V

I had my first big visit at my new (ish) place. My parents, my godparents, and some friends of the family all came down a little over a week ago for a long weekend. Our friends had never been to visit DC before, so we did a lot of the more tourist-y stuff. It was fun, though: I was looking forward to the company more than any particular activity.

We did the Air&Space, the Post Office Tower (still my pick for anyone visiting DC for the first time), the Museum of American Art/ National Portrait Gallery (featuring the excellent Sam and the Perfect World and the freaky Giant Baby Head), and the National Building Museum. We drove the monuments at night, stopping to have a closer look at the Lincoln and the Korean War Memorials. We covered a lot, in not much time.

We also went out for some very good meals. We went to Poblano, Mai Thai, and a fairly new place in Del Ray called the Del Merei Grill. A little pricey, but I liked it a lot; excellent garlic mashed potatoes.

This past week, I've started working at a different office, a "collaboration site" in DC where engineers and managers from a number of different companies and federal entities gather to work on one big project. And it is big. They've spent $4.6 billion on it so far; time to get my cut, I guess. Actually, the office site is pretty slick, and we get some toys for the job (new Core Duo laptops, company cell phones, etc). But the site is so crowded, we don't even have our own desks; we have to "hot-desk" in empty cubicles, visitor offices, or conference rooms. At least the work is pretty easy - no complaints there. It will be a lot like my previous work at the 80 M street office, for a different program. I'm experienced; I guess that makes me an expert.

This weekend has been a busy one; Steph was back in town, since her Dad ran in the Marine Corps Marathon. And Kirk's wife Melissa was running in the associated 10K as well. So Kirk, Melissa, and her son Kolton came over to stay at my house Saturday night, which was a lot of fun. We all went to Steph's and had a big pasta dinner with Steph, her older sister Heather, her parent's, and Aaron. I made an apple pie, and Kirk bought vanilla frozen custard so we could have it a la mode. It was an excellent meal, and a nice chance to catch up with Steph since she's been on travel for the past month (and for the next two).

Lastly, I got my two pumpkins carved and waiting for trick-or-treaters. This is my fifth Halloween in Alexandria, and I've gotten a grand total of 3 trick-or-treaters. That's just not right. I'm hoping that here in the heart of Del Ray, with it's many families and children, I can finally give away some of all the candy I bought, instead of eating it for lunch for the next couple of weeks.