Changing Your Opinion

Mr. Dickie

Reading the words

of 

The Chief of Naval Operations

Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert

Before the Navy Band Concert

Remember that to change your opinion and to follow him who corrects your error is not a surrender of freedom. Your action follows your own judgement and understanding and keeps the course your mind has set.

(Marcus Aurelius, Meditation, Chapter VII, 16)

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Last night, 7 October 2014, Cyndi and I took the subway to the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD where we attended a "free" 80-minute concert by The United States Navy Band.  The concert entitled, America's Navy - On The Sea And Beyond, celebrated the Navy's 239th Birthday and the 200th Birthday of the Star-Spangled Banner. The program featured three of the six ensembles that make up the Navy Band: Concert Band, Sea Chanters and Cruisers.  We selected our own seats near the back and on the aisle on the 800-seat orchestra level.  There was a full house.  

I thought the program was wonderful.  I particularly enjoyed the first solo vocal of the Josh Groban song, Brave and the duet, near the end, of the Bill Withers song, Lean On Me.

This was our first visit to the Music Center which is a beautiful building with wonderful acoustics.  It's across the street from a Red line Metro stop and a Metro parking garage. The second level of the parking garage is connected to the Music Center by a fly-over.  The Center is the second home of The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

We took photos prior to the performance using Cyndi's camera.

Dick Henthorn

8 October 2014

National Book Festival

The person who understands what is occurring guides or controls the situation, and once you understand that ... [a person's] goal is to get your goat, then you are in a position of control instead of simply reacting.
(Sandra A. Crowe, Since Strangling Isn't An Option, p. 33)

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Yesterday afternoon Cyndi and I attended The Library of Congress, National Book Festival in Washington, DC. We drove to the College Park Metro Station where we took a single-tracking train downtown (continuing weekend track work).  We got off at the Mount Vernon Station.  When we came up out of the ground we were a few feet away from the entrance to the Convention Center. This was the 11th year of the National Book Festival and the first time we attended. This year they moved the event indoors. We each picked up a free green Festival bag.  Before we left we stopped at the welcome booth again and picked up the poster for the event.  Cyndi spotted empty poster boxes in the trash.  We put our posters in the box flat, rather than rolling them like everyone else.  An image of this year's poster appears with this posting.

Dick Henthorn
31 August 2014

Ben's Chili Bowl

 Small decisions can have big consequences.  (Steve Case, Everything Counts, 9 October)

I will not forget that each of my actions today will affect others, and I will act with compassion.  (In God's Care, 10 October)

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Yesterday Cyndi and I paid our first visit to the famous Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street in Washington, DC. We ate and late lunch and even talked with the owner, Virginia Ali, for a few minutes.  We ate in the back room where the walls are covered with photos of many famous people who have visited over the years.

After lunch we walked a couple of blocks to the Montserrat House on 9th Street where we attended the gallery show and book signing of photos taken by entertainer, Moby.  Before the book signing Moby and two ladies gave a very nice thirty minute concert.

We took the subway from the College Park station.

Mr. Dickie
28 October 2011

Strathmore

Do all the good you can, and make as little fuss about it as possible. (Charles Dickens in The Little Book of Virtues, 4 February)

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Yesterday we picked Cyndi up after work. During the afternoon she was at a meeting in Frederick, MD. After the meeting she got on the Red Line of the subway at Shady Grove station and rode the train for four stops to the Grosvenor-Strathmore station which is just outside of the Beltway. We met her in the Kiss and Ride area. We used our cellphones to talk to each other after she got off the train. This was the first time any of us had been to this station. I'm interested in this station because the relatively new Strathmore auditorium is across the street. I think I would like to get tickets to attend a musical presentation there. I believe it would be easy to take the Red and Orange subway lines to the event.

Books were on sale for half-price yesterday at the thrift store. I bought three: Black Pearls by Eric V. Copage; The Little Book of Virtues and Wisdom of the Ages by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I have a hunch that I'll find some good quotations in all of them.

Mr. Dickie
12/Feb/2011 8:06

CD Adventure

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will. (Epictetus in The Book of Choices by Mike Magee, M.D., p. 20)

... a grateful perspective brings happiness and abundance into a person's life. (Andy Andrews, The Noticer, p. 9)

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Friday I went to the CDepot in College Park to see if I could find some CDs for Lisette to take to her father in Costa Rica. I hadn't stopped in this place in months. Within seconds of coming into the store I seemed to be directed to a shelf on the left wall. The shelf was about three feet wide and seven feet tall. Everything on the shelf was priced at $1.99. Most of the shelves were so full it was difficult to remove a CD in order to view it. Many of the CDs were still in shrink wrap. I selected twenty-two CDs for Pedro. For Melva I selected: John Mellencamp - Dance Naked; Ricky Martin - Sound Loaded; and Annie Lennox - Bare. For myself I selected: John Barry - Faces; Tish Hinojosa - Sign of Truth; Craig Duncan - Smoky Mountain Sunday; Ralph Stanley - Ralph Stanley; Rich O'Brien - Seasons, Roads, and Faces. I also stopped at the Bluegrass trays in the back of the store where I bought more expensive CDs: Bluegrass All Stars - Sixteen Grand Slams From Sugar Hill Records and the two CD-set from Nickel Creek - Reasons Why (The Very Best). All in all I think I "Hit the Jackpot" again.

Yesterday the three of us went via the subway to Capitol Hill to meet Lisette for a late lunch at The Hunan Dynasty. I used my new Senior SmartTrip card for the first time. (From now on I'll receive the senior discount.) Lisette had a cellphone Cyndi loaned her. She used it to call us from the west side of the Capitol. I walked over there to meet her as she came around to the east side of the building. By the time we went up to the restaurant the bussed in patrons had cleared out. We should have received excellent service since there was hardly anyone in the place. All four plates of food and the rice were cold. We sent them back to the kitchen to be heated. We also had to ask for the egg rolls which came with the meals. If we wanted to impress our guest we certainly did, in a negative way.

Today Lisette returns to Costa Rica from National Airport.

This morning I took Cyndi to the New Carrollton subway station where she took the 8:30 a.m. train to Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), near Baltimore. She called a little after 9:00 a.m. to tell me she was on the shuttle bus headed to the terminal. She works this week in San Antonio, TX. She plans to return to BWI on Wednesday and to take the train back to the subway station which is just a mile from the house.

Mr. Dickie
30/Jan/2011 10:02

Criticism

"To escape criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." (Elbert Hubbard in Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 184)

Never criticize or condemn - or it will all come back on you. Go easy on others; then they will do the same for you. (Luke 6:37 (TLB) in Daily Guideposts - 1990, 7 December)

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Last night Cyndi and I discovered that I ought to purchased a Senior Smart Trip card for use on the Metro system so I can take advantage of the senior discount. I stopped at the check-out desk at our local branch of the county library today to buy the card. I'd been using a card that Cyndi gave me. The card works on the subway and the bus and at the subway parking garages.

Mr. Dickie
14/Jan/2011 18:09

Kiss and Ride

We exchange energy with other individuals as we interact with them, touch them, hear them, look at them, even by reading their words. (Betty J. Eadie, Embraced By The Light, 27 November)

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Last night Cyndi was able to get her laptop computer working with my FIOS WiFi for the first time. I'm glad she had the experience and patience to figure out how to get it working. The signal in the basement was quite strong.

Cyndi also copied the photos we took during our Sunday outing from the card in my camera. She uploaded them to an album she created on her Facebook.

This morning Cyndi had an appointment in Bethesda. The Red line of the subway runs to Bethesda. We decided that she should take the Green line from College Park to either Fort Totten or Gallery Place where she would transfer to the Red line. Because it was raining we decided to see if we could find the entrance to the Kiss and Ride area at the station. After they built a parking garage at the College Park station the Kiss and Ride was relocated on the ground level of the parking garage. When we arrived at the station it was still dark and raining heavily. I couldn't see any signs for the Kiss and Ride until Cyndi directed me into the garage and to the left. It's evident now why people are being dropped off and picked up out on the street. Now that I know how to get in and out of the drop-off spot it won't be a problem. Cyndi told me I should write them a letter about the poor signs instead of ranting about it.

Mr. Dickie
1/Dec/2010 8:31

Bonding

If you think you should be running the whole show, you'll probably end up with nothing to show for it. (Mr. Dickie, after As Bill Sees It, p. 320, 25 Nov 2010)

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Yesterday afternoon Cyndi and I took the Orange line of the subway to the Eastern Market station. We walked down 8th Street past all of the businesses. We walked past the Marine Corps Barracks before we stopping just before passing under I-395. We could see the Navy Yard at the end of 8th Street. Next we went to the outdoor flea market at Eastern Market. Cyndi knew one of the vendors who was selling t-shirts he had designed. He owns a clothing consignment shop in Bethesda.

Next we walked up Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Library of Congress and the Capitol. We stopped to eat lunch at The Hunan where I have attended many promotion and retirement parties in the past. It was Cyndi's first visit. They served us both a very nice meal. Cyndi brought food home for Melva to eat after work.

We took several photos with my camera at the Neptune Plaza in front of the Thomas Jefferson building of the Library of Congress.

When we were ready to go home we used the Capitol South subway station

I thought we had a great time doing some father / daughter bonding and getting in a nice long walk at the same time.

Mr. Dickie
29/Nov/2010 8:06

A Joyful Heart

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:32 in Wisdom For The Way by Charles R. Swindoll, p. 295)

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Yesterday, after I picked up Cyndi at the College Park subway station, we went to shop at the new BJ's which opened in Capitol Heights this weekend. BJ's is a membership store, similar to Costco and Sam's Club. There was a nice crowd and lots of shoppers. The store is just inside of the Beltway and about seven miles from our house. We stocked up on some needed items and some not-so needed items.

Mr. Dickie

Credit Union Business

A popular government is not a government of a majority, by a majority, for a majority of the people. It is a government of the whole people, by a majority of the whole people under such rules and checks as will secure a wise, just, and beneficent government for all the people. (William H. Taft)

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Yesterday I was on Capitol Hill visiting the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union. I took the Orange subway line. I used the plastic Smartrip card to pay for the subway ride and the bus ride up the hill at the end of the trip. Riding the subway and visiting the Madison Building brought back many fond memories of the days when I worked at The Library. I was at The Library picking up a letter from Cyndi. Her place of work in two blocks away from the Ballston station, also on the Orange line. I took the train to Ballston and hand-delivered the letter to Cyndi in front of her office building. It was a perfect fall day to be out moving around in the city.

Today, I called the Credit Union because I needed help to get signed on to our accounts using the computer. This is part of my plan to consolidate and simplify our banking business. I was surprised when I learned that the lady helping me was located at their administrative office which is about a mile from the house. She told me that I can come to that location to make deposits. I think this will be very convenient as I shutdown some accounts with banks that no longer serve us well. It's important, to me, that whatever process I chose be simple and easy to negotiate.

Mr. Dickie
22/Sep/2010 13:28

Metro and the NTSB

Refuse to accept your limitations and those things you think you can't do, and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish. (Sue Monk Kidd in Daily Guideposts - 1986, 24 July)

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I let the grass get ahead of me. As a result I spent a couple of hours yesterday doing yard work. I used a full spool of cord in my weed wacker running out with about a square foot spot still untrimmed. There were four bags of grass ready for the Wednesday yard debris pick-up.

There's a front-page article in The Washington Post today about the release of the National Transportation Safety Board findings on the fatal Red Line subway crash last year.

"The NTSB found that nearly half of the 3,000 track circuit modules Metro uses could seriously malfunction and that a quarter of its rail cars, the oldest in the fleet, offer little protection in a crash, posing an "unacceptable risk to Metrorail users."" "...the board recommended that the troublesome equipment and old rail cars be permanently removed as soon as possible. The NTSB has no statutory power to enforce its recommendations..."

Some say there's too much government regulation and oversight of American business. Others say there is too little. We might even be lead to believe that an agency called the "National Transportation Safety Board" has the power to insure our safety during our travels. If you are putting your faith in the NTSB - Happy Trails to You!

Mr. Dickie

Snowed Under

All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, p. 12)

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We made a trip to the drugstore and the nearby hardware store yesterday. We decided to park across the street in the church parking lot and walk to the stores because of the condition of the parking lot in front of the stores where we went shopping. There was traffic gridlock on the street in front of the strip mall which is just a few blocks from our house. It's close enough that I often walk to the hardware store in good weather.

More snow is expected on Monday or Tuesday. That will surely shut down the entire city again. Clearing the snow from the highway that runs in front of the little mall where we shopped is the responsibility of the state of Maryland. As of yesterday they had yet to clear the show from all lanes. In front of the gas station, at the corner where we turn into our development, there is a pile of snow over six feet tall sitting in the right hand lane.

Before 8:00 a.m. this morning I heard a large diesel snowplow from the county in front of our house. At first I thought he was going to push the remaining snow back to the curb. After about fifteen minutes he went up 76th Avenue past our house hrowing salt and chemicals out the back of the truck onto the bare pavement. I'm afraid he didn't do anything to clear another lane. This is going to make it impossible for folks to park on the flat part of the street at the top of the hill before the next snowfall.

The derailment on the subway is being blamed on operator error. They say the operator ran a red light going north out of the Farragut North station. Then the system diverted the train onto a siding, called a pocket track, and automatically derailed the train when the operator didn't take action to stop the train. I think this is the first time they have revealed that they have a way to derail a train. They didn't explain how this works. If the trains are run by computer wouldn't it make more sense to apply the breaks and stop the train, rather than apply a derailer and derail a train? Good grief!

Mr. Dickie
14/Feb/2010 8:17

I'm Still Learning

Refuse to allow yourself to have low expectations about what you're capable of creating. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Ten Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, p. 9)

Let me not expect easy solutions to my problems. Make me realize that many of my difficulties were created by me, by my own reactions to the happenings in my daily life. I ask only to be guided to a better way. (One Day At A Time in Al-Anon, 6 January)

I accept that things are the way things need to be. (Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today! 20 December)

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My HP Laserjet 1020 is hooked up and working again with the old Gateway desktop computer. Yesterday I printed out two pages of a genealogy descendant chart I downloaded from a county website. The information pertains to the Clegg family of the Ohio River valley. I'm working on a Clegg project. I'm not quite sure whats the point in putting the names of lots of people on the Internet with the word "private" beside them.

I printed out a Gmail message that both of us need to read. It's a test of my new glasses. The font size is 6 or 8. I couldn't see a way to change the font size while printing from Gmail. I'll need to find some way around the problem.

Last night there was another accident on the Washington, DC Metro subway system. Two more workers were killed. The current manager had already annouced his intention to resign. I can't remember what date he set. I suppose Congress will want to investigate, as they always do when they see an opportunity to get themselves on television.

Mr. Dickie
26/Jan/2010 9:50