Mindless Philosopher

Was walking down the streets of Georgetown Tuesday night with a couple co-workers, and who walks right by us: Mike Myers! Very cool. I have no clue what he was doing in Georgetown…he was dressed fairly casually, walking (well, strutting really) at a reasonable pace with another guy. Now if only I got a chance to see Alison Janney doing the whole West Wing thing…
On that topic, I watched Finding Nemo with the the WW gang last night (in lieu of watching a rerun or whatever else was on). Still a good movie the forth time through; I did catch one “shocking” joke that I had missed on the previous viewings.

For the third time in under a year, I have a new place to call “home.” Moved into my Crystal City apartment Sunday where I joined two other persons in our three-bedroom apartment. My room is a decent size, the living room is very spacious, and it’s extremely affordable. I even have a reasonable view.
Went to Ikea with my parents (who needed a lamp) to shop for furniture for my new place. Got a desk chair, a chest, a night table, and a set of dining room chairs (the previous set in the apt are falling apart). So far the chest and the DR chairs are successfully assembled. In a few weeks I’ll re-assess the situation; perhaps a foosball table is in order.
When I was showing my ‘rents the place, we ate dinner at the Pentagon City mall. Upon entering I was immediately distracted by these two kids swinging ping-pong paddles in a rhythmic fashion. Upon a closer inspection I found them staring at a TV and playing “virtual ping pong.” I quickly declare “I got winner,” and then force the winner (he’s around 7) to stay and play me. Perhaps “force” is too strong a word: convince. I convinced him to play me. In either case, he did play me, and kicked my butt pretty well (21-16). Determined not to be embarrassed by a second-grader ever again (in the field of virtual ping pong), I walked away from the kiosk with a bag in my hand and $50 fewer on my credit limit.
While I almost universally refrain from impulse shopping, apparently I like losing even less.

I learned a cool new Excel trick today, which–given the significant amount of time I’ve spent through the years learning Excel’s quirks–doesn’t happen very often nowadays. Turns out you can Fill “down” formalas in 3-D (i.e., between workbooks). Hrmm, it now occurs to me that maybe not too many of you would be interested. But, hey, you never know.
I think it’s really cool at least.

Friday night went to the Brinley Brother’s concert at Jammin Java with Eily and other non-Mellman polling colleagues. Eily’s brother was the mercenary drummer for the Brinleys, which is a large part of the reason we went–they were an entertaining band nonetheless.
Saturday I tried conservative services in Arlington. Not too bad, though most people were well older than me. The skewed age distribution probably has something to do with the fact that I went to a morning service though. Met a nice young couple and we had a good discussion during Oneg (the post-services dessert meal). Unfortunately they will soon be moving to New York, which will apparently significantly decrease the number of young members of the synagogue. I’ll try the reconstructionist services on June 4th (they don’t have them every week)–I have a definite feeling that there will be more 20-somethings there. According to the web site you have to bring a dessert…suggestions anyone?
Saturday afternoon I signed my lease and bonded with one of my new roomies by hanging out with her friends in Georgetown. Saw Shrek 2: it had a more involved plot than the first edition and about the same number of laughs. Well worth the price of admission. Had both lunch and dinner in Georgetown and hopped into Lush for my Mom’s birthday present.
Sunday I slept in a bit, then went to work, and then went to an MIT Hillel Washington area alumni event (here I was actually the only one representing my generation). I think I’m getting better at schmoozing; either that or my job description is a good conversation started: definitely one of the two. Went back home to have dinner with the whole family (bro is back from college).
Sunday night Gretchen and I tried to catch a comedy show, but it was sold out. So we played some pool, darts, and then Trivial Pursuit. I managed four “pie pieces” before Gretchen won–very respectable, especially considering my string of hard losses on non-Star Wars editions.
On the plate today is an SPSS conference, which I’ll have to be late to due to a staff meeting here. Oh, the joys of SPSS.

Was in JKHQ the other day for a meeting, one of quite a few I’ve been in lately, and we were told we couldn’t use the main conference room. The reason: Kerry and Nader were in there. Oh, yeah, guess we’ll go upstairs then. Don’t know what they talked about of course, though some media reports did surface. Being near those events is one of the perks for working for a person that works for person who happens to be a presidential candidate. I don’t usually mentione those types of things here, but I thought that was a cool occurence.
West Wing night was fun, mainly because West Wing was finally good; and because Nick brought lots of food.

I’ve been to lots of Bar and Bat Mitzvah’s over the years but Saturday night was my first Bnai Mitzvah: a boy and a girl were both celebrating the rite of passage. My boss’s kids were the honorees; and wow, was the daughter amazing at reading Hebrew. Now, I was pretty good in my day; so was my brother, our San Diego cousins, and a few other great Hebrew-reading kids I’ve witnessed. But she blew us all away. Just incredible speed and accuracy.
The party afterwards was quite a blast as well. Did a fair amount of dancing and partaking of the kids table’s candy (don’t worry, there was plenty). I even waltzed…faired decently, though maybe I should just stick with the electric slide.
Sunday visited Mom to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. Got her a pair of Shabbat candlestick holders and candles (from South Africa). Now that I have a decent-paying job, gotta spend money on the people that got me here.
Then met up with “Nashua” Gretchen and went to Baltimore. Met up with my Dad who got us great seats behind home plate and in front of the press box. As we found our seats I was kicking myself for not bringing my glove. I always bring it to the yard, but I thought since we had to get game-day tickets we’d be in the upper deck.
My worst nightmare came true when the first batter for Cleveland lines one straight back…at me. Well, my goalie reflexes come in handy as a take off my hat and prepare to use it as a makeshift glove. But the backspin on the ball makes it curve downward and the balls smacks off the heel of my right hand … and into the arms of a guy three rows below us. Damn.
But I would have my revenge! In the eighth, another cleveland batter fouls one back. This ball has more arc, and I forget about the hat and make a clean barehanded grab! As I’m celebrating my newfound souvenir, I hear the announcer say “Give that fan a contract.” Woohoo!!! The usher comes over, and my hand is shaking from excitement as I write my address for them to send me my mock Orioles contract! Cross that of my life goals list :) And as a side note, the O’s won 12-11.
Saw the movie Jersey Girl (highly recommended) in a Baltimore suburb with Gretchen, and then drove back to Northwest where we drank milkshakes in a diner.
Now that was a good weekend.

Wednesday had dinner with khicks to talk more about what exact incarnation the BL system will be in DNC/Kerry world. khicks brought along a reporter from the Chicago Tribune, which made dinner much more interesting. I got to hear first-hand what exactly a reporter’s priorities are when covering a candidate.
Thursday was a hectic day at work, putting together a presentation for the Boss. Got home, watched the Friends finale…I have to disagree with the whole Ross/Rachel getting back together; their respective character developments were really leading them down separate paths. But I guess you have to cater to the hard-core fans.
Friday got dinner with Eily at Woodley Park. Then went to Kyla’s for board games, where we ended up playing Trivial Pursuit: Star Wars edition. Finally, a trivial pursuit I could (and did) win. Met Kyla’s cousin, Shannon, whose fullname I was supposed to put here, but I can’t seem to find the paper she wrote her last name down on (Update:Shannon Hynes). Then we bar hopped…well, I left at the second place–I’m sure other people had more fun during that part of the evening.
Now I’m off to see khicks again, so she can twist my arm about working for her…again.

Saturday went on the Billy Goat trail with Miranda, her brother, and her non-feminism friend. NFF had interesting comments about his girlfriend’s rack and “milf’s” that he saw along the trial (among other things). Never have I been in more of a need to listen to Alix Olson. Notwithstanding the misogynist remarks, the trail was mighty fun, with lots of rock scrambling.
Saturday night went to Beth and MatchingFund’s place for a BBQ. I dealt out the veggieburgers off the grill at a furious pace. Twas good to be among liberals again.
Sunday I played softball and soccer on the mall in between visits to the office to get some work done. Received a slight burn on my forehead as a result of my (sports) efforts. Returned to NoVA to eat at Denny’s with Katie; then home where I was tired enough to impersonate a stoner.
Today I had a meeting at the DNC, which included a mini Dean reunion since khicks and mookie were present. Let me tell ya, khicks has taken over the field program faster than you can say Bottled Lightning, which I Demo’d for the DNCers/JKers after the meeting. Looks like BL will live past the primary season (in some incarnation at least) even if the Dean candidacy didn’t.