One thing that hasn't changed since late 2015, though, is that my unlocked posts are still rare. Even though most of the time I still spend on LJ is to participate in one specific fandom community (if you're reading this, chances are you are/were a visitor there too)... my posting patterns look nothing like what they used to. These days, I try to post at least once every other month or so for the benefit of both my own eyes and others around me... especially since other options for this aren't great for me: -Twitter was a great way to express my rawer emotion until the recent takeover -My Facebook feed has way too broad an audience for most of what I want to say -Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, Tiktook... well, that's mostly for people significantly younger than me - right? What do you mean they aren't primarily for teenagers anymore? Next you'll try to tell me I was a teenager when I started this thing!
But, who am I - these days? If you go to my old intro post you'll get a good summary up to age 31 or so. I've now lived in Arlington (Virginia) for seven-plus years, including 4 1/2 years in my current apartment... but I've switched jobs twice since that intro post (same industry though)!
February 2020 was the month I switched jobs; in between the two I got to go on a true vacation in San Diego... but of course, then the pandemic hit and took my travel dreams with them. And even to this day I'm still being more cautious than most - cf my old 'secondary introduction post' (now re-updated for end of 2022!), especially part III for part of why I'm still so cautious.
The coolest thing I've done since, then, has got to be competitive memory training; reminding me of my old high school math competition days! I can close with the video on this page; while I didn't win, I had a pretty strong performance - and... well... fun memory stuff might show up in this blog on the future!
And finally, the last two items from my old intro post likely still apply here:
I haven't posted in LJ since... since June! As I recover from a Yom Kippur fast, I feel like... might as well share a roller coaster ride I had posted on Discord: my career as a memory athlete up to and including July 27's qualifiers.
I have competed in the USAMC qualifiers since Lumosity games were first added to the qualifiers in 2020. That year, I came in first in the qualifying round due to being able to run up the score on Memory Match Overdrive, a game where you are asked "is this shape the same as what you saw three shapes ago?" as many times as possible in a 60 second period - cf https://www.lumosity.com/en/blog/2020-virtual-usa-memory-championship to see just how well I did (came in 4th - right behind Nelson and right ahead of John Graham; all three of us got our third strike in the same round of questions).
Goodbye and good riddance, 2021! Anyone good end-of-year memes this year? I always like trying a survey or two as an end-of-year blog post to sum up the year. Never mind that the past six months of the year were forgettable for me...
Friends Post EDITED to reflect the state of my life as of December 2015 (at least this isn't as late as my last update)!
I officially declared my LJ to be semi-friends-only (which means that about half of the posts are friend-locked) on May 6, 2009. This was merely formalizing what had been my practice for quite some time... but these days, unlocked posts from me are rare.
In my journal, I post about the following things:
I) RL: This journal was established in early 2002 (when I was a 17-year-old Harvard sophomore) to talk about the events of my life (in a sarcastic, snarky tone), and even now, this is by far its primary purpose. For a brief summary, I was in academia for a long time (PhD earned from UCLA in 2011 followed by 2 years spent in 3 postdocs - with my first having been at the MSRI in Berkeley for fall 2011, my second being eight months in Helsinki in 2012, and my third involving two quarters teaching at UCLA and finishing a research program at IPAM... which marked closing of a long chapter of my life.
After finishing that final postdoc at UCLA in the summer of 2013, I spent a year in London trying to switch gears, ultimately earning a masters in econometrics and mathematical economics from LSE. The DAY after I took the final exam for that degree (pulling a 73 on that particular exam is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life ;)) I finally received a phone call I had awaited for two years: the first post-academic job application I had submitted had finally come through.
So I moved back to Maryland, where I grew up, to start my first non-academic, 'permanent', job as an applied 'mathematician'. My job can be ironically described as 'rent-a-genius', though for a number of reasons I don't go into too much detail about it on this blog. I've been working at this job for over a year, though I moved from Baltimore, MD to Arlington, VA at the end of June (my first move PURELY based on 'where I want to live' in my entire life!)
That said, I am also interested in economics (and the subtle skill of passing actuarial exams) and am not 100% sure which plan will FINALLY end up coming to fruition. I am 31 years old and male. As proud as I am of my physical appearance, I eat very indulgently (and will often talk at length about particularly delicious foods). That said, I learned back in late 2009 that what I thought was 'YES! I'm in shape!' was really 'being kept unnaturally thin by a condition so embarrassing that people refer to it by its initials'.
II) HP fandom: I have been an active member of this fandom since July 23, 2007 (yes, this is the correct date) and am a proud member of two sorting communities. As many of my LJ friends are part of these communities, I will often refer to them from time to time. To be honest, though, the fandom seems to be growing stale; while I HOPE to meet awesome new Slytherins, they seem to be few and far between...
III) Politics: I rarely talk about politics on my LJ, and when I do, it's usually exclusively for the purposes of snark and sarcasm. In general, I am extremely socially liberal (after twelve economics courses including a full year masters, I still lean liberal economically as well ;-)) and generally identify with the Democratic Party.
I will not defriend you merely because you disagree with me; being a douchebag, on the other hand, is a different story...
IV) Religion: I talk about religion even less than I talk about politics on here. I am a mildly observant Jew (in other words, I keep Passover, but do NOT keep kosher). If forced to pick a denomination, I would go with 'Reform', but that doesn't mean I agree with anything that the denomination does...
(Note that my 'defriend' disclaimer for politics also applies for religion; being a douchebag is still prohibited. That being said, my favorite anti-Semite is Eric Cartman.)
NOTE ALSO: A) I love receiving comments; feel free to comment on any of my entries whenever you think you have anything to say! (In particular, definitely comment to this post when you friend me). B) The content in my journal, on average, would generally rated BBFC 15, which means the following: ( Collapse )
Should I feel the need or urge to go far beyond BBFC 15, I will warn you in the subject line. B1) If you wish to use this journal to send me porn, it had better be done well... and all the characters involved should be ATTRACTIVE!
C) Out of respect to those of my readers who aren't interested in reading about particular topics, everything from II)-IV) (and everything which is long in I)) will be put under LJ-cuts. I also often put lots of topics in single post; this, together with the LJ-cuts, ensures that your list will not be clogged by stuff you don't want to read!
D) Those who want to learn what really makes me tick would probably do best by looking at my sorting questions tag and my Q&A tag (note that the ACTUAL name for the tag is in Finnish. ;))
E) For a more detailed read on some of the things that make me tick, go read this piece and this interview, though they may be a bit dated by now!
There's a chance I'll be doing something I've been resisting for a LONG time... but then again - my ties to the LJ world are much weaker than they were even five years ago. Regardless of whether or not I stay here, my posts will be exported over to DreamWidth (same username) and you "should" know where to find me on all the other places I frequent (e.g. my email hasn't changed, nor have my other major online accounts)!
To get a sense of what type of place this area is... -Tuesday evening: Trying to get bedding for the camp reunion, I walk into the mall only to find everything is either the wrong size or obviously for children (the type of bedding I didn't even have when I WAS a kid). Also, all blankets/quilts (which I would only be using like twice ever) started at $200+ at this mall.
So... instead... I drove to a Wal-Mart (there are 3 within 10 miles) to get my bedding and blanket for the Shohola reunion!
-Tuesday afternoon: Trying to get a snack/lunch/whatever at Cafe Vienna? I decide to drive into "town" in Princeton, which involves fighting my way into a municipal garage, walking there, and fighting back to the car before getting back to work... at least the mocha was delicious! (though there wasn't anything really easy and savory for a lunch snack)
-Wednesday morning: Stopping at Princeton Shopping Center for what I hope is a good coffee... but Dolceria wasn't open until 12 so instead I went to Lillipies, where the coffee tasted exactly like what I imagined sewage would (even after a shot of tasty chocolate)
-Wednesday evening: after snacking, napping, and checking out the mall (amazingly, I actually *can* walk to and from Trader Joe's, though it's on the wrong side of US-1, if I get there before 9) only to learn that TGI Friday's doesn't post prices for its drinks, and this (and other similar policies) has caused it to be on the receiving end of several class action lawsuits!
At least I do have a 'regular' bar, Brick House Tavern, even if it lets its beer selection atrophy to oblivion... and even if the people there are primarily NJ locals (i.e. 'townies' in the 'town/gown' divide)... there is tasty stuff to drink there for fairly reasonable prices!
And at least I made it through a good chunk of the first week here... *flails like crazy*
Despite being a short week... this past week somehow was more of an exhausting blur than normal (even if I was only at work for 3 1/2 of the 5 days)! It's a good thing I'll get to recuperate this weekend... *flails*
End of a *MUCH* needed vacation So the end of the vacation went essentially as planned: -wake up around 7/8 and walk to Better Buzz for a final SD breakfast -check out the pool again (though with the weather being fairly bad, not trying to get in one last swim) -check out of the hotel, grab its coffee, and Uber Pool over to the airport (<$5) -take the 1135 flight out to Denver, grab a tasty chicken chimichanga and a margarita at Mesa Verde (one level up) and then take the connecting flight to National -get in around 9:20; make it out of the airport a bit before 10... -of course, the taxi driver (who charges by the mile) decides to go on a highway route that adds 50% to the total distance traveled... so I called him out on that -after this: unpacking, decompressing, struggling to get the Internet working at my place, hanging out at Rustico and in HiH chat... and finally going to bed for a much needed sleep/relaxing day before work begins tomorrow!
THAT SAID: this vacation has, for whatever reason, made me even more frustrated with Maryland than before (ALSO: my next "location" post is likely coming out very soon!)
Friday featured a worse-than-average return commute, working out, and then a raw collapse after working out and eating... leading me into 12 hours of sleep but then the next day,
the weather improved to 70 degrees, I got to go out for tasty brunch and returned to my place, had some successful online stuff before enjoying the end of daylight with some shopping... and then heading back to my place (at least rejuvenating/relaxing).
Today? Sleeping in a bit, buying a bike lock to help with the vacation planned next week (I'll likely also get a helmet sometime later), having brunch with my parents (and helping my dad with some professional stuff where he could use my economic expertise) and a nice walk in great weather... then checking out a festival on Clarendon Common featuring the Nationals' Presidents (they are emphatically *NOT* my team, but they apparently are the adopted team of my adopted neighborhood) before heading back to swim (which was made a bit complicated by six lanes becoming reserved for swim lessons at 6 PM, leaving just 3 lanes for swimming - each of which already had 2 people in them) and then to my apartment...
and in other news, my tax returns were both accepted (and looking at my financial accounts, things are definitely on track/moving in the right direction, even if a non-negative net worth is another year away) and I have another day off tomorrow!
Granted, I do have to return to work on Tuesday, but I have fun trivia stuff both Monday and Tuesday... and Wednesday evening is when I get to head out for vacation!
Things to think about... So Wednesday was a Ballston BID happy hour/giveaway/meeting people event from 5 to 7ish... but...
-really shitty traffic meant I couldn't get there until 6 (which was at least time for the giveaway, though I didn't win anything) -I was preparing for it to be my dinner like last time, but there was pretty much no food; just wine -there were announcements about how "Ballston Quarter" was going to be built up: saying there were exciting restaurants "to be named later" and awesome Wi-Fi throughout the entire district, but all I could really think of was I REALLY hope I don't get priced out of there when it becomes even more in demand!
(to be honest, half of what they were describing sounded like "upper-class Millennial catnip" ;))
And the rest of the week?
rain, bad weather, and etc (making me feel awful) predominated, though at least I got to enjoy a happy hour or two?
(And last night, not counting an interruption around 11 AM, I ended up sleeping for like *12 hours*! At least I got to have a tasty brunch and do some swimming this evening...)
Vacation Leg 3: separating the good from the bad Those of you who saw my latest FB post probably noted that the end of my vacation was in the "nearly as shitty as possible" category. However, there was so much awesome stuff there anyway that I'll post about the good (i.e. until around 2/3 AM Sunday) before making another post for the bad stuff at the end.
THURSDAY: woke up, checked out, and took a tour of the VA state capitol building before heading out to Urban Farmhouse (a Richmond chain coffeehouse with artisanal food; they had stopped serving breakfast at 10:30 but at least I had a good sandwich and could take a cider home with me) and then strolling along to the James River...
then driving down to Virginia Beach, checking into my hotel, and heading for the beach itself. It should be worth noting that my hotel had AWFUL service: took 3 tries - including going up and down with heavy bags - for the keys to work onto the door, housekeeping NEVER came into the room for my 3 days there, and the wake-up call I requested on the last day never happened either. THAT SAID, at least there's a jacuzzi tub in the room!
there was swimming, checking out Waterman's happy hour (orange crush + steamed shrimp), jacuzzi tub, napping, and going to Raven for dinner... before checking out some of the street acts and going to a Beatles-themed bar called Abbey Road before heading back to my place.
(Yes, there's something VERY symbolic about immersing myself in Virginia Beach water!)
FRIDAY: sleeping in, going to the beach, deciding to work out... but first going out to Commune for a bit of brunch before visiting the Wareing gym ($25 for a day, but a decent workout), grabbing some coffee... and then some more swimming before checking out another recommended place: Big Sam's (for crabcake and a drink, IIRC)... involved REALLY long waits - like close to an hour to get one of the six seats on the bar... before having interesting conversations with the family sitting next to me. (The dynamic between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state is interesting... especially considering how easy it is for Republicans in Richmond to be deeply in denial about the direction the state is headed in. Or maybe I'm the one in denial... ;)) Then came a chance to check out Repeal (a speakeasy-themed bar) after looking at some other parts of the boardwalk scene before heading back!
SATURDAY: sleep, beach, pancakes, more swimming, driving to a coffeehouse for reliable internet for online stuff, swimming, 11th street taphouse for some tasty short rib, going out to the Dairy Queen theater for dessert and dancing, visiting Abbey Road again... and finally taking advantage of a midnight swim before heading back to my place to sleep (and some jacuzzi tub was involved too).
So far everything was completely relaxing and worth it... but, of course, it never gets to be *that* easy.
-landed at SFO around 9; made it to the hotel shortly before 11 (even on a Friday night the hotel bars and restaurants were closing/closed by then!) -worked out at the hotel gym, rode back up the escalator to hear some loud new-money business types talk about someone getting his first job by talking about Boy Scouts with the interviewer -found that a Mikkeller taphouse was open until 2 and not far from me so I went over there, tried a "Mexas Ranger" beer (the bean texture ruined it in my opinion) and the ambiance was... interesting (maybe too loud?)
-collapsing in bed for a while, heading out to a place called MyMy for a tasty brunch (queueing outside was kind of obnoxious though) and then heading back to the hotel, grabbing coffee, and doing some online stuff... -heading out to Embarcadero, catching the end of a free concert at Yerbo Buena (somewhat disappointing, though the waterfalls were nice)... passing by MOMA SF and thinking "why would I want to go to a San Francisco knockoff of a NYC museum?" (apparently the "MOMA" name does NOT mean "knockoff of the NYC version, but still... I was almost expecting a 3/4 replica Central Park nearby!) -walking right along the bay and enjoying views, an oyster, blue bottle affogato, and listening to some fun street music before heading back for a quick nap (the whole time, though I did have fun, I got the feeling that this was *NOT* the right city for me!) -made it out 2 stops to where my brother's concert was, first stopping at Dear Mom's right before happy hour ended (getting a nice flatbread for dinner) -my brother's concert was absolutely insane; his music was part of the showcase for a local ballet group and things I remember include him breaking things and passing it off as music, ballet dancers playing dead, the Simon game and Perfection incorporated into an act, cakes and vegetables featuring into large parts of the art... and people running around with things that looked like white mattresses. Then I hung out with him at the afterparty before heading back to my hotel... and collapsing WAY earlier than I would have expected.
-then came waking up, checking out, and heading out to Oakland to meet up with my brother for the day: brunching on waffles, checking out my brother's new place (and visiting Bittersweet for chocolate)... and then coming to Dolores Park to hang out with the dancers for the afterparty to celebrate the end of the production! -going to the airport, stopping at a random Chinese place for dinner and discussing various things/plans/what he was doing (to be honest, it still floors me to see my brother having multicolored hair, but then again, it's all part of the artistic world...) -checking in around 7, going through the expedited security line for the first time... only (ironically) to be randomly selected for additional screening because random numbers don't like me -landing, driving to my place, collapsing for a LONG nap, working out (replacing my card)... and... now that it's just after 5 looks like it'll be time for me to fuel up and head down for the next leg of my trip in Richmond!
A few interesting 'observations'/thoughts -So much stuff around here involves events starting in DC at around 6 PM, which tends to require me to really fuck up my schedule and commute. -If the event in question begins significantly BEFORE 6 PM, then it moves to 'no matter what I do with my schedule, I'll be late'. -And, worse, this means (as I've probably mentioned many times before), it does NOT put me on an equal footing with others at the same events, which becomes positively painful. -In particular, a last-minute cancellation of an event (or a disappointing event...) simply has a much greater 'cost' to me...
-ALSO, in the past year, I've noticed a switch in the online dating scene that seems to make my life A LOT harder: people seem to have generally moved from online applications (where the protocol is designed to simulate email) to mobile applications (where the protocol is designed to simulate texting)... -as I'm MUCH more comfortable with email than with texting, this is *not* a favorable difference. (And yes, these applications have been around for quite a bit longer than that; the difference seems to be that it's now also predominant for people in their 30s; not just people in their very early 20s.)
-It's nearly exactly 1 year since I've moved here... which means that I have a real sense of what things are like in my specific area in Arlington/in the region as a whole. -I still, despite everything, think that this location is probably the best fit for me in the region (many suburbs would be a better fit if I already had a kid) - but given that NEITHER of the major cities (Baltimore or DC) strike me as particularly livable, it feels like a "tallest jockey" situation at times... -possibly the hardest part is that there is nowhere here with reasonable access to both urban amenities and some form of beach (when the best waterfront views around involve the Patapsco or the Patuxent)...
While I'm definitely feeling comfortable around here (and enjoying, for example, that 2016 will be the first year since 2008 that I don't need to move) - putting everything together makes it clear that I definitely will want to be a different place in my life (which does not NECESSARILY require a shift in location) by the time I'm 35...
Hard to believe it's all over... FRIDAY: -woke up around 10, worked out as per 'usual -drove out to BLD as I was really craving a specific brunch from them: fried egg sandwich with super thick, tasty bacon and a side of olive oil roasted potatoes (plus great ketchup) and a mocha from them... -while there I sat at the same counter and ate the same meal I remembered as a 'hangover breakfast' after a huge UCLA party in my past; in those days I would keep up on Terry Tao's blog or math notes or other math or econ or programming stuff through my iPhone while eating... and today I would be following along with some challenging CS notes (my current 'side project' is this class) -since the Grove gave 3 hours of parking for $5, I explored a bit more: Pan Pacific Park for its views and simulations of exercise equipment, then the Farmer's Market and the Grove itself (you could now borrow red Farmer's Market blankets to lounge/nap on the grass as the music was playing, looking at the fountain, etc... which I did) before driving back, which was smooth until the end when it took like 10 minutes to go 5 blocks (and Waze was repeatedly trying to force me to make the same illegal turn) -had enough time to swim again before the wine reception/lounge in the hotel, which was fun (and hung out with the math teachers at their own conference one last time before they left) -relaxed in my room until 830 when surmise picked me up and we made it to the pier, where we met rusalchka; it was a fun time, and it should be noted that they were emphatically NOT on vacation like I was (having pretty intense work schedules)... -we ended up eating at Bubba Gump's, closing the place out around 11, and looking around the pier (apparently everything closes at 11 except for one super-loud bar which totally wasn't worth it)... and then I was back at the hotel a bit before 1
SATURDAY: -rode the escalator the 17th floor one last time just to see the view (no need for another drink or anything) -woke up ~3A to drive down a near-empty 405 to get to LAX; after a small bit of confusion I made it to the Enterprise lot -made it to the airport, where they were failing at queue management: at 4A, when the workers arrived, there was already a long line: we were all told to leave the line and go to the kiosks (but I was to stay as I had bought a first class upgrade for both legs; again, fairly cheap) -6A flight got into Seattle at 820A (breakfast: scrambled eggs with brisket and mimosa) -got stuff from Dilettante for later while at the airport (apparently early on Saturday mornings, though, music doesn't play) -my flight left at 950A and arrived at 520P Eastern time: nice three-course lunch (fancy salad, chicken marsala, key lime cheesecake) and I made sure to buy my Internet pass on the ground which meant $16 gives you a day's access instead of an hour's -within an hour, I was back at my place (going FROM the airport, though, I had to use the Washington Flyer taxi which ended up being nearly twice as expensive as the Uber TO the airport had been) -after catching up on online stuff, it was time to settle in: unpacking, laundry, actually having a real version of my resume, and updating other things -somewhere along the line, it was time to go grocery shopping for proteins and veggies; ironically, in addition to salad my dinner would be Alaskan crab legs from Harris Teeter (they are ridiculously cheap) and the 2016 planner I bought was made in... Santa Monica, California! -ended up paying a visit to Rustico simply because I was back in the commonwealth and it made sense to go visit my local pub -collapsed into bed sometime around 1A
Waking up almost 12 hours later (but about the same actual time as I woke up in California), I was shocked to find how it's actually snowing (when I got in yesterday, it was 'only' mid-40s and clear nighttime skies)... FORTUNATELY my car is in a garage so I don't have to worry about scraping stuff off or anything!
Two more days of vacation... WEDNESDAY: -woke up around 930/10, worked out at hotel, and then drove to Amandine for brunch (people were queueing forever for limited parking at the place, and I ended up hunting for street parking: $2 for 2 hours in a space that wasn't THAT bad) -ate some tasty French toast the way I remembered it and then strolled down the Wilshire area near the Santa Monica border, buying a few socks (I didn't QUITE have 2 weeks worth), and checking out the Chocolatt Cafe (the mini chocolate I had was delicious but the mocha was well below the standard I remembered: poor chocolate, mixed badly) -took the bus to get to the Getty and explored the museum area; the scenery was as gorgeous as I remembered, together with great views of the cityscape... even if the drought meant they had to turn off the "water features" -made it to Coral Tree Cafe to eat with seserakh, who seemed to be doing GREAT: dinner and exploring was fun... then we went to Churros Calientes (shared dulce de leche and condensed milk churros) before going back
THURSDAY: -woke up same time as the day before and headed to the hotel pool again; sadly there was no fireplace on during the day (but the heated jets and the swimming were still nice: the pool was salted/chlorinated enough to feel almost like seawater) -did some online (HOL related) stuff at noon and then drove out to the Larchmont area -had tasty red/blue velvet pancakes (mini-order) at Larchmont Bungalow, where I actually met someone who I TOTALLY would have tried to stay in touch with if I weren't leaving two days later (she had also moved over from the East Coast, had interesting stories about where she'd lived/been, had great taste in places, and had a very intriguing face :P) -walked up north to Hollywood Boulevard, but this area actually WASN'T in the mountains... and then walked back while checking out a few more things -checked out Salt & Straw (the new ice cream place that opened; it was a Portland based chain) but decided against getting anything... just hung out at Go Get 'Em Tiger for a mocha (again, coffee prices here seem to have gone up dramatically: the mocha was $6.50... and there was a shake on the menu for $9.75 - I think it was 'only' $6-ish in 2013) but the drink/ambiance were all good -drove back to the hotel: it was all against traffic, which was great, except for the part where I was just north of UCLA (interestingly, Google maps gave 50 minutes for driving distance and 70 for biking) -had the usual happy hour and somehow met someone who had actually gone to the same LSE program I did, but a decade earlier -decided to head out to the Brentwood Country Mart area... but, of course, in the evening it's very hard to go there by bus (texting the number said that the 2 bus would next come in '34 and 90' minutes) so I ended up walking down the streets instead -there, nearly everything was closed by 9 except for a seedy but expensive sushi place, an intriguing looking speakeasy type place (when I looked it up, saw $20+ appetizers and $50+ entrees I was like 'fuck it') and the Sweet Rose Creamery, an ice cream shop (which was the only place there that had actual signs of life) so I tried a few flavors and had coffee ice cream in a chocolate cone -walked over to Sunset (further away than I remembered at that point! for some reason I remembered it being only 2 blocks, but actually the '2 blocks' was from the Santa Monica boundary) and fortunately a bus was there RIGHT AWAY so I headed back to the hotel -went to the 17th floor hotel bar and had a kale/ginger/steak salad (what I was craving, and a very LA-type meal) and a ginger based cocktail along with interesting conversation to finish the night
tomorrow will be my final full day here, but I have interesting plans... and will hang out again with rusalchka and surmise for a while (before heading back to the hotel, getting 1-2 hours of sleep, and driving to the airport to fly to Seattle and then Dulles)
Looking at the layout of the area, it's still amazing to believe HOW disconnected the Sunset Blvd area is if you're west of the 405: after rush hour, most of the buses along Sunset only connect the UCLA area with points further east (among the Big Blue Bus? The route that went to the Getty was rerouted so it never went that far, and even so it stops running early in the evening) and, more importantly, the entire area north of Montana (all right, maybe not Montana itself) and west of Bundy seems to be a dead zone surprisingly early. Brentwood Village isn't far from the hotels on Sunset, but it's not a particularly exciting area... and basically... the hotels seem to be set up to encourage you to just stay at the hotel for the evening (if you get free wine in the early evening from the hotel itself, you're not really going to want to drive... and without driving, there's not much you can access from there after 6/7/8 PM or so). As an added note, the hotel DOES offer a shuttle service, but it's only a 3 mile radius (which is BARELY enough to get you to Brentwood, the Sawtelle area, or Westwood... but no further), needs to be booked well in advance (no spontaneous plans!) and their last ride is 9:30 PM (so good luck doing anything at NIGHT)... so it really IS designed for you to spend your night there, at the hotel bar.
There are definitely vacations where one might want to spend a lot of time lounging at the airport hotel, but this is emphatically NOT the point of my vacation: if I was going to spend a week hanging out at a hotel, I would NOT need to go across the country to do so!
Unrequited city crush I've been over at the AMS conference in Seattle for the past two days... and it's been a very interesting experience so far.
-before flying out on Tuesday I learned I could upgrade to first class for $100 + tax (only $57.50 when you factor in bag charges) so I did just that -the MOMENT I landed I got some Dilettante drinking chocolate (which is amazing) -Wednesday the conference began: each day I look for a different coffee place to begin the day before going there (Ladro on Weds, Victrola on Thurs) -Weds was EXTREMELY busy: conference, go out to pike place market for a nice sandwich (sweet potato/ricotta), back to conference, work out, online gaming, final lecture, check out awesome reverse happy hour at Taproom (while randomly meeting a few people working for AA who lived in Charlotte and were there for today) -today was SLIGHTLY less busy; lots of interesting people and things to do... and had salmon at the market this time (though the Starbucks Reserve cafe was COMPLETELY overrated and overpriced) -Pike, Pine vs East Pike, East Pine is infinitely confusing to get right; it played with me twice ;) -after conference today: quickly went for a swim before meeting up with Dr C... and it was disorienting that he both no longer had his mustache AND no longer drank (i.e. the two most recognizable traits of him outside of his mathematics ;)) -oh, and NOW I'm about to meet up with a friend who just moved here from DC... (and on Saturday I'll meet up with a friend from HOL after the conference ends entirely, before flying to LA on Sunday)
