first run

It was a nice warm day today so I went running. It was the first time since I had Plantar Fasciitis - nearly a year. My foot has been feeling fine, but by the time it had healed, I was just riding more and didn't get back into running. Today was also the first time that I did pretty much any significant physical activity since breaking my ribs in September. (I played football in November, but that was a family game and doesn't really count.) It felt great to get out. I didn't know how far I was going to be able to run, but I would have been happy if I didn't pass out from a lack of oxygen. I surprised myself and ran over 2 miles - 2.2 according to Google Maps. I didn't pass out, I didn't have a heart attack. When I checked my pulse it was 128. Right now, almost 3 hours later, my pulse is at 64. Here's my route and proof of the distance.

a day in the life

sh1ft.org's A Day in the Life project was Leap Day, Friday February 29 2008. The goal was one photo an hour for the day. I missed 1am through 6am because I was sleeping. Here are my results:

king of blues

See the King of Blues live in concert

This officially has been crossed off my list of things to do before I die.

Tonight at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, I had the honor and privilege of seeing the legendary B.B. King live in concert. The man might be 82 years old, he might be unable to stand and walk for long periods of time, he might have diabetes, but he can still belt out the blues. His guitar sounds so sweet and pure, the notes drip off the strings like honey. His voice is so strong and powerful that it gives you chills when he really gets into the song. It's even more unbelievable when you realize that, by his own admission, he doesn't know how to play chords and he just improvises his way through everything.

He's quite a storyteller and half the concert is him rambling through long winded stories, making jokes and laughing at himself. His band backs him up beautifully and he often lets them take the lead. It doesn't matter. It's worth the price of admission to hear him talk, sing and play even for the few songs he actually fits in.

To see him play in the 1300 seat Keswick was even more incredible. There isn't a bad seat in the house and the acoustics and sound were tuned perfectly. It was a great show and I still can't believe that I was there.

virginia wine country and stephen colbert's portrait

As soon as Stephen Colbert's portrait was hung in the National Portrait Gallery it was a goal to go see it before they took it down. It was originally scheduled to be up for 6 weeks, which would make this past weekend the final weekend, but the National Portrait Gallery extended the "exhibition" through April 1. I suspect the NPG realized that they were drawing in more young people than they had in a while and those young people were staying to see the other exhibits and to spend their money in the gift shop. At any rate, go see it if you're a fan of Stephen Colbert. It's quite humorous to see his portrait hanging over the water fountains between the men's and women's restrooms on the second floor. People crowd around the portrait taking photos and we were no exception.


While we were at the NPG, we explored the exhibit Obata's Yosemite. Japanese artist Chiura Obata visited Yosemite National Park in 1927 and sketched and painted the landscape and weather there. He produced watercolors and woodcut prints from his sketches. The colors were striking, even today 80 years after.

Also on exhibit right now at the NPG is Recognize! which is an installation highlighting portraits and photographs of hip hop. The exhibit provided a different perspective of the hip hop community.



We also went on a short wine tour while we were in Virginia. We visited four wineries on Saturday. The first was Piedmont Cellars which, frankly, I found mostly forgettable. We picked up a bottle of their 2006 Hunt Country Red and a sweet desert wine which I will pass along to my father.

The second winery we visited was Naked Mountain Winery. At Naked Mountain, you can go for a tasting and stay for their lasagna lunch. The lasagna was delicious and their wine was quite good also. We purchased a bottle of the 2005 Chardonnay. I picked up a bumper sticker that proclaims "DRINK NAKED" for the very reason that you suspect. Their tasting room was a lot of fun, their lunch was delicious and they have three great dogs running around, including one black lab that has a sign on his collar that says "Please don't feed me." So in spite of his best sad puppy eyes, he isn't getting any shnibbles to eat.

Third was Linden Vineyards, which turned out to have the best wine and also a nice Case Club members only deck where you could drink wine by the glass or bottle and choose from a selection of nice cheeses to pair with the wine. Again we bought another Chardonnay, the 2005 Avenius Chardonnay, and we also chose the 2006 Vidal Riesling. They had barrels on the porch for $50 each, one of which nearly came home with us, but it was decided to wait until another trip.

The fourth and final winery of the day was Gadino Cellars. We had a bit of palette fatigue by the time we arrived here and as the day was getting a bit long, we settled on one bottle of the 2005 Viognier. We ended up drinking this when we got home on Sunday and we found it to be quite enjoyable and it paired well with the shrimp and chicken lo meins.

Saturday night we had a wonderful Italian dinner at Luciano's, where we were treated to a free bottle of Antonini Ceresa Prosecco champagne with dessert. The champagne put a nice little finish to a beautiful day.

syzygy

I took my cameras out to document the beautiful total lunar eclipse tonight. This will be the last one until December of 2010, so I didn't want to miss it. Unfortunately my digital camera doesn't have manual settings for aperture or shutter speed and it only has 3x optical zoom. With those limitations in mind, I also grabbed my film SLR and the only roll of film I had. The film will get developed shortly and I'll post those as soon as I can scan them in. In the meantime, here are a few decent shots from my digital point and shoot. The eclipse was incredible. I'm really glad the clouds cleared (and just in time) so it could be seen. Saturn is to the lower left of the moon and Regulus is above it.

the weather is a-changin'

I left work early today to visit the doctor so I could finally kill whatever has been attacking my immune system for the last 2 1/2 weeks (successful trip, I walked away with no less than three prescriptions). When I walked outside, I commented out loud to no one in particular that it was a really nice day out. It was warm and my car's thermometer agreed. It read 70 when I got in it at the office. By the time I was on 76, it read 67, which was probably slightly more accurate. When I got to Route 1, the clouds were darkening dramatically, almost like a movie. The thermometer still read 67. The clouds were unreal, though. They were incredibly dark with light gray and white wisps highlighting them. As I turned onto Broad Street, it was noticeably cooler and my car's thermometer read 64. I started snapping photos on Broad because the dark clouds were striking against the blue background. By the time I pulled into my driveway, the car was telling me it was 59 degrees out. Unbelievable. In 45 minutes it went from 70 to 59. It never rained, though. It's sunny out at the house.

to blatantly steal a line from a song

I am the luckiest.