End in Sight

Why do my most recent posts look as if I twittered them? Final Exams. And yes, one more (long) exam to go, then off to the broad summer.

Average time per exam: 1:46

1:20
2:10
1:30
2:10
1:45
2:10 (cut off)
(>2:05)- Tomorrow's physics exam- it always takes me a little longer to do it.

Considered 16

A little chilly for a great game of outdoor Capture the Flag, then, it really heated up. Every April 17th, warmer than the 14th.

OK, so I got my Library of Congress card. Somehow, I thought I could get down from Brookland to Capitol South in 1/2 of an hour. Not possible. So therefore, I'd have to give the trip a little more time- like 15 minutes more. After a long run with a heavy pack, I got on the train for 3 stops- then took a 6 block walk. This is supposedly faster than riding 24 blocks out of the way to Metro Center. Sweaty, but made it 5 minutes short of the 4:30 deadline. Getting the card was a simple matter- fill out a simple form, and- government photos- I looked organic, and not done up. Well.

To avoid an innumerable amount of punches, I kept it on the lowdown. Anyway, anyone who really cared about govong me punches would have asked or done research.

The 411 On Vacation

I was already having vacation-itis. As usual, I was up at 6am. Quite a bit tired, with a mild cough that wasn't contagious. So therefore, I would make the attempt to get to school. Hours slowly passed by, and it was 2:50. For the first time in a while, the Chess Club had brought boards, and I played past 3:20. Awesome player set up 6 powerful pieces aimed right for my king. Somehow, I survived 10 minutes like that.
It was sort of like going on vacation, preparing for spring break. Did I need this? Yes. No.

Well, time for some rest!

No 29th

When I looked up 'how to start a cell phone company', the result came back for how to start a cell phone website company. Now think about this: I have only had to use such a site once- the first cellphone was a freebie.

Now there are those people who like to or just happen to lose their phone all the time, and the sassy who always need a new phone every whenever. And they frequent these websites. So there you go.

Why did I mention this? Because I'm reminiscing about the soon-to-be two years of posts, and still wonder at the ability of millions individuals to make e-cash- just like me, except I don't do it for the money. I do this (blog+web empire) because I like to, and it brings joy to the world.

When I look at tomorrow, it's March 1st. Just three months until another summer vacation. I'm sort of happy that after 11 years of being schooled that the time begins to fly...

Panther Victory- Champs game 4:30 tomorrow.

My Awesome Church Adventure, Part 1

Just a briefing:

Pop Tarts for those 5-minute lunches are great.
On such a meal, it was a Main House supervictory- undefeated in every qualifying game in volleyball. Well, we did falter on championship game 2, and it was looking sad, "If you don't want to hit the ball, then don't be on the team". The tough love that was used surely secured victory rather than the normal rotation that forces good players out as often as the bad. Main pulled off the 3rd game to be #1.

So Saturday, 2:15 pm. I just got back from orchestra as I ran and packed bags. I siad I would be there at 2:30pm, so I had to rush. Well, I got there at 3pm, but that was fine anyway, as I had the alibi of having to scour the church for the group. Yes, they were already hard at work in the kitchen. After some stop-and-go moments, the kitchen was at full swing for two hours, poaching 220 eggs in six small pots, one at a time.

So the survivability rate rolled around 87%, much better than the previous 50% of 2007, including breeched yolks, and one-eyed monsters that lost their albumin in the pot. The time passed quickly by...

For those who love to eat and see chickens

It's about 7pm in Silicon Valley this waning first day of 2009. In 19 days, the popular president elect will actually become president, and we will plant a bush back in Texas.

Sorry, the rest of this is not too vegetarian-friendly The fact that I acknowledge this is a good thing on the step to so-called ending cruelty.

On the subject of the day, chickens.
The chicken at Chick-Fil-A was quite superb as always. TGIT, and not Sunday!
At the quite new Dulles Town Center, I saw an unusual take on a calendar- Chickens
And I saw a chicken at the last farm between the Beltway and Leesburg.
Trying to find a BP (for which we have a rewards card valid until Saturday), we stopped at Boston Market to pick up dinner. The second chicken came for just $1.99. The chicken was indeed superb- the nicely browned skin and all. I recommend them too.

Last Post, 08

Under three minutes until the New Year. If I do not type fast enough, then this will be my first post of 2009. But I do not intend for that to happen. As a matter of fact, Luke Russert is hanging around the high profiles on TV, and all eyes are in Times Square. Do you know the words to Au Lang Syne? Get ready.

Ah, 45 seconds...35...

Pooks Hill Station

Grosvenor Station. Grosvenor. The least American metro station name after L'enfant Plaza. I got schooled on its pronunciation about a week or two ago. Is it gros-ve-nor, grovs-ner (as the conductors say it), it actually is Gro-venor, with the Norman French silent 's', according to a native. Since 1984, the name has been tripping everyone up. Pooks Hill, the name in the original plans, would have satisfied the American desire of easy. Then the station had Strathmore added to its name. Unlike such stations as Woodley Park/Zoo-Adams Morgan, or U Street/Cardozo/African-American Civil War Memorial Station, people actually use the new part of the name.

Well, that leads to what Little 'Borther' had me do yesterday. He had me ride the entire Metro system. We boarded at 2:10pm, took the Orange Line out to New Carollton, doubled back to the Blue to Largo, headed off to Green to Branch Ave, reversing towards Greenbelt. But, by then, it was 5:30pm, and Mommy called us to come back home for supper. On the Red Line from Fort Totten home, I asked whether he was still recording the train times, as it pulled into each station. "No, never again on Sunday". Indeed, we spent well over an hour waiting for trains, as it was Sunday. We put our farecards through the exit gate at just about 6pm.

The Multimedia Journalist

Post 350, a lot of videos online, and the news comes down to meet me

Picture the sort of fascinating journalism I do. Now imagine instead of you clicking to see my world, you turn on your TV and see me. That is what WUSA 9 is doing- the least viewed news channel around here. They are throwing out the specialists who film and do the lighting and all, even eliminating the sucker interns who do all the work when everyone else is on vacation. What is replacing my aspirations is self-reporting. After ten years of improving e-journalism that now involves real crews, these reporters are going to film themselves. Now I consider how on the film Animal Noises, I left out the usual lighting scheme by accident. I didn't want to redo the whole ad lib show, so I uploaded it it anyway. That is the future of Channel 9.

1 billion for Great Society

Money has been approved from congress for the Silver Line towards Dulles Airport- for the first segment to Tyson's Corner. This will provide easier access to the supermall there, and should spur development. Some groups even say that the area will become DC's skyscraper district. (I know it's Fairfax; Rosslyn is unsuitable because of the 300' height limit due to National Airport, and the feds probably don't want a building towering over the Pentagon, if located in Crystal City.

But will it be above or underground? It still has to be decided. Even if it were overhead, the cheaper alternative, the architectural drawings do make it look not like an eyesore.

My Brainchild

No, passengers will not appreciate being sent from their local airport to the Dulles (VA/DC) passenger sorting facility and back to their final destination. This is not overnight mail. People want to reduce their time in the air, no matter how luxurious it may be, to spend more time on the ground. Anyway, three airports got new runways today- Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare, and Portland. DC's strip was the most economical, at $350 mil, the cost of 6 Boeing 737's. The Portland runway somehow cost $1 bil. How did that happen? Anyway, cheers to the future of air travel from these smart cities.

Sponsored by Northern Express Airlines. Coming to an airport near you.

Obama, 44th President

Why haven't I been around for two days? The internet broke- really, on Wednesday. The internet box (modem) showed a red light or a blank from the point of failure onwards. It was sad. I was totally isolated, and couldn't get some work done, either. So last night, we got the tech support on the phone, and reinstalled the internet. It works swell now, and somehow, the search history didn't disappear, either.

Tuesday night, 10pm, I was down by the White House. A group had gathered, and they were all so excited about Barack, as if he was a celebrity. So NBC was geopolitically correct, and waited until the Californian polls closed to declare victory for the posterchild. And you never know. Until it's over it's not over. So then people start cheering, and dancing, and everything, more than New Year's and the Fourth of July combined.

Wednesday, 7am, I was handed a piece of history at the train station- the full-page cover of the Examiner showed the victorious man on the cover. We also got hold onto one of the first-run copies of the Washington Post. Yeah, yeah, I had a French quiz to think about, but it wasn't too much of a damper.

Gotta get some shuteye. Oh, JMAG is out. Follow the link to the main page to it.

Memo

At 10:30 pm

By current events ongoing in the electoral college , we will announce that Barack Obama will most likely be president of the USA.

(put this in JMAG)

668-2008

Go out and vote tommorow. Vote for and, most likely, somebody at the state level as well. Even if you are not qualified to vote, and you have nothing better to do, cast a provisional ballot. Whether Remember, I don't want to become a commie subject because of some irresponsible 20 year olds' choice to be apathetic. First thing to go- freedom of speech, and this website will disappear. So please do excercize your right as a citizen of the free world and I'm not- by law I'm too young, but I've been making sure that the barely-legal crowd is going to do so. Boy, do I feel sad for the arranger of the mock debate. Almost 18, but not quite yet. Take away votes from the people who don't need them (those apathetic 20 year olds who don't understand why they got a day off from college) and give them to 17 1/2 year old leaders of CSO teams.

Now a word about afrimative action in the Mr. Obama is poised to lose up to about 5% of potential votes on the single factor of race. Do we add 5% to his tally and give him a sure victory? Or do we give McCain several points because he has 72 years on his back? In the world of success, you don't need AA, so what's the big point of it then?

So go and vote for Obama/Biden, McCain/Palin, Nader/Gonzales, or for yourself. It should be your right not to vote for anyone, but it shouldn't be your right not to show up, though.

Swiss Nuke

Stephen Hawkings made a $100 bet that the Swiss machine won't destroy us all. But think of this- if it did destroy us, he doesn't owe nobody! This black-hole spawner (its most acute side effect) is its fault. It's more deadly than a nuke- or a nuclear war- or the whole world's nuclear arsenals fired at once. If you have not heard of a possible impending disaster, look up CERN and what a black hole is- it would swallow up the entire solar system in less than an hour.

There is a chance that nothing deadly bad will happen, other than bogged down internet speeds, but remember, not even a will will save us now. Sorry I couldn't write a nicer mortem post as I wanted to, but thanks to all the people I know, as well as the rest of my anonymous readers.

My parents want to use the Internet now.

Oops, with respect to Brittany

Today was a wild one at work today. The lady from Richmond made a surprise pop-in at 11:30 am, again, and let her 110 miles of emotions gathered on I-95 in 1/2 an hour before a cold turkey lunch.
What a difference from a week ago.

Day 3, continued
We first walked along curving roads to the local Tim Hortons. It was so crowded with Montrealians that we went across the street to Mc D's. About 10 minutes later, after getting orientated with the directions, we had headed in the wrong direction. We reverted back, and took a long hike to the nearest train station- St. Michel on the Blue line (or, in French custom, St. Michel-Snowdon) We paid 12.00 for 6 tickets to ride on the rubber-tyred metro. Soon, we were at Mc Gill- and walk around (my pinky's hurting). And that was basically it, other than a picture at the Parisian "Metropolitain" station entrance at Square-Victoria- Daddy tipped the 'doorman' $2. After a DC-style transfer (pick up the paper transfer on the way into the station, and show it to the driver when boarding the bus. If going from bus to train- shell out some cash) from the train to the connecting bus into the suburbs- the 141. A short walk under the highway, and the cell phone rang. That was a first- I never knew they worked in Canada. Anyway, the car was as good as Saturday Morning. It was already 3pm, and we headed fast to the campground straight north of Trois-Rivieres.

Day 4

The campground at Riviere-a-la-Peche was beautiful in the trees at first sight, but that was only the beginning of nice campground- We were spoiled so much that that one became 'forgettable'. Breakfast at...not Tim's...I'm checking the travel log...oh. It was Mickey's, again. Again, we sped north. Fuel was a remarkably low $1.29 per litre- $4.90 a gallon. It was sheer wilderness- a wilderness like he Pacific Northwest, with lots of evergreens and lakes. Feeling the car window, it was cold as if it were on an aeroplane. By luchtime, we were at our destination lake, after the omnipresent one-lane work crews worked to mainain the wily road. We had a picnic lunch at a beach in Robertval, and took a toe-dipper in the cold, iron-rich water. Continuing around the circular lake, we spent the night in a campground at Doubeau-Mistassini, in the northwstern corner of the lake. There was a grand waterfall, and an isle-mignon (cute island). It only gets better. Dinner was definitely forgettable- canned stew and lots of crackers and cracker topping. I did fill up fast, though, on the marks that malstereotypes camping.

Day 5
In the morning, after breakfast at the Bonnet Rouge, and a chat with some Torontoneers, we had to cross the 49th parallel, since we were so close. At10:13am, in the small village of St. Stenislas, we reached our northernmost point. Afterwards, the family headed up to the Trappist Chocolate Factory. No, there was actually not a factory tour, but a gift shop that sold lots of sweet treats. Apparently, the shopkeeper spoke abut no english, so Mommy had a great time practicing her French. The family picked up chocolate covered sweetmeats and bluets-aux-chocolat for ourselves, and Mommy picked up a variety box for the office. Yes, she frequently enjoys an exotic treat from a co-worker who went on vacation, or on business to exotic places. This was a little thing to return the favor. And we continued around the lake for the road to Quebec City.

Did it come yet?

I should have reported this before the 5 pm news, but I did check the Supreme Court database prior to 5pm.

There are no gun stores in DC that sell to individuals, according to ABC 7.
Most semiautomatics are banned, they also said. Of course.

However, the news-people were making the decision seem more unpopular than it really was. According to a poll, 2/3rds of the voters supported the decision. Of course, non-DC could have voted, but DC is the nation's issue, not its own.

A joyous day, but I'm not going to buy a handgun, quite yet, and maybe never will. But after watching a film, which will not be named, I think I'll build a misfire-safe range somewhere, and have fun with it.

PS- I was so excited to write this post that I turned off Locomotion to do so.

Exams 200

I don't really know why I'm wasting my 200th milestone post on one that isn't really high-quality. So it was only on February 14th that we hit the 100 post mark. So there is still one French exam left, and so be it. I'll make it up tomorrow.

Delli-Can-Drive

Our lil' man will be attempting the written test tomorrow afternoon to receive a learner's permit. He claims that he can see above the windshield, and I'll take his word for it. I have no plans to file an injunction against his capabilities to drive. Anyway, he'd never forgive me if I did (:

Catch-up, on sleep

I play it cool
And dig all jive
That's the reason
I stay alive.

My motto,
As I live and learn
is:
Dig and be dug
In Return

(Langston Hughes)

I wanted to include the poem "On hearing the intent of purchasing the poet's freedom", which included a jubilee about liberation from the toils of the world, but I lost the packet, and had to settle with the next suitable poetry.

Anyway, it's Spring Break. It finally came, and I'm enjoying my first few minutes of it, especially when it took a while to get our locker room open. Otherwise, maybe the admin will get the jist of things and realize that locking the rooms during sports causes more problems than it solve. Notwithstanding, we're finally getting smart-boards, the most attention- grabbing internet-ready digital chalkboards in the world. Yes, I've worked with them at St. Thomas before, and they're great.