Google, you have failed me

Two years ago, when I started this blog, I made a bet. I made a dollar bet with Darren that by the time I needed more than the 1 GB of photo storage that Picassa offered at that time, Google would have upped the limit (after all my GMail limit has gone from about 2.5 GB to 7+ GB in that time). And yet here we are over two years later and I have the following message at the bottom of my Picassa account:

 You are currently using 1022 MB (99.84%) of your 1024 MB.

That's pretty much Game Over, and it means that the next time I want to post photos on here I will owe Darren a dollar, and the far more costly admission that he was right and I was wrong (actually he has a pretty good track record of winning these bets--the initial cost of the Playstation 3, whether there was one or two TV "seasons" per year--actually if the current fall and spring trend for shows like Heroes continues I may be right after all on that one). 

What that means is that unless I decide to pay up (or the hand of Google reaches in and saves me in the final two megabytes) you may be about to enjoy the final post on this blog. And let's be honest that's probably better than continuing this fade-out process anyway. I clearly have been spending my time elsewhere, and I might as well just admit it. If I was giving this blog the time it deserved, I would have been railing against the DC parking policy that requires me to register with the DC DMV every six months to prove that I am NOT a DC resident, or bemoaning the loss of some of my favorite ways to enjoy summer outdoors in DC--R.I.P. HBO's Screen on the Green and The Shakespeare Free-for-All at Carter Barron (no free indoor Shakespeare in the fall does not count). Heck, I even forgot our blogiversary this year. No, I haven't been a good blogfriend at all lately. You deserve better. 

And so let's part as friends, with two short slideshows of great traditions that we've documented before, Gold Cup and Bike to Work Day.

Virginia Gold Cup 2009

Bike to Work Day 2009

Roadtripping to Cheerwine Country

Clearly just admitting my blogging problem has not helped to solve it, so for at least one more post I'll be embracing the double slideshow format. Today's double-header consists of a last minute road trip to Charleston, SC over President's Day weekend followed by last weekend's visit to Shenandoah celebrating Jeff M's birthday, which included my first trips to Stony Man Mountain and Luray Caverns.

Charleston, SC Road Trip

Stony Man and Luray for Jeff's Birthday

Notes to Jon:

• The food in Charleston was as good as I remembered. We had lunch at Magnolia's where I enjoyed the Shrimp and Grits and especially the House Made Potato Chips which I still remembered from my previous Charleston trip years ago. We also ate at 82 Queen which was equally fantastic and had the greatest sorbet I have ever tasted, order the Pear Sorbet for dessert if you are there.
• In Charleston we found signs for Elizabeth, Ann, Pitt, Mary, and Jo(h)n Streets, and a Biggs Restaurant. There is even an intersection of Elizabeth and Jo(h)n St. but the Elizabeth sign is missing from that corner. I expect it to be fixed by the time we return to Charleston for a beach trip, possibly to the Pelican House. 
• Thanks to Brian who took several of the photos which I appropriated for the slideshow (basically any photo I am in and the ones inside the house are his).
• Connecting the two trips was my current drink of choice, Cheerwine, the cherry soft drink from NC which was available in Charleston as well as at a gas station in Luray. I took full advantage to restock my depleted supply. 

At the Rink

Clearly I am shirking my blogging responsibilities in 2009. I’ve been procrastinating posting a couple of slideshows in the hopes that I would actually write something up about them. That hasn’t worked too well. Admitting that I have a problem is the first step. Recruiting guest bloggers may be the second. For now we’ll just have to settle for the captions in the slideshows…

DC Roller Derby

Harper's Ferry Hike

I do have to make two quick notes:

• Get to the Roller Derby early (like 45 minutes before the match starts) and grab your food and drinks. The line to get through security stretched from the DC Armory back to the metro… and the concessions lines were even worse, hopefully they’ll have more security and concessions personnel next time.
• As for the Harper’s Ferry hike… we never did find the trailhead despite walking past where it was supposed to be once and driving past it twice. I assume that it may actually be the path directly out of the parking lot (despite the guidebook saying 0.3 miles up the road).  

O-nauguration!

Since I live just over the river from D.C. and was obviously pleased with the outcome of the election, it was pretty much a given that I'd be out with the masses last Tuesday. Thanks to Sara—and her cousin who mailed the tickets, and my Dad who waited at the house for them to arrive—Mimsi and I actually got to watch from the Silver ticketed area (once we finally found the security gate!).

It was the perfect culmination of a thrilling weekend (well, election campaign, or even lifetime for some) which kicked off with a dry run of maneuvering around the mall amongst the throngs, to see the star-studded lineup of the "We Are One" concert, and continued on Monday with an Education Equality rally, which for me contained the equivalent star power of the concert since I've been hearing and reading about all of these education policymakers. 

Apparently blogging more was not in my New Year's resolutions (or "decisions that just happen to be made in January", as one of my volleyball teammate's would say) but you can at least enjoy the photos.