Friends, I hope you’ve had a good fortnight. I’ve been busy with work during the past two weeks. I helped coordinate TT’s coverage of the annual VMworld conference in San Francisco, and I’ve been transitioning to my new role as an associate site editor, which
involves tracking editorial content from assignment to submission to posting on our Web sites.
For Labor Day weekend, Janice and I drove to Upstate New York to see her family. We spent most of our time at the home of Janice’s sister Melinda, her husband Gary, and their children Amanda and Joshua. Janice’s parents Marvin and Linda also joined us for good home-grilled meals.
Among other things, we rewatched Coraline, and I played Wii Motion Plus and Wii Sports Resort with Josh, Amanda, and Gary. We plan to meet Janice’s folks again at the “Big E,” or the Eastern States Exposition, in western Massachusetts in a few weeks. My own family went to the Delaware shore and will be in Europe in the coming month or so.
This past weekend, Janice and I went to the new Legacy Placeshopping plaza in Dedham, Mass. Although the Showcase Deluxe cinemas and Borders Books aren’t open yet, several other shops are, including an impressive Whole Foods. I especially enjoyed checking out its fromagerie.
The arrival of autumn also brings new comic books and role-playing games. In addition, the Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” and D&D4e “Vanished Lands: the Faith-Based
Initiative” groups have kept me busy, with the former being a classic pseudo-historical dungeon crawl and the latter featuring a recent battle against vampires. Can Halloween be far behind?
On Tuesday, 18 August 2009, I received a minor promotion from assistant site editor to associate site editor at TT. In addition to my existing duties at the technology journalism company, I’m helping to coordinate coverage of this week’s VMworld conference in San Francisco and taking on more Web page management responsibilities.
On the bright side, I’ve already been treated out to sushi lunches at Fuji in Needham,
Massachusetts, twice by current and future managers! I’m flattered that they’ve had such confidence in my organizational abilities after only three months, and I hope to earn their trust.
On Monday, Aug. 24, Janice and I met with former CW co-workers Michele D. and Bob R. for a pleasant dinner at the Watch City Brewery on Moody Street in Waltham, Mass. I still hope to get together with other former colleagues, including Monica S., Donna S., and Brian F.
Although I’ve had to cancel this coming week’s games, I did catch the first-season finale of BBC America’s supernatural melodrama Being Human, which may not have the popularity of True Bloodor Twilight, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The regular autumn genre television season begins in the next few weeks, but first, I’ve got lots of work to do!
On Saturday, 8 August 2009, Janice and I ran errands in Norwood, Massachusetts,
and had lunch at Minerva Indian Restaurant. The next day, we began the long drive south to see my family. We stayed the night in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
On Monday, Aug. 10, Janice and I visited her grandmother before continuing on our way to Virginia. We arrived in the town of “Little” Washington that afternoon and were treated to my mother’s cooking. After a restful Tuesday, we all went to Charlottesville. My father took us to the pleasant campus of the University of Virginia, where he teaches, and we enjoyed a classy buffet lunch at the Boar’s Head Inn and a cheese tray for dinner from Feast.
On Thursday, Aug. 13, we went to Monticello, the estate of President Thomas Jefferson. I had been there before, most recently a decade ago for the swearing in of my
mother as a U.S. citizen, but Janice had not. I thought the new visitor center was a model of modern museum exhibits, and the tour of the mansion and grounds provided an interesting glimpse into the talents and contradictions of the drafter of the Declaration of Independence, architect, and slave owner.
That afternoon, Janice and I drove from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the suburban sprawl of Northern Virginia. We met my brother Peter, his wife Kelly, and their daughters before heading to the home of Corbin A.Y. & Andria K.Y. and their new arrival, Maia. Steve M.R. & Aleece Z.R. and their children, Connor and Lauren, joined us for a fun fajita dinner.
On Friday, Peter, Kelly, Ava, Lili, and Janice and I took the Metro into Washington, D.C., where we checked out the Smithsonian Institute‘s Museum of Natural History
and the newly renovated National Museum of American History. As always, there were many interesting exhibits. The girls behaved well, despite missing a nap and dealing with the summer heat and crowds on the Mall.
Later that night, the adults watched Confessions of a Shopaholic on TV. It was a frothy, forgettable comedy that wasn’t as good as, say, The Devil Wears Prada. Not my usual genre fare (science fiction, fantasy, comic book superheroes, mystery, etc.), but I look forward to the English-dubbed version of Ponyo, among other autumn movies.
On Saturday, Aug. 15, my parents joined us for a barbeque lunch to belatedly celebrate their birthdays. Janice and I left by midafternoon, grabbing dinner in the Palisades Center shopping mall and stopping for the night at the Spring Hill Suites by Marriott in Tarrytown, New York. By breaking up our travel, we managed to avoid most of the usual end-of-weekend traffic jams in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Since returning to the regular routine, I’ve also been catching up on recorded genre television, e-mails, and gaming. I hope to blog about work, movies such as District 9,
and more in the coming weeks.
Friends, I hope you had a good weekend and a Happy Passover. My thoughts are with the ill parents of Ron J.K., Brian D.H., and Erik B.L. Speaking of family, this past weekend, Janice and I drove down to Pennsylvania to see her extended family. She normally tries to visit around Easter, but the holiday was early this year, and her mother was just recovering from knee-replacement surgery.
On Friday, 18 April 2008, we managed to avoid serious traffic on the long drive from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, which held its presidential primaries this week (gas prices are hurting everyone). We met Janice’s parents, youngest sister Melinda, and Melinda’s children Amanda and Joshua at Perkins for lunch before checking into the Howard Johnson in Allentown, Pa. Melinda’s husband Gary wasn’t able to join us from Upstate New York.
We then caravanned out to Roadside America, a miniature village that we’ve gone to before. However, each time is a bit different as our nieces and nephews grow up. I’m a big fan of model railroads and such dioramas.
We then grabbed dinner at Saville’s Diner, where Janice’s paternal grandmother (Mammy) had taken us after Thanksgiving (I ate scrapple), before visiting Janice’s Uncle Billy, the boisterous brother of her mother Linda. Unfortunately, Josh became ill with some sort of stomach bug and slowly recovered through the rest of the weekend. Despite Joshua (and thus Melinda) being indisposed, it was nice to see that side of my in-laws.
On Saturday, April 19, we went to a local Earth Day fair/flea market before meeting Janice’s middle sister Shelly, her husband Melvin, and their children Becky, Laura, and David for lunch at Talarico’s, a longtime favorite for its cheesesteak subs.
We then went to Mammy’s apartment nearby, where we met more of Janice’s father Marvin’s side of the family. I spent much of that afternoon horsing around outside with smart Laura, rambunctious David, and precocious Amanda, while Becky talked about boys and Joshua slowly felt better. Janice and I also stopped by the Zern’s indoor flea market (we picked up some shoo-fly pie; see photo above). We later ordered pizza for dinner.
On Sunday, April 20, Janice and I stopped by the Blue Colony Diner in Connecticut on our way home. If, gentle reader, you’ve made it this far, by now you’ve no doubt observed my love of cuisine, specifically so-called comfort food. Why? Part of it is from growing up around New York City, where Jewish delicatessens and Greek diners are as much a part of the landscape as corner pizzerias (or, more recently, burrito chains).
Part of my affection is that in diners, one can get many types of food (breakfast, ethnic, dessert) at all times of day or night, served by swift, friendly, and unpretentious people. There are relatively few near where I now live in New England, so nostalgia no doubt plays a part. I realize that to eat grilled sandwiches or chocolate cake too often probably wouldn’t be especially healthy.
I’ve spent the past few days catching up on work, gaming, and genre television. The fourth season (series in the U.K.) premiere of the revived time-travel drama Doctor Who and the second season finale of conspiratorial spin-off Torchwood were both surprisingly serious, with significant character casualties, as was the latest season finale of young metahuman ensemble Smallville.
Although I didn’t get to the New York Comic-Con, I’ve been catching up on news from the event, most of which pertains to cinematic adaptations of comic book superheroes. I’ll be catching up on the hardcopy versions, but this coming weekend’s editorial off-site retreat and next week’s opening of Iron Man should be good. More on those to come!
Friends, here’s Part 2 of my travelogue of Janice’s and my recent trip to the U.S. Southwest. On Thursday, 11 May 2006, we left the flashy casinos of Las Vegas in a rental car and drove from Nevada to Utah. The landscape became more colorful, as the brush and cacti of the desert were still blooming from a spring shower of a few weeks earlier. We were on the lookout for deer early that morning and saw jackrabbits.
The open road climbed into more mountainous terrain as we reached the so-called high desert. We arrived at the small town of Kanab, Utah, by midday and learned that numerous Westerns had been filmed in that area, including the Lone Ranger television series in the 1950s, Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales, and more recently, Maverick. We explored some pieces of movie sets.
In the southwestern desert
While we were deep in conservative “red country,” I found the people we met to be very nice, despite any political disagreements I might have with them. The firearms and animal heads on display nearly everywhere were part of Americana, anyway.
That afternoon, we visited the Best Friends animal sanctuary, the largest no-kill shelter for domesticated animals in the U.S. As some of the photographs I took show, not only are there dogs and cats in need of good homes, but horses, goats, sheep, and pot-bellied pigs as well. We took a brief tour and signed forms to volunteer there on Saturday.
On Friday, May 12, Janice and I drove to Arizona for a day trip to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, the North Rim was still closed for the winter, so we had to make a long B-line to get to the South Rim. Fortunately, the long detour was worthwhile, as we saw red bluffs, mesas, and the Glen Canyon on our way.
The Grand Canyon itself was spectacular, making the human-made sights of Las Vegas seem small in comparison. None of the pictures I took or words I can type do it justice. Ever since seeing images in National Geographic magazine as a child, I’ve wanted to see this natural wonder, and it didn’t disappoint.
Like the Skyline Drive of the Blue Ridge Mountains near my parents’ home in Virginia, we drove from overlook to overlook. Fortunately, we encountered relatively few fellow tourists because we had left Utah early in the morning, approached from the east side, and visited the national park before Memorial Day. I recommend this to anyone.
The rock face clearly showed millions of years worth of strata, and a breeze blew through twisted trees at the top and bottom of the canyon. From rim to rim is a 10-mile gap, and some of the lookout points had a sheer 1,000-foot drop (and no rail)! The Colorado River twinkled far below the road, which is 7,000 feet above sea level, and we admired the narrow, winding mule trails and sheer scale of the canyon.
We reluctantly drove back to Utah, enjoying the sights on the way. I would have liked to have more time to hike or visit Native American reservations, and we passed several poverty-stricken roadside stands selling Indian arts and crafts. We ate at a Tex-Mex restaurant in town.
Janice and I helped feed horses and muck out paddocks at Best Friends. While most of the horses are too ill or old to be ridden, bumping around in a pickup truck on narrow mountain trails to get between pastures was an adventure in itself. We saw where the Lone Ranger had been filmed, found a cool, water-filled cave, and chatted with other volunteers.
On Saturday afternoon, Janice and I returned to Las Vegas for one night. After beholding the colorful landscape, the ride back seemed gray, and we were less interested in the neon and crowds of the Strip. We flew back to Boston on Sunday, May 14, and aside from a little jetlag and getting over the altitude change, we dove back into a busy workweek. Overall, I’d say our vacation was as successful as we could have hoped in the time we had!
Fortunately, after the recent rains, the basement of our new duplex didn’t flood. Last Tuesday night, I ran and hosted the last regular D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore” fantasy session for Byron V.O. before he leaves for a new job in St. Louis, Mo. Paul J. and friend Bre even managed to be present, despite impending college final exams. Byron has been busy getting ready to to relocate his family, and I’ll miss his role-playing ability and political sparring, but he’ll continue to be involved through e-mail and the occasional cameo in my games.
The latest Player Character party completed its investigation into murders in a steampunk future, culminating in a fight at a dance hall. I had to cancel last night’s session due to a dinner with co-workers and Jacqui M.D., but I look forward to wrapping up that team and shifting to D20 Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed.: “Drake’s Port” superhero scenarios for the summer!
In the meantime, Janice and I are preparing for our trip to Belgium later this week. We’ll be attending the baptism of my niece Ava by my uncle, meeting members of my father’s side of the family who I haven’t seen in 20 years, and sightseeing around Brussels, Brugge, and Ghent. It’s Janice’s and my first trip to Europe together, and we’re looking forward to the fine food, medieval towns, and a countryside that’s very different from the southwestern U.S. (if a climate that’s a lot like cool, damp New England)…
Gene's Worlds 
