François Hennin - July 26, 1921 to August 26, 2010

The Origins of this Blog

I started this blog as an exercise for a National Press Club course I was taking on mining blogs and social media for fodder for news. It seemed logical to try to tie it to my work as a Senior Writer/Editor at The MITRE Corporation, where I had just completely re-written an article on the secret history of the origins of the pictures that were captured by the Corona spacecraft in the post-Sputnik days -- all of which eventually became a part of Project Keyhole. Google purchased this collection several years ago, and the result became Google World, one of the niftiest sites on our blue planet.

As a non-engineer, I had to walk a fine line between making things readable and interesting without sacrificing science. As the then-new Editor of a Systems Engineering Quarterly at MITRE, Collaborations (and editing what was to be a series of System Engineering texts on the side), I found myself at sea without a lifeboat, attempting to learn as much as possible what "Systems Engineering" was all about. (I knew it would be a challenge when one of the Ph.D. Engineer authors told me to hold off on editing a piece of his work as, in re-reading it, he didn't understand it himself.)

Thus the moniker for this blog which, while a dead ringer for an oxymoron, is not an inaccurate description of the task I was attempting to accomplish.

Fate and health problems intervened and, after finding property to purchase to move into just when François had embarked on his first trip to Europe after nearly not recovering from aneurysm surgery, I needed a way to share pictures of our potential new abode without causing our French friend's computer to crash because of the size of the photos. I therefore repurposed the site as a tour of what was to become our condominium. I get waves of nostalgia when I see the space which was filled hurriedly and somewhat haphazardly because of his deteriorating health and, while my goal isn't to return to bare walls and floors, some redecorating is in order now that this is no longer the equivalent of a hospital room.

I'm finding this task dauntingly clear -- and incomprehensible...

Cheers!

The rest of the photos

Zoomed view of Washington Monument visible from all rooms.


















Lobby shots














Other view of lobby to left - room is on the left - chairs with small round tables to the right for visitors to talk, etc.



















Views of lobby and room off lobby.














View from concierge desk.























This is the view from the front door of condo, 10th Floor. (10 ft. ceilings). Elevator banks on the right.































Here's what you see if you turn around and look in to the apartment to the left. Door on the left is to laundry room, and in the distance is the guest room.


Coat closet is on the right as you come into the apartment.


















Laundry Room as viewed from closet.


















View into Living Room below - kitchen to the right































Kitchen with granite countertops and granite-topped island with storage.
















Dining area to the right of kitchen (adjacent to white wall on right)





















All baths are marble.

Guest Bath



















Guest Room



















Guest Bedroom Closet














Other view of Guest Bedroom with nook and view from balcony





















View from Guest Bedroom Balcony
















View of bridge to dog park from guest bedroom balcony.
















View of Creek looking E from guest BR balcony
















View of living room windows from guest bedroom balcony

Living Room facing north, taken at around 5:15 p.m. with no flash.

















View of entry into master bedroom below.




















View to the left as you enter master bedroom.
















View of bridge to dog park from MBR terrace














View east from inside MBR















View east from MBR terrace
















View with back to terrace in MBR of walk-in closet















MBR Closet





















View from window in MBR closet















Master Bath























Shower stall and tub in master bathroom















View from back of closet through MBR across terrace. Washington Monument is in distance

Condo Photos

I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to get around 60 photos up on this blog, but this is all about learning, isn't it?

Yesterday I made a second trip to the Shirlington Village Condominium, this time with my Broker, Donnie Wintermuter, Adron Krekeler's (my financial advisor) sister-in-law, who was able to confirm that my gut feeling when I first saw this place on a lark was accurate.

This is the view from the apartment door. There are only the elevator banks. In the distance is the T-junction where, looking right and left, one can see the long, hotel-like corridor that usually exists in high-rise (this one is 11 floors) condo buildings or hotels. I'm happy that we don't have to look out of the door to see the long corridor -- or see it at all, for that matter. We can just jump in the elevator which, on the fourth floor, gives access to both the pool and the fitness center.