Off to Mount Vernon

The weather in DC was beautiful this weekend. The skies were clear, and the temperature was only in the eighties. Granted, my friends from Michigan might still consider the weather hot, but it was much better than usual. On Saturday, I took advantage of the nice weather and went for a long bike ride on the Mount Vernon Trail. The Mount Vernon trail runs along the Potomac River all the way from Rosslyn to Mount Vernon, and is eighteen miles long. The northern section of the trail is usually packed with walkers, roller-bladers, and bicyclists, but as one rides away from DC, the trail becomes much less busy. I rode the entire trail down to the end at the Mount Vernon estate, and then back.



This week looks like it's going to be another busy week at work. I have a lot of competing priorities this week, so it will be interesting to see what I actually accomplish.

Drat, I'm home

The adjustment to living in Virginia has not been easy. Work has been insanely busy, I'm still not unpacked, and I still don't have a social life to speak of. Yesterday, as I was rushing around trying to get things done, I thought, "I can't wait to go home." And then the realization hit. "*&@*!!! I am home." Sigh... It's going to be a very long year.

Still no phone line or real Internet service. Score one for poor planning by the condo management. Thank goodness for wireless hotspots. I'm almost ready to break down and order Comcast Internet. It would be nice if Comcast understood the needs of business customers, as opposed to just repackaging their residential service as a "business" package.

Happy 4th of July!

It has been a month since I moved to my new place in Virginia, and I am still working on unpacking. I am hoping that I will be completely unpacked by the end of July. The transition has been going rather slowly. I still don't have real Internet service (thank goodness for wireless hotspots), nor do I have a real phone line yet. However, Verizon is supposed to be out here tomorrow to work on the problem, so maybe I'll have phone service by tomorrow night.

I live less than a mile away from the Potomac, so I decided to ride my bike down to the river to watch the DC fireworks tonight. The situation in Rosslyn was interesting. Cars were double and triple-parked on the streets, and traffic wasn't moving at all. Every square inch of the grass alongside the GW Parkway was filled with parked cars. I watched the fireworks from near Theodore Roosevelt Island, and the show was pretty good.



Two-hundred and thirty years ago, a group of men signed the Declaration of Independence. After the war with England, many of the same men showed extraordinary leadership in the founding of the United States. As a result of the democracy they so carefully designed, we enjoy remarkable freedom here. Sadly, more recent leaders have not been nearly as remarkable. Let us hope that current and future generations of government leaders don't destroy what the Founding Fathers created.