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My redskins (little r this morning) really know how to build me up and send me crashing down…  it appears that the close wins against the Saints and Lions, and that real stinker against the Rams are more what the 2008 Skins are about than the two close but stout road efforts earlier this year against the Cowboys and Eagles.

Last night the Cowboys practically gave the game away with two first half interceptions thrown by Romo after a dominant first drive by the Skin’s resulted in a touchdown… I was exultant after DeAngelo Hall (go hokies! - also lower case after last Thursday) picked off a horrible Romo pass to T.O. in his first game as a Skin but the offense never got going again and instead I sat there the rest of the game hoping they would pull it out despite the lack of offense.

Also it seems like someone had been starving Marion Barber all week and then dangled a snickers bar in front of him for the start of an impressive 6 min drive by the Cowboys to finish us off in the 4th quarter… which if you remember is exactly the way we closed out some of those impressive games earlier this season.

I’m not giving them up for dead, but my enthusiasm is officially tempered… go skins

Last night Erika and I went to a ‘Capitol Riverfront Brand Development Meeting’.  Capitol Riverfront is the name of the Business Improvement District (BID) here in the SE, Navy Yard, Ballpark area.  Oddly enough they are headquartered on the 10th floor of 1100 NJ Ave (Ryan’s building) and they apparently have a great model of the planned construction throughout the area.  The meeting was mostly to get residents thoughts on what kind of marketing approaches are the best for attracting new residents, businesses and attention.  It was an interesting discussion however it was made clear by the Executive Director Michael Stevens that the current economic downturn is happening at a very inopportune time for the area.

In support of the BID and our new neighborhood I guess I will now start calling this area ‘Capitol Riverfront’ as well.  Check out the BID Websitewhich is an interesting view into the future of the neighborhood.

But getting to the best part of last night is that we met 20-30 of our neighbors, not just here in Capitol Hill Tower but also neighboors from the new Jefferson Apt Building and I think one person from the surrounding town home/row home places.  At the conclusion of the party in fact Erika and I brought the party upstairs to our place and we had a great time getting to know people, and distracting me from the depressing VT-Miami game. :(  How bout those Jets though!?!

Anyway, here’s hoping that last night is the beginning of several new friendships and a closer relationship with our new community!

1 out of 2 isn’t bad.. but it isn’t great either. Unfortunatly Tennessee’s season did not turn around Saturday versus Wyoming but Knoxville was still a great stop as always.  Ashley and Harry made us more than at home at their place and we enjoyed some delicous pasta in the old city.  Pete got his first visit to Neyland stadium and despite the game its hard not to be impressed by that building.

Erika, Sara and I are speeding north on I-81 as I write this listening to NFL on sirius radio (thanks Ryan!).  All in all a fantastic mid-fall football vacation!

GO HOKIES!

Yesterday Erika, Sara, Ryan, Pete and I started a long football weekend by driving down to Blacksburg for the VT-MD Thursday night game.  Minus Ryan, we are now headed to Knoxville, TN for the Tennessee Homecoming FB game on Saturday,  two games, two parties and two very different stadiums!

A couple observations at this point (we’re on the road right now between Bburg and Knoxville…):

• Nice to see/be at a football game where you can barely see the opposing team’s colors in the crowd (reference the MNF Skins-Steelers game in Washington this week)
• There’s nothing like Lane Stadium on a big Thursday night game - THUNDEROUS NOISE!
• VT 13-3 all time in Thursday night games (2 of those losses against Boston College)
• Blacksburg is capable of some stunningly beautiful weather at odd times of the year
• I’ve missed seeing a full sky of stars like we got last night..

And now on to Knoxville, GO VOLS!

Erika, Sara and I went with the ever popular vampire theme,  football player, cheerleader and coach! We had a great time at Clarendon Grill with Breanna, Lauren and friends…. till next year!

Between my lack of attention (untill last night) and the District of Columbia managing to get my name right on my drivers license and wrong on my voter registration card Mr. Robert DeFicippo got to vote this morning at the Van Ness Elementary School right out in front of the Navy Yard.

I have only myself to blame, I didn’t even punch out the voter ID card from its attached sheet till last night.  Luckily the friendly ‘Vote Captain’ in charge of the voting station told me to merely present the incorrect voter ID card, vote and then submit a change of name form in the near future.  Overall it was a good voting experience, only about a 15 minute wait at 0715 with friendly volunteers.

I think I recall having a similar reaction during the 2000 election (an unfortunate absentee mistake on my part precluded me from voting in 2004) and that was I had paid alot of attention to the National level elections and was completely taken by suprise and not prepared regarding local elections.

I tried to get in front of this on the most local level, ANC6D07’s Advisory Neighboorhood Councilman and I was dissapointed with the lack of personal/election related websites for the candidates.  I know I am spoiled by the firehose of information available all the time on just about anything, and I know that ANC’s aren’t really earthshattering.  But it would have been nice too have some more information about the most local election that affects me. 

The candidates were; Bob Siegel the incumbant, a wealthy long time SE residant and prominant member of the Gay community, and Capitol Hill Tower (my building) resident Geoffrey Kreiss who has family in the area but less community background.  Some other blogs (the only places I found anything on this) remark that it is somewhat of a confrontation between what SE has been in the past and the direction it seems to be going in the future.  On the extreme micro level it got me very interested in the election… can’t wait to see what happens!

A couple pictures to get you into the right seasonal state of mind! Plus a couple other random ones I hadn’t gotten around to posting lately.  The Redskins managed to eek out a victory today which saved the football weekend! (not sure if you saw the VT or UT games - if not your lucky!)

Three day weekend plus spectacular mid-October weather = fun picture taking opportunities!

I’m still playing around with just how I best like to present albums on this site and this is yet another option, feel free to comment and make suggestions if you wish.  My first album is from Saturday morning when Knish and I took an exploring trip down to the DC Riverfront area.  This whole area used to be federal property as part of the Washington Navy Yard.  Now it is under private development for condo’s and commercial areas.  If you are interested in the latest happening son this topic, check out JD Land’s website as she is the expert.

Click on the picture below to see the album;

The bigger event this weekend was Erika and I going to the Redskins-Rams game at FedEx field.  Pro football is really an awesome spectacle in person and we had a great time.  Unfortunatly I seem to be cryptonite for any sports endeavour I support and the Skin’s impressive 4 game winning streak was snapped after a lackluster offensive effort with a field goal as time expired by the Rams.  The weather was nice and I got some fun pictures with my 70-300mm lens.  Our seats were pricey, but close to the action and as low down in the stadium as I’ve ever been.  Enjoy!

Click on the picture for the album;

The new dog thing is in the air!  Erika’s parents, Tom and Linda picked up a rescue Doberman last Friday.  His name is Mamba and he’s about 2 years old and a pretty big guy.  Great coloring, especially the dark brown.  You get a great idea of the size disparity from these two pictures;

Ryan (Nancy) has joined Erika and I in the 29 club, which is one more good reason to start planning the 29 in 20-09 party for next spring!  Actually he and Amy had a great birthday idea to visit the Flying Dog Brewery which was a great time,  $5 for the tour, a pint glass and all the beer you can drink (in 6 oz pours)… it is up near Frederick, follow the link to check them out!!!

Here are a couple pictures from the trip along with a couple more of our new dog.  We took him to his first obediance class where he did good but had to be separated from his old kennel mate for barking.  We also have named him - Knish.  The story behind the name is that Erika and I decided to make potato knish for a holiday party in FL a couple years back, basically it was a very long and involved process for some very small but tasty treats.  It confirmed our aversion to most baking but its stuck w/ us as a good story… now its going to be a good dog!  Enjoy the pictures, I hope everyone in the DC area got out and enjoyed the gorgeous weather!!!