Owlspotting

My visits to Washington’s RFK Stadium to see the Washington Nationals have made me love baseball and the experience of attending the ballgame. This past Saturday I decided it was time to take the camera with me and capture some of the atmosphere on video. While this game provided little action on the field, there […]

Office culture — and the mockery of it — is a mostly American sport. But as multi-nationals take over the world and corporations plant roots in every open field from Bangalore to Babadag (one day…) the culture of these hierarchical monsters will embbed themselves in unsuspecting youths who have not cried rivers of tears over […]

I was complaining (to myself) a couple of days ago that I couldn’t find any online map services that provided walking directions. Well, I finally found one today. Maps.Ask.com has walking directions! My tests have been limited to my route to and from work, but the site got that one right without any problems. Also […]

Today, in our quest for cultural enlighment, we shall compare a Romanian Zoo with an American Zoo. The Romanian Zoo was photographed on a gloomy December day in 2004 in Targu-Mures, a town so incredible I accepted to be born in it. The American Zoo was photographed on a gorgeous April day in 2006 in […]

I am not the biggest fan of the Post Magazine, but sometimes they nail it. Here’s a story about lunch in Washington and the boom of the “fast-casual” restaurant scene (think Panera, Cosi, Chipotle, Baja Fresh or Au Bon Pain). I always felt there was something city-specific about these joints, but I could never pin […]

Ameroman. That’s what I am. Romerican and I brainstormed my status and he came up with “Ameroman.” Perfect blend to describe a Romanian in America with a twist. The twist is the key to joining the two identities — it’s trying to be a little bit of both and at times — at least in […]

[Here is the essay I mentioned a couple days ago. I have a couple of rejections and I don’t have the patience to wait for the rest. Enjoy!] For more than two decades WrestleMania has lived hidden in plain sight behind the March Madness carnival and the start of the baseball season. Over 22 years […]

I have been waiting to see the cherry trees blossom since I moved to DC. This spring ritual is one of the calling cards of the city. Every year at the end of March (or begining of April) the more than 3,700 cherry trees bloom along the Tidal Basin and hordes of people from everywhere […]

Browsing the Web this morning I came across an intriguing little story in the Chicago Sun-Times about a Romanian man who was sent home to Romania after immigration officials found him living in the O’Hare airport. The story is fascinating to me as a journalist and I wish it told a more complete story of […]

My latest story in the Christian Science Monitor is about a group of kids in a special needs class that are fighting to make the cherry the official fruit of Washington, DC. The kids are guided in this effort by their teacher, Terry Bunton. Making a fruit — or any other symbol — official is […]