Thursday was another one of my random days off from work, and being that the weather was good again, I tried to make the best of it. Got all my chores and errands done in the morning, then went for a bike ride in the afternoon. I toodled around the neighborhood at first, taking some pictures at a couple of point. They should appear on Flickr later. Then, I went down 16th Street to the White House, down 15th and over to Hains Point, where I did a couple of laps (about 3 miles each).
Next, I went over the 14th Street Bridge to Virginia and back, to take a couple of shots of planes landing at National Airport (wind was from the south so landings from the north). The sun was strong today, and I sensed I was getting a burn in my exposed location out on the bridge, so I pedaled home after zig-zagging around the downtown area a bit.
Compliments to the DC Dept. of Public Works, by the way, they did a great job repaving much of 16th Street up in my neck of the woods. I guess their hand was forced by that massive water main break, but it was nice riding on the super-smooth asphalt. It was a good, satisfying ride.

The other day, I went on a 12-mile bike ride so as to get a little exercise, and take some pictures along the way. The case for my camera hangs from a strap over the shoulder, like a mini-courier bag, so works nicely while cycling. I first pedaled over to the corner of 13th and Clifton Streets NW, where I took some pictures from the top of the big hill next to Cardozo High School. Then, I flew down the hill at top speed, only to have to slam on the brakes at the intersection at the bottom when the light turned red. There is nothing more frustrating to a bicyclist than wasting all that momentum and energy! Well, maybe cars honking at you for no reason, or flat tires, but it's all about the conservation of your limited, 1/4 horsepower engine. 

I made it downtown after a few minutes of zipping along on flat ground, with light traffic, and swung by the White House for a quick look. Even though I have nothing but disdain for the current idiot-in-chief and his administration of incompetent, stubborn, anti-science cronies, the building and grounds are still impressive to see. We can only hope the next resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a little more reasonable, intelligent and less cartoon-cowboyish.  No offense if you're from, like Austin, but no more Texans, please! 

Sorry for the digression... from there I crossed The Mall and rode by the Jefferson Memorial, and took the bike/pedestrian path on the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River. Despite the ugliness of the trail itself, the views are great, and it's cool to be riding so close to highway-speed traffic on one side, and the river below on the other side. 



Once on the Virginia side of the river, I turned south on the Mount Vernon Trail, and proceeded to Gravelly Point, overlooking Reagan National Airport's terminal and runways. The wind was coming from the north, so the planes were taking off over my head, and I took a few pictures there, too. It was more impressive in person, with the roar of the jet engines overhead, and the periodic shotgun blasts going off in order to ward off birds. I love that spot. 

By that point I was getting a little too much sun, so headed back north, retracing my route to DC, then zig-zagging home up the street grid, for a round trip total of 12 miles. I went past F & J's old place on Vermont Avenue, which now sports a bike lane. I don't remember one being there before. Also, the reconfigured Thomas Circle is a joy to bicycle through, as it is now much more bike and pedestrian-friendly. Good work by DDOT there.

The weekend started off with a bit of drama Friday night, as an ambulance and fire truck showed up in front of our house, paramedics pounding on the front door that we share with the new downstairs neighbors. I let them in the front, but there was initially no answer downstairs, and the EMTs mentioned breaking the door down. Our neighbor eventually opened the door, and they took one of the residents to the hospital in a questionable state of consciousness. It was pretty scary there - we've only met the neighbors once so far, they seem very nice, so we hope everything is OK.

On Saturday, J ran 6 miles, we went for a short walk with M and L the doggie, and had dinner at Teaism downtown. It was hot and muggy, making outdoor activity, even just walking, a tiring and sweaty affair.

Today, we drove out in the air-conditioned car to the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum Annex by Dulles Airport. The access road goes right past the end of one of the runways, and as we approached we noticed a huge Korean Air 747 swooping in for a landing. J was driving, and slowed down to a near stop, as the jumbo jet roared directly overhead. It was similar to the Gravelly Point experience, only even more impressive with a 4-engine aircraft twice as big as the planes that fly into National Airport. The rest of the visit was pretty much anti-climatic, though the space shuttle Enterprise is impressive for its large size. We had been to the museum once before, right after it opened and was very crowded, with F and J. Fortunately, we went early in the day this time, and it was relatively uncrowded. There wasn't even a line to go up in the observation tower, and it was nice to walk around the huge hangar in the air-conditioning, and burn a few calories. Tomorrow it's going to be even hotter, with no end to the heat wave in sight. Hopefully I can update a little more frequently this week!

Today's bike ride started off with a loop around Hain's Point, then across the Potomac via the 14th Street Bridge bike path. That's always an exhilarating part of the ride, with highway traffic a few feet to one side, and a drop off to the river on the other. Just about every form of transportation is visible: passenger jets and helicopters overhead, boats below, and Metro and freight trains on adjacent bridges. Today, I even saw a DUKW, one of those WWII-era amphibious vehicles that are used for combined land/water tours of DC and other cities.

When I got to the Virginia side, and entered the Mount Vernon Trail, I even saw a Segway, right in front of me on the trail. Obviously, motorized vehicles aren't normally allowed on the trail, and this wasn't a law enforcement person or park ranger, so I thought it was pretty strange. The rider was wearing athletic clothes, running shoes, and helmet, though he wasn't exactly breaking a sweat! He was going about 12-15 mph, the Segway's maximum speed and my normal cruising speed, so I accelerated and left him in the dust. I hope this isn't the beginning of a new trend of Segways clogging up all the hiker-biker trails. I've always wanted to try out a Segway, they look fun, and it'd be nice to feel tall for a change, but I think they should stick to city streets and sidewalks.

Proceeding down the trail, I ended up at Gravelly Point, and dismounted to watch the planes land for awhile. They were landing from the north, right over Gravelly Point, and I got to see about 7 jets roar by. Fun! If I ever have a kid, this is one place I definitely plan to take him or her. That is, if the Feds don't close it down due to some trumped-up threat of shoulder-fired missiles. That would be a shame.

I got back on the trail and headed back to DC, crossing the bridge again, and swinging by the Jefferson and FDR Memorials. Crossing Independence Avenue, and tacking back east, I stopped at the controversial World War Two Memorial. First of all, I like the WWII Memorial, and have no problem with the scale, or site. And, I discovered a bonus feature today; clean, new public restrooms on the south side of the memorial. From there, I rode home on 16th Street, and had leftover pizza for lunch.

J's best friend came over in the afternoon and we watched the latest DVD from Netflix, Bride and Prejudice, by the same director as Bend It Like Beckham. While not as good as BILB, we appreciated the over-the-top musical numbers, beautiful sets and clothing, and seeing Naveen Andrews, who plays Sayid on the TV show Lost, in a very different role. The female lead, Aishwarya Rai, is purported to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and she certainly has striking features. As you can tell, we're kindof on a Bollywood kick, and are presently nurturing an interest in many aspects of Indian culture: music, food, film, and religious traditions. Chances are low, but perhaps someday we'll take a trip there. Maybe we can get our jobs back, after they've been outsourced...

Friday was a travel day, and started at 5:30 AM. Whenever I go on a trip, I have various tasks and rituals I need to do before departing. Packing is done in a certain order, chores like laundry are done, and I like to shower/shave/brush teeth just prior to leaving. This way, I feel as "fresh" as possible while on the road. Also, in the unlikely event of a plane crash, my corpse will be nice and clean for the recovery team. Clean undies: check!
My usual rule is to fly out of National Airport only, as it's Metro-accessible, and architecturally attractive. However, this time there was a super-low fare from BWI to Islip-MacArthur I couldn't resist on Southwest. This required use of the B30 bus from the Greenbelt Metro Station, which worked out well, and on to the airport. I've never liked Southwest's "cattle call" boarding situation, unreserved seating, and find the bright 1970s colors of their aircraft clownish and ugly. As J. would say, "you don't have to look at the exterior once you're on board", but the interior decor and cleanliness leaves much to be desired as well. The flight crew's uniforms are reminiscent of servers at a family chain eatery like Applebee's, and the casual, friendly atmosphere is a bit disconcerting. While flying at 37,000 feet at mach 0.8, I prefer efficient, even icy professionalism on board. British Airways is good, Lufthansa is better, "Luftwaffe" would probably be best!
In other words, this curmudgeon's expectations were low as can be for the unglamorous hop from Baltimore to Islip. Nevertheless, when we boarded, I was pleasantly surprised. The Boeing 737-700 was brand new, I was told only in service 16 days. The new purplish-blue livery is a bit improved from the old mustard-color, and the interior smelled like a new car. The seats, while jam-packed as ever, were covered in comfortable leather-like material. From my aisle seat, I could lean over and peer into the cockpit, since the door was open right up until takeoff. It was a fully digital affair, there were none of those round analog dials in sight, it was all very high-tech looking. We departed right on time, and there was that usual satisfying feeling of being pushed back in your seat by the acceleration (my fav part of flying). We landed a few minutes early, and deplaned into the small but renovated MacArthur Airport on Long Island. Mom was right there to greet me, and we could literally see her car from inside the terminal. Only on LI can you park right next to an airport in a surface lot. You wouldn't want to walk too far from your giant SUV!
On the way home, she dropped me off on Main Street to get a haircut at an old-fashioned barber shop. I get it cut with an electric clipper set on #1(lowest setting), and the haircut included using a straight razor and hot lather on the sides and back of neck. Ahhhh! All for only $15, including tip. The town mom lives in is a small affair, located on the south shore of Suffolk County. It's in that Starbucks-free void where it's too far from the city, but not yet in the Hamptons, so it's pretty quiet and charming. She lives 2 blocks off Main Street, which features the barbershop, a bakery, bank, pizza parlor, a bagel shops, hardware store, a couple of churches, a diner, a 1920s school with columns and war memorial in front, and this well-appointed public library (which sadly blows away any DC library branch save MLK). This is NOT the lower-income, less respectable area I grew up in, that's several miles to the west. Where I grew up is not cute, doesn't have a main street to speak of, and is overall way crappier than where mom lives now. Thank goodness they had a good public school system there. More on the "armpit of Long Island" later.
Mom and I had dinner at the Tuttle Cove seafood restaurant right on the bay near the Coast Guard station. This was the closest point to where TWA flight 800 went down a few years ago. Our table had a view of the sun setting over the water, with Fire Island in the distance, and LI's low, sandy landscape all around. It was quite relaxing and soothing. I took a walk along the water's edge, and saw schools of some kind of tiny fish swimming around en masse, and it was good to smell that fishy, salty smell again. I do miss living by the ocean, that's the one downside of DC. As the sky got dark, you could see lights twinkling on the water, and hear boat engines in the distance.
After dinner, we got dessert at a local soft-serve ice cream stand. This store, a former Carvel, has been in the same location as long as I remember. The vanilla soft-serve with chocolate sprinkles was a pleasant end to a day of travel. I wish there were more places to get soft-serve or frozed custard in DC!

Apologies, I'm a day late in acknowledging the 4th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I thought I'd post here what I remembered about that day, before the details become fuzzy. I took some notes at the time, so here goes.

Several months before 9/11, I was in NYC visiting my brother, who lives in Manhattan. We decided to do something touristy, went down to the World Trade Center, and took the express elevator up to the observation deck. It was a beautiful day, similar to that on Sept. 11, so they opened up the outdoor observation deck on the top of the south tower. I remember walking up from the interior space in a dark, narrow stairwell to the actual roof deck (more of a catwalk, actually). We had been there as kids, but as adults it was still pretty awe-inspiring. I remember looking over at the north tower and taking in the details of the roof structure: the giant TV/radio mast, other spiky antennae, window-washing apparatus, guy wires, etc. Of course, at the time we cast a critical eye, as architecture buffs, on the poor layout of the site, the vast concrete plaza, the ugly low buildings at the periphery (WTC 3-6), and the lack of pedestrian-level retail. But, we dug the twin towers themselves as they were honking big wonders of engineering. Little did we know it would all be gone in a few months. I hope the memorial and Freedom Tower do the site justice.

On Sept. 11, 2001, I went to work downtown as usual. At the office, I began working, but then heard someone saying something about a plane crash in NYC. We gathered around one of the TVs mounted in our library and I couldn't believe my eyes. When we realized planes had crashed into the WTC, I immediately thought back to the incident during World War II when a fully laden B-25 bomber crashed into the upper stories of the Empire State Building in the fog.
http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_facts_esbnews_mar1996.cfm?CFID=13103463&CFTOKEN=53461013
Based on that incident, I figured the buildings would stand, but didn't remember how different & less vulnerable the steel framework was for the ESB. When the south tower collapsed, I remember thinking (1) where the fuck is my brother, (2) this means war, probably w/Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan and (3) the north tower is also doomed, and all the poor people inside.

We started hearing rumors of attacks on Washington, too. A bomb supposedly went off on that Mall, there was a car bomb in front of the State Department, the Old Executive Office Building was on fire... so a coworker and I decided to (foolishly?) go up to the roof terrace and see what was going on using the "Mark 1 eyeball" and report back to the others. We could see the huge plume of smoke from the Pentagon, and from that perspective we could tell that people were mistaking the smoke as coming from the Mall. Also, we could clearly see that the OEOB was fine, and no smoke coming from Foggy Bottom either. Then, word started going around that a 4th hijacked plane was heading for DC, so our firm and others downtown began to evacuate. Unfortunately, it was also rumored that the Metrorail system was either closed, or under some kind of attack, and none of us wanted to, uhm, take our last breaths in a dark tunnel underground, so we set off on foot.

I walked over to my then-girlfriend J's office which was over by the White House, and we walked all the way up Connecticut Avenue to my apartment in Woodley Park, which took an hour. It was surreal, watching the soldiers and Humvees deploy, not knowing if there were other planes headed to DC. I remember thinking, "oh, great, a plane will be headed to the WH, they'll shoot it down, and it'll wipe out an entire residential neighborhood." When we got home, I alternated between trying to call family members in NY, friends in DC, watching CNN, and running up to the roof deck and trying to see what was going on.

Once I heard my brother and his friends were OK, and J. was on a bus to her place in Silver Spring, I was tired of watching CNN, so I got on my bike and headed back downtown. The deserted streets were eerily quiet, and with no vehicular and very little pedestrian traffic, it didn't take very long to get down to the river's edge. I didn't want to get in anyone's way, so stayed on the DC side of the Potomac, and made for East Potomac Park, directly opposite the Pentagon. I remember seeing one of Humvees w/roof-mounted 20mm cannon over there, but they let me ride on by. The Pentagon was still burning, or smoldering, and the smoke was drifting right over me. I could smell the distinct jet fuel/melting plastic odor. I could also see the runways at National Airport, crowded with the hastily-landed commercial jets of several airlines, all lined up. Later, I rode home, still kindof in shock and disbelief, and spent the rest of the day watching the news and trying to get a grip on the dimensions of the unfolding tragedy.