Just when you thought that the mountain couldn’t look any worse than it already did…
7 minute read
April 16, 2017, 5:37 PM
On Tuesday, April 11, I got together with Elyse and Melissa, and we headed down to Virginia for the day. The plan was to get together with my parents, plus visit Afton Mountain and downtown Staunton.
We left the house at 9:30, and took US 29 down to Charlottesville. First stop was Moe’s Original Bar B Que, where we had lunch with my father. Fun time, and my father seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to finding good barbecue. Every barbecue place that Dad has taken me to has been wonderful, and this was no exception.
From here, we took US 250 across to Afton Mountain. There, we went to the second overlook, i.e. the Rockfish Valley Parking Overlook, to get some views. I tend to avoid Afton Overlook, the first overlook, after being propositioned for sex there one night back in 2005. The second overlook, which is a mile and some change further down the road, tends to attract fewer undesirables. I suppose it’s because it’s further away from civilization than the first one, which is a minute’s drive from the freeway. In any case, the view is awesome:
Continue reading…Categories: Afton Mountain, Elyse, Family, Melissa, Staunton, Stuarts Draft, Urban exploration, Waynesboro
New couch!
9 minute read
May 29, 2016, 6:30 PM
Sometimes, you just have to go out with the old. After fifteen years, I finally got rid of my old futon from college. In other words, this:
Fun in Philadelphia…
7 minute read
April 28, 2015, 11:29 PM
Back at the end of March, I went up to Philadelphia with my friends Melissa and Elyse. We had a list of things that we wanted to do, and we did as many of them as we could. We had a blast, plus we got to meet up with my cousins Mike and Tara for dinner. This trip was also a proof of concept for how my various little outings might go now that I routinely work late nights, since my typical workday runs from approximately 4:00 PM until just before 2:00 AM.
Logistically, it worked out this way: Melissa met me at Glenmont station around 11:00, and then we traveled up to Howard County to get Elyse. Then from there, up to Philadelphia via I-95. Then in Philadelphia, everything that we were planning was transit-accessible, save for one thing, but we worked it all out pretty well.
Our first point of interest was the non-transit-accessible one: the SS United States. This would be a quick look-see for some photos, and then move along to other targets. We parked at the IKEA store across the street, and then Elyse and I walked over for a look (Melissa stayed in the car). Here are pix:
It was a six-mile hike, mostly uphill, but the view was definitely worth it…
10 minute read
May 12, 2014, 12:19 PM
On May 4, I got together with Melissa, Pete, and Pete’s dog Bruno, and we went on a trip out to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to do some hiking. The inspiration for this trip was twofold. First of all, Pete and Melissa had recently become friends on Facebook, though they had never met in person. This seemed like a good opportunity for them to actually meet. And then the venue came about after I saw someone else post pictures of the Maryland Heights overlook at Harpers Ferry onto Facebook, and I decided that I wanted to see it for myself.
Heading in, I first picked Melissa up at her house in Hyattsville, along with, to my surprise, Jason. He was going to check out the Smithsonian, and so we brought him down to a Metro station. After dropping Jason off at Eastern Market station, Melissa and I met up with Pete for breakfast at Sizzling Express. After breakfast, we headed back over to Pete’s house to get Bruno, and then we all walked down to the car, which was parked on 6th Street SE. I ended up taking Bruno’s leash, which was an experience all of its own. Realize that when I was growing up, my family had a dachshund, which is a small dog. Bruno is a basset hound, which is a much bigger breed. Walking a basset hound is a different experience entirely from walking a dachshund, in that I was mostly walking Bruno, but there were definitely times when Bruno was walking me. Bruno is pretty strong, and was able to pull me around at times as he checked out various items along our path. Greta could never have pulled me around like that on account of her being too small. But it was fun, so all was well, and Pete was there to remind Bruno to be on his best behavior if necessary.
When we got to the car, Bruno got in his carrier, and we were off. To get there, we took the Southwest Freeway to GW Parkway to the Beltway to I-270 to US 340. And for the record, 340’s east-west signing in Maryland always throws me off, because I am very much accustomed to 340’s being signed as a north-south route, as it is in Virginia and West Virginia, though that’s by far not the only US highway that changes directional designations like that.
Categories: Amtrak, Friends, Melissa, Recreation/Exercise, West Virginia
Fun at the Inner Harbor!
3 minute read
April 29, 2014, 9:42 PM
Sometimes you’ve got to love what kinds of amusing things you can get into with friends. Last Wednesday, Melissa, Jason (whom I know through Melissa) and I got together and went up to Baltimore. The primary purpose was to visit the observation deck at the Baltimore World Trade Center. And that we did. We got to see Baltimore from above, and I got all sorts of photos from 27 stories up, but then we also got all sorts of crazy pictures of each other, mostly of Melissa and me.
But first of all, for those not familiar, this is the Baltimore World Trade Center:
Singing about five overbearing and overemotional humans…
2 minute read
February 6, 2014, 11:34 PM
So Tuesday night was fun. I got together with my friend Melissa, and we hung out for a few hours. We did some computer and phone maintenance over at my house, and then headed out for dinner. We went to The Potomac Grill, which is located in Talbott Center on Rockville Pike.
For those not familiar, The Potomac Grill hosts Blinkie’s Karaoke, which is run by my friends Ken and Luisa. I’ve done fill-in work as the engineer for Blinkie’s Karaoke from time to time, but this was my first time going solely as a participant. Melissa didn’t sing, but I did. I sang a karaoke version of the theme to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Those of you who are familiar with what I’ve talked about know that I’m a bit of a Power Rangers geek (I got into it in high school). This was a new addition to the catalog, and so I premiered it. And to top things off, Melissa filmed my performance:
Categories: Melissa, Power Rangers
Lights on the Bay!
6 minute read
December 20, 2013, 3:35 PM
So on Wednesday evening, I got together with my friend Melissa, and we spent much of the afternoon and evening in Annapolis. We visited the downtown area and Annapolis Mall, we had dinner, and then headed down to Sandy Point State Park, where we saw the “Lights on the Bay” Christmas light display.
In downtown Annapolis, we visited approximately the same area that I explored back in April. We parked on Main Street, and went down to the harbor, explored around a bit, went up to the traffic circle near the Maryland State House, and then returned to the car. We were both kind of amused with getting photos of each other, more than anything else.
Case in point:
Selfie.
And who managed to dump themself out of their kayak in the first thirty seconds? That’s right. Me.
5 minute read
August 21, 2013, 1:46 PM
On Sunday, August 18, Melissa, Doreen, and I went down to the Key Bridge Boathouse (historically Jack’s Boathouse) right under the Key Bridge in Georgetown for a kayaking adventure. This was a long time in coming. We bought a Groupon voucher for this back in May, with the intention of going on May 19. However, come May 19, the weather did not cooperate with those plans, giving us a cold and rainy day. We ended up rescheduling, and this was the day we eventually settled on to reschedule. It still ended up being a rainy day, but at least it wasn’t cold.
Doreen came along for our outing as well, and her participation ended up being something of a surprise. Originally, Doreen didn’t want to go out on the water with us, and was going to be our designated photographer, using my real camera from the dock to photograph us. Once we got to the dock, she decided that she wanted to go in the water, and so all three of us ended up going kayaking, and we just photographed using Duckie, which was securely clipped to my life jacket.
After signing all of our waivers and putting on life jackets, we got going. First, Doreen got into her kayak:
Categories: Melissa, Recreation/Exercise, Washington DC
Hot fun in the summertime…
6 minute read
August 17, 2013, 8:54 PM
So this summer has been a pretty fun one. I’ve taken the various summer safety tips that I’ve picked up along the way to heart, like not drinking straight out of the hose while it’s at full blast, tying the waistband of your suit really well while bodysurfing, not putting too much sugar in your Kool-Aid, and not gossiping because it makes your tongue susceptible to sunburn (and I don’t like the taste of Solarcaine), and went out and had some fun with friends.
Specifically, on August 4, I went down to Chesapeake Beach Water Park with Melissa, Doreen (friend of Melissa’s), and Chris (Melissa’s boyfriend). We had a blast. Chesapeake Beach Water Park is a little bit smaller (and a little more expensive) than Splash Down Waterpark in Manassas, where I’ve been many times before, but it’s not a bad time. They have a lazy river, a small central pool, several small slides, and a slide tower that has two small slides and two big slides on it. This is the slide tower:
Categories: Melissa, Recreation/Exercise
Nothing like a relaxing day on the river…
6 minute read
June 9, 2013, 10:08 PM
A week ago, my friend Melissa and I went down to Luray to go tubing on the Shenandoah River. This was the same place I went in 2009 with my coworkers, documented in the Tubing the Shenandoah River set in Life and Times. This time, it was just the two of us, and we had a blast.
It was apparently a slow day at Shenandoah River Outfitters, as there were only nine people going tubing. There was a group of five girls, then there was Melissa and me, and then another two people. But then again, June 2 is fairly early in the season, so it’s okay. It wasn’t amazingly hot out, and the day was mostly overcast. That made the water feel a little cold getting in, but that cold feeling only lasted a few minutes, until we got used to the temperature.
Once we got over to the dropoff site at mile 16, we got photos. First, the group of five wanted us to get photos of them with their phone. Once we got that, we got the same shot with my camera, Duckie:
Categories: Melissa, Recreation/Exercise
ZooLights!
7 minute read
December 23, 2012, 2:10 PM
You can tell that my life has been busy lately. This happened a week ago and only now am I finally getting a chance to write about it. Nonetheless, though, I had fun last weekend. I got together with my friend Melissa, who I know through a few Anons, and who I first met at the Silver Spring Zombie Walk in 2011. We went around the mall in Wheaton a bit, and then headed into DC for ZooLights at the National Zoo. That was a lot of fun.
First of all, I had not been to the National Zoo in ages. I think that the last time I was at the zoo was, I believe, the summer of 1996. Back then, Mom and Sis and I went on a weekday, and I remember its being my first time ever making any sort of Metro transfer, and my first time on the Red Line. Prior to that trip, we had been to Washington a few times, but never before had we done anything other than one train. I took the Blue Line on my first trip, and several Orange Line rides. That first transfer was interesting, because I had never been to Metro Center before, nor had I ever transferred. It had never crossed my mind that one line crossed over the other. Then when we got to the zoo, I recall our being not so impressed with it at that time. But at the same time, it was also really hot out and I was not doing well on the hill that the zoo is built on due to my being somewhat out of shape.
Back in the present, though, I’m in really good shape, and it’s time to see Christmas-themed lighting. I will admit that I had some fun (in a mean way) with the identity of the main sponsor for ZooLights: Pepco. Pepco, you may recall, is the for-profit utility that has the notoriously unreliable power grid in DC, Montgomery County, and PG County, and that keeps asking for permission to raise rates. My comment was that with Pepco sponsoring it, I was somewhat surprised that the lights were even on, considering that they often have problems with that.
Categories: Christmas, Melissa, Retail, Washington DC, Wheaton