Week in review: 1/25 - 1/29

Whew! I looked at the Dew this morn and realized it'd been a week since I last wrote something. Can't let that happen again, but it's been a busy week and I seriously just didn't have the time or inclination to write anything beyond what I had to write for work. Anyway, here are some odds and ends and various insights from the week past:

• Happiness is a short commute. Preferably in my own car. For the past 10 or so years, both here and in Texas, my commute has been about 10 or so minutes and never more than 15 - yes, yes, thank y'all for the catcalls and nasty names. This week, however, I had to go to a conference down at National Harbor which is not that far away, right? Wrong. My commute to the other side of the Potomac went something like this: Leave apartment, wait in the cold for bus, ride bus to Pentagon, wait in the cold station at the Pentagon for train, ride train to Huntington, wait in the cold at Huntington for shuttle bus to NatHar, ride shuttle bus to NatHar. All told, about an hour to go 13 miles. Fuck that and the horse it rode in on. Twice, since I had to do it in reverse at the end of the day. I would much rather have been sitting in my car for that entire hour.
• The previous realization also redefined my search for a house. How much? I'm not sure, but we'll see in the months ahead.
• I liked the President's speech on Wednesday. There was a bit of smoke and mirrors, but he addressed some of my biggest concerns (deficit, debt and energy policy), rightfully scolded Congress for its lack of action on anything, took the blame where he should and, in general, set what I think is the right tone for his second year.
• Speaking of NatHar, the service in their eating establishments hasn't improved any since I last went in May 2009. In fact, I think it's gotten worse. My burger came out wrong, it was undercooked (slightly), the service sucked and, best of all, when I put down a twenty for my $15.56 (or so) bill, the server only brought me four one-dollar bills as change. Now I know and you know that change was probably going to be part of the 10 percent tip he deserved for the shitty service he provided, but wasn't that my decision to make? Technically, he was stealing from me and it took an enormous act of will to even leave to leave another $1 bringing his tip to 9 percent. Am I wrong in this?
• Seriously, 60 degrees on Wednesday and 10 on Saturday? I generally don't mind the cold but this is fucking ridiculous. Wake me up when spring gets here.

Hope everyone had a good week, can you believe January is almost over already? Seemed like just yesterday I was returning Christmas presents, drinking Champagne with friends on New Years and getting dumped by a text message.

And, since it wouldn't be Friday without a joke here's what's quite possibly the funniest joke I've heard in a very long while:

A minister is checking into a motel and asks the front desk clerk, "I presume the pornography channels in my room are disabled?"

The clerk replies, "No, our pornography is the regular kind you sick fuck."