Oh thank god!!! That was the most gut-wrenching hockey game I have ever witnessed. Now granted, that might have been the fifth game I watched start to finish in my life, but still, I think it was unusual in its stress level. Anyway, YAY YAY YAY!!!! God love Sidney Crosby. I've decided I should get two cats (hypoallergenic of course) and call them Sidney and Crosby. Those are actually excellent cat names...

To show that I am benevolent in victory, I made maple fudge tonight between the end of the hockey and the beginning of the Closing Ceremonies to take in to work tomorrow. I think it's turned out okay. We'll see, I seem to have lost any baking ability I ever possessed living here. I also managed to break a bowl. Now knowing my roommate she won't even notice, but I feel especially bad since I got upset about the whole eating all my vegetables thing last weekend. Anyway, I'll get to Target and replace it sometime this week.

Last night's concert was terrific. I mean it was very low key and likely would have been more enjoyable in a pub with a pint instead of in a 1000 seat theatre, but still highly enjoyable. It was Natalie MacMaster with Donnell Leahy (of the Leahy family) who are married (who knew?) as well as two pianists - one of whom was one of the Leahy sisters (family of 11 kids who all played and step danced etc etc) Everyone took turns playing and fiddling and step dancing - ridiculously talented.

It took me outside the Beltway to get to the concert hall - which is a scary suburban place!! The Beltway is that ring road that loops the city and is iconic around here as a symbol of where the true city limit is. As my friend put it, "this is real America" - the ends of the metro lines (I saw two yesterday) have massive parking garages for all the commuters and the rest is really mall after mall after mall.

I'm happy to return to the slightly grungy and mainly liberal city.

Okay, the Closing Ceremony is beginning and can I just say how awesome we are to acknowledge the technical difficulties of the torch lighting of the Opening Ceremonies. I'm sorry, that was brilliant, funny and just very....Canadian. We have been criticized for the "Own the Podium" campaign (um, and we did...) which I saw as just a way to motivate people and generate donations, and yet, we are still the same country who can poke fun at ourselves when that's appropriate.

With that I leave you and know I'll be wearing my mittens proudly again tomorrow.

I'm watching the men's gold medal hockey game (GOAL!!!!!!!) and is it wrong that I want us to crush them? Probably not very hospitable of me...

So this is my last full weekend off in a while. I am refusing to work 7 days a week, because frankly it's not necessary and I'm not paid over time, but I will be doing some hours on Saturday for the next little while. Today so far I was very lazy for the morning and am now gearing up to end out to Virginia where a friend is taking me to a Natalie MacMaster concert. People seem to want to take me to Canadian things (in addition to the Canadian things that I take myself to) and while I've never particularly felt the need to see her in concert, I'm sure she's quite good.

In celebration of the women's hockey team victory over the Americans, I wore my Olympic mittens to marketing class. I adore our VP of Marketing, as most of us fellows do, however, I am the only fellow with a nickname - he calls me Canada. You might think this unoriginal except that he tested many others before deciding that Canada was the right one. It is beginning to catch on around the KC too. He usually greets me with "Oh, Canada" to which I will alternately reply "Oh Marketing" or "Oh Michigan" where he is from. Anyway, he gave me a particularly hard time about our men's defeat to the US last weekend and we have a bet on for the Gold medal game. The mittens were much coveted (as they are awesome! thank you to my second home in Oakville for giving them to me)

I'm not quite sure what to do to watch the game tomorrow. I'm sure many bars will be showing it, but where to find sympathetic supporters is another question.

This week we also had our role-playing development class. This is where we have to act out asking people for money. It was in interesting exercise, but since it was mostly improv (we didn't have background on the people/corporation/foundation that we were hitting up - so no time to plan an approach etc) I'm not sure entirely of practical it was. We were paired up and I was with Damion - we both have theatre backgrounds and have no issue with speaking in public or making stuff up on our feet, so we did really well. It was helpful to discuss after where people could have improved or areas that they should have focused on - I was a little surprised at how bad some people were, but I think this may have had more to do with their general lack of comfort with the public speaking element. I hope so at least or they haven't been paying attention these last six months!

And in general I'm happy to have made it through week one of our McNally celebration. This week coming the second show starts rehearsals so it's just going to get busier. So far (touchwood) I seem to have found my groove with the actors and director. I'm not feeling the stage management love at this point and I'm trying to think that they are all anti-social and anal retentive but frankly that's where I'm leaning. Everyone keeps saying how great they are - and maybe they are...for DC. Where I'm from, we don't need 3 stage managers to put up a straight play with four actors in a 450 seat house ( TWO weeks of prep as well). Where we then have to find someone else to run lines with the understudies because all 3 are needed in the rehearsal hall at every moment. We also wouldn't hire 4 designers, all of whom need assistants because of their scheduling issues. Again for a 450 seat house.

But maybe that's just me.

Tonight instead of watching the women's gold medal hockey game, I went to see what turned out to be probably one of the worst productions of Sweeney Todd ever produced. It was at Signature Theatre in Arlington - well the Shirlington neighbourhood of Arlington which is completely unreachable by public transit. It is also a bit like Pleasantville. Seriously, it was a completely planned community. So it feels very much like everything is where it should be and is very neat and tidy and not having public transit keeps the poor people away. I went with the other members of the theatre department which was actually kinda fun. Also, at the show, I was sitting next to the theatre critic for the Washington Post and we had a lovely conversation. He is very charming and thought I was funny and insightful (how clever he was!!! and so unlike a certain Toronto theatre critic...). At intermission my co-workers and I were discussing the going for dessert option instead of staying for the second act and I suggested it might be inappropriate since we were next to the reviewer, at which point he leaned over and said "go for it. I would if I could". I tell you, it was not a good show! However, we behaved ourselves and stayed. If we'd left, we would have missed the meat carcass bags falling from the ceiling at the curtain call. I wish I was kidding.

I was home in time to watch the end of the women's figure skating, though I couldn't bare to, so I skyped my friend Katherine instead to have her tell me what was happening. Joannie's short program was so moving, I knew I couldn't watch the long program live unless I knew the results. She did so well! I don't know how she managed it, but what a brave girl. I'm just so happy that she won the bronze. Never has a medal been more deserved and harder to achieve. I just want to give her a hug.

I feel a bit like I'm missing the Olympics. Facebook will tell me that a Canadian has won another medal but I won't have seen the event live and can't find it on the NBC website (go figure, tonight when I looked it was like women's ski cross didn't exist...interesting). I'm going to try and find somewhere to watch the women's hockey final on Thursday.

Today went pretty well overall. First days are always a bit weird but I tried to make some inroads with the cast and get them to warm up to me a bit. The stage management/company management dynamic here is odd - I think it's a KC thing not an American thing but it certainly isn't what I'm used to. They are very big on hierarchy here which is a bit annoying- except that I've never really had any respect for authority so I'm just trying to do my thing, get stuff done and not make a fuss. People are also very big on making a show that they are doing things. A trait that I hate a lot. I'm also discovering again and again how big companies and institutions don't necessarily have the best people working for them. Often they have very mediocre people who can drift simply because the place is so big. I seem to be working with a number of people currently who really aren't so good at their jobs (this is not the first time of course...) and it's a little disappointing (not to mention frustrating). An example. Someone (NOT me) was supposed to invite our CEO to today's first read thru Someone "didn't get around to it". Seriously? how is it possible that you are still employed...

Today I was happy for - a) the new rubber boots I bought yesterday at Target (good things come to all those who shop at Target). Yes, I have rubber boots in a closet at Laurie's house but the cost of shipping them to me here would have likely been about 4x the cost of a new pair. And it's pouring with rain out and we still have 8ft of snow which is quickly turning into flood water. So I bought a new pair (black with multi-coloured polka dots. Would not have been my first choice, but Gail-like enough to do under the circumstances - and only $20).

b) absolutely no line up at Trader Joe's. I didn't think it was possible - it was like a little rain miracle.

That's about it. I'm trying to look on the bright side but it's been an exhausting week what with one thing and another (I didn't tell you about the whole roommate using every single vegetable that I'd bought thinking that her boyfriend had picked them up. She's sweet and stupid and god, I cannot, cannot wait until I have my own place again. Please let me find fruitful work quickly that allows me to live on my own!!) (I also didn't tell you about one of the fellows pouring red wine on the head of another fellow at a party Saturday night for no apparent reason and how I seem to end up being den mother in these situations which is really just very tiring). So yeah.

Tomorrow is the first day of rehearsal for the first of 3 plays that I'm working on. I'm a bit anxious but I think it will all be fine ultimately. I just have to keep doing what I do and I'm sure that will be enough...

Our Embassy is Lame

Which really shouldn't be too surprising. Okay, so there were people checking off names as we walked in and looking at ID, though my one friend forgot his photo ID (though I'd reminded them all about 12 times) and the woman at the door looked at me (as the Canadian in my group) and said if I vouched for him, he could just go in!! And while we did have metal detectors they were set up in such a way that there was about 10 feet on the one side where you could just walk around them and get in. In fact, the way we entered we had to go back through this gap to get to the main party room. No wonder Americans think all their terrorists come across our borders.

The main party room looked like a high school gym. It felt like a high school gym and pretty much smelled like a senior prom. Bob Rae was there though! Fun. I announced to my friends "Bob Rae's here!" and of course they looked at me blankly. A couple of other people looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't place them. There were 3 rooms where you could watch the game - what seemed to be the staff cafeteria where most of the families were, the gym area which was the biggest room and certainly the youngest crowd, and then the theatre in the basement. We rotated between them for most of the night. And I was told off twice for using my cell phone (I was just reading a text message!) and I thought, it's a hockey game, not a prime ministerial address of some sort! And maybe they should actually pay attention to whose coming in the front doors instead harassing me for looking at my phone...

I'm almost too embarrassed to talk about the food. At first it was okay - mini-hamburgers and your basic veggie platter, boring but fine. Then there were some little quiches (yummy). Then it got weird - deep fried salmon cubes. Yes, cubes. Obviously I didn't have these - apparently they were pretty revolting. But the best was at the end of the night when they brought out platters of pizza buns. Yup, the leftover hamburger buns with tomato sauce and shredded cheese! Not even baked or toasted or anything. I should have taken a picture, but I was too horrified. Like did someone's mom from Saskatchewan cater this thing?

Of course we also lost the hockey game which sucked. I was stunned by the numbers cheering for the US. I suppose everyone had brought Americans with them, but I had instructed mine that they had to cheer for Canada! And they tried to at least. I thought it was a bit arrogant to yell and scream and jump up and down in someone else's Embassy...

Anyway, I'm glad to have seen the place but wow, I can't imagine how bad our other embassies are if this one is anything to go by. As I'm assuming our best people are in DC...

Meanwhile, I let my friend Joel model my Olympic mitts as you will see below...

Forgot to tell you the latest cab driver wisdom! Apparently the snow is Obama's fault. He brought it with him from Chicago...(see, not me! not me!)

Today I went to Bob & Edith's Diner in Arlington for breakfast. My friend there told me I had to go as it's a local institution. Apparently it's where all the TV and radio news people go to get the opinions of "real" America after elections etc. and I can totally see that. It's a very American diner-like and has been family owned for 40 years. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though since it requires a car to get there, I imagine that was my one and only visit. However, from now on when you are seeing diner clips with "regular" folk talking politics, it was probably at Bob & Edith's.

Tonight is our first fellows birthday - yes all ten of us are born between the end of February and the beginning of August. I think there are five in May alone.

I'm continuing to discover what a small town this place is. Since I really only know, say 25 people, I love the fact that two days in a row I've bumped in to two people completely randomly. Once on U St after the ballet and once last night at the pub in Old Town (lovely by the way, very small and cosy. I had a Black & Tan, well two actually, and had a good ol' chat with the bartender). It certainly helps you feel at home...

Weirdest ballet ever

Leave it to a Russian to choreograph a ballet called Spartacus. It was perhaps the strangest thing I have ever seen. It was the Bolshoi Ballet and so I felt compelled to see it, since you know, free, but I couldn't help thinking "this would look way better on figure skates". Maybe it's because of the Olympics...

We were calling it the Battle of Fly Boy and He Man. (or really the Battle of the Brians - which works on two levels - the figure skating and the fact that our own fellow fellow who takes ballet so seriously is named Bryan.)

Fly Boy is being touted as the next big thing - the Guardian said he could be as good as Baryshnikov (and he's only 19), but He Man I actually thought was a more interesting dancer, though maybe that was because he just kept leaping across the stage. Quite literally. Sometimes through the middle of other scenes and sometimes when the stage was bare - there he'd go, leaping by. It was really odd. And I'm not even talking about the ballet pole stripper dance that capped out the evening. Odd.

Tomorrow night after work, I'm going to take myself off to this pub:

If you can't read the name, it's called Bilbo Baggins and it's actually on the street I used to live on in Old Town, but closer to the water. It's my mom's birthday and I thought this would be an appropriate place to go have a pint and say cheers...

Oh and I should say my Dad was right. I went to the National Gallery on Monday as well as the cathedral (Chris has waaaaay more stamina than me! he would have kept going too but I sat down and wouldn't move :-) ) The entrance hall of the gallery has these massive, gorgeous black marble pillars. They feel actually like the room should be much higher or taller since they are so large in diameter. It was difficult to photograph, but here you go...

In my opinion, the collection itself does not compare to the National Gallery in London, the Met in NYC or say the Louvre. There was a lot there (and more I'm sure as the other building was closed for renovations) but it seemed like they had copies of things everyone else had - Rodin's The Thinker, Degas' Young Dancer, etc. but at least it was a little less random than some of the other Smithsonians have proven to be.

For anyone keeping track, that's 7 Smithsonians down, 12 to go. 7.5 if you count the outside sculpture gardens...

This is one of my favourite images from the weekend. It's outside Union Station at dusk.

I haven't gone through all of the shots of the cathedral yet, but I'll upload one or two from there perhaps on the weekend when I'm caught up on life.

Work has gotten insane. The stage managers are in prep for 2 of the shows and the first cast starts next week. While I never made a fortune at the Mirv, I'm finding it ...difficult to do the amount of work expected (or at least required in my mind) for basically no salary. I've already had to lay down the law and say that I won't work six days a week for the next two months because we don't need 2 company managers there to look after 2 shows with a total cast of 12. I don't care how many Broadway people are in them. I remember very clearly running back and forth along Pearl Street doing two shows at once - which maybe wasn't the best system, but it isn't impossible. I am trying to find my zen place and remember how good this experience will be on my resume, and then I can go back and get a job and be in charge again!!

On a lighter note, I keep meaning to mention my latest quest which is to find the walk signal with the greatest number of seconds on it. Or I have? I do sometimes feel like I'm losing my mind here...well anyway, if I've mentioned it before, ignore me. The walk signals here have the countdown similar to those in Canada except that the length of time varies and is truly bizarre. Like you'll have 12 seconds to cross a busy street and 48 seconds a side road. I realize it is all about the flow of traffic but why 48 seconds and not 50? or 45? a rounder number. Anyway, I'm on a quest to find the longest countdown. The winner so far? The corner of 18th and S St. with 71 seconds! And this is a very small corner.

Oh, and just because this is in my brain now and I'll forget later - as most of you know, my birthday is coming up in March. I ask that you don't send me presents. I've got too many things and not a lot of room here and I occasionally have stress dreams about packing and making it all fit into my suitcases (this is true!). So save whatever "thing" you might think of getting me until I have a new home wherever and whenever that is...thank you!!

Or donate money to the Theatre Centre - that's always good too.

The end of the weekend was as full and busy as the beginning of it, (the cathedral and the National Gallery, oh and Chinese food!) so until I've downloaded my photos I'm going to focus instead on telling you about my evening today.

The female fellows went to meet with the director of Ford's Theater. Famously, this is the theatre where Lincoln was assassinated. I learned tonight that it had only been open about 3 years before the assassination and it was forced to close afterwards (it was threatened by angry mobs with being burned down if it re-opened). This is an example of the wrong type of institutional marketing. Anyway, their director was very generous with his time and gave us a really interesting and different perspective on arts management. The KC is such a beast in terms of size that it is really important for us to meet these people who work in more realistic venues. Also, it is interesting to hear how the KC affects those venues in this market. There are only so many dollars to go around.

Conveniently, after our meeting and tour of the space (saw the box where the deed was done), there was a French bistro across the street so wine and pommes frites were had.

That's it for tonight. More tomorrow when I should be in at a decent time...

OMG so much more walking. Museum of American History was odd though interesting. I've heard it described as America's attic and I think that's about right. Some things of historical significance (or at least one could argue that there was historical value to it) like Abraham Lincoln's hat and then other just odd or bizarre things like a bloody cuff from the costume of the actress who was performing when Lincoln was killed. That's just morbid. Not as many entertainment artifacts as I'd thought - though a couple of original costume pieces from the Lion King!! Hilarious. Because I didn't lose 4 1/2 years of my life looking at them as it is...and strangely now it's okay for the world to photograph them, though we were forbidden to do so during the run of the show. Ahem. Over heard passing us as we were in the section with the arts and entertainment displays "I don't know what this African stuff is doing here. This is supposed to be American history." Sadly, he wasn't joking. Nor did he get that the Simba mask was from a Disney musical. Sometimes this country makes me cringe.

I loved Julia Child's kitchen though. Of course I'm picturing Meryl Streep in it, but still. I was actually expecting more things like that - more recreations of rooms that you could walk through or at least see, but it was mostly just an assortment of loosely related ...crap. For lack of a better description!

We spent many hours in the museum, partly because it was quite crowded so it took awhile to see some of the exhibits, and also there was a lot to see. We then hopped down the street to the archives and saw the Magna Carta - or as I pointed out to Chris, one of the copies of it (there are 4 in existence) because I've seen one at the British Museum already. Now I feel compelled to go find the other two....

Also, the main event in the archives was the Declaration of Independence (very faded for something only 200 years only), the American Constitution and the American Bill of Rights. I'm glad Nicholas Cage had returned the declaration in time for me to see it first hand...

Tomorrow we are off to the Cathedral. I feel a bit like I'm doing the whirlwind tour of the city, but it is fun to go around with someone I know well.

Oh my, what a full day. Chris arrived safely last night in time to watch the end of the Olympic opening ceremonies. Today we started slowly and then toured the Capitol building (gorgeous) and the Library of Congress (through a secret tunnel - well okay, not secret but through a tunnel none the less and one that I didn't know about!) - also gorgeous (lots of Jefferson quotes - poor Jefferson I feel he is hard done by. They don't even use their $2 bill any more and that was the one he was on!!) and then a quick trip to Union Station (massive and impressive). So much walking. We missed the roller derby just based on timing (the Capitol has restricted visiting hours and we wanted to make it there). Stroll through Capitol Hill afterwards for apple cider and cupcakes! I hope to catch a roller derby soon though.

Anyway, more detail to follow. Tomorrow is the Museum of American History and Archie Bunker's chair and Abe's Hat!!!

Don't worry

I don't often take the red line metro and was not on it this morning...

KC stairway

So the poor guys at work gave up on this side of the staircase...the wind kept blowing the snow back in on it. Stairway to...

Black Ice/ Whip out

It was bound to happen. I was on a desperate search for a fresh vegetable. Any fresh vegetable and I knew Whole Foods would have them. It would cost me, but they would be there. (and I was right, they did have them) I took a long circuitous route to get there trying to think strategically about what might and might not be plowed. And I was doing really well. I hit a long stretch of office buildings on 20th with completely cleared sidewalk. I speed up and...swoosh. Down I go. Black ice. Didn't even see it. Now, you all know I'm as graceful as a gazelle so me falling over is not a big shock. I'm fine. Ripped my tights and skinned my knee but it happened so fast I didn't try to save myself - which is good. It did however make me very grumpy. Blah.

This morning as I left my apartment the city had a crew shoveling pedestrian walk-ways so you could cross U St. I think both U and 16th are snow routes so they get plowed frequently, but the snow banks were getting massive. So some forward thinking city manager sent out crews of guys to clear the paths - with garden shovels. I guess we don't own any snow shovels and they raided landscaping. It was well intentioned anyway (though they did a terrible job as I noticed on my way home).

The walk took an hour as expected too. There were very few cars out so getting around was okay. Tuesday when everyone is driving again will be a bit of a nightmare I think. I'm very glad tomorrow is Friday...

Delayed opening

So this is something else that they do around here. We are open today (naturally) but we don't have to be in until 11 - so a 2 hour delay to the day. The theory is to give people more time because of the inclement weather. (though beautiful and sunny today...) It's nice since I heard about it last night, I got a bit extra sleep this morning. I'm fighting a cold (losing currently) but it's one of those ones where you feel like crap when horizontal but okay once you get up. I've always thought this was a bit cruel since aren't you supposed to rest when sick? Blah.

The other option we have is called "liberal leave". It's something I had never heard of before but is very common in this area. When your employer tells you you can take "liberal leave" (usually due to weather) it means you can take a vacation day without having given the requisite notice that you weren't going in. Many offices will again just follow the Feds with this, so if your office isn't closed outright chances are you have the option for liberal leave. Many, many places have already announced that they are closed until Tuesday (it's the Presidents' Day holiday Monday). It really is mind boggling to me. No word yet on what will be open this weekend - so I'm trying to come up with creative alternatives for Piggy and I! Fortunately the next four days are supposed to be sunny and just above freezing. And I'm sure a bar or two will be open so all is not lost! We can always go look at Lincoln in the snow...

I am debating my route to work as I'm sure no one will have shoveled. There is a much longer way I can take but it has the advantage of being a less traveled street, so chances are I could walk in the middle of it if I can't find the sidewalk. Wish me luck!

Snover-it

As my friend Katherine said this morning...

But at least it's record breaking!! Over 55 inches of snow this winter, the most ever in DC.

And they say it never snows here...

Starbucks is doing this interesting thing where they are having their staff report to whatever location is closest to where they live, not the one they usually work at so that more locations can stay open. It seems to be working since I haven't seen one closed yet...

white-out!

So it took until about 11am for the KC to close for the day. I can still see out my apartment window, but only just. It is actually a blizzard out there. What alternate universe am I in!!

Apparently DC has stopped plowing because it's too dangerous to plow!! A friend commented that there won't be that much of a difference....

On other news - I have finally been invited to something at the Embassy that I can go to!! Okay, it is a bit...Canadian...but still. I am going to watch a Canadian-US Olympic hockey game!! Hilarious. I'm taking some fellows along with me on the condition that they cheer for Canada. We'll see if they behave (honestly I'd doubt any of us know the rules to hockey even...)

Screw it

Stepped outside, was almost blown over and figured I did not need to take what would end up being a 50 minute (minimum) hike in near blizzard conditions, just to prove I could get to work. I know this will shock many of you, but I realized that nothing I had to do today was that important. Nor am I of any importance to the operations and running of the KC. I have no decision making power. My presence is not required for anything. I can just stay put. So I am.

I feel this should be noted as some sort of landmark or turning point in my life.

Annoyed

Okay, so we are technically open today. Blizzard warning in affect, but we're open. I hate the arts.

Snoverkill

Is my new favourite snow pun. And so shall I call this Blizzard 3.0 - Snoverkill.

Please make it stop.

The snow of '99 in Toronto (that of Mel Lastman calling in the army fame) started with 40 cm followed quickly by another 20 cm or so. Which I guess is roughly what we are at now - though a week ago there was no snow here so we were going from bare pavement whereas Toronto would have had some snow to start out with. Though I don't remember how much.

What I find immensely frustrating is the fact that it's okay to not have a plan. The snow keeps falling and not being removed properly so people can't drive and the metro is shut down and people shrug and seem to that that's acceptable - for the capital of the free world (essentially) to come to a complete standstill. The place is shut down. Tomorrow will be the third day in a row that federal government employees are off (which includes some of the KC staff who work for the building itself not what goes on inside the building) and many, many businesses follow what the Feds do so they are also closed. When really, they could have gotten rid of this by now. Of course something like 25% of our snowplows are broken (thank you bro for sending me that) and we are basically out of salt. But today's snow we've known about since the weekend - plenty of time to say, hey, this is the nation's capital, perhaps somewhere - Maine or Minnesota where is snows all the time - could send us some plows and salt and some people who know what the hell they are doing!!! Or ask Canada. Canada would have helped if we'd been asked nicely. But no, instead everyone complains endlessly about the snow and then complains if they had to go to work anyway and complains if their kid's school was closed because of the snow. It's just boring on top of being annoying.

On the plus side, chances are good that I'll have a snow day tomorrow. I think I even went to work when Mel called in the army, so this would be a first for me. Fingers crossed, since I have the start of a cold and I'd love a little extra rest.

Seen on my walk home (which took almost twice the normal time):

One US Postal Truck - sideways blocking the entrance to Rock Creek

Three delivery trucks - sideways blocking a) the sidewalk b) 23rd St c) Mass and P (sort of) at Dupont Circle.

(there is a theme to this post)

One spunky Smart car sputtering somehow along M. I have no idea how they were staying upright.

Weather forecast for tomorrow - 10 to 20 inches of snow. Seriously.

We are open. The Federal government, every school board, the Smithsonian (yes, the Smithsonian) - are all closed, but we are open. I've got to stop working in the arts. It's pretty much a ghost town too. Production is in because we have the Mariinsky Ballet loading in (more on them to follow) but most other departments have only a skeleton staff who made it here. The metro is still only running underground and only every 30 minutes. I actually took it yesterday out to a friend's place to watch the Superbowl (I know - the order of the universe it changing, I watched an entire football game) and it was slow, but not as bad as anticipated. With everywhere else being closed, I suppose rush hour wouldn't be too bad either in terms of volume of people.
In Arlington, on my way to the Superbowl, you should have seen the snow banks. I didn't get a picture that did it justice, but they were almost twice my height. They are plowing the major roads, but not doing anything with the snow - it's just being pushed up and up, no one has figured out that you actually need to truck it somewhere. I had to walk to blocks to my friend's place and fortunately since Arlington is basically Mississauga with all condos and office towers, the buildings had all plowed their sidewalks, but the snow bank corners were something else. We are supposed to get another 5 -10 inches tomorrow and it's just going to be a nightmare. I remember that I really hate snow. Could someone please send in the Canadian army to deal with this? Thank you.

As for the Superbowl, I enjoyed it! It certainly is more interesting when someone understands the rules. Apparently the Saints were doing all sorts of risking plays and it was paying off. I'm glad. I was rooting for them since I figure you have to pick someone to cheer for and I think they were the underdogs, or sentimental favourites or something! The much toted American commercials were a bit of a let down actually after all these years of hearing about them.

Now the Mariinsky ballet. The Mariinsky is the former Kirov Ballet - world renown - scheduled to fly in yesterday from Russia. Their flight was canceled so the programmers canceled the bus that was to pick them up and were just going to hope for the best about getting them here today. However, last night, they got a call, the Mariinsky had landed. We don't know how as all the airports were closed and all the flights canceled. Literally nothing landed. But as my Russian fellow said, "there is always a way" and somehow they are here, but no one is saying how...

Okay, I left. I was out of chocolate and so desperate times...some pictures from my brave adventures :-)

Actually it's super warm out. Boy is the city going to be a mess when it all melts.

Oops...there are two cars under there as well...

This next one is my favorite. Please note, fireman digging out the stuck fire truck. And the big-ass chains on the back tire.

And the tale end of the Dupont Circle snowball fight...

My neighbour came over for tea which was nice. She works with me at the KC so it's not like a just say hi to type neighbour. I even heard about a snowball fight that was happening at Dupont Circle before it had started but felt no desire to go. As I said, it's novel for these southerners, but I could do that any ol' winter back home. Except this one when Toronto has no snow apparently.

There is no justice.

I'm on 3 cups of tea now, have discovered that the iron leaks so is unusable and am just about at the point where I feel I should leave my apartment...

I could go out. I just don't feel like it.

At least I have waffles...

25" inches and counting...

I still have power but apparently 200,000 don't, so fingers crossed mine stays on. It's a lot of snow at one time...As an aside, the Governor of Maryland is really attractive and has been giving a lot of press conferences the last 24 hours, so that's a plus.

On a non-snow related topic! I'm very excited that my friend Piggy is coming to visit me next weekend. I am also excited he is not here now as he'd be stuck in my apartment with me, and while I'm highly entertaining, I'm no Smithsonian. Everything is shut right down and for a Canadian, walking around in the snow or having a snowball fight isn't much of a novelty. So hopefully this will all be sorted out long before then.

Updates throughout the day!

For those keeping track...

We've now had about 6" of snow in central DC. And it's still coming down, supposed to be worse overnight with 1-3" falling each hour.

Since when did I talk about the weather so much??

Um, yeah

So it's really snowing now. Blizzard conditions expected over night.

I did move south, right?

Okay, so while it is actually snowing now, it is so mild the accumulation is currently zero. I'm home doing laundry. (phone is back on!!) When inside the big white box you can't tell what is happening in the outside world (except through our roof cam!!! which really is not very good - but totally cool to have) so it was hard not to frenzy with everyone else after being politely asked to vacate the building by 2pm.

In the streets, people are being up bottled water and toilet paper like we are going to be trapped inside for weeks (I bought a bottle of wine - priorities people!!) It's all so odd...

Maybe Oprah's on.

For your edification, here is a picture of the storm that is upon us:

I'm guessing the green is bad...

The Snowpocalypse has struck

And it seems big! We are being "evacuated" out of the KC shortly. All shows canceled tonight and tomorrow (drag, no Alvin Ailey for me which sucks).

People were stocking up on bottled water in the grocery stores! It's like there's a hurricane coming or something. The panic is a bit infectious and I have to remember that I know snow. Am only slightly concerned about losing power as my heat is electric (all heat seems to be here). I have several friends in the area to call on if that happens though. FYI, my cell is off to conserve battery power in case I need it. (see, the panic!!!)

Anyway, had a great meeting at Arena this morning which I'll write about while I'm snowed in this weekend.
TTFN

Apologies...

This one is apparently SNOWMAGEDDON. The December storm was the Snowpocalypse...

It remains to be seen.

SNOWPOCALYPSE 2010!!!

Tomorrow is doomsday if you listen to the media. Virginia declared a State of Emergency this morning before I left for work. Today was a beautiful sunny day, around 4C. Yup.

The Federal government has already given workers the day off tomorrow. Now tomorrow morning it is supposed to snow. Depending on who you talk to we are supposed to get anywhere from 12-26 inches in 24 hours. I spent 40 minutes in line at Trader Joe's with everyone else stocking up in case we we are stuck inside for 3 to 5 days. Yes, indeed that is what some news sources are saying. Seriously? Can't they call in the army like Toronto did? I mean the army is right here so you wouldn't have to go far to ask. Anyway, I find it hard to believe that it will be as bad as they are saying. I look forward to mocking the locals.

My walk to work this morning

Was lovely. See below. This of course has entirely melted now. In fact it had melted by noon. However, we are buckling down here and preparing for Snowpocalpse part 2 which is expected on Friday. 12 - 20 inches. We'll see. They still close the schools here on the off chance that it might snow, so I imagine a whole lot of nothing will be happening on Friday regardless of what the weather amounts to.

Outside my apartment...

Further down New Hampshire...

Dupont Circle

Washington Circle snowman!!

George himself...

And that's pretty much my walk to work. It's quite lovely normally, but this morning was just that bit special.

I should tell you that the British store had pretty much the usual selection of things. I was overall quite happy as I was able to buy some chocolate, some digestive biscuits and some Bisto gravy mix (yay!), however the Typhoo tea was $11!!! Highway robbery considering you can buy it at Loblaws for $4. They were selling PG Tips for the same amount which I actually bought here at Harris Teeters for a normal tea price, so that just seems silly. They also sold Shreddies which I was sorely tempted by (who knew you couldn't get Shreddies here??) but they were $8 which seemed a bit extravagant for cereal.

It has recently struck all us fellows that soon we will have to get real jobs again. So everyone is getting a bit rangy about it and there is a slow freak-out beginning. People are all slightly fed up with each other as well so it's like we've hit hump day. Halfway through the week, but we can't quite see the weekend yet.

I am more longing for my own apartment again, but of course do have to sort out how to pay for it first.

I'm settling in to the new rotation and of course remembering how I actually prefer to be in charge. Right now I'm sorting through what's been done already and discovering that much of it was done badly. Re-doing someone else's work is just tedious. Also, though it is my natural inclination to double check everything, the fact that I've found some mistakes means that I actually have to double check everything, which is a bit frustrating. Hump day.

Snow chuckle

I thought my Canadian friends in particular would get a kick out of the amount of snow which warrants caution tape at the KC.

You can see why you wouldn't want to have to shovel all of this of course...

I have been told that DC has now had more snow this winter than in the last 3 years combined and that my presence here is what has caused this abomination. I think personally that this is unjust, but then I guess the folks in TO have me to thank for your lack of snow (sorry about the cold...)