1700 H Street

About a month ago I received an email from McIntire inviting its young alumni to a series known as “Commerce City Circles.” The event was to be hosted by three McIntire grads at the Metropolitan Club located at 1700 H Street in Northwest DC.  The only bolded phrase of the invitation was the discussion topic; the state of the finance industry, certainly a riveting topic and one that has no dearth of issues to discuss, avenues to pursue, and apparently one that has no solutions to resolve its current quandary.   

When I read the invitation, however, I saw the hieroglyphics between the lines; cocktails, passed hors d’oeuvres, free dinner, open bar. So I immediately signed up and forwarded the invitation to many of my McIntire classmates encouraging them to attend. 

Fast-forward. We arrive at the Metropolitan Club promptly at 7pm, having spotted the flag carrying the club’s insignia from across the street.  The elevator, probably constructed in the early 1900s resembled a claustrophobe’s nightmare, Houdini’s dream.  Arriving in the atrium on the top floor (the 4^th floor), we were escorted to an intimate back room, already alive with grandiosity and ostentation,  designed for no more than 30 individuals.

 I’ll prematurely declare the affair a huge success.  In order to recreate, the recipe is below.

1/3 friends I recruited from the Class of 2008

1/3 unemployed or looking

1/3 moving objects to be maneuvered around on your way to the bar.

Directions: Throw on a coat and tie for gentlemen, commensurate attire for ladies, and call it a night.

The winners: Me.  Nothing like dinner and drinks with your friends.

The losers: The unemployed.  Certainly attending with grandiose plans of networking to find employment, this group fell short of reaching their goal.  When looking for a job, the best people to network with are apparently not the fellow unemployed or graduates of the Class of 2008.  Hoo knew?