Welcome to Washington

My very first sight of the nation's capital during my very first trip to Washington, DC. It was a little odd because we kept driving closer and closerl, and I thought at any moment they might commandeer our car and tell us we were endangering important people and things. I had a feeling similar to this when we just drove right past the Pentagon, but I'm guessing they have things under control there too.

I flew in to DC yesterday morning. Bryan picked me up from the airport and I met everyone he's working with this summer at a lunch-by-the-pool get together. Then, Bryan glad to have his favorite movie appreciating buddy back (that's usually me), Bryan, his roommate Tyler and I went to see the opening day showing of Transformers because they were both at the bottom of the call list to get install jobs (they're installing home security systems).

After watching an intense fight between two alien robots, we went "into the area." Since they technically live in Alexandria, Va, the area is in the middle of DC. By being in the area, they will arrive promptly to install jobs the same day they are sold--one of the companies big highlights.

Sintos drove me around the area and I got to see a ton of buildings and statues and get a feel for the city I would later discover. We roamed around for a while and ate dinner-he didn't get called for a job until 8 p.m. This is unfortuneate for his wallet, but it was kinda nice for my first day here to take advantage of driving around in a car to get a look at everything first.

It was highly suggested that I not take the metro back to his apartment by myself after dark in DC. On this note, and since this would be his only install for the day, I got to see what it's like to be an APX security technician:
*It means going into neighborhoods where, because you are unfamiliar or just plain white, the person answering the door says, "Honey, what are you doing in this part of town? Get in here."
*It means wearing a huge tool belt that's so loaded down it counts as your strength training for the day.
*It means carrying around of bucket of wires, motion detectors and screws that look like the leftovers of a science fair and knowing where to put them without tearing up someone's house.
*It means memorizing number codes so you can punch 50 digits in without wasting time looking up programming references.
*It means communicating enough with the home owners so that they feel safe when you leave their home and they go to sleep at night.