Six Of One, A Half Dozen Of The Other

On Saturday, we went to see the Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. It was interesting photography (slight warning to parents: not all photos rated-G!).

Richard Avedon (1923–2004), America’s pre-eminent portraitist and fashion photographer, photographed the faces of politics throughout his career. As the country enters the next presidential election season, the Corcoran will bring together Avedon’s political portraits for the first time. Juxtaposing images of elite government, media, and labor officials with counter-cultural activists and ordinary citizens caught up in national debates, this exhibition will explore a five-decade taxonomy of politics and power by one of our best-known artists.

And you thought this post was going to focus on Aaron Rodgers' shoulder injury, Green Bay's loss, Brett Favre's record-breaking six touchdown and Jets' win. Alas, I know you're disappointed.

Did I mention Favre had six touchdowns?
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80b2d31e

What Are We Reading?

Brian is reading:
Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Sanction by Eric Van Lustbader

Ellie is reading:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

A Thirteen Hour Tour

Friends from Minnesota came to visit! Yes, they're Vikings fans. I know, we still let them stay. Of course, we did provide some appropriate reading material. :-)

It was really great to see them. I've known them my whole life. One of the friends was my 4-year old Sunday School teacher. They arrived late Friday and left Sunday morning, so we only had Saturday to see everything you can see in DC! Here's what we were able to see: the Netherland Carillon, Iwo Jima, Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, Washington Monument, saw Bob Dole at the World War II Memorial, Korean Memorial, Lincoln Monument, found our friend's cousin's name at the Vietnam Memorial, White House, Old Post Office Pavilion tower, FBI building, Archives, Navy Memorial, my office!, found our friend's father's police partner's name at the Law Enforcement Memorial, Building Museum, St. Matthew's, Mayflower Hotel, Capitol, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Union Station and FDR Memorial. All in about 13 hours! It was 93 degrees with 92 percent humidity. It was hot, but we all had fun.

We also finished re-doing our guest rooms. This is how they look. The yellow room needs a few wall decorations and maybe a chair or bench, but it's just about done.

The middle room with the new futon, needs to be painted a new color, curtains/valance, wall decorations. So, it's still a work in progress, but we've come a long way since we started!

What do you think?

I Remember

Photo by Bill O'Leary / Washington Post

I remember that it is was a Tuesday. It seemed like any other Tuesday. But it wasn't. It was a day that would change the world.

I remember the crisp, cloudless, crystal, bright blue sky that morning.

I remember watching the unbelievable scenes on TV with colleagues.

I remember finally reaching my family because the phones weren't working right away.

I remember the eerie three plus hour drive to get home.

I remember the voice of my best friend when I finally reached her.

I remember thinking that we would know people who had lost loved ones.

I remember we had just moved in to our house the weekend before.

I remember watching TV the rest of the day with friends.

I remember the scenes on TV from the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA.

I remember watching the head of Cantor Fitzgerald weep over the loss of so many employees and friends.

I remember seeing on TV the signs posted on lamp posts seeking news on loved ones lost.

I remember every time I visit our headquarters that is right across from where the World Trade Center Towers stood.

I remember the 11 employees I never knew, but were lost that day.

To all the families who were impacted on that day, seven years ago, I remember.

Also see Eleven Tears and In Remembrance

The New Packer Era

Are you ready for some football?

It's true, I'm still smarting from the Favre trade. I am a Packer fan. Nearly my entire football watching life has been with one quarterback. He never missed a start. He played when he was hurt. He played when he was healthy. He just always played. It was never even really a question. You never wondered on a Sunday if he was going play.

But tonight, on Monday, September 8, 2008, the Packers start a new era with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Offense started out with about 2813764912837649128736598213 yards of penalties, but after they got it going, they had a couple of really nice drives. Although they lacked a little consistency throughout 60 minutes of play, all that counts is the 24-19 W at the end!

The offensive line needs to give Rodgers a little more time, but Rodgers also proved he can scramble.

The running game was adequate. Grant had a nice 57 yard TD run.

Receivers had their moments. It was a shame that a 68 yard bomb to Driver was called back because of an ineligible receiver down field.

Special teams was special as Blackmon had a 76 yard punt return for a TD.

Did I mention defense was defending Adrian Peterson, I mean the Vikings? Kampman had a nice sack.

Aaron's Lambeau Leap: B+

#4 Throws #1 (and #2)

Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images

Yep, that's what it looked like. Favre threw the first of two Jet touchdowns. The first was a 56-yard pass to Jerricho Cotchery.

Speaking of which, I'm sure you're all dying to know about my "Cheeseheads" fantasy football team. Here are today's starters:

QB • Donovan McNabb • PHI
RB • Frank Gore • SF
RB • Larry Johnson • KC
WR • Randy Moss • NE
WR • Wes Welker • NE
WR • Jerricho Cotchery • NYJ
TE • Tony Gonzalez • KC
PK • Nick Folk • DAL
Def • New York Giants • NYG

So far, I'm beating Hairy-backed Marys, but he's got two players yet, and I'm done with a 38 fantasy point spread...we'll see if that holds!

Come and Visit!

As I mentioned in the last post, we've been re-doing our guest room, or the "yellow" room as we often call it. We decided on the Porto frame from Crate and Barrel. In addition to the the room being yellow, it has a floral ceiling border that has yellow, blue, green, beige tones. I chose the striped duvet and blue polka dot sheets.

This afternoon, I'm on the way to Targét (la boutique de France) to look for possible bed side tables, lamp and window treatment options.

In the room at the top of the stairs, or the "middle" room, we decided on queen size futon. This is the style, ignore the unattractive futon cover in the picture. We went with a neutral tan color that looks nice with the wood finish.

Curb Alert

You post; they come.

It's the beauty of craigslist.com. It becomes a little addictive. Is it gone yet? Do I have a new email? Is it gone? Do I have a new email? You get the idea.

This weekend, we've been working on our guest rooms. Along with making sure we're doing our part for the U.S. economy, we've been doing a little purge. On Friday, we posted a double mattress/box spring/frame AND a single box spring (not really sure how we have only a single box spring, but that's a different story) for pick up Saturday. It became a game of F5 (website refresh) to see if there was a new message. We were afraid to do a straight out curb alert, first-come-first-served because the afternoon called for isolated thunderstorms. Within five minutes, I had 8-10 new emails. We responded to the first and scheduled a time on Saturday. Unfortunatley, they had misjudged the size of the double for the size of their room, so they only took the single box spring. Hmmmm. A double mattress/box spring/frame sitting in our kitchen was not going to work. Back to the drawing board, aka craigslist.com. Once again, we posted. Response was minutely slower, but sure enough within a half an hour, we had arranged pick up and a new home for our old bed.

Today, it was an old desk. With the weather looking gorgeous, we posted:

Curb Alert - Desk

First come first serve. Pick up at (location). Will take down this post when it's gone.

A few minutes ago, I saw someone loading the desk into their vehicle and drive away. Good bye old desk. We hope you enjoy your new home.