We decided to go to Washington D.C. for the weekend as a quick getaway. We scored a very cheap hotel room for the weekend that was a top rated hotel in D.C.! (The Sofitel)

All pictures below can be seen on SmugMug too.

We left on Friday morning, 5am. By the time we Starbucked up and hit up Hess for gas it was around 5:45-6ish.





hotel was nice...




...And in a perfect location too...block or 3 from the White House and not too far from the Capital...










Smithsonian Museum of Natural History




The Hope Diamond






Looks like a cheezy photoshopped postcard








The American History museum is being renovated, however they had some exhibits in the Air and Space Museum...








Lunch...




Bond, James Bond (after a 45 minute wait in line!) - This was an amazing museum, however it was a little too crowded to enjoy it all.




Before Dinner




Dinner


After dinner..




Georgetown the next morning...




At breakfast (Clydes, great breakfast!)




Stairs from the movie the Exorcist!




Shops at Georgetown






Laurie's Before dinner Bubblebath


Dinner at Bobby Van's Steakhouse


16oz filet...I've never eated a filet that big!


Breakfast Sunday morning before we headed home..

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Very Bad Things - FUN movie, dark humor that kind of lost me at the very end. Cameron Diaz is pretty good in this...Christian Slater, I didn't think acted very good. But, it is a cheezy comedy about a bachelor party gone wrong. The minivan scene had me dying!

Born Into Brothels - Documentary about kids who's mothers are prostitutes in Calcutta's red light district. Did not focus on prostitution, but an American photographer who is trying to help the children get an education. Dark reality, and I almost felt it was borderline exploitative. Very good if you are into documentaries that aren't all shot through rose colored cameras.

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Fullsize pictures in smugmug

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo

Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it.

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Cleanest, nicest deuce sedan I have seen in a LONG while.

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Friday: Interview in the City again. Same company, another offer, another offer I might not take.

Saturday: Wake up at the ass-crack of 5am to go riding in Bald Eagle, PA with Rob. Load the bike on the trailer and we are off by 5:30am. Loooong ride out there but worth it. It was ~35 degrees out. First, my bike gives a little trouble starting in the cold. After starting it...I gear up and hop on the bike to get going. I almost bounced right off the seat felt like a pogo-stick! DAMN, I blew out the rear shock. So, I had to ride the whole day without any suspension. Thank god we mostly road just regular dirt roads. The one single track trail we took was a series of long rocky hillclimbs. Putting along best I could, trying to get traction, I look up and Paul was stopped on the hill, having trouble getting going again. I knew if I stopped I wasn't making it up. Sure enough, I stopped, went to start and ooofph right over. Rob ended up embarrassingly riding my bike up after rolling it all the way down. We had some lunch and ended the day at 3:30ish with 100 miles of riding. Looong ride home, pizza for dinner, and I immediately passed out on the couch watching American Splendor.

I forgot to mention. On the way up, we stopped at a gas station so I can get some grub before we went out riding. I walk into this Pennsyltuky station and I immediately see the "hot dog roller" machine with those 8 day old greasy rolling hot dogs. Well, to my surprise, I was taken back by what they had to offer other than hot dogs. Cheeseburger-Hotdogs...yes....a cheeseburger in sausage formation. An inbred of American comfort food gone a rye. You know how bigmacs from MickyDees look good in the picture but horrible in real life? Take that to the n'th level on this picture.

1 review that I found on the web.

Now, last but not least, the “cheeseburger bite” $1.79. The folks at 7-11 decided to try and make a cheeseburger in the shape of a hot dog, roll it around on the rollers and tell people it was good. It was not, not in the least, it was gross, which is an understatement. My “cheeseburger bite” felt and tasted like a rubber doggie chew toy. What were you people at 7-11 thinking when you came up with this? I have this final thing to say about it, you know what the cheeseburger bite looks like when its sitting on the rollers; well it tastes like it too!

Amazing. Here is what 7-11 says.

Cheeseburger Big Bite™ Hot Dog
Easy to eat perfection! It looks like a hot dog, but it tastes like a cheeseburger! Fresh from the 7-Eleven grill, beef and cheese combine to create the easy-to-eat one-third-pound Cheeseburger Big Bite Hot Dog. Add your favorite condiments or toppings! Yummy!

Ugh. I can't pull up the nutrition facts for it but this thing can't be near good. I asked Rob what he would give me to eat one before we went riding, and he said he doesn't nearly have enough money to make it worth my while but almost offered his first born in trade.

Sunday: Slept late and cuddled with my love. Showered and went to Target, then Chili's for lunch. Laurie got Patron margarita drunk at lunch and we proceeded to head home to watch movies as it was quite the shitty day. Head home, get in the PJ's and watch American Splendor.

American Splendor: Great indy flick. Funny, Witty, and the way they did it, documentary style was great. The 2d animation was also great. Paul Giamattis performance was great too! I usually don't dig on comedies, but this flick was pretty damn good!

We then proceeded to plan our Washington DC trip that we are taking over the Thanksgiving weekend. We decide on the Sofitel hotel (why not...), The SPY Museum, The Smithsonian, and the National Air and Space museum if we have time. Closing the laptop's it was time for another movie.

I Netflicked The Covenant, why I'm not sure. The reviews were bad, everything I read about it was bad, the trailer LOOKED bad, but for some reason, I felt compelled to see it. No justification. It was bad. Not even your typical teen movie. Sure there were good looking teens in some rich private school driving expensive cars, and even a shower scene or 4. I waited what felt like FOREVER for act II to begin about 45 minutes in!!! By that time I was pre-occupied with something else and ignored the movie until the very predictable end. I would not recommend this flick.

Next up, a run to Borders for some reading/books and coffee...then home for a shower, shit and bed. I started watching the TiVoed The Great Escape while waiting for Dexter to come on (and is getting damn good BTW!) .

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Sitting in Borders listening to X-Mas music...not sure how I feel about it.

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Jacob's Ladder - In a word (or 2) Manchurian Candidate was better. If if wasn't for Tim Robbins, this intentionally confusing flick would be just that, confusing. I say intentionally because the plot just isn't that thick. Also, it wasn't THAT confusing, but you can sure tell it tried to be! Personally, I liked Manchurian Candidate (both versions of it) much better. I did however like Matt Craven in the film and some of the gratuitous nudity was good. This film just tried to hard to be a "dark" film and the only thing they got right was casting. Rated slightly more than watchable.

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Sold my Model A Sedan, and sold my Chevy Blazer (See SmugMug for pics). Now that I have my garage back, I've been itching for another Panhead.


Everything works out...the motorcycle balance has been restored and the Dark Side has a leg up.

No movies this weekend, but 2 coming up for tonight maybe...

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One Last Thing... - Caught this on Showtime last night pretty late. Story about a kid who is dying, brain tumors I believe...and is granted a "wish" by the movie-equivalent-without-copyright-infringement "make a wish" foundation. His initial wish is to go fishing with his favorite football player, but on national TV he says screw it and says he wants a weekend with a supermodel. While I thought it was going to be much more teen-campy then it was, it wasn't. It was still a teen movie and still campy, but definitely watchable. The supermodel's sub-plot sucked...and the whole plot was this kid trying to get his wish...not because she was just a hot supermodel, but based on something his dad said to him (dad is dead, left him a video). Very predictable, even at 1am and tired, but it wasn't bad at all. Definitely watchable.

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It's what's for dinner...

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Gangs of New York - The story was good, and the portrayal of the time period "appeared" to be spot on. I would not know as I'm not an expert, however I guess that is the point. Leo was good, and while I'm not a big fan of Diaz, she did a good job. The Butchers character could be one of my top 10 favorite characters (this week anyway)....loved him. It was a little bit of a long movie and certainly the first half was great (although not amazing). The latter half was "eh" and the end was that as well...and a little confusing. I wish I could review this movie in two parts, the first and the second. I'd give the first part 4 out of 5 stars and the second, maybe a 2.5.

Addendum: I'm completely looking forward to Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as it is...after watching Gangs of New York, I only wish that they cast the actor that played Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis). I think Depp will do a good job...just maybe not AS good and certainly not bring in those Depp Dollars.

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Hit a guy over the head with a bottle lands you 25k bail and jail. "Allegedly" throw "something" "maybe" at a cop get 100k bail.

Take a look at Todays Local Home News Tribune - Police Blotter.

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I just saw a lit Christmas tree in someones window on the way hoe from work.

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In the order in which I saw them this weekend.

Hostel: Part II - First, I liked the first Hostel. I thought it was right on par with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil Dead, etc. This movie was basically the first Hostel, although with even LESS of a plot and a few other things that bothered me. For one, the apparent non-subplot of the survivor of the first Hostel. A little spoiler, but, why bother even putting writing him in in the way they did? Which, was just that...he was just "in" it for a little while with no relevance to the main or any plot. I think (I know) it was written in for one reason only. To have a reason for another gore scene (which wasn't even good). Bottom line: watchable movie, lots of gore, less nudity even though the leading roles were female. I wouldn't recommend it. The only thing it has going for it is the "concept" of Hostel being something somewhat realistically demented. They portrayed that even better in Part II by going into some character development of two of the "bad guys".

Gone Baby Gone - I'd be lying if I didn't disclose beforehand that I am a mark for Affleck. This was his directorial debut and he knocked it out of the proverbial park. Halfway through I thought the plot had run out and they were going to wrap it up....so I'm thinking, "eh it was ok", however, another 35-45 minutes left in the movie made it what it was. This movie put you in the shoes of almost every role, and made you, at some point, have strong feelings, be them negative or positive, for almost everyone in the cast. Those two points a lone made for a good movie. Coupled with a good story, and a good cast (Ed Harris was great) I highly recommend this movie. Casey Affleck, while you can still tell he is a little "green" plays a role that any guy would admire. Even though he is not the biggest, meanest guy, he portrays a complete smart/bad-ass very well. I guarantee you'll end up detesting some characters.

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Made some amazing Turkey Chili last night for Halloween. Don't ask for the recipe, as I didn't really have one, but it came out amazing. I spent the evening on my front porch on a chair sitting with Laurie passing out candy to the million kids.

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