OutdoorType

Cancelled + Diverted = 1st class upgrade, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

I was supposed to fly out of hilton head this morning at 550am but there was much fog, an impediment to take off and landing. Also there was no airplane, an even bigger impediment to manned powered flight. The ticket agent was good though and gave me an option to catch a slightly later flight out of Savannah. Good news for me.

This, however, was bad news for my sleepy parents who’d been looking forward to a quick return to dreamland but now faced a two hour round trip drive to SAV (the Hilton Head airport is a quick 7 min drive from there house). (Thanks again Mom & Dad).

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Piggly Wiggly Turkey Trot 2007, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Race shirts. I have a lot of them. In fact, because I cover around 20 a year, most of my t-shirts are race t-shirts. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve had to buy more hangars for all the shirts and now for some races, I don’t even bother to get a shirt. Today though, today I wanted the shirt, and not just because I was actually racing. Today I wanted the shirt for Mr. Pig.

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Main Gear Touchdown, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

My final approach today was at least 7 times less steep and 20 times slower than the space shuttle. Sigh.

Soon to be me, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

2007/11/21 11:33 :: Periodic updates as time and batteries and network connections allow…

IAD = ghost town?, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

2007/11/21 11:59 :: Wtf? It took exactly ZERO minutes to get through security (ok, I’m exaggerating, but only a little. It took maybe two minute top). Also there was no wait to check my bag with US Air. The economy lots are filling up, but unlike over Veterans Day weekend there are people at every intersection waving flags and directing traffic and there were several buses waiting at the Purple Lot stop #8.

I am now sitting at the gate using one of the only nice features of my phone… its ability to hook up my laptop to the web via bluetooth.

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It’s true.  I live in the suburbs.  I live outside the Beltway in a quiet neighborhood of thirty year old town homes surrounded by leafy green trees.  Neighbors are friendly enough, though not like back in the day when I was growing up, when everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business.  Now we mostly keep to ourselves, nodding as we pass the short distance from car to front door.

Maybe it’s the limited interaction that breeds the behaviour witnessed last night.

It was Halloween and I had the standard candy bat signal illuminated (the front porch light).  Kids know not to bother with dark houses and wanting to go the extra mile I plugged in the holiday lights left over from the Oktober Fiesta.  In an instant 300 mini-white lights wrapped around the front yard tree burned into the dark night creating a beacon that I hoped said “Candy here!  Please come and get it so I don’t spend the rest of the night consuming more calories than I ever should in one sitting:”

I had delayed my arrival home that evening to enjoy the final hour of daylight and photograph a section of the battlefield near my office (yes, again).  Pulling up to the house I saw a small horde of kids soliciting the family from a few doors down.  I hurried into the house and grabbed the bowl of candy already prepared by my housemate (my housemate who made the wiser choice of abandoning ship for the warm embrace of the Arlington Draft House and a showing of everyone’s favourite comedy zombie movie, Shaun of the Dead).

A timid knock…

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Brainzzzzzz, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Saturday evening was spent on the National Mall, not far from the Washington Monument, where a small group of costumed people gathered for an attempt to set a world record of the most people dancing around- the world- to the same routine from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

Following the dancing was the 2007 DC Zombie Lurch, a pub crawl type event only everyone (nearly everyone) dresses as zombies and you lurch about (as zombies are wont to do).

Check out this set of photos wrapped up in a nice Flickr slideshow.

el burro, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

Piñata pics posted!

All on Flickr….

Halloween is just around the corner and now is the time (if you haven’t already) to figure out what costume you’ll be wearing.

A good Halloween costume requires more than just a paper bag and crazy wavings of your arms and hands. Per Wikipedia,

Costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. There are also costumes of pop culture figures like presidents, or film, television, and cartoon characters. Another popular trend is for women (and in some cases, men) to use Halloween as an excuse to wear particularly revealing costumes, showing off more skin than would be socially acceptable otherwise.

Inspired by this t-shirt, I would like to propose a little contest… How many costume ideas can you come up that pay homage to that little document I like to call The Bill of Rights? Leave your ideas in the comments.

Bonus points will be given to anyone who can creatively interpret the 9th and 10th amendments.

Grand Prize: One slightly used Donkey piñata who needs only a little tlc (and lots of tape) before he can be used once more to deliver the joy of candy and game to millions.

Haven’t been exercising your Bill of Rights lately? Need a quick reminder? I’ve got ‘em listed after the jump…

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Dead donkey, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.

He put up a mighty fight, but in the end, candy for everyone!

The pinata was FUN.

But I still miss the good ol’ days when Piñatas came from Juarez and not China. Used to be you could peel apart your trashed piñata and read a fairly recent newspaper that more often than not hailed from a Mexican border town. Now there is no more newspaper. Now the crepe paper is attached to a cardboard form. And the bottom seems to have been pre-weakened so as to allow for the candy to fall with just a few blows (as was the case with our little donkey). Our group was just not going to stand for this.

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Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

My pirate name is:

Dirty Sam Read

You’re the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean — not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. Even through many pirates have a reputation for not being the brightest souls on earth, you defy the sterotypes. You’ve got taste and education. Arr!

Best question & answer:

20. Did the fact that Shakespeare never got into what happened with Hamlet and the pirates bother you?

B. Yes, but it was only a small flaw in an otherwise brilliant work of… err.. that is… ARR!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com