The Capital Skyline Hotel hosts pool parties each weekend during the summer.
This is a shot I took when I visited yesterday with friends. The hotel is
decades-old: The exterior facade rings true of the 1960s, but I can’t be
certain, as the hotel’s website unfortunately gives no history of the building.
The ppol parties are adult-focused, there are go-go dancers, large speakers
booming out house music and at least three full-service bars that I counted. I
wouldn’t advice bringing your young children, although I did see some there
amongst the European-style shortie shorts and Brazilian-cut bikinis.

Having sworn off dessert for the time being, I’ve rekindled my love of baking
just to torture myself. Thankfully, eager eaters await at home and at work. I
made these apple strudel muffins using a Duncan Hines mix. It takes two eggs, a
half cup of water and a quarter cup of oil. You mix them all together before
adding the apple bits in cinnamon sauce. Next, dish them out into the muffin
tins. Once they’re filled, you sprinkle the oats on top. Mmmm.

My mom just dropped off these juicy tomatos of all shapes and sizes. I just
love the yellows, oranges and reds together—it’s what makes eating summer
vegetables such a sparkling experience. She’s also spent the last few weekends
pickling jars of beets—can’t wait to dig into them.

And, just because I can, I’ve added a picture of my shoes today.

I’ve been a little ambitious today as I’ve taken not one, but four photos
chronicling my day.

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a staff meeting at the accounting firm of
Updegrove, Combs & McDaniels in Leesburg. The managing
partner, Dave Updegrove, and I share a common great-great-2x removed
grandfather — such a small world.

Later, when it was coffee time, Laura and I walked
to Shoes Cup and Cork Coffee. It was closed due to a power outage and we shed a tear.

Ever the caffeine addicts, we walked three blocks to King Street Coffee,
where I noted the gorgeous tea containers.

Our fearless and over-zealous leader, John Geddie, has propostioned the
newsroom with a 30-day challenge. For some reason, he believes we all need to
change for the better. After a few days of pondering what I would do, I decided
not to give up any of my vices—this isn’t Lent. Besides, I already exercise
daily and have sworn off alcohol and chocolate. If I gave up my other iniquity,
caffeine, my coworkers would receive the brunt of the pain.

So, photography it is. I’ve always looked upon photographers as
untouchables—possessing an impalable skill that did not belong to me. This was
further substantiated when I learned that photography entails a lot of math. All
I know is the rule of thirds. If you cut a picture into three vertical parts, it
is more interesting if the subject matter is situated within either the left or
the right one-third of the frame.

As a writer, I have also felt a sort of aversion to photography, choosing to
paint the scene of a story with my words. A story is worth a thousand pictures,
if you will. It’s time to stop making excuses.

I will be posting a picture to my blog every day until Sept. 1. My inaugural
picture is of Times-Mirror Staff Reporter Laura Peters doing the “owl meme” on
our conference room table. Behind her beckon the Times-Mirror’s 50+ years of
archives. Owling is a new trend going around the Internet (ie. Facebook) of
people perching on various home and office furniture in the same way an owl
would. This meme was preceded by the “planking meme,” but that was so two months
ago.

Twinkle, twinkle crooked toes

And, here is a picture of my Nine West shoes for added measure.

Curling up with an electronic reader on a rainy day may be the way of the future, as big-box bookstore Borders will soon close its doors.

Hundreds of people trekked to the book retailer in Sterling as “Going out of business” and “Everything must go” signs blared from its shop windows. A liquidation sale continues to draw bookworms of all ages – the check-out queue stretched to the far end of the store July 22, as residents aim to fill their home libraries with collections of paper and hardbacks that will surely be harder to come by in the future.

“This is ridiculous, I almost feel bad about buying books just because you’re supporting a business going out of business,” said Alexandria resident Clint Greenlee.

Greenlee said he doesn’t like the idea of people being even more dependent than they already are on electronics to purchase music, videos and books.

Despite the advent of electronic readers, 16-year-old Herndon resident Jessica Wharton echoed Greenlee’s sentiments, saying she is “the type of person that likes to flip through my books and see what’s in it before I buy it.”

“I read a lot on the computer, so I’ve been thinking a lot about getting an e-reader,” she said. “But if I have something I’m going to carry around with me, I’d rather have the book.”

Some believe the fall of Borders at the hands of e-readers may be an unceremonious harbinger to the demise of the printed word.

Sterling resident Bob Phillips said his dentist advised him to visit Borders’ closing sale because in the future everyone will be reading electronic books.

“Not me, I’m not going to read electronic books,” Phillips said. “I think they should find some way to stay in business.”

Borders filed for bankruptcy protection in February as it tried to reposition itself as a smaller company, announcing that it would close 30 percent of its stores that month. Last week, the company said it faced too many competitors in the online marketplace and was unable to repay its debts, announcing that it will close all of its 399 stores nationwide by September. Borders has two stores in Loudoun – the Sterling location employs eight people and a Borders Express at the Dulles Town Center employs 10 people.

Tanya Bittenbender, the executive director for the Loudoun Literacy Council, said the organization is benefiting from Borders’ closure – they’ve already received 34 donated boxes of books from the retailer.

Still, residents will lose a space to share in the joy of reading books, Bittenbender said.

“It’s about creating a culture that is focused on pulling people together and reading the written word,” she said.

Public libraries are stepping up to fill the hole in reading programs where Borders will leave off, she said, but Loudoun’s access to bookstores and good books stores will diminish. Books-A-Million will be the sole big-box retailer in Loudoun when it opens an expanded store later this year at the Village at Leesburg.

“There’s just something to be said for picking up a paper-bound book and holding it in your hand, and it’s war torn after you’ve taken it out,” she said. “[Readers] empower themselves through the written word and that’s what will be missing.”

This article was first published by Hannah Hager on LoudounTimes.com.

Several million square feet of data center space will find its home amongst the hardwoods on a land that is meant to buffer the Loudoun of the east from the Loudoun of the west.

Stonewall Secure Business Park will spring up on the 194 acres east of Sycolin Road and north of the Dulles Greenway near Leesburg, the Loudoun Board of Supervisors decided July 19 by a 6-3 vote with Supervisors Andrea McGimsey (D-Sugarland Run), Kelly Burk (D-Leesburg) and Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) dissenting.

Presently, the plot is heavily evergreen: housing 150-foot tall electric transmission lines, an underground natural gas line, an expanse of forest comprising hardwoods and evergreens and a colony of wood turtles.

But, Stonewall Creek LLC, will develop the area into a secure business park that will eventually house 2.9 million square feet of data centers as well as another 1 million square feet of non-data center uses including; office space, warehousing, health and fitness centers, a carry-out restaurant and a firearm range, among other uses.

The county’s potential direct tax revenue per year at full build out of Stonewall Creek is projected to be more than $50 million, according to Stonewall Creek’s managing partner, John Andrews.

In order to develop the land into a secure, data center business park, the supervisors approved a rezoning of the area from a transitional residential area into a planned development-industrial park.

Before the vote, McGimsey cautioned that if the board approved the rezoning, it sends the message to the people who worked on the comprehensive plan that the board knows better than they do. She said she was embarrassed and apologized to all the people who had asked the board not to approve the amendment.

Burton said the board risks setting a precedent by passing a rezoning amendment before changing the comprehensive plan amendment, or CPAM, which he likened to closing the barn door after the horse has escaped.

“It seems that if the plan is inconvenient, the board just ignores it, passes a rezoning for whatever reason, and then proceeds to change the plan so as to make the statement publicly that this time we really mean it and hopefully no one will go against it again in the future,” he said.

Supervisor Stevens Miller (D-Dulles) said that although he agreed with Burton, the board is “stuck with a monumental problem in this county of trying to figure out how to [un]burden residential taxpayers, when the tools we have in which to tackle that problem are as woefully inadequate as they are.”

He added that its very hard to say no to an applicant that wants to add to an area that is already in the process of being developed, who has shown a willingness to collaborate with county staff and the community, and wants to contributed tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to the county per year.

Stonewall’s proposal was rejected by the county’s Planning Commission in May, and was not supported by the department of planning staff because of its density and scale.

“What the land use policies for the county say is that this transition area is supposed to be open space, a green area, a transition between western Loudoun County, which is very rural and eastern Loudoun that is very suburban,” said Judi Birkitt, the project manager with the Loudoun County Department of Planning during a June 12 Board of Supervisors public hearing.

The transition area is meant to serve as a buffer between the higher-intensity uses in the east and the low density, open-space and farmland in the west, it is also meant to serve as a visual buffer, Burkitt said at the time.

Stonewall Creek has created a 75-foot buffer area between the business park and the surrounding community, allowed for a double row of pine trees, sewer and water lines, a security fence, paid its residential tap fees and made several cash contributions for connecting trails to the W&OD trail and for fire and rescue purposes. Additionally, it has agreed to reforest areas that may be effected during construction. Stonewall Creek has also agreed to relocate any existing colonies of wood turtles.

Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Sterling) said the comprehensive plan was out of date and approval of the rezoning is not decimating the transition area.

“It brings in tax revenue, that is very positive,” she said.

Contact the writer at hhager@timespapers.com.

This article was first published by Hannah Hager on LoudounTimes.com.