An uneventful weekend...

So last weekend Christine and I went to the outer banks. Drove out to Hatteras Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. What did we do?

- Stopped and looked at starts on the way there at night.
- Played the alphabet games a few times during the trip.
- Watched the sunrise on the beach Saturday morning.
- Tried to have a 20-25 minute plane ride around the OBX. Christine's fear of heights finally got the best of her, it was a 2 minute ride.
- Went to Fort Raleigh and looked through the museum.
- Went to Big Al's Restaurant in Manteo. Coke memorabilia everywhere.
- Got married at the old site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse by a retired park ranger involved in the move.
- Went to Owen's Restaurant, had a good meal with good company.
- Slept in Sunday with my new wife :)
- Went back to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to get pictures and people watch.
- Putzed around the OBX, telling the family.
- Drove back, getting home around 11pm.

Trip total was 739.6 miles. Several 50 mile round trips up and down the banks. Its fun driving though the National Seashore.

And yes, you read that right :)

OBX!!!

We're going to the Outer Banks (Cape Hatteras specifically)! Yay another road trip!

Hopefully we'll leave in <10 minutes. Plus we'll be driving down NC 12 at night. Should be great to hear the surf and see stars.

Poor pup

Kevin is my cocker spaniel. He's kind of an older dog (probably between 12 and 15, I got him from the pound 5-6 years ago), and thus he's had some health problems.

Cockers are bad with the ears. Really, really, really bad. They would get so infected so often, I had to have his ear canals removed. He can't hear now, but he doesn't get as sick and he's much happier!

This time, it was a mass/growth/open wound that has gotten not better. Its right above his left hind foot, and about the size of a half dollar. Christine and I would replace the wound every night, but it seemed that every third or fourth night it would start to bleed badly. Several visits to the vet later came the referral to the NCSU Vet School.

That is where he is now. I brought him in today; the 4th year student and surgical intern both looked at him and came with options (they were ran by the resident Dr there to make sure they passed mustard). Gladly, they think they can just remove the mass/growth and the wound will heal after a few weeks.

But its $$$. He's cost quite a bit of that, but he's worth it. Some people probably give me hell for paying so much, but he's family now. His surgery to remove the mass is tomorrow (today, its 1:37am!) and between being watched for observation for a day and me and Christine going to the beach for the weekend, I'll see him (hopefully good as new) Monday.

I missed him right when I walked in the door ( having a pet that looks forward to you coming home is a good feeling)  and I miss him now.

ENDIAN-NESS

I was at the mall the other day (Triangle Town Center), and when I got back to my car, I had a note on my windshield. Thats not really something that happens often. Note that my license plate is in binary.

The note:

LICENSE PLATE DEPENDS ON ENDIAN-NESS? :)

no symetric binary #

- NCSU CS, Class of '95

My license plate is binary, but that was seriously unexpected.

DC trip - day 3

Today was the day we drove back. We did still have some time to spend in DC though. We walked around Teddy Roosevelt Island and saw his memorial circle. It was quite impressive, but you could tell not as many people see it compared to the other memorials. Being not right off of the Mall and having to drive to it from the George Washington Highway probably takes away a bulk of the tourists. 

After that, we drove down the George Washington Highway toward Mt. Vernon. Along the way, we stopped at a sailing club directly south of the Ronald Regan Airport to get some food. You could see airplanes landing and hear them taking off very well, but it was cold and windy so we didn't stay long after we finished the food. We drove along the highway to Mt. Vernon and got there, but found it was a tourist trap. $15 to see the mansion and grounds was a bit much considering we were only planning on being there for an hour max. So we headed out to US 1 and drove to I95. Stopped at Ikea since there isn't one close to home, then headed home.

The trip was just at 51 hours and we drove 591.9 miles round trip. Not bad for a weekend getaway :) Hopefully we'll have another one before the drive to Iowa for the wedding and out west in July.

DC trip - day 2

Yesterday was the full day downtown. It was raining until about 2 or 3 pm, but it was a drizzle. Not that that makes it more fun.

We walked to the Metro from the hotel (yay frequent stay points = free hotel). Took the metro to the Smithsonian stop, and got out at the National Mall. Walked towards the Tidal basin (still in the drizzle and wind) going to the Jefferson Monument. Got there, took some pictures (next few days I should be playing with those pictures, perhaps posting one) and went downstairs to the Jefferson exhibit. Because of the drizzle, Christine wanted to head somewhere more indoors, so we walked back to the Metro station and went to Union Station.

That station was huge! It was practically a mall with food court level, with access to the Metro and train lines into DC. We got something to eat there and read through the Visitor's Guide to determine what to do next. We decided the Smithsonian American History Museum.

It was sweet. We saw really just 2 exhibits in 3 hours, the Transportation exhibit and the Star Spangled Banner. The Transportation exhibit showed history of transportation in the US, including canals vs cross country trains vs cross country driving, a blurb about Route 66, about shipping containers how they work on sea/train/trucks, etc. The Star Spangled Banner was interesting, but was one of those humbling gives-you-shakes things. Its crazy that was flying up there during the War of 1812, and its still in one piece (well, except for the parts that got shot out or cut off).

When we left the museum, it was almost sundown, and we were right by the National Mall again. We walked out to get some cool pics of the Washington Monument and Capital building being lit up by the red/orange sky, then headed to the Washington Monument to camp out for the fireworks by the Tidal Basin at 8:30.

They started shooting off at the time, but they were visible from the Tidal Basin, not shot really from there. So we were blocked by buildings from the bottom half of the fireworks. We walked around to the other side of the monument to watch more, and started taking pictures of the WWII memorial and Lincoln Monument over the reflecting pool. Once the fireworks stopped, we headed to the WWII memorial.

Another one of those humbling gives-you-shakes places. The memorial is impressive, and it definitely reminds you it was a World War. We walked around it, reading all the inscriptions and the Atlantic and Pacific battles they have listed. I hope my Grandfather (who fought in the Battle of the Bulge) had a chance to see it before he passed away last year.

After that, we headed back, stopping by the Washington Monument to feel like real shorties - it makes your neck hurt to stand right by it and look STRAIGHT up. We went back to the Metro and headed back to the hotel.

Left the hotel at around 11am, got back just after 11pm. 12 hours of Washington DC, it was very enjoyable.

We'll see what happens today.

DC trip - day 1

Yesterday we left for DC after work. We left the house at 5:15, but wasn't really on the road until 6 (stopped by Christine's parents house, fueled up the car, got some food for the road, etc). The route?

US64 - I95 - I295 (around Richmond) - I95 - I395 to the hotel.

Arrived at the hotel at 11, a 5 hour drive. That includes hitting I295 Northbound closure for 10? minutes after an accident. There was a truck in the median, it didn't look too good; but not quite good enough to close all 3 or 4 NB lanes. The DOT must have done their job. 

Christine started to get car fever about 4 hours into the drive, she was getting loopy and silly (and at times annoying). But she was making me smile & laugh for the most part, so it was entertaining.

How else did we entertain ourselves on the drive? The usual way-

- I kept us in one piece the drive.

- Played a few rounds of the ABC game (rules will be explained in a later post).

- Saw a bunch of state plates (list will be posted later).

- Admired the moon when it broke through the clouds.

- Christine started getting silly from car fever:

- Tried to name all 150 original Pokemon. Sadly, we had probably 1/3 or 1/2 named.

- Making random, silly noises.

- Laughing at jokes that shouldn't have been funny.

Whats the plan for today in DC?

- Wake up and get some free continental breakfast

- Take the Metro to the Smithsonian stop, then hit up the National Mall (monuments for the most part) and the Tidal basin (more monuments).

- Hope the Cherry Blossoms are still in bloom.

- Watch the fireworks at the Tidal basin tonight at 8:30!

All the while, I get to play with my new camera :D

practically christmas morning

My camera was scheduled to arrive at work today. I knew it last night, and was looking forward to it all day. Then I got into work, and was busy (read: distracted from other thoughts); I was surprised for a second when I was handed the package. It didn't last long though.

The problem was this was at 11am. I didn't get out of work until at least 6:30, so it stayed in its box until then. But as soon as I got home, it was the first thing I opened. Reading the manual as the battery charged (2 hours? I have to wait because they don't ship fully charged batteries?!?), learning what it can do. I put the lens cap on, the shoulder strap, put in one of the SD cards I bought for it.

I was watching TV with Christine, halfway watching the green light on the charger, just waiting for it to turn off. I'd watch that light as much as the TV show that was on. It was off 10 seconds before I got up and put it in the camera. It worked!

I played with settings, set the time right, took test pictures/movies (yay HD movies!), enjoyed it in general. It gets old taking pictures of stuff in the house at 10pm at night. Yet another reason to look forward to going to DC, I can really test this puppy out!

And now, time to register it.

three more days

And I get to drive to DC! Its supposed to rain Friday and Saturday, but hopefully not too much. Seeing the mall and all the monuments is always neat.

And my camera, a FZ28, should arrive to work tomorrow. The last camera I bought was a graduation present to myself from college, almost 5 years ago. I haven't used it lately because its so slow/unresponsive/annoying. Playing with Christine's camera has spoiled me.

Spring Cleaning pt 2

Its been rainy/cloudy the past few days (seems like a week at least), but today it cleared up around noon and it was a gorgeous day.

I saw it from my office's window, I could tell. Christine even called me to tell me how nice it was!

So I got home, and saw here cleaning her car. The car she's been meaning to clean for a year or so probably. She was windexing/cleaning out the trunk/everything, so I decided to clean mine as well. All the windows (even the sunroof!) are cleaned and rainx'd; a week before the drive to DC :D