It Happened

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The World War II Memorial

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April’s favorite photo is a sunrise over the Tidal Basin.

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This month’s favorite photo is of the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona.

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This month’s favorite photo comes from our visit to the Newseum.

Along with a few friends, Jenny and I visited the Newseum today. When we got to the museum, I realized I left my memory card in my laptop. While I usually carry a spare card in my bag, I had recently taken it out while reorganizing and I forgot to put it back in. I quickly called some friends who were running late and asked if they had any spare SD cards. Fortunately, they did! Unfortunately, it was only 256MB (was actually a microSD card in an SD adapter), so I had to forgo shooting in RAW and dial down the JPG settings a notch. Aside from the fact that I couldn’t shoot in RAW, it was a great learning experience. Since I could only hold about 28 photos, I had to be really judicious while shooting. I’ll spare you the details of my learning experience, but I’m actually really grateful for it and will make it my goal to go out and shoot a very limited quantity again.

After a short orientation video, visitors walk by a portion of the Berlin Wall.

The Newseum is one of the relatively-few museums in DC that charges admission. It’s a large museum and the ticket includes a 4D movie. One of my favorites exhibits was a room with at least a hundred front pages from the last hundred years or so.

There’s also a rooftop terrace with a great view up and down Pennsylvania Avenue. It has one of the best views of the Capitol outside of the Mall.

The 9/11 exhibit included headlines from around the world on September 12 and a twisted piece of metal that had been a broadcast antenna on top of one of the Twin Towers.

This map shows the level of freedom of the press around the world. Green is “free,” yellow is “somewhat free,” and red is “not free.”

You can also film your own news segment, either on your own or with a friend, and then watch it online. Darcee and Kaylyn teamed up for a Valentine’s Day themed report.

I have a mixed review about the Newseum. It’s regularly $20, but we got tickets on Groupon for $10. Even though the ticket is good for two consecutive days, it’s only worth the $10. While the open atrium allowed for a lot of natural light, I feel like it led to a lot more walking and wasted space. There were some really neat displays and I really enjoyed a lot of the interactive displays. While I had a good time, I don’t think I’d go back a second day in a row, and I definitely wouldn’t spend $20. Find yourself a coupon or someone looking to sell day 2 of their ticket and the visit will be worth the reduced price.

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The photo I took on January 15 of Jeremy and Jill’s new daughter was my favorite post in January.

My friend, Kristy, posted her favorite photos from her 2010 edition of the photo-of-the-day challenge. Stealing a page from her play book (which isn’t the first, at it won’t be the last, time I’ve done it), I’ve decided to post my favorite photos from my 2010 project. Two things surprised me about last year’s photos. I really liked a lot more than I thought I would. I was expecting to only have 5-6 favorites, but I had to trim a few off of this list because I felt it was getting too long. Second, there are a lot more vertical shots than I expected. I really don’t feel like I take that many vertical shots, but apparently when I do, they stick out among my favorites.

Jenny wrote more about it here, but I just wanted to post a couple of photos from Arlington Cemetery. Every year, a company from Maine donates thousands of wreaths to be placed on graves at Arlington Cemetery for a project called Wreaths Across America. Because the cemetery is so massive, they can’t cover every grave every year, but they rotate through the various sections so that they all have a turn. As you can see, it’s very impressive.

Yesterday was my thirtieth birthday. As my birthday is so close to Christmas, we have traditionally received Christmas cards that usually include a “PS: Happy Birthday, Chance!” I have more or less gotten used to it. It irritated me for the longest time, but I’ve grown apathetic. We’ll call it old age. Anyway, as Jenny has only had to deal with it for eight years, it still upsets her. She works really, really hard to make sure my birthday is just that, my birthday and not some afterthought.

As a case study, we simply need to look to yesterday.

I woke up at 7:15 to get ready for work. While I was in the shower, Jenny stole my towel and threw it in the dryer so I’d have a warm towel when I got out of the shower. Honestly, who doesn’t love a warm towel? After I got dressed, she had prepared breakfast: cinnamon rolls! She also gave me my first gift of the day: a new shirt and tie. Since I turned thirty, she decided to give me three presents, one for each decade of life. I left and had a smooth ride to work. At around 11:25, Jenny showed up at the office to take me out to lunch. We had reservations at a nice restaurant, so we wanted to make sure we’d have empty stomachs; hence the early lunch. On the way to We The Pizza, Jenny gave me my second gift: a new camera strap! The strap that came with my camera was fine, but I felt it was a little short. This one is significantly longer and has quick-release clips. This will provide for less shaking when it sits on a tripod. After lunch, Jenny served up sopapilla cheesecake. It was a huge hit at the office!

I returned to my desk to finish out the day. At 6:15, we left the office to head to Fogo de Chão, a Brazilian churrascaria. We had been to Tucano’s and Rodizio’s in Utah, but we had never been to FDC. It’s significantly more expensive, but very tasty. The service was fantastic and the food was great. My only complaint was the fact that they didn’t have grilled pineapple. I had been looking forward to that almost more than the endless parade of meat. A colleague, along with her husband, joined us. It was truly great company for a fantastic meal.

After dinner, we headed home so we could have dessert: a homemade Boston Creme Pie, from scratch! A couple of neighbors joined us. The pie was delicious, and again, the company was the best. Jenny followed it up for the best gift of the night: a new tripod! When I bought the D90, I bought a tripod without doing any research. I was just so excited for a new camera that I took the first thing I saw. Turns out, that tripod was really made for point-and-shoot cameras, not SLRs with heavy lenses. It handled the D90 fine as long as I didn’t have my 70-300mm on it. However, more than once, the tripod head fell forward when the 70-300 was on it, almost snapping off once. I had several other complaints about it, and being the observant wife she is, Jenny knew what to look for. I’ll avoid writing more details, but it rocks.

So thanks to Jenny for quite possibly the best birthday I’ve ever had! She went above and beyond and made it a fantastic day! If I had known it was going to be that good, I may have even taken the day off of work.

Thanks to my wonderful friends who shared the day with us. You really added to it and made it special. And to my friends and family who weren’t around, thanks for the well wishes on Facebook and all the texts.

Jenny and I were fortunate enough to have a tour of the Capitol dome. With the possible exception of the White House, it’s the best tour I’ve had in Washington so far. Just for reference, here are a couple of photos from ground level:

From the south side of the rotunda.

The Statue of Freedom stands on the tholos. We would get all the way to the top just under the columns.

About halfway to the top.

Coffers on the dome

The other side of the coffers. Some of them can be opened for ventilation. Thanks to modern conveniences like air conditioning, they’re not opened anymore.

There’s a balcony just under and around the circumference of the Apotheosis of Washington. It’s unbelievable how big it is (just over 4000 square feet).

Minerva teaching Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, and Samuel Morse.

In the center is Neptune laying the transatlantic telegraph cable. To the left is Mercury giving a bag of gold to Robert Morris, known as “financier of the Revolution.” To the right is Minerva.

Freedom (the same from the Statue of Freedom) fending off tyranny and kingly power.

Another view of Minerva, Freedom, and Ceres sitting on a McCormick mechanical reaper.

George Washington sitting between Liberty and Victory surrounded by 13 maidens symbolizing the original colonies.

A closer shot of Washington.

Yet another closer shot of the deified president.

The Cannon House Office Building is where I spend most of my time.

Looking west from the top of the Capitol.

Looking east from the top of the Capitol.

The United States Botanic Garden.

Union Station.

The Library of Congress.

The tholos.

Another view of the tholos.

The Supreme Court of the United States.

We noticed a motorcade arriving while we were enjoying the view.

The Jansons with the the Washington Monument behind them.

The Jansons with the Library of Congress and Supreme Court behind them.

Safely back on the ground on the south east side of the Capitol.