Yesterday afternoon I went on a wedding decor mission for my friend Tammy, who is now living in Texas. It involved the zoo and postcards — two absolutely great things — so of course I said yes, I would love to help. When her and her fiance were last out in DC, it was one of the places they visited, and so they wanted to incorprorate it into their wedding place cards. While I was over there, I strolled around to visit some zebras and also checked on the progress of the new elephant house. It is supposed to be done sometime in 2013, and I cannot wait since the elephants are pretty much my favorite.
My cousin and I went to Zoo Lights at the National Zoo, and even though it was freeeeezing cold, we had a blast. The zoo is kept open late from 6-8p and is filled with colorful LED animal light displays, and most of the animal houses are open. Most of the gorillas were sleeping when we walked through — I guess that is normally their bedtime, and they weren’t staying up for nothing.
Matt has titled this image, “clothed ascending an escalator”. I enjoy all the wobbly blur of people on the left side of this photo — those that were brave enough to try and walk up the monster of an escalator that is at Woodley Park Zoo.
Every so often, DCist.com has a Touch-Up DC Contest where you are supposed to use some Photoshop fun to enhance a DC monument, street, or scene. This was one of my submissions from last week–my photoshop work on one of Matt’s photos. Can anyone (not living in DC) guess what’s fake here?
Hmmm, so I stuck 3 pictures together… can you guess what is going on here? because I’m still not sure.
It started with Matt “OMG I’m craving a burrito let’s go to Chipotle.” So we get our food, and we’re sitting there at the corner of Calvert and Connecticut Ave. and that guy goes flyyyying by the window on springy feet. And then across the intersection, and into the turn lanes, and back around, arms flailing everywhere. He had a little sign saying you could try the springy stilt feet for 10 minutes for free. I’m not sure what the actual rates were, but come on, he barely looked like he was in control of those things, and I assume he owns them and uses them frequently. Then I pictured myself, or better yet, Matt with those things strapped on. I’m sure he would be well over 9 feet tall. And spring-loaded. Awesome.
But seriously, what a silly thing to sell on a street corner. I picture it being bettered suited to a wide open plaza area with 8-inches of padding on the ground, but still then only slightly less dangerous. Not to sound like a scaredy-pants, but they look hard to use and easy to embarrass yourself with. Would you try them?
Okay, okay, so I know we are a little heavy on the metro photo posts, but that’s the way it goes. My metro commute was a mess this morning for me and about 800 other people… According to Wmata.com,
Trains are again moving smoothly on the Red Line today following an early-morning track fire at Metro Center. There were no injuries. Red Line trains were not permitted to pass through the station for about 20 minutes from about 7:15 to 7:35 a.m. today after a report of a small electrical fire on the tracks headed in the direction of Glenmont. Once the fire was extinguished, trains shared the other track between Judiciary Square and Dupont Metrorail stations to help move riders through the affected area. Trains resumed using both tracks at 8:20 a.m.
And while it was great that the loudspeakers were keeping people informed of the fire/smoke issue, I think what people really need to hear during a problem is the estimated time delay. Hello! Are we talking about a smoldering cigarette on fire in a trash can, or the whole damn station? It was killing me that they never actually announced something along the lines of, “Trains will resume running in approximately 20 minutes.” Or half hour. Or next Monday. Just give people a heads up! I witnessed a handful of people head out for taxis and buses, when, if they’d have waited 5 more minutes, they’d have been back on the train. (That they already paid for.) Anyways, I’m sure this happens more frequently than I realize, since I maybe only metro once a week. But has anyone ever heard the metro operators give an estimated time for a delay to be fixed??
Where did July go? ..it’s about that time of year, when you were little, that you started realizing that summer was over and that school would be starting again soon. Dread!
Anyways, this weekend we are headed to Philly where I will be participating in the SheROX Sprint Triathlon . It’s my first, but it will be really good practice for the Olympic one in September. It’ll also be my first chance to really test out the new bike and see what it can do!
While I do not believe that gorillas are a species indigenous the the great District of Columbia wilderness otherwise known as Rock Creek Park that is what the view from the Taft Bridge this morning at circa 6:45a reminded me of. Very weird remnants from the intense storms that we had last night (which incidentally downed a large portion of a tree on the southwest side of the bridge).
On a separate Rock Creek wilderness point, last night while I was waiting outside our apartment building for Lori to come back from her test ride on her new bike (!) I saw a small raccoon fall from about 45′ up in a tree all the way down to the ground taking a fair bit of tree branch with it. I have to give it to the raccoon though, he/she/it shook it off and scurried right back up the same tree. There must be some good eats up in those limbs somewhere.
