Places

A second trip to the National Seminary at Forest Glen

A little more than a week ago, I wrote about the National Seminary at Forest Glen, here in the DC suburbs, and also posted some photos I took there this summer. I promised I’d post the rest of the photos, which I took in the summer of 2005, and I held true to that promise.

I can safely say I have no more photos to post from the site, since it’s being redeveloped as I write this, and will soon look different. The old buildings will stand no more, but will be replaced by their modern counterparts, which will supposedly look and feel the same. We’ll see how that turns out… So, you may call these photos “limited edition”. I can’t get you any more. Enjoy them, and visit the site sometime next year if you’re able. You may or may not recognize the spots in the photos, depending on how extensive the redevelopment will be.

To help you understand the layout of the site, I’ve posted a map of the grounds below. I also invite you to visit the National Seminary website (which may or may not be up for long — that’s where I got the map). The site has photos of bygone times, showing you how the grounds and buildings looked when they were actually in use. It’s very interesting stuff, and my advice is to spend one of these chilly autumn evenings curled up with your laptop on the sofa, reading through it.

Map of the National Seminary at Forest Glen

The Kappa Windmill, from the main courtyard

Rambling walkway between the Zeta Swiss Chalet and the Music Hall

In the forest, looking at the Beta Castle

Events

Happy 300 millionth, USA!

We turned 300 million today (people, that is) here in the grand old (or young, depending on your point of view) US of A. Yay!

Lots of us to go around, all of us immigrants (although some would think otherwise). We love big, open spaces, big cars, big houses, big meals and given our experiences when we go shopping, big clothes as well. (Is is so hard to make pants in a 30 waist?) We have it so well in this country, that we forget how badly others have it. As a matter of fact, we’re so busy doing so well (or trying to, anyway) that often we lose sight of what’s important (our loved ones, family, friends) in the pursuit of the American dream.

The opportunities in this country are amazing — like nothing else in the world — and that’s what’s caused us to get to 300 million. People are drawn to this country from all corners of the world, and after they get here, they multiply like rabbits — you know people, 2.2 children is the American way…

We’ve got some of the most polarized politics in the world. Everything is made into a political issue, and if possible, drawn to the national level, where Democrats fight against the Republicans over some minuscule thing while the important things, like our national debt, education, crimes of all sorts, infrastructure improvements, energy consumption, conservation of our environment, pollution prevention and serious medical research don’t get the attention they deserve.

The world wouldn’t be the same without the United States. Some say we meddle, and some say we help. I say we’ve lately been mostly meddling and sticking our noses in someone else’s pots — we’ve gotten into serious debt for it, too, not to mention we’ve made more enemies. Ah, but it wouldn’t be the US of A if they didn’t try to police the world, wouldn’t it? I guess you take the good with the bad if you live in this country, and you try to speak out against the bad.

So there you have it. A country like no other, and we’re 300 million strong! God bless America!

Reviews

USPS Priority Mail is anything but that

USPS Recently mailed a package with Priority Mail, and it didn’t arrive at its destination on time. All the USPS website would tell me is that the shipping info was received. When I called them 7 days later — remember, Priority Mail is supposed to be a 2-3 day delivery — I told them I had a shipping/label number and asked what happened to my package. They couldn’t tell me anything. Their official answer was: “We can’t track Priority Mail packages.”

What’s the point of offering a tracking service if you can’t track it?

So I asked them, is there a way to start an investigation, and find out what happened to that package? What if it’s lost, what if someone stole it? What happens now? Their answer? “We can’t investigate Priority Mail packages. We can only investigate Express Mail packages.”

So I asked them what weight is carried with all of their “official” notices that say that tampering with or stealing postal mail is a theft, and is punishable under the law, etc. If there’s no way to tell where a Priority Mail package is, and they’re not willing or not able to start an investigation, does that mean people can go ahead and steal Priority Mail packages? No answer there.

There you have it. Not only is Priority Mail more costly than First Class Mail, not only does not take 2-3 days for mail to get there (it usually takes a week and the USPS only offers excuses when that happens), but the tracking service is non-existent, and you can’t find out what happened to your package if it never arrives at its destination.

What lesson are we to draw from this? My take on it is that Priority Mail is inferior to other shipping services out there. It may be cheaper than UPS or FedEx, but the packages can get stolen, they can get trampled on, they can be late or never arrive at their destination, and the USPS won’t care.

Updated 11/14/2007: I held a book drawing here, and one of my readers won it. After mailing the book via Priority Mail to him, the envelope got there damaged, opened and empty. We know we sealed it properly right at the post office and paid $8 to ship it. To add insult to injury, the message stamped on the envelope from the post office in his town that said the envelope was received opened and damaged. So not only did they damage my package and lose the book, but they lied about how the book got to be “lost” in the first place.

Updated 12/13/2007: The USPS has managed to top its previous performance. It has now taken them 13 days to deliver a local package to a distance of 25 miles.

How To

If you can’t connect to SQL Server on port 1433

Just had two fun days of troubleshooting this by working together with Adobe/Macromedia support, and found the solution.

Here’s the original issue: could not set up a new data source connecting locally (localhost, 127.0.0.1) to SQL Server 2000 Standard running on the web server; kept getting a SQL Exception error. Was told SQL just wasn’t listening on port 1433, or any TCP port for that matter, even though TCP/IP and Named Pipes were clearly enabled in the SQL Network Config Utility. Even in the registry, port 1433 was specified, yet I could not connect to SQL on TCP by any means. I couldn’t even telnet to the machine on that port.

Turns out that even though I’d upgraded SQL Server 2000 to SP4, I needed to downgrade to SP3. Still doesn’t make sense, after all, MS SPs are supposed to be roll-ups, but hey, that’s what worked. Luckily, the server I was working was running on VMware, so I reverted to a snapshot I took after I installed SQL and before I upgraded to SP4. Installed SP3, and was able to set up the data source immediately! Something to keep in mind if you’re in the same boat.

Places

The National Seminary at Forest Glen

Just posted photos taken this summer at the National Seminary at Forest Glen, a historic site located in the suburbs of DC.

The history of the place is a pretty interesting read. After being bought in the 1730’s as a much larger property, parts of it were sold off, and finally, what is now known as National Seminary was sold to John and Vesta Cassedy in 1894. They set out to transform it into a girls’ finishing school. In 1916, the school was sold to Dr. James E. Ament after Vesta Cassedy died. John Cassedy then married a recent graduate of the school and lost interest in running it. In 1937, during the Great Depression, with the school’s student population foundering, it was sold to Roy Tasco Davis, who set out to transform it into National Park College, a place where academics and practical skills. He didn’t have much time to do this, because the property caught the eye of an Army general, who invoked the War Powers Act, condemned the property, annexed it to Walter Reed Hospital, and used it as a place where wounded soldiers could recover.

When the Army tired of the property, they let it go to ruin. They wanted to completely tear down the buildings, but local residents objected and managed to get the site designated as a historical landmark in the 1970s. Finally, a deal was made in 2005 to get the entire site redeveloped, the old buildings restored or rebuilt, and luxury condominiums built there. From what I understand, a development company bought the property, under the solemn promise to stick to the historical character and look of the site as they rebuild there. The site is now under construction, and many of the old buildings, too dilapidated to stand up, will be torn down and reconstructed.

Ligia and I visited it this summer (2006) and last summer (2005), and photographed the various buildings. It was also a great place to eat raspberries and mulberries. I still need to post the photos taken last summer, but I’ll do it soon.

(Added 10/19/06: here they are!)