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  • eschapp 3:10 pm on January 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , ,   

    Inauguration Part 3: The Big Day 

    This is the final installment of my Inauguration Day photo posts. We watched the festivities from the District Court for DC. If you missed the first two installments:
    Inauguration Part 1: The Concert
    Inauguration Part 2: Monday’s Setup

    On Tuesday, the final event which millions of people had been waiting for finally occured. The actual inauguration ceremony started around 11 am eastern standard time, so we began our trip to the capitol building right around 9 am. We arrived at the capitol right before the ceremony began to behold this scene:
    [flickr]photo:3233539512(medium)[/flickr]
    We watched the festivities from the District Court for DC, we were lucky to be inside to escape both the crowds and the weather.  Unfortunately we had to walk there from Cleveland Park.  Here is a map:


    View Larger Map

    But once we got to the Courthouse we were warm and comfortable to watch the event. After the Jump there are around 70 photos. Some are of the speeches and some are of the crowds watching the parade.
    (More …)

     

  • eschapp 11:09 am on January 28, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , driving, , , , ,   

    DC Meets Winter, Decides They Can’t Be Friends 

    My morning classes were canceled today much like classes throughout the DC area.  The culprit: Winter.  Welcome to winter Washington.  A lot of people are talking about this storm, and debating how bad it really is: for example.  Irrespective of how bad the weather is, take it from a guy from North Dakota: Clean off your freaking windows if you decide that you need to drive.  In other words, don’t be this idiot:

    [flickr]photo:3231732796(medium)[/flickr] [flickr]photo:3230876519(medium)[/flickr] [flickr]photo:3231727968(medium)[/flickr]

    I suppose I should mention that while I did take these pictures from my car, I was stopped when I actually took them.  Anyway, don’t be this doofus.  The roads are icy which means you need to be more aware of your surrounding rather than less so.

    While I know it is sometimes hard take 17 seconds to clear white fluffy snow off of your car in the morning [/snark], your safety as well as those around you requires that you do so.

    Welcome to Winter capitol city dwellers.  Be safe out there: Drive slower than normal and clear off of your windows.

     

  • eschapp 11:00 am on January 23, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Mall, ,   

    Inauguration Part 2: Monday’s Setup 

    Here is my second group of Inauguration pictures. On Monday I went on a run from Cleveland Park down to the Mall to see what was going on. I wanted to see what all was being set up, and I heard that many media outlets were already broadcasting from the Mall. The rumor was true:
    [flickr]photo:3220567048(medium)[/flickr]

    There were tons of people down on the Mall so I tried to capture what was going on with photos.  I didn’t want to carry my camera for a 5 mile run so I only brought my blackberry to take pictures.  Their quality is only mediocre.  The rest of the pictures are after the jump:

    (More …)

     

    • Steve Perkins 1:21 pm on January 27, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      DC seems freaking huge! I've never been there…I just youtubed and watched about 5 other inagurations yesterday, pretty crowded there too

  • eschapp 6:24 pm on January 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Funny or Die, , ,   

    Boom! React!: DC High Five 

    Our next Boom! React!  What are your comments for the following video?

    Is this only funny in DC?

     

    • New Guy 11:30 pm on January 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I liked the music!

    • yickit 11:33 pm on January 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Boom! the music was stellar! I agree. Although the shades are pretty sweet too.

    • yickit 2:03 am on January 23, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I also think both should have mustaches. Stellar.

  • eschapp 6:22 pm on January 21, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Lincoln Memorial, , ,   

    Inauguration Part 1: The Concert 

    Obviously there was a lot going on in DC the past week.  I’m going to try to post my pictures in a couple of posts scattered throughout the next couple of days.

    These pictures are from the pre-inauguration HBO We Are One concert.  The stage was built into the front of the Lincoln Memorial and as you will see in the pictures after the break the concert was very well attended.  Overall it was a pretty good experience, although finding a bar to grab a few drinks was difficult.  They were all full so we just ended up waiting at Madhatter on M street.  Take note of the dust in the air when people were leaving the mall area.

    [flickr]photo:3215773485(medium)[/flickr]

    There are a bunch more pictures after the break:

    (More …)

     

    • Andrew 12:24 pm on January 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I'm jealous you got to go. Nice pictures. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

      • yickit 10:09 pm on January 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        It was a crazy day. Mob mentality definitely ruled the roost, which was a bit disconcerting.

  • eschapp 4:51 pm on January 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Bathrooms, Courthouse, , , ,   

    My Office Window’s View Has Taken a Turn for the Worse 

    Well I used to have a decent view from my dungeon of an office, but now here comes inaguration which is trying to ruin everything I cherish1.  Well it really isn’t that bad of a situation, and I know I’ll love the four day weekend that will take place here in DC.  But I really wasn’t expecting the port-a-potty/john invasion of January 2009.  Seriously these things are everywhere in downtown DC.  I guess the alternative would be for all the visitors in town to have no where to go to the bathroom during inauguration, which I’m sure would have lead to either riots or a disgusting display of human biology.

    Here’s the view from my window:

    Office View

    I guess I know where to go if for some reason all of the bathrooms in the courthouse are full . . . .

    1. /Snark. ↩
     

    • ftlt 3:57 am on January 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      On the bright side, if the office bathrooms are full…

      • yickit 9:59 pm on January 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        So long as I don't end up being the 1001st person using it. Your place in line is pivotal for port-a-potties.

    • ftlt 10:04 pm on January 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Believe or not, I met, what turned out to be, a long term girlfriend in line for the port-a-john once. It was at a large outdoor concert series in Buffalo. The truth is, it is a wonderful place to meet women, think about it; you get 5 minutes to give her your best material.

      • yickit 10:11 pm on January 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        That is awesome. I never thought about it like that, but who would give up their spot in line just to escape conversation?

    • E-6 6:06 pm on January 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Be thankful that it isn't 95 degrees and humid. Now that could get ugly.

      • yickit 6:33 pm on January 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        Yeah, over the Fourth of July they put the toilets all over the mall when its around that temperature. Not a pretty sight/smell.

    • steve perkins 3:45 am on January 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      that's hilarious

  • eschapp 5:13 pm on January 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Deductive Reasoning, Mathematics, Quotes,   

    Boom! React!: People v. Collins on Mathematics 

    [Note: I'm probably going to try out some new types of posts for the foreseeable future. This form is called Boom! React!, and the post will be something to react to: a Quote, Video, Picture, or whatever else I happen to come across.  I just thought calling it Boom! React! would enable me to use one of my favorite words: boom; and one of my favorite punctuation marks: !.  They just happen to go together quite well, but I digress. Of course if you have ideas feel free to email them to me yickit [at] yickit.com.]

    I came across the following quote in my Evidence textbook [Evidence by Paul Rice1 and Roy A. Katriel.] in the case People v. Collins, 68 Cal. 2d 319 (1968):

    Mathematics, a veritable sorcerer in our computerized society, while assisting the trier of fact in the search for truth, must not cast a spell over him.

    Page 59.  I don’t want to spoil any comments, but the first thing I thought about after reading the quotation was statistical analysis especially in regard to baseball.  Now I don’t want to belittle the meaning of the case where the use of statistics supported a ridiculous [and prejudiced] conclusion2 by admitting the first thing I thought about was baseball, but it happens.  A lot. For me anyway.

    Anyway, the quote made me think about the arguments for and against different metrics in baseball with “gut calls” on one side and “advanced statistical measures” on the other end of the spectrum.  This battle seems to rage on every time a contract or major baseball decision is made.

    I’m not saying the discussion is a bad thing by any means, in fact I think it only advances thoughts along their path to improved reasoning. But then again, I love listening to arguments.

    Ultimately, quotes like this lead me to think that there has to be a specific unknown middle ground to be discovered by someone in a spaceship [or thought experiment].  A summation of all available types of information which through personal analysis could be formed into more persuasive arguments that could have even pleased Aristotle by using all available means of persuasion.  That process must be out there somewhere.

    Where are Bill James, the WGOM citizens, and Grandpa Sports when you need to bounce some ideas off of them . . .

    So what does this Boom! React! make you think of?  Any reactions to my reaction?  Anything goes in the comment section.

    If only mathematicians could pull the sorcerer title out of their math bag of tricks . . .

    1. My evidence professor. ↩
    2. For some background on the case: People v. Collins. ↩
     

    • Steve Perkins 8:54 pm on January 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      the title said BOOM and REACT and i got real excited then i read some math stuff and i passed out…was it a good article?

      • yickit 9:02 pm on January 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        So what you're saying is that math is in fact a sorcerer.

  • eschapp 1:50 pm on January 14, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , Newspapers, ,   

    The Fargo Forum Gets a Facelift 

    Online that is.  Even though I no longer live in Fargo, I still like to keep up on the news and events taking place in my home town.  I primarily used the Fargo Forum’s website http://www.in-forum.com to keep up to date.  But that site was sorely out dated and clunky which made me look for alternatives.  Recently I have been relying more on the StarTribune.com site out of the Twin Cities because of its superior online format.  The obvious trade off was the North Dakota local news that I was looking for, and while I will continue to read the Strib because of my links to that area [I lived in the cities for a short while and my fiancee graduated from the University of Minnesota], I sorely missed a good source for online North Dakota news.

    Luckily, late Monday night, Chris Welle, whom I follow on Twitter, brought my attention to the Forum’s brand spanking new website: http://www.inforum.com.  Lets take a quick look to compare the sites.

    First the old site:

    The Old In-Forum.com Site

    And now the new site:

    New and Improved Inforum.com

    It is somewhat difficult to see the differences in the screen grabs above, but the new site has a number of improvements:

    1. A new wider format.  The old site was very narrow with the sidebars talking up about 65% of the screen.  The new site gives the actual news stories much more real estate than the previous site;
    2. Revamped RSS feeds which offer greater choice in the type of stories syndicated along with fewer of the annoying ads that the old feed had;
    3. A better story tagging feature which will help ad targeting among other things;
    4. Better navigation and search features;
    5. Finally, the new appearance of the site should not be overlooked.  I simply think the new format and templates of inform.com are a vast improvement over the old site.

    It is great to see more local paper’s update their look to conform to modern web standards, and I think Inforum.com certainly went about the change the right way.  I am excited be a regular visitor of the new and improved site.

    Are there more examples of smaller media/communications companies [Forum Communications isn't small, but the area/region it serves doesn't qualify as a top market] improving their content online, or are most smaller news outlets in need of face lifts?

     

  • eschapp 3:21 pm on January 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Goals, , , , Resolutions   

    Hey, Hey, Its 2009! 

    Well we’re already a couple of days into 2009 and I have yet to write up any of my goals/resolutions for the upcoming year. So here are a few of my 2009 resolutions. I tried to stay away from losing weight, getting healthier, or getting all A’s types of goals because I don’t find the old standbys all that interesting. As a result, the following are not very good “goals” per se, because they lack the good goal element of being explicitly measurable. With their weakness in mind, the following are three quick mindset resolutions/goals for the new year:

    1. Treat School Like Its My Job

    I should be spending the balance of standard business hours working on school related projects. I haven’t really done this in the past, but I aim to change this in 2009. No more sleeping in for no reason. I plan to get up at 6 am Monday through Friday as if I were going to work. This shouldn’t be much of a problem for me as I have no problem waking up early. I have difficulty doing school work at night when there are more distractions around and I’m hoping this new schedule will help.

    I usually do my homework at . . . home, but that also seems to lead to procrastination1. Because of this I might have to set up an off site “office” somewhere where I can better concentrate. My workspace at home might still work, so I will play it by ear.

    2. Treat My Job Like School

    I work for a Judge in a Federal Court. The work that I do at the District Court is far more intellectually stimulating and exciting than my actual law school classes. With that in mind, I want to learn as much as I possibly can while I’m in this position. Maybe I should be taking notes.

    3. Turn Back the Clock on My Ambition

    I used to be much more ambitious, and less apathetic. I guess I’m trying to “care” more. Its not that I have no ambition, but rather, I’ve decided most qualitative processes are essentially arbitrary. Therefore found it hard to care about the subjective evaluations that are a part of everyday life. I want to2 care a bit more about these evaluations for that reason: they occur every day of your life. In a cost benefit analysis I recently ran, it seemed that caring was better than not caring. At least in this case. Enter this nearly impossible to measure resolution.

    I thought I would write more about each of these categories, but they all seemed to be pretty self-explanatory so in the interests of brevity I think I’ll leave them short. There you have it, three flimsy and hard to measure resolutions for the next year. Hopefully I will find a way to prove I accomplished these by the time 2010 rolls around.

    2009 : Sure to be at least a mediocre year.

    1. My favorite forms of procrastination at home: Wii, Xbox, the internet, movies, and reading books for leisure. ↩
    2. This originally read “I want to try to . . . ” and then Yoda popped into my head. And now there is no try. ↩
     

    • New Guy 5:52 am on January 13, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      "2009: Sure to be at least a mediocre year"

      That's the type of optimism that gets me out of bed in the morning.

      • yickit 12:07 pm on January 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        I do what I can. But seriously at least its not 1812, 1827, or 117.

    • Steve Perkins 12:52 pm on January 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      what say I get your mario kart friend code at some point for some online play?

      • yickit 2:59 am on January 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        I'm still trying to find a copy of Mario Kart. Its sold out all over DC. And I don't want to buy it on the second hand market from amazon. I did happen upon a Wii FIt last week [while looking MKart]. It is more fun than I thought it would be. I also have the new Tiger Woods in case you want to play a round some time.

        As soon as I find a copy of MKart I'll DM you my friend code on Twitter.

  • eschapp 1:43 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Can’t Drive Because of Snow? Fly Instead. 

    It has been over a week since I left Fargo to head back to DC, but I wanted to share two pictures from my flight.  My flight was supposed to leave at 6 am CDT.  When I woke up at 4 in order to get ready there was a blizzard taking place outside of my window.  But the airlines had not delayed or canceled my flight.  After driving in a white out to the airport, this is what I saw once I arrived at my gate:

    Blizzard Flight 1

    And another look:

    Blizzard Flight 2

    The sheer amount of snow on the ground was ridiculous. I thought there was no way I would be leaving Fargo that day, but sure enough we boarded on time. And after the plane’s path was plowed we backed up, were de-iced and took off about twenty minutes late. My plane took off even after I almost wasn’t able to get to the airport by car. I haven’t decided if that was a good thing or not that we took off in spite of the weather.  But I guess I’m still around to write this, so I’ll lean toward good.

     

    • Steve Perkins 2:26 am on January 8, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      holy crap that's scary looking

    • acm006 1:40 am on January 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      The craziest part of that story is that you were only 20 minutes late taking off. Glad you made it back to DC in once piece.

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