Still Life With Camera: Helicopter Formation

It's not every day that you see helicopters flying in formation ten feet off the ground. I only caught one of them with my camera phone (while driving!), but it was a sight to behold.

Wilderness Of Sin

I must have sinned greatly today.

It's not that I did anything bad, actually. The Hebrew word "sin" is translated as "missing the mark". Therefore to sin is to miss the mark, to fall short of the glory of God.

In a completely different context, the Wilderness of Sin (or Zin), is a place where the Israelites wandered in the desert during the Exodus, and where they complained against God that they had run out of food. After that and other similar nonsense they got to wander in the desert for 40 years on account of their hard-heartedness. (What, they couldn't ask for directions at the gas station?)

I went to an off-site location for work today, and I must have missed every exit imaginable on the way there and on the way back. I just kept missing my exit and had to wander my way back through unfamiliar territory. So, I felt a little like those Israelites today.

In the end their saving Grace was God (after teaching them a lesson); my saving grace was GPS. (Hmm, I wonder what was the lesson I was supposed to learn?)

Reason #7 Why I Hate The Metro

The Washington DC Metro is a marvel of modern engineering - 1968 engineering - and it shows. Perennially underfunded, they don't have a "strategic vision", despite being the nation's second busiest transit system.

This grainy cell phone picture shows water dripping audibly in the tunnel next to the electrified third rail into a grate where the lights go. That green smear under the grate is a rather sizable plant which has volunteered to grow there for a while now. It's got everything it needs -- light, water, soil (presumably), and an inattentive Metro management.

Do you think the train is maintained any better?

If You Were Wondering

If you were wondering what llamas were doing in suburbia, then we were thinking the same thing...

Lousy camera phone picture at twilight, I know ...

A Step Too Far?

I saw this while walking to lunch and it just looked so ridiculous that I had to take a picture.

It looks as if step stools are now being provided to read the handicapped sign.
If that's the case, then that's a step too far in our enabling culture.

More likely a workman simply forgot his step stool -- but that wouldn't be interesting would it?

Dragon Van

I saw this VW Bus at Wynken's soccer practice. When I see a dragon that large I'm not sure whether to laugh or go into attack mode with some holy water.

Maybe they have a serious case of D&D overdose. Either way, this has got to be embarrassing for the kids.

Hasta La Metro

I found an open door and I went through it.

A job slot opened up at the corporate office that is 15 minutes from the house. Now I won't have to go downtown DC on a daily basis; maybe occasionally, but definitely not all the time.

So no more adventures in Metro for a while -- I won't miss it! That thing gets worse by the day. It is literally falling apart due to years of neglect and an emphasis on closing the budget gap of the moment.

Yesterday the Red line was operating at a maximum speed of 15 mph. I wasn't there -- I was waking up late and still getting to work early at the new location.

Hello, freedom! (Freedom now being defined as availability to drive Nodlings around to soccer practices and Scouting events, as well as coming home to a family dinner.)

On balance, I'll take it in a heartbeat.

The Cops Are Everywhere

Friday was apparently The-Cops-Are-Everywhere Day, but nobody told me. For reasons best known to themselves the police were out in force in both Washington, D.C. and Virginia.

I mean they were everywhere: bicycles, horseback, on-foot, on the highway, parked on sidewalks, in parks, on the Metro -- everywhere.

I have no problem with the police, and I have nothing to hide; but it was just weird to see them on every corner. They like to have a show of force from time to time, I know, but it's enough to make even a law abiding citizen look around anxiously.

Reason #8 Why I Hate The Metro

If you miss your departure time in the D.C. Metro area, your whole commute is screwed up. If you aren't at the Vienna South parking garage by 8am you aren't going to get a parking space.

Your next opportunity is when the Reserved parking opens at 10am. I came in late one day this week at 10:04am and every single spot was taken.

That's because people will idle in the Reserved spot starting about 9:30am so they don't get a ticket. At 10:00 they turn off the engine and hop on the Metro.

Grr. Even the parking garages have politics in DC.

The Light Is On

The Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington are participating in a joint campaign to extend the sacrament of reconciliation to as many people as possible this Lent.

In addition to regular confession times, Catholic churches across the greater DC metro region will be open for confessions every Wednesday from 6:30 p.m - 8:00.

That's every parish in both dioceses everywhere at the same time. They have a radio, web, and poster ad campaign. This picture was taken on the inside of a Metro train. The web site is at TheLightIsOn.org.

Somebody really wants you to get forgiven for Easter. The light is on -- for you.

Reason #7 Why I Hate The Metro

The smell of urine in the Metro stations and the top of the Vienna South parking garage stairwell.

Adventures In Metro: The Dish

We've had a lot of high winds in Washington, D.C. lately. That may explain why this dish was being removed.


Also, you can't have a dish much bigger than this one, because it won't fit down the alley!

Tales From The Cold: New Signs

There are some new signs atop the Vienna Metro: snow dumping.

Pole Position

These giant "telephone" poles south of the Manassas Battlefields, mentioned before, have now disappeared. There were matching poles on the other side of the road as well. I now think they were there temporarily while they worked on the power lines to prevent a dropped line from falling in the roadway.

Either that, or somebody stole six 50-foot poles when nobody was looking...

In The Place Where You Are

Riding Metro is a microcosm of our area; I was idly wondering if you could guess where any given person on the train lived based on which direction they were headed, which stop they got on/off, age, gender, race.

And then I realized there's a statistic for that -- it's called demographics. Duh.

Race	Montgomery/MD	Fairfax/VA	Wash/DC	USA
White	66.9%	71.6%	40.1%	79.8%
Black	16.9%	9.6%	54.4%	12.8%
Am.Indian	0.4%	0.4%	0.4%	1.0%
Asian	13.5%	15.9%	3.4%	4.5%
Pacific Is.	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%
Hispanic (b)	14.8%	14.1%	8.6%	15.4%

(b) Hispanics may be of any race, so also are included in applicable race categories.
Source: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html (2008)

Adventures In Metro: Barrels

A strange sight greeted me this week at the McPherson Square Metro station in D.C. Looks like oil barrels.



The palette is clearly some homeless man's bed in the evening, but the barrels are a mystery. What can they be?

Reason #67 Why I Hate The DC Metro

Other than the fact that I narrowly missed being one of those who were stranded on the Metro for nearly two hours this week when they couldn't get the power restored;

other than the fact that some guy was pushing me from behind to get on to an already overcrowded train (he got a piece of my mind!);

other than the fact that the infrastructure is crumbling, that the parking garages leak like sieves, that the train doors open randomly during transit, that the safety system doesn't work, that the trains themselves are unsafe;

other than the fact that a majority of the Metro workers are as helpful as drain clots;

other than the fact that even with headphones, I can still hear people's music players five seats away, that people blatantly disregard the no eating/drinking rules;

other than the fact that it adds 3 hours to my commute and drains my wallet for both trains and parking (and gets me not enough of either);

other than the fact that the city of D.C. can't be bothered to shovel the public walkways when it snows and ices, causing one lady to exclaim, "This is the worst city in the world!";

other than that, I can't think of a single reason I hate the D.C. Metro.

Office Santa

Some folks at the office were really getting into the holiday spirit. Since this happened in a Government office I'm shocked they got away with it. But since when has the Government let rules get in their way, especially their own?

Never mind that it's still Advent. Heeeeerrrrrrrrrrre's Santa! (and his reindeer!)
And yes, Santa is on a real, movable sleigh. Impressive.

Behind Door #1

Ever wonder what lies behind those massive concrete walls next to the highway?

Well, if you drive by Tyson's Corner on I-495 the answer is apparently "nothing". Yikes!
Guess they're working on it.

Power Poles Or Gallows?

I see these telephone poles every time I head south of the Battlefields. They look a lot like three crosses. They don't have a purpose I can divine. Ignore the silver power poles; notice the yellow ropes tied to the wood posts. Don't know what they are there for (don't want to find out the hard way). Keep drivin'.