Life Without Internet

In the technological era that we are in, people often wonder what it would be like to live without cable or Internet. I'm currently living that life and let me tell you...it SUCKS!!! I mean our society has become so enamored with surfin' the web that is has become almost as necessary as food to survive. Cable, I can do without and have been reading more, so I count that as a blessing actually.

I tried to get my apartment hooked up with the Internet two days ago. I ended up making around five phone calls totalling close to two hours to Verizon, but something always went awry. Apparently the apartment was a foreclosure and our sucky-ass(sorry kids had to use that one) leasing agents don't know the past phone number for the apartment and won't find it out. Hell, they don't even know if the apartment is capable of an Internet hookup!

I digress. I had to come to the Library of Congress today to check my email and figured it would be a good time to catch everyone up. Yesterday, my roommates and I met these three chicks at the Burger Joint( I know...awesome name for a restaurant. I mean can anyone go there not knowing what is going to be served?) So the six of us chilled all day and during the most productive wandering trip, we ended up at the Smithsonian! How awesome is that. I saw Julia Childs' kitchen, learned about birth control, tried to emulate splitting an atom and saw a tiny HIV/AIDS display.

The one girl and I were taken aback by how small the display was considering how prevalent it is in D.C. 24% of kids will contract that virus. How sad is that. To top it off, one of the main reasons why I chose D.C. was because of the AIDS program that City Year does in the schools. They cancelled that program this year. I'm not sure if it was because of funding , but I think that these kids need to learn about HIV and AIDS. I may try to take them to the Smithsonian to learn about it for an excursion if allowed. Check out these staggering numbers...

A June 2011 D.C. Department of Health report found that the number of HIV/AIDS cases qualified as an epidemic under World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Among its findings for 2009 are:

• § An estimated 16,721 Washingtonians over the age of 12 were living with HIV/AIDS;
• § 75.2 percent of these with HIV/AIDS were African-American;
• § Residents between 40 and 49 years of age have the highest infection rate among District residents (7,393 per 100,000 residents

Click here for the entrire article

Jumping ahead...

Last night Sean, Hunter, and I went to Adams Morgan to check out the nightlife. Most of the bars were bumpin!!! We went to three different ones, the last one being a jazz club with a live band. These guys could play. Well worth the five dollar cover charge. The only bad part was the amount that alcohol costs. In Marietta I'm used to paying $2.50 for a Miller Light. In D.C. $4.00! So let's just say I won't be drinking on the town that much. We got back around 4:00 a.m. and after I had a leftover stuffed hot dog from dinner, I went to bed in my sagging air mattress. Gotta really figure that thing out...Oh and to all those who I may have called while inebriated, my most sincere apologies.