… just waiting for the train to come…

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We went traipsing around NoMa a few weekends back (with some black and white film in the camera) to take a look at all the construction going on, and there is a LOT of it. I snapped this shot of Bowser and Matt walking under some scaffolding, into the abyss. Look at Bowser’s tiny little hind legs! They are so so cute. I guess Matt isn’t bad, either.

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Mmmm, kiwi. Is anyone else craving kiwi? It’s been a pretty low-key weekend around here. On Saturday morning, I shot this self portrait on the way home from our family trip to the puppy park with Bowser. It was pretty excessively windy outside, so there was only one other puppy out there — a blue-hound named Una. She and Bowser had a good time chasing and fighting over a long stick.

On Saturday night, we ventured out to the Argonaut, where we happened to be seated next to our friends Megan and Brendan and another couple they were out with. So, we combined tables and spent much of the evening looking at and spinning the old globes that are part of the decor around the upstairs bar. There were many “close-your-eyes-and-point-and-see-where-you-will-travel-next” attempts as the globe was spinning around. I tried for Paris of course, but mostly ended up somewhere floating in the Indian Ocean. So yeah, that didn’t help decide where our next travel destination will be, but it’s still fun to look at old maps anyways.

Today was work and homework day. I’ve stopped just long enough to eat Valentine’s Day candy and just now look through all the Grammy fashion pics. I think Lady Gaga will be done “incubating” by the time I post this. I hope so, anyways, for her sake.

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

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These canopies at the NY Ave-FL Ave-Gallaudet Univ metro station look like they are competing for air rights. Funny thing is, water drips through the slots when it rains, rendering it less of a place to head for cover, and more of an area where you can play the “avoid-the-waterfall” game.

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Welcome to Monday morning, everyone. Here’s a somewhat abstract photo from NoMa of a row of circular bike racks and of course their shadows.

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…shot while exiting the metro at New York Avenue/Florida Avenue/Gallaudet University. This red line stop, which opened in 2004, happened to be the first in-fill station in the metro system, filling the gap between Rhode Island Avenue/Brentwood and Union Station.

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Welcome, December! A photo of progress. And it looks like one building reaching out to the other.

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a long climb, originally uploaded by m hoek.

   
Tomorrow Clark is scheduled to take down the last remaining tower crane from Constitution Square. We had five swinging around for most of the project. I had always intended to climb up to the top (150 feet above terra firma) but had not gotten around to pulling the trigger. As the window of opportunity closed I jumped at the chance to give it a go this morning. The picture above is my view from the bottom level of the garage looking up on my 180′ vertical climb.
   
Very happy I got around to doing it. The views of the city are phenomenal and it was a good “check of the life list”.
Spent a while up top talking Paul, the crane operator. He is from the Caymans by way of Columbia Heights and has been working as an operator for about 12 years now. Paul is a fan of the city, loves living here, but is troubled by the crime that continues to plague the city despite apparent physical improvements. He has seen huge changes in the Columbia Heights neighborhood but still has high hopes for continued improvement. A very nice guy and I’m happy to have been able to chat with him way way up high.
   
Some pics of the view are available here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=91138915@N00&q=constitution+square+tower+crane&m=text
   
Info about the project here: http://www.constitutionsquaredc.com/

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Early this morning, Matt took me up onto the roof of his current work project, Constitution Square, so that I could shoot some video footage of the DC skyline for my final compositing project this semester. We just missed the beautiful sunrise by about 20 minutes, but I still got some great footage and views of the Capitol, Washington monument, and the NoMA Station Water Tower, pictured above.

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Happy Autumnal Equinox! At least, that’s what my calendar marks as today, September 22nd. The foggy, dreary weather outside today somewhat supports that, although I much prefer to think of fall as bright earthy colors and crisp breezes, Oktoberfest brews, tailgating, and, of course, candy corn. Either way, summer is technically over, and the sun will cross the equator today, from north to south, leaving us with exactly 12 hours of lightness and 12 hours of darkness. That means that by tomorrow, the nights will start becoming longer than the days. I’ve certainly noticed it happening already as I’ve been getting up around 6am, when Bowser first starts “barking” to go outside, and it’s still pitch black.

So today’s photo, we’ve posted about before , although I thought this version definitely says “goodbye summer” with the sun, and “hello fall” with the leaf. Time to start brainstorming Halloween costumes!

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