Cornell Club hike over Old Rag, & Mike's bday BBQ

Yesterday morning, left my house around 0720, met Esther around 08, left for Sperryville around 0820, missed the exit for 66W, and still ended up in Sperryville around 0950, aiming for 0945. Met some of the Cornell Club folks who'd be hiking--a fairly sizable group, at least 20 people--and convoyed to the mountain. Had a good time, as usual--I think this is my third time doing the biannual hike--and took an assortment of photos, including people, butterflies, a little blue lizard, and a big millipede. I took it kind of slow overall, hanging out with the tail end of the group (including Esther, and Bob, class of '48, organizer of the event, and participant for the last 15 years. (!))

At the top of the mountain, post-lunch, I ended up hanging out with Esther, Natalya, and Danny (I believe was his name) for another 20 minutes after the main group left, to give us a leisurely, quiet hike down the mountain. Stopped a few times for rest and photos, not to mention some wading in a stream by Natalya and Danny, and ended up back at the cars around 1745. Now, I was hoping to be back in Annandale for Mike's birthday BBQ by 1900, but I knew that wasn't happening--MQ estimate for time is 1h40 to Rockville, and 0h30 back to Annandale. At any rate, I ended up getting to the party around 2000, which was just fine--just in time for the call of "soup's on!" and, coincidentally, within 30 seconds of Phill's arrival. (He'd left me voicemail earlier, and I called him back from 66/495 (on the way to Rockville) around 1920.)

The party was great! Present that I already knew: Mike Hedrick, JuanFe Rincon, Kenny Peskin, Phill, and Mike's girlfriend Emma. Of note that I met and got contact info for: Laura, the pretty French au pair. ;D Plenty of good food and drink, plenty of quality conversation, wrapping up around 2300 (when Phill and I helped clean up before heading out.) I then presented Phill with his birthday present--picked up in New Orleans in mid-May for no special occasion, forgotten when I visited Norfolk in mid-July, turned into a birthday present by the passage of his mid-August birthday--a bottle of hot sauce labeled "PAIN, 100%." How could I resist? :D

He then followed me to my house in Lorton, where we hung out with Nathan for a bit before he headed to his parents' house for the night, I started to catch up with LJ and whatnot, and eventually fell asleep.

Hm, Steph's birthday is tomorrow and there's to be a family dinner tonight. Guess I should go shopping. ;)

News & links & dream

This is seriously fucked up: RNC creates "Little Guantanamo" at Pier 57, holds protesters hostage in terrible conditions, indy media reports. Article 1, 2, 3, 4.

Indian Motorcycles might make a comeback (again)! However, they'll no longer be an American brand..

Last ~100 photos from partywhipple's DragonCon experience are up!

Neat! Cooking for Engineers.

Via skamille: PlanetDan's Senior Photo Collection, vol. 1
"He's either escaping a burning building or performing a magic trick, either way he's totally awesome. If he is a magician, he should hook up with the bunny girl."
Shauna/Erin/Sarah/etc., the humor style is right up your alley. :D

visgoth points out the CNN headline, "Ivan Gains Power as Death Toll Rises." We figure it's either a necromancer on the loose, or the return of the Cold War. ;D

Most of my dream last night focused around motorcycling. I was on a group ride, and the locale was reminiscent of Boston--lots of bridges. At three memorable points:
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