My day started the usual way... wake up, try not to trip over my own feet, water the plants, drive down the Parkway, and then try to sit at my desk and look busy (though in actuality, I was just wishing I could have a free minute to actually work on *my* work). However, right at 9am, I got a message that I had to go out toward Bethesda immediately to deal with a traffic issue. Specifically, I had to get to a stretch of road -- Maryland Route 355 (MD 355) -- right in front of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Navy Medical Center (NNMC). I tried to do a bit of research before I went... I called all our usual field operations folks to see if they knew what was going on. I called the County's Transportation Management Center (TMC), as they usually know EVERYTHING happening in the county, and I generally trust any info I get from their staff. They reported some construction hassles yesterday which shut down a lane along southbound MD 355 & significantly disrupted bus operations as a result. That is, buses can't pickup passengers (particularly disabled passengers) when they can't pull up to the curb... and the curb lane was shut down. OK so I had a lead: my urgent issue is related to construction. Next, I pull out my plans for some work that I knew NIH was doing. They just built a new visitors access in a really dumb location, and I suspected that their contractors were doing funky things with traffic. I looked at our video logs and compared 2006 to 2007, just to make sure I was familiar with how things used to look like and how things more-or-less look today. I looked at the traffic cameras at a nearby intersection and spotted a part of the southbound lane coned off, but it was the part they're allowed to cone off. Staring into the traffic camera, however, I noted something else... a northbound lane was coned off. The northbound side fronts the NNMC and shouldn't have anything to do with NIH construction. There was a federal police officer parked in the northbound curb lane... and as I was watching, a second officer pulled in behind. I started thinking that, perhaps, it had to do with the pending merger of the Walter Reed Medical Center into the NNMC, which is prompting a LOT of construction in the whole area. Hoping to spot construction, the TMC rotated the camera for me so I could get a look in the other direction, and here's where I REALLY got confused. All this time, I thought I could just resolve whatever the traffic issue was without having to leave my chair. I just thought it'd be NIH's contractor doing something, so I could call NIH and have it taken care of. With the camera pointing in the other direction, however, I spotted about 10 SHA dumptrucks lined up along the northbound lane. Why were WE causing the problems? And why didn't anyone know about it before handing me the assignment?? The County's TMC didn't know anything about this... so next I called our Statewide Operations Center and they didn't have a clue as to what was going on, either. I called up our Fairland Maintenance Shop and got a lead: they were indeed our trucks. I spoke with the boss there and all he knew was that he was ordered to send pretty much his whole fleet there ASAP. Staring at the camera, I was at a loss as to 1) why we'd need so many trucks; 2) why were they all lined up in the same place; and 3) why do I not see anyone in lime-green vests milling about? Er, granted, it's common stereotype to see road crews chilling in their trucks and not actually doing anything... but still, not on my watch. OK, I was getting more questions than answers: it was field time. I told my team leader that I was going to head out and chat with the Feds, and he jokingly mentioned "be careful, they have guns!". If only I knew how right he was. I hopped in my car and about 15 minutes later I was cruising down MD 355. As I passed Cedar Lane -- the northern perimeter of NIH and NNMC -- I looked leftward at the northbound lanes and noticed something peculiar. Right behind the fence of the NNMC, there were soldiers in battle fatigues lining the perimeter. They didn't immediately appear to have guns, but I spotted assault rifles cleverly hidden behind them, with the length of the gun flush against the back of their legs; and their arms crossed behind their backs ready to wield the weapons if needed. Immediately, my engineer-sense told me that this wasn't typical of most construction sites. I pulled into NIH's construction access -- which is what up to this point I had still been thinking was the real issue -- and got out of my car. I went north to the nearest signal so I could cross the street & talk to the SHA guys, but instead I spotted a police officer here and started talking to him instead. All he said was that there was a dignitary visiting & with that a voice came over his radio... he immediately began holding back all the pedestrians, me included. I attempted to explain that I was here to

I chose the landscape I did for my photo for a couple of reasons. First, it gives a good depiction of my favorite aspect of the urban landscape. I have always been interested in the architecture and sheer size of the buildings located in big cities. This picture has the clean, simple architecture that has an appealing look to me. It also shows some measure of the height of the building. The combination of the two gives a very big-city appeal to the photograph. Another reason I chose the landscape was for its location. The photo was taken at St. Joseph Hospital in Mishawaka. I chose this location because I am pursuing a career in the health care industry. I will graduate with my degree in health care management, and am inspired by the changing looks of health care facilities that have happened over the past years. The buildings have become more aesthetic and I captured a small part of that with this scene. The buildings and styling should become more environmentally appealing and less institutional, which is captured in the photo. When I took this picture I captured the contrast in light, texture, and lines on the building. One thing I focused on was how the light was different across the different portions of the building. As we look from left to right we see that the light goes form lower to higher which gave the photo a nice contrast. I also focused on the texture of the building. I made sure that the viewer could recognize the different textures present, such as the rough texture of the brick and the smooth texture of the windows. I also focused on the lines that were present in the shot. We can see various lines throughout the shot. We can see the lines present in the bricks, the window panes, the lines from the shadow, as well as the line separating the top of the building and the sky. This landscape captures a number of different elements that I made sure were present in this shot to give it a unique and appealing view of the urban landscape.