Rumors Of My Disappearance Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I went to Washington D.C. last weekend, which explains why I've been gone for so long.

I went to the National Zoo on Monday morning, and was able to see Tai Shan and his parents. I've only been to the Hogle Zoo once, and Sea World a couple of times, but it was truly a treat to go to a "real" zoo. My favorites (besides the Giant Pandas) were the Mexican Wolves and the Red Panda. I definitely recommend showing up early; by 10:30 AM (when we left) it was starting to get really hot and sticky, and all the groups of schoolkids had arrived. We got there around 7:30 AM, and it was relatively cool and there were very few people wandering around. The animals were a little more active too. I guess they don't care for the heat either.

I also saw a cardinal (my first!) and an oriole. They weren't in cages or pens, so that was kind of exciting for me. (Maybe I just excited with seeing new stuff)

I did take lots of photos, but I'm still technologically impaired so I apologize.

My little foray into the big city proved just how much of a country mouse I am; going onto the metro was a challenging experience. You go up to the SmartCard vending machine and buy a card for $10. $5 for the card, $5 metro fare. OK, that was easy enough. Until you get to the gates where you actually pay for your ride. There are slots to insert the paper metro tickets (which I'm familiar with after my 1999 Europe visit), but no place that I can tell to swipe the card. I stood there for a couple of minutes until my travelling buddy pointed out that there's a light with the shape and markings of the SmartCard on the gate; turns out you just hold the SmartCard over the light and some "electronic magic" happens and opens the gate so you can walk through.

And we all thought that college educated meant something.