I used to travel a lot, for work, school, and pleasure. However, this year has been a bit of quieter year. In 2006 I clocked over 175k miles and in 2007 I traveled about 125k miles. This year I am probably just shy of 30k, which means a few things.

First, it means I am a lot healthier because I am not putting my body through the stress of being in a pressurized cabin at 40,000 feet. I have noticed this year *touches wood* I haven’t been sick nearly as much as I normally am, which has been really nice.

Second, it means I am going to lose status on American Airlines (boo) and will drop down to Platinum if I can squeeze some transatlantic flights in before the year ends. I was really pleased that I had racked up Executive Platinum for three straight years, and now I am going to lose it in 2008. Oh well, I guess my health has a price.

Third, I am saving a fair chunk of change with the lack of flying. Now that airlines are charging you per a piece of luggage, per a carryon, for picking an aisle seat, it seems that not traveling is easier and less stressful than dealing with the nickle and diming that the airline industry has been doing lately. Not to mention the cost of fuel nowadays.

Oh well, I guess I will have to wave goodbye to my airline and hotel statuses. *sigh*

So I have been in Washington DC for over three months and someone just asked me recently how I am liking my new job, new apartment, new city, etc. etc. And my initial thoughts were “great everything is great,” but I realized I was quickly answering it without really putting much thought into it. And today while sitting on the couch or should I say couch surfing, I put some real thought into it.

New Job. It is going good, I like my new coworkers and I think that this is a great opportunity for me to try something new and different. So far the work is challenging and interesting, which is good. I do however sometimes feel slightly overwhelmed by everything, since at my old job we didn’t do as much paperwork and documentation as we do here. I was used to conducting data gathering, analyzing the data, and then writing a report. Here it is similiar but we have a documentation part that is very, very meticulous. I guess that is the difference between a technology and management consulting firm and an accounting firm.

New Apartment. I like the new place, it is a bit pricey compared to San Diego, but it is spacious enough for me and I enjoy the fact I am on floor from the top floor. Although since I am mildly scared of heights, standing on my balacony 20+ stories up is a bit nervewracking. However, I am westward facing I can see the sunset and think of my friends on the West Coast. In fact, I like my new flatscreen and my HD DVR (I mentioned it once before) so much that I sometimes I tend to stay home more than go out and explore. That is the negative side to having a place you like to live in, you don’t mind staying home more.

New City. Well I don’t know really what I think about DC. It is different, but yet familiar. The commute reminds me of London and riding the Underground. The people are like a mix of California and London, people are in their own world like London and not as friendly as California. On the flipside, people in DC are less flakey than people from California. Here if they say they’ll meet you for happy hour, they’ll meet you for happy hour. Life here is fast paced, a little superficial, and very status focused. Other than that, its not so bad yet, but I do miss a lot of things from California: amazing sushi, great Hawaiian food, knowing where to drive and how to get there, and my friends.

Let’s see how I feel in 3 months.

I did it. I added a link to a To Do List now in the upper right hand corner. To virtualize my To Do List, and hopefully remind me on a daily basis the things I need to do. In a previous post I had mentioned all of the things I wanted to do. Now I have to just stick to slowly knocking out my To Dos one by one. And I have to try to remember to chunk them into manageable tasks, not “Solve World Hunger” as that could take a lifetime.

On an interesting sidenote, summer is almost over and one of the things I wanted to do this summer was get a tan. And yet, I haven’t had a chance yet to do this. I procrastinated in buying some nice outdoor patio furniture and as such I am missing out on prime tanning on my balcony time. *sigh* Oh well. Maybe next summer?

I was reading an article (at 4am this morning since I can’t sleep) about how in London (my second home) it has become difficult to take public photos with a Digital SLR (my second hobby btw). This stems back from a campaign launched in February with the Metropolitan Police. Essentially it was urging citizens to contact the Metropolitan Police if they saw “odd” photographers. So I thought to myself, ok what is the definition of odd? And then asked myself, ok let’s say I wanted to report this where would I go? And voila on the Metropolitan Police’s website there is a place to report suspicious activity.

And when I went there, the guidance on cameras was, “Camera – Terrorists need information. Observation and surveillance help terrorists plan attacks. Have you seen anyone taking pictures of security arrangements?” That makes complete sense, if someone was photographing security arrangements I would probably agree that they should be stopped and spoken with.

However, there seems to be some confusion among the police and the local Public Community Support Officers (PCSOs). People are regularly being stopped, questioned, and occasionally informed that they cannot take public photos. That used to be my favorite pasttime in London, taking random photos in Trafalgar Square or on the street, but now apparently it carries the risks that I would be stopped and questioned, or possibly searched for taking pictures in public, in a public place, of public people. I can’t believe that impromptu street photography has gone this way, and I thought this article must have been mistaken. But sure enough, today there was an opinion piece in the Guardian discussing this very interesting predicament.

So at 4AM in the morning, it still seems that I can be very topical. And with that, I am off to go back to bed.