Return to home page
DEAN'S QUARTERLY NEWLETTER Vol. 6, No. 4, 06/03/2003
HIGHLIGHTS OF SPRING 2003:
Trip to Minnesota – At the end of
May, I caught up with family and friends in Minnesota. Much rain had fallen this spring, but when I
was there the weather was amazingly cooperative throughout the 12 days, and everything
seemed brilliantly green and fragrant with blooming lilacs. I especially enjoyed relaxing walks around
the lakes with my mother, brother and sister in law (oh, and Ruby, the Jack
Russell Terrier). Everybody seems mostly
well, but hey, we’re all getting older.
My nephew Joshua had recently graduated from his program as a medical
assistant at Century College. Niece Rachel entertained us with her
companions at their school in a performance of Tai Chi. And a whole slew of relatives congregated at
my uncle Doug’s for the graduation party of my cousin Cameo. All in all, the whole vacation was pleasantly
laid back.
Trip to New York and Boston – A long weekend in
March was spent with Russian friends Vladimir and Irina
in New York City and Vladimir, Valentina,
Michael, Natasha, Max, Olga, et. al. Russian ballet, Russian cinema, and Russian
rock-n-roll added to the pleasure.
Tour of the Pentagon – Greg Brown, a friend who works at the Pentagon, kindly offered
to give me a personal tour of what remains the world’s largest government
office building. The place isn’t
quite what one would expect. A recent
visitor section had been added, and a surprisingly large number of tourists
were being funneled into the building – something that for awhile at
least had been off limits after 09/11.
They issue you a photo ID for the day with a bar code that opens special
gates to allow you to enter. Then, the
first thing you come upon inside the building is a large modern shopping mall
with many of the usual suspect brand names – including lots of common fast
food franchises such as McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Sabarro,
etc. Since 24,000 people work in the
building, it’s handy for them to do all their shopping without having to
exit the security area. They’ve
got access to a large health clinic, recreational facilities, even to an office
of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
Beyond the shopping area is the more standard appearance of old dull
government building corridors, although I was surprised by the large number of
artworks displayed on the walls throughout the building. At times, it felt a little like a walk
through a Smithsonian Museum. At other times, it felt like a walk through a
highly confusing maze of dull unadorned corridors with little rhyme or reason
to their pattern. During the course of our
walk, it was often amusing to come upon someone mumbling to himself as he tries
to locate where he is in the building and where he is trying to go, something that
Greg says he does all the time, even though he’s worked in the building
for nearly a year. At the center of the
Pentagon is a courtyard filled with large shade trees, park benches, a
bandstand for occasional noontime entertainment, and at the very center,
targeted by more nuclear missiles than any other single place on the planet, is
Dominique’s New York Sandwich shop.
COMING UP NEXT QUARTER: San Diego and Toronto…
Check in and let me know what's up with you.
You can contact me by clicking on this E-mail
address: mail@deanoman.com.
Review previous newsletters:
Winter 03 -- Dean's News Vol 6, No. 3, 03/01/03 – Arizona, California and
Colorado
Fall 02 -- Dean's News Vol 6, No. 2, 12/01/02 – Balkans and Turkey,
Minnesota, Toronto
Summer
02 -- Dean's News Vol 6, No. 1, 09/01/02 --
Minnesota, California and Canada's Maritimes
Spring
02 -- Dean's News Vol 5, No. 4, 06/01/02 -- Nearly
arrested
Winter
02 -- Dean's News Vol 5, No. 3, 03/01/02 -- Arizona
and California
Fall
01 -- Dean's News Vol 5, No. 2, 12/01/01 -- Boston,
Minnesota, New York City
Summer
01 -- Dean's News Vol 5, No. 1, 09/01/01 -- Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia and Minnesota
Spring
01 -- Dean's News Vol 4, No. 4, 06/01/01 -- Baltic
Nations, Poland and Czech Republic
Winter
01 -- Dean's News Vol 4, No. 3, 03/01/01 -- Boston
and Arizona
Fall
00 -- Dean's News Vol 4, No. 2, 12/01/00 -- Colorado,
Minnesota and Gettysburg
Summer
00 -- Dean's News Vol 4, No. 1, 09/01/00 -- Minnesota
and Washington
Spring
00 -- Dean's News Vol 3, No. 4, 06/01/00 -- Eurailing in Europe, and Minnesota
Winter
00 -- Dean's News Vol 3, No. 3, 03/01/00 -- Jamaica,
Arizona and the Millennium
Fall
99 -- Dean's News Vol 3, No. 2, 12/01/99 -- The
Middle East and Minnesota
Summer
99 -- Dean's News Vol 3, No. 1, 09/01/99 -- Minnesota
Spring
99 -- Dean's News Vol 2, No. 4, 06/01/99 -- Pacific
Northwest
Winter
99 -- Dean's News Vol. 2, No. 3, 03/01/99 -- Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Fall
98 -- Dean's News Vol. 2, No. 2, 12/01/98 -- Germany, Poland and Czech Republic
Summer
98 -- Dean's News Vol. 2, No. 1, 09/01/98 -- A summer romance
Spring
98 -- Dean's News Vol. 1, No. 4, 06/01/98 -- New York City and Minnesota trips
Winter
98 -- Dean's News Vol. 1, No. 3, 03/01/98 -- Arizona and Colorado trip
Fall
97 -- Dean's News Vol. 1, No. 2, 12/01/97 -- Venezuela and Trinidad
Summer
97 -- Dean's News Vol. 1, No. 1, 09/01/97 -- Toronto and Niagara Falls
Best wishes to all,
Deano
Return
to home page