Starting to think about this year's Florida trip ; Quick visit to DC burbs
(posted from home)
(This post covers 21 - 31 December, 2011)
----------------------------
Saturday, 31 December -
The falling temperatures of next week had me thinking I need to get my rides in now. I figured I wouldn't be able to make my regular Sunday ride down to the Tollgate Starbucks so I went today.
Afterwards I took the longer way home and stopped at Rocky Ridge for a quick break (but no walk) late in the day.
Back home I realized today was my last day to stream the movie 'Black Robe' from Netflix. I had been using this movie for testing at Labashi's brother's home but had only seen a few sections of it. Today I saw it all-- it's one of my favorites.
That evening Labashi and I watched Ingmar Bergman's 1961 film 'Through a Glass Darkly'.
--------------------------
Friday, 30 December -
This morning I finally made some headway on the telephone problem. As I'd attempt to determine whether the problem was in our in-house wiring or the telephone network, the problem would largely disappear. Today I noticed some of this came from my using two different test phones-- one masked the problem more than the other.
But today the problem seemed to stay. We had both a strong hum and a crackly static sound. I took both test phones out to the network interface box and it was now clear the problem originated with the phone network. I used Verizon's web-based repair service to schedule service for Monday.
With today's extra-nice 50-degree temperatures I decided to take the GS to Rocky Ridge today. I did my regular walk in 1:47 today and it seemed easy.
--------------------------
Thursday, 29 December -
Today we drove home from our pleasant visit with friends. We hung around through the morning before starting for home around noon. We made it to East Berlin and Restaurant Sidney by 1500 for a late lunch, sharing one of Sidney's excellent bar-be-que pork sandwiches.
--------------------------
Wednesday, 28 December-
We had another day with our friends in suburban Washington today. We got up late and Labashi's brother and I worked on getting Netflix working on the new TV. We never did get an acceptable speed for watching movies and blamed it on the PC we were using for the streaming. We also rode along on a shopping trip to Costco and then stopped in at The Big Screen Store to look around. The biggest TVs are now 90-inch behemoths.
That evening we went to dinner at a restaurant in Warrenton called the Iron Bridge Wine Bar and Restaurant. We arrived ahead of time for our 1945 reservation but didn't get seated until 2030. Our meal, though, was great. We had tapas plates and split everything up. We had mushroom pizza, a cheese fondue, a gourmet hamburger, ravioli, scallops, a flight of wine, and a chocolate creme brulee dessert. And because we had had to wait so long for our table, the manager comped our drinks and dessert.
--------------------------
Tuesday, 27 December -
Today Labashi and I loaded up her car and we drove down to her brother's home outside of Washington, DC. We took the GPS-recommended route and that one went around the Baltimore and Washington beltways. I had thought traffic would be light given the holidays but we ran into several slow-moving sections.
We spent the afternoon chatting and then went to dinner at a Bonefish restaurant. They had just gotten a 55-inch flat-screen TV so we watched 'Avatar' and stayed up very late.
--------------------------
Monday, 26 December -
This morning I dug out our older-but-good Weslo treadmill and cleaned it up and tested it.
We're giving it to Labashi's brother on our visit to his home in Northern Virginia tomorrow. They have a very similar one and were looking for a second one so they can exercise at the same time. We're just happy to get it outta here! I'd much rather walk or jog outside, even in very hot or very cold weather. Walking or jogging in place just seems like the ultimate bore.
I took the Concours down to Starbucks to give it some exercise. When I went to pay for my mocha I was told a 'philanthropist' had bought a gift card and told them to give everyone free coffees for as long as it lasted. Nice!
I then rode up to Rocky Ridge Park and took my end-to-end walk. Along the way I ran into a mountain biker and we chatted about the trails here and mountain-biking trail centers in Delaware and Florida. My walk time of 1:57 reflected my long chat.
I do enjoy these walks this time of year. For the last 40 minutes or so I'm headed westerly and though it's only 1600 or so the sun is low in the sky and it's just very pleasant, particularly if the sun is on my face and the wind has died.
-------------------------
Sunday, 25 December -
We spent the afternoon with Mom and Dad in their apartment for Christmas today. That gave me a chance to set up LogMeIn on Dad's computer and my iPad and give it a try. LogMeIn had just dropped the price (from $29.99 to free!) so that gave me the incentive to try it. It seems to work fine but I need to try it from somewhere other than the same LAN as Dad's PC.
I also helped Labashi's sister get Skype up and running for the first time. She had just gotten a webcam for Christmas and this was her first experience with Skype and she LOVED it. It was great fun to see the look on her face and hear the excitement in her voice as the family gathered round to chat-and-see long distance.
We also connected up with one of Labashi's brothers and his wife in northern Virginia and another sister in southern Michigan had skyped-in this morning. Skype rocks!
-------------------------
Saturday, 24 December -
Today I waited a few hours for the day to warm up above 40 degrees and then rode the GS over to the BMW shop in Lititz to pick up my saddle bag. This is a warranty replacement for the one I dropped off a week or so ago. I enjoyed talking with Charlie the service manager who seems to be perfectly matched to his job. Afterwards I stopped at the Starbucks only a block away. How perfect is that?? A motorcycle shop with interesting bikes and a Starbucks nearby.
That evening we watched a few episodes of 'Rules of Engagement'. We're not sold on this one. I understand the concept of 'suspension of disbelief' but I'm not fond of what I think of as negative reinforcement of gender roles. Then again it's just a TV show.
-------------------------
Friday, 23 December -
Today I spent most of my day researching Florida stuff in preparation for my winter trip. I collected it into an email and sent it off to my brothers, hoping to lure them down for a few days.
This exercise started when I ran onto a Field and Stream article about kayak fishing on Hobie Mirage pedal-fin kayaks in the Keys. That of course got me to thinking about things I've wanted to do in the Keys-- such as a JetLev ride or ultralight floatplane ride. I can't afford to do them all but I can work one or two in this year and save the others for next time!
----------------------------
Thursday, 22 December -
Today was a Starbucks-and-walk day. Weather's still holding up pretty nicely so I took the F650GS for the ride in.
My walk at Rocky Ridge was a 1:50 today.
-------------------------
Wednesday, 21 December -
This morning we drove down to the hospital area to have our TB tests read. We had the injections Tuesday and today was merely a matter of having the nurse check the injection site for signs of a bump under the skin. This was just a routine followup from our series of pills and injections for and after our Botswana trip. We still have two more appointments in February.
I spent the afternoon researching Wide Open Baja cars. These are sand-rail style cars powered by a flat-four Subaru engine of about 175 horsepower. And they have something like an 18-inch travel on the front suspension.
I'm looking at them because they're available for rent both here in Pennsylvania and near Ocala, Florida (one of my regular stops on my winter trip). I gotta do that!
That evening we watched 'Get Low' with Robert Duvall. I think we would give it something like an 85 on the Tomatometer.
********* END OF POST ********
Sent from my iPad
(posted from home)
(This post covers 21 - 31 December, 2011)
----------------------------
Saturday, 31 December -
The falling temperatures of next week had me thinking I need to get my rides in now. I figured I wouldn't be able to make my regular Sunday ride down to the Tollgate Starbucks so I went today.
Afterwards I took the longer way home and stopped at Rocky Ridge for a quick break (but no walk) late in the day.
Back home I realized today was my last day to stream the movie 'Black Robe' from Netflix. I had been using this movie for testing at Labashi's brother's home but had only seen a few sections of it. Today I saw it all-- it's one of my favorites.
That evening Labashi and I watched Ingmar Bergman's 1961 film 'Through a Glass Darkly'.
--------------------------
Friday, 30 December -
This morning I finally made some headway on the telephone problem. As I'd attempt to determine whether the problem was in our in-house wiring or the telephone network, the problem would largely disappear. Today I noticed some of this came from my using two different test phones-- one masked the problem more than the other.
But today the problem seemed to stay. We had both a strong hum and a crackly static sound. I took both test phones out to the network interface box and it was now clear the problem originated with the phone network. I used Verizon's web-based repair service to schedule service for Monday.
With today's extra-nice 50-degree temperatures I decided to take the GS to Rocky Ridge today. I did my regular walk in 1:47 today and it seemed easy.
--------------------------
Thursday, 29 December -
Today we drove home from our pleasant visit with friends. We hung around through the morning before starting for home around noon. We made it to East Berlin and Restaurant Sidney by 1500 for a late lunch, sharing one of Sidney's excellent bar-be-que pork sandwiches.
--------------------------
Wednesday, 28 December-
We had another day with our friends in suburban Washington today. We got up late and Labashi's brother and I worked on getting Netflix working on the new TV. We never did get an acceptable speed for watching movies and blamed it on the PC we were using for the streaming. We also rode along on a shopping trip to Costco and then stopped in at The Big Screen Store to look around. The biggest TVs are now 90-inch behemoths.
That evening we went to dinner at a restaurant in Warrenton called the Iron Bridge Wine Bar and Restaurant. We arrived ahead of time for our 1945 reservation but didn't get seated until 2030. Our meal, though, was great. We had tapas plates and split everything up. We had mushroom pizza, a cheese fondue, a gourmet hamburger, ravioli, scallops, a flight of wine, and a chocolate creme brulee dessert. And because we had had to wait so long for our table, the manager comped our drinks and dessert.
--------------------------
Tuesday, 27 December -
Today Labashi and I loaded up her car and we drove down to her brother's home outside of Washington, DC. We took the GPS-recommended route and that one went around the Baltimore and Washington beltways. I had thought traffic would be light given the holidays but we ran into several slow-moving sections.
We spent the afternoon chatting and then went to dinner at a Bonefish restaurant. They had just gotten a 55-inch flat-screen TV so we watched 'Avatar' and stayed up very late.
--------------------------
Monday, 26 December -
This morning I dug out our older-but-good Weslo treadmill and cleaned it up and tested it.
We're giving it to Labashi's brother on our visit to his home in Northern Virginia tomorrow. They have a very similar one and were looking for a second one so they can exercise at the same time. We're just happy to get it outta here! I'd much rather walk or jog outside, even in very hot or very cold weather. Walking or jogging in place just seems like the ultimate bore.
I took the Concours down to Starbucks to give it some exercise. When I went to pay for my mocha I was told a 'philanthropist' had bought a gift card and told them to give everyone free coffees for as long as it lasted. Nice!
I then rode up to Rocky Ridge Park and took my end-to-end walk. Along the way I ran into a mountain biker and we chatted about the trails here and mountain-biking trail centers in Delaware and Florida. My walk time of 1:57 reflected my long chat.
I do enjoy these walks this time of year. For the last 40 minutes or so I'm headed westerly and though it's only 1600 or so the sun is low in the sky and it's just very pleasant, particularly if the sun is on my face and the wind has died.
-------------------------
Sunday, 25 December -
We spent the afternoon with Mom and Dad in their apartment for Christmas today. That gave me a chance to set up LogMeIn on Dad's computer and my iPad and give it a try. LogMeIn had just dropped the price (from $29.99 to free!) so that gave me the incentive to try it. It seems to work fine but I need to try it from somewhere other than the same LAN as Dad's PC.
I also helped Labashi's sister get Skype up and running for the first time. She had just gotten a webcam for Christmas and this was her first experience with Skype and she LOVED it. It was great fun to see the look on her face and hear the excitement in her voice as the family gathered round to chat-and-see long distance.
We also connected up with one of Labashi's brothers and his wife in northern Virginia and another sister in southern Michigan had skyped-in this morning. Skype rocks!
-------------------------
Saturday, 24 December -
Today I waited a few hours for the day to warm up above 40 degrees and then rode the GS over to the BMW shop in Lititz to pick up my saddle bag. This is a warranty replacement for the one I dropped off a week or so ago. I enjoyed talking with Charlie the service manager who seems to be perfectly matched to his job. Afterwards I stopped at the Starbucks only a block away. How perfect is that?? A motorcycle shop with interesting bikes and a Starbucks nearby.
That evening we watched a few episodes of 'Rules of Engagement'. We're not sold on this one. I understand the concept of 'suspension of disbelief' but I'm not fond of what I think of as negative reinforcement of gender roles. Then again it's just a TV show.
-------------------------
Friday, 23 December -
Today I spent most of my day researching Florida stuff in preparation for my winter trip. I collected it into an email and sent it off to my brothers, hoping to lure them down for a few days.
This exercise started when I ran onto a Field and Stream article about kayak fishing on Hobie Mirage pedal-fin kayaks in the Keys. That of course got me to thinking about things I've wanted to do in the Keys-- such as a JetLev ride or ultralight floatplane ride. I can't afford to do them all but I can work one or two in this year and save the others for next time!
----------------------------
Thursday, 22 December -
Today was a Starbucks-and-walk day. Weather's still holding up pretty nicely so I took the F650GS for the ride in.
My walk at Rocky Ridge was a 1:50 today.
-------------------------
Wednesday, 21 December -
This morning we drove down to the hospital area to have our TB tests read. We had the injections Tuesday and today was merely a matter of having the nurse check the injection site for signs of a bump under the skin. This was just a routine followup from our series of pills and injections for and after our Botswana trip. We still have two more appointments in February.
I spent the afternoon researching Wide Open Baja cars. These are sand-rail style cars powered by a flat-four Subaru engine of about 175 horsepower. And they have something like an 18-inch travel on the front suspension.
I'm looking at them because they're available for rent both here in Pennsylvania and near Ocala, Florida (one of my regular stops on my winter trip). I gotta do that!
That evening we watched 'Get Low' with Robert Duvall. I think we would give it something like an 85 on the Tomatometer.
********* END OF POST ********
Sent from my iPad
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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