It's Allegra/Claritin time again

There will meeting about vacant properties in Shaw to be held at 7:00pm on Tuesday, March 31st at Chatman's D'Vine Bakery located at 1239 9th St (at the Convention Center). There are a remarkably high number of derelict, vacant properties in my 'hood that are mysteriously and conveniently taxed as occupied on the DC tax rolls. This cheaper tax status allows these slumlords to continue to allow these properties to blight the surrounding communities. The usual suspects involved with these ongoing problems and incorrect tax assignments is the typical DC government corruption, cronyism or inefficiency - or all of the above.

Speaking of headaches, judging by the iron spike that was embedded in my temple Sunday morning, spring has officially arrived in DC. Things are starting to bloom and the pollen is out to get you.

From my new favorite site Happy News: Boy Uses Rugby Skills To Save Family From Fire.

This weekend we traveled to Philly to play the Gryphons again and had a lot of fun. This coming weekend we return to Cardozo Stadium where we'll play the Gotham Knights. It's sure to be a fun match. One of my teammates was quoted using the word "tush" in a Washington Post article. He claims he was misquoted but I've heard him comment on other teammate's "hobbit tushes" before.

Prince was on The Tonight Show last week but I was such a busy bee running around town being stood up I missed it. I don't have TiVo yet, but thanks to the wonders of the Internets NBC captured a bit of his performance if you can wait through all the ads and jerky loading. Go to minute 38. Someone caught another night of his performance on YouTube but it's not likely to last long there. Thanks to Sean for the tips.

6 million hand-scribbled notecards written by over 3,000 people spanning 90 years of bird migration and climate change information has been gathered in Laurel, Maryland to be digitized and analyzed. These notes from "citizen scientists" participating in the North American Bird Phenology Program (BPP) encouraged amateur ornithologists to record bird sightings around the United States and Canada.

"This is the longest and most comprehensive legacy data set on bird migration that we know to exist," said Jessica Zelt, who coordinates the North American Bird Phenology Program at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

Alaska's Mount Redoubt has blown! View ash, quickly melting glaciers and wierd ash-induced heat lightning in the atmosphere here.