14-hour workdays and 6-day old pizza ...

... that was my work week last week. I left for the office a little after 6 a.m., while it was still dark, and also came home in the dark: at my desk by 7 a.m. and not leaving until 9 p.m.

The major reason: I had two long front-page stories which required a lot of reporting and interviewing, and some of my sources were in Alaska - four hours behind Washington, D.C.

A couple of days I didn't have enough time to grab a sandwich for lunch, so I scrounged around the office refrigerator and was desperate enough to wolf down slices of 6-day old sausage pizza. And you know what? They didn't taste half-bad. That's desperation for you.

Anyway, that's why I haven't blogged in a while. Real life happens.

More than you can shake a stick at: I feel lucky that there are so many free cultural events in Washington. Yesterday, for example, I went to the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center, the premier arts venue in town, to watch a free concert by the Polyphonic Spree, a "symphonic choral pop band."

It was a mild Friday evening, and I saw a bunch of halter-top and Birkenstock-wearing college kids from nearby Georgetown University and George Washington University. But they also stood shoulder to shoulder with young and middle-aged men and women in suits sipping over-priced wine and beer from the concessions stand. Crouched nearby were families with toddlers. A group of white-haired and frail oldsters sat along the perimeter, well away from the speakers.

They performed on the center's new outdoors south venue, on the banks of the Potomac and with a sweeping view of Georgetown. The best way I can describe the music of the 23-member band, whose members wore ankle-length robes in emerald green, hot pink, deep blue, blood red, etc., is a mixture of the noodlings of the Grateful Dead and Beatlesque melodies, coupled with show choir moves and a discordant wall of sound. Some of the band members used to be in the Tripping Daisy. They performed against a huge white stage backdrop etched with one word: HOPE. They also handed out tambourines to the audience for them to shake in the air. Hippy-dippy, but fun.

M. Butterfly redux: I liked watching a revival of the play "M. Butterfly" so much the other week (see post below), that I took another six people, including my SO, to see it Thursday night. Yes, it's that good. A friend remarked that not many people would organize a group of folks to see the play yet again. Well, let's just say I like making things happen.

Tomorrow: I'm running 8 miles in Rock Creek Park, a verdant 1,800-acre park smack dab in the middle of the city. Think of a wilder, more rugged and natural version of Manhattan's Central Park, and you get the idea.