Tenth Annual Holi Hungama DC

I celebrate my 1st Festival of Holi with gulal (powder color), food and drinks at the Quincy Park in Arlington, and I had a blast. Holi is a Hindu spring festival also known as the festival of colors and the festival of love. It is celebrated in India, Nepal, parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic and colors.

I wiped off as much of power as possible on my way home so as to stop by at Trader Joe's, but still caught a lot of attention and friendly smiles in the store. I am glad to share with you that I washed off most of the the power from my clothes. A wonderful way to celebrate the spring!

Modev Five Year Party @ DIG

I attended the five year party of Modev, a meetup for mobile development profession at Caipital One building at Tysons Corner.  The meetup started from twelve developers at a pizza joint to more than 10,000 attendees to meetups, conferences, academy's, hackathons and contests, etc. I also toured DIG, Capital One's amazing new social & work space located in Tyson's Corner, and I loved their advanced massage chair. While consuming food, drinks, music, giveaways, I made new contacts for potential investment opportunities. By the way, I took home a Modev five year commemorative t-shirt.

Ceili Dance Event during St. Patrick weekend

Ceili dances are a popular form of folk dancing in Ireland. Ceili dances were divided into figures.

The dancers generally dancing on their toes with "side-step" or "sevens and threes"  (dancers travel sideways to the direction they are facing is common), "rising step" or "grinding step", etc. I was invited to a Ceili Dance Event in Maryland, and tired a few new dances.

People were pretty friendly and patient with new dancers like me. I learned quickly and got around ok.

Saint Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated annually on 17 March, the death date of the most commonly-recognised patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461). In the mid-1990s the government of Ireland began a campaign to use Saint Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture. Saint Patrick's Day is widely celebrated around the world; especially in Ireland, Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. On St Patrick's Day it is customary to wear shamrocks and/or green clothing or accessories.

 

Marine Corp. Marathon in Oct. 2014!

I won a spot for the Marine Corp. lottery to run a full marathon on Oct. 26, 2014.  I ran 15 miles on 3/15 at 2:43. There were many other people exercising in the near-by high school track field. Two young runners trained with parachute which would add 30 lb resistance to the run.  

I ran 5 miles 51 minutes after the snow on 3/18. I will modify my fall travel plan to accommodate the Marathon.