…the more they stay the same.  I was riding the Metro earlier today and I had a flashback to riding the Underground in the UK.  I get on the Metro and everyone, I mean EVERYONE is crammed into the doorway area.  Nobody moves to allow you on, and seems to glare at you if you make the attempt to board.

Normally, I would just back down and wait for the next Metro.  However, today was different. First, I looked at the middle of the train and it was as I had seen in London, almost empty.  So basically, everyone was crowding the doorway to avoid having to move into the middle of the train.  At this, I knew what I had to do.

I took a deep breath and said, “Excuse me, can you please move into the middle of the train to allow us to get on?”  Grudgingly they started to sift into the middle of the train, which allowed more than 10 of us to get on at my door.  Sure I got dirty looks, but come on…why cram yourself into the doorway when there is plenty of room in the middle of the train!

The only thing I can think is people have a fear of getting trapped in the middle of the train.  I guess the fear is that they think nobody will let them get off, so they crowd the doors to be near the exit.  Hey if that is you, that is fine, but make way for the rest of us who are brave enough to go into the empty middle of the train.

So I have started to realize that I am becoming addicted to Yelp.  If you have never heard of the website, it is a pretty nifty website here in the States (sorry for those of you in Europe…”No soup for you!”) that allows you rate your favorite stores, shops, restaurants, etc. etc.  What makes the site nice is that you have real people doing reviews, unlike some sites where you wonder if the employees are actually writing the reviews…here you can kind of tell.

Anyway, I digress (I know, I know, I do that a bit).  I was reading some of these people’s reviews on different restaurants in the DC area and I was inspired to want to try new places, new flavors, new experiences.  I want to become an amateur foodie too!  Sure, I can go out all the time and dine out, but that would either leave me poor or a little bigger in the waist.  I wonder if there are “food appreciation” courses out there.

Wow, are we having crazy weather or what? On the East Coast we are seeing heat waves (although today was mildly better) and the Midwest is suffering from floods and tornadoes. It almost seems like Mother Nature is telling us she is really, really pissed off.

An interesting site is hosted at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Services website. It lists out all of the warnings and we seem to have some real extreme weather out there. I was reading some rants by a few bloggers that Global Warming is a scam, and that there isn’t any scientific proof…but this weather makes me really wonder.

Remember that old Motown hit from Martha Reeves & the Vandellas called “Heat Wave?” Well this weekend in the DC Metro area the weather is supposed to get oppressively hot (in fact most of the East Coast is supposed to be affected). So I have never been in a “heat wave” before. What does that mean? What should I expect?

I can imagine it is going to be bad, because right now at 7am it is 75 degrees Fahrenheit (or for my European friends 24 degrees Celsius). Humidity is 96% which has created a fog outside of my apartment the thickness of pea soup. But this is only 7:30am…in the morning. According to the weather reports, the highs today will be in the 96 degrees (36 degrees Celsius), and humidity should be about 50%. However, with the heat index, it will feel like a 105 degrees (40 degrees Celsius).

And tomorrow is only going to get hotter.

I have realized DC has had a lot of “firsts” for me. There was my first tornado watch warning, my first thunderstorm (where lightning was making it look like Paparazzi’s were taking pictures and the thunder sounded like boom, 1 sec, boom, 2 secs, boom), and now with my first heat wave.

I plan on running my AC as long as I can to keep cool in the apartment, but at some point (due to the cost of electricity) I will have to just suck it up. I’ll keep you posted on my first weekend in DC with this Heat Wave. Wish me luck.

I never realized the weather in the DC Metro area could be so insane. Today while at work I noticed the sky outside the windows getting darker, and darker. Oddly enough, it was only 2pm in the afternoon. When I looked out the window I saw rain blowing sideways, newspaper dispensers knocked into the street, and tree branches that had broken off. Sure enough, we got an email a few minutes later informing us that Washington DC was in (1) a severe thunderstorm warning and (2) a tornado watch.

I did manage to get home safely, but when I got home I found out the severe thunderstorm warning and tornado watch was extended until 1am tonight. Somehow someone neglected to mention that to me when I moved out here. Welcome to DC! 

When I was in London I lived in Swiss Cottage and commuted to Charing Cross (the Strand) every day. Everyday, I would get up and wait or the tube to pick me up, and I would crowd into the train and be crammed until I got to my stop. During the summer the train could get sweltering and be extremely uncomfortable. I have seen people pass out on the train due to the heat.

Fast forward to now. I live in Virginia and commute into Washington DC every day on the Metro. Ironically the Metro can be just as packed as the tube back in London. In fact, the past two days I have been crammed in the train, wedged in against a wall or against a railing. People on the Metro must have thought I was crazy because every time that happens I can’t help but smile as I remember my underground commutes.

There is one major difference between the Metro and the Underground. The Underground gets a nice breeze blowing through the cars (they have windows at each end), while the Metro is a contained car without air ventilation at each end. The reason for this is because “normally” there is air conditioning in the trains. However, tonight my train’s air conditioning was not functioning…so it had a nice funky sweat mixed with body order smell. To make it worse, it was humid and steamy on the train. You could literally feel the dampness in the air. Pleasant it was not.

So I am riding the elevator tonight on my way home, and I eavesdropped on four girls on the elevator with me. The conversation was a bit humorous, here is the transcript:

Girl #1 “Where do you work?”
Girl #2 “I work at a HR consulting firm in New York City.”
Girl #3 “Really? Which one.”
Girl #2 “Company X.”
Girl #1 “That is great, how long have you worked there?”
*Elevator doors open*
Girl #2 “One year.”
Girl #3 “Wow that is like a long time!!!”
Girl #1 “Yeah you must be really senior there!”

At this point I burst out laughing and thank god they were getting off, because they realized I was eavesdropping. They all looked a bit sheepish at me, when they realized how silly they sounded. But then again, I guess for the twenty-something young professional a year is a really long, long time. But for me that is a joke, how can you gain any worthwhile experience if you continiously jump from job to job every 6 months to a year? At some point the job hoping will catch up with them, and recruiters will just pass them by as a risk.