Take Me out to The Ballgame

This Sunday I went to a Nationals Baseball Game.  The Nationals were playing the Florida Marlins.  When I got there the game was just beginning.  I had a great seat considering it only cost $18.00.  The stadium seemed fresh and new, very well-kept, and clean.  The day was absolutely gorgeous.  The sun was shining bright and the temperature was warm nearing hot.  Energy in the stands was infectious.  The Nationals got off to a great start and kept on schooling the Marlins the entire game.  The final score ended up being 4 to 8.  Go Nationals!

The Nationals had the bases loaded no grand slam, though.

The outfield.

This is of the bullpen.  Can you see it?  It's the green gated area.

Me eating my popcorn.  I should've gotten Crackerjacks.  I regret that now.  By the way, this was taken before my legs got a redhot sunburn.  Aloe, please?!

The Lincoln Bicycler

(Picture of Capital Bike Share)

Kristen, my sister, came to visit me this weekend.  Saturday, we hit some of the highlights at two of the Smithsonian Museums—the Natural History Museum and the American History Museum.  Then, we walked to the White House and the State Department, so she could get a feel for my day-to-day.  Afterwards, we schlepped it all the way over Georgetown.

We toured around Georgetown looking for a restaurant and settled on a small Italian restaurant with the perfect window made for people watching.  The restaurant served Italian and Middle Eastern, which was an odd combo, but they did both well. 

Wanting to experience DC Cupcakes, a cupcake bakery that is featured on TLC, we walked down the main street of Georgetown to get to it, and the line was the length of a football field.  We turned our heels, and decided on ice cream instead.  We agreed they couldn’t possibly do cupcakes that well.

After some light shopping, we decided it was time to go back to my place.  After a nap and dinner, we rented two bikes from a Capital Bike Share stall.  Capital Bike Share is a super invention.  There are stalls located all over the city.  A stall is basically a bike rack with maybe 30 bikes along the rack.  There’s a machine you slip your debit or credit card into to pay the membership fee and pay to rent your bike.  The bikes are a uniform style.  The style is a mix between a beach cruiser and a mountain bike.  They’re comfortable bikes.  When it comes time to return your bike, you can return it to any one of the stalls.

Kristen and I rode our bikes along the National Mall to the Lincoln Memorial.  It was nightfall by the time we got to the Lincoln Memorial, which was still bustling with activity.  The Lincoln Memorial lit up at night is just magnificent.  I really can’t describe it other than it makes your eyes just pop like wow when you see it.

On the bike ride back, the air was so fresh and crisp and it was the perfect end to a perfect day; the kind you just don’t want to end.

Kristen left Sunday morning and caught a ride on a shuttle van to the airport, and a little boy on the shuttle van threw up on the way there.  So, that was her perfect end to a perfect trip.

Thanks for coming, Kiki!  I love you!

Obama got Osama

I went to bed early Sunday night and Brad called me at midnight to tell me Osama had been killed.  I immediately went to my BBC app and watched the news.  I did see the crowds in front of the White House, but I didn’t go.  I was more interested in watching the news.

Yesterday, I walked home, and I changed my route to walk by the White House to see if there was still a celebration going on.  There were a few people.  I couldn’t make out whether they were there to celebrate or whether they were tourists.  I did notice that makeshift picket fences about mid-thigh high had been put on the lawn near the White House fence.  They were most likely for crowd control.

All the talk in town is about what this will mean for Pakistani-US relations, which were already tense to begin with.  There is a congressional hearing this Thursday on Pakistan that I will be going to.  Ironically, it was scheduled before Sunday night’s events.

By the way, if you are interested in our foreign relations with Pakistan, I suggest you read about the Kerry-Lugar bill.  This will add another interesting dimension to how things will play out in the future.

The National Archives

I went to the National Archives on Sunday.  I’ve tried to go at least two or three times, but every single time I went the line was too long for my patience to handle.  I decided that early Sunday might be the best time to hit it, and it was.  The line was very short.  I might’ve waited five minutes to get in.

I went to the rotunda first.  The rotunda houses the Magna Carta, and our national treasures—the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.

The Magna Carta on display was a facsimile.  The original is tucked safely away undergoing restoration while a new enclosure case is built for it using cutting edge technology to protect it from light and temperature fluctuations.  The Magna Carta, owned by The National Archives, is one of the seventeen in existence.  It was written in 1297 (It is not one of the Magna Carta charters written in 1215), and it was sort of a predecessor or template for the U.S. Constitution.

Then, there was the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.  The paper these documents are written on is made of calf hide and the ink is made from a substance wasps would deposit on oak trees.  The ink would be a blue/black color, and, with age, it has turned brown.  You’ve probably seen this faded brown ink before on old documents.  And the writing quills were plucked from geese.  One of the founding fathers used to farm geese, so he would have premium quills. 

Each document was impressive for a lot of reasons.  They are the pillars of our democracy.  They have physically survived for over 300 hundred years as have their basic fundamentals.

The rotunda is very cold, dim, and photography is prohibited.  Cold temperatures preserve the life of the documents and the low lighting keeps the ink from fading.  Photography can damage the documents.

In the National Archives, you also have the public vaults.  I didn’t investigate much in the public vaults.  I did listen to one of FDR’s fireside chats broadcasted after the banks fell out.  I also searched for an exhibit I saw advertised.  Unfortunately, it was still being set-up.  It won’t be open until June.  It’s on how the American government has influenced Americans’ diets.  It traces dietary promotions, restrictions, and the food pyramid all the way back to the 1700s to today.  I think that would’ve been a favorite of mine.

Fun Fact:  Pennsylvania is spelled wrong in the Constitution.