I believe I just tweeted five seasons’ worth of Power Rangers history…
8 minute read
July 29, 2011, 10:27 PM
My, the things that one will do when one has (A) a Metro ride to the suburbs and (B) a few drinks. I was tweeting about whatever this evening, and then broke into a thirty-minute Twitter stream talking about what I thought about various seasons of Power Rangers.
First of all, realize that this evening was pretty interesting. I went out with a few of the guys from work after work, and we had a few beers together. Then after we all parted company for the evening, I caught the Metro for home from Shaw, with a transfer from Green to Red at Fort Totten.
While I was riding on the Green Line and then waiting on the upper level at Fort Totten, my tweets were pretty typical of me:
Continue reading…Categories: Power Rangers
Metro has officially let the cat out of the bag…
5 minute read
July 25, 2011, 9:43 PM
It’s true. The cat is out of the bag. Last week, because of the extreme heat, Metro relaxed its longstanding prohibition on consuming beverages in the system, allowing riders “to carry and consume bottles of water on the system.” Take a look:
(Click it to see the full view of it, screen-capped from Metro’s site)
So let’s file deep water running at Sandy Point under “ideas that sounded good on paper”…
2 minute read
July 24, 2011, 9:45 PM
You may recall that about a month ago, I discussed having taken a deep water running (aka aqua jogging) class, and how fun it would be to go deep water running over at Sandy Point State Park.
Well, I did it.
I went out to Aardvark Swim yesterday and bought a deep water running belt, and then went out to Sandy Point today to give it all a spin. Unfortunately, the verdict ended up being that while this sounded like a great idea on paper, it didn’t work out quite as well in real life. That’s not to say that I didn’t get a good (enough) workout, though. I did get to work my arms quite a bit. The problem is that the water wasn’t quite as deep as I thought. Last year, I went there some time in August, and I remember not being able to touch bottom when I was out as far as the white buoys. This time, either I had a growth spurt (unlikely), or my recent weight loss allowed me to sink further (plausible but also unlikely), but I could touch bottom almost the entire time today. And for deep water running, you want to be in a place where you can’t touch bottom so that you have room to make the full leg movements. If you can firmly stand on the bottom, you’re not in deep enough water. This isn’t to say I didn’t try, though. I tried pulling my legs up and doing the movements short-legged, but I inevitably would end up rolling forward onto my front, and the idea with deep water running is to stay vertical.
“…and that’s why everybody knows it’s fun to ride on a train!”
7 minute read
July 19, 2011, 9:31 PM
Yes, I’m back from my train trip to Durham, New Hampshire, where I got a lot accomplished in that small New England town. Actually, I got back on Friday, but you’ll forgive me for being a few days late, I’m sure.
The business part of this trip was actually pretty ho-hum. I knew going in what I was supposed to do, I did it, and it went without a hitch. Doesn’t make for great reading, so we’ll skip it.
The train trip was pretty fun. You would have never guessed that I would be one to enjoy the train trip immensely, now, would you? But yeah, it was a fun, new experience, and I went in ready to take it all in. In fact, I was just full of energy leaving the house on Tuesday. Enough that I made the decision: the hell with taking a cab to the Metro. I’m taking the bus. Seriously, I took the 51 to Glenmont. Here’s my luggage at the bus stop:
And there you go – my big suitcase, my work bag, and my camera bag, waiting neatly at the bus stop. All saw quite a bit of use by the end of the trip.
Greetings from Durham, New Hampshire!
< 1 minute read
July 14, 2011, 7:13 PM
First of all, greetings from Durham, New Hampshire, where I’m traveling on business.
Yesterday evening, I did a two-part Video Journal discussing some of the experiences on the trip up as well as my first day in Durham. Due to all the stuff I needed to take care of while up here, I didn’t get a chance to post it until tonight, but better late than never. So here it is:
Categories: Amtrak, Recreation/Exercise, Security, Video Journal, Work
One conflict, two viewpoints, and disagreeing with both of them…
3 minute read
July 10, 2011, 10:18 AM
About a month ago, anti-war group ANSWER had announced an anti-war demonstration for noon on July 9 in front of the White House. I had expected a typical ANSWER demonstration, with a stage somewhere, sound, a zillion speakers all talking about their own pet issues (whether it’s really on message or not), and a zillion people all handing out their group’s flyers. This was not that. This demonstration was a small demonstration, with ANSWER-sponsored demonstrators marching in a small circle in front of the White House, and then a row of counter-demonstrators nearby.
And here’s how it looked, first the ANSWER side:
Categories: Anti-war
“…because nobody likes roasted nuts!”
6 minute read
July 6, 2011, 11:02 PM
Oh, did I have a great Fourth of July! As a federal holiday, my office was closed, and so I had the day off. Now for Fourth of July in DC, when you consider that (A) I’m local, and (B) I think the security theater around the Mall is a joke, I don’t normally do the Fourth of July in DC proper unless I have a really good reason.
This year, I had a very good reason to head into DC for Fourth of July. I’ve discussed the YouTube show Is It A Good Idea To Microwave This? before, and they had scheduled a stop in Washington DC on their road trip down the east coast from Boston to Miami. The DC stop was on July 4 at the Washington Monument. And considering I’ve been watching Jory Caron, Jonathan Paula, and Riley McIlwain microwave stuff since March 2008 (the “Sandra” era!), I was not going to pass up the opportunity to meet the folks I’ve gotten to know via YouTube for years. The designated meetup place was on the west side of the Washington Monument at 1 PM, and I was going to be there in plenty of time. Metro from Glenmont to Farragut North, hoof it up the street escalator which was, naturally, stopped (good thing I’m in better shape now!), and then to the Washington Monument on foot from there.
It was smooth sailing for the most part, going past the White House (without stopping), and down 15th Street to Constitution Avenue. There, I was met with a wall of people watching a parade. I was a bit annoyed, as I figured that Jory, Jon, and Riley were already there and that now I was going to be late, despite my best work in getting an early start and such. But I shouldn’t have worried. As I was trying to find someone who looked official to ask about where I could cross the street, I spotted Jon, and with him Jory and Riley. I said hello and identified myself as a fan, and I ended up helping them get to the Monument. We ended up finding a place to cross Constitution Avenue at 16th Street and then backtrack over to almost 15th again where the checkpoint was.
Categories: YouTube