THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Crepe Myrtle Trees Arrive

The six crepe myrtle trees I ordered May 4 (apprx) arrived - probably yesterday. They were in pretty good shape. It took me about 90 minutes to get 4 planted (I'm giving two to Irwin and Cheryl). The planting process resulted in me being very tired and badly bitten by insects (despite using two types of insect repellent). I had just finished planting the trees when we had a thunderstorm with some heavy rain - the first heavy rain in about 3 weeks.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:57 PM

A Dream Job

In real life, I applied for a job outside the federal government (May 19). This was the first time I had done this in several decades.

Last night I dreamt that I had a new job running a private airport. I took numerous calls from airplane owners about the weather and eventually they started complaining to me about the fact that there was fog a lot at the airport. They also complained about the ashtrays in the pilot briefing room not being clean and about the fact that I didn't wear a tie.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:52 PM

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Limo at the discount grocery

Coming out of the discount grocery (Shopper's Food Warehouse) today we saw a stretch limo. This is the second time I've seen a limo do this but the other time it was a smaller limo. I guess if you save enough on groceries, you can afford luxuries in another area.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:49 PM

New Building- some good, some bad

I reported to the new building on May 17. Most everybody else was in on May 14 but I was on travel through May 16 (see post below). Some of my stuff was unpacked, most wasn't (this was per my instruction). It will probably take a few weeks to figure out the phone. It will take about 6 weeks before the gym opens in the new building. The lighting is far better than in the old building as is the rest rooms. I have a bit less space but the storage is enough. Unfortunately I have a white board and no reason to use it and that takes one wall. Also my locker hasn't been installed. I have drawers with locks but no key. At least I don't have exposed wires like some people. The commute is worse; however on the way home Friday May 18, I got trains quickly and only had to wait about 2 minutes for a bus. However, it was annoying enough for me that Saturday night I applied for a job in another building on the red line (only about 25 minutes from the White Flint station on a good day)

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:09 PM

Friday, May 11, 2007

M makes A Travel Mistake

Next week I have travel to Johnson City and Kingsport, TN. I'll be flying to Asheville by way of Charlotte. I looked into flying to Knoxville and to the Tricities Airport (Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol, VA), but it would have cost much more. I realized today that I could have just flown to Charlotte and driven the 150 miles. As it is, I'll be driving about 80 miles from the Ashville, Airport (which is actually east of Ashville). Of course I could have driven the 400 miles between our house and Johnson City, but that would have been very tiring.

posted by Martin Weiss # 6:36 PM

The Big Move

This weekend, my office moves from near the L'Enfant metrorail station to near the Navy Yard station. We've been boxing things, throwing things away, etc. for weeks and weeks. The move was, at one time, scheduled to take place in 1996 - and we were going to move to near Union Station; however, as time went on, the city wanted to redevelop the west shore of the Anacostia River so we were drafted. The first people in our building to move went in by the end of March and we will still be having people go in until mid June.

posted by Martin Weiss # 6:33 PM

Lawn Mowed -

No Big deal right. Wrong. It took 3 emails and 4 phone messages to get the service to do it (they were supposed to do it the week ending May 4).

posted by Martin Weiss # 6:31 PM

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Southeaster Forming off the Coast

Many people have heard of a 'noreaster' - a strong storm that forms off the east coast and moves northeast along the coast. Well, because of some odd conditions in the atmosphere, we are projected to have a southeaster the next few days. We currently have a moderately strong storm off the coast.

It is now at about 35N, 74W with a central pressure of about 1012 mm.

It is forecast to move to about 30N, 77W in 60 hours, reaching a central pressure of 998mb.

Because there is a strong high over the mid atlantic, the winds are going to be fierce along the southeast coast, almost certainly reaching gale force, probably getting to hurricane force in gusts.

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:10 PM

Trying Zinnias Again. Crepe Myrtles Ordered.

I haven't done Zinnias in the yard in three years. This is because, for some reason, they don't grow well from seed and they are only available for a few weeks in pots at the store. I bought 2 pots today (orange).

Also, last week I ordered 6 crepe myrtles. The variety was Prairie Lace dwarf. They are supposed to be between 7 and 13 feet tall at maturity and the flowers are red with white trim. Its a pretty new variety -- supposed to be very resistant to winter freeze, summer drought and spring fungus and with red leaves in the autumn. It will probably be a few years before they are image worthy.

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:03 PM

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Ann Breaks up a Transportation Research Meeting

It was 500 pm (Apr 30) and I was in a long meeting at the National Academy of Science. We had been discussing a research project since about 800am. People were mentally exhausted and the discussion was wandering and unproductive and had been so for at least an hour. I had my cell phone with me and had told Ann that we should be through at about 5pm.

Ann called and my cell phone rang. I told them that I had told my wife she could call me after 5pm. They all looked at their watches. One said, "OK, let's quit for the day." Everybody else agreed.

I took the phone out of the conference room and when I got back everybody was putting away their stuff.