Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Carnevale Trio

This week's bonus photo from my archives is a shot I took on my recent trip to Venice of three costumed revelers celebrating Carnevale in the Piazzo San Marco. Carnevale in Venice is definitely more refined than Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 158/365 - Assume the Position

This week's self-portrait is a 'MySpace style' shot of me stretched out on the couch listening to the Nationals-Tigers baseball game on the radio. It's currently 0-0 through the fifth. I love baseball on the radio. And couches. It's a twofer. Now I need a beer to complete the trifecta.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 157/365 - Saturday Time Machine

Today was a perfect day for a retro boy like me. I started off by heading over to the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum to see the exhibit "1934: A New Deal for Artists." It's a collection of paintings from 1934 sponsored by the U.S. government under the Public Works Art Project, a precursor to the longer term and larger scale Public Works Administration initiative. Participating artists were requested simply to depict "the American scene." Everything else was up to them.

It's quite a good exhibition with some wonderful paintings and excellent discussions of what life was like in the U.S. during the depths of the Great Depression (which should really be called the Terrible Depression instead). It's also a reminder of the importance of art in society, even in tough times. After I finished checking out the exhibit, I headed over to the DC Armory for more retro goodness -- the DC Rollergirls' latest roller derby match. As an appetizer, the Cherry Blossom Bombshells completely crushed the visiting Boardwalk Brawlers from New Jersey in an exhibition match. The main event between the DC DemonCats (my faves) and Scare Force One was a closer match, however. It was pretty hotly contested as well. Two skaters went down with injuries and there were multiple penalties.

In the end the DemonCats pulled out the victory, their second win this season over defending league champs Scare Force One. This was my second trip to the roller derby and this time I sat on the floor of the Armory right at the edge of the track. I was hoping to end up with a rollergirl in my lap at some point, but no such luck. Several did go flying into the crowd just to my left, however. I'll have to remember that spot next time.

After the roller derby ended, I capped off my throwback day with a visit to the American City Diner for dinner and a movie. ACD is a diner in the Friendship Heights section of DC that serves up both classic diner fare and classic movies, which it shows on its deck for free every night at 8:30. In winter the deck is covered and heated, but in better weather I'm guessing it's open to the air. I opted for a very vintage meal of meatloaf, coffee, and apple pie to accompany tonight's movie, "Dial M for Murder" with Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. I'd never seen it before and it was quite good, as was the food. I'm a little bummed that I missed ACD's screening of "King Kong" earlier this month. Now that I know about this place, I'll have to make sure I check their movie schedule fairly often to see what's showing.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 156/365 - Season Tickets

These are the tickets for my 41-game (i.e., half-season) plan for the Washington Nationals. They were delivered yesterday and today I'll take the tickets for the weekday games to work with me to keep in my office. The ticket for Opening Day this year is hard plastic, almost like a credit card, rather than cardboard. That's a first. Also, each ticket has a different photo on it. In the past there would be 8 or so different pictures and they would just be repeated throughout.

It's kind of a silly little thing to get excited about, but those two changes over prior years gave me an extra bit of giddiness on top of my normal excitement about receiving my tickets. It was like the cherry atop my baseball sundae.

Now if the team can just approach something resembling respectability this season...

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 155/365 - Hello to an Old Friend

This was one of my favorite lunches as a kid -- a peanut butter and jelly sammich with cheese curls and chocolate milk. It had been a long time since I'd had it, so when I was at the store earlier this week I picked up the fixin's. It was just as good as I remembered. If I was a condemned man, this might be on the menu for my last meal.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 154/365 - Weary Wednesday

Today was my follow-up appointment at the dentist's office. She drilled out and replaced three old fillings and then filled two new cavities. Plus they took a mold of my teeth for a mouthpiece thing I have to wear at night. Apparently I grind my teeth. It took about two and-a-half hours all together. My jaw is sore from being pried open that long and my gums are sore from all the pressure that was placed on my teeth.

My teeth themselves feel fine and they certainly look a lot better. The dentist used tooth-colored filling material and it seems weird now to open my mouth and not see my old silver fillings at the back. Plus she was able to spackle over the tooth toward the front of my mouth that was missing a sizeable chunk off the side, so now I shouldn't have to worry about any more bits of it crumbling away. No more food getting caught in the gap, either.

Evidently I have a good tolerance for pain. The dentist said she could count on one hand the number of male patients she's had who didn't flinch or squint when she shoved the needle into their gums to benumb their mouths (and that was after she'd already deadened the surface of the gums a bit with a topical anesthetic). Women patients hardly ever flinch at that, she said. I didn't react when she jabbed me with the hypo, so she told me I could take a shot like a woman. I did grunt a couple times though when she was using the drill and she got fairly deep in the tooth. She just backed out, gave me a couple more shots, waited a sec for it to kick in, and then went back to work.

The photo above is from the centerfield gate at Nationals Park. I was a bit early for my dental appointment, so I stopped by the ballpark on the way and peered through the gate (there were some men working on the centerfield restaurant) and pressed my face against the glass of the team store (it was completely empty) like a hungry man searching for a morsel of food. Less than a month left now until the home opener! To make things even better, the word is that President Obama has agreed to throw out the first pitch. I'm betting I'll enjoy that much more than the two times I saw his predecessor throw out the first pitch, and astronomically more than the year Vice President Cheney filled in.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 153/365 - Bibliophile

For this week's self-portrait we have me reading a book (whilst standing in my kitchen -- it has the best light and least distracting background). I think I've always loved to read. My sisters liked to play school with me as the student and so they taught me to read before I started going to real school. It made it tricky for my parents though because then they couldn't spell out the things they didn't want me to know about.

I do most of my reading on the Metro, at lunchtime, and for an hour or two before turning in for the night. I read fairly quickly, which was always a definite plus when it came to taking exams. Mostly I read for enjoyment rather than edification. I have to 'read to think' at work, so at home I 'read to escape' instead.

Mostly I read exciting, atmospheric, mysterious, fluff. Anything with adventure, intrigue, and a dash of romance. I really like Alan Furst's books. That's his "Night Soldiers" I'm reading above.

His books are always about spies (typically ordinary people recruited to serve as spies for a variety of reasons) operating in Europe in the years just before and during WWII. They're very langorous and moody and world-weary and reading one is like slipping inside a really good old black and white movie.

I've read three of his books so far. This will be the fourth. They're all excellent, but I think my favorite may be the first one I read -- "Kingdom of Shadows." When I travel I like to read books set in the places I'm visiting. That book is set in Hungary and I found it while browsing through a bookstore looking for something to take with me on a trip to Budapest. It turned out to be an excellent choice.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 152/365 - Squirrel Crazy

I would like to be a squirrel. I realize that squirrels are essentially just rats with fluffy tails, but I'd still like to be a squirrel. Squirrels look like they have fun. They're always chasing each other around the trunks of trees, leaping from branch to branch, and chattering at each other.

Plus, squirrels are similar to some very cool things. They're like furry little ninjas in that they can run up the side of a tree, hang upside down, and blend in with their environment. They're like pirates because they like to loot and pillage bird feeders and they are always burying and digging up their treasure. They can also run across powerlines like tightrope walkers in the circus.

And flying squirrels are even more awesome yet! In addition to all the standard squirrel superpowers as discussed above, they can soar through the air. So if you don't particularly feel like climbing down your tree, running across the meadow, and climbing up the tree on the other side, you just jump off a branch, spread your skin-flaps, and hang-glide your way on over.

Being a city squirrel would be really cushy. You have no real predators to worry about. Dogs may chase you, but they'll never catch you. Plus, if you don't feel like hunting for acorns, you can just go and hang out in the park and some sucker will come along and feed you part of his or her lunch. Ahhh, that's the life. Some people might like to be dolphins or eagles or lions but, as for me, I'd rather be a squirrel.

What kind of animal would you be, if you had the choice?

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Columbus Circle

This week's photo from my archives is a shot I took of the globe sculpture and skyscrapers at Columbus Circle in New York City when I was up there to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last November.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 151/365 - Cake = Yum!

Because I was in Venice for my birthday last weekend, my friends decided to have me over for cake today to celebrate. Desiree and Adriana made me this luscious cake from scratch.

It has a scrumptious mango filling and a fondant covering and it was decorated with some of my favorite things -- Speed Racer, SpongeBob, Patrick, Eve, and Wall-E. It's pure awesomeness, not to mention pure deliciousness.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 150/365 - Who Watches the Watchmen?... Me, that's Who

Today I went to a matinee showing of the new movie 'Watchmen' with my friend Chris. We decided to see it at the Uptown where they have a really big screen and we opted to try our luck with the 12:15 showing, figuring it would be less crowded. We were right on that score. The theater was only about two-thirds full and we were able to snag prime seats in the balcony. As we left we noticed that there were already people in line for the next showing, even though it was still more than an hour away.

'Watchmen' has gotten some bad reviews, but Chris and I both liked it. I read the graphic novel back when I was in high school and I had forgotten most of it. Basically all I could remember was who the bad guy actually was, and that Dr. Manhattan was kind of an ass. I think they did a good job of adapting it for the big screen. They devoted a fair amount of time to developing the story and the characters and it wasn't just stunts and fights, although it was a fairly brutal movie in parts.

Visually speaking it was very well done and it avoided looking fakey. The performances were mixed. The actor portraying Nite Owl did the best job with his role, and he's really the only completely likeable character. The other characters you can like, but with some reservations. The rest of the cast was so-so. The actor playing Rohrschach was quite good, but his character is pretty one-dimensional. Homicidal sociopaths tend to be like that.

All things considered it was a pretty good movie. It does a good job of taking a look at the dark side of being a superhero and the costs that lifestyle carries with it. The movie is rather hard on women, though. There are only two female characters and they flip between being vixens or victims, plus there is a vicious attempted rape scene that was tough to watch. Also, I could do quite nicely with a little less screen time for Dr. Manhattan's swinging and swaying blue male member. Would it have killed him to wear pants a bit more often?

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 149/365 - Supporting My People

Local news and information website DCist.com has a 'Photo of the Day' feature wherein they highlight the work of a local photographer. In order to solicit photos for that feature, as well as to provide illustrations for the site's articles and other features, DCist has its own photo pool on Flickr. Additionally, they run an annual "DCist Exposed" photography exhibit.

This year's show is being held at Flashpoint, an arts incubator in the Gallery Place section of Washington, DC. It closes tomorrow, so tonight I made sure I swung by Flashpoint on the way home from work so I could finally check it out. Quite a few of my Flickr contacts have works on display in the exhibit: Erin, Brian, Marie, Pat, Phil, and Angela.

There were some really amazing photos in the exhibition. I put a few of my own entries in, but I didn't get selected for the show. Oh well, guess I'll just have to work at taking better pictures this year so I can make it into next year's exhibition.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 148/365 - Happy Hour at Matchbox

I went to a happy hour at at bar/restaurant called Matchbox with a few people from work tonight. That's my first beer above, a Chimay. I only had two, though. Everyone had stuff they had to do tonight so we only hung out for about 90 minutes. Still, it was nice to get out and socialize for a bit.

Matchbox specializes in pizza, but they also have these really good mini-burgers. That's what I ordered. I had to get the order of 6 because 3 mini-burgers just isn't enough. I need a "baby bear option," dammit. Where's the size that's just right?

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 147/365 - Post-It Note Impression No. 2

Didn't have a shot for today, so I relied on my old standby measure -- the Post-It Note Impression. I think this one is even easier than the last one I did. I'm really going to have to try to come up with tougher ones.

Quick, who am I?

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 146/365 - Back to the Salt Mines

No more living the life of an idle vagabond. Today was my first day back at the office after my vacation in Venice. The scene above is of the tables and chairs on the small terrace in front of my office building, still bearing the marks of yesterday's snowfall. I spent the day going through my accumulated emails, catching up with clients, and telling my coworkers about my trip <cough> not to mention adding titles, tags, and descriptions to the Day One set of my Venice photos <end cough>.

Now it's back to making my own bed, fixing my own meals, being awakened by my alarm clock rather than church bells, riding the Metro underground rather than the vaparetto down the Grand Canal, hearing "next station stop, L'Enfant Plaza" rather than "proxima fermata, Ca' d'Oro," and not having prosecco and gelato nearly every day.

Like untold thousands before me and thousands more yet to come, I believe I may be smitten with Venice. La Serenissima, my carissima.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 145/365 - Finally Home

I'm finally back home in the DC area after catching a flight from Chicago's O'Hare airport (that's it pictured above) at 6:15 this morning after the last leg of my return from vacation in Venice was cancelled last night due to weather issues. Luckily my body was still operating on Venetian time (i.e., 7 hours ahead of Central US time) so getting up pre-dawn was no big deal this morning.

I don't think I'll be booking a flight that requires me to change planes twice en route again. I only did it this time because American Airlines doesn't fly to Venice so I had to switch off to one of their code share partners for part of the trip. I didn't want to book a more direct flight through another airline and lose out on getting approximately 10,000 frequent flier miles. I think I should now have enough miles for a free flight to Europe, so it should be considerably less than five years before I make my next trip abroad.

Hmmm, where to go next? Decisions, decisions...

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Venetian Gondolas

For this week's bonus photo, we have a shot of a pair of gondolas in a canal taken on my recent trip to Venice. Ahhh, Venice...

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 144/365 - Stranded in Chicago

It's 4 am Venetian time and I'm bone weary and stuck at an airport hotel outside O'Hare. This sucks. My connecting flight to DC was cancelled on account of the winter storm hitting the East Coast. So not only am I delayed in getting home from my trip to Venice, but I'm missing out on seeing the first real winter storm we've had in years.

All things considered, I think I'd rather have just spent an extra day in Venice instead. I'd like a do-over, please.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 143/365 - Buon Compleanno!

Today was the sixth and final day of my trip to Venice. It's also my birthday. It was a day spent largely disguised as someone cultured and refined rather than as an uncouth Midwestern bumpkin. I got a bit of a late start this morning, but I kicked things off with a trip to the Ca d'Oro Museum (14th-16th Century paintings, sculptures, and tapestries) and then wandered around the last neighborhood of the city I had yet to explore, the residential area of Cannaregio. I saw a church full of Titian paintings and lots of Venetians doing their shopping at the market on a Saturday and then it was time to head back to the hotel and get dressed up for an afternoon at the opera.

Before I left home I found an on-line ticket broker and bought myself a ticket to see the opera "Romeo et Juliette" at Teatro La Fenice, a theater that has certainly earned its name of 'The Phoenix' given that it has burned to a shell and been rebuilt. Twice. It was an afternoon showtime, so before it began I stopped and had a good lunch (pasta and bean soup, squid cooked in its own ink with polenta, ricotta cake, and two glasses of Prosecco) at a restaurant right on the steps of La Fenice.

La Fenice itself is quite a show. It's a little, gilded, cloisonne music box of a theater. Photography inside is prohibited but I managed to sneak a few shots. Judging by the number of camera flashes I saw going off, I wasn't the only one (although I had the decency and sense to turn off my flash at least). The opera was great. They went with a very contemporary staging that had a glam rock, goth, anime, rave feel to it and the set was an enormous record turntable that actually rotated at times and had a moving arm (from which Juliet plucked the needle to stab herself at the end). It was the first time I'd seen a pink-haired Juliet. She even had matching pink laces in her combat boots. She was a phenomenal performer, too. And she was smoking hot. It sounds a bit like an odd choice of production design, especially for such a historical venue, but it really worked well. The story is about 13 and 14 year-olds after all.

After the show I popped into a cafe for hot chocolate and a chocolate and nut covered cookie that served as my birthday cake, and then I went to see another musical performance -- this one by musicians and singers in powdered wigs and 17th clothes. I had hoped to get to attend a peformance of local composer Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," but evidently they have a rotating schedule and today it was a sampler platter of baroque classical music pieces and arias from various operas. It was held at the Scuola Grande di San Teodoro -- a big, historic music school and concert hall -- and was quite good.

From there, it was time to head to the casino and see if I had any birthday luck. The casino in Venice is the oldest operating casino in the world and, as it's located in a former palace, it's quite swanky. When I walked in there in my suit I had to resist the urge to announce myself as "Bond, James Bond." That would have blown my sophisticated act real quick. I managed to quickly lose 50 euros in five straight spins of the roulette wheel and then spent a few minutes wandering through the various rooms with one hand in my pocket and a glass of Prosecco in the other, fronting like I was cool and sophisticated while I checked out the paintings and chandeliers and other gamblers. It was definitely a high-roller kind of a place. There were people making bets of hundreds and even thousands of euros at a time, which made my little ten euro bets seem a bit anemic.

Being in Venice is like living inside a poem. Tomorrow we reach the final stanza for me however, and I have to pack up my belongings and head back to the decidedly more prosaic DC. It's been one hell of a trip.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 142/365 - Across the Venetian Lagoon

Today was the fifth day of my trip to Venice, and the longest day of sightseeing thus far. I left the hotel at 7:45 in the morning and didn't get back until 7:20 at night. Despite all that (and the fact that I walked 5.5 miles, about a mile more than I've been averaging per day) however, it was a very relaxing day.

The day's journey began in the Castello district. I started off at the Naval History Museum -- five floors of boats, ship models, and military and civilian seafaring artifacts which I had entirely to myself. From there I walked down to the public gardens at the southern tip of the city and sat in the sun and read for a while. Then I moved on to wander around the streets of Castello and I still had some time to kill before my afternoon tour of the lagoon islands, so I decided to have a nice lunch.

Lunch has been something I've either skipped or settled for grabbing a sandwich on the run. Today was the first day I had time to enjoy a good lunch. I picked the restaurant of the Hotel Monaco and I sat on their terrace bordering the Grand Canal while having a salad, baked monkfish with potatoes and asparagus, zabaglione, and two glasses of Proseco. It was tremendous.

Then it was time to join my tour. First stop was Murano, the island of the glass-makers. The glass blowing demonstration was pretty short and not much different than other glass blowng I've seen. This was probably my least favorite of the three island stops we made. Next was Torcello, with its two very old churches. The paintings inside the main church were very Eastern Orthodox in style, which makes sense given that when the church was built this area was still under the sway of Constantinople. Finally, we stopped at Burano -- island of fishermen and lace makers.

After the unremarkable glass blowing demonstration, I skipped the lace making show and just wandered around taking pictures. The houses on Burano are all painted in spectacular colors. They look like a row of gumdrops lining the canal. This was my favorite stop on the tour. On the way back to Venice from Burano we lucked into the beginnings of a rather spectacular sunset, as you can see above.

The last stop of the day for me was Harry's Bar in San Marco, favored haunt of Ernest Hemingway and countless others and birthplace of the Bellini cocktail. I had two of them and they were both great. The bar itself was smaller than I expected, but very cozy.

Tomorrow, it's my birthday. I plan to start out the day in the last neighborhood I have yet to explore, Cannaregio, and then go to see the opera "Romeo and Juliette" at Teatro La Fenice. After that, it's either a Vivaldi concert with musicians in 18th century costumes or a trip to the casino. Or perhaps both. It will be my birthday after all and I certainly believe in spoiling myself rotten.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 141/365 - Veni, Vidi, Venezia

Today was the fourth day of my trip to Venice. Only two more days before I have to say arrivederci and fly home. I spent most of the day in the Dorsoduro neighborhood with a short trip to the islands of Giudecca and San Giorgio Maggiore. This is a side canal in Dorsoduro, a residential section of the city that contains several art museums, a university, and many mask workshops.

I spent the bulk of the day browsing the museums of the Ca' Rezzonico (18th century Venetian and decorative arts), the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (20th century abstract expressionism, surrealism, and futurism), and the Accademia (16th to 18th century Italian painters). I learned that there were other painters who painted like Salvador Dali and that Giovanni Bellini was phenomenal and way ahead of his time in terms of his use of color and his sense of staging. If he'd been born 4 centuries later he'd definitely have been a surrealist.

Venice really is one big bag of eye candy. From the brightly colored jujube houses, to the canals and bridges, to the gilded palazzo and churches, and the priceless treasury of its museums the city is so sumptious to look at it's liable to give you cavities. By day it's amazing and by night it's nothing short of magical.

Tomorrow I'm off to explore the Castello neighborhood and take a guided tour of the lagoon islands of Burano, Murano, and Torcello!

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 140/365 - On the Grand Canal

Today was the third day of my trip to Venice. I spent the entire day in the San Marco area seeing the area around the Rialto Bridge and touring the various sites in the Piazza San Marco (the Doge's Palace, the Basilica of St. Mark, the Correr Museum, and the Campanile). And then I went for a gondola ride accompanied by a guy playing the accordion and a serenading tenor!

The Doge's Palace was really cool. It was both the home of the Doge (the head of the Venetian Republic) and the seat of all the branches of government, not to mention also being a prison. In modern US terms, that would make it a combination of the White House, Capitol Building, Supreme Court, lesser Federal courts, headquarters of the Federal agencies, National Archives, and penitentiary. That's a lot to pack into one building.

Nearly every surface of the official parts of the palace are gilded and covered with paintings. It lets you know just how wealthy the Republic was. Not so the prison. It's just cold and drab and brutal, as you'd expect a prison to be. The notorious womanizer Casanova is reportedly the only person to ever escape from the prison, but it's tough to imagine how he managed it. My guess is he bribed someone. Or several someones.

St. Mark's Basilica echoes the gilded theme of the Doge's Palace. The entire interior of the domes is covered in gold (either paint or leaf, I'm not sure which). It houses the remains of St. Mark, as in Mark the Apostle. The Venetians stole his remains when they raided and sacked the city of Alexandria and then made him the patron saint of the Republic. The winged lion that symbolizes him also became the Republic's national symbol and is all over the city.

The view from the Campanile (bell tower) is absolutely amazing and well worth the 8 euro admission fee. You can see the entire city spread out around you. I'm so glad I came in winter rather than summer. There's no haze in the air to ruin the view and the canal doesn't smell. Plus it's cheaper and less crowded (at least since Carnevale ended, anyhow).

The view from the Campanile and my gondola tour are my two favorite parts of my trip thus far. Normally a gondola ride costs 90 euros, but I booked my tour over the internet before I left home for only 30 euros. There were about 15 of us all together spread over three gondolas along with three gondoliers, a guy with an accordion, and a tenor. It's pretty tough to beat an afternoon of being slowly boated around Venice while being serenaded.

Venice has to be one of the few cities in the world with no cars or trucks. Everything that normally gets picked up or delivered by car or truck (trash, mail, merchandise for the stores, people, etc.) has to go by boat. The lack of car/truck traffic makes it really quiet here. The canals are for boats and the rest of the city is for walking. I haven't even seen anyone riding a bike. I guess there wouldn't be much point though given the stairstep bridges that go over every small side canal. Venice really is a city of a thousand bridges.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the Dorsoduro and Giudecca neighborhoods to hit a few art museums (including the Guggenheim), a museum of Venetian history, and a couple churches.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 139/365 - La Serenissima

Today was the second day of my trip to Venice, or La Serenissima as it was formerly known when the city was the capitol of the Venetian Republic. This is the view from the foot of the Piazza San Marco out toward the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Today I wandered all over the Santa Croce and San Polo neighborhoods, and then went back to San Marco twice -- once during the day to see more people in costumes and once at night to see the Carnevale wrap-up festivities.

The wrap up just turned out to be a big dance party with a DJ and since it was raining and I don't dance, I didn't stick around long. The Carnevale schedule said it was going to be a surprise closing party and I was hoping someone like U2 would play a concert in the Piazza San Marco, but no dice.

San Polo and Santa Croce were pretty cool. It's mostly a residential area so it was quiet and peaceful (incidentally, I think 'La Serenissima' might mean 'the most serene,' but don't quote me on that one). Clothes dryers must be a precious commodity in Venice because nearly everywhere you look you see laundry hanging on the line to dry. Still, I guess it's a small price to pay for getting to live in such a beautiful place.

Navigating your way around Venice means accepting that your map only tells you part of the story and realizing that a fair amount of backtracking and/or getting lost is a given. Still, I managed to hit all the spots I wanted to see today -- the Ca Pesaro ( a modern art museum whose collection included a work by my favorite artist, Gustav Klimt), the Palazzo Mocenigo (an aristocratic mansion decorated and furnished as it would have been in the 1700s), and the Frari church (kinda like a big, gothic Astrodome for God).

Tomorrow, it's back to San Marco to hit all the major touristy stuff there and a gondola tour with a serenade!

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 138/365 - Carnival in Venice

I'm in Venice! Yaaaayyyy! After dreaming about it for years I'm finally here. Switching planes in London was a hassle (moving between terminals, having to go through a security screening again, staring at a status board for 40 minutes waiting for them to assign my flight to a gate, etc.) but all the travail involved in getting here was worth it.

I'm here until next Sunday. There wasn't much time for sightseeing today. By the time I got to my hotel it was after 4:00. I could have gotten to the hotel more quickly if I'd taken the bus from the airport, but I wanted to enter Venice from the water. It just seemed more fitting that way. Plus the cost of the vaporetto (water bus) from the airport was included in the price of the Venice card I bought, so it was even economically sensible. I had to change vaporettos at St. Marks though and being on that boat full of tourists and locals with my suitcase and backpack was no picnic.

My hotel is great. It's just a short distance from the vaporetto stop near the train station. It's a small place, only 50 rooms. It used to be an abbey before it was converted to a hotel. The room isn't very big (it was formerly a monk's cell after all), but it's perfect for me. So far the only downside to staying here are the bells from the nearby church that ring for about a minute straight at 6:15 and 7:15 each morning. Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about a wake-up call.

The first two days I'm here in Venice coincide with Carnevale, so after I got unpacked and freshened up I trundled off to the mask makers fair in Campo St. Stefano to buy myself a mask. I could've picked up a cheap cardboard and plastic, mass-produced, made in China mask from any one of the many stalls in town selling trinkets to tourist, but I wanted the real thing. The one I bought is a hand-made Arlecchino (harlequin) mask made of leather. It only cost me 18 euros and I'm pretty happy with it, although it does make it hard to see down and forget about peripheral vision.

But who cares about that? It's Venice, it's carnival, and I'm here!

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Bon Voyage

In honor of my trip to Venice, this week's photo from my archives is a shot of sunset at sea from the last time I went abroad -- a Caribbean cruise I took with my brother and his family three years ago.

(Taken with my old Canon PowerShot S400)

Day 137/365 - On My Way to Venice!

This was the gate from which the flight that was the first leg of my trip to Venice departed DC. The plane for this flight was a tiny little commuter jet. Honestly, it was like flying in a VW Beetle. And the overhead bins were so small I didn't think I was going to be able to get my backpack to fit. The flight was delayed 30 minutes due to weather issues up north.

Then when we got to NYC, we were put in a holding pattern due to an aerial traffic jam at JFK. And once we finally landed, they had issues with getting the jet bridge to work properly and so we were delayed yet again. All of which meant I had to hustle to catch my flight to London, which was the second leg of my trip to Venice. So instead of lounging around the airport and grabbing a bite to eat, I was running (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof) from one end of JFK to the other.

Thankfully the plane for this flight was much bigger. It was actually bigger than it needed to be, given that it was only about three-fifths full. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as we left the gate they made us go and park and wait for 45 minutes for the backlog of flights in line to take off cleared. I got stuck sitting in amidst a group of 10 people traveling together who didn't speak English. They were constantly in and out of their seats and talking loudly and to top it all off they had a bunch of kids with them.

Thanks heavens I remembered to put a pair of earplugs in my backpack. I stuffed them in my ears, popped a Sominex, and settled down to try and get some sleep.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 136/365 - One Day More

Only one more day remains until my vacation starts. Pssst -- don't tell anyone, but I have to confess that my backpack and suitcase were both still empty at the time I took this photo. I have everything that I want to pack laid out, I just haven't packed it yet. It's been taking me longer than I expected to get the programs and security suite on my laptop updated. One of these days I really need to buy a faster laptop.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 135/365 - Euro, My-o

After work tonight I stopped by the Travelex currency conversion stand at Union Station to buy myself some euros. I could likely have gotten a better deal on them had I waited until I got to Italy and then just withdrawn money from an ATM. As obsessively overorganized as I am, however, I wanted to make sure I had euros in hand before I landed in Italy.

I only picked up the bills today. The coins I had left over from my last trip to Europe -- Luxembourg and Amsterdam in 2004. I hadn't realized until now that it had been five years since my last trip abroad (apart from a Caribbean cruise with my brother and his family a couple years back). Since that time, most of my trips have been three-day domestic getaways.

It was not long after that last European excursion that I moved into my current apartment. The rent here is twice what it was at my old place, so that cut substantially into my travelling budget. It's worth it to live in a better apartment in a safer, more convenient neighborhood, though.

I feel a bit guilty that my chief reaction to the global recession thus far has been excitement over the fact that I'll now be able to travel more, rather than commiseration with others. Hopefully a karmic boomerang won't double back and whack me upside the head.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 134/365 - The Heavens Are Hung In Black

Tonight my friend Pia and I went to the newly-renovated and spiffed up Ford's Theatre to see "The Heavens Are Hung In Black." It's a new play that was specially commissioned by Ford's Theatre to commemorate its post-renovations reopening. Given the theater's tragic connection with President Lincoln and the fact that this year is the bicentennial of his birth, it was only natural that Ford's would commission a work about Lincoln.

The play is set during some of the darkest days of Lincoln's life and presidential administration: the country is disintegrating due to the Civil War, the Confederate Army is on the attack while the Union Army dithers and delays, critics from all sides are assailing the President and his policies, the Lincolns are mourning the death of their son Willie, and the first lady's reason and sanity have begun to decay. These are heavy burdens to bear and the play gives us an insight into what Lincoln's internal dialogue might have been like during that period.

As Lincoln grapples with the questions of what direction the war should take and whether he should emancipate the slaves, he holds congress with a variety of ghosts, fictional characters, and contemporaries in a style somewhat reminiscent of Ebeneezer Scrooge's visitation by the three Ghosts of Christmas. It's a gimmick that could prove hokey and disastrous if not done well. Fortunately for this production it is carried off well for the most part, although it might be good to cut one or two of these 'asides' in the interest of paring down what is a rather long production.

The play as a whole is both informative and entertaining. The set design is excellent and accomplishes much within the particular limits of the theater, managing to transport us from the Oval Office to settings as varied as a military cemetery and the Mississippi River. The performances are uniformly outstanding and the actor portraying Lincoln does a remarkable job of bringing to life what we think the President might have been like as a man.

Ford's Theatre itself doesn't look much different, apart from the new and more comfortable seating (although the view from many seats is still blocked by various columns). The bulk of the changes involve the shiny new lobby next door with its new bathrooms and elevator. The new lobby is a welcome addition given that the theater's original lobby, a spartan eight-foot wide vestibule, meant that crowds were forced to wait outside in the cold prior to the opening of the seating area. It's always good to come in from the cold.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 133/365 - Post-It Note Impression No. 1

See, now this is the sort of thing that happens when you get 133 days into a 365 Project. You run low on ideas and energy and do wacky stuff, like Post-It Note impressions. I've now decided that Post-It Note impressions will henceforth make random and irregular appearances in my 365 Project (i.e., whenever I'm basically too tired or bored to think of anything else to shoot).

Quick! Who am I today?

(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 131/365 - Bubblebath Therapy

For this week's self-portrait we have me relaxing in a bubblebath, which sounds a whole lot racier than it actually is. It's tough to find something more relaxing than soaking in a hot bubblebath with a good book (in this case, Donna Leon's 'Death and Judgment'), a cold drink (scotch and soda), and some chilled-out music (David Gray's 'Greatest Hits').

I give womankind full credit for discovering the wonderful alchemy of the bubblebath.

(Taken with my Nikon D80 -- and I was deathly afraid of dropping it the whole time)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Cuppaccino

For this week's bonus photo we have a shot I took of a cup of cappuccino I got from Peregrine Espresso in the Eastern Market section of Washington, DC. I think baristas that are skilled enough to make designs in the steamed milk foam are flat out awesome.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 130/365 - Sunshine on the Rocks

This is the outdoor ice skating rink at the Pentagon Row shopping district. They put it up every winter and then in summer they tear it down and have bands play happy hour concerts here instead. I was over in this part of my neighborhood today because I needed to get birthday cards for my folks and pick up a couple sweaters and some thick socks to take with me on my trip. At this time next week I'll be wending my way eastward to Venice!

The way the sunlight is stretching across the ice in this photo makes me think of the McBroom books by Sid Fleischman that I read when I was a kid. They were the fantastically tall tales of a farmer and his family. In one of the stories it was so cold one winter that daylight froze and they cut it into chunks and stored it in the icehouse. That way when they needed some sunshine to make the crops grow they could just thaw out a chunk of frozen light and they were good to go.

I remember laughing myself silly over those books. Did anyone else read them?

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 129/365 - You've Gotta Have Heart

Hurray, pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training today! Go Nats!

You've gotta have heart
Miles and miles and miles of heart
When the odds are saying you'll never win
That's when the grin should start
You've gotta have heart

Oh yeah, and I think today may also be some sort of holiday for non-single people. Whatever.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 128/365 - Dante

I ventured over to the Rosslyn Spectrum tonight to see 'Dante' -- Synetic Theater Company's adaptation of Dante's Divine Comedy. Well, it's billed as an adaptation of the entire Divine Comedy but actually it's the Inferno with about five minutes of Purgatorio and Paradiso at the end. That's fine, though. The Inferno is the most interesting of the three parts anyhow.

It took me a bit of wandering around the byways of Rosslyn to find the Spectrum. It's one of the most unprepossessing performance spaces you're ever likely to encounter. It's a drab, concrete, underground auditorium with even less warmth and life than GW's Lisner Auditorium. Once the peformance begins though, none of that matters.

I've been wanting to catch one of Synetic Theater's productions for some time but I always seem to miss out. I wanted to make sure I saw this one, though. Given the source material, I had a feeling they would be able to do some amazing things with this production. I was right.

Synetic relies primarily on dance and motion and silent film style acting to advance the narrative of the works they perform. A few years back they did an entirely silent version of Hamlet that got rave reviews. 'Dante' features a fair amount of exposition, however. I believe this may be one of their most dialogue-heavy shows. That doesn't detract from it being a phenomenal thing to watch.

The set and costume design for 'Dante' are nothing short of brilliant. In fact, it's nearly worth the price of admission just to see the character and set skectches by production designer Anastasia Ryurikov Simes that hang in the Spectrum lobby as pictured above. It's a very visually arresting production. There are images and scenes that will stay with you long after the performance ends, particularly the sight of damned souls being dragged by demons to their torment in slow motion. Visually, the production holds echoes of the movies 'The Cell,' 'Escape From New York,' and 'The Road Warrior'; German expressionist cinema; and various Marilyn Manson videos. That sounds like an odd mix, but it works and works well.

The performances are outstanding, although I'm not entirely sold on the performer portraying Virgil. The score is adequate. It's difficult though to view the various aspects of the production in isolation. It's really a work that needs to be analyzed as a whole and as a whole it's excellent. It's immediately obvious that a great deal of effort and energy went into the production, all to great effect.

Synetic's 'Dante' is an amazing and memorable work of performance art. It's certainly not the sort of thing you'd expect to encounter in an underground auditorium on a sidestreet in Rosslyn. But no matter where this production was being staged, it would be worth going to see.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 127/365 - The Marriage of Figaro

So it turns out that 'The Marriage of Figaro' isn't just an opera by Mozart, it's also a late 18th century comedic play by French playwright Beaumarchais. The play was banned by King Louis XVI because of its proto-Revolutionary sentiment, chiefly the ideas that accidents of birth do not serve as a proxy for true worth and that in many ways a servant might be superior to a master.

Constellation Theatre Company is currently staging a production of Beaumarchais' 'The Marriage of Figaro' at the Source Theatre and tonight my friend Adriana and I went to see it. Before the show, I stopped in at Cafe St. Ex (it's nearly next door to the theater) to have dinner. I'd been wanting to try CSX for some time now, but after having done so I think it's probably a better place to go for drinks and appetizers than for dinner. I had the creamy tomato soup with cheese-coated croutons (really good), grilled rockfish with bacony brussel sprouts and cheese-stuffed figs (just okay, although the figs were yummy), and tangerine creme brulee (so-so). Adriana had to meet up with another friend of hers before the show so she couldn't make it for dinner, but she did swing by CSX in time to join me for dessert (she had the chai ice cream sundae, which was just okay). Then it was off to the theater.

Source is a somewhat unusual theater. The stage takes up more room than the audience seating area. There are only three rows of seats and each row is maybe 15-18 seats long. If you are unfamiliar with the plot of 'Figaro' it concerns a wily servant who is about to wed -- assuming he can stave off the love-starved predations of a thwarted spinster and keep his master the Count from seducing his fiancee, that is. Beaumarchais' play runs a bit long, particularly in the saggy second act. It could certainly stand with some trimming. The play had it's funny moments though, a few of which were unintentional -- as when Bazile's turban came unwound mid-speech and the Count's cape got snagged on a bench as he stormed offstage. In each case the actors responded to the physical miscues with admirable aplomb.

The peformances were largely adequate, with the actress playing Figaro's fiancee Suzanne being the strongest. Given the space and technical constrictions at Source, the set design was excellent. The costuming was also quite good with the possible exception of the drunken gardener, who would have been better appointed with a straw hat instead of an anachronistic stocking cap. Taking into account that we got our tickets for 10 bucks each through Goldstar, I think 'Figaro' was worth the price of admission. I'd likely have felt differently however if we'd had to pay full-price rather than half.

After the show Adriana was feeling a bit peckish from missing dinner so I introduced her to the myriad wonders of Ben's Chili Bowl, where she partook of her first ever half-smoke and we split an order of cheese fries. Now that she's had her baptism by chili, she's an official Washingtonian.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 126/365 - At the Dentist's Office

I was a big, brave boy and went to the dentist's office this morning for the first time in 14 years. And she didn't even yell at me! She did 'tut, tut' a bit, though. I think I picked a good dentist. I always try to go to women doctors and dentists because I think they are less likely to be egotistical jerks than are men. I realize that's more than a bit sexist and stereotypical -- I'm sure women doctors are just as capable of being egotistical and jerky as their male counterparts -- but it generally works out.

I picked my dentist (Dr. Sheila at the South Capitol Smile Center) because (a) she accepts my insurance, (b) she's Metro accessible, (c) she's a woman, and (d) her website said she was from the Midwest (and thus in my biased Midwestern opinion more likely to be nice). Her office is right across from Nationals Park so I got to walk by the ballpark this morning for the first time since the end of last season. It looked a bit sad sitting there all by its lonesome in the off-season.

The results of my exam were pretty good. Apart from the tooth that is falling apart (see Day 117 for details), I have a couple small spots of decay, some filings that need replacing (given that I got them when I was 8, they've held up pretty well), and some wear due to grinding or clenching my teeth (for which I will shortly get stuck with wearing a mouth guard at night). The dentist was amazed. When I told her how long it had been she was expecting a disaster.

Today was just the exam and cleaning. I have to go back early next month for the tune-up. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid a root canal on the falling apart tooth. Thank goodness for insurance. That covered my check-up and will knock two-thirds off the cost of my tune-up. Going to the dentist sure has changed. There's a flat screen monitor attached to the chair and your x-rays instantly show up on it, along with color photos of your teeth they take with this wand-like camera. It was kinda cool, actually.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 125/365 - The Dog in the Manger

"The Dog in the Manger" is a romantic, comedic play by celebrated Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. An English language version of the play is currently being staged by the Shakespeare Theatre Company at its Lansburgh Theatre and tonight I went to check it out. This is shaping up to be an overstuffed week for me in terms of performing arts outings. Tonight it was 'The Dog in the Manger,' tomorrow it's the Lenka concert at DC9, Thursday it's Source Theatre's 'The Marriage of Figaro,' and Friday it's Synetic Theater's all dance/no dialogue adaptation of Dante's Divine Comedy. Yeesh!

Plus there's still Round House's production of 'Eurydice,' the national touring company of 'Avenue Q' at Warner Theatre, 'The Heavens Hung in Black' at Ford's Theatre, and the upcoming Flamenco Festival. It's a great time to be a performing arts fan in the DC area right now, but a bad time if you have errands to run or sleep to catch up on. And thank goodness for half-price tickets from Ticketplace and Goldstar.

To keep with the Spanish theme, before the play tonight I went to Jaleo and had tapas for dinner. I didn't realize at the time though that the play is actually set in Naples rather than in Spain, so my attempt at synchronicity was a bit off. My favorite thing from Jaleo, the fried shark tapas with aioli, wasn't on the menu tonight unfortunately so I had to make do with the chicken croquettes, a leek, goat cheese, and almond salad, and broiled scallops with ham instead. Oh, and sangria of course. It was all yummy as usual.

I got a half-price ticket to the play from Ticketplace so it was pretty cheap. And it was very funny and entertaining. The title comes from one of Aesop's fables about a dog sitting in a manger of hay who couldn't eat the hay himself but nevertheless steadfastly refused to let any cows eat it. In this instance the 'dog' is Countess Diana, the 'hay' is her secretary Teodoro, and the 'cow' is her lady-in-waiting (and relative) Marcela.

As the play begins, Teodoro loves Marcela, Marcela loves Teodoro, Diana's servant Fabio loves Marcela, Dorotea (another lady-in-waiting) loves Fabio, a pair of buffoonish noble suitors love Diana, and Teodoro's servant Tristan loves money. Once Diana learns of the romance between Teodoro and Marcela she decides that she loves Teodoro and wants him for herself (despite the fact that she has promised him to Marcela in marriage and despite the further fact, because he is a commoner and she a noblewoman, it is impossible for them to ever marry and dangerous for them to even love each other).

Throughout the course of the play's two acts, the various characters thread their way through a host of schemes and plots to attain their desires and thwart their rivals and flit between idolizing and despising their alternating partners as though they were playing a game of romantic musical chairs. This all results in a play that is frequently and uproariously funny with marvelously rich dialogue that rivals that of any of Shakespeare's comedies.

While the performances are uniformly excellent and the costumes are terrific, the set design can be a bit anachronistically hit or miss and there is a strange interpretative dance number at the beginning of the second act that seems odd, unnecessary, and generally ill-advised. Additionally, although the play's ending is a bit too quick and neat, 'The Dog in the Manger' is a pleasant night's entertainment nonetheless.

(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 - Scarlet Woman

This week's bonus photo from my archives is a shot I took of a statue of Eve at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. I love that the walls in this room are red.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 123/365 - Coraline in 3D

I'd never heard of Neil Gaiman's book 'Coraline' before, but when Erin got all excited that they were making a movie about it and gave me a quick synopsis of the story, I figured I had to see it as well. I'm glad I did. And I'm even more glad that I saw it in 3D.

I think the first 3D movie I ever saw was the old black & white monster movie 'Creature from the Black Lagoon.' When I was a kid the high school my brother and sisters attended had a screening of it one weekend as a fundraiser. I still remember this arm sticking straight out of the screen and in my face.

The 3D they use in 'Coraline' is quite a bit different than the old school variety, as are the glasses. Instead of white cardboard frames with red and blue lenses, the new 3D (called Real 3D) glasses look sort of like Ray Ban wayfarer sunglasses. There don't seem to be as many gimmicky 'comin' right at ya' moments in the modern 3D movies either, although there was a scene with a sewing needle early in 'Coraline' that had me drawing back in my seat.

Watching a modern 3D movie such as 'Coraline' is a lot like watching one of those old Viewmaster Viewer paper discs that has been turned into a movie. The depth of field and illusion of distance are amazing. In particular, there is a recurring scene in 'Coraline' involving a secret tunnel that just seems to stretch on and on and on far beyond the wall of the movie theater.

'Coraline' strikes me as being more of an adult fable than a kid's story. Parts of it are quite creepy, nightmare-fuel and there is a mildly racy bit involving a buxom old burlesque/cabaret performer prancing about in pasties and a thong that I'm sure had some parents in the audience second-guessing themselves. The litle boys sitting behind me thought it was hilarious, though.

The story is captivating, as are the characters. Coraline and her negligent, 'please leave me alone/I'm busy' parents have just moved into a strange old house with strange old neighbors and it doesn't take long for our spunky young heroine to discover that the house contains a passage to an alternate world peopled with an 'other' mother and 'other' father (not to mention 'other' neighbors) that are attentive and indulgent.

It seems at first as though this alternate world holds everything Coraline could want and nothing she doesn't. If only they didn't have those creepy buttons for eyes. And therein hangs the tale. I really enjoyed the movie and now I want to get my hands on a copy of the book. I'm sure it will be even better than the movie, despite the fact that it's only in 2D.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 122/365 - Museum Peace

Late last year they finally finished up the renovations to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and I hadn't been by to check it out since the makeover, so today I decided to go and pay it a visit. It doesn't look much different than it did before. There's a new atrium entryway, but that's about it.

It's still a museum in search of a point. There are some interesting exhibits there, but it's a haphazard jumble of random items. Imagine a museum for cool and odd things you bought off eBay, and that would be the Museum of American History. It's the museum for 'stuff we didn't know what else to do with.'

My favorite part of the museum is still the transportation section with its old trains and cars. And the original star-spangled banner of national anthem fame is always neat to see, even if they won't let you take photos of it. After finishing with the Museum of American History, I ambled over to the National Gallery of Art to check out a couple photography exhibits and a cool lighting display in the tunnel connecting the two wings of the gallery that just about everyone on Flickr had been shooting.

It turned out to be a lot of fun to shoot and I went through the tunnel three times just so I could get the shots I wanted. It was a nice relaxing day for me and great way to finish up the first third of my 365 project.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 121/365 - My New Digs

Today I finished hanging the last few pictures on the walls of my new office. After being there for ten years, I finally managed to finagle myself a window office. The guy who had the office before me moved to a different floor and although he is a really nice guy, he's a total grubby, packrat slob.

I let the office sit empty and air out for a few weeks once he hauled all his stuff out. Plus I made them swap out his desk for mine. I didn't want his grimy furniture. The final step in the decontamination process came earlier this week when I bought a bottle of pine sol, scrubbing sponges, and rubber gloves and used one of our trash bins as a bucket while I scrubbed the mysterious stains and caked-on gunk off the walls, door, lightswitch, and doorhandle.

Now at last everything is in place and I can enjoy my new space. There's not much of a view given that I'm on the atrium, but I don't really care about that. I'm just thrilled to have some natural light instead of toiling in a flourescent zombie cave. Plus I love the little nook with the table and chairs where I can sit while I eat lunch, read, and listen to music playing from my computer speakers.

It was a lot of work getting the office fit for human habitation again, but it was worth it.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 120/365 - Happy Flickrversary

Today marks my one-year anniversary on Flickr (something which I discovered quite by accident this afternoon). I uploaded my very first photo to Flickr a year ago today. Twelve months and more than 4200 uploads later not only am I still at it, but I'm nearly one-third of the way through a 365 Project. That's something I never would have envisioned embarking on a year ago.

So in honor of my first flickrversary, I treated myself to a red velvet cupcake from Starbucks this afternoon. It was excellent.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 119/365 - The Winter's Tale

My friend Pia and I went to dinner at Two Quail and then saw Shakespeare's 'The Winter Play' at the Folger Theatre tonight. Neither of us had been to Two Quail before and Pia had a $25 off coupon, so we decided to check it out. It's a cozy little place that would probably be the perfect setting for an afternoon tea, but as a dinner spot it was 'meh.'

We started with the coconut shrimp appetizer and it was good, but the entree's didn't measure up. I had the spotted trout and Pia had the quail. My fish was overcooked mush and tasted to strongly of lemon and even Pia's quail was on the mushy side. Don't know how they managed that. Both dishes were accompanied by plain white rice and sauteed veggies, which is the sort of thing you'd expect from a cafeteria rather than a serious restaurant.

Now that I've been to Two Quail, I don't see any reason to go back. I can't recommend it as a dinner option unless you like overcooked, oversauced/seasoned, overpriced (even with a $25 off coupon) fare. Thankfully the play was better, although still flawed.

'The Winter's Tale' is one of Shakespeare's later plays. It's a seldom-performed work that's a tale of two halves. The first half is a dark, potent, dramatic tragedy that stands up as well as any of the playwright's earlier works. The play then does a 180 in the second half and turns into a sprightly, romantic, romp of a comedy and then concludes with an ending that is too pat, neat (and quite frankly, ridiculous) to be very satisfying.

You have to give the old boy credit for being ballsy enough to try something as adventurous and experimental as penning a half-tragedy, half-comedy late in his career, but even his skills weren't quite up to the challenge. The dark first half is by far the best part of the play and it alone is worth the price of admission, particularly if you can snag discounted tickets to the show from Ticketplace or Goldstar.

As per the norm with the Folger, the performances are very good. In particular the actors portraying the mad, paranoid, obsessive King of Sicilia and the righteously sharp-tongued firebrand Paulina wring every drop from their roles. The only let-down in terms of the cast comes from the actress portraying the persecuted queen Hermione. She's excellent in the trial scene, but comes across as stiff and stilted in the casual scenes that open the play. She plays much better at being tormented than contented.

'The Winter's Tale' is a flawed work, but even a flawed work from a genius is worth seeing -- especially if you've never been to the Folger's Elizabethan Theatre. It's a hidden gem that recreates a Renaissance theater of the type that would have staged Shakespeare's works during his lifetime, albeit with a concession to modernity in the form of seats on the main floor rather than standing room for the 'groundlings.' Going there always makes me feel like I'm inside the movie 'Shakespeare In Love.'

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 118/365 - Passion Pit at the Black Cat

I headed over to the Black Cat tonight to see an electropop triple bill consisting of much buzzed-about headliners Passion Pit and opening acts Cale Parks and Paper Route. It was a young and studiously hip crowd. It's entirely possible I was the oldest person there, including the bartenders.

I had thought about skipping the openers and just showing up for the headline act, but I'm glad I didn't. Cale Parks turned out to be a one-man trippy, trancy groove fest and Paper Route cranked out pulsating, pounding, rave rock (think Jimmy Eat World meets Prodigy). Generally I'm not that into electronic music, but both of these acts were well worth the 15 bones it cost to get in the door.

I have to confess to being a bit underwhelmed by the Cambridge, Massachussetts-based Passion Pit, however. From the three tracks they posted on their myspace page I thought they would play chilled out electronic lounge music, but in person they are far rockier and fast-paced. They came across like an electronic, falsetto, less-funky version of Vampire Weekend.

Passion Pit is a perfectly fine band and they seem like an energetic, earnest group of guys (although you would be hard-pressed to find five nerdier-looking dudes on stage anywhere), but I don't think they quite live up to the 'next big thing' tag that has recently been stuck on them. Hopefully some of the buzz that has descended upon Passion Pit will trickle down to their tourmates Cale Parks and Paper Route. They're certainly deserving of a bit more hype. Passion Pit, perhaps a bit less.

They were still good, though and I hope they ride this wave as long as they can because they seem like friendly, down-to-earth guys.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 117/365 - Reason No. 912 Why I'm An Idiot

Apologies for the somewhat gross nature of this week's self-portrait. This is a close-up of the left side of my mouth. This is the point where I confess that I haven't been to a dentist since the exit dental exam I received prior to leaving the Navy. That was in 1994. Yep, I'm an idiot.

I'm a guy, so I don't like going to the doctor or dentist unless something is really wrong with me. I believe this qualifies. As you can see in the photo above, I am missing a sizeable chunk off the side of one of my incisors. I first lost a little piece off this tooth about a year and a half ago, but it didn't hurt and it didn't cause me any inconvenience so I didn't feel any need to get myself to a dentist, pronto. I figured I'd eventually get around to making an appointment.

Then about three weeks ago I lost another little chunk from this tooth. Now I was starting to get a bit concerned. Plus food was getting caught in the gap and that was bothersome. But still I didn't feel the sense of urgency to find myself a dentist. Then last Thursday night I lost another chunk off of this tooth and now the gap between it and the neighboring tooth was seriously big. I was officially concerned at this point.

So Friday morning I got on my dental insurance company's website (yeah, I've had dental insurance for about four years now but I still haven't bothered to go to the dentist -- that's the special kind of stubborn and stupid I am) and found a dentist. When I tried to call and set up an appointment, however, I couldn't reach anyone. Today I finally got ahold of the receptionist at my prospective dentist and made an appointment for next Wednesday morning.

Hopefully I won't lose another chunk off my tooth between now and then.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - Fairy Tale Tree

For this week's bonus shot we have a picture I took of a tree and bird's nest on the DC Social Flickr group photowalk yesterday. I love the way this shot turned out. It looks like it belongs in a scene from a fairy tale movie.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 116/365 - Sleepyhead

I was really tired last night. After I got home from the photo group meet-up I spent a couple hours going through the shots I took and then while they were uploading I stretched out on the couch and fell asleep. It was 8:30. I woke up at midnight, stumbled into the den to make sure the photos had uploaded all right, and then wandered off to bed and slept like the dead until 8:00 this morning.

So I had an absurd 11.5 hours of sleep last night. And it was worth every minute of it. Quite a rock-and-roll life I lead, huh? Asleep by 8:30 on a Saturday night.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)