Travel

National Building Museum

July 7, 2019July 7, 2019 patmcgLeave a comment

Okay, this Austin Graff character really has me going on Washington DC now. I’ve always had the National Building Museum in the back of my mind when visiting DC, but now I have to go see it.

The thing is, I always had a slight cognitive dissonance about this museum. Is it a museum about buildings? Or a museum about building things? Or just a museum in a building? Whatever the case, I’m there!

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A favorite museum off the National Mall is the National Building Museum near Chinatown. For the last several summers, they host an interactive exhibit on the main floor. This year they are celebrating the green spaces in cities by creating #LawnDC, an elevated lawn with hammocks, yard games, a fountain, and a tower with spectacular views. Even though the building was built a long time ago (1887), the museum continues to innovate how they use the space. Lawn DC opens today through September 2nd.

A post shared by Austin Graff (@austinkgraff) on Jul 4, 2019 at 1:28pm PDT

Travel

DAR Library

July 7, 2019 patmcgLeave a comment

This looks like a great place to visit for some quiet time and to soak tip some pre-industrial America while in DC. Or maybe enjoy some genealogical and historical manuscripts, if that’s your thang. Or just looked around with mouth wide open. 😲🤩

(DAR = Daughters of the American Revolution)

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Today I stumbled into the DAR Library. The collection started in 1896 and has grown to over 225,000 books about U.S. history, culture, and genealogy. The library itself is beautiful with chandelier hanging from the ceiling, plants sitting on bookshelves, and long wooden tables organized in a reading room. It’s open Monday through Saturday and is free to the public.

A post shared by Austin Graff (@austinkgraff) on Jul 1, 2019 at 5:15pm PDT

Travel

Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern

April 5, 2019April 20, 2019 patmcgLeave a comment

👉 https://buffalobayou.org/visit/destination/the-cistern/

As featured in The Special. Gotta see this next time we’re in Houston. Tour information, fun facts (1.5 football fields large, 17-second echo, …), etc.

Travel

Houston: Where Cultural Change Remains Constant

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Great podcast about Houston’s ethnic diversity and a crazy giant underground cistern.

Anna Pham of Mai’s Restaurant and the chef Chris Shepherd discuss Houston’s heritage and how it’s being reinvented.

The World

The Agony of Being Theresa May

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This episode of The Daily gives a great overview of why the heck “Brexit” has been so hard for the British prime minister to work out. I never really got it until now.

In a last-ditch effort to fulfill her promise of delivering Brexit, Britain’s prime minister dangled a final sacrifice.
— Read on www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/podcasts/the-daily/brexit-uk-theresa-may.html

Music · The World

Yaaas! GarageBand turns 15

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I can’t even describe how amazing Garageband is. It’s lets you record almost anything. And it sounds good! And it’s free! And easy to use! And it has basically all the guitar amps and pedals in the world. And real professional musicians use it to record real music. And it works on the iPhone and iPad.

I just recored a punk-inspired version of Bruce Springsteen’s No Surrender with it. I sang (yikes!) and played two guitar tracks, Drums were compliments of Garageband. It took like half an hour. I mean, what the hell?!?!

Here is Steve Jobs introducing GarageBand in 2004. “Garageband is a major new pro music tool. But it’s for everyone.”