Dinner with Jim & Reet

We went to dinner with Jim & Reet this weekend, its ben a while since we had them to ourselves, so we took the opportunity to spend some time with them.

We had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays at Fairfax Circle. After we ate, we noticed that there were some old cars parked in the lot with a few people standing around. Jim, being the motorhead that he is, gravitated towards the cars. There were 1950's and 60s cars, all in great working order and restored really well. I remember seeing a 65 Mustang, a 56 Cadillac, a ragtop chevy with a V8 and a Jaguar. We also saw two deuce coops, one was yellow and the other was silver - very niiiiiice.

Kate S's Birthday Dinner

Kate S. had a birthday the week before last and we went out to dinner in DC. We hadn't been out in a while, so we got a sitter for the night and drove into DC. We went to a place on 21st and E street, I forgot the name, but it is connected to a nice hotel which has a statue of Marilyn Monroe in the lobby. Had a drink in the bar until everyone arrived and then sat down for some dinner.

The dinner was nice (I had two glasses of wine so I was feeling very good) and the company was pretty good, too. Mostly people from Kate's work; Kate S, Patrick, Julie, Jerome, other Julie and some other people I only met once before.

I had the scallops wrapped in bacon, mmmmmm. bacon.

Kate and Me before we went out.


Statue of Marilyn in the lobby.

BuhBye

Bulldozer

The Tiger Swallowtail

This insect is the official insect of Virginia. I snapped a picture of it when we were over at Randy and Theresa's for a BBQ the other week. I was amazed that I could get that close and it didn't fly away, but it was really interested in that flower, which was in full bloom.

Visit to Udvar-Hazy

Yes, Udvar-Hazy. If you don't know what that means you are probably more familiar with its original name of the Air & Space Museum. Except the new version is out at Dulles Airport and is pretty awesome. Apparently, Udvar-Hazy was a big wig in the aerospace industry and he was of Hungarian descent, hence the name that sounds like, well, a disease that 40 year-old yuppies get. (yes, the doctor said I have udvah-hayzeee)

It costs nothing to get in but they do charge you $12 for parking, but they also take Visa/MC, so don't sweat it if you didn't bring any cash, like we did.

Jack liked it and enjoyed seeing helicopters, all types and sizes, colors and shapes. I enjoyed seeing the space shuttle, ray guns (toys) and the model for the close encounters movie.

I also liked that they had several guides that would walk around and give you a short synopsis of one of the exhibits and point out a few interesting facts. For example, when we were in the space exploration area, they had the actual working model of the close encounters of the third kind under glass. They guy said it was made before there was computer graphics, so the model builders had a little fun with it, like putting a shark in one of the alcoves, also a VW van as well. I got a decent picture of the R2D2 that they added, too. Very cool stuff.

We had lunch there and then went out to the large sculpture and took a few more pictures. We got Jack a little Space Shuttle toy. He almost made it home, but passed out just before we got home. We planned that one juuuust right.

I Like Boobies

Yeah, you heard me, I like boobies, a lot. They are some of the most fascinating birds living on this earth. They live on the Galapagos Islands and are flightless. There are a few varieties, such as the blue footed boobie and the red footed boobie.

Boobie, boobie, boobie.

I once had an idea for a game called "Boobie Trap" where your token was a Boobie Bird and you had to make your way around the Galapagos Island and collect your eggs and get back to your nest, but there were also Boobie Traps where you would lose your eggs or have them stolen. You would win if you made it back to your nest with all your eggs.

I should think about creating a game about the woodcock, the titmouse or the woodpecker, too.