More Birthdays

Church St, NW DC

Went to the Birthday Weekend party for Abby Benson and her friend Esmerelda on Saturday night. It was at Abby's place, a few blocks from DuPont Circle - it's an extraordinary place she's living in, a few doors down from the church in the picture above (courtesy Windows Live Local). It was a great party, and I got to meet a number of Abby's friends, her brother, etc. After a few beers there, I decamped with Steph & Aaron and went down to Murphy's in Old Town. We didn't stay long, but we bumped into folks that Aaron knows somehow and made small talk for a while.

I had forgotten how far a walk it can be from Old Town to my place. And I was much more tired than I thought, so I was pretty beat when I got to my front door. But it was a fun night. Things should be a little slower this week, which will let me get caught up on my reading. Unfortunately, starting next week I should really get to work packing up for the move.

Also worth noting, Mike Cintron, Kate Higgins, and Chris Keene have all gotten orders to assume command of 110' patrol boats in the next few months (Adak, Baranoff, and I don't know which one Chris got). It's fantastic news, and I know they will all be extraordinary skippers. The drawback is this means Mike, Kate, and Chris will all be moving away soon. It is a great achievement, though, so congratulations to each of them.

Happy Birthday, Megadeath

Meredith Morrison

HTM-Hell

I've been monkeying around with the code for this website, trying to personalize it some, make it a little more memorable. I have met with... limited success. This is because I am completely and utterly ignorant of HTML code. The only successes I've had, adding the banner image of Eagle and changing the title font, have come from copying example code available on the internets. It has brought up some bad memories of required C++ programming in college. I think I may not be destined for a career in website design. Got any (simple) ideas for improvements? Leave comments.

The Story of O's

It has been a busy few nights. Saturday was mostly given over to errands and resting after all the excitement of Friday night. Sunday night, however, Chris Ogle came by again. We met up for dinner and a few beers with Jen & Blake Stockwell, who have just returned from what sounds like a great vacation sailing in the Virgin Islands. I hadn't seen them in a while, nor had Chris, so it was a lot of fun. Chris then crashed at my place and spent the holiday checking out some sites in DC. I had to work, like a chump. But he came along afterwards to look at the rentals, and then we got back to my place just in time to welcome Kirk. He's in town very briefly to interview for a position at the White House. Around 6:30 Mike Cintron joined us, and we went down to Mai Thai in Old Town to meet Tim Haas (sp?), Steph Morrison & Aaron Scholer for dinner. Chris had to split to make it back to Yorktown, but he got to at least say hi to everyone. Good times, all around.

New Homes

Please feel free to leave comments or email about any of the New Home Candidates I've been posting. I'd like to see what other people think of these places. Here is a map showing the locations of the places I'm looking at right now; I haven't visited 2619 Randolph, 2713 Dewitt, or 331 North Patrick yet, but they're on the slate.

New Home Candidate #4

3023 Manning in Del Ray / almost Chirilagua.
3% more rent, 5% less space. 2BR, 1BA. Half finished basement, wall to wall carpeting on 1st and 2nd floors. Central air and heating. Enclosed porch, small back yard on alleyway and park.


Exterior, showing enclosed front porch

Inside of enclosed porch

Living room/dining room

Living room, stairway to second floor

Kitchen

Laundry room in basement

Finished portion of basement

Back bedroom

Bathroom

Front bedroom - though these photos make the two BRs seem indistinguishable. In fact, they are.

New Home Candidate #3

Leslie Avenue in Del Ray.
18% more rent, definitely more space (don't have figures, though). 3BR, 1BA. 1 story with finished attic and basement storage. Oil heat, window units for AC. Hardwood floors, fireplace, sun room, garage in basement. A little worn down - kitchen and bath haven't been redone in a while, by the look of it. Interesting house, though.


Front exterior

Living room w/fireplace

Sun room. Radiator covers have been stored here while work has been going on in the rest of the house

Master bedroom

Bathroom, with access from master bedroom and hallway

Another view of the bathroom

Second bedroom

Dining Room

Kitchen... a little retro, maybe

Middle of attic

North end of attic

Cedar closet in attic

South end of attic

Basement with washer and dryer

Doorway from basement to garage

Northern exposure