Wow, I haven't posted since February! That's a long time. March was a busy and exciting month for me. I heard back from some of my top choices for law school and am now debating between some great schools that I would be equally thrilled to attend. The decision is hard to make - I keep going back and forth about what my priorities are for schools.

It is also cherry blossom time, which is my favorite time in DC! According to the Capitol Weather Gang today and Sunday are the best days for viewing, and they were right! I have never seen them looking so beautiful. I went today with my parents who are in town visiting. They were even prettier than I remembered. Also, we hopped on board the "Blossom Shuttle" which took us down to Haines Point. The blossoms were so beautiful but I was sad to see the area without the great sculpture, "The Awakening."

On the knitting front, I had started a second Rusted Root sweater that was progressing very well. I has completed about 1/4 of the work when I was at an airport and they made me take it off the needles as I went through security. I teared up a bit; it was VERY sad and most of it unraveled. It was the emotional conclusion to an emotion filled trip, but I digress. Anyhow, I've put that aside for a while and am starting on the Reversible Cabled Scarf. For some reason, though, the stitching seems to be very tight which is painful for my hands...that might also get set aside for some of the beautiful sock yarn I recently acquired! We shall see!

It's Not Right

I'm pretty sure it's not right to love a possession as much as I love my new bicycle. I've had it for about 2 weeks and my love grows daily. (George Michael is having a hard time with this (understandably). It's so fast and light, I can make it from Pentagon City to my office past Union Station in 30 min...it's AMAZING. The bad thing about having 2 bikes, is that you have 2 bikes in your small apartment at all times. This means the out-of-the way place I used for when I had one bike is always taken up by a bike and I have to leave the other one in the middle of the living room. I'm going a little crazy trying to watch The Wire through the body of my old bike. Note to self: figure something out immediately!

Speaking of The Wire...it rocks. I've watched the first two episodes of the season and I'm completely hooked! The characters, storyline, and filming are awesome. I don't think it's going to go so far as ruin me for Law and Order...but it definitely gives l&o a run for its money! :) Sorry Sam.

I finally finished knitting my first sock ever (yay!) and have just started its mate. As Beth commented on Ravelry, George Michael was so helpful for the first one that I hope he's equally as involved this time.

I haven't taken down my Christmas tree yet...that's right, I still have my tree from Christmas up, and it is now almost Valentine's Day...I need to get on top of doing something about that. Eek!

I'm Officially a Two Bike Household

It's official, I am now a two-bike household and I could not be more excited! :) Over the weekend I fulfilled my two-year dream and purchased my very first roadbike. I got an entry-level bike, the Giant OCR3W. It's so fast and makes me so much more aggressive on the road...I'm loving it. There are still a couple things I need to do: replace the seat, get a cover for the bike tire, get locks for the quick release tires, remove the commuter brakes, and paint it a new color. Right now it is this heinous light blue color. But how to paint it? That makes me nervous. Any advice?

I also just got a Twitter account...I was surprised, because I allowed it to search my Gmail contact list (gulp!) and only 4 people have accounts...clearly there are some late adopters...check me out at claireer.

The Most Hated Character

This weekend I: saw the Colbert portrait (super funny), ate delicious grouper ravioli, almost froze retrieving my hated bicycle from Metro Center, did not buy new bicycle (want to so bad, but I worry it will get stolen like last one), ate deliciousness at The Waffle Shop, and progressed to the heel flap on my very first sock! Yipee!

Reading Report: I FINALLY finished Wuthering Heights on Saturday while hanging out in the Atrium (?) Courtyard (?) or whatever that beautiful covered space is in the Portrait Gallery. I HATED (and still do!) Heathcliff, he was so villainous. I guess at least part of it is understandable because he was treated so poorly as a child, but forcing Cathy to marry the awful Linton was just too much! Still working on - Love in the Time of Cholera and A People's History of the United States. Note to self: 3 books and 3 knitting projects are too many things to have going at one time.

Things I want to do this week:
Go to the Botanical Gardens (my second favorite place in DC - second only to the Portrait Gallery). Somehow seeing the orchid room in the middle of the winter feels like it would be like laughing in winter's face...

Guide to Things I'm Barely Tolerating Today

Things I'm Barely Tolerating
-The snow
-Walking to and from the metro
-Being at work
-The cold
-Having to wear a huge jacket because of the cold
-Walking and the pain in my leg it caused this morning
-My ginormous (is that a word) backpack. I want to get a new/different/better one. Maybe I will cave for one of those timbuk2 ones that everyone has. They look like they would be good...
-My old heavy bike

Things I'm Liking
-My Rusted Root sweater. I tried it on and it fits! Just need to bind off on the bottom, complete the arms, and pick up the stitches for the collar! Yipee!!!
-My new soft yarn for the cap I'm going to knit next
-My new cell phone
-Restaurant week
-That it's Friday and we have a three-day weekend
-That I have gotten into 1 law school so far w/ the offer of $$ :)
-My new pedicure
-That I'm going to teach LSAT for Kaplan
-The Killers' Read My Mind

Things I might do this weekend
-Buy a new bike
-Go to the Portrait Gallery, must see the Colbert portrait
-Drink hot chocolate
-Use my crockpot
-Celebrate MLK day :)

Things I Want To Do

-Be registered as an Iowa voter during the caucuses.
-Run a marathon
-Own a sweet road bike
-Be in a road-bike race and not come in last place
-Get into a good law school
-Teach LSAT
-Be gainfully (ha!) employed
-Run the Cherry Blossom Festival 10 Miler
-Knit awesomeness
-Have more people read my blog

About Last Night

Last night I went to the corner store to see if they had paper towels. It was around 9:00 pm and I walked past the Metropolitan Community Church, which is on the corner of my street, and noticed a man sleeping in a little alcove. Last night it was about 20 degrees outside...REALLY cold. When I got home around 9:15 (the store was closed) I looked up the Hypothermia Hotline and called them. They are supposed to come by in vans and pick people up to get them out of the cold.

About 20 minutes later, around 9:45, I called again and gave them the exact address. They said they were dispatching a truck at that exact time. I watched "The Abyss" (a long and excellent movie) and then went to check to make sure the guy was not there anymore. It was around 12:30 and he was STILL OUT THERE.

I called the Hypothermia Hotline again and they said they were just switching shifts and didn't know anything about the guy, but they would send out a van. I told them I was going to call the police since it had been about 3 hours since I last called. I called the non-emergency number (if you don't know, that number is 311) and told them. The police dispatcher got on a 3-way call with the Hypothermia Hotline and they said they were sending a van. This morning the guy was not there anymore. There has been no traffic on the neighborhood listserv and I assume there would be if anything really bad had happened.

Should I have done more?