Wednesday

Our new home is pretty much what I thought it would be: a characterless corporate extended-stay hotel suite with a kitchen. Our model is the 820 square-foot, one bedroom one bath variety. We have two-tone beige and less-beige stucco-patterned walls, a twelve by nine stainless and Formica kitchen hymned by a serving bar, and a little oblong bedroom totally maxed-out by its ridiculous king-sized bed. The living room is tastefully decorated in dark laminates and low, serious corduroy couches with wine throw pillows. There are vertical blinds between the couch and the cement slab patio. We're on the fourth floor of a seven story building, one of several arranged around a recreation yard. Add a few watchtowers and we'd have a serviceable upscale white-collar corrections facility. The worst thing about our new unit is the bathroom, which suffers the usual unfortunate division: mirror and sink in a little foyer to the closeted toilet and tub. When will they learn this is a terrible idea? This design means we have to stand right out beside the ridiculous bed while brushing our teeth, shaving, or picking our noses. Guests will have to access the bathroom through our bedroom. Its disastrous. Otherwise, and all in all, this was what I'd expected, however, and I'll be satisfied to spend the next eight months of my life here. We're about a half-mile from the East Falls Church metro stop (on the orange line), which is about twenty-two minutes from the Smithsonian stop at the National Mall. That makes it about eight miles to the Washington monument from here. It is three minutes by car to our old stomping grounds around Ballston and George Mason University, where there's an Italian restaurant we like, an IHOP, a little Korean-run deli, and a good public library. [Cavin]