18 March 2008

There are a ton of demonstrators staging outside our office building today--they are getting ready to protest at Union Station and the Capitol to mark the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. (There will be protests all over the city today and tomorrow.)

We just got an email from building management about possible disruptions in the courtyard immediately outside the front door. Among the activities we were told to expect: "water boarding demonstrations, people walking around with “death” masks (March of the Dead), anda bed on wheels that will be pushed around the city (Bed of Lies)."

So much for my getting out for some fresh air at lunch time.

17 March 2008

Among our many errands this weekend, the girl and I did manage to squeeze in a shop at Wegmans--my hometown grocery store chain that's slowly but surely moving into the mid-Atlantic. This one is in Sterling, Virginia, near Dulles Airport. (We were visiting family in the area--don't worry, we're aren't THAT crazy!)

I was hoping for nostalgia. What I got was a megastore in a fast-growing exurb, an overflowing parking lot (though I did manage to find a pretty sweet spot close to the front-door, thank you, parking karma!), and aisles and aisles of anything and everything you can think of. Fresh foods, prepared foods, food stalls where you can take your food and take to an actual food court. Flowers, seasonal items, WINE! (hate that you can't buy wine in grocery stores in Maryland)--including a wine tasting bar!--even books!

We do have a Wegman's at home that has all that stuff and probably MORE--the 123,000 square feet behmoth in DeWitt that garnered THIS write-up in the New York Times when it opened.

I still like the Wegman's that's a five-minute car ride from my mom's--the one that has everything you need and is easy to find--PLUS the occasional awkward encounter with a former schoolmate that you haven't see in 20 years.

I did get SOME piece of home during my Wegman's visit yesterday in Virginia--I keyed in my mom's phone number when the clerk asked for my Wegman's Shopper Card.