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memories

Stuff from the weekend

There was a football game, and a flyover:

I took this picture:

And that’ll be the last of it, one way or the other. It is a sad thing in its own way, which I didn’t expect.

Also I snuck up on Allie and took this picture:

And she was completely oblivious when I took this one:

So I discovered yesterday that the cat likes graham crackers. Of course she likes graham crackers.

Finally, I ran in a fundraiser 10K yesterday. The Yankee did the 5K and I did the last half with the uncle of a friend of ours who was in town. He heard about this run and thought, “Hey, I’m retired, let’s impulsively run a 10K in jeans!” And he did. I want to be like him one day.

I finished second in my age group. I got an ornament and a gift card.

Auburn / football / friends / memories / podcast / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off
18
Nov 15

A meaningful header would make you see past maple leaves

It is a shareable age, but you just can’t express autumn in any of the formats yet available to us. But if yours hasn’t passed yet, go outside and enjoy it some. May the weather be great and the leaves be bright, wherever you are just now.

Because you know what they say about winter.

So, anyway, even if you can’t really share the sense of the season in one photograph, I’m going to try. Here’s a basic under tree, looking up and through shot from campus today:

(And if that seems like a weird idea, I’m going to blame the Canadian singer-songwriter that’s playing as I type this.)

We were in the newsroom until 8 p.m. They gathered there less than 17 hours after leaving the place this morning. Student leaders, eyeing their upcoming Thanksgiving break, are wrapping up their plans for an issue the week after.

You have to really want it to work in student media, as they do. They know there will never be enough of them, or enough accolades or recognition for them. But I know those putting their hearts into it have learned the value of the work they do. The only lament is that not enough people appreciate their efforts and, sometimes, their sacrifices.

Elsewhere, here is a conversation I had with my friend and colleague Chadd Scott. He’s always worth a listen. This is no exception as today he’s breaking down what this underwhelming football season means for Auburn’s football coach. (The short answer, he suggests, is a great deal in the medium-term.)

Chadd was my first radio mentor and it is, to me, a neat thing to still get to work with him on projects. Check out Gridiron Now. It’s a great project.

Tomorrow I’m going to make a video. The best days are the multimedia days.

Friday / memories / photo — Comments Off
13
Nov 15

Memory week photos, day five

For France:

A dear friend of ours is working in Paris this year. I listened to international radio on the way home as they started sharing the first horrific details. And then one reporter notes that their audience knows more about what is going on than most Parisians right now. So I pulled over to message our friend: You must tell people you are OK right now. But she’d already done it; she was safe.

She was supposed to go to one of those restaurants tonight, but her evening meeting ran late.

And that is the way things happen sometimes.

We’re wrapping up a week of skimming through old photos last week and see where they take us. So far as I can recall, I haven’t published these pictures anywhere. The theme is signs or words.

Here’s our last two for the week.

These are both from last summer’s travels. The first one is in the bowels of the London Tower. They sell these stickers and someone was unsupervised:

I wondered at the time if there was a political statement here — the locals were and are getting stirred up over various European issues — or if this was just someone being clever. Maybe someone was running from England back to Roman Britannia. But I doubt it.

It was our second trip to London. We had a great time. Maybe we’ll get to go back one in the near future. We’ve had a lovely time there both trips.

And, finally, from Berlin, the orange garbage can that says “Give it to me!”

So orange its Berlin. It is a clean city, as you’d imagine. We walked all over Berlin. I think we walked everywhere. We hope to go back to Germany one day, there’s an entire beautiful country to see.

memories / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
12
Nov 15

Memory week photos, day four

We’re checking out some old photos last week and following them down memory lane. So far as I can recall, I haven’t published these pictures anywhere. The theme is signs or words.

Here’s two now.

A restaurant restroom here in town. It isn’t the most clever thing in the world, but then it started with anger or an accident, so someone with a marker and some imagination did the best they could with it.

The store owner can’t get the drywall guy in there fast enough.

On campus, there’s the printing department’s printing department. I just found this wandering around from one office to another one day.

Or it could be just one department, now with two fonts and working on two different mediums!

I’ve got a different version of this and it is going at the top of the page one day. Two times the printing for one low price!

memories / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
11
Nov 15

Memory week photos, day three

It was fun showing off old photos last week and following them down memory lane. So here’s some more of that for this week. As far as I can recall, I haven’t published these pictures anywhere. The theme is signs or words.

Here’s two now.

Ms. Buben’s 3rd and 4th grade class clearly had a big event at McDonald’s.

This is in Alaska. We were driving through this area as a wildfire was burning just a few miles away. Fortunately it was a very sparse area, so the human concerns were somewhat limited. But the sky was erie and all of the local store marquees were concerned with the fire and fire fighters.

Ms. Buben started teaching in the Soldotna school district in 1988. I wonder how many of those french fry crafts she’s supervised over the years.

These signs are for a dive restaurant near The Yankee’s hometown. It is one of those places that almost got washed out to see during Hurricane Sandy. I think it actually did and no one noticed. The stuffed burgers are good.

It is the best of the three or four places I’ve been that wound up on Guy Fieri’s show. The Italian place in front of the Duck, and beside this sign, is much better.