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This storm rolled through a few days ago at about 5PM. It featured dark clouds with green showing through. It looked mean.

I posted on flickr some pictures I took at the NCAA Frozen Four tournament. The games were April 9 and 11 at the Verizon Center in Washington DC. As a Capitals season ticket holder, I had the opportunity to get seats.

The four teams playing were Bemidji State, Miami of Ohio, Boston University and Vermont. I didn’t have a particular rooting interest, though I favored, in order, Vermont, Bemidji State, Miami, BU. Even though my least favored team won, the tournament was still a great time.

The games were much different than Capitals games at the Verizon Center in a lot of good ways. A quick list of what I liked about them:

• the PA volume was adjusted to a reasonable level, vice blaring, and there was no ear-splitting music being pumped out constantly to supposedly “get the fans excited.” If the arena was loud, it was from people cheering, not manufactured excitement.
• each team had a band that played fight songs and led cheers for their fans. Each team had a group of fans there.
• no hockey-clueless suits entertaining clients. These are the ones at NHL games that sit in seats on the glass, come in and out during the game, and incessantly talk to their guests about everything but the game. Sad part in Washington is that some of these people are Capitals owners.
• the speed of the game was a little slower and there were mistakes. I could watch this game and see myself doing some of the things I saw on the ice. Not necessarily as fast-paced and exciting as NHL, but as a rec-hockey player, I could relate to these games.

I took the picture here of the reflecting pool on Inauguration Day in 2009 about an hour before the swearing in. I was at the bottom of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The Capitol Dome is directly behind the Washington Monument in the center of the picture. You can see crowds gathering in front of large video monitors closer to the Washington Monument.

I set this picture as the header image and plan to leave it there for a time.

One of my pictures was selected for inclusion in the Schmap San Francisco Guide. I took this in 2006 when I was in San Francisco over Christmas. It’s been on Flickr for some time.

Schmap contacted me to get my permission since I had the photo licensed under a creative commons noncommercial license. They recently e-mailed me a link to my photo in the Embarcadero section of their guide. Look in the upper right of the screen and you’ll see it. I give credit to Schmap for checking with me in accordance with the license terms. I’m happy to let them use it since they link to me and it’s fun to have someone resuse your stuff.

The picture of a Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, which I use as one of my header images, was taken at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The zoo has some great bird houses that you can walk through and get very close to the birds. I took this from about 12 feet away and the camera did the rest.

Specific details from the zoo’s web site:
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Latin Name Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus
Taxonomy > Chordata > Vertebrata > Aves > Psittaciformes > Loriidae