Because of my job I find myself in Arlington, VA for training every now and then. Coming from typical suburbia I must say that I have to really appreciate this city. Everything is is walking distance and the public transportation system is the best. It helps that the Metro runs almost directly down the middle of the city and there are convenient Metro bus stops everywhere.
I love this video that pretty much covers all of the nuances of this city.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Book Corner - Finished Reading
Devil's Waltz (Alex Delaware Novel) by Jonathon Kellerman
Paperback
528 pages
Mystery thriller
I thought I had certainly read the last of Kellerman, but I caved in and decided to give him another try. I'll admit this one was better than the others, although like the others the end just seemed to drag on.
I'll say this was somewhat of a good read.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The McDonalds Lesson
So I've been back in the States for a couple of days now immersing myself in all the Americana I can.
Tonight I decided to go for a stroll and have dinner at the McDonald's near the Rosslyn Metro station.
The crowd waiting at the counters was the usual mixture of blue collar and office workers.
In comes a man wearing what can only be described as rags. He was talking loudly, to himself, ranting endlessly on many subjects, fortunately no obscenities. Everyone gave him a wide berth as expected. The counter people gave him dirty looks. Everyone else tried to avoid looking at him.
When there was no one waiting in line he walked up, gained a minute of normalcy, turned around and asked if anyone was waiting. With no reply he placed his order of Dollar Menu items.
Just then a young girl wearing a hijab (head scarf that Muslim women wear) walked up to the counter, gave the counter woman some money and told her something. She in turn said something to the homeless man and he turned around and said "Thank you ma'am, thank you, thank you, God bless you!"
Life's little lessons in the strangest of places.
Tonight I decided to go for a stroll and have dinner at the McDonald's near the Rosslyn Metro station.
The crowd waiting at the counters was the usual mixture of blue collar and office workers.
In comes a man wearing what can only be described as rags. He was talking loudly, to himself, ranting endlessly on many subjects, fortunately no obscenities. Everyone gave him a wide berth as expected. The counter people gave him dirty looks. Everyone else tried to avoid looking at him.
When there was no one waiting in line he walked up, gained a minute of normalcy, turned around and asked if anyone was waiting. With no reply he placed his order of Dollar Menu items.
Just then a young girl wearing a hijab (head scarf that Muslim women wear) walked up to the counter, gave the counter woman some money and told her something. She in turn said something to the homeless man and he turned around and said "Thank you ma'am, thank you, thank you, God bless you!"
Life's little lessons in the strangest of places.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
The Trip to McDonald's
When it comes to "round to it" projects my list is a mile long. One of things that I wanted to do was treat our housekeepers daughter and friend to McDonald's, maybe something else along the way.
Because my time here is short, I knew I had to do it this weekend. I asked my housekeeper if I could take her daughter and a friend to the park and McDonald's and she said yes. Later Chris told me that I should also bring our housekeeper which I ended up doing.
I called a taxi and met them at a store near her home. We then went to Victoria Park (actually that's the old British name for it, but I can't pronounce the new name). It's a big park with lots of the usual playground stuff, swings, slides etc. I was surprised to find out all three of them had never been there. The girls were very happy and had a good time, I bought them ice cream. I was hoping to take them to the side of the park that had a bunch of carnival rides, but it didn't open until 4:00PM, probably because of the heat. Speaking of heat, the girls did tire quickly so it was off to McDonald's.
We arrived at McDonald's and when they came inside I had just as well taken them to Disney Land. They didn't know what they wanted, which I expected, so I ordered hamburger Happy Meals (in hindsight I should have got the chicken nuggets). A counter girl came over and put paper crowns on their heads, which made them both happy. They saw the playground and got excited.
When I brought them the food they didn't know what to do. They both found their Happy Meal toys, but neither one opened the bag with the toy in it. I think they wanted to save it until they got home. One girl ate some of her french fries, but not all and didn't touch her burger, the other girl did not touch anything in her bag at all. When I asked why it's was because she wanted to take it home to her mother. I told her I would buy her another Happy Meal, but she said no.
They both played in the playground for awhile and then it was time to go. I offered some more entertainment for them but I think this little episode was a bit overwhelming for them.
One thing that I didn't put into perspective and didn't expect was the fact that the other customers knew that this was probably their first visit and that they were poor. There was lots of unnecessary stares.
I wanted to take them to our company clubhouse as it has a children's playground complete with rubber matted play area. It never gets used and it's mostly shaded.
Because my time here is short, I knew I had to do it this weekend. I asked my housekeeper if I could take her daughter and a friend to the park and McDonald's and she said yes. Later Chris told me that I should also bring our housekeeper which I ended up doing.
I called a taxi and met them at a store near her home. We then went to Victoria Park (actually that's the old British name for it, but I can't pronounce the new name). It's a big park with lots of the usual playground stuff, swings, slides etc. I was surprised to find out all three of them had never been there. The girls were very happy and had a good time, I bought them ice cream. I was hoping to take them to the side of the park that had a bunch of carnival rides, but it didn't open until 4:00PM, probably because of the heat. Speaking of heat, the girls did tire quickly so it was off to McDonald's.
We arrived at McDonald's and when they came inside I had just as well taken them to Disney Land. They didn't know what they wanted, which I expected, so I ordered hamburger Happy Meals (in hindsight I should have got the chicken nuggets). A counter girl came over and put paper crowns on their heads, which made them both happy. They saw the playground and got excited.
When I brought them the food they didn't know what to do. They both found their Happy Meal toys, but neither one opened the bag with the toy in it. I think they wanted to save it until they got home. One girl ate some of her french fries, but not all and didn't touch her burger, the other girl did not touch anything in her bag at all. When I asked why it's was because she wanted to take it home to her mother. I told her I would buy her another Happy Meal, but she said no.
They both played in the playground for awhile and then it was time to go. I offered some more entertainment for them but I think this little episode was a bit overwhelming for them.
One thing that I didn't put into perspective and didn't expect was the fact that the other customers knew that this was probably their first visit and that they were poor. There was lots of unnecessary stares.
I wanted to take them to our company clubhouse as it has a children's playground complete with rubber matted play area. It never gets used and it's mostly shaded.
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