Show yourselves already

I'm in Week 6 of going to the gym on a fairly regular basis. Sadly, it's necessary, but it's incredibly boring. However, everyone has been telling me that I should start seeing results after six weeks of working out. Well, I'm ready whenever they are. Karl Malone, look out.

Aromarama

Crockpot chili and banana bread. Man, my apartment smells good right now.

Maybe they were out being cleaned

Along with my trip to the National Building Museum this past Sunday, I also went to the National Gallery of Art. Feeling slightly parched, I went to the West Gallery café to get something to drink.

The phone lines for the cash registers were a bit on the hinky side Sunday afternoon (which, I found out, was happening throughout the Smithsonian's system, too), so it took a little while to get everyone's purchases rung up. A middle-aged East Coast woman, who should know better but more than likely doesn't, decided that five minutes were simply too long to wait behind all of these little people in front of her. She pushed her way up to the front and demanded that she be helped before all of us who had been waiting for the past 10 minutes. I glared at her and muttered a bit under my breath about "some people should be able to contain themselves better...misplaced sense of entitlement..." While her pushiness was bad enough, the NGA cafeteria staff then went ahead and waited on her right in front of us! These were cashiers with no balls whatsoever, even if you ignore the fact that they were women.

I really enjoy the National Gallery of Art (especially the Recent Print Acquisitions), but someone in the cafeteria really needs to grow a pair already.

Rubber band afternoon

I spent Sunday at the National Building Museum. It was good to see such an awesome space finally used for something worthwhile: rubber-band powered flight. Who would think that a few sticks of balsa wood, a rubber band, a little tissue paper, and a propeller could make for such a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon? Deceptively low-tech and completely old-school.



And they don't really use rubber bands. They're rubber motors, as I was reminded fairly often.

Meskerem + Maggie Moo's = Exquisite Agony

Helpful dining hint: After an awesome meal of Ethiopian food that makes you feel like Violet Beauregarde after a piece of dinner gum, don't go down the street and get the chocolate-and-nut-edged waffle bowl with two scoops of ice cream (and mini-marshmallows mixed in) if it's been under an hour since dinner. You'll regret it.