Moon Safety, and other Vacation Lessons

Sometimes, on account of my good behavior, I get time off work! (Well, actually it's on account of the legally-mandated vacation rules set forth by the residency accreditation board, but regardless: I get time off work!) Here's the whirlwind tour of goodness that was packed into New Year's week: A quick trip to Washington DC with Matt, my best friend from med school. We learned a lot of the real stories behind the landmarks and museums.

The Capitol Building, which is the nation's official manufacturing site for all of the capital letters used in all the publications throughout the whole country. Each member of Congress gets his/her own desk, a stack of colored paper, and a pair of safety scissors to cut out the letters with. I think maybe some kind of government work might happen there, as well, but I'm not sure.

----------------------------------

The Washington Monument, which marks the site where the state of Washington was originally intended to be located, until they realized there wasn't enough room for it there so they had to move it to the west coast.

----------------------------

The steering helm of a naval vessel at the National Air and Space Museum, We made a great effort to hijack it to sail to Panama, but eventually realized it wasn't connected to an actual ship.

---------------------------

The actual caption on this item says: "Michael Collins used these scissors to open food packages." What it should say is: "Who the heck is Michael Collins? ...Oh yeah, he's that third guy from the Apollo 11 mission. The one who had to stay up in the orbiter opening food packages while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon."

----------------------------

Survival Knife from the Apollo space mission.

Used for killing the Moon People.

----------------------------

We wandered over to China Town for lunch at a little hole in the wall where a remarkable Chinese noodle man stands in the front window making fresh noodles all day. (Follow the link and scroll the video forward to about the 0:50 mark. Prepare to be astounded and amazed by the noodlery.)

----------------------------

We also toured the National Botanical Garden, where they grow some truly incredible things...

...including the Stripey-Legged Gothica Touristica, which can usually only be found in parts of Asia, urban university campus bars, and Oz.

-------------------------------

After the DC trip, in a really lucky convergence of events, I was able to drive to Kentucky and spend New Year's Eve with two of my siblings (Ford and Janene) and their families!

My lovely niece, Megan, is shown here modeling a carrot that looks eerily like an index finger.

--------------------------

Ford and his daughter, Melinda. Notice Ford has no poker face (a family trait which I also inherited). Also notice the ship on the mantle in the background, which the family convinced me had been made as an art project at school. Closer examination revealed that "art project at school" = "Made in China." --------------------------

For about the last 5 years, Janene's been claiming she's married to a guy named Mark, but in all that time I had never met him. It turns out he does exist! And he's as cool as she always claimed.

----------------------

Also, Janene has the most infectious, least inhibited laugh in the world!

---------------------------

Last but not least, an important Public Safety Announcement:

According to my cutie-patootie nephew, Matthew, there are

dinosaurs living outside in your yard.

Be on the lookout.

-------------------------