EC2

This is our inaugural general body meeting and an introduction to cloud computing and AWS certifications. We’ll walk through what AWS is, the certification paths available to students, and how our club will support hands-on learning through beginner-friendly projects this semester. No prior cloud experience is required, just curiosity and interest in tech. Important note: The date shown is currently incorrect due to a snow day. We are actively working to reschedule this event for next week and will update everyone as soon as the new date is confirmed. **New date is confirmed! Duques 255 later today at 5:15pm, see you all there!** We’re excited to kick things off and can’t wait to meet you all! ☁️🚀

Looking for a new skill? Want to seem mysterious when people ask about your hobbies? Enjoy puzzles? Lock picking might be right for you! Is this legal? Yes! Is it fun? Yes! The meeting is very casual, come and go as you please. We meet in the upstairs area of Board Room. No payment, skills, tools, or RSVP necessary. If you can make small precise movements with your hands, you can learn to pick locks. Introductory talk at 7pm. All are welcome. We meet in a bar but minors are allowed to attend. We are not in a private room; parental discretion advised. If you are a minor or are responsible for one who's attending, please email the organizer in advance at chapter-DC@toool.us Open invite; bring friends! We are the DC chapter of TOOOL. More information here: http://toool.us/

Join us to enjoy an exclusive 5-course tasting menu ($100/pp) at Chef Edward Lee's groundbreaking restaurant - **Shia** \- in the Union Market District\! Note from SHIA: Due to our committment to sustainability and preventing food waste, we prepare specific ingredients for each guest daily. A charge of $85 per guest will be applied to any cancellations within 48 hours of the booking. $85 Event Registration fee will be applied to each guests's bill. Event registration fee is only refundable if the seat is filled by another guest prior to the dinner. Thank you for your understanding. \*\*Note from Shia re:Dietary Restrictions:\*\* Due to the inclusion of ingredients integral to Korean culture and cuisine, we ***cannot*** accommodate the following dietary restrictions: celiac, soy, legume, nightshade vegetable, or allium. We ***can*** accommodate vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, seafood allergies, shellfish allergies, and nut allergies. The adjusted dishes our chefs have created for these dietary restrictions will be vegetarian, as we do not have the ability to substitute proteins. Individuals with aversions to seafood may not fully enjoy the experience, as a large portion of our menu is seafood-based at this time. Please note that our kitchen operates on a minimal-waste, sustainability-driven model. This means we do not stock additional ingredients for last-minute changes. If we receive notice less than 48 hours before your reservation, we may need to omit elements of dishes rather than substitute additional ingredients. Please let us know right away so we can prepare with care. **The Washington Post** (Sietsema) Over my decades-long watch, few restaurant genres have witnessed more changes in and around Washington than Korean. Back in 2000, the majority of sources were in the Virginia suburbs, where the menus mostly revolved around tried-and-true mandu, bulgogi, seafood pancakes and barbecue. Before the rise of social media, restaurants that specialized in certain dishes **—** say, Tosokjip in Annandale, known for its grilled fish and stews **—** existed under the radar, supported primarily by the Korean community, recalls restaurateur Danny Lee, one of the agents for change on the D.C. scene. Over the years, practitioners started cooking outside the lines and experimenting with fusion. The arrival of Lee’s Chiko and Anju in the District saw chefs feeding us Korean fused with Chinese American ideas and serving upscale homestyle cooking. Service (and alcohol beyond beer and soju) became a priority at restaurants including Ingle Korean Steakhouse in Vienna, and Korean chefs, following the lead of the trailblazing Atomix in New York, hopped on the fine-dining bandwagon with tasting menus. I miss the short-lived Incheon in Annandale but welcome the youthful Onggi in Dupont Circle. Since November, chef and cookbook author Edward Lee is pushing the envelope even more, with a gem called Shia — “seed” in Korean — tucked in the Union Market District. It’s a slip of a place with a dozen seats in the front bar and nearly double that number in a narrow dining room behind a slatted maple door. What distinguishes Shia from the pack is that it’s part of the chef’s nonprofit, the LEE Initiative, originally introduced as a mentoring program. Further, Shia is experimenting with all manner of limited-waste and sustainable practices, which is why some drinks arrive sans garnishes, and there’s no gas and zero plastic. After the kitchen turns them into pulp, used cocktail napkins and printer tickets enjoy afterlives as postcards and coasters. No one preaches here, by the way; they just quietly set good examples. Lee wants his clientele to experience Shia as a restaurant vs. a lecture hall. “This is how we say hello,” says a server as he places a little cup in front of us, trailed by a snack: a hot oyster and scallop bundled in jin, or seaweed. The dish, which you eat with your hands, marries hot seafood, cool Asian pear and spicy ssamjang, an exquisite bite that’s gone as fast as you can read this sentence. The contents of the cup, a tea made with soju and dried omija berries, are refreshingly sweet-tart. Guests seated at the bar are offered a five-course menu; those seated in the dining room, host to the open kitchen, receive seven courses. Shia remains enough of a tough reservation that I’ve been able to secure a seat only in the lounge, a serene space with gold lights, a concave ceiling and wallpaper that depicts clouds mingling with mountains. Scrolls of amberjack arranged on thin red rings of fermented fish paste and lemon juice are topped with little balls of foam that taste like kimchi “air.” (The finishing touch demonstrates Shia’s no-waste goal; the cloud is excess liquid from making kimchi, passed through an aerator.) The lovely fish dish is a spin on the refreshing Korean summer dish mul hwe, to which a delicate, fresh-tasting green chip is added. (The fillip turns out to be hand-harvested gamtae, the rarest of seaweeds in Korea.) We miss the small plate when it’s gone, but only until the pork belly replaces it. Finger lengths of the braised meat share a canvas with abalone and clams scattered on a soothing porridge of barley, buckwheat, millet and three kinds of rice infused with dashi. “Try to get a bite in each bite,” a server coaches my party. Rising from the center is a little tower of fierce white kimchi, which the server says to save for last, “but you do you.” Some nights look like an evening out in Seoul. My visits found different generations of Koreans sharing Lee’s handiwork, a reality the chef addresses with menus printed in Korean as well as English. The owner sees adventure-seeking younger Koreans come in to check the place out, then return with their parents to share the novelty. The Korean menu is meant to make older customers “feel at home.” Surely the saengseon contributes to the sentiment. A square of seared braised sea bass — line-caught, of course — lounges in a liquid salad of crisp greens and broth and practically demands my return engagement. The intoxicating flavor of the soup springs from what Max Chuvalas, who shares the executive-chef title with Chaelin Lee, calls a “fish tea,” an elixir coaxed from fish scraps and white kimchi juice. I also admire the duck, glazed with Korean mustard and presented so the sliced meat alternates with same-sized pieces of gently crisp mountain yam. The accompanying steamed rice, offered in a raised wooden bowl and bulked up with ginkgo nuts, aster, shepherd’s weed and thistle, nearly steals the show. The greens are another salute to sustainability: “Where Americans might see weeds, Koreans see edible flora,” says Chuvalas, who comes to Shia from Dirty Habit but has worked in fine-dining restaurants before. Those who opt for five courses choose between the fish and the duck. The seven-course plan includes both indulgences. My strategy at the bar with a companion has been to order one of each and share tastes. When I first started as The Washington Post’s critic, Asian desserts were mostly predictable. Green tea ice cream was almost always involved. Shia demonstrates how far the scene has come, with endings including bruleed bananas staged with banana chips, same-flavored ice cream and soy chocolate sauce, a fruit salad that changes with the season but always looks like a brilliant orchard, and a honey tuile hovering over apricot foam. The longer script in the dining room embraces extra sweets — caramels and what tastes like a pecan pie from Korea (pine nuts and dates are involved) — revealed in a handsome mirrored box. In recent years, chefs of all stripes have gotten better about offering tasting menu portions that are neither too tiny nor too filling. No one feels compelled to go to the Golden Arches after a meal at Shia, nor will they feel the need to let out their belt. “I’m 53,” says Lee. “As I get older, I don’t have the patience for 20 courses and three hours” of sitting and eating. The chef feels that seven courses, the max here, honors “efficiency and variety.” Hear! Hear! And go! Go! Looking forward to sharing this experience with you! ***Menus change seasonally***. Please see latest menu and information on new dishes on menu on OpenTable[ here](https://www.opentable.com/r/shia-restaurant-washington) and [Instagram page](https://www.instagram.com/shia_dc/). We ask that ALL folks honor their RSVP. If you are unable to attend after sending in a YES, please update your status so that others may join. In the event our group incurs a fee for no-shows / late cancellations, your ability to RSVP for future events will be restricted. Thank you in advance for your understanding. **WAITLIST:** Meetup does not allow a waitlist for paid events. If this event fills and you are interested in adding your name to the waitlist, please send host a message through the app. In the future, we will vary the days of the week and the types of restaurants so that we can attract many different types of diners. Feel free to make suggestions for future meet locations. All diners will pay their own tab. before departing the event. If you are unable to join us in February we hope you'll stay interested and join us for a meal in the future. Looking forward to catching up with you for a fantastic dinner at Shia!

Wednesday night skate and chill is our weekly group ride. DCESK8 has been hosting this weekly ride for several years now. We are very active in our group chat and that is where you will find the most up to date information on the rides. Follow the link below to join. Join our Telegram chat here https://t.me/dcesk8 to stay current on what's going on in DCESK8. Our ride meets up at the Lincoln Memorial, near the southwest side of the Reflecting Pool and the Korean War Memorial. That is on the left side if you are looking at the Lincoln Memorial. We meetup at 6:30pm, with the ride leaving at 7:00pm.

Join PSW Science® on February 6 at 8 PM as we welcome Stephen Eckel, Group Leader at Fundamental Thermodynamics Group, Sensor Sciences Division NIST. During the question and answer period, in-person attendees and live stream viewers may ask the speaker questions, and in-person attendees may also engage with the speaker during the post-lecture reception. Refreshments are served. For more information on this meeting, please visit: https://pswscience.org/meeting/2530/ The meeting will be held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, adjacent to the Cosmos Club. The Powell Auditorium is located at 2170 Florida Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008. Use of the Cosmos Club is restricted to the Powell Auditorium, the entryway to the auditorium, and the restrooms immediately outside the auditorium. Please note there is no onsite parking available. PSW Science, founded in 1871, is one of the oldest scientific societies in Washington D.C. Now, over 150 years later, we celebrate the Society's rich history and contributions to scientific discovery and cross-disciplinary collaboration. For information on how to become a member of PSW Science and membership benefits, please visit https://pswscience.org/join/

Climbers of all skill levels are welcome to Join "[Sends with Friends](https://www.instagram.com/sends_with_friends_climbing?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==)" rock climbing community for an indoor bouldering event at [Bouldering Project -DC](https://maps.app.goo.gl/m6okjpQsjeSxTqVj8) gym. The first 25 climbers who come in through the doors get in for free, after that you'll pay $15 for a day pass. Rental shoes and chalk bag is provided free of charge. If this is your first time using Bouldering Project-DC facility consider taking the Intro to BP that starts 7:15PM and includes a tour of the facility. You must sign the Bouldering Project waiver and read, understand, and agree to Sends With Friends release of liability form before participating in this event. Please do so beforehand to avid creating a line at the front desk. You can find Bouldering Project waiver here: [First-Time-Visit](https://boulderingproject.com/first-time-visit/) and Sends With Friends Release of Liability form below: \* \* \* \* **Sends with Friends Rock Climbing Meetup Waiver and Release of Liability** **NOTICE:** By signing up for this event, you agree to the terms outlined below and acknowledge the inherent risks associated with rock climbing activities. Participation in any event organized by this Meetup group is contingent upon your agreement to this release form. **1\. Assumption of Risk:** I, the undersigned participant, acknowledge and fully understand that rock climbing is a high-risk activity. I am aware that participation involves risks including, but not limited to, physical injury, permanent disability, or death. These risks may arise from, but are not limited to, natural hazards, equipment failure, human error, and the actions or negligence of others. **2\. Release of Liability:** In consideration of being allowed to participate in any activity organized by this Meetup group, I hereby release and discharge the organizer(s), co-organizer(s), event leaders, and all other participants from any and all claims, demands, actions, or causes of action arising out of or connected to my participation, including claims arising from negligence or gross negligence. **3\. Personal Responsibility:** I acknowledge that I am solely responsible for my own safety during these events. I will use my own judgment in evaluating the risks involved and will take appropriate precautions, including but not limited to: * Wearing appropriate safety gear. * Using reliable climbing equipment. * Following established safety protocols. * Refraining from participating in activities beyond my skill level. **4\. Medical Fitness:** I affirm that I am in good health and physically capable of participating in rock climbing activities. I assume full responsibility for any medical conditions that may affect my ability to participate safely. **5\. Indemnity Agreement:** I agree to indemnify and hold harmless the organizer(s), co-organizer(s), event leaders, and other participants from any claims, damages, or expenses (including legal fees) arising out of or related to my actions or participation in these activities. **6\. Photo/Video Release \(Optional\):** By signing this waiver, I grant permission for any photographs or videos taken during the events to be used for promotional or group-related purposes. (Participants may opt out by notifying the organizer.) **7\. Agreement to Follow Rules:** I agree to abide by all rules, instructions, and guidance provided by the event organizers and leaders. Failure to comply may result in my removal from the group. **8\. Acknowledgment of Agreement:** By joining any event organized by this Meetup group, I acknowledge that I have read and understood this waiver and release form. I agree that my participation in any event constitutes my electronic or physical signature to this agreement.

Next we will read Solaris by Stanisław Lem. We'll be meeting at Franklin Hall. Bring some thoughts on the book and have a drink or two! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95558.Solaris **NOTE:** We have a spreadsheet to crowd-source suggestions and votes for the next book here. Add a book, or add your name next to a book to vote for it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mprXaa6bcEW5EL_uprN16-RBcetO6pbqA4vHDTjtowI/edit?usp=sharing

To purchase tickets - https://www.annkite.com/friday-nights This is a group of 60-75 people that dance the together weekly on Friday evenings. Ann is a master teacher who has taught embodied movement as connection to spirit for over 18 years. She is fully trained in 5Rhythms (both waves and heartbeat levels), attended the teacher training for Soul Motion and has a Masters in Education. A born teacher. Her classes offer a dynamic movement practice rooted in the principle that if you put the psyche in motion it will heal itself. Movement is both the medicine and the metaphor, reaching across all languages, cultures and age groups to transform suffering into art, art into awareness, and awareness into action. Ann has held this group, a dynamic community has been created to dance, to sweat, to change, to support, and to provide a safe space for each of us to shatter the ego’s hold and awaken the juicy, unpredictable, fascinating, edge-walking, rock star part of ourselves that yearns to be free. Creativity. Connection. Community. There are no steps to learn. 5Rhythms can be practiced by anyone regardless of age, fitness, ability, or experience. For more information about what to expect in your first 5Rhythms class, see our About 5Rhythms page: https://www.annkite.com/about

Join me on this moderate to moderately strenuous hike that ventures into the G.R. Thompson Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Linden, VA. We will hike on the Appalachian Trail and turn around after a break at the Manassas Gap Shelter. With a steady climb at the beginning of the hike, we'll get a good workout with over 1,000 feet of elevation gain in the first two miles. No WMA access permit is needed because we don't leave the AT. We typically hike about 2 mph. However, we leave no one behind and will move at a pace that is comfortable for all. NOTE: I will be carrying a bag to gather any litter near the shelter and its access trail, which I maintain. Join me if you wish. If there is hiker interest, I can demonstate how to hang a food bag on the shelter’s bear pole and/or answer questions about trail maintenance. **Wear BLAZE ORANGE for hunting season.** **Hike Route:** https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/virginia/manassas-gap **Group Size:** 20 hikers **Time to Meet:** Please meet 15-20 minutes before the hike start for introductions and liability waiver sign in. If you can't make the hike, please edit your RSVP by 6 pm the night before to open a spot for anotherr hiker. **Meeting Location/Parking:** The AT trailhead and parking area is located on VA725/Tucker Lane in Linden, VA. GPS: 38.91146, -78.05289 **Facilities:** No restroom is available at the trailhead; however, the Manassas Gap Shelter has an outdoor privy. **Admission:** Free **Contact Information**: Please use the comments feature for comments or questions. The hike leader is Lisa Peterson. **Cancellation**: If the hike needs to be cancelled, hikers will be notified through comments on this posting. Please check Meetup for updates before leaving home. **What to Bring:** Water at least two liters, emergency contact information, personal first aid kit and medications, snacks/meal, sunscreen/protection from weather, insect repellant, trekking poles if you use them (highly recommended for water crossings), sturdy hiking footwear. Please leave pets at home. Thanks! **Notes:** * RSVP to register for this hike. If your plans change, update your RSVP. * To find out more about PATC, [click here](https://www.patc.net/). * Consider becoming a member of PATC. To join, [click here](https://www.patc.net/membership). Attendance is limited at the discretion of our hike leaders. PATC rules do not permit children under 18 years to participate in a hike without a parent or guardian present. **History of Manassas Gap Shelter:** Constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps around 1933, just north of Linden, Virginia. Like many shelters along the Trail, the Manassas Gap Shelter resided on private land for many decades. Built from chestnut logs, the shelter is a simple lean-to with three walls. Until the 1980s, there were also bunks across the back of the structure, but these were removed in the 1980s during a restoration of the shelter brought on by a severe infestation of mice and field rats. A spring is just downslope from the shelter.

### Tools in your AI's Toolbox : An introduction to MCP Servers The generative AI revolution has unlocked unprecedented capabilities, but the next frontier is agency: empowering models to interact with, query, and act upon the world. The current challenge is the “N x M integration problem,” where every AI model requires a custom, brittle integration for each external tool or data source. This approach simply doesn’t scale. How can we give an AI access to our sales leads, code repositories, or IoT devices in a standardized, secure, and reusable way? This session introduces Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), the open-source framework designed to solve this challenge and become the universal connector—the USB-C port—for AI. MCP standardizes how AI models discover and use external tools, moving beyond simple function-calling to a robust, client-server architecture. We will dive into how this open protocol is creating a new ecosystem for building powerful, context-aware AI agents. Join this session for a developer-focused introduction where you will learn how to: Understand the core concepts of the open-source Model Context Protocol and its architecture. Utilize pre-built, open-source MCP servers to instantly connect AI to tools like Git, Slack, and databases. Build a custom MCP server to securely expose your own proprietary data and APIs as tools for any compliant AI. Move beyond bespoke integrations and contribute to a standardized, collaborative, and open ecosystem. Stop building one-off connectors and start building intelligent agents. This session will give you the practical knowledge to leverage MCP and create the next generation of AI that doesn’t just talk, but does. Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! [https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/](https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/)

**Our February novel is: Julia by Sandra Newman** **This month is a classic, dystopian, fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, and science fiction novel. The book is 394 pages in print and 14 hours and 20 minutes on audiobook.** **An imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell’s 1984, from the point of view of Winston Smith’s lover, Julia, by critically acclaimed novelist Sandra Newman.** Julia Worthing is a mechanic, working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. It’s 1984, and Britain (now called Airstrip One) has long been absorbed into the larger trans-Atlantic nation of Oceania. Oceania has been at war for as long as anyone can remember, and is ruled by an ultra-totalitarian Party, whose leader is a quasi-mythical figure called Big Brother. In short, everything about this world is as it is in Orwell’s 1984. All her life, Julia has known only Oceania, and, until she meets Winston Smith, she has never imagined anything else. She is an ideal citizen: cheerfully cynical, always ready with a bribe, piously repeating every political slogan while believing in nothing. She routinely breaks the rules, but also collaborates with the regime when necessary. Everyone likes Julia. Then one day she finds herself walking toward Winston Smith in a corridor and impulsively slips him a note, setting in motion the devastating, unforgettable events of the classic story. Julia takes us on a surprising journey through Orwell’s now-iconic dystopia, with twists that reveal unexpected sides not only to Julia, but to other familiar figures in the 1984 universe. This unique perspective lays bare our own world in haunting and provocative ways, just as the original did almost seventy-five years ago.

Private Group. Closed to the Public Knowing ourselves and understanding our abilities is the first step toward wielding our gifts with control and accuracy. In subsequent classes we will verify and hone our talents with activities and discussion. These are hands-on workshops and participation is expected. The goal of our series will be to develop expertise in areas of particular interest such as mediumship, channeling, divination, healing and, etc.. Our ultimate directions will be determined by class members as we evolve. I look forward to sharing and discovering with you. - Cynthia

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/a/9/6/600_348310902.jpeg Instructor - Crow, HPS Class fee is $30 at the door or approved exchange RSVP with Advance pay of $25 (discounted) by PayPal on the web or by contacting Enchanted Elements (614) 437-2642. Reservations made directly to Enchanted Elements will be added to the class list manually not online. Private Instruction ~ Closed to the Public ~ Initiated Members Only Please come prepared for ritual. Blessings ~ Crow

**People Analytics 101: Making Sense of Compensation Data** Compensation data is one of the most widely used and widely misunderstood forms of people analytics. The session will cover where compensation data comes from, including market pricing data, internal payroll data, and benchmarking sources, and how companies think about structuring and analyzing that information. We will explore how compensation data is leveraged to set salary ranges, manage internal equity, support hiring and retention, and align pay with business strategy. A portion of the session will address common data challenges and limitations, such as market noise, inconsistent job matching, and incomplete datasets, while keeping the primary focus on practical use rather than technical depth. The session will also look ahead at where the space is going, including the growing impact of pay transparency laws, expanding pay equity requirements, and emerging regulations in the US and Europe that require organizations to report on gender and pay gaps. The goal is to give attendees a clear mental model for how compensation analytics works today and why getting it right is becoming increasingly critical. (note: we are back at Rev1 this month!) **About Our Speaker** [Alex Moore](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexscottmoore/) is the founder of [Moore Cooperative](https://moorecooperative.com/), where he advises organizations on compensation strategy, pay equity, and people analytics. His work focuses on helping organizations like the Ohio Supreme Court design, analyze, and communicate compensation systems that are data-informed, defensible, and aligned with organizational goals. Alex lives in Granville, Ohio and has three little kiddos. More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)