Back to Work

Started a 3 month block of work this week so not much play time was had. I did manage to take one day off as I haven't got computer access yet so I went and visited that stinky corpse flower again - it bloomed early in the week. By the time I got there though, it was starting to close again and as I write this on the weekend, it has fallen over. So it doesn't bloom long and for something that happens every 3-6 years, I can see what this is a rare and spectacular thing to see. My mate B went the day before me. There is a live camera feed on the flower so I text B when I was there. He was in the city shopping. He told me to wave at the camera and he took a screen shot on his phone. Check me out in the bottom right hand side waving my arms. He was laughing in the shops and I felt like a complete dick - but as you can tell, no-one was noticing anything !  I had wished I took my batman mask - how funny that would have been.

A real popular thing in DC and in the US really is food trucks. They are everywhere and see every kind of food you can imagine. There is a website that allows you to follow your favourite food truck each day too - as they move around. Here's a pic of the trucks in the city at lunchtime. I don't frequent them but the smell of the food is fantastic. 

I went for my first session with a trainer at the gym. She was good, older like me and runs/rides and is a running coach. She seems quite compatible with Deb and I. But the cost for a 1 hour session is expensive so we are no likely to do regular training with her. I managed to survive the first session which was more an assessment of my fitness and abilities. I seemed to do ok and look forward to getting back into the gym along with running and riding again. I did notice that I was about the youngest person in the gym beside the trainers? It was a Saturday morning so maybe the young ones were still in bed? I saw our neighbour on the treadmill too - not sure if she was more shocked than me. 

It was game day again on Sunday. We went to the afternoon game with our good friends and I was thrilled the Nats WON against the San Francisco Giants !!  This is only the second time I've seen them win. It was 1-0 and it was a home run that scored the run. Wow, there is really nothing like a home run. It's like a 6 in cricket but on steroids. Today there was a classic catch in the outfield where the catcher crashed into the padded wall and some great pitching at lightning speeds. For info, the pitching speed is about 95mph which is about 152kmh. The mid-game President's race is always a favourite - such a stupid, funny and unique thing to do. My mate's favourite player, young superstar Bryce Harper, didn't play today. We had a $5 wager that Bryce would hit a home run - something my mate assures me every game we go to. He is a great player for a young fella but I've yet to see him hit any home runs. Anyway, he didn't play today so that $5 stays tucked in a pocket in my wallet for next time.

 

I started reading a book on a short history of America. I wanted to get an overview to help me understand things better when we travel around. I think I will know more about US history than Australian history but I guess I have the perfect opportunity to learn.

Well, not an exciting week to blog about but there were some good times as usual. The pics below show the dogs enjoying their nightly carrot treat as I cut veggies for dinner. They have taken some getting used to, especially for Cricket, but now they hang around when I start preparing dinner waiting for their carrot. And the other pic is this beautiful BMW. It was an i8 - it's electric. It looked very sharp and swish, unlike the usual BMW style. 

 

So I learnt something this week..the President carries 'the football' and also carries 'the biscuit' = the bag with the gadgets to release a nuke when he's mobile and the plastic card that has the launch codes. Watched a political chat show discussing Trump carrying the football and biscuit. OMG, it was like a scary horror movie but you usually thank god the movie is not real…but this is a possibility. Apparently when he got his security briefings this week, he asked the flunky many questions about launching nukes. Maybe we have something worse than guns to worry about here?