The Pudge Report and other stuff

I have nothing to report as to the pudge part. I "forgot" to get on the scale this morning. Not actually intentionally, but I may have been blocking it from my memory subconsciously. Yes, it's been that kind of a week.

In other news... SM and I had to get up and out early today to get stabbed for -- get this -- a syphilis test for a "marriage" license in DC (in quotes, 'cuz you know why...).

How freakin' arcane is that? I don't know if any other jurisdiction requires a syphilis test. And, what do they do if it comes back positive? Disallow the license? Tsk, tsk and shake a finger at you?

Whatever. Just another bureaucratic hurdle courtesy of our nation's capital.

We were told that it's easier if we go to a clinic that does the test and provides the results on the DC DHS required forms. So we went to this storefront clinic on Georgia Ave. Walking from the metro to the "clinic" (and I use that term loosely), we definitely stuck out. Partially because it was 6:30 in the morning, and the street was empty so everyone stuck out. Partially because, yes, we aren't the demographic of the neighborhood. But mostly because SM was wearing a suit, and this isn't a suit-type neighborhood.

We got to the clinic, and it was a clapboard-front shop that looked like it was plucked from some developing nation. I have to admit that I was, well, not nervous, but concerned. But not concerned in a truly rational way, just an irrational concern that the place was sterile. Let's just say that the clinic isn't the type of medical facility I'm used to. And I'm not trying to be elitist or anything. Maybe I am being elitist, but I am admitting that I wasn't terribly comfortable.

Okay, there's no way the place was sterile. I just needed the needle to be.

And I'm comfortable that it was.

Even if the guy who stuck me didn't wear gloves. But, other than that, the technician was fine. Did a great job and was very friendly. And we got the results within a few minutes.

And the clinic was a damned sight cheaper than the $100 the fancy travel clinic in the "lobbyist" part of town was going to charge us for the same exact procedure.

Now I've got to go over to the courthouse to apply for the actual license. Let's hope that bit of DC bureaucracy isn't too hairy.

Fun, fun!