I have slowly continued updating the site structure. On the top right, there is a dropdown for what I am calling "themes". Originally, I was going to use a very stark and minimalistic color scheme for the site, but Lynn wanted something a little brighter. Now we are both happy. The default theme is the Spring look, but the page stores whatever you choose in a cookie, so the next time you compulsively check the site it will look just the way you want it to. I also widened the site and added some links in the bottom area for blogs written by people we know. Other additions are in the works whenever I get some motivation.

One thing that I will probably never add are comments. Basically for this reason outlined by Dave Winer and then quoted by Joel (from JoelOnSoftware fame). At least now I have a reason I can point to instead of saying that it is just lazyness...

Last Wednesday Lynn and I were talking about wanting to take more road trips this summer, and then decided to try to go this weekend somewhere. Then we remembered that Lynn's highschool friend Damien was going to be here for the weekend, so I cashed in all of my work favors to get Friday off (and by "cashing in my favors" I really mean that I asked my manager and he shrugged and said, "Sure."). We decided to go to Richmond, VA, which is about 2 hours from DC because Lynn had an article in the feminist magazine Bust that detailed the hipster hangouts in the area.

We got up early and drove down I-95 to get some vegetarian breakfast at Cafe 821 on Cary St. Before that though, we saw the Landmark Theater, which we incorrectly assumed was a huge Sephardic temple (I later found out it was built by the Shriners which used a lot of Islamic influences when they built it -- it was originally called "The Mosque").

After a huge breakfast, we decided to drive up to the Jewish cemetery in the northern portion of the city, which also contained a small Holocaust memorial. Unfortunately, the cemetery was somewhat of a let-down because it was neither sufficiently old or creepy, which are the two qualifications I have for a good cemetery visit. So, we decided to drive down to the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, which has numerous US and Confederate presidents. This cemetery was pretty awesome because a lot of the gravestones were from the Civil War era and there were numerous angels and religious artifacts.

By this time, we were ready to spend some time in some air conditioning to escape the oppressive heat, so we made out way over to the Science Museum of Virginia. The museum would probably be a big hit if I was 10, but it was a little underwhelming as an adult. A lot of the exhibits just plain didn't work, and the others were pretty uneventful. The building it was housed in (the old train station) was pretty impressive, though, with a huge domed lobby.

We drove downtown looking for some lunch, stumbled upon a weird Tex-Mex joint with surprisingly weak margaritas, but decent food and then drove to the Edgar Allen Poe Museum a little south of downtown. This was the third Poe museum (Philadelphia and Baltimore were the other two) that I have to with Lynn -- even though I probably couldn't get through one of his stories (I have little patience for flowery prose), Poe is an impressive figure. It definitely doesn't hurt that his life story is pretty tragic and bizarre, either. Lynn got sick of the tour guide, but she gave us a lot more information and context on Poe's family then I have heard from guides before, so I liked all of the detail.

I was getting tired by this point (it was early afternoon), but one of the main reasons we came was for Carytown (or at least, one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Richmond was Carytown -- it was all in my master plan to visit as many independent record shops as possible wherever I am). It is a section of Richmond which is the definition of hipsterness with numerous vintage stores, record shops, and boutique clothes shops. So, we dragged ourselves there and spent a good amount of time perusing the funky independent retailers that lined Cary street. The music shop, Plan 9, was okay. I think I was too tired and hot to be impressed -- the prices weren't anything to write home about and the used CD section was underwhelming as well. It is hard to compete with the incomparable Soundgarden in Baltimore, MD, but I feel a compulsion to try to find a store that compares favorably. Sweaty and achey, we piled into the car and decided to conclude our mini-roadtrip and get on home.

I have found that there are two questions that I am asked whenever someone finds out I just got back from Israel.

The first is always, "I didn't know you are Jewish?" (alright, that is really a statement, but it is always asked with an inquisitive lilt at the end, so I am going to count it as a question). I want my answer to be something like, "Yeah? Well that's because it's none of your business!", or maybe, "Well, you never asked", or maybe even, "Is there a list of all the Jews in the world you checked when you met me, and I wasn't on it, so you just assumed?". But I always just say, "Yeah, I am.".

What confuses me about this question is that all of the Judeo-Christian religions have numerous holy sites in Israel. It seems like a little bit of a jump to automatically assume that someone is Jewish just because they went to Israel. But I digress.

The second question is always a variation of the following: "What was your favorite thing while over there?". This question is unnecessarily hard. The answer should be, "Everything". It was awesome, all of it (except some of the tour group, but I am not taking that into account). But to whittle the trip down to one definitive moment, or even something that was "the best"? That's impossible. I have recently been copping out and saying Masada was the best thing on the trip. And it probably was, but really, my brain still thinks it is seven hours ahead and I can hardly remember to put on a clean shirt in the morning, let alone analyze a two week trip for the highlights.