24 hours ago this grass was leaf free.

Here’s another weekend in Washington post.  This time it’s a few pictures from inside the Air and Space Museum.  I didn’t take a lot, so you get what you get.

I like all of the flight exhibits.  Planes are cool, regardless of their use.  However, I much prefer the Space exhibits.  They are the best part of this museum, by far.

I wanted to ride this home.

Just ignore the reflection of the Yankees fan, okay?

This made us want to go visit the moon.

Those rockets are probably four stories tall.  Just like me!

There will be a post of pictures from the Museum of American History later.  Then maybe a couple more from Arlington National Cemetery, and maybe a few random pics from other places.  Then I will be done with the Washington pictures.  There was so much to see, and we barely scratched the surface.

Why should I care about organized hockey at any level, when organized hockey continuously shows that it doesn’t care about me?

Three examples…

I had a show on my college radio station.  WUML at UMass Lowell.  I gave a segment of my show to the hockey coach.  We had a professor who wrote (probably still writes) for uscho.com and we’d talk to the coach and it was great.  We also did a segment with the basketball coach which also included the assistant athletic director.  On at least one occasion we had the athletic director on the air.  Free air time to sell his department.  In exchange, this athletic director sold our station to the Lowell Sun without our consent.  I haven’t been to a UMass Lowell game since, and I never will go to another one.  At least not as long as he is the athletic director.  Maybe if he quits I might go back, but until that day… no friggin’ way.

I had season tickets to an AHL team for many years.  In fact, during the season the NHL cancelled due to the last lockout, I went to something like 45 games.  I followed my team into the second round of the playoffs.  It was a great season.  Now?  The AHL is no longer an option because my team packed up their shit and moved to another city.  All the money and time and energy I invested in that team and puff all gone.  Screw you fans, we’re out of here.

Now we come to the NHL who just seven years after they cancelled an entire season due to an ownership lockout, have locked out the players once again.  This is the third time the reinging commissioner has locked out the players.  What is the reason for the current lockout?  Simple.  A group of 30 billionaires are fighting with a few hundred millionaires over how to split up the money that I give them.

Now I know that only one of these issues affected me directly, and that my beef in two of the cases is with a specific team and not the entire league involved.  I get that.  Still though, why should I invest my time and energy and money into any of these leagues when this is the type of treatment I will receive in return?  How much shit am I as a fan supposed to take before I just tell them all to go to hell?

Sure was a bad night for my division series predictions last night.  After winning the first two games, Cincinnati was eliminated by San Francisco.  Choke. 

Then later in the evening the A’s were eliminated by the Tigers.  I had declared the A’s to be my team and there they go losing in the first (real) round.  Nice.  My Red Sox luck seems to continue.

The Cardinals lost game four on a walk off home run and Washington has forced game five.  Yippee.  If the Cardinals advance I think they will be my new team (again) (thanks for nothing, A’s).

The only good news came from the Orioles who beat the Yankees to force game five.  Both games three and four have gone to extra innings.  This is the tightest series and so far it is the most fun to watch.

There are two game fives tonight.  We need the Orioles and the Cardinals to win, or else my prediction percentage is going straight down the shitter for 2012.

Duck and cover, here they come.  Pictures taken outside of the US Capitol Building.  The place is HUGE and in order to get to the visitor’s center you have to walk around the back.  That means I had a long walk where I just took picture after picture.  I actually used both of my lenses!  Chaos!

You knew there was a reflecting pool at the Capitol, right?  I always forget about that.

Switch to the wider lens…

This is the point where we entered the visitor’s center.  Everything that follows was from after we finished our tour and had lunch.

Here’s the last of the 18-105mm lens.

Now back to the 55-200mm lens.

Damn busy street with damn people in my shots.

I still have a lot more Washington, DC pictures to go through.  Hopefully there will be at least a Capitol Building exterior post today.  Who knows.  Until that time, let me share this single picture of our next family car.

Since when do cats build forts?

Here are some pictures from the tour inside of the United States Capitol Building.  We will see the rotunda, the room underneath the great dome, and the old House room, and the crypt.

And of course, the visitors center.

Every state gets two statues to show off their history.  I am particularly fond of this one.

My step son was loving the fact that the visitors center was underground.

This is the underside of the great dome.

This son of a bitch of a statue cost my wife and me a private tour when we came here on our honeymoon.  I’m still pissed.  Stupid Reagan statue.

There are four paintings depicting the settling of the new world, and four depicting major moments in the American Revolution.

The frieze (sp?) beneath the dome shows our history from Columbus through the Wright Brothers.

This looks like a sculpture when you’re in the room, but it’s actually a 3D painting.

Robbie tries getting artsy with the shadows.

I’m sure I am going to spell this wrong, but this is called the Apotheosis of Washington.  Note that 13 of the women have stars over their heads.  They represent the 13 original US states.

This statue of Abraham Lincoln was sculpted by a 17 year old.  When I was 17  I was sweeping and mopping floors.

Thomas Jefferson.

Now we move on to the room that originally housed the US House of Representatives.  I think it’s called the statue room.  I can’t remember for sure.  I’ll ask my nine year old step son, he’ll remember.

Behind that door is the office of the Speaker of the House.

So I was diggin’ the chandeliers.  Wanna make something of it?

Mini-dome.

I was diggin’ the curtain too.  Again, wanna make something of it?  Huh?

Again, Robbie tries to get artsy with the shadows.  Yeah.

Ummm… I have to sort of question the logic behind this statue.

Now we are downstairs in the crypt.  Yes, there is a crypt in the US Capitol Building.  No, there is no one buried in the crypt.  It was meant for George Washington but the Father of Our Country preferred to be buried at his home in Virginia.  While there is no body buried in the crypt, there are a bunch of statues, including this one of Abraham Lincoln.

Again, I sort of question the logic behind this one.  I know he was a hero to half of the nation, and I know he did do a lot to help the peace following the Civil War… I guess.  Still.  Maybe I’m still bitter over the whole secession thing.

I think this was a New Hampshire statue.  Obviously I cannot see the base, but I believe I took it for the kids.  Our tour guide was awesome.  He went through the whole, very large, group and asked which state everyone was from and then proceeded to tell us who the two statues were and where they were located within the Capitol building.  It was very impressive.

And finally… I dare you to say something.  I double dare you.

I’ll put up another post later with pictures from the outside of the US Capitol building.  I love that building.

I think my favorite spot in Washington, DC is probably the Lincoln Memorial.  You have the reflecting pool, the view of the mall, the Washington Monument, the Capitol in the distance, and Abe himself.  I just love the views from that spot.

I always tilt to the right.  Damn it.

This one would have been nice if the damn sun had come out.

I need to learn to use photoshop so I can remove the douchebag in the lower right.

It is possible that this might just be a Massachusetts thing (with apologies to New York).