nathan jara

Over this past weekend, I was blessed to have the opportunity to visit for the first time, our nation’s capital, Washington D.C.. Thanks to a handful of my best friends, I was able to experience something I’ve been wanting to do for many years.

My weekend began on Saturday, July 3rd, with my first stop in Arlington National Cemetery. This was such an overwhelming place. I’ve always known that there would be many, many tomb stones, but I didn’t believe there were as many as I actually saw. It  seemed that no matter which direction you turned, the stones looked to go on forever. Walking through the cemetery I tried to put myself in the shoes of the family members who come to visit their fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. On several occasions I saw families doing just that. I also made the walk around to section 60 of the cemetery which is now the eternal earthly home of the men and women that have given the ultimate price in Iraq and the Middle East. It was very strange to walk by these stones with dates as recent as June 2010. It boggled my mind to think about it.

Another impressive stop within Arlington was the visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This memorial was constructed in honor of all the servicemen who gave their lives and have never been identified. The tomb is guarded 24 hours a day 7 days a week by a U.S. Infantry soldier. In the tradition of the 21 Gun Salute, the soldier takes 21 steps, holds for 21 seconds, and returns in the same manner back and forth in front of the tomb. During the summer months, the guard is relieved of his duty every half hour, every hour during winter months. While visiting the tomb, I was able to experience this changing of the guard. The ceremony was impressive, regal, humbling; it can only be seen rather than described.

After my visit to Arlington, we took the metro further into D.C. and visited the Thomas Jefferson Library at the Library of Congress. This sight was one I was very surprised to see. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was certainly very impressed when we walked into the main hall of the Library. The interior was very ornately decorated with gold flourishing details, marble floors, stairs, and sculptures. The architecture reminded me most of an Italian Renaissance style. Frescos and paintings also adorned the walls and ceilings. In what seemed to me to be the heart of the library, was the Reading Room. This room, which is only accessible with special permission, was a large circular room with desks oriented in multiple rows going around the circular room. The Reading Room was also exquisitely decorated and produced a very intellectual and respect demanding persona. This room was very much one of my favorite stops in the Library. Across the street from the Library I visited the U.S. Senate building. It was neat to see the place where our elected officials have been meeting to make the decisions that affect us all. And as one who enjoys architecture, the U.S. Senate is another beautifully architected building, also emitting the Roman/Italian style.

The following day, Sunday, July 4th, we first spent a few hours at the Natural History Museum within the Smithsonian Institute. Dinosaurs, octopus, giant squid, whales, dolphins, sharks, rhinocerous and elephants galore. After leaving the Smithsonian, we came outside on the sidewalk along Constitution Avenue to find the tail end of the Washington D.C. Fourth of July parade. None of us had really planned on watching the parade, but it definitely seemed to stop us in our tracks that day. Just seeing the bands come by playing patriotic tunes, kids and adults alike in Uncle Sam hats and red, white, and blue, and everyone being joyful in the hot July sun, seemed to make the parade become something we all had to be a part of on this Independence Day.

Further down the street, I made sure to stop at the National Gallery of Art. I very much enjoyed the art gallery and was excited to see many oil paintings, drawings, and photographs, include paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Degas, and Leonardo DaVinci. On my next trip to D.C., I would like to visit the many other art galleries in the area along with more of the Smithsonian museums.

A long trek through the mall and around the Tidal Basin brought us to my first major memorial stop, the Thomas Jefferson memorial. This memorial is definitely one of my favorites. The openness and simplicity of the structure gives it a very comfortable feeling, one that I thought was most inviting compared to the other memorials. I think this was evident in the way that many of the visitors that were there take time to sit on the marble floor of the memorial and just take in their surroundings. The larger than life size statue of Thomas Jefferson stands prominent in the center of the circular memorial surrounded by four of Jefferson’s most significant writings. This memorial certainly explains and projects the respect and honor due to a man that without his work and dedication, our great nation may not exist as we know it today.

With the sun beginning to set, we decided to take our place in the National Mall to prepare for the Independence Day fireworks. We found a spot and camped out listening to the sounds of the Navy Concert Band playing American tunes. Thinking back, this experience was one that I’ll never forget. As we sat and talked, the crowd of thousands continued to gather around us under the Washington Monument. It truly was awesome to see so many Americans gather together in this historic place to celebrate the Fourth of July. Kids playing soccer, people throwing frisbee, friends playing volleyball, and families just talking, chatting, and laughing together in every direction. The scene made me think how those that came before me really did do everything they did so that I could have this. That is a very awesome thought.

As the sun finally fell below the horizon, the lights and colors lit up the sky. We sat and watched the fireworks shimmer over the Reflecting Pool. The show ended with a grand fireworks finale. Afterward, we walked through the streets of D.C. with thousands of our closest friends back to the metro, stopping along the way to take a peek at the White House.

On Monday, July 5th, we made our final trip on the metro back into town to visit the rest of the memorials. We first visited the World War II Memorial. This grand memorial gives honor to all soldiers of the second world war by noting those who served in both the Atlantic and Pacific campaigns. The first of my two favorite features of this memorial was the relief sculptures along the outside walls of the space depicting scenes from various WWII battles. The second was the wall of stars. This arced wall situated at the center of the memorial housed over 4,000 stars. Each one of these stars honors 100 American soldiers who died in the war. This fact leaves one speechless.

Next I visited the Korean War memorial. My favorite aspect of this memorial was the wall which lines the side of the monument. On this wall were ghost-like etchings depicting men, women, and scenes during the time of the war. We stopped at the famous Lincoln Memorial next at the end of the Reflecting Pool. As I grew to know from seeing the other buildings and memorials around the capital, the massive scale of the Lincoln Memorial was no different. A grand statue of Honest Abe placed in the center of the memorial depicts the 16th President of the United States sitting humbly in a mighty chair. On the walls to either side of him are etched his two inaugural addresses. My final stop was the Vietnam Memorial. This simple memorial is definitely most powerful. The stone wall constructed in the shape of a ‘v’ is inscribed with the names of the thousands of casualties from the Vietnam conflict. Walking past these thousands of names demanded my reflection upon what these people did for our country.

My first trip to Washington D.C. is one that I’ll never forget. I learned a lot and gained a refreshed respect and love for my country. And I have to thank Ashely, Steve, Sam, Turbo, Aunt Carol and Uncle Carl for an awesome weekend :) You can find more pictures from my weekend in my online album.

So I have a complaint to make. I’m not sure what it’s like these days in the rest of the country, but I’ve come to the conclusion that a good portion of people in western Pennsylvania have lost some fundamental driving principles. It’s amazing. I can’t count the number of times in the past few weeks I’ve encountered others who A. don’t know how to use their turn signal and B. don’t seem to understand the concept of ‘right-of-way.’ I’m not sure if the cars these individuals are driving don’t have turn signals, but if they do, they certainly are too lazy to make an effort to flick the turn signal arm. And when it comes to pulling up to the intersection, these particular drivers don’t realize that whoever is first to the intersection, proceeds through first. Only when two cars arrive at the same time does the person on the right have the ‘right-of-way.’

And just one more thing. Headlights. I am continually amazed that people do not turn on their headlights when it’s raining. First of all, it’s illegal (pg. 66). Second of all, it’s just silly.

Okay. I’m done.

Facebook is one of, if not THE most used social network on the world wide interweb. I can say that I’ve been a member of this online community for about five years. Facebook is a very cool online application and provides a great way to keep in touch with family, friends, and old acquaintances all over the world. Sharing photos, videos, and links also makes for a jolly good online time. Recently, however, the Facebook group has put into place some new changes to personal profiles that have caused some controversy.

These changes include adjustments to the way that Facebook shares your personal profile information with third parties. What the changes boil down to is that Facebook has decided that things such as your profile info, likes, interests, movies, music, and book choices should be public information, along with your profile picture, gender, and basic account info. The Facebook group has now made it mandatory that these personal likes and interests be linked to Facebook Pages which are accessible by anyone. Also, if you choose not to allow your interests to be linked to these Facebook Pages, you are not permitted to use this section of your profile at all. The feature is disabled. Additionally, Facebook has added a new “feature” called “instant personalization.” This new feature, which is turned on by default, opts you in to allow third party websites that you visit to gather data from your personal profile to enhance your experience on their website. The third party is allowed to use your information, friend list, etc. to tailor their website for your visit. Some of the websites Facebook has partnered with on this project are Pandora and Yelp.

Now, again, I really like Facebook. It’s a lot of fun to use and a great way to waste time when you should be doing something else, but I think Facebook has gone too far this time. Over the 5 years I’ve been using the application, Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team have made several changes to their privacy policies. I can remember whispers, chats, and blogs posts about the past changes, but none like this one. Facebook is clearly taking advantage of and banking on the laziness of its users who won’t pay attention to the fact that the site is using and sending their personal information around the internet more swiftly than James Bond can pick up every chick he meets. Obviously there’s one and only one reason for the social network to do such a sneaky thing: money, money, and more money. Ok, that was three reasons. By sharing profile info with third parties, Facebook can make big bucks on advertising. Websites and companies will most definitely shell out the cash for ads which can target the most specific audience they want. I mean, why wouldn’t the ad agencies inundate their exact target markets?

Needless to say, I’m not too excited about Facebook’s decision. It’s going to be interesting to see what Facebook’s response is to the latest gossip. Currently, I am still part of the 500 million strong social network, but these latest policy changes have me pondering. But then again, Facebook’s so much fun! But then again, geez, I guess I may really have to start reading those terms and conditions when I sign up for things and not just scroll down and click “I agree.” I dunno….dare I say it…..Tweet Tweet.

Well, I can officially say that I’ve been out west. With my trip to California finishing up yesterday morning, I can also say I really enjoyed visiting the hometown of the Governator. California is certainly a beautiful state. We had fantastic weather all weekend. Clear blue skies and bright California sun.

I really grew to like both San Francisco and the San Jose area. San Francisco is a very rich city culturally. Many different nationalities and cultures come together to form an eclectic mix. From the architecture and make up of the city, you can tell it has been molded by many different backgrounds. Walking through the city, you can see traditional church architecture, modern building structures, graffiti, and contemporary art. Another thing I found interesting, was the layout of the city itself. It’s structured in a very rigid grid pattern. Very different from Pittsburgh of course :) San Jose was great too; it felt very similar to San Francisco, but less city like. It was more town-ish. Both cities feel very new. Which makes sense, seeing as California is one of the youngest parts of the country.

Oh yeah, I did go to a conference while I was there :) The jQuery conference was a lot of fun. We learned about many new concepts and techniques being used in contemporary web development. Several heroes of the web development community were present, which lended to some great discussion and geeky humor :) The time spent was well worth it and I would definitely attend again. Especially if it’s in California.

I had a very good time at the first day of the conference yesterday. We sat in on a lot of great discussions and presentations. It’s been very cool to be a part of this jQuery, javascript, web development community. Taking in the whole experience is interesting to think about. Two years ago when I began doing web development full-time, even a year ago, I don’t think I would have said that I’d be attending, traveling, interested in, becoming an active member of a web development community such as jQuery.

Last night, after the day’s sessions, we were able to catch the end of the Penguins game by streaming the game on-line in the hotel room :) Needless to say, I was happy with the result. Then we drove into downtown San Jose to check out the local scene. We ate at a local Korean restaurant called Omogari. It was great! I’ve never had Korean food before. Very tasty :)  Afterward we walked around the downtown San Jose area. One of the main drags, called Santa Clara, has a bunch of clubs, restaurants, bars, shopping centers, stores, etc. We ended up at Gordon Biersch, a restaurant brewery. They had a sweet patio area outside for a nice drink and chat :)

Today’s conference sessions have been pretty good. I’m not getting quite as much out of today as yesterday, but there have been some very useful tidbits. We’ll be finishing up day two in about an hour and a half or so, then we’ll be heading up to San Francisco for a last party night out. Our flight leaves at around 11.30PM tonight. We’ll be flying to Millwaukee, Wisconson then back to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning.