A form of historic preservation

One of the more hilarious examples of adaptive reuse in DC is this old, pre-Civil War residence, located in what is now Chinatown (itself a shell of its past authenticity).  In the mid 1800's, Mary Surratt ran a boarding house in this building.  The conspirators in the Lincoln assassination, including Surratt's son and John Wilkes Booth, met frequently at the boarding house to plot the murder.  Since Surratt and the conspirators were promptly hung, I suppose that opened the door for the building's new owners to take over: Wok n Roll, a greasy Chinese restaurant.  Although it is amusing to imagine Wok n Roll been dishing up General Tso's Chicken circa 1870, I imagine there were several owners in the interim.

To commemorate the building's historic nature, there is a fading bronze plaque hanging on the outside wall.  Beneath the garish blue awning.  And next to the front door, adorned with credit card logos and Zagat decals.

Hello, Mr. Anderson

On a recent trip to New York to visit Tom, he, Jimmy, and I were sitting in this underground PATH station, waiting for a train back to Jersey City.  For some reason this shot reminds of The Matrix.  I think it may be the austere repeating patterns, fading into the distance with a sense of infinity.  The utter lack of people in the station, combined, I think, with the fluorescent lighting, also makes it feel like the middle of the night.  But it was actually the middle of a bright, sunny afternoon.  Later on, we played mini-golf on a pier in front of the Manhattan skyline, watched a play about sometimes-lesbian female rockstars, got caught in a spontaneous summer downpour, ate a Mexican feast, and visited the famous, crowded McSorley's tavern.  Just another day's exploration.

For love of country?

Sadly (for the sake of my education), I am not writing about this book.  That would require actually having read it in college when assigned to do so as part of the ARHU curriculum, which definitely did not occur.

Instead, the tale of something refreshing I recently discovered:  I stumbled on the challenge.gov site a couple of weeks ago, following a link in a friend's gchat status.  On it, the government offers challenges that address some area of public need, ranging from creating video PSAs to developing a more energy efficient lightbulb.  The competition is open to all and winners receive cash prizes.

I would imagine that, among those with the skills to create some sort of worthwhile innovation, this website is widely known.  Never having heard of it before, though, I was kind of shocked that the big, creaky, slow moving federal government was capable of producing such a fresh, nimble-seeming collection of opportunities to change the world.  This strikes me as exactly the sort of thing we should be doing, and makes me wonder if this crowd-sourcing-for-smart-people model could hold promise for other types of societal and organizational needs.

Many of our nation's most creative, ingenious people have no inherent interest in public sector work, often justifiably so.  In my opinion, increasing their engagement and capitalizing on their many talents can only be a good thing for the country.

"The ball is tipped, and there you are..."

I don't know how any Maryland fan could not feel giddy at this news, that the annual Alumni Game at Midnight Madness will feature the likes of Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Byron Mouton, and Chris Wilcox.  A large chunk of the 2002 National Title team, back on the court together?  Seems too good to be true.

That team (and its earlier iterations from the preceding couple of years) helped me, and so many other kids my age, fall deeply in love with Terps basketball just in time for college applications.  Intrigued by the start of the Mark Turgeon era and watching the soccer game on campus earlier that evening, I was already planning to attend Midnight Madness this year (it's even at midnight again!).  But this absolutely seals the deal.

I'm excited for the upcoming season, even though the prevailing wisdom says that we are going to have a rocky time of it.  Although I will always love and miss Gary Williams, the uncertainty and energy surrounding the new direction of this team is actually quite exhilarating.