zillow

like each weekend before, i spent much of my time listening to npr. love the whole saturday and sunday lineup - calling all pets, car talk, wait wait don't tell me, this american life, a prairie home companion, speaking of faith (my partner thinks it should be called my god is better than your god!) , on the media ...

it was on the media that introduced me to my new obsession - zillow. zillow is a website that allows you to track real estate valuations. not only does zillow give you the fair market price of your house, it will also tell you how much it has appreciated or, more likely, depreciated in the past 30 days. and if you're not satisfied watching your own largest single investment rise and fall as often as you inhale and exhale, you can obsess over your parents house and your neighbors house too. did i mention that they have pictures! at least i learned that we won't need a new roof any time soon.

the site is ridiculously addictive!

my new fascination - my uvula

just so there's no confusion, this is a uvula -

(i'd like to think that mine is just as attractive.)

so anyway, i'm sure you're wondering how this fascination took hold. well let me tell you. i was looking in my mouth last night (can't remember why, just was) and i noticed that the wider i opened my mouth, the smaller the little hanging thing at the back of my throat became. then, for some unknown reason, i exhaled with great force. at which point, my uvula shot forward and began to wave at me. no joke. i was so intrigued that i began to do this over and over, each time exhaling with more force to see how far i could get my uvula to protrude.

before you just dismiss this post as just a bizarre beccaism, promise me you'll try this at least once. and then let me know how it goes!

** it's amazing how inappropriate and unsafe for work a perfectly innocent post can sound!

a view from our garden

(don't let the 40 degree tempertures fool you - spring has sprung.)

my partner has done an amazing job transforming our formerly overgrown, hedge-heavy yard into a blossoming wonderland. enjoy the first colors of the season.

the day the national marathon came by

yesterday the suntrust national marathon passed in front of our house. it's the one day of the year that 1000s of people, who might otherwise never venture east of the anacostia river, get to see our little part of the city. to be fair, the runners who finish in less than 3 hours don't see much of anything, but, with our house at mile 23, we get of lots of joggers, limpers, and walkers.

i'm sure that some who enter the race are a little apprehensive about having to run through SE. certainly, some make jokes with punchlines of crime, drugs, and poverty. but, if any of those stereotypes are challenged as the participants see that those cheering from the sidewalks and their porches are not unlike them, then the national marathon has served, what i hope, was one of its purposes.

the first runner....

the first woman....

and our mayor!

this is it ...

... the beginning of what i hope will be a fun way to record my thoughts. i'm not sure how it will all turn out, but i know that i never lack for opinions and far be it from me to deprive the world of them.

i thought long and hard about the title of this blog and finally settled on the flipflop fed. it has nothing to do with changing my mind (although i do that often) or that of any reader (although i do hope some of my musings get people to think) and everything to do with the shoes. you see, i am not the bureaucrat of the comb-over, polyester, and sensible shoes. no, i'm the fed with the flipflops. monday through thursday? flipflops. dressdown fridays? flipflops. wearing a suit? flipflops until the meeting begins. audience with the president? flipflops. (no joke! seven rows from the commander-in-chief and i was sporting chacos. - i was also wearing an oxford and casual pants, but that's another story.)

and don't despair, i will not use this as the forum to enlighten you, dear reader, regarding the interworkings of the federal government. two reasons - it's really no different than any other large company and, more importantly, i'd like to remain a fed until the day i'm ready to become the flipflop beachdweller.

okay then, here we go ...