Monday

Today . . .

Lucky will hide

Kooper will sniff and snuffle

begins my last week of a six month gig at my current job

is the middle day of this year's Cherry Blossom Festival

I might hear if I am being considered for a new job 

Kate is picking me up from work after her chiropractor visit (her back) 

it should reach into the 60s

children will be born

people will die

the Earth will turn on its axis and revolve around its star

something expected should happen (usually does)

somethings unexpected will happen (always does)

Cherries, Robins and Apples

This week is the week of the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. The cherry trees that the Japanese government gave as a gift to the U.S. are supposed to peak later this week (the blossoms that is). That's good that the peak is later because this weekend is a bit damp. Mild but drizzly. Both are good. Mild because spring is finally here in its glory. Wet because we need the rain.

When Kooper and I morning-walked a bit ago the robins were singing the most I've heard all spring so far. Maybe in response to the warmth and wetness. Male robins were marking their territories in sound. It was a wonderful spring chorus. I lengthened our walk just to keep listening.

And I have my Apple computer back already! They shipped it from here to Texas on Wednesday. It got to Texas on Thursday, when the techies there replaced a faulty piece of hardware (and hilariously changed my wallpaper from one Firefly scene to another - it couldn't have been an accident - whoever worked on my Mac must be a Browncoat!). So my Apple is back. My fingers fit the keyboard again. And the world is a peace once more.

What was it Richard III said in Shakespeare's play? "A Mac! A Mac! My kingdom for a Mac!"

Work

I have sent out a few resumes and letters to organizations in DC who seem to mesh well with my skills package (such as it is), interests and passion. And I've had one good interview so far (the only interview I've had so far). This one was at a place near Union Station - the large, historic train station in DC. I've trained in and out of there several times. To and from Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh - DC route is gorgeous and worth the trip for the sights alone: along the Youghiogheny River then over the mountains into the Potomac basin; meeting up with that river at Harper's Ferry. The Philadelphia-DC leg is quite different: urban and suburban for the most part; going down toward Baltimore and then west toward Washington. Not as scenic as the Pittsburgh route, but nice nonetheless (I think most all train trips are "nice nonetheless").

Speaking of trains, I've traveled on the DC Metro Yellow Line train a couple times during the past week when the "Metro Jazz" engineer was working (see my March 11 post). Once was yesterday and once earlier in the week. I honestly don't feel like getting off the Metro when he's announcing the stops. On Monday when I was heading to work, I got off the Metro at the end of the line at Huntington Station. And so did the Metro Jazz DJ (he was on the front end of the train-soon to become the back end as the train reversed to leave the station). So he must have been getting off the train for a break or maybe ending his shift. He didn't look anything special. Nothing to set him apart from any other Metro engineer or anyone else for that matter. It's the voice within the body that you can't see while walking along the Metro station platform, though. It's the voice that makes riding the Metro the most pleasant way to start off the work day.

Lost

I took my Apple in to the Apple store yesterday to see why the display was not displaying. The "genius" there at the store (that's what they call them at the "genius bar") did all of the things I told him I had already done at home. All of the troubleshooting tips. Then he said, "Well. I've done everything I can. We'll have to send it away where they will do their magic stuff and restore it for a flat fee of $310." Those weren't his exact words, but you get the gist.

So things may be less frequent between blog notes than I've been doing. Things aren't quite as convenient as before. I have everything backed up. And I can use Kate's Mac (a teeny Macbook but passable). And I have a PC at work and an older laptop PC here at home. All of my data is backed up from my Macbook Pro. So nothing is lost. Then why do I feel so lost?

Duck Walk

Yesterday, Kate and I took a duck for a road trip into DC. Oh he was a real duck. Just not the kind with feathers and all. Didn't quack either. Except when the security guard in front of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building started to approach Groucho and me. Then Groucho did seem to get a little upset (Groucho isn't a cute name I call Kate, when she's acting a bit grouchy. It's the duck's name).

He was a colorfully painted paper cut-out duck from Erin's (my daughter's) preschool class in Meadville, PA. Her class sent the ducks all over to people whose task it was to take photos with the duck and send them back to the classroom. So, that's what we did. Groucho and we took the Metro into DC and saw some sights, ending up at the Kennedy Center, where the duck and we enoyed some Mozart and Bruckner. Here are some photos of Groucho and us along the way.

DC Marathon

The DC Marathon just kicked off a few minutes ago up the road a bit. The times should be good this year. It's not warm at all. In fact, between the time I got up for our dog-person walk and now, the temperature has dropped from 33 to 30! Downright chilly. The sun should be peeking up over the Potomac in a few minutes, though, and remedy the dipping temperatures. It eventually will get up into the mid-50s today.

I ran a marathon once. I began running in two but never finished the first. They were both in Pittsburgh. In the first attempt my running friend and I foolishly thought we could do a marathon after only a month or so of extra training. Neither of us finished and the next day we could each hardly walk. I remember going down the stairs in our apartment on my rear because I couldn't walk down the stairs.

After that mid-summer's fiasco, we set our eyes on the October Pittsburgh Marathon, which in those days was run in North Park, in the North Hills area of metro Pittsburgh. We trained wisely this time. Gradually working our way up to 21 miles or so before a week ahead of the race. Then tapering off to race day.

To call a 26.2-mile marathon a "race" is like calling DC a country meadow - not quite. At least not for most of the participants, whose goal it is to finish the run within some pre-set time. Those runners sort of all jog off easily at the beginning of the marathon. Content in the understanding that it's going to be a long effort so there is no sense in rushing off. In fact many running books and experts advise doing just that - holding back at the beginning of a marathon, even though your adrenalin is high and you feel great. Because you'll need that energy in the end.

And I did. After having trained through the fall in typical fall weather and usually running in the mornings, when the fallish temperatures where even cooler, on race day the temperature spiked to over 80 degrees! "Drink lots of water," was the thought of the day. But that didn't help in the sun and heat. I had hoped to finish the run in under 4 hours, and I think I would have on cooler day. But I ended up crossing the finish line at around 4:15. Not bad at all. Both my friend and I finished. And that's how you "win" a marathon

Equinox

Spring officially arrives today. From the astronomical perspective anyway. Sun crossing the equator. Equal day and night lengths. There was a neat weather guy on one of the local Cleveland TV stations when I was going to Kent State University who always said that meteorological spring started on March 1. And that the other seasons started at the beginning of their respective months, as well (summer on June 1, fall on September 1, winter on December 1). His thought was that those dates were about the time when the climatic patterns changed (as in from winter to spring).

I always found that to be pretty much on target. Around March 1 or so the bitter cold breaks. The winds come more and more from the southwest, and less from Canada. There still might be snow, but it will be gone soon.

Of course that was all back in the late 1970s. Things have changed since then. More greenhouse gases above us. More heat trapped in the atmosphere and oceans. Climatic patterns changing as a result. I don't know what date meteorological spring would start these days. But I'd bet it's before March 1.

Recent polls would indicate that about 41% of US adults would think about now that I'm exaggerating the impacts of greenhouse gases on climate change. But as I watch the hundreds of cars each day go back and forth on the George Washington Parkway in front of our house, pushed along by the combustion of dinosaurs-now-oil, I find it hard to believe that the earth won't be roasting after very many more years.