Bill and Ted's Executive Adventure

Photo via Black Hills Facebook Page

Enjoying that the Washington Nationals baseball team's 4th inning racing team, aka Presidents Lincoln, Taft, T. Roosevelt, Jefferson and Washington, visited Mount Rushmore last week.  Actually, Taft and Teddy raced (Bill and Ted), and of course, Teddy won.  Taft looks way too skinny here.  The other mascots flew in via helicopter.   I am mainly just enjoying this photo. 

For more, see: http://dcist.com/2013/02/nationals_mascots_visit_mount_rushm.php

and: http://blog.letteddywin.com/presidents-race-facts/ 

President Nominates REI CEO for Interior Secretary

Photo: Sally Jewell climbing her career ladder at REI Seattle (I think I saw this type of caption in one of last week's papers :).  Photo by Scott Cohen/AP

Last week the President nominated REI CEO Sally Jewell to be Secretary of the Interior.  A surprise pick, but one I had hoped for.  Last summer I went on a tour with Sally where she talked about conservation strategies in central Washington, and I am glad she will now oversee conservation for the United States, if confirmed.

Photo: Sally Jewell climbing Mount Rainier.  Photo by Janet Jensen, The News Tribune

When President Obama announced her nomination, he said she'll probably be the first Secretary of the Interior who frequently hikes Mailbox Peak in Washington State and who spent a month climbing mountains in Antarctica, "which is just not something I'd think of doing, because it seems like it'd be cold, and I was born in Hawaii." Ha.

One of my favorite writers, Timothy Egan (The Worst Hard Time, The Big Burn) wrote a great profile of Sally Jewell for NYT last week.  You can read it here: "A Secretary to Match the Setting": http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/a-secretary-to-match-the-setting/

Autocomplete: The United States Is...

FlipCollective has a map that shows the results of typing in a state + "is" for Google's auto-complete function. 

For instance, top results are "Virginia is for lovers," "Maryland is for crabs," and Delaware is awesome." Ha.  Check out your state! 

http://www.flipcollective.com/2013/02/04/the-united-states-is-how-autocomplete-describes-the-50-states-by-matt-shirley/

Map by FlipCollective and story via DCist.com.

Austrian Embassy

Friday night concert at the Austrian Embassy.  That guy rocked the violincello.

Inauguration 2013

One of the wonderful things about living in the D.C. area is attending historic events, like the Presidential Inauguration.  Incredible to see people from all over the country gather outside during the cold of January to celebrate.

 
My mother-in-law and I had tickets this year, up near the Capitol lawn, thanks to the North Dakota Senator having an extra few tickets for us.   When she struck up a conversation with the woman next to us, they found out they both graduated from the SAME COLLEGE in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the SAME YEAR!  Augustana College 1968!

"That's What's Up" Video

"I'll be the sun, you be the shining
You be the clock, I'll be the timing" - That's What's Up

Watching these little kids manage work-life balance in this video reminded me to find time to have fun and prioritize relationships. 

Thanks Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes for this That's What Up video to your catchy song.