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From Nevada to Vietnam
Sep. 11th, 2013 07:31 pmI am, of course, remarkably busy and, hence, behind on writing. This should get me more or less caught up on things I am willing to write about publicly.
Celebrity death watch: There are several interesting celebrity deaths to note. Muriel Siebert was the first woman to have a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. I have to admit I had not realized that newsman David Frost, who is probably most famous for his interviews with Richard Nixon, was still alive until he wasn't. Another "end of an era" death to note is that of science fiction writer, Frederik Pohl. In my opinion, he was more significant as an editor than as a writer, but I'm also not a big science fiction person, so my opinion is only semi-educated. Cal Worthington was a car dealer whose commercials in California featured his "dog" Spot (various animals, most memorably a lion and a hippo) and a catchy "Go see Cal" jingle. And Seamus Heaney was an Irish poet who translated Beowulf.
Reno Mileage Run: In late August, I did a quick trip to Reno. This was pretty much a mileage run, but Reno is a good place to do that to since you can arrive late at night and depart early in the morning without bothering with a hotel room. In this case, I took a shuttle from the airport to the Peppermill and gambled all night, coming out about 20 bucks ahead. The travel also went fairly smoothly, despite a delay in the first leg that made the connection a bit tighter than I'd have preferred. All in all, with a good price on the ticket, it was a fairly painless way to rack up some miles.
Baseball: Goldstar often has discount tickets for baseball games, so provided a cheap way to see the Nationals play the Mets. It was a bit of a pain picking up the ticket, since the third party ticket office is all the way around the ballpark from the main box office with confusing signage. But cheap is cheap and I even got a free t-shirt. This game was a case of divided loyalties for me. The Mets won and I was pleased that their victory was largely due to a 2-run homer by Ike Davis, who is more or less the Art Shamsky of our times. (So, sue me. When in doubt, I always root for Jewish baseball players.)
Zaytinya and Men's Collars Over the Years: The Smithsonian American Art Museum / National Portrait Gallery was presenting the movie Wings, the first ever best picture Oscar winner. I made plans to go with a couple of friends. One of them joined me for lunch at Zaytinya beforehand. This is the Mediterranean outpost of the Jose Andres empire and is every bit as good as his other places. They were continuing Restaurant Week, so it was also excellent value. All of the food was good, but particularly notable dishes included the baba ghannouge and adana kebab.
We had time before the movie to look at a little of the museum. I've been to that museum a lot, so imposed my favorite exhibit there (David Beck's MVSEVM) on my friend. We also looked at the patent models and the portraits of the Presidents. I usually speculate on men's facial hair, but she focused on the collars, which don't lie flat until the late 19th century. There may be some correlation with beards. There are also changes in neckwear, but there is something of a chicken and egg problem here.
I'll write about the movie separately, since I seem to still be seeing enough movies to make them worth their own quarterly wrap-up.
Dinner in Singapore: The MIT Club of Washington provided a slightly early birthday dinner for me, in the form of an event at the Embassy of Singapore. The talks included a short one by the ambassador on the history of Singapore, followed by a marine biologist discussing sustainability. The food was reasonably varied, with meat, chicken, fish and vegetable dishes. Plus galub jamum for dessert. Good food and intelligent conversation always make for my sort of evening.
Speaking of Birthdays: I'm 55. As a few people pointed out, I'm eligible for the over-55 menus at various chain restaurants I don't normally eat at.
Culpeper Volksmarch: I am trying to get caught up on the baseball walks program, so did a year round event in Culpeper. The route was quite hilly and, therefore, kicked my butt. I also need new walking shoes as my feet were killing me for the last kilometer or so (of 10). But the walk served its purpose as (among other things) it passed the childhood home (with historical sign) of Eppa Rixley, who pitched for the Phillies.
Story Swap: We had our regular story swap on Saturday night, which is always fun. I need to find some time to work on some new things. In lieu of that, I told "Why I'm Not a Millionaire." Jane had an excellent Norwegian story.
Miss Saigon: This was the first show of the season at Signature Theatre. They did a reasonably good job, given the limitations of the score. Diana Huey was impressive as Kim, as was Tom Semsa as The Engineer. I also want to note Chris Sizemore as John. I think the score is pretty weak and some of Richard Maltby, Jr.'s lyrics are remarkably amateurish, e.g. rhyming "moon" and "fortune." I can also quibble with the orchestration in a few places, as I firmly believe that a song lyric referring to "a song played by a single saxophone" should not be accompanied by keyboards and percussion (in addition to the saxophone). Still, I thought Karma Camp's choreography for "Enter the Dragon" was impressive and I got all teary-eyed during "Bui Doi," a song about the plight of street children. My bottom line is that Signature did as well as possible, given the limitations of the material.
Celebrity death watch: There are several interesting celebrity deaths to note. Muriel Siebert was the first woman to have a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. I have to admit I had not realized that newsman David Frost, who is probably most famous for his interviews with Richard Nixon, was still alive until he wasn't. Another "end of an era" death to note is that of science fiction writer, Frederik Pohl. In my opinion, he was more significant as an editor than as a writer, but I'm also not a big science fiction person, so my opinion is only semi-educated. Cal Worthington was a car dealer whose commercials in California featured his "dog" Spot (various animals, most memorably a lion and a hippo) and a catchy "Go see Cal" jingle. And Seamus Heaney was an Irish poet who translated Beowulf.
Reno Mileage Run: In late August, I did a quick trip to Reno. This was pretty much a mileage run, but Reno is a good place to do that to since you can arrive late at night and depart early in the morning without bothering with a hotel room. In this case, I took a shuttle from the airport to the Peppermill and gambled all night, coming out about 20 bucks ahead. The travel also went fairly smoothly, despite a delay in the first leg that made the connection a bit tighter than I'd have preferred. All in all, with a good price on the ticket, it was a fairly painless way to rack up some miles.
Baseball: Goldstar often has discount tickets for baseball games, so provided a cheap way to see the Nationals play the Mets. It was a bit of a pain picking up the ticket, since the third party ticket office is all the way around the ballpark from the main box office with confusing signage. But cheap is cheap and I even got a free t-shirt. This game was a case of divided loyalties for me. The Mets won and I was pleased that their victory was largely due to a 2-run homer by Ike Davis, who is more or less the Art Shamsky of our times. (So, sue me. When in doubt, I always root for Jewish baseball players.)
Zaytinya and Men's Collars Over the Years: The Smithsonian American Art Museum / National Portrait Gallery was presenting the movie Wings, the first ever best picture Oscar winner. I made plans to go with a couple of friends. One of them joined me for lunch at Zaytinya beforehand. This is the Mediterranean outpost of the Jose Andres empire and is every bit as good as his other places. They were continuing Restaurant Week, so it was also excellent value. All of the food was good, but particularly notable dishes included the baba ghannouge and adana kebab.
We had time before the movie to look at a little of the museum. I've been to that museum a lot, so imposed my favorite exhibit there (David Beck's MVSEVM) on my friend. We also looked at the patent models and the portraits of the Presidents. I usually speculate on men's facial hair, but she focused on the collars, which don't lie flat until the late 19th century. There may be some correlation with beards. There are also changes in neckwear, but there is something of a chicken and egg problem here.
I'll write about the movie separately, since I seem to still be seeing enough movies to make them worth their own quarterly wrap-up.
Dinner in Singapore: The MIT Club of Washington provided a slightly early birthday dinner for me, in the form of an event at the Embassy of Singapore. The talks included a short one by the ambassador on the history of Singapore, followed by a marine biologist discussing sustainability. The food was reasonably varied, with meat, chicken, fish and vegetable dishes. Plus galub jamum for dessert. Good food and intelligent conversation always make for my sort of evening.
Speaking of Birthdays: I'm 55. As a few people pointed out, I'm eligible for the over-55 menus at various chain restaurants I don't normally eat at.
Culpeper Volksmarch: I am trying to get caught up on the baseball walks program, so did a year round event in Culpeper. The route was quite hilly and, therefore, kicked my butt. I also need new walking shoes as my feet were killing me for the last kilometer or so (of 10). But the walk served its purpose as (among other things) it passed the childhood home (with historical sign) of Eppa Rixley, who pitched for the Phillies.
Story Swap: We had our regular story swap on Saturday night, which is always fun. I need to find some time to work on some new things. In lieu of that, I told "Why I'm Not a Millionaire." Jane had an excellent Norwegian story.
Miss Saigon: This was the first show of the season at Signature Theatre. They did a reasonably good job, given the limitations of the score. Diana Huey was impressive as Kim, as was Tom Semsa as The Engineer. I also want to note Chris Sizemore as John. I think the score is pretty weak and some of Richard Maltby, Jr.'s lyrics are remarkably amateurish, e.g. rhyming "moon" and "fortune." I can also quibble with the orchestration in a few places, as I firmly believe that a song lyric referring to "a song played by a single saxophone" should not be accompanied by keyboards and percussion (in addition to the saxophone). Still, I thought Karma Camp's choreography for "Enter the Dragon" was impressive and I got all teary-eyed during "Bui Doi," a song about the plight of street children. My bottom line is that Signature did as well as possible, given the limitations of the material.
