3 posts tagged “dc”

Ok, so next time I say I'm posting pix... you guys scream at me in the comments.  I don't know WHY my pix didn't show up but I'm trying this again!  LOL

So I took my husband to the airport, as you know, and we got to DC early so we took a little spin through town.  I grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos as we were driving down the streets.  

It was fun!

We went by the water and I looked at pretty boats.  I love to get on sail boats. *SIGH* Wish I had a boat I could take up and down the waterways here.  How cool would that be to photograph?  

We drove by the Washington Monument which was looking stunning as always!  I love that the sky was just such a pretty blue with some poofy clouds!

On our way out of town we passed by the Jefferson Memorial which I love.

So here's some photos that weren't in the previous post.  I went to DC again on Thursday with a friend to shoot some family photos.  Check out this picture I took with my camera phone while we were there!

I love the Lincoln Memorial! So pretty!

Just in case you were wondering, here's a picture from the shoot I did:

The proofs are up on my website.  Isn't she beautiful?  And her kids are beyond cute. I love them!  

And just because I can... I'm going to post a picture of where I was just this past Sunday!  I dropped the kids off at Ferrum College for an enrichment camp.  It's beautiful down there!  This is yet another Camera-Phone snap!

Isn't that great?

So today I'm off to the Newseum up in DC.  Woot, another trip into the city! I am so super duper excited!  In fact, I must away!

So here's the final shot of me, so fitting especially these days!  This was the final picture from when I was spinning around DC with my hubby two Sunday's ago!  We're leaving the city and I snagged it in the background with me in the rearview mirror taking a photo!  Awesome! Is that me or what?  

Have Camera, Will Travel?  Yeah, that sounds about right!  Whatcha guys think?

SRSLY, if the Pix don't show... MESSAGE ME and YELL AT ME!

Bloggie... you better work right! HAHA

Loves to ya

--Lady O

Thursday came at long last.  The glorious day to revel in my geek glory. 

It began with a text message.  "LESS THAN TWELVE HOURS!!!!"

The weather turned cold and rainy for this day, but did I let that deter me?  No way!  I tanked up my van with some gas, cursing the rising prices, and hit the interstate.  Rain and hail, you shall not get the best of me!

Jamming with my iPod, I reached DC in a decent amount of time.  Good thing I headed in early, later one of the main bridges all but shut down due to some sort of mega-accident.

My trusty Lola, GPS from the Gods, directed me to the parking at the FDR memorial where I saw Kate standing under an umbrella.  Pulled in, sorted through all the various gadgets, and away we went.

It was so cold along the water.  And by cold, I mean absolutely and utterly freezing.  And by that I mean I am surprised we were not on the 6:00 News.  "Two girls froze to death today at the Tidal Basin attempting to photograph the cherry blossoms.  Film at 11."

We snapped some photos, discussed photography, relaxed, and just had a fantastic time.  We climbed into Kate's car shivering with sopping wet feet.  Was it worth it?  We'll let the picture be the judge.  Unfortunately, we just could not snap as many as we would like, but that is OK.  Here's hoping a few came out anyway.

Now, time to take off for our separate functions.  We wanted to grab a bite to eat, but the 45 minutes it took to travel maybe three miles nixed that idea.  Instead we just went on to our destinations in our cars, cold and hungry.  She to the National Geographic Society for a discussion by author Doug Fine regarding his book, "Farewell, My Subaru", and me to a "Girl's Guide to Gaming" at the Numark Gallery.

Girl's Guide to Gaming?  As if I really need a guide?  I grew up gaming.  It all began with the Pizza Delivery game on our PC, written entirely in BASIC.  It progressed to logging onto the BBS's across the country to download Prince of Persia and Duke Nukem.  Arguments between my father and I over if a console like Nintendo was truly worth the money.  Trying out new Atari games at my neighbour's house, her Uncle got us pre-releases.

Did my gaming adventures stop there?  No, I played EverQuest when it was still fairly new.  I beta tested Earth and Beyond.  I stood in line to buy City of Heroes the day it released.  Now I play Guild Wars and am debating hacking World of Warcraft so, like Mr. T, I can have my very own Night Elf Mohawk.

And the consoles?  Oh the consoles.  Made my way through those as well.  Leading up to my son's prized Wii I wrote about only a few short weeks ago. 

Girl's Guide to Gaming?  I could probably write it.

They don't need to know that, though, do they? 

The first to arrive at the party, I was only 20 minutes early.  With the sun setting and the temperature dropping to below freezing, I decided not to wait outside any more.  I ducked in and begged to just stand in the doorway until the party started.  Instead, I get ushered in by the pack of very beautiful young women running the entire shindig.

They take my coat, bring me a drink, offer me food.  That hit the spot.  I left my house shortly after lunch, and now the clock creeped towards seven.  The only way things could possibly get better?  Cocoa to warm me up!

Then the fun began!  The girls adorn my wrist with a large gold link bracelet complete with Nintendo logo hanging from it.  The gallery has four stations.  At each station I can sample a game on snazzy black DS Lite's.  After playing the game for a bit, they hang a charm from my bracelet.  At the end, I get a cool prize!  Prize and jewelry?  SCORE!

I start with Nintendogs.  My boys LOVE Nintendogs.  Truthfully, I only sometimes pet their dogs, and of course give the proper adoration over the virtual beasties.  I bathed a gorgeous beagle and took her for a walk.  Gave her treats and she brought me a stick!  My efforts garner me a large gold doggie dish with a bone sitting inside it.

From there I move to Mario Kart.  I love racing games.  No, I mean I REALLY love car games.  I do not want to contemplate the hours (and quarters!) spent at the local arcade as a teenager playing Pole Position and Spy Hunter.  Uh oh, Spy Hunter music stuck in my head!  In Mario Kart, I raced the other guests at the party.  Guess who came in first both times?  You betcha!  Go me!  I love that you can spit out banana peels and turtle shells to play just that much more a vindictive game.  It was like Pole Position meets Spy Hunter.  SCORE!  And all with cute little Mario people.  Add one black and white checkered flag heart to my charm bracelet, please!

Brain Age 2 at the next set of comfy couches. I plop myself down, filled with interest.  We have Brain Age for the DS, what changes were made?  As you all know, we like the brainy games and call playing them as part of our home-school-day!  Now, it was noisy, major distractions, you get the picture.  I blame this for my pitiful Brain Age of 61.  There can be no other explanation!  (Or it could be that I froze my brain to death at the Tidal Basin.  Take your pick.)  I trained a bit, and presto, nice golden light bulb joins my other two charms!

The last station.  The Station of DOOM!! Planet Puzzle League.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  I sat down, a DS lands in my hands, and a gorgeous model shows me how to play.  Cue tunnel vision now.  Twenty-two minutes later my game ended and I left the puzzle planet to return to reality.  The noise returned, the people returned, and I found out apparently someone took my picture.  How did I miss that?  I shudder to think how THAT will turn out!

Twenty-two minutes of obsessive time-suck that can only be likened to - Tetris Mania.   A cute pink high heel joins my bracelet and now my charm collection is complete.  Huge and heavy charm collection, I might add.  Nintendo did a great job with this.

What now?  Some more snacks and then my handy dandy Nintendo gal, Danit, unzips her fanny pack.  Now, I have to make a side comment here.  I thought fanny packs the worst fashion statement ever.  No way to wear those things and look decent.  Either you look pregnant, like you have a second person growing out of your hip, or a butt the size of Texas.  No way can these be a good thing.  Not true on our five Nintendo girls.  They looked fantastic.

So what was in the fanny pack, you ask?  That's right, MORE GAMES!  Next thing I know, I'm playing WordJong.  I love Mahjong and I like word games.  They got married and gave birth to WordJong.  Awesome.  I try out My French Coach and practiced my rusty language skills.  I weighed my brain with Big Brain Academy. 

And then out came the prizes.  Yours truly now owns a beautiful pink DS Lite and Brain Age 2!  Yippee!  I set it all up with my name (Lady Ozma), my fave colour (purple!), and my birthday.  (And yes, my sons already have me in pictochat!)

One more gadget for Lady Ozma as I move towards filling my Batgirl Belt.  The only problem?  This one doesn't match all my other gadgets in cool and sexy black.  That is fine, as pink rocks.  It is girly, it supports breast cancer, it is pretty. 

And it fits so nicely in my purse.  Now, how do I find all these games?  My wish list includes every last one of the games I played last night.

Gaming is far too expensive but oh so worth it!

After the game, Lynne and I went for some snacks at a lovely Spanish restaurant.  Good food, good friend, good chat.  I am so glad I met her, that she invited me to the party, and that we got to hang out!  Next stop, Renn Faire! 

The only bad thing came on our way back to the cars.  Some slacker tried to ditch out of work nearly an hour early.  Locking our cars in the garage.  Oh, I don't think so!  We met up with another couple trying to get their car.  Thank goodness they recognized the car park guy and tore into him.  We got in after all.  Yeah, you better believe you are letting us in, loser.  I am NOT going to sleep in the rain and cold of DC on the street.  You can guess again. 

We get into the car park and I kid you not, the elevators were off as well.  We tried them, the doors opened, the doors closed.  And we went NOWHERE.  The buttons did not work.  I hate elevators.  They give me the heebie jeebies.  I immediately panic but thank goodness this guy was with us.  He pried open the doors and became my hero!  He gets a great big two emeralds up from Lady Ozma!  The woman he was with also found us a shortcut on Level C to get to Level D.  No kidding, we had to walk through the entire garage.  Did I mention I was in my boots with something like two inch heels?  Thankfully chunky heels!  Why not take the stairs?  Oh we learned our lesson.  Lynne and I stood at the door and held that open.  The lady held open the next door.  And our wonderful man ran down from A to D and tried... the door was... wait for it... yup!  LOCKED!  He ran back up and we started hoofing it.

So the round up review:
Cherry Blossoms: Beautiful
Weather: Terrible
Nintendo: You rox my sox
Nintendo Girls: Two big 10 karat emeralds up!  Fantastic job!  Friendly, fun, knowledge-filled.  I want your job!
Venue - Numark Gallery: Fantastic location on 6th and E.  Right near everything and a good space.  (Though apparently not big enough for the Wii's the girls said they normally put up.)
Spanish Restaurant: Gotta go back there.  YUM!
Hockey Fan Couple: Follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City anytime.  You rock!
Parking Attendant/Garage: You suck.  The weather was better than you.   How do you like that?  Beat out by freezing rain and arctic feeling winds coming up off the nasty water in the Tidal Basin.  Someone is overpaid.  Thank goodness my parking was FREE with my event.

Now, I'll catch ya later.  I've got a DS Lite to give some love to!

--Lady O

Well, when moving back to Virginia, I was a bit bummed out to be moving out of the exciting political arena of Ohio. In Ohio I truly found my vote counting as Ohio shows the heartbeat of the nation. They decide every presidential election as they waffle back and forth between republican and democrat.

In VA it's a whole other story. We're a conservatie state and generally vote republican. However, with more and more governmental jobs opening up in Northern VA, we have seen a greater influx of democratic voters. Still, I have always felt as though my vote does not mean as much since you can generally predict the outcome of a November election in Virginia come January 1. You simply go down the ballot of hopeful candidates and issues and choose the republican/conservative items.

The problem with voting on party line alone, you do not truly learn about your candidates. I cannot in good conscious claim either party or vote on party line. I have voted cross the board in the past.

I just heard that 33,000 votes are still be counted in Fairfax. This is a major suburb of DC and so while there are plenty of natives, a lot of people there are the new move-ins that could swing the area even more democratic. This is the home of most of Virginia's democrats. The majority of the state is filled with conservative republicans. Generally speaking, our democrats are fairly conservative in comparison to most.

At this point, the news channels have the democratic candidate ahead while the VA secretary of state has the republican candidate ahead. So who knows where we are going. But with Fairfax being the deciding factor, I'm going to say there's a high chance that we're going for Webb. The difference is hardly 2,000 now, but how quickly that can change with so many heavily democratic votes still to count. Our state law requires though that a vote this close be recounted.

The bad thing about a Webb victory is that it now looks like he will be the deciding factor for the Senate. It could come down to him with Senate currently at 49 Democrat to 48 Republican at this point. If Webb wins, Senate is going to the Democrats. I am not a republican or a democrat, but I do not like this. Do not cheer if you are a democrat. Webb is not a true democrat. He's actually a republican.

What? Sacrilege!

I kid you not! Researching the two, I could barely find a difference. It boiled down to the fact the incumbent was a Republican. So Webb ran on the democratic ticket. I know plenty of people went in and voted for him purely because of that without realizing he might not quite be what they were hoping for as a democrat.

Webb was a marine and has a son who is a marine. He may be toting the party line of the democrats these days with the Iraq war, but this guy has been in the trenches. He knows we can't remove our troops. He knows we still have troops in Japan and Germany. He knows better than most that once the United States moves in to occupy a country because of a war, we never fully move out. Not only that, he's a published author who is on the Commandant of the Marine's reading list. He's most definitely pro-military and pro-gun. He's definitely not conservative in his writing, but that's OK. He wrote about marines, for marines. I'll leave it at that. His books were a bit much for me, however my husband enjoyed them when he read them while serving a year in Okinawa, separated from his family for absolutely no discernible reason.

So if we actually see the Senate head toward the Democratic side, it's not going to be by much of a margin. And I have a theory that Webb will not be quite the win that many are hoping for. I honestly look at, as far as VA is concerned, a win by either Webb or Allen as the same result. They are just too similar on far too many issues. But on a national level, with it looking like the Senate might possibly be only one vote over majority... it's a whole different ball game.

Now, my personal view on a Democratic Capital Hill with a Republican White House is not positive. I don't care who the people are. This will lead to our federal government grinding to a complete and total halt as the bickering starts up. I've seen it happen, and it's never pretty. Stupid items put into laws and fingers flying as to who's fault it is. "OH you wanted that? The president vetoed it!" "But, Congress put in this stupid item that I couldn't pass." I hate it when the two are at odds. Especially so close to the end of a particular president's stint. It just never goes well, truthfully. All because the ever so wonderful politicians in Washington cannot play together well. They are worse than preschoolers! We might as well let the neighbourhood Minnieland run the country as they'll get along easier.

I need to head to bed, but it's been exciting to be in a state that matters again! However, I'm very discouraged. Mostly because of the probable grinding of political gears as well as the possible not-win of the Senate to the Democrats. I am elated to no longer see moronic political ads from either party. All I care about right now is whomever is in office when my satellite bill heads to the hill later this month, they use their brains to give me back my channels. I'm also discouraged that Senate might go towards the Democrat when not really being democratic. Seems like a disappointing win for the democrats and leads me to question as to what will truly happen. Will the conservative Webb vote more with the Republicans, or will he feel he must support the democratic party that put him on the ticket?

--Lady Ozma

OK, the worst and most evil sentance said in this entire process: "Blue America has moved across the Potomac into the Confederacy." I would like to say as a Virginia native, we are NOT part of the Confederacy. Do not refer to us in that way. To us now, all the stupid war 150 years ago meant was 1. We got torched over and over and 2. Now 150 years later we have to hear about it for 12 years of 13 in school. Stop with the southern cracks. We're Mid-Atlantic. Enough said.