Sorry about the snow, DC
I can’t help but feel responsible for this. Last March, I moved to Washington, DC from Rochester, NY and the very next day there was a snow storm. My moving truck hadn’t even arrived yet, because I drove down myself and the truck wasn’t scheduled to come until later that week. I remember thinking it was kind of nice, made me feel like I was back home in Rochester still. The “storm” was something like three inches but it was a big deal to DC.
Now this winter we have two major snowstorms as well as some other more minor storms. Is it because I moved here? Also consider this last summer. It was a very mild summer for DC. It felt more like a Rochester summer than the scorching humid weather that DC is supposed to have. Everyone thought it was pretty nice, but I bet if people knew they’d be getting a Rochester winter as well, they would have said no thanks.
So I take responsibility for this DC. Rather than me adjusting to DC’s climate, apparently DC adjusted to me.
I walked around the other day snapping some photos. They’re not the best quality photos because:
- It was in the middle of a snow storm.
- The lighting was horrible (see #1).
- I’m not a professional photographer, or even a hobbyist. I point the camera, I press the button.
But with that in mind, here are my photos in Flickr (also linked from my Photos page).
I actually went out three times yesterday. The first time, I realized when I went to take a picture that my camera’s battery was dead, so I just walked around to see what was happening. Then I went back out in a couple of hours and took the first set of photos, then went out again around sunset after the snow had stopped and snapped the rest.
It occurred to me that I’ve never walked around taking photos in DC. I mean why should I? Not like there aren’t photos of the Capitol out there. But it was sort of fun except for the fact that my fingers were numb since I couldn’t wear my gloves while using the camera. Perhaps I should do it more often, not just when we have a storm. I’d blend right in with the tourists. I live in downtown DC and there are always people taking pictures. It’s really annoying at times when you’re trying to walk down the sidewalk and someone’s posing for a picture, blocking everyone while they try to get it just right. Once I even saw a family taking a picture of themselves in front of Austin Grill. Austin Grill?? Unless something truly monumental happened in that place - like you reunited with your long lost son - why do you need a picture of yourselves in front of Austin Grill?
I started to become paranoid at one point this summer because it seemed like people were taking pictures of me. I started to concoct wild theories in my head about how I could have mistakenly become a target of some spy organization. Consider:
- I live in an apartment building that’s one block away from the FBI building, and some of the tenants work for the FBI. So right from the start, it’s not completely ridiculous that some foreign spy organization would want to keep tabs on some of the people living in the building. Or that the US might want to make sure there aren’t spies for other countries living there. Ridiculous yes, but not completely.
- I was in a coffee shop (Steam Cafe in Dupont Circle), next to the window. On the way to the coffee shop, I had seen some young guy with a backpack walking around. I looked out the window and there was that guy across the street with a big camera taking pictures. I thought nothing of it, but when I looked back up, he was snapping a photo of the coffee shop (with me in the window). He walked away after getting that photo. Strange… but okay just some hobbyist or student, or maybe he thought I was silly looking, or has a thing for coffee shops? Not enough to be paranoid right? But there’s more.
- I was sitting in the Navy Memorial reading and I look up… Across the circle is a very stern-looking guy in sunglasses. He looked like, well the stereotypical spy in the movies. That’s what he looked like. He had a little camera and was snapping photos. OK, that’s the thing to do at the Navy Memorial, but he took a picture in my direction and there’s nothing worth taking a picture of there. Any other side of that circle there’d be something worth taking a picture of, but behind me there was… what, that little square of grass where people take their dogs to crap? And then at other times, you see people lying in the grass because they don’t realize this, but I digress. So yeah, I started to wonder what that guy’s deal was. He didn’t seem to be enjoying himself, was just sitting there all creepy-like, taking pictures as if he was a tourist but not acting like a tourist at all. Not convinced yet? Read on…
- I walked out the front door of my building, and was walking down the street. There were two young men, one with a camera taking pictures of the other. They snapped the photo just as I was walking behind him. Now that’s nothing out of the ordinary, but then I start thinking… he was positioning his friend as if to take the perfect photo, but why were they even taking a picture there? There was nothing behind him to take a picture of. Except for me - I was behind him, I was the subject of that photo!! OK no that’s paranoia… but wait, there’s more…
- This time I was walking on E street towards 7th and some guy takes a photo, a long shot of.. something.. but I was right in the middle of the photo. I look behind me… What was he taking a picture of? The restaurant Zola’s? That’s the building the Spy Museum is in but not like you can see anything interesting from the angle he was at. I was starting to get pissed at this point - why does it seem every time I leave my apartment someone is taking a photo of me?
I know, I know… that’s crazy talk and since then, the spy activity has died down, as has the tourist activity. There may be a relation there, and you can say that it’s just that I was blowing it out of proportion in the first place, but I say they realized I was just some schmuck and moved on. Or maybe they realized I was onto them and they’re being stealthier now.
I was in a conversation once with one of those FBI dudes that lives in my building. He said he had something to do with cybercrime so I started talking about how all these people were taking pictures with me in the background. I knew enough not to mention my theory about being the target of spies and made it sound like I was just annoyed that tourists kept getting me in their pictures. I said that one day the facial recognition software would be so good that search engines would find you in the background of all these photos… I tell people I’m home sick, they google me and turns out I was in the background of some photo taken at a bar… BUSTED!! He nodded his head but I couldn’t tell if he was thinking “yeah numbskull, we already have that technology and are using it, if you only knew what your government was capable of..” or if he was thinking “smile and nod and hope this crazy guy doesn’t start talking about alien abductions and the JFK assassination”.
Wow, that has nothing to do with the snow storm at all, does it? OK right… snow storm.. Some more random observations:
- They use these tiny one-man sidewalk plows. I saw one stuck at a street corner. He was going forward, reverse, forward… like he should do when stuck, but his wheels were just spinning. There was snow piled up between his front and back tires and between his front tires and the plow. He wasn’t going anywhere unless that got cleared out, or unless someone helped push him. I watched a little bit and then went up and asked if he needed help. He just shook his head no and looked away from me. Ooookay buddy, knock yourself out.
- I saw a big snow plow stuck in the street right next to my apartment building, its rear wheels spinning. Nothing I can do for that guy, he was on his own!
- The proper way to drive in snow is not to gun it so fast that you fly above the snow. I saw a car barreling down Constitution while I was walking around. The road had been cleared by this point, but it still had packed-down snow on it and was very slippery. I looked in the driver’s side window to see what kind of jerk was being so reckless. It was some young Middle Eastern woman, and from the look on her face you’d think she was just out for a leisurely drive. She seemed oblivious to the fact that she was endangering her life and others going that fast. On the other hand, I saw a guy in a Ford Focus gun it when a light turned green and fly up the street, bouncing over mounds of snow. I managed to send a dirty look directly his way as he passed me, and based on his look back, I think he was in fact a jerk that just didn’t care.
- What’s with the umbrellas? This whole winter, I’ve seen people walking around with umbrellas when it snows. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that until I moved here. It never even occurred to me to use an umbrella in the snow. If it’s a real wet slushy kind of snow, then I can see it.. maybe. But even in fluffy dry snow, people use umbrellas. Odd.
- During the snow storm in December, I looked out my window and saw a car that was parked on the street, blocked in with snow. Behind it, a minivan was pushing the car out of its spot. Like bumper-to-bumper, pushing it out. Obviously they couldn’t time it perfectly as the car started to move, so there was some banging between the bumpers, but I suppose if you don’t care about denting your bumper, that’s one way to do it. The car got stuck in the snow even worse at first, but they persisted and were successful. I’ve just never seen that technique used before.
That’s it… no more bulleted lists or crazy ramblings. Until my next post, I mean.