george washington's birthplace

driving home from virginia, i was bored and wanted to see some new scenery, so i turned off route 17 and headed north into tidewater country. i saw a sign announcing george washington's birthplace. my legs needed a good stretch, and i stopped and made it for the last tour of the day.

the original house is no longer standing. the outline of the house is clearly marked.

well meaning people built a home on what they thought was the original spot, but it turned out to be an outbuilding's location. so the rebuilt house is now called a memorial house. still the plantation grounds are beautiful and well worth walking around for an hour or so when a break from driving is needed.

i played a 1930s reproduction of an 18th century harpischord in the main hall of the memorial house. it was very different from a piano and threw me off a bit.

a miniature washington monument marks the entrance to pope's creek plantation.

doctor who in nyc

Time for a little catching up from the past few months.

At the end of August, my inner geek came out again only this time in NYC. We scored tickets in late August to a sneak preview of the Doctor Who Season 7 premier and spent the weekend playing in NYC. It was brilliant.

First there was waiting... lots of waiting.

Then there was the Doctor...

...in real life with Amy Pond. 

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were so much fun.

They really enjoyed talking with us and answering questions. 

They even arrived at the premier in a DeLorean, which is almost as good as a TARDIS.

It was so much fun to watch the season premier with so many fans, and it was so good. 

I've never seen so many sonic screw drivers in one room. 

If you're a true Whovian, you'll totally get why we were a little distressed to find this picture in our hotel room. Whovians don't do stone angels of any sort. Somehow we managed to survive the night.

I wish that we had managed to snap a photo of the empty pedestal labelled "Angel" at The Frick Collection. We were very concerned about an angel on the loose, and rightfully so given the last episode of Doctor Who, Season 7. Truly frightening.

~~~.~~~

And then we explored NYC... It's such a beautiful, gritty city.

Yup, that's the moon up there.

I love how New York makes me look up at every turn.

Classic.

"I was looking up... It was the nearest thing to heaven. You were there."

name that movie...

I really enjoy the details of art deco architecture.

We also visited Ground Zero. The Frick Collection.

And oh the food at Via Quadronno... 

It was the perfect meal to end our NYC adventure.

I cannot wait to go back.

All photos were taken using my Droid Incredible 2 phone and edited using Picasa.

9-11 memorial

WTC skyline sculpture made of metal from the wreckage

fireman's coat at St. Paul's Chapel

memorial at St. Paul's chapel

9-11 Memorial fountain

panorama from WTC plaza overlooking one of the fountains

9-11 Memorial fountain at the foot of Freedom Tower 1(?)

a vertical panorama of Freedom Tower down to the memorial fountain

the Survivor Tree

photos taken on 26 August 2012.
more of my photos here

christmas at longwood gardens

I went to one of my most favorite places on the east coast this week.

I love gorgeous Longwood Gardens.

All photos are taken with my Droid Incredible 2 phone--Amazing.

See the full album here:

12-27-2011 Longwood Gardens Christmas

things that made me smile a lot this week

- my whole family was in one place, all together for the first time in almost five years. yay! one of my wishes for this summer came true.


- a campfire. chili verde. fire roasted corn on the cob. georgetown cupcakes (for breakfast too). stars, so many stars. mountains.


- hugs from all my nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, mom and dad. (and to all my in-laws you are simply my sisters and my brother.)


- my niece's story about the titanic and a romance. she's quite the author.


- an early morning thunderstorm, a double rainbow and family breakfast under a canopy tent in the rain. heaven on earth.


- a bear lake sun burn.


- playing rodeo in the backyard with my two nephews. i got bucked off a bull a couple of times and landed on my behind.


- sleeping on the trampoline with my nephews who decided they loved their mom too much to be outside with me, so they went inside. later mom, my sister, came out and we got sister time.


- stars! shooting stars! satellites!


- long car rides with mom, talking and listening to beautiful music.


- seeing kp and kh two friends i haven't seen in ages. i loved catching up with them, and just sitting and talking. (sorry, to the other friends i missed. next time, i promise.)


- visiting temple square for the first time in years. i love the christus statue.


- i bid on my hotel for san diego and ended up staying here. it was awesome!


- seeing friends from my team in afghanistan. especially one who survived a suicide bombing. he is getting stronger and healthier every day. thank you, god, for this miracle.


- watching as a friend stepped up to meet her destiny. when i grow up i want to be like her: compassionate, strong, a true friend and leader.


- singing with the best pianist i've ever met. listening to him play, to his brother sing along and watching people's faces as they listened or sang along also. what a fabulous night.


- making new friends.


- dinner at an amazing french restaurant with an inspiring group of people.


- listening to the ocean and a steel band play as i fell asleep with windows of my hotel room open.


- coming home to dc. it really is home here now.


- seeing that everyone is safe and sound from the earthquake and hurricane which i missed while out west.


photos to follow.

talk nerdy to me

Nerd is a term that refers to an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit. Nerds are generally considered to be awkward, shy and/or unattractive by most, although this is not always true. Thus, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by others, or will tend to associate with a small group of like-minded people, although again, this is not always the case.

Geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to be overly intellectual".

Which am I? Not sure...

~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~

I am in awe of the particular individual passions on display this weekend at Shore Leave 33, a fan-based Star Ttrek convention, which has now branched out into the other realms, or universes, of science fiction. There was something for everybody - Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Star Gate, Firefly (love this one!),  steam punk, and even Honorverse (Dad, you like this series)--just to name a few.

The best part was getting to listen to experts from NASA, Johns-Hopkins and other institutions talk about REAL science. My friend TS and I really enjoyed learning about these projects and at one point I leaned over to her and said, "We really must find jobs at NASA." She summarized the science perfectly on her blog:

There was one by a NASA scientist who worked on the Hayabusa project, and it was absolutely fascinating. Another about the history of NASA human flight, presented by a guy who works at Kennedy, was also great. Another awesome presentation was about Zooniverse, where you can volunteer to help out with various science projects (click the link, pick a project, and volunteer!). There was also another great one about upcoming solar system exploration. He talked a lot about the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission. Click this link to watch an animation of how they plan to land the thing on Mars (the video goes beyond the landing, but the speaker was focused on how they were landing). 

It was fascinating stuff and makes me want to learn and do more.

NASA dude explaining science stuff about the Hayabusa project.

There were actors from several different shows who took questions from us, the fans. The actors genuinely loved being there to talk about their work and share in their fans' enthusiasm for the shows and the characters. I was impressed with their sincerity as they met fans and shared a few moments with them. My favorites were these two guys:

John de Lancie who played Q
on Star Trek : The Next Generation

Christopher Judge who played Teal'c
on Stargate: SG-1
And he's a fan of Big Bang Theory!

Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman from
Star Trek: TOS pilot episode

The people at the convention were all really nice and cool. They definitely had their own groups and ideas going, because very few actually reached out to talk to anyone new, so I didn't leave with a new group of friends. I did meet some cool people from West Virginia with whom I hung out for a while, but that was it.

B from WVa made her hairpiece over one week.

The Masquerade or costume contest was really neat. I loved seeing all the costumes and how the contestants presented themselves. There were some really amazingly talented people who made some gorgeous costumes. I wish I had been able to get some close-up photos of more costumes, because they were some really cool ones there.

The Royal Manticoran Navy in uniform.

This dress was amazing. The velvet was hand imprinted.
21 hours on the dragon and 36 hours on the dress.

A steam punk engineer. Awesome leather work
and creative use of a caulking gun.

Steam Punk Crypto-Zoologists. Very authentic and Victorian-esque.

So all in all a very good weekend. Lots of fun and learning. I'm glad I went and I'll probably head back again next year for some more fun.

More photos here. Some more photos here. Soon to be photos here. Enjoy!