A Few Days Up North: Part II of III

We got back on the road around eight in the morning, but made the mistake of taking the GW Bridge through New York (being the unsophisticated Southern travelers that we were). Because of that and the damp windy conditions in southern Massachusetts, we didn't get to Boston until three in the afternoon. Drivers in Boston are even worse than Tallahassee, with enough blatant red-light running and double parking for the whole family.

The New England Conservatory was even smaller in scope than Westminster -- two academic buildings on the edge of southern Boston, and a single dormitory. The quality of musicianship was obviously very high, judging from the sounds of practicing, and it was interesting to see a school that was truly in a downtime environment (VCU doesn't really count). After exploring the buildings and talking to a few admissions officers, we drove around southern Boston and the waterfront area. Things didn't get hairy until we tried to get back to the school and found that all roads funneled into the northbound interstate. After finally turning around in a suburb north of the airport, we attempted to avoid a toll tunnel and ended up driving circles around East Boston for nearly an hour. Of course, the toll tunnel was the only way back into the city proper.

After this arduous affair, we drove south to the town of Stoughton where we spent the night at Nikki's sister's boyfriend's parents' house. Luckily, all of the people in that possessive phrase were in town that night, so it wasn't just an awkward visit with unfamiliar faces. We also consumed the entire packet of Spellerberg fudge in Boston -- the kind that tastes great and melts in your mouth.

To be continued tomorrow...

Tonight, I'm going to a potluck dinner at a Tech friends, armed with nothing but two pies (apple and peach) and my wits.

Booty spends hours at a time staring at the wall near the window. When cars drive through the parking lot at night, their headlights roll across the wall, so now she equates the sound of a car with the lights on the wall. With unlimited patience, she will wait for the next victim and pounce the wall.

I've added some new pictures to the URI! and Cat sections of the Photos page and also put up some new movies:

Google finally traversed the Site Map I put up a couple weeks ago, and yesterday was the first day the entire site was searchable. Here are the keywords that people wanted yesterday:

chord notation delta seventh, conducting tips for drum major, worst first lines, alexander arutunian, barbie trumpet, brian uri, lady of lake hoax england, short midi files, storm warnings poem, tooth growing on foot

On the way home yesterday I made a quick stop at the Reston Best Buy for one last gift. Best Buy is nestled in one of those cozy yuppy strip-malls where the patrons outnumber the parking spaces like girls at a traditionally female liberal arts college trying to recruit guys for extra tuition. Now that the Christmas season is fully upon us, we're once again exposed to the yearly customs of how to behave in a parking lot. Here are a few pointers on proper Christmas shopping etiquette, if you are new to the area:

1. If you can't find a spot, make your own spot: Especially good places for this are the loading area in front of stores, which is really just a bunch of wasted space, or the yellow curb at the back of the lot, directly next to an exit onto a main road. Your time is too important to cruise around the lot looking for spots, and shopping a couple weeks earlier is just unthinkable.


2. Screw around with other drivers on your way out of the store: Walk tall, with keys in hand and a determined look on your face. Stride down a row of cars as if you know exactly where you're going. At the last second, turn into a CIA spy and duck left behind the black Chevy, cutting through several rows of cars to get to your own.


3. Anyone can be an expectant mother or senior citizen: Those spots they reserve near stores for the elderly pregnant are completely up for grabs at Christmas time, because who can tell if you're 1-month pregnant? You can also take the sign's wording literally and claim that you're already a mother, but now you're just waiting for something. Even men can use these spots -- science has made great strides in recent years, so it's very plausible that I could have a fetus inside of me, and I don't even eat (many) babies.


4. Screw around with other drivers on your way out of the store, part II: Pretend you don't know where you parked your car. Wander the lot, often cutting between rows. Find one that looks like yours and try to unlock it, then shrug apologetically and cut over to the next row.


5. If you see someone leaving in a spot on your immediate right, you can claim it: Contrary to popular belief and/or physics, cars can make a perfect 90 degree right angle turn into a parking spot without having to back up or swing wide to the left. Try it.


6. If someone is backing out, you should get right up on their bumper to make sure everyone knows you're taking that spot: If the guy leaving cannot maneuver because you're riding his bumper like a Depression-era hobo, that's his own damn fault for not planning ahead. Selfish asshole.


7. If it's painfully obvious that the lot is full, check anyhow: Especially if you see cars cruising down every row looking for spots, you should come to a complete stop at the entrance of each row and stare down to the end with your superhuman vision. Maybe, just maybe, there's an open spot that the other twenty drivers missed, and it will be your lucky day! Woo.


8. If you put on your turn signal, it means you get the spot: This is the consumer-method of marking your territory, and is much friendlier than getting out and peeing on someone else's car. If someone still takes your spot, you have the right to pee on their car anyhow. And poop. With corn.

Following these tips should make the holiday commute more enjoyable for everyone involved. Happy Shopping!

2006 in Twelves

Top 12 News Update Graphics from 2006 January 10, 2006
January 13, 2006	January 31, 2006
March 16, 2006	April 14, 2006
May 15, 2006	August 1, 2006
June 29, 2006
August 28, 2006	September 6, 2006
September 26, 2006	November 7, 2006

Happy Birthday to Karen Hovell tomorrow!

Weekend Wrap-up

We ultimately received 18 inches of snow, which resulted in 3 separate shovelings, 1 sore back, and a distinct lack of parking on our street. Our mailman throws a hissy fit when a trash can is blocking a mailbox -- his head might explode when he sees where our neighbours shovelled their snow.

We had planned to have some sort of Holiday Open House on Sunday afternoon, but most of the invitees bailed, believing that living in Loudoun County equates directly with unplowed roads, toilet paper shortages, and marauding snow wights.

Kathy and Chris, being more local than others, brought us giant boxes of cookies to go with our wings, cheese sticks, and shrimp. Mallory did not eat any shrimp.

Imaginiff Mike Jackson belonged to a famous family. Which would it be?

Museday Tuesday Wrap-up

This short piece is an extended version of the Museday fragment written on October 19, 2010.

I started with the bass clarinet (as the most mendacious member of the orchestra) and surrounded it with guitars, strings, horns, percussion, and an atarigane patch. Since I've never actually picked up any atariganes, I used them purely as sounds rather than scoring an actual playable line -- so, this piece probably isn't a good performance piece unless you have about six octaves worth of Japanese gongs lying around your home.

The original fragment can be heard here. Merry Christmas!

How would you rate Mendacious?

0 stars: Better music originates from the squeaky wheels of shopping carts. (0 votes, 0.0%)

1 star: This could be the theme song to a show about my butt. (0 votes, 0.0%)

2 stars: How much was your music degree? (0 votes, 0.0%)

3 stars: It'll do. (1 vote, 16.7%)


4 stars: You could be the mayor of the town of good music. (3 votes, 50.0%)


5 stars: A+++.Would listen to this again. (2 votes, 33.3%)

Random Chart Day

I've participated in Chad Darnell's 12 of 12 sixty-four times since 2006. Here are the things I can be seen eating most often.

As a follow-up, here's how long it's been since I last ate each of these items.

• Ham Sandwich: Two days ago for lunch
• Shells and Cheese: Yesterday for lunch
• Bagels: Three days ago for breakfast
• Totino's Pizza: June 2010
• Steak: Last Thursday for dinner
• Popeyes: Last Friday for lunch

Holly Day

Updates will resume on Wednesday the 26th with my annual Pictures of the Year feature!

Weekend Wrap-up

I picked up a bug somewhere between here and Rhode Island, which tragically forced me to lie around doing nothing for most of the weekend. Over the course of the weekend, I did the following:

• Did grocery shopping, laundry, and housecleaning.


• Started and finished the fantasy book, Dust and Light by Carol Berg. Started the next book.


• Watched the complete first season of The Code. Started watching How to Get Away With Murder.


• Made a ham and rice stew out of leftovers.


• Watched Bad Santa with Rebecca until she fell asleep.


• Watched the movies, Jurassic World and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation.


• Had burgers at The Counter and looked at Christmas lights in north Herndon.

How was your weekend?

Memory Day: Snapshots

I will get back to my sequential Memory Day starting next year (next up: 1988). In the meantime, here is our annual family Christmas photo from 22 years ago in 1994. I was a junior in high school and Ellen was in her freshman year at UVA. I liked Osh Kosh B'Gosh collared shirts, British Knights, and acne.

Top Reviews of 2018

Here are my recommendations from this past year -- as my free time diminishes, so does my patience for mediocre content, so I must have really enjoyed these!

Movies

• The Big Sick (A) (Amazon)
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (A-)

Television Shows

• Big Little Lies, Season One (A)
• Bodyguard, Season One (A) (Netflix)
• American Vandal, Season Two (A) (Netflix)
• Fargo, Season Three (A-)
• Better Call Saul, Season Three (A-) (Netflix)
• Humans, Season Two (A-) (Amazon)
• Killing Eve, Season One (B+)
• The Good Place, Season Two (B+) (Netflix)
• The 100, Season Five (B+) (Netflix)
• Safe, Season One (B+) (Netflix)
• 3%, Season Two (B+) (Netflix)

Music

• Sinfonia Pop by Mika (A)

Games

• Forbidden Island (A) (Board Game)
• Dead Cells (B+) (PC)
• Beat Saber (B) (Oculus Rift)

BD Cartoon Day, Part I

a selection of original cartoons from the business development Slack channel I maintain at work

Other posts in this series: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII

2022 Timeline

A smattering of events from 2022

• Enjoyed several snowy days.
• Renovated the basement shower.
• Maia caught COVID at the end of the month.

• COVID raced through our family.

• Joined th HOA.
• The regular invitations to kids' birthday parties resumed in full force.

• Went on a Spring Break trip to a cattle farm in Culpeper, VA. Visited the Ahlbins and the Hickses.
• Went to Steve's new house in Harper's Ferry.

• Resumed weekly family dinners out at local restaurants.
• Maia graduated from preschool.
• Saw various Hickses.

• Emily Gillis and kids visited.
• Lots of out-of-towners converged for Rebecca's 39th birthday.

• Maia went to her first fireworks show.
• Everyone had sore throats.
• Lots of dinner visits with friends.

• Ian got his first COVID shot.
• Rebecca and I had a date night.
• We visited my sister's family in Rhode Island.
• I wrote my four-part COVID essay.
• Maia started kindergarten.

• Another date night, this time at a chocolate-themed restaurant.
• I turned 43.
• Went to Front Royal for a long weekend in the mountains.

• Went to Disney on Ice! and SterlingFest all in the same day.
• Sara and Karl visited.
• Started playing Overwatch again.

• Finally saw Mike Catania again.
• Had various Thanksgiving dinners like old times.

• Did Advent of Code for the 5th straight year.
• Took atrip to Orange, VA to visit the Ahlbins after Christmas.
• Saw the rest of my family (including the Binders) in Alexandria.