Basic_B

Marcella and I went back to work this past week after having had the previous week off. The time off seems to have done the trick. There’s some sense of returning refreshed and with a fresh attitude.

We took a short trip up to DC and stayed overnight one night. We stayed in this kind of quirky hotel called the Helix near Dupont Circle. It had cool retro styling, and was sort of fun. Our main objective while in DC was to visit the National Gallery. We felt like a nice dose of art would be good for our souls.

Because we didn’t have a whole lot of time we did the “one hour” tour to focus on some of the most notable works in the gallery. But then we went to an exhibition called Medieval to Modern: Recent Acquisitions of Drawings, Prints, and Illustrated Books and spent our remaining time there, basically until the gallery closed. This is an exhibition I could go back to and spend much more time. It’s a fairly large show, spanning a good half-dozen rooms. I could probably spend an hour per room to absorb more of the fascinating work. The engravings and etchings, in particular, are engrossing in their detail, and then I always become enthralled with simple line drawings combined with watercolor washes. Click this link to see a Winslow Homer called Four Boys on a Beach. It is both incredibly simple and endlessly detailed. This is the kind of thing I love to just stand right up close to and pick out the little details and then go step back and absorb the whole, and then repeat. And there were many many instances of this kind of thing in the exhibition.

So, the exhibition was very good. We also went out to dinner at a local popular grill, and had a very nice meal. In the morning we had breakfast at Kramerbooks and Afterwards Cafe (please note this link opens a page that starts playing a really annoying video/audio file), and browsed the books for a while. Seems like a pretty great place, and I often wonder why similar places don’t seem to exist in other towns I’ve lived. I guess it takes a city of a sufficient magnitude to really support the business model, but I can imagine Marcella and I getting up to go to a such a place pretty regularly.

We also visited Alexandria and I showed Marcella a couple landmarks from my childhood. We saw a couple of schools I attended and a couple of the houses I lived in. It seemed like there were generally more cars parked on the street in the rosemont neighborhood than I remembered. There were always some, but now every block seemed full of cars. Maybe it’s just my memory is faulty.

The only drawback about the whole trip is that I came down with a cold and sore throat just as we were going, so that probably put a small damper on my enjoyment, but it was still a really nice get out of town trip.

This is my new single-speed bike…

​

I got it to start commuting into work.

I made a test ride this morning and it will take around 20 minutes. 25 if I don’t push it much. I averaged around 15 mph. It’s only about 5 miles but it is kind of hilly. As I noted above this bike only has one gear, right now it is a freewheel cog which means I can coast. I’ve got a fixed gear cog on order which will allow me to flip the rear wheel around and make it a fixed gear bike; which means no coasting. I’m going to ride it for a few weeks using the freewheel gear to build up some new strength (with only a single speed you’ve got no choice but to climb whatever hill you hit with the gear you are in), and then to switch over to the fixed wheel and take my conditioning to a whole new level.

There are still a few things to sort out. I think I will have to carry a change of clothes and to keep a few toiletries at the office for using on the sweatier more humid mornings. I going to run around this weekend and gather up those things to get ready. My plan is to ride in on Monday morning.

Oh, and the bike is an SE – Lager. It’s a steel frame with a 46 tooth chainring and 16 tooth rear cog.

Marcella calls it my beer bike!

Earlier this week I received an email from a friend/co-worker at my previous place of employment. He had discovered a sign on the third floor outside of the break room that had my name on it. Apparently they still had me listed as one of the people responsible for making sure everyone left the building in the event of an emergency. Given that I’m no longer there I thought it would be helpful if I went ahead and posted my rules for exiting the building in the case of a fire emergency.

Here they are:

1. In case the fire alarm sounds please stop everything…sit down at you computer and login to your email to determine if HR has authorized your departure from the building in this particular emergency. It may take them some time to get back to you since most of them have likely already left the building themselves.
2. If you do get a response there’s usually about an 80% likelihood you will be allowed to leave. If you are in the unlucky 20%, well tough! But please be assured it is entirely possible you will be remembered long after your death by the existence of some random sign in a hallway somewhere with your name still etched thereupon.
3. When HR does authorize departure from the building be sure NOT to exit via the stairwells. The elevator is the only acceptable means of egress. No less than 35 people at a time please.
4. If you do exit via the stairwells don’t forget to bring along a pocket full of pennies to drop down the stairwell between the stairs and onto the heads of those who were faster getting to the bottom than you. (If you can’t find any pennies then thumb-tacks or push-pins are also acceptable. Just remember that you will have to walk across the floor eventually too if you somehow manage to survive to the first floor)
5. To determine when it is safe to re-enter the building after an emergency please listen for the screams. If the multitude of screams has lessened to only one or two then it is okay to re-enter. Think of microwave popcorn, you want to turn off the microwave before all the popping is complete otherwise you risk charred popcorn.
6. Upon re-entering, open the doors gently and beware of escaping steam that can burn the hands.
7. While waiting outside be sure to offer condolence hugs to your more attractive co-workers. This is a great opportunity for a cheap grope.
8. If there is a convenience or grocery store nearby then purchasing marshmallows while you wait would not be considered inappropriate.
9. Have Fun! Don’t let the opportunity pass you by.

MEDICARE COVERAGE IN A NUTSHELL
 


The phone rings and the lady of the house answers, ‘Hello.’
Mrs. Sanders, please. 
Speaking.

Mrs. Sanders, this is Doctor Jones at Saint Agnes Laboratory. When your 
husband’s doctor sent his biopsy to the lab last week, a biopsy from another Mr. Sanders arrived as well. We are now uncertain which one belongs to your husband.  Frankly, either way the results are not too good.
What do you mean?   Mrs. Sanders asks nervously.

Well, one of the specimens tested positive for Alzheimer’s and the other one 
tested positive for HIV.  We can’t tell which is which.
That’s dreadful! Can you do the test again?   questioned Mrs. Sanders.

Normally we can, but Medicare will only pay for these expensive tests one 
time.

Well, what am I supposed to do now?
The folks at Medicare recommend that you drop your husband off somewhere in the middle of town.  If he finds his way home, don’t sleep with him.