In the beginning, we were supposed to get 12-20 inches of snow. Then 18-24 inches of snow. Then 20-30 inches of snow. A rumor dropped that it may actually end up being a full 36 inches.

Now, I’m not sure how many inches we actually got. About knee high. 20 inches maybe? Regardless, I saw far less panic after it actually happened than I did shortly before. Saturday afternoon, toward the end of the wind and snowfall, I decided to investigate the aftermath with my camera.

Unfortunately, my neighborhood wasn’t plowed. I had to hop-skip-and-jump from the sidewalk, to the curb, and out into the road. Luckily, there were very few people out driving. I made my way to Stadium Armory metro and commuted out to Smithsonian station. I was surprised at how many people had shown up on the National Mall to enjoy the snow. There were plenty of people having snowball fights, playing football, or just goofing around with their friends. There were only a few narrow paths to traverse. Every time someone fell, it would hold up everyone behind them. It was a good thing that everyone was of good spirit and no one seemed to mind.

I made it all the way out to Lincoln Memorial, past the buried World War II Memorial and frozen reflecting pool, and then around Constitution Gardens. Around Constitution Gardens, as the sun began to set, the cold had sapped the charge from both of my batteries. I wasn’t done yet; I warmed my batteries as best I could. I was able to finish the trip before my batteries gave up entirely. It was a good thing, too — some of the best shots came out in the dusk light over the snow. It was dark by the time I got home.

In lieu of adding the photos to my photography site, I’ve created a public facebook photo album.

Visit “DC Winter Wonderland” album on facebook

Throughout my web existence, I’ve written, blogged, and posted photos on various sites using various platforms. After moving to DC about a year-and-a-half ago, I’d started to neglect pretty much all of it. My photography site, which I custom wrote, hasn’t been updated in over a year; and my various rantings and ramblings on Facebook and Twitter hold little-to-no value. I kept a LiveJournal back in the day — most of it amounting to the ravings of a new professional who couldn’t catch a break. Recently, I remembered that the landing page for www.spisoft.net still contained a placeholder page.

At work, I’d spun-up an number of WordPress instances for various purposes; sometimes I forget just how simple it is. Until today, every website and every application that I put my name on was custom-built. I concede defeat to that lifestyle, as the time for re-inventing the wheel is long since past. So, until I can get around to reviving www, this blog shall suffice.

So why even have my own blog? It was that question that kept me from spinning one up. As my professional life marches on, I find that I’ve taken far too little time to sit and reflect upon my life’s experiences. Being now 27, heading into 2010, I’ve accumulated a rather large set of skills and amassed a vast array of memories. I’ve met many people, and I’ve said goodbye to most of them.

Unfortunately, maintaining a professional exterior in this day-and-age is a fine balance of personality and discretion. As my voice becomes further quelled by the powers that be, I’m thrusting my stake into the ground in an attempt to regain my voice and my own version of the truth.

But it’s mostly I desire, as Audioslave would say, “to be where I can speak freely.”