Around the Capitol

Creeeeaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkkk(!)<-- a silenced emphasis point.
Well well well. This hole in the web hasn't seen the likes of me for a long time but here I am again. Halfway through the summer of NSF love and I'm missing the little lady, haven't done nearly as much as I had planned, but also done some more that is fun and interesting. With an hour-and-a-half commute home, See Here it's hard to stay late in DC knowing that leaving at 5 gets you home at 6:30. It has given me plenty of time to read however. Contrary to what the map makes you believe, I don't drive all the way to work. I drive to the nearest point of the DC subway system, which happens to be New Carollton on the Orange line, about 1/2 hour from the house. I then jump on the train, travel another 45 to 50 minutes to the Ballston stop, 5 stops short of the other end of the line, get off and walk the block to the NSF building. So far, I have maintained my desired reading quotient of a-book-a-week, due mainly to the long rides on the subway where my main goal is to ignore everyone around me for as long as possible. Here's what I'm reading currently, Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson. It's 900 pages and I've only managed 200 in the last few days, and I still have no idea of where it is all leading. However, I'm willing to wait because the other books I've read by him are all excellent, especially the Cryptonomicon, which is the impetus, I believe, for Quicksilver.