A great weekend with the boys left the apartment in a mild shambles. I am pleased to report that the Bissell EasyVac above does, in fact, suck. Precisely, it sucked every dustbunny off of my living room carpet, Ah, order.... Next stop: the stains from the chocolate chips....

Unrelated to anything except my general domestic spirit, I offer this recipe for a veggie sandwich:

One green or red bell pepper
One cucumber, medium size
One large tomato
2 or 3 habanero peppers optional, size of a pinball, maybe two-thirds the diameter of a golf ball

On hearing from Media Matters that Arianna Huffington would be at Politics and Prose talking about her new book "Right is Wrong," I decided to make the trek to Chevy Chase.

Unfortunately, the northbound L series of buses up Connecticut Avenue from Van Ness Metro to Chevy Chase Circle were shockingly absent, gone, not there, failed to post, whatever. The buses run for that stretch about 7 times an hour in late rush hour, but I (and 15 other angry passengers) waited at Van Ness close to half an hour. Arianna was scheduled to start her talk at 7 PM, which is when I punch out. I was just hoping to hear the last 20-25 minutes or so. Of course, when the bus finally did arrive, it brought me to Connecticut and Nebraska just in time for me to hear, in her lovely, unmistakable Greek accent, "Thank you all for coming." Out marched the hordes of applauding liberals both old and ancient, nearly mowing me down. On my child-support oriented budget, there would be no chance I would buy this book new in hardcover, so I did not bother to stand in line. Instead, I caught one picture of the lovely author from in between several liberal hordelings, and rushed out the door just in time to catch a timely arriving M4 bus quickly crosstown a few blocks to Tenleytown, to check out computer printers and storage doodads.

I have now moved into the District of Columbia, having survived a slew of medical nastiness, one blown tire in a thunderstorm on Northern Parkway in Baltimore, the adventure of finding an open pharmacist to fill prescriptions for steroids and antibiotics at 3 AM in Langley Park, driving a cargo van in miserable weather, etc. I am out sick from the job today; my chest hurts when I breathe but at least now I can take full breaths. Getting one full night's sleep helped a lot.

Comcast will be installing internet service to my apartment tomorrow and thereafter I will be in a much better position to blog routinely.

A brief update. My internet access is limited so this will have to be short. I will be signing a lease at Fort Totten Station in northeast DC on Friday for a Saturday move-in. After internet access starts at that apartment, I will resume more regular posting.

The past seven days of my life have been oriented around the impending family adjustments and my residential relocation to the District of Columbia. Finding an apartment has been a serious pain in the neck. Happily, problem solved.

A little snark for your snark needs.

I sit now in Chevy Chase, DC, the tony urban side of the suburban-urban trans-Western Avenue liberal sprawl that gives Brian Griffiths intermittent explosive diarrhea. I sit in the basement Politics and Prose, a minor cathedral to tony, tasteful liberal wealth and somewhat well-deserved intellectual smugness. Howard Zinn was to speak today here, but cancelled due to some family issue. But alas, good Brian, I am drinking a carbohydrate-laden plain Italian soda - a shot of flavored corn syrup, a snowball without the snow or the ball, not a latte (which are overrated and taste the way that Ari Fleischer speaks: no matter how hard you steel yourself for the disappointment, you still manage to be disappointed.)

Been in deep, deep divorce and separation mode. Wife and kids moving out in 10 days, I will follow into DC thereafter. Plus big day job duties. Sale of home 21 days away. Yeah.

Next stop: Cleveland Park (or Malcolm X Park, or Glover Park?)

My diary "Secular Content: An Atheist's Iconostasis" is up over at Street Prophets.

I have had some fun looking at DC apartments, "fun" in the "oh s%%% a freight train just mowed over my Corolla, may as well enjoy the fire" fun.

Lower Manhattanite of Group News Blog, "Fragility", March 30, 2008:

Not trying to sound all New-agey / Haley Joel Osment “Pay It Forward”-y here. Just noting that with the fragility of the world about us, a little bit of reciprocal care—given out to friends and loved ones in the hope that it will come back in kind someday is NEVER a bad thing. You never know when a “support brace” in your life will give way, and having people looking in on you—caring, considering, loving you even a little can be enough to if not prevent the roof from caving in and burying you, shielding you a little so you're not crushed beneath its weight.

Right now, I am looking for apartments in DC, specifically within the District itself.

There are basically three ways to go.

1) Insane cost
2) Daunting Physical Risk
3) Tolerable Medium

Our house is now under contract. We will close on April 30, if all is in order with our pre-approved buyer.

I will be moving to DC proper on or about that date. I have never been a domiciliary anywhere other than Maryland; even when at college in New Jersey, I kept my domicile in Maryland, filed Maryland income taxes, voted here, etc. Maryland Weekly may need a new name....

Posting will probably continue to be light. Right now, priorities are securing housing and employment, packing and arranging for the real logistics of moving and life in DC, facilitating the local move for Sunday and the kids, etc.

Religion can either be a buttress to basic moral and ethical decency or a shoddy, insufferably immoral substitute for basic decency. The absence of religion neither guarantees nor prevents basic decency either. Examples of all instances abound. Both non-religious and religious people, at their finest, perceive and address this dichotomy responsibly.

Careful readers may have noticed a drop in production here at Crablaw of late, with substantial reliance on YouTube materials. So-called real life has been taking a bit of a toll on my time, energy and creativity. I don't feel comfortable discussing the purely personal side of the divorce reality of my life - this is a blog and being my lawyer, counselor or Father Confessor is not what you signed up for - but the non-personal, publicly available goods are more or less as follows.