Day 10/365 - Stairway to Heaven

It was another beautiful autumn day, so I went for a long walk on the Capital Crescent Trail this afternoon. The trail starts in the Georgetown section of DC and curves up to Silver Spring in Maryland. It was converted from the trackbed of an old railroad line and runs in between the C&O Canal and the Potomac River. It’s much more secluded than the Mt. Vernon Trail and there are so many trees bordering it that in sections it’s like going through a leafy tunnel.

This picture is of the wooden staircase leading down from the C&O Canal Towpath to the head of the Capital Crescent Trail. I got lucky while I was walking along the canal. They had a team of mules towing along a barge full of tourists. This was the first time I’d seen the barge moving. Usually when I pass by the canal the barge is just moored to the bank. I’ve been meaning to take that tour for years but still haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe one of these days.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 9/365 - Go Speed Racer, Go!

Most weekdays I eat lunch at my desk. Normally I have some kind of wrap (today it was turkey & swiss), veggies (today it was grape tomatoes), and fruit (forgot to pack fruit in my lunch bag today -- bummer). When the weather gets colder I switch from wraps to soup. Eating pretty much the same thing every day has never really bothered me.

During my lunch break, I usually either read, do the crossword puzzle, or watch a DVD of a tv show or old cliffhanger serial on my PC. Today I watched Speed Racer. It was the episode where he had to go up against the Mammoth Car (an all-time classic).

Speed Racer is my favorite cartoon of all time and possibly even my favorite tv show (although Northern Exposure and Jonny Quest are neck-and-neck for a close second place). The movie they released this year sucked tremendously, but the old Speed Racer tv show is tough to beat.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 8/365 - Autumn Has Fallen

Autumn has definitely arrived in Washington, DC. I went for a walk on the National Mall at lunch today and noticed this tree near the National Museum of the American Indian that was ablaze with color. I love Autumn. It's definitely my favorite time of year. There's always so much new and exciting change going on in Autumn, even more so than in Spring I think.

For me, Fall always marked the start of the new school year with the attendant shopping for new clothes and supplies, the start of football season, the start of the new tv season, and the build-up to Halloween and Thanksgiving (two of my favorite holidays). Plus I love the cooler weather and being able to wear jackets and sweatshirts again. Fall brings apple cider and pumpkin pies and trees dressed in technicolor dreamcoats -- leaves fluttering through the air like feathers and rustling as they blow across the sidewalks and streets.

Although I did really hate having to rake leaves as a kid, so Autumn has that going against it. Now that I live in an apartment building though, I don't have to worry about that anymore. It's all good!

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 7/365 - Laundry Day

I really hate doing laundry. As a result, I tend to put it off for as long as possible -- which is why today I have 6 loads of dirty clothes I need to wash. It’s days like today that I think about going against my blue collar upbringing and hiring a housekeeper to come in once a week to do my laundry and clean my apartment (I hate cleaning the bathroom even more than I hate doing laundry).

Haven’t broken down and done it so far, though. Something about paying someone to clean up after me just seems so irredeemably pompous, exploitative, and wasteful.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 6/365 - Made Over

My friend Desiree decided I needed a fashion makeover (she said my fashion sense was stuck in 1989), so tonight we went to Macy’s and Old Navy and I got 4 pairs of pants, a belt, two sweaters, a light jacket, and 4 shirts. And then after the stores closed we went to the Gap online and ordered me two pairs of jeans and three more shirts.

I only decided to get about half of the things she tried to get me to buy, but that was still a pretty major departure for me. I’m generally pretty stubborn and set in my ways. The stuff she picked out that I did wind up buying though looked fairly good on me, and they were things that I never would’ve even considered buying if I’d been shopping on my own.

We’ll see if this makeover is enough to catapult me kicking and screaming from the 80s into the 2000s (although I'm still not really sure about the dark jeans). This will be the first time I've worn corduroy pants since I was in the second grade. Turns out that the stuff I wore when I was in grade school is now the height of fashion. Who knew?

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 5/365 - Columbus Day

This photo shows floral wreaths commemorating Columbus Day placed by various historic and cultural groups in front of the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain at the main entrance to Union Station in Washington, DC.

I took advantage of the Federal holiday and the great weather and went to the National Zoo this morning to shoot some pictures and then swung by Union Station to grab some Italian food for lunch in honor of Christopher Columbus -- patron saint of guys who refuse to ask for directions even though they don't really know where the heck they're going. Walked home from there afterward to burn off some of my pasta.

Grand total for the day -- 443 photographs taken and 7.9 miles walked. Pretty productive for a day off.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 4/365 - Sunday Morning with 'The Post'

Hadn't done this in a while, but with the weather being too gorgeous to be cooped up indoors, I took the Sunday copy of the Washington Post over to Starbucks at Pentagon Row and grabbed myself a venti pumpkin spice latte and a pumpkin cream cheese muffin and sat outside and had breakfast and read the paper.

Pumpkin rocks. Sucks that you can only get the pumpkin ale from Blue Moon Brewery this time of year. It ought to be available year-round (as should the pumpkin cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory).

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)