On the way home it was the little things that caught my eye. The empty roads, for example, obviously unheard of in DC. And the billboards. Why billboards? Because they’re things I don’t see very often–I see plenty of advertisements, but not big, hulking billboards on the side of big, hulking freeways next to big hulking forests and fields. It’s a whole different world out here.

Anyway, it should be a busy weekend (although perhaps not as busy as this past week, which included meetings for four different campus organizations, six classes, work for three different jobs, and my big–please note the sarcasm here–TV debut). Tomorrow I’m driving to Louisville (the city!) to see about getting my MacBook fixed, followed up by lunch with my best friend from high school, Megan, and then back to the country for a rehearsal dinner for the big wedding on Sunday (sister of another best friend from high school).

Until later, enjoy a picture of Peanut, my old Kentucky kitty.

I sold for $45, to the always amazing @jillfoster. We’re planning a “morning date” for next week–despite the fact that she’s married! Of course it’s not a real date, but I offered to hang out and help her with her blog and any other personal technological projects that have been put on the back burner lately–I’m looking forward to it!

The event was a blast. When @andinarvaez contacted me earlier in the week to ask me to auction myself off, I wasn’t entirely sure what to think, but it couldn’t have been more fun. While obviously I wasn’t looking for a real date–this crowd isn’t exactly my target market, ya know–I’m thrilled to be able to hang out with such a brilliant professional like Jill!

In other news, I’m exhausted! The beginning of classes have hit hard. The classes themselves aren’t that difficult, but it’s just a lot to balance, and I’m sure I’ll adjust as the summer goes on. But more on that later… for now, I’m grabbing some shut-eye.

You read that right. Twitter + Camping.

Now, “what stays in the woods stays in the woods” (inside joke) but I did want to give a quick overview of the trip and some of the lessons learned.

The explorers included myself (@alexpriest), @sisarina, @charswann, @swannrmonavie, @aishajcreative, and @baileycuddles. We boarded two tightly packed vehicles with enough food to feed an army, chairs for everyone including the pup, and tents to sleep 14 people (no kidding). The journey began.

After a super-fun, totally rockin’ car-ride, completely with the noxious scents of darling @baileycuddles (he was definitely feeling whatever he ate the night before–we all suffered), we arrived at our campsite, selected by @sisarina. It was perfect. We managed to be the only ones in our entire neck of the woods–literally–and it was, to say the least, a picturesque spot.

The trip was an absolute blast. We got to know each other quite well, and in my case, I know I learned a fair bit about myself too. I learned how to use my new DSLR a little better, for example (as seen in my photos in this post, and on my Flickr set page). But more than that, I learned a little about how I’m perceived by others, and began to look at my fellow travelers in a new light.

Before this trip, I’d seen my “Twitter friends,” as I affectionally call them, as great online friends and networking friends, but hadn’t always been able to look deeper and see who they really were. In some cases (not all!), I had let my age get in the way of a real friendship (despite some of my recent writing on similar issues). In recent months, particularly on this trip, I began to look deeper at these amazing, amazing friends I’ve found and realized that I have something truly special.

In a lot of ways, it feels like overcoming issues with body image. My friend @SpringMelanie has been tackling issues of body image recently on her blog and it’s gotten me thinking about the way I look at myself and my friends around me. I’ve begun looking beyond titles, jobs, ages, and locations, and looking at who exactly the person is that I’m tweeting, chatting, and spending time with at all these happy hours and networking events. People like @swannrmonavie (Rahiem Swann) and @charswann (Charlotte Swann, below), who are, without a doubt, some of the nicest, wisest, and most incredible friends I’ve ever had the privilege to know.

This post, and all my ranting and raving, can’t even begin to explain how much fun I had on this weekend trip. It was amazing to set aside the technology, the phones, and even the clocks (for an entire afternoon, we thought it was three hours later than it actually was, thanks to @sisarina misreading military time on her camera). And it was great connecting with four other people (and one adorable puppy) who I’d met entirely online in such a deep and meaningful way. Thank you all so much for a wonderful weekend, and I can’t wait for our next twamping trip. #SMCampers for the win!

Now, time to get some rest. Check out all the rest of my photos from the trip on my Flickr set page.

That said, I felt the need to say something about just how amazing it is to bike in the rain.

So how amazing is it? Really, really amazing.

My love affair with biking in the rain began in Copenhagen and well, it started out as a love/hate relationship. Sure, it felt kind of nice in September 2009, but as soon as it started getting colder (ya know, like the third week of September…) it wasn’t quite as nice. And sometimes it just wasn’t convenient to get all wet whenever I needed to be somewhere and, well, look decent.

But I soon got over that. After biking in Copenhagen for a few weeks, you get used to the rain and the clouds and biking in the dark on winding city streets. You get used to wearing water-resistant clothing and drying out quickly (even using bathroom hand dryers, if absolutely necessary!). And you get used to everyone else being soggy and out of breath from pedaling through the storm, too. It’s just part of life.

Once I got past that, I started to realize just how beautiful a city can be in a rain storm. It’s not always about the sun, or blue skies, or being able to see miles and miles. Sometimes it’s nice to just appreciate the calm and the overwhelming monotony of the rain, drowning out traffic noise, voices, trains, planes, you name it. Sometimes it’s nice to bike along and get absolutely soaked, like I did today, and just enjoy it. You learn to let go and get over it, realizing that there are so many worse conditions to be in than soggy.

Today I biked home from Northern Virginia and biked my way up Wisconsin Avenue. It’s not an easy bike ride–those of you familiar with that hill will back me up, I’m sure–but it’s a pretty one. Just as I almost reached the top, the skies opened up and decided to throw everything it had at me. It was like biking through a river in spots, and needless to say, by the time I reached my apartment I was thoroughly, utterly, drenched. And naturally, the rain stopped about 15 seconds before I reached my door.

I made my way upstairs, dropped my shoes outside the door, parked my soggy bike out on the deck and stripped off my ridiculously wet clothes, and then took a look outside. The bike ride was amazing, the rain came at the perfect time, and I didn’t mind being soaked at all. But what I saw out my kitchen window is what really made my night. And well, a picture is worth a thousand words:

I hope you all have an amazing night, and next time it looks rainy outside and you’re thinking about biking, but start to change your mind… go for it. Who says you can’t bike in the rain?

I took some time this afternoon to upload a bunch of photos from the past few months that I had put on the backburner. My favorite is below (WALLY!), but check below the cut for full slideshows of the others, or view them on Flickr:

• 2010 Yale Graduation — Photos from my brother-in-laws graduation at Yale back in May.
• Virginia Summer 2010 — Photos from my trip to Virginia last week over the 4th of July holiday.
• Chispa DC July — Photos from Thursday nights Chispa event. Not as many fun photos as last time, but still lots-o-fun.
• Walter Cronkat — Photos of everyone’s favorite kitty (WALLY!). Keep your eyes on this set, I’ll continue to update it as I accumulate more and more kitty photos.

Speaking of kitty photos…

Check below the cut for more fun slideshows:

Image courtesy of NOAA, tsunami.gov

There’s no doubt that the earthquake in Chile today is a horrible, horrible tragedy. It’s yet another terrible reminder that we truly are at the mercy of nature–as if Haiti wasn’t proof enough. But as with Haiti, we’re witnessing an amazing case study of people coming together with technology to manage the impact of this natural disaster, and it’s truly fascinating to watch.

This morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and immediately read the news of the earthquake on Twitter, from my bed. I watched news coverage of the event on TV while I worked out in the gym in my apartment. I kept track of updates on the earthquake and resulting tsunami via Twitter throughout my make-up class session this morning.

When I went downtown this afternoon, I listened to NPR’s coverage of the event on my iPhone while I was biking, and then watched coverage of the impending tsunami in Hawaii via Ustream on my iPhone while at Chinatown Coffee. I continued listening to the audio from Ustream while I biked back–including in the metro thanks to relatively new wireles capability for all carriers they’ve installed in the largest metro stations in the city.

Within all of this coverage, of I heard references to Twitter, Twitpic, Posterous, Ustream, Facebook, CNN iReports, hashtags, texting, iPhones, and more.

The natural disasters, record snowstorms, unprecedented level of news coverage, and rapidly advancing online technology we’ve seen in the past three months alone prove–loud and clear–the world is changing, and fast. Social media is playing an integral role in this. I saw a tweet earlier today mentioning that Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, said one of the initial purposes driving Twitter’s development was for crisis response and management. The Haiti and Chile earthquakes prove that it’s been incredibly effective for it.

Again, this is obviously an absolutely tragic event. It’s an incredible case study for technology, but obviously one we all wish we could’ve avoided. I know my thoughts, as well as millions and millions of others’ thoughts, are with those in Chile–as well as those still recovering in Haiti–and we hope we can continue to drive the development of technology and advanced communications to ease recovery from disasters such as these.

Earlier I was out with a friend and took a quick video of the storm in action. It’s a little long and not terribly exciting, but skip through it and you’ll see a puppy, us, and a lot of snow.

Because it’s my birthday, they canceled class today. Ha, ok, ok, well they canceled class because of the snow. But I’m allowed to think they canceled just for me because, well, it is my birthday.

But in all seriousness, just wanted to offer a quick thanks to everyone for the great birthday wishes, both on Twitter and on Facebook. They really do mean a lot, and I’m lucky to have such good friends out there, both in real life and those of you I only know through Twitter!

I do my best to respond to each and every one because, well, what better time than a birthday to make a digital friendship a little more personal? Plus, it’s a snow day and I’ve got plenty of time to do it. So if I don’t give you a shout out, a thanks, or write back in some form or fashion, give me a holler and make sure I do!

Thanks again all, and I hope you have a wonderful day! For those of you here in the northeast, be safe in the snow and enjoy snopocalypse number three!

American University

So as you may have heard, D.C. has been absolutely trounced by snow this past week. And it doesn’t look like it’s over yet.

Now the National Weather Service is predicting 10-20″ tomorrow and Wednesday, to add to the two feet plus that we already have on the ground. Insanity.

The federal government was shut down today and likely will be tomorrow. D.C. public schools were closed yesterday (despite our Mayor at first declaring a two hour delays) and now are closed tomorrow, too. Almost every other school system around the Washington metropolitan area, in both Maryland and Virginia, is closed until at least Wednesday–although with this newest storm they’ll likely remain closed all week.

American University, my school, was closed today. Still wondering if we’ll have class tomorrow, but if the storm tomorrow night is as bad as expected, no class Wednesday (and possibly Thursday) is almost guaranteed. We shall see.

For now, I’m doing my best to stay productive. So far doing alright for staying on top of schoolwork (and got lucky, one exam was pushed back to next week) but there’s always more to do. Also, I’m trying to keep up with blog posts–be sure to check out my post from earlier recapping the Gibraltar Associates social media event from Thursday and discussing how to create a new “need-to-share” culture within governmental agencies.

Now on to more work. Got one more part of a paper to write, a few blog posts to draft, and then lots-o-reading to do. More updates soon and, as always, on my Twitter.