My most recent stuff is at the top of the page. Here's what I've been up to...
(9/9-9/22)Well, it would be an understatement to say the last two weeks have been a long one for everyone. It is hard to imagine what hatred it would take to provoke such a pointless act against innocent people. And I know some of the questions that I, and many other people, have as to why this happened will more than likely never be fully understood.
I like many other people first heard about this through the news. I was watching the Today Show as I do every morning when the breaking news about a plane hitting the World Trade Center came on. Now originally this was not something I found terribly far-fetched as an accident, after all the Empire State Building had been accidentally crashed into decades ago. And then in the middle of an interview with an eyewitness the only thing I saw was a ball of fire, because I wasn't paying close attention. Then, they replayed the tape and I swear I felt like I was watching a movie, but the reaction from hosts immediately reminded you that this was in fact live television and completely real.
My heart started racing realizing the gravity of the situation. And just when I thought it couldn't get worse, they announced an explosion had occurred at The Pentagon, which is five miles or less from where I live. At that point concerned turned into, "What the hell is going to happen now?"
Of course I don't need to to remind you of the rest. Since then, the site and sound of Air Force jets flying overhead has become almost routine. And I have a feeling it will stay this way for while. Like many others I was riveted to the television all of September 11, watching NBC almost the whole day. Wondering, hoping, and praying that things were not as bad as they appeared, but they were.
But not all is bad around here. Being the adventurous souls we are last weekend we actually headed in to Washington D.C.. It was almost surreal how empty the city was. We visited two museums using the Metro and actually got away from all of the coverage for a while.
First, we visited the Corcoran. There we saw "In Response to Place" which was an interesting exhibit of nature photographs sponsored by The Nature Conservancy and "Restructured Reality" which featured the paintings of a little-known artist, Francis Criss. Both were very interesting, except for one thing in the photo exhibit I did not understand, cardboard boxes laying on the floor filled with what looked like broken up wallboard. Second, we visited the Renwick. There we saw a large exhibit of furniture created by Sam Maloof, which was amazing. Sam Maloof was actually there the day we went and was more than happy to answer questions and explain his technique.
I was glad to see my favorite baseball team, the New York Mets play their first home game since September 11, on TBS. Even happier was I that they won their game against Atlanta.
I'll end this update with a neat picture I found on the Internet. My caption, "Liberty and freedom will always survive."
The days and weeks just keep flying by. I don't know if it's just getting older or what, but 10 years ago the summer didn't go by this fast. Of course keeping busy probably makes it go faster.
Two Friday's ago I rented a movie that I've never heard of before, apparently it wasn't broadly released here in the U.S., but instead was real popular in Australia. The movie is called "The Dish" and and was actually featured at the Sundance Film Festival. It was actually one of the better movies I've rented in a longtime. It's basically a base-on-real-life comedy about a behind the scenes story of the Apollo 11 moon landing. About the people who made the live television transmission of the moon landing possible. Worth checking out.
On Tuesday, Sept. 4, we went to see B. B. King in concert it was really good show that also featured to other blues artists, The Tommy Castro Band and John Hiatt. B. B. King was great and he performed for over an hour, which I think is pretty cool since he is 75 years old. The other two performers were really good also.
This past Friday, we visited the National Building Museum to see exhibits on two different architects, William L. Price and R. M. Schindler. After returning to Alexandria by Metro we walked down King Street (the main drag in Old Town) to go out to dinner at the Virginia Brewing Company. The blackened rib-eye steak I had was great, but I have enough leftovers for two more dinners. After returning from dinner I watched "Unbreakable" which is by the same guy who wrote "The Sixth Sense." It wasn't as good as his other movie but had the same kind of surprise ending.
That's it for now. Be sure to check back in two weeks (Sept. 23) for the latest.
