Christmas Eve

It was Christmas Eve, babe,
In the drunk tank...

I suppose some might find it odd that I consider "Fairytale of New York" to be a traditional holiday song. But if you're reading this, you probably understand.

I spent the bulk of the day wandering around the National Mall, visiting the Air and Space Museum, as always (and now they have Space Ship One!), among other destinations.


Here are some holiday links for everyone:

The Twelve Days of Nerd Christmas, courtesy of FFN
Irregular Webcomic's yearly tribute to Christmas. Ia! Ia!

I should have some pictures of the National Christmas Tree ere long. Happy Holidays, wherever you are.

Capitals 4, Canadiens 2

Bosnian food does not agree with me. However tasty bureks and chivapis may be (and I don't know if I even have the diacritic marks to spell those correctly), 24 hours later, the fun is gone, leaving gastric distress in its wake. The unbelievably awful arena pizza I ate at the hockey game didn't help.


Since it was only me going to the hockey game, I decided to spend a little extra on the ticket. What I ended up with was a seat six rows away from the glass, directly behind the $150.00+ price section (though I spent about half that amount). Anywhere below me, the seats were of the folding variety.

Hockey has a very different feel depending on where in the arena you sit. Higher up, you have a better overview of the game as a whole, and that can be fun. Down near the glass, it's a more intense experience; you can't see the game as well, but you get a better understanding of the feel of it. The speed at which these guys skate is best perceived when they're skating that fast right in front of you. When a player gets checked into the glass, you hear it, you see the ripples flow down the barricade in either directions.

The Habs played a solid game, and had the only goal going into the third period. They've got an aggressive penalty kill unit, if an uninspired power play team. And hey, Mathieu Dandenault plays for them now, which is cool.

But the Capitals have Alexander Ovechkin, and he's really, really slick. The hype is true. When he gets the puck, the crowd takes notice, and so does everybody else on the ice. He's fast and agile (though Montreal's defense stayed on him tightly the entire game), and enjoys shooting the puck.

It's been a good day.

Washington, D.C., 12/22/05

I'll post pictures at some point during this trip, but first I need to charge my camera battery!

Flew from Chattanooga to Washington National this afternoon; it was quite dark by the time I got up here. D.C., from the air, at night, is an impressive sight. Especially the Beltway, which is a ribbon of white and red lights. The Washington Monument is never more phallic than at night; it stands alone in a dark area, itself brightly illuminated and saying "Check me out."

I clearly have some good travel karma built up. Leaving Chattanooga was a task of no effort whatsoever, and I didn't check a bag, so I was able to grab-and-go at National, walk to the Metro, wait all of two minutes for a train, and get to my brother's place.

We've got three dogs up here this time: Java, George, and Jim's dog Sophie. George travels well; Java must be tranquilized. All three are getting used to the presence of other dogs, so I don't expect any problems.

There's a Capitals game tomorrow night, versus the Montreal Canadiens; I'm trying, with little success, to convince Dad and Jim to go with me. Between that and holiday schedules, I rather doubt I'll have time to visit Capital Aikikai, which is a damn shame; I had a wonderful time taking class there the last time I was up here.

Bloody hell, I'm tired. Given what my travel schedule has been (and is about to be again!), perhaps traveling to relax wasn't the best idea. But that's okay.

Stay well, and safe travels to you all in this holiday season. More notes later.

Holiday cheer is bearing down on me

It almost looked like it had snowed this morning; it was cold enough that the frost had made a white blanket over everything. Pretty!

I'm not done with Christmas shopping yet; every year it seems to take a little longer, even with using teh Intarweb.

Upcoming schedule:
Dec.22-26, Washington D.C.
Jan.3-5, Oxford, WI (best bring snowshoes)
Jan.20-22, Shattered Isles, Indian Springs State Park (same weekend as Chattacon, dammit)
Jan.28-29, Atlanta, GA (Aikido seminar at Dogwood Aikikai)

Plans for New Year's Eve are still up in the air, but all of these other dates are more or less set.

Vote For Me! I Drink!

Apparently I look like a politician. I'm not sure how I feel about that.