Daffnee

I haven't been very good at doing touristy DC things since I've been here, mostly because of work and because I made an initial touristy trip last September. We didn't feeling like being uber-homebodies this weekend though, so ended up at the National Archives.

I LOVE the National Archives.

It's everything I like about museums (old pictures, old documents, statistics, bureaucratic papers, architectural and scientific designs, Marbury v. Madison) and nothing of what I dislike (colonial history, overly wordy description, overly simplified descriptions, poor choice of colour in displays). They had an entire section devoted to patents. They were selling ties with Thomas Edison's patent drawings of the electric lighbulb stitched into it. They had stuffed donkeys next to stuffed elephants. It was fantastic.

I just killed my first highlighter of the summer.

Yikes.

Your Personality Is Like Alcohol

You're the life of the party, a total flirt, and probably a pretty big jokester. Sometimes your behavior gets you in trouble, but you still remain socially acceptable. You're a pretty bad driver, and you're dancing could also use a little work!

There's this ongoing debate as to whether there really is such thing as a "Western Canadian" accent. Newfoundlanders and Quebecois are obviously special -- *twitch* -- but I always thought Vancouver folk were like Midwesterners and accent-free. JP insists that we clip our speech. I think it's just that he's usually not facing in the right direction for optimal speech reception.

I also think, however, that our distinctiveness comes from diction, and not accents. For example, I had a moment a few days ago where I saw a woman with a baby and desperately wanted to say "that's a cute stroller," but all that would come out was "that's a cute pram." I still say "jolly good" occasionally. And I just realised that my e-mail signature line has "mobile" instead of "cell".

Then again, maybe it's not us...maybe it's just me.

Mark, what's your website again?

The Washington Post did a story on my yoga studio!

The reporter also thinks we're crazy, but oh well.

The boy was kind enough to come down this weekend. I had to entice him with promises that we would go to morningtime yoga both days so that he wouldn't fail his belt test next Saturday. We actually ended up sleeping through the 9:30 AM classes both Saturday and Sunday, but in my defense I had very bad neck strain on Saturday from reading a novel for the first time in months.

The reason boy had to come down was that we had to go down to Annapolis for the firm's most casual event of the summer -- Maryland crab feasting. It's a mess. It's fun. It involves mallets and knives, both of which I like applying to shellfish. Best of all, the partner lives on an awesome little house overlooking the Chesapeake, and his wife makes great dirt cake. It's unfortunate that it takes more energy to get the crab meat out than you get from the food, but I've recently come to realise I hate work clothes (i.e. suits) and will now gladly attend any firm function in flip flops and a tee.

Other happenings this weekend:

1. Went to Costco and got glasses. It cost about a third as much as my last pair, which were (was?) (an?) emergency acquisition in Switzerland last summer. God bless Costco and big box stores. No one's ever really been able to explain to me why Wal-Mart was evil anyway.

2. I decided to educate myself on WW2 (having skipped History 12 in favour of Calculus in high school) by reading the WW2 entry on Wikipedia, and now feel depressed. I'm also looking for a charity to donate money to so I can feel better about myself, so if my readers have any worthwhile suggestions, please send 'em my way.

3. Debated the value of American citizenship. It appears that the US requires one to formally renounce all other citizenships when acquiring an American citizenship, but the US also underenforces (i.e. never enforces) this. I'm kind of conflicted on the issue. On the pro-AM side: lots of things I want to do in the US require citizenship (e.g. clerk on federal circuit, be a prosecutor, etc.); lower taxes; I don't plan on moving back to Canada any time soon. On the pro-Can side: I like having a safe place to go home to if anything goes "wrong"; not being able to vote is kind of convenient in heated political situations; Peter Jennings waited really long before getting American citizenship; I don't plan on running for Congress; being able to pass European borders without getting a dirty look. Thoughts on this item too will be appreciated, by Cans, Ams, and others too.

4. Got a new rear LED light for my bike. Some jerk stole the last one. Stupid DC.

Does anyone else feel like the beginning of WW3 is happening in the Middle East but no one wants to admit it?

[later addenum: apparently Newt Gingrich does.]

Why summer associates aren't real lawyers:

Monday lunch -- Kaz Sushi
Monday dunner -- happy birthday, Julia!
Tuesday lunch -- choosing an expert witness
Tuesday dinner -- wrap sneaked in after happy hour and before yoga
Wednesday lunch -- catered videoconference
Wednesday dinner -- venison taco-fest at partner's house
Thursday lunch -- at the federal courthouse
Thursday dinner -- at improv
Friday lunch -- Supreme Court Round-Up with former Solicitor General
Friday dinner -- ?
Saturday lunch/dinner -- crab feast at partner's house

Do note that I only have to pay for 1 -- maybe two -- of those.

This is where the billable hours go on Fridays: