This gave me a good chuckle on the way to the metro this morning. But to the dude handing out the DC Examiner free daily at Columbia Heights… ease up! I know you’re dressed better than the guy handing out Express. I see your warm and friendly smile and I see you detach from whatever conversation you’re having to prepare to stand in my way and offer me one. I even see your lips moving in what I can only assume is a greeting and perhaps a pitch, problem is… I can’t hear you. (Thank you Shure headphones!)

Express has pretty much always “owned” that corner in the morning. The Examiner had a guy out for a little while, but maybe they lost interest or our area wasn’t considered part of their demographic before it got all gentri-frilly-fied up. When I worked at L’Enfant Plaza, I would get accosted coming off the escalator by people handing out the free dailies (which I already had one of by then) and lovely Asian women handing out menus, the occasional federal worker trying to rally for a free event, and even the odd caring & concerned student trying to sign me up for a cause.

The direction of both publications has changed a bit in recent times, and while I know that Examiner definitely feels more DC focused where Express feels more fun, I’m mainly reading Express for the inside front cover, the Blog Log–way to go Liz and lachochran!–maybe the Entertainment section, and the Comics/Sudoku page at the back. If I finish the puzzle during the day, then I’ll pick up my own Examiner on the way home, though more often than not, I’ll grab The Onion instead.

Perhaps it’s the complete lack of external sound that the new headphones provide, but when I smile and say/mouth “no thank you” to the guy, that should be the sign to leave me alone. Instead I see a pleading face and lips moving in what appears to be a beseeching treatise expounding the benefits of his publication. Probably nothing like what’s actually going on, but within my world of sound-isolation… that’s what I like to think.

I still think I went to a Bizarro World DMV office. I don’t want to jinx anyone or my own future visits, but that really was the nicest and fastest experience I’ve ever had with DC’s DMV.

I got up kinda early and gave myself a haircut and a shave, just in case. I was only changing my address and since my Drivers License is nearly up for renewal, I didn’t think they’d bother with a new card or photo, but it didn’t hurt. Plus I was hoping that looking relatively clean-cut would help bring out the better service since I have had some nasty people in the past who seemed to have hair triggers. I killed some time at the apartment, then killed a little more at Starbucks. The SW DMV office is pretty close to my workplace, so I got there maybe 20 or so minutes before opening. There was a small line, but full of pretty friendly people.

They let us in, got us through the metal detector and up to the information desk. This is usually what gives people the most trauma. It seems that you never have the correct information or not enough of it, etc. even though you get it straight from their web site. Turns out only 2 people ahead of me got “turned away” and that was only so they could make a phone call to the right people to fax in some information. They were even told to skip the line when they came back! My address change was as easy as showing my old DL and a Pepco bill though I still had to fill out the form for a “correction.”

I still didn’t have to wait very long and the first guy was helpful and friendly. The second woman who took my money was the same. I did wince a little when she shredded my old license since I looked so thin in that photo. She even reminded me that my DL is up for renewal in under a month, but that I can do that online. $7 paid, photo taken, new card handed over and I was outta there. I’m now regretting the shave a little bit since I didn’t have anything to hide my chubby face, but I guess the license gives me some motivation to lose weight.

Compared to previous visits, this was a walk in the park. I’d planned to take a 1/2 day to get this done and I was out of there in under 30 minutes. Now to make it through the workday. It is a gorgeous morning out there and I’m hoping that it stays somewhat nice for the afternoon. There was someone behind me at Starbucks this morning loudly wishing for 90+ degree weather again. I shot him an evil glance with a grin. I am perfectly fine with the breezy moderate stuff, thank you!

Thank you to Gilahi for suggesting 15 ria. Kyle and I partook of their Restaurant Week menu last night and it was delicious, though I admit that we really went there to partake of their bourbon flight. Some of my friends know that I am usually not much for bourbon at all, but last night’s sampling after dinner was a nice experience.

We each started with the Chicken Dumplings and each got the Stuffed Shrimp for our entree. And this was stuffed shrimp done right: huge shrimp, not butterflied or anything weird, just curled around sizable lumps of crab meat and served with asparagus over mashed potatoes. He got a Grand Marnier creme brulee and I had Lemon Ginger cheesecake for dessert. Delicious!

After dinner I asked our server if they still had the bourbon flight available and he looked a little confused and then said, “Oh, you mean the spanker?” I responded, “Excuse me?!” And he confirmed that it was the bourbon sampler. When it came out, it was on a specially designed paddle and I understood the name. And to be quite honest, after getting through 4 nice-sized servings of bourbon, I could really understand the name, oy.

From there we stopped in at Halo, then headed over to Windows. Well actually, I tried to go home after Halo, but Kyle insisted on going for more drinks. Very easy for him to say since he isn’t working today. Only a true friend will make sure that you have a hangover to go to work with in the morning… especially when they know they can sleep in. Payback will be swift and thorough.

TGIF!

Uh… I’m sorry, what was I going to type? I got a little distracted.

I actually haven’t seen much of the Olympic Games coverage. I have a few shows saved on my TiVo, but finding time to sit down and watch multiple programs with up to 4 hours of coverage each isn’t easy.

[Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images. Seen at Towleroad]

From the deadline USA blog at The Guardian comes LOL Bush. A LOL Cats inspired look at some photos taken during President Bush’s visit to the Olympic Games.