Idiomatic Expression

On the way home from Union Station yesterday, I got stranded at Metro Center Station for about 40 minutes waiting for Metro to clear a disabled train from the line near Falls Church. I could spend the whole day ranting about Metro’s design flaws, and why it takes the WMATA 40 minutes to move a disabled train less than one stop to the closest pull off area, but I won’t.

Instead I just want to say that once the trains started running again I saw Metro area residents at their best in the crowded train trying to get home. People actual talked and joked about the situation with strangers on the metro. On a normal day people don’t even make eye contact with strangers on the Metro. People did their best to let people out of the train, and let everyone get the best hand hold possible. Not that I am looking forward to the next time it takes me two hours to get home or find myself crammed into a tin tube with my 200 closest friends, but it was more pleasant than it could have been.

In good news other than having to buy a new SmartTrip Card, I forgot the other one in yesterday’s shirt’s pocket, this morning’s commute was flawless. A train waiting for me at Vienna and Metro Center gets me out to Union Station in 42 Minutes.

This Sunday, James and I headed out for my first (his second)Geocacheing adventure. The day was calm, but the temperatures were below freezing, with a couple of inches of snow on the ground. The perfect weather for using a GPS receiver to find a location and then searching around for a hidden tupperware container.

No really it was, I had been looking forward to a bit of hiking in the snow, and now we had a goal. It didn’t hurt that James was pretty sure he knew the general location we were headed for from previous trips to the Bull Run - Occoquan Trail. With only one mistart (heading a mile in the wrong direction on the trail) we found the Weird Stone House pretty easily. I managed to locate the cache first, so I guess this counts as my first find. My camera ran out of batteries, so I will have to wait for James to post photos.

It is currently 27 Degrees F and I am on my way out to go hiking. If you don’t hear from me in twelve hours let the authorities know to look for two human shaped blocks of ice near Fountainhead Park.

James and I continued our exploration of the Bull Run - Occoquan Trail this weekend. The trail starts at the Bull Run Regional Park, and continues to the town of Occoquan. Last week we started at the Bull Run Marina, and walked towards Occoquan for three and a half miles, discovering a dead squirrel in the process. This section of the trail is over rolling hills, and is moderately challenging is you are as out of shape as I am. This week we started at the Route 28 access point and walked down stream (towards Occoquan) for around three miles. This section is a bit easier, and we discovered the foreleg of a dear that had been gnawed and split for the marrow by an animal at least the size of a labrodor. For some reason there seems to be a lot of death on the trail, perhaps vengeful ghosts from the Civil War. A plaque at the Route 28 access point to the trail displays a map of the Battle of First Mannassas including a depiction of where Cocke was protecting Ball’s Ford. A two mile walk from Route 28 there are the remains of a Civil War Artillery Battery, the picture above shows James defiling this treasure of our past. It is very cool looking, and in pretty good condition compared to some of the ruins on Maryland Heights. To be fair, from the direction we approached, there is not a sign identifying the Artillery Battery.

We are planning on continuing to explore the trail, and if you want more information on the Trail check out the PATC destination guide.

Once I have accumulated a decent number of pictures I will put them up in the gallery, and hopefully James will post the pictures he took of the dead squirrel and deer leg.

This weekend we went to an open house three houses down, and chated with one of our neighbors about how much we enjoy the neighborhood, and the sturdiness of our 1970’s homes. Then she let me in on the following rumor that had been being passed from neighbor to neighbor for the past 8-9 years. The story goes something like this:

Chris the former owner of our house only paid $55K for the house because the sellers were very motivated and wanted to unload it is as quickly as possible. When Chris moved in there was a gross black stain on the carpet, so she had it replaced. After a year or so the black stain returned, and couldn’t be cleaned away. She then found out that one of the previous owners had died in that spot (perhaps by foul play).

I don’t believe it, and know for a fact that Chris paid more than 55K for the house. However, I am interested enough to dig up the names of previous owners and do a bit of research.

The Virginia Herpetological Society has conveniantly listed the snakes of Virginia with habitat maps, and nifty skull and crossbone indicators for the venomous ones. In Farfax the only snake that is a real threat to people, is the Copperhead (pictured above).

Katherine, Chris, Blake, and I went to see Elvis Costello featuring Emmylou Harris at Wolftrap last night. It was an amazing performance, and the artists did an amazing job of playing each other’s songs.

Some of the surprises;

• Emmylou Harris had a sandwhich named after her at the Childe Harold, although it no longer appears to be on the menu.
• Elvis Costello sounds great singing country songs and apparently released a country album in 1981.
• Elvis Costello breaking into that famous Santana guitar solo
• Adding the lyrics “Admit that you lied” in the chorus of the Scarlet Tide
• The songs from the Delivery Man are much better when performed live. I will have to give the album another listen.

Now to see if I still think it was worth it after suffering through a monday on 5 hours of sleep.
(more…)

Tired of partisan politics? Tired of candidates winning elections on promises of a free lunch? Tired of candidates who run campaigns based on defaming their opponent? Tired of dissenting voices being silenced by the mainstream political parties? If you are, you may want to check out Russ Potts who is running as an Independent for Governor.

He may not click 100% with my politics, but he is the front runner for my vote in November.

I was planning not to comment on the elections, until I was completely decided on a candidate, then I read this quote from Kilgore regarding the gubernatorial debates:

“I support . . . voters [getting] a view of candidates that can actually win this election,”

When pressed as to whether this meant this was a no to including Russ Potts in the debates Kilgore said:

“That’s a no.”

Apparently someone is scared of the public hearing Potts’ message.

If the bruised tomatoes, wilted lettuce, and spoiled squash at your neighborhood grocery are getting you down, try your local farmers market for fresh produce. The USDA website here is a listing of . You can find a Farmers Market in your state here. They are not quite as nice as the numerous public markets in Vancouver, or even the single large public markets in Seattle and Columbus, but better than nothing. Yes I know about DCs Eastern Market, but it only has a large selection of produce on the weekends as opposed to the every day selection of the other markets listed.

I started listing all of the Farmers Markets in Arlington, Fairfax, and Alexandria, but quickly realized there were just too many to fit here! Check out the list; buy fresh produce, live longer.

For the grammar Nazis in the listening audience, shouldn’t it be Farmers’ Market(s) and not, as the USDA has it, Farmers Market?

For all of the complaining those of us living in the DC Metropolitan area do about housing prices none of our zip codes made the Forbes Magazine Top 25 Most Expensive Zip Code Slideshow.

The closest zip code to make it into the top 25 is good old 21056 Gibson Island, MD with a median house price of just over $1.6 million.

Forbes Magazine also compiled a list of the top 150 most expensive zip codes

Luckily, or unluckily depending on your point of view, there is an local entry in the top 150 list, Zip Code 22066 Great Falls, VA with a median home price of $922,500 made it into the top 150 list at #86. Strangely this is the only local zip code that makes the list. I was sure that a North Arlington Zip code like 22207 would make the list, or maybe Georgetown in the district.

The only other entry on the top 150 that is near the DC Metro is entry #26 with a median home price of $1.3 million Zip Code 21153 Stevenson, MD, which is just north of Baltimore.