She said "nope".

I could have sworn I heard about the project starting very soon... was I mistaken? Anyways, to the point of this post. Since DCA is getting it's makeover, why not have my two cents on it?

Buena Vista Street

This is replacing the entry to DCA, where the giant sun is. What they plan to do is remove the Californa themeing, remove the Golden Gate Bridge, and replace the giant sun. A bit disappointing, I liked going over the Golden Gate Bridge to get to Downtown Disney. Disney'll be retheming the path to the 1920s, and there will be a model of where Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was premiered.

Now, THIS sounds awesome. I love the oldies and whatnot, and then they throw in the "never-ending opening day" for Snow White... I'm all for this. People might not like it because it's called CALIFORNIA Adventure, but hey... it sounds awesome.

Hollywoodland

The Hollywood Pictures Backlot is going to be rethemed to look like a snapshot out of the 1930s. They'll be keeping most of the shows and attractions back here, but what they're adding is the chance to meet some Disney directors and animators and some Red Car trolleys.

Oh man, this sounds AWESOME. I already feel like I'm in the 30s when I walk through there, but now it'll be like living The Great Gatsby without the green light in the distance. I liked the street mural (still catches me off guard), but I suppose they can make it better. I am disappointed to see the Aladdin show go, I managed to catch it before they pulled the show... heard they were replacing it with a Toy Story show... how that'll work, I have no idea.

Cars Land

Cars Land is being built as I type this. Disney's decided to build over the Timon parking lot, and the land is planned to be 12 acres big. It's to have a life-size model of Radiator Springs, a Test Track-esque ride, and a few others.

I honestly don't know what to think. The idea of walking around Radiator Springs is awesome, I loved the land design in the movie, and the idea of "Test Track" coming to California is pure awesome. Though... they already have a Bugs Life land, why don't they just rename DCA to Disney's Pixar Place? :\

Paradise Pier

The makeover actually started with the introduction to the Toy Story Midway Mania! attraction. They'll be retheming it to be a Victorian-esque boardwalk. One of the biggest changes is the change with the Sun Wheel. Disney plans to take the sun face off of it, put a giant Mickey Mouse head on it, and call it "Mickey's Fun Wheel". They also have been working on a water show called "Disney's World of Color" which will feature a laser and water show, much like Fantasmic! without the fire or fireworks. Golden Dreams has already been dropped, and a Little Mermaid show plans to replace it.

I'm a bit disappointed with the makeover that is planned... being from California, and have been to some sea-side boardwalks (the one in Santa Cruz when I was younger, and Belmont Park), it's a bit heart-wrenching... but if they must, they must. Also, the idea of slapping a Mickey head on the Sun Wheel and naming it "Mickey's Fun Wheel" sounds like someone took a hunk of cheese and slapped a sticker that said "Ham" on it for the giggles. Personally, the wheel is not fun... bad experiences plus a fear of heights plus the swinging gondolas... urgh. I'm interested to see the water show, I hope they can do almost a DCA Illuminations. I don't really care much for The Little Mermaid, but I'm sure my parents will drag me in there at one point.

Golden State (aka, my parents go here for the whole time we're at DCA)

Disney's adding some more wine-testing places. Not much to say on this subject.

Oh, forgot one thing. I swear, I remember hearing something about Condor Flats getting a rethemeing to Classic Disney... would have loved that. I can't find anything relating to Aviator Mickey... not even a simple shirt. Bah.

If you own less than about 20 stocks, are concentrated too heavily in a couple of sectors & are pulling up stock quotes everyday to see how you’re doing, then you are likely just a speculator in the market hoping to earn a quick buck or two but you are more likely to fail in the long run & lose money unless you are a professional trader.

Ideally , true investors will own somewhere in the range of 18-25 securities throughout different sectors, regions of the world & also within various market caps. The key here is diversification. This obviously comes at a cost since every purchase you make will likely have a trading commission associated to it. Commissions will also apply when you sell investments as well. This may start to sound expensive to some readers already but the reality is that its all relative. The costs become less significant for investors with larger amounts of money to invest. They even get reduced commissions or in some cases they pay no commission because their brokers have put them in a fee based account whereby the broker is paid a fee based on a percentage of the assets in the account – typically between 1-2% per year & usually charged quarterly to the account. You’ll typically need a minumum of about 250k to build such a portfolio of securities or to qualify for such an account today.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t be an investor by any means. All it means is that you may have to do it a little differently until you can actually build your capital to an amount where you can purchase indiviual securities – if that’s the goal. In most cases today, a stock broker will not even take your account if its not of significant value. If they do, its likely because you came as a referral from another client & they are making an exception.

So how can you acheive a good investment portfolio if you don’t have a cool quarter million sitting around doing nothing? Well, mutual funds have been around for the longest time & have provided investors with an easy solution to investing in a basket of well diversified securities. In most cases, a minimal $500 investment will get you started in Canada. Further, this doesn’t mean that mutual funds are for novice investors with little money to invest. In fact, many high net worth individuals are advised to put ther money in funds simply because of the expertise & experiance of a particular fund manager.
Right now, there are well over 3000 mutual funds to choose from in Canada. Basically, a mutual fund is an investment vehicle with an investment mandate or Investment Policy Statement (IPS) usually defined in its prospectus (the legal document pertaining the fund that a Financial Advisor must make you read before buying the fund). They can be purchased either from a discount brokerage account if you like to make your own investment decisions or through a professional Financial Advisor. Your bank may also have funds they can offer you through one of their tellers or representatives. In most cases, once your account value exceeds a certain level, they will refer you to a more skilled individual that can offer you better advice & service at their investment division.

When purchasing a mutual fund, your money is pooled along with other investors who are participating in the same investment portfolio as you are. The fund will buy a combination of securities that could range form as low as 20 to even higher than 200 stocks! Also, depending on a fund’s legal structure you either buy units or shares. The daily price is referred as the NAVPS (Net Asset Value Per Share).
Depending on the type of fund you are investing in, fees can range from as low as 1% to well over 4% per year in Canada. These fees are priced into the fund’s NAVPS & are basically deducted from the pool before the units are valued at the end of the trading day. Other fees such as the Financial Advisor’s commission or service fees may also be associated with mutaul fund investing. It is the Advisor’s responsability to discussed how they are compensated. Established Advisors will usually ensure that your fees are minimized.

Choosing the right fund is an entirely different topic & one that I write about in other related articles. I would highly recomend consulting a professional investment advisor before making any investment decision.

As true investor you have begin to educate yourself more onthe capital markets & take a long-term view of how your money is being invested. It requires a clear definition of a strategy, established objectives, evaluation of your risk tollerance, time horizon & other unique circumstances that may apply to your situation. These are also areas that an experianced Financial Advisor can help you document through an investment policy statement that will help you stay on course with your long term investment strategy to help you reach your goals.

Investing Wisely Team

Related Articles:

Investing Wisely: http://investingtoday.blog.ca/

Investing Today: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-zjnpf2k8cqWVQixtXJXgbTYGXzt4xTm7tQ--?cq=1

Once upon a time, the financial sector was considered to be a sure bet in your portfolio, offering a steady dividend & consistant growth rate. Nonetheless, the past year in the global markets has proven other wise for this sector. It was hard not coming across a financial article this year that didn't mention the words "Credit Crisis", or "Sub-Prime" in it. Eventually the banks will have their turn again but for now there is too much uncertainly out there for a recovery anytime soon. So what sectors or asset classes should you be looking to invest in or increasing your allocations for the long-term?

The next couple of decades are expected to be some of the most properous largely due to the effect of the growing middle class of the emerging markets. To put this into perspective, over 1.8 billion people from the emerging markets are expected to enter the middle class over the next decade , one-third coming from China. This sets the stage for 3 key sectors your portfolio will need allocations to: Infrastructure, Energy & Materials.

Briazil, Russia, India & China (BRIC countries) have already allocated budgeting for major spending to be done on new roads, bridges, highways to accomodate for the next wave of higher income earners to be entering the markets in the next 10 - 20 years. This allocation of funds will create a domino effect that impacts other sectors either in a positive or negative manner.

The developemnt of new infrastructure around the world is destined to impact the demand side of the materials sector heavily. To add to this, the Chinese are expected to be putting roughly 80-100 million new vehicles on their roads over the next five years - that's alot of materials! And by the way, most of these vehicles will run on gasoline. I wonder where that will put the price of oil down the road?

There is no question that the energy & materials sectors are volatile & exposure has its limits for different investor types but also keep in mind that these sectors to tend to drive up inflation & as such being exposed to them will hedge your portfolio from inflation to some extent. Infrastructure assets on the other hand will also protect you from inflation as well but will tend to experiance much lower volatility than most asset class. In some cases invesment experts have referred to them as a good replacement for fixed-income securities in portfolios during a low-interest / inflationary market cycle - sound familiar? Recent studies have also show that many of the worlds largest pension & endowmant funds have set targets to increase infrastructure allocations by 10 fold in their portfolio.

Another reality that we are faced with is that interest rates a pretty low right now. To some extent, the emerging middle class will fuel long-term inflation & central banks will typically raise rates to calm inflation down. This can have an over all dampering effect on portfolios with high bond exposure since rising rates will likely have a negative impact on bonds. This makes a pretty good case for lowering your bond exposure & perhaps filling in the gap with infrastructure related assets through stocks in that sector or funds that can give you the exposure as well.

Without question, before you make an investment decision on your own, I would strongly recommend you seek the advice of a professional Invesment Advisor. Finding one is not easy but in other articles, I hope to discuss a few ways that can make this quest a bit simpler for you.

Investing Wisely Team

Related articles:

Investong Today:  http://investingtoday.blog.ca/

Investing Today: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-zjnpf2k8cqWVQixtXJXgbTYGXzt4xTm7tQ--?cq=1

Foto: Nissan-Global

Einerseits kommen dabei 2 schon erprobte Technologien zum Einsatz. Den Abstand nach vorne misst das Distance Control Assist (DCA, "Abstandsradar"). Das sorgt dafür, dass die Entfernung zum nächsten Auto nicht zu gering wird.

Daneben werkt das Lane Departure Prevention System (LDP, "Spurverlassenswarnung"). Dieser Assistent verhindert, dass das Fahrzeug ungewollt aus der gewählten Spur ausschert.

Neu sind Side Collision Prevention (SCP, "Seitenkollisionsverhinderung") und Back-up Collision Prevention (BCP, "Rückfahrkollsionsverhinderung")...

SCP ist dabei eine Ergänzung zum Schulterblick beim Umspuren, um den toten Winkel nicht zu übersehen. Das System warnt beim Umspuren den Fahrer, wenn sich auf der anderen Spur ein Fahrzeug nähert. Der Assistent kann auch selbst aktiv eingreifen, indem über das ESP gezielt einzelne Räder abgebremst werden, um eine mögliche Kollsion zu verhindern.

BCP wacht über das Rückwärtsfahren. Sowohl nach hinten als auch seitlich passen Sensoren auf, dass man nicht mit einem Hindernis zusammenstößt. Wenn man zB rückwärts aus eine Parklücke will und sich seitlich ein Auto nähert, ertönt zuerst ein akustisches Warnsignal. Um eine Kollision zu vermeiden, kann BCP aber auch eine (Voll-)Bremsung einleiten.

...

Mit allen elektronischen fahrbegleitenden Systemen, die Nissan in letzter Zeit vorstellt, bekomme ich langsam den Eindruck, dass bald das erste Fahrzeug vorgestellt werden wird, dass auch vollautomatisch von selbst fahren kann. Ich stell mir das gemütlich vor: Mit den anderen Fahrgästen reden oder ein Video ansehen, während RA einen ans Ziel kutschiert *g*. Natürlich müsste man aber auch mal selber fahren können, sonst wär das langweilig.

Foto: nissankuruma

Nissan has unveiled two new technologies to help drivers avoid collisions and details them in the "NISSAN PREVIEWS ALL-AROUND 'COLLISION FREE' PROTOTYPE" press release. The two new systems are Side Collision Prevention (SCP) and Back-up Collision Prevention (BCP) which incorporate the Distance Control Assist (DCA) and Lane Departure Prevention (LDP) systems when a driver attempts to change lanes or back out of a parking space. Both use sensors and drive-by-wire to prevent acccidents. Here's a description of how the Back-up Collision Prevention will work:

During a reversing maneuver, rear and side-mounted sensors detect objects in the path of the vehicle. If an object is detected an alarm sounds followed by the activation of the brakes, to help avoid a collision in situations such as when a vehicle is backing out of a parking space.

The press release gives no information about when these technologies will be available or what cars will have them, but hopefully they will be helping make our roads safer soon.

Defining DCA is a POTENTIAL CURE FOR CANCER !

If you are to buy this product you can simply buy it form your local PHARMA OR
ONLINE!!! AT http://www.betterdca.com/

You can buy it cheap at www.betterdca.com

It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their “immortality”. The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe.http://betterdca.com/shop/

It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs.

Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body and found that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Tumours in rats deliberately infected with human cancer also shrank drastically when they were fed DCA-laced water for several weeks.http://betterdca.com/shop/

DCA attacks a unique feature of cancer cells: the fact that they make their energy throughout the main body of the cell, rather than in distinct organelles called mitochondria. This process, called glycolysis, is inefficient and uses up vast amounts of sugar.

Until now it had been assumed that cancer cells used glycolysis because their mitochondria were irreparably damaged. However, Michelakis’s experiments prove this is not the case, because DCA reawakened the mitochondria in cancer cells. The cells then withered and died (http://betterdca.com/shop/

Michelakis suggests that the switch to glycolysis as an energy source occurs when cells in the middle of an abnormal but benign lump don’t get enough oxygen for their mitochondria to work properly (see diagram). In order to survive, they switch off their mitochondria and start producing energy through glycolysis.

Crucially, though, mitochondria do another job in cells: they activate apoptosis, the process by which abnormal cells self-destruct. When cells switch mitochondria off, they become “immortal”, outliving other cells in the tumour and so becoming dominant. Once reawakened by DCA, mitochondria reactivate apoptosis and order the abnormal cells to die.http://betterdca.com/shop/

“The results are intriguing because they point to a critical role that mitochondria play:

they impart a unique trait to cancer cells that can be exploited for cancer therapy,” says Dario Altieri, director of the University of Massachusetts Cancer Center in Worcester.http://betterdca.com/shop/

The phenomenon might also explain how secondary cancers form. Glycolysis generates lactic acid, which can break down the collagen matrix holding cells together. This means abnormal cells can be released and float to other parts of the body, where they seed new tumours.http://betterdca.com/shop/

DCA can cause pain, numbness and gait disturbances in some patients, but this may be a price worth paying if it turns out to be effective against all cancers. The next step is to run clinical trials of DCA in people with cancer. These may have to be funded by charities, universities and governments: pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to pay because they can’t make money on unpatented medicines. The pay-off is that if DCA does work, it will be easy to manufacture and dirt cheap.http://betterdca.com/shop/

Paul Clarke, a cancer cell biologist at the University of Dundee in the UK, says the findings challenge the current assumption that mutations, not metabolism, spark off cancers. “The question is: which comes first?” he says.http://betterdca.com/shop/

The City of Griffin is winner of a State of Georgia Recycle Hub Grant for single stream recycling. Greensun offers curbside recycling pickup as service in this program.

City of Griffin Recycle Hub Goals DCA Powerpoint presentation of Griffin Georgia Recycle Hub Program.

City of Griffin Recycling Greensun encourages single stream recycling through the Griffin Georgia Recycle Hub.

GA Awards More Than $2 Million in Recycling Grants  The City of Griffin Wins DCA Recycling Hub Grant.

Curbside Value Partnership Increasing Participation and Collection among the Georgia Recycling Hub Communities.

Griffin has partnered with Pratt Industries for Single Stream Recycling.  Here is a flyer to help you sort.

31/07/2008, São Paulo - Inéditas no país, obras de artistas alemães chegam ao MASP

Em 64 trabalhos sobre papel, 19 fotografias e 11 livros, a exposição Primeiro Expressionismo Alemão: Paula Modersohn-Becker e os Artistas de Worpswede - Desenhos e Gravuras (1895-1906) remonta o diálogo de artistas alemães com a natureza, o homem e as paisagens do isolado vilarejo de Worpswede, na Alemanha.

A mostra esteve em mais de vinte países nos últimos dez anos e pode ser vista no MASP de 31 de julho a 5 de outubro. Antes de seguir pela América Latina, passa por Porto Alegre, Curitiba e Brasília.

Um capítulo à parte do modernismo clássico, marcado por uma oposição ao formalismo da virada do século XIX, chega ao MASP que tem como principal artista da mostra, Modersohn-Becker absorveu influência de artistas como Cézanne, Gauguin e Van Gogh e deixou cerca de 700 pinturas, mais de mil desenhos e 13 gravuras produzidos entre os anos de 1895 a 1905. Vítima de embolia 18 dias após o parto de sua primeira filha, a artista viveu intensamente seus 31 anos e em pouco mais de uma década de produção artística pontuou a arte expressionista com uma visão mais feminista.

Uma das precursoras dos auto-retratos em nu, Paula não teve reconhecimento de sua obra em vida. Sua obra e a de seus amigos e colegas ganhou corpo no pequeno povoado de Worpswede, próximo à cidade de Bremen, Alemanha, vilarejo símbolo de imagens atmosféricas de paisagens nórdicas e sede da colônia de jovens artistas cujo movimento se afastou dos temas acadêmicos tradicionais da época, levados pelo ideal romântico da natureza. A cidadezinha era freqüentada e citada também pelo poeta tcheco Rainer Maria Rilke, um dos grandes amigos de Paula, que escreveu para ela, quase um ano após sua morte, o célebre poema Réquiem para uma amiga.

Principal representante do movimento, apesar de seu ingresso posterior à colônia, Paula tomou a via mais radical entre os artistas de Worpswede rumo à era moderna, deixando de representar a aparência exterior para buscar a essência interior das coisas, o que poderá ser visto na mostra. Desenhos de Otto Modersohn e grafismos de Fritz Overbeck, Heinrich Vogeler, Fritz Mackensen e Hans am Ende completam as 94 obras da exposição itinerante do Instituto de Relações Culturais com o Exterior (IFA), de Stuttgart, Alemanha. Concebida por Wulf Herzogenrath, a mostra itinerou pela China em 2007 e depois do MASP passará por Porto Alegre, Curitiba e Brasília, seguindo depois pela América Latina.

31/07/2008, Rio Grande do Sul - GAIA - Mulheres Fortes em Corpos Frágeis

A mais nova produção do Grupo Gaia traz à cena mulheres atravessadas pelo cotidiano desse universo em constante questionamento.

O contraponto dos corpos e das sensibilidades de cada ser feminino traduzidos pela dança faz do espetáculo um reflexo do íntimo das mulheres frágeis e fortes inseridas no contexto da contemporaneidade.

31/07/2008, São Paulo - Sombrero

Com Sombrero o coreógrafo e realizador Philippe Decouflé apresenta-se também como um excelente criador de desenhos animados: durante o espetáculo surge uma seqüência de divertidos e oníricos quadros, unindo dança, teatro e vídeo.

Entre imaginário, fantástico, travessura e um gabinete de curiosidades, uma engenhosa mecânica é utilizada em um “jogo de sombras” sutil. Em grande profusão de sons, a música de Brian Eno envolve a cena. Quando presta homenagem ao cinema mudo prima pela excelência, convidando a uma delicada nostalgia emergindo de um carrossel de imagens. Seguimos os personagens do deserto do México até as miragens de um mar virtual de onde surgem as “starlettes” da praia.

A companhia de Philippe Decouflé, DCA - Danse Compagnie d’Art, já se apresentou no Brasil com enorme sucesso em 1992 (Triton) e 1996 (Decodex) no Teatro Municipal de São Paulo e em 2000 no Teatro Alfa (Shazam!).

31/07/2008, São Paulo - Babilaques: alguns cristais clivados

Sob curadoria do artista plástico Luciano Figueiredo, esta exposição apresenta o trabalho visual Babilaques, de autoria do poeta Waly Salomão [1943-2003], um dos exemplos mais ricos e mais radicais da arte experimental brasileira.

Waly idealizou composições e situações em que seus cadernos-diário eram abertos arbitrariamente e fotografados em diversos ambientes, interagindo com elementos externos - cores, objetos do cotidiano, texturas - no que ele chamava de “performance poético-visual”. Originalmente realizado em slide, entre os anos de 1975 e 1978, e só recentemente digitalizado e reproduzido em papel, esse trabalho se manteve praticamente inédito. A exposição, reunindo pela primeira vez as 20 séries de Babilaques, revela uma obra que se mantém forte e atual.

31/07/2008, São Paulo - Oficina de câmera obscura com artistas do Espaço Coringa

Inscrições até 8 de agosto.

Orientação de Rogério Nagaoka, Anderson Rei, Matheus Giavarotti e Otávio Zani.

Oficina de construção experimental de câmeras obscuras, desenhos e textos sobre as diversas: formas de captação da realidade e da formação da imagem através da luz.

31/07/2008, São Paulo - Olga Mota: Angst x A Morte da Pintura

"Dentro de um estilo personalíssimo, Olga Mota trabalha com as poéticas e práticas da atualidade sobre a importância da arte na construção do pensamento contemporâneo.

Da dicotomia entre o lógico e o ilógico nasce a obra da artista com amplo conhecimento do espaço, fluidez e flexibilidade. resultando numa arte forte e instigante, com infinitas possibilidades de interação com o fruidor”. Mali Frota Villas-Bôas.

Realização da Galeria Mali Villas-Bôas e OPA –Organização Paulista de Arte. Direção e Curadoria de Mali Frota Villas-Bôas. Produção e Coordenação de Rose de Paulo.

Qualification: B.Com., DCA.

Booking:

1. If flying on weekdays, never book a flight that departs before 8 a.m. or returns after 10 p.m. If flying on weekends, never book a flight that departs before 10 a.m. or arrives after 10 p.m. Why? Because you will not be able to use public transportation and, if you don't have a nice friend with a car, you'll be relegated to breaking rule #2...something I hate for people to do!

Getting There:

2. Don't take the Super Shuttle. You will spend about four times more than other options (about $38-40 with tip) and get to your destination later than other options. You may also have a scary driver who drifts on the freeway while driving 70 mph. If you call to have a Super Shuttle pick you up at your home for an early morning flight, they will pick you up 3 hours before your flight leaves, giving you about two hours at the airport to do, well, nothing.

3. If you're flying on a weekday, your best option is using the MARC train (Penn Line) from Union Station. Make sure to arrive 15 minutes before your train departs. Buy your $6 ticket from the kiosk and go board your train. Allow one hour for the train ride, though it sometimes only takes 45 minutes. From the BWI train station (pictured above), you'll board a shuttle bus that takes you to the airport—this process has never taken me longer than 20 minutes. So, from Dupont Circle, this process takes me about 1.25 hours (on a good day; 1.7 on a bad) from my door to the gate.

@ BWI:

4. Don't waste your money on food. We've tasted most eatable options here and they're really quite lousy. We had hopes for Phillip's Seafood, but were turned off by the high prices, lukewarm soup, and tough hush puppies. Bring a sandwich, an apple, or anything from home.

Getting Home:

5. Don't check bags. My average wait time for baggage is about 45 minutes. This would be much higher had I not just had the miracle delivery with Delta yesterday. (Yet another reason I love that airline!) Bags were on the belt about 10 minutes after we deplaned. However, every other time (with Southwest), I've waited more than an hour...each time!

6. If flying on the weekdays: Be prepared with bus and train timetables, but allow for spontaneity in case your plane is late or early. That is, if your plane lands at 4 p.m. and a MARC train leaves at 5 p.m., check the B30 bus schedule (which takes you to the Greenbelt Metro) before you hop the shuttle bus to the train. Yesterday, I was so excited that a shuttle bus to the MARC train arrived right when I exited the building that I hopped on before I checked the bus schedule. As we started going, the B30 bus showed up. Had I taken that instead and transferred at the Greenbelt Metro station, I would have been home about 30 minutes earlier. Instead, I sat and waited at the BWI train station and drafted this post in my head.

7. If flying into BWI over the weekend, take a patience pill when you land. Your only public transportation option is taking the B30 bus (which picks up outside of baggage claim) to the Greenbelt (Green line) Metro station. You can wait up to 50 minutes for the bus, the bus ride is about 30 minutes, and once you get to the Metro, you could wait another 25 for a train to arrive. Then, depending on your final destination (say Dupont), the trip takes 40-60 minutes...more if they're doing weekend "track work." Yes, I've had the worst possible luck with this option, with one trip home taking 2.5 hours.

BWI vs. DCA:

Thanks to some tough competition created by Southwest Airlines, fares at BWI tend to be cheaper than those at other D.C.-region airports. That said, BWI is such a pain in the butt to get to and return from that I've concocted my own $75 threshold. If a fare costs $75 or more to fly out of and into DCA, I choose Baltimore. But anything under $75, I fly out of DCA for the convenience. Depending on what your tipping point is (or, your billable hours), you may have another priceline.

Got any tips to add? Please share!