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By schrier, 8 February 2010 12:05 am

I was in Washington DC in early February speaking at a Governing Magazine conference on the outlook for states and local jurisdictions during the Great Recession (short answer:  not good).   I did my usual “monumental run” – that is jogging around the monuments in DC.  I always take my camera, and add to my “thumb prints” collection (photos of my thumb in front of things).   But I also witnessed a couple of cool and interesting things, including a flock of gees flying in front of the Washington Monument, a helicopter flying in front of the Washington Monument before landing on the White House lawn, and a self-portrait of me in front of a frozen reflecting pool with the Lincoln Monument in the background.   Click any photo to see a larger version.

The White House in Winter, a thumbprint.  Note the very odd tree just above my thumb.

A Marine Corps helicopter passes in front of the Washington Monument just prior to landing on the South Lawn of the White House

A “V” of Geese flying in front of the Washington Monument.  The World War II memorial is in the foreground

Some idiot in shorts running next to reflecting pool with the Lincoln Memorial in the distant background

A snowman in front of the south entrance to the World War II memorial

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By schrier, 19 December 2009 1:25 am

Bill was in Washington DC on December 15th.   Here are a few thumbprints of famous and not so famous places.  Bill’s thumb, of course.  Click any photo to see a larger version.

White House at Christmas – there are Christmas trees in the windows when you enlarge this.

Statue of Rochambeau across from the White House.  Rochambeau pointing at Bill’s Thumb

Statue of Lafayette in Lafayette Park across from the White House

John Barry Statue in Franklin Park.

Statue of Major General George Thomas at Thomas Circle

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By schrier, 20 October 2009 9:38 pm

Bill Schrier attended the Open Cities conference in Washington DC in early October.   It was a glorious fall time in Washington.   I flew in late on a Monday night, flying over a number of United States cities, including Chicago – there is an image below of Chicago from the air at night – Lake Michigan is to the upper right.  I arrived in DC and stayed in the Dupont Circle area, which is also “embassy row”.    Went out running one day and ran by embassy after embassy including embassies of countries I never heard of and which had no vowels in their names, for example the Kyrgyz Embassy, pictured.   Flew out of DC on another beautiful afternoon, taking a couple of the photos below.   Lara Schrier spent six weeks in the summer of 2008 at Georgetown University at a medical student prep summer school.   Click any photo to see a larger version.

Washington, DC from the Air

Georgetown University – Lara’s Summer Medical Course

Chicago, Illinois, from the air at night, on the way to DC

The Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic in DC

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By schrier, 4 September 2009 8:15 pm

Bill & Kathy at Billy Martin's - click to enlarge

Kathy and Bill celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on August 25th with a visit to Washington, D.C.   On the evening of the 25th, we had dinner (photo at right) at Billy Martin’s tavern in Georgetown, sitting in booth #3, where John F. Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier on June 24, 1953.  We stayed at the Lombardy Hotel, and visited the Newseum.   Kathy and I are both newspaper fans, and of course Kathy is a journalism teacher, so the Newseum – the museum of news and journalism – was a treat.    I did a little work there, being on a panel at the Federal Communications Commission, talking about what should be included in the National Broadband plan.  Links to some photos and video are below, but more photographs are on Picasa here, and more video is on Bill Schrier’s YouTube channel here.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Kathy and Bill - click to enlarge

The Washington Monument and Capitol at Night

Video of the White House from the South Lawn - click to play

Video of a chunk of the Berlin Wall in the Newseum - click to play

Panographic photo from the top floor of the Newseum, click to enlarge

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By schrier, 30 August 2009 11:47 pm

Hong Kong Harbor Scene

I had a chance to visit Hong Kong on August 18th through 22nd.   It was my first time in Asia – that is, west of Hawaii!   I was invited to speak at a conference of Chief Information Officers sponsored by FutureGov.   The conference was two days.   I stayed an extra day-and-a-half and spent a lot of time sightseeing and shopping and just walking around.   I bought an “octopus” pass and I rode the very modern underground (subway), buses, ferries (the Star Ferry over to Kowloon), the ding-ding (an electrified trolley which runs on tracks) and the tram which goes up to the peak.    There seem to be a number of superficial similarities to Vancouver, British Columbia, just a couple hours north of Seattle, which also has a British heritage.

One of the first things I did – which I almost always do when I’m on the road – is to go running.   Running or jogging in Hong Kong is like running in a sauna.   It was both hot and humid – worse than Washington DC and even worse than Iowa.   My shirt was soaked after ten minutes.   Another thing which happens is fogging up – of glasses and cameras – leaving the cold of the hotel to go out into the humidity.

They drive on the left in Hong Kong, like England or Ireland.   So I had a few close calls while running – I tend to ignore the traffic lights, which is ok if you watch for traffic, but I was always looking the wrong way to see if traffic was coming.   Hong Kong has a lot of construction still in progress – lots of building going on.  It also has a LOT of tall, skinny skyscrapers.  Reminded me of a city out of a science fiction move.    Hong Kong is crowded – streets are jammed with people.   Many of the sidewalks are elevated walkways above the streets, because the streets are so crowded too.   Hong Kong Central is just a strip of land less than a mile wide along the edge of the mountainous island.   But there are are many other parts of Hong Kong which are older and more dense than Central.

They just give up whole streets to shops and vendors – very tiny shops usually, and not a wide strip to walk.   Most people I met spoke some English, but I think English is still a thin veneer – Chinese is much more common and I’m sure there are large parts of Hong Kong in which only Chinese is spoken.   All official signs are in both English and Chinese, but outside the tourist areas,Chinese predominates.   There are still a lot of Britons or descendents of the British working in Hong Kong.   I think a lot of multi-national companies have headquarters there.   

Photos are posted on Picasa here, and three or four videos are posted on You Tube here.    I’ve extracted a few photos below, and links to a couple videos.  Click on any of them to see a larger image or play the video.

Hong Kong City from The Peak

Street Grocery at Night

Hong Kong waterfront from Star Ferry

Video of a Bus Ride above Stanley

Video - Hong Kong Waterfront from Star Ferry