My life in photos . . . the short version (new Orleans and work catch-up)

Bud, a friend from work
My hotel, the Westin, looked over the city and the river and was next door to the French quarter, the Aquarium, the Harrah's Casino, all the good stuff.
Me taking my riverboat ride all by my lonesome, and really enjoying the break from work and a chance to play tourist. I actually answered email and took calls since I was technically only on lunch break!
From left to right: Carlos, Oakes, and Reggie (he's cool, I just got a chance to meet him in NOLA)
Winston, my boss/client 

The Calliope which was on the top of the riverboat Natchez! It was really great fun! Next time I wouldn't get food poisoning and I would over eat more (if that is even possible).

Inauguration 2009-The swearing in (from the crowds view)

Inauguration 2009- Crowd chanting (again)

Inauguration 2009- The feel in the crowd

Seriously rowdy crowd. Yet it was totally quiet at moments as well.

Inauguration 2009- Before near the Washington Monument

Can you believe I was there! Holy cow!

Inauguration 2009: An Invitation to History

Not my video, but an interesting interview with one of the surviving Tuskegee airman. Pretty amazing.

Inauguration 2009 - People moving east toward the World War 2 Memorial before

Lots of people and really, really cold!

Inauguration 2009 - On the way to Inauguration 2009

As I was biking . . . it was way, way too cold to stop.

Mischief pictures . . .

The video shows my little Mischief (whom I am starting to call MayMay, like sweatheart in Chinese) playing with her feather-tailed mouse. Plus I bought a stick with a hanging little cloth. She loves it and I like helping her get exercise (she is a little bit rounded).  Its like I got a kitten with a grown up body and laid-back style.  

My "boss" is going to be working from home tomorrow. So I am going to be going in late (9am instead of 8:20am) and trying to go to bed early. Frankly I can't stand anymore presidential debate. Ugh . . . ugh.

You'd think

You would think that I would want to talk about my biochem final today. Which I most certainly did not ace (Malate has only a "6 degrees of separation" kind of relationship with Pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), but the confusion came because oxaloacetate can be pulled out for conversion by PEP carboxylase to become phosphenol pyruvate then gluconeogenesis. No where close to PPP. Yeah, ridiculously obvious mistake. Actually, it is, that is what is so depressing). But I am hopeful (and distinctly prayerfully pleading) that I could still pull out a pretty good grade.

Ok, so I did want to talk about it. But moving on. Today I wandered over to the Cathedral for a lookie-loo at fair going on. It was the May Flower Fair, or something like that. The Cathedral has this nursery on site, which I must admit to never having been to until today. So the lawn was covered in booths, selling handy crafts, fair trade clothing and carvings from India and Africa,cinnamon almonds. The further I wandered in, the larger it all became. There were teriyaki chicken places, a funnel cake booth (still bummed I didn't have any cash for that) and even a small Ferris wheel (really, REALLY small). So here is small snapshot of my day.
This is the Bishops's garden, actually the last stop on my tour. I feel really silly for not having explored this part of my neighborhood further earlier.
This was the accompaniment for the first part of the booths. The sound of the rides provided the soundtrack for the backside.
Because no acre of D.C. would be complete without the Civil War horse statue (This particular one actually needs greater research to confirm that it is indeed, commemorating the Civil War.)
The longest line to any attraction at the fair was to the ice cream truck.
This was actually the nursery that is an everyday business on the Cathedral grounds. Thought these blown glass globes looked like the old glass buoys my Nana collected. Plus, they were just beautiful.
For some reason Teddy Bear Vine just didn't seem to be an appropriate moniker for this plant.
So starts are joking tour of "What every Cathedral needs." Every good cathedral needs many monks praying. These are the back up guys, ready to rush out when the other guys get sent off to different homes. Unfortunately for them, the birds have found a permanent home for themselves near as well.Every good cathedral needs gargoyles. In this case, these grimacing bad guys seem closer to a kiss than warding off evil.
This Cathedral has a reminder that there was a fallen angel, one with feet of clay.
Ok, this seems a little more Hogwarts than Hunchback to me, but hey, whatever.
All the following (except the last) are in the Bishop's garden. This was particularly touching to me. It is plaque dedicating a bench to a deceased woman, from her parents.
The alum were are at their peak. It was lovely. I found this an emotive piece, a portrayal of the Prodigal Son. I love attempting to make cool shots of pathways. I just keep trying to get them right and make them interesting, to actually show some of what I see. Didn't happen this time . . . but not bad.
I could see that I had just missed the peak of the garden's blossoms. Despite that and the people everywhere, I truly enjoyed it. I would love to spend some more peaceful time there.

And because I always seem to end adventures on the sublime. . . I noticed this truck as I was leaving
Ever wanted to rob an ATM but didn't know how to arrange transportation from the caper . . . here you are. I am assuming this is likely the most ridiculously security modified van, and bears no actual resemblance to its other assembly line fellows in its resistance to theft, however it still seems rather disconcerting. Maybe its just me.

The Pope, protesters and more

I had realized previously that the Vatican Embassy was ridiculously close to me. But as I sat watching the news I realized I just couldn't not go and try to see something. It was just too random! Especially after I called Dad and said, "so the Pope has arrived." And he replied, "is this part of a joke? Like 'So the Pope walks into a bar. . .'"

There were tickets given to 3 parishes with specifics people to stand on the lawn of the Vatican Embassy. I was definitely in the "bleechers" if you will. The picture of the police and a glimpse of the people waiting for the Pope to come. The banners were amazing. There were definitely protesters, however they were mostly drown out with the sing of the Catholic faithful. The protesters were scary, the drumming and chant was a little unnerving as well. But it was nice that the guy on the bull horn didn't get the whole stage. The last picture is of the Iraqi Embassy. Actually, I am sorta guessing it might be the "Iraqi-Embassy-to-be" since I have never really seen movement around there. Then again, I had never seen movement around the Vatican Embassy until recently either. I wonder if they lease it out or something.

She is the onion queen, young and sweet

So I must admit. In another month I will have lived in DC for a total of 1 year and this is the first time I visited the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. It was amazing. (All the pictures from this particular outing are on the slideshow that is the currently on the right side of your screen.) I had planned on going down to the Mall, almost hitting a couple of tourists and then heading for a longer, harder bike ride on the Mount Vernon trail or up the C and O Canal. However I wimped out at the same time as my camera battery died and I realized despite the fact it was really warm outside (55 degree) and the fact that all the tourists around seemed dressed as though they were in Siberia (I mean, really, yelling at your kid 'cuz he took his gloves off because it was so so cold is excessive). However the wind was blowing and I was riding with thin running shorts on at "high speeds" against the wind. So took lots of pictures and then went grocery shopping. Which was good. I love cereal.

As for the onion queen, I saw them on sale and thought, "Mmmm, sauted onions, good idea." Then I got home and realized I had apparently had a similar thought recently while shopping. Twice. So anyone need two of my three bags of Trader Joe's onions, give me a call. Anyone of the 9 actually onions I own would be pleased to go home with some who will actually be able to use all of them!
Well, on to homework, then taxes. Good times, what can I say. The video is a quick (emphasis on quick) snapshot of the crowds around the Mall for the Cherry Blossom Festival, which started today and brought thousands to town. It really is spectacular to see Capital so adorned.

Spring is about to spring!

I am incredibly tired. Think this is the first time I have come home fine, and then as I let down from my ride, felt pooped. but it was worth it to be out in the sun. In true Malia style, I did propose two options: study first or bike ride first. Obviously bike riding won out my a long shot. After all, I reasoned to myself, the sun wouldn't stay, the homework would!

The picture is Arlington House, at the National Cemetery. The video is a plane taking off from Reagan National Airport as seen from Gravelly Point park. Everyone and their brother was out in force today. I first rode near the monuments, up the Lincoln. However I realized soon that the place was crawling with tourists would didn't know where they were going except that it uniformly seemed to be in the way of anyone trying to actually get anywhere (like me!). I have never seen quite so many near pedestrian/pedestrian mishaps. Wowser! So I popped over the Memorial Bridge and down to the Mount Vernon trail for several miles. And there were all the native DCers sitting on the banks of the Potomac River, soaking up the sun, staring at the planes taking off, cutting folks off as bikers rather than their usual as car drivers. Lots of families and picnic lunches. It was wonderful to see, especially since on Wisconsin near home I had seen a whole slew of folks wearing their puffer down jackets, black leather gloves, and scarves, as though it weren't close to 65 degrees outside!

Si en retard

Sorry. I am very belated in posting these! Oh well. My week as . . . . been. Monday is another organic chem test. Always a wopper. Hopefully and pray well. I would love to run away again to New York. Which had originally been my plan for this, St. Patrick's day weekend. Samantha is even throwing an Irish party. I guess I must be taking a miss this time. Sorry Samantha! Maybe next year.


Wow I have prominent chin! Maybe Jay Leno could give me some pointers on pulling it off gracefully. The video is from the Met Asian section. I really wanted to come back and study and sit forever. It was incredibly tranquil. It was a part of the Astor courtyard (I don't really remember, some robber baron's garden anyway. Hey, they did have style for sure). The outside pictures are all Central Park, which will be incredibly lovely soon, I am sure, as everything starts blooming. The statues do have cucumbers on them. No, I have absolutely no idea why. Don't ask. I really don't know.

Seattle Space Needle with wind rushing past!

White Christmas 2007

Enjoying white Christmas Seattle style. Shocking snow!

The weather obliged and I couldn't resist . . .

Part Deux

Didn't have time last night to upload part two! This is the backside of the apartment.

Today it has returned to sunny. Orgo lab over and biology lab to come. I love performing experiments, but I am not really fantastic at writing them up. Ah well, what you gonna do?

On another note, I think Starbucks has now turned to adding crack to the coffee. Cuz gosh darn it I felt good after that morning cuppa! I felt intoxicated. Now after several hours the effect has worn off. But man, was that fun! Caffeine, the legal addictive stimulant. So I am drinking another cup. I really don't expect it to be as good this time. It's from the coffee stand at school.

Pray (or cross your fingers). My organic test monday night is looming large. I am pretty far behind in understanding and I need to catch up today. I feel like I have been taking vacation from reality but still showing up to school, which means I haven't gottten school work done or feel like I have truly taken a vacation. The ultimate in time waster!

I will publish part 3 of last night's video in the next post. I suppose that if I am going to try doing this video thing I should use a webcam and not my real camera, which takes such huge video file that I can even post a full minute at a time. But it sorta works!

(PS. No, even I am not sure what is up with my extensive use of exclamation points. I can't seem to stop it.)

Le troisieme video

There it is. If this is more popular, I may try doing more video segments. Its more fun to watch someone, although I do appreciate the self-censoring of seeing your written words.

Enjoy your saturdays for me, ok?

Rain, rain, beautiful rain

Today it rained for the first time in 34 days!! I love it.
I also bought something that inspired the below videos.

The backworks of the apartment!