Smoke on the Daughter

The first five minutes and the last two were the highlights of this somewhat OK episode. Like the season premiere a few months ago, I read a brief summary of this episode beforehand and thought to myself "what a lousy concept."

An unknown error has caused the near death of my not-even-four-year-old laptop. After the Geek Squad is done reloading the Windows software on it, all my files will be erased. As the warranty expired last August, the repair plus the backup DVD will cost $359. I am currently using the desktop computer downstairs. I guess it's a good thing this happened while I was at home as opposed to being away at college.

The aforementioned cafe/convenience store hybrid

My dad found out some information about the place that was within the Metro station. It's apparently part of a company called On The Fly, a Washington-based natural foods vendor. Here's their site. Instead of editing the last post, I'm writing this because the sudden appearance of this cafe really helped me. My parents were pressuring me to find a place to eat, and I couldn't think of anything. I decided to go into the Metro station to at least get out of the rain and saw this. I'm really glad it was there. Here's their site.

I'm home.

Boy, what a trip. Let me give you the best recap my tired and hungry memory can give right now:

*Train from Selma to Washington, with astronomical delays

*Dinner at Union Station's food court (one of the best)

*Check into the Washington Suites

*International Spy Museum

*Lunch at a Mongolian restaurant in Chinatown recommended by my Dad's friend Ed, who claims that Chinatown has been reduced to "Chinablock"

*The recovery of a 25-year-old tape of a strange phone call my Dad received while working at The Fayetteville Observer

*National Portrait Gallery (Stephen Colbert included)

*World War II Memorial

*Lincoln Memorial

*Dinner at Pentagon City Mall's food court (not as good as US)

*Catching a glimpse of the Iraq War 5th Anniversary Protest

*Museum of the American Indian (great cafe)

*Hirshorn Museum

*Natural History Museum

*National Geographic Society

*Dinner at a cafe/convenience store hybrid located within a Metro station (I promise that if I ever remember what it's called, I'll link to it)

And the last event calls for a bit of elaboration, to say the least:

On the train back home, there were a few delays, one causing a stop mere feet from the platform at Wilson, one stop away from Selma, where we were to get off. The train stops short of Selma's platform, and as we were in the last car with the PA turned off for no reason, we assumed this wasn't the actual stop. A minute later, we realize that we're screwed. After Dad went to talk to a few people, Amtrak agrees to spring for a cab to take us from Raleigh back to Selma to get the car. The staff at Raleigh has to call a cab twice, and when cabbie #2 shows up mere minutes ahead of cabbie #1, cabbie #1 gets mad. Join the club, dude. Two hours later, I'm writing this post.

It's finally almost here!

Tomorrow, my parents and I will be traveling from Selma to Washington, DC by train. This is my third trip to Washington, the first two being in 1998 and 2004. We aren't staying as long as the last two times, just until Thursday. But we are planning to see some things that we haven't seen yet. But seeing as how the one thing Mom wanted to see more than anything else, the Newseum, postponed their opening date to April, and seeing as how a wiki-meetup (an event where Wikipedia editors like myself meet each other in person) is scheduled for May in DC, we might go again soon.

Dial "N" for Nerder

This week's episode was not bad. There were some confusing moments, mostly at the beginning and at the end. But the middle was solid. It wasn't mediocre/average like many previous episodes, but not excellent, like "Little Orphan Millie" from last November.

Coming next week: Spring Break = Trip to Washington, DC. Hopefully, it'll be a good one.

Another Simpsons review

I'll bet you're wishing I had something else to write about. Sorry. As for tonight's episode, there were very few laugh out loud moments, save for the chalkboard and the Diet Coke/Mentos scene. But I'm not going to call it mediocre, because I've used that description too often, for one thing. So I'm calling this one average.