I can’t believe my sister is really going to Chicago…
August 24, 2007, 2:44 PM
Yeah, my sister, Ann Schumin, is moving to Chicago with her boyfriend, Chris Lysy. They leave on September 1. I’m stunned. I know that they’ve been talking about it, but now they’re really going. They even have an apartment!
I’m just surprised, because I didn’t know the exact date until a few days ago. So wow. Still, Chicago is just so far. It’s in a different time zone, and it’s far, far, far from the coast. Of course, this means I’m finally going to get to visit Chicago. Maybe I’ll get to see some Blues Brothers landmarks, like Dixie Square Mall.
Of course, we wish the two of them all the best in Chicago, though I’m going to miss them. After all, I’m within a day’s drive of the parents and most of my other relatives. In fact, being in the Washington area puts me right in the middle of everyone. Then Sis will be a bit of a time commitment to travel, requiring either an overnight train trip or an airplane trip. Yikes.
Still, September 1. Wow.
Categories: Family
By my calculations…
August 22, 2007, 10:04 PM
By my calculations, I have twelve photo sets to go before the core site is complete, and I can start working on subsidiary sites.
Of course, those twelve sets are, with only one exception, multi-part sets. And with plenty of inside links that have to get updated. And of course, there are a lot of links elsewhere in the site that still have to be updated. The Journal is full of obsolete internal links. Absolutely chock full of ’em. That’s because the Journal was like the second section to go back up, and so the file structures hadn’t been determined yet. So I have to go back and fix all those links. Then I also can’t update anything related to Transit Center yet, because that site is going to undergo a total code rewrite (i.e. it’s being rebuilt practically from scratch), and nothing’s been designed yet for it.
The joys of building a Web site, no? But at least it’s not like we’re designing a completely new Web site, and have to actually come up with content as well. Content’s already made. We just have to build a new housing for it all.
It is nice to be able to show off protests again, though, since the Million Worker March is back up. That was quite an experience, and I’m glad that Google can finally pick it up again. The next photo set slated to go up is A16, directly followed by J20 and then September 24. Fun!
However, converting photo sets is not the world’s most exciting work. But it has to be done, so we do it. Then once I clear these twelve sets, I get to do something more fun – designing things. That’s because I’m moving to College Life after I finish on Schumin Web, and have to hammer it out again. Of course, then I have to convert photo sets again… (*yawn*)
Categories: Schumin Web meta
The shoe swap worked!
August 21, 2007, 2:15 PM
I think I might just do this whenever it rains. Just to recap, since it was raining hard when I was leaving the house, this morning, I wore my Crocs on my commute, and packed my dress shoes and dark socks in a grocery bag inside of my regular work bag. As expected, the Crocs got soaked, with a considerable amount of water streaming across Georgia Avenue in the morning. But who cares? They’re made of rubber. Then when I got to work, I made coffee, sat down, and put on my socks and my dress shoes. And the professional is ready to start working, and is all warm and toasty. No cold, wet shoes all day for me. That would have made for an awful day.
Then when I leave, if it’s still raining, I’ll switch back to the Crocs for the Infoshop walk (it is Tuesday, after all) and then the Metro ride home.
Categories: Shoes
It’s raining…
August 21, 2007, 6:23 AM
I think today will mark the first time I’ll have had to wait for the bus in the morning in the rain. It’s raining this morning, and so this will be an interesting experience.
I think I’m also going to take a cue from some of my female Metro companions today as far as footwear goes. Some of them will make their commute in sneakers and then change shoes once they get to work. I’m thinking that with this weather, I’m going to commute in my Crocs, which I don’t care about getting wet, and then switch to my nice shoes once I get to work. The thought of spending all day in wet, nasty shoes is a bit beyond my tolerance threshold.
Otherwise, though, today’s my Infoshop day, which means that rather than going straight home after work, I swing by ye olde Infoshop after work and say hi to Maddy and whoever else is there. The Infoshop is a fun place. I’ve barely beaten the rain on a few occasions going over there…
The things that happen on Metro…
August 19, 2007, 1:34 PM
The fun thing about public transportation in a big city is that you never know what you’re going to find people doing. I went looking for Metro videos on YouTube this morning, and I found some good ones. Of course, I’ve already shared my “Puff the Magic Dragon” experience with you, but aside from that, other people sing, and other people do all kinds of other odd things. It seems that late at night is when a lot of these things happen, though the “Puff” incident happened during rush hour.
So let me share some things with you…
Continue reading…Got my exercise first thing in the morning today…
August 16, 2007, 7:29 PM
This morning, I got my exercise early. I’m walking down my street, I’m getting close to the corner, and I saw a large, white vehicle ahead of me at the opposite corner. It’s my bus. Immediately, my walk turned into a sprint, as I totally started booking it to make my bus (the bus was early, as it wasn’t supposed to be there for another five minutes). I sprinted across the northbound lanes of Georgia Avenue without much difficulty, and then traffic prevented me from sprinting across the southbound lanes right away. I did, however, get the Metrobus operator’s attention while I was in the median, and considering the bus was early anyway, I’d hoped he would hold long enough for me to catch him. Instead, while I was sprinting across the southbound lanes, he shut the door and started taking off, nearly running me over in the process. Nice guy.
So I missed the bus, no thanks to the bus operator. Okay, though, we’re flexible. I ended up walking up from my street to the next stop, about a quarter mile or so up the road. I figure from there, since my regular bus (though this wasn’t the regular driver) kicked me to the curb, I can either catch the next Y bus, or catch Ride-On’s 51 (whichever comes first), which skips my regular morning stop (it turns a corner there coming from Norbeck Park and Ride), but does take the next one. So I ended up taking the 51 to Glenmont, and then from there I caught the Red Line for my normal Metro commute.
Looking back, I’m like, whoa…
August 16, 2007, 2:56 PM
As I restore all these photo sets, it struck me – my photography has evolved over the course of seven years of doing photo sets. The older stuff definitely looks like the work of a younger, less experienced man. Let’s just say that half the stuff that made it onto the Web site for some of those older sets (The Schumin Web Salutes America comes to mind) would never have made the cut today. Plus the way I covered some of it back then would never have happened today.
A good comparison is with the treatment of the US Capitol. Back in 2001, I covered the Capitol as part of “The Schumin Web Salutes America”. The writing was so-so at best, and it came off as a walk-around in a hurry (which it was). The focus was on the building, with tourists in place. Then compare it to the Capitol’s most recent appearance, as part of the J27 set. There, the Capitol’s appearance was incidental, but we told more of a story. In fact, the writing is often king in Life and Times sets. But Photography also tells a “story” as well, and more emphasis is placed on telling the “story” now than before.
Categories: Photography, Schumin Web meta
“And just where they should stick out…”
August 12, 2007, 6:40 PM
On the way back to DC, I visited with my friend Katie for a few hours. We went out for breakfast, and then just kind of hung around for a bit. Fun times.
Meanwhile, in the car on the way to breakfast, I played Katie the song that Randi Rhodes plays every Friday on her show. Turns out that Katie and her mother enjoy the song, too! And Katie knows the words about as well as I do. Funny moment. We were going along with the song:
You know girls, men aren’t the only people in the world today that have something to give, but it sure looks like it sometimes. Just look around you – men stick out all over the place. Big fat cigars! Big fat stomachs! And just where they should stick out – phhbtt! – where is it?!
The “L Street Bridge”?
August 10, 2007, 11:54 PM
Last time I checked, there is no “L Street Bridge” that Metro runs over. In fact, a Google search of “L Street Bridge” and “DC” only comes up with a feature of the Washington Convention Center, which spans several blocks, and whose upper levels bridge over two streets, one of which is L Street NW. Metro goes near that location, but it’s underground.
What happened, and the reason I bring this up, is because while I was on the Yellow Line after work today to visit a friend in Alexandria, the operator reminded everyone that Yellow Line service would cease at 10 PM and remain suspended until Monday morning, due to the closure of the “L Street Bridge” for maintenance. I was thinking, eh? about that for a moment, and then realized what he meant. He meant the Charles R. Fenwick Bridge, which is part of the 14th Street Bridge complex in southwest Washington. The route between L’Enfant Plaza and Pentagon stations, which includes the Fenwick Bridge, is known internally as the “L” route. Most people, though, don’t know that (but then again, I’m not most people). Likewise, most people would look at me strangely if I told them that my work commute took me from B11 to A03 and back. In layman’s terms, that’s Glenmont to Dupont Circle and back.
Categories: WMATA
“It’s Friday, ya bastards!”
August 10, 2007, 2:42 PM
What can I say? It’s Friday, the end of the work week. And I got the day started out right, listening to Randi Rhodes on my way to the bus, hearing the beginning of her Friday show (where the title of this entry comes from), and hearing Rusty Warren talk about Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin having wives and “a few broads on the side, too” while Randi Rhodes makes her own commentary.
Otherwise, though, I’m excited about this weekend. I’m going down to Stuarts Draft, and seeing the family, and also getting together with Katie for breakfast on Sunday morning on the way back up. So that ought to be a lot of fun.
Meanwhile, I got this text message at work today. Mom asks me, “Do you have a teapot?” I replied, “No.” A couple of hours later, I get a message from Sis: “You has a teapot now.” The last message didn’t surprise me (aside from the bad grammar), since the normal way these things go is that if I say no, one will be in my future. I’m told it’s white with flowers on it. Ought to be interesting. I’m also getting something that has to do with making spaghetti, but I couldn’t tell you what (in fact, Mom couldn’t describe it, either, but she got one for herself, too).
Still, it will be nice to get away from Washington for a day. Boy, I never thought I’d hear myself say that. For years I was constantly longing to live in Washington. Now I live in the area, and work in Dupont Circle, and never thought I’d need to spend some time away from it. But yeah, DC’s nice, but it’s still nice to get away for a while.
Of course, now I just have to figure out what to do after work today. I should go down to Pentagon City for a while, since after all, it’s Friday, and all I have to do to get ready to leave tomorrow is throw some stuff in the back of the Sable. All in all, we’ll see what I end up doing. Should be interesting.
When in Washington, this does happen from time to time…
August 8, 2007, 7:50 PM
Towards the end of the day at work today, my cell phone went off for a text message. Dupont Circle, Woodley Park-Zoo, and Cleveland Park stations closed for a while due to a suspicious package. As it turns out, the package was harmless, containing cardboard and paper.
Still, it caused a major delay in Metro service. And all the more amazing was that Metro was actually calling it a “major” delay. Realize that this is a transit operator that considers single-tracking on significant amounts of several lines with 20-minute waits for trains during the day to be a “minor” delay. But this time, Metro even went so far as to say to avoid the Red Line altogether. The suspicious package was on a train at Dupont Circle. Woodley Park-Zoo and Cleveland Park were closed to allow trains to turn back towards Shady Grove using the interlocking at Van Ness-UDC. Then on the other side, trains turned back towards Glenmont using the pocket track at Farragut North. Then Metro ran a “bustitution” (where buses are used to fill in for the lack of rail service) between Van Ness and Farragut North.
Meanwhile, the movies…
August 7, 2007, 8:01 PM
Remember the protest from two weeks ago at the El Salvador Embassy? Here are the movies, courtesy of the GoodFoodnH2O channel on YouTube:
Categories: Activism
Old habits die really hard…
August 7, 2007, 7:28 PM
I learned at work today that old habits die really hard sometimes. I was opening a box of various publications that we were sending out using a box cutter that I have. This was my old “safety cutter” from Wal-Mart, which I somehow managed to get out with when they fired me. So I opened the box, retracted the blade, and then was trying to stick it back in the pocket of the vest that I no longer wear. I was like, ummm, when I remembered, oh, no more vest. What do you know. Yeah, old habits die hard. Still, I’m glad to trade up from a vest and a name badge to business casual. Now instead of a one-cubic-foot locker, I have an office with four walls and a door.
Otherwise, though, could someone please break this heat? According to Weatherbug, it’s supposed to get up to 98 degrees in DC, with a heat index of 107. I’d dare say you could cook an egg on the pavement in this kind of weather. It’s brutal. And I wouldn’t mind it so much if not for the humidity. The humidity is the kicker. If it were a dry heat, it wouldn’t be so bad. But oh, the humidity. It makes waiting for the bus in the evening worse than it already is (I consider the wait for the bus at Glenmont the worst part of the commute, because I’m tired and impatient). All I know is we’re just slightly less than a quarter through August, so in just slightly more than three weeks, it will be September, and with September comes the arrival of fall and cooler temperatures. Then, of course, I can break out the long sleeves, which will be nice. I’ve always thought that I look better in long sleeves. I’d wear long sleeves all year, but you can’t get away with it during the summer. Too hot.
If I ever went to Springfield…
August 4, 2007, 10:08 PM
Well, if I ever went to Springfield – as in where the Simpson family is from – here’s what I’d look like:
So there you go. They didn’t have the right hair option, though, so I have a little less in my Simpsons caricature than I have for real. But for our purposes it works. And hey, wait a few years and we might get there one day. Of course, I really like the one someone did of me a few years ago. But still, I find the Simpsons-generator program kind of interesting.
Categories: Television
“Go ahead, Mitchum man. Wear the same shirt you did two days ago.”
July 30, 2007, 7:17 PM
Has anyone seen this ad before?
I saw it on the Metro. All I have to say is that if the so-called “Mitchum Man” is wearing the same shirt that he wore two days ago, I hope that shirt saw the inside of a washing machine on that day in between the two wearings. Otherwise, you’re going to have a very lonely Mitchum man, since no one will want to stand within ten feet of the guy, considering that the shirt would probably be able to get up and walk in on its own by then.
Categories: Advertising