Weekend Update

Friday: My regular day off. I made the Dr's office with 4 minutes to spare and got my first allergy shot. Had a great conversation with a 2 year old named Adam who hated the Dr office. Funny though, it was his mom getting shots, not him. Afterwards I went on down to DC and did an after-hours, behind the scene tour of the reptile and ambphibian collection at the Natural History Smithsonian. 99% of the collection isn't on display, but is used as a "reference" library for scientists throughout the world. The collection is one of the biggest in the world and contains osteo (bones), wet specimens (right after the specimen is killed, its submerged in 70% alcohol which keeps it preserved for years (some specimens were almost 100 years and looked perfectly fine), and stained specimens (stained, bleached and then put in a glycerin solution). The highlights were the spinal column of a python, the wet room. Imagine a room with reference library shelves that contained close to 600,000 specimens of frogs, lizards and snakes in glass bottles. We walked in and the girl next to me said "This reminds me of Indiana Jones." I couldn't help but think that Indy wouldn't be caught dead in the room, the snakes are so well preserved they look life-like.

Saturday: Experienced dim-sum for the first time. Chinese New year, so there were dragon dancers in the restaurant, complete with firecrackers that went off in the restaurant. Dim-sum is fun, especially with a large group. I over-ate and nearly didn't go play soccer a few hours later, but decided I needed to if I'm going to bike 50+miles this summer in one day. That evening I went with a group of friends to the Banff Mountain film festival. Very nice, and the highlights for me were the Chris Shwarma film, "King Lines," and "Badgered", a short animation film about a badger who just wants to sleep. The festival was greatas always, we had dinner beforehand and Courtney G. got us all to go to Julia's Empanadas after the movie. Always a good call.

Sunday: After church, Kell and I went over to Milu's to fix Peruvian food for dinner. Took a little longer than expected, but we all had a good time. I know I did, and the food was excellent. Thanks again Milu! Afterwards, Milu and her roommate's had a lil' birthday party for her roommate Marin. Very nice.