It was a nice day to toss a cover

Our SWIFT adventure is over and we made it back one day early, in time for me to attend the 2010 Graduation Ceremony at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. I ran into Kyle and Jen Sponaugle, who led me over to Cam, Mary, and Barrett Collier, and ended up spending the entire ceremony with them. It was a good mixture of inspiration, poignancy, and politics (the Vice President gave the commencement address), and the students didn't disappoint when at the end they shouted "I do" to their oath of office and tossed their caps in the air at the 3rd 'hurray'. Here are a few photos:

Crusade at the Academy - last Cru of Spring 2010

Today was the last Cru meeting at the Academy. Jason and Lexi shared stories and testimonies from their summers, and the graduating seniors were honored and "commissioned" in prayer. Here are a few photos and a video of "Glory to God".











Quick video clip of "Glory to God".

Summer a little too early

Yesterday and today have provided an early preview of summer in Annapolis: temperatures in the low 80s, dew point temperatures around 70. While I greatly enjoyed summer 2009, I'll be glad for summer 2010 to hold off a little while longer before sweltering us with these high dew point temperatures.

Fortunately it looks as if a wind shift is on its way, with the dew point in Baltimore and points to our NW 10+F lower than in Annapolis. Bring on the (slightly) cooler weather, please!

KNAK 031954Z AUTO VRB05KT 10SM CLR 26/20 A2977 RMK AO2 SLP083 T02610200 TSNO
KBWI 031954Z 29010G15KT 10SM SCT034TCU SCT090 BKN170 BKN250 24/16 A2977 RMK AO2 SLP078 TCU OHD T02440161

Would you like a little salt with that yogurt?

So last night I offered my roommate Rene some of the pork & mushroom I made a few days ago. He graciously accepted and prepared a heaping portion. I cooked it without adding much salt, so while Rene was grabbing a yogurt from the fridge (as an aside, that made for an interesting dinner: pork chops with cream of mushroom soup and yogurt), I suggested that the last few times I'd eaten it, I needed to add salt. I turned around only to catch Rene about to dump salt into his yogurt! Laughing at our miscommunication, I grabbed the salt container (we don't have a shaker, just use the big cylinder) and told him that I wasn't referring to yogurt but to the pork. He looked at me curiously and said that he thought I was weird to eat my yogurt with salt.

So goes this cross-cultural life I'm living!

First time homebuyer tax credit -- check in hand!

Today, 26 April 2010, nearly 8 months after I closed on my town home on 28 August 2009, I received a check in the mail from the IRS. My amendment of my 2008 federal income tax return was approved (presumably after they verified that I do indeed maintain a principal residence in the US), and the IRS mailed me a check for $8000 + interest. After waiting for quite a while, now I get to decide what to do with this new cash infusion. Any suggestions?

A day north of the warm front

Today was a unique weather day here in Annapolis. The broad synoptic-scale setup featured a deep closed low circulation over the Ohio River valley with a warm front extending east to the Atlantic coast. Despite not being predicted by most of the short-range numerical models, I expected the warm front would lift north of us today (considering it started the day paralleling the Potomac River). However, the front never made it as far north as I expected ... although it got really close to us! Andrews Air Force Base, about 20 miles to our west-southwest, warmed into the mid-70s; we briefly hit 63F before falling back into the 50s with drizzle and mist (see figure below). I said "unique" to start this paragraph because I'm not sure I've ever been this close to a warm front and not have it pass through, plus a 15-degree horizontal temperature gradient over 20 miles is pretty impressive!


The warm sector to our south is characterized by instability (CAPE > 1500 j/kg) and some wind shear, and as the deep closed low translated toward us, the SPC issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. One storm over the Blue Ridge in eastern West Virginia even exhibited brief low-level rotation, prompting my friend MK at KLWX to issue a Tornado Warning. No reports of tornadoes were received, though, and by 00Z the only severe reports in the Sterling CWA were for hail. We'll see what happens as the cluster of storms currently entering western MD move east during the evening and overnight.

First-time homebuyer update

So I think there might be some serious "thawing" with regard to my first-time homebuyer tax credit! I called the IRS tonight and - after selecting several wrong options first, but eventually getting to the right place - was told that the amended return was accepted! Not only has it apparently been accepted, but also with interest ($8000 + ~$350 in interest!) The representative said she thought a check might be going out this Friday (woohoo if true!) but that it might still be 2-4 weeks. Hey, after waiting nearly 8 months, what's a few more weeks? Will be checking the mailbox with renewed vigor :)

What a difference 9 weeks makes!

The following two photos were taken on Saturday February 6 and Saturday April 10th. What a difference!!

Mmm, a spring cookout!

Mefi and Rene surprised me today when they arrived back from working with several pounds of beef, a bag of charcoal, a pack of hot dogs, and some onions: ingredients for an excellent cookout! We grilled and ate, and then enjoyed watching Real Madrid vs. Barcelona (Barcelona won 2-0).

Here are a few pictures, with Mefi, Rene, and Inocente:

Ya esta la primavera! (por fin!!)

Spring has sprung in Annapolis. Like I said in Friday's post, the first several days of this past week were quite warm (highs in the mid-upper 80s, 15-20 degrees above normal). These warm temps caused the previously-dormant vegetation to burst forth from its dormancy, in flowers and leaves and all sorts of pollens.

Here are a few pictures from around town: