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Seriously, I thought the next time I would drive to Michigan would be for New Years… Here I am again, but I must say the drive is getting easier every time.
At around 11AM today, I realized that I won’t be able to mail in a voter registration AND get an absentee ballot at the same time since I’m a first time voter. This means that I’ll either have to drive back to Michigan to go to the secretary of state on a weekday, or drive back to Michigan and vote on a Tuesday. This is very sad. I haven’t even decided who to vote for, and already the soon to be government is costing me time and money. Still, having a long weekend really isn’t bad. I’ll get to spend more time with SO and maybe log some more hours on my FFXII game.

I totaled up my expenses last week, because I had to stop myself from freaking out, and it wasn’t bad. Rent + mortgage + car loan + bills + food + insurance + retirement… and I still have a little bit left for myself. And I am grateful for that.
All things considered, life here isn’t too expensive. With the exception of rent, I spend less here than in Michigan. I use half as much gas and eat about a quarter as much food. There are lots of free entertainment, such as the AT or the museums. And transportation is really cheap; I’ve been riding the bus from Baltimore to NYC for $1 to $5 each way and I just bought tickets to fly to San Francisco for $250 round trip. My goal is to get burnt out on traveling, then move back to Michigan.

I thought about doing something normal this evening (like going shopping) instead of what I usually do (like brainstorming for tax evasion ideas). But then I remembered that I promised Dad I’ll take a look at his paper before his deadline. I must say his writing’s improved a lot. About a year ago, I had to reconstruct paragraphs in order to make sense of what he’s writing. Now I just need to sprinkle “the” in there, he’s still pretty bad about remembering his articles.

It seems like all my days are divided into 3 types: good days, bad days, and bland days.
Well today was a good day. I finally figured out what factor analysis really does, this will come in handy since I plan on writing a paper using the technique.
My research partner is driving me up the wall. I shouldn’t say that about him, because he really is a nice and smart person. But there are times when I would like to scream at someone about him, the recipient of that screaming is usually SO.
The latest fiasco has to do with the grant proposals. Harry (research partner) is very worked up about these grants, but I think it’s just another charge code and it’s not worth signing our souls away for a mere $20K. Nevertheless, he was able to get me to agree to write two grant proposals. I feel so manipulated…
Doesn’t matter, since I really don’t think either will be accepted. Therefore I took the liberty of allowing a few thousand dollars of budget for travel (preferably to San Onfre or St. Lucie). Anyway, at least we’re getting a jump start on writing the abstract, as Harry pointed out.

Yeah, I get these kind of days when… oh I dunno, when coming back to the apartment after a long and fulfilling weekend, when finding out there really isn’t a whole lot of things to do for the next 6 to 8 hours. Anyway, back to bullet format:
* Went hiking today. It’s been so long (2 weeks) that I nearly forgotten where I was suppose to start. I drove to Weaverton again. And turned back after 45 minutes, again… All around me were these really old people who jogged up and down the hills.
* Bought Spore. Interesting game, haven’t quite gotten the hang of it though. My tribe keeps moving away and I wonder off too far to evolve. There is no individual creature (in the real life) that thinks like Spore creatures… that’s the problem.
* I got a call from someone telling me that I’m living my life wrong. Yeah, that one’s a real nut-kicker. How can you live your life wrong? And isn’t it horrible to be commented that way? It’s not even specific (such as career, family, friends… etc.) It’s like getting a mid-term report card that shows a D+ on life, and having no idea how to fix it.
* I’m watching “Made of Honor” and I can’t imagine any guy having such a large wardrobe.

My legs are KILLING me!!
Jennifer came down from NYC on Friday and we woke up early (10 AM). First we went to the zoo (to press pennies), then we went to the Air and Space Museum (to press pennies), then across the Mall to the Gallery, then to the Natural History Museum (to press pennies).
Jennifer found some good reviews on this restaurant called Central, which is very close to the Natural History Museum. They have a great platter that we filled up on, then we had the main dish, side dish, and desserts. After dinner we went to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
It’s been a very long day.

I was driving to the store when I heard the local radio announcing one of the new songs: MIA’s Paper Planes. It was the song that 豆子’s been playing for months, if not over a year ago. It was the same with Regina Spektor’s Fidelity, he was singing along to the “hear ah~ ah~ ah~ ah~ t” part long before it became popular in the States. This is the great thing about 豆子 and why I listen to BCC daily. He knows the songs I want to hear before even I know I want to hear them. It’s awesome.

Okay, completely separate story:
There’s a new guy in the office (for fun, we’ll call him Tall Dark and Handsome, or TDH) and he NEVER smiles and NEVER says hi. I’ve been tempted to yell “good morning!” real loud to try to get a reaction out of him, but most of the time I’m too tired to bother.
So today I was walking down the hall when I saw him coming the other way. All Bechtel buildings are the same, there’s a long hallway in the middle of the building and there’s a branch exactly half way leading to the parking lot. I was heading to the parking lot, but usually I walk pass the intersection to the bathroom or the kitchenette. Before I got to the intersection, TDH turned, going the exact same way as I was. So I walked behind him towards the door for a few seconds. Then he turned to look at me, and when he was almost at the door, he turned around and walked back again.
He was avoiding me!!! Why????? He made the turn, thinking I was going straight down the hall to avoid me! Or maybe I’m extremely self centered and paranoid.
This is just like the time when I was paranoid about my co-worker (Mr. Freak) reading my blog…

Now, completely on another subject:
I was so happy when I got back home, thinking I have all these DVDs waiting. House’s new season’s out, Gray’s Anatomy’s new season’s out, Will and Grace’s new season’s out, Pushing Daisy’s first season’s out, and I just got into Dexter and am on the second season… Well the happiness lasted until I saw that Will and Grace live.
It’s horrible, the actors can’t stop laughing and tripping over things… I feel so cheated…

I was checking my mailbox today when I noticed the tip of a red envelop sticking out from my neighbor’s mailbox. At the apartment, it’s one big tin box for everyone, with divided compartments for each unit.
I can’t help but notice that it’s a Netflix envelope… and that I subscribe to Netflix. Of course, lots and lots of people have Netflix so I let the thought drop from my mind.
After running errands, I got back to my apartment and found a Netflix envelope clipped to my door. IT WAS MINE AFTER ALL!!! Urg!
I’m thankful I have such great neighbors, but it’s disturbing none the less that postal workers can be so incompetent. SO mentioned to me this weekend that our postman (actually, she’s a woman) doesn’t even bother getting out of the car and knocking on our door for packages or certified mail. Instead, we always get a note saying “Sorry we missed you! We’ll redeliver!”
I have a lot of things mailed here. My coin trades, money, and stuff that I buy online when I’m intoxicated. I can’t imagine how horrified I would be if anything gets lost in the mail.

Yup, got it all taken cared of today

I got this sugar craving at night and I’m not sure how to get rid of it… Some sasparilla would do the trick, but I didn’t have the foresight to see that the stores all close during Notre Dame games. Apparently selling parking spaces is more profitable than running an Asian grocery.
Maybe I’ll make a trip to one of the Asian food market around DC this week… I can’t believe there isn’t one nearer. People here are more blend than I thought.

The drive went well. It rained cats and dogs all the way through Indiana, which made me kind of glad that I didn’t bring Mao Mao along for the ride.

I’m worried about my work.
The project that I’m leading is in some budget trouble. Everyone’s starting to tense up about it, so this turned out to be the worst time to discover missed scope… which I did on Friday. The work I missed really isn’t as terrible as it seemed, I just need to review a few dozen vendor drawings, but it does hurt my credibility. Oh well, not the first time won’t be the last time. I’ll get it all fixed on Monday.