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On top of a dune in White Sands National Monument, NM.

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Guadalupe Mtns. NP (TX) just southwest of Carlsbad Caverns NP (NM).

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About 20 mins west of Hobbs, NM. Headed to Carlsbad and White Sands today.

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Dealy Plaza, Dallas, TX. Where JFK was shot.

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Hope, AR. Birthplace of President Bill Clinton.

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I-30 just west of AWESOME Hot Springs, AR.

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Graceland. Memphis, TN.

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There is a good reason why Mammoth Cave needs no other name. You might not be able to see the pic well, sorry. Mammoth Cave NP, KY.

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Keenland race course just west of Lexington, KY.

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Charleston, WV. Went through here back during high school. Now it looks like a mini-Pittsburgh.

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Near LaVale, MD

more on the tour

I've been asked enough times that I figure I should write out what the planned itinerary for "The National Park Service Tour 2005." Goofy name, I know but I'm still working on it okay? Anyways here is the tentative itinerary:

DC - MD - WV - Mammoth Cave NP (Kentucky) - Memphis (Tennessee) - Hot Springs NP (Arkansas) - Dallas (Texas) - Carlsbad Caverns NP and White Sands NM (New Mexico) - Saguaro NP (Arizona) - Grand Canyon NP (Arizona) - Las Vegas (Nevada) - Death Valley NP (California) - Yosemite NP (CA) - Lake Tahoe (CA) - Lassen Volcanic NP (CA)- Crater Lake NP (Oregon) - Mt. St. Helens (Washington) - Idaho - Glacier NP (Montana) - Yellowstone NP and Grand Teton NP (Wyoming) - Devils Tower (Wyoming) - Mt. Rushmore NM (South Dakota) - Badlands NP (SD)

The italicized parts are parts that can be lopped off if it doesnt look like there will be time. After Badlands it's pretty much up to how much time is left and then back to DC.

Oh and now that blogger.com is doing this "Blogger Mobile", look out for texted messages and photos from the road.

dell deals

I just got my new Apple iBook and am very happy with it. And as much as I would recommend a Mac I know some of you just don't want one. So for those of you who are looking for a great deal on a portable Windows machine, This Deal is for you.

Every so often Dell has a great deal on it's laptops. In particular Dell has a $750 off a $1499 laptop deal. If you are bad at math, that makes the final price around $750... Which is awesome. So awesome in fact that there must be some bad news, right? Well the bad news is that the deals are limited to about 1500 redemptions... which isn't alot. There is a mad rush to buy because of links from sites like FatWallet.com, SlickDeals.net and DealCatcher.com). The last time Dell did this it only lasted about 30 minutes! This deal starts at 9 AM EST. So if it is after about 10 AM on Tuesday morning, you probably have already missed the deal... if not, good luck!

Preakness Stakes

Afleet Alex won the Preakness Stakes which means that for me, one thing is for sure. Afleet Alex WILL win the Blemont, bet on it. I haven't checked but I know this has happened before... The horse that should have won the Kentucky Derby ends up losing and then winning both Preakness and Belmont.

The last few years it has been the other way around... the favorite won the Derby and the Preakness but fell short on the much longer Belmont. But I have the feeling this time that Afleet Alex will be one of those horses that is just better than the rest. Even at the Belmont's mile and a half. Just wait... In the mean time I'll have to wait another year for the possibility of seeing a Triple Crown winner.

Teva

So a few weeks ago the Teva rep came by and talked to us about their sandals and shoes. Any ways the point of this post is that they mentioned that Teva is pronounce 'teh vah.' Which means I've been mispronouncing it. And now I am a snob who says 'teh vah' while everyone (who doesn't know) still says 'tee vah.'

winning without a hit

check this out. Last night the Savannah Sand Gnats (The Single A Minor League affiliate of the Nats) beat the Greenville Bombers 4-3. What makes this interesting tho is that they did it without getting a single hit.

a little dap for paul

so i mentioned how "people were combining features" with the google map. i had neglected to mention that the first kind of site i had seen was a craigslist housing/google map site by this fella named Paul. and the cheap gas site/google map is his interface used with gasbuddy. dont i feel like an ingrate. so much dap to Paul for hooking up the google map.

cheap gas

so there is a website called gasbuddy.com which can help you find the cheapest gas prices in your area (WashingtonDCGasPrices.com if you live in the DC area)... and now that google's online map site is so popular people are combining features with it... including gasbuddy. so now you can find the cheapest gas stations on the map.

so obviously tubular pin locks suck

remember a few months ago when someone made a video of how to pick a kryptonite tubular pin lock with bic pen? well now there is this video of how to pick one of those laptop cable locks with a bic pen, some tape and a roll of toilet paper. (via boingboing.net, gizmodo, and what tian has learned)

ginormously annoying

so i used to have no problem with people who said 'ginormous.' i even used the term every so often. and now... because of this... i must stop.

NPS Tour 2005

I got my first National Parks Passport a few ago and got maybe 3 or 4 cancellation stamps in it before either losing it or "losing it in a break up." I got another but didnt give it much attention... and I'm pretty sure I've lost it. So I recently bought a new on at Shenandoah National Park and am now determined to get as many cancellation stamps as possible.
So I did some investigative work and found this site with a great guide on many, if not all, of the stamps. It really helps that I live in DC since you can get 30+ stamps in one day by visiting two places... the Survey Lodge right next to the Washington Monument and the National Capital Parks-East headquarters in Anacostia Park.
And now that I am headed on my cross country trip later this month I'll be able to pick up a few more stamps. More on that trip later...

free stuff

so even tho i don't like chocolate, and i especially hate frostys, i have to post this so that those of you who love them know about it. Go to any Wendy's this weekend and say "Free frosty please" and voila! you get one...

celeb bloggin

Arianna Huffington has started The Huffington Post. If you don't know who Arianna Huffington is you should do what you should do when you're not familiar with something: check it out on wikipedia (Link to Arianna Huffington on wikipedia).

Anyways, the cool point of her site (besides the news) will be the celebrity bloggers. Now maybe blogger is the wrong term since i doubt each individual celeb will be posting very often. Maybe quick celebrity columnists is a better term. Currently those blogger/columnists include celebrities like Ellen Degeneres and John Cusack.

freaky deaky

so if ya wanna freak yourself out a bit check out ZabaSearch.com and type in your name... and try a few other people you might know. Supposedly the info you get isn't all that accurate if you pay the $20 to get the "background check" but its still a little weird right?

So I get WAY into games... especially when they mean something. I watched part of the Wizard's Game 2 (in Chicago), and they just weren't doing to well. It was annoying. So I didn't watch the next two games (in DC) and they won both. So I figured I'ld just 'monitor' Game 5 back in Chicago.

And they started well. In fact so well that I just started watching half way through the second quarter. They were leading by 10 and strecthed it to 12 at the half. In the third they were up by 22. Even the dreaded 4th quarter started well. For the first 11 minutes the Bulls were never closer than 7 points. And then came the final 12th minute.

Up by 10 with 42 seconds to go, the Wizards decided to miss their free throws, while an unknown Bull's benchwarmer went on a 3-point shooting spree. It drove me nuts! And finally when the Wizards were up by 3 with 10 seconds left, the Wizards fouled Kirk Hinrich and he missed BOTH free throws.... but got the rebound for the second miss to the benchwarmer, Pargo... and he drained a three. Tie game, 5 seconds to go.

I thought at best overtime, and maybe the Wizards could take advantage of all the Bulls with 5 fouls left. But they didn't need it. Amazingly, after going 4-for-a gazillion, Gilbert Arenas calmly sank a 14 footer with two Bulls in his face and no time left. Just drained it... all net. And with that the Wizards take a 3-2 series lead with a 112-110 win over the Bulls.

Talk about ups and downs.

"Loose him, and let him go"

It seems people are rediscovering animals everywhere! Now its three snails in Alabama. (btw, Edward Abbey and friends might be quick to point out the section in the article that says: Many [snails] were lost as dams were built along the Coosa River from 1917 to 1967, when it became a series of reservoirs.)
In case you are wondering... and I was... They are called Lazarus taxon. It refers to any taxon (species, genus, etc.) which has seemingly become extinct and then "return." The ivory billed woodpecker can be considered one of these Lazarus taxons. It also refers to other species which 'skip' period fossil records.