The Ninth Strange Day

The Cure
9 May 2008
Patriot Center
Fairfax Virginia

Please invest in a few more street signs? We got lost going to the Patriot Center. What should have been a seven minute drive turned into half an hour. It took about 40 minutes to go back to the hotel.

MapQuest is partly to blame. I really think some of their distance estimates are based on “as the crow flies” and not “as the road twists”. The fact that there weren’t a lot of signs that said things like “this way to 29S/50W” didn’t help the situation. Especially since we were on what looked like a twisty, wind-y, two-lane road into Stephen King-land and we were certain we missed the turn we needed.

“But Nine,” you may be thinking, “don’t you have a spiffy Prius with spiffy navigation? How is it possible that you got lost with such a wondrous thing?”

Erh. Yeah.

See… at the end of April, I was in a car accident. My car was hit and is currently out of commission. I’m fine and the car is (most likely) fixable, but it means I’m driving a rental car right now, and this car doesn’t have super magical navigation powers.

So a few more street signs would’ve been nice.

Getting lost was worth it, though.

18 pictures (so far) on Flickr. There’ll be stuff on YouTube later.

Crush Loads.

“I understand the frustration of the customers, what they’re experiencing, but I’ve got to make sure they’re safe,” Paul J. Wiedefeld said.

Psst…. Paul? The condition in those trains is very much not safe. They were not safe when there were more trains. As the weather gets hotter and the crowds going into Downtown get bigger, it’s going to get worse. It’s going to get violent. It’s going to end in bloodshed.

This story makes me incredibly glad I don’t have to do this every day. The crowded conditions before were enough to make me depressed and angry. This situation would probably break me.

Friday we took the dog to the park and then to Starbucks. We’re trying to get him used to car trips by taking him places that end in fun. Saturday we took him to Fell’s Point for Pirates and Privateers Day. He was such a good dog the whole time, on both days.

We’ve also recently taken him to the vet just for the fun of it. The vet is within walking distance, so on his nightly walk we stopped in and then left again. That way Cardiff will know that not every time he goes to the vet someone jabs him with a needle.

Today Kitti and I went to the comic book store and found out they were sold out of all the Dr Who stuff. The guy said he underestimated the popularity and is ordering more. We’re now on a “subscription” list (which means when the new stuff comes in, a copy gets put aside for us). The Buffy comic is on our list, along with any new Who stuff and any Classic Who things. I also added a note for anything Torchwood and Stargate Atlantis, because you never know.

After that, we went to Ikea and bought a coat stand and a table lamp. Kitti put the coat stand together all by himself. It stands! And holds coats! Victory!

We also got caught in a torrential downpour while out walking the dog. I love being out in the rain. Probably not a good idea, since over the weekend my cold made a reappearance, but These Things Can’t Always Be Helped.

Oh! Also, if any of you crafty people are on Ravelry, I have an account there now. TheNinth, naturally.

Please don’t mock my skillz.