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Friday, September 23, 2011

A room with a view

As most of you know, we are in Washington DC right now. I'm here to learn all kinds of interesting things, such as how to teach digital preservation tactics to non-digital preservation people. This is a train-the-trainer event. It has been interesting. I've sort of been brought in as a ringer for the South Central region. I know a lot about digital preservation and about giving training sessions so a lot of this is redundant for me but it is not for the other team members from the South Central region. So my part in this is to help all of them out in setting up and giving workshops within the next year. This will probably require me to travel to exciting places like, Oklahoma City, Lubbock and Shreveport. I know! You are all jealous.

We are staying at a hotel right on Capitol Hill. 2 blocks from the Capitol building. Normally, when I come to Washington DC I stay with my friend Robin or my cousin Pat. I call it an excuse to spend quality time with those that I love. What this really is is that I'm cheap. A metro trip into the city is a ton cheaper than a hotel room in the city. Since the Library of Congress (LOC) is paying for our room I'm taking full advantage of them. 

We are literally right across the street from the LOC James Madison building. Makes it a one block walk for me and JR is enjoying the fact that he is two blocks from the Mall.


This hotel is old but not real old, which it makes a cross between a big box hotel and a boutique hotel. Big box hotel usually equals big room with a king sized bed, fancy amenities and a bar. A boutique hotel usually equals a small room with a double sized bed, very few amenities and no bar. This in-between hotel has a middle sized room with a double sized bed, some amenities, such as fancy soaps and shampoos, a continental breakfast and decent cable, but no bar. 

The one nice thing we have is a view.  

Of the Catholic church. Funny thing about this church. They have a bell that rings on the hour it just doesn't ring the right time. This morning at 7 am the church bell rang 15 times. I counted. Now, if it had rung 15 times at 3pm I could totally say that they are on a 24 hour clock and that would make some kind of sense but 15 times at 7 am makes no sense. 


 

These are the row houses on the street below our room. They can't be more than 14 feet wide which makes me wonder about furniture placement. I bet you were wondering about that also. It seems of critical importance to me. 


These people have rooftop decks. I bet they are the envy of all their neighbors. I envy them now. I want to sit up there, survey all of those domains where I am not the queen of. There are a lot of domains where I am not the queen but I could imagine myself as the queen if I was sitting on one of those rooftops. I have a very active imagination. 

So that is our current lodging. Pretty exciting huh? 

I want to thank my cell phone for taking adequate but not great photographs, the lovely gray weather for keeping the glare down and for reminding me why I never want to move back to Seattle, and reservationist for giving us a top floor room.

Love,
M

PS: sorry I haven't been around to all of your blogs. My travel and work schedule has been and for the next 4 weeks will be awful. I'll try to visit all of you soon.

11 comments:

  1. While you are in DC, the Archivist of the U.S. is going to be here in Michigan. I think that means that the National Archives are ripe for plundering! Bring me something awesome!

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  2. From watching Dirty Jobs when Mike Rowe was cleaning bells at a catholic church, there are times when the bells ring more to signal times of prayer. Usually 6 am, noon and 6 pm. the bells you heard may have been for that, but not adjusted for day light savings time.
    Have fun on the rest of your trip.

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  3. Yes, I am jealous. Maybe not about Oklahoma City, Lubbock and Shreveport.

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  4. The peal is not 3-3-3-5/6 making it the morning angelus.
    If it is, it will tend to have a different note to the one normal to the Hour. Higher in pitch.

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  5. I love having a room with a view. I stayed in NYC in Dec one year and it was awesome looking into people's apartments as they decorated their Xmas trees. I suppose a restraining order might not have been a shocker.

    Have a fun trip!

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  6. I need to get back to DC. The one day trip I took there did it no justice.

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  7. I'm quite liking your view from there. I hope you learn all kinds of mad digital skills to take back to work with you!

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  8. You are the travel queen my dear.

    I posted about the wonderful recipe book you sent me. Sorry it took awhile, been overwhelmed with two jobs and a camera that was giving me a hard time.

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  9. They are very narrow, but very tall. Sorry we missed you this time!

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  10. They are very narrow, but very tall. Sorry we missed you this time!

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  11. Awesome view! And I'm with you, if I could hang out on one of those rooftop decks, I'd imagine myself as queen, too. ;) Hope the next 4 weeks don't drive you (too) crazy! :)

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