Idiomatic Expression

At lunch I was talking with a co-worker about her new room mate who is a second grade teacher, and we bother realized that we had no recollection of what we learned in second grade. I remember the time that I got smacked for talking back, and the time I got smacked with a ruler for having a friends stash of comic books in my desk. However, I have no recollection of learning anything. I think maybe we started cursive writing that year. Although if you have seen my hand writing you would be hard pressed to say whether I learned anything at all about cursive hand writing.

Poking around I found the Virginia Standards of Learning. I am not sure if this is what I learned in second grade, but it is what is being taught these days.

After a very poor experience at Majestic Cafe, my old favorite spot for nice Friday dinners, I am looking for a new favorite. Any suggestions? 2941 Restaurant would be a front runner, but it is a little too pricey.

Pictures are up from James’ and my hike to Mary’s Rock.

Yesterday 10 of the members of my new group headed out to Allsports Grand Prix for a team building event. We raced a Mini Grand-Prix, which consisted of a 20 lap qualifier and a 40 lap race. I managed to qualify in third position with a top lap time of around 25.7 seconds. The person who qualified for the pole position had been to the track before and seemed to know what he was doing so I has hoping for a shot at 2nd place. The race started in a grid layout, in the third lap I was able to pass the person starting in 2nd position when he went a little wide around a turn. I was stuck about 1/4 lap behind the leader on the 9th lap when his engine stalled, and I took the lead for the rest of the race. I put up a respectable best lap time of 24.436. The person who had started in the pole position had an amazing best lap of 24.o4 (enought that he should qualify for a spot in the all time top 50 6.5hp laps), and ended up finishing just 12 seconds (1/2 lap) behind me.

This place is a blast, if you have the time and the money it is a lot of fun. Although part of the fun is going there and racing with friends, I don’t think being matched up with strangers or going around the track by your self would be as much fun.

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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.

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).

“We fixed it the pioneer way: with duct tape,” Keri Wheelwright, 14, of Bristow said proudly.

A close second place goes to this quote from the same article. Can you spot the anachronism?

“It’s like we’re following in their footsteps,” said Crystal Fotheringham, 15, who was wearing a home-sewn skirt, bonnet — even bloomers — and eating a high-energy snack to prepare for the journey.

From this Washington Post article on a reenactment of the Mormon’s flight from Nauvoo, Ill. to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

The Washington Post is reporting that Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach is now being considered for closure. I don’t really understand this move when aircraft carriers dock at Norfolk Naval Station, or are being refitted at , where does congress expect the aircraft to be stationed? I believe Langley AFB in Hampton would be the closest military air field, assuming that jointly operating a base for cost savings is under consideration. Moving the air operations of Oceana NAS to Langley AFB would add quite a bit of time and cost when deploying, returning from a deployment, or performing training exercises.

Hopefully the Base Realignment and Closure Commission will come to their senses and keep Oceana NAS open.