Pleasant reminders

One of the nice things about living in DC is that people from far away come here. Conference, research, tourism, it seems that just about everyone has a reason to show up every now and again. Even though Eugene is a gorgeous place to visit and has its own charms to recommend, it was like pulling teeth convincing people to come spend some time. Hell, my parents only visited three times over eleven years - and two of those were after l'il wobs made his triumphant appearance. Maybe it's because you can't get a direct flight.

At any rate, some friends from the sociology department at UO are in town this week, working on a really cool research project where they're gathering data at the Department of Labor research archives. We had dinner with them down at Dupont Circle this evening and spent a few hours catching up. Even though C. and A. aren't particularly close friends, seeing them provided me with a much needed morale boost. The big city can be a little lonely when you're still new.

In other news, when I was dropping my sister-in-law off after baby-sitting for us, I saw a red fox. And it was good.