I have done a lot of video projects in the past, most of which have had a very concrete purpose.

Today, I have one for you that really was meant to be nothing more than learning more about ways to embed video on this site without having to use YouTube.

After work on Thursday I went down to the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., to shoot some video of the cherry blossom trees. On the way there I grabbed some shots of the Capitol, White House, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.

I didn’t spend a ton of time editing the montage, and did it before creating the background music, so it’s far from my best work. I also intended the music to be more in the “soothing” category than “ominous” (my apologies to anyone with actual musical training).

But the overall result could pass as a film school piece about the possible government shutdown.

What do you think? Do we like this player? More video on the site? Step away from the piano?