Looked like rain this afternoon, but it cleared up by around five pm so I decided to go for my regular weekday ride, about 22 miles down Beach Drive and back via Ross Drive, Broadbranch, and through Chevy Chase Section Four and Bethesda back home.
Weekday 22 mile loop
Today I’m trying out posting from my phone, grabbing a few screenshots and a photo and writing a bit of text, all in preparation for a longer bike trip later this month.
Today’s ride stats
To help prepare for the trip I’m shooting for about 100 miles a week. This week I got in an extra ride on the holiday weekend.
Weekly stats
Lots of deer and rabbits out on these warm Summer days. Here’s a friend from today.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
For today, I rode my usual ‘longer’ route, down the Beach Drive/Rock Creek cycle trail and back up the Capital Crescent trail. It was a bit cloudy this morning and the recent (torrential!) rains left quite a bit of mud and detritus on the road and the cycle trail.
Downed tree along the Capital Crescent trail. There was a newly-trod narrow path around the side (left side of photo)
Here’s the first video, a short sequence along the Georgetown waterfront by Key Bridge. 360 cameras take video in all directions at once, and you can reframe, pan, and zoom in the editing app after the fact. Some of the effects can be a little dizzying, but it’s fun to try to make interesting shots.
Cycling around the Georgetown waterfront.
Next up is a segment along Beach Drive. Here, the camera is mounted on my helmet, for a drone-like vantage point. You can see the mud on the road from what must have been quite a flood in Rock Creek.
Muddy Beach Drive
The last video was taken along K Street NW under the Whitehurst Freeway, ending with a view of Rosslyn and the Key Bridge. There’s a really bad, old joke about Jimmy Carter and Key Bridge, Rosslyn, etc. But I’ll spare y’all.
K Street NW
Finally here are a couple of photos from the One X2. They’re based on the same 360 shot, reframed and lightly adjusted for better exposure/contrast.
Key Bridge. One X2 photo.Panoramic shot from the One X2. Full Image
Sooo, we couldn’t take our planned holiday this Summer, but I am happy that I’m getting a vacation – a nice chance to relax, get some exercise, play a little music, and enjoy some delicious cocktails and sea food. I’ve been on a FB hiatus for July, you know, because FB is a force for evil and not good, and today I decided to take a break from Twitter as well. I subscribe to some great publications, from the Atlantic to the Washington Post, so I’ll stick to them for a week or so and have a brief respite from the firehose of doom and authoritarianism of which I’ve seen altogether too much of late.
Meanwhile had a very nice and flat, breezy of rather hot run today…
And a lovely cosmopolitan…
And recorded a song…
Here’s the music setup:
Folks here along the Delaware/Maryland seashore are well distanced, wearing masks inside every place I’ve been, and just generally doing their thing.
All in all, not a bad way to spend some time – I’m quite thankful to have a place to go and a job to which I can return.
Dissonance theory also teaches us why changing your brother-in-law’s political opinions is so hard, if not impossible—especially if he has thrown time, money, effort, and his vote at them. (He can’t change yours either, can he?) But if you want to try, don’t say the equivalent of “What are you thinking by not wearing a mask?” That message implies “How could you be so stupid?” and will immediately create dissonance (I’m smart versus You say I’m doing something stupid), making him almost certainly respond with defensiveness and a hardening of the belief (I was thinking how smart I am, that’s what, and masks are useless anyway). However, your brother-in-law may be more amenable to messages from others who share his party loyalty but who have changed their mind, such as the growing number of prominent Republicans now wearing masks. Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee said, “Unfortunately, this simple, lifesaving practice has become part of a political debate that says: If you’re for Trump, you don’t wear a mask; if you’re against Trump, you do… The stakes are much too high for that.”
Had some fun tonight playing around with audio and midi gear.
First step was to repair the plastic overlay for the led display on my E-mu Xboard 49 midi controller. Had to disassemble it and glue a little shaded piece of plastic in place.
Some midi gear. The Xboard 49 is to the right.
Once the Xboard was squared away I played around a bit with Syntronik for iOS, configuring knobs etc. Fun!
Next up was practicing some scales and improv forms over two chord backing tracks.
Practicing lead with some Santana chords.
Here’s another lead practice- Moondance chords.
Practicing some leads
After the electric fun (AmpliTube via a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and the Fender amp pack), I decided to give “Blowin In the Wind” a try.
Key, timely line:
How many deaths
Will it take
‘Til he knows
That too many
People have died…
And the real answer is, this many. Far too many, to date.
Definitely need to work on the audio mix…
Edit: here’s a different mix better?
A few more photos – capture the flavor of the room.
Had a nice ride down Beach Drive to Ross Drive and Broad branch, past the old house on Connecticut Avenue then back home via Bethesda.
Lots of folks walking or biking with masks but plenty of bikers and runners were unmasked including me. (I do of course carry a mask at all times, and rigorously stay at least 6-10 feet or more from everyone.) I wonder how this paragraph would have read a year ago, or how it will resonate in a year or ten.
Put the bike rack on the Forester today to get ready for the beach. Still need to take a test run.
Here’s an article I want to remember, sort of a “how did we get here” piece about Trumpism.
