Monday, September 22, 2008

Great Falls and Riverbend National Park


Got my butt up and moving on Sunday morning and took off for Great Falls and Riverbend National Park for a 10.5 mile loop starting at the Riverbend National Park Nature Center and winding down along the Potomac through Great Falls National Park. This was my first hike since the Fall weather has just begun to creep in, so it was absolutely ideal for hiking. The trail went along the Potomac for a few miles and to the outlooks over the waterfalls. I stopped at watched a kayaker climb up the rocks and then ride down the falls - pretty cool. I find my hiking ideas mostly from "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles" DC version and these directions were a little difficult to follow. I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on some rock scrambles on the riverbed. Whoops. I kept thinking if I just went a little further I would make it to another trail head. This is clearly how people get lost! Anyway the hike should have taken about 5-6 hours but I got 'er done in about 4.5 so I was really proud of myself. My legs are really sore today though!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Proof that Girls are Evil

Haha... Patrick sent this around today. The math part makes my head spin but it still makes me laugh!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

New Countdowns Fall 2008!

Leaving for Paris (!!!) in 7 days 21 hours 58 minutes
Columbus Day Weekend in Austin - 22 days 11 hours 1 minute
Chicago to see Patrick!!!!!! - 49 days 23 hours 58 minutes
Ben and Leila's Wedding - 65 days 22 hours 57 minutes
Thanksgiving in Madison (and my first ever 5k race) - 69 days 22 hours 46 minutes
BARCELONA AND ROME FOR NEW YEARS!! - 100 days 22 hours 16 minutes
Unemployment - 124 days 4 hours 52 minutes

Network Blackout

The last email I received today was at 12:38pm. It is now 4:52pm. For someone who receives somewhere around 5 or so emails a minute during business hours... this is absolutely the worst thing ever.

Internet, yes. But it does us no good when we have no email. No access to schedules or contacts. No shared drives. We're absolutely incapacitated.

QB's Dad was one of the West Wing big shots for a former Administration that was in office before all of this email and blackberry business. I had lunch with him not too long ago and asked him - in all honesty - how did they function without email? How did ANYTHING get done in this town before email? He laughed and explained that desks were much more cluttered with memos and phones rang much more often. I like this explanation but my little email-dependent brain still cannot quite grasp how that system possibly worked.

The CIO just confirmed the best case scenario - back online by tomorrow morning at the earliest. You have got to be joking me. Ask me offline what directive my boss gave to the CIO. I heard it and was like... well hopefully THAT will get them moving!

Hope you are having a more technologically functional day!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Silent Amen


Last night a new kid in town asked me what happens around this city on 9/11. Detached, I listed off the options - St. Johns or National Cathedral services, possible monument memorial events, moments of silence in the morning, Pentagon Memorial Dedication with the President and Cabinet Members, Pentagon floodlights once it's dark enough to see them. And it occurred to me that for the first time this year - for the first time in seven years - the city hasn't felt different for these days leading up to September 11th. I haven't felt different. I haven't thought about it with my usual looming nausea.

I've had trouble waking up lately and have been hitting the snooze button a few times a morning before peeling myself out of bed. This morning, though, I woke up before my alarm and peaked out my window at the morning-gold striped clouds... searching, grasping, for a mourning that was just not there. And when I realized it wasn't, and knew how important it is to me that today remains meaningful and alive, I prayed for the privilege of carrying my portion of our nation's grief for one more year.

Tears came following a silent Amen.

I'm not a masochist. It's just that on September 11, 2001, I remember knowing in my very core that I would not - could not - ever be part of the masses that would let it go. I could not be part of the camp that thinks we should not pause on this day every year; that perhaps America's resolve is best displayed by moving on. I see this argument. I see why people think this. But I will not be one of them. Ever. I want my grandbabies to be able to see the same tears well in my eyes 50 years from now that did 7 years ago and do today.

So pardon me if my red striped shirt and lapel pin flag are over the top. Excuse me if "America the Beautiful" from my car stereo on the commute to work is irritatingly loud. Please forgive my inability to pull away from the 24 hour news network images from that morning.

And if I'm quiet, please leave me to remembering Mom waking me up in a panic that morning and pulling me into the study to see what none of us could understand. Allow me to remember what it felt like on September 11, 2002 to walk around the White House when a helicopter passed overhead and stopped every person on the street in their tracks to look up and reassure themselves it was allowed to be there. Let me reflect on Speaker Hastert's speech on the Southeast Steps on 9/11/06 when I really grasped that the Capitol dome overhead and my colleagues who worked inside were still there thanks to the "Let's Roll" attitude of Flight 93. And for today, let it be okay for me to desperately want to remember what I was worried about forgetting.

Friday, September 5, 2008

All the Way My Savior Leads Me

Some things in life take months and years to digest... to come to terms with. Disappointments in life are inevitable. So resiliency is a critical part of character development. I try to live with my toes pointed forward.

But sometimes the present shines its floodlights on the past and for that moment, that which you have kept hidden in secret depths is illuminated. Tonight I am exposed. And sleepless.

But encouraged by this old hymn by Fanny Crosby called "All the Way My Savior Leads Me." You can hear it on Chris Tomlin's new album called Hello Love that was just released this week. An excerpt from his version...

All the way my Savior leads me
Who have I to ask beside?
How could I doubt His tender mercy?
Who through life has been my guide?
All the way my Savior leads me
He cheers each winding path I tread
He gives me grace for every trial
Feeds me with the living breath