Observations upon being in DC for approximately three weeks

1. On F street near Chinatown, there is a green official-looking street sign right below the F Street NW sign that says Fun Street in a fun font. Neil and I sometimes skip while crossing Fun Street in order to induce fun.

2. On one of the longest escalators ever coming up from the Dupont Circle metro, a sign says "Hold Handrail on Escalator" or something like that. So I put my hand on the rail and stood on the escalator only to notice my hand moving forward faster than the rest of me. I though I was imagining it until I was almost touching the butt of the woman in front of me.

3. Every morning, I have a 15-20 minute walk from the metro stop in Maryland to the building where I work. I get to walk by generic suburban strip malls and then through a giant parking lot. It's not a glamorous route. To make matters worse, every morning I walk by a Starbucks that I can't actually get to because along the sidewalk is an iron fence. The fence is low and if I were wearing jeans and sneakers, I could surely hop it, but in work clothes, I'd be crazy to try. To walk around the fence takes an extra 7 minutes because it wraps along the sidewalk and then curves with the driveway. I would plan ahead and leave home early if it guaranteed coffee, only, once I get to Starbucks and around the fence, there's often a line so long that I have to leave without getting any coffee. Of course, the glass on the doors is always in a glare when I'm on the outside of the fence trying to determine if I should make an attempt. Most mornings, I take a big sniff of the caffeinated air outside the Starbucks and walk along the fence drafting letters in my head to the fence owners about putting in a gate.