Open House at the Library of Congress

Yesterday I spent a delightful time going to the open house at the Library of Congress. Twice a year the main reading room is opened up to tourist. They get to come in and take a look at the reading room and take pictures. I'll have more on what on saw later today but thought I'd put up a couple of pictures to show just how fantastic the main reading room is.

Cats on the Bed — Charlis and Linus Take a Nap

The other day all of us took a nap. Charlie and Linus are much more adept at this then I am. Linus even groomed Charlie a little before we all settled down for a mid-winter's nap.

Cats on the Bed, Part II — Charlis and Linus Take a Nap

2Political Episode 82

2PP082

 






2Political Podcast Episode 82 is now available. You can listen to it or download it from the podcast site, 2political.com. You can leave comments there as well as download or listen to any episode (you can access the five most recent episodes from the list on the right side of my blog).

Ah, that's better: Got the episode number right, no HUGE editing problems… but we did run a little long (not our longest ever, however!).

Today we start with some chitchat about stuff—all kinds of stuff. Then we move on to the Big Speech. Naturally we laugh at Marco Rubio and "WaterGate". What did we think of the, um, "responses" to the State of the Union Address? This leads to a longer discussion about the Republican Party and its ongoing problem with the "tea party".

We also talk specifically about the State of the Union Address, including what we liked. Then, it's about some of the implications of what was said. But no, we weren't done yet: There was more chitchat at the end

Please leave a comment (anyone's welcome—agree or disagree!), or you can ring the 2Political Comment line on 206-350-3982.

Links for this episode:
Sheherazade, Bolero and more at Strathmore – Jason’s blog post on the concert he mentioned
Marco Rubio Dry Mouth – the funny YouTube video Arthur mentioned
Republicans Back A Path To Citizenship Unless Obama Supports It – the ThinkProgress post
So much for shedding the 'stupid party' label – the MaddowBlog post
Top Donors to Republicans Seek More Say in Senate Races – Karl Rove’s new thing
An Electric Car Charger – Jason’s blog post on what he saw
Arthur’s blog, podcasts and videos can be accessed here.

Get 2Poltical Podcast for free on iTunes

Pictures of the Family

Here are a series of pictures my brother took at Christmas time. He'd gotten a tripod as a present and wanted to try it out. He wanted to be in the pictures and so had to figure out how to make the timer on the camera work. We were all at my dad's so my brother went back to his house to get the camera instructions to figure out how to work the timer.

It was rather a gray day so we decided to take the pictures outside. Here are the results. I think they turned out very well.

Sheherazade, Bolero and more at Strathmore

My friend Mark and I went to the Strathmore Music Center on Saturday to hear Sheherazade, Bolero and Gloria for Soprano, Chorus and Orchestra.

From their web site:

Located one-half mile outside the Capital Beltway in North Bethesda, Maryland, Strathmore provides affordable, accessible, multi-disciplinary arts programming in the Mansion at Strathmore, the Music Center at Strathmore, and on its scenic 11-acre site.

Founded and operated since 1981 by the Strathmore Hall Foundation, Inc., an independent, 501(c)(3) organization, the arts center presents a lively and diverse program of art exhibitions, concerts and performing arts programs, and literary lectures and events.

High quality arts programming, designed for audiences of many tastes, served with the hospitality and warmth of a family enterprise, are the hallmarks of Strathmore. Seasonal outdoor events seek to be inclusive in their programming appeal, reaching out to people of all ages, interests and cultural heritage.

I’ve never heard either piece performed live and it was a treat. Especially since Sheherazade is one of my favorite classical pieces and has a story as to why it is. More on that a little later.

Bolero starts out with only a few pieces of the orchestra playing. It was interesting to not only hear but see as additional instruments joined in. Violins are plucked in the opening part but not all the violins. Slowly but surely more and more of them join in. Then the viola. Then the cello. Then the bass cello. Just fantastic to watch.

Then there was. I enjoyed part of it especially the last part of the work.

After the intermission came Sheherazade. Here’s my story about it.

In fourth grade music class, as least I think that’s what it was, the class listened to Sheherazade. The class was then supposed to draw a picture about the story. Now it could have been an art class but I don’t think so because I distinctly remember listening to the music. I also know the story was read to us. Of course back then the music teacher would bring in the record player on one of those audio visual carts. The record player would have been one of those square box players with a lid with a latch on it. It would play 78, 45 and 33 records. I don’t remember ever hearing a 78 on it but I do remember hearing 33s and 45s. My “picture” and I use that in the loosest terms possible was of Sinbad’s ship. I think about the only thing I got right was the sail on the boat.

The music stayed with me. It is one of my favorite classical pieces. It was such a joy and wonder to get to hear the piece live. It was also great to see what instruments in the orchestra were used and where they came in in each part of the work.

A fantastic way to spend a Saturday night.

Here's a small part of Sheherazade.





More of the incredible Strathmore hall.

Metro Helps a Little

Anyone who takes Metro on a regular basis knows the trials involved in taking Metro on the weekends. There is ALWAYS some sort of track work. Sometimes there is work on more than one part of the same line.

Here's what people on the Red Line had to deal with this past weekend:

• Red Line trains will single track through two work zones: between Shady Grove and Twinbrook, and between Rhode Island Ave and Takoma to allow for platform reconstruction, track maintenance and third-rail upgrades.
• Throughout the weekend, Red Line trains between Shady Grove and Glenmont will operate every 24 minutes.
• Between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, additional Red Line trains will operate between Grosvenor and NoMa-Gallaudet, providing service about every 10 minutes between those stations.
• Customers traveling through either work zone should add about 15 minutes to their travel time.

The addition of 15 minutes to travel time is being very very optimistic. It's more like 30 minutes if not more. This is especially true if you have to transfer to another line.

But Metro is getting a little better about putting out information on what is going on. They post the schedule for track work at stations something (and I know this is hard to believe) they didn't do in the past. There are also other signs letting people know which side of the tracks trains are using during the work.

A couple of quick things. Trains were using both side of the platform at Rhode Island Avenue as far as I could tell. I'm not sure because of the weather, it was rather cold on Saturday, they'd decided not to do the work or not.

But hear's the thing I think they need to work on. The bottom of the sign says: check train destination before boarding. Yes, each passenger should check the destination before boarding. But sometimes people are not necessary going to know that destination. They could be tourists or just don't ride the Metro all that often. There is an announcement from the train operator which direction the train is going but you can't always hear that.

How about an announcement over the loud speaker system at the station itself saying the train now entering the station is going in the direction of Shady Grove via downtown Washington. Now that would be truly helpful but with Metro you take whatever help you can get even if it is only a little.

An Electric Car Charger

I was out shopping yesterday. Had to go to PetSmart to pick up food and litter for the guys. Also was shopping for some dress pants for me.

Imagine my surprise when I see this in the parking lot. I glanced over and thought wow that looks like a charger for an electric car. Now I've seen one of these before in the parking garage for Rhode Island Row.

But on top of having the charger, there is a dedicated parking spot to the electric vehicle. It only makes sense since how else would the car use the charger unless it was right next to it.

An interesting step forward. I have a feeling more and more of these will be popping up in the near futures.

Cute, Adorable Kittens

My friend Tom has just adopted some incredible cute kittens. There are as yet unnamed but they are sooo cute.

I got to meet them on Saturday.

More Cute Kittens

A few more of the kittens.

A Light Snow

Snow lightly falling
Drifting falling
Falling
Falling
Falling

That's what was going through my head Saturday evening when DC had a light dusting of snow. I'm not sure where the above is from. Probably an introduction to some Christmas song. But as you can see it was lightly falling on Saturday.

Renewing my Passport

I am finally getting around to this. My passport expired in 2009. The good thing is you have up to 15 years after the passport was issued to get it renewed so I have until next year. I’ve been meaning to do this for along time. I downloaded the PDF of the passport form and started to fill it out. The date on the PDF file is March 2, 2010.

If I’d gotten my act together back then I would be paying about half the fee I’ll pay today. It will cost $110 to renew. I hope to get it out in the mail this week.

I went on-line and filled out the form again. It was very easy to do. It is saved as a PDF and you download it to you desktop and then print it out. It also tells you how much you have to pay. I’m going to pay by check so I looked who to make the check out to. Well I looked on the information I printed out and couldn’t find it. Looked on the site. Still couldn’t find anything. I looked on the old form I had and still couldn’t find it. I was finally able to find it today. You make the check out to the state department.

I then looked into getting my picture taken. Turns out CVS can do it. They even have a $2 off coupon you can print out. The brings the cost to $6. I have an extra care bucks coupon for $3 off so it means the picture will be $3. I’m not sure if you get more than one picture or not. You’re only required to send in one picture. It seems to me that at one point in time you needed to send in two different pictures so they could choose which one to use.

I learned all sorts of things about how to have the picture taken. There is a whole page on the site demonstrating how pictures should and should not be taken.

I happened on a picture FAQ and this one I found rather interesting:

Q:Do I need to take a new photo if I recently dyed my hair a new color or grew a beard?

a:New photos are only required if your appearance has significantly changed from what is in your photo. Growing a beard or coloring your hair would not constitute a significant change. If you can still be identified from the photo in your current passport or visa application, you do not need to apply for a new passport or submit a new photo for your visa application. However, you may have to apply for a new passport or submit a new photo for your visa application if you have:

Undergone significant facial surgery or trauma
Added or removed numerous/large facial piercings or tattoos
Undergone a significant amount of weight loss or gain
Made a gender transition

It seems to me if you make a gender transition, you’re probably going to be getting a new passport under a different name. As someone said to me times have certainly changed when gender transition is listed. I had to agree.

2Political Episode 81

 






2Political Podcast Episode 80 is now available. You can listen to it or download it from the podcast site, 2political.com. You can leave comments there as well as download or listen to any episode (you can access the five most recent episodes from the list on the right side of my blog).



THIS episode was trials and tribulations—and a nightmare for Arthur to edit! First off, it’s episode 81, NOT 82. Then, Arthur had some roofers doing work (it was like déjà vu all over again…). He tried to edit out the noise, but sometimes he couldn’t and said it sounded like military drums (well, that’s what Arthur thought—maybe he’s paranoid?). Anyway, we got going and before we even hit ten minutes, Jason’s computer spat the dummy and we had to pause. Then, we had to stop again so Arthur could deal with the roofers when they were done. The phone rang. Arthur’s dogs even barked. Too much. Sigh.

Still, despite all that, we got through a lot! After special days, we moved on to an extended discussion of Jason’s (cheap!) trip to New York City. After another interruption, we move on to news and politics, starting with the Republican plot to change the Electoral College. We’re not impressed. It leads to a larger discussion of the contempt Republican Party leaders have for democracy—they put “party first”. The discussion was typically organic—but interrupted, so, yeah.

Please leave a comment (anyone's welcome—agree or disagree!), or you can ring the 2Political Comment line on 206-350-3982.

Links for this episode:
Jason’s blog posts on his trip to NYC
Real electoral reform – Arthur’s blog post on the Republican plot
Jindal: Republicans Must Stop Being the "Stupid Party" - Real Clear Politics
Immigration reform obstacle – Arthur’s blog post he mentioned
Jason’s Blog
Arthur’s blog, podcasts and videos can be accessed here.

Get 2Poltical Podcast for free on iTunes

Trying to Play Catch Up

It sucks not feeling well. I’ve been having problems since the week before Christmas. In fact everything seemed to start when I flew out to Springfield for Christmas on December 20. My strange pain in my gut or abdomen or wherever it exactly is is still causing me problems. I’m almost sorry it wasn’t an appendicitis. I would have had the operation and at least I would be on the mend. The pain went away for a little while and then I got the office cold/virus or whatever the hell it was. At one point in time everyone at work was coughing or sneezing or both. It was rather gross to be honest. I got over that just in time to go to New York. It was such a great trip and a great break from everything going on here.

Then I got home and the pain in my gut returned. What fun!

In other news on my health, there is an outside chance I might have a hernia. I have an appointment with the hernia guy in a couple of weeks. Hope nothing bad happens between now and then. I have to say I’m glad I changed my deductible on my health insurance for this year. I lowered the amount of the deductible I pay. It means my premium went up but it also means that the insurance kicks in early. After the emergency room visit which cost over $4,000, I’m glad I made the change. Also thankful my insurance “year” goes to the end of April.

Needless to say my plans in January went a little awry. Well actually more than a little. I had a whold bunch of things I was going to start doing when I get back from Christmas but well. I went to the gym a grand total of 3 times for the entire month. I’m hoping I can return to a more normal schedule shortly. I went on Tuesday and had a training session on Thursday of this week. I felt pretty good after training session. Because of that I plan to go to a class tomorrow. Next week I’m going to add in a spinning class on Wednesday. I think slowly gearing up is the best idea right now.

It also meant I fell way behind on posts to the blog. So now I’ll try and play catch up on some topics.

Obama’s Inauguration and Thoughts on the First Term

All I can say how thankful I am that he won re-election and was sworn in. I was impressed with the fact that every once in a while we can do things right in this country. This is one of them. The peaceful transition of power or in this the continuation of someone in office.

Here are a few thoughts on the first term:

• It was good the Affordable Care Act passed. Finally an attempt to rein in out of control health care costs and insure people. Having sat in an emergency room where people were there because they had no other place to go, creating a system where people can get insurance is a really good idea. And the alternative offered by the Republicans keep things the way they were. In other words using emergency rooms as the last resort. I also liked it because I got money back on the premiums I paid to my insurance company.
  
• The stimulus package and the bail out of the auto industry. The stimulus package probably could have been better targeted and should have been bigger but it prevented the economy from going into a deeper recession. And the auto bailout definitely prevented a complete economic collapse.
  
• The repeal of the silly don’t ask/don’t tell policy.
  
• The attempt at the grand bargain on the deficit. Even though it didn’t work. It exposed once and for all what the Republicans goals were. Party first country second.
  
• The reaction to Newtown. I’m not sure there will be any changes to the current gun policy but Obama is going to try his best to see something is done.

The Next Four Years

Well the Republicans have certainly shown that they will not be changing their tune anytime soon. Yes, they’ve made noises on immigration reform. But they are only doing this because of the shellacking they got among Latinos in the last election. The notion that Republicans have come to their senses and are actually doing something good for the country are just silly. This is a move to attempt to win future elections.

Just like all the move to change the way states award votes in the electoral college. It is not to make the results of the election more representative; it’s to allow Republicans to win presidential elections. If they were really interested in a more “representative” and “democratic” process, these “reforms” would be introduced in red states as well. But the only places Republicans are considering these “reforms” are in blue states. Their attempts at voter suppression through voter ID laws having failed, they are now trying this tactic to win elections. Once again party first, country last. (Arthur and I discuss this is the next episode of 2political.)

The sequestration will be the big event in the next month. It looks like the cuts will go into effect. What modest recovery the country is in will be stopped. It’s even possible we’ll go into another recession. On this issue a plague on both parties. Once again politicians play games while the livelihood of the vast majorities of Americans is held in the balance. An epic fail.

That's it for right now. I hope to get back to a normal posting schedule soon.

More From New York City Trip

A few pictures of what's playing or about to play on Broadway.