Day 194/365 - Rain Delay

I waited out a two-hour rain delay at Nationals Park tonight to catch the major league debut of the Nats top pitching prospect, Jordan Zimmermann. It was cold and rainy and foggy and the ballpark looked both ghostly and like a ghost town, but the kid pitched pretty well and helped his team notch a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves. It was nice to watch the Nats win for a change, even though I missed the end of the game because I had to leave in the bottom of the 8th inning in order to catch the last train home. Stupid rain delay.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Shadow Over Venice

For this week's bonus photo from my archives we have a shot I took on my recent trip to Venice. This was taken from the campanile, or bell tower, in the Piazza San Marco and shows a broad view of the city and the shadow of the tower itself.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 159/365 - The Modern Prometheus

Not much in the way of backstory about today's shot. I was walking to the subway station this morning and saw these guys repairing the light fixture on the underside of the overpass. I thought the way they were silhouetted looked pretty cool, as did their extendible platform thingee, so I decided to take a photo.

Given that there were two workmen maybe the title should be Promethei instead, like octopi and rhinoceri. It always bugs me when reporters on tv who are covering Wall Street refer to the stock "indexes" rather than "indices" or someone says "appendixes" instead of "appendices." I'm all for inventing new words and stretching the meaning of old ones. The more expressive we can make our language, the better. But I hate when we lose existing words and unfortunately it looks like "indices" and "appendices" are rapidly fading into obscurity.

I guess I'm just word greedy.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 132/365 - Above and Below

This is the exit from/entrance to the Metro subway stop at Union Station in Washington, DC. I popped over to Union Station during lunch today to grab a bite to eat and pick up a grounded plug converter for my laptop from the travel store in preparation for my trip next week. And while I was at the store, I also found a cool messenger bag that I think will be perfect for carrying my camera, umbrella, book, and assorted other junk with me while I'm trekking up, down, and around Venice.

I was having trouble deciding which day bag to take with me. Taking a backpack makes it a hassle to swap out lenses, so I'd made up my mind to instead take one of the jillion messenger bags/satchels I have. That left me with a Goldilocks dilemma, however: some bags were too big, others too small. But then I found this new bag and it seemed just right. Plus it's yellow, my favorite color!

Okay, I'm starting to get a bit alarmed at the note of girliness that has manifest itself in my 365 project of late. ; ) Yesterday it was a bubblebath. Today I'm all atwitter over a new bag I bought. What's it going to be tomorrow, a discussion of shoes? Grrrr, I feel the need for some beer and sports and jokes centered on bodily functions.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 124/365 - Doppelganger

For this week's self-portrait we have my shadow. My, how I've grown. I have to be at least 7 feet tall in this photo. Guess I'll need to buy some longer pants.

As far as I know, my shadow has never gotten separated from me and needed to be sewn back on as did Peter Pan's. That's a good thing, because I don't know anyone named Wendy and I can't sew. Not so much as a single stitch.

I find that staples work fairly well for mending certain things that rip or tear. They don't work for clothes or buttons, unfortunately, but staples are pretty good for repairing other torn items like pillows. If something that can't be stapled back together tears, I generally either wait until my mom or one of my sisters comes to visit or I package it up and mail it off to them so they can fix it for me.

For the most part, I tend to be pretty self-sufficient. Not with sewing, though. That's one area where I am completely and utterly helpless. That and making small talk. It's hard to say at which I'm worse.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Peek-a-Boo

This week's bonus photo from my archives is a shot I stumbled upon as I was leaving the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History one day. This little puppet on a popsicle stick thing was peeping out from the shadows in a groove on the base of one of the columns at the front of the building. I really liked the juxtaposition between the colorful, playful toy and the grave, grey formality of the column. It seemed to me like a good illustration of the double nature of DC -- the serious, workaholic, bureaucratic/wonky side and the fun, silly, arts-and-culture side.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 46/365 - Lazy Sunday

This week's self-portrait is me being a lazy slug as I am most Sundays. I love lounging in this oversized armchair in my apartment and reading. Normally I sit completely sideways in it with my head on one armrest and my legs draped over the other, but I didn't figure that would photograph as well. In the winter I like to put my fireplace dvd in the player so then I can sit in this chair and read beside the fire blazing on my big screen.

I know -- I'm such a geek.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 42/365 - Yin & Yang

Took this shot today as I walked over to the 'pay by the pound' cafeteria in the NASA building to pick up some lunch. I've been too busy/lazy to go to the store and get fixin's for lunch this week, so I've been buying my lunch -- which means I'm spending too much money and eating random combinations of stuff that's not particularly good for me. Today it was greasy fried fish (okay), half a turkey chimichanga (really good), wild rice with peas and some dark sort of sauce/seasoning (bleccchh), and bananas foster (delish). Grand total -- ten bones. 'Pay by the pound' tends to be a rip-off. And I didn't get around to going to the store tonight either, so I'm stuck buying lunch again tomorrow.

I like the light and shadow in this shot and the way they diagonally bisect the frame. It reminds me of the Yin and Yang symbol. Plus it's a train trestle and I love pretty much anything having to do with trains. That and 'trestle' is just a fun word to say: T R E S T L E... Not quite as cool as 'susurration' or 'frappé', but still pretty cool.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)