Four Things on a Friday: A Personal Round-Up

I want you guys to appreciate how busy I got this week. It's college football Week 0, both AFF podcasts ran over an hour this week, and I'm looking for a cover artist for The Return of Dr. Necropolis. And let me just note that as much as I love that title, "The Return of Dr. Necropolis" is long and a bit cumbersome for an actual book cover.

Sigh.

If you missed it, we had a truly outstanding AFF Army Football Show this week. Shannon Horne's husband Paul Horne joined us for an in-depth dive into Army's O-Line. I can pretty much guarantee that you've never heard anything like this before. 

It got surprisingly mathematical. Paul went straight for my engineer's heart.

Anyway. I am trying to write here a little more often, so here goes.

The Black Crowes: Shake Your Moneymaker

My buddy Chris and I went to go see the Black Crowes last night as part of their current tour, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album Shake Your Moneymaker.

They played the whole album last night from start to finish!

The Black Crowes: Shake Your Moneymaker

Blog Shots: Meeker Trail & Hopkins Vineyard

As discussed on AsForFootball.Com over the weekend, Saturday's game against now #13 Wake Forest was one of the wildest, most emotional roller coaster rides I've ever experienced at Michie Stadium. The Black Knights put up nearly 600 yards of total offense and well over 400 yards rushing, and they maintained time-of-possession for almost 45 full minutes, but they still lost by 14 points -- on basically two plays. It took me a good, long while to come down. Even after sleeping on it, writing on it, and getting in a workout in the pool, I still felt like I was ready to spit fire and punish the guilty.

Sally came to my rescue, as she often does in these situations. It's her birthday later this week. As part of a multi-week celebration, we went hiking along the Meeker Trail near Lake Waramaug in the Western Connecticut Highlands, followed by a wine tasting expedition to Hopkins Vineyard.

It took some doing, but this finally get me back on something like an even keel emotionally.

Pics from the day after the jump.

Exploring Wine (Part 1)

Wine has become my latest obsession. It started when my buddy showed me the wine cellar in his new house, and seeing that cellar got me interested enough to investigate the possibilities of building one in my basement. This turned out to be a lot more involved than I thought that it would be -- more on that in a future post -- but I realized in the process of researching the idea that I didn't know nearly as much about wine as I thought that I did.

As has proven to be the case with any number of things over the years, a lot of what I thought I knew came from my folks, who weren't nearly as educated about some of this stuff as they made an effort to seem back in the day. It's to the point now where I'm considering rebranding my infamous "cook book" as something else entirely, Things That I Wish My Father Had Taught Me. 

Inclusive of wine content, I might have something like 30K words floating around in various spots on my hard drive. I just need to start getting it together and massaging into some kind of cohesive whole. Imagine a book exploring wine, grilling, and other aspects of the finer things in life but done in the style of my memoir, and you can maybe get a sense of the vibe. 

I always think of this project as a lifestyle handbook for Firsties about to commission. But we'll see.

At Chamard Vineyards in Coastal Connecticut yesterday.

In any event, this post is an attempt to start getting some of my thoughts down on paper. It's the middle of football season, so I have literally a million other things that I need to be doing right now, but friends, it's the side-hustles that keep me sane. Bear with me for a few minutes. Besides, I am really enjoying this exploration of wines.

Blog Shots: 4th of July Hike with Sally

 Sally and I went on a little hike yesterday.  

Well.  It was supposed to be little, at any rate.  We wound up walking four and a half miles.  That took us from the Short Beach parking lot in Stratford, around the lighthouse, back down to Wayne's Walk, and then all the way up to Russian Beach and back.

Speaking personally, I thought that was a good, long walk.

Anyway, I took my camera yesterday.  Pics are past the jump.

Orchard Glen Trail (Director's Cut)

 Got to the pool this morning, only to discover the road closed for several blocks in each direction with utility crews working on what I presume was a hit pole overnight.  Needless to say, I wound up with a little more time on my hands than I expected to have this morning.

I probably should have worked on stuff for As For Football.  A company reached out to us last week about our ads rates, asking very reasonably for our current deck.  So I've got to build an ad deck this week.

But not today.

I sat down instead and edited the pics from yesterday's photo essay.  Those are after the jump.  I personally think the edits help quite a bit, though in a few cases, they also bring out the inherent flaws in the original photographs. 

Eh.  What can you do?

Pics from Dinner Last Night (#NoFilter)

Sally and I went to the new Oyster Bar in Bridgeport for dinner last night. It was quite a place.

I'm in love with this guy's monster-boat.

More pics from dinner last night after the jump...

Pics from TS Isiasis

I took these down at the Boat Club yesterday during the storm.  We lost power at the house, and I needed both power and Internet access for work.  Despite these pics and the ongoing damage from the storm, I was actually able to get some stuff done while all of this was going on.

Two foot swells in the river yesterday.  I'd never seen that before.

Hiking: Mount Frissell & Brace Mountain

Sally, the girls, and I hiked Connecticut's Mount Frissell and Brace Mountain Trail yesterday.  At 2491 feet, Mount Frissell is the highest point in the State of Connecticut.  This was a strenous hike.  Parts were so steep that I felt like I was climbing up and down a rock-strewn ladder rather than hiking an actual path.  Indeed, this was a full body hike in the sense that you needed both arms and both legs at times, while carefully maintaining three points of contact.

The trail itself was 4.4 miles out and back, from the green and black starting dot below, up Round Mountain and Mount Frissell, down through the saddle, and then south to Brace Mountain.  In all, we gained 1309 feet of elevation over the course of a fairly short hike.  That's a lot!

Mount Frissell Trail, via AllTrails.Com

Most of these pictures are from the summit of Brace Mountain.  A group of wing gliders spent the day flying off the summit, and we got some cool pics.  We also shot a bunch of pics off the lookout and down into New York's Harlem Valley.

Trying Not to Go Crazy

Tough week, am I right?

I don't know what it's like at your house, but from where I'm sitting, it feels like the whole world is on a snow day while I'm stuck in the office.  I know -- in my head -- that I'm lucky that I'm working and that our daily routines haven't been as badly disrupted as they could have been.

From Friday.  This is our daily happy hour ritual.

Many, many people have it much, much worse.  I get that.  But in my heart, I'm still mourning our vacation to St. Thomas.  At the same time, my wife is out of work, and because we've already got one down in my office, I'm working as hard as ever.  So at least for now, we're looking at a long, hard slog without a break in sight.  Can't ski, can't go to the beach, can't really do anything except stay in the office and continue plugging away.

Elicit Brewing Company & "Meet Me at the Barre"

My beautiful wife Sally did an event at the Elicit Brewing Company in Manchester, Connecticut, yesterday.  She called it "Meet Me at the Barre".  I went with her and took some pictures for her new website HeadSpace.Fit.

The Elicit Brewing Company

5 Things on a Friday: Titans, Jeter, Rush

By the time you read this, I will be on my out to Colorado to ski with my buddy Brian.  Yay!

Alright.  Let’s do it.

2020: The More Things Change...

Earlier this week, I told my wife that we're not celebrating the end of a decade, we're turning the page to a new beginning.  And yet, I somehow found myself scrolling through old blog posts yesterday, trying to get a feel for how much life has changed -- and how much it hasn't.  

It was a little depressing.  After a life full of whirlwind changes, the last ten years have been amazingly static.  I've been with the same woman since 2002, nurturing the same kids since 2003 and 2005, in the same house since 2007, and in the same job since mid-2010.  None of that is bad, but it doesn't make for some kind of sweeping narrative of hope and change, either.  Given the turbulence of my previous decade, I suppose that a quest for stability -- seen clearly only in hindsight -- was a natural outcome.  But going back through some of my older writing, I also felt keenly that the thing I've done most is to keep on keeping on.

Goals for 2019

I refuse to call them "resolutions".

Swim Across the Sound 2018

I out this out on FB and Twitter on Tuesday, but let me say it again here: we're still looking for some support for Team RBG in this year's Swim Across the Sound.  A lot of folks have "liked" and "retweeted" the links for our quest, and that's great, but as of this writing, we're still quite a ways short of our total fundraising goal.

Link: Team RBG and the Swim Across the Sound

4 Corner Billiards, Bridgeport, CT

With our kids headed to Rockin' Jump for a couple of hours with our church youth group last night, Sally and I decided to shoot some pool.  A quick search turned up 4 Corner Billiards in downtown Bridgeport as pretty much the only pool hall within easy driving distance of our house.  We decided to check the place out and make a date of it.

Rack 'em up!

Quick Thoughts: Army 64, Fordham 6

My God, what a game!  I thought Army would win.  I did not think they would romp the Rams 64-6.  In fact, when we met for the group picture at halftime, guys were saying, “Hey, I thought you said these guys were good?”

1-0 ✔️ pic.twitter.com/ReXeSxkgT8

— Army WP Football (@ArmyWP_Football) September 2, 2017

Early Season Preview: 2017 Bridgeport Bluefish

The 2016 campaign saw my Bridgeport Bluefish get off to a decidedly slow start before bouncing back with one of the stronger showings in the Atlantic League in the season’s second half.  This was not quite enough to get them out of the AL’s Liberty Division basement, but it made going to games a Hell of a lot more interesting.  I’m no baseball expert, but signing Mets’ legend Endy Chavez certainly seemed to help, and for whatever it’s worth, I thought Chavez was the club’s best player whenever I saw him on the field.  He clearly had the team’s best statistics—.345 average with 55 runs and 39 RBIs on 132 hits.  But 2017 is a new year, and the Fish have a new General Manager, Paul Herrmann, who was promoted up from his previous position as assistant general manager and director of baseball operations.  

What does this mean for the coming season?

5 Things on a Friday: Still Celebrating

I don’t know about you, but I’m still celebrating Army’s season.  Or maybe waiting for next season.

2016 Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl Champions! #GoArmy #HODBowl pic.twitter.com/tntnREevec

— Army WP Football (@ArmyWP_Football) December 28, 2016

As of this writing, there are 241 days until kickoff at Michie Stadium, and yeah, I think college football withdrawal is gonna be a bitch this year.

Army Football Preview: Scouting Report

Army is on a bye this week.  While the team resets for the next part of the season, let’s turn our attention to some of this week’s critical match-ups.