Friday, I saw Wanted with Emily, Matt and Neetha. It was a ridiculous shoot-um-up movie with an unrealistic plot and a terrible script. Besides that, it was very entertaining and a decent popcorn movie. My dad would probably love it.

Yesterday, Emily and I took the pups to Rock Creek park again. Last time we threw Piggy into the water to make her swim, but this time she waded into the river on her own! Very brave dog. Turtle, who is usually the scared one, likes the water and goes in without a problem. It started raining when we were on the trail, 30 minutes away from the car. The trees kept us from getting too wet, so the rain felt nice in the heat. That night we went to my cousin Lilly's Bat Mitzvah. I haven't seen anyone from her family since my Bar Mitzvah. It was nice to catch up with them. They live just outside DC, so we will probably meet for dinner sometime. I also got to meet my Uncle Ricky's girlfriend, who was lovely. Apparently my grandmother scared away his previous girlfriends, so it is good to see him dating again.

Today Emily and I met my parents and sister for lunch. There was a quite a raucous when we were leaving, because no one wanted to drive with Lindsey (aka Miss Toad's wild ride). We ate at the Cheesecake Factory, home of the enormous portion size. I got a pizza and a side salad. The salad could have fed the entire table. When they were leaving the restaurant, my sister was suppose to take my parents to the airport. My dad insisted on driving and she did not take his request kindly. I'm glad I wasn't riding with her! Emily dropped me off at the metro on the way to her friend Rachel's house. I stopped in Clarendon to check out the new boxing gym. Emily and I use to take kickboxing classes in Orlando and we might start taking them here. Then I met Matt, Neetha and a couple of their friends at Elephant and Castle to watch the Euro-cup finals. The game was fun. We were all (except Kateland) rooting for Spain and they won!

I had an eventful weekend. Saturday, Emily and I took the dogs to Rock Creek park for a hike. I had not explored the park before, so I enjoyed walking along the river and following the paths deep into the woods. Piggy and Turtle had fun too, but Piggy was terrified when a horse rode by on the trail. Afterward, we went to Target and ate at Aladdin's in Shirlington. Always a good place for some Middle Eastern food. We also saw the movie Mongol, about Ghengis Khan. This was Kazakhstan's entry in the foreign language category of the Academy Awards. It was interesting, but seemed to miss important parts of the story. Emily thought it seemed much longer than it really was.

Today, Matt and I went to the national mall for the bar-b-q cook-off. I don't think I will go again next year. They charged us an entry fee which allowed us to look at all the advertising booths, but not eat any bar-b-q from the competition. We met Aaron at RFK stadium for the DC United game. It was fun! Our seats were decent (in the shade); after many sloppy plays and a few good ones, DC won 3 to 1. Next we are going to catch a Nat's game.

Monday I took the bus up to New York for the Venetian Snares concert. Instead of taking the Chinese bus, I took MegaBus which was only $25 round trip. When I got there, I met Aaron in midtown and we took the subway to little Italy for some brick oven pizza. The pizza was good, but we were not yet full. So we walked over to Chinatown and ate dinner again. This time I had vegetable noodle soup and he had dumplings.

The show was at the Knitting Factory. We arrived a bit too early, so we had to watch the opening acts. The first two were boring. We stayed in the bar where it was still possible to hold a conversation. Otto Von Schirack played third. I don't really like his music, but he put on a good show. He was dressed up in a funny outfit and wore a robber's mask. There was also a girl on stage with an alligator mask. He spent most of the time screaming into a microphone run through heavy distortion.

Venetian Snares finally took the stage at about 12:30. He blended all of the fast, hard parts of his songs together seamlessly. Everyone went crazy, dancing and jumping around. Aaron stayed in the club for most of the show, but eventually he retreated to the bar because it was too loud. I don't blame him. It was one of the loudest shows I have ever been to. It took 24 hours to regain my hearing.

I stayed the night at Aaron's new Brooklyn apartment. We ate breakfast at a local bagel shop, before heading back into the city. Our company (he also works for FSN) has two offices in New York. He went to the office at the UN and I went to the Brooklyn office. I was suppose to meet Paige there to help with an edit, but I had to leave before she arrived. I met Kat for lunch at an Indian restaurant called Kati. It was nice getting a chance to see her while I was in NYC.

I almost missed my bus home, because I lost the conformation number. I tried pulling up on my cell phone's internet connection, but the browser crashed every time I clicked on the MegaBus e-mail. Finally it worked as the driver was about to shut the door.

Monday I had one of my most difficult shoots ever. It was for a "Save the Tigers" event at the National Zoo. I was working with a correspondent who does not have a very good sense of time. We arrived 10 minutes after the event was suppose to start. I had to run to the tiger enclosure at the very back of the zoo, which took another 10 minutes. I was dripping with sweat by the time I arrived. The event was lead by Robert Zoellick (head of the World Bank) and Harrison Ford. Luckily they were also running late.

The press was squeezed into the narrow walkway used to view the tiger enclosure. The cameramen improvised a riser by climbing onto the wall opposite the enclosure. The wall was almost parallel to the podium, so everyone was right on the edge to get a better angle for their shot. Positions are claimed on a first-come first-serve basis, so I was stuck with horrible profile shot. The background was a bright white wall; it looked awful. Harrison Ford sat next to the wall. I had to lean over the edge to get a shot of him. The entire event was spent jockeying for position behind the CNN cameraman and between the AP guy and the still photographers. The footage was barely usable.

I spent all week working on a corporate video, only to have the assignment canceled just before it was finished. Last week I went to Baltimore to shoot an interview and some b-roll for the corporate video. I shot in the warehouse of a government contractor who makes unmanned boats. They were constructing one of the boats while I was there and I got to climb inside. It became quite obvious that it was not made for passengers. I had to squeeze in between the massive engines to get a shot of the workmen. After filming various workers on the factory floor, the company's owner took the producer and I out on the Baltimore Harbor. Luckily we took a boat that was made for passengers. I tried to get some shots of the harbor and cargo ships, but I could not hold the camera still enough.

I spent all week cutting my footage together with the interviews they had already shot (which looked like crap) and manufacturing b-roll from the FSN library. This type of edit usually takes weeks, but I had to finish the video in four days. Yesterday, the day before it was due, we got a call from the producer saying that the entire project was canceled. Apparently the Deputy Director had planned all of the materials, designs and multimedia presentations for the company's 20 year anniversary without getting approval from the Director. When he finally saw the plans, he hated the entire concept. All of the work that was put into this meeting was dropped. I still had to finish the video and send an approval copy and we will still get paid, but no one will see the finished product.