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captainsblogVaguely north of Baltimore- Monday 8 a.m.
Toldya I'd go an entire day without posting. After an evening of ubergeeky fun and a day filled with parables, pancakes but most of all pavement.
Kimmy's housewarming was a blast. You know you're among your people when you're sitting out on a porch at close to midnight, the drinks ranging from chocolate wine (which, let her tell ya, has quite a kick on it) to Cheerwine (which surprisingly gives off no buzz whatsoever), and you're having a reasonable and intelligent political discussion with all ends of the political spectrum. And you're all succeeding at this because everybody out there is in one fandom or another (the reddest of conservatives and bluest of progressives all agreed that Joss Wheedon would be the one object of their planned con kidnap), and because absolutely every one of us used to be in band.
Just think, people. If Boehner and Pelosi had played clarinet and worn spats, maybe we could fix this gorram country.
We had many moments of momentary lapses of reason, English or both. While all of the party food was well-prepared and well-appreciated, some of the funniest moments came toward the end, with a store-bought birthday cake brought by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
headbanger118 and a pot of joe made by moi. Kim doesn't drink coffee, so I was left in charge of caffeinating the hordes. Well, more like a hordette- just Terri, her husband and me. I made hers black- you'd assume that if you knew her- but she wanted to dress hers up, so she went in search of milk (in the fridge, oddly enough) and sugar (in a little baggie in the cupboard). I returned to the gathering, and Terri returned moments later, coffeeless. Um, that wasn't sugar.
Terri- That was salt I put in my coffee.
All- ::shock and amusement::
Kim- Wait. Where'd you find salt?
Terri- In the cupboard next to the back door.
Kim- OMG, that's aquarium salt.
All- ::More shock and amusement::
So now aquarium salt has become the condiment of choice at every meal I've been at since- including my Sacrament of the First Pancakes at Perkins yesterday afternoon, and on arriving here late last night.
The cake also provided entertainment. Two of Kimmy's friends brought along their puppy- an adorable Lab/beagle mix named Omar, who happily romped around the grounds, entertained the kids, and provided vacuuming and garbage disposal services throughout the evening, as Lab mixes will do. No, he did not eat the cake. That would've been too easy. Rather, everyone was trying so hard to distract him from eating the cake, he was engaged, and happy, and wagging his tail- which quickly turned into a four foot long pink snake when he whacked it into the edge of the cake. Between that and the long-lasting Pepto-Bismol effect of the icing on Terri's tongue (there are pictures; I just don't have any- yet;), the cake was just as memorable for those things as for the chorklit in it and the wonderful occasion it was brought for.
The poor dog also acquired a new name. At some point, Kimmy misheard Omar's owners calling to him, and so he is now and forever known as she misheard it- as Walmart the dog. And he didn't even have any cheap plastic parts on him.
----
Yesterday brought some relative sleeping-in for those of us who stayed at Mars-a-Lago after the gathering, but Kim was kind enough to let me check out my Methodist brethren in the area. Jesus is a much scarier dude down in those parts, with roadside crosses big enough to turn into wind turbines (not that their owners would allow any kind of Commie Socialist energy like that) and churchfront signs like
GOOD
MINUS GOD
EQUALS 0
(Can't wait to hear whatbill_sheehan thinks of THAT one). We went back to Kim's longtime United Methodist church in Johnson City, Tennessee, which she promised would be warm, and welcoming, and much closer to the loving and accepting type of faith I'm familiar with.
More than she ever would have thunk, yo. Not only did I know the responses, and could sing the tunes from memory, but I could be just as amazed that pseudo-business Buzzword Bingo is played in the Bible Belt as madly as we've adopted it up north. Most of the sermon consisted of talk of their strategic planning, and skills inventories, and committees being disbanded and formed, all to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. (Or until the next meeting of the Board of Directors, whichever comes first.) It was far more fun, and welcoming in its own way, than anything I ever could have hoped for;)
Our two-car parade continued briefly back toward I-81, my mainline back to the north, and we made it three cars joining Terri in the very overpopulated Perkins parking lot. She wasn't kidding when she said it was her Perkins; she knew the server, and the manager, and most of the other diners, and the pancakes were as good as the goodbyes were sad. I then turned on my maps, which told me I had 300 solid miles of Virginia in my path before I would leave this interstate, so I took a couple of hours en route to break it up and meet yet another never-met friend from these parts in those parts.
murrday is more a Facebook connection, although she blogs here, too, under that name. She lives next to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, five miles or so off the Interstate in those parts, and we met up for some late afternoon coffee and a lookaround the campus. They've done a much nicer job than many uni's in harmonizing their newer construction with the older buildings; we passed the memorial to those lost in the '07 shooting, as well as the building where it occurred (Peg lost at least one friend in it, and has only recently been able to pass by without tearing up). Eventually, we reached the outer reaches of the campus, including the vet school fields housing one of the odder sights you'll see: cows, with essentially permanent IV's sewn into their sides. "Portholes" is what she called them, and it's as good a description as any. I guess it makes sense for animals being constantly tested for things going into and out of them, but it's still kinda weird to see the first time.
----
Monday night- edited to add from home sweet home
From Peg's, it was on through the rest of Virginia, at a much slower speed than I'd have liked, thanks to an almost-constant rain and an equally almost-endless parade of slow-moving trucks in the fast lane, but I made it to the DC area by 11 or so and to my friends outside Baltimore not long after that. It's weird to approach Bawlmer from the south, which runs you through plenty of Federal Stimulus Money Construction on 495 and 95 in and around the District, but which also lets you see a pretty beautiful downtown lit up at night- even with fireworks, likely from a late-ending Orioles game. (I also got treated to a pretty amazing rainbow in Virginia amidst all that rain earlier.)
Waiting for me was my friend Donna, along with her daughter and her, now, two canine companions. One's a recent arrival, who is sweet and slobbery and very deserving of her new home. (The other I met last time, a coon-hound/choweenie mix most notable for being certifiably insane. Needless to say, we all got along.)
We chatted. We had lumps around the corner. And then I headed home in close to a straight eight-hour shot, with only gas stops at a Wawa in Maryland and some Godawful place near Scranton, before pulling in at almost the promised stroke of eight tonight. There were close to 800 miles on the trip odometer, and I rolled that over somewhere on the second day, so in essence, I drove halfway across the country and then some, just to wind up where I started- which, after all, is where I wanted to be in the first place.
----
Pictures to follow in some place or other. Now on to three days of backlogs of work, posts and udda thingza.
Toldya I'd go an entire day without posting. After an evening of ubergeeky fun and a day filled with parables, pancakes but most of all pavement.
Kimmy's housewarming was a blast. You know you're among your people when you're sitting out on a porch at close to midnight, the drinks ranging from chocolate wine (which, let her tell ya, has quite a kick on it) to Cheerwine (which surprisingly gives off no buzz whatsoever), and you're having a reasonable and intelligent political discussion with all ends of the political spectrum. And you're all succeeding at this because everybody out there is in one fandom or another (the reddest of conservatives and bluest of progressives all agreed that Joss Wheedon would be the one object of their planned con kidnap), and because absolutely every one of us used to be in band.
Just think, people. If Boehner and Pelosi had played clarinet and worn spats, maybe we could fix this gorram country.
We had many moments of momentary lapses of reason, English or both. While all of the party food was well-prepared and well-appreciated, some of the funniest moments came toward the end, with a store-bought birthday cake brought by
headbanger118 and a pot of joe made by moi. Kim doesn't drink coffee, so I was left in charge of caffeinating the hordes. Well, more like a hordette- just Terri, her husband and me. I made hers black- you'd assume that if you knew her- but she wanted to dress hers up, so she went in search of milk (in the fridge, oddly enough) and sugar (in a little baggie in the cupboard). I returned to the gathering, and Terri returned moments later, coffeeless. Um, that wasn't sugar. Terri- That was salt I put in my coffee.
All- ::shock and amusement::
Kim- Wait. Where'd you find salt?
Terri- In the cupboard next to the back door.
Kim- OMG, that's aquarium salt.
All- ::More shock and amusement::
So now aquarium salt has become the condiment of choice at every meal I've been at since- including my Sacrament of the First Pancakes at Perkins yesterday afternoon, and on arriving here late last night.
The cake also provided entertainment. Two of Kimmy's friends brought along their puppy- an adorable Lab/beagle mix named Omar, who happily romped around the grounds, entertained the kids, and provided vacuuming and garbage disposal services throughout the evening, as Lab mixes will do. No, he did not eat the cake. That would've been too easy. Rather, everyone was trying so hard to distract him from eating the cake, he was engaged, and happy, and wagging his tail- which quickly turned into a four foot long pink snake when he whacked it into the edge of the cake. Between that and the long-lasting Pepto-Bismol effect of the icing on Terri's tongue (there are pictures; I just don't have any- yet;), the cake was just as memorable for those things as for the chorklit in it and the wonderful occasion it was brought for.
The poor dog also acquired a new name. At some point, Kimmy misheard Omar's owners calling to him, and so he is now and forever known as she misheard it- as Walmart the dog. And he didn't even have any cheap plastic parts on him.
----
Yesterday brought some relative sleeping-in for those of us who stayed at Mars-a-Lago after the gathering, but Kim was kind enough to let me check out my Methodist brethren in the area. Jesus is a much scarier dude down in those parts, with roadside crosses big enough to turn into wind turbines (not that their owners would allow any kind of Commie Socialist energy like that) and churchfront signs like
GOOD
MINUS GOD
EQUALS 0
(Can't wait to hear what
bill_sheehan thinks of THAT one). We went back to Kim's longtime United Methodist church in Johnson City, Tennessee, which she promised would be warm, and welcoming, and much closer to the loving and accepting type of faith I'm familiar with.More than she ever would have thunk, yo. Not only did I know the responses, and could sing the tunes from memory, but I could be just as amazed that pseudo-business Buzzword Bingo is played in the Bible Belt as madly as we've adopted it up north. Most of the sermon consisted of talk of their strategic planning, and skills inventories, and committees being disbanded and formed, all to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. (Or until the next meeting of the Board of Directors, whichever comes first.) It was far more fun, and welcoming in its own way, than anything I ever could have hoped for;)
Our two-car parade continued briefly back toward I-81, my mainline back to the north, and we made it three cars joining Terri in the very overpopulated Perkins parking lot. She wasn't kidding when she said it was her Perkins; she knew the server, and the manager, and most of the other diners, and the pancakes were as good as the goodbyes were sad. I then turned on my maps, which told me I had 300 solid miles of Virginia in my path before I would leave this interstate, so I took a couple of hours en route to break it up and meet yet another never-met friend from these parts in those parts.
murrday is more a Facebook connection, although she blogs here, too, under that name. She lives next to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, five miles or so off the Interstate in those parts, and we met up for some late afternoon coffee and a lookaround the campus. They've done a much nicer job than many uni's in harmonizing their newer construction with the older buildings; we passed the memorial to those lost in the '07 shooting, as well as the building where it occurred (Peg lost at least one friend in it, and has only recently been able to pass by without tearing up). Eventually, we reached the outer reaches of the campus, including the vet school fields housing one of the odder sights you'll see: cows, with essentially permanent IV's sewn into their sides. "Portholes" is what she called them, and it's as good a description as any. I guess it makes sense for animals being constantly tested for things going into and out of them, but it's still kinda weird to see the first time.----
Monday night- edited to add from home sweet home
From Peg's, it was on through the rest of Virginia, at a much slower speed than I'd have liked, thanks to an almost-constant rain and an equally almost-endless parade of slow-moving trucks in the fast lane, but I made it to the DC area by 11 or so and to my friends outside Baltimore not long after that. It's weird to approach Bawlmer from the south, which runs you through plenty of Federal Stimulus Money Construction on 495 and 95 in and around the District, but which also lets you see a pretty beautiful downtown lit up at night- even with fireworks, likely from a late-ending Orioles game. (I also got treated to a pretty amazing rainbow in Virginia amidst all that rain earlier.)
Waiting for me was my friend Donna, along with her daughter and her, now, two canine companions. One's a recent arrival, who is sweet and slobbery and very deserving of her new home. (The other I met last time, a coon-hound/choweenie mix most notable for being certifiably insane. Needless to say, we all got along.)
We chatted. We had lumps around the corner. And then I headed home in close to a straight eight-hour shot, with only gas stops at a Wawa in Maryland and some Godawful place near Scranton, before pulling in at almost the promised stroke of eight tonight. There were close to 800 miles on the trip odometer, and I rolled that over somewhere on the second day, so in essence, I drove halfway across the country and then some, just to wind up where I started- which, after all, is where I wanted to be in the first place.
----
Pictures to follow in some place or other. Now on to three days of backlogs of work, posts and udda thingza.
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 02:25 am (UTC)The aquarium salt was pretty awesome, yeah. :-)
I want you to come back to church with me again, and maybe it will be, y'know, an actual SERMON then. *sigh* It really is a nice church, I promise!
Glad you made it home safe and sound. I was running around like crazy when you called and couldn't get to the phone, then by the time I could call, it was getting late, but I did get your message and I appreciate your checking in. So nice to meet you and hope to do it again soon!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 04:34 am (UTC)It is indeed my Perkins. Both my sister and I used to work @ offices just down the road from there, and ate lunch there 2-3 times a week. It's like my version of Cheers, where everybody knows my name (and my order).
Such a great time meeting you in person! Hope E and you will come back this Fall and see the leaves.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 02:00 pm (UTC)The holes-in-sides cows are FREAKY, yo.
The party and the weekend in general sound lovely - so glad you had a good time!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 02:04 pm (UTC)The upstate franchise holder got too big for its britches in the 90s, getting into Chilis outlets and lots of commercial real estate, and eventually wound up in bankruptcy. Denny's bought all the locations out of the court, closing any that was near an existing one (including my Bar shrine, converted to an OTB parlor; it took years for the non-competes to expire before they started popping up around here again, yet until Sunday, I don't think I'd ever been in one of the new ones.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 06:09 pm (UTC)Here's a church sign from near my job site yesterday.
Date: 2011-06-28 08:14 pm (UTC)Re: Here's a church sign from near my job site yesterday.
Date: 2011-06-28 08:15 pm (UTC)Re: Here's a church sign from near my job site yesterday.
Date: 2011-06-28 09:15 pm (UTC)