A slap to the President's head

Just thought you'd like to checkout this AP picture in the Washington Post - it seems like Thad Allen is really winding up to slap the President's head instead of holding up the power line (and no, I'm not trying to do the political blog thing with this post, it's just a funny picture):

Picking Johnny Appleseed's Fruits of Labor

Since I never sleep late on the weekends, even after a late night of dancing on Friday night, I was wide awake by 7:30 on Saturday. While this is annoying, it does let me get things done before the rest of the country wakes up to run their errands, etc. So this Saturday I made my way to my favorite (and only) apple picking locale that is Homestead Farms in Poolesville. There were lots of apples available for picking since most people only think of apple picking when the temperature is below 65 on a regular basis (also known as fall, but that would've been too easy to type). Of course, I beat the rush of cars that arrived around noon and promptly took a nap after it was all done.

When I went to Homestead two years ago, I really fell for (or is that reached for?) their tart Jonathan apples. I definitely got my fair share of Jonathan's this time. After my last visit, I took home about 18 pounds that quickly went once I got home (mostly because they were left in my trunk for too long), so this time I hauled in 23 pounds and have learned my lesson! I paid about $18 for them ($0.99/lb up to 20 lbs and $0.79/lb after 20 lbs). The farm still had its corn maze, but I wasn't in the mood to get lost when I all I wanted was to get home and start eating what I harvested.

The farm offers lots of other fresh fruits and vegetables, but ya can't go wrong with their apples. I enjoyed the picking (if that's the right way to say it) since I could grab a few apples out of the reach of the average picker and got some larger ones. As long you take care of the pesticide, the apples will taste better than anything at your supermarket. So make your way out River Road, past the large houses on their incredibly large properties, and get some apples before I come back for another 23 pounds.

I'm Walking the Freedom Walk

Amid a rather lowkey weekend for me, I'll be participating in the Freedom Walk on Sunday. It's the least I can do to show support for the troops and honor the victims of 9/11, but not the war itself. While there has been some talk that it's a way for the government to link the basis for the war in Iraq with 9/11, I don't see it that way. Is it that hard to see the event as a mutually-exclusive walk for the troops and a walk to remember the victims? Critics will critique with their biases, but it doesn't matter to me because I know why I'm walking.

As far as complaints about the fenced off route, etc., this really isn't an event that you'd want random people walking in. It would be impossible to organize an event like this with open-ended registration. What happens if you get 10,000 more people than you expected? Yeah that's right, the event would be overwhelmed. Heck, you even have to register for your local 5k to avoid a logjam of participants. However, I don't understand why the media is limited to 3 areas. In that light, if you're lucky, I'll remember to bring my camera and eventually upload the pics to the blog. For some more information about the walk, checkout this article in the Washington Post.

A Day At The Maryland State Fair

Learning that there's nothing going on in DC over Labor Day weekend, I looked to the "Free State" for any sort of activity. I could have played ultimate, but I wasn't in the mood to break a sweat (which just means I felt lazy). I looked online and found out the Maryland State Fair was happening in Timonium. I've wanted to do the state fair thing for a few years and this looked like a perfect opportunity. After making a traffic-free drive north and grabbing a bite to eat at a nearby supermarket, it was time to pay our $6 to see animals, ride all-too-rickety rides, and eat fried twinkies. All in a day's work.

Wow were there a lot of farm animals at the fair. We saw horses, llamas, goats, donkeys, roosters, pigs, cows, bulls, sheep, and two dogs. Of course, having all of those animals means a whole lot of, um, manure if you will. There was this one building that was used to show the animals for prizes and some auctions and I swear, you could definitely tell which ones were nervous right before they were in the spotlight. It was a show before they were even shown. It must be nice being able to do your "business" anywhere you want and have someone else clean it up. Nevertheless, it was incredible how large some of these animals really are. From the bulls and cows, to the enormous Budweiser clydesdales (I wonder if the beer makes them taller), some of these animals really were strong and powerful beasts and something to see - which I did.

We had a chance to milk a cow, but I was just fine drinking my milk and not seeing the "action" needed to get the milk out of the cow and into my fine Lactaid milk carton. I heard some younger calves mooing a whole lot, but other than that, they were pretty boring. Then again, I'm not sure what I expected them to do at the fair than moo, eat, and get milked.

The goats weren't too interesting except for this one that kept eating at its caretaker's shirt and wrist, as a girl looks on as puzzled as me.

Since Maryland really is a farming and agricultural state, there were lots of farming equipment for show and sale, and just to prove I'm not making that up, here's a picture.

Once you get past the farming equipment, animals, and all of their smells, I got to the part of the fair that I only see in my local New Jersey carnivals - all of the funnel cakes, sausages, unsafe looking rides, and midway games designed to make you a big loser. A "southern" state fair really is no different than a tri-state area carnival/fair except for the inclusion of animals and farming equipment. After that, you can find the same sketchy ride operators, with rides you know haven't been inspected in a few years ever since "the incident", as well as food offerings like funnel cakes, fried twinkies, and sausages on some makeshift frier/griller that probably isn't the most sanitary. Well, despite all of this, carnivals and fairs are lots of fun and haven't caused me any indigestion, "but you don't have to take my word for it." (thanks Lavar Burton!)

Back when I was a young lad in NJ, the "scariest" rides at my town's small carnival were the gravitron (makes you feel lots of g-force by spinning fast) and the salt and pepper shakers (a long arm swung your cage in a big loop). Sure it was a small event, but compared to Maryland, those rides were for wimps. The Maryland state fair not only had those rides, but it also had a hangliding ride that would make anyone vomit, another ride that had you in a rollercoaster seat that only went in a loop - both forward and backward about 5 times, and a few rides that went up and down while spinning. I only went on the ferris wheel since I didn't want to lose my lunch and wanted a clean shirt for the ride home. It gave a great view of the park and was well worth the 5 tickets. By the way, if you're over 5' tall, don't ride the "haunted house" ride. While it was a scary ride for me since I was worried about my safety and lack of legroom, it was just a ride in the dark, and if ya think about it , a ride can't be that scary if it fits in a small tractor trailer.

Besides rides, I played and lost one midway game where you had to shoot some water into a hole and raise your balloon in a race. I also placed my first horse racing bet...$2 on indigo dream to win. Unfortunately, the horse placed, and of course if I bet that I would have walked away with $84 from a $2 bet. I hit every sample food stand from potato chips, to fruit soda, to grilled steak (multiple times in fact) (by the way, it was a little odd eating steak with live cows a few yards away, but I got over that worry really fast), to spring water, to bread, and even salad dressings. At one point I needed something to cool me down and after much searching, I finally found a snoball stand (how could you have a Maryland state fair without a snoball stand?) and asked for my dad's favorite, root beer with extra flavor, but the guy didn't have any so I walked away disgusted. I eventually drowned that disappointment by trying a fried twinkie that was surprisingly delicious. Trust me, I was apprehensive as well, but the frying vaporized the cream inside and made for a nice treat with powdered sugar and strawberry sauce. However, you're on your own if you try the fried oreos, and yes, those are my pearly whites below.

Beware: False Katrina Video Links - AOL

I was sent two two emails with the same message, but from different AOL users. It read:

Hi, My name is Sara and I'm a current resident in Jackson, MS. I would just like to show you the video of hurricane katrinas damage through my area. Please share this with your friends and let them see the real disaster that TV won't show you. members.aol.com/sarapie2435/weather.exe

While this might seem harmless, the link at the end finishes with ".exe" which is an executable program. This means you shouldn't click such links (or any other email links) concerning Katrina because they'll most likely mess up your computer. Also, the AOL account the program is linked to was different from the person sending it. Plus, no video is worth watching when it has a good chance of harming your files. And if you needed anymore reasons, the emails are missing an apostrophe in "katrinas".

It's really sad that someone wants to use the Katrina disaster to spread a computer virus/worm, so be warned.

A real "ya had to be there" story

I was at Target yesterday to get some assorted household items. After I bought my handsoap I went to another department and suddenly, I began swearing over and over again, then some other guys started swearing too. No, we weren't angry at anyone, we were just following the directions of the department's sign...MENSWEAR...so that's what we did.

Get it? Anyone? Hello?

Ok, so it's not as funny as when I made the joke that afternoon and yes, I'm really just buying time until I upload pictures from Sunday's visit to the Maryland State Fair so be kind to me.

Capital Crescent Trail and Elitism

This weekend, I got up (sort of) early and hit the Capital Crescent Trail that runs from downtown Bethesda to Georgetown. It was the maiden voyage for my mountain bike and I on a real trail and a legit trip. Though I wanted to get there closer to 7:30, I didn't make it to the trail until 9:40. My worry of having to deal with lots of people at that time came true, but you'll be happy to know I did not get into any accidents. The trail is about 7 miles each way with the first half a nice downhill ride, and of course a much tougher uphill ride to get home.

As my first trail ride in who knows how many years (okay, about 4 years, 3 months, and 19 days, or something like that), it went really well. From the start, it's clear this trail is enjoyed by families and little kids. Sure there are people who look the part of hardcore riders and runners, but more people are on their training wheels and running with their strollers. Nevermind though, it's a paved trail that is shaded almost the entire way with some water fountains (but no restrooms). I'd imagine the serious users made their roundtrip by 8.

I hopped on my bike and quickly learned a successful ride on the trail depends on your ability to weave between runners and slower riders. Fortunately, as I got further from Bethesda, the crowds thinned out and soon, just us (I gotta give myself some credit) serious riders and runners were on our own. I got the weaving down really well after a few passes. If it was going to be close, I'd yell "passing on the left," (since I haven't bought a silly bell) or else I'd just cross into the other lane and back over without any trouble. Of course, I played it safe a few times and slowed down until there was a safer opening, but many of those times would've been avoided if the other trail users had some common sense - and of course this creates some trail elitism.

I know the other riders feel they own the trail b/c they're the fastest travelers, but the reality is the trail is to be shared with every traveler, and for the most part it is. However, a few people are just dumb when it comes to the safest way to travel. I don't mind people running with their strollers, or even a double stroller (though it takes up an entire lane), but don't run with two strollers...and your dog on a long leash! I quickly came up on this group and made sure they heard me approach, but you shouldn't travel so wide that you go halfway into the other lane. Outside of a large group of people stopped in their lane when a safe break area is a few feet away, I got bothered by rollerbladers. They still think they're so "extreme man" so they try to take turns with lots of speed and reckless abandon. Well you're not extreme, you're not cool, and nobody likes you. Phew, that felt good. Their problem is a full roller blading stride is very wide and crosses into oncoming trail traffic. They're also going fast and if their stride isn't timed/placed just right to miss my bike's wheel or a runner's foot, there'll be a bad accident (esp. those rollerskating folk who don't have helmets, etc)..

The ride to Georgetown was a breeze thanks to its downhill topography, I rode in the 3rd cog and 8th gear (highest setting) most of the way. I went about a 1/2 mile or so past the Key Bridge in 30 minutes. If I really push myself, I could do better, but much of it depends on how slow I have to go around other trailgoers. The ride back is a nice uphill trip that quickly made me enjoy the ease of the trip to Georgetown. It took me an extra 10-15 minutes to make it to Bethesda and kept me in the 3rd cog and 5th gear except for a some small steep ramps to bridges.

The trail was a great introduction to riding and is a nice hour or so workout that's right down the road. Its shade, paved path, and incredible quietness for the area earn it high marks. To have such an unbalanced ride (all downhill then all uphill) and busy trail isn't that great, but it does provide a good workout for someone like me, though it wouldn't be worth your time if you're actually in riding shape and used to "real" bike trails.

A Thin House That Needs A Thick Wallet

A house is for sale in London for almost one million dollars. It's in a fancy part of town so the price isn't that out of whack, except when you consider parts of it are only 5 feet wide. This is like Disney's Smallworld attraction.

Though this place will definitely make you feel bigger about your, um, "size", it is a bit claustrophobic.

All five floors are linked with a spiral staircase that makes moving in a real challenge.

Where are the Transformers and Decepticons?

I was randomly surfing the web the other day and learned Steven Spielberg is directing a live-action movie about the Transformers for a 2007 release. I loved playing with the toys and may just have to buy the new ones to certainly be released with the movie. While that's interesting enough, I read a capsule about the 1986 animated Transformers movie that went something like this:

The movie is set in 2005, twenty years after the TV series, and chronicles the efforts of the heroic Autobots to defend their homeworld of Cybertron from the evil Decepticons and Unicron, a huge robotic creature who eats planets such as Cybertron.

So it's 2005 and I ask, where are the robots? With all of our astronomical (gotta love double meanings) ability, why haven't our scientists seen Optimus Prime, Astrotrain, or Galvatron? Who knew 2005 was once thought of as a futuristic time for any planet in space?