I was going to publish the entire transcript of the speech here, but decided this would be a much easier read.
A blogs-eye view of the President’s State of the Union address (from Washington Post, Thursday, 28 January 2010).
Category: Blog
Random stuff about HR and his world…
Controversy, Year 37
Yesterday marked the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Here in the Washington, DC area the day was marked by public demonstrations by pro-Roe and anti-Roe forces. And, as always, it garnered a large share of local news media coverage, both in print and on TV. I assume the same was true for other parts of the country.
Suburban Renewal
Most of the homes in our neighborhood were built between 1957 and 1961. Some were all brick and some were a combination of brick and asbestos shingles. Over the years most have had the asbestos shingles replaced by aluminum or vinyl siding. Until a couple of weeks ago, there was one remaining house in the neighborhood with the original asbestos siding. The green shingles on the front are the originals.
And here is what the house looks like now that it has been covered with new vinyl siding.
One of the other distinctive features of these mid-20th century houses was the pink and blue tile in the bathrooms. Most of that has been replaced over the years but there are still a few around with the original pink and blue decor.
And another piece of trivia about these houses is that the two-by-four lumber used for framing actually measures 2-inches by 4-inches, rather than today’s 1.5-inch by 3.5-inch “two-by-four” wannabes!
New Year, New Look
Not only a new year, but also a new decade. To celebrate HalfVast.com making it through the last 10 years, we’ve pimped it up a bit with a new look. In terms of Internet time, the previous HalfVast theme was starting to look a bit dated, so we went looking for a new one that would give us a more contemporary look. We liked this one we found at WOO Themes. We hope you will like it too.
The theme we replaced is shown below. It was in use here from August 2006 through December 2009.
New Year’s Eve, 2009
It’s a few more hours until the end of another year and also the end of the first decade of the 21st century. I guess I should take the time to say something about the last 10 years.
So here is is. Something!
Have a happy and prosperous 2010.
Snow Daze
We get maybe one “real” snow storm here (38.8905, -77.2702) per year and it usually happens in January. And it is typically the result of a Nor’easter rather than storms coming from the West. This year the Nor’easter came early!
The first substantial snowfall of this fall/winter season started around 9:00 PM last night and is still going strong. There was about eight inches of snow when this picture was taken today at 9:57 AM. The snow is expected to continue falling throughout the day with a total accumulation of 20 or more inches predicted. 
This picture was taken today at 3:14 PM. At that time, there was about 18 inches of snow on the ground. And the snow was still falling at a pretty good clip. The snow finally stopped falling around 11:30 PM. At that time, there was about two feet (24 inches) on the ground in the immediate area. 
I took this picture during one of my numerous shoveling attempts to keep the driveway and front walk passable. I finally gave up after a while and decided to wait until it stopped snowing.
Gunston is exploring a path I dug to get from back yard to the front of the house. He’s probably deciding where to make “yellow snow.” 
The big pile of snow is from a path I cleared on the deck so the dogs could get in and out of their doggie door.