Friday, after working all day, I went to the Tex Mex Grill in Arlington for a celebratory happy hour for Vickie's birthday. I drank Lone Star drafts (passable) and raspberry margaritas (okay) and ate free happy hour tacos and quesadillas (also passable). Then there was a trip to see "Rob Roy" at Shirlington and I talked Tracy out of going to the movie so we could hang out at Starbuck's in Dupont Circle instead.

Saturday I picked up TourBooks at the Alexandria AAA office for the San Antonio to Seattle leg of my United States Circle Tour '95. Then I visited an old Civil War cemetary. Then I took my Nissan (the car Cheryl didn't buy) to Accotink for a hand wash so it will look nice if I ever do sell the thing. Then I went to Occoquan and walked out along the river to the dam and watched the herons and ducks.

Sunday morning I was on my old Raleigh ten-speed at 6:15 to take pictures of the Potomac River, Memorial Bridge, Washington Monument, etc., at sunrise. Rode around for two hours and shot a roll of film. Came home and cooked eggs for breakfast and read the funny parts of the Sunday paper. Then I went to a housewarming party for Scott and Ruth out in Falls Church, where we sat around for a few hours then went to a park near the highway to fly a kite. I came home and watched golf for an hour. Finally, Jodi and I had dinner at El Palacio, home of the Blue Marlin margarita, with a pitcher of sangria, and Spanish coffees, and food that's *much* better than Mad Mex, I'm sorry to say, probably because there are more Mexicans employed at El Palacio than there are living in the whole state of Pennsylvania.

So my point is, maybe I should have gone to the d&e pizza fest. Too bad you can only live once. Basically, if Axel could spend a thousand bucks on a plane ticket for it, the least I could've done was take a sick day Friday and share a ride with someone.

-joby

MY OTHER CAR IS AN HONOR STUDENT AT CLARENCE THOMAS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL