Church Review: Holy Rosary

It has bee a while since I last wrote, I realize, and I have no good excuse aside from general exhaustion, lots of social commitments (people want me at their parties, which is still more than a bit flattering to me), and bad weather malaise.  But the weather shaped up to be gorgeous this weekend so, feeling adventurous, I checked out a new church.  Beware: this one's Italian!

Holy Rosary
595 3rd St. NW
Website  
Holy Rosary is an unassuming church from the outside, located a block from Judiciary Square (or, as they say it on the Metro, Joo-dish-ee-ary) and the National Building Museum, near where 395 plunges into the earth so it can burrow under the Capitol Reflecting Pool between 3rd St. and the Ulysses Grant monument.  It's an easy walk from my place, although I took the Metro up from Chinatown since I didn't have time to walk from home (Mass at noon, I slept late because I was out at a housewarming until two in the morning...you know how it is).  And, although the Metro decided it was fine to take 15 minutes to go three stops, and although I should by rights have been late to Mass since I didn't get there until several minutes past noon, I was still on time.  God bless the Italians and their penchant for starting things late.

Although the exterior is modest and unassuming, the interior - in typical "remember the Renaissance?" Italian style - is gorgeous.  If, of course, you like Neo-Baroque with a hint of Rococo. 

See?  Marble, gold, carved angels, stained glass - the whole nine yards.  While I like the understated Palladianism of St. Peter, anyone who knows me knows that I also have a soft spot for the Baroque (or the Neo-Baroque, which is the closest you'll ever get to the real thing in this country), and this church fits that expectation perfectly.  I am particularly delighted by some of the details:

Mosaic floors...

...vivid stained glass windows...

...and lovely mosaic stations of the cross, for example.  Even more intriguing is that this is a very small church - smallest, I've been in, in fact, perhaps half the length of St. Dominic and certainly not as wide, which makes it feel more exclusive, and allows the art to saturate the space more effectively than the same amount of art in a larger church.  It's like going to Mass in a jewel-box.  

Of course, it being an Italian church with an Italian language Mass at 10 (some day, when I'm feeling courageous...), there is a little Italian priest behind the marble altar, his English slurred and monotone, more likely not because of a stroke, but because his mother tongue is the music of la bella lingua, not flat American English.  A wiry but frail man with a touch of Parkinson's, he totters between the altar and his seat - there is no room for another podium beside the cantor, a burly man who could be a mafia enforcer, and I doubt that he (the priest) could make it up to the top of the raised ambo without considerable assistance - for the prayers, and then informs us that in place of a homily, we will listen to a recorded message from Cardinal Wuerl, since this weekend is the kickoff of the Cardinal's appeal (D.C.'s version of the yearly bishop's appeals which each diocese in the country holds at this time of year to raise money for diocesan programs).  I started tuning the message out when the cardinal mentioned that the money would support, among other things, unspecified "pro-life programs," and resolved that I would give to the various parishes in the archdiocese which need donations to stay open, rather than to the cardinal so he can lobby Congress to restrict access to family planning facilities and end federal aid for Planned Parenthood.  So there.

To soothe my affronted political sensibilities Holy Rosary kindly providing laughing children and an actual organ - the only complaint I have to level against St. Peter, which is approaching the status of home base more than any other church, is its overly-bombastic pianist - with old hymns to match.  It is surprising how many churches have dispensed entirely, it seems, with use of the organ - more than half of those that I have visited, I would say.  In certain ways, I am a traditionalist at heart.

So, how does Holy Rosary score?

Location: 4 - close enough to walk pretty easily, but not exactly in the neighborhood

Aesthetics: 5 - delightful little jewel box with charming details, a great altar, and splendid stained glass

Liturgy: 2 - although it may be better without pre-recorded sermons from the cardinal

Music: 4 - great to hear an organ again, although only for hymns; all the Mass parts were spoken

For a total of: 15 of 20, or 3.75.  I'll come back another week to hear what the liturgy is like without the cardinal "in attendance," although I may come back just to watch the children crawl in the aisles under a golden ceiling and the benevolent gaze of the Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii.

Absence Makes the Blogger Founder

So...I was in Chicago over the long weekend with J and didn't write diddly-squat in the blog.  I promise to make it up to you soon.  Soon, I say!  In the meantime, look at this unfortunate bit of news:

National Christmas Tree Casualty of High Winds

and also this funny one:

Le Poopshack Historique

(The only way you'll find out what it means is to click the link!  Thanks to DCist for both stories.)

On Being Late for Work

Sometimes, try as you may, you end up being late for work.  Generally it's my own fault - I didn't leave home early enough, or I slept too late, or some such thing.  Other times it's Metro's fault - trains are slow, late, too full, whatever.  But occasionally, like today, things just get ridiculously compounded, to the point when you stop trying to find someone to blame and just look on and shake your head at the foolishness of it all.

This morning was one of those times.

Now, I will admit that I was running a bit late, and I didn't get to Waterfront station until about seven minutes before eight (not allowing enough time to get to work by eight, true, but I've given myself a ten-minute "acceptable tardiness" cushion).  I went down onto the platform and was discouraged to see that it was fuller than normal - which of course means that getting a spot on the next train is much less likely.  Discouraged, I found a place in the throng.

Minutes later - about 8:00 - an odd tri-tone chime was played and followed by an announcement - telling us that there was a sick passenger at Navy Yard, the station before Waterfront, and that trains would be delayed.  Now, "sick passenger" sounds much more innocuous that it is.  It sounds like "someone has a cold on the train, oh noes" but in fact means that someone needs medical attention, generally for the sudden development of a major condition, like a heart attack.  So a sick passenger is likely to foul up your entire commute.

Moments after the first announcement, the announcer - I presume the station manager, though I have no way of knowing - told us that a train would be coming into the station, but that trains were single-tracking, so it would show up on the opposite side of the platform, where trains going in the other direction arrive.  So the whole crowd shifted over to the other side of the platform and waited, only to be informed a few minutes later that, just kidding, the train would arrive shortly on the normal side of the platform.  Just kidding folks!

So the train arrives, and it's jammed to the gills.  A few intrepid people forced their way on, but as it was already quarter past eight I figured I could wait for another train rather than get up in someone one else's (or elses') personal space to a degree that I usually - no, always - reserve for my boyfriend.  Fortunately, another train showed up two minutes later  - in total defiance of the arrivals board, which declared that the next train wouldn't come for another seventeen minutes - and I got on, thinking that my troubles were over.  Of course not - we had to wait in the tunnel for a few minutes while the train in front of occupied the platform at L'Enfant Plaza.  I should have known.

When I finally got off at L'Enfant Plaza to change lines, I heard another announcement, informing the world that there was a sick passenger at Navy Yard, which I already knew, and that I should expect delays throughout the system.  The entire system, delayed on account of a sick passenger at one of the stations, and not even one served by multiple lines?  Bah, humbug, I thought to myself, being careful not to be angry with the sick passenger, only with Metro for handling it like O'Hare handles a snowshower.

Upon reaching the lower platform where my next train would arrive, I was disheartened to see an even more crowded platform than the one I had left at Waterfront.  After dodging lots of oblivious people who seem to think that the best thing to do once getting off an escalator is stop dead and look around confusedly, I made it to the far (and emptier) end of the platform, and was able to get on a train after waiting a while.  (It's a bit past 8:20 by this point).  In short order I was delivered to my destination station, but upon disembarking found yet another crowded platform, with people in long lines for the escalator.  High volume, I thought, and I exited the system thinking only about how late I would end up being for work.

But when I came above ground, yet another change from normalcy awaited me - the entire plaza, which I usually cross to get to the street, cordoned off.  Uniformed personnel directed us towards the only un-cordoned-off exit and I went around a couple of buildings before arriving at the point where I would have been had I been able to cross the plaza.  Then I saw the fire trucks and ambulances, and the blocked-off street, and began to worry.  Apparently a large government building had been closed off, in its entirety, but no one was saying what was going on.  No SWAT team in sight, so probably not a hostage situation, but who knew?  Bomb threat, maybe?

I made it to my office and logged onto my computer, thinking to check the news, and only then glanced at my phone.  8:30.  It took more than half an hour to make a commute I can usually do in about twelve minutes.  Tripled.  Oy vey.

Well, turns out it was a grease fire in a food court which spread to some ductwork.  And it also turns out that I wasn't the worst affected by a long shot.  They closed the building's associated parking ramp too, so my boss (who drives to work) couldn't park for hours.  They didn't give the all clear until 11.  Yet another reason I'm glad I don't drive.

You will be please to know, of course, that my afternoon commute was totally uneventful.  After today, I think karma owes me a couple of weeks of smooth sailing, don't you?

Reading Recommendations

I've added a new gadget to the bottom of this blog - scrolls down and in between the copyright info and the disclaimer you'll find a list of other DC blogs that I read and enjoy, some regularly (DCist) and some sporadically (We Love DC and Unsuck DC Metro).  If you're interested in what's going on around the city, don't rely on me for news!  Check out on of these blogs.  Or, if you want actual news, try TBD - DC news plus snark.  A quite enjoyable combination, and some of the TBD blogs, like Amanda Hess ("Sex and gender at work, in bed, and on the street") are quite interesting.

(You see, I realize that some of you may have been checking back here periodically for entertainment and, finding none (since I've been very bad about updating) have gone away sad.  Now, if you don't find something entertaining here, click one of those blog links for DC-related news and fun from a different source.  Just don't forget who sent you, and come back here now and then - I'm going to spend a hefty chunk of today writing, so you'll have new materials to peruse soon!)

Still Freezing...

It's been two and a half hours with both convectors going - blowing cool air, I should note - and it hasn't gotten any warmer in here.  It's still 63 degrees.  I have now turned the convectors up to 80 (they were at 70 before) in the hopes of achieving something, but they're still pumping cool air.  We are not amused.

So it was a bit of a Zen moment when I stumbled across this article on DCist, entitled "Hot Hot Heat: What To Do If You Don't Have It."  Apparently, landlords are obligated, between October 15th and May 15th, to provide heating capabilities that can keep an apartment at 68 between 6:30a and 11:30p, and at 65 for the remainder of the day.  As you'll note, 63 does not satisfy either of those criteria.

What does this mean?  It means that I wouldn't actually be in the wrong if I were to complain about this.  Of course, it needs to be evident that this is a chronic problem, and I haven't had this degree (ha) of trouble up until now - as far as I can remember, anyway.  So we'll see if the convectors can warm this place up, or else I may to speak to someone about how this just isn't OK.

Stay warm, readers!

Things I Learned Today (II)

• Keeping one heater on is apparently not sufficient to keep my apartment warm through the day.  I came home and it was 63.  I have since turned on the other heater, but after half an hour my thermometer records no progress.  Might be because my heaters are actually "convectors," and at the moment they're blowing cold air.  Lovely.
• My boss(es) loves me.  I got an award yesterday (yes, I'm stretching the "today" part of the post title a bit)  at the quarterly recognition event-thinger for my work over the past few months which included twenty-four hours of leave for me to use at my discretion, which is one of the more joyful things that has happened to me in a while.
• Metro's timing system is completely bollocksed up.  As I was trying to return home today, an Orange line train showed up three minutes earlier than the posted times said it would, and then departed as I was coming down the stairs.  Three minutes later, when the boards showed the Orange line train arriving, a Blue line train comes up instead, four minutes ahead of schedule.  I realize that I haven't given a proper rant about Metro yet, and given that it's been such a quiet week - and will probably be a quiet week next week too - I may need to devote some time to DC's delightfully dysfunctional urban railway.
• Hosni Mubarak has a death wish.
• Diets are easy to break.  Leftover cookies from yesterday's recognition event (see above) were in the lounge today, and I may or may not have consumed four of them over the course of the day.  At this rate I'll never get my abs back.
• And lastly...filing cabinets are expensive!  I had thought about getting one, but there's no way I want to drop $50 for a filing cabinet!  Bah, humbug!

Oh, and I will write those posts on Air and Space, I promise!  It's just that right now I feeling like getting under some blankets with some food and staying there - blasted convectors!

On Eggs

I have just returned from celebrating Chinese New Year with excellent food and really smart and interesting people, but I wanted to share a bit of cuteness that came in a package from my mother today.  An early birthday present, she called it.

What is it? you ask.  It's the cutest egg separator in all of creation, I tell you.  Mom has been sending me recipes of late which require the separation of eggs, and I've mentioned on multiple occasions that I don't have an egg separator (and yes, I know you can just pour the egg back and forth between two bits of shell, but that's too messy for my taste, and presumes that after cracking the egg you have two usable pieces of shell, which is not generally the case for me), so she obviously put two and two together and decided to send an egg separator along with the box of books I had requested.

Rather conveniently, it also hooks onto the edge of bowls of a certain thickness, making egg separation a breeze!  Now I just need a complex recipe that requires a bunch of egg whites - and another to use up all the resultant extra yolks.  Any ideas?

Civilization is Coming!

You should read this post from perhaps the most prominent southwest DC blog, Southwest...The Little Quadrant That Could about the restaurant project that's been going on across the street from the Safeway since before I moved here.  While I have not had the honor of making the author's acquaintance, I will readily admit that's he has information where I have only speculation.  Nevertheless, I am overjoyed by the prospect of having more restaurants in easy walking distance than Subway.  Eventually.

Posts on Air and Space coming soon!

Things I Learned Today

Today had been full of learning experiences.  Below, I list a few of the most salient.

• Microsoft SharePoint 2007 is a tricksome witch, and sometimes it's better just to use Paint.
• Metro + headache + hunger + (being overdressed + poor ventilation) = the worst sensation ever.
• Pentagon is a really busy Metro stop.
• Pentagon City Mall is much less crowded right before rush hour on a Monday than it is on a Sunday afternoon.
• Optometrists can be hot too...
• ...but the optometrist back in Wisconsin who gave me my current prescription (who was not hot) clearly didn't know what he was doing.  Obviously, hot optometrists are better at what they do.
• First impressions can be misleading.
• If you are nice to people even though you have a dull ache behind one eye that makes you want to bite things, they will be nice to you.  So long as you don't bite them, presumably.
• 7-10 business days for new lenses feels like an eternity when your glasses give you daily headaches.
• Rush hour on Metro sucks.
• I need to drink more.

 The End

Watch the Space...

...for lots of pictures from the National Air and Space Museum, artisanal cheese from Wisconsin in an upscale boutique in Penn Quarter, Moorish architecture on K St., and other products of an exciting - and tiring - day.  I say "watch this space" because right now I need food and shoes off.  And possibly a beer.  I'll write later.

What a Difference Two Hours Makes

You will be pleased to know that, after missing out on the two hour delay last week, I got one this morning - and slept until 9 until 6:30, as usual.  Gawd, was it ever glorious.  I then walked to work and was late, but it didn't matter because I was one of five people in the office - everyone else decided to telework.  I also walked home - I'm feeling healthy! - and thought a bit about the blog as I passed through the Smithsonian complex for the fourth time this week. 

I realized that I haven't actually been to any of the Smithsonian facilities on the Mall (I have been to the National Portrait Gallery, as you'll recall), which means I'm missing out on ten museums, according to Smithsonian's website.  This is an unforgivable sin on my part and I feel culturally impoverished just thinking about it, but it also offers me a great opportunity for this blog.  You see, church reviews are drawing to their natural end, because I've visited most of the Catholic churches within easy reach.  Yes, there are one or two others in the "DC core" that I'll go to eventually, and I haven't been to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception yet, but the days of a new church review each week are over.  But there are plenty of other things to review, which is what I realized as I walked across the Mall.  This is a city full of museums of monuments, and although I've given some attention to the major monuments, I've said precious little about any of Washington's many museums.  I've also intended since this fall to do a bit on minor monuments - the ones hardly anyone knows about (you'd be surprised how many I've been able to run over without even trying).  Add some more concerted efforts to find new and unique retailers (I already have one in mind), and I've got all sorts of things to write about.  Since this blog is not intended as an exercise in navel-gazing, this is excellent news.  This also means that I can finally start making us of the "DC Guide" tab which I had (and now have) such grand plans for.

Of course, I'm always happy to take requests.  In fact, I might even relish to challenge.  Want me to find something within the borders of the District?  Leave it in the comments, and I'll see what I can do.  And bring photographic evidence back as proof, of course.

Let It...Glop

Today, as though to make up my missing out on a perfectly good two hour delay last week, Mother Nature has served up a hefty helping of winter weather which panicked OPM into letting everyone out two hours early.  I chuckled when I found out, because although it was cold outside I couldn't imagine there being any great problems, but looking outside now (only marginally more than two hours after I left work), I begin to see the wisdom of the decision.  There can only be one word for what's going on outside, and that word is glop.  Not falling from the sky, but the result on the ground is distinctly, gloppy.

I walked home from work this afternoon, because I hadn't walked this morning and am trying to lose five pounds of Christmas-weight, and everything seemed fine.  Once I reached the Mall, however, a cold spray of rain began falling, and the wind gradually picked up.  By the time I got home, the spray had become (tentatively) drops, and after I installed myself at my desk, the rain began to take on a distinctly solid sound against the window.  Just before it got dark (it's happening as I write), I took a picture or two of what's going on outside.

As it turns out, it's rather difficult to photograph driving snow, and this probably doesn't look that bad to those of you from the North (like me), but I should point out that this is not fluffy department-store snow.  This is glop.  Look at what's collected on my balcony rail:

It's icky stuff.  It's wet, heavy, and clumpy, and it's probably going to freeze, since we're supposed to go down to the mid-20s tonight (again, not cold for a Northerner, but enough to freeze glop).  I pity the people trying to drive home (as does DCist) - between this weather and the remnants of the flood on Monday it's going to be awful.  Apparently there are a couple of potential names for this sort of weather, all of which prefix "thunder" to the various types of typical winter weather (hail, sleet, and snow), which makes sense only because this all began as rain.  Thundersnow, eh?

So what does this mean?  It means I'm checking OPM's website tomorrow morning before I get in the shower.  Because if this stuff freezes/sticks around we might have another two-hour delay - and this time I'm not going to miss it!

Today I Learned...

...that the abbreviation "OBE," which in my mind has always meant "Order of the British Empire," has a far less sexy meaning at work.

O.B.E.  Overtaken By Events.  That is, redundant, out-of-date, and no longer relevant given the present situation.

I think I'll try to start using it.

Sunday Digest

I have been remiss this week, but I hope to make up for it!  I'm sitting down this afternoon to do my final catching up while the laundry is in, with one eye on the Packers-Bears game.  At the moment we're leading 14-0, with a shot at the Superbowl hanging in the balance.  I needn't clarify who "we" is, right?

I went up to Sagrado Corazon this morning for Mass and must report that it's due for a downgrade.  I finally got their pastor (as opposed to the various guest preachers I've seen at prior Masses) and the sad fact is that this roly-poly Salvadoran dumpling man, who is undoubtedly jolly and friendly and all manner of things, is a mediocre (at best) homilist.  And this before he attempted to shove a "respect for life" message into his sermon (tomorrow is the March for Life, after all, so avoid the Mall, those of you who support people having access abortion, even if you never want one yourself).  I won't rant too much on it, but I'm mystified as to how "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" somehow translates into a demand for obedience.  Really?  Points off, sir.  (For those of you keeping score, I'm knocking three points off the Liturgy score, down to two, for a recalculated average of 3.75.  Not so impressive now.)

OK, enough of that.  You want to know what I've written up that you've been waiting for for a week now, don't you?  Well, just look below.

New Posts
Jan. 12: The Battle of Gettysburg
Jan. 13: Raging Kitsch
Jan. 18: [Have an] Ice Day
Jan. 22: Lembas?

EDIT (8:00pm): HA!  Superbowl for the Packers - the first in more than a decade!  I am pumped!  But who will we be playing?  I don't know, but what I do know is that I need a Packers flag to fly from my balcony.  Photos to come, should I be able to find one!

Lembas?

I am in the habit of experimenting with recipes, but when I have people over I'm not necessarily willing to experiment on them.  However, I am perfectly willing to deploy experiments that have proven their worth at past gatherings, and I want to share one of them

This afternoon I hosted a mini-reunion for some of the people in my academic program back in Chicago who are now out here in DC - some working for the government, some not - in honor of another member who is still in school at Chicago but came out for the March for Life (yes, well, no one's perfect).  Because I spent most of my time cleaning, I didn't have hours to spend in the kitchen, so I threw together this recipe, which I developed out of a recipe for shortbread and now serve as a cake.  I share it because it's quick, it's easy, and you cannot mess it up (you'd really have to try).  And it's so good I've taken to nicknaming it lembas - after the elven waybread from J.R.R. Tolkein's masterwork.

Oatmeal Shortbread
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 c. quick-cooking oats
3/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the salt, spices, and vanilla.  Gradually add the oats and flour (you can add them all at once, but you have to stir more).  Press the dough into a greased 9-inch round cake pan (or another size, if you prefer) and bake at 325 for roughly half an hour - because there's no egg you don't need to worry about undercooking - just cook it long enough for it to no longer be wet and sticky, or until it passes the toothpick test (an inserted toothpick comes out clean).  I've been topping this with failed toffee that K gave me, which melts down in the oven to make a lovely sugary top, but once that runs out I'm not sure what I'll use instead.  Brown sugar, I suppose.

This is my lembas.  Of course, I don't know if the elves had oats.  And there are others who purport to have a recipe for lembas.  A quick Google search reveals a raisin version (to which I object on principle, because there weren't raisins in lembas, surely, or Tolkein would have mentioned them), a lemon version, an almond version (right out, since J is allergic to almonds), and this honey and orange version which, unlike the others, appears to have some research behind it.  I can't get behind the idea of fruit in lembas, though, because I feel like that's a detail that some character would have remarked on, or that Tolkein would have used as a descriptor.  I can't help but envision them as a sort of honey shortbread, and while my recipe doesn't have honey in it, I'm sure I could do some tweaking...

(Yes, you did just a read a whole paragraph in which I speculated about the composition of a fictional bread from a fiction series and then pondered changing a recipe in the real world to reflect a fictional unknown.  If you think that's bad, you should see how I used to react to Harry Potter.)

If you have an idea for lembas - or any other recipe you'd like to share - leave it in the comments.  I'm going to go have my [elven?] cake and eat it too.

[Have an] Ice Day

Usually I'm somewhat proud of the fact that I am not surgically attached to various items of technology, and that I can get along relatively well without it, but today I'm feeling a bit abashed.  You see, had I been more attached to technology, I would have been able to sleep in this morning for an additional two hours.  But I didn't get the memo, literally.

Last night we got an interesting mix of snow, rain, and sleet, all of which froze over in the wee hours of the morning, and by commute time things looked like this:

For someone from Wisconsin, this is nothing.  So it's a bit icy - big deal!  Just allow a few more minutes for travel and walk carefully.  What did I care?  I went most of the way underground, so the ice didn't bother me.

And then I found out.  I should have known, really.  You see, in Washington, this kind of weather is a crisis.  So OPM (the Office of Personnel Management, essentially the government's human capital office) declared a two-hour delay because of the weather.  No one had to come in until 10.  But I didn't know, because I didn't check the government operating status  this morning - hell, I didn't even turn on the computer!  So I went to work at my normal time, and found out about the delay there.  Though how empty the Metro was should have given me a clue...

And those two "extra" hours at work?  I might have spent them reading...

Happy MLK Day!

I must confess that I don't really do anything special on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  I never have.  This is not because I don't respect and admire Dr. King - I do - but because for as long as I've been aware of it (that is, since college), I've always found myself with piles of work to do, so I do that instead.  When I was still in school, it was academic work - now, it's housework.  Bluh.  So I've spent about an hour and a half doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen - after a breather, I'm off to clean the bathroom.  Then maybe I'll vacuum everywhere, make dinner, and bake cookies.  Oh, and I need to run over to the grocery store for lettuce.  And do Pilates, since I haven't walked today.  That's what I get for sleeping in.

I anticipate, either tonight or over the next day or two, finishing the posts on Gettysburg and last week's church review, and perhaps some other things.  You'll see them show up further down the page, but for your convenience I'll link I have linked to them below.
 
Jan. 8: Church Review: Immaculate Conception

Oh, and don't forget what today is supposed to be about!

Finally, A Pantry

I have complained to just about everyone who will listen about the lack of storage in my kitchen, but after Christmas things reached a sort of breaking point.  I received several things from Christmas, among them a paella pan, a knife block, a frying pan and lid, a food processor, and some assorted food items (assorted spices, arborio rice, etc.).  I realized, upon returning home, that while I might have been doing all right before Christmas, all these new additions needed to go someplace, and I didn't have a place to put them.  This problem was underscored when I returned from the grocery store with a couple of things that, in Chicago, I would have stuck into my pantry - olive oil and pasta sauce - which, combined with the other food items I couldn't find places for, make it blindingly obvious to me that if I ever wanted to clear off my counters, I would need more storage space.  So I betook myself to the Target in Columbia Heights (which I'm marking on the blog map, because I go there so often) and resolved to look for storage.

I had a bit of trouble.  I found the storage section without much difficulty, and bypassed plastic and metal for particle board that looks like wood - wire is all well and good for a closet, but anything in or near my kitchen is in plain view 24/7, so I wanted something that looked nice.  I came across a one-door, five-foot tall cabinet unit which, while it would have served perfectly as a pantry, was far too heavy for me to cart home on the Metro.  I then saw a two-door, three-foot tall cabinet in three colors which seemed exactly what I needed.  Better yet, one of the colors, alder (a sort of neutral blond) had had its price reduced by six dollars - I would happily spend $25 for my pantry.  The problem: the alder unit wasn't on the shelves, and after inquiring of a staff member, I determined that it wasn't in the stockroom either.  Drat.  I didn't want white, because it's too clinical, and I didn't really want espresso either (even though my table, chairs, desk, and bookshelf are espresso), because 1) these pieces were made by a different company, so the colors might not be the same, 2) this is particle board, not wood (like those other pieces), so the color might not translate, and 3) I thought lighter would look better in the place I intended to put it.  But no alder was available, so I went upstairs to get an extension cord.

As I descended the escalator, I noticed that there was another storage section, in one of the the rotating areas where there had been Christmas candy the last time I was at the Target.  So I walked over and poked around, and after encountering some of the same pieces that I had seen in the first section I was ready to give up.  But then I turned around and saw it: two-door, three feet tall, alder, and right there.  It shouldn't have been there - none of the other cabinets were there (I suspect someone thought better of it after putting it in a cart and, rather than putting it where it belonged, just ditched wherever they were).  But there it was, just one - the only one in the entire store!  I seized it and hastened, Gollum-like, to the check out.  After lugging the box onto the Metro and home, I assembled it, and here it is:

Although I didn't plan it this way, the alder color actually matches the floor pretty well.  As you can see, I have now found a place to store my paella pan, since it won't hang on my pot-rack.  I took the opportunity to free up a bit more space around the apartment by adding some things to the top of the cabinet so it looks all professional and such.  I am most pleased, of course, by the extra storage space - three feet tall, one foot deep, two feet wide, and three shelves gives me lots more room for food and whatever else needs to go in there.  And for $25 dollars!  I'm only letting myself get one large thing per month, and this is January's, but I think it's a pretty good choice.

Of course, I know you didn't come here to read about furniture - I just wanted to share this particular triumph with you.  I owe you pictures from and posts about my time in Gettysburg, and I promise to write them either tomorrow or Monday.  I'll back-date them to the middle of this week, but I'll be sure to provide links to them if they aren't immediately apparent on the home page.  I wouldn't deprive you of those pictures - I stayed in this incredibly kitschy hotel that you've just got to see...

Raging Kitsch

Could I please have an alternative-punky-funky band called Raging Kitsch?  Puh-leeese?  No?  Well, fine - I'll just have to settle for three days in the weirdest hotel I have ever encountered.  I'll bet the band would be more fun. 

The problem with the Eisenhower (besides the horrible website), is that it's trying to be too much.  Or perhaps i should say was trying to be too much.  The new half is fine - it's a bland, run-of-the-mill hotel.  But whenever they built the older half, they couldn't decide if they were going to buy into the whole "historic Gettysburg" theme (a la colonial Williamsburg), or if they were going to try to be a sort of tropical resort getaway in the middle of Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately for all of us, they tried to do both.  Witness the results:

At first, I thought things looked pretty normal - even rather nice, what with the nice wooden headboard.  But then I looked a little closer and realized that this room didn't know what it wanted to be.  Did we want to go with antiques, wood, half-timbered and so on?

Or did we want to remember in vivid ways the most horrible era of design this country has ever experienced?

Oh, and if that couch isn't bad enough for you (I didn't even touch it), take a closer look at that carpet:

I feel...a bit queasy.

Now, step outside with me onto the balcony.  "Ooh, a balcony!" you say.  Just wait for it.

That's right.  It's neither the 1800s nor the 80s - it's flipping Tahiti.

Allow me to show you around the plaza below.  If you're a bit tired, just relax in these comfortable wicker chairs:

Try not to feel like a bird in a cage, and do resist the temptation to re-enact the "Sixteen, Going on Seventeen" scene from The Sound of Music - the gazebo is too small.

Now if you've been hankering for a drink, since there's nothing else to do in the evenings in rural Pennsylvania, belly-up to the tiki bar:

But don't drink too much, or you may fall in the pool, or the hot tub, (which in the interest of truth in advertising I have just renamed the "lukewarm tub").  Just step up the red carpet, folks, and mind the trees - they're real, and they shed.

Getting tired of Tahiti?  Then come on back to America, circa the gay '90s (you know, when we forcibly took over Hawaii)! Just remember, "no shirt, no shoes, no service!"  (As if I would ever want to take off my shirt or shoes in this place!)

Don't expect to find any alcohol in this wholesome little shop, though - this is Pennsylvania, remember!  (Lord, I had nearly forgotten, what with all the tropical decor and the shopfronts straight out of Disneyland.) 

On top of it all, the roof above all of this...ensemble...leaks.  So if you were to sit out in one of these wicker chairs, or out on your balcony (as I did), it's entirely possible that you could get some cold water dripped down your neck (as I did).  Just to remind you that this isn't tropical Disneyland, but Pennsylvania in the middle of the winter.  It just might be the case that most of use brought alcohol and shared it with each other on those three long, cold nights...perhaps a bit like the soldiers who spent three hot nights here back in 1863, not knowing what was going to happen to them the next day but sharing drinks nonetheless?

But anyhow, what are your thoughts on this hotel?  Ever stayed in worse?  Or is this not bad, merely "different"?  Let me know in the comments!

The Battle of Gettysburg

I'm in Gettysburg for "leadership training," but I'll willingly confess that my personal highlight of this trip is the chance to see the battlefield.  Now, the American Civil War is not my primary area of interest as far as history goes (I prefer European history, though I have a pretty wide definition of that term), but it's just a little bit important.  You know, the whole turning point in the war thing.  So the chance to walk about - even if chaperoned by well-trained guides and a bombastic consultant with bitter winter wind blowing across the fields - was kind of neat.  So if you'd like to see what it's like, you'll be glad that I have a few pictures to share.  Remember, though, that the battlefield is more of a field than anything else, and also that the actual Battle of Gettysburg happened on July 1-3 of 1863.  Right now it's January, so as far as historical accuracy...well, not in the weather.   Bearing that in mind, follow my photos for a brief tour of the historic battlefield:

At the time of the battle, Gettysburg was a small town of barely 2,000 people.  It's not much bigger now, but it was important because eight roads converged there.  The battle, however, didn't really involve the town too much.  Most of the action took place on the fields and ridges south of Gettysburg which, thanks to historic preservationists, have not been developed (though the roads have been paved - I mean, with all those tourists you've got to do that, at least).

The buildings which are present on the battlefield were there at the time of the battle.  The second and third days of the battle took place on farmland, so the related barns and farmhouses were caught up in the crossfire.  Some of the buildings here (and some of the buildings in town) still bear bullet-holes.

Of course, there are some things about the battlefield which have changed since 1863, the most prominent being the placement of numerous monuments.  This is the largest, dedicated to the sizable Pennsylvania contingent that was present.  Most of the monuments are Union - understandably, since they won - but there are some Confederate monuments, too.  They were put in much later than their Union counterparts, which began to spring up in the 1890s.

The most interesting part of our time on the battlefield, however, was walking Pickett's Charge.  You know, where a large chunk of the Confederate army charged across open ground for a mile and the troops were mowed down in droves?  That one.

The charge started here, where a memorial to General Lee now stands (sorry about the head):

The troops then left the shelter of the treeline and proceeded across open ground.

Really open ground.  Fortunately for the Confederates, they were behind a bit of a ridge, so they were out of range of the Union cannon.  The land all looks flat, but there are actually dips and ridges and flat parts which made all the difference in the battle.  To demonstrate the existence of the ridge, look here:

That dome on the right is the Pennsylvania monument - remember  it from above - and the ridge comes up between my vantage point and the site of the monument, such that I can only see the top half of the monument.  Of course, when I come up to the top of that ridge, guess what I'll be in range of?  If you said "an entire army's worth of cannon," you're right!  And if you're in my place on July 3rd, 1863, chances are you're also dead.

Beyond the ridge is a road, and once you come across the road, this is your view:

The tree marks the goal of Pickett's Charge, the middle of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge (it's a very gentle ridge, and it doesn't look like a ridge here because we're already on its slopes).  Now we're only about 30 yards from the Union lines - by the time the charge got to this point, it was well on its way to failure.  Looking out from Union lines as the bedraggled Confederates emerged from the smoke of cannon-fire, you would have seen this:

Minus these particular people, of course.  But do you see that white patch just above the line of people in the left-center?  The speck of gray above it is the Lee Monument, where our walk (and the charge) began.  That's a mile, and although the Confederates weren't able to see their goal at all times, the view from the top of Cemetery Ridge (you can tell it's a ridge now, can't you?), is pretty good.  If you want to blow an army to pieces with some cannon, that is.

So we walked the mile and "charged" the last 30 yards.  And then hustled back into the buses to return to the hotel (more on that soon) and thaw.  As we climbed over the stone wall on the ridge I took this picture.  It seems a bit apocalyptic, or perhaps like what you might see when you die - but given where I was, isn't that appropriate?

Off to Battle!

I'm headed off to training in Gettysburg, PA this morning, and will remain there until midday on Friday.  I don't think I'll be able to post during that time, since I probably won't have internet access, but I'm going to the battlefield (or, should I say, The Battlefield) tomorrow, so I'll take pictures and post them here once I return.  In the meantime, check out the post below this one - there are some new [backdated] posts for December that I've written since I got back from Wisconsin, and I owe you all a church review from Saturday.  Ah well - maybe I'll get caught up to myself some day?

On an unrelated note, today is 1/11/11!  So at 11:11 today (am or pm, your choice) do something special - like take a screenshot of your computer clock [1/11/11 11:11] or something like that.  This sort of thing doesn't come around often!  (Don't worry if you forget, though - you'll have a chance for redemption/even greater success in November!)

Church Review: Immaculate Conception

Church of the Immaculate Conception
1315 8th St. NW
Website

The church of the Immaculate Conception (not to be confused with the similarly-named basilica on the campus of Catholic University) is in the Shaw neighborhood, a historically black, middle-class area just north of Washington's official downtown.  The church has its own school, which actually matches the architectural style of the church itself (at least on the outside) - in the photo above the church is on the left and the school on the right (duh - how many schools have steeples?  Answer: two.  My middle school and the high school up the street from it).

Anyway.  I had gone up to Target to get lightbulbs and decided that, since Immaculate Conception is just a block away from one of the stations I passed on my way up to Columbia Heights, I could stop by after I had completed my shopping for the 5:30 Mass.  So I did, and here's my report.

I realize that a week during the Christmas season (remember, the liturgical season of Christmas is longer than the secular one) is not the best time to judge the decoration of a church, but I'll attempt to do so.  The narthex (entry way) is all white with dated (read "80's") glass doors, too much fake foliage, and a picture of the pope above the door.  Bad first impression.  But the sanctuary itself (left) looks almost...German.  I imagine that my brain made this judgment because of the wood paneling in the apse, and all the [fake] evergreen branches wound about.  I have found nothing to indicate that there was a German presence at this parish and am inclined to doubt it, as the Shaw neighborhood is traditionally black, not German, and also because Marian devotion isn't really as big a thing among Germans as other Catholic populations (and in addition to the name of the church and the main altar displaying Mary, not Jesus, there's a Lourdes chapel to the main altar's right.  Lest ye have any doubts about the fervor of the Marian devotions here).

It's not a terribly large church, and the congregation was equally small.  They seemed to know each other, though, and their informal clothing indicated that they felt quite comfortable here.  I imagine this is different on Sundays - this is one of only a handful of churches in the District which has a Mass in Latin (Novus Ordo, in this case - there are even fewer who hold Tridentine Masses).  I soon realized, however, that this was to be an informal Mass - just as well, since I had my shopping with me - because there wasn't any music.  Say what you will about music in the Catholic Church, which ranges from full organ and choir to guitars, drums, and tambourines; a lack of music, however, practically guarantees an informal Mass.  A short one, too - we were out in 35 minutes.

The priest was actually a monsignor, but spoke too quickly to be clearly understood, so I confess that after a bit I switched off and didn't listen terribly closely to the homily.  I looked around the church instead.  Although the light was fading when I arrived, I managed to get a few more pictures:

It's not an unattractive church, although the foyer needs work and the abundance of pine was distracting (4).  The sermon and liturgy were, I'm afraid, totally forgettable (3), as was the non-existent music (2, if we count it).  The location is convenient - just off my line on the Metro, but at night the neighborhood is a bit unwelcoming (4).  I'll have to come back on a Sunday, perhaps for the Novus Ordo Mass, to hear the music and maybe walk around Shaw in the daylight, but as it stands, Immaculate Conception wasn't anything to write home about.  Just a blog post.

In sum: if we discount the music, as there wasn't any, 4+3+4/3= 3.67.  Add the music in and you get 3.25.  Nothing great, but I'm willing to give it another try for the Latin Mass.  To be honest, I've become rather fond of St. Peter, because they have Vespers, and a well-attended Sunday night Mass.  No, there's no organ, and the pianist over-embellishes, but there are young people and families, and the place seems quite friendly.  I just have to avoid the folk Mass on Sunday mornings...

Happy [Belated] New Year!

I'm late, yes, but traveling over a thousand miles and coming back to a disorganized apartment (pack in haste, repent at leisure) tends to eat up one's free time, and making one's first student loan payment tends to eat up one's will to live (I exaggerate), so I haven't paid much attention to the blog.  I salute those of you who came by and visited in the interim - either you're very loyal or very bored.  Since there's little worth reporting about my first three days back in Washington, I'm instead going to focus on catching up from the end of December.  New posts are listed below:

Dec. 14th: Capitol South
Dec. 15th: Capitol Hill Books
Dec. 17th: First Proper Snow!
Dec. 18th: Navy Yard 
Dec. 25th: Merry Christmas!

Read and enjoy - tomorrow is Twelfth Night, and I may well have a culinary adventure to report!