October 31, 2005
Finisher!
My 2005 Marine Corps Marathon Medal. I think I'm going to carry this around in my pocket for the rest of my life to convince the doubters when I say I've run a marathon.
Of course, for the record, I didn't “run” the marathon, exactly. I mean, I ran and walked it and most of it was a run, but still, I kind of hope someday to be able to do 26 miles running the whole thing. For now, I'm glad of what I've done and I think I'm going to rest a bit before deciding what to do next (other than NaNoWriMo, that is).
October 30, 2005
Race Day
My Aids Marathon Singlet with attached race bib. I'm ready to run, I think. I have lots of “goo,” my water bottle, bodyglide, my Champion Chip is tied to my shoe, I have clothes to wear in the early morning cold that I can discard along the way to leave for the marines to pick up to donate to goodwill. What else? Oh yes, thanks to M I have fun and colorful bouncy balls to wear on my head for as long as I can stand it so it will be easy for everyone to pick me out of the crowd. I also have a mask to wear so I can look like Zorro, but I“m afraid it may chafe a bit too much. Anyhoo, wish me luck and I'll see you after 26.2 miles!
October 29, 2005
Marine Corps Marathon Expo
Banners hang outside the DC Armory for the MCM Expo. The Expo started yesterday and continues today; all runners have to visit the expo to pick up their race bib and Champion Chip, and that's where things went wrong for me. I got in and out of the Expo in about 15 minutes because I had other things to do yesterday, but in my rush I apparently missed the “scan booth” to “activate” my ChampionChip. The ChampionChip is a little plastic doodad you tie to your shoe so that when you cross the starting line the computer registers that you're there and starts your own personal race clock. Then, at certain intervals along the race, your chip will get “scanned” as you run along and the computer will calculate your pace and send email and text message alerts about your progress to people who want them (friends and family who sign up for this). So it's all neato and techno, but I guess if you don't get your chip “activated” at the Expo, it might not work. At least that's what I'm told. (My AIDS Marathon coach and co-runners have confirmed this.) So, back I go today.
October 28, 2005
Protest Is Patriotic
Protestors sit w/their hands cuffed in front of the White House as a plastic flag waves in the foreground. This was also from Wednesday night, as was the pic at right which shows the same view except totally obscured by the flag. Notice that the flag has turned the White House blood red. Ahem.
A comment on yesterday's pic led me to this account of someone who was at the protest, and the comments there led me to the blog of a self-described blue collar drummer and chef who seems to have a lot of hostility toward people who disagree with him.
Why so angry? I wonder. And then I realize that people like this are probably angry for reasons very similar to mine: They think that if those who disagree with them were in charge, more people would die and the world would be a much worse place overall. The thing is, we've been mostly living in their “we must respond with force” world for, oh, centuries, and guess what? It hasn't really worked so well. Why don't we give something else a try?
October 27, 2005
2000 Dead White House Protest
A reporter stands in front of the white house as protesters are arrested in the background on Pennsylvania Ave right in front of the White House. This was just last night at about 8 p.m. It was hard to tell how many people were participating, but it looked like 20-30. I heard the police give the final warning for the protesters to move and a few people got up and left, apparently deciding at the last minute that they didn't want to get arrested. The shot at right (click to enlarge) shows the people laying on the sidewalk in front of the White House; as soon as I took this shot I was forced by police to move across the street to the park.
Cindy Sheehan was one of the people arrested, although it's interesting that I can only find actual news coverage of this via the non-U.S. press. According to this pre-protest story in the WaPo, Sheehan is going to go back and do this again tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday. Maybe I should go join her....
October 26, 2005
Chinatown Gate II
The Chinatown Gate at 7th and H St. NW in downtown D.C. I took a similar picture about a year ago, but I thought this one at night was also worth posting. It's quite spectacular, really. I've learned it also looks great from the other side w/the added bonus of a more interesting skyline in the background. I've never had a camera w/me when I've noticed that view, but I will one of these days...
October 25, 2005
Dancing Raaar!
A monster in bronze (I think) dances on a stump at the University of Maryland University College art museum.
October 24, 2005
Dynamic Spaces of Larry Chappelear
An abstract collage and painting by Larry Chappelear from the Dynamic Spaces show at the University of Maryland University College art museum. I think you can see from this photo that the collage includes corrugated cardboard, thin strips of wood (much of it from broken up hollow doors, apparently), shingles and tarpaper, all on a bed of burlap. Pretty cool stuff, actually. His traditional landscapes are also terrific, but I don't think I got any pictures of those...
October 23, 2005
Cranium Turbo
Playing the Turbo Cranium at a friend's house last weekend. I think this version is better than the original for reasons I can't really pin down. Perhaps it just seems more streamlined or something.
Do you like Cranium? I can't decide. It can be a heckuva lot of fun w/the right group, but awful w/the wrong one.
October 22, 2005
October 21, 2005
Dusk On 18th St.
A semi-silhouette of the row of roofs near 18th St. and Florida Ave. NW.
October 20, 2005
October 19, 2005
Red Leaves
A fallen leaf with some residual raindrops. The tree from which the leaf fell (at right) is turning color from the tips of the branches toward the center. I don't recall seeing something quite like this before where most of the tree is still green except for the ends of a few branches. The dry, hot weather of the late summer apparently made for a bad fall foliage season around here so that leaves are either changing color very late or not at all; many are just falling on the ground green and turning a dull brown as they whither. I know this isn't happening everywhere and I hope to get out this weekend to see if I can see anything in northern Virginia or western Maryland.
October 18, 2005
Calvert Clouds
Clouds moving over the Duke Ellington Bridge on Calvert St. NW. Somehow it seems the sky around here is usually more monochromatic than this—it's either a dull gray or a light blue. Here we had a day where the sky was doing all kinds of things and it reminded me of growing up on the high semi-desert of Wyoming where the sky can show you a million colors a day.
October 17, 2005
Aibo
A Sony Aibo robot decides it doesn't want to play with its toys inside the “Sony Style” store at Tysons Corner. This “dog” was kind of entertaining, but I can't imagine paying thousands of dollars for something like this. I mean, it's pretty cool robot tech, but it would be a very strange “pet.” I learned that these things come with specially coded cards you can flash in front of them; they will scan the card and decide whether they feel like following its commands. Apparently the more time you spend “training” them, the more likely they are to respond to commands. Weird.
Also weird is how much Sony appears to be trying to copy Apple retail stores with these Sony Style stores—they look a lot alike. Or is it that Apple copied Sony? Which came first?
October 16, 2005
Tysons Addition
The new addition to the Tysons Corner Mall megaplex, looking toward the “old mall” from the second floor with the new movie theater behind us. It's actually kind of neat looking, for a mall, but the second floor shook and bounced disturbingly under the weight of the people just walking around. As I stood there bouncing I thought of how building quality just doesn't seem to be what it used to be and wondered how long it would be before the floor collapsed and killed a bunch of people. Morbid, huh?
October 15, 2005
AMC Tyson's
The AMC sign at the new addition to the Tyson's Corner mall. We trekked out to this theater on its opening night because it was also the opening night of Serenity. The theater was nice (and they were giving away free popcorn, so that was cool), and the movie was awesome. A space western? What could be better? If you liked “Firefly,” you'll almost certainly love this movie, and if you've never seen or heard of “Firefly,” I still think you'll enjoy this show.
October 14, 2005
October 13, 2005
Row Houses
Two rowhouses that seemed picture-worthy at the time. I think my attention was drawn by the crazy vines on the building on the left, and by the gutted condition of the one on the right. Every time I see something like this (and a gutted rowhouse undergoing serious remodel is a common sight around DC) I can't help thinking how much it must suck to be the person next door to that gutted unit. Talk about construction noise!
October 12, 2005
Spiked Elephant
An elephant sculpture sitting in a private yard in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. This sits on one side of the yard and the sculpture at right is on the other. I must confess I don't understand either of these pieces. The elephant, I think, is a leftover from a year or two ago when DC was decorated with donkeys and elephants all over the place, but what message is this elephant sending? Is it saying that Republicans are spiky and unapproachable? And what about the jump rope knees? I mean, it's kind of cool that it's basically knees and hands and feet jumping rope, but is it just an experiment in casting or was it meant to mean more?
October 11, 2005
October 10, 2005
Underneath the Sidewalk
A view straight down beneath the sidewalk on 7th St. NW near the Gallery Place Metro Chinatown entrance. The sidewalks in downtown DC feature grates like this all over the place. I've always just assumed they are metro maintenance access points and/or have something to do w/ventilation for the metro. Usually if you look down into them you don't see much but trash; this one seemed to be lit up for some reason.
You're fascinated, I know.
October 09, 2005
MPP White Stripes
A sculpture overlooking the Merriweather Post Pavilion. We were there a couple of weeks ago for the White Stripes/Shins show, and my battery died before I could take many more pics so the best I could do for a White Stripes picture was the shot at right of the t-shirt stand.
The MPP is another cool outdoor concert venue—no seat would be a bad seat there, I think. Three huge screens display what's happening onstage for those who are too far away to see the detail. Of course, if you're just going to watch the band on screen, why not watch videos at home? Perhaps the answer is that most of us don't have sound systems that make our whole body vibrate as we watch and listen. There's also something about live music—even when the musicians are fairly far away, little tiny musical ants on the stage below—that is therapeutic, I think. It's good for the soul. So go see a show, ok?
October 08, 2005
Dr. Dremo's
The unusual sign outside Dr. Dremo's Taphouse in Arlington, VA. We visited Dremo's for the first time a couple of weeks ago for a charity poker tournament and found it to be a supercool place to hang. It's got three levels, lots of pool tables, dart boards, comfy chairs, big screen tvs, and a really relaxed atmosphere. Apparently it also use to feature some awesome beer pong games but “drinking games” are illegal in Virginia so that had to stop.
October 07, 2005
Potbelly
The sign inside the Potbelly at 17th and Pennsylvania, just across the street from the White House. I was skeptical of Potbelly before I tried it; I figured it was just another big chain. And maybe it is, but the sandwiches sure are good and relatively cheap, too. Plus, where else can you listen to live music while you eat your $4 lunch?
October 06, 2005
Nickels & Dimes
Dime and nickel drug zips picked up from the streets of DC. Don't worry! I picked these up off the ground as trash—they were empty when I found them. They look like they contained something white, such as cocaine, but I'm told that just about any kind of drugs can come in little ziplocks like this. I find them fascinating because they're so small. Where can you even buy such tiny little bags? And how do you fill them with drugs? Very tiny spoons?
In many parts of DC if you walk along the sidewalk and stare at the ground it will only be a matter of time before you find bags like this or remnants of them. Apparently one of the crappier things the cops sometimes do is they'll watch an area where they know there is trash like this on the ground and when they see someone standing around there they'll go bust that person. When they find that the person has no drugs, they pick some of this trash off the ground and charge him w/possession or attempt or possession of paraphernalia or something like that. The victims of this are most commonly young black men. Hooray for the war on drugs.
October 05, 2005
Phillipines Embassy Old & New
The old Phillipines Embassy on Mass Ave. has definitely seen a better day. This is right next door to the big, new, impressive Australian Embassy and is obviously a sharp contrast. With it all boarded up and the sign rusting and paint peeling, the place doesn't make a very good impression. We thought this was the only embassy of the Phillipines, but then we turned and saw across the street the brand new embassy building, all shiny and impressive. My advice to the Phillipines embassy staff: Get that sign down off the old embassy! You don't want people to get the wrong idea, do you?
October 04, 2005
Kangaroo & Emu, Too
A statue/sign in front of the Australian Embassy on Mass Ave. I'd never realized the Australian Embassy was located there until I walked by the other day. DC is full of little (ok, eensy weensy) surprises like this.
Long, long ago, in what feels like a galaxy far far away, I had the luck to be able to spend a month in South Australia just hanging out and being a tourist. If only blogs had existed then! Instead of looking at the Australian Embassy you could be looking at my real pics of real kangaroos (like the one that was a few feet taller than me and kept pushing me w/its paw b/c it thought I had food—kind of scary, actually) and emu. I might have also been able to post a photo of the wallaby we set on fire, but probably not. Oh, don't worry, the wallaby was only burned a tiny bit and it was a complete accident I'm still very sorry about the whole thing.
The point is this: Compared to previous times in my life, the last year or two has been visually fairly boring, yet this is the time when I've been trying to post a daily photo. There's some form of Murphy's Law at work there, I think...
October 03, 2005
Gompers on Mass.
A monument to Samuel Gompers on Massachusetts Ave. in DC. Gompers was a founder and 38-year leader of the American Federation of Labor (the AFL in the AFL-CIO) starting in 1886. This monument is located in the middle of nowhere in terms of the average tourist's path through DC, which suggests it's not very important today. Yet, there it stands, 15 blocks or so from the National Mall, a testament to the importance of organized labor at one point in our history. What would Gompers say of the labor movement today?
October 02, 2005
Cellophane Man
A man made of clear plastic stands atop the crossing light at Mass Ave. and 17th St. I had to climb on top of some newspaper boxes to take this shot, but even so you probably can't tell that the man's arms are extended w/feathers. What this all means I'm not sure, but L. said she's seen several of these around town. We saw this one last Saturday and the next day when we walked by the same point it was gone.
It's pretty certain these little men are the work of Mark Jenkins, of Tape Men fame. He recently had a show at the Fraser Gallery in Georgetown and posted some photos here. He's also posed a couple of photos of these new tape men, which he may be calling “minutmen.” Here's one shot, and another. He's also got a link to a little video spot about some of his tape babies, a huge tape phone, and more. All very cool stuff! Thanks, Mark, for making our urban environment so much more fun and interesting.
October 01, 2005
Circle of Bikes
A piece of bike art hanging in the D.C. Convention Center. As you may be able to tell from the photo at right, this circle of bikes is joined by a circle of canoes, a circle of guitars, a circle of bar stools, and a cross of tennis rackets. A cool effect; the guitars are especially neat b/c of the repetition of the shapes and everything. Why this installation is appropriate for a convention center, I'm not sure, but, well, I'm all for public art regardless.