Happy birthday, jeffinthebox!

Have a great day! I'm participating in the celebration by taking the day off from work in your honour! :-)

Happy birthday, jeffinthebox!

Have a great day! I'm participating in the celebration by taking the day off from work in your honour! :-)

Fulfilling my meme obligations...

I participated in this meme in a few friends' journals so I am posting my own version in compliance with the viral propagation model participation agreement.

Reply to this post, and I'll make a positive observation about you. It could be something I like about you, or something I find interesting. If you want to, you may put this (or a variation of this) into your own journal, but you are under no obligation.

Fulfilling my meme obligations...

I participated in this meme in a few friends' journals so I am posting my own version in compliance with the viral propagation model participation agreement.

Reply to this post, and I'll make a positive observation about you. It could be something I like about you, or something I find interesting. If you want to, you may put this (or a variation of this) into your own journal, but you are under no obligation.

Brief Mid-Atlantic Leather Review

Our participation in MAL was especially light this year.

We attended friends' pre-MAL buffet dinner & party Friday night in Arlington, VA. The party was fun enough and we met a couple of new folks but largely I felt like we were outsiders at a party of insiders. Still, we like the hosts and there are usually at least a small number of folks we know and seldom see elsewhere so we attended with our outsider status in mind and expectations well-managed. I am glad we attended and the evening itself seemed a great success.

Saturday was entirely spent in Manassas, VA, with Eric & Cal, helping to de-Christmas their house. I'll write more on this later.

Sunday morning, the rep from our new housekeeping service dropped in to give us an estimate and talk about beginning regular cleaning visits. Kevin, a long-time friend who is visiting family in the US --he & his partner are living in London, UK, currently on assignment for a US gov't department-- dropped in to spend the day with us.

Once our business with the cleaners was wrapped up, Kevin, kent4str and I headed off to the local diner for lunch and then headed downtown to the Washington Plaza, the center of MAL activity.

Primarily, we were looking through the vendor market for deals. I wasn't shopping for anything in particular --I have everything I could want or need at the moment, although a new pair of boots wouldn't be a bad thing. In any case, Sunday afternoon is the best time to bargain hunt. kent4str bought a new leather short-sleeved shirt ($175) and I bought a pr0n DVD which happens to have a performance by a friend of ours from Ohio (hi, Rik!).

We bumped into a handful of people we knew (photos below) but I was in a particularly odd mood that afternoon, perhaps for lack of sleep: the density of the crowd was getting to me in a severe way. It was clearly me that was at issue: the crowd density was moderately low as these events go as the MAL beauty pageant leather contest at a local bar was drawing off the larger portion of the registrants. DC's new indoor smoking regs also meant clearer & cleaner air than I've experienced in the past.

Still, as quickly as Kevin & kent4str would allow, we we could gracefully exited onto the street. The weather was so spectacular that after dropping our purchases off at the car, we went for a walk up 17th Street NW, enjoyed some ice cream --yeah, real butch-- and wander back down 16th before heading home.

( Some MAL friend photos for your enjoyment... )

Brief Mid-Atlantic Leather Review

Our participation in MAL was especially light this year.

We attended friends' pre-MAL buffet dinner & party Friday night in Arlington, VA. The party was fun enough and we met a couple of new folks but largely I felt like we were outsiders at a party of insiders. Still, we like the hosts and there are usually at least a small number of folks we know and seldom see elsewhere so we attended with our outsider status in mind and expectations well-managed. I am glad we attended and the evening itself seemed a great success.

Saturday was entirely spent in Manassas, VA, with Eric & Cal, helping to de-Christmas their house. I'll write more on this later.

Sunday morning, the rep from our new housekeeping service dropped in to give us an estimate and talk about beginning regular cleaning visits. Kevin, a long-time friend who is visiting family in the US --he & his partner are living in London, UK, currently on assignment for a US gov't department-- dropped in to spend the day with us.

Once our business with the cleaners was wrapped up, Kevin, kent4str and I headed off to the local diner for lunch and then headed downtown to the Washington Plaza, the center of MAL activity.

Primarily, we were looking through the vendor market for deals. I wasn't shopping for anything in particular --I have everything I could want or need at the moment, although a new pair of boots wouldn't be a bad thing. In any case, Sunday afternoon is the best time to bargain hunt. kent4str bought a new leather short-sleeved shirt ($175) and I bought a pr0n DVD which happens to have a performance by a friend of ours from Ohio (hi, Rik!).

We bumped into a handful of people we knew (photos below) but I was in a particularly odd mood that afternoon, perhaps for lack of sleep: the density of the crowd was getting to me in a severe way. It was clearly me that was at issue: the crowd density was moderately low as these events go as the MAL beauty pageant leather contest at a local bar was drawing off the larger portion of the registrants. DC's new indoor smoking regs also meant clearer & cleaner air than I've experienced in the past.

Still, as quickly as Kevin & kent4str would allow, we we could gracefully exited onto the street. The weather was so spectacular that after dropping our purchases off at the car, we went for a walk up 17th Street NW, enjoyed some ice cream --yeah, real butch-- and wander back down 16th before heading home.

( Some MAL friend photos for your enjoyment... )

Figures.

I keep a reserve of Canadian money, Toronto Transit tokens, a chequing account and a credit card from a Canadian bank for my infrequent trips home. My US credit cards now charge a 3% service fee for non-US dollar transactions and the rates by the money exchange houses at the airports and border crossing points are obscene so this is my favourite way of saving a few dollars.

Alas, the TTC is ditching their old transit tokens in favour of a more counterfeit-resistant version. I'm keeping two of the old standard tokens as memorabilia but that leaves me with 10 transit tokens which either need to be used by January 31 or exchanged in person before the end of the year.

I guess I have yet another business side trip to make when I return to Toronto in April.

Figures.

I keep a reserve of Canadian money, Toronto Transit tokens, a chequing account and a credit card from a Canadian bank for my infrequent trips home. My US credit cards now charge a 3% service fee for non-US dollar transactions and the rates by the money exchange houses at the airports and border crossing points are obscene so this is my favourite way of saving a few dollars.

Alas, the TTC is ditching their old transit tokens in favour of a more counterfeit-resistant version. I'm keeping two of the old standard tokens as memorabilia but that leaves me with 10 transit tokens which either need to be used by January 31 or exchanged in person before the end of the year.

I guess I have yet another business side trip to make when I return to Toronto in April.