It is currently hot. Curse you Al Gore.

It is currently hot in DC. Sticky, sweaty, unbearably hot.

I'd like to just point something out. Remember snowpacalypse, the storm of epic proportions that brought the mid-Atlantic to its knees on February? Besides being stuck indoors for a week, we also had to deal with various pundits crowing about whether or not this one meteorological event could debunk decades of research and evidence in favor of global warming. Apparently all the evidence and trends complied through decades of scientific study are completely false if it snows. In winter.

And now it is unseasonably, horrendously hot. Notice how there are absolutely no liberal talking heads offering this hot spell as proof of global warming.

I'm not saying this single anecdote proves anything, because I understand that one event does not definitively prove a trend. I'm just observing that in this one instance, one side seems to understand that principle better than the other.

And that's my smug liberal commentary of the day.



For a far wittier illustration of this principle than I can provide, I recomend the following Daily Show segment. You may want to fast forward to 3:30 for the actual substance of the clip.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Unusually Large Snowstorm
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

An Afternoon at the Tidal Basin

Last Friday Zach finally had his giant exam to see if he's learned anything in the past two years of his masters program. It was appropriately brutal. More importantly, it was finally done, and just in time for the Cherry Blossom festival. The second he walked out of the test, we headed towards the metro and scurried downtown. It was a beautiful day, the blossoms were in full bloom, just the perfect day for a nice stroll along the tidal basin. Along with everyone else.

Ok, I'm going to complain once - just once - about the tourists. DC is generally such a lovely town. Clean,  pretty, abounding in free museums and monuments and polite people in suits who are to busy to actually go to any of those things, leaving them uncrowded and delightful. Not that I actually go and take advantage of those things, but I know I could. And then they come. It's not just that things get crowded. It's that they get crowded by rude, smelly, idiots. People who think it's acceptable to throw trash all over the metro and wade in monuments honoring the dead. And yes, you can easily tell the difference between tourists and residents. I don't know how exactly, but it's quite obvious. I know, I'm such a snob. There are some lovely people, sure. Some can almost be endearing like the women who excitedly exclaimed "Oh! How exciting!" after crossing a street and getting honked at by an impatient cab (which is pretty much just what happens when you cross any street downtown.) But, alas due to the law of large numbers there are just so many unpleasant tourists that I can't help but to dread them all. Things finally get nice, and then my dear city becomes inhabitable in the midst of the invaders ravaging. Oh well. Just try to imagine how lovely this would be without all the people.

Anyways, the basin was beautiful. I can't say that anything terribly exciting happened. We walked, we talked. It just felt so amazingly wonderful to be out in the Sunshine, enjoying life. Not a textbook or classroom in sight.

I may have been a little overzealous about documenting the occasion. I made Zach stop every couple of minutes for a million pictures, poor afternoon light and lack of skills be damned. It was just so lovely. Below I have far too many pictures (because I'm indecisive like that) as proof. You can find the few I didn't post here on my facebook.

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon. Jaded as I am, and even with the crowds, there is just something so simultaneously stunning and peaceful about the soft sea of pink blossoms. I highly recommend coming by some year if you ever get the chance. I'll promise to make an exception to my tourist aversion just for you.

Today's Lessons

What I learned today:

• Going to the office hours offered by professors is an excellent idea. They actually do want to talk with you and can be amazingly helpful with school, work and life in general
• Respected authority figures saying nice things about me makes me blush in the best way
• Grades aren't everything.
• Skirts are wonderfully comfortable on a hot day
• Re-discovering that your favorite summer skirt has pockets is even better
• Together raspberry gelato and lemon gelato taste like summer
• I actually know what I'm talking about when I sit down and make myself write a paper. It's almost like I'm learning things here.
• Impromptu dancing with my husband to a fun song is quite fun
• We can't dance
• We don't really care

Peepshi

Between the Washington Post's peeps dioramas and Serious Eats Peepshi (peeps sushi), I can now officialy hail Peeps as a failure of a food but a marvel of a modern art material.

From the collapsed girl on the coach

I think I tucker myself out more thoroughly during my "me" time than I do when I'm actually working. Between yesterday's excursion and today's exhaustive efforts to return the shoebox to a habitable state (when it takes almost all day to clean a 350 square foot apartment, I know that I've put this off for far too long), I'm more tired today than I am on the days I spend wrapped up in case law and journal articles.

Fortunately I "get" to spend tomorrow engrossed in research and paper writing. I don't think I could take another me day. 

Nursing tops and baby bags

No energy for a real post today. (Spent all my energy wandering around the Tidal basin, basking in the beauty of the cherry blossoms and trying to ignore the tourist hordes. More on that tomorrow.) But I do have enough left for wandering over the internet daydreaming about the fate of my student loan dollars.

I know that it's spring and long sleeves aren't exactly needed, but I kind of love this top. It's exactly the sort of thing I wear. Purple, simple and  comfy with just a little bit of an interesting neckline. And it's on sale. The catch? It's a nursing top. (Please don't ask why I was in Gap's maternity section. I don't really know why myself.) Is it too weird for someone who has no nursing baby, no baby growing inside who will be eventually nursing, and no practical existence of either scenario happening in the near future to buy a nursing top?

I asked Zach if it would be weird. He asked what the difference was between a normal top and a nursing top. I told him that nursing tops provide easier access to the breasts. He stopped being helpfull after that.

Oh, and I also love this diaper bag in Cupcakes green that I found at Vera Bradley. For use as a purse, of course. I spill things in my purse all the time, so a easy wipe interior would be usefull, not to mention the utility of all the extra pockets. But I think an actual diaper bag might be pushing it.

Our friendly poltergeist

Sometimes when I come home and head over to the elevator (yes, the stairs would be healthier, but I'm on the 6th floor and when I get home I'm tired) the elevator just spontaneously opens for me, without me pressing any buttons or doing anything except stand there. No one is getting off. No one else is around to push anything. I can't think of any logical reason why the doors would just open for me.

My best guess is some sort of a ghost/poltergeist scenario. I'm actually fairly thrilled. It seems friendly and helpful, and it gives the otherwise drab building a splash of character. I think I'll name it Dennis.