Category: Life in General

Washington, D.C., Cherry Blossom Festival Venture

Posted on by chappyshi

What madness!  I took the Metro into town on Thursday, April 1, to see the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin.  Last year I rode the scooter down to check them out but the area was so packed with people I just cruised through for a quick look and headed home.  This year, I wanted to walk around and get some pictures so the Metro was the way to go.  I got on at the Vienna, VA,  station and off at the Smithsonian station.  From there it was a reasonably short walk to the Tidal Basin where all the action is.  I ended up walking all the way around the Basin at a leisurely pace snapping pictures of the trees and the Jefferson and Washington Memorials.

There were people all over the place.  The advent of digital photography has not boded well for tourist destinations since now everyone thinks they are a photographer.  Walkways were blocked by phototogs trying to get snaps of their friends, family, and the monuments.  I believe that I can assuredly say that if all those people had to pay for film and developing, most of them wouldn’t be taking pictures.  I certainly take many more pictures  using my digital camera than I would using my analog cameras.  At least I have a history going back 26 years of taking analog photos and have four analog cameras to my two digital cameras.

That being said, I think I got a few decent photos.  I went into town late with the intention of staying through sundown.  I did do that but ended up shooting sunset photos on the mall of the Capitol and the Washington Monument rather than of the cherry blossoms.  This was mainly due to the fact that I had to pee and was thirsty as hell.  I walked down the south side of the mall near the Capitol looking for an Irish bar that I had been to years before but haven’t been able to find for the past few years.  I am not even sure it is there any more.

What is really odd is that it is so hard to find someplace to just stop and get a brew or quick bite to eat around the mall.  There are huge government office buildings everywhere and people have to drink and eat.  D.C. is very much a commuter city so perhaps the government workers are just in and out for work and there isn’t a good restaurant business environment.  I ended up going to Capitol City Brewing Company on Massachusetts Avenue just of Capitol Hill.  It is adjacent to Union Station which is a good venue for getting chow and such, not sure about brews, and also catching the Metro.

After making my bladder gladder, I managed to find a seat at the bar in the very packed restaurant.  I was so thirsty from walking around for four hours in the sun that I pounded down a pint of Kolsch and a pint of water in no time.  Since the sun was setting, I had to get back out on the mall, about 5 blocks away, snap some pictures and get back to the Smithsonian Metro station.  Even though it was about 8:15 PM, I just barely managed to get a seat and was hemmed in by people as the car reached standing room only a few stops later.  That lasted until about four stops before the end of the line where I  disembarked and headed home.

When I got home, I realized that I hadn’t eaten the sandwich I brought with me so I showered the city off of me, scarfed a quick brew, ate my sandwich, and chased it all down with more water.  Meanwhile, I was downloading 203 pictures from my camera to my computer.

Here are a few of those pictures.  More will  be posted in my photo album in the not too distant future.  Once that is done, I’ll make a note and put a link to them here in my blog.

Secondhand Smoke Sucks!

Posted on by chappyshi

Spring is in the air which is great but…  I get to open up my apartment, air out the cat dander, and freshen things up a bit.  Sadly, my downstairs neighbors, who are friends, regularly go out on their porch and smoke.  My balcony is right over their porch and if my sliding glass doors are open,  which they are likely to be in this fine weather, the cigarette smoke wafts into my apartment all the way to my back  bedroom where I sleep.

Now, it is not a huge issue, the smell doesn’t seem to  linger, and I cannot really do anything about it but the other night it was annoying.  I was tossing and turning at 1:30 AM, had the doors open to cool down my apartment and had to deal with the secondhand smoke.  I was not a happy camper!

Cardinals of the Kremlin or the Red Menace?

Posted on by chappyshi

I took these pictures of this cardinal in Waller Mill Park in Williamsburg, VA.  I stopped there to walk on the way home from my trip to Suffolk.  It was a great walk, the scenery was refreshing, but I could have done without the school bus full of kids who were out in paddle boats and/or walking around making too much noise.

Nonetheless, getting these pictures of the cardinal in a park located just across the highway from “The Farm” was ironic.  Read some Tom Clancy if you do not understand the reference.  And put a parka on because we are going to get all “Cold War” now.

It Snow Secret

Posted on by chappyshi

It has been a month since we had the last snow, 28-30 inches of it.  Here is what we had:

The big snows!

Here is what I have left (click to enlarge):

Last of the Snow, 2010
Last of the Snow, 2010

Note the scooter at bottom left.  I rode twice this week but we have rain coming in so I’ll have to take a break.  At least the bike isn’t covered in snow anymore.  It is hard to believe that we, in Virginia, got over five feet of snow as of 11 February this year and that, today, one month later, I was sitting on my balcony in a t-shirt reading the Washington Post as the temperature neared 70 degrees.

Great Bird Watching on the Trail at the Mariner’s Museum

Posted on by chappyshi

On the way today to see my sister Kim in Suffolk, VA, I stopped at the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News to walk around the lake.  The walk was good, and dry, compared to many places in the area which are closed or have limited access due to accumulations of ground water.

It was a bonanza hour and a half for birdwatching as far as I am concerned.  I saw the following:

  • Double-breasted Cormorants
  • Hooded Mergansers, breeding and non-breeding males
  • Ring-necked Ducks, breeding males
  • Yearling Red-tailed Hawk (I think)
  • Canadian Geese
  • Red Breasted Woodpeckers
  • Eastern Bluebirds
  • Great Blue Herons
  • Mallards

Browse to All about Birds, hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, to  see and read about these birds.

In Afghanistan, High-tech Intel Fails Commanders, as Does Seeming Lack of Low-tech intel, Boots on the Ground Needed

Posted on by chappyshi

According the  Washington Post article, “As Marja assault progresses, coalition considers challenges in rebuilding area,” dated 20100221, the commanders of the 5000 U.S. Marines inserted into the Marja area of Afghanistan (long standing Taliban stronghold crisscrossed by impassible canals (built by the U.S. after the Soviets left) and center of opium production) expected, based on overhead imagery, to find a functioning local government and police force.

However “…when Marine officers reached the area, they discovered that two-dimensional images can be deceiving. What they had thought was the flat roof of the municipal building turned out to be a concrete foundation, and the police station was a bombed-out schoolhouse.”   I worked in military intelligence (yes, oxymoron, I know) many years ago.  One tenet we followed then and I assumed, probably erroneously, we followed now is that we should base significant actions on intelligence that can be confirmed by at least two sources.

The U.S. military has been in Afghanistan since 2001.  Now, as I stated previously, Marja has been a Taliban stronghold for some time.  Presumably it is not an easy area to insert a U.S. intelligence officer or a Special Forces team without detection.  Nonetheless, I find it very hard to believe that there was no intelligence on the ground in Marja (human intelligence, HUMINT in the vernacular of the U.S. intel community) that couldn’t verify the status of the local government center or police station.  The Marines did not go in there without warning…in fact there was plenty of warning…to give civilians the opportunity to evacuate.

That unfortunately gave the Taliban plenty of opportunity to set a bunch of IED’s to welcome the Marines.  What a blast to have you here, eh?   Here is the bottom line for me; use multiple sources to verify your intelligence and work with the Afghan government to verify your intelligence.  If the mission to Marja had been a secret, and one that had not been shared with the Afghani government to avoid leaks, I could understand this intelligence failure.  However, it was not a secret and I find it hard to believe that there was no one on the ground that couldn’t tell the U.S. that what were thought to be functioning organizations, the local government and police force, were  in fact shells of their former selves.

As such, an occupation/pacification strategy was initiated based on the false assumption that there was a functioning local government and police force to take the place of the Taliban.

Watching Olympics

Posted on by chappyshi

I am watching the Women’s Half-pipe…not sure the specific event,  if this isn’t it.  I think I read that they made the top of the half-pipe 22ft which, according to this article on ESPN online, Riders still rock halfpipe despite Pearce injury, is 25% higher than at the last Olympics.

As I watch this, women are crashing all over the place…they can’t get enough air.  To “air” is human?  Just saw some shots from the Turino Olympics in 2006.  The pipe was not that fat or tall but they were getting some serious air there compared to Vancouver.

Some woman just wiped out horribly and is walking away from it smiling.  I can’t watch this anymore.  And they just keep wiping out.  The top of the pipe is too high.  The limits are being pushed by the IOC and people are getting hurt and killed  Damn, just watched some woman tear it up …USA..Kelly Clark…awesome she was.

Butt they just keep wiping out…

Virginia Winter Wonderland?

Posted on by chappyshi

Well, we are into our fourth or fifth snowfall of the season.  They are predicting 20-30 inches for this one which started at 10:00 AM this morning and is supposed to run until 10:00 PM tomorrow.  We shall see…  Everyone is stocked and locked for the storm weekend, including Super Bowl parties.  The grocery stores have been zoos since Wednesday evening of course.  Perhaps everyone got a good head start on their shopping.  When I stopped at the Giant this afternoon to get my sister a birthday card, the store was relatively deserted.

Here’s some pics from snow we got Tuesday night.  I watched the branches shed the snow all morning long…they were bare again by mid-afternoon.  Driving around yesterday there were bare patches of ground right next to patches of 2-3 inches.  Seemed odd.  I’ll be cross-country skiing tomorrow!