Cool Picture of Air Force Memorial

If you haven't already seen it, there's a cool picture of the Air Force Memorial on DCIst - I'm also always interested to hear people's comments on the memorial. Do you like it or hate it?

Anyway, you can check out the picture at the DCist photo section.

Don't Let this Weather End!

Wow! Have you been enjoying this weather as much as I have? Between Veteran's Day weekend and this most recent spell, we have had some incredible weather. I've

• Played tennis at Quincy Park - You can get a listing of all Arlington public tennis courts online,


• Went bike riding - check out BikeArlington for some great trail tips


• Went out to eat and sat in the outdoor seating


• Played a little pick-up touch football to help get rid of all that turkey


• Did some running - check out WalkArlington for some ideas on walking/running trails


• Ate lunch outside and read Life of Pi - available at your local Arlington library

The weather forecasts suggests we've got a few more days of this before we start to get some more seasonable cold temperatures, so get out there and enjoy it while you can!

Kettler Capitals IcePlex Open

The Kettler Capitals Ice Plex in Ballston is now open, and the public skate sessions are available. It looks like the best times for public skate are as follows:

Monday, 6:15 PM - 7:45 PM

Tuesday, 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM

Wednesday, 7:45 PM - 9:00 PM (adult skate)

Friday, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

Saturday, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Saturday, 6:45 PM - 8:15 PM

Sunday, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

These aren't the only public skate times, just looks like the best ones to me. Public skate is $7 plus $3 for skate rentals. Groups of 10 or more get in for $6 which includes skate rental

I went up there the other day to check it out, and it very very nice. I'm excited to actually go skating there. I'm not a great skater, but I can get around the ice.

Oh, and I had no idea high school hockey players were so big! I guess the skates help, but there were some big guys out there when I checked it out.

See you in the ice!

P.S. - I shoud probably put a real picture up here - but I like the turtle. He cracks me up :-)

What do you think of Clarendon?

Did anybody read the article in yesterday's Washington Post about whether Clarendon has "lost its edge". There's also a discussion piece with the author, another article about urban villages with a focus on Clarendon, and an audio file about Clarendon.

There definitely was a Clarendon theme going on in the Post yesterday.

So, I'm curious. What do you think? Has Clarendon "lost its edge". Is that a good thing? A bad thing? What do you think?

CRM on You Tube

I don't know if it's just coincidence or if You Tube is the "in-thing" for Arlington these days.

Anyways, I talk a little about CRM on this site and in the What's Up newsletter and I thought you might like to put a couple of faces with the name and also learn a little bit more.

CRM recently made a brief presentation to the County Board and you can check it out and hear what they have to say, by just following this really long link :-)

P.S. - The picture above is of a recent CRM event at AFAC. You can read more about that event here.

Haunted House "Carn-evil"

Unfortunately, I didn't get to make it out to the Haunted House over Halloween weekend.

I heard lots of good things about it, though, and someone shared these pictures with me, so I thought I would share them with you. Just click thte picture to see the whole album.

Haunted House Carn-evil

Cross-Cultural Cinema: Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action

Before diving in to a discussion about the latest edition of cross-cultural cinema, I think some background is in order.

A few years ago, I spent just about 2 years living on a Native American reservation - specifically the Hopi reservation in northeast Arizona. My wife is a mental health therapist and we were out there through a government program with her doing therapy (counseling) with teenagers. As for me, I actually telecommuted to my job here in the D.C. area. We drove two hours to a grocery store, but I worked for a major consulting firm in D.C! Kind of funny how that works. Anyway, I could go on and on about my experiences on "the rez", but all that is to really say that I have a particular interest in Native issues and so this film was of particular interest to me.

The film (Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action) looked at three Native peoples (actually four, but due to time constraints we only viewed three) - the Northern Cheyenne in Montana, the Penobscot in Maine, and the Gwichiin in Alaska. The film chronicled each tribes struggles with companies and the government over environmental issues. In addition to the film, the library arranged for a speaker from the National Museum of the American Indian(I forget his name) who was very knowledgeable of the issues and gave great insight in between each story.

This particular blog isn't the form for discussing the specifics of the issues (although if you would like, feel free to add your comments below)

What I do want to say, and I know I've said it here before, but it really does bear repeating. Cross-cultural cinema is a fabulous program. Every one I've been too invigorates my mind, and leaves me plenty of thinking (and discussion) to do. You might not think a library is a particularly exciting place to watch a movie - although Central Library Auditorium is actually very nice, but it's hard to find such thought provoking, stimulating films at most traditional theatres -- and, of course, the price is right (FREE)!

So, I strongly encourage you to check out cross-cultural cinema. You can view the library calendar of events, and also keep checking What's Up Arlington! Check it out! I think you'll be glad you did. And if you're ever going, let me know, there's a good chance I'll be there too.

Arlington Biking on You Tube!

Maybe I'm just a big geek (comments from the peanut gallery not necessary), but I think this is really cool.

There are two new videos on YouTube about bike riding in Arlington. The videos were produced by my good friends over at BikeArlington so I have to give some props to them. I think they did a real nice job. It's not super exciting or anything, but they're nicely done. Although they do make me lament the upcoming winter. I like summer! How about a video about how to bike in the winter without freezing my rear end off?

Anyways, the first video is titled "My mind is relaxed, I don't worry about work" and the second one, "On the trail, nobody's honking behind you." -- (OK, I don't think that's exactly true, not honking exactly, but just dinging those little bells). Check it out, it's kind of fun to see Arlington bike trails.

Oh, and just out of curiosity I did a YouTube search for Arlington, VA and got 55 hits - looks like there is some other Arlington stuff out there.

And one last thing, while we're on the subject. My commuter page friends also just unveiled their own blog. Good reading, especially if you're in to transportation issues.

See you on the trails! It's a nice day for it today.

Falling Down on the Job

A few posts ago I mentioned that there would be some upcoming changes to this blog. Specifically, I would expand my focus beyond just things I've done, to include things that are coming up to do.

Well, old habits die hard I suppose, and I totally forgot to post about some really cool things that were happening this past weekend. Hopefully, you also subscribe to the What's Up! e-newsletter and were in the loop, but if not, I apologize. Specifically, I wanted to mention the Haunted House at Lubber Run Center and the Marine Corp Marathon Festivals.

And, of course, to compound matters I wasn't able to go to either of these events. Saturday I was out of town and Sunday I teach tennis lessons most of the day and then Sunday evening, I went to the DC United playoff game.

So, ...If anybody out there made it to either of these events, please leave a comment and let us know how it went - or if you're feeling like you have a lot to say, I can hook you up with a guest blog.