When a Vacation Gets Busy

While I was at work, it was easy to say "I don't have enough time" to be worried about activism and protesting. Now on vacation, 'not having enough time' is my own problem, not one I could attribute to my boss or shortened days caused by time advances. At the same time, while at work I could shout as loud as I could off the gunwale of the ship, and no one would hear me. It was an eye-opening experience to trade a weak satellite connection for wifi and broadband; to use internet configured for me rather than one optimized for sending simple text emails. Yes, I did some of my recent blog posts through a satellite connection. I'd write ahead of time, and then wait for early morning to access blogger.com, when the absence of "higher priority" traffic allowed me a connection to the host website. I will be the first to tell you MSNBC clickbait, used as my ship's internet homepage, does not an informed citizen make.

When I was traveling for work, I sectioned attention to friends and family into a 20-minute phone call or a paragraph email, and a twice-weekly Facebook check. Otherwise, my afterhours were my own to plan and divvy. So when I got home at the beginning of the four-day Independence Day weekend, I was surprised by how much time went to 'family time'. A devotee to an art would tell his or her associated to "leave me alone". A dilettante like myself seeks to appease, placing others' desire for attention above attention to the craft.

For me, the 'staycation' does not work. I created, and am working through a punchlist of items that I couldn't readily complete overseas like tax adjustments, ordering books and videos, and making appointments, visiting Mr. Liedman, my coin dealer. Things I guess people do over lunch break, or late afternoon at work, for the lucky ones. So to get away, I take a 'real' vacation, like my week tramping around the old Austro-Hungarian empire of Central Europe (material for another blog post). I left the US on Inauguration Day (faster than a talking head celebrity), and arrived back after five months away. I was quickly reintroduced to American culture: upon arrival in the US, it appeared that half the border control agents took Friday afternoon off! This was only unusual to me since six full days of work a week is the norm on my ship, and seven days is normal too. Instead of "getting ready for the weekend" on Fridays, the anticipation was "getting ready for the overtime".

I feel like a have just a handgrip keeping me from obsolescence. Tinder, where women sort through virtual binders of men, and men do likewise, was the butt of jokes when I was in college just three years ago. Now I've read that online dating had replaced the 'bar scene' as a matchup forum. I landed at the airport alone in one's own city: In Washington, DC, the summer social calendar is light; and none more so than the week of July 4th. As the weeks away from the US turned to months, I needed to take the time reconnecting with friends. They said Mitt Romney was stuck in the 1950's; he missed the 1960's and ensuing cultural changes as a husband and a Mormon missionary. If I wanted to, I could become a virtual hermit on the ships, with a W2 wage statement and a portfolio ledger as my sole concerns in life. That is not the life for me.  To know that I will go out again, I vow to have all matters better organized for my next vacation!

Name Switchers

Have you ever seen that show, Potomac 20854. Chances are, you have.

90210 is actually based in the Beverly Hills of the East, 10 miles northwest of Washington in Potomac, MD. The school is modeled off of Churchill High, a nationally top-raking public high school, and some references will be familiar to the Washingtonian.

When some movie website did a Brand Recognition survey of Potomac 20854, at least one person thought the show was about a vacuum cleaner. No, it's just the real-life 90210. Often, screenwriters (like myself) avoid using real palcenames for fear of legal retribution. So sending the title 2500 miles to the other side of America would help achieve this goal. Anyway, people recognize the Beverly Hill brand. You know, the one that's full of people with out-of-place mansions, luxury suv's and plenty of Botox to go around. I'm sure there are real people there like the ones in BH of the East.

The problem is that 20854 didn't seem to run smoothly off the tongue of the screenwriters. What about
20054 (two double-o fifty-four), the original zip code
DC 54 (In homage of the pre-zip system
River Road (in homage to the street that sees many luxury car accidents)

Sidenote:
NCIS didn't come of as a runaway success, except in the DC area market, where the plot takes place.

The Fashion Trend of the 2010's!

It's the fashion trend that's taking this decade by storm! In the age of the "new Normal", where practicality is in vogue and frivolous spending is out of style, scrubs, which used to be typically worn only by those in the medical community, have seen a rise in popularity. It is a local legend that residents of Bethesda started the trend, which then caught on in trendy Potomac. "You'd see people inside that fence (around the NIH) frolicking in the grass in scrubs of all different colors. They looked like Easter chickens. So free in movement, the local jogging club started wearing scrubs as jogging gear. Well, then our rich neighbors started doing the same. I mean, if a multimillionaire trial lawyer wears scrubs to the cocktail party, it must be the trend." It was not too long later that the posh stores of Chevy Chase, 2 miles south of the NIH, started selling these work clothes. Neimus Marco currently carries 3 lines of scrubs in the $200-500 range.

But they are not just toys of the rich and fabulous. They can be found at your local Buck Chuck starting at $10 a piece. The scientific community is weighing in on this latest trend. Says a psychoanalyst, also wearing a white scrub with jacket, "It makes one feel as if they are doing something for the community" But warns a podiatrist, also wearing a set of scrubs, "Wearing high heels and scrubs at the same time can lead to trips, falls, and broken toes".

Scrubs have been identified as some to be the agent of depersonalization. "If you've ever watched a scifi movie..." says a Trekkie. But the Committee on Un-American Affairs has assured Americans that there is no traces of communism have been found in this trend. "You get a choice of over 6 colors, and even get choices of different designs. Cartoon characters with bandages are a very popular design." The Plutotentron community has been reported to assign scrub colors to people based on caste. "That's a sad fact", said Mr. McCarthisipi, "but that's not my committee's problem".

Fashion analysts from the fashion Institute of Fashion say that the trend may have originated from the plethora of medical drama and reality shows of the past decade, including Scrubs, M.D., Gray's Anatomy, ER, House, M*A*S*H, and 20 years of school and I'm still not a real doctor yet.

Medical supply company FemoScrubTron says that some medical professionals are resorting to using togas in light of the shortage. "If you or a loved one has an extra pair of scrubs, please consider donating it to us. We'll give you a free catheter for it "

It's Academic, 48th Season

Entering the nondescript driveway off Nebraska avenue, the unmanned gate was approached. The keyword: It's Academic, and it opens. Then, one drives past the neatly-kept circle with an American flag in the center to park next to the 242-m tower.

Luckily, the taping began on time, and competing were T.C. Williams, multichampion Richard Montgomery, and St. Anselms. By all accounts, St. A's would falter.
But St. A's took an early lead, but was contested before halftime, and overtaken by the champs.

I forgot- the show hasn't aired yet. Don't want to spoil the ending.
Show airs on May 16.

113 x 2 Thanksgiving

I totally felt like a tourist. After getting off the and trying to figure out whether the express or local would come first (unlike most stations in the NYC subway, Penn Sta. blue line lacks a crossover), and dashing to the business dinner. We got on the local, and shuffled to the express at the next stop! Having had the NJ Transit train arrived in New York 1 hr 15 min late, we missed cocktails and part of dinner. Afterward, after a long delay, as a group, the younger St. Thomas alumni went out to in an effeminate style to the 68th street theater, ten blocks north. Duane Reade, Starbucks, theater closed and locked. How could this be? It was therefore necessary to go back downtown to 42nd street. Since all of us were cheapskates, we didn't take a taxi or a subway. When we all got to 58th again, somebody got hungry. Realizing that the last show was actually at 12:45am, and that no one really wanted to see Quantum of Solace that badly, we headed out to Bella Vita- the slices went up to $3 each! Anyway, because they wanted to rid of their pizza, they cut us deals. Some late-night supper with Chocolate News and Futurama before realizing that it was 1:30 am. By then, this was the most wasted I had made myself to date, surpassing the Dec.1 lock-in at the Cathedral last year (refer to a post around that date). So we got into bed and all. Truth and Dare with Stefane, nothing too weird, though, and we set the game into a logic loop (I dare Stefane to stop doing this game). So we all fell asleep. Or that was what I thought.

I had a good long sleep until 8:57 am, according to the clock on the microwave. I felt totally refreshed. Surprised not another soul was not awake, I looked at my own clock. It was 7:57. The clock had not been reset since the organist-in-residence left this posh midtown apartment (approx value 3,500+/mo.) in July. So I put my head back into bed. Some time later, I remembered that I needed to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade pass by on Broadway, for I never had the chance to do so.

Got some good shots. But where was Kermit? I had vowed to see him as a float while in New York. Well, I at least I saw the parade, I thought, as I got dressed for church. I took a wide look out the window. Some Escalade and a small dirigible. Then I heard loud applause. A green head. Sure enough, it was Kermit, and his dominating minions holding him to ground were dressed in florescent green jumpsuits, as I had been informed. I got two awesome shots, and jolly-lept to church.

The service was quite enjoyable, with good company. Sitting in the wide, dark, balcony of Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue that was unknown to the hoards of tourists let us rest in peace. I pulled out two knit finger puppets I bought in a hurry for $5 on the way over. A lion and a giraffe. THe crocodile would have been nice, but they were sold out. Yes, I had meant to buy them as a gift for someone all the way back in sixth grade. I lost one brief window of opportunity, and he was gone when I returned from church then. So I willed this not to happen again and all. How's that for rewriting history? Some greetings, nice to meet yous and all before taking the walk down Avenue of the Americas, cutting to Seventh and Times Square perpendicular to Radio City. With the grand avenue closed, Little Brother and I alternated taking touristy shots of each other as we rattled to Penn Station (at 33rd, not 34th!) past Macy's Herald Square. I didn't get to see any large floats being deflated of helium, though. They were probably done at 28th street, a larger street than the others. Looking for a cheap lunch took us around the large loop under Madison Square Garden, and out to a falafel vendor outside, who sold those lamb gyros for $5. Coupled with two cans of 99 cent Arizona Iced tea and a $1 bottle of water, we faced the train departure board. Twenty minutes delayed. The only one out of 20 trains on the board. Oh well, the train could catch up time. Better start late and fast, rather than on time, go fast, then wait for the schedule to catch up. We looked for our unaccompanied minor friend, who might get us bumped into business class. Eating the gyro on the floor in the coach section of waiting room wasted a little time. Just looking into the sparsely populated First Class waiting area... 2:25pm. The 169 was supposed to be here, with the delay. Instead, the message went vague. 'Delayed' I was in so much anticipation of my first Amtrak ride.

Not present for our class was NTFletch and his co-partner and twin brother, Zak. The school board thought that Thanksgiving was a racist holiday, so they had school until 3, and band practice, too. ?!

Even with your stock fund in the gutter,
We all have to be thankful for gas in the $1.-- range. That's what matters most.

Oh, and yes. I found out that three of the brothers went out to the 24-hour Apple store at the GM building (59+5th ave) to seek out internet. Why? Facebook.

Balt 57

One of the best thing about staying in hotels is the indigenous TV news!
Montreal somehow gets the Detroit news- how exotic- I haven't been to that part of the country in years. Watching local news that isn't national. News that is not recession-proof, and the reporters don't fake about financial tragedies and the audience can't say, "what people". Reporters who aren't invincible, smart, or even rich.
Detroit news- more closing factories, the stun-session of robberies, slaughters, and fires.

Baltimore news- a shock session of a straight line of 6 murders, not even mentioning attempts and near-fatals. Then it proceeds to national news that DC people balk at, then back to the good stuff from blue-collared Baltimore, sister of the gold-collared DC. This is what we started to get over HDTV recently, in pure color, and perfect picture, except for the occasional breaks by large jets at BWI airport. I hope that this is a permanent change- some news that makes one understand the real world.

On TV 2

Channel 4.3 is repeating August history again- Mike Phelps (of nearby North Baltimore) won his sixth gold medal. The woman's volleyball team just came on. What a creative use of bandwidth?

Lest we all forget:
Mike Phelps, sadly, at 19, was not in a kiddie's driving program when he got an underage DUI in 2004. If it had happened in DC- if and only if so, Mikey would be in a massive mess with his license! He repented, though, in compliance with MD state laws. Celebrities...

Tough day at the office?

Waiting for NTFletch's next post. I am one of a supposed many who eagerly await the next spoken word- unlike in this part, a post is a sweet treat that is built up to- not a daily of bi-daily given. Nevertheless, I sojourn on, gathering steam, as they say.

Today, we worked on our mayor project- choose a candidate from your group of 12, and, if he/she wins against the other two, their team wins a prize. Does the team I am in have a chance to win> It lays in my hands. It's true. For whichever intervention came, I was almost unanimously chosesn as the candidate. Pressure is on me.

I plan to finish The Cold War: A New History tomorrow afternoon, after I give the make-or-break speech for the model-mayoral bid.

Caveat Emptor:
Still not done with your first book this summer? Don't worry- I still have to take a week or two in August to skim the readings, again. But pretty good progress, though.

PS- I got up and left early to go to the Convention Center to pick up my Debit card- And they had it! I'm so happy!...

DTV DTV

I got Digital TV today, and it works nicely. As promised, there are the fractional channels (such as 7.2), of which most are lame, especially with eternal radar, and lousy reruns. I got the converter box... anyway, only a few channels are on DTV as of now.
Analog in a valley doesn't come out good, so I'm hiding back in the internet. It's true; I don't have cable, and the internet is the closest thing that comes to high-quality cable or satellite programming without our poor reception. Tenleytown broadcasts at 400' elevation, we're at 60' here; most of the DC area is around 150', and I suppose that the engineers designed TV to work with them.

Too much babble. If and when DTV gets good shows, that will be the icing to the digital cake. The reception is much clearer; FOX 5 is no longer stripish, NBC 4 is no longer tinted green, and the few channels over 9 that we received in blur are now 'all here'. At least channel 7 (owner of decimals between 7 and 8) had some decency to use the new channels. An example is 7.2, also called Local Point TV (www.localpointtv.com), a really low-cost production show (they said; send in you videolips to be on TV), but it was better than nothing.

Digital isn't ever far from the internet, though; when the reception has a blip, it stops just like the internet films do, and pixelate like a low-resolution picture. Love that technology, and let's get digital!

It's Academic

I just finished watching It's Academic sans the ice cream and tissues. It was a tight fit making it to my TV, getting to see the show, because I had another violin lesson at AU at 9am.

At 10:30, with our Insignia running, our team's handsome faces were broadcasted over the airwaves from where I was just at, on Nebraska Avenue. Our team was always ahead, although early on our team's first place position was threated by Westfield. About halfway though the game, scores reported as: Westfield 210, JFK 160, St.A 310. Before the final volley, scores stood as Westfield 395, JFK 260, St.A 475. St. Anselm's had a marvelous final volley, even though we lost 40 points to wrong answers then. Final score stood at Westfield 405, JFK 280, St.A 615.

So thanks, Peter, Marc, Daniel (and Matt) for making the show rather enjoyable.
And Stephen was there, vying for camera attention.
FYI Main House had the best attendance rate.

Technical PS- Soon you will be able to receive JangooMag through Facebook. Our staffs' plan is for readers to simply join the Facebook group for the monthly magazine, and it will be delivered to your Facebook inbox every month. The cost is free, thanks to our sponsors, who vary every month. Thanks!

Saint Anselm's- The official IA team of Atticus Sawatzki's Blog.

Tales of the Rich and Famous

Gordon Peterson (?-) is living life out as usual with his wife in Georgetown. He is still a TV star on DC Channel 7, WJLA, with his show, Inside Washington.

Barack Obama (1961-) is not home much on Capitol Hill nowadays. He is eying to move from his townhouse on The Hill to a large, white house at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., aka The White House, in 2009.

Little Brother is Out

He left and took the storm away with him. Actually, this is only the eye of the hurricane. He will be back tonight, and wreck havoc on my blog until I come home on Tuesday, when he will be gone until June.
I tried to take Little Brother to Rockville, or some other Metro-venture, but he only wanted to play on the computer. So yesterday was thrown in the trash. Nearly.
Nevertheless, I did some unique accomplishments. I wrote a sample "Sawatzki's Note" for The Cat in the Hat, and embellished that story into a meaningful novel with allegory. Today I discovered that people have joined The Banker's Club. Out of modesty, I did not make myself an officer, which I just discovered how to do. However, modesty doesn't reign in my "Free gift" group, where I play Oprah Winfrey in generously offering gifts to members. No one has joined that group. Likewise, I just finished typing a meaningful essay for The Bankers' Club on microlending in America. Over one page long, single-spaced. And now I have time to go beyond the call of duty for my Religion Extra Credit project, by reading and essaying about my topic. As I said, this day won't go to waste!

PS- 10:30 am, I think, tomorrow, NBC 4, It's Academic. This will be a tale of one small school bravely fighting against Goliaths to win the prize.

The whole thing

I just finished doing my Bio cards. That is after I came home from DCYO and got supplies for my History project. (I will be writing more on this when I start building my model.) I feel so good getting homework out of the way! And so I wish to get along to connecting my industries in Locomotion.
BTW, how did we do on television today? Unfortunately I was busy with orchestra and therefore could not make it :(