Sunday, April 26, 2009

Well, that was expensive

My friend and I somehow missed our stop on the Metro (it might be because were drinking), so what would have been a $3 ride ended up costing about $12.50 in cab fare - it was the last Metro.

I've decided that the best place to people-watch at a bar is at the bar itself. We saw a girl who bought and downed 2 shots, and then came back later for another drink. She was clearly alone, but the second time, she was talking to a guy who you would think would offer to buy the drink. I wonder what her story was. There was also another girl who was getting free drinks from the bartender. First I thought they were just friends, but I think there was a lot more to that story too. The female bartender also kept texting people in between breaks - she actually kept her phone open next to all the alcohol so she could do it quicker.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Top of the Rock(s)!

I went to NYC this past weekend to celebrate my birthday (the best day of the year). My sister planned the whole thing out, so I basically could just relax and enjoy. That's one of the best parts about visiting friends/family in another city. You can leave everything up to them.

The weather gods were on my side this year, as the city saw its best weekend weather-wise in months, and definitely the best one of 2009 - 70s all day on Saturday and Sunday.

We started out on Saturday morning (well a New York morning, it was probably about 1pm) at Top of the Rock, aka 30 Rock, aka the GE/NBC building, where we had an amazing view of the city. I'm a sucker for views, and love to find the tallest observation decks in a city just to see what it looks like from the top. There's just something about it that makes you feel both very big and very small at the same time. The view did not disappoint. You could see everything, from Central Park to the Statue of Liberty, both rivers, Queens, Brooklyn, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building. Even the skeptical of our group were pretty amazed.

From there, it was off to Central Park to picnic and enjoy the weather from a different altitude. We picked up some food from a nearby Whole Foods (where it was absolute madness!) and proceeded towards the park. We were deciding where to sit, when my sister's boyfriend said that we could sit on 'top of a rock.' The rest of us were like 'yeah, we could find a stone to sit on.' But he kept on insisting that, it'd be cool to sit on top of a rock. It took us awhile to figure out his wittiness, but we finally ended up on 'top of a rock' again for the second time that day!

After that, we went to a rooftop bar for a quick drink before dinner. I had no idea we were going somewhere so trendy! It was "sunglasses-indoors", "everyone looks like they could be a celebrity" trendy. We were incredibly underdressed, and I never quite got over how trendy the place was. It was interesting to see that kind of place though - my sister said we probably wouldn't have gotten in later that same night.

It had already been a pretty busy day, and the fun was just starting! First it was dinner at a tapas place and then drinks at a nautical-themed bar just downstairs from my cousin's condo. I thought the bar would be different, but it really just felt like a typical dive bar. My sister had made up her own drink earlier that day (vodka/sprite with a splash of pineapple juice), and tried to get the bartenders to catch on, but I don't think it worked too well. If you hear about that drink in the future, just remember you heard it here first ;)

When we were just about to leave the bar, the bartender came over to our table and offered to buy us a round of drinks if we left the table. How weird is that? I've heard of other people offering drinks if you want the table, but for the bar itself to ask you to leave a table? I'm pretty sure you can't reserve tables at a dive bar. Bizarre.

We went up to my cousin's place afterwards for my second favorite part of the day (first being the Top of the Rock obviously), playing DDR! I hadn't played in a long time and it was a great way to end the evening. I also got to see my other friend who I hadn't seen in probably 10 years, so it was really cool to see him too.

On Sunday, we got a bit of a late start and didn't have much time since I had an afternoon bus back to DC. We got brunch at a nearby restaurant and then went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art. That place is huge! You always hear about these other great musuems in Manhattan, but the Brooklyn one is a hidden gem. 5 floors of art you don't see in most places, plus way less crowded - definitely worth it to go a little out of your way.

Overall, a really fun birthday weekend. Everyone should feel like a million bucks on their birthday, and this year did not disappoint.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Music from YouTube

For some reason, my family thinks I'm really good with technology and know the ins and outs of the Internet. I don't. I get by with the bare minimum.

My aunt asked me the other day how to get the music from a YouTube video, and she seemed skeptical when I said I had no idea.

I looked it up though, and it turns out there's lots of ways and lots of software to do it.

The easiest, by far, is this site:

http://www.zamzar.com/url/

Enter the YouTube address and your email address, and bam, it'll email you a link to pick up your mp3. Done and done.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Tourist in my own city

When I moved away from Dallas a year ago, I can honestly say I didn't think anyone would come up and visit me. Of course, I did the polite thing and told everyone to come and visit, and they did the polite thing back and said they would. But in reality, the societal niceties rarely give way to actual trips.

I'm floored that I've had 4 friends come visit in the past year (3 from Dallas, 1 from Delaware). I've never considered myself a visitable person, but I suppose living in a city that offers so much for so little (that should be DC's new slogan!) is a great lure.

I had a great time with my friend this weekend. She had never been to DC before, so it was my first time being a real tour guide. Granted, I don't know a ton about the city either since I live a good 45 minutes away, but equipped with an iPhone and a map we managed to get around just fine. We saw a few of the art musuems, the Cherry Blossom parade and street festival, the Smithsonian kite festival, the actual cherry blossoms, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the botanical gardens, and the Capitol.

Most of the time when my friends visit, they've either already seen everything or have very little time. This time, though, it was a blank slate and we had all weekend so we had a chance to see pretty much everything. My favorite was probably the Lincoln Memorial, which I haven't seen in 20 years - it's a pretty majestic place and highly underrated.

I probably should have done this a long time ago, but I may go into the city by myself and see some of the museums. I went to the American History museum with my parents a couple of weeks after it re-opened, but it was crazy packed and everyone was tired so we didn't get to see everything.

Speaking of crazy packed, what's the big deal about the cherry blossoms? Although the crowds don't compare to the inauguration, I was shocked to see how many people were out and about. There were lines to get Metro cards, the Mall entrance for the Smithsonian station was exit-only. My friend was very lucky to make her flight even when we allowed a good hour to get to the airport. Today seemed to be even busier than yesterday, even though there weren't any events! It's just a fucking flower, get over it.
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On a side note, it's sad how closed off the city has become in recent years. I remember being able to freely take White House, FBI and Pentagon tours without any advance notice. Now, there's a much more bureaucratic process to take them. The FBI tour is closed indefinitely, and the Pentagon only gives tours M-F, 9 - 3pm - basically the most inconvenient times possible.

The Capitol was closed on Saturday for part of the afternoon because of a 'suspicious package.' Somehow, despite the backlog of all the people who wanted to take tours, we were able to walk right in and get a tour right away (although the ticket guy seemed flustered and confused when we asked).