Thursday, April 07, 2005

Springtime in DC

Once again, a fine day is nearly done, and I have not written in my blog. But I have a good reason! The cherry blossoms are in bloom, so yesterday and today I went for nice long runs though downtown DC to enjoy the smells and sights of spring. Of course, my legs are begging for a break, with 12 miles in two days being a bit more than they are used to. It always takes a couple of years for me to find the best in an area, which means that just as I am learning to enjoy a place, I move. Oh well.

In another sign of spring, I am desperately trying to get the mud patches in the back yard to become patches of lawn. I wonder how much Astroturf costs…? And then I wouldn't have to mow it!

Yesterday was warm. How warm? Well, some of my mead became active again and launched a cork across the room. The strong, sweet yeast smell that greeted me when I went downstairs to check on the wireless router told me of the disaster. So I bottled the Concord mead, and put the other (plain) mead back in the carboy for a fine finishing. Which brings me to the topic of the router. Who would have thought that the router and cable modem have the same size plug but different voltage requirements? Not I…and now I know what happens when you plug a 12V cable modem power cord into a 5V wireless router: you enjoy the wonderful acrid aroma of toasted electronics and a trip to Wal-Mart for a cut rate router to use until the 802.11n standard is out. Unfortunately, I am still router-less because the Wal-Mart one was missing its power cord, and was the last one on the shelf. What is it with power cords?

We are working toward selling the house, which means that we have rented a storage shed and bought about $500 worth of containers from, you guessed it, Wal-Mart. With the yard sale this Saturday, I hope the house will feel empty and ready to 'red-up' and sell. Hmmm….Looks like I have to get back to work, so the trip report will have to wait. Oh, but there is one more thing:

Usually the WSJ has pretty sensible writers, even if they do lean left (except for the editorial page, which is right). However, on the front page of section D yesterday there was this quote

The rules effectively mean that border crossings to or from Canada and Mexico would now be treated just like travel to or from other countries.
You know, call me silly, but I learned in school that, despite physical proximity, Canada and Mexico actually are "other countries". Oh well, learn something new every day.

Lastly, I have some good news to report! With only a few months left here at the Pentagon, I got a LOCKER AT THE POAC (aka, the gym). This may not seem like a big deal to you. After all, it is about 12 inches high by 8 inches wide, and almost holds a pair of shoes. But I have been on the waiting list for about 2 years, so I am going to enjoy it to the utmost. I am scheming to fill it with all the luxuries of a sweaty locker room: flip-flops, deodorant, hair brush and extra socks. Life is good!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good luck. We >should< close on ours this month. We're waiting on the buyers to close on the sale of their land, which is funding the purchase of our house.

We're paying an agent to do the closing. $500. So we've saved the standard 6-7%. In your case that's a bunch of money. It seems like you'd be able to do it pretty easily.