Month: April 2008

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Georgetown U Dupont Circle Route Change

Back on April 4th Georgetown announced, without any notice, that the bus which transports faculty, staff, students, and more to the campus from Dupont Circle would take a longer route to avoid the local neighborhood.  While we don’t know the real reason for the change, rumors suggest neighbors complaints on noise and vibration of their old homes.  The bus now takes a twice as long to get to campus as it travels up to the National Cathedral and then down Wisconsin to campus.  The new route removes busses from a 4 block section across Rock Creek Parkway.  

For some reason this really bothered me.  Besides getting up earlier for the longer ride in, I think I truly did not like the new route.  If it were a scenic route I probably would not complain about the longer ride.  I vowed to buy a bicycle and checked out bikes at a local shop on Tuesday and walked to work on Wednesday since I did not find a bike on Tuesday night.  See my next post on by bike decision…..

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Review: Bicentennial Man (Spoilers)

Warning….I spoil the ending here….so stop if you are planning on watching and not wanting to know the ending.  If this is you….it is better than AI in my opinion, check it out!

It seems that both “AI: Artificial Intelligence” and “Bicentennial Man” came out around the same time.  I think my feeling of unhappiness with “AI” dissuaded me from viewing “Bicentennial Man.”  A friend has his movie list online and I thought it be good to borrow it since I had not cared to rent it.  While it was slowly paced, I found that it kept my attention, and unlike “AI,” did not seem to have a better stopping point.  In my opinion, the future in “AI” when discovered in the ice was a bit much with the sort of “back flash” segment.

Here comes a little synopsis… Family gets a robot as a surprise.  Called a “Household Appliance” by the manufacturer, the robot is to perform any duties requested.  This one, who was named “Alex,” is malfunctioning according to the manufacturer who wants to dissect and “fix” the malfunction as a learning and feeling robot could indeed cause harm, especially to children and the entire series would be recalled.  Alex quickly becomes adopted by one of the daughters and father of the family who helps Alex by providing him a job and a bank account to earn wages and “pay his own way.”  All of this is in an effort to become “free” and human.  He eventually does earn freedom and is sent away by the family to live on his own though the robot still feels inclined to serve the family, but not necessarily feel like he is obligated.  Alex seeks out his maker and looks for others like him and finds none that are “thinking.”  He finds the son of the creator of robot company who has been doing research into expression upgrades as well as tactile response with a more human “Skin-like” exterior.  As the movie progresses, with the help of Alex and his strive to become human, artificial organs, a nervous system, and eventually a digestive system are developed and many parts used in humans.  This inclusion helps Alex become declared “Human.”  He wanted to marry the grand daughter of the girl who he came to love and cared for him back.  After one final upgrade whereby an erosive poison is injected into his system so that he can “Age” and eventually cease function, their marriage is finally consummated.  Alex “dies” just before, never knowing he was ruled a human, and his wife shortly thereafter to be with him.

There you have it, the movie in a nutshell.  Robin Williams adds to the movie in his typical comical way which adds a little extra to the movie making it truly enjoyable.  I only wish he was able to hear he was a human….but that seems to be Hollywood. 🙂

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45,032 and Counting…..

The crowds are growing as the busy tourist season is upon us.  The zoo definitely benefits from the warmer weather since I am in an outdoor volunteer position.  The Air and Space Museum is not really affected by weather, and is the most visited museum in the world!

Back to my count……I talked with 1078 visitors this past Sunday at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and 588 interpreting at the Lion and Tiger area at the National Zoo.  I will write again about this in about 3 week which is when I should top 50,000!  It is amazing how slowly it is taking to get to 1,000,000 since so many companies and individuals net that much money easily.

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National Cherry Blossom Festival 2

So after being sick with the stomach flu, I returned to work on Friday and headed to the Tidal Basin on Saturday to volunteer at the National Cherry Blossom Festival again.  My day was full this time with Downtown DC/Washington Area Bicyclists Association Bike Valet from 9 – 2 and Recycling with the National Park Service from 3 – 6.

Bike Valet

The weather forecast was bleak which I think attributed for the slow start to the day.  While it was cold, there was no precipitation and the occasional break in clouds to let the sun shine through.  When I left at 2, we parked about 40 bikes which was much slower than the morning the Saturday before.  This time I had hand sanitizer, and knock on wood, am not sick!

Recycling

Before volunteering, I told myself that there better be recycle bins because I was not going to stand around and sort piles of trash.  While sorting was a little part of it and certainly not a requirement, just a motivational point for the up and coming environmentalist in me 🙂  I was teamed up with a few others not part of a team.  I was so impressed by the large number of teams volunteering.  I was thinking “garbage duty” would be at the bottom of the volunteer favorites.

Next to many of the newly installed trash cans there were recycle bins.  While they were not permanent, the side-by-side positioning definitely helps the environment.  Those who are willing to walk to the trash can easily have the option to recycle within arms reach.  The number of recyclables in the trash can and trash in the recycle bags was minimal.  There however were many more trash cans than recycle bins which is were the environmentalist in me strove to dig those recyclables out of them!  It also gave me the opportunity to use my “gripper” to reach down in.  It kind of felt like using the crane at the arcade, some bottles were hard to get a hold of.

By this point the sun was shining and I currently have a sun burned face 🙁  Odd how you really don’t notice the sun until you are out of it and looking in the mirror.  I mention this because I get a little weird at this point.  I made it look like I was trying to “catch” something in the trash can.  “Gotcha” I would say as I stabbed and grabbed another recyclable 🙂

I had a great time and may look at volunteering next weekend.  It is really great to see how many recyclables were separated, knowing that it takes….

  • 1 Million Years for Glass to decompose with plastic and aluminum up there as well!
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