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adventures

adventures / friends / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
2
Apr 25

Conferencing

After I did the monthly cleaning of the computer — updating some spreadsheets and other documents, deleting stuff from the desktop and the downloads folder, and so on — I returned to the equally exciting task of packing for this afternoon’s road trip.

But before we left I got a stern talking to. Poseidon pointed out I was behind on the site’s most popular weekly feature, the check-in on the kitties. And he was also upset that, last week, Phoebe got a closeup and he did not.

They are jealous cats. So here you go, Poe, a recent closeup, to keep things equal between the two of you.

Phoebe also noticed we were two days behind. She was gearing up to tell me all about it, you can tell.

Next week he’ll probably want a photo in a bag or box, too. They are very jealous of one another. Him more so, but only because they haven’t yet realized that jealous is a thing they can compete for, too.

And, so you see, the are doing just great. Now they’re hanging out with a sitter, because we are just under five hours away, in beautiful and scenic Norfolk. Here’s a blurry shot from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel route. See if you can guess which this part is, bridge or tunnel.

We’re in Norfolk for the 95th convention of the Southern States Communication Association. This is our 10th time to this conference, and then second time we’ve attended it in Norfolk. The first time, my lovely bride won an award there. We’ve won two others, too. These days, we go back to point that out a little, but mostly to see our friends.

This is our first time at SSCA since 2017, though, because of other obligations, travel budget reasons and Covid.

Most everyone got in in time for dinner tonight, so we had some catching up today. We had blueberry french toast at this restaurant near the hotel.

And it was great, but seeing our friends was even better. You can text people and have group chats and do all of that, but when youget to see them in person you realize keenly what’s been lacking. These are sweet, sassy, incredibly smart people, people we have worked with and presented with and laughed with and so on since grad school. We get to spend a long weekend hanging out with them, and call it work.

adventures / cycling / Delaware / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
1
Apr 25

It’s me, I’m the fool

On Sunday, I took my lovely bride across the river, to charming Wilmington.

It was a Christmas present delivered in March. I got tickets to see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood doing their improve show. We sat right up front. Right up front. At one point I thought Colin was going to step off the stage, and I had a plan to try to break his fall.

The two of them have been doing this traveling improv show for more than a decade now. Every show different, some of the games familiar, if you know the Whose Line Is It Anyway? format. They did the game where people in the audience had to move them around, and another where people had to make the sound effects. A mother and her young teen daughter made the sound effects, and in that we learned that not every teen knows The Beatles. They played another game where a man and a woman had to play Siri and Alexa.

Finally, they closed a show with their own improvised Broadway tune. The setup was there was a musical titled “Wilmington!” and this was going to be the go home number in the show. So they sought out, from the crowd, the iconic things about the city. It was a short list, and it devolved quickly to “bodies in the river” and “condos with a view.”

We saw another improv show in 2019, with Greg Proops, Jeff Davis, Joel Murray and Dave Foley. I was able to get a line into that show, “She’s from Canada. You don’t know her.” No such luck this time, but it was a good show, if a little overly reliant on audience participation. That’s the high wire part of the show, though, and those guys are great at it. Catch them if you can.

I could tell you about my bike ride … let me tell you about my bike ride. This was the third ride with my new helmet, and the first of those three where I remembered my sunglasses, so the look was complete. But the ride was delayed, because I had a flat on my rear wheel.

It was further delayed when I ruined a second tube trying to fix the problem. But when you don’t rush, and do a thing a second time, you get it ride, and so off I went, content to pedal myself into the evening.

And 4.5 miles later that tube was flat, too. Joke’s on me!

So I gave up. Three in one day is plenty. And I’m buying new tires. It was about time, anyway.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get ready for a weekend trip.

adventures / Monday / music / photo / video — Comments Off
31
Mar 25

Cherry blossoms

We went to Washington D.C. on Saturday. It was a warm spring day, the sort that promises a lot of mugginess in the capital. It was peak cherry blossom season. Everyone knew it. So crowded.

This was the first time I’d been to D.C. since this monument was installed. It has a commanding view. And as you walk around the sculpture, it seemed the expression changed.

It’s also much taller than I’d imagined. But that’s as it should be.

Once you’d elbowed people out of the way, you got some nice views.

I kid, of course. Everyone was having a lovely time. Snippets of conversation floated through the air, like the kites flying everywhere, and the blossoms as they fell to the ground. I picked up sticks, because you never know when you’ll need a bit of cherry wood.

We walked down to the mall. The monument in the background, and perhaps the one place the capitol building doesn’t demand your attention.

We met my god-sister-in-law (just go with it) and her brother for dinner. We were all in town for a concert. Usually, I put up a lot of these, but I put up a lot of these. This was the really touching moment. A show that’s being discontinued — because of its themes of inclusiveness, perish the thought — got two nights of attention, in the Friday show and the Saturday show, and they sang with Guster and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Artists, man.

But that was only part of the weekend! More tomorrow!

adventures / cycling / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
20
Mar 25

My PR pursuit

Helped clean the garage. We have a too-small garage. But, then I think that every garage should have about 20 more square feet. And laundry room. Almost every laundry room needs to be larger, but I digress.

We have a little punch out in our garage, allowing basement access. And in that area we also have two 7-foot-tall shelving units. But it was all in the way, according to my lovely bride. I’m not the best with conceptualizing spatial arrangements, but I didn’t think it would provide the space she thought. But it is spring break and it was her idea so that’s what she started and I joined her for that and, wouldn’t you know it she might be right.

We’ll find out in a few days of using the new configuration, I guess, but the first impression looks promising.

I gave it the first test today. The bikes are now parked where the shelves were. And I went on a little ride this evening, just to spin my legs. It was down the chipseal road past the winery, onto the little cut through that has some of the newest asphalt around, a downhill stretch of two-tenths of a mile of pure ribbon, and then back up by the local park and into town, where I let the traffic decide my route. I was going to turn around once, but had to take a right because of what was behind me. And I was going to turn left later, but had to go straight because of what was ahead of me.

The last five miles were about getting out of town and through two neighborhoods and back home.

There is a nearby Strava segment, and I have the second fastest time on it. I should have the fastest time on it. This year, I’m breaking the record, which was set in 2020.

In my first try of the year I was one second off my PR and 11 seconds off the record.

I left maybe three seconds out there from a wobble, not taking the left-hander perfectly and sitting up a little too soon.

Felt good, until the end.

Even if that’s close to right, I need to improve by a lot. But there will be plenty of opportunities to improve. There always are.

adventures / Monday / photo / Rowan — Comments Off
17
Mar 25

We’re back, and now it is spring break

We are back from Chicago. Our plane left a bit late because they had to de-ice the wings. It was 70-something degrees on Saturday there, and snowing on Sunday. The Midwest, man.

We arrived to messages from both of our mothers, who noted from various trackers that the flight had apparently been delayed for some reason. I hadn’t really noticed sitting there for an extra hour or so, though. i was busy reading, which is one of the two best things to do on a plane. If you’re not flying it, that is.

Anyway, it was a successful trip. The Yankee also presented some research. I took roughly 45 photos and concluded in retrospect that her presentations would be even better if she opened her eyes when she talked to crowds. She was blinking in every one of my photos, except this one.

This is an international conference. People came from six continents to take part. She did not want to pronounce the title in front of them, potentially insulting our French colleagues.

Also, if I didn’t mention it, she is the executive director of this conference. I’m married to a rock star.

On Saturday we met with one of our former professors for lunch. And we also saw the river, which reminds me of the classic throwaway line from The Fugitive, “If they can dye this river green today, why can’t they dye it blue the other 364 days of the year?”

Also, there were a lot of people out there enjoying the warm weather and the complete bastardization of Saint Patrick’s Day.

Also, also, the International Association for Communication and Sport’s conference will next year be held in Dublin It also coincides with our spring break. Guess where I’ll be going.

And now it is spring break, which means I can catch up on some things, and get ahead of some other things. Also, house projects.