Tag: District of Columbia
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Space Shuttle Discovery Flyover
We had a moment of excitement this morning when the Space Shuttle “Discovery” set atop a modified 747 jet airline flew right past my office window. Please excuse the low-quality photograph. I had only the camera on my mobile phone at the time and this was the best I could manage. Seeing it live with…
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Visiting the Library
I attended a work-related meeting this morning. It was pretty typical, nothing special, and probably like a thousand other meetings you or I have ever experienced in our lifetimes. This one ended a bit differently though. It took place at an office deep within the Madison Building of the Library of Congress. So our host…
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A Precious Tip
The Washington Monument has been in the news quite a lot lately. Experts continue to examine damage resulting from the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on August 23, 2011. The thought of people rappelling down narrow masonry walls for hundreds of feet searching for cracks seems daunting. Just watch this video from the Associated Press:…
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Hurricane Irene Now a Memory
Hurricane Irene finally finished with the Washington, DC area. We do have one last rain band that needs to work its way through. Then we should have clear skies by noon. I’ve been up since 5:00 am, partially because I’m an early riser, partially because I couldn’t sleep for the obvious reasons. I’ve noticed the…
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Earthquake in DC!
Holy crap! We just had an earthquake. I’m on the top floor — 11th floor — of an office building in Crystal City, just across the river from Washington, DC. The building actually ROCKED for awhile. Lots of people have evacuated the office buildings. I can see them out on the streets. Me? I’m still…
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All Those Modes of Transportation
I brought my elementary-aged son to “bring your child to work day” back in April. I wasn’t sure he was going to enjoy the event but he had a fine time. And I learned from it too. It was wonderful to see my very familiar office space through the eyes of someone who had never…
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Tourist Options During a Government Shutdown
The benefit or the curse of living in the Washington, DC area — and the jury is still out on that call — is that national and international news for everyone else is our local news. Currently we can’t escape the theatrics of yet another impending government shutdown. Here’s to hoping that the immature politicians…
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Maps from the Museum
There is a fine selection of inexpensive and free museums available to me in the Washington, DC area. Of course those including the renowned collections of the Smithsonian Institution. The only drawback is that everyone else has the same easy access too. Crowd avoidance and timing become important consideration. I find that January weekends work…
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My Unnatural Fixation with the American Meridian
I’ll go ahead and crank up the old cliché generator. See if you can select the one you think would be most appropriate to the current situation: I’m like a dog with a bone; I’m pulling a thread from the sweater; I’m beating a dead horse, or all of the above. The American Meridian continues…
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More Oddities in Washington, DC
It was great to be offered an opportunity to submit a guest post on Google Sightseeing, following in the footsteps of Kyle Kusch of The Basement Geographer. Google Sightseeing is one of my all-time favorite blogs and I read it often. So it was a pleasure working with its principal authors, Alex and James Turnbull.…