Detroit to D.C., 2006 Version

Those of you who know my current job situation are probably aware that I just arrived into the D.C. area late Thursday night. But, there's more to the story. I flew into Detroit from LAX at 7:30am on Wednesday on the Tuesday night redeye, and my friend was there to pick me up at the airport. I dropped her off back at her apartment, then went to campus to buy a U of M decal for my car. I then went downtown to the Detroit RenCen to have lunch with my favorite GM coworkers at Detroit's Eastern Market, where I traded stories and rumors. Then I checked into my hotel at the Hilton Inn in centrally-located Southfield in the early afternoon. As strange as it sounds, I hard a hard time getting to sleep that afternoon, even though I only 'slept' for 2 hours on my flight. I caught up with my friend Herman for dinner at his son's favorite restaurant, where we celebrated his son's 7th b-day. There was a pretty intense thunderstorm later that evening in metro Detroit. The following morning, I got a call from Herman. His minivan of 5 years wouldn't start, and the battery was the likely culprit. I enjoyed helping Herman out. I think my timing was auspicious, as I was close enough to take him to get a new battery at the Sterling Heights AutoZone that very morning. After checking out of the hotel around noon, I found myself a bit behind schedule. I just arrived at my hotel in the outskirts of DC late last night. I barely squeaked in before they closed the front desk at 11pm, because it's one of those efficiencies that don't operate a front desk most of the time. I made it in 5 minutes before. The next day, I got up, and opened a new checking account. I planned on seeing some apartments in the Alexandria area, but I was so exhausted by the 9 hour drive, I wound up checking out one apartment on a lark in the Vienna area. The traffic in and around the D.C. area, on the side streets as well as the highways, are not the place to be for the faint-hearted on Friday afternoon. I got some groceries at a local Costco, and gassed up my car at $2.95/gallon. Saturday, I got up early to get a head start on the apartment-hunting process. I hopped onto Leesburg Pike Road, connecting Loudon County to Fairfax County. There was unusually heavy traffic that morning, even given D.C.'s notorious travel woes. It turned out that my path took me right in front of the chapel that was conducting the funeral service for Fairfax County police detective Vicky Armel, who was killed on May 8 by an 18-year old gunman armed with an assault rifle for no apparent reason. The turnout was impressive to say the least, and I had to admire how this loss was so closely felt by the community, and by the greater law enforcement and emergency services family. One of the most impressive gestures was done by a fire department, who brought in 2 large ladder trucks, parked side-by-side, with their ladders extended so that they met in the shape of an "A". In that "A", a large American flag was hanging, visible on both sides of VA-7. What a tribute. By the way, I found my apartment later that morning.