Ok so I have been neglecting my obligations to my friends and family by not posting on here in while. So, lets talk turkey.
Since my last post, life has been pretty boring by society standards. I have settled into a bit of a routine of going to work, coming home, and going to sleep (much earlier than my roommate would like). I find time for food and some school work in there as well.
Here on Ft. Lesley J. McNair there are a few options for lunch. First, you can go downstairs to the cafeteria which has some pretty good food, but will run you about $12-15 for a sandwich, side and a drink (maybe a cookie too). Second is you can walk just off base and over to the Coast Guard building and eat in their cafeteria. They have a very good gyro place, you can get burgers and burritos and they have a big buffet of chinese food and a salad bar. It usually cost me about $8.25 for a gyro, drink, and a cookie (everything is a la carte, so it adds up quickly) The final option for lunch lies about 1/3 of a mile from my building. It is the Old Guard’s Mess Hall. This was originally intended to feed the members of the Old Guard. They are the guys that guard the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington. Well, it wasn’t very cost effective to run a mess hall for such a small group of guys, so they opened it up to everyone. On a typical day I will get an entree, 2 sides, a salad, a dessert, a bowl of soup and 2 drinks for the amazing price of $4.25. My friends we have a winner! I call the place Club 425 and I can be found there between 12:15 and 12:50 everyday.
Dinners have been a bit more challenging for me. I have a lot of food in my apartment, but alas I have the tiniest kitchen in the world. My sink measures 9″x8″x6″ and you can probably imagine that it is a bit difficult to clean pots and pans. I don’t mind hand washing dishing, but 2′x1.5′ countertop does not accomodate dirty dishes and a drying spot for clean dishes very well. I have been quite discouraged in my dinner endeavours.
Tomorrow (October 8.) is going to be a big day. After work I am going to hop on the Red Line train out to the Greenbelt station and then catch the B30 bus to BWI airport to pick up my life partner. She is in town until Monday and I am so excited to see her. Here is our tentative schedule so far:
Friday: Wake up and take a stroll around the Woodley Park area where we are staying. It is a very beautiful neighborhood and only a few blocks from the Zoo and the National Cathedral. After a light breakfast we are going to head to the National Mall and go Museum crazy. I think we are planning on hitting the Air and Space, Natural History, National Gallery of Art and possibly the International Spy Museum. We shall see how much we are going to be able to squeeze in . After that we are going to head over to Arlington to visit Pop Pop (we may go and do this first so as to work back toward DC). In the evening we are meeting up with my co-worker Eva and her Fiance Mathais for tapas and sangria.
Saturday: This is going to be a big day. My cousins Josie and Hansi and Hansi’s daughter Katherine will be in town and we are going to the Zoo. I am very excited for Joy to finally get to meet the Chambers’s side of the family. After the Zoo the plans are open. It will kind of depend on what the cousins are feeling up to.
Sunday: I think we are going to get up and clean the house we are staying in and get it looking nice and clean because it was really very wonderful of the woman I work for to offer up her house for Joy and I to use while she is out of town. Once it is clean, we are off to McLean, Va to meet up with Mike, Ralita, and the girls for a day of softball and family fun. We are staying with them Sunday night.
Monday: I imagine that we will hang out with Mike and fam until it is time for Joy and I to begin our trek to BWI on the rails.
There are tons of things that I want to do and see with Joy here and I am sure that we will have a great time in all that we do. I would be perfectly happy to just sit in Ms. Bunn’s house and watch tv with Joy all weekend. Who knows, maybe we will end up doing that, but I doubt it.
As far as work goes, I have not been going to any big high profile events recently. Well, I take that back, I did go to a breakfast at the Capital Hill Club, which is a pretty exclusive place, to hear the new commander of the new Global Strike Command talk about how the implementation of this new wing of the Air Force is coming along and what its responsibilities are. The food was great and I felt really out-of-place because no one told me it was a suit affair and I was just in a shirt and tie. From there we went to the Pentagon for a meeting on a program that we are working on here. Outside of that day, I have spent my time finishing up my research on Pakistan and their Nuclear Security issues and Pakistani reactions to the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the Climate of Pakistani Nuclear Cooperation. All of these things are very fun to me, but would probably bore the stew out of most other people.
School has been going…fine I guess. I have some reservations about one of the classes I am taking and it has kind of diminished some of the interest I went into the class with originally. It’s all good, I feel like I am picking up the info that I am supposed to be picking up so I guess the class is effective.
Well that is the last 2 weeks and the up coming weekend in a nutshell. The one last thing that I guess is worth mentioning is that I shared an elevator with Alan Greenspan last week. I knew it was him, but i didn’t want to believe it because this dude was like 5’4″ and mildly resembled Mr. Magoo, but if you see him don’t tell him I said that. I use the reference merely to give the reader an illustration that they can relate to, not in any derogatory manner.
