But on the evening of the Fourth of July, we did manage to make it out to the National Mall to catch the fireworks. Our friend, Rocco, was in town for a conference, so he joined us.
Showing posts with label DC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DC. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Fourth of July
Jeff and I spent most of the Fourth of July weekend moving things back into our apartment, doing laundry, and generally getting settled.
But on the evening of the Fourth of July, we did manage to make it out to the National Mall to catch the fireworks. Our friend, Rocco, was in town for a conference, so he joined us.
But on the evening of the Fourth of July, we did manage to make it out to the National Mall to catch the fireworks. Our friend, Rocco, was in town for a conference, so he joined us.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Last Weekend in DC Before the Wedding
The last weekend in DC was at least as busy as the last week in DC. We did a lot of packing on Thursday – making sure we had everything we’d need for Minnesota, the wedding, and the honeymoon.
Then everything else (other than furniture and kitchen stuff) we packed up and moved out of the apartment to have it empty for the sub-letter.
We had a bunch of boxes ready to go for the first trip to Baltimore on Friday morning. While Jeff made that trip on his own, I continued to pack up the rest of our stuff. (Then I got really sentinmental and teary because I couldn’t believe it was already time to move out and head to Minnesota for the wedding!) After we packed the zipcar full again, we realized three trips would be needed.
I went with Jeff to Baltimore on the second trip, and then stayed there to organize things on the Baltmore side while he went back for the last collection of stuff. I did a pretty good job of organizing and consolidating so his room looked less like a disaster area (and more like a well-organized storage closet…)
One of the craziest things is that even though we took three big car-fulls of stuff to Baltimore, looking at the apartment afterwards, it hardly looks different at all! (Because everything came out of closets and other nook-and-crannies!)
On Saturday, we were really tired, but really glad we’d had the crazy moving day on Friday, so that our last day in DC was not quite as hectic. We finished up little things. We talked to Noah Wolf on the phone about photo plans, and we came up with an initial plan for the seating chart.
Late on Saturday, we went to Noelle's graduation party at One Lounge, then came home and slept for a few hours before heading to the airport.
Last week in DC Before the Wedding
The next week, I was finishing up my last few days at work. Jeff and I got our typhoid medicine (an oral vaccine), which we need because we go to Thailand on our honeymoon.
We went through all the RSVP cards to double-check our spreadsheet, and we got our final guest count – 168 people.
Overall, we got ‘yes’ replies from a little over half of the people we invited – the response rate was higher (about 75%) for people in Minnesota, and lower for the friends, of whom almost 90% live outside Minnesota (and many outside the U.S.).
In the end, more than half of our guests – 88 of them – flew in from outside Minnesota, and at least five of those were coming from outside the United States.
We sent info emails out to the wedding party with the near-final schedule.
We worked on getting numbers for the BBQ, and ended up with an unexpectedly high 83 RSVPs. We decided to rent vans, since almost 30 people would need rides from the hotel.
We ordered the cover sheet of our program from 123 print. We also finalized the wording for inside the program – sending it to family, friends, and our pastor, Gwin.
I made a “Mariel & Jeff” photobook that tracks Jeff and I side-by side each year from 1983 to 2011. I think it turned out great, but it took forever!
We went to dinner with Kris and Emma and finalized the plan for the after-party in the hotel. We ordered the drinks from the hotel and Kris and Emma planned to get the keys, open up the suite, and set-up.
We got the speeches and photos from the wedding party, solicited final inputs for the wedding guest book, and then put that together. I also loved how this turned out, though, like the other photobook, it took way longer to put together than I’d expected.
My final photo-related task was to find a photo for every person/couple attending the wedding for their table card. This also took a while, though picasa’s face recognition softward allowed me to search for specific people, and that made it way easier.
We made tons of adjustments to the wedding schedule and tasks. We called Patrick and asked him to MC (and he said yes – yay!). We called Capture Studios and set up an appointment to chat when we got to Minnesota.
We wrote up an info packet for the subletter and got the keys to Stephanie to give to him.
We printed out the labels for the cookies that would be the table gifts.
Somehow, in the midst of all that, we managed to get away to enjoy one last happy hour with our friends before leaving town for more than a month.
Jeff’s Working at the White House
Jeff got offered a job as a staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisors at the White House! Here’s what Jeff has to say about it:
The council of economic advisors brings economists from top academic departments on a 1 (or sometimes 2) year rotation. There are 10 ‘senior economists’ who are mostly younger, untenured professors, and about 10 ‘staff economists’ who are mostly graduate students taking a year off of study at a top program as well. (I think there are probably very few people who get/take this job instead of finishing their dissertation, so don’t worry about that :) ). The economists are distributed among fields of economic expertise, so there is a ‘macro guy’, an ‘international finance guy’, a ‘labor guy’ etc. I guess the work environment is fairly fluid and project based, so if there are particular policy proposals that need evaluating or coming-up-with, the labor, tax, and macro guys might all work on the same project sometimes. We also fact-check (or fact put in) speeches, so when Obama talks about the economy, we bound what he can say. We participate in various inter-agency meetings when agencies are implementing policies with effects on various aspects of the economy, so changing the rules for student loan subsidies is a potential policy that I might work on. We write the economic report of the president (available at : http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/economic-report-of-the-President or on Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Economic-Report-President-ebook/dp/B0038636QS) as well as various other more minor reports on issues that the president cares about. We also answer various hypothetical questions for other groups within the executive office of the president. Another part of my job, more the how than the what, is that I will talk to a whole bunch of economists. It’s often the case that I might not be able to make a good guess at the state of economic knowledge on a given topic, but I can effectively identify a couple of economists who would. The plan is then to call them and ask what they think. I think this will be fun too.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Happy Hour at The Quill
Things are super busy and stressful this week, but I figured since I'm planning on spending almost all of the weekend locked in my apartment with my computer, I could take a short break for the Thursday happy hour.
This week we went to The Quill at the Jefferson Hotel at the request of Beth. Everything about it was awesome. We sat out on the patio, which was very nice and relaxed and uncrowded - and it was one of DC's very few and precious 'perfect patio' days where it was low 70's and sunny. It's on a fairly busy street, but there are enough trees that you feel like it's actually pretty hidden. They bring out olives and nuts right away (and keep refreshing them while you're there, which was probably not super healthy for me since I just kept munching away...) And the cocktails are amazing! They have some really unique options - I had the dessert rose - strawberry puree, St. Germain, and Prosecco - first, and then I tried the 'odd couple,' which included sharp cheddar cheese paired with a cocktail maid with jalapeño infused vodka and some kind of watermelon mixer. Very spicy, but really great!
And, Jesse Tyler Furgeson, who plays "Mitchell" on Modern Family (the funniest show on TV right now), walked right past the patio and into the bar! So cool!!!
This week we went to The Quill at the Jefferson Hotel at the request of Beth. Everything about it was awesome. We sat out on the patio, which was very nice and relaxed and uncrowded - and it was one of DC's very few and precious 'perfect patio' days where it was low 70's and sunny. It's on a fairly busy street, but there are enough trees that you feel like it's actually pretty hidden. They bring out olives and nuts right away (and keep refreshing them while you're there, which was probably not super healthy for me since I just kept munching away...) And the cocktails are amazing! They have some really unique options - I had the dessert rose - strawberry puree, St. Germain, and Prosecco - first, and then I tried the 'odd couple,' which included sharp cheddar cheese paired with a cocktail maid with jalapeño infused vodka and some kind of watermelon mixer. Very spicy, but really great!
And, Jesse Tyler Furgeson, who plays "Mitchell" on Modern Family (the funniest show on TV right now), walked right past the patio and into the bar! So cool!!!Sunday, March 27, 2011
DC Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party!
Last weekend my sister (and maid of honor!), Katie, with help from my friend (and bridesmaid!) Stephanie, threw me a bridal shower and bachelorette party in DC with all of my friends from this area! They did an amazing job planning - it was such a fun day (and night)!
The day started around 9:30am, when Katie and I headed over to Stephanie's for brunch. (Actually, it started a bit earlier, since Katie put together an outfit for me and did my hair and make-up before we left.) We went a little bit early, so Katie could help set up. She had shopped for candies from all different parts of the world (round-the-world was the theme of the day), and tied them up in really cute little gift bags.
Stephanie had prepared all of the breakfast foods. She had a great looking spread - bagels and cream cheese, fruit, a coffee cake, quiche, and a really tasty egg bake (which she apparently semi-invented herself).
The girls arrived, and we all had food and mimosa's. I was so happy that so many people could make it - Stephanie and Katie, of course, but also Beth, Emma, Jaisha, Noelle, Lindsey, Liz, and even my friend Jackie (who lives in California, but happened to be visiting her family in Maryland that weekend). I've been to a few bridal showers before (and even co-hosted one for my sister-in-law, Emily), but it's such a crazy feeling to actually be the bride!
After we had some food and mimosa's, Stephanie and Katie gave each girl a cute little note card and had them write out their favorite story about Jeff and me, and then collected them all in a little box. The idea is that Jeff and I can open and read one whenever we are in the mood for a fun pick-me-up. Very cute!
After that we opened gifts - it's kind of crazy how much gift-giving there is related to weddings - it really seems like a lot to me, but I have to admit it is really fun to have a collection of brightly wrapped presents to open. And everybody gave really sweet things. There were a lot of really creative, cute things, and some really great things from the registry. It's funny, you'd think when you have a registry it'd be less exciting to open gifts, but actually it's so fun because it's sort of like getting the pieces that you're going to use to build your new life - and each one is so exciting to add in. (Yikes, that sounded really sappy, but it really is true!)
Beth gave me a card that was wrapped around a bottle of wine - so cute! The gift was a wok set from Crate and Barrel that Jeff and I were really excited about - that she had sent directly to our house (convenient!).
Stephanie got me a really cute hanger (from etsy.com!) that says Mrs. Borowitz. I can use it to hang up my wedding dress before I wear it on my wedding day!
Noelle gave me a wine chiller with a bottle of champagne (which was still really chilly when I opened it, so I know it works!). Jaisha gave me some travel books for places we're going during the honeymoon - St. Petersburg, Istanbul, and Bangkok. Lindsey also gave me travel-related things - two types of travel power adapters (essential for our honeymoon trip!), a set of luggage tags - Mr. Right and Mrs. Always Right, two eye-mask and earplug sets, and also a really sweet card and a print out of "Song of Solomon," which is a song she really likes and feels captures the feelings in marriage. Jackie's gift was dinner in Istanbul (from our Honeymoon registery!) - she's been there, and gave us some recommendations on what to try. Emma gave me a pair of pearl earrings - so pretty! And Liz gave me a really pretty pitcher from crate and barrel, and a cute "toast to the bride" coaster with a little poem on the back that says:
Here's to the bride
To her tears and her laughter
To the man whom she loves
And to happily ever after
After that we relaxed at Stephanie's for a while longer, sipping mimosas and chatting.
In the early afternoon, we headed out to Ivy Spa - a cute nail salon near Stephanie's house. I had my first-ever professional manicure and pedicure! I'm not sure how I missed out on this for so long - I really like the idea of it! And after actually trying it, I know I like it! Pedicures, especially, are really relaxing and nice - I feel like I could have stayed and soaked my feet and read magazines for hours. (Also, as a somewhat crazy aside, there were TV's in the salon, and as I was getting my nails done there was a special report on TV where the news anchor broke in to say that the U.S. was now involved in military action in Libya. Talk about crazy juxtaposition.)
After everyone had finished getting manicures and/or pedicures, we went for a little walk through Clarendon and stopped to do a little shoe shopping, and Katie and I got some really good coffee. Then it was back to Stephanie's house to change and get ready for the bachelorette party!
I still don't have most of my clothes back, and I don't have any dresses in my closet at all, but luckily for me, Katie had made me a dress! It was really cute - black and white with yellow accents - which is sort of like the wedding!
After getting ready, Jackie drove Stephanie, Liz, Katie, and I into DC (the other girls had headed home to change). We went to Vinotecca for dinner. Some of the girls from Baltimore - Jen, Cara, Sam Sydney, and Sam Armacost - met up with us there. We started out with wine (since the restaurant is sort-of known for that) - I had a flight of sparking wines that was really good. Then we ordered food - Katie, Jaisha, Noelle, and I shared a bunch of tapas, which were all very good. The flatbread and the potato gnocci was especially great. Stephanie and the girls bought me a champagne cocktail for with dessert.
During dinner, Katie explained the first game. Everyone got two bead necklaces, and anytime you heard someone say the word "Jeff," you can take a necklace from them. The Baltimore girls were not very good at the game - but it was a bit unfair that three out of four of them are dating or married to a Jeff. :) I wasn't very good at the game either. :)
After dinner, we headed to Chi Cha Lounge on U Street. Chi Cha Lounge is a great after-dinner place - trendy but relaxed, busy but not overly crowded or loud - we could all relax and chat. We got a strawberry-flavored hookah and some really great cocktails. Beth ordered the one with St. Germain for me before I even got there, since she knew I love anything with St. Germain - I'm so predictable. :) Katie also got me a really tasty mango mojito - another drink favorite of mine.
While we were at Chi Cha Lounge, Katie gave me the veil that she had made for me to wear - pretty cute. I had a few people come up and congratulate me, which was really nice. It was really cool that the bars we went to were really fun, but a little trendy/ upscale, so even though it was exciting and really fun, it wasn't like we were constantly being bothered by creepy guys.
At Chi Cha Lounge, Katie also explained and passed out cards for the "That Guy" game - which was the main side-activity for the rest of the night. We had three teams, and each team had about six or eight pieces of paper with a description of a guy - like "Bald Guy" or "Harry Potter Look-Alike Guy." The idea was to find the guy, snap a picture with him, and then the first team to have all the photos would win. (Jaisha's team won, which I have to say in retrospect is not surprising at all - she's the least shy person I know!)
After a while at Chi Cha Lounge, we headed to Policy, where Stephanie had arranged to get us the VIP treatment. We skipped the line, had our names on a list, and just headed upstairs to a private area in the corner of the dance floor with benches and tables and room to dance. There was champagne (which was brought over with sparklers attached) and other drinks. Having our own area was so great, because it wasn't crowded, we could dance or sit, and we didn't have to go to the bar for drinks.
The area was called the "Obama" area, I'm assuming because it had pictures of Obama and other presidents painted on the walls. We took tons of fun photos!
It seemed like everyone had a really good time at Policy - the Baltimore girls stayed until about 1am (when Todd came to pick them up - super nice of them to drive out to DC just for the night!). The rest of stayed until the lights came on (which was around 2 or 2:30am). From there, we mostly parted ways as people grabbed cabs. Since Policy is really close to my house, Stephanie, Katie, Liz, and I decided to just walk back and all stay at my place. We made a pit-stop at Yum's for some late-night Chinese food, and then went to my apartment, only to find that I had left my keys in my other purse at Stephanie's house. We called the lock-out line and hung out in the hallway, eventually giving up and having our Chinese food there. After about 30 or 40 minutes, we decided waiting may not be that productive (the lock-out people still hadn't gotten in touch with the guy in our building with the keys). So instead, we caught a cab and went back to Stephanie's to stay there.
It was actually ok, partly because I think it's fun to have some unexpected adventure, and also because when we woke up at Stephanie's, we had tons of left-over bagels and cream cheese to eat!
Overall, the party (which if you count having bagels at Stephanie's the next day really lasted more than 24 hours) was really amazing! It had all of the fun and girl-y elements that I imagine when I think of bridal showers and bachelorette parties! Thanks so much to Katie and to Stephanie for all their work putting everything together!
The day started around 9:30am, when Katie and I headed over to Stephanie's for brunch. (Actually, it started a bit earlier, since Katie put together an outfit for me and did my hair and make-up before we left.) We went a little bit early, so Katie could help set up. She had shopped for candies from all different parts of the world (round-the-world was the theme of the day), and tied them up in really cute little gift bags.
Stephanie had prepared all of the breakfast foods. She had a great looking spread - bagels and cream cheese, fruit, a coffee cake, quiche, and a really tasty egg bake (which she apparently semi-invented herself).
The girls arrived, and we all had food and mimosa's. I was so happy that so many people could make it - Stephanie and Katie, of course, but also Beth, Emma, Jaisha, Noelle, Lindsey, Liz, and even my friend Jackie (who lives in California, but happened to be visiting her family in Maryland that weekend). I've been to a few bridal showers before (and even co-hosted one for my sister-in-law, Emily), but it's such a crazy feeling to actually be the bride!
After we had some food and mimosa's, Stephanie and Katie gave each girl a cute little note card and had them write out their favorite story about Jeff and me, and then collected them all in a little box. The idea is that Jeff and I can open and read one whenever we are in the mood for a fun pick-me-up. Very cute!
After that we opened gifts - it's kind of crazy how much gift-giving there is related to weddings - it really seems like a lot to me, but I have to admit it is really fun to have a collection of brightly wrapped presents to open. And everybody gave really sweet things. There were a lot of really creative, cute things, and some really great things from the registry. It's funny, you'd think when you have a registry it'd be less exciting to open gifts, but actually it's so fun because it's sort of like getting the pieces that you're going to use to build your new life - and each one is so exciting to add in. (Yikes, that sounded really sappy, but it really is true!)
Beth gave me a card that was wrapped around a bottle of wine - so cute! The gift was a wok set from Crate and Barrel that Jeff and I were really excited about - that she had sent directly to our house (convenient!).
Stephanie got me a really cute hanger (from etsy.com!) that says Mrs. Borowitz. I can use it to hang up my wedding dress before I wear it on my wedding day!
Noelle gave me a wine chiller with a bottle of champagne (which was still really chilly when I opened it, so I know it works!). Jaisha gave me some travel books for places we're going during the honeymoon - St. Petersburg, Istanbul, and Bangkok. Lindsey also gave me travel-related things - two types of travel power adapters (essential for our honeymoon trip!), a set of luggage tags - Mr. Right and Mrs. Always Right, two eye-mask and earplug sets, and also a really sweet card and a print out of "Song of Solomon," which is a song she really likes and feels captures the feelings in marriage. Jackie's gift was dinner in Istanbul (from our Honeymoon registery!) - she's been there, and gave us some recommendations on what to try. Emma gave me a pair of pearl earrings - so pretty! And Liz gave me a really pretty pitcher from crate and barrel, and a cute "toast to the bride" coaster with a little poem on the back that says:
Here's to the bride
To her tears and her laughter
To the man whom she loves
And to happily ever after
After that we relaxed at Stephanie's for a while longer, sipping mimosas and chatting.
In the early afternoon, we headed out to Ivy Spa - a cute nail salon near Stephanie's house. I had my first-ever professional manicure and pedicure! I'm not sure how I missed out on this for so long - I really like the idea of it! And after actually trying it, I know I like it! Pedicures, especially, are really relaxing and nice - I feel like I could have stayed and soaked my feet and read magazines for hours. (Also, as a somewhat crazy aside, there were TV's in the salon, and as I was getting my nails done there was a special report on TV where the news anchor broke in to say that the U.S. was now involved in military action in Libya. Talk about crazy juxtaposition.)
After everyone had finished getting manicures and/or pedicures, we went for a little walk through Clarendon and stopped to do a little shoe shopping, and Katie and I got some really good coffee. Then it was back to Stephanie's house to change and get ready for the bachelorette party!
I still don't have most of my clothes back, and I don't have any dresses in my closet at all, but luckily for me, Katie had made me a dress! It was really cute - black and white with yellow accents - which is sort of like the wedding!
After getting ready, Jackie drove Stephanie, Liz, Katie, and I into DC (the other girls had headed home to change). We went to Vinotecca for dinner. Some of the girls from Baltimore - Jen, Cara, Sam Sydney, and Sam Armacost - met up with us there. We started out with wine (since the restaurant is sort-of known for that) - I had a flight of sparking wines that was really good. Then we ordered food - Katie, Jaisha, Noelle, and I shared a bunch of tapas, which were all very good. The flatbread and the potato gnocci was especially great. Stephanie and the girls bought me a champagne cocktail for with dessert.
During dinner, Katie explained the first game. Everyone got two bead necklaces, and anytime you heard someone say the word "Jeff," you can take a necklace from them. The Baltimore girls were not very good at the game - but it was a bit unfair that three out of four of them are dating or married to a Jeff. :) I wasn't very good at the game either. :)
After dinner, we headed to Chi Cha Lounge on U Street. Chi Cha Lounge is a great after-dinner place - trendy but relaxed, busy but not overly crowded or loud - we could all relax and chat. We got a strawberry-flavored hookah and some really great cocktails. Beth ordered the one with St. Germain for me before I even got there, since she knew I love anything with St. Germain - I'm so predictable. :) Katie also got me a really tasty mango mojito - another drink favorite of mine.
While we were at Chi Cha Lounge, Katie gave me the veil that she had made for me to wear - pretty cute. I had a few people come up and congratulate me, which was really nice. It was really cool that the bars we went to were really fun, but a little trendy/ upscale, so even though it was exciting and really fun, it wasn't like we were constantly being bothered by creepy guys.
At Chi Cha Lounge, Katie also explained and passed out cards for the "That Guy" game - which was the main side-activity for the rest of the night. We had three teams, and each team had about six or eight pieces of paper with a description of a guy - like "Bald Guy" or "Harry Potter Look-Alike Guy." The idea was to find the guy, snap a picture with him, and then the first team to have all the photos would win. (Jaisha's team won, which I have to say in retrospect is not surprising at all - she's the least shy person I know!)
After a while at Chi Cha Lounge, we headed to Policy, where Stephanie had arranged to get us the VIP treatment. We skipped the line, had our names on a list, and just headed upstairs to a private area in the corner of the dance floor with benches and tables and room to dance. There was champagne (which was brought over with sparklers attached) and other drinks. Having our own area was so great, because it wasn't crowded, we could dance or sit, and we didn't have to go to the bar for drinks.
The area was called the "Obama" area, I'm assuming because it had pictures of Obama and other presidents painted on the walls. We took tons of fun photos!
It seemed like everyone had a really good time at Policy - the Baltimore girls stayed until about 1am (when Todd came to pick them up - super nice of them to drive out to DC just for the night!). The rest of stayed until the lights came on (which was around 2 or 2:30am). From there, we mostly parted ways as people grabbed cabs. Since Policy is really close to my house, Stephanie, Katie, Liz, and I decided to just walk back and all stay at my place. We made a pit-stop at Yum's for some late-night Chinese food, and then went to my apartment, only to find that I had left my keys in my other purse at Stephanie's house. We called the lock-out line and hung out in the hallway, eventually giving up and having our Chinese food there. After about 30 or 40 minutes, we decided waiting may not be that productive (the lock-out people still hadn't gotten in touch with the guy in our building with the keys). So instead, we caught a cab and went back to Stephanie's to stay there.
It was actually ok, partly because I think it's fun to have some unexpected adventure, and also because when we woke up at Stephanie's, we had tons of left-over bagels and cream cheese to eat!
Overall, the party (which if you count having bagels at Stephanie's the next day really lasted more than 24 hours) was really amazing! It had all of the fun and girl-y elements that I imagine when I think of bridal showers and bachelorette parties! Thanks so much to Katie and to Stephanie for all their work putting everything together!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Apartment Update: Phone Call with Asbestos Expert/ Environmentalist
Our apartment management gave us the phone number for the environmentalist that they have leading the cleaning of the asbestos in the apartment, and Jeff and I had a long talk on the phone with him, which actually made me feel much better about the whole thing. We'll still get our clothes professionally cleaned and wipe everything down, but it was nice to get a full explanation from an expert. Here is some of what we learned.
We asked Mark (the expert) about the risk of contamination of whole apartment from having brought in items from our old apartment. He said that the risk is really pretty low. He explained that the building had asbestos fire-proofing around the kitchen and bath ducting in the walls, which was hit with axes by the fire department in the unit that was on fire, which allowed the asbestos to become airborn and travel in the smoke and heat. There is also three percent asbestos in the popcorn ceiling which was roasted by the fire and got loose. After the fire they did testing in the unit where the fire was and in the hallway, and then they did abatement (cleaning) in those areas to get rid of all the asbestos. Then they checked in every apartment on the ninth floor - by that time, the dust had settled, so they used box fans to get the dust back in the air, and then did air sampling.
In apartment 902 (our apartment) they found one asbestos fiber in all of the air sampling that they did. That's equivalent to 15 fibers per cubic centimeter. As a comparison, the EPA standard for schools (after asbestos abatement has been completed) is 70 fibers per cubic cm. So at a level of 15 fibers per cubic centimeter there is actually no legal action required. (And Mark said that if you took samples on the street, you'd probably find comparable levels, just from the breaks on people's cars falling apart and things like that.)
They tested other apartments around the building and found zero asbestos fibers - meaning that the background level in the building is actually zero normally. So Mark made the argument that all of the ninth floor apartments should be brought back down to a zero level as well. He said it's really a precautionary measure to help avoid legal action and ensure people are completely comfortable. They're just not allowing anything above zero as a final result. He said they'd be happy to do testing in our current apartment, though he doesn't think it's necessary and wouldn't recommend it - but if we're feeling nervous and would like to do it, we should let him know. (I think we probably won't bother.) He also said that he's written a series of about 15 memos throughout the process of the cleaning, which our management has, and which have been submitted to Joe Parish at the DDOE, so we could access those if we wanted to see more information about the whole process.
We also asked him what we need to do to make sure hard surfaces (computer, books, jewelry, etc.) that we got out are clean. He said the only problem with asbestos is it getting airborn. If there is no visible dust, then its find. Otherwise just spray it with windex and wipe it down, and then throw away the paper towel.
We also asked how to clean items that are hard and soft (like suitcase). He said the levels are so low that it really probably doesn't need to be cleaned, but if we want, we can give those things to our management and have them vacuumed with the special asbestos-cleaning vacuum, which has a special particulate filter so the asbestos won't go through bag.
So that's it - sounds like everything is really ok, so that's great!
We asked Mark (the expert) about the risk of contamination of whole apartment from having brought in items from our old apartment. He said that the risk is really pretty low. He explained that the building had asbestos fire-proofing around the kitchen and bath ducting in the walls, which was hit with axes by the fire department in the unit that was on fire, which allowed the asbestos to become airborn and travel in the smoke and heat. There is also three percent asbestos in the popcorn ceiling which was roasted by the fire and got loose. After the fire they did testing in the unit where the fire was and in the hallway, and then they did abatement (cleaning) in those areas to get rid of all the asbestos. Then they checked in every apartment on the ninth floor - by that time, the dust had settled, so they used box fans to get the dust back in the air, and then did air sampling.
In apartment 902 (our apartment) they found one asbestos fiber in all of the air sampling that they did. That's equivalent to 15 fibers per cubic centimeter. As a comparison, the EPA standard for schools (after asbestos abatement has been completed) is 70 fibers per cubic cm. So at a level of 15 fibers per cubic centimeter there is actually no legal action required. (And Mark said that if you took samples on the street, you'd probably find comparable levels, just from the breaks on people's cars falling apart and things like that.)
They tested other apartments around the building and found zero asbestos fibers - meaning that the background level in the building is actually zero normally. So Mark made the argument that all of the ninth floor apartments should be brought back down to a zero level as well. He said it's really a precautionary measure to help avoid legal action and ensure people are completely comfortable. They're just not allowing anything above zero as a final result. He said they'd be happy to do testing in our current apartment, though he doesn't think it's necessary and wouldn't recommend it - but if we're feeling nervous and would like to do it, we should let him know. (I think we probably won't bother.) He also said that he's written a series of about 15 memos throughout the process of the cleaning, which our management has, and which have been submitted to Joe Parish at the DDOE, so we could access those if we wanted to see more information about the whole process.
We also asked him what we need to do to make sure hard surfaces (computer, books, jewelry, etc.) that we got out are clean. He said the only problem with asbestos is it getting airborn. If there is no visible dust, then its find. Otherwise just spray it with windex and wipe it down, and then throw away the paper towel.
We also asked how to clean items that are hard and soft (like suitcase). He said the levels are so low that it really probably doesn't need to be cleaned, but if we want, we can give those things to our management and have them vacuumed with the special asbestos-cleaning vacuum, which has a special particulate filter so the asbestos won't go through bag.
So that's it - sounds like everything is really ok, so that's great!
Apartment Update: Asbestos Cleaning
Another update on what's going on with our old apartment, which still has most of our stuff...
The short version of the story is that the apartment building is going to pay to have the apartment cleaned and to send all of the clothes and other soft items to get professionally cleaned to remove asbestos. They're also going to pick up the clothes that they had given us from our apartment earlier and have those professionally cleaned as well. So we'll be completely without our wardrobe for a while again (We're planning to do a mini-shopping spree for Jeff, who needs clothes that fit him anyway, and Stephanie offered to lend me a few things to get me through the cleaning time.) But by late March we should have all of our clothes (from both apartments) back. They're wiping down things with hard surfaces to clean them, though it's not clear what's going to happen to mixed-items, like our old futon or suitcases - or what it means for things like boxes of papers. So still a few mysteries to find out...
And here's the long version of the story:
Ten days ago, we got this email from the apartment management:
Our abatement/cleaning process began today, Tuesday, February 22nd. This process will also include some repairs/replacements of ceilings as deemed necessary to your apartment home. We expect that the repairs will take approximately two and one-half weeks to complete. Once the abatement has been completed, your apartment will be cleaned and another clearance test will be performed to ensure that all contamination has been eliminated. This process will include cleaning all hard surfaces, framed pictures, etc. Soft materials will be double bagged in clear plastic and left inside your apartment. You will be notified when this process has been completed. We anticipate that it will be on or before March 18th. You will be advised of the date you may access your apartment. In the event that you do not want to keep anything a release must be signed authorizing us to dispose of these items on your behalf. Those items which will be bagged are contaminated, therefore all of these items must be cleaned by a dry cleaners who specializes in fire restoration and asbestos removal in clothing and other soft items.
For those of you who have Apartment Renter’s Insurance you will be advised of when you may contact your agent(s) and advise them of our anticipated access date so that they can schedule their visit to your apartment. They should contact me by email to obtain access.
For those of you who do not have Apartment Renter’s Insurance, it has been decided that Management will absorb the cleaning costs for your clothing. We have located a qualified dry cleaners to handle this cleaning process.
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Jeff and I were a little worried about what this meant for the things that Niyi had gotten out of our apartment shortly after the fire (remember that list of 10 things?). So we investigated. Here's some of what Jeff found (this was an email to his parents - who are both doctors - asking their opinion:
One thing that Mariel and I are concerned about is that they deem that this is enough asbestos that all of our stuff is being bagged and treated as hazardous, while we just took all our other stuff.
Then, we washed whatever clothing from there with whatever new clothing that we have, so everything might be contaminated. We were thinking that we'd ask them to clean all the stuff that we have too. I wanted to get you guys' ideas on how dangerous you think this is for us.
I was trying to figure this out online. This study: http://www.mesothelioma.com/treatment/research/etiological-studies/multicentric-study-on-malignant-pleural-mesothelioma-and-non-occupational-exposure-to-asbestos.htm makes me think it's not horrible. Occupational risks like cleaning people's contaminated clothes seem to increase your chances of mesothelioma by like a factor of 5. I feel like wearing some of these contaminated clothes for a while is probably a bit lower risk than that. Also, I feel like our baseline chances of mesothelioma are very low, so a 5x increase might be fairly minor. The risk of mesothelioma is like 15/million/year in the US, but that includes still a lot of people who were exposed before asbestos stopped being used in many things, and presumably a lot of people who have higher occupational exposure than we do. And even at 15/million/year, over 30 years that's the same risk as driving 50,000 miles. So it's a risk but not a super giant one.
But we would like your opinion about the risks here: are we underestimating them? Are there other important diseases that we'd get?
Jeff's Mom and Dad wrote back and said they think there is probably not much need to worry, but they'd recommend either professionally cleaning or throwing away the things we got out of old apartment before, just to have peace of mind. Here's what Jeff's Mom said:
I basically agree with your risk assessment (i.e., basically no risk up to now). My recommendation is: For permanent peace of mind, clean/ditch everything. Here are specific thoughts.
When they talk about mesothelioma from washing contaminated clothes, they are talking about wives of men with serious chronic (ongoing) exposure to asbestosis. Those guys came home with newly (and seriously) contaminated work clothes every day for years.
You washed your washable clothes several times before wearing them, which can only help, so I wouldn’t worry about exposure up to now. That said, if there is still a small amount of asbestos on them, there is still the chance of continuing exposure, so for peace of mind I suggest sending favorites to the expensive cleaners and ditching the rest. This eliminates any future exposure, if asbestos fibers are still on them. Also, only the expensive cleaners will get the smoke smell out of nonwashables.
So then we wrote this email to the apartment management:
Thanks for the update!
And we got this response:
Good Morning: I receive confirmation that you may put the soft items (clothes, pillows,) etc in a clear plastic bag and give them to Carlos. He will then place them in your old apartment for pickup and cleaning along with any other items. I will see if we can get you the bags today and place them inside your current apartment. We need to have them back as soon as possible as I will have to tell the cleaning company how many bags we have. Thank you.
So now that's the plan. She also gave us the phone number of the environmentalist/ cleaner that they're working with, so we can give him a call and discuss any concerns with him. So that will be my next update.
The short version of the story is that the apartment building is going to pay to have the apartment cleaned and to send all of the clothes and other soft items to get professionally cleaned to remove asbestos. They're also going to pick up the clothes that they had given us from our apartment earlier and have those professionally cleaned as well. So we'll be completely without our wardrobe for a while again (We're planning to do a mini-shopping spree for Jeff, who needs clothes that fit him anyway, and Stephanie offered to lend me a few things to get me through the cleaning time.) But by late March we should have all of our clothes (from both apartments) back. They're wiping down things with hard surfaces to clean them, though it's not clear what's going to happen to mixed-items, like our old futon or suitcases - or what it means for things like boxes of papers. So still a few mysteries to find out...
And here's the long version of the story:
Ten days ago, we got this email from the apartment management:
Our abatement/cleaning process began today, Tuesday, February 22nd. This process will also include some repairs/replacements of ceilings as deemed necessary to your apartment home. We expect that the repairs will take approximately two and one-half weeks to complete. Once the abatement has been completed, your apartment will be cleaned and another clearance test will be performed to ensure that all contamination has been eliminated. This process will include cleaning all hard surfaces, framed pictures, etc. Soft materials will be double bagged in clear plastic and left inside your apartment. You will be notified when this process has been completed. We anticipate that it will be on or before March 18th. You will be advised of the date you may access your apartment. In the event that you do not want to keep anything a release must be signed authorizing us to dispose of these items on your behalf. Those items which will be bagged are contaminated, therefore all of these items must be cleaned by a dry cleaners who specializes in fire restoration and asbestos removal in clothing and other soft items.
For those of you who have Apartment Renter’s Insurance you will be advised of when you may contact your agent(s) and advise them of our anticipated access date so that they can schedule their visit to your apartment. They should contact me by email to obtain access.
For those of you who do not have Apartment Renter’s Insurance, it has been decided that Management will absorb the cleaning costs for your clothing. We have located a qualified dry cleaners to handle this cleaning process.
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Jeff and I were a little worried about what this meant for the things that Niyi had gotten out of our apartment shortly after the fire (remember that list of 10 things?). So we investigated. Here's some of what Jeff found (this was an email to his parents - who are both doctors - asking their opinion:
One thing that Mariel and I are concerned about is that they deem that this is enough asbestos that all of our stuff is being bagged and treated as hazardous, while we just took all our other stuff.
Then, we washed whatever clothing from there with whatever new clothing that we have, so everything might be contaminated. We were thinking that we'd ask them to clean all the stuff that we have too. I wanted to get you guys' ideas on how dangerous you think this is for us.
I was trying to figure this out online. This study: http://www.mesothelioma.com/treatment/research/etiological-studies/multicentric-study-on-malignant-pleural-mesothelioma-and-non-occupational-exposure-to-asbestos.htm makes me think it's not horrible. Occupational risks like cleaning people's contaminated clothes seem to increase your chances of mesothelioma by like a factor of 5. I feel like wearing some of these contaminated clothes for a while is probably a bit lower risk than that. Also, I feel like our baseline chances of mesothelioma are very low, so a 5x increase might be fairly minor. The risk of mesothelioma is like 15/million/year in the US, but that includes still a lot of people who were exposed before asbestos stopped being used in many things, and presumably a lot of people who have higher occupational exposure than we do. And even at 15/million/year, over 30 years that's the same risk as driving 50,000 miles. So it's a risk but not a super giant one.
But we would like your opinion about the risks here: are we underestimating them? Are there other important diseases that we'd get?
Jeff's Mom and Dad wrote back and said they think there is probably not much need to worry, but they'd recommend either professionally cleaning or throwing away the things we got out of old apartment before, just to have peace of mind. Here's what Jeff's Mom said:
I basically agree with your risk assessment (i.e., basically no risk up to now). My recommendation is: For permanent peace of mind, clean/ditch everything. Here are specific thoughts.
When they talk about mesothelioma from washing contaminated clothes, they are talking about wives of men with serious chronic (ongoing) exposure to asbestosis. Those guys came home with newly (and seriously) contaminated work clothes every day for years.
You washed your washable clothes several times before wearing them, which can only help, so I wouldn’t worry about exposure up to now. That said, if there is still a small amount of asbestos on them, there is still the chance of continuing exposure, so for peace of mind I suggest sending favorites to the expensive cleaners and ditching the rest. This eliminates any future exposure, if asbestos fibers are still on them. Also, only the expensive cleaners will get the smoke smell out of nonwashables.
So then we wrote this email to the apartment management:
Thanks for the update!
Shortly after the fire, Niyi brought us some of our clothing and other belongings from the apartment. We have been using and living with these things since the fire. We appreciated the gesture at the time, but now that we know that the items in our apartment are contaminated with asbestos and see the measures that are being taken to deal with it, we are concerned. We would like to return the clothing and other items that were removed from the apartment to be cleaned along with the other things that are still in our apartment.
Please let us know the best way to get these items to you, and when you expect they could be cleaned and returned. Also, we would appreciate it if you could ask the asbestos experts if there is any danger that our new apartment has been contaminated due to the exposure to these un-cleaned items from our old apartment.
Good Morning: I receive confirmation that you may put the soft items (clothes, pillows,) etc in a clear plastic bag and give them to Carlos. He will then place them in your old apartment for pickup and cleaning along with any other items. I will see if we can get you the bags today and place them inside your current apartment. We need to have them back as soon as possible as I will have to tell the cleaning company how many bags we have. Thank you.
So now that's the plan. She also gave us the phone number of the environmentalist/ cleaner that they're working with, so we can give him a call and discuss any concerns with him. So that will be my next update.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
SpaceX and Tesla Party
Last Thursday, after happy hour, Jaisha, Beth, and I went to a party that was thrown by SpaceX and Tesla. It was half in the Tesla dealership and half in a tent set up next to the dealership. In addition to a bunch of Teslas being displayed, they also had the flight-tested Dragon capsule (it went to space and back!). It was a really cool party - I saw Elon Musk's wife, and she was in an episode Doctor Who, which is awesome. (I also saw Elon, who is cool because he builds rockets and electric cars... though he was never on Doctor Who.)
Afterwards, we had a bit of an adventure, trying a fun cocktail at Againn, then off to The Gibson to show Arthur what it's like (we sat upstairs - I never even knew it had an upstairs...), and then to Brasserie Beck to end the night.
Afterwards, we had a bit of an adventure, trying a fun cocktail at Againn, then off to The Gibson to show Arthur what it's like (we sat upstairs - I never even knew it had an upstairs...), and then to Brasserie Beck to end the night.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Apartment Update: Asbestos Found
Jeff got a call on January 14th from a woman with Borger Management. They found one "structure" of asbestos in our apartment when they did testing, and so they were going to try to clean it the following week and retest. As of yesterday, they're still not done with the cleaning process, so no real news yet on whether we can get back in or get our stuff back.
The news makes me worry a bit about the things we did get out of the apartment already - computers, clothes, etc. - We washed all of the clothes - is that enough to get rid of asbestos?
The news makes me worry a bit about the things we did get out of the apartment already - computers, clothes, etc. - We washed all of the clothes - is that enough to get rid of asbestos?
Ice Storm
A week ago we had an ice storm in DC, and everything looked like it was made out of crystal. It made for a very beautiful (if a bit cold and slippery) walk to work!
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