My fingerboard from my office.
Waiting for my flight to Sacremento and watching the plane get prepped for take-off. The mountains here are huge and provide a pretty backdrop.
Secret warhead right across the street from my apartment? Nope, just the water tower under renovation.
Kristina made this yummy pre-bedtime snack in a jiffy. Peanut buttered bread topped with banana slices and mini chocolate chips. Sounds weird, but it's really good.
Some officemates and I decided to enjoy our burritos outside due to the nice weather. This duck waddled up to us without hesitation so one of my co-workers gave it her leftover burrito bits. Note the guacamole all over its beak.
Today is the launch day of America's Best Graduate Schools. I decided to wear my mortar board while I work on it this week until it launches. The cap has been a big hit at meetings and around the office. This is probably the smoothest rankings project I have ever worked on here at U.S News & World Report. Be sure to check out http://www.usnews.com/grad later on this evening to see the new grad school rankings that I've been busy with.
Kristina managed to bake these cookie monster cupcakes and homemade Hershey kisses for my coworkers and I without me even knowing. She even drove me in to work this morning so she could secretly hand off the goods. I even got a fake meeting request, which I fell for, luring me in for the surprise. After a hectic week prepping for the launch of Best Graduate Schools, this was a welcomed surprise. P.S. My birthday is really tomorrow, the 24th, for those keeping track.
Every Friday my co-workers and I go to Chipotle for lunch. Today the guy who asked for my order was particularly chatty so I mentioned it was my birthday after being prodded by my co-worker. He said he would take care of me and ended up giving me two extra helpings of steak in my burrito. On top of that my meal was on the house as was hers. Needless to say, finishing this swollen sack of rice, meat and cheese was a little bit more challenging than most Chipotle outtings but I managed to cram it all down while only making a slight mess. Morale of the story: Don't eat breakfast and go eat lunch at Chipotle while mentioning it's your special day. If the guy serving you is nice it just might be free and filled to the brim with goodness.
Here at the 9pm showing of No Impact Man, the line is wrapping around the inside of the theater, out the door and down Colesville road. Should be a good flick at SilverDocs.
Kristina and I took an early morning bike ride on the boardwalk here in Ocean City, Maryland. The weather is overcast, hazy, and humid so we worked up a sweat but it was still fun, fun, fun.
We made it to Bethany Beach today and Kristina is already soaking up the sun. We saw dolphins which were poking up really close to the shore. Worst part of the day was the meter fare: 1 quarter = 10 minutes.
Hanging out in a field with some friends waiting for the fireworks to start. Matt B was just out of frame so mad props to him. Ideal July 4th.
KABOOM! That was a great firework show.
The pigs head is all that's left from the feast at this Guamanian party that Kristina and I have been at all day. We're watching traditional Haiwaiian performances as this event winds down.
Looks like the intertubez are clogged up again...
I clearly suck at rationg celery to peanut butter. UPDATE: I was wrong, that was actually a good idea.
It's been raining on and off all day, downpuring at times, here in the DC area.
Whenever it is storming out, Puck scurries into our bedroom for a place to hide. I guess the green plastic pig wearing a rabbit costume keeps him company.
Guy got on Metro wearing a button-downed shirt, tie, blazer, slacks and open Teva sandals. Must have been a fresh Linux developer on a job interview.
After spending all day filling out paperwork for a new car, this is what my desk looks like. Lots of papers from the dealership plus old trinkets scooped out of the glove box of my old clunker. Atleast I can organize tomorrow.
This must be where all the motorcyclists park in downtown DC. I really wanted to push them all over like a row of dominoes but I'm not that brave.
Got out of work a bit late tonight due to an elevator getting stuck. I was the only one in there but atleast I had cell service. I was out of the elevator after about 10 mins after calling 911. Just glad I'm not stuck on the metro where there are pretty things outside to look at.
Always wanted to take a picture of this building near my work on L Street in Washington, DC.
Three of my photos are on display at the Howard County Public School System Depart of Education building for an alumni art show. Howard County is where I went to school at Hammond elementary, middle, and high school. My pictures will be up until October 16th.
A platform full of sea lions lounging around and barking at each other as Kristina and I walk on the wharf above in Santa Cruz.
We sure picked a warm sunny day to tour San Francisco. We took the BART to the Embarcedero and then rode a cable car up to the hills of Lambard street. Now we're off to go downhill to the Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39.
The San Francisco sea lions were out in full force both in numbers and odor. Pier 39 is windy and a bit chilly even on the hottest day of the year. Good thing we brought our jackets.
While peruzing the shops in downtown San Francisco we happened upon a Scotish import store. Ever since my trip to Scotland in the 7th grade, I have been craving a Yorkie bar. Now we are sitting in St. Mary's Square/china town where I am about to eat it.
Kristina and I are taking the tour of the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. Afterwards we get to try a bunch of different flavors! Yum.
Chris and Pammy had a beautiful ceremony at the Baltimore Aquarium. During cocktail ceremony we get to walk around and see the fish while the newlyweds take family photos. Congrats!
Posing in front of shark teeth with the groom in an evil scientist costume. Don't worry he wasn't wearing it all night.
It's a slow commute this morning. I'm stuck here outside of Union Station due to an emergency situation at the Gallery Place/Chinatown station. Good thing I have a bunch of podcasts to get through so I am happy.
I found this old software program stil in it's original shrink wrap in a thrift store today. From around 1996, this package promised to have everything you needed to make "a COOL, interactive Web site within hours" Check out the "way cool" screenshots on the back cover. There were 17 more pristine copies on the shelf next to a 56K modem still in it's original shrink wrap.
Frosted Snow Bomb - I decided to Black Dynamite My 'Self http://www.blackdynamiteyoself.com/ since everyone else on the Internet is doing it. The image wouldn't save, so I just took a screenshot and shared it around! What do you look like when you Black Dynamite yourself?
Tonight was Strathmore's showcase night where they set everything up like a wedding reception. We got to sample the food and talk to a few vendors. It was way beyond gorgeous!
Made it through the first session with talks by Joel Salatin (holistic framer from Virginia), Scott Simon (NPR Correspondent), Marcus Ranum (Computer Security Researcher), Naomi Natale (Installation Artist / social activist, check out thecradleproject.org and onemillionbones.org), and Aneesh Chopra (Nation's Chief Technology Officer). The talks have been outstanding so far.
In my seat waiting for TEDxMidAtlantic start. Should be a long day of inspiring talks. To quote the last sentence of the first page of the program, "Prepare to have your world expanded and mind blown." I can't wait.
Kristina was in Virginia with her parents all day and brought home a box of fudge covered Ritz crackers. They are real thin and crispy with a taste like wafers. Interesting.
After days of clouds, drizzle, and mist, the sky finally opens up and sunshine reappears. Just in time for the long Thanksgiving weekend.
My new Rav 4 is covered in snow for the first time. I heard we were supposed to get some snow today but this is more than I expected. It is really coming down in big, flakey chunks. Good thing I got the 4x4 model Rav 4 as I am supposed to drive up to my parents house later to help out with a kayaker holiday party.
After my company party, Kristina and I took a stroll down to the White House to see the National Christmas Tree. It was bitterly cold but the warming hut felt nice. We even got a picture with Santa! Kristina will post an album on Facebook later.
After work Kristina and I went to Brookside Garden of Lights with our friends Kathy and Alex. They had lots of displays including a thunderstorm with a rainbow, lions, turtles, pigs, a wolf howling at the moon, and lots of flowers. Pictured here is a giraffe and a sea dragon. They were easily my two favorite light sculptures.
It's 5:20 am. We've been in standstill traffic for the past 15 minutes or so. So much for getting a headstart on our trip to deep south Virginia. No worries as there is an in-van DVD player, an inverter to power my laptop, and I have my Zune. Don't worry I'm not driving. Kristina's parents sure know how to travel, they rock!
I-81 North in Virginia is at a dead standstill. There is atleast a 20 mile backup. We're at mile marker 166 and just a few minutes ago we saw an emergency vehicle drive past us on the shoulder. Hooray for Internet connected devices.
Check out this weather map. There is no way you're getting through that if you need to head west. Good luck with your travels on Christmas Eve.
I woke up to a dusting of snow this morning which made for a beautiful landscape to look at during breakfast.
A pretty dusting on the trees outside my porch.
Fresh snow on the stairs by the Glenmont metro station. The light really caught my eye.
These scrabble Cheez-it crackers are fun.
Kristina's neato drink at the Macaroni Grill.
This happened last Saturday night at the Piratz Bar in Silver Spring. The pirate-dressed man didn't work there but was instead an enthusiastic local.
The clouds were interesting as I rode the metro in to work this morning. Sun rays were breaking through.
Just because it snowed doesn't mean you can put your idiot cap on.
On my way to the Metro.
Taken atop the Glenmont Metro station parking garage.
Kristina and I were watching these 3 girls try and park their 2wd Honda Accord for the past half hour. What were they doing driving in a blizzard at 2:30am? They couldn't get anywhere so they ended up ditching their car in the middle of the road. The snow plow is really going to like that tomorrow morning.
This middle school play rivals anything on Broadway. Seriously.
Yesterday's rain managed to melt a lot of snow while making the rest all brown and muddy. Felt like I was walking to the Metro on the moon.
Picking up a few things before the wedding shower tomorrow.
@jason and @riichdiinero both mention napping at the same time
Kristina got some cotton candy and a wizard cap at the greatest show on earth.
Enjoying the fine weather outside at my parents house eating dinner.
A lot of people waiting for a free cone at the Ben & Jerry's in Dupont Circle.
Kristina and I came home to see a zillion red and blue flashing lights. It looks like a blue BMW hit headon into a gold Saturn. The rescue team was using the jaws of life to get people out.
From all of the snow we got back in February, this small pile is all that is left at the Glenmont Metro station.
What's the biggest difference between a 24" iMac and a 27" iMac? About 30 pounds.
After two late nights of assembling, our wedding invites are ready to hit the mail boxes.
Birthday dinner for Denise.
We had to go all the way to Fair Oaks to get them but we now have purple ties for all of the groomsmen and ushers in our wedding. They match the bridesmaid dresses perfectly.
At Fuddruckers conquering their 1 pound hamburger. Kristina got a 1/2 pound Kobe burger.
He spit fire and ripped cars in half. He can also wave at the crowd but not really.
At Matt's grad party that has its own petting zoo.
Bride and maid of honor are up late burning the midnight oil. The last minute details are almost all ironed out in preparation for Saturday.
Is this what happened to the last groom?
Kristina is planning which furniture will go where in our new bedroom at our place in Virginia. We'll start moving in this weekend.
National geographic has a great white shark outside that I pass on my way to work everyday.
Celebrating Matts 25th birthday at Loonies.
Kristina and I are trekking our way across the eastern shore to Bethany Beach for our annual 4th of July beach trip. This is the first year going without the mini van and the first trip where I'm not driving (Kristina is driving the new Rav-4). Hence I could take pictures!
Spending the day on Bethany beach with everyone else in the Delmarva area.
4th of July nail polish.
The odometer on my Rav-4 crossed a special milestone on a special day.
Everyone got all you can eat crabs and I got the fat albert 1 pound burger. I finished it all, including the fries, and got a free dessert. Crab Bag rocks!
Nor only is it Friday, it's ice cream sundae party at work day. Yum.
I would rock a crazy colored roof like this.
I don't know the fairy tale/riddle that goes with this one.
An anime version of Twitters popular fail whale.
and broke her crown.
Emus have holes for ears and youcan see all the way down their throats.
The petting zoo had a lot of hungry goats.
We visited the farm off of route 108 that inherited a lot of the displays from the old Enchanted Forest off of route 40. This castle was the entrance.
Kristina got me this sweet Batman lunch box over the weekend. No more confusing lunch bags for me.
Whoever lives at this house in Georgetown must have pissed some one off.
Got my structo stickers in the mail today. Thanks Structo
Awesome bumper sticker on the commute to work this morning.
Good times.
Today I got my Roomba in the mail and after a brief charge, set it off to clean the living room. After about 30 minutes it was finished and this is what was left in the dirt bin. Not bad for a little robot. This thing rocks!
We really liked the butter chicken and the chocolate samosa for dessert.
And tater-tots. Great meal to end the weekend.
Eric Meyer welcoming everyone.
There are tons of passionate web people here. My condolences to the wifi.
Killing time before the afternoon sessions begin.
These little girls were kicking zombie butt.
Android has a cool camera app called Retro Camera that is similar to hipstermatic on the iphone. The interface is well done and above average for an Android app. Best of all, its free!
Are they really the best vanities?
The memory foam mattress started poofing up as soon as we took the plastic off. It will air out for the next day or so downstairs.
This is how it arrived. Could be easily mistaken for a punching bag.
Kristina brought home a few slices from Lorenzo and Sons. They are as big as my head.
I just missed my shuttle home so instead I decided to look up ast the clouds.
Showing my friend Matt around Philly and we stopped at Jim's Steaks for lunch. The record for most steaks eaten in an hour is 13. I wanna try that.
At Marathon Grille for Sunday brunch.
First time being inside here since it was completed. Their lobby has a huge screen that looks like part of the wall. We watched the animations for a couple of minutes.
It was super windy and we were getting sprayed by the fountain.
Got my laminated CPR card today. I would keep it in my wallet but it doesn't fit. Unfortunately I'll need to throw away my license to design as this thing is fugly.
Lots of candy, cookies, and apples to snack on before Halloween weekend.
The room full of Filipinos is rooting for Pacquiao naturally.
This year we had two turkeys (one smoked, one roasted), lamb, cornbread, green bean casserole, rice (red and white), chicken salad, stuffing, and an egg plant dish. We're stuffed now.
This is how my Facebook profile looks before opting in to the new profile layout.
This is how my Facebook profile looks after opting in to the new profile layout. The left column is skinnier, there's more emphasis on photos, the ad format changed with the photo on the left and text on the right. Technically the HTML underneath is much cleaner.
Monday means massive meaty lamb sandwhich for lunch. Yum!
Going over new features of WordPress 3.1.
Talking about UML. Some one commented that means ugly markup language. I agree.
Banana stickers are getting desperate.
This unicorn was my contribution to the white elephant gifting bonanza. I came away with a wifi detecting key chain.
My favorite cookie from the cookie swap.
Chandeliers inside the lobby at the Kennedy Center. We saw the play South Pacific.
A south pacific islander really enjoyed the play South Pacific.
This is what I-95 south looked like just as it started snowing today. The roads were ok, a little slippery on the exit ramps.
This is what the snow looked like when I got home.
Glad to see the news of Yahoo shutting down del.icio.us make the front page of del.icio.us
The roads are fine this morning with our neighborhood being the slushiest.
At night and cold out.
Peep this tree made entirely of peeps
Looks like the last person waiting for the bus didn't make it.
This is the first picture of Kristina in 2011.
Filipinos have many New Year traditions including wearing red, wearing polka dots, eating 13 grapes, shaking coins in their pockets, opening wallets and purses, turning on all of the lights, and the traditional banging pots and pans. Oh yea Kristina and I have our first kiss of 2011.
If you see a large ball of junk rolling down the streets of DC sticking everything it touches to itself, you'll know why.
The sign for the Mad Hatter restaurant in Dupont Circle, Washington DC
People don't clamor for a seat on these curvy benches in Dupont Circle when there is snow on the ground. On a warm, sunny day people would be all over these seats.
While the rest of the northeast got dumped on last night, here in Alexandria we didn't even get enough snow to cover the grass.
As seen from the Key bridge heading in to Georgetown.
A slumbering house I stop by almost everyday on my way to work.
Building in front of a gorgeous sunrise and right behind the football stadium at Georgetown University.
Free cheese burgers for World Fair Use Day. I'll eat to that.
Remember those icanhazcheeseburger plush toys from last night? Well they made their way to my workspace just like the cheeseburgers made their way to my waistline.
My cell phone camera takes pretty craptacular night shots. I'll try again tomorrow during the day.
At Ranazul to celebrate Kristina's Dad's birthday
Black, white and green sprinkled with simple icons and bold typography. I like.
It has been more than 3 months since I got a haircut so I finally went under the clippers at Color Works in Pentagon City. Ask for Floriza if you stop in.
2 thousand more miles to go until the next service.
Weird moment in my Twitter timeline worthy of a screen grab.
The Chief BBQ Taste Tester (that's his actual title) is here for an open townhall meeting talking all about my favorite open source software project.
You probably can't read the sign, but it reads compact cars only. I don't think Hummers count.
The end result of me cooking sausage for dinner while Kristina was at Zumba. "You're so lucky the smoke alarm didn't go off," she said.
From last night.
Just in case you have never seen such a sight, now you have.
I love the bold blue color of the sky at dusk.
Cold, deflated, and stuck.
and a duck bobbing about.
I've walked past this pin on the ground for weeks now. today I finally decided to take a picture.
This was taken at AARP in Washington, DC.
Take one...
or Reagan airport as it is commonly called.
On Saturday we saw the 8pm show at the DC Improv on Connecticut Avenue. Jo Koy is super funny and can really interact with the crowd.
Ive had this car for 1.5 years and tomorrow I'll need to take it in for its second service appointment.
Kristina, Matt, and the hostess Pammy.
Just waiting for the 2nd act to start for the play Bye Bye Birdie. Everyone's excited.
"Amish men do it with a hoe". Cover band at Looneys.
Katie, Chris, Kristina and I
this one just came like that.
All the characters marching out before the show begins.
Boo green knight.
The Potomac is engulfed in fog this morning. It looked like we were crossing a bridge over a cloud.
I liked the way the light was reflecting at this angle this morning.
My dad was showing me the kayak he is building in the tomb and I spotted two of these little critters running around on the walls.
My parents got me a GoPro HD Helmet camera for my birthday and this is me playing around with it for the first time.
Having a grand time up in Maryland even though Kristina's mom is in Guam until the end of June.
Small Spider
Celebrating Kristina's 26th birthday at Poste in DC.
To top off a fabulous birthday date night, we stopped off for some self-serve frozen yogurt. I got mint chocolate chip with whip cream, vanilla wafers, Oreos, and marshmallows.
Ducked under an overhang to wait out a torrential downpour.
I ate my burger too fast to take a picture, so this is Kristina's. Its a shack stack with a deep fried portebella mushroom and munster cheese. It was mighty tasty.
Crossed this milestone when we were leaving Philadelphia.
The founder of WordPress came to the open source software BBQ hosted by 3 DC meetup groups. As I was leaving I noticed Matt busy at work in front of the big open windows of Fathom Creative.
This place has a lot of cool things to take a picture of. Its like a Mexican Disney world with less rides.
Good way to pass the time.
Hawtness
Somewhere on L street in northwest DC.
I managed to catch a wave at Bethany Beach today. I'm pretty sure I ended up crashing nose first into the sand moments after this was taken.
If I finish the whole thing plus all the fries I get a free dessert.
The Crab Bag couldn't give me a dessert for finishing a 1 pound burger but they did offer me a free non-alcoholic frozen drink. So this virgin strawberry daiquiri is my reward in the name of gluttony.
Guess who is the only person I added to it?
Kristina and I are hanging out near the Potomac river in Old Town Alexandria for the 9th of July fireworks show.
9th of July Fireworks Finale
Kaboom!
P
Using JavaScript for building cross-platform native mobile apps. This talk is for the July DC jQuery meetup.
This is what it looks like when you make the front page of drudgereport.com.
Kristina made grilled pineapples topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel topping for dessert this evening. It was scrumptious.
We found this little porcelain statue of Kristina and I as kids at the Beach Plum antique shop in Bethany Beach, Delaware.
A view of the Ocean City beach from the balcony of a condo on 62nd street. The weather was beautiful but the waves were very rough. Someone had drowned just two blocks down this morning just as we arrived for a day in the sun.
Final score of Dino themed mini-golf: Kristina 52, Russell 49. It was close. We each got two hole-in-ones!
The real-time graph doesn't agree.
Cool things happen when you sit down to eat breakfast.
Another morning breakfast, another letter.
Thanks random Facebook feature.
And its of the best home-made burgers I've ever had.
And you can buy it on Threadless at http://www.threadless.com/product/769/El_Conductor
We were just sitting here in Shake Shack by Dupont Circle, hanging out after eating our food, when a guy comes up with a dish of Coffee and Donut ice cream. She tweeted about Shake Shack and they really appreciate that.
Seen on my walk from Georgetown to downtown DC.
Longcat is looooooong. Thanks @nickwhitmoyer
My old roommate and his girlfriend wearing the latest, must-have, head dressing of the fall season.
Hooray for being a developer with early access to this thing. I predict it will get old rather quickly.
Kristina and I are looking quite fancy before heading out to Kristina's friend Sharon's wedding.
I've had these Reebok's in my closet since summer and today is the first day of breaking them in. Comfy.
What Do You Do With A Mold Of Your Pregnant Belly?
Much cleaner. Time to give it a whirl.
Kristina and I strolled through a little food festival in Georgetown after the kidney walk.
Ask and you shall receive?
Sunday brunch with friends.
Picked up my swag.
This was at the photo booth at the end of the finish line.
Minus the shades.
Grabbed dinner with a group after An Event Apart and the bill had to be split 10 ways.
Third day of An Event Apart just getting started.
Good job IT Wire. Your overlaying your way to success!
Our Halloween costumes.
Spotted on my walk to work for the first time in a week.
Doing our usual thing at the Naude's with lots and lots of yummy food.
Banana Sticker On The Forehead For Him
Banana Sticker On The Forehead For Her
Spotted in Georgetown on my way to work.
We don't have a rolling pin so Kristina is using a bottle of Ciroc wrapped in plastic wrap to show that cookie whose boss.
I'm curious how many Sprint Nexus S owners (the only phone that works with Google Wallet) shop at Macy's.
Sunglasses, a Sprint 3G/4G Datastick, a bare bones USB stick (that only has 5.5Kb of storage), and $1.14 in change.
Kristina is a Chomorran Auntie.
Picture thanks to Kristina's Dad.
Facebook is deserted.
Netflix Fireplace video looping on the tv above our real fireplace that we're too lazy to light
Awwwww Yeaaahhhhh...
