kdh in dc... w/o g

Thanks for the invitation to be the guest blogger, Jenna! I'm happy to report on my day without gram here in DC. I can't say it has been one of my more exciting days, but I will admit that knowing I had to "blog" made me look hard at the world around me. And what a world it is here in DC! I hope I live up to expectations. Please provide feedback on my attempt.

My day without gram dawned cold and early -- I had a conference to go to today, and that always means a few extra minutes to figure out what to wear and where to go. I'm usually on autopilot until I finish my venti (that's LARGE in Wilson Farms-speak) coffee. I was lucky to have the best cab driver in the world for a bloggerific day -- his name was Floyd, and he shared a number of very funny observations with me once he found out that I was from Buffalo, and obligated to report back to my family on my day.

"JeeeeeeeSUS", he says -- "if you're from Buffalo, you must be wanting to run around with a buck nekkid keyster on a day like today -- it must be like summer for you!". He went on to tell a great story about his youth and a family visit to our neck of the woods -- seems that he had family in Buffalo who were "running so hard from the white folk that they just kept going until they had a choice to stop or end up in Canada". He was there over 4th of July -- a "skinny little guy with my short pants and knee socks" and seems that it got dark out, and along with that it got cold "so cold it snowed, in fact, and us little kids were huddled around the burning fireworks to keep warm." Seems that the adults at the party were drunk enough not to care how cold the kids were. Does this sound familar, anyone?? Anyhow, the wisdom he took from this experience was as follows: "When someone tells me I'm overdressed, I tell them that they've obviously NEVER been to Buffalo".

After all that bonding (at 7:30 am, no less!) Floyd's coming to Christmas dinner with me. Hope that's OK, family ....

Onto my conference, and all the excitement that went along with it. Here's a picture of the breakfast buffet at my conference focused on obesity prevention -- can anyone calculate the number of calories in a serving of irony? None of those pastries for me -- I'm on day 3 of Fatkins, which you all may know as the diet where you eat nothing but bourbon, bacon and lettuce. Christmas is coming, and its all about getting my ass under control before I hit the cookies, apple pie, pimento spread, oyster dressing ... need I go on? Suffice it to say, I'm a little cranky today as you can only eat so many cheese sticks and hard boiled eggs before you want to weep.

Anyhow, here's something valuable I learned at the conference about health literacy -- people would be better able to follow directions on their prescription medicine if the font was bigger, there was more white space, shorter words, and more pictures. I think there may be a life philosophy in there somewhere, or at least some good advice that can be applied to everything from blogs to papers on islamic women to the prayer at christmas dinner!


Not that the conference wasn't engaging, but the sunshine was calling me. There's that Holtz work ethic! Here's a picture of me with Einstein -- there's a big giant statue of him in front of the building I was in today, and I have heard from other GW students (certainly not anyone I hung out with or knew or even dreamed of talking to) that a sure fire way to get a good grade on an exam was to walk down the hill to Einstein with you man and ... well, you know ... make and "offering". Maybe something like what was going on with Mom in the van down by the river in her youth? I can't be sure about these things. I was too busy studying. Still am. Yep, that's it.

I got home earlier enough that it was still light outside, so I decided to go for a walk. Just like cheesesticks and hardboiled eggs, a girl can only spend so much time on the treadmil! I decided to walk in the zoo today and get some sunshine -- and try to sneak a peek at DC's latest fascination: the baby panda. Our baseball team may suck, but at least our pandas have figured out how to procreate! The panda's name is Tien Tien, which I think is Mandarian for "Communist Cash Cow". People are whipped into a frenzy about this little thing. I'm not as fascinated because I can't help but remember that when it was born they kept comparing it to a "stick of butter". How gross a comparison is THAT? Anyhow, there was no panda to be seen -- in fact, the only animal I saw was a squirrel. Note the Toledo Mud Hens hat -- can I get a shout out from any Ohio Holtz's? The Mud Hens won the Governer's Cup this year! Go Mud Hens!
[I've found it's safer in this family to root for a relatively unknown minor league team that to come out with a statement regarding any MLB franchises. I want to optimize my chances on Christmas by not alienating anyone! ]

Well family, I'm going to wrap up my day with some Tivo and a bourbon flavored salad. There's always room in DC for you guys -- but no guarantees the day of your visit is going to be as exciting as THIS!