The "Snowtorm" is Coming

Maybe it's because I am a visual creature. Or maybe some people are too lazy to notice. Every morning I look at several news sources, and in the evening my husband loves hearing about stories of the day on many different channels after he has spent the day reading about events on multiple websites. Regardless of the story line, it drives me wild when the spelling is wrong. This morning in the Washington Post, there are dire forecasts of yet another winter snowstorm - except the "s" is missing and it's a "Snowtorm." This isn't the first time - and unfortunately I see this quite frequently on websites and the scrawling news bits on the bottom of the TV screen. I used to be an editor for the school newspaper and was quite good at spelling. I know we spent a lot of time checking and rechecking not only the content but definitely the spelling. Sometimes someone catches the mistake because it is corrected. As words become shortened with the new way of communicating a lot if this hardly matters. But this is not a short version of this word- just a silly mistake and very noticeable - to me. 

Churchill, Big Ben, and The Washington Post

We were in England for a long weekend about 2 weeks ago. For some reason, the short trip is still vivid in my mind. Coincidentally, the Washington Post is having a Travel Photo Contest now. Although we did not get to see a lot of London, we did take a whirlwind tour of the city during the Queen's Jubilee. I've always liked Churchill and we came across his daunting, larger than life statue, eclipsing Big Bend- at least from my angle. Although the city was filled with travelers, you would never know it by looking at the photo. I was snapping photos with my IPhone as we ran along, and this one just appeared interesting in its dimensions. I'm sure it won't make the cut, but it is always fun to enter these contests. I would never have dreamed that my Tilley the Pooch was a winner in the New Yorker Eustace Tilley Contest earlier this year. I do remember entering some photo contests in Milwaukee, and also entered a AAA Safety poster contest when I was about 12 years old in Florida (and won!). I suppose if you like to draw, take photos, and create things it goes along with the territory regardless of where you live. The technology today just makes it so much easier!

The Washington Post website

Churchill larger than life dwarfing Big Ben

Hula Girl, Cheesecake and Shawarma

Today in the Washington Post was an article about what the city plans to do about regulating all the food trucks. Apparently it is a rather new phenomenon that started in 2009. They all just started to appear. The brick and mortar restaurants are upset about the trucks parking right in front of their doors, that the food truck customers don't have to pay some sort of sales tax, and obviously the vendors take business away from the lunch crowd volume. The other issue is how does one know if safety standards are maintained - though I am not certain folks around here think of things like that. What I do know is that the vehicles circulate regularly between my work place and home, which is two blocks away. And there always seems to be a line of people looking for a change of pace from the usual fare. This week, Hula Girl returned with a new Cheesecake truck right behind it. Another new truck pulled in to the scene called Shawarma. I would never have guessed that it is Lebanese. I bet that is giving Tasty Kabob a run for it's money.

A little teriyaki steak and a cheesecake to follow

 

A nice day to stand around - right across from Tortilla Coast

DC Shawarma is a newcomer

Has a few customers too

Financial Field Manual

Someone in our family is a writer. She is very good at her craft, and makes a really good living at it. Last week, the second edition of the Military Family Benefits brochure came out. It is sponsored by the Better Business Bureau and Kiplinger's. It will be circulated to 800,000 military families world wide, and is also available on line. I remember her talking about it in December when the deadline was near- but also that this time, a family photo would be included. In this issue, there is a chapter about the GI Bill, and how it has been updated. But more importantly, how this benefit has affected their family personally. In fact, each chapter reflects a personal story. We are really proud of her and all the work she does. She has written a few books on personal finance, has interviewed a lot of interesting people, and has and continues to be a guest on many television and radio spots. She also has written for the Washington Post. She is a very talented young lady and a big part of our family. Congratulations to Kim for this last extraordinary effort. Most people appreciate this kind of information wherever they live. And if you have a personal finance question, just go on line and "Ask Kim."

Available in hard copy and on line-
I got my copy yesterday from the author

The forward

Here are the folks very near and dear to our  hearts -
and one of the reasons we moved to DC

Washington Post - Real Art DC

I was looking at the Washington Post on line, and there was a little section that suggested artists post their work in the Real Art DC gallery. So of course I was interested to see if I could get a couple of Washington DC related items on the site. After logging in and creating a personal page name that would be used, I uploaded an avatar and one file without difficulty. However, in trying to upload two more, it just wouldn't accept them and I kept getting an annoying message that it was an invalid file type. I used jpeg and png, and tried to take a photo of the art and try a few different workarounds. Nothing worked. So I left an email reporting a technical glitch because it made no sense that the site would accept 2 items and eventually a third (for a reason I have no idea why). So today I received an email response from the Post asking for all the details and possibly the option to upload the file for me. I sent him all the information and am hoping that he can figure out the problem. It is a great way to showcase your work because you never know who might be looking at it.

A visit to DC

Capitol Hill