Succinct Verbosity

And just like that, a half year has passed…

Tom — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:07:24 +0000

The title of the post says it all… unfortunately, an all to familiar recurring theme where I vow to write often, espouse the benefits of the said writing I vowed to do, and subsequently go on an extended hiatus from writing only to realize a year later that I really should just write. Who cares if anyone else reads my writing, right?

Let’s explore that thought for a minute – the inner conspiracy theorist in me always entertains the notion that “the man” is constantly monitoring my web presence to somehow find fault in something I wrote to deny me something, be it a clearance, a loan, or anything else I may be looking for. I suppose I’d really have to worry if I worked for Metro rail, but fortunately, that’s not the case, so I guess I could rest a bit easier?

The only other people that I could think of would be family and they already know more about me than I could possibly write, so I should be in the clear, right? I don’t think there’s much dirt to dig up in my mindless drivel about frustrating, long commutes, or even in my recollection of our travels, so I’m going to go out on a limb and declare my writings “safe”. There you have it, and if by “safe”, we mean “boring”, then I guess that works too. Three cheers to “boring” and “routine”… huzzah!

Weekend in Hampton Roads

Tom — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:05:41 +0000

Kim and I went to visit with the boys this weekend in Hampton Roads. This was the first time that Kim joined me on a Saturday visit with the boys and I was very glad she joined me this time.

We strayed away from our normal chain restaurant lunch and ate at C. W. Cowlings, a restaurant that received rave reviews on internet. Tommy also raved about the pork chops – I figured you can’t go wrong getting pork chops in a town that is known for it’s pork… of course, I didn’t get the pork chops, but Kim did and they were great. I ordered a fried chicken sandwich and it was equally delicious. After lunch, we went to see The Green Hornet, and then visited with my brother and sister-in-law (and her family) until we brought the boys home around 9:30 PM. Of course, we had our obligatory Starbucks visit, photos included and overall, I think it was a great visit…

Variations on a recurring theme…

Tom — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 23:44:43 +0000

I’ve recently expanded my public transit experience, electing to take the bus servicing my neighborhood to the Metro rail this week. My first lesson learned was that I couldn’t trust the bus schedule posted on the WMATA website; my very first attempt to take the bus from our community ended in failure as I arrived at the stop in what I thought was plenty of time to pick up a bus that was supposed to arrive at a downstream station around 6:50 am (6:54 am to be exact). Suffice to say, the bus never showed up. I stood at the bus stop, freezing my arse off for a good 15 minutes before I finally had the sense to check the next bus website, only to learn that the next available bus wasn’t scheduled to arrive at the bus stop for another 81 minutes, definitely NOT in accordance with the published schedule.

The next day, I consulted the next bus website before embarking on my adventure to the bus stop. I clearly overestimated the time required to get to the bus stop and ended up having to wait some 10 minutes at the stop for the bus to arrive; but by the end of the week, I’m happy to say my timing is down to about a three to four minute wait. I would hate to cut it any closer than that. I’m still not convinced that the stop I selected was the closest to the house, I have to walk about four tenths of a mile, but that’s nothing and it helps to clear the mind a bit before joining the fray we call the morning commute. Overall, not a bad experience at all. It got me into the office in about an hour, no different than if I were to drive to Metro and ride in, except I saved money on gas and less mileage on the car. Heck, I even got some exercise – what a bonus.

Fall hikes…

Tom — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:24:37 +0000

I think hiking in the fall is the best; the weather is great and the colors are amazing. Recently, I went on an autumn hike at Assateague Island while Kim rode a horse with her sisters and friends. I didn’t get quite as far as I wanted to on the hike – I left the ranger station and hiked past the Over Sand Vehicle (OSV) entry point, almost to the location of the first back country campsites and I was also able to hike the half mile Life of the Forest trail; a beautiful hike through the woods which opened to some phenomenal views of salt marshes and the bay.

The beach was nice, but I’m hoping to hike in the mountains sometime soon again….

Leaves are falling but it’s still warm outside…

Tom — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:46:46 +0000

I suppose it goes to prove that average temperatures really don’t have much to do with deciduous trees losing their leaves. The real influencing factor seems to be the reduction in the amount of daylight as we progress farther and farther into autumn. Winter is finally around the corner and I’m really looking forward to the cooler weather.

We cleared leaves again today – about 20 bags in total with 20 more that have been cleared over the last couple weeks. This was the first weekend with a significant amount of built up leaves and it was good to get outside and work, especially after spending all of Saturday indoors with the boys. Despite all the work we’ve done, there’s still a good amount of leaves left on the oaks out back, so it’s not the last time we’ll get to work out in the yard. There’s a certain sense of satisfaction when the leaf covered yard is cleared; very visibly measurable progress as the blanket of leaves is scooped away to reveal the green grass below, very nice.

I’m sitting in a Starbucks waiting for Kim to finish her nail appointment. I’m ready to go home and sit for a bit, maybe watch some television, grab a bite to eat, and head to bed early for us to start the busy work week over again next week. I wish I could get the boys to enjoy being outside more, though. It would have been nice to go on a hike again; maybe we can do something next week when the kids are back. Maybe we can hike the Billy Goat trail…