Not Intent on Arriving

This week has produced a wealth of interesting stories that focused on social media.

1) The Power of Twitter: I still run across many people who are unconvinced by the power of Twitter.  They don’t see how it could positively affect people on the web. The Discovery Channel Hostage Crisis story should change that.  Real-time updates allowed for the drama to unfold (complete with pictures).

2) Celebrity, Unplugged: This week marked the one year anniversary of Kanye West stealing the spotlight from Taylor Swift. In a strange, and often rambling set of tweets, Kanye finally apologized for his behavior and responded to many of the criticisms he’s heard for most of his career. Worth the read.

3) Puppy-Throwing Girl Caught: Earlier this week, a horrifying video (DISTURBING IMAGES) emerged of a young girl throwing puppies into a river.  Thankfully, the police have caught her and a woman saved five of the six puppies seen in the video. Police credit the video with allowing them to catch the girl.

Greetings from the West Coast!

A long day of travel is finally done.  I was shocked by how flat the area around the Denver airport was, but it got me through.  Flights were long and filled with lots of screaming kids. Woot!

I’m here and getting unpacked.  Life is good.  Until I send you more details.

Wow, what a weird mix of emotions. I’ve been enjoying this last weekend in Bethesda immensely and I’m sitting in my room looking at my two packed bags, ready for the next phase of my adventures to begin.

It’s been a weird week of nostalgia and meeting up with friends. I’ve found the occasion to go by my elementary school, middle school and high school over the week.  I’ve seen how they’ve stayed the same, but also changed in the time since I’ve passed through the halls. Wood Acres Elementary School was most recently renovated in 2002 and looks nothing like the school I graduated from more than 12 years ago, but one of the 5th grade teachers from my time just retired. Then, I drove past my middle school, Pyle.  It’s also undergone lots of significant renovations.  It’s been in the news recently too, though.  There was a really bad sexting scandal this past year. On the plus side, my favorite history teacher from high school just became the principal there.

And then there is Whitman.  It seems largely unchanged. I really like going back there. Not sure why. A book was written about the school based on kids from my year.

Anyways, as I prepare to move on, I’m happy.  This past week has been a lot of fun. I’ve seen my oldest friend (from kindergarten through college) and hung out with some awesome people in Dupont Circle (makes me feel so old). My parents and I enjoyed a yummy meal at Jaleo and watched a really cool movie.

The next chapter of my journey is beginning, but I leave this one on a very happy note.  Talk to you tomorrow, from the West Coast.

Bye for a bit... B-town

After the lost kiddies were reunited with the rest of the group, we decided to go grab some grub. We wandered into a tiny little alley (which still seemed to attract a bunch of traffic) and found a nice, little restaurant.

The group was split into two because they couldn’t fit all 14 of us at one table, in spite of the fact that the restaurant was empty. The menu offered a wonderful collection of odd dishes. Some of the kids were brave enough to try some of them. One of the most adventurous, which I had previously tried, was squid ink pasta.  The pasta includes some of that black ink from squid that fishermen bring into their nets.

Squid Ink Pasta or, Pasta al nero

In spite of the appearance, the pasta was actually quite good.  Another odd pasta that appeared on the menu is called spaghetti alla carrettiera.  The dish consists of pasta with tomato sauce, fresh tuna, two types of mushrooms, and pancetta.  It seems like an odd combination, but it’s delicious.  Here’s a picture.

Spaghetti alla Carrettiera

It was a really nice restaurant for our penultimate dinner of the trip. Tomorrow, we’ll finish things up.