You can flush toilet paper here! (and other notes from the field)

I'm in DC for a conference this weekend. More on that later - for now, some cultural observations:

1. You're not only allowed but expected to flush TP here. That's just weird.
2. Cars are actually predisposed to stop for pedestrians.
3. They actually check IDs at bars in the US.
4. I can walk around in my friend Justin's house barefoot without having to wash my feet afterward.
5. Nobody here uses cash. Where did all the money go?
6. I'm awkwardly unpracticed at exchanging pleasantries with strangers in English, but that doesn't matter much because Americans don't really exchange pleasantries.
7. Lots and lots of people speak Spanish in Washington DC.
8. There are a lot of very pretty people in the US, and a lot of very large ones, too.
   
9. The Olympics are awesome.
   
10. The internet is fast here! I can download the entire Economist audio edition and update the software on my computer before I'm finished with my cereal. And the Google loads immediately.
    
11. Mark v. Wendy's Baconator: first round, Baconator.