the inane report

A house in D.C. *snort*
Picture from here

I spent a few days in D.C. and its burbs this week.  Every time I am there, I am reminded how much I love that city . . . in fact, I think it may just be my favorite city in all of the United States.

I was there for a conference.  An entirely esoteric conference filled with ridiculous minutiae highly relevant to a lot of what I do.  There was one day of sessions that I found very interesting and another that bored me to tears.  I survived the later with copious amounts of steaming hot caffeine.  The sessions I found interesting made me realize once again that somewhere along the way, I have morphed into an incredible geek.  The finer details of Dodd-Frank Act as applied to the corporate trustee world just aren't everyone's cuppa tea.  While many of the industry folks at the conference continue to hope that repeal will make these details mere ephemera, I suspect they are just going to have to get used to this new world.  To tell you just how far I have sunk into nerdism, I even enjoyed the schmooze cocktail hour and dinner with other structured finance freaks.  And I know you all are envious of the my attendance at the sessions addressing evolution in the ABS/MBS market.

Ah yes, now I see I've bored you too.

An even better part of the trip . . . and certainly of more general interest . . . was the chance to connect with one of my best friends from law school who works on the Hill. I tease that she's the rock star of our law school pals as--due to her job--she makes occasional appearances on TV.  Of course, the only people who see her on TV are those that actually watch sub-committee meetings on CSPAN but still . . . .  We lunched at Wolfgang Puck's asian fusion place, The Source.  It was a very cool restaurant with excellent food.  Of course, the company made it perfect.  If you are near there, give it a spin.  They recommend the "Tiny Dumplings" (Pork Belly, Black Vinegar, Chili Oil, Ginger, Cilantro Leaves) . . . and they are right.  Yum!

Photo from here

I also spent time with a dear man who lives near D.C.  We did more eating . . . La Taberna Del Alabardero was wonderful (we had an excellent seafood paella) and spent the afternoon sightseeing down among the monuments.  This is one of my favorite areas in D.C.  While on-going construction at the reflecting pool doesn't really improve the ambiance and it is sad to see the Washington Monument shut down post-earthquake, it is still a gorgeous place.  I had not been to the WWII memorial before.  I will join the unimpressed critics. I don't need to visit it again.  Ever.  However, I will not say the same of the new MLK Jr. memorial.  The MLK is everything the WWII is not.  It was grand but simple, moving, smart, thought-provoking, and is situated perfectly.  I'm so glad we took the time to hunt it down.  The picture is of one of my favorite parts of this memorial.  This quote clearly inspired the whole memorial but the thought stands on its own.

From there, we strolled the edge of the tidal basin and sat under the cherry trees on what had to be one of the most lovely weather days that D.C. could muster.  Perfect, just perfect.