Birds and Cookies

I'm in a crazy picture-posting mood, so here is some wildlife fun that I've seen lately. Well, not this. This is a weird statue up Columbia avenue.








The birds here are fearless. I saw a bunch of them the other day on the road eating some crap that someone spilled and they barely even moved when cars were flying past them.






















If you don't apply the stamp with precise accuracy... the POSTAL POLICE WILL GET YOU!






Today I saw a squirrel on a gate eating what looked like a Cheez Puff.






He didn't even flinch when I got closer than five feet, turned around, took out my camera, zoomed, took some pictures, then put it back again. He did do that weird paw thing, though.



Squirrel close-up.










Anyways, I got back to the hostel finally and Antonio was like, "there's a package for you." I wondered who in the family liked me enough to send me a package, and it turns out nobody does. The box was from...

Yahoo! I agreed to beta-test one of their social networking programs and as a surprise they sent me a package of tasty, tasty cookies!





They aren't the cheap Chips Ahoy! either - these things are individually packaged bakery delights. But you can't eat the Y!. It's a piece of paper. I found this out.



How nice of them. Now I have food for a few more days.

Museum of Natural History

I found this in our fridge the other day when I was cleaning out everything and oh dear, it was old. It doesn't really look that bad here but it was as hard as a rock. I feel like I've posted this already but oh well. You've been relimed.


This should be the White House instead. We could call it the Gray House and people would be like, good idea. This was a much statelier building. It was a bad idea to put the White House right next to it because you see this building first and you're like, oooh! Then you get to the actual White House and you say, "hm. I thought it would be bigger".

Hm. At least the fountain was on.








The Washington Monument was very tall and important.









The reflecting pool was looking rather nasty.









Woo doggy, what's this?








There was a gigantic pro-life rally taking up a lot of space on the mall area. It was all teenage girls and I felt like I was back in high school.





But oooh, who can resist the sexy Marines/Navy guys/Professional Reenactors? No one! Squeal! They're so dreamy!





This was in the front hall of the Natural Science museum. We managed to see everything right before all of the protesters streamed in and took up space.




Diamond dust from a meteorite! This is one of my favorite pictures from Tuesday.






This is what happens when you take styrofoam far down in the ocean. Mini-cup.






Rawr.








Rawr x2. I like this picture too.











Of course, the real reason anyone goes to a museum is to check out the gift shoppe. Admit it.






This box brings back horrible memories of guilt and rocks that don't turn into anything.






More pretty orbs.








Dice.








You could pick out an entire bag of fake-looking rocks for only four dollars. Only four dollars! Wow!






There's more pictures, especially from the Bones Exhibit which was really neat. But... I just google mapped thrift stores in my area and now feel compelled to visit them. I'm currently exiled from the hostel because some insurance guy is coming to inspect the place and Steve wants "as few English speakers around as possible." I am certainly not one to shy away from shady dealings so he sent me down to the coffee shop Tryst where I bought the cheapest coffee I could find to use the internet.

Busy Busy

There's this Indian woman staying at the hostel right now, and I don't know why she's here because she's a doctor and surely can afford better lodging. Anyway, she is the talkingist person in the world, and keeps bringing up these heavy topics of conversation, like "could you explain the electoral college?". She's very nice, but each time she talks to me I'm in the middle of doing something else. Right now, I'm filling out applications and trying to juggle a million different web pages and she comes into the kitchen to display her new bag from Macy's and how she likes how big it is because now she can carry her laptop which is so much smaller than her old one and also she can carry her papers and even her high heels because she likes to look taller but doesn't like to walk so far on them and also she could fit a water bottle if she wanted! Then she pulled out this side pocket and was like, "you could even use this pocket for sanitary napkins" in this whispery tone. Arrgggghh...

Hee, I have to mail this transcript to Utopia Parkway. I want to live on that street.

Comment

I'm kind of tired and don't have energy for a long, long post, but here are some pictures from the Natural History Museum from the other day.

In good news, an offer was extended today for an internship downtown, which is great news because they will pay me.

Oh, the hotel went well except that it was way, way too hot in the room. Like, sauna hot. And it was dry, so I kept waking up to get a drink of water. Then, on the Metro, I had a nosebleed for the first time in a year or so. How embarrassing.

I have more things to say but whoo, I am tired. I even took a nap today. Time to get a shower and go to bed, what an exciting life I lead.

Another Review

Sweet - I saw that there was an opportunity to review another hotel in this area and I was like, oh yes. So now I'm in for another holiday. Hint. I booked it for Wednesday, and the reservation guy Antoine passed his review with ease. He asked all of the questions in the exact order that they were listed on my checklist. Coincidence? No! The posting on the site was like, "You MUST stay overnight and you MUST enjoy the complimentary breakfast." Who wouldn't do that? Who just checks in and is like, I'm done. That's the whole reason you want to go to a hotel.

The way to get to this particular hotel in Maryland is by the Metro and then you take a taxi, which on their web site estimates is about $8.00. Even as cheap as I am, I say that eight dollars is not bad at all for a free hotel stay. However, I am cheap enough to shop around. I had a hunch and just called back the hotel, reaching Antoine again. I asked him whether or not the hotel provides a pick-up service from the Metro stop and sure enough, they will pick you up until the driver gets off work at 8:00. Awesome.

Additional Benefits

I'm beginning to realize that working in a hostel isn't just about the luxurious accommodations and rubbing elbows with our illustrious clientele. Nay - the real perks are in the stuff that the guests leave behind. Since the entire hostel is occupied by three people not included myself, Steve let me throw away the stuff in the fridge that's been there for so, so long. What did I find? Well, a lot of really gross stuff, like black vegetables. But those were all in bags so I didn't have to touch them. People tend to buy condiments and stuff that you rarely use up even when you have them at home, so of course there are nearly-full jars of mustard and sour cream and barbecue sauce. But also, yay, there were individual cartons of yogurt, a tomato that was okay, an apple, an unopened box of chicken nuggets(!), an entire pumpkin pie(!!), some frozen veggies, a thing of Fanta, and a half carton of eggs. And low-fat lactose-free milk. Woo, Christmas!

In addition to that bonanza, people tend to leave personal belongings as well. This morning, I scored both an umbrella (which I didn't have room to bring with me and which is very useful) and a sleeping bag (not so useful, but I am sure will come in handy one day). Great shakes!

Exploring

This is a sign on a pizza shop near the hostel. It seems that the photographer did not provide good value - it's the nastiest looking gyro I've ever seen. It makes me less hungry.






A similarly disgusting-looking pizza.







I think that this is the prettiest restaurant on the way to the Metro stop.






Hee, skinker. That's a great name. Like skink. I bet that guy never got teased.






So I was just walking around the other day and all of a sudden, wow! Giant building! It's some sort of housing ground for an endowment for the arts, and the doors were locked so I couldn't go in.



Ben Franklin. Washington DC is stealthily adopting the one really famous colonial guy from Philly.









This thing scared the crap out of me, for some odd reason. I don't like it even in photo form.






After a bit more wandering (my calves are getting sculpted) I made my way to the National Archives, which I figured would be a bit boring, and it was, but also kind of neat.



Hancock and that other guy are snickering right now because they just led Mr. Dickinson straight into the women's bathroom.





I wandered some more and eventually found myself in this solemn marble rotunda, which was THE rotunda. There was a big line snaking around the outside of it to see all of the Very Important Documents. Such as...

The Constitution!








The Declaration of Independence!











I left The Rotunda and went up to the history part of the archives, which was kind of neat.

This is not how it happens! VHS tapes should not be excited. They're next to go! They should be planning a mass exodus.





Hee. Home videos.








Oh, god! I'm sorry! I'll buy war bonds! Please, don't stab me or light me on fire!










I ended up eventually in this basement area and I thought it was only for coats and restrooms but it turns out there was this whole theater for a movie on democracy and the vital importance of keeping good records.






A real live Oscar(TM).











No museum is worth going to without a stop by the gift shoppe. Look at my mad skillz. Some salesperson thought I was crazy. Like a fox!





The Metro was looking pretty.








I am awed by these escalators.








Some weird neighbor in Adams Morgan has an extremely pointy elephant in his or her front yard.

Is it ... art?




Now, I contemplate each time I pass by this restaurant on whether or not the shaky 'e' and 'r' here are intentional. It's called the Thunder Grill, so it could be a cute way of indicating 'thunder' and 'chaos'. Or maybe that the buffalo ran into the sign and left that imprint.


But right next to it you have this other, similar sign without shaky letters. I just don't know.







I like Union Station a great deal. If I were homeless, this would be my sleeping area of choice. A lot of homeless people agree with me.