[Kitty]

Konbanwa minna-san! As Judd mentioned, the genro and I have been talking, and we are planning on this happening tomorrow.

That said, everyone should make their own assessment as to safety and comfort based on conditions on the ground. I am currently planning on doing the full ride as scheduled, but if we collectively decide while we’re underway that we are no longer having fun, we can bail out to Swings and I can finish the talk there.

Regardless, please come prepared for a cold, blustery day. Bring warm gear, bring snacks (food keeps you warm), bring your Smartip in case you need to head home.

Two programming notes:
1. I didn’t have any luck getting ahold of the restaurant this week. I’ll call them from the final stop with our headcount. If its a no-go then I suggest Umi in Woodley Park as the fall-back option.
2. After this, I will head home to VA, but want to make a Beeroneuring pitstop at Heritage in Clarendon (because craft beer is new to Japan and not a lot of it is here yet). If anyone wants to join me, and maybe buy the tour-girl a drink, I wouldn’t be opposed.

De wa, matta ashita! (^o^)/~

[Kitty]

I suppose it’s for the best that I won’t be able to participate sure to my mom coming to town for the “March for Our Lives”, I’d hate to have to choose a side…

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[Kitty]

@benihana 175408 wrote:

There is a Thomas Selfridge gate too.

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There is! I just don’t have the clearance to ride through Ft. Myer or the temerity to ride through the cemetery to photograph it…

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[Kitty]

From DCMilitary.com:
“The first military test flight of an aircraft was made from the Fort Myer parade ground on Sept. 9, 1908, when Orville Wright kept the Wright Flyer in the air for a minute and 11 seconds. The thirteenth test flight ended in tragedy when, after three minutes aloft, the aircraft crashed. Wright was severely injured, and a passenger, Lt. Thomas Selfridge, became the first powered aviation fatality.”

Thanks to this, I now know why the Air National Guard base near my hometown in Michigan is named “Selfridge!”

(Hasty photo for fear of arrest…)

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[Kitty]

I stand humbly corrected.

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[Kitty]

And the internet lives on! I’m so happy to count ARPANET as my neighbor.

As a bonus photo (right), given its proximity to the ARPANET building, I always thought of the big silver work of public art with its wizzing jumble of arrows as an artist’s rendition of “the birth of the internet.”

I was disappointed to learn that it’s supposedly “Cupid’s Garden.”

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[Kitty]

@Judd 175319 wrote:

I have agreed to marshal on Kitty’s ride and vowed to fulfill my duties with the tenacity of Hiroo Onoda.

You meant Sakamichi Onoda right?
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[Kitty]

Perfect! Our final stop is in Golden Triangle. (I was hoping the haiku would be up)

[Kitty]

Ehhh sougoi! Mou jyugo-mae desu ne? Atashi igai de…

Err, that is to say, Wow! We’re up to 15 already? Not counting me… I may have to call in some ride marshal support! Or at very least a sweep.

I’ll give the restaurant a call and see how many they can seat shortly after lunch time on a Saturday. (I haven’t been there and these places often run small)

Looking ahead to weather, its looking sunny, but windy as-all-get-out. I think if folks are properly bundled, we’ll be okay, but just don’t let the forecast high fool you.
For my part I’ll do my best not to talk too much at each stop. I can just keep going on this subject if you let me…

In the meantime, let’s learn some Japanese!

Contrary to popular belief among English-speaking students of the language, the Japanese word for bike is not “baiku.” (バイーク) That English loan word is used exclusively for “motorbikes. Bicycles are known as “jitensha.” (自転車)

Bicycles as we know them were introduced to Japan in the late 1800’s around the same time as they arrived in America. In those days new vocabulary was less likely to be borrowed from other languages, in favor of utilizing characters already in the language. As a result the word is written with the idiomatic kanji characters. “jitensha” literally means “self revolving car.” (自=self 転=revolving 車=car)

You might be interested to know that that “ji” is also used in the word for freedom/liberty. (“jiyuu” – 自由) On the other side of the coin, the kanji “ten” can also mean “to fall over!” (“korobu” – 転ぶ)
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[Kitty]

@chibiaerin 175295 wrote:

This Thirsty was caught inside the gazebo north just south of Home Despot, but one more eluded my grasp..

The “Home Despot” you say?
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[Kitty]

This is a really appropriate one for the Lenten season of acknowledging and atoning for one’s sins. From the Georgetown website:

“The university permanently named a building*Isaac Hawkins Hall – formerly known as Mulledy Hall and renamed as Freedom Hall in 2015 – in a courtyard ceremony next to the university’s Dahlgren Chapel.

Issac Hawkins was the first enslaved person listed in the 1838 sale document.”

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[Kitty]

@rcannon100 175290 wrote:

And Benihana gets the point for noticing that Gandhi was still in play

Next: Cornelius Hawkins

Ha! I noticed that this morning and was going to head there after work. Well done!

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[Kitty]

Great! So far so good! I’m narrowing down the stops. There is a lot in the city/area, but its not all close or “comfortable riding adjacent.” As it stands, some changes are being made due to construction.

@LeprosyStudyGroup 175026 wrote:

I once did a mean Danjuro but my orientalist past makes me feel profoundly icky now.

I KNO RITE? In 8th grade I tried to dress-up as a geisha for Halloween… *smh*

@consularrider 175044 wrote:

So this will be just like riding in Tokyo and Kyoto? I’m in unless I have to go to Richmond for the weekend.

Having experienced a bit of both, since I plan on us wearing helmets and not riding on the sidewalk, no.

@SarahBee 175104 wrote:

Regrets! I will be out of the country. I will however be with y’all in spirit and in socks. Stay posted

That’s a good excuse!

[Kitty]

@Judd 174257 wrote:

All Michiganders love to look west across Lake Michigan and wish that they were from Osh Kosh so they could talk even more funny.

That is categorically false. We’ve even rejected their errant seabirds. After all, nobody likes “Green Bay gulls.”

And you’ve got it Nadine! I can do all of the marshal commands in Japanese, but I was originally thinking of holding onto that until I do the “Sushi Roll Ride” I’m tentatively planning on organizing in early March. ^_~

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[Kitty]

@Judd 174499 wrote:

Spoiler Alert: it was Frozémon cards.

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DAMNIT! I’m not going to be back from my trip by then. Safe a Frozémon for me?

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[Author]

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