coming. Come see it while it's still charming! :)
[internet-less] As surprised as I am about the availability of hi-speed internet access in our hotel room in Saigon, I would not be surprised if our next two destinations in Vietnam will be internet-less. Our next stop is Danang up the central coast of Vietnam. We're staying at the Furama Resort and I am almost certain that internet access is not a top priority in rooms. On the 7th, we move on to Hanoi and hopefully I'll be able to write from there. We get back to Bangkok on the 10th and home in DC on the 11th! DC is in the grips of a heat wave, I hear? How fabulous. It's nice and cool here with low humidity and temps close to 90 which is just fine with me. I hope to share more of the warmth here with you guys in DC as we head up north where it is in the 60s and 70s! Brrr... Winter in South-East Asia, who knew?
JAN 3 :: [relentless horror] Why? 155,000 dead with surely more to come. Why? Villages in Sumatra have been completely destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth with no trace of human life left. Why? 90% of large cities destroyed and families shattered. How do we expect them to cope, survive and move on? Why? Millions are homeless and hungry and suffering. Why? Lack of clean water, disease and starvation will kill many more. Why? Rivers of dead bodies, mass graves, thousands of people still buried underneath rubble, destruction and widespread devastation. Why?
I sit here tonight, fresh from a 2hr meal that cost me 1.75mn Vietnamese dong ($110). Then I had two cosmos and one mojito at a couple of bars at $6 each. This is after a long day of sightseeing and copious shopping. Gratification through spending obscene amounts of money. And barely a thousand miles away, and all throughout South Asia, people are hungry, dying, suffering, and completely devastated by the tsunami disasters that occurred 8 days ago.
It's terrible. Absolutely terrible. The images captured by photographers, videos captured by survivors and the satellite images captured from space say it all. Terrible destruction, horrifying death toll and relentless horror from earthquakes to tsunamis to hunger, poverty and lack of everything. Why?
JAN 1 :: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
[saigon, vietnam] Happy New Year everybody from Saigon, Vietnam! Yes, I know, I'm supposed to call it Ho Chi Minh City but whatever. How annoying to be known as HCMC but everyone else still calls it Saigon. Talk about identity crisis. Regardless, I think Saigon sounds much better.
It's late on Jan 1st. I'm sleepy. We have an early morning start tomorrow; the earliest since we got to Asia. We have a tour arranged for the city and the Cu Chi tunnels. My first impressions of Saigon: It's a startling city. Surprisingly modern and extremely busy. The downtown area is bustling and capitalism is definitely triumphant here. Oh and then there are the motorcycles - 4 million of them! There are so many they have their own dedicated lanes. There are so many they swarm around like bees and outnumber cars by 100 to 1. It's quite a fascinating sight to see a tsunami of motorcycles (sorry, bad pun, I know) at every intersection when the light turns green. Quite amazing.
Which makes for interesting traffic! Very heavy and very slow-moving. And then there's the currency: 15,000 dong to the dollar. We were instant millionaires when we withdrew 2m dongs at the ATM just now. The Sheraton is beautiful. HUGE room, amazing bathroom, and a spectacular view.
So much to say, but so falling asleep. Will write more tomorrow.
[2005] We ushered in the year 2005 with 6 other old (Ben/Mike) and newfound (Rich/Dave, Colin/Chai) friends in our hotel room (1008) at the Peninsula Bangkok with the help of three bottles of champagne. It was an amazing time. No fireworks over the Chao Phraya this year as a sign of respect to the tsunami victims. It was disappointing but understandable. Bangkok was somber and solemn but life goes on and new year's was quite a big party, especially at the hotel and in our room! :) Cheers to the new year!
31 :: just average
31 :: news galore
29 :: fresh snow
29 :: another weekend...
27 :: never forget
25 :: disgraceful
24 :: snow squall
24 :: cny banquet
23 :: freedom?
23 :: 16 hours
23 :: arctic city
22 :: ok, it's snowing
22 :: hooey
21 :: winter storm
21 :: deep freeze
21 :: inaugural fun
20 :: pomp and circumstance
20 :: $291.50
19 :: one snowflake
19 :: snow!
19 :: 212,611
18 :: winter sucks II
17 :: winter sucks
17 :: one after another
17 :: holiday snow
13 :: nothing left
13 :: what jet-lag?
11 :: on the ground
11 :: setting sun
11 :: 3 hours
10 :: uh-oh
10 :: homebound
08 :: yes, i'm alive
04 :: the next bangkok
04 :: internet-less
03 :: relentless horror
01 :: saigon, vietnam
01 :: 2005