Two weeks ago Goldie's Italian Pizza opened up on G St NW. His place was doing awesome business. Everyone in the neighborhood was a critic, with many good and bad reviews. Yesterday, a new Quizno's sandwich shop opened right next to Goldie's and the owner was outside at the door inviting people in for pizza. Some people thought that might be humiliating until I mentioned that Jimmy the owner of the successful Xchange Saloon invites his customers in from the door daily. I think Quizno's is the first time I've seen a door greeter on G St in a costume.
This is Rocky. He owns the barber shop in the bottom of the office building at 17th and G Sts NW. He is in the middle of remodeling the shop. He is one of the older residents of the block, complete with regular customers. I'm not a regular customer but I stop in and say "Hi" at least once a week. I cut my own hair. Buzz, buzz ... it's gone.
I went to the Watergate Safeway today. It's the supermarket in the bottom of the historic Watergate Hotel. I never ended up buying anything because the line was so long. I don't know how its frequent shoppers like Condi Rice and Ben Stein can stand waiting in those long lines.
I have been doing a lot of fun assignments lately for Photo Edit Inc. Most of the photos are for text books. One of the assignments I'm doing now is photos of small business owners for a college text called Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. An assignments I have been working on for the past couple days has been the inside of toaster and microwave ovens for a college math book. Before I left Andrew and Maris's place I went to photograph the inside of their microwave and found warmed asparagus. A forgotten part of an already eaten dinner.
My friend M.E. Sprengelmeyer gets a thumbs-up review from a passer-by who has just sat through Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit 911. Even though I had drank my entire slush and ate my box on Raisinettes just waiting in line, I thought the movie was great. I wish I could have participated in the making of it. In a way I did. My friend Sprengelmeyer also had a hand in reporting from both Afghanistan and Iraq for Scripps Howard News Service. We both liked the movie a lot. I was impressed by Michael Moore and not annoyed by his monolog. I thought it was better than Bowling for Columbine from an entertainment standpoint. My friend Sprengelmeyer might disagree with me. He was also a reporter for the Denver Rocky Mountain News during the Columbine incident.
This is my friend Andrew's xylephone. This is a mallet from France.
This is the toaster oven at Swing's Coffee Shop. It's suppose to be toasty this weekend, low-80s. I guess that's not actually toasty for DC. It could be toasty somewhere else in the low-80s. Somewhere like Phoenix or Reno, some place sunny and arid.
My sister Patti and my niece Carol started their drive back to Florida today. This is Carol taking a break at the final stop on our three-day tour of DC, St Matthew's Cathedral. Carol has been limping around all day, probably a stress injury. Neither Patti nor Carol had any further desire to visit St Matthew's Cathedral after their tiring stay. However, I had placed St Matthew's on the list at request yesterday, and it had to be the end of their vacation here ... for some reason. The cathedral was, of course, closed. We stayed on the steps for a few minutes, and then headed to the bus stop. I need some rest too.
Walking around touring DC takes a lot of work. Being a tourist takes a lot of work. My niece's feet hurt and my sister developed possible shin splints over the past few days of walking around. Today we took the car everywhere. The majority of our up-hill walking was done when we went to go see the animals sleeping at the National Zoo. One of the pandas was actually passed out in a tree. After the National Cathedral, The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the FDR and Jefferson Memorials we headed to get a close-up look at the Capitol. On the way back we were tailed by the Weinermobile. I hopped out at the red light and gave them my card. Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for the free hot dogs to start rolling in!
Photo #2
I took this photo at the zoo.
Today was another perfect vacation day in DC, warm humid weather and a torrential downpour. My sister Patti, my niece Carol and I went to see the Woman's Memorial, JFK's Eternal Flame, and The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, all at Arlington National Cemetery. Luckily the downpour didn't start until we were back on the Cemetery's Tourmobile. The Tourmobile attendants pulled clear plastic screens down to protect its cargo of tourists from the rain, but the storm was too much. It showered in every place possible, half-soaking everyone. No one got off at the following stop because everyone wanted to get back to the Visitors' Center. When the attendant at the Visitors' Center opened the gate on the side of the Tourmobile it must have looked like the start of a very wet horse race. Women and children, men and retirees, were all running with maps and pamphlets over their heads for the crowded overhang of the Visitors' Center. The stampede turned up a casualty. While running, Patti dropped her phone in a puddle. Carol, who was running along side her pointed, "Mom! There goes your phone!" And kept running. Before my sister could rescue it, it had been trampled by the soggy mob.
This is one of the many awesome photos I shot today with the help of the Humane Society of the United States. They have an very clean and organized mailroom. With great examples of internal, postal, and package mailing systems.
