I am writing this on Saturday. There are no pictures this week.

The week got off to a shaky start when our FIOS service went down late Sunday. No Internet access. No TV. No telephone (other than cell phone service). On the first phone call to Verizon, Robo-voice suggested several times that I use the Internet to get help with my FIOS problems. The entire call was handled by Robo. At the end,  Robo tested our line and decided our unit was down (duh) and scheduled a service call for sometime Tuesday. So far, so good. I called back Monday afternoon to find out when the service folks would come. I got plenty of advice about using the internet to get help with my FIOS problems. When I finally got to a human, they told me I had to call back Tuesday morning. I called back Tuesday morning. More advice about using the Intenet. After I got to an agent and after she looked at my account, she *again* said I should use the Internet. That was a little too much for me. The Verizon truck arrived about 6:00 PM, along with two union techs. They replaced the unit, and the FIOS was back up. They were nice guys, but  Verizon’s costs have to be out of sight.

UMBC was closed Thursday and Friday for the Independence holiday. It gave both of us a feeling of having 3 Saturdays this week. I’m convinced, it’s something we should do at least 4 times a year. We had a very nice 4th. It was the first day in about two weeks with no rain. We went to downtown Columbia and watched a very cool fireworks show. We were planning to go to an outdoor concert on Friday. But the humidity was high and the rain was threatening. We decided to use a BOGO at Outback instead. Being air conditioned, that was much more comfortable.

Saturday Danita and Bud visited a condo for Bud. Bud was favorably impressed. I picked up Mark and the three of us enjoyed a home cooked dinner. Then Danita and I watched Gene Hackman and Will Smith in the old movie “Enemy of the State”. This was my 3rd time watching the movie. I think it’s highly entertaining. But what’s interesting these days is that Snowden’s recent revelations show that the government actually has almost everything shown in the movie. (The only thing I found surprising about Snowden’s revelations and related hoopla is that the NSA claims not to have the contents of everybody’s phone calls.)

Saturday the three of us went to Bob Evans for breakfast (another BOGO), followed by an early showing of “The Lone Ranger”. I actually assigned Mark the homework of watching an old Lone Ranger TV show, so he would understand why this movie is so incredibly funny. I would place this movie right up against “Cowboys and Aliens”, except that it turned out to be a lot less funny than I thought it would be. I wouldn’t recommend seeing it.

After the movie, we dropped Mark of at Hopkins and went to a retirement party for Bruce Rickter. He and Peggy dropped out of our Marriage Encounter Circle, but invited us all to the retirement party.

Tomorrow we have an ice cream social followed by an outdoor movie. Next week will be final preparations for my second bike tour. You should expect to receive an Email with a URL for my blog on Wednesday or Thursday.

That’s it for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

I am writing this on Sunday.

Joe and Scottie — Married 1 month

The Sochurek wedding reception we went to last Sunday was nice. They had hors d’oeuvres, with a focus on Czech food. But parking was quite a drag. The reception was at Towson University. The closest parking garage and lot were both closed due to construction. I found a spot on the street right away, but Mike and Rose pulled up behind us and were at wit’s end. They had been looking for a spot for the last half hour. So I gave them my spot and took one across the street. It was a heck of a hill from the street to the building. Mike isn’t very mobile these days. After the reception, I pulled the car down to the building to give them a ride up the hill.

Tony & Donna – Married 40 years

There are times when it costs more to turn the AC (air conditioning) off than it costs to run it. This was quite a warm week — cool evenings, high 80s in the afternoons, then T-storms late in the day to cool things off again. Overnight lows were in the low 70s, making sleeping fine. The house was fine in the morning. Danita went to work and I went on a bike ride. But when we got home in the afternoon, we started thinking about how a restaurant has its air conditioning on. It wouldn’t be so warm and sticky. We could eat without turning the oven on, and it would feel so good. We finally ate at home Wednesday. The temperature got up in the 90s and I turned the AC on. But we went out Thursday because we had a great BOGO coupon that would expire soon. The highs went back down to the mid-80’s Saturday, so the AC went back off. It wasn’t as humid and the house was actually comfortable with all the fans on. But we went out to dinner anyway — this time a picnic concert in Catonsville. It was our only activity this weekend. The weather was wonderful, but the band was only so-so. The AC is back on today. It isn’t all that hot out, but it is very muggy. We just finished having quite a shower.

The one-year old stole the show

I visited Top Banana Wednesday. I saw a lot to like. It’s a small organization. Jean, the executive director, is one of two full-time employees. They have two more part-time office employees. A ReServe person does their marketing. They have a few truck drivers that work two days a week, and a raft of part time or volunteer folks who pack food in preparation for delivery, stock shelves, etc. All of this was more or less what I expected. But I was quite surprised with their computer setup. It is absolutely first-rate. It turns out that advantages can be had when the executive director’s two sons are in IT. Their problems are with a database program, but the program is so well secured that I couldn’t get inside it. Jean’s objective was to meet me. Having passed her interview with flying colors, she wants me to come back and meet her son, plus the part-timer who is the informal office IT expert. Jean wanted more of a commitment from me from the first visit, but one thing I know is that the database is not working. I don’t feel comfortable committing until I can look inside and see how much of a mess things are.

That’s it for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Note: There are no pictures this week.

I am writing this post on Sunday, June 23, 2013. My web service is so slow at sending the Emails that I schedule for “immediate” delivery that I felt I should include the year, just to make sure there’s no confusion. This has to be the only Email service that is slower than a newspaper. ;-(

This was a pretty busy week. Lots of bike riding. Lots of cleaning. Lots of parties. Lots of employment news.

I must admit, the bike riding is becoming a little tedious. The bottom line is, I think I’m ready to ride the Blue Ridge now. Of course, another couple of weeks of training won’t hurt, unless I hurt myself training. I didn’t want to be out over the July 4 holiday because there would be more people out over the 4th — more traffic, more competition for rooms, etc. I originally targeted to be done by the 4th. But Don said he wanted to come along, and he had other plans that delayed us until after the 4th. Now that the trip is delayed, he’s talking about how he’s not in shape for this and he might not have time to get into shape. What a mess. Whatever happens is going to happen. I’ll just have to wait a couple of weeks more.

We had so many party opportunities this week that we couldn’t do them all. Jan, one of the people Danita works with, had a party for the office staff at his house yesterday. Jan’s party conflicted with a neighborhood party. But this was the 4th or 5th time Jan had tried to hold this party. He started last summer. Every time he set a date, almost nobody was available to attend. Even yesterday, two of the office staff couldn’t attend. The party was so small we felt obligated. But it was a very nice time. Danita works with some nice people. Today we will be attending a wedding reception for the Sochurek’s children. The wedding already took place. We will be attending the Baltimore reception.

I talked about the floor cleaning last week. Most of everything came out grand, but the bathroom floors near the toilets came out less than perfect. So far, the tile and grout have been steam cleaned twice. They have been cleaned with super-duper cleaning solution. They have been cleaned with vinegar and baking soda. They have been cleaned with bleach. They are certainly cleaner now than they were when I started. And they are still short of perfection. At this point, if you have any tips for cleaning tile grout, please keep your tips to yourself. I decided my two choices were to pull the toilets up and re-grout, or declare the job done and get the grout sealed. I’m declaring the job done.

CASA called me back to take care of a problem. In an Email exchange, they agreed I had already solved this problem once, but they asked me to fix in one more time. I did that Wednesday morning. Since the job expires at the end of June, that pretty much closes the chapter on CASA and leaves me unemployed. Then GOC got interested in getting some help. I thought I might become un-unemployed. After the meeting last Friday and a follow-up Email Monday, there has been no response from them, leaving me un-un-unemployed. But Friday, I got a call from an organization called “Top Bananna”. This organization is in the DC area and delivers groceries to elderly that can’t get out. They have problems with their database. I’m driving down Friday to see if I think I can help. I’ll probably leave their office un-un-un-unemployed. It’s an hour drive,  but I will be able to do most of the work from home. Their executive director told me they receive $3,000 in groceries a week. I figure this limits them to no more than 100 clients. She also said she would probably see me & let me in when I walked up to their front door, so I figure they don’t exactly have an office full of staff. The $15 / hour stipend they pay to ReServe is probably a strain on their budget. This should be an interesting experience, if nothing else.

That’s the news for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Note: There are no pictures this week.

Whew! The craziness started Wednesday. We had carpet cleaners coming in. We’ve never had wall-to-wall carpet before. It turns out that no matter how much you vacuum, and even if you don’t have munchkins running around, after a while the carpet just gets dirty.  While we had them in, we also had them clean the bathroom tile floors professionally. Two young men showed up at the appointed time and did a wonderful job cleaning the carpet. Unfortunately, the tile floor didn’t turn out quite as well as the carpet, which is why a supervisor is visiting tomorrow morning (Monday). They have been very friendly about the tile floors so far. I think things will end up turning out fine. When the cleaners were done, it the weather outside was beautiful. So I got a nice little ride in and as well as getting the carpet cleaned.

The forecast Thursday morning said the morning would  be dry, followed by rain in the afternoon. I took a bike ride in the morning. We had a shower. Then we had a heavy shower. When that turned into a small T-storm, I headed for shelter. An abandoned factory had a large porch with a roof. This was a huge, rambling factory. The original main building was built with lots of cement and steel, so the structure was sound. But the roof had holes, there was broken glass on the floor, and graffiti on the walls everywhere. I felt like I was in a scene of a grade-B mystery story — you know, lightening, thunder, lots of rain, and surroundings that were in general just plain old spooky.

Friday was supposed to be clear in the morning and rainy in the afternoon, with a severe storm in the evening. The only problem with the forecast was, if you actually looked outside, it was already raining. It didn’t make any difference, because I had a meeting with GOC (my old employer). My old boss quit. They had nobody in the IT department. But they have to do some IT work. They called me up and asked if I was interested in contract work. After I said yes, I found out that they had connected a lot of dots. They were offering me a $10/hour position through ReServe. I object to that. I got the opportunity because of my previous job there and my knowledge of what they need. I turned down the ReServe offer, but attended the meeting anyway. We’ll see if they are willing to hire me. But the State of Maryland is not a charity organization, and trying to get me to do the work through ReServe was sneaky, and I’m not doing that. I suspect nothing will come of this. Anyway, when I got home, the weather was beautiful and I had quite a nice little ride in the afternoon. Plus I got to watch a short but intense T-storm in the evening.

Friday evening was a neighborhood “Chill & Grill”. Danita made an excellent desert, which completely disappeared. (A lot of residents don’t eat desert, so it’s unusual for a desert to disappear.)

Saturday we had perfect weather and I took my 65-mile training ride around Liberty Reservoir. I did it in 7:05 — not bad for an old man considering all the hills on this route. It was nice  because I used to have to detour around some road construction. But the construction is just about done and I was able to take the regular route and stop for a snowball on the way home. When got home, Danita offered to make a picnic dinner and we went up to Catonsville for an outdoor concert.

Today (Sunday) was the very last BSO concert. This was a free bonus concert. They had a special edition of the movie “West Side Story” which had the music removed from the sound track. The symphony played the music while we watched the movie. It was kind of like symphony karaoke. I was amazed at how well the symphony stayed in perfect synch with the movie. Or maybe they were bow-synching (like singers sometimes lip-synch when performing on an outdoor TV show).

Just in case you haven’t heard, my brother Rick moved. He is released from the nursing home and got an apartment. He is now living independently.

He doesn’t have Internet service yet, but hopes to get it soon.

That’s a lot of news for one week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Suzanne and Margo

Margo works for Danita at UMBC. Margo and Suzanne have been together for over 15 years. This year, MD liberalized their marriage laws. Margo and Suzanne got married today (Saturday). it was a very nice wedding. The ceremony was outdoors in brilliant sunshine. It was followed by a very nice reception at a building on the grounds. One advantage of getting married after being together for so long is that the principals can be themselves and have fun. Because I am married to Danita, I got to sit at the “power table” with Ray Hoff (who used to be the director of the research group), and Jan (who is currently the director of the smaller of the two groups Danita runs).

Painted Shoes – Birds that Mate for Life

If it had rained, the ceremony would have been in the barn. Then I would have been able to use my line about how gentlemen used to wear a tie when going to church and overalls when going to the barn. But it was sunny, the ceremony was outdoors, and I can’t use that line. The wedding had a lot of personal and hand made touches. The ladies painted their shoes. Suzanne’s theme was birds that mate for life. Margo’s theme was flowers, combined with the tree of life.

Our week was bookend-ed with rain. In between, we had great weather (as we did today), and I rode my bike. To do something a little different, I drove down to Northern Virginia. Most of Northern Virginia is what I call “Suburban Desert”. There’s not much reason to go there. But when I did the MS Cure ride two years ago, I discovered there is a section west of Dulles Airport that is beautiful country — farms, fields, and gently rolling hills; with the Blue Ridge Mountains occasionally defining the horizon. The ride was a victim of it’s own success. There were too many  bikers on two few roads. They don’t do that ride any more. I don’t have the routes I rode two years ago. But I found a promising route on the Internet. Wednesday, I decided to go down and try out the ride. Google said it takes an hour to drive there. Allowing 90 minutes with traffic and 7 hours for the ride, I should beat Danita home.

The ride was less than totally successful. The “best” route driving down took the Dulles Airport toll road. I drove through the toll booth and noticed they were charging my E-Z Pass $1.75. I judged that was a fair fare. Virginia got the drop on me, though. A few miles before I was to exit, I went through a second tool booth — $5.10. By the time I saw the sign, there was no option but to pay the toll. That was an outrages rip-off. Going home, I drove around the other side of Dulles Airport and paid no tolls. The second half of the bike ride was all Suburban Desert. It was simply miles I had to do to get back to the car. Not knowing the roads in the area, I decided to follow the plan and not try to find a shortcut. Finally, the drive back was a much slower than the drive down. It took 3 hours to do my 1-hour drive. I should have known.

But the first part of the ride was perfect. Perfect weather. Perfect country. Perfect roads. I started out going past a new wealthy area. These houses were so large, the 4-bay garages didn’t look at all out of place. I never got close to one of the houses, but it certainly looked like they were built with real stone. It also looked like the lots were about 10 acres. These people are not pretenders to wealth. Then I went through an upper class neighborhood. The “better” houses still had 4-bay garages, but the stone was fake, and houses were separated by 50 or 100 feet. It seemed to be an open-minded neighborhood. They allowed people in even if they could only afford a 3-bay garage. Sidewalks were everywhere and flowers were plentiful. After that, it was 35 miles of gorgeous country.

Antioch Baptist Church

I rode by Antioch Baptist Church. I didn’t take notes from the historical placard, and I couldn’t find the history on the Internet. But from memory, the church was founded “way back” in a log cabin (which is still standing). Then they built a stone building, but it was so poorly built it fell down from its own weight. (Maybe the placard didn’t use these exact words.) The building you see here is their third. The church was closed due to lack of members, but it opened up again in the early 1990s, and is active today. I don’t understand what it is that makes the past this important to some people.

Another placard noted the importance of the general area. Some Yankee soldiers, who had been soundly whooped by Johnny Reb, snuck out through this area to avoid capture. Also several Confederate generals bravely marched through the area, including J. E. B. Stuart, who started his “controversial” ride to Gettysburg here. I think this last point is funny, because most people would say that Stuart’s ride to Gettysburg was “disastrous”. The cavalry’s main job was to scout for the enemy. But J. E. B. got sidetracked and went up an adjacent valley while Lee was marching up the Shenandoah Valley. Lee knew he couldn’t win the war in a military sense. His objective was to win a major battle in the North’s territory and convince a dispirited enemy to give up. If J. E. B. had done his job, Lee might have been able to control the ground of that engagement. He might have had the high ground, instead of giving that advantage to the Union, and the US might be a very different country today. Only a Virginia historian could call that “controversial”.

Where do you think all these stones came from? I’ll bet they weren’t imported from Italy.

There were miles and miles of stone fences. It seemed to me that in places they built stone fences not because they needed the fence as much as they needed some place to put the stones. The fences were in excellent condition. I couldn’t even conceive of how much work it was to clear these stones, move them to where a fence was needed, and build the fence. There were incredible examples of extraordinary stone work. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun riding, looking, and thinking that I didn’t take pictures until near the end of the first half of the ride. The next picture shows an example of building a stone fence right into a tree. It is far from the best example of fancy stone work. Besides trees, I also saw incredible stone work around ditches, gulleys, and such.

Is a tree in the way of that stone fence? Just build the fence into the tree.

Long stretches of the ride had undisturbed woods on both sides of the road. The Cicadas were at their peak. (This brood doesn’t live in our area. We’ll be getting our Cicadas in 2021. Or so they say.) I didn’t see very many of the insects. (They hadn’t started dying off yet — they were staying in the woods and doing whatever it is they do during their short season.) But I certainly heard them. At times they were so loud that I couldn’t hear whether a car was coming up from behind. After the ride, when I was driving around behind Dulles Airport, it was a different sensation. I was going faster and the wooded areas near where I was driving weren’t as large. I would hear no insect sounds, then the Cicadas would quickly get loud, then quickly get soft, fading out to nothing.

One of the few things we just don’t have in Columbia is good Greek food. Considering how many Greeks live in Baltimore and how easy it is to get great Greek food up there, I’m at a loss to explain how one can go to a “good” Greek restaurant in Columbia and find that all Gyros are made with beef (there being no lamb anywhere on the menu). Thursday, Danita and I decided to go up to Baltimore and eat at Ikaros. We didn’t know this was the first evening of the annual Greek festival. Fortunately for us, the end-of-the-week rain had started, turnout for the first night of the festival was light, and we were able to find a parking spot. We had a very nice meal with good Greek food.

We have only one more party this week. Our neighborhood is having its strawberry social tomorrow. Last year, they forgot the ice cream. That certainly put a bit of a damper on the evening for Danita and me. We have it on good authority that the ice cream was missed by many. The forecast for tomorrow includes a 90% probability of ice cream.

That’s it for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Note: There are no pictures this week.

I lost my bike computer! I don’t know why they call them computers. They are really a combo digital watch and speedometer, and only cost $20 or so. When I was a kid, the coolest thing one could do to pimp a bike was to use a clothes pin and a playing card to add a motor sound by arranging the playing card to click against the wheel spokes. The second coolest thing one could do was to add a speedometer. That is, provided one could get the money. The speedometer was a hook that attached to the axle of the front wheel.  The hook sat against a spoke and rotated as the wheel turned. A shaft rotated inside a hollow flexible tube and was connected to the speedometer on the handle bar. These days, of course, everything is digitized. One mounts a magnet to a spoke on the front wheel. A magnetic pickup is mounted to the front fork. As the wheel spins, the magnet creates voltage pulses in the pickup, which are sent up a wire to the specially designed watch. It has tons of features. The battery lasts for 2 years or more. And in real dollars it’s probably cheaper than what I mostly couldn’t afford as a kid. Unfortunately, the readout unit is designed to be removable. Over time, mine got loose and removed itself somewhere along a Howard County roadside. In my case, the battery lasted the life of the speedometer. I could have visited bike shops looking for a new unit that was as cool as my old one. Or I could visit my good friend Amazon and get it delivered right to my door. The new unit delivered to my door is very nice, but it has one defect. They ship the unit with the battery removed. To show what the display will look like when it’s in use, they put a sticky transparent plastic cover over the display. When I got mine, it clearly said 21 MPH. The defect is, when I put the unit on my bike, it mostly said 12 MPH. I’m going to have to see if I can’t get those two digits swapped so it displays correctly. ;-)

It was a hot week, but good weather for riding. Friday I drove up to Jerusalem Mill and rode some of the old streets around Baltimore and Harford Counties. It was a lot of fun. You will be happy to know that the double-chocolate malted milkshakes at Jamie’s are as good as they ever were. (My route went right by there, just at the half-way point. What could I do? I’m sure it was just a coincidence. But having had the encounter,  I had to check it out.) I found things that changed as well as things that hadn’t. They added music to the patio at Jamie’s. The patio tables are still the same, and looking pretty grungy. Both were to the detriment of the establishment. But I had to forgive Jamie’s faults. How many places serve really great milkshakes these days?

Besides riding my bike, I also installed the new Wi-Fi unit in our clubhouse. I found that by moving it, I could get a great signal throughout the upstairs of the clubhouse. Somebody told me there’s even a good signal in the bathroom stalls. (That was a surprise to me. I never considered this to be important, but apparently at least one gentleman was delighted.)

I had two doctor appointments this week. I learned that I have good blood flow through my carotid arteries. I also had a psychometric evaluation, which takes a whole day. I failed almost every test. (The tests are designed to get harder until everybody fails. This maps out a person’s capabilities.) There was one test on which I had a 100% perfect score. Unfortunately, it means I am eminently qualified for the most boring and demeaning jobs. NEWS FLASH — early results are already in. I am better at some things than I am at others.

Our neighbors across the street are Gary and Sarah. Sarah has a job with the US Government. She doesn’t talk about her job much. An interviewer knocked at my door and asked questions about her. Do the police come to quiet boisterous parties? Does she spend a lot of time traveling to foreign countries? Is she trustworthy? Is there any reason to doubt her loyalty to the US? It seems that these folks always find a way to slide in the shocking question. I think they do it just to see if we’re paying attention. Years ago, it was “Is this person associated with the Boy Scouts?” (That’s back when the Boy Scouts were considered some kind of a subversive organization. It turns out the government might have been right. According to some, the Boy Scouts are subverting family values even as I write this!) The interviewer asked me if Sarah was associated with any organization that would threaten the privacy of US citizens. I was so shocked by the question, I blurted out, “You mean besides the US Government???” I hope Sarah gets to keep her job.

I received a new burden this week, and it’s laying heavy on my soul. We normally have trash pickup on Monday and recycle pickup on Thursday. Last Monday was a holiday, so pickups were delayed to Tuesday / Friday. Thursday morning, I saw our neighbor Gary (the husband) outside, and went across the street to tell him about my interview. While we were chatting, our next door neighbor Libby put the recycles out. She wasn’t the only one. Almost all of the houses put their recycles out a day too early. I warned Libby that pickup wouldn’t be until Friday. She said her benchmark was Gary, and Gary’s recycles were out. Gary advised her not to believe a word I said. Of course, the pickup was Friday. This weekend, Libby told me that *I* am now her benchmark for trash pickup. I never wanted all this responsibility! However, I was very happy I was right, because after all that, I couldn’t possibly put our recycles out Thursday “just in case”. I could have ended up with two-week-old wine bottles stinking up the garage.

That’s it for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

The Parkton Open

This is Memorial Day weekend. As everybody surely knows, that means today (Sunday) was the Parkton Open. Ed and Lynne host people from around the area. There was a Western theme this year. Danita got us bandannas. I wore my serape. I don’t think I looked much like Clint Eastwood — I didn’t have an old chewed-up cigar or a baaad hat.The Western theme extended to the menu somewhat. We had chili, but I’m not convinced turkey chili is a true Western dish.

Winners!

The Parkton Open is, of course, a croquet competition. You can see the winners in this post. You may notice there are no Eichenlaubs included. Again. But the sun was bold and we had beautiful weather. Certainly the sky was as blue as it ever is in the West.

Mark, Danita

I had a great time at the Elvis dinner last Sunday. I even got up and did a little dancing. It didn’t hurt that they didn’t put wine glasses out. The plastic cups are much larger than the wine glasses. It’s possible I mis-judged my drink sizes.

Ed (left), Rebecca (right)

If I live to be a zillion years old, there are things I won’t understand. The SOCA board (especially Mark B.) saw that a few of us in the neighborhood are doing helpful technology things but that nobody else understands what we are doing. The board decided it would be wise to have a technology committee.

Suzanne (left), Bud (right)

Mark recruited me, Mike G. (who runs our web site), and Rob C. (our video expert) to be on the committee. As everybody knows, a committee needs a chair. Mike and I saw each other shortly after we agreed to be on the committee. The first thing we agreed is that neither of us wanted to be chair. I had previously suggested Mark should be our chair, but SOCA rules say he can’t be both a board member and a committee chair. I also previously told Mark I couldn’t be the chair because I was allergic to attending (long boring) board meetings.

Danita, Lynne, Addie

When we finally had our inaugural meeting, Mark didn’t understand when none of us introverted, geeky, technology types wanted to chair the committee. Mike pleaded he did too much travel. Rob said he is too busy. Then Mark asked me again. Being the most honest of the three, I said that I simply am not interested in being a chair.Then Mark didn’t understand why none of us knew other people who should be on the committee.

Dennis, Danita

I pointed out two of our most pressing issues: There is no documentation for the web site (passwords, contacts, etc), and there is no board password that would allow us to create executive access to the clubhouse computers. I was not surprised when Mark didn’t know what to do about these issues. We closed our meeting with Mike saying he would not want to meet every month, a feeling that Rob and I shared, but didn’t verbally second.

Pete, Rebecca, Danita

Our clubhouse and pool area has WiFi. Obviously, one WiFi transmitter isn’t going to reach the entire clubhouse plus pool area. Somebody installed two WiFi repeaters. One works, the other not so much. It works for a while, then stops working. If somebody resets it, it works again for a while. Mark asked me about this some 6 months ago. I did a little investigating and said it is a hardware problem. If he wants it to work, the board has to buy a new unit. After our technology meeting, Mark asked me about it again. I gave him the same advice I gave 6 months ago. I had to say the same thing 4 times in slightly different ways. Finally he wanted to know which unit to buy. I did a little more investigating and recommended two units. One will do a so-so job for $65. The other will do a great job for $105. Mark wanted the $65 solution. This from a board that is spending really big bucks to put up a very large permanent awning that will make our porch area look dark.

Lynne, Suzanne

Even geeks like me aren’t perfect, though. About 4 months ago, I made a recommendation for a configuration change for our WiFi. It would be a great idea for many sites. Unfortunately, it won’t work in our clubhouse. More unfortunately, I didn’t realize it won’t work until a few days *after* I made the proposal. Most unfortunately, Mark remembered my previous problematic proposal, reminded me about it, and made me fess up.

Rebecca

The new WiFi repeater came in Friday. Mark wanted me to install it tomorrow. He even offered to meet me “first thing in the morning” at 9:30. I told him I have to have wheels rolling before 8 tomorrow. After 6 months of delay, he’ll just have to live with imperfect WiFi for another day or two.

Lynne, Addie

I had an unusual biking day Saturday. I went out to do my metric century ride. But it was cool and windy and I wasn’t feeling so good. So I shifted to a different ride that is half is long. Then I cut *that* ride in half and came home early. I’m feeling better after a day of rigorous croquet tournament play. I’m going to try again tomorrow.

That’s it for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well. Enjoy a few more pics of the Parkton Open below. As usual, you can make the pics larger by clicking on them. Joe isn’t pictured because he was at his girlfriend’s graduation.

Danita, Addie

Addie, Suzanne

Bud

Rebecca (left), Ed (right), Pete (relaxing)

Winners

Not Winners

If we didn’t win …

… we at least had a good time

Balloons Over Baltimore

This is Preakness week, and that means the hot-air balloons are in town. We went out early this morning (Saturday) to see the balloon inflation. Back when we lived on Rueckert Ave in Baltimore, they did this in Patterson Park. When we moved to Kingsville, they moved it to Hunt Valley. Now we live in Columbia, and they have moved to Turf Valley — just 15 minutes away. (I’m just stating a fact.) If we wanted to see lots of balloons, we should have gone on Thursday or Friday. By Saturday, many of the balloon teams had left. Only one full-size balloon was in the air (tethered balloon rides — just $15!). There were also a couple of mini-balloons. Still, it was a nice morning and we had fun. Afterwards, we went out to Bob Evans to take advantage of a BOGO breakfast. (BOGO means “Buy One, Get One”.)

We Were There!

It was eventful all week, starting with our concert last Sunday. As you may remember, we heard the symphony play the music to Charlie Chaplain’s “Modern Times”. We were both delighted. I had always associated CC with old-time slapstick comedy in silent movies — good in its day, but not very interesting any more. I found an amazingly funny and uplifting movie. The movie had slap-stick comedy — one great gag after another. It also had a story. It had characters. It was uplifting. In short, it was a good movie. Danita’s favorite part was when Chaplain started doing Michael Jackson’s “Moon Walk”. I got a biography of Chaplain from our E-library. The man lived through a very rough childhood. But he was eternally optimistic about his (and our) future. I found a copy of “The Kid” on Amazon. It’s on our “to watch” list.

Having passed my PT (I expect to be discharged Monday) and having raised the handlebars on my bike (so I don’t re-injure myself), it was time to get serious about training for the ride up the Blue Ridge. I have two serious training rides — a 65 mile course around Liberty Reservoir that includes 6,000 feet of climbing, and a hilly circle around Ellicott City, crossing back and forth across the Patapsco River, using the steepest hills I can find. My training plan has 3 parts. 1 – Ride both training rides twice within one week. 2 – Continue riding each training ride once a week, while mixing in some other rides I find more fun. 3 – Go back to serious training rides for the last two weeks of June. I must be in better shape than I thought. I achieved the first goal this week. I did the second Liberty Reservoir ride Friday in absolutely perfect weather. The temperature was moderate. The sun was shining brightly. The spring flowers and greenery were in full bloom. Having ridden around much of Howard and Carroll county, I can safely report that this spring has brought a bumper crop of construction. Everywhere I went, I saw house renovations and repairs, new home construction, and of course road construction. It looks like one of the roads I use on the Liberty Reservoir route will be unrideable due to a repaving project. This will close the route for me (there being no reasonable detours). Even though I temporarily lost one training route, I am quite pleased to have met my goal so soon (and also still a little tired).

Besides that, we went to “Medicare 101”, offered by a Howard County volunteer organization. We learned that if one MUST sign up for Medicare Part A within 3 months of their 65th birthday. If a person decides not to sign up for Part B and later changes their mind, they will pay a penalty for the rest of their life. There are many, many parts to Medicare. The system is unbelievably complicated. Lastly, we learned that thanks to Danita’s many years of service to the state of MD through her job at UMBC, we are very lucky to need only Part A. We don’t have to go to Medicare 102. We don’t have to compare Part D plans on the web. And we don’t have to visit a Medicare counselor to try and figure out which of the many options is best for us.

We also had a neighborhood art show Friday evening. We have a lot of very talented artists living in our neighborhood.The garden club offered floral arrangements next to many of the paintings. They did an incredible job of complementing the art. Of course, being a SOCA event, there was food and libations. After seeing all the art work, we relaxed on the porch, chatting with neighbors and enjoying the perfect weather. It’s a good thing we went to that party, because the next one won’t be until Sunday, when we have an Elvis impersonator coming. Sometimes it’s hard living up to the Jonses in this neighborhood. One does what one must.

Rick, Dani, and Mom might remember when Dad had that little Austin Healey Sprite, how we joked about how it was Dad’s road dinghy. Well, here’s a picture of somebody else’s road dinghy. I though it was a cute pic.

That’s it for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

This was a great week because I finally finished my work at CASA. The job ended up being to issue new computers and take care of a few odds and ends. It wasn’t that big a deal. But the office manager is passive aggressive. She would demand unnecessary tests and meaningless information. When I did what she asked, she ignored the results. She refused to buy what we needed. For a week and a half, I stopped going in because there was nothing for me to do until she bought something we needed. (Of course, I told both the office manager and the executive director what I was doing and why). All together, the job ended up taking twice as long as it should have, which I found quite frustrating. But by Thursday I had done everything I could do. As usual, there was an issue. As usual, I told them. As usual, they denied me permission to solve it and did not solve it themselves. But this was for an upgrade for one PC that works perfectly fine without the upgrade. I told them they can call me if they need me, and that I need at least 2 to 4 hours of work to come in. (It takes me 2 hours work to pay for the trip.) I managed to leave the office without doing anything dramatic like shaking the dust off my feet.

It was just in time, because the weather Friday was perfect. It started out a little cool, warmed to 80, and was sunny all day. It was just the day to try my hilly metric century ride again. This time it went very well. I was tired at the end of the ride, but I had no pain in my arm, shoulder, or neck. The weather has been extremely unpredictable the last several days. I’ll look at the weather the night before and learn that I should be able to ride in the afternoon, but not in the morning. I’ll check the weather in the morning and see that I can ride in the morning, but not in the afternoon. By late morning or early afternoon, it becomes apparent that the thunderstorms that had a 95% chance of starting at Noon just couldn’t get started. And so it goes.

Last night we had a neighborhood “Chill and Grill”. The association provides hamburgers and hot dogs, buns, drinks, and plates / silverware / etc. Residents bring a side dish or desert. We had wonderful weather for the party. We sat inside, but the majority of residents were outside. After the party, one of the residents offered a movie. Just as we were walking in the house, a major thunderstorm started up. Lucky us!

Tomorrow is the last Symphony concert. This one is a little different. The orchestra will play music to accompany Charlie Chaplin’s “ModernTimes”. I’ve never actually seen the movie, although I have seen the famous takeout of Charlie working on the gears.  It should be a lot of fun. If we go out to eat afterwards, it will be someplace low-scale. Trying to eat at a restaurant on Mother’s Day is not our idea of fun. We make it a point to have Sunday breakfast at Panera on Mother’s Day, because it’s even less crowded than normal. And Panera serves a perfectly fine breakfast.

Physical Therapy is going very well. Last Wednesday, the therapist got 100% motion in my arm. I’m thinking this will be the last week of PT. That will give me even more flexibility for training.

Ed and Lynne Schmaus’s son Pete was working as the grounds keeper at a Boy Scout camp on the Eastern Shore. Pete lost that job this week. The house they were living in was provided as part of the job, so they lost the right to live in the house as well. We’re not sure what happened, and it doesn’t really matter. Pete, Rebecca, and their two daughters are moving in with Ed and Lynne. Lynne has been teaching Kindergarten full time for the last several years. She is well connected with the Baltimore County schools. She was able to get the older grandchild placed immediately because they are technically homeless. (The younger girl is too young for school.)

That’s the news for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Note: There are no pictures this week.

After all the excitement we had last week, we were due for some quiet time. We had no neighborhood parties. We ate dinner out Saturday and breakfast this morning. Other than that, we didn’t go anywhere this weekend. I got a few good rides in. The higher handle bars are definitely a big improvement. I spent much of my time at CASA wiping sensitive data from computers so they can be donated or recycled. (As old as these computers are, they could still run Linux and Open Office.) I was able to add the Visitor Pool Passes to our neighborhood residents database. PT is starting to have a positive affect on my shoulder. That’s about it for the week.

I hope everybody is doing well.

Dennis