Sunday, May 30, 2010

Project 365: Day 38

Newseum 041

DK and I hit up the Newseum this past Saturday, and it’s a pretty awesome place to learn about how media and news has evolved over time.  In fact, there’s so much stuff that I was beginning to understand why they let you use the tickets for two consecutive days.  On this wall, they display the front pages of various newspapers around the US and the world after the 9-11 attacks.  They also put together a 15 minute video that recalled the events and interviews with the local news reporters on that day, and it was quite chilling to relive the events.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Project 365: Days 27-37

I know this is cheating, but I figure I catch up on my picture postings in one shot.  Here’re some miscellaneous photos from JP’s wedding last weekend.

Kisa

Kisa waits Kisa meet M

Cake

Table Decoration

Akashi

Miso Soup

Sushi 1

Sashimi

Sushi 2

Sushi 3

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Project 365: Day 26

Standings

I recently completed my first season through Tecmo Bowl, and I managed to make it into the playoffs as a wildcard.  I figure if I can make it in, anything could happen.

Playoffs

With some good defensive play, ball control offense, and some last minute drives, I crawled my way through to the championship!

Offense

Defense

And if there was any proof that defense wins championships, just check out the stats :P

Monday, May 17, 2010

Project 365: Day 25

White House

While people couldn’t get really close to the front of the White House, I was a bit surprised how close you can get to the back of it.  You’re only separated by the back lawn.

Project 365: Day 24

Dragon Boat

When TC and I went kayaking this past weekend, we ran into groups of people racing in the DC Dragon Boat Festival.  I didn’t realize how hardcore these people were with their racing!

Project 365: Day 23

Ducklings

These adorable ducklings (I think they’re ducklings :P) were enjoying their stay at the water fountain courtesy of the Kennedy Center.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Project 365: Day 22

Ticket

TC managed to snag some free tickets to the National Symphony Orchestra, so we went tonight to see the performance.  Our seats ended up being pretty close up to the stage.  The performances tonight included some Copland (Suite for Billy the Kid), Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and Elgar’s Variation on an Original Theme, which was something that I recognized playing before once they got started (the opening song also was featured in the Matrix Soundtrack).  There was also a contemporary opera piece written by the conductor John Adams called “The Wound-Dresser" that incorporates a poem by Walt Whitman.  After hearing the concert, I had a slight urge to pick my viola up again, but it would probably take a while to get myself back up to speed…

Monday, May 10, 2010

Project 365: Day 21

TBT

One of the greatest football games of all time, Tecmo Super Bowl, was recently re-released as Tecmo Bowl Throwback.  The game designers managed to keep the same old Tecmo Bowl feel to the game while touching up the graphics, but they created this cool feature where you can “transition” the game back into 16-bit mode seamlessly if you really want the old school feel.  This was my first practice run as I beat up on New England.

Project 365: Day 20

Dexter

Dexter was a thirsty puppy during the camping trip.

Project 365: Day 19

Camp David 043

Here we have Tent City at Catoctin Mountain Park.  Originally, TC’s tent was off the squared off “tent area”, but the park ranger who passed by frowned upon it, so we had to stuff all the tents into the square, but we managed to do so.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Project 365: Day 18

Dance

TC and I went up to take a look at the Washington National Cathedral, and there was a bunch of festivities going on outside of the Cathedral.  Most notably was this Ukrainian dance troupe who wowed the crowd with their graceful and dynamic moves.

And I know this might be cheating, but I had to post this picture as well :)

Catnip

Friday, May 7, 2010

Project 365: Day 17

JFK

TC and I went to the Kennedy Center to see a performance of The Marriage of Figaro.  I’ve played music from The Marriage of Figaro many times, but this is the first time that I’ve been to the opera and seen the actual performance, and the opera itself was quite comical yet enjoyable.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Project 365: Day 16

car

I saw this Cadillac with its really small wheels and interesting sign mounted to it's back windshield (back of it says “Just Klownin”).  I was waiting for it to bounce up and down on its front wheels, but it never happened.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Project 365: Day 15

tennis

With the rain deciding to hide out for the day and the temperatures falling, I hit the court today with LG, who I had met from last Friday.  We had played on Sunday, and it was a slugfest….in that we both moved like slugs since it was like 85+ degrees and the humidity was high.  And the sweat trail behind me completed the full slug effect.  Today was a much cooler and more comfortable day.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Project 365: Day 14

Hands

The flavor of the day (or month?) was “Connection”.  Here we have my hands, responsible for many connections with people over the years, whether its typing the words of this blog, a pat to the back or shoulder, clicking the mouse to shoot the zombies, clapping with approval, pointing out the obvious (and not so obvious), a thumbs up for approval, dialing a phone call, shaking a hand, playing the notes with a piano or viola, or clenching a hug for comfort.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Project 365: Day 13

Lion Paw

This picture was taken (I think) sometime in 2008 during a visit to KiraTomato at San Diego.  We went to the Wild Animal Park which had a pretty nifty safari-like setup where they drove visitors through an open area where their African animals could roam.  I forget which animal paw this came from, but it was one of the better photos I took that day.

Project 365: Day 12

03052010033

This photo was taken on March 5, 2010 at the Reflection Pool at DC.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the water was all drained away to keep the foundation from cracking, but it was still strange to see all the water gone.  Poor ducks don’t have anywhere to swim in March :(

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Project 365: Day 11

Magic Eraser

I’ve heard various accounts from people about how well the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works when it comes to cleaning things, so I decided to give it a try and see what all the hoopla is all about.  The big test for me was to see whether the eraser would work well in getting rid of the soap scum that lined my bathroom tub.  Up to this point, I haven’t found an easy and effective way to clean the scum off, and I will say that the eraser worked its magic and scrubbed all the scum away with a bit of water and elbow grease.  The best analogy I can make is that the magic eraser works like those white soft erasers for pencils.  It wears away like a eraser, but it leaves whatever surface you’re rubbing on virtually spotless.  It works a heck of a lot better and easier than any cleaner that I’ve tried to get rid of soap scum, so I’ll definitely stock up on these later down the road.