I had to go to DC or rather I should say near DC for a seminar last week. It was at the Marriot on the airport grounds. I waited to long to make reservations and that hotel was full so I had to stay a couple of miles away.

On the first day during the lunch break I decided to stroll around outside to pass the time, and when I went out there was a squirrel trying to get in the door. I walked around a bit and came back and he was still there. I decided to get my camera, and when I came back he was still there. I got a few shots off before he decided to run away. I’ve never seen a squirrel so unafraid.

The Washington trip itself was fairly uneventful. I drove down (about 6 hours), and listened to several books on tape, which I had already listened to, but not for sometime.

• Ann Tyler – Ladder of Years
• Richard Bach – A Bridge Across Forever
• Richard Bach – Illusions

I’ve only heard the one Ann Tyler book, this was an Author Ali liked and shared with me. We have several of her books lying around and I think I’m going to begin reading them as soon as I finish “A Short History of Nearly Everything — Bill Bryson,” which David was kind enough to give me for my birthday along with “A Walk in the Woods” (same author).

In other news I noticed that there is a Johnny Rockets in Scranton on my way home from DC. Scranton is a short 1.5 – 2 hours from our house, so I think Ali and I will have to make a trek there as she has never been to one.

I fixed my cell phone today. The case had broken and when ever you flip it open it would fall into two pieces. Of course Verizon Wireless told me it couldn’t be fixed and that I would have to buy a new phone, and while you’re at it you should get into another contract since yours has expired. I thought about doing all that, but in the end I bought a brand new shell including screen for $30 off of ebay and transferred my guts to it today. It turned out to be a bit of an adventure as you need a T6 (torx) driver to take the screws out and of course I don’t have one (T10 is as small as my set goes). I went to Radio Shack and they were out of stock, but the guy there told me to bring my phone in and I could use theirs. I did, and I stood at the counter for a while working on my phone when I finally realized there were some pieces I needed to remove from my old phone to put in the new shell that would not come out. I had to come home and cut part of the old phone apart with a hack saw to get at the pieces I needed to transfer. In the end I got all everything moved over to my new shell and it works like a champ — Wahoo!