Back Stateside!!!

Well, due to various reasons (nothing bad!) I've gotten to return to DC early! I'm done working on my project in Kyiv and back to working in DC (similar to what I was doing before). Being in Kyiv was certainly a cool experience, but really I'm glad to be home! Sortof a shame that no one except my bro got to visit me, but I can show you all the pictures! Plus, soon enough (although hopefully not for at least a year) I'll be headed off to some new part of the world!

My dog Belka got to come with me! She did really well on the plane, and liked staying in the hotel. I think mainly because I always took an extra piece of sausage from the breakfast buffet for her! Now we've moved into a temporary apartment for the summer that is really nice and near the Pentagon City Mall. Don't tell the tenants in my house, but I think it's nicer than my apt! Smaller though which would be more of a problem with 2 people and 2 dogs (and a 3rd person on the way!!!)

It's great to see friends and family again, although things have been so hectic I've only gotten to see a few friends. I'll work on it and see everyone soon!!!

For now, check out my new дом... I mean home!
~L

Snow???

Uh oh... The DC area is scheduled to get 5" of snow!  I might not be able to leave my house for a week!  OK, we shouldn't be that bad, if the snow even shows up.  But I'm kindof hoping it does!!!!  The last big snowstorm we had was in 2002.  It could be time for another...  I'll post my old snow storm photo hoping it brings on a new one!

~L

Manassas and the Civil War

This past weekend (a long weekend thanks to Christopher Columbus), my friend and I got a chance to visit the Manassas Battlefield Park.  Well, really, he wanted to go to a Cracker Barrel, and one of the closest ones just happened to be right down the street from the park, so it really only made sense to drive out to Manassas to do something besides just eating at Cracker Barrel so we also went to the park.  It was neat, and did a good job of showing the history.  There was a good video and a little musuem.  Apparently there were two battles of Manassas, and the North lost both of them.  (Northerners actually call it the First and Second Battle of Bull Run.) But the South can't get too cocky because we all know how it turned out in the end...  In fact, neither side can be too proud because over 620,000 Americans died in the civil war which is just slightly more than all other wars combined.  That is a shocking statistic!  The first battle was the first major battle in the civil war.  People actually brought picnic lunches to watch from nearby hills and thought that it would be the only major battle.  In the second battle, something like 15,000 Northern troops died and 10,000 Southern troops died (or were wounded which pretty much equals death in a time before penicilin).  So can either side really call that a victory?  It was certainly eye-opening and frightening to picture that much death.  And while I'm glad that the North eventually won, I have to wonder what brought them to such a place that so much death was the only answer?  Sad.  I guess the silver lining is that we haven't had another civil war since!   And hopefully, we never will.  So it was definitely an interesting visit.  And being from the North, it was interesting to be at a site of Southern victories.  But like I said before, we all know how it turned out in the end!  It has inspired me to rent the Ken Burns documentary.  And possibly read that book on Lincoln (Team of Rivals).  It certainly was a fascinating moment in our country's history!

~L

Victory is Ours!

That's right! My softball team went undefeated to become the league champions! Good work Falcons! Ca-caw! All in all, the summer has gone by way too quickly, but it's been fun! Besides softball, I've also been training for my birthday half marathon. I ran 10.7 miles yesterday. I was supposed to run a whole half marathon but it was just too hot! I ended up getting goose bumps and being cold which I knew was bad when it was 85 degrees and 1000% humidity! But the first 8 miles went well, and then the rest was down hill. Or unfortunately uphill! But it was a nice trail. I'll have to go there for some more of my training runs. Work is also going fairly well, and there is even some hope that I'll get to move overseas for an FY08 project! But there is also still the chance that they will wait until next year to send me out. But either way, I've starting "purging" out my closets. It is amazing how much stuff accumulates! I've thrown away ratty towels, old tshirts, and even some cooking supplies that were from college! ew! I don't think sesame oil lasts quite that long! I think some of the salad dressings were definitely from my old apartment. But the cleaning is going well! The next big challenge is my books! I'm going to hopefully take a bunch up for the book sale.

Always look on the bright side...

So the bad news is that my softball team lost horribly tonight in our playoff game. But the good news is that the stormy weather blew theough with just a few sprinkles and some blustery wind. And, it produced this pretty cool double rainbow! I couldn't fit it all in the picture, but both rainbows were a full 180 degree arc from ground to ground. Pretty neat! Even if things weren't quite as nice for my softball team! Oh well, there's always summer league! ~L

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Summer and the City

Hooray! Today I found out that the pool at Hain's Point does leave lanes for lap swimming! And that it's not too crowded on Sunday afternoons. I know where I'll be every Sunday from now on! It's an olympic sized pool so it's great for lap swimming. I swam a leisurely half mile and then relaxed on a lounge chair. A perfect way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon! ~L

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Good Times in DC

This weekend I had two friends come visit me, and one of them had never been to DC! So we had a great time walking around to see all of the monuments and also going out in the city. We had falafels in Adams Morgan, ate oysters (and drank an "oyster shooter) in Chinatown, and ate Ethiopian food on U st. It was fun to show off the city! And fun to see my friends! So now that I've pretended to be a tourist in my own city, it's time to finalize plans of what to tour for Memorial Day weekend... Stay tuned!
~L

National Building Museum's Snazzy New Website

For a musuem dedicated to architecture, engineering, and design, and really all things construction related, the Building Museum always had a so-so webpage. But now it's pretty snazzy! There's even a neat-o video of the great hall and people in the museum. If only I hadn't quit volunteering there! I could have been a star of the video. They show both a docent and someone ringing up a sale in the shop! Oh well, yet another 15 minutes of fame that I've missed out on. So check out the new page, some info on the exibits, online video or audio from lectures, and even some of the items from the shop! I have friends coming to town this weekend, so now I'll definitely have to make them stop by!
~L