ambivalent images

Washington Auto Show I

The headlight on a shiny new Mini Cooper convertible. This was one of the many many shiny new cars on display at the Washington Convention Center last week as part of the Washington Auto Show. Just about every major auto manufacturer was represented, along with a good number of after-market accessories vendors. I was lucky enough to get in for free thanks to the kindness of some stranger who was walking buy the ticket sales line and decided to hand me a free ticket. “They didn't take it at the door,” the person said. Cool! So I saved $10 and I was pretty glad. The show was cool, but it probably wasn't worth $10. I mean, I didn't really see much that I can't see on the streets around here. I may be the only one that feels that way, though. Judging from the crowds, the show was a huge success.

Starry Starry Sight

The wall of shiny stars at the World War II Memorial looks down at its own reflection.

This is the last of the National Mall at Night series. It was great to hear that you enjoyed the pics! For or better or worse, ambivalent images will now return to its regular randomness.

Washington from WWII

The Washington Monument as seen from the new World War II Memorial. This is the penultimate shot of this early-morning National Mall series.

WWII Wyoming

The Wyoming wreath at the World War II Memorial at around 6 a.m. The Memorial includes one of these wreaths for every state. I shot the Wyoming wreath b/c I was born and mostly grew up there. This one is definitely not well-focused b/c I had to hand-hold the camera w/out flash in very low light.

Memorial Reflection

The Lincoln Memorial hovers over its mirror image in the reflecting pool on the National Mall. This is perhaps not as dramatic as the reflection of the Washington Monument, but it was taken just minutes later and so retains some of the same atmosphere. I also liked the photo at right in which the Lincoln Memorial turned out much darker but features lines I like in the foreground w/the sidewalk turning nicely toward the Memorial. Again, I think this would have been cooler if I was 5 steps to the right so the sidewalk would have lined up better with the Memorial, but again, no tripod at the time.

Speaking of the reflection of the Washington Monument, that photo climbed to top-40 on Flickr interestingness for yesterday, which was awesome to see. It has now fallen to around top-75, but it's still just nice to see that people like it.

Memorial Glow

The Lincoln Memorial is never dark. This is sort of a reverse silhouette, but it might have been better if everything but the Memorial was blacked out. This pic would also have been better if taken about five feet to the left so that you could actually see Lincoln between the pillars of the Memorial. That would have required a tripod, which I didn't have at the time.

Monumental Reflection

The Washington Monument in the early morning calm of the reflecting pool. Although this shot is, in many ways, a lot like yesterday's, I took this one right from the top edge of the reflecting pool in order to get the full reflection of the Monument. Again, the clouds in the sky make the shot worthwhile, adding great reflections in the pool.

Lincoln to Washington II

Another view of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I liked the way the clouds were lit and the faint lines of the sidewalks in the foreground.

Lincoln Behind Bars

The statue of Lincoln surrounded by scaffolding. I assume they're just cleaning the statue or something, but I have no idea.

This is another in the ongoing series of 6 a.m. shots...

Lincoln to Washington

A view of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at about 6 a.m. on a misty morning.

Monument from Memorial

The Washington Monument as seen from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Slippery Conditions

A tiny little caution sign sits alongside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on a wet and foggy morning. I had to take L. to the airport very early in the morning recently and on my way home I thought it seemed like a good time to take pictures on the mall b/c parking would be so plentiful and no one would be around. Those two things were true, so I got some interesting pictures. Not surprisingly, they are all very dark and some might not be as crisp as they should be; I took them w/out a tripod and w/out a flash but w/the camera always sitting on a fixed object. Anyway, I'll be posting a series of them over the next few days....

Wheelchair Parking

Technorati Tags: wheelchair

A wheelchair abandoned in the short-term parking structure at National Airport.

Colorful Tradegy

My Palm z22 after being run over at least three times by three different cars. Yes, I had to watch my nearly brand new toy (got it less than two months ago as a gift) get run over by passing cars after it fell out of my pocket as I was crossing Calvert street last night. Here's what happened:

Someone had turned the crossing light so that it was partially obscured from the corner where I stood; I couldn't see what it said, only that it was still counting down for “walk.” So I started across the street. Halfway across I looked up to see that the “walk” countdown had changed to the “don't walk” hand, and I know from experience that on this street, that means your time is up. So I sprinted the rest of the way across the street. About two steps from the corner I heard what sounded like something falling to the street. I quickly patted my pockets—had I dropped something? Turning around I saw the traffic was starting to move and my z22, which had been inside my coat pocket, was right there in the middle of the street! I watched in agony as at least a half dozen cars passed right over my precious without touching it. “Maybe I'll get lucky,” I thought. But of course that was not to be. The next car ran right over it with both front and rear axles. Whap whap. I figured it was dead. Then another car hit it with just one tire causing it to fly into the air and spin around, then bounce again on the pavement before being slammed again beneath the cruel and uncaring tires of at least one more vehicle. Whap whap. By that time, the light had changed and I was able to walk back out in the middle of the street to retrieve my toy. It was on, with the screen as you see above, and the stylus nearly falling out. My precious was dead.

Miraculously, other than the screen the unit still looks like new. The rubber “air case” protected it very well and the case didn't get a single crack or scratch. As far as I can tell, the actual computer inside continues to function normally—it turns on and off, makes beeping noises when I hit the buttons, and the alarms I had set have continued to ring as if nothing was wrong. Of course, all of this is useless w/out a screen to display what's going on or with which to enter feedback via the stylus. I'm guessing if I could find a replacement screen everything would be fine, but I'm also guessing that that's about the most expensive part of the whole unit so I might as well just get a new one. And I think I am going to have to get a new one because I really do miss this one already. It was such a handy little toy! But alas, for now, I am toyless and joyless. *sigh*

Gore at DAR

Al Gore calling the president to account at Constitution Hall yesterday in DC. For many much better pics, see Matthew Bradley's flickr set.

No TSA at DCA

Long lines form early on a Saturday morning at the entrance to the concourse at National Airport. The security screeners had not yet opened for business so people who arrived more than 45 minutes before the departure of their flight simply had to wait.

Use Other Side

Unknown work has recently closed one side of the Duke Ellington Bridge between Adams Morgan and Woodley Park. I still don't know what's up with the big black pipe that appeared on the bridge's sidewalk last year but I think it's got something to do with the current work.

Directing Traffic

A traffic cop at Connecticut and K St. What is up with these people? Why does DC insist on putting human beings in the middle of busy intersections when all they seem to do is copy what the traffic lights are already doing? What do they add, other than a terrific risk that they will be injured or killed? I just don't get it.

Oh, but what I do get is this absolutely stellar photoblog: Express Train. It's a daily shot from a NYC commuter. Awesome stuff. Plus, he's doing what I've often thought of doing but have always been too scared to do—he takes pictures of strangers w/out asking permission and he has business cards w/his URL to give to people who are interested in what he's up to. “To seek permission is to seek denial.” I've got to remember that. Wouldn't you like to see more pictures of people here? Yeah, me, too. I'd feel better about it if I had more professional looking photos like those at Express Train, but I might just try it anyway and see how it goes...

White Bean Chili

A bowl of white bean chicken chili we made recently. It was supposed to be completely different but we didn't have all the spices the recipe called for so we just made it up. I thought it was pretty good, but I'd still like to try the actual recipe.

(Some days the photos are cool, some days, not so much. That's how life is, eh?)

Moon Over Rock Creek

A full moon shines at dusk over Rock Creek Park. This was last month's full moon; I'm a little behind. I noticed last night's moon was quite bright and waxing toward full, I think. The weather around here has been so like spring lately I don't know what I'm going to do when it turns cold and icy again.

Radical Radio Tower

A police radio tower on Georgia Ave. This thing is not just your average communications tower. Someone put some obvious thought into its design so that it's almost beautiful. Unfortunately, even though it's about as cool looking as something like this can be, it still makes the neighbors mad. Note all the little prongs sticking off the edges of the tower toward the top. A local resident told me that it's common for ice to form on these things—sometimes a lot of ice. When the whether warms up, the ice comes crashing down in great big chunks that damage nearby property and put lives at risk. The police frequently have to close the streets next to this tower because of the risk posed by falling ice. The city apparently promised long ago to put electronic heaters on the tower so that ice couldn't form, but that hasn't happened in the 15-20 years that the tower has existed.

Grille

The front grille on the Chevy HHR. This was the Chevy vehicle I was most interested in last summer when we had to get a new car but they weren't for sale at the time and L. doesn't like them so it was not to be.

Thirds

A chocolate-covered caramel waffle cookie from the Caramel Cookie Waffle store in Billings, MT. My mom, sister, and I divided this into thirds to share over the holidays. Yum!

Since today is also the first day of my third and final semester of law school, this seemed an appropriate picture. I'm ready for all three sections of this school process to be over, but I guess I have to read a few more cases, attend a few more classes, take a few more tests, and work on a few more clinic cases before this final third is complete. Time to get to it.

Pocket Puzzle

A racoon hangs in a pair of pants in this small puzzle. Visiting grandma often involves lots of puzzles, and since her puzzle-abilities aren't what they once were, most of them are simple like this.

In-Dash Doggie

BG sits on the dash of my mom's Beetle wating for us to come back to him. BG is a small dog and the Beetle must have one of the biggest dash areas of any car I've ever seen, so he fits up there pretty nicely with a good view. He seemed to like waiting there for us, but he'd always get up and start prowling around anxiously as soon as he saw us coming back to the car (see pic at right).

Frantic Fish

The fishy tesselations of the Frantic Fish create a colorful design on my mom's kitchen table. My sister gave me these fish for Christmas and we spent a couple of hours fitting them together in all kinds of beautiful ways.

Dusty Dress Form

A very old dress form that my parents found for my sister at a yard sale or auction. It's quite elaborate—all those pieces you see can be expanded and contracted via sliding rails and wingnuts on the inside of the form.

Looking Down On Montana

Looking down on Montana immediately south of Billings. I think I took this within about 5-10 minutes of takeoff and the flight path was south-southwest toward Denver, CO. The picture at right was taken just a couple of minutes later.

And people ask me why I want to move to Montana. Hmph.

(Obviously this photo is out of chronological order since I made this flight on Dec. 31. I'll get back to the chronological order in a couple of days.)

My Name Is Inigo

M's dog, Inigo, wonders why I must torture him so by taking his picture.

Settlers of Catan!

A macro shot of the Settlers of Catangame board in the middle of a game. It may look a little odd (full shot at right), but trust me, it's one of the best board games I've played in a while. It's part Monopoly, part Risk, but just generally a good time for 3-4 players. One of the best things about it is that there are so many variations on gameplay that you could play a thousand times and have a very different game each time. At least it seems that way after playing only twice.

The game may seem a little complicated in the beginning (it did to me), but once you've played one short game you'll see its basic rules are relatively simple. Anyway, if you enjoy board games generally, I highly recommend this one. And if you find you like it, you can also get an expansion pack to add 1-2 more players, plus the Seafarers of Catan is another add-on to add entire new levels of play. I'm guessing if you played with 6 players and the Seafarers expansion you'd be playing for hours but that may be exactly what you'll want to do once you've tried this game.

(No, the game-maker didn't pay me to lavish praise on the game; it was just surprisingly entertaining.)

Happy New Year!

Although her expression may look like she's saying "please get this silly hat off of my head!", Sisu actually wishes you the happiest possible 2006. Oh, and I do to!