Shot 1

The wackiness of scheduling a vaccination is a topic for another day (and one that I will never write about), but I drove 45 minutes into the city this morning to a CVS pharmacy on the Temple University campus and got my 1st of 2 shots of the Pfizer vaccine.

The process was simple, once you get past the fact that I needed to be on the CVS website at 1:00am when they open the new batch of appointments to schedule myself, and needed to go 30-some miles away past at least a dozen other CVS locations to get to the CVS location in North Philadelphia that had an available appointment.

Anyway, I did the right thing and got my shot. Three weeks from today, I go back to North Philadelphia to get my second shot.

As of now, I have some minor discomfort in the arm that got the shot. It's a sweet sweet pain.

Something to Last

Roughly 21 years ago, in about 1998-99, we planted this tree. It's a Dawn Redwood, and was about 6 feet tall when we planted it, maybe a little less. All these years later, it's about 40-45 feet tall, which would make it a relatively fast grower for a tree. Which is a good thing, since it has a lot of growing left to do.

Dawn Redwood in the mist

The cool thing about this tree is that is has a good 60 feet or so of growth left, reaching a final height of about 100 feet.

The Dawn Redwood was only known as a fossil until found growing in a remote valley of the Szechuan province of China in 1941. Since then it has been propagated around the world. Including right here in my part of Pennsylvania, by me and my wife.

With luck, it could outlast me by a few hundred years. With a huge whole lot of luck, it could see the year 3000.

Highly highly unlikely, but possible. Which is kinda cool to contemplate. The end of life for this tree could be as far ahead of us as the defeat of Harold Godwinson by William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings is behind us.

Perspective is good.

Our lives are a fleeting instant in the life of the world. Which I think means we have an obligation to not irrevocably mess things up for all that may come after us. My kids. My grandkids. Yours, and your descendants.

Mad Max is a good movie series. Not a good future.

America Burning

America is burning and the current occupant of the White House needed a photo opp. So... tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protestors.

I guess First Amendment rights are subjective. God forbid we infringe on anyone's Second Amendment rights, because we all need assault rifles, but the First Amendment.... meh... when it's convenient.

It's astounding to me where we are as a country. And saddening. We are 50+ years after the historic days of the civil rights movement, and this is what we see on the news. Maybe we haven't made any progress at all.

We watch current events on the news. We try to stay informed. And we try to have a meaningful discussion with our kids. Looting is bad. Burning cars is bad. Throwing stuff at the police is bad. Anarchy and chaos is not the answer. Maybe understandable in a way, but not the answer.

But we also make sure that our kids know that every American should be outraged. And we should all protest the racial inequity that still exists. If we aren't in a place to be able to literally join, arm in arm, with our fellow human beings that are actually out there standing in the streets, we should support them. Support them with our voices and more importantly our votes. Not just to make ourselves feel better, but to actually hope to affect a real change.

Every American should support the protestors. Not the burning. Not the looting. But support the peaceful protesters. We Americans like to think of ourselves as great. Because we are a rich people. A dominant military power. For what that's worth. If anything. History will be a more objective judge, and perhaps not so kind.

If we truly want to be great, we need to lead. Lead ourselves toward a future that is better than today. Or sadly, at least keep pace with most of the rest of the world, which seems to be more socially advanced than us.

Most police are good. The story of the Flint Michigan sheriff who laid down his baton and helmet to peacefully march in solidarity with protestors warms my heart and gives me hope for the future. Celebrate the good. Weed out the bad. For the benefit of everyone.

One people.

Change is good. Righteous change is great.

At the most basic level, all people want the same thing. A roof over their head. Food to feed their families and keep them from hunger. Safety from persecution. Protection from living in fear. Shouldn't this be the most very basic thing that we can all agree on?

Let's teach our children in the hopes that their generation will be better than ours.

A Bit of Beauty

Sometimes it's worth taking a moment to stop and savor a bit of beauty when it presents itself.

Fall Sunset

The other night, Ryder needed to go out and do his business. When I let him out, this is the sight that greeted me on the western horizon. I sat on the front step for a few moments. Within 5 minutes the colors had faded substantially. Within 10 minutes they were gone. But for those brief few moments, there was fire in the sky...

Into an Old Mine

Somehow I stumbled on this video on YouTube. A guy with a flashlight wandering through an old mine.

Creepy but cool. I couldn't help but to watch this and think "hey, nice warren of underground D&D tunnels." This would be even creepier with orcs or goblins or trolls or...

Yep. I'm a geek.

August Random Tidbits

Our lot was one of the ones on the outer edge of the development, facing the woods and stream valley, which didn't have a lot premium. This was because we have a drainage basin behind us. Which is just a depression with a bunch of grass that deer and groundhogs and rabbits and foxes play in. I don't think I would trade our lot for any other in the development...

Summer blues and whites and greens

I've been lucky enough to be able to work out of my home office a decent bit this summer. Not having nearly two hours of commute in a day is nice. Cutting down on the dry cleaning bills is nice. And last but certainly not least, it's nice to have Ryder come into my office, plunk down on the wing chair across from my desk, and keep me company off and on throughout the day.

Ryder keeping me company while I work

The new house at the River is done, which is a whole other post, but we went down for part of a Saturday to see it, and Grace was anxious to get some fishing in. She caught a good sized catfish and a handful of small white perch. I caught a pretty good catfish, a sunfish and a perch. Julia fished with us for maybe ten minutes and caught a perch and a large sunfish. Not bad for an hour or so.

My fisher girl

It makes me happy that the girls like to fish with me.

National Sales Meeting - 2018

For the sixth year now, my company has done a large national sales meeting for our commercial sales organization and related support functions.

General Session

Being a commercial operations support function, I get to go. These meetings last from a Monday to a Friday, and have been mostly at Gaylord (Marriott owned) resort/convention facilities.

Dinner Party in the Atrium

In those 6 years, we have done the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine Texas 3 times (including each of the last two years), the Gaylord in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry twice, and the Disney World Dolphin and Swan once.

Alternate reality in the Atrium

In the interests of recruiting and maintaining a world class sales organization, the meeting is first class, and has been both productive in terms of content as well as a boost to morale.

This year, we didn't have any major weather complications around the country, and everyone was able to get in and out of the meeting with no real problems.

I used to travel more for business than I do now, and I can't honestly say that I miss it much, but it is nice to get to go to a first class facility for a productive and informative meeting every now and then. But now back to my office until next year...

Blogging Catch Up

For anyone with an interest, I have spent the last few evenings trying to catch up on blog posts that should have been written in 2017 but weren't.

There are about 15 new posts from August 2017 onward.

More to come (and a commitment to do better in 2018 than I did in the back half of 2017).

Charlie Brown Had It Right

This may be the only post of its kind that I will ever write here.

But...

I consider myself a fairly progressive and open-minded person when it comes to social issues. I am brother to a handicapped man. Father to a handicapped daughter. Friend, acquaintance, or distant acquaintance to a variety of LGBT people. Husband to someone not from around here. Father to a pair of mixed-race daughters.

Wonderful people come in every imaginable variety.

My view of the kind of world I want to live in is one of...

• Understanding
• Inclusion
• Open-mindedness
• Rationality
• Harmony
• Peace
• Fairness
• Decency
• Knowledge
• Facts
• Truth

Every day now I wake up and can't help but to see the news.

My reaction is pretty much always the same.

Oh Good Grief.

In Search of Lost Treasure

I've always had a fascination with the strange and mysterious. Tales of lost treasures enthralled me as a boy (and beyond). Perhaps that is why I majored in archaeology in college, and it is no great surprise that a particular show caught my eye.

I've become addicted to The Curse of Oak Island on the History Channel, which is an admittedly overly dramatized docu-drama about a few guys throwing tremendous amounts of money into the search for whatever is hidden on Oak Island (Nova Scotia). I won't attempt to detail the history of this treasure hunt (click the link above), but it began in 1795 and has captivated people ever since. All sorts of odd things have been found on the island, and theories of what is buried there (which assumes that anything is buried there of course) range from the lost Templar treasures including the Holy Grail, Spanish conquistador treasure, pirate booty, and the lost manuscripts of Shakespeare (along with the theory that they were written by Francis Bacon).

Wanting a little more history and background than the show provides, I picked up The Secret Treasure of Oak Island and another related book or two. This is the first one I have gotten through, and it is exactly what I was looking for. It's an easy read, and it is fun to think about all the weirdness related to this island and what it might mean. And maybe it means nothing at all. But it is entertaining. I would heartily recommend both the show and the book.

The Oak Island Mystery

If you are going to read stories about treasure hunting, then one thing will surely lead to another. I know that there are a multitude of tales and legends about lost Spanish mines and native american treasures in the southwestern United States, so I browsed the ratings of some books on the subject and picked up Four Days From Fort Wingate by Richard French.

Lost Treasures of the Southwest

I'm happy to say that this was another very fun read. It is the story of what have become known as the Lost Adams Diggings, located somewhere in eastern Arizona or western New Mexico. This is another treasure hunt that has fascinated a great many people over a very long time (click the link for a good summary). The 259 pages flew by very quickly, and were a nice recounting of the legend, the various interpretations of the clues, and the searches of various individuals over the years. It is rounded out by a summary of the author's own investigations, explorations and conclusions. Like the Oak Island mystery, it may be real, partly real, or completely legend, but it is an entertaining read.

With these two books under my belt and another one or two on the nightstand, there was always Christmas coming soon and people looking for gift ideas, but that is a story for another post.

Thing 1 Comes of Voting Age

Another hard-to-believe milestone came and went recently. Julia turned 18.

Leading up to the most contentious election in my lifetime, we have another registered voter in the house.

Happy Birthday!

No matter how big she gets, she'll always be my baby.

First Day of School - Senior Year

It's hard to believe, but the first day of school at this bus stop this year is for Julia's senior year. It just doesn't seem possible that my little girl is entering her last year of high school. Or for that matter that her little sister is on the same bus halfway through middle school.

First day of school - Julia's senior year

Some of these kids are newer to the neighborhood, but some I have known since they were little kids, and a few since they were born. We moved into the neighborhood when it was newly built 19+ years ago, as did a few other of these families. Time flies.

Spring Goldfinches

I'm not sure why this year and no other years that I can remember, but as it has warmed up this spring, I suddenly have swarms of goldfinches perching on my home office windows, and pecking at the glass. Odd. But nice.

Goldfinch friends

They are numerous, persistent, and don't scare off easily.

Close up...

At one point a couple days ago I had 5 at one time. Very odd indeed...

Blizzard of 2016 - Winter Storm Jonas

Stuck in the house with 12-18 inches of snow down and a little more to come between now and midnight, so I might as well see if I remember how to do a blog post. It is blowing hard and the snow is still coming down, so I have no real idea of how much we do have. Depending on where you look on the deck and in the yard, we have a couple of feet or nothing. Whatever the truth is, it's a lot, and with more to come over the next 12 hours.

18 inches or nothing? Hard to tell...

Everyone is safe and warm, and we have power (and internet), so all is good with the world. Tomorrow (Sunday) will be the day to dig out, or more accurately, pay someone else to dig out. In the meantime, there is nothing to do but lounge around, do some hobby stuff and spend time with the family, and wonder if the business trip I am supposed to fly out for on Monday morning will happen. I guess I should say, the trip will happen at some point early this week, but will it be Monday morning or some time after?...

Garage roof glacier

The kids are bummed that we had this big storm on a Saturday. I can understand that.

Oh, and I guess sometime before dark I should go out into the side yard and get that piece of my chimney siding I see laying out there and stick it in the garage before it blows away entirely...

Garnet Valley School Nonsense...Cough Cough

It looks like we had a "sick out" this morning at my daughter's high school. As the email from the school district put it, they had more teachers call out sick than they had substitutes to cover for them. So a bunch of teacher-less classes gathered in the auditorium to do...I'm not sure what. Presumably not learn much.

Or it could just be a coincidence on a beautiful sunny warm spring day. I guess.

Our teachers have been without a contract for a year or two, and are getting more vocal about their dissatisfaction. Both the administration and the teachers association are sending out letters and emails leveling almost identical claims at each other (unwilling to negotiate in good faith, etc). The teachers' association recently informed the parents that they will henceforth be working "by rule", which means that they will not participate in anything extra (i.e. anything for which they don't get paid).

I'll freely admit I'm not privy to much of the detail of what exactly has been going on, but I do know that the teachers wanted an independent party to come in an evaluate the situation. That occurred. The independent party basically said that the district's offer was fair, at which point the teachers (who called for this in the first place) then rejected the independent party's findings. OK.

From what I have heard, one of the main sticking points is that the teachers are upset at what they see as declining health benefits, and being asked to pay more for those benefits. I hate to say wake up and smell the crappy state of employer-sponsored health benefits that exists everywhere in the workplace today, but...wake up and smell the crappy state of employer-sponsored health benefits that exists everywhere in the workplace today. Spiraling out of control healthcare costs are what employers everywhere are facing, and they don't have much choice but to pass some of that expense along to the employees. I think you would be hard-pressed to find many places where health benefits are getting better and/or cheaper. So do I feel for the teachers? Sure. Have much sympathy? No. We're all in the same boat.

It will be interesting (not in a good way) to see how this continues to escalate. We have great teachers. We have great administrators. We have great facilities. We have terrific, involved parents. Our district has an awful lot going for it compared to many. As the music teachers commented from the stage during a combined middle school and high school jazz concert a week or two ago, it is great that we are so fortunate that at a time when so many other districts are cutting back on music and the arts and all sorts of other non-essential programs, we get to have high school jazz bands, middle school jazz ensembles, classical guitar groups, and all sorts of other non-mainstream musical activities beyond just "band". And this is true of the sports programs, theater, and many other clubs and activities.

The teachers have a lot to lose. The administration has a lot to lose. The kids, of course, have the most to lose. Let's hope we can all keep the stupidity to a tolerable level.

Stan Hochman

Stan Hochman

It was with great sadness that I heard that legendary Philadelphia sportswriter and columnist Stan Hochman died today at the age of 86 after a brief illness.

Angelo Cataldi and the morning team on WIP radio styled Hochman as "the grand imperial poobah of Philadelphia sports" and I guess in many ways that was true. Hochman was one of the old guard of local sportswriters that included such luminaries as Frank Dolson, Ray Didinger and Bill Lyon; a holdover from a time when people got their sports news and commentary largely from reading the newspaper. He wrote for the Daily News for over 50 years, and was a staple on TV and radio.

Up until just a few weeks ago, Hochman sill did a weekly call-in to WIP to give his take on the week's sports news. To the very end he was insightful, wise and entertaining. By all accounts, he was as good a man as he was a writer.

Rest in peace, Stan.

Spring is Coming

Soon.

But apparently not today.

[Final tally: 9 inches of snow and two neighborhood kids with a snowblower]

Last Day of Christmas and First Day of Spring

A couple of fun things happened today, one being the official end to Christmas 2014, and the other being the first harbinger of Spring.

As for the end of Christmas, the postal fairy arrived today with the out-of-stock-but-now-back-in-stock copy of my Christmas present from Brother Dave and his Darling Wife: Jimmy Page, by Jimmy Page (Genesis Publications, 2014). Amazon describes this oversized bundle of classic rock goodness as "the photographic autobiography and visual history of the world's most iconic guitarist". Amen to that, and then some.

This monster of a book is 512 oversized pages of the backbone of classic rock history; Jimmy Page's life before, during and after Led Zeppelin. When I first picked up the Amazon box, I thought Amp had ordered a block of lead. It turned out to be Led Zeppelin (so I was close)... Amazon says the shipping weight is 6.4 pounds. That's a lot of book.

It is a story told primarily in pictures, and flipping through it is a joy, both in terms of bringing back memories of growing up to the sound of Brother Dave playing Led Zeppelin (and Aerosmith) albums on Dad's living room stereo, but also seeing how the history of Page and Zeppelin are interwoven with the whole era of the 1970's and the other rock artists of the time.

Of no less interest to anyone interested in guitars and related equipment, it is fascinating to go through all the pictures and see which instruments he is playing at various times in his career. Some of them are surprising...

As it is, I have barely begun to devour this book, and will require a lot more time to do so thoroughly. I have found myself bogging down in looking up some of these guitars... (for example, the most iconic guitar of them all...Page's cherry red Gibson sort-of EDS-1275 double necked 6 and 12 string almost-SG). In addition to this being the live Stairway to Heaven guitar, I also think of it as the Don Felder Hotel California guitar. But I digress...

As for Spring...I officially declare (calendar notwithstanding) today to be the first day of Spring. I know this to be true because today was the first day I was able to grill dinner on the deck in just enough fading daylight to do so without the aid of artificial light (and without eating dinner at 4pm). Yay!

The Year in Review 2014 - Distractions and Diversions

Having covered the most important stuff - family - in an earlier post, I'll cover the remaining odds and ends here...

Hiking and Outdoors
I spent less time doing short little hikes around home than I have in any recent year, but there were two very good trips that did happen. The first was an overnight trip to Rickett's Glen State Park in northeastern PA in April, and the second was a three day trip to West Virginia in June.

Rickett's Glen was a two day trip, the second day to actually hike the park, the first day to drive up. Dave and I left early and did a bunch of geocaching on the way to the hotel, which was one of my more interesting caching expeditions of the year. The hike itself was truly spectacular, and everything it was hyped up to be.

Rickett's Glen

The West Virginia trip was also memorable for the scenery, the companionship, the hikes, and the marvelous campsite with a view of Sunset Rocks.

Sunset Rocks WV

The Sunday we spent hiking in the Dolly Sods Wilderness was a hot and grueling day, but the scenery was some of the prettiest I have seen in the East. I would gladly go back to that area again.

Dolly Sods Wilderness WV

With one of our regulars planning a big trip to Ireland for his 50th, there will not be a big trip this year, but the plan is to make up for that by squeezing in a few long-weekend trips, like West Virginia was this year. There are a multitude of nice places to go within a 4-5 hour driving radius, and I'm sure we can come up with something good.

Music and Concerts
I didn't get to see as much live music as I would have liked this year (not counting musicals and special events with the family). Anthony and I saw The Musical Box in Wilmington in January, and I saw Justin Hayward again in Wilmington in May.

Justin Hayward in Wilmington at the World Cafe

The Tedeschi Trucks Band near home in Aston in June was the last concert of the year.

Tedeschi Trucks Band in Aston PA

2014 also saw the arrival of yet another guitar in the house, an Epiphone EJ-200CE acoustic electric. I'm still a hack, but perhaps a little better than before. Actual practice would improve that, but for whatever reason, it never seems to happen. So you get what you get. And speaking of getting - no more guitars. Probably.

Epiphone EJ-200CE

Reading
As always, I read a ton this year, with only the tip of the iceberg getting documented here. Fifteen fiction books (posted about separately), lots of short stories, lots of history and wargaming materials, and lastly (and quite unexpected) I think I read through an entire file box of old Dungeons and Dragons stuff I had kept from years ago. That jaunt down memory lane sure brought back a lot of fond memories.

Writing
Blogging would also have to be considered a hobby unto itself given the time and effort put into it. All told, across three blogs, I have written more than ever before. This will be post number 138 for this, my main blog, and I have also managed to squeeze in 28 posts on the D&D campaign blog and 19 more on the food blog. Perhaps I should do more and write less, although I certainly do enjoy the writing on its own merits. It's a balance I guess. Most of these posts are fairly easy and quick to write, and it has proven very nice to be able to go back and reread posts and look at pictures from as far back as 2009, when I first began.

Dungeons and Dragons

From a hobby/fun-time activity perspective, this is the year I remembered how much I loved playing D&D as a kid, and started playing again as an adult. Five of us have played four sessions beginning in October, and may get one more in over the holidays. I love the pure unfettered creativity of it, and we all seem to be having a good time, which is all that counts.

Kingdom of Alsberg

Cooking
I may not have blogged about too many recipes, but I think I probably did a better job this year than usual in actually trying new and different recipes out of all the cookbooks we have accumulated over the years. Most used book of the year was without question Giada at Home by Giada de Laurentiis. Every one we make turns out great so we just keep trying more. Grace continues to show some interest in cooking, so it is nice to have a helper in the kitchen with me sometimes.

25 Year Old Easter Treat

Geocaching
It's pretty safe to say that I have become an occasional geocacher at best. I still enjoy it, but more often than not it's really only something that hits my radar screen when I will be traveling to someplace new or unusual and have a chance to grab a new state or a new county. The modicum of interest that the kids had in the first year or two that I did this has worn off for them, and they have no interest in going out with me, so that limits my interest in going out just to go out. Geocaching as a solo endeavor doesn't hold much appeal anymore, although if I have an opportunity to get out in the woods for a walk somewhere, I would still rather pick a place that has geocaches than not. I guess in that regard, I have become a geocacher very much like brother Dave has always been. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Geocaching our way to Rickett's Glen

Perhaps the best part of writing these year end posts is not in the remembering of what has gone before, but to begin to think about the future; not what have we done this year, but what experiences are yet to come. Places to go. Things to see and do. Interests to explore. In other words, life to live.

Feel Good Flash Mob Fun

Don't ask me how I got here (OK, it involved searching YouTube for anything that might have been uploaded on our high school's new musical production, clicking a link, clicking another link, and another, and so on...down the rat hole I go...).

Some of them were enjoyable enough, or holiday appropriate enough, to capture...

The British Army band flash-mobbing Christmas carols in an English mall.

The US Air Force Band flash-mobbing holiday music at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

A Choral group flash-mobbing America the Beautiful to a service man and his family at a mall.

And lastly, the cast of a professional production of Les Miserables flash-mobbing One Day More at an Orlando Florida mall.

They made me smile... Happy holidays!