i traveled up with patrick and meg on thursday. they were still recovering from happy hour the night before when we left at 8 that morning. i’m told kathleen is the one to blame for this. i too had not slept enough to be waking so early. for which only i am to blame. four hours or so to dc, with occasional dozing, we arrived in georgetown and had lunch at one of the nifty chipotle restaurants. found our way to the D-O-double-H: hotel harrington. kudos to m-gouge for tracking down the cheap digs, yo.

that night sils held a little soiree. free beverages (but don’t drink too many), free food (but you might want dinner afterwards), and circulating alumni. it was weird. perfect for networking. if i wanted to work as an epa librarian or were considering the smithsonian as a second job. this is where i say a little prayer to usaid: “may you continue to bestow upon measure all the bounty that befits such a glorious international health project.”

in a show of complete disregard for our unbridled exhaustion, we then took the metro to dupont circle. where there is a traffic circle. with a statue in the middle. while a bunch of folks ate at this bookstore-cum-restaurant-cum-bar, an elite splinter group of rogue librarians went out in search of petty amusements. nature called, so we pimped our collegiate looking selves into some john hopkins satellite outfit to use the john and briefly check our email.

friday we saw the library of congress. it was cool. they have many books. it seems one tour was enough to drive me to eat (and drink). fancy pad thai with chopsticks for lunch. even fancier lebanese food (and wine) for dinner. it also seems one tour was enough for this whole trip. though i destroyed myself waking at 6:40AM!!! saturday for the npr tour and never made it, we managed instead to scarf down some breakfast grub at the famous/infamous market lunch: eggs, potatoes, and bacon as thick as a belt.