Take Off! My Life and Times in Toronto
My life and work in Toronto, Canada.
My life and work in Toronto, Canada.
After the wedding reception at Averill Park, we all ended up at the Kraus' home.
We ordered pizza and Jenny cooked corn Bill brought from MA (Bill requested a link to the family farm from whom he bought the produce). I opened the icewine I brought and shared it with Bill and Jenny. Amid enormous political discussion, a blogathon of sorts with Mike (we all had laptops out at one point), I was able to engage Mike, Bill and Mike's oldest Nick in a round of Cosmic Encounters.
We played a two hour game that twisted one way and then another, thanks to the Shift moon and the addition of The Filth to the powers in play. In the end, when it seemed like Mike had it in the bag, Nick and I compromised for a win. It was great getting to play Mike again ... he's still the best at this.
Bill and Paul scheming about Noreascon Four, the 2004 WorldCon.
Saturday was pretty busy. I went to the Latham Circle for breakfast, then out to the Chapel at RPI to see the reception at Packy's brother's wedding ending. I saw Karen Purcell, Bill Caloccia, Anne Brinnitzer, Bob Bownes, Joe Phillips and his wife, and the Joneses.
After starting out towards the reception at Averill Park, I decided to return the shorts I bought at Macy's the night before and went out to Crossgates to do this. After that, I started down the Thruway because I misread the directions to Averill Park. I ended up driving down to where I-90 comes into the Thruway, which was 10 miles south of where I wanted to be ... down the other branch of I-90 into Renssealer County.
I found the reception without incident after that.
Crystal Cove lake, I believe.
Mike Jones, Paul Kraus and Bob Bownes at water's edge -- as close as Mike will get.
I wanted to title this Author of 18 1/2 Minute Blog Surrenders to Ashcroft but I'm not sure that'll be funny if it were to really happen. Maybe Don't Shoot! I'm Only the Blogger! would work better?
Yeah, sometimes the camera gets away from me and bad things happen.
Joe Phillips (and the back of his wife). Joe directed a play that he cast me in called Will the Real Jesus Christ Please Stand Up?
I'm in the Capital District this weekend ...
Got my EZ Pass tag and GST refund without incident on Friday. Drove out to meet the Kraus' at Uno's Pizzeria in Latham. Not only was the pizza menu at the back of the menu, the "deep dish" pizza was served on a plain plate. Uno's has lost it's mojo I'm sorry to say.
I dashed out to Crossgates where I picked up a pair of shorts, some Provia film, and even had time to stick my nose in the Apple Store and breath pure Steve Jobs air. Then I took a gamble and went back to Latham Circle to see if I could catch Thunderbirds.
I did. I was the only person in the theater at 10pm ... which means the film is clearly a kid's movie as far as the buying public is concerned. It was easily as enjoyable as Spy Kids and I thought that it was a rather nice hommage to the original series. I'll write a review later, but if you liked the original then this will delight you.
Paul and Jenny had already pulled out the sofa bed and thanks to the previous weekend's N4 meetings, had A/C running the windows. Bliss.
Today is Geddy Lee's 51st birthday. Geddy started an obscure Canadian band named Rush in 1968 in Tornoto, Ontario.
I'm heading to Albany this weekend, unless something dramatic changes.
Once again, I'll try to get an EZ Pass and visit my good friends at the Duty Free GST Refund shoppe in Fort Erie, then I'll shoot down the Thruway to Albany. I'm probably going to head straight for Crossgates, where I can finish off my Best Buy gift card on DVDs and catch a show of Thunderbirds. Maybe even dinner at Uno Pizza. Anyone interested?
I don't have firm plans for where to stay the weekend, but I'll check with the usual sources.
I'm also considering going home via the Adirondacks. I have a holiday on Monday, so I can spend all day driving back to Toronto. I'm thinking of visiting Saratoga Springs, Ticonderoga, and the driving to Wabeek to see how it's changed since Camp Ilk ten years ago (or was it eleven?). I'll probably cross at Watertown/Kingston ON.
More details as they arise.
Tonite I wandered through the Toronto Beaches International Jazz Festival, held on Queen Street near Woodbine, one block north of Toronto's beachfront.
I parked on the north edge of Woodbine Park (see next entry), walked down the side street bordering Woodbine on the east side to Lake Shore Blvd. Then I went along the boardwalk to the Kew Gardens, where the Boathouse is located.
Inside the Boathouse a small group was performing rather loudly to a mixed crowd. Every venue during the fete was open and free, so you could sample the music buffet-style.
On the way to Queen St., I passed this interesting looking house.
The main venue for the Beaches Jazz Fete.
Queen St. crowd and ubiquitous street car. Oh, and that "Rollergirl" from the Dire Straits song.
Hey the Great Ones have been here, too. Believe me, this B&Js is perfect for this part of Toronto. The Beaches are very much a tourist-Jimmy Buffet zone.
What pub crawl is complete without a visit to Murphy's Law?
After I made my way back to the cinema, I stepped in to see Spiderman 2. When I left the theater I was surprised with a performance by Vivian Clement performing outside the theater. She was quite good!
I finally went down to "the Beaches", Toronto's beachfront on Lake Ontario, to see what is there.
I parked a block away at the Beaches Alliance Atlantis theater, and walked down a road that bordered a park. Along the way, I noticed a vista I couldn't resist-a:
This is part of a small kid's park, but the frog and the CN tower together made a uniquely Torontian view.
I made my way down to the boardwalk, which was lightly crowded with weekend beach combers. One thing about Toronto, and it's a good thing, is the huge diversity of cultures represented in town. And they were all here ... saris, burkas, all-but-naked, and of course, me wearing long pants and a Tilley™ hat.
One section of the Beaches features dozens of volleyball courts. No sane person would actually get into the water, mind you.
Partway down the boardwalk, looking back at the CN Tower poking up behind a tree. Oh look! A crazy person in the water afterall. Psycho!
I made my way to a rocky out cropping to take this stark image looking south onto Lake Ontario. St. Catherines is "that-a-way" if you can swim 35 miles in cold water.
Near the boathouse (where a Jazz venue was playing) is this utility building out on the sand. It looks very "New England"-ish to me.
I've been thinking about writing a bunch of small HowTo's about living in Toronto. This is the first one.
Some temperature comparisons from a local newspaper:
50° FAHRENHEIT (10° C)
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
Canadians plant gardens.
35° FAHRENHEIT (1.6° C)
Italian cars won't start.
Canadians drive with the windows down.
32° FAHRENHEIT (0° C)
American water freezes.
Canadian water gets thicker.
0° FAHRENHEIT (-17.9° C)
New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
Canadians have the last barbecue of the season.
-60° FAHRENHEIT (-51° C)
Mount St. Helens freezes.
Canadians Girl Guides sell cookies door to door.
-100° FAHRENHEIT (-73° C)
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Ottawa canal opens for skating.
-173° FAHRENHEIT (-114° C)
Ethyl alcohol freezes.
Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg.
-460° FAHRENHEIT (-273° C)
Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"
-500° FAHRENHEIT (-295° C)
Hell freezes over.
Leafs win Stanley Cup.
Some shots I took of Dallas from the air two weekends ago flying back to Toronto. This shot of downtown is looking south, with Woodall Rodgers stretching across the bottom of the frame, and Central Expressway on the left side. You can also see Interstate 30 and part of Fair Park on the left. The West End is not in frame, nor is the Reunion Tower complex. You can make out The Cresent near the middle of the frame at the bottom, and the American Airlines Center is on the bottom right.
This is most of White Rock Lake, with the north end of the lake on the left side and the southern dam on the right. The Arboreteum is in the middle of the picture, above the lake (on the east side).
Had another full weekend driving across New York. I was able to get my GST refund without incident on Saturday, but the DVD I was looking for wasn't available. Sears turned into a bust as well. I was lied to when I purchased new tires there, and so I'm not doing business at Sears ever again. I couldn't score an EZ Pass tag because the offices are not open except during banking hours. How inconvenient is that?
It rained the whole time I was in Whitney Point, so Barbara and I didn't go to Watkins Glen. We ate at the Japanese hibachi restaurant in Vestal, and then took in the excreable Anchorman film. We should have gone to see the John Irving movie, but I was not in the mood to be depressed (I've read A Widow for One Year). I did finish some more of the work at the house, but it was a drop in the bucket of what's left to do.
When I got back to Buffalo, I was able to do some quick shopping, grab dinner at Chili's, and then attend the MoveOn party (see next article).
At least the driving went smoothly. On the way down and back, the major highways had no major accidents. Crossing was a nit in both directions, too. I got in around 11:45 and had to do laundry so I was up pretty late (alas).
On my way back to Toronto on Sunday, I stopped in Buffalo to attend a MoveOn sponsored event where we viewed the documentary Outfoxed, a scathing expose of Fox News. The host of the party, Jayne Harnisch, is a local activist and is delightfully gung-ho about re-defeating Bush this fall.
After we watched the documentary, we logged onto MoveOn's website and participated in an interactive bull session vis a vis the film.
Jayne is sitting at the keyboard and looking directly (with eyes closed) at the camera. I didn't get the names of the other guests ... but you can assume they won't be contributing to the GOP this fall.
I traded in the Golf this week for a much cooler car ... the Lotus Seven that Patrick McGoohan drove in The Prisoner.
Just Kidding, Anne!
A fellow at ATI owns this replica of the Lotus. It's a custom build car, and only weighs around 800 Kg so it's very, very sporty. It's got a 1.6l Toyota four-banger under the hood, but it's insanely peppy. And uncomfortable. I had to struggle to get into this critter. Here's the car and owner from a road-kill's perspective:
Got this in an email from my Texas house rep:
In response to feedback from Texas drivers, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will begin the installation of free wireless Internet access at all state rest stops and travel information centers by August 2004 to encourage drivers to take more frequent breaks. The Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) made this project a priority in 1999 by authorizing federal enhancement funds to restore the State’s aging rest areas and to fulfill TxDOT’s mission “to provide safe, effective and efficient movement of people and goods.”Once the program is fully implemented, anyone with wireless laptops or similar devices will be able to send e-mail or browse the Internet free of charge. Travelers without wireless equipment will be able to connect to the Internet at kiosks for a reasonable fee collected on site by the vendor.
This project is slated to supply all 84 state rest areas with wireless Internet service within five to seven years. More than 50 million people currently visit Texas’ highway safety rest areas annually
Texas will become the first state to host free rest area wireless hotspots as well as fee-based Internet access, at no cost to the State. TxDOT will review bids from a number of businesses this month and award a contract by the end of July to the most qualified single vendor. A vendor must provide service and equipment without cost to TxDOT and achieve its profit by kiosk fees paid by travelers without personal computers, who can utilize the Internet in 15- minute increments by swiping their credit cards.
The program is designed to improve highway safety by offering an incentive for tired drivers to take a break, thus reducing fatigue-related crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 1,500 people die in fatigue-related crashes each year in the United States and 77,000 are injured.
This is the first piece of e-mail this man (Ken Paxton Tx. House Rep.-R (duh)) has sent me that didn't piss me off.
Looks like I'm going to be all over western and central NY this weekend.
I'm going to head down to Buffalo in the morning (on Saturday) to do a round of chores:
Then I'm off to Watkins Glen to spend the rest of the day there with Barbara. I'll stay over night at her place in Whitney Point, and on Sunday do some repair work I couldn't finish the last time I came by (and forgot my drill!).
Sunday I'm stopping outside Buffalo to see Outfoxed at a friendly MoveOn supporter's home at 7pm. After that, it's back to Toronto.
Alanna took a photography art class this summer ... amazing to think that the MISD is capable of teaching art. I set her up with a Minolta SR-T 201 and an XD-5, as well as a 50mm and 35-70mm Rokkor-X zoom lens.
Despite her protests to the contrary, she did learn about photography using a classic manual focus, film-based camera. In fact, I'm quite taken with her artistic vision.
I love seeing what kids do with cameras. They don't have a mission, they don't have prejudices about what's right or wrong to photograph. They just want to explore.
And as much as she hates it when I say so ... I'm so very pleased that she's learned to use a classic camera. She'll likely be one of the few people in her generation to ever take photos using a film camera, and perhaps she can see the miracle that photography is thanks to this experience.
This cartoon was brought to my attention by Zed in his blog MemeMachineGo!.
Disclaimer: I have made my living thanks to broadcast TV since the 21st Century started. Woe is me. My life is a misery. And I'm at the start of a very big downer ...
When I was a kid living in California (yes, there was a time ...) there were four kid's shows that I watched religiously.
Kimba the White Lion
Speed Racer
Johnny Quest
Thunderbirds
All are on DVD and I've bought most of them (I snagged all of Speed Racer two A-Kons ago). Many moons ago, Hollywood toyed with the idea of a live action Speed Racer, but the deal fell through. Fast forward to today and Thunderbirds are GO! To my utter astonishment, Hollywood made a live action film based on the supermarionation series.
I can't be more thrilled! Back in the 1960's watching the model Thunderbirds flying around on strings was fun and it excited my imagination, but this new film has all the advantages of thirty years of special effects improvements, and it looks awesome. Seeing the Thunderbirds flying around real scenes, looking as real as a Boeing 747, brought tears (yes, real tears) to my eyes. It's like finding out the Enterprise is real.
Jumping Jesus. This film is directed by ST:TNG's own "Number One" Jonathan Frakes, and features Anthony "Revenge of the Nerds" Edwards as "Brains". It's got geek creed in its veins!
Sure, sure, it's a kid's film. And I wish I could take Leo to it ... alas I won't be back in Dallas (most likely) for a month or more after it opens. But I know he'll enjoy it as much as I did as a kid. It looks very faithful to the original series, it's absurd premise, and the cheeky nobility of billionaire superheros.
Where are the billionaire superheroes today?
Joe Bob sez "Thunderbirds are GO!"
Ok, I know this is lame, but I can't contain myself.
Ken Jennings, a Mormon software engineer from (where else?) Salt Lake City UT, just won his 31st game of Jeopardy with a total winnings of $1,022,000 and change. He correctly answer the question about who penned the Confederate Constitution (who knew they had one?), but he only added $300 to his $17,200 daily total.
He was the headline on USA Today.
No, I'm not talking about Anne's mom!
The Granada Theater is being reborn as a music venue. Apparently it's been sold, which means that the guys who own Snuffer's have unloaded it, to the fellow who created CD World stores.
"It's going to be a complete music resort," Schoder wrote by e-mail later that day, "where everyone is about making our customers feel like they've come home." Schoder knows about resorts; he spent 12 years working in one before starting CD World. Whereas most downtown clubs coast by on bad attitude and beer tabs, Schoder wants to bring in the lessons of aesthetics and big comfort he learned in resorts and working at the Anatole hotel, where he handled guest services for five years."I feel there is a demographic that has been lost in the concert-going public, because they don't know what to expect when going to a concert," he continues. "You go and don't know what time the show starts; you don't know if there's going to be a seat for you, what the volume level is going to be. The food, if it exists, is hot dogs. There's no quality or care there. Let the music be the pleasant surprise, not the venue and the service and products offered."
Seating will be available for almost all shows (at a higher cost, natch). The venue will have three levels of sound, which will be indicated in the ad for each show: One Woofer (acoustic, coffee-shop level), Two Woofer (most rock bands) and Three Woofer ("Huge. Period."). Schoder has hired chef Billy Galyean, who worked at the Anatole and Beau Nash at Crescent Court, to create a menu of mostly easy, to-go food like pizza and tacos.
Saw this cool article on the IT infrastructure at Toronto's Pearson International Airport (PIA).
Stepping into the new Terminal 1 at Toronto's Pearson International Airport can be disorienting. Much of what travelers have come to expect from a busy airport is absent: There are no endless check-in lines; no throngs of stressed-out passengers out-maneuvering one another; no surly ticketing agents scolding those out of line. Even the security guards don't appear particularly overwhelmed. In fact, Terminal 1 looks so empty and new that you might think it was not yet open for business.The reality, however, is that Toronto's Terminal 1 is operational; it's just so massive that it's hard to tell. Terminal 1 handles passengers from up to 800 daily flights from 57 airlines—that's ten million passengers a year who all but vanish down its long, modern corridors. And they are long, too—leading to some of the longest hikes you'll ever take from gate to curb.
The terminal's floor plan covers 4.2 million square feet, its superstructure contains enough steel to build three and a half Eiffel Towers, and it has Canada's largest indoor parking garage (12,600 spaces). Renovation of the entire airport—three terminals in all—is scheduled for completion in 2008, and, by the time it's finished, the project will have taken more than 10 years, will encompass 4,464 acres, and will have cost $4.4 billion Canadian ($3.2 billion U.S.).
But it is not just the vastness of the airport, or of Terminal 1, that contributes to the uncrowded halls. Toronto Pearson International is also one of the first "common-use" airport facilities in North America, which means that it features a shared networking system that speeds up turnover of aircraft at the gates, thus increasing the flow of foot traffic inside the new terminal, while also opening up new opportunities for Toronto's airport authority. It's an approach that's having ripple effects throughout the beleaguered airline industry, and it's analogous to the shared-services organizations that IT consultants often recommend for their clients at large, multidivisional companies.
Terminal 1 is for Air Canada, which is in bankruptcy court and is having a terrible time sorting out its labor and finance situation. I hope they work something out, but alas, I will probably never fly Air Canada (they don't go to Dallas) so I don't see Terminal 1 except for late on Sunday nights when the GTAA long term parking bus drives me past its empty halls ...
I picked up the slides I shot at Niagara Falls, Ithaca, the Catskills and Rensselaer Polytechnic yesterday, and scanned most of them last night. Here are some highlights.
At Enfield Glen, I experimented with some different exposures using a tripod. The goal here is the long exposure that softens the water and widens the depth of field.
This is a better shot of the Whirlpool Jet boat, showing a compliment of passengers and the jet wash the boat kicks up in the Whirlpool. Compare this image with the one I took on the Coolpix 5400 on June 26th.
Alanna is really, really good at Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), the dancing arcade game that has become a quasi-workout fad. She really enjoys using a "pro" metal dance pad (like the one at The Main Event in Plano, shown here):
Barbara and Anne can be seen in the background. Anne wants to get into this game (it's reminiscent of the aerobic step workouts she used to teach at the McKinney YMCA). I just know I'm too uncoordinated to even try ...
As soon as I arrived in McKinney, I had Melanie drop me off at Reid's Academy, where Alanna is working on her Black Belt.
She was having a rough day made worse by the appearance of both parents and her grandmother. But she soldiered through (I'm surprised how rough they are with the kids) and survived another session.
I got to see Leo's new glasses, too.
He looks kinda like a cross between Harry Potter and Tina Fey from SNL now ...
I'm flying home today (AA Flt. 1203) and will be in town until the evening of the 11th. Call my cell to reach me ...
CNN is reporting that James Doohan (Star Trek's Mr. Scott) has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Doohan, 84, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's "within the last couple months," agent Steven Stevens told The Associated Press.He said Doohan is in the beginning stages of the disease, a progressive neurological disorder that afflicted former President Ronald Reagan, who died June 5.
Doohan's career spans more than 50 years, but he's best known for his role as the USS Enterprise's affable chief engineer, Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, in the original 1966-69 "Star Trek" TV series.
He's also appeared in several "Star Trek" movies.
Doohan has lived in Redmond for almost a dozen years with his wife, Wende. They have a 4-year-old daughter and two older sons, and Doohan has four children from a previous marriage, Stevens said.
Doohan is scheduled to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame August 31.
He plans to attend a three-day "Star Trek" farewell convention, August 28-30, in Hollywood, Stevens said. All surviving members of the original Enterprise crew are scheduled to attend, including William Shatner, who played Capt. James T. Kirk, and Leonard Nimoy, who was Mr. Spock.
No wonder his last Trek appearance is this coming August. We wish him well.
 | When I took off from the Kraus Haus Party, I didn't realize I would be sitting in the car for five hours and twenty minutes, uninterrupted. But I did. The drive was utterly uneventful (fortunately) except for driving through three bands of storms, some pretty intense. I saw lots of fireworks along the drive and (surprisingly) most were in the rain. The border crossing was relatively short and painless (at Lewiston). I reached Markham around 12:20am, nearly asleep. The picture is the final totals for the four day weekend (1161 mi.) and for the drive home from Schenectady. |
Here is the whole holiday weekend path I took:
Also of interest to many of you is where I went in the Catskills. I drove through Delhi, NY (#25 on map), because I've been reading My Side of the Mountain to Leo and I wanted to get a few pictures of the town the book is set in. I went up Rt. 357 to Rt. 28, which took me across the Catskills, passing through Delhi, Fleischmanns and Pine Hill. Dershstock (#26 on map) is pretty close to the center of the Catskills, just south of Phoenicia, NY (#27 on map).
Now that I look at the map, I can see that I've taken all but one major east-west route through the Catskills. In 2002 we visited Windham, NY which took us across Rt. 23 (and going to the Sundae Shop one night meant driving the western leg of Rt. 23). This weekend I drove all the way across Rt. 28, almost from Oneonta, NY to Kingston, NY. Several times I've driven Rt. 17 from Whitney Point, NY to the NYC area. So, that leaves only Rt. 30 the last uncharted east-west artery. I'm in no hurry!
Sunday afternoon was spent at the Kraus Haus in Schenectady, NY. The Kraus' held an Ilk-ish BBQ with a huge bouquet of food stuffs for all tastes. I missed out on the kielbasa, but the hamburgers were really, really good! I put on my roller-skates for a while, just to add some flair to the whole she-bang, but some of the Kraus guests must have thought I was nuts. The Jones' were there with their two sons, and I got to see Anne Brinnizer and Lauri Lynn. It was a great time.
Mike "18½ Minute Gap" Jones and Dennis Parslow.
Terri Jones, Steve "Skates" Staton, and Mike "Jones Bear" Jones.
Lauri Lynn and Anne Brinnitzer.
Commodore Ray Bob Staton, leading the Weatherby Lake 4th of July boat parade, as recorded by the Staton Associated Press.
I'm so proud that he finally joined the Armed Services, even if he had to start at the very top due to extreme old age ;-).
George Rickey may have named it Six Random Lines Excentric but we will always call it The Chrinitoid. I made a special trip to see the, well, what else can we call it but "the Chrinitoid replacement". I'll always want it to be Two Rectangles Vertical Gyrotory Up but this is a "Rickey" and it's in the right place on campus.
You'd think RPI could keep this plate at least the same rust color.
Ok, I found Major Thomas' gravesite in Troy's enormous Oakwood Cemetery. This time, instead of driving all over looking at individual gravestones, I went looking for the fence around the site. This proved to be a far better strategy.
Just a quick note ...
Still alive, and out of the Catskills, which are goregeous but sorely lacking in cell phone and internet connectivity (I knew that going in, but the true horror of it doesn't sink in until you're there). Add to that staying at a place that shuns TV, and you start missing out on the news as well. For all I know, Marlon Brando could have died ...
I'm at the Kraus' today until I leave for Toronto, and my cell phone works so if you've been dying to call me, then today would be a good day, up until around 10pm when I expect to be crossing back into Canada.
I'll be banging around Troy (I want to try and find the gravesite that Charles Schmalzried asked me to photograph) and Albany, taking photos most likely, before the actual Kraus Haus BBQ.
Note: Click here for a great definition of noosphere.
Every year a group of MIT alumni get together in the Catskills and hang out over the 4th of July weekend. This event is billed Dershstock in honor of the host, Adam Dershowitz and his wife Hanna.
My friend Charles Forsythe invited me to this year's Dershstock. He's attended every one since they started in 1994, and was looking forward to my being there (well, he seemed pretty excited about it). He arrived via Albany, NY (apparently he and his girlfriend were the only folks arriving from Albany), and met up with Adam in Kingston for the caravan to Sam's Club for the weekend. I didn't understand why until I arrived myself -- you don't make several trips to the grocery store from this remote location.
The compound (what else can I call it?) consists of a comfortable resort-like cabin and a larger main house.
The home has a distinctly bauhaus design. The interior is very tastefully appointed with spectacular views from all the windows.
Behind the main house is a large area enclosed with a rock hemisphere which is remarkable to see in person. I was told it was once a quarry. In front of the rock cliff is a swimming pool.
Behind the main house is a deck and a pond surrounded by forest and a nearby hill.
I took this photo of the rock amphitheater and pool the first night I arrived.
Accomodations are not plentiful during Dershstock so guests are encouraged to camp, sleep on sofas, or the guest cabin. Charles and his girlfriend were staying in the cabin Friday night (which is before Dershstock actually starts). I shared the cabin bedroom (sleeping in the single bed while Charles and Janet slept on the double bed) with them. Saturday morning I had to activate many of the modern features of the cabin (e.g. turn on the water heater, remove the bugs from the bathroom, turn on the heaters) and yet I still had to take the coldest shower I've had in a long, long time. It's surprising how cold the Catskills are in July.
Of course, the real star of the location is the Catskills Mountains themselves. This is the view looking north up the Woodland Valley towards Phoenicia, NY and Hunter Mountain.
This is the view looking west from the back of the main house.
By mid-afternoon on Saturday, I was starting to feel really under the weather with some painful stomach cramps. It turns out I was having some kind of intestinal problem (I don't need to go into details) and I thought I was coming down with a stomach virus. Since I was going to stay with the Kraus' that night in Schenectady, I thought I had best be on my way before I gave anyone at Dershstock some bit of nastiness (I wasn't sure if I was going to be bringing something to the Krauses, but until some more time passed -- and other things -- I wouldn't know for certain). I said my good byes, thanked my hosts for their hospitality, and headed down the private dirt road to Phoenicia.
 | When I got to the end of the private road, a car pulled up intent on proceeding up to the cabin. I stepped out of my car to tell the driver of the other car to restring the rope gate across the entrance, when he said, "Steve Staton?" I peered into the car and leaped back when I realized I was staring at Roger Hagen, a friend of Charles' whom I worked with at Micrografx back in 1991. I explained to him why I was leaving, and took his photo before moving on. |
| Adam's uncle is noted Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz. His latest book, America On Trial, is dedicated to Adam's daughter Zara Columbia (seen here with a Dershstock friend). I've seen a lot of babies (being a parent and all) and I have to say this child is genuinely beautiful. She has a captivating smile and is a real cutie. |  |
I had a hard time "just showing up" for Dershstock. I was uncomfortable with Charles inviting me without first asking Adam; I thought Charles was overstepping his welcome even though he's been to all ten Dershstocks and has a "charter membership". I'm glad I spoke with Adam on the phone when I was at the Fort Erie Duty Free (picking up some gin and icewine for the party), it gave me some feedback from someone other than Charles that I'd be welcome. Adam was obviously not at all put out by the invite, and the entire time I was there he and his wife were a friendly face in the crowd.
After I arrived, I tried (hard) to mingle, chat and befriend other people there. I don't think I had a lot of success, however. Some people were stand-offish (I think) because they had issues with Charles and since I was his guest, the animosity extended to me. Others just had their own cliques to hang with and I wasn't in any of them. In the end, I didn't know anyone there and that always makes me uncomfortable.
To some extent, Charles exacerbated things by being very nocturnal. I didn't see him for the bulk of the time I was there, and when he was around, I felt self conscious about following him around like a puppy dog. He obviously went out of his way (when awake) to keep me feeling welcome and engaged, but he really wanted to spend time with his old friends and his girlfriend, too. The one thing we did do together was a huge social faux pas: playing a computer game. Some of the folks there were really annoyed by our doing this. On the other hand, I was going bats being away from the Internet!
I'd love to come to another Dershstock to spend some time at the beautiful home and surroundings, but I'd like to do more preparation (like making a reservation at a local inn instead of crashing in the guest cabin or on the floor in the main house) and I'd really like to bring my wife Anne. Even if we don't know many people at Dershstock, the area is so gorgeous and the Dershowitz's home is so interesting we'd make our own entertainment ("if you know what I mean, and I think you do...") I doubt I'll be in the area again for the next gathering in 2005, but who knows.
On my way to Dershstock I diverted my route to pass through Delhi, NY. This is the small Upstate NY town that is featured in the Newberry Award winning children's novel My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. I read that book as a 4th grader, and I've been reading it to Leo (in fits and bits) as well. Now I've seen the town and have some sense of why the author chose it for her story.
On the outskirts of town.
This is the main street, which happens to also be NY Route 28, the road that crosses the Catskills Park.
After visiting downtown Ithaca, NY, Barbara and I drove out to Robert H. Treman State Park to see the Enfield Glen and Lucifer Falls.
This is the Enfield Glen, a natural channel with strikingly orthogonal features.
Further down the Glen, towards the narrow channel.
A smaller staircase waterfall between the Glen and the Lucifer Falls.
The top of Lucifer Falls. Barbara is standing at the top of the long staircase winding down the side of the Falls.
Looking down the one and one-half mile long gorge running from Lucifer Falls.
Part of the top of Lucifer Falls.
Looking back up the staircase leading down Lucifer Falls. Again, that's Barbara in frame.
Barbara and I drove out to Ithaca, NY today. She wanted to revisit one of her childhood haunts and I wanted to see the Sagan Planet Walk again.
We parked at the city garage behind the Ithaca Commons and walked through a used book store to reach the main concourse.
We stopped for lunch at this eclectic deli (it was decorated in faux tree branches and greenery).
Hey, it's a college town. So people do weird stuff to their bodies nowadays.
The starting point for the Carl Sagan Planet Walk, a series of exhibits representing all the bodies of the solar system, arranged in relative distance from each other as are the real planets. The Sun is unique in the exhibit as it's represented by a hole in the stone tablet.
My favorite planet (outside of Earth) is represented by this tableaux.
Of course no trip to Ithaca is complete without passing by the famous Moosewood Restaurant, a renouned vegan restaurant. It's part of the DeWitt Mall, which has several eclectic shops in it that we stepped through.
The Moosewood Restaurant's bar area, which had a live Jazz artist performing when we walked through.
This is the Luann cartoon for my 42nd birthday:
Is he channeling me?
Ok, I'm FORTY-TWO today.
Deal with it!
Sigh.
"Six by nine ... forty-two? That's the Ultimate Question?" -- Arthur Dent (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).
Today I drove to Barbara's, and just about everything minor or irritating that could go wrong did.
I missed breakfast. Actually, both times I went downstairs, the food was gone thanks to the Canada Day horde. Feral packs of kids roam the hotel this week.
I drove down to the Fast Ferry (the "Breeze") and tried to get on for the 10:45am run to Rochester. After waiting an hour in "standby line" the boat took off without me, and the staff did nothing to let us know we were not going to get on. This on top of finding out (by accident) that the Sunday schedule is changed from 7:30pm dp. for Toronto to a 4:00pm dp., which means my current ticket is useless. The good news is I can stay in Schenectady until 7pm for the BBQ.
The QEW was a disaster in Oakville, so I turned north at 403 and got on the ETR ... going the wrong way. I had to go 4km to get turned around.
The QEW was a disaster in St. Catherine's so I bailed 2km before 406 and made my way across the country roads to the 406, and then down that to Thorold Rd. which took me back to the QEW and around the worst of it. Last night I had to unload all the Ontario penninsula data from my eMap (to make room for NY street data) so I didn't have street resolution data when driving around Ontario.
The duty free shop wouldn't refund my hotel tax because of a clerical mistake, so I was gyped out of $200CDN right there and then. Bastards.
At the Peace Bridge, I was randomly selected to have my car looked through by customs. So much for my Fourth Amendment rights ... accused of nothing I had to relent to a government search of my property. They found nothing because I don't bring anything dangerous, naughty or evil across the border (the SJR is safely tucked away on a server in Texas!). While the inspectors were utterly humorless when going through my car, I overheard them making a joke at my expense as I walked into Customs to get my passport: "Looks like he's getting an early birthday present." Haha. F*** You, as Dick Cheney would say. This bites and there's no way it's good law enforcement, let alone law.
Going north on 190, I turned onto 290 to take the loop around north Buffalo only to find the highway stopped dead. I tuned to AM 1610 to hear that the highway was closed so I executed one of those delicious U-turns that State Troopers do (and we're not supposed to), drove all the way back around Buffalo (past the Peace Bridge again!) and out onto the Thruway.
Many hours later, and much later than if I had been able to board the Breeze, I got to Barbara's around 5:30pm.
Ugh.
Today I will drive out to Barbara's, stopping at the Seneca Falls Women's Rights National Park (or something like that) to see what's up there. I'll be in Whitney Point tonite and most of Friday. Barbara offered to take me out on my 42nd birthday Friday night, and who am I to argue? That night or early Saturday I'll drive out to Dershstock in the Catskills State Park. I think I'll drive through Delhi, NY on the way out because it's the town referenced in the children's book My Side of the Mountain, and I've wanted to see it for (oh, let's say) thirty-odd years.
I'll head up to Schenectady and the Kraus Haus either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, and I hope to see Ilk at the Kraus BBQ that afternoon. If the Breeze is running and on schedule, I'll bolt from GEville at a little after three in the afternoon.
Around 800 miles of driving (more if the Breeze ... blows) and four whirlwind days in NY state.
I altered type faces and font sizes in my templates tonite. Let me know if this looks wrong or unreadable (never mind the bad grammar!) to you.
