Ten Years In Washington (Part 2)

I have now lived in the Washington DC area for a decade. While I shared some thoughts about significant events that occurred since moving here, I figured I would pose the question about whether or not I am a Washingtonian.

Why I May Be a Washingtonian

- Not only do I regularly ride Metro, but like my fellow Washingtonians, I feel the need to complain about non-air-conditioned trains, cost (I still don't understand the peak of the peak fares), delays, and broken escalators. However, overall, when Metro runs on time, I generally enjoy my experience commuting.

- I dislike Dan Snyder. I'm not a fan of the Washington Redskins in general, but the years of overcharging people for everything at FedEx Field, putting a poor football team together and suing the Washington City Paper all fall under Snyder's watch as owner.

- I know that Chuck Brown is the Godfather of Go-Go.



- I attended Stephen Strasburg's major league baseball debut. Of course, I was one of the few people in attendance wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates shirt.

- I get annoyed by tourists especially when the stand on the left on Metro escalators. However, a recent article in the Washington Post makes me reconsider my views on tourists.

- I have attended concerts or shows at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, 930 Club, Wolf Trap, Strathmore, Nissan Pavilion/Jiffy Lube Live and the Verizon Center.

- I have played ultimate frisbee on the National Mall.

- I like the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin. Yes, it's a bit touristy, but they truly are beautiful and signify the beginning of spring.

- I know the correct way to pronounce the name of rapper Wale.

- I know what a Topper Shutt is.



Why I May Not Be a Washingtonian

- I have never attended the July 4th fireworks on the National Mall. I'm generally not really a big fan of being in crowds of 100,000 or more (unless the Steelers or Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert are involved).

- I attended Washington Capitals games before they became pretty good the past few years. Sure, many of these games were against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but there was no such thing as Rocking the Red then. There was also no problem getting tickets then.

- I have never played in a kickball league.

- Although I have had Ben's Chili Bowl at a Nationals game, I have never been to Ben's Chili Bowl itself. Yes, I realize that this item alone probably puts me into the not a Washingtonian category.



- I did not attend either the 2nd Bush inauguration or the Obama inauguration. Please see the big crowd thing above.

- I rarely visit the DC monuments or museums. This is the one part of this list that bothers me more than the others. Although I live in Northern Virginia and not actually in Washington, I certainly should visit these places more than I do. I tend to only visit these historic sites and wonderful exhibits when I have friends and family in from out of town.

- I have never been to Georgetown Cupcake or any other cupcake store or food truck.

- LiLu made a list of 10 places to visit when moving to the District. I have only been to four of them.

- I have not been invited to any White House event. Apparently, I don't have any connections and I don't feel like crashing any events like the Salahis (remember them?).



So what do you think: Am I a Washingtonian?

TMI Thursday: Trip to the Doctor’s

Let me preface this post by writing that I am fine. I don’t have the swine flu, Bubonic plague or the dreaded Salahi disease.* This trip to my doctor was for my annual physical. The good news is that my weight is slightly down from last year and my cholesterol, which was fairly high a few years ago, is at a good level. The bad news is that the growth spurt I’ve been hoping for didn’t occur this year.

When the doctor completed the physical and started to leave, I asked him about getting a Tetanus shot since it’s been about 10 years since I had one. He replied that I had one recently. I did? He pulled out my record and showed a fax that I received a Tetanus shot*** on July 2, 2009 from someplace called Travel Clinic. I was confused. Did I have a Tetanus shot but forget? Where was I on July 2nd? Wait a minute. I’ve never heard of a place called Travel Clinic. And why was my name not on this fax. In fact, there was no patient name on the fax. What is it doing in my records? The doctor told me to sort it out with Travel Clinic and to come back another day if I needed the shot.

I called Travel Clinic later that day and explained the situation. They looked up their records and hadn’t heard of me either. So now I need to go back to my doctor’s office, which is 35-minutes away from my home without Beltway traffic, to get the Tetanus shot. Moral of the story: I need a new doctor!



Please visit LiLu for more TMI Thursdays. She is doing an excellent Post Secret edition of TMIT on her site plus you can visit the TMIT stories from other folks there. In addition, you can always click here to see all of my TMI Thursday archives.

* No one is going to understand this joke in three weeks.** Don’t believe me? What is the last name of the balloon boy family?

** A friend of mine wants the entire Tareq and Michaele Salahi incident to be called Gategate. I don’t think it’s going to stick. (I need a ruling from Lacochran to make sure that this is acceptable use of asterisks.)

*** Tetanus shots would be much more fun if they were Tetris shots. Imagine the possibilities of moving around squares and L-shaped pieces!