Towneplace Suites By Marriott Gaithersburg

... We walked the whole mall and didn’t even know it! Sun sets in the summer way up here past 9 so it works out great for touring.

Dinner at Union Station….believe me its not your father’s train station. Its like the Galleria in Houston. Had crab cakes at a place aptly named “America.”

Now I type in the glow of monitor letting Brian catch some sleep. I have the curtains open as we face the Capitol. (Didnt mention ...

The last week has been a real blur. It really went a lot faster than last year; a comment I made to my mom and that was independently seconded by my sister an hour or so later. It's not that my schedule this year was that much different than last year but everything seemed to be sped up. Was it the effects of aging? Was it my cold- and jetlag-infused chronological capacity? Was it just the funky ol' weather patterns that have been gripping the East Coast this year ...

... politically neutral because they are part of the State Department. This shapes the work they do and the work they give me. We work by providing data or testimony and this gives me a chance to hear the stories of other FSO's which is giving me valuable knowledge and a better understanding of the Foreign Service. This weekend they sent me to the Out for Work Conference where I met with some of the top Fortune 500 companies to learn about resume building, their domestic partner ...

... hearts. We then posed for a group picture--grateful for our shades and took a few more shots before walking back to the train. Back in Frederick, we went to the Cracker Barrel for dinner and shared a dessert. Afterward, we said our good-byes to Cindy and Lisa spent the night with us at Lauren's home. Lisa and I got a good walk in that night. She was a great walking partner as we kept pace in both stride and conversation.

... hand flat and peaceful in contrast to his gnarled left fist, representing his dual roles as a wartime and peacetime president. The whole thing looked really realistic to me and I just had this overwhelming sense that any moment he might stand up and begin a "freedom rampage" through the city. The Vietnam Wall was an interesting short walk. The wall itself is actually in a large diamond shape with the side panels only having a few names and the middle panels ...

Washington DC was the first stop of our East Coast baseball vacation. I lived just south of DC in Quantico, VA while in the Marine Corps so I'm very familiar with the area. My kids and I started with the typical sight seeing of DC. We parked close to the Lincoln Memorial ...

... a zig-zag walking path through the anchialine pools. I was trying to hold the footsie wrapped around my knee. "Larry, I can't walk all the way back, bent over like this. Wait! MacGyver! Take the shoelace out of my tennis shoe and we can tie the footsie in place." That worked. At least no more blood is pouring down my leg, though we got a few strange looks from passing cars as we crossed the street to the parking lot. I stopped a tour bus and asked ...

So, here are some photos from our trip. It was quite an experience. We did a van tour of Santa Fe, similar to the tour we took in Key West. It gave us a good overview of the historic and artsy downtown which was a 10-15 minute walk from our hotel. Art is everywhere...sculptures and paintings even on highway walls and overpasses. The elevator in our hotel was beatiful, goofy as that sounds. It was lined with Native American ...

... We also hope to publish our report and present our data at the next Global Health Education Consortium Conference in the next coming months. Overall, we both agree that our experience in Uganda was a successful and memorable one. Not only did we achieve what we set out to do in terms of our research study, but we also experienced first-hand the politics and culture of NGO's and foriegn aid. We've heard reasons about how NGOs can ...

... natsukashi and hisashiburi!!!) We shopped for omiyage. To Antonio, at the bookstore, the song, Over the Rainbow (on saxophone), was playing. BTW Antonio, please do not play this song repeatedly anymore! The writers of the song are getting irritated/annoyed. The bus drive to Maryland was again long and boring. We just finished eating dinner at a Buffet. There was a lot of good Ice Cream - self-serve. Reporting Erina and Shanna