Getting Your Move-On.

It only took a week, but the move from NYC to DC has finally been finished. In an effort to save a few bucks, instead of hiring movers, I flew my best friend, Davey, up to NY from San Antonio to help us lug all that we could cram into our little studio apartment into our only-slightly-smaller Penske rental truck. This was simply brilliant because not only did it free Shelley up from the heavy lifting (quote: "I'm getting too old to move like a college student"), but more than that it gave Shel and I both a few days to spend with one of our favorite people in the world. Since the apartment was essentially packed before Davey even arrived (Shel is an organizational master), we got to take him around town and show off the sights of the Big Apple. Lady Liberty, WTC, Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, etc. We ate pizza, bagels, and Papaya Dogs, the un-holy trinity of NY cuisine. By the way - NY Transit Museum is off the beaten path (downtown Brooklyn... did you know Brooklyn had a downtown? And that it's not Bedford Ave?) but well worth the trip. Really, awesome place. Possibly as cool (cooler?) than the London Transit Museum, and that's saying something! (the whole museum is housed in an underground abandoned metro station, and packed full of still-functional cars from the 1920s -80s! Retro-Awesome!)

Once the moving truck was loaded, we dropped Davey off at Newark airport on our way out of town, then spent 2 days relaxing in rural Pennsylvania. Shelley's good friend Katie's parents recently bought a house in New Hope, PA, literally a stone's throw from NJ, where they plan to retire in a few years. For now, that means Katie has an awesome, huge, and very modern/contemporary pad just a train ride away from her flat in Brooklyn. For us it meant a quite place to lay low while our new apartment was getting its finishing touches. We toured a quaint PA town, bought a few Jazz records (I couldn't resist - Hubert Law's second album!) ate at a Chili's (I know it's sad, but they don't have these anywhere in NYC limits, and we've missed them), and watched "He's Just Not That Into You" (to be honest, I wasn't forced or even out-voted on this one. Yes, it was an elective Chick-Flick watching).

On June 1 (Tuesday) we bid Katie farewell and continued our journey by skirting around the exterior of Philadelphia and heading into DC, with a quick stop-off at the Baltimore IKEA. One bookshelf, one desk, and an amazingly cheap (but sturdy) table-and-chair set later, we arrived at our new home. Unloading took a mere (and astonishing) 1 hour and 15 minutes. Unpacking took 2 days. Decorating a little more than one more. It was a long process. We documented the entire proceedings for the sake of posterity, but since most pictures just show boxes and piles in one corner, then another, then fewer with furniture, then even fewer with furniture and rugs... well, we'll skip most of the intermediary stages. (seriously... photos to follow in the next post...)

The apartment itself is a one-bedroom "English basement," meaning it is only 1/2 sunk into the ground. Shelley got the bedroom door I promised her, but beyond that it isn't too different from our NY digs. It's slightly larger, and rent is about the same. Free Wi-Fi and Satellite TV are nice pluses. It's part of a row-house, but oddly one built next to an alley, so we have the unusual bonus of small windows running the full length of the place. They're not very impressive in themselves - being only 22" tall - but having 5 more windows than the standard English Basement is nothing to sniff at.

The owner, Curt, lives above us with his wife and newborn. He's very nice, and whatever the place may lack in luxuries he is quick to address. I don't think he's yet realized that Shelley and I are willing to do some of the work ourselves. I also don't think he grasps our ambitions for the place - it will go from "pretty nice" to "quite lovely" with just a few nice touches and some really hard scrubbing. But it's cool, comfortable, and exceedingly functional.

Aside from the availability, the neighborhood is the real selling point for the apt. Columbia Heights is in the throws of a major urban renewal project, that has to-date included several square blocks of major construction including a shopping center called DC-USA, which combines a Super Target, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond and Marshall's into one building, with room for a Radio Shack, Subway, Panda Express, IHOP, Starbucks, Chipotle, and a dozen others in a 1-block radius. Coming from the micro-footprints of NY retail, it's all practically magical to us. The metro (subway) is located here as well, and we live just 3 short and tree-lined blocks away. It's a bizarre combination of lower-income and Middle Class African-Americans, 2nd generation Hispanics, and young professional hipsters (the "cool" music club - Wonderland Ballroom - is just 1 block from our place). Actually, it reminds me a lot of Brooklyn's Bedford stop/ Williamsburg area. There's even a pretentious new "Gastro-Pub" advertising the World Cup along with its over-priced Bangers-and-Mash.

The downside to the basement apartment is that it tends to get a little damp and humid (for which we've already purchased a dehumidifier - thanks to everyone who's given us a Target gift card over the years...), and it feels a little cave-like. I've taken to calling it "the bunker" but we'll see if that sticks. Wouldn't be so bad if we were out-and-about all day at our jobs, but since we don't have any of those... The last week has been such a fury to get the apartment "settled" that we've barely left, and that is certainly taking its toll. We really like the apartment, and for the sake of maintaining that attitude, we've got to get out more often.

Today (Sunday) we took a hop on the Metro down to Dupont Circle, another cool part of town where a lot always seems to be happening (Eastern Market - you're next!). Along the way we passed one of the NY-DC buses, which have pictures of Times Sq etc painted on the side, and Shelley actually got home sick for NYC. Imagine that! Our destination was the Philips Collection, a museum of modern art built out of two very old, and very nice houses. Speaking generally, Shelley and I aren't big art buffs. I'm a little more inclined to abstraction than Shelley is, but we are unanimous on our disinterest in large canvases painted in layer after layer of one color. Especially if that color is white. You wouldn't think it was possible, but the Philips Collection actually has a whole "White Collection." I'm willing to wager that it's all brilliant - it wouldn't be there otherwise - but we made fast feet to the Degas, Monet, and Rothko rooms. By the way - if you haven't seen Van Gogh's "The Road Menders," (I certainly hadn't), do check it out. It was the only thing in the entire museum (except my lovely wife, of course) that I just never got tired of looking at.

So the visual was only half the appeal - or less. We actually went because the Philips was hosting a free event as part of the DC (formerly Duke Ellington) Jazz Festival. Charles Woods and his Quartet entertained us for a very pleasant hour, playing selections as diverse and broadly-appealing as "Lester Leaps In," Coltrane's "Mr. PC," Wayne Shorter's beautiful ballad "House of Jade," and numbers by Chick Corea, Michael Jackson and Grover Washington. Good museum, good show, good 'on-ya.

The day was finished as we put up the last of our artwork in our own little gallery back home, and started sending out even more job applications. It's a task I think we're both going to get very familiar with in the almost-immediate future.

The house is almost "home" and we're trying to establish our routines. Being jobless, penny-pinching is the order of the day, so frivolties like fancy coffee, dinner out, and even alcohol products are on hold. We're digging through cook books to expand our culinary range, and comparing prices among our various well-stocked grocers. Hooking the Wii up to Netflix (via our wi-fi) has been utterly brilliant, and saved us both from boredom and a terrifying return to watching cable- or even (gasp!) network-TV. The idea of waiting to watch a show I want to see, or having to start it in the middle, is annoying, but nothing compared to the revulsion I now get from 5-minute TV commercials. Hulu and Netflix have weaned me from the most dominant form of media communication on the planet, and so help me I hope we never go back.

DC seems like a fine town, and now that we're here more and more distant friends and connections keep getting in touch. Still, it's hard to transition from a place where we had a solid core of friends we could expect to see, even if it was only once or so a week. In San Antonio, we saw about 10 people every week, like clockwork, almost without effort. In NY, if we planned it well and stayed out late, we could connect with up to 5 good friends per week. In DC, for the moment, we know basically 1 good friend, and he's traveling on business this week.

But as I said, a lot of less-close friends have been getting in touch, and what better opportunity could there be to restart a relationship or grow a social group? Everyone here is Exceedingly nice (even strangers - seriously, our NY reflex keeps assuming that people are being sassy or intimidating when they wish us a good day, and it's taking all our effort not to shoot back dirty looks at these innocent samaritans). We will reconnect with old friends, and make new ones in the middle. We will find jobs, pay our rent (and my school debt!), and make our way in this city. Neither of us doubts this will happen, though the exact mechanics of How it's going to happen remain entirely elusive. We're sending out feelers, following up on leads, and putting in applications. What more is there to do? What could go wrong?

Plenty, I suppose, is the wrote answer for both, and so that's what we'll do. Plenty.

But not tonight.

The house is quiet (except for the dehumidifier that runs 24/7), and we are existentially tired.

All the best from The District.

Weber

::(lame) Texpatriot