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The final days of 07! Watergate behind. 55 deg.

 
It's a marshmallow world in BFLO on xmas eve! Hope you had a great Winter Solstice.

Long overdue...

Bush signs bill boosting fuel standards

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer 17 minutes ago

President Bush signed into law Wednesday legislation that will bring more fuel-efficient vehicles into auto showrooms and require wider use of ethanol, calling it "a major step" toward energy independence and easing global warming.

The legislation signed by Bush at a ceremony at the Energy Department requires automakers to increase fuel efficiency by 40 percent to an industry average 35 miles per gallon by 2020. It also ramps up production of ethanol use to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022.

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A huge container of cookies from my family arrived today!

I just signed up for this! The new race course for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler of 4/6/08 looks great!

see you there!

Monkeying around

This is a squirrel monkey. We also saw white-faced monkeys, but they were higher up in the trees.

Sunsets

The first two are from our sunset cruise. The sunset was on one side (look how calm the water is!) and the rainbow was on the other.

The third picture is from one of the restaurants. The last picture is from our guesthouse.

when the weather outside is frightful...

I am happy to see snow in DC! The metro area is not...even though there is miniscule accumulation, it easily clogs our congested roads. Plus the overpasses were freezing. We are supposed to get 1 - 2 inches today.

I was happy this morning that my commute is much shorter to work. I had no problems. Now I can sit in my office, drink hot tea, and watch the flakes come down!

 

Our guest house, and most of the others, were along the top of this ridge. Hiking down to the beach was an easy thing, but hiking up was another story!

 

This was the view from our balcony! With the jungle all around most of the rooftops and buildings were covered by the tree canopy. Down the hill is also where the monkeys seemed to camp out at night. You usually couldn't see them, but you could hear them howling from time to time.

Taking flight

This is the little plane we took from San Jose (the main city) to the Quepos airport on the pacific coast. It sat 12 people and was quite the adventure! Since San Jose is in a mountain valley, we went straight up over the mountain and then straight down to the coast.

A palm oil plantation surrounds the airfield. The small terminal building has no lights!

Monday's got nothing on this...

Boo on work!

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Sunrise in manuel antonio national park, costa rica.

TGIF!

It's bad when you show up to work and first thing in the morning your brain is already fried... "I can do it!" I am telling myself. I'm not terribly stressed about the move because I think I've found a nice place and I don't have much stuff. However, the house has been turned upside down, and everywhere I look I am reminded of all the things I must do...it's starting to wear my brain down!

CTRL-ALT-DEL! CTRL-ALT-DEL!

I already have a good start on getting lots boxed up...dare I say 50%? This weekend I should be able to bang out a good deal more. I think some organizing will also go a long way to centralize the boxes and reveal how much has been accomplished.

The best part? Marc and I have a nice vacation planned for next week :)

Let's hope...!

With thanks to Mom and Dad...I hope all those hours you listened to me practicing come to something...!


Music lessons pay off in higher earnings: poll

Wed Nov 14, 11:15 AM ET

Those hours practicing piano scales or singing with a choral group weren't for nothing because people with a background in music tend to have a higher education and earn more, according to a new survey.

The poll by Harris Interactive, an independent research company, showed that 88 percent of people with a post-graduate education were involved in music while in school, and 83 percent of people earning $150,000 or more had a music education.

"Part of it is the discipline itself in learning music, it's a rigorous discipline, and in an ensemble situation, there's a great deal of working with others. Those types of skills stand you well in careers later in life," said John Mahlmann, of the National Association for Music Education in Reston, Virginia, which assisted in the survey.

In addition to the practical skills gained from studying music, people questioned in the online poll said it also gave them a sense of personal fulfillment.

Students who found music to be extremely or very influential to their fulfillment were those who had vocal lessons and who played in a garage band. Nearly 80 percent of the 2,565 people who took part in the survey last month who were still involved in music felt the same way.

"That's the beauty of music, that they can bring both hard work and enjoyment together, which doesn't always happen elsewhere," Mahlmann added in and interview.

(From Reuters/Yahoo News)

All the news...that's fit to print?

What does it say about society when this is some of the most popular news of the day (according to Yahoo)?

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It's been a while since i've showcased my cooking. . . Green curry!

(wow, does this camera phone suck, or what? I thought Sony was supposed to be good...)

Moving time.

Things have been stressful here lately because I found out at the beginning of Nov that I need to move out by the beginning of Dec. So I combed the Craigslist postings every night to see what I could afford (alone or with another housemate) and where. I think I've found a place that looks good--a friend from my tennis league has a nice townhome between the city and any my office. I think this will work out well...stay posted.

Stressful for now, but change is always good...

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This is the view from the 2nd floor window of the east gallery (modern art) looking out toward the west gallery (more traditional art). They are linked underground.

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National Gallery of Art.

My friend Alejandro and I went to see the Hopper exhibit this weekend at the Nat'l Gallery. It was really fantastic. On his suggestion I snapped this photo of the exhibit banner. How perfect that I captured a lone woman in front of it, since this was the subject of many of Hopper's paintings.

Step up to the track.

Here's an interesting article about the recent significant political support to bolster Amtrak. The most amazing fact in the article: "Ridership has increased for five straight years, and more people now take the train than fly between Washington D.C. and New York."

Who doesn't like trains? They're comfortable, energy efficient, and offer a civility that plane service never will.

Strike up the band

I've missed this view...

I took a break this fall from band rehearsals because spring and half of summer felt like all band all the time. Now we're rehearsing for our holiday concert (12/15), which means cheesy music without having to practice much. It's a little more relaxing than our typical rehearsals.

This pic is the view I get walking to my car and driving home afterward. It's pretty hard to beat, I think. The light at the top means They are in session, which is pretty cool except that it also means surrounding traffic is F'd up when you're trying to get to rehearsal...

Rain splattered windshield

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Rearview mirror.

Back at the bat cave....

While most participants at the annual high heel race were dressed in drag (often quite scary) our friends Scott and Alex leaped into action as Ace and Gary, everyone's favorite ambiguously gay superhero duo!

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At the high heel race!

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Dupont circle. Great people watching! Watch out for the crazy ppl.

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It is finally fall in dc! Spending the afternoon walking and goal setting. Going to the second band concert tonight. . .fun to be an audience member this time.

$25 makes the planet go around

The site Kiva.org has become so popular that they're limiting donors to $25 per contribution.

With $25 you can lend money to a man or woman in a developing nation who is striving to better their life and their family's life by becoming an entrepreneur. Many of these people are women who are opening corner stores or are buying tools to increase their farm production so they can sell more at the market. When they repay your $25 loan, you can reinvest it in another project elsewhere in the world.

What kind of peace can Uncle Sam buy for $25?

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Next weekend!

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On the national mall! Cool and practical green design.

Solar decathlon

If you become the change you want to see you change, then what happens tomorrow?



Pick up the new Melissa Etheridge album at your local Safeway for $9.99--all proceeds go to fighting breast cancer. I was never a big M.E. fan, but I'm finding this album to be inspirational...inspiration to be a better person and to help create a better planet.

I know I have been lax on the blogging! Things have been hectic here. This past weekend was my office's tennis tournament. I bombed out, but here are shots of me in action!

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Having a beer from flying bison brewery in buffalo!

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At a conference in va beach.

 

Looking out from La Jolla towards the cliffs at Black's Beach and Torrey Pines.

beach @ SD

Marc and Jeff climbing back up after a long day at Black's Beach! Whew!

Half way back up! La Jolla in the distance...

A shot of the path going down the cliff. Um, it's like straight down practically. 1600' I heard.