Life in the Maryland Suburbs of D.C.

09:55 pm - The National Harbor

 
I got to visit the National Harbor over the weekend. I had spent a very fun, yet long day visiting Smithsonian museums , so I was tired when we got there. The good news is that the harbor is easy to get to from the beltway and there is plenty of parking. The bad news is that there is a flat-rate of $11 for parking after 6 p.m. We found a place and made our way over to McCormick & Schmick's. I called earlier in the day to get a reservation, only to find that they were booked for the night. We wanted to try out luck with finding a seat on the first-come-first-served patio or the bar seating (I can hear you laughing at my foolishness!). It was a beautiful night and the place was totally packed. We went a block off the river and ate at Ketchup (beware: web site has music). There was a forty-five minute wait, but luck was with us and we got a table at the bar, next to the front window of the restaurant. We had a decent view of the river and we were looking right at the metal eagle sculptures. The restaurant was ok, but it was loud, we had several problems with the service, and they were out of two of the things we tried to order. Our young waitress looked extremely overwhelmed. The bright side is that we all agreed the food was excellent. I got fish and chips, my cousin got grilled shrimp, and our friend got a pork chop and mashed potatoes.

I thought we would walk down to the waterfront to see The Awakening sculpture after dinner, but I was fading fast and I had an hour of driving ahead of me. We could see one hand of the sculpture reaching out in to the sky, but I just didn't feel up to walking back over to the river. When we got back to the garage, much to my surprise, there were four youngsters, two on each side, holding the handles of my car and ducking down. They were laughing and giggling. My first impression was that they were playing hide and seek or trying to jump out and surprise their parents or friends. I didn't see anyone else, though. One young man appeared to be 16 - 18, there was a girl who might have been 15, and then there were a boy and a girl who were under the age of 10. I began to wonder if they were checking out the "availability" of the cars or the stuff in the cars. They strolled away, but I was giving them the evil eye. I didn't know what to do. I grabbed my cell phone and pretended to dial it as we got in to the car. We drove down to the exit and hailed an attendant to tell him what we had seen. The guy didn't have a cell phone or a walkie-talkie and he looked thoroughly flummoxed. He probably was under strict orders not to leave his post. There wasn't another attendant anywhere in sight. We were holding up traffic, so we gave up and drove off. I'll never know if those youths were just kids-being-kids or if they were up to something.

I will certainly return to the National Harbor sometime in the future, but I'll do things differently next time. First, I'll print a map of the development and have it with me when I go. Second, I'll research parking and transportation options and put The Club on my car when I do park. Third, I'll probably buy a hot dog from the vendor on the sidewalk around the corner from Ketchup (CK's Hot Dogs, in a somewhat permanent looking little wooden shed-type thing) and sit on a park bench next to the river to eat dinner. Sometimes simpler really is better.

09:16 am - Berries, fresh berries, sweet berries

We went to Larriland Farm on Sunday to pick strawberries and spinach. We got six pounds of strawberries and one pound of spinach. We used two pounds of berries to make strawberry freezer jam, two pounds for frozen whole berries, and two pounds left to eat fresh. The spinach is going to go in to a quiche tonight. We were lucky that there was a bit of a breeze and the temperature was around 78, so the time out in the field wasn't bad. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

08:50 pm - Paths

 

04:25 pm - Take another little piece of my....

If you ever kind of need to go to an emergency room, but don't want to go to an emergency room, I highly recommend Secure Medical Care in Beltsville.

10:00 pm - Reminder: Huge community yard sale tomorrow (weather permitting!)

I thought I would offer a friendly reminder that I will have a table at the Hammond Elementary School PTA yard sale tomorrow. I have sites 51 and 52. Information about the sale, including rain delay information, is available at http://sites.google.com/site/hespta2009yardsale/

I hope the weather is good!!!

08:21 am - Beltsville Day

Mark your calendars!

Beltsville Day

Date:  Sunday, May 17, 2009
Time: 12 noon-5 pm
Location:    

Beltsville Community Center
3900 Sellman Road,
Beltsville, MD 20705

Event Description: Enjoy food, games, entertainment, rides and lots of fun. All ages welcome.
Cost:     FREE
Contact:     301-937-6613; TTY 301-445-4512

09:45 pm - She's a brick house

Here is an interesting article about The Brickyard industrial center which is being built near the Beltsville/Laurel border, essentially across from the Department of Motor Vehicles Administration building. It briefly mentions a 7.5 acre park that will be part of the development.

08:23 pm - Guess what came in the mail today

The United States District Court for the district of Maryland summons you to appear for jury duty beginning on the date, time, and place show below:

Location: 6500 Cherrywood Lane, Greenbelt, MD  20770
Date: The month of June (five days were listed as check-in days), 8:30 a.m.
Length of service: One month or one trial

One of the check-in days is my birthday. Joy.

Truth be known, I don't mind jury duty. But, I must admit, when I looked at the unopened letter, I thought, "Oh, Lord! What is it now?"

Has anyone else out there in Readerland been called for federal jury duty?

08:09 am - Upcoming events

Good morning! I thought I would take a moment to share some information about affordable upcoming events. Enjoy!

• Maryland Day - Saturday, April 25, 2009, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. University of Maryland, College Park. FREE. Rain or Shine. This is basically an all-campus open house. I will be volunteering all day in the greenhouse behind the Comcast Center. Come visit!
• Hammond Elementary School PTA Yard Sale - Saturday, May 2, 2009, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. 8110 Alladin Drive, Laurel, MD 20723. For those of you who are familiar with Laurel, I'll point out that the school is on the west side of Laurel, close to Rt. 216 and Rt. 29. This will be the first time I have had a table at this yard sale and only the second time in my life I have participated in a yard sale. I know several people who went to this last year and they said the event is huge. They also said the things available for sale were all high quality. I know I'm selling some things that are in fantastic condition, I just don't use them for one reason or another, so it's time for them to find a new home. I'll probably also have a box of free stuff that is still useful, but needs some TLC.
• If a yard sale doesn't interest you, then I highly recommend Passport DC, Saturday, May 2, 2009, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. FREE. 30+ embassies will be having open houses. I did this last year and had a fantastic time. There are related events on different days, April 30 through May 9, so read the web site carefully to find out about all the events. For example, I think I saw that the embassy of Nepal is going to have an open house on Sunday, May 3, instead of the 2nd. I bet they have an interesting embassy.
• Joint Services Open House Air Show - Friday through Sunday, May 15, 16, & 17, 2009. Andrews Air Force Base. FREE. It's been a few years since I attended this air show, but I am planning on trying to go this year. The feeling of standing under an F18 when it flies over you is amazing. According to the schedule, there are going to be F22 demos this year, as well. If you go, remember to wear sunscreen and a hat. They don't allow you to take in beverages, but the last time I went they did have several places to get water for free. I assume it would be ok to take in an empty container of some sort, such as a Nalgene bottle.

10:16 pm - “I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.”

I am writing this with a couple of big time disclaimers in mind.

First, I do not really know what the subject line I chose means. To be honest, I Googled for drought quotes (knowing that this area is not heinously drought-stricken) and that was the first one that struck my fancy. Am I being sacrilegious? I hope not. Much like a geek who use Cliff Notes as bona fide study aids, I did spend a bit of time studying the quote. I understand that it is packed full of all kinds of meaning. I simply took a walk with my husband the day before Easter and it happened to be around a water reservoir that was pitifully low. Despite the low water level, we saw a lot of beauty and enjoyed our time together.

Second, the photo I am about to include was not taken by me. I took my camera to Brighton Dam and foolishly left it in the car. The photo below was taken by someone I have never met who graciously tagged his photos in Flickr. I think his photography is fantastic. His Flickr profile is listed as J. Daniel Ashton. ( He just got some free advertising out of me. )

If you would like to learn more about the Triadelphia Reservoir, I recommend you visit the WSSC Watershed Recreational User Program web site.

06:36 pm - London calling

 

• My Flickr account 
• North Yorkshire travelogue
• London travelogue

05:28 pm - Kale and collard greens are $0.39 per pound

Autumn in the mid-Atlantic region means cheap and plentiful kale and collard greens. ( That means it's time for Portuguese-style soup-- pic and recipe link behind the cut! )

08:01 pm - When "I" is a computer, aka "Utility Bills, Part 2"

I just received a letter, via the U.S. Postal Service, from Washington Gas. The first paragraph noted, "I am writing to let you know that we have removed you from the Automated Payment Plan for the following reason: Customer Request." It went on to give instructions on how to respond if the removal was not correct and how to re-apply for the automated payment plan. It was boilerplate. There was no signature, even in "fake" ink. I'm sure it was generated by an automated system.

I had to chuckle when my husband showed me the letter and said, "Computers are first person singular now."

08:21 am - Fun with economics

Everyone seems interested in economists these days. I happened to be acquainted with one or two (or something like a hundred) of them, so I thought I would share a link to an economics blog I like.

I was amused by Monday's post. Just last week I was talking to some investment advisers and the common refrain was, "People still need to eat." Well, it's a good thing I kind of like Spam.

01:50 pm - Customer service at its finest

In Beltsville, MD, our utilities are provided by Pepco for electricity, Washington Gas, WSSC for water, and we get our phone, tv service, and Internet from Verizon. I pay all my bills with automatic payment plans, so the companies take the money right out of my checking account. I realize some people don't feel comfortable with payment programs like that, but it works for me. Well, I recently opened a new checking account and I need to switch all the payments so they are withdrawn from the new account. So far, I've gone to the Pepco and the Washington Gas web sites and patiently looked through to find the procedures for changing the bank account associated with the bill. Both times, I have come to the conclusion that I had to call and talk to a human. The Washington Gas web site specifically noted that to change the payment arrangements I have to call and speak to a representative. I called Pepco yesterday. I got a woman who said, "Ummm.... I don't think I can help you with that. We don't have access to bank account information. I think you have to make the change on the web site." I went back and methodically looked at every page and couldn't find clear instructions, so I called back and got a different customer service representative. That person confidently said, "The procedure for that is...." and told me what to do. I called Washington Gas today. Guess what happened? The first person I got was clueless, so I said goodbye to her, called back immediately and got a different person who knew exactly what to do. Funny stuff. Next up is WSSC. Maybe I'll get lucky this time and talk to a well trained customer service rep on the first try.

Update: WSSC had clear instructions on the web site, so I don't have to call. Yay!

06:05 pm - Three free events in one day

ruralrob

01:51 pm - Yo voté

I had to wait for one hour and 25 minutes, starting at 10:30 a.m. My parents had to wait 20 minutes, starting around 9 a.m. My polling place had something like 15 or 20 machines. My parents said their polling place had six machines. We live three miles apart.

Strange stuff.

08:17 am - The Beltsville public library and one of its needier patrons

( What would you do if a woman approached you in a public library and started to lift up her skirt? )

08:01 am - Input needed re: US1 improvements @ Cherry Hill Rd. intersection

I was surprised that I received an e-mail on Wednesday from county councilman Tom Dernoga. I assume it went out to a large mailing list, but I don't have any idea how many people are on such a list. I don't even remember how I got on the list. Anyway, it was a call for advice and suggestions regarding a document called the Approved College Park US 1 Corridor Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment. If you're interested in such things, ( I'll explain a bit more.... )

08:57 am

I just read about mosquito ringtones. The article links to a hearing test, so I took it. I made sure the volume was all the way up, I used headphones, and I sat alone in a really quiet room. I was disappointed that I couldn't hear 17 khz and above.