vastateofmind

Great perks! And yeah, avoiding any commuting days is a huge win in my book...especially when trying to plan for, or prep, weeknight dinners! Absolutely. Can't imagine making a DC-WV commute on a regular basis, but the trade-off is living where you and @Mrs.J live -- both beautiful areas away from all of the urbanization. My wife and I considered a move to Leesburg or just west of there many years ago, but I ultimately didn't want the commute from there and telework wasn't an option back then. I currently live only six miles from my job at Belvoir, however, with a ramp-up of in-fill residential/commercial development and many extra traffic lights added in recent years, what used to be a 15-20 minute commute a decade ago, turned into (typically) a one-way 30-40 minute commute just before the pandemic shutdown. I mean, that's just a ridiculous amount of time to traverse six miles, IMHO.

I'm think I may have posted this particular choice a few weeks ago, but on this night of Spades elsewhere in the sub -- and when I'm trying to teach my wife Cribbage! -- I thought I would share this one (perhaps) again. Smartmouth is a damn good brewery.....we don't often get access to their stuff since they're down in Norfolk, but sometimes we do here in NoVA, and it's always good.

I am indeed at DAU...for nearly 20 years now.

Alright, @CAPE, @nw baltimore wx, @Baltimorewx, @Scraff, and others I'm probably leaving out -- what beers are on deck for happy hour this evening? Haven't made up my mind yet, or else I'd be posting a pour pic right now...

72/51, nice little rebound in temps over past hour. Clear blue skies now, with the back edge of the cloud deck associated with the front finally moving southeastward. Thinking about dusting off the propane firepit for some wine on the patio tonight....

I hope more TW/WFH opportunities pan out for your future projects...and excellent points from you bolded here. I'm in a DoD training organization, whose training split prior to March 2020 (pulling this out of my azz) was probably 40% in-classroom/60% online. Pandemic lockdowns hit in March 2020, and our ISDs/instructors go into major overdrive migrating and converting classroom courses to virtual/online...they really stepped up, govvies and contractors alike, and probably saved/salvaged 90%-95% of the in-person training. Not only that, THEY are the ones who have proved that our training mission CAN be accomplished remotely, in a full-time WFH/TW situation...and their efforts were the primary drivers behind changing minds/hearts not only at the senior leadership of our organization, but at senior levels in the Pentagon and at other federal gov't agencies. If we can carry at least one positive out of this effing pandemic...I'm hopeful that improved quality-of-life due to increased implementation of proven WFH/TW practices is at the top of the list.

I get the family thing....we still have a few relatives living in northern PA and just north of NYC, and the proximity to this area (for them AND us) is nice. Our two sons (26 and 24) are currently in the PacNW and Arlington, but neither will probably be in either of those locations long-term because of job commitments that will likely keep them moving. I still love huge snowstorms...but man, I despise cleaning up after them now. Worse than that, I can't abide long-term temps below 35-40 degrees. Absolutely HATE being cold now...and that's after enduring God knows how many days of sub-freezing weather for my first 20 or so years growing up in northern PA. Thirty or so years of NoVA winters have made me soft. The lakes region of NH, really much of NH and VT (most of New England!), are simply some of the most gorgeous country I've seen in the nation...but, increasingly, too cold for this old dude! Hence, the consideration of locations in the Carolinas and FL. One added plus of moving to a beach-centric area is that it will entice our grown sons to come visit US, rather than vice versa.

SIDEBAR: I earned my FCC license in the fall of 1984 (start of my freshman year of college) so I could work the graveyard shift at my college radio station, and instantly learned about a new indie group called "R.E.M.", whose debut album entitled "Murmur" that released the previous year, featured a cover picture of a field in Georgia being overrun by...kudzu. I've loved R.E.M. ever since, not necessarily because they featured that noxious weed on the haunting cover of their debut album, but because I just love most of their music.

Thx! Both the Carolinas are on our list, actually....FL, too. Leaning Myrtle Beach area (long time favorite), but our mind's not made up yet.

We are in same boat -- want to move to SC now -- but due to current laws/policies, I have to live within the metro area and be able to commute to my assigned duty station due to locality pay (understandable, under current laws). However, if those laws/policies are (hopefully) amended in the near future, I'd gladly give up my extra locality pay to be able to move south now, and WFH there while staying attached to my current organization for a few more years until retirement. I'm a big believer in this, and I think the federal gov't is coming around, too. Our organization is considering turning back in to the Army some of our current office space from our physical campus at Fort Belvoir, so that we'll have a much smaller footprint with far fewer single offices and more temporary hotbunk/hotelling spaces for those who come to campus only occasionally. Like most of the federal gov't, we've successfully proven that we can continue to carry out the mission remotely for over a year now, at least in our corner of DoD. Some of us will stay in primarily WFH mode when when we go into "new normal" mode -- my bosses offered me that opportunity a few weeks back, so when we're cleared to return to campus, I'll give up my work office, and likely WFH 85-90% of the time. I'm lucky/fortunate.

Same obs here. Have the north and south windows open and have an awesome cross-breeze barreling through the house, great for blowing away the "closed-up" smell of winter.

The upshot is that there'll be plenty of available winged protein for the plucking for salads, casseroles, grilling and garnishes.

Pretty sure this one is at the top of that list...gotta be.

Mix KISS with the Beastie Boys, add in a dash of Linkin Park, and...voila!

WOWWWWWW. Rush, Pearl Jam and DMB on that list?? That's harsh. And honestly, I liked a few songs from Nickelback ("Rock Star" was completely cringeworthy), but I always thought the lead singer had an awesome voice for a frontman. Also, @nj2va -- a couple young dudes and I did a lip-sync of Taylor Swift's "22" at an office gathering a couple years ago. It was not a flattering nor complimentary performance.

Years ago, my in-laws let this crap overtake a third of the exterior of their otherwise beautiful brick home. At one point before they both died, they had a landscaper remove it all, but by that time the damage had been done...left so many root marks and pockmarks on the brick. Will never have this planted anywhere near buildings, ever.

Low of 46 overnight, currently 48 and partly cloudy. Also, got a red flag warning for the day.

74, clear conditions. Perfect.

I kicked a couple pieces of errant mulch back into the front garden bed while retrieving the trash cans...does that count? Yard work is a great excuse to be out there today, not that you need one!

72, sun through high clouds. Don't even care...awesome afternoon.

LOL, I just asked Google Assistant over lunch what time of sunset today is vs. a week from today...and was blown away when she informed me sunset was one hour and seven minutes later than today. Of course, my surprise was tempered when I suddenly remembered DST starts this weekend. #derp

Low of 23 overnight, currently 25 and clear. Frost this morning appears thicker than some of our "traces" of recorded snow this past season.

Glorious day, deep blue skies, holding at 49...little breezy, but bearable. Just returned from a 4.5 mile walk with my wife and the doggo, doing two loops on the perimeter path of the newly reopened (to non-essential DoD personnel anyway) U.S. Coast Guard C5I service center just off Telegraph Road in Alexandria. First time in the past year that the dog has been able to be off the lead for a big chunk of her walk and she had the time of her life.