Okay, so I’ve made this big transition to WordPress, and I’m going to be adding back posts to restore the archive at the rate of a couple per day. Eventually, I’ll be all caught up and I can start doing some of the cool new things I have ideas for.
In the meantime, though, I really can’t tell whether anybody has followed me across from the old site. So I’d be most grateful if you’d leave a comment on this post to let me know that you’re here. Thanks!
[Please don't forget to make sure your bookmarks and RSS subscription feeds are pointing to the new & improved URL: http://www.somebeaut.com/].
Update: I’ve successfully imported all my archives.
I had a marvelous visit to New York City. It was both visually inspiring (what with all the architecture, light, people, movement) and personally rewarding, as I got to spend quite a few wonderful hours with my brother Aaron and my sister-in-law Annika. Expect the next series of posts to feature highlights of the trip, starting with my first visit to the interior of the Chrysler Building — a masterpiece of deco design.
It’s been way too long since we’ve had a bit of bright paint and rusted metal hereabouts.
I went for an early-evening walk at Potomac Overlook State Park in Arlington. I’d been there once before, years ago, and had memories of an easy stroll down to the river. Either I’ve gotten horribly out of shape since then, or my memory is faulty, because it was quite a bit more strenuous than I recalled. There was a fair amount of clambering and multiple crossings of Donaldson Run on wobbly, mostly-submerged rocks. I had visions of desperately seeking a cell signal when I would inevitably wrench an ankle somewhere maximally inconvenient, just as night fell.
Needless to say, I emerged unscathed, but paid a small price in aching thighs.
It has always pleased me that the word “companion” derives from the Latin for “with bread.” You break bread together; that’s the very essence of what it means to share your life with others.
Jocelyn and I tried out a new Ethiopian restaurant on H Street. While I must confess that Ethiopian is not my very favorite cuisine, it had been a while since I’d had any, and it was fun to try out a new place. Ethiopic is good, but pricey. All told, I enjoyed the company much more than the food (which is often the case, because I’m lucky enough to have awesome friends).
We get older and we forget how to play. I think this is one reason why people enjoy children so much: they are an excuse to just get silly and have fun. Child’s play is not just cerebral, although imagination is certainly involved. Above all — like the play of puppies, kittens, and just about every young animal for that matter — it’s overwhelmingly physical and social. It’s also generally accompanied by laughter, something we used to believe was restricted to human beings but has now been identified in primates and mice, among others.
I spend a lot of time walking in my neighborhood, tracing the same routes along the same sidewalks. It is astonishing to me that — after so many years living in the same place — I can still seem something new. Often, it’s just a matter of the light hitting the scene at a new angle: the ordinary becomes special just that easily.
Okay, you’ll need Flash, and there’s no way to turn off the music, but on some meaningful level, this is the next best thing to being there. Go nuts with zooming in and panning around: the level of detail is awe-inspiring and the color rendition, at least on my monitor, looks to be spot on.
I’ve begun to make some headway (pun intended) in getting WordPress to bend to my will, but I’m dismayed at how kludgey and uncooperative this software is. I feel like I’ve returned full-circle back to the days of lots of hand-coding.
You’ll note that I currently have no archives and there are all sorts of other glitches as well. Please bear with me while I try to bring this under control.
Also, please remember to update your bookmarks and RSS feeds to www.somebeaut.com.
The plaque on the wall is a quotation from Theodore Roosevelt: “The only man who never makes a mistake is the one who never does anything.”
