First, the election. I was especially irritated on Monday with the throngs at the entrance to the Vienna metro station. I literally had to push myself through a horde of Allen campaign workers and I shouted out to one of them that blocking people's way to work was hardly going to do their candidate any good. Apparently, Allen was there himself at some point during this. By the way, there were throngs there for Webb, too, but they weren't standing 12 abreast immediately across the entrance to the station. I'd planned to vote against Allen, so it's not like affected my opinion, but it was annoying anyway.
But at least that aspect of the election turned out well, with Virginia turning the tide in the Senate. George Allen is now apparently alleging anti-Semitism in his loss. I'd have to say that the only anti-Semitism in evidence was his own reaction to the revelation that his mother is Jewish (and, hence, according to Jewish law, so is he), which started with a press conference in which he talked about having a ham sandwich for lunch that day. Jim Webb isn't exactly my political ideal, so this was a lesser of two evils thing.
I am, however, disappointed that the virginia constitutional amendment banning giving any rights to unmarried couples passed. I'm not surprised, but this is dangerous. If interpreted strictly, for example, it eliminates protection against domestic violence for couples who are living together. Gay marriage was already illegal in Virginia, by the way, so the amendment was sheer fear-mongering. And, frankly, I just don't get why people feel threatened by gay marriage.
Before I get off the subject of politics, I'm not surprised at Rumsfeld's resignation, though I am surprised at how clueless the president is. As I understand it, he admits he lied when saying that he wanted to keep Rummy around through his entire time in office. And he did that because he thought it would help Republicans win? Doesn't the man even listen to others in his own party? I'm particularly interested in seeing what the fallout will be among the next tier within the department, but that's mostly work-related gossip that most of you won't care about.
I have another complaint before going on, by the way, and that has to do with the Virginia Department of Transportation. I don't know what on earth they are doing at the intersection of Route 50 and Waples Mill Road, but it is ridiculous. They've been doing road work there for at least two years without any apparent progress and now they've shut down the turning lane. But they also seem to have mucked with the timing of the light. As a result it takes ages to get anywhere going southbound on Waples Mill. I have a way around it if I'm going home from there, but I needed to be getting back to my office on Wednesday and it took me longer to go the two blocks to that intersection than it did the remaining 14 or so miles from there to Crystal City.
The main thing I wanted to write about, though, is taking advantage of nice weather to do two Volksmarch year round events. I had to work on Friday, but just for a few hours. So I went into the city and did the National Mall event. I had never actually been to the FDR Memorial before, so that was something of a highlight. The Jefferson Memorial is always spectacularly beautiful. There was a bit of flooding along the path right at the edge of the tidal basin, though, presumably because of the rain earlier in the week. Now, if they'd only finish the construction they're doing around the Lincoln Memorial and the Ellipse, we might actually have a lovely city again. I can see why this is consistently rated among the top walks in the U.S..
Saturday continued warm and sunny so I drove to Baltimore and did the Fort McHenry walk. The section of Fort Avenue between the start point and the Fort is fairly bleak, alas, but the Fort itself is worth a little time. The real highlight of the walk was the section on Federal Hill. I hadn't ever been up to the Federal Hill park before and the views from there over the harbor are definitely worth the hike. The walk also enabled me to finish the National Heritage special award program.
Today, alas, was chilly and drizzly and generally dreary so I only walked on the treadmill in the gym. I can alleviate boredom at that by doing intervals, as well as by sort of paying attention to the TV news while walking. They had a story about new gadgets and I have to admit that I thought the laser keyboard was cool, though I can't imagine why somebody would actually want one. Especially since the point of most of these gadgets is for people to work anywhere they are, which strikes me as a rather insidious thing. I want to leave work at work, thank you very much.
Copyright 2006 Miriam H. Nadel