Cherry LifeSavers

Unfortunately, I have no adventures to write about from this past week.  It was one of those weeks where once Friday finally rolls around, you just sigh and feel thankful that the weekend has arrived. 

I had a rather random memory flashback yesterday.  I bought a bag of LifeSavers to put in my desk at work and happened to grab a cherry one out of the bag.  The flavor immediately made me think of my Great-Grandpa Ted.  He used to drive out to our farm to check on things every Saturday morning.  Our neighbors knew Grandpa Ted's car well and also knew to watch out for him on the road.  His vision wasn't the greatest and he had a tendency to drive down the middle of the rock road regardless if there was anyone coming from the other direction.  He'd pull into the driveway in his blue '71 Impala, get out and light a cigarette and slowly make his way to the house. 

He would sit in the kitchen and talk farm stuff and small town gossip with my parents for an hour.  But before he left he would always pull out a roll of cherry LifeSavers from his shirt pocket and offer my sister and I one.  He'd smile and chuckle at how excited we got over that piece of candy.  To this day I can't eat a cherry life saver without thinking of him.  He was quite the character.  My dad tells a good story about the first time he took Grandpa Ted to a drive thru McDonald's.  Dad pulled up to the speaker box to order and Grandpa shouted, "Who are you talk'n to?"  He couldn't figure out how they were going to get their food without going in to the restaurant. 

Josh and I are anxiously counting down the days (5 days to go) until his parents arrive in D.C.  It will be good to see some of our family! 

Another One Bites the Dust

I bought my first computer, a Dell desktop, in 2002.  I finally retired it late last year.  It was still running, but at super slow speeds.  Josh has had the same laptop since 2004 and it's been our main home computer for the last couple years.  This past Thursday night I was up late studying for my FINRA exam when the computer beeped and then the screen went black.  I tried and tried to get it to turn back on but there was no life left in it.  Josh thinks it may need a new internal battery or that the adapter on the power cable might be bad.  It's been dropped off the edge of the couch, tripped over, and spilled on...it's had a rough life.  I was doing a Series 7 practice exam when the computer died.  I hope that's not a bad sign.  I've been pretty stressed over studying for this exam, maybe the computer just couldn't handle it. 

   
In need of a more dependable home computer, we went in search of a new laptop.  If I had gone shopping alone, I would have brought home the cute, sleek Sony VAIO.  With it's crisp white design, lightweight size, and all the right specs.  But my ever practical husband told me I couldn't buy a computer based solely on aesthetics.  (Why not?)  :)  I think I can get used to the one we ended up purchasing.  As long as it keeps on keep'n on for many years to come, I'll be happy.

Springtime in Washington D.C.

This morning we took the Metrorail into D.C. and went for a walk around the Tidal Basin to enjoy the cherry tree blossoms.  We heard that they are about 3 days away from peak bloom.  There are over 3,000 cherry trees on the Tidal Basin and most of them are Yoshino Cherry.  The plantings of cherry trees originated in 1912 as gift of friendship to the United States from the people of Japan. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off today and lasts for two weeks.  We are supposed to get a bit of snow tomorrow.  I hope the blossoms survive the cold weather and hang around for awhile longer. 

http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/

Happy Birthday Alex!

Today is the fat cat's 4th birthday!  Every year for his birthday he gets a can of tuna to celebrate.  This year I picked up a couple of cupcakes so that Josh and I could celebrate with him.  (Any excuse for cupcakes is a good one!)  Yes, this is one spoiled cat.

I had just taken this photo and looked down at the camera screen for 2 seconds...Alex walked straight over to the cupcake and shoved his nose right into the candle flame.  He ran like a streak of lightening over to one of his favorite hiding spots.  I don't know if he was more alarmed by what had just happened with the candle or the fact that I was chasing him screaming, "Oh no! Are you OK?!"  I was so worried that his little pink nose would be burned from sniffing the fire, but he was perfectly fine aside from smelling a bit like singed fur. 

  Happy birthday silly cat!

Air and Space Smithsonian

This weekend Amber and I took advantage of the nice weather and explored the National Mall (or as Amber prefers to call it “the Big Park”).  Her argument is that a mall has shopping, and by shopping I’m guessing she doesn’t mean cart vendors or the gift shops.

Our adventure began by taking public transportation into the Mall.  I have to admit, I’m a big fan of public transportation.  I take the bus to and from work each day (unless Amber is being generous and offers to pick me up from work on her way home) and other than the occasional...ok, daily deviations from the timetable, it is a great method to navigate the city and surrounding areas.  Unfortunately, this weekend the Orange Line subway was experiencing route delays.  Instead of a 20 minute ride to the Mall, our trip took nearly an hour.  We had to get off the train after the second stop to take a shuttle bus to take us to the third stop, then we were able to get back on the train until our stop under the National Mall.

Did you know there are 19 different Smithsonian Institute Museums? Neither did I, I knew there were “a lot,” but not that many.  At this point I’m not even sure where all 19 are located.  I’m pretty sure all 19 are not located on or around the Mall.  However, Amber and I decided to start with perhaps one of the most popular museums – the Air and Space Museum.  When we made it to the Air and Space Museum, we were both hungry.  I was told by a co-worker that you can get pretty good food at the “Smithsonian.”  Thinking his recommendation generalized to all Smithsonian museums, I convinced Amber not to look for food near the Mall, and to just get food at the A&S museum.  My mistake, apparently the A&S food selection is designed to cater to the needs of the majority of its visitors – kids.  Our only options were, well crap; McDonalds, Donatos Pizzeria, or Boston Market.  Not exactly the “good” food either of us were expecting.  After our quick bite of Micky D’s, we started to explore the A&S museum. 

Hubble Telescope replica

We started our exploration by walking through the main hallway, full of replicas and decommissioned planes, missiles, satellites, and other aeronautical vehicles that were suspended from the rafter or stood-up in the halls.  It was fascinating to see some of the early planes in aviation history as well as one of the Apollo Lunar Capsules.  One of the key exhibits both Amber and I enjoyed was the 1903 Wright Flyer; only the fist manned “airplane” to take flight.  In addition to the Flyer, the exhibit also had several collections showing communications and other artifacts from the Wright Brothers.  Perhaps the coolest piece was the actual telegram Orville sent to his dad proclaiming their triumph of manned flight.  What was particularly cool was the fact that in the excitement of the moment, Orville did notice that his name was misspelled.

Josh with Orville and Wilbur

 One of the Wright brothers actual planes (We're not sure if it's THE plane)

Success four flights thursday morning all against twenty one mile

wind started from level with engine power alone average speed 

through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform press

home Christmas

Orvelle Wright

Another exhibit we enjoyed was the Pioneers of Flight.  This exhibit included Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed 5B Vega, Charles and Anne Lindburgh’s Tingmissartoq – The first plane to fly from the West Coast to the Far East, and the “Black Wings” – the history of African Americans in aviation and the Tuskegee Airmen.  I have to admit, there was so much to see and so many little kids running around that I’m not sure we really were able to take it all in.  I guess the great thing about being so close is we have plenty of opportunities to go back.

By the way, Amber and I did happen to find a Smithsonian with “good” food.  The American Art Museum has a café which offers a pretty expansive menu.  Perhaps we will have to make that our next destination.

Adventures in the Windy City

This past week both Josh and I were on business trips - He in North Carolina and myself in Chicago.  I am a very anxious flier.  I didn't used to be; One super scary flight 4 years ago was enough to cause me to question the safety of flying in a metal box 27,000 feet above the ground.  So traveling by myself nowadays causes a bit of stress.  Even so, I had a great time in Chicago.  The view from "my office" for the week was lovely.  It overlooked Michigan Avenue, the Wrigley Building and Trump Tower.

 

The last time I was in Chicago I tried Gino's East deep dish pizza and this time stopped by Giordano's for some famous Chicago style pizza.  I thought Chicago was famous for pizza, but several of my colleagues swore that I had to try a Chicago hot dog.  Unfortunately I prefer not to eat hot dogs unless they're covered in corn batter and fried on a stick.  My dad likes to be funny and say, "You know what hot dogs are made from don't you?  Chicken lips and a**holes!"  I hear his voice saying that every time I look at one.  No wonder I can't bring myself to eat them!  I had a couple of other delicious meals at Hub 51 and BiCE Ristorante.  BiCE is part of the Talbott Hotel and we were amused by the lady bug cow climbing up the front of the building.  The bellhop said that the owner of the hotel paid $60,000 for the cow in a charity auction and another $60,000 to get it mounted!

My meetings finished early on the last day there and with some time to kill I headed over the the Sears "Willis" Tower to conquer my fear of heights.  At 1,353 feet and 103 floors above the city below, the view was amazing.  

A few years back, "The Ledge" was added to the 103rd floor.  The Ledge is 4 glass boxes that extend 4.3 feet beyond the outer wall of the building.  As I walked around and admired the view I was still debating whether or not I was going to work up the nerve to stand in one of the boxes.  A nice man offered to take my picture for me and I felt like I had no choice but to suck it up and go for it.  Josh finds the picture below hilarious.  I'm sure the look on my face says it all, but while the man was taking this picture I'm literally pleading with him, "hurry, please, hurry...take the picture, did you take it yet!?"  

I tried to walk forward out on to the ledge but nearly passed out.  I had to slowly walk backwards onto the glass.  Walking forward felt like I was going to walk straight off the building and I almost passed out on the first try!  I may not have fully conquered my fear of heights but this was a small victory in itself.

Standing 103 floors above Chicago.

 

 

Making Plans

The parents are coming! The parents are coming!  It's official...Josh's parents will be visiting us next month and my parents the month after.  Over a month out and I'm already excited to see them.  It's kinda funny that the farther away you move, the more you seem to miss your family.  I think it's because I know I can't just hop in the car and drive a couple hours to see them anymore.  It's only been two months since we've seen them but it seems much longer.  
 

I thought it might be fun to sign up to do the tour of the White House while they are here.  However, getting a tour is not as easy as I thought it would be.  You have to contact your local Member of Congress.  They then have to approve you for the tour and then you may or may not actually get to do the tour based on whether or not tours are canceled on your chosen day.  Now just to figure out who my local Congressperson is...