It's been two weeks

First of all, happy birthday to me! I turn 27 today (June 23). So, hooray for that. :)

Now that that's out of the way, I thought I'd give a run-down of all things DC. What I like, what I don't like, what's interesting...etc. Keep in mind, it's only been two weeks, so I'm obviously missing a lot. This is just a little bit about what I've found in my first two weeks in the nation's capital.

Warning, this is a long entry. You know I'm a wordy writer; it's how I roll. But I figure, I'm living in a new place, why not share my experiences so far? It takes some words to do that. So here you go!

Things I like about DC:

1. Riding the Metro

Awful tragedy yesterday aside, riding the Metro is fantastic. It's so easy, it's so quick and it's so cheap. It costs me $3.30 per day to get to and from work. Multiply that by 22 (days works in a month, not including weekends, obviously) and you get $72.60. Now factor in how I don't drive at all around the city. Get gas twice and tell me how much it costs. More than $72? I think so too. And I would need to get gas more than twice in a month.

Oh yeah, but work pays for my Metro usage to get to and from the office. So, yeah. That's a pretty great perk. The station is a block and a half from my house, and it gets you where you need to go quickly and efficiently. I'm a fan so far.

2. Turkey Avocado sandwich at Rumi

Rumi is a Mediterranean restaurant across the street from my office. The turkey avocado sandwich there is just fantastic. Turkey, melted provolone, tomato, lettuce, cucumber and avocado on large pita bread. Add some fries and a can of soda, all for $8, and you've got my lunch of choice now that the closest Jersey Mike's is 65 miles away.

Seriously, so good, and right across the street. Also, not even that bad. That's a reasonably healthy sandwich for lunch.

I'm still looking for a good REAL deli sandwich. One of my roommates mentioned a place called Vace (VA-chay) in Cleveland Park (a neighborhood west of here). It's a little Italian deli, and it's supposedly awesome. Undoubtedly, it's on my list of places to try in the next couple of weeks.

3. Walking Distance

I live within walking distance of almost everything I need to do day to day. Target, Best Buy, the Metro station, the grocery store, a Wachovia, Radio Shack, Staples and a 24-hour CVS are all within a 5- to 10-minute walk away. Excellent. I end up walking a couple miles per day just going about my business.

Which leads into my next item...

4. Not Driving

I don't have to drive anywhere. The only time I have to drive is to leave DC to go to Raleigh or Charlotte or New Jersey or wherever. It's pretty nice not to have to drive anywhere day to day. It's a short item on my list of things I like, but it's true nonetheless.

5. Living in a City

I don't think I'm surprising anyone when I say I'm more of a city guy than anything. I was born 25 minutes from the biggest city in the world. I lived in the two biggest cities in North Carolina. I lived just outside of Tampa, Fla., and I lived in Clinton, S.C. One of these things is not like the other. One of these things doesn't quite belong.

You guessed it...good ol' Clinton. Don't get me wrong, I loved writing for the Chronicle, and I loved the people I worked with, but living in Clinton wasn't my cup of tea. I'm much more suited to city life. No doubt. And here I am in Washington, D.C., living in the nation's capital. This is nice, I have to say.

I like walking out my door and walking to the Metro station to use mass transit to get to work. I like leaving the Metro station downtown and walking out and being surrounded by city life. People on their way to do important things. Sort-of-tall buildings all around (more on this later), cars speeding around...THINGS are going on. It just feels good. It's fun. :-)

6. Where I Live

I live in a row house in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. To be more accurate, I live in the basement apartment of the house with another guy. Three girls live in the house upstairs, but we have keys to the house to use the kitchen and laundry room.

My roommates' best guess is this house could be about 100 years old. It really is a charming little Victorian row house. Pictures are available on my Facebook page for those who haven't seen just yet.

It's plenty of space for me, and it's extremely affordable, which is pretty important for now. Also, my roommates are pretty excellent. Everyone is so nice, and they're really trying to make me feel welcome here. We're having a house dinner tonight (on my birthday!) to "officially" welcome me to the house. They're making manicotti! It's going to be a good time.

So yeah. I like the house, and I like my new roommates. Good times all around.

7. Work

I really enjoy my new job. It's great; it really is. I really liked my old job, and I genuinely miss some of the people I worked with there, without a doubt. But this is a great opportunity for me. In hindsight, getting laid off is one of the best things that's happened to me.

I have more responsibilities, more work and more clients. The people I work with are fun, and they're really trying to make me feel welcome in the office. The office culture is relaxed, but everyone works hard, so that's good.

The dress code is a bit more strict. During the spring, fall and winter, the regular dress code for guys is shirt and tie. After all, it is the capital, and more clients work in the area, so we try to look a bit more professional than most PR firms, which usually adopt a more casual dress code. During the summer we have a business casual code, which means I don't have to wear a shirt and tie when it's hot out. I appreciate that. I also appreciate my office having its own individual AC unit.

All in all, I really enjoy the work I'm doing -- especially the nuclear energy client, that's a lot of fun -- and I'm really happy I accepted this job.

Things I don't like about DC:

1. Not having Anne and Allie

Look, this goes without saying. I miss my girls. That's really all there is to say. For the past three years, I've been able to see them every day, and now I can't. That takes some getting used to, but I believe this is what's best for our little family. It sets us up in the best possible way for the future, so here we are. It'll be OK; it's just an adjustment.

2. People

OK, that's not REALLY true. More specifically, I have a problem with the people who decide to walk unbelievably slowly when trying to transfer between trains. Folks, I've got someplace to be. Whether it's work or home, I'd like to get there sooner rather than later. So let's try either to pick up the pace just a little bit, or abide by the normal rules of human travel: slower traffic keep to the right.

Some people just don't get it.

3. Rolling Suitcases on the Metro

I know these are necessary sometimes. The Metro is a means to travel back and forth between Reagan National Airport, and sometimes people need to carry suitcases. These rolling suitcases, though, take up so much space. It's impossible to maneuver them around the tight spaces and cramped cars, so people (myself included, from time to time) inevitably end up tripping over them. No thank you, sir.

Take your rolling bag and remove it from my path, por favor. Thankfully, I have yet to experience the nightmare that is someone stopping at the top of the escalator to mess with his/her rolling suitcase. Although, on the topic of escalators...please, ladies and gentlemen, stand right, walk left. Say it with me now: stand right, walk left. It's not hard. Please. I'm begging you for my sanity and everyone else's who walks around like responsible people.

4. Walking in the Rain

The downside to walking everywhere. Sometimes it rains. Even when it rains, I've walked to the office from the Metro station. It doesn't matter if I have an umbrella or not, my legs always get soaked. It's not comfortable, but I still wouldn't trade it. It's manageable, so it's OK.


Interesting Things I Neither Like Nor Dislike:

1. It's not "the city," it's "the district"

Pretty self-explanatory, no? I've called it "the city" before, but it is apparently referred to as "the district" as an alternative to saying Washington or DC.

2. Building Heights

None of the buildings in the district (see what I did there?) are taller than the Washington Monument.

According to Wikipedia: "After the construction of the twelve-story Cairo Apartment Building in 1899, Congress passed the Heights of Buildings Act, which declared that no building could be taller than the Capitol. The Act was amended in 1910 to restrict building height to the width of the adjacent street plus 20 feet (6.1 m). Today the skyline remains low and sprawling, in keeping with Thomas Jefferson's wishes to make Washington an 'American Paris' with 'low and convenient' buildings on 'light and airy' streets. As a result, the Washington Monument remains the District's tallest structure."

Interesting. I like my brother's story better, even if it's probably not true. He says the Secret Service doesn't want the buildings to be any taller than the Washington Monument because they don't want the roofs of any building to have a line of sight on the White House. You know, for snipers, and such.

That story is more fun, and maybe there's some truth to it, but there you go. Either way. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I appreciate all of you. Leave me some love. Any suggestions on places I should check out? Places to avoid? Let me know!

-BG