Yes, dear seven readers --- I apologize for my lack of entries....again.

I'm too busy "washing my hair," "having a headache" and "really tired," to write anymore. This too, shall change. I'm going to get this thing back off the ground.

The buzzword around Georgetown/Glover Park is "INTENSE."

It has indeed been an INTENSE three weeks in Our Nation's Capitol.

I've been writing my ass off. I've been eating my ass off. And I've been sweating my ass off (which, by the way, is why I think it's been OK to eat my ass off, incidentally.)

I've had 7 articles published, including one glorious front pager for the Island Packet, a smallish daily in beautiful, sunkissed Hilton Head, South Carolina. I've written about such hot-button issues as Guantanamo Bay, immigration, off-shore drilling and tourism. For your reading pleasure, I've attached links to a few of my stories below. I hope you enjoy.

Let's see... apparently it's all about me on this blog today... let’s run through some other Washington highlights.

Week 1 – already a story published. Attended first Capitol press conference. Sat next to a guy from the New York Times and behind a fellow from the Wall Street Journal. Naturally, it was kind of intimidating. Here I am, Joe Reporter, sitting next to some of the most seasoned, well-written reporters of Our Day, not really knowing what the Hell I’ve gotten myself into… D.C. is a destination for most reporters; a place where ink-stained wretches aspire to ascend. Most of these people have been in the business a long time – and I mean 20+ years. My receding hairline helps, but my adolescent-reminiscent traces of acne are doing me no good.

Deep breaths, deep breaths. Look like you belong. Squint a little. Look angry. Ruminate. Ask Good questions.

Turned out about 500 words on Social Security, which, expectedly, was buried on page A-3. Not bad for a first effort. Start thinking, Christ, all this work for one story? Only about 25 to go…

First Story

Week 2 – Five stories written. Three published. One held for the following Tuesday, where a healthy front-page slot awaited. Actually, it appeared as The Top Story on the website and in the paper – an 1100-word feature on the future of off-shore drilling for South Carolina.

Front Pager #1

Bonuses--- I talked to a lot of big hitters, and they actually answered my questions. Nice. I even rode the “Senators only” elevator with Lindsey Graham and took the tram from the Capitol to the Senate office buildings with him. Not like he’s a celebrity or anything, it was just pretty refreshing, and somewhat interesting that I was getting all of this first-class treatment.

Interviewed: Sens. Trent Lott, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John McCain, DeMint, Lindsey Graham, Rep. Joe Wilson, and a couple of others.

By the way, I’m not sure if I’ve met anyone as charismatic as Lott, as awkward in person as Kerry, and as different in-person than on television as Clinton.

Fiancée™ made the journey to The Swamp for a week-long visit. I can’t tell you how nice it was to have her out here. What a treat.

Fortunately, I was able to ditch out early on Friday to pick her up from Dulles. I’ve never seen such a clusterbleep on an airport. My God. There must have been 1,000 people in the baggage claim while I patiently awaited her arrival.

Headed out to Reston, VA with her for a refreshing weekend retreat at the home of some “new” family friends. Good food, good wine, good conversation, good pool time, good times.

Highlights: July 4th fireworks up close. We sat right next to the Washington Monument and watched $2 million explode overhead with about 500,000 other people. This is something you must do once in your lifetime: Fireworks On the Mall.

Week 3 – Congress takes its annual July 4th break, leaving slim pickings on the table for story material. Instead, I focused on a Front Page feature on the growing trend of foreign tourism in Hilton Head. Pounded out another 1100-word story on that, and got decent play on the Front Page. Nice. Very nice. I wrote another story about immigration, which is pretty dry stuff, but never boring, as the partisan battle presses on.

Front Pager #2

The elegant and lovely Fiancée ™ strolled Georgetown for a few days, shopping the many boutiques while I toiled away in the newsroom. (I was thinking about using “slaved away,” but after careful consideration, that word should never be used again.)

We attended our first Washington Nationals game at the old RFK Stadium in the less-upstanding part of town. From my place up in Gtown/Glover Park, it took 1 hour to get the 5 miles to the stadium. Traffic here is a joke. The grid sucks. The roundabouts suck. The parks cut through the city, and the Mall area cuts off would-be major thoroughfares crisscrossing the city, so one literally has to zig-zag through the city to get from the Northwest side to the East side. Add the thousands of tourists and commuters, and the place is a mess. Like our friend Dickie eloquently put it: “It’s like the Special-Ed of driving here.” Right on.

RFK wasn’t a bad place to watch a game, but, as I previously mentioned, it’s a pain in the ass to get to, and the concessions are a disaster. Now, I know concessions workers aren’t exactly an elite social class, but for Chrissakes, how hard is it to make change for a $20 on an $11 purchase? These incompetent lepers averaged about 3 minutes per transaction – a number that should be closer to 1 minute. Hence, I stood in line for about 20 minutes waiting to get a hot dog and a beer, along with dozens of other dissatisfied customers. But Hell, it was a baseball game outdoors in the middle of July, 90 degrees and Fiancée™ at my side. Perhaps I’m asking for too much.

To cap the week, we headed down to the scenic and sleepy Anapolis, MD for a day-trip. What a great little city – situated in a little bay connected to the Chesapeake, full of great restaurants and, as the B&B we stayed at said “breathtaking views.”

We had perhaps one of the most enjoyable dinners I've had in my life, as well.

We hopped into this little joint called "Buddy's" near the harbor, where we sat on a little sidewalk and dined on fresh seafood. What a treat.

I had my first foray into crawfish. I thought it would be a simple little venture, where the waiter would bring us out a few crawfish tails with some lemon and butter -- you know, easy eating. Wrong.

Halfway through the first beer, out came a bowl filled with little red critters, maybe 15 of them. They looked like bugs, and I had no idea how to go about eating them or WHY I was even considering it. Fiancée ™ showed me the trick, and soon I was ripping the heads of these little boiled bastards and sucking the meat out of their tails (with plenty of hot sauce and Old Bay, might I add). Very interesting experience. Tasty, but weird.

Next, Fiancée ™ got aggressive, and ordered six blue crabs in the hardshell. Next thing you know, the waiter places a huge platter of boiled crabs, all still intact, in front of her. To me, they looked alive. It gave me the shivers. After a kind gentleman seated nearby gave us the debriefing on how to actually eat these crabs, we settled in, ripping the legs off first, then tearing the undercarriage off, prying the shell off the top, and clearing the mushy lungs and other crap off the meat. If you've never eaten crabs in the hard shell before, let me assure you: It's quite the drawnout process.

But, as daunting as it looked, and as unappetizing as it was, the crab was delicious. She took to the apple-cider vinegar dipping sauce, and I favored Old Bay with some lemon.

Fittingly, I took the easy way out, ordering two meaty crab cakes and french fries. Very, very tasty. Best I've had, in fact.

Great food, great people-watching, great view of the harbor. Good experience. Just outstanding.

OK – I think that catches us up. Now I’ll get on to more important things, like brushing my teeth and going to bed. It’s late here, and another week of death-defying Capitol reporting awaits.

Hopefully we can get back to a regular schedule here… I feel like I’m not providing enough time-wasting material for your work days…

One more quick thing: I love this city. Washington is a great place. A big small town with plenty to do and intelligent people. I wouldn’t mind spending considerable time here. Another thing: It’s 92, sunny and humid everyday. Prepare to sweat, especially if you must wear a suit every day.

Last item – if you don’t want to stop by all the time, hoping to jump on the Frosty Bandwagon of bitching and moaning, select that little “Subscribe to this journal” thing on the homepage. It will send you pretty little email every time I write.

Karaoke sucks.