"Little Mountain"

Hey Everyone, long time no see. Thanks to everyone who gave me warm wishes for my 30th birthday.

I'm on vacation at the moment so i've actually got a little time to make a post. Believe it or not, I've actually be doing a lot of blogging - just not for my personal blog. If you want to see what i've been up to, check out http://www.runningdogleague.com/. Its my professional/technical blog - part of the reason that I haven't been making any technical posts on this blog anymore. As you'll see, I've actually be doing a fair amount of posting over there.

Today Wendy and I stopped by a historical site most people in the US should be easily able to recognize from the back of a nickel (the non-state nickels) - Monticello. It was a cloudy day - and pictures/video are not allowed from inside of home, but outside on the grounds.

For those who are not history buffs - this is the home of Thomas Jefferson. Unlike historic Williamsburg in Virginia - this is the actual home - not rebuilt, not a recreation in the proper location. Granted, only a subset of items inside the home are original, but considering the home fell out of Jefferson's family's hands for a large number of years - and it is over 200 years old - its in pretty good shape.

One of the most interesting points you see in the home is Jefferson's love of technology/gadgetry - I was a little surprised myself. A lot of what was in the home was custom designed by Jefferson himself, including a clock that includes hour, minute, second hand, and day of the week. A circa 1800 copy machine - well, it reproduced strokes of a pen as it was written. Jefferson made copies of every letter he wrote according to the tour.

The two biggest disappointments were the fact that it was so overcast today and that a tree that was suspected to have been planted by Jefferson himself died over the last few years and was cut down just 6 weeks ago.

And yes, I did take the photo above. :)