Bull Run Mountains

Yesterday I went on another short hike with the NVHC. The weather was much nicer so we had a pretty good turn out for this one than last week's. We went up Bull Run Mountain near Haymarket, Virginia. Probably about 30 min from my home. This was only slightly more challenging than last week's. Maybe a 1000ft elevation gain and 4-5 miles round-trip. It only took like an hour to get up, but the view from the overlook was very nice. I think next week I will step up to a 10-mile hike with more elevation gain. The only problem with those is that they usually start really early :(

Karaoke Rules

Last night I organized a karaoke night for coworkers. While I had a great time (we were singing for 6 hours), there were some slight annoyances. So I thought I'd put together some general 'guidelines' for karaoke novices:

1. Don't come if you're not going to sing. If I was hosting karaoke at home, that's one thing. Come and be sociable if you like (just have a way home if you want to cut out early). But at a proper karaoke establishment, you're paying by the hour to sit there and suffer.
2. Don't hog the mike. Most people who say they won't sing usually do if the show up. Once they get a hold of the mike tho, it's hard to let go. I know the feeling. Still, other people want to sing too and if you queue up too many of your songs in a row, it's considered rude. To be polite, you should put in one song, and let some other people put in a song or two before you put another one. If you're going to put in more than one, at least have songs that are good sing-along ones.
3. Don't steal other people's song. If someone else puts in a song you want to sing to, that's too bad. They got to it first. Singing along is always good, but if your loud voice drowns out everyone else, try being a little more quiet at times. No one wants to hear the same person's voice song after song after song after song....
4. Stick to lively songs. Some songs are downers. Stay away from them. Unless you have an awesome voice and can do it really well. Then it's ok.

Repeat offenders will not get invited to future karaoke parties I organize.

Junk Mail

I hate junk mails. I have received that many before, but somehow when you become a house owner, you get tons of it. You get about 3 letters a day from some company offering you mortgage insurance. Then you get every sort of fliers on general home maintenance/improvement type services. Today I got a letter offering me an "official" copy of my deed for $70, even tho the letter itself clearly states I can probably get this for free from the government. Are you kidding me? To make matters even worse, the former owner of the house seemed to have been doing all of her shopping through catalogues. I get about 3 catalogues a day addressed to the former owner. What an unbelieveable waste of paper. I've already registered with DMA my preferences to not get junk mail, but I guess it hasn't kicked in yet. I'm tempted to put in a change of address notification to get important stuff sent to work, and have everything else 'returned to sender' or get rid of my mailbox. (Anyone ever try this?)

I should start keeping a tally of all the pros and cons of owning a house. This is a strike against ownership.

Burke Lake Park

Today I joined the Northern Virginia Hiking Club for a stroll around Lake Burke. It's probably one of their easiest hikes, but it's only 30 min from home and a walk around a lake sounded nice. There are few lakes in the town where I live, but this one is a bit bigger. There's a 5 mile trail that goes around it, as well as a work out station here and there. I might have to hit this place once in a while for a run. There are also volleyball nets, frisbee golf course, campground, fishing, and other things you can do in the park. It's a pretty nice park, tho entrance fee is a bit steep for non-residents ($8).