Monday, August 6, 2012

What I’ve learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0032

1551.  Weak men lie to get what they want.  Strong men are honest about their desires;
1552.  A drink “straight up” means that it’s been chilled, strained and served in a stemmed glass (without ice). . . . A drink “neat” means that it’s unmixed liquor served without being chilled and without adding water, ice or any other mixer;
1553.  Experience and willingness to learn breed perspective;
1554.  Rush hour traffic in D.C. starts before 4 o’clock in the afternoon;
1555.  “Toad the Wet Sprocket” can now say they’ve played at a(n outdoor) shopping mall;
1556.  Most people’s social lives can be mapped to a series of concentric circles.  There’s an innermost “core” of one or two close friends.  Then, there’s an inner core of another 3-5 people and an outer core of another 5-15 people.  These aren’t arbitrary numbers – this is how the human mind subconsciously qualifies social relationships.  The people in these cores comprise the people who most influence your life.  It has been said that “You are the average of the five people that you hang around the most.”  This is partially true, but it is more accurate to say that most people are influenced by up to fifteen people at a time, as different relationships ebb and flow in intensity;
1557.  Alexandria’s Food & Wine Festival (AlexandriaFoodAndWine.com) is in June . . . and so is the Del Ray Music Festival (DelRayMusicFestival.com);
1558.  You can't really know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been;
1559.  Life is full of rules and you have to play within them.  But once you know the rules and accept them, they can be bent to great effect;
1560.  The optimal state of affairs is not to feel like you have to be the sole dominant male in every group that you are a part of and to “out-alpha” all the other males.  The optimal state of affairs is to be considered among the “leadership of men” in the groups that you are part of;
1561.  People align to value.  Value or perceived value augments almost all human social behavior;
1562.  By being the connector and by having the perception of the opportunity to add value (even if only perceived value), you are far more likely to be considered amongst the leadership of men;
1563.  When you bet somebody a dollar to steal a cupcake from a bachelorette party, make sure that that person knows the cupcake’s for you and not him/her;
1564.  (Stretched) Hummer limousines are terrible on (steep) inclines;
1565.  Even though the human sex drive is actually highest in the afternoon, most people are culturally attuned to associate sex with nighttime;
1566.  Don’t count the days, make the days count;
1567.  You might spot Mike Isabella (i.e., former contestant on “Top Chef”) at his restaurant, Bandolero (BandoleroDC.com), in D.C., but be (fore)warned, on Mondays, it doesn’t open until 4 (o’clock in the afternoon) and it doesn’t serve food until 5;
1568.  The grilled salmon B.L.T. (with tomato jam, bacon vinaigrette and smoked pepper chips) at Rustico Restaurant & Bar is pretty tasty;
1569.  People will make judgments about you based on your friends and how you interact with them;
1570.  Watch out for molesters at rooftop barbeques;
1571.  (Some) flies do bite;
1572.  The Chesapeake Bay seafood stew (i.e., clams, mussels, oysters, shrimp, crab, tomato-saffron broth, Old Bay aioli and croutons) at the Majestic (formerly the Majestic Café) in (Old Town) Alexandria is really tasty;
1573.  For lunch on weekdays, the Majestic has the “Royal Pick” (from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM).  You get an entrée and an iced tea or soda for $12.00, but only at the bar;
1574.  You increase your chances for a heart attack when you run in hot weather.  The heat and humidity make you sweat more, which in turn dehydrates you faster.  The dehydration reduces your volume of blood.  With less blood, your heart has to pump harder to circulate the blood you do have, which can induce a heart attack;
1575.  If you like French pastries, you should go to PAUL (Maison de Qualité) (Paul-USA.com) in D.C.  Their desserts are phenomenal;
1576.  What do you get when you run into the fountain at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden?  The answer is: An angry security guard;
1577.  I can say I’ve been water boarded at “Jazz in the Garden;”
1578.  Women are looking to share their lives with a man.  It’s not particularly compelling for a woman to share her life with a man when she is the most interesting thing going on in it;
1579.  You don’t get extra time at the end to enjoy your life just because you were late getting started;
1580.  There are a lot of foreign nationals at a Coldplay concert;
1581.  You waste a lot of your life by trying to make people like you;
1582.  Who do you call when luggage is left in front of a federal courthouse and the bomb squad’s not around?  The answer is: A homeless man;
1583.  July 11th is free (7.11 oz.) Slurpee day at 7-Eleven (from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM);
1584.  The Brazilian men’s Olympic basketball team can (really) play (some) ball;
1585.  Barack and Michelle (Obama) aren’t fans of the “Kiss Cam” (at the Verizon Center) . . . at least not initially;
1586.  London is the largest city in Europe with a population of twelve million people;
1587.  If you like piano bars, go to Mr. Smith’s (MrSmiths.com) in D.C.  It’s a sing-a-long piano bar.  Performances are from 9 o’clock in the evening until last call Sunday through Tuesday nights, from 9 o’clock in the evening until after midnight on Wednesday and Thursday nights and from 10 o’clock in the evening until after midnight on Friday and Saturday nights . . . and there’s no cover (charge);
1588.  To create more (office) space for coordinating the war effort during World War II, the U.S. Patent (& Trademark) Office was moved from (the Commerce Building in) D.C. to (the old Export Leaf Tobacco Co. warehouse at 900 North Lombardy Street in) Richmond, Virginia;
1589.  Don’t believe her/him when your server says s/he can’t split the check.  S/he can, s/he just doesn’t want to;
1590.  Apparently, I look like I’m married;
1591.  Everything I say is right.  Everything is going according to plan;
1592.  A(dding a) little (dried) oregano on frozen (and/or reheated) pizza, gives it a nice little (flavor) boost;
1593.  Repetition is the key to mastery;
1594.  The more times you do something, the easier it becomes and the less you have to ‘consciously’ think about it.  This hardwiring process is called “long term potentiation.”  Short term potentiation is obviously the opposite.  It is when you do something so few times or with so much distance between the repetitions that the brain decides it must not be important and decides it must not be worth hardwiring;
1595.  Nothing in life means anything until you decide to apply a meaning to an event;
1596.  Rejection means nothing.  It’s simply feedback telling you to try a slightly different approach next time.  Have a 3 second memory only lasting long enough to learn whatever lesson might help you correct your course for the future;
1597.  You must set numerous small goals on the road toward your larger goals;
1598.  In order to change the world, you have to change yourself first;
1599.  Do what you’ve always done and you will get what you’ve always gotten.  If you want something different, then it’s time to change and try something different.  As humans, change (which is essentially jumping out of our comfort zones) feels weird.  You’ll hate it, and people will react differently to you.  But that’s okay; just accept that and realize it will feel weird for a while.  Once you are comfortable with this, it makes the learning process ten times smoother.  So unless you’re happy with what you’re always getting, you have to make a change, and you have to become comfortable with it feeling uncomfortable at times;
1600.  Rejection isn’t a great feeling, but it’s what you relate rejection to and how you handle it that really matters;