Day 161/365 - On the Verge

I really like photographing flowers. I'm not sure why. I think maybe it has to do with the color and geometry and fragility of them. Plus they don't move much generally speaking, so that makes them fairly easy to shoot. I grabbed this shot as I was walking over to a co-worker's b'day happy hour at Rosa Mexicano tonight.

Between the blue sky, warm weather, and blooming flowers, even if you didn't have a calendar you could tell we were on the cusp of Spring. Given how lame our winter was in general, I'm ready for Spring to get here. If the weather isn't going to dump a foot of snow on us, it might as well be sunny and warm.

And as long as it's going to be sunny and warm, you might as well sit outside eating guacamole and drinking pomegranate margaritas.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 104/365 - The Great Purple Ticket Fiasco

Well, I was supposed to be in the North Standing section on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol today witnessing firsthand Barack Obama’s swearing in as the 44th President of the United States. So much for ‘supposed to be.’ I had one of the purple tickets, which could have more been accurately called the chaos and torment tickets. The purple gate was scheduled to open at 9 a.m. and at 7:30 I was there one block away from it amid a seething mass of frustrated humanity that could in no way be termed a line.

After waiting there for an hour, the cops told us we had to move down to the 2nd street tunnel instead and wait there. So I diligently headed off and proceeded to walk for 20 minutes without ever seeing the end of the line. It stretched all the way through the tunnel and down the highway farther than my eyes could see. By the time I emerged from the far end of the tunnel it was 9:00 and I knew that even if I did eventually find the end of the line, there was no way I was going to make it through the security gate in time for the swearing in. At that point the line stretched for more than a mile from the security checkpoint. And that’s when I decided to cut bait and head home to watch it on tv.

First I tried to enter the Capitol South Metro station, but after fighting my way against the tide of people coming up the escalator I reached a Metro cop who told me it was an ‘exit only’ station and that I’d have to go back up the escalator and hoof it over to the Eastern Market station instead. That had to be the low point of my morning. I finally got home at 10:30 and watched the swearing in from the peace and comfort of my own living room.

If I’d had any sense, once I gave up on the purple line I would have just trudged over to the National Mall to watch the ceremonies on one of the jumbotrons there, but I thought there would be security gates to get through on the Mall as well so I’d just be trading one impossible line for another. Turns out there weren’t any gates or checkpoints on the Mall and some of my friends who got into town just as I was leaving were able to watch it all from the Washington Monument. They had a great time and a moment of history to remember and I had sore feet and a bitter heart.

Serves me right, though. Originally I had planned to volunteer to help out at the inauguration. My assignment would have been crowd control along the parade route and I’d have been able to see the swearing-in on the jumbotrons and have a front row view of the parade. But instead I chose to be selfish and passed up on my opportunity to volunteer when a ticket to the swearing in became available. That’ll teach me.

Oh well, there’s always the next Obama inauguration in 2013 (God willing).

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 76/365 - Tag, I'm It

For this week's self-portrait I decided to get in the Christmas spirit and shoot my reflection in one of the ornaments on the tree in the lobby of my apartment complex. Also, because I was tagged on Flickr by Picture Prefect, it's now my turn to reveal sixteen random facts about myself and this seemed like a good occasion to do so.

And so here they are:

1. I was once hoisted up into a helicopter that was hovering fifty feet above the deck of a ship at sea.
2. I used to have two earrings and a body piercing, but I quit wearing them about a year ago.
3. I took fencing and bowling classes for PE credit in college and sucked at both.
4. I love musicals.
5. I once had dinner at a restaurant one table over from Condoleeza Rice and totally eavesdropped on her conversations.
6. I've been through the Panama Canal.
7. My driver's license expired about eight years ago and I never bothered to get it renewed (obviously I don't drive).
8. I once chewed the same piece of blueberry Hubba Bubba bubblegum for three days straight (it turned white eventually).
9. I've skydived and bungee jumped, but social situations scare the hell outta me.
10. Until I was halfway through college, I thought the word 'pseudo' was pronounced 'puh-sway-do'
11. I sat three rows in front of Colin Powell for opening night of 'Mamma Mia' at the National Theatre and didn't realize it until I got up to leave at the end.
12. I'm terrified of dancing but secretly wish I knew how.
13. I used to write short stories for fun in high school and college but stopped (I still think up ideas for stories but never actually do anything with them).
14. I'm really good at building a fire (both fireplace and camp fire).
15. I once stepped on the end of a hoe and the handle swung up and whacked me in the face just like in cartoons and Three Stooges shorts and I wound up having to get stitches in my eyebrow.
16. I'm ridiculously over-organized (you have no idea how much time I put into compiling and revising this list).

(Taken with my Nikon D80)