Annapolis

Being one of the lucky 30 people to have gotten a parking space in the Residential and Academic Facility, I am at a bit of an advantage.  I don’t have to wait for the shuttle to go to the grocery store.  One better, I can actually pick which grocery store I want to go to.  I choose Giant over Safeway.  On top of that, I can carry, buy, and bring back much more than someone taking the shuttle.  But, I think the biggest advantage of having the “Natemobile” aka Sonya (yes, I named her Sonya because she’s a Hyundai Sonata… and I like Mortal Kombat) around is that I can travel places the Metro doesn’t go.

One of those places happens to be Annapolis.  Yes, boys and girls, Annapolis, Maryland.  The capital of Maryland and the location of the great movie of the same name staring James Franco and Tyrese.  Before I continue on with this story, allow me to digress. 

While having a car here does offer a great advantage, there is also a great disadvantage.  That disadvantage is the other drivers in this area.  Now, as stated previously, I’m from Pittsburgh.  We Pittsburghers are fairly easy going people.  We take our time getting places.  Getting somewhere the fastest way at the risk of our lives and other people’s is not on an average Pittsburgher’s mind.  I have noticed that is completely opposite to people within the DC and Maryland area.

People here change lanes on a dime often without using turn signals.  They honk at people when certain circumstances are out of their control.  If someone is trying to turn left and is being stopped by pedestrians or cars with the right of way, what gives you the right to honk at them?  Is that going to change the situation at all?  They also speed like a bat out of hell.  Example, on my way back from Annapolis, I’m driving along, going with the traffic.  Mind you, the traffic is going around 80.  A guy in a Mercedes is behind me begins flashing his lights at me as to imply I need to drive faster.  Unfortunately, that is not possible seeing as how there is a car in front of me.  He is so perturbed that he moves over to a far right lane and begins passing car after car.  Mind you, the traffic is already going around 80 which means he is going 95-100.  I’ll just never understand the need for all the rushing.

Anyway, I arrived in Annapolis; all the big buildings were made of red brick.  I did a little walking around, checked the sights.  It was a pretty laid back city.  But that’s not what I was there for.  I was there to see the water and eat some seafood.  I found the port; it was right next to the Naval Academy.  I tried to get in there, but it was all gated up.  I screamed through the gate “I pay my taxes! Let me in!”  They wouldn’t hear it.  So I left feeling defeated.  I turned around wagging my first in the air screaming “Next time Gadget, next time!” hoping it put the fear of a sequel in them.  I copped a squat on a pier for a while and just watched the boats sail by.  Some were big, some small.  All the people looked like they were having a fun time on them.  There was also a little band playing some music next to the water as well. It was very relaxing experience. 

After I was done walking around and relaxing at the port, I went and experienced the cherry on top of my visit. Indeed, it is yet another episode of NATE’S FOOD REVIEWS.   I went to Buddy’s Crabs and Ribs and had the SEAFOOD EXTRAVAGANZA.

Ladies and gentlemen, this marvelous feast contained shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels, crawfish, snow crabs, and blue crabs.  When the waiter brought this to my table, I almost cried in happiness.  The only things missing from this feast were lobster and scallops.  From my understanding of seafood, that makes sense because lobster is more northern coast seafood.  Crab is the king crustacean around these parts.  The crawfish weren’t as tasty as the ones I’ve had in New Orleans but I was able to look past that.  Other than that, this was a meal fit for a king and I drove home a happy camper.  That is until I got back into DC city limits and got blasted by humidity again.  But talking about the summer heat might be a blog for another day.  Here are the rest of the pictures of my trip, PEACE OUT!

New York Trip

Being from Pittsburgh, it is a bit of a pain to travel to New York. Not that it has stopped me from going multiple times but it’s just a horrible experience. One was by train and took about 8 hours. I told myself I would never do that again. Granted, if I drove, I could probably shave a good amount off that time. However, who wants to deal with trying to find a parking spot in Manhattan or paying a crazy amount to park somewhere for a weekend? So, as much as I love the people I know in New York, I just haven’t been able to bring myself to visit there often to see them.

However, now I’m in DC, the travel time to New York has been cut from 8 hours to around 4.5 hours by bus. I could also probably shave another hour or two off that drive giving traffic conditions. There are tons of bus services in DC that go to New York. Megabus, Boltbus, Peter Pan, Greyhound, DC2NY. The list is huge. One thing a lot of these bus lines advertise is wifi on the bus and power outlets so you can use your laptops. That was also a nice pull to take bus. Let someone else drive while you watch a few movies.

With that being said, I’ve been to New York twice since I’ve been in DC. Both times to visit separate friends. The first time I took the Peter Pan bus. It did indeed have wifi but it did not have power outlets. Sadly, the battery that came with my laptop only lasts 2 hours at the most so I was able to get one movie done before I just shut down the computer. Luckily enough, to keep me occupied, the bus driver played The Blind Side. I forgot how hot Sandra Bullock was. But that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, I got to where I needed to go. Lucky for interns that stay in the new residential facility, we are only a few blocks from the Greyhound station as well as Union Station which many of the bus lines and trains stop. So I have my pick.

It was nice being back in Northern weather for a while. It’s was cloudy and in the mid 70’s. It also rained for more than 10 minutes but didn’t become extremely humid afterward. On the Sunday of my visit, we went to the Puerto Rican Day parade. I didn’t even know it was going on that weekend. I’ve been to many parades in my day but nothing beats that one unless you’re in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It was a giant party full of Puerto Rican flags, horns, dancing, and music. And, I got to see Jennifer Lopez for 2 seconds. That was awesome. Later on we went to this restaurant called the Frying Pan, which is a boat right on the Hudson. That was a nice until it start raining very hard and we were without any sort of cover.

The second trip to New York was to visit a friend for The Fourth of July. We share a similar love for food. So, under his guidance, we partook of many delicious foods. Delicious Vietnamese food in Chinatown, pulled pork Cuban sandwiches, cow tongue tacos, and Indian Curry from Brick Lane Curry House where Adam Richman from Man vs. Food did the Phaal Challenge. Needless to say, I did not participate in that challenge. I ate regular curry. A few other people tried it. They were not in the best state of mind and body afterward to say the least. Vomit may have been involved. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

My friend lives in SoHo. That’s an area of Manhattan I haven’t seen before. It’s a very nice area and right next to NYU. On top of that, the subway drops you off right there from the Bus Terminal. One night, we even took in an improv show at the Upright Citizens Brigade and I know I saw Streeter Seidel from College Humor in the audience. For the fireworks, we went to the roof of my friend's building where he works at. His building is right next to the Hudson River where the fireworks were set off. That was a much better situation than dealing with a crowded street level location. One night, we went to a bar called the Olive Tree where the tables are made of chalkboard so you can draw on them with chalk and play games like Pictionary. To add to that, at the same bar, I happened to see this bald guy standing around that looked very familiar to me. Immediately, I remembered he was on an episode of Flight of the Conchords, which is one of my favorite shows. It only lasted two seasons sadly. I didn’t really want to go up to him singing “Do the doggie bounce!” He would have probably hated that. But here is a clip from the episode of Conchords here was in:

University of Maryland

My roommates decided to go out of the city to their respective destinations during the weekend.  Where they went isn’t important.  The fact that they weren’t here is very important.  Ergo, vis-a-vis, concordantly... 

 

...I got to enjoy solitary solitude of aloneness.  It was awesome. Not that I don’t like my roommates.  I’m just a hermit by nature.  A lone wolf if you will. I believe Kanye West said it best: “With so much personality, what more could you want from me? I could be by myself and enjoy the company.”  That’s so true it isn’t even funny in my case.  On that note, Kanye also interrupted some bloggers just to let everyone know that I have the best blog of all time… Of all time!

I never had a roommate or had to deal with people all up in my personal space until I went to college.  So, I had to get use to it pretty fast.  However, needless to say, when I graduate and look for a place to live, it shall be only me.  Alone.  Mr. Solo Dolo.  I already have it planned out.  First two big purchases will be a wonderfully giant lazy boy recliner and a giant flat screen TV.  Maybe a HD projector if I have a big enough wall to use it on.  It shall be glorious… Ok, I’m getting off track, moving on.

After spending Friday and Saturday in my solitary solitude of aloneness, I decided to go on a little adventure on Sunday.  After looking over some places I still need to visit, I saw that I haven’t taken a trip to the University of Maryland yet.  So that’s where I headed.  From the Chinatown station, UMD College Park is about 15-20 minutes away on the Green Line.  I walked around the campus for a while, it was very beautiful.  I believe some sort of orientation was going on but I didn’t really see anyone.  After my visit, someone told me there is apparently a statue of Jim Henson with Kermit the Frog on campus somewhere.  I’m really mad I didn’t see it. I would have loved a picture.  Who didn’t grow up with Muppets? They’re awesome.  I don’t know if I could really name my favorite one either.  I think I’ll have to lean toward Statler and Waldorf:

 

    

I’ll have to go back up there later and go on a search for that statue.

They also have a small strip mall across from the campus that has things like Boston Market and Game Stop in it.  What else would a college guy need? There also happened to be a 7-eleven which I quickly went into to buy a Slushy in order to continue my meandering.  It was very hot.  You’d think I’d be use to it by now.  But every day seems to reach a different level of hot.  It’s crazy.

While walking back from the Metro, I took a stroll down to their area where all the fraternities are located.  Normally it’s referred to as Frat Row.  I happened to see a chapter of my fraternity Tau Epsilon Phi.  So I knocked on the door to introduce myself.  I got a tour of their house and hung out for a while watching a little big screen TV.   All in all, I’d say it was a very good Sunday.

Georgetown

One of my roommates and I recently took a trip to Georgetown. While planning the destination, I quickly found out that there aren’t any Metro stops near it.  However, that was quickly resolved.  Every once in a while when I am looking out the window or from the balcony of my apartment, I see a bus that says “Georgetown” on it.  After doing some researching, I found it that type of bus was call the Circulator and it leaves from Union Station.  Bingo, simple means of transportation to Georgetown.  Plus, it is only a dollar.  Well, it was a dollar.  DC has boosted Metro costs across the board so I don’t know if the Circulator got a new price or not.

I think I need to take this time to congratulate D.C. for its public transportation.  Not only is it reliable, on time, and frequent (during the work week, weekends are a totally different story).  But it’s also very clean.  These qualities are not the types of things you find in Pittsburgh. 

So, I make it to Georgetown University from the Circulator.  I must say how nice that area is.  The campus is beautiful with a lot of very big buildings.  Also the neighborhood surrounding the school is very quiet and cozy feeling.  A good amount of construction was going on in one location of campus.  No idea what they were in the process of building though.  This weekend was apparently an alumni weekend.  They were getting ready by setting up tables and putting up signs welcoming back Alumni.  I didn’t see many students walking around.  I don’t know if I should chalk that up to the fact that it is summertime or maybe the fact that they may have all be walking around down where all the shops are.  While on the bus, we drove up M St NW which was full of restaurants and shops.  After we were done exploring the campus, that is where we headed.

Now it is time for another edition of NATE’S FOOD REVIEW!  Being an unpaid intern, you have a very small budget.  So, sometimes, it’s very hard to find a place that you want eat when you are out and about which won’t make your wallet scream at you.  We found this place called Moby Dick’s House of Kabob.  It’s apparently a chain around here.  I ordered a Lamb Platter.  It was pretty good.  Kind of like a deconstructed gyro. The restaurant in Georgetown is very small.  It has 3 tables and one counter for you to sit at.  A lot of people seemed to be ordering their food for to go instead of standing around waiting for people to leave like me and my roommate had to do because we had nowhere else to go to eat the food.  I would try it again but perhaps at one of their bigger places.

National Zoo

I took a trip to the National Zoo.  For some reason, every time I visit a new city, I always put going to the zoo on the list.  I mean, if you’ve seen one lion, you’ve probably seen them all.  Yet there I was walking around the zoo.  It was a pretty good time and I got some good pictures.  I think the best zoo I have been to so far is in New Orleans.  We’ll talk more about New Orleans a little later on in this post.  Anyway, it was hot as all get out that day and of course, much like every other attraction in this city, it’s on a inclining hill.  You don’t really notice it as you’re walking down.  But you certainly notice it when you’re walking back up in 93 degree and humid weather.  They have little contraptions that spray mist which help a bit as you meander along trying to find the sweet, sweet exit.  Nonetheless, I think I’m going to stay away from zoos for a while.  I always forget how big of a pull they are for kids.  I’m just going to put this out there.  I don’t like kids.  Not one bit.  I’m not a kid person.  We will just leave it at that.  Anyway, here are some pictures:

Notice how I don’t have any pictures of Pandas.  That’s because Pandas are the laziest lethargic creatures I have ever seen.  I think even sloths look down on them.  But what more can you say on that subject when they’re species is going to go extinct because they’re too lazy to have sex.

After I was done with the zoo, I decided to walk to Adams Morgan.  This was not a spur of the moment decision.  You don’t make spur of the moment decisions when the sun is beating down on you daring you to take another step somewhere other than to an air conditioned building.  Most of you may not know…Actually, none of you would know:  I love food.  I am a giant food fan.  Most of the time, my television is on the food network or some other show that has someone discussing or preparing food.  This is where New Orleans comes back into play.  I’ve been to New Orleans around 4 times or so.  The last time consisted of me and 4 other fraternity brothers driving down there from Pennsylvania in a rented car for spring break.  Let me just recommend that no one ever do that.  It was not a fun experience. 

One of the foods I always get when I am in New Orleans is a po’ boy.  Po’ Boys are a traditional hoagie of Louisiana that consists of either seafood or meat.  To define them in layman terms:  THEY ARE CRAZY GOOD!  While looking through various restaurant reviews to find out some good food to sample while I am in DC, I came across a place named The New Orleans Café.  Lo and behold this place served po’ boys!  When I was done with zoo of course I had to go over there and try it.  So, without further ado, I now welcome you to something that will probably become a very normal occurrence in this blog while I am in DC: NATE’S FOOD REVIEWS.

When I bought the po’ boy, my initial thought was that the container they gave me was pretty light and small.  I figured that perhaps they just cut it in half so it would fit.  When I got the po’ boy home, this is what was in front of me

To a normal person, that may look ok and delectable.  However, here is a picture of a real po boy:

Yes, I trust you see the problem with this situation.  This isn’t to say the “po’ boy” from New Orleans Café was bad.  For what it was, it was good.   I am just used to a much bigger po’ boy with more fixins for the price they charged.  Then again, we are far away from Louisiana so perhaps my expectations were much higher than they should have been.  Needless to say, I would not go back there for a po’ boy fix.

Well, I guess that’s all for now.  Tune in next time.  Same Nate time, same Nate Channel