Thursday, June 15th
Washington, DC
Another busy day in DC. I started out the day with meetings at SPS until about noon. There are lots of details to go over and semantics to work out. The people I work with are incredibly professional and knowledgeable; it makes my job quite easy. After the initial business of the day one of my coworkers and I went on a public transportation tour. We had to pick up a couple of maps for the program and there is this great map store right off of Farragutt Square. We took the N series bus from Albans to the store and made our purchase. The square was buzzing with activity. Business district workers were having make shift urban picnics while a free outdoor concert was going on. Some listened, some ate, and a handful even napped the lunch breaks away.
We then took the Crosstown Circulator bus. The Circulator has been around not even a whole year. I actually took it last year on its first day of operation. The circulator is a quick and cheap way to get across the heart of mall area of DC. Washington has a wonderful public transportation system. It is efficient, clean, and cheap. The only kink in the system is the lack of a Metro (DC’s Subway) stop in Georgetown. This is an often debated topic in DC. Long time Georgetown residents welcome the areas lack of accessibility by the public transportation clientele, while the rest of the city complains about the difficulty of accessing this popular shopping, dining, and drinking hotspot.
We then took the 30 series bus back to the Albans area. We had to stop at Max’s for some ice cream. You will probably see me write that latter phrase quite often.
I then went with Bill and Amanda down to the National Mall to play some softball. The Mall is filled with no less than about 20 different games this night and most Thursday's. Amada, Bill, and Norm all play for a team called, the “Ugly Mugs” that plays every Thursday evening either at the mall or in the fields in area of town called Anacostia. They are sponsored by a tavern by the same name (Link). The team has been around nine years is made up of primarily of friends and friends of friends who are Air Force Academy graduates. The team has branched out over the years so the make up of the team is hardly exclusive to former and current pilots. The team graciously allows me to play with them while I’m here. I played about 4 or 5 games with them last year and had a great time. The Mugs combined timely hitting and excellent defense to overcome their opponent 17 to 13. Yours truly, “Z 96”, the jersey I borrowed, or later named “Drive Time” went 2 for 3. I came on in relief of starting pitcher, Norm, and middle reliever, Sank, and was able to pick up save by throwing 3 innings of scoreless relief. The Mugs debriefed our game over some beers, pizza rolls, and mini burgers. It was a great time. As a visitor/temp employee in a new city it is always nice to have groups of people and various activities to plug into. I thank Bill, Amanda, Norm, and the rest of the “Ugly Mugs” for letting me join in their fun.