Ed's Mobile Blog: August 2007

Sometimes its weird not to see sky out the window

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Ever feel like you just can't keep up...

I know that officially inflation is supposed to be low but it seems to
me that prices are rising quite a bit lately. We don't live richly by
any means and despite being pretty careful with our money, lately its
like there is never enough. Groceries have definitely gotten more costly
and electricity prices are up as well. Gas is not as expensive as it was
at the height of the summer but its still up there too. Its a bit scary
when I allow myself to stop and think about this sort of thing. For the
first time in a long while, I really feel like my income just isn't
keeping up with rising costs. Not a good feeling :(
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Mighty odd weather around here

59 degrees yesterday and not much warmer today. Pretty cool for August
in NYC.
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Mount Vernon

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Our trip to Mount Vernon, George Washington's home was a very special
part of our vacation in D.C.. The estate is beautifully preserved by the
Mount Vernon Ladies Association who bought it from the Washington family
in the mid-nineteenth century and continue to own it today. There is a
lot to see here including the house itself with its original furniture
and paint scheme along with George & Martha's tomb. The view from the
back of the house is truely spectacular.
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Had a really fine time in D.C.

The US Holocaust Museum-a must see. Grim but amazingly well done. They don't pull any punches here.

Jordan standing next to the tour bus

The Washington Nationals at RFK Stadium. This is a very old stadium that is being replaced by a new one scheduled to open next year. At the time of this game, there were only 21 more scheduled games to be played here before the old place is decommissioned.

The Starship Enterprise-the original model from the show, on display at the Smithsonian

One of the Lunar Landers from the old Apollo space program

SpaceShipOne, the first private space ship and winner of the Ansari X Prize with the Bell X-1 behind it to the right (the first plane to exceed the speed of sound)

ICBMs in the Smithsonian

Inside the Smithsonian Air/Space Museum-A DC3 along with other old planes from the 20's & 30's

The Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier-Arlington National Cemetery

The Amphitheatre at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Outside of Arlington National Cemetery

The Washington Monument-learned an interesting detail about this one. The color of the stone changes about a third of the way up. That's because the original builder went bust and the monumnet sat unfinished for twenty years. When construction re-started, the original stone was unavailable and a similar colored stone had to be found.

This was one of those vacation trips that I really recommend for anyone. There is a lot to see in Washington. I suggest taking one of the hop-on hop-off bus tours. The operators really know the history of the city and have lots of interesting tidbits to tell. Furthermore, the bus saves you the trouble of fighting traffic and parking.

The Smithsonian is a huge museum, expect to spend several days going through it. Admission is free incidentally. We spent a lot of time in the Air & Space Museum but there are a number of other big buildings including a museum of natural history (we went there too, great dinosaur exhibits), a museum of native Americans and an art museum to name a few.

Ready for a road trip

Two new front tires, fresh oil & fluids, washed inside & out. Ready for
the run to D.C. :) Looks pretty good for a five year old Dodge I think.
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Will the fun never end

Driving to D.C. tomorrow for a vacation, blow a tire yesterday. No
patching this one, right through the sidewall. Nice way to spend
Saturday morning :(
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And the Mets blow another one :(

Light rain falling, fifty!! degrees out. Brrrr......And the Mets lose
4-3 to the Marlins. Yuk all around.
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I have a bad feeling that this will become the new normal...

I can't recall the NYC Subway ever getting knocked out from a weather
condition until recently. In the last month though, the whole system has
failed twice from flooding. If this is going to be the regular effect of
a thunderstorm then life around is going to get really difficult. You
can't just jump in your car and drive, there isn't enough parking to go
around. The subway is the lifeblood of the city. If we can't rely on
it, its time to leave.
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This is really getting old

Another flood. Pretty much the whole subway system down. Traffic galore
:( This is the street outside my home. Normally, its completely empty.
Today its jammed with folks driving to work who would usually be on a
train. Yuk!
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