Category Archives: Events

Events

We voted today!

We got back a few minutes ago from voting for Barack Obama. Our polling place was Walter Johnson High School, in North Bethesda, MD. The line wasn’t too long. We waited about 25 minutes in line and it took about 5 minutes to vote.

The voting machines were electronic, and — I’m disappointed to say this — they were Diebold machines. After all of the controversy and research that Diebold has spurred since the last election, I am shocked to see the machines still in use, particularly after Maryland passed a paper ballot initiative a couple of years ago. These machines used a card with an embedded chips, that I inserted in the machine to get the votes written to it. When I got done, I put the card in a collection box and walked out.

Somehow this whole electronic process doesn’t inspire me with confidence. When I read up on it a few years ago, I found out that Diebold tallies the votes on a single computer, in an Access database that is easily hacked. Having designed and built Access database systems, I know how easy it is to bypass any sort of login restrictions and get right at the tables where vote totals can be changed in an instant without any sort of tracking record.

All I can say is that I hope for the best. Let’s hope this transition of power occurs smoothly, correctly, and in a democratic fashion, as George Washington wanted it to be from the get-go.

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Events

The Gipsy Kings in concert at Wolf Trap

We just got back from the Gipsy Kings concert at Wolf Trap. It was as fun as we expected it to be, and more! I’d never seen them in concert before, and neither had my wife, so nothing prepared us for the ebullient barrage of seven guitars playing in unison. It’s a unique experience, one that you must see to understand. You just don’t get the same effect when you listen to them on a CD. Trust me on this.

The weather was perfect and the venue was great. If you have a chance to see the Gipsy Kings at Wolf Trap, go, today (as I write this, it’s just past midnight). They’re having another concert this evening (Friday), and if you can get seats, go. These are some of the most inexpensive tickets you can buy to go see them on their US tour this summer. While tickets sell for up to $2,000 at other venues, we were able to get orchestra seats for $40 per person at Wolf Trap. That’s a bargain!

I recorded video sequences of the concert, only to have my camera play games with me. First it kept telling me that my freshly charged battery was empty, then it corrupted a few of the video clips I recorded… At least I managed to salvage enough video clips to put together the video you see below. Trust me, the video doesn’t do them justice. They had us dancing on our feet most of the time. People were yelling and whistling and dancing and clapping like there was no tomorrow. My palms are still sore from all that clapping.

➡ Download Gipsy Kings in Concert (M4V, 720×540, 1:28) or view at YouTube or Vimeo

I apologize for not being able to keep the video camera steady. It’s hard to do it while dancing. Enjoy! 🙂

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Events

Photos from TECH cocktail DC 2

This past Thursday evening, Ligia and I attended the 2nd DC TECH cocktail mixer/conference, and it was a lot of fun. It was held at MCCXXIII, a club on Connecticut Ave. Frank Gruber and Eric Olson, the TC co-founders, hosted their first TC DC event at the same venue last year. They invited me to take photos at that time, and it looks like they were happy with the results, because they called me back this year.

I was glad to see how the event has grown in just one year. With 400 people in attendance, the club was literally packed, as you’ll see from the photos. There was no room to move — I had to squeeze between bodies and do a lot of shoulder tapping to get from spot to spot, all the while trying not to shove my camera in anyone’s face.

Selected photos from the event are enclosed below. The full set is available on the TC website, or in TC’s Flickr account. I tried a few new things this year, mainly different angles and a few movement/blur type experiments. You’ll see as you look through the photos.

It looks like Frank and Eric will need to find a new location for next year, given TECH cocktail’s growing popularity. I wish them all the best! They’re doing a great service to startups by making it free for them to attend and show their products to the audience.

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Events

Happy Easter!

We’re getting ready to have our Easter meal, and Ligia cooked some really delicious pastries. They’re traditional Easter foods in Romania. The first you see below is called Cozonac, and the second is Pasca.

Cozonac

Pasca

Both are made with pretty much the same ingredients, but their texture and look is quite different, as you can see. The ingredients are: flour, milk, honey, sugar, sweet cheese, rasins and eggs.

Let’s not lose sight of the true meaning of this holiday though! Easter is Easter because Christ is risen!

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Events

Goodbye, Smooth Jazz

While I’m on the subject of radio, I’d like to say goodbye to a station that I enjoyed listening to over the past five years I’ve lived here in DC: Smooth Jazz 105.9 (WJZW). It’s been in my radio presets for all of that time.

One morning, as I tuned in, expecting a change from the usual sonic assaults found on other stations, I got shocked with a really bad oldie. I’m a fan of oldies (sometimes), but this was a real dud. I couldn’t figure it out. I looked at the station call, and it now said “True Oldies”. Then some annoying DJ’s voice came on, touting the format change and the “return of oldies” to DC. No thanks. DC already had an oldies station, and it wasn’t in my presets. I tuned right out and looked for another station to store in its place.

To top it off, it turns out Don Imus is the new morning show DJ on True Oldies. Yup, that guy. I’ve met and seen a lot of revolting people, but he takes the cake. One more reason to stay away.

Ramsey Lewis, where are you? I will miss your cheery voice and inspirational quotes, not to mention the smooth jazz you played during your morning show. I hope things are okay for you and the rest of the DJs from the station.

Goodbye, Smooth Jazz.

Smooth Jazz 105.9 FM

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