Avalon 2018

We got back yesterday from our now-annual tradition of a Monday-Friday week at the Windrift in Avalon (on the Jersey shore). This was year 5, and it is a comfortable and easy little vacation trip to do.

I never really went to the Jersey shore as a kid (we went to Ocean City, Maryland), so it tool a few years to get more used to where things were, what there was to do, things we should be aware of, etc... We are past that learning curve now (mostly), and we have settled into a routine.

The pool at the Windrift (3 girls under the umbrella)

Usually we go with Amp's sister and her family, but a medical thing prevented them from going this year. So that was different. We all missed them, and it seemed odd to be there without them, but it was relaxing in the sense that we only had to worry about our own schedule. Planning for 4 is easier than planning for 8.

Monday involved dropping Ryder at the dog sitter and then driving down. We couldn't get into the hotel early, so we drove the 20 minutes or so to Cape May to meet up with a friend of Grace's (another Grace) and spend a few hours shopping and wandering Cape May's quaint (if touristy) downtown. We then headed to the Windrift, checked in, and spent some time at the beach. We had dinner at the bar/restaurant in the hotel, and then finished out the day with a brief trip to the boardwalk in Wildwood. Grace is getting bolder with the rides she wants to do.

Tuesday was a lot of alternating pool and beach time, with the mandatory brunch at Uncle Bill's Pancake House in Stone Harbor (overpriced and overrated), but still worth doing. I guess. We had dinner at Water Lily, a Japanese place in Stone Harbor that was pretty good. We then went to the upper end of Avalon and played the traditional round of pirate mini golf, followed by ridiculously large single scoops of ice cream at the Buccaneer.

Wednesday was more pool and beach, and a dinner return to Water Lily, at the request of the kids. Which was fine with us. We then drove up to the boardwalk in Ocean City to meet another school friend of Grace's and spend some time in an amusement park there (Castaway Cove). This was my first time to that boardwalk, and while they all seem pretty much the same, Ocean City seemed a little nicer than Wildwood. Not that it matters. Rides. Ice cream. Whatever.

Thursday was more beach and pool, with breakfast at the hotel, lunch/snacks by the pool and dinner at Tortilla Flats in Avalon. Then we headed back to Wildwood for one last night on the boardwalk, killing time, eating polish water ice and riding some rides.

Rip Tide - Morey's Piers - Wildwood

Friday was little more than sleeping in a bit, getting packed and ready to leave, and heading home. We had lunch at Stone Harbor Pizza and briefly strolled the shops on the main drag one last time, then got on the road. We made good time, with a brief stop at the Hobby Lobby in Vineland off route 55, and were at the dog sitter's to pick up Ryder by 3. We were all happy to see the dog. I think he enjoys being part of a pack at the dog sitter's, and gets some refresher training while there, but he also seems very happy to come home again.

Fetching Ryder from the Sitter

We had good weather, with mid-80s temperatures and fairly high humidity. Lower humidity would have been nice, but we only had a quick passing shower or two, mostly overnight. With as much rain as we have had this summer, we could have had a total washout. So we got lucky in that regard.

I think the kids are already looking forward to next year.

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.

Office Renovation

We painted our home office in a dark hunter green almost twenty years ago (could it really have been that long?!?). I loved the color then, and still do (mostly) now, but things could definitely use some touching up at a minimum after all these years.

Old Hunter Green wall color

When we had all the new windows installed back around Christmas 2016, the old dark wood blinds in the office didn't fit the new window openings, so they went. We didn't have anything to replace them with, so Amp decided that she would make roman shades. Which is still the plan. In the meantime, we have hung old sheets over the windows for privacy. Ugh. I've also been planning to paint the woodwork. Most of the other new windows have been done as we have repainted other rooms, but not in the office. Ugh again.

Old paint, new windows, bare wood, classy sheet curtains

The first step to a new paint job is picking a wall color. I originally thought to do a very similar dark green color, but then after a bunch of back-and-forth decided on a medium beige (Sherwin Williams "Shiitake").

As long as we were repainting, I wanted to put crown molding up. The office is one of the few rooms left in the house where we could realistically do crown molding where we haven't already done so.

So with a number of days off around the 4th of July holiday, I got started on the project. I hung new crown molding. To my surprise, this was probably the most level ceiling and square-cornered room in the house, which made the crown molding easy to do.

Lots and lots of prep and priming

Then came a whole lot of filling, sanding, gouge fixing, other minor repairs and prep work. This is often the longest and most tedious part of the job (especially in a room with bare woodwork that needs to be addressed), and it certainly was here.

Next came two coats of white on the ceiling, a primer coat and two coats of bright white semi-gloss on the crown molding. Then a primer coat over the very dark walls. Then two coats on the walls. Then two coats on all the trim and baseboards. After a primer coat on the bare window woodwork.

New crown molding and wall color

All told, I spent decent parts of 4 days doing all the various steps and waiting for the different coats to dry.

Beautiful new office

I'm thrilled with the results. I did love the dark green, but the lighter/brighter colors make the room seem more warm and inviting, especially at night when it is dark outside.

We've also purchased the material and other components for the new roman shades, and will be getting to that as time permits.

Next - Finding a way to deal with the two-story family room (and the last of the unpainted new window trim). Looks like scaffolding or ladder sets are in my future. That room needs a refresh desperately, and will be like this project only about 5 times bigger...

Ruins

I follow a number of crafting web sites for D&D ideas. One of my favorites is Black Magic Craft, and a recent video on modular ruins showed such a nice looking end product that I actually decided to try this out for myself. The video is here.

Two things I will say up front. First, the end result really looks great. Second, this is a time-consuming, fiddly, pain in the butt project. But worth it. If you are into this sort of thing.

Without the Proxon table hot wire cutter, I wouldn't even consider attempting this. With the Proxon, it is fiddly but possible.

You begin by milling a great many individual stone blocks. A great many... I did both large and small sizes. You then build walls, stone by stone. Mine, as in the BMC video, are based on heavy duty cardboard. Some model railroad talus is glued on in bunches afterward.

Building ruins from single foam bricks

When the pieces have been built, they are then base coated with a mixture of Mod Podge and cheap black craft paint. This serves as both a base coat and a level of protection for the foam.

Undercoat black-tinted Mod Podge

To have a useful amount of these pieces, you need lots of them. Lots of stones. Lots of gluing. Lots of painting.

Lots of pieces in various stages of progress

Painting of the pieces, for me, is the same as my painting scheme for generic Underdark terrain or any other stonework. A dark gray heavy brush. A medium-light gray dry brush, fairly heavy. Then a light grayish-white dry brush to pick out the highlights. On some pieces, perhaps not those shown in the picture below, a final wash of brownish-black tones down the brightness and makes the ruins a little dingy.

A couple of finished pieces

A good project, with a very very nice end result, but not for the person for whom this degree of fiddly-ness would make them run screaming from the room. Admittedly, I have a high tolerance, at times, for this degree of relaxational fiddly-ness. But at times I felt like running screaming from the room.

I have done a decent number of both large and small block walls, pillars, etc, and will post another pic of a final set-up soon.

Thing 2 Turns 14

Somewhere recently, Thing 2 turned 14, which is very hard to believe.

Grace, Ryder and Julia

Grace is in the summer between middle school and high school. Always one of the smallest girls in her grade (maybe 3rd shortest out of ~150 girls), she has had some growth spurts, and is now somewhere in the middle of her classmates in terms of height (ok, well, maybe not the statistical middle, but certainly well above the bottom end now...). Grace is only an inch shorter than Julia, who is in turn a couple of inches short of Amp. Grace is looking forward to the day, somewhere in the future, when she is taller than both of them. As unlikely as this always seemed, it now seems quite likely.

High school starts in ~10 weeks. Marching band camp is in 7 weeks. Braces are expected to come off in ~4 months.

Changes all over the place. She thinks it's all great. It spooks me a little bit. I'm happy for her.

A Special Wedding

We had the great honor to attend a very special wedding this weekend. Emily, founder of the BYC Spirit special needs cheerleading squad, got married.

Emily founded the Spirit squad while she was still in high school, and Julia was one of the original members.

BYC Spirit with the Happy Couple

The Spirit squad was, and still is, an amazing thing. Kids with all sorts of disabilities get to be part of a cheer squad, have very nice uniforms, practice every week, and attend 5 or 6 weekend cheer events over the course of a school year.

Grace and Bella

They generally open the competitions with their routine, get big trophies and standing ovations wherever they go, and serve as an opportunity for these kids to be special. In the good way. As I have written before, the reception the Spirit squad gets everywhere they go is amazing, and never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

Kings Mill, Aston PA

Emily graduated high school, went of to college, and never missed a beat with the Spirit squad. She comes back for practices, and still runs the whole thing. Designs the routines. Organizes the volunteers. Runs practices. Runs fundraisers. Schedules competition appearances. Goes to the competitions.

As I told her Dad at the wedding, Emily has done more in her young life to help others and have a true impact on their lives than most people have in their whole lives.

The wedding itself was wonderful, on a hot day in June. It was at the King's Mill renovated old mill building on 452 in Aston, along the creek. The facilities were very nice (and I loved the old building). The wedding was outside, and then we headed in for the reception as it started to drizzle.

The importance of the Spirit squad as a thing in Emily's life was apparent. Maybe a third of all attendees were past and present Spirit squad members and their families (including us). As befit the occasion, there was music and dancing, food and drink, and a good time was had by all.

It was an honor to celebrate the big day of someone who has had such an impact on Julia's (and our) life.

Footnote: Julia stopped doing Spirit a year ago, but Grace continues on as a helper coach volunteer. Grace helped out in Julia's last couple of years, and when Julia stopped doing it Grace surprised us a little bit by saying that she wanted to continue. So for one practice a week during the school year, and 5 or 6 weekend competitions, Grace goes and is the helper-buddy of a few of the littler ones.

Turning Pages...

It's been a busy week around here, with Grace finishing up her middle school days, and looking ahead toward high school.

Hard to believe.

Doors close. Others open. Time passes. It's the way of life, but sometimes difficult to wrap your head around. Especially for parents...

And pardon the gushing to follow, but she has made us very proud.

Last night she had her last practice for the Xcel Gold gymnastics team at Roth's Crosspoint Gymnastics. She loves gymnastics and would like to continue to do it, but the team practices are a 100% overlap with marching band practices in the late summer and fall, and it is more important that she be a part of this school-based activity with all of her school friends. So after the practice last night, there were many tears, lots of hugs, and a generally bittersweet time. It's nice to know that so many of the team members like her.

CPG team banquet, early June

Leaving something behind that you still care about is difficult. To say the least. But the friends she has made will continue to be her friends. While many of them don't go to the same school as her, they live in the area, and she will be able to keep in touch. Some will inevitably fade away. A few won't. That's life. There is already a sleepover on the calendar for next week...

Grace and her buddies

She has grown a lot through her short competitive gymnastics career, and made a lot of good friends. She is part of a gymnastics team, but ultimately, when it is time to perform, it is just her and the judges, and facing that challenge for two years, and ending up on the podium often, has been terrific for her self confidence. And there have been those handful of times when she was number 1, at the top of the podium, when mommy and daddy pride really got to shine.

And I can't say enough about Coach Bill and Christina at the gym. Bill was an olympic caliber gymnast for over a decade, a member of the US national team for many years, the first US men's gymnast to score a perfect 10 in international competition, and he has a skill named for him in the "book of rules". Beyond all that, he is a caring and compassionate coach. CPG is what you would want a gymnastics program to be - a community.

Grace and Coach Bill Roth

Today she had the final 8th grade awards assembly, and the official end of middle school. She's had a good run, and has done herself proud. Today she got the team Social Studies award (4 people selected out of ~90 kids), to go along with a team English award in 6th grade and a team Science award in 7th grade. I'm proud that she has done so well in different subjects over her three middle school years.

Social studies subject award

She also got a distinguished honor roll award (straight A's in all 4 quarters of the year), making 11 out of 12 quarters of distinguished honor roll in middle school. She's still bitter about that one B+ in math for one quarter last year... Which doesn't bother me at all, but I kinda like the fact that it bothers her.

Distinguished Honor Roll all 4 quarters of this year

A note on parental expectations. We like that Grace does well. She is bright, and we expect her to do well. At this level, if she doesn't do well, it only means one thing - she didn't put in the basic amount of work necessary to do what she should have been able to do. Things may well change as the years go by and things continue to get more and more difficult. And that's OK. As long as she is putting in the effort, and doing the best she can, then I am OK with that.

Lastly, I have greatly conflicted feelings as I watch my little girl grow up. Maybe we should have put her in the pickle jar when we had the chance, but that opportunity is gone. So I guess we just have to watch her grow up and enjoy it for what it is.

8th grade send off dance (Grace at right)

But as for today... It's been a good 36 hours. A very good 36 hours.

Mariano Rivera Foundation, 2nd Annual

Last spring, Julia's special needs baseball team had the opportunity to have Mariano Rivera pitch an inning to them during one of their games.

This happened as part of the day's events that were the first annual Mariano Rivera Foundation 5k run   as a Brandywine Youth Club event.

BYC Phillies with Mariano Rivera

We were lucky enough to get a repeat of this as part of the second annual event. It was a rainy day, but rather than cancel the game part of the event, they moved it to a school gym in Wilmington. The baseball game turned into a wiffle ball game.

Julia and Mariano

None of that mattered, as the kids had a lot of fun. Julia, leading off for the BYC Phillies, lined a nice single into the outfield, and can claim to have a perfect 1.000 batting average against the best relief pitcher in baseball history. Go Julia!

It's a shame that Rivera pitched for the hated Yankees, but he's a really nice guy nonetheless. If there's a third annual next year, I'm sure we'll be involved.

Fallingwater

After leaving Grace's Xcel states gymnastics tournament, we had plenty of time left in the day, and were able to do something that we (especially Amp) had been wanting to do for a long time - see Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. The Wikipedia entry for Fallingwater is here, and is worth a quick read. I won't recap it in any great detail other than to say that it was designed and built in the 1930's as a vacation retreat for a wealthy department store owner and his family.

Fallingwater is best known for its use of cantilevered concrete terraces built around a central fieldstone core. This was an ambitious and new construction technique, and was not entirely successful. Immediately upon the removal of the construction supports, the cantilevered terraces "showed significant deflection" (they sagged pretty badly). It got worse over time. A major renovation in 2002 fixed this.

Fallingwater from the main entry bridge

The main things that struck as we went through the guided tour were (1) this place is super cool, and (2) this place is TINY.

Girls at Fallingwater

The house looks large from the outside, but almost all of this square footage is contained in the public and private terraces that are attached to every different space (common areas and bedrooms). The common area on the main room that is the dining room, living room, sitting room and library is one open space that would still be considered small by modern standards.

Three levels of Fallingwater

Compared to the common areas, the bedrooms were tiny and would be dwarfed by many college dorm rooms today. The design was really interesting, the way things flowed was fascinating, and the overall vibe was amazing. But everything was small. And this was a rich family's retreat house. The whole thing highlighted how different things were in that time than they are now (with regards to size/space).

Iconic view from downstream

This house is on many "places you need to visit before you die" lists, and I would agree. I like visiting special places such as this, and it was a treat.

Photobombing the iconic view

It also isn't a huge commitment to visit, if you happen to be near Pittsburgh. The cost of the guided tour is not excessive, and goes to the conservancy that maintains the landmark. The tour is less than an hour in length, and there isn't a whole lot else to do here, there than wander some paths through the wooded property (which in and of itself isn't any different than any other stroll through some paths through the woods anywhere...). A single morning or afternoon is all you need to do this.

So you are really just here for the one hour tour (which is the only way into the house).

You should do it if you can, and you like design or architecture or history.

Pennsylvania States - Xcel Gold - 2018

We knew that Grace had qualified for States, and would be going no matter what, but we didn't know exactly what date and time her Xcel Gold group would have their reporting time. It turns out the answer to that question was 7:45 on Friday morning. So that meant a day off from school on Friday, and a departure after school on Thursday afternoon.

The trip out the turnpike was uneventful (other than the fact that Grace doesn't like tunnels, of which there are 3 or 4). We had picked both girls up around 1:30 and were on the road by 2:00. This got us to the hotel in the northeastern suburbs of Pittsburgh by about 6:30.

Running into a teammate of Grace's, and one of her good friends, they told us that their family had eaten at a Primanti Brothers chain outlet just a few minutes down the road from the hotel. We went there to do the tourist thing. I know that Primanti Brothers is the famous place in Pittsburgh where you get a sandwich and they put cole slaw and french fries in the sandwich.

A Primanti Brothers chain store...

We pretty much universally agreed that the classic Primanti Borthers sandwich was....meh. Not bad. But not particularly good either. Bland. Nothing special. Meh.

...and an overrated sandwich.

As for the meet itself, Grace did very well. 9th in beam. 13th in the all around. No bad for a state-wide competition.

My baby's name in lights at States!! 9.2 in Floor.

As always, I am happiest knowing that she is part of a team, doing the best she can, and having fun doing it.

My baby at States!!

This will be a great memory for Grace.

Grace and teammates

The meet started around 8:30, and all the awards ceremonies and everything were done by about 1pm.

We left the Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Arena and headed southeast to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater... but that's a story for the next post.

Late spring Ryder Cuteness

Alright. I'm becoming the crazy dog person.

Looking out the front

I blame the kids.

On the trail of prowling squirrels

Seriously.

This is how we sit on sofas to watch TV, right?

Remember, I'm the one that said dog over my dead body.

Chillin'

But I'm still here, and the better for it.

Hall of Fame Night, 2018

Maybe Justin Hayward and the rest of the Moodies, and Dire Straits (or at least Mark Knopfler, who probably won't show up), or others don't think much of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (class of 2018), but I do.

The Moody Blues are my favorite band from that era. My adolescent years. Great memories. Good times. A lifetime ahead and a world of possibilities...

Dire Straits might be second.

Good Stuff. And a connection to which will always keep me young. Young at heart anyway...

Moodies... The Story in Your Eyes, also at Red Rocks, 1992. Puffy pirate shirt and all... And more recently, at the Mann Music Center in 2107, at a show that Leo and I attended. If you listen carefully, you can hear me singing along in the background... Or Gypsy, when I was about 4 years old....

Dire Straits, Tunnel of Love, the Alchemy era...

Congrats and welcome to the Hall of Fame.

Don't Speak

Musically, I'm an old fart. Let's get that out of the way. Most good music (but not all, grudgingly...) was created before 1990. Or before 1975...

But on the evening of the day that the Moody Blues, Dire Straits, Bon Jovi, the Cars, Nina Simone and others get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there are reminders that some great music was created after 1990. Barely. :-)

Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, Don't Speak, 1996 at Red Rocks outside of Denver, Colorado...

There is something visceral that speaks to basic fundamental human emotion here.

Which is what transcendent music is all about...  (And as always, live music is the best music)

Sketching Fun - April

Nothing much to say here by way of explanation...

As noted previously, I like sketching random towns and settlements for our Dungeons and Dragons games (even stuff that I will likely never need or use). This also gives me the chance to try out different markers, pens, pencils and artists paper, and to try different styles and looks. The below town of perhaps 500 souls is in the style I find myself using currently.

A New Town

The other bit of doodling I like to do, on a grander scale, is world maps. Again, for D&D games that we will never play, and worlds I will never use. Often these are nothing more than evening spare-time killers. The map below is the first sketch of a new world on a 24 inch by 18 inch sketch pad, at 96 miles per inch. So this is a decent chunk of a continent, with islands in the middle and hints of other continents to the west and south.

A New World

I do have the intention of one day coming up with a D&D home-brew fantasy world that has a better overarching design thought process behind it (as opposed to the build as you go world we are playing in now). I like parts of the world we are playing in, and am frustrated by other parts of it.

Oh well.

Sketching and doodling and daydreaming is fun. Not the most productive thing in the world perhaps, but a fun way to spend some time after the kids have settled down and the house is quiet...

Map Work - Underdark

As noted previously, I enjoy sketching out town and location maps as a means of mindless winding down at the end of a long work day.

A recent project has been to begin drawing an Underdark city, the city of Nurgilokk. Nurgilokk exists in the upper layer of the Underdark, and has connections to a number of other locations, notably the human above-ground city of Crygar.

Underdark city (Nurgilokk) in Progress...

I envision this city as a meeting place of many races and cultures. A tense but civil trading location where disparate peoples come together to do business regardless of what their more widespread racial conflicts might be.

I envision connections to the surface at Crygar to the northwest. Connections to a small drow (dark) elf city to the southwest. A river connection to a large underground lake to the south, where kua-toa boatmen would guide small rafts and boats back and forth. Kobold farmers in caves to the east and southeast. And the "main road" connection to the deeper Underdark to the north/northeast.

Whether or not the characters in our campaign, or any characters in any future campaigns, ever visit this place is irrelevant. I will sketch it out and have fun doing so. Maybe I'll finish it. Maybe not. Perhaps it will get used at some point in the future in a way different from what I originally intended. That's fine too.

If I ever finish the map, I'll post it here as well...

West Chester University 2018

The third and final meet of Grace's 2018 spring season was held at West Chester University on 3/18.

She placed 1st in the vault, her favorite event, but this was still a very pleasant surprise. She definitely had a set back in vault (and everything) after spending 5 weeks in a boot during December and January (stress fracture of the 4th metatarsal). Plus two weeks hurt leading up to the boot and a month or so of getting back into shape. All the strength training in the world doesn't make up for not being able to be practicing your skills and routines on the equipment.

First place, vault

More important, for me anyway, is the sense of team, and the fact that Grace is a part of something bigger than just herself.

Excel Gold team, 1st place, 2018

It's always nice to bring home a big trophy. Lots of medals for Roth's Crosspoint Gymnastics.

All that's left for the 2018 spring season is States, in Pittsburgh in early May. Grace has qualified and we will be going!

Gratuitous Dog Cuteness - March

It's been a while, so it's time to subject the great beyond to doggie cuteness.

Ryder thinks he's human...

Grace likes to take pictures of Ryder, and she takes some very good ones.

...but he sure is cute!

It's odd. We will have had Ryder for one year on March 19, which hardly seems possible. In a way it seems hard to remember a time when we didn't have a dog...

Evita, GVHS 2018

GVHS's spring musical was Evita. It was strange, as this is the first one in 4 years that Julia has not been involved in. Amp is still doing the costumes, and if anything is becoming more involved and not less. This is the risk of being a great volunteer I guess...

I am familiar with the show, as we have a couple of different CD versions of it, as well as there having been the Madonna/Antonio Banderas movie version. I would not hesitate to say that it is not one of my favorites. And it was also an interesting choice for the school production, as it is basically a one-role star turn, with a couple of other major (minor?) roles.

Curtain Call

As always, the production was fabulous, and I liked it more than I expected to. We had some very talented seniors in most of the lead roles, and they all did a wonderful job.

As far as the costuming goes, it isn't the best show in terms of opportunity to do great things, but everybody looked exactly as they should, so it was a great success in that regard.

The set was especially well done, with a semi-permanent two level stage with lots of movement and lighting variants.

Show after show, I continue to be amazed by the quality of the productions that the program is able to produce.

Postscript: It was Amp's intention to stop doing costumes when Julia was done with the shows; the two of them riding off into the sunset together... That hasn't happened. She did Evita just now, and has been talked into taking the job of Head of Costumes (as an actual sub-contracted school district employee - including the extensive required background checks, criminal history, FBI fingerprinting etc). She has accepted, and signed on for two years. At least. So instead of a volunteer riding off into the sunset, she's now a sub-contractor helping to run things. Funny the turns life takes.

Grace has expressed some interest in the Drama Club, and for her freshman year has picked an Acting elective taught by the English teacher that runs the Drama Club. Personally, I think she's the Drama Club producer/director who also teaches English rather than vice-versa. Anyway, now Grace might be doing the shows in her first year in high school. And Amp's committed for the near term. So now we're doing High School Musical in the fall and Annie in the spring... Plus the upper class late spring production that hasn't been named yet. Annie is a good classic show, and High School Musical should be a blast. I'm looking forward to it.

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

I get caught down the rathole of YouTube live music every so often (OK, a lot), but the one thing that always makes my jaw drop is this one. Perhaps the greatest piece of live guitar work I have ever come across.

I've probably posted this before, but so be it.

Eric Johnson, Cliffs of Dover.

I was lucky enough to see Eric in Phoenixville with Brother Dave a bunch of years back. He played this, which made me happy. And didn't play SRV, which made me sad.

Oh well. Life is a compromise.

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...