After working out the extra night in Washington DC so that Katie and the kids can have an extra day at the beach (and they've really needed it because the weather has not been all terribly kind to them so far...some years at the coast are like that!), I'm finally off to the Mall for a decidedly easier day of museum hopping than the five museums I was planning for today! Today's goal is to…
When we started this journey to the north, Julia and the kids were already at the coast in Nags Head and the original idea was that I'd come round sometime in the afternoon on Saturday (13 Aug 2022) to collect the kids, Mistletoe and whatever cargo is being offloaded and return to Raleigh so that Julia could have a week at the coast in peace. What that plan didn't exactly count on was a blue-eyed…
After wandering round most of the National Archives building, I managed to find the entrance which was kind of tucked away out of easy view. Normally finding the queue to get in is pretty easy but as it turned out, there really was no queue to be found and I was able to walk right to the security screening checkpoint. Given the immense value of the main exhibits at the Archives, I understand the need…
As I was leaving the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, I was confronted with a decision as to where to head next. My original thought was to head toward the Smithsonian's Freer Museum of Art as it was relatively close by and after three of hours of being a witness to some of the worst atrocities ever committed against human beings, I figured seeing something beautiful was just what I would need. Well, that was the…
Years ago, I remember my brother Ben describing the US Holocaust Memorial Museum as a place so haunting that you cannot possibly visit it and come away from the experience unchanged and unmoved. It turns out that Ben was apparently into grand understatement that day. The outside of the building is deliberately functional and eschews any pretense of the fancy styles common on the buildings lining the Mall. It honestly looks like something that would…
After a bit of sleep best described as blissful oblivion after the previous day's travels and adventures, it was time to get off my duff and get moving to catch the train into the heart of Washington DC. First thing was to actually find the Weihle-Reston East station which is the current terminus of the Metro's Silver Line. The plans are for Metro to finally make it all the way to Dulles and a couple…
It's time for Walkabout 2022 to go visit Dad and do a fair bit of museum hopping on the National Mall whilst the kids are off on holiday at Nags Head in the Outer Banks. This morning, I'm heading north to just south and east of Washington Dulles International airport to visit the Stephen F. Udvar-Házy National Air and Space Museum annex. Steven Ferencz Udvar–Házy was one of the founders of the International Lease Finance…
The Women's Euro 2022 tournament ended with a cracker of a fixture featuring the host nation England taking on Germany at London's Wembley Stadium. The match was finely poised with plenty of attacking play from both sides that would result in both sides in a 1-1 draw at full time necessitating thirty minutes of extra time where Chloe Kelly would stun the Germans in the 110th minute on a corner kick that bounced off Lucy…
Seeing supercars in Raleigh isn't a terribly unusual occurrence. But being done and dusted by two of them in the space of a half hour on either side of a run for groceries at Wegman's certainly is! The first one was out on Old Wake Forest Road where we caught up to a Lamborghini Huracan at the stoplight right before Capital Blvd passes over. We didn't exactly have a lot of time to enjoy the…
"Power is permanence. Impermanence is impotence!"Sir Humphrey Appleby Prime Ministers come and Prime Ministers go but everyone knows that the real power in No 10 Downing Street isn't the PM or the Cabinet but rather the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. The current incumbent in that official appointment in Her Majesty's Government is named Larry and whilst he's had a rather chequered reputation for actually ridding No 10 of mice and other vermin and…
I wish I could say that the advent of Justice Alito's majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org. in a substantially similar form to the first draft that was leaked a few weeks ago was a surprise but considering the current membership of the Supreme Court and their ideological and religious leanings...it really isn't. Anyone who saw Dobbs get granted certiorari to be heard in this session knew that if Dobbs didn't succeed…
It feels kind of weird going through the Chick Fil-A bereft of free bird thanks to the Carolina Hurricanes home win promotion (which I wholeheartedly hope stays in play this coming season!). But after a chilly trip to the Knightdale YMCA pool with Katie and Alex and Katie actually having some free bird on her app today, we are visiting the Knightdale location that inspired the Chick Fil-Audits series of posts with a 37 minute…
Once more we're streaming "LA Flights" on YouTube but this time we're waiting for arguably the most famous plane in the world...the VC-25A (a heavily modified Boeing 747-200) known as Air Force 1 when the President is aboard. I did have a chance to see Air Force 1 live from the Observation Deck at RDU when President Obama came to town and I was rocking two cameras whilst crammed against the railing of the platform…
Two new categories make their debut in the BLOG: Harrowing Tales of Customer ServiceWhat's For Dinner? The Harrowing Tales details the good, bad, and the outright ugly of "customer service" interactions which I am absolutely convinced will kill me far more quickly than cancer or someone brandishing a gun! The "Chick Fil-Audit" series of BLOG posts live in the Harrowing Tales category which give a play-by-play breakdown of life spent in the massive Chick Fil-A…
Another day, another sandwich thanks to the Hurricanes staying perfect in the playoffs at home. Now, if only they could win on the road... ;) This trip through the queues from hell takes us to the Knightdale location which often features the longest queues and wait times. Interestingly enough, this would be the second straight trip through the drive-through where Karma will make an appearance. This location has what appears to be a single-file queue…
This afternoon was more than a little bit exciting with a pretty nasty line of storms coming through with the highlight being all of the iPhrenalia screaming about a TORNADO WARNING being issued for this area with the centre of circulation indicated in the area of the Sam's Club on South Saunders Street and heading right this way. A quick look at the radar and a peek at the direction of the clouds outside confirmed…
A quick run to Clayton and it's time to head through the White Oak Chick Fil-A so Katie and I can redeem our free sandwiches thanks to the Hurricanes winning at home at PNC Arena! Katie needed to make a quick run into Target for a birthday gift which is why we were approaching the conga line from that direction rather than the more usual approach from the main entrance near McDonald's. The reason for…
Quite a while ago, I found myself having to find a new home for the corporate bank accounts after my current credit union refused to accept for deposit a check written to my corporation. For the first time in over ten years! And whilst that made me rather unpleased at the time, I ended up finding a lovely home for the business accounts thanks to USAA not offering business account services and my father being…
For the past couple of weeks as the petrol prices have been spiking, I'd been hearing of this trend where some wiseacres were attaching "I Did That!" stickers featuring President Biden to the pumps. Tonight as I was topping up the Traverse's cavernous petrol tanks, I finally saw one in the field! I'll admit, I did laugh a bit when I saw it. Sadly, the people who had the wit to poke fun at President…
After celebrating Nicholas' birthday at Tupelo Honey in the Village District, we ducked through the drive-through at the Chick Fil-A just down the way to redeem our free bird courtesy of another Carolina Hurricanes win! This location is one of the more unusual designs I've ever seen. The building itself looks normal enough but it's the drive through queue that has this weird look like the building was previously a bank. Here we go! 2031…
I've had the D850 for a year now and finally got to play with a feature I knew the camera had but had never used...the WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. Up to this point, I hadn't needed to mess with that built-in networking functionality because the workflow to get the images off the camera's memory card always started with loading the pictures into Lightroom using a card reader. It's so fast loading directly off the card…
It's certainly been a heck of a birthday and even as tempest-tossed as it felt at various points, I'm thoroughly happy to be able to finally relax and let the day end far more peacefully than it had started. Mind you, the first part of the day was truly lovely...it was quite the treat to have all three of the kids stay over last night and be here in the morning to give me the…
On 06 Jan 2022, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what memory was going to be at the heart of the birthday message I'd be writing today. Like many things in this world we live in that dredge up memories we'd thought long forgotten, the inspiration for this story comes from something that would lead to an unspeakable tragedy for a friend who has seen and endured so much these past few years…
Katie and I visit the Garner store on Timber Drive at US-70 to redeem our free sandwiches from the Hurricanes win in Game 2. I'd already visited Chick Fil-A with Julia earlier in the day but this excursion is after school and a trip to Sam's to get some materials for tacos that Katie had requested for dinner this evening. I know, I know...tacos on Cinco de Mayo. Gringo move! But she asked for them…
Julia was my co-pilot for this trip through the queues at White Oak for her free Lord's Bird thanks to the Hurricanes taking a 2-nil lead in their series with the Boston Bruins. I'll have a more standard Chick Fil-Audit for later in the day but now it's a quick trip to redeem her free sandwich and then get her back home so she can rest. 1136 - Mobile order placed via the app for…
