fauxklore | Entries tagged with retirement

I have been out and about quite a lot over the past couple of weeks. Here is an attempt at catching up. There’s some storytelling stuff, too, which I will write about separately.

Baseball: I am sleep deprived due to Red Sox Stress Syndrome. The playoff against the Source of All Evil in the Universe went well and, after the first game, the BoSox walked all over the Rays, which surprised and delighted me. The ALCS, did not go so well. After an excellent 2nd and 3rd games, my boys collapsed and the Astros are off to the World Series. See you next year.

Leading Jewish Minds at MIT: MIT Hillel runs an interesting lecture series in which Jewish faculty members talk about their work (and Rabbi Fisher provides some Jewish framework for the discussion). The early October talk was by Lotte Bailyn and discussed research on transition to retirement. The basic point is that people need to rearchitect their lives and find a new source of structure when they retire. Flexibility is very important in this. At any rate, I concluded I am mostly doing things wright, though I think I could be more mindful about time management.

IAJGS: The deadline for listening to recorded sessions from the Jewish genealogy conference in August was the first week in October. I didn’t manage to listen to everything I wanted to, but I had time for a few more presentations. The best of those had to do with finding unindexed records, creative methods for finding family members, early photography, and additional sources for death information.

Having Our Say: This play marked the reopening of Creative Cauldron. They are definitely doing things right with respect to COVID protocols - blocking out seats next to, in front of, and behind each ticket (or pod) and requiring proof of vaccination. The friend I went with and I actually bought two seats with an empty one in between, so we had the whole row on one side of the center section. Anyway, the play tells the story of Bessie and Sadie Delany, a pair of Black sister who are looking back from 100+ years. Bessie became a dentist and Sadie a high school teacher (in a white high school, which required some trickery on her part to get the job). Their book was a best-seller, but I admit to not having read it. (The play made me more interested in doing it.) Anyway, it’s a very cozy play. You really feel like you’re visiting their house, listening to them chat. Both Ayesis Clay as Bessie and Lisa Hill-Conley as Sadie were convincing. That is, I really forgot I was watching a play and, even when there were a few possibly fumbled lines (we were there on preview night), they could have just been the sort of slips of the tongue that people make in conversation. Creative Cauldron is one of my favorite venues and this work was well suited to its intimacy. I am glad to see them back.

RennFest: One of my friends is a big Renaissance Festival fan. I haven’t been to a Rennfast in many years, but thought it would be fun to go with her. So we did that a couple of weeks ago. It was rather crossed, but manageable. We spent much of our time shopping, which is not really something I need to do. But I did get a new hat, a stuffed dragon (with a Washington Nationals theme, and a wonderful piece of blown glass depicting a shark eating a mermaid. I also bought some fudge. (My friend bought a quilt as a baby gift, a hat, and probably something else I’ve forgotten about.) I should note that our hats came from the shop where the daughter of another friend was working. We also watched a show by The Danger Committee, who combine comedy with knife and axe throwing, which I enjoyed more than I expected to. We also had plenty of people watching and a stop for lunch. Overall, I enjoyed it but I don’t need to go again for five or more years.

Glenstone: Glenstone is a contemporary art museum in Maryland. It is free, but hard to get tickets to. They release them on the first of the month for two months out and they tend to sell out in a few minutes. Anyway, the MIT Club of DC got a block of tickets, so I was finally able to go. There is a huge pavilion, with several rooms of interesting art, of which my favorite piece was one that involved a number of rusted beams collapsed into a hole. The major attraction was a temporary exhibit of work by Faith Ringgold, including both paintings and the quilts she is more famous for. The quilts are particularly wonderful. All the MIT Club people gathered for lunch and conversation. There are also several walking paths around the grounds, though the weather was iffy, so I didn’t do the full path. I should also note that there are a number of outdoor sculptures, including a “living” one by Jeff Koons, that gets replanted with flowers a couple of times a year. Koons is not an artist I like and I thought the piece was pretty hideous.

Remember This: I had seen an earlier version of this one man show starring David Strathiirn, but a friend wanted to go and I was willing to see it again. It tells the story of Jan Karski, who was a member of the Polish underground during World War II. He was smuggled into a Jewish ghetto and a concentration camp and tried to report his observations to Western governments. He was able to speak to high ranking government officials, who basically blew him off. It’s a powerful work. It has closed here, but will be playing in Chicago in November and will be available on film later on.

Ari Shapiro and Alan Cumming: I went to see a cabaret show by Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro at the Kennedy Center a little over a week ago. They started with a medley of Broadway duets - Bosom Buddies (from Mame), You’re the Top (from Anything Goes), Anything You Can Do (from Annie Get Your Gun) and The Grass is Always Greener (from Woman of the Year). They told various stories including their coming out stories and stories about same sex marriage. Ari sang Laughing Matters (a 1990’s Bette Midler song from the off-Broadway musical When Pigs Fly) and Alan sang Taylor the Latte Boy. All in all, it was a very entertaining show.

Memorial Service: Last Saturday was the memorial service for Merrilee and Bob Pallansch, who died about a week apart back in January. A few other storytellers were there and two of them told stories. Bob was well-known in the area for repairing brass instruments and played tuba and various tuba-adjacent instruments, including the serpent and the ophicleide (or, as one of their daughters said, the awfulcleide). So there were a few pieces played by a brass ensemble at the beginning. Anyway, I think their family took some comfort from the good turnout (despite the crappy weather, which made the people coming from Maryland late getting there).

Gettysburg: Last Sunday I drove up to Gettysburg for a Loser brunch and battlefield tour. The food at the Appalachian Brewing Company was pretty good. The tour included the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and views from Little Round Top. We were also supposed to go to the cemetery, but it was very cold and blustery out and getting late so we skipped that. As a result of running late, the traffic getting home was very heavy and it took me nearly an hour longer getting back than it had driving up there.

Used Bookstore Run: I had an appointment to take my car in for service on Thursday, so I was already in Manassas and stopped in at McKay. I got rid of 23 books and came home with 9 new ones (and still have $9 in trade credit left). So it was a successful trip.

Metro Note: Aside from the minimal service right now, since Metro has pulled all of the 7000 series cars out of service after a derailment a couple of weeks ago, I ran into a different problem on Friday when I went to Crystal City to have lunch with a friend. Namely, my SmarTrip card wouldn’t work to let me out of the turnstile. And there was no station manager around. I waited about 10 minutes and finally decided the only thing to do was jump the turnstile! It turns out that the new turnstiles can’t read old cards, so I have to go to Mero Center to exchange my old cards. (I do have two of the newer series cards I can use, but this is a pain in the neck.) You can supposedly transfer cards on—line but I think my old card is registered under my work email address I no longer have access to. Sight.

Silly Thing I Noticed Recently: The mother in the comic strips Zits and Baby Boom is the same person. I guess Jerry Scott can only draw one mom.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/498885.html

Celebrity Death Watch: Jonathan Bush was a banker and the brother of George H.W. Bush. Paul Van Doren co-founded Vans. Leigh Perkins expanded Orris into a major mail order retailer, mostly of fishing and outdoors gear. Spencer Silver co-invented Post-it Notes. Pete duPont served two terms as governor of Delaware. Art Gensler founded the world’s largest architectural firm, whose work included the terminals at San Francisco International Airport. Lester Wolff was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Long Island. Norman Lloyd was an actor and notable for continuing to work until he was 100 years old. (He was 106 when he died.) Jim Klobuchar was a journalist and father of Amy. Richard Rubinstein was a rabbi who defended the Moonies on the grounds of anti-Communism. Patsy Bruce wrote country songs, such as “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” Terence Riley was the chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art. Douglass Mossman was an actor, best known for appearing in Hawaii Five-O. Charles Grodin was a prolific actor, comedian, and talk show host. Paul Mooney was a comedian. and wrote for a number of other black comedians. Alex Dobkin was a folk singer. Roman Kent was the president of the International Auschwitz Committee. Dewayne Blackwell wrote “Friends in Low Places,” among other songs. Samuel E. Wright voiced Sebastian in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Anna Halprin was a post-modern choreographer. Jerome Hellman was a film producer who won an Oscar for Midnight Cowboy. Mary Beth Edelson was one of the first generation of feminist artists and is best known for “Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper.”

Eric Carle wrote and illustrated The Very Hungry Caterpillar and several other children’s books. He is also notable for founding a museum of picture book art. Another author/illustrator of children’s books, Lois Ehlers, best known for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom died a couple of days later.

John Warner spent 30 years as a Republican senator from Virginia and had earlier been the Secretary of the Navy. He was also Elizabeth Taylor’s sixth husband. Despite having been a Republican, in more recent years, he endorsed a number of Democrats, both for the Senate and the Presidency.

B. J. Thomas was a pop singer. Some of the songs he was well-known for include “Hooked on a Feeling,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” and “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.”

Gavin McLeod played Murray on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and was the captain on The Love Boat.

I don’t normally mention animal deaths, but Bo, the Obama family dog, was prominent enough that I think he deserves a note. I don’t think many Americans had heard of a Portuguese water dog, a supposedly hypo-allergenic breed, before the Obamas got him for their daughters.

Errata: I made a minor addition to the Island Hopping entry. I had completely neglected Jones Beach. And Fire Island, which I might have gone to.

Cool Baseball Trivia: On Friday May 21st, Seattle back-up catcher Jose Godoy made his major league debut, becoming the 20,000th player in major league baseball history. (The Mariners got slaughtered by the Padres, however, losing 16-1.)

Blight Flight: I watched this short play by Iyona Blake on-line a couple of weeks ago. I know her work primarily as a singer and actor, who has made numerous appearances at Signature Theatre and Creative Cauldron. The play involves a white woman trying to befriend the black woman being forced out of the house next door by rising prices in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. The black woman makes her question her assumptions, but the two connect at the end via a song. It was a challenging story and I’d like to see it developed into a full-length production mostly because I was left with a lot of questions about both women.

Don’t Analyze This Dream: I drove into the German embassy - literally, into the building. I pulled up next to a guard who told me to get out of the car and then took my temperature with a forehead thermometer. Another guard came over, walked around me, shook his head, but did not tell me what to do or where to go. At that point, three women came in, one of whom resembles someone I slightly know. They were given some papers by another guard and went into a door. I waited a while, all of the guards wandered away, and I decided I should go through that same door. The three women were gone. Just outside the door, I saw a small table with stacks of vaccination certificates. I walked over to a window where a guy told me I didn’t have to do anything but take a seat at a table and wait. He also invited me to an upcoming Valentine’s Day party at the embassy. While I was waiting, someone said they had gotten the number 30, which seemed to be a bad thing. The three women came back in, carrying clipboards with yellow papers. I don’t remember anything happening after that point.

This Way Lies Madness: I finally achieved Queen Bee in the New York Times Spelling Bee (a daily word puzzle). Not just once, but every day for a week or so and several times since. I have decided, however, that pursuing that every day is just too obsessive, especially on days when there are 60+ words to find. I did admittedly do it today, but there were only 39 words.

Retirement Gift: I got the retirement gift catalog from Circle-A and chose an iPad. The other possibility was an Apple watch, but I have really small wrists and thought I would find it awkward. It came on Friday but I haven’t set it up yet. I think the current offerings (which also include things like cookware and jewelry),are better than what people years ago complained about. Twenty some odd years ago,, they gave out mostly clocks, with only an engraved bowl as a non-time oriented option.

Art Fair: I went to the Old Town Art Fair in Alexandria a couple of weeks ago. I attempted to find someone to come along to be a shopping discourager, but none of my friends were interested and available. As a result, I bought a few things - a robot sculpture from Cheri Kudzu’s Bitti Bots, a brooch made from watch parts, and a book called Goodbye, Penguins, which has a rather Gorey-esque sensibility. I like some works of urban surrealism by a guy named Ralph Rankin, but he was horribly rude to me when I asked for his card, so I will never buy anything from him.

Renwick Gallery: I went to the Renwick Gallery a week and a half ago with one of the women from my crafts group. Mostly, we went to look at the Renwick Invitational, which had installations from four artists. Rowland Ricketts had a large piece made of squares of indigo-dyed fabric. He apparently grows the indigo himself. That installation also had music in the background. Lauren Fensterstock’s piece was titled “The totality of time lusters the dusk.” It was a complex mosaic piece made of glass, crystals, beads, paper, hematite, etc. and, while I thought it was interesting, it was too hard to see the whole thing at some time. Debora Moore had several pieces that involved glass flower petals blown directly onto wood and concrete bases. Finally, Timothy Horn had large pieces based on historic jewelry, as well as an interesting carriage made out of rock sugar. After looking at that exhibit, we went upstairs to look at the permanent exhibit. Janet Echelon’s 1.8 is one of the highlights, with a fiber netting that changes colors in response to lighting. My favorite, however, was Skeins by Mariska Karasz. Overall, it was a nice couple of hours.

Immigrant Food: After the museum, I had lunch at Immigrant Food, which is more or less around the corner. I had their equivalent of a banh mi, which was quite tasty. (The person I went with wanted to rush home, as she is caring for her husband who is in treatment for cancer.)

Good News: I got my blood tested a few days ago. And all of the numbers on the iron panel were within normal range. So I just need to continue taking oral supplements.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/491776.html

I had not intended such a long time since my last entry here and, frankly, I have no good excuse. I’ve just been suffering from a case of the IDon’tWannas. Which has me behind on everything that doesn’t have an actual schedule. For example, my to-do list is roughly the length of a CVS receipt.

Anyway, catching up here will cross off at least two inches of that to-do list, so let’s start.

The big news is that I retired from my job, effective October 1st. This has been my intent for a long time, since I started working for my company long enough ago that I was eligible for my full pension at a relatively young age. I wasn’t unhappy with work, per se, but I have a lot of other things I want to do. It is decidedly nice not setting an alarm clock, though I finding there are disadvantages to that, too. It is easy for me to revert to extreme night owl tendencies. Well, not quite as bad as when I was in grad school and there were, apparently,, rumors that I was a vampire. But I have seen a lot of nights go past midnight over the past month.

I had a retirement party over Microsoft Teams, which was very weird, but it was better than not having anything at all. Several people spoke - mostly bosses (both corporate and government customer), but also various colleagues. The thing I found most interesting was that several people said things about my being calm in dealing with difficult people. The other things people mentioned were more obvious, e.g. my interesting travels.

A few days later, I sent out this email, with the title “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish:”

On New Year's Day 2002, I was on a small ship in the Galapagos and we encountered a pod of hundreds of dolphins. It was an unexpected experience and an excellent way to start the year.

Hence, the subject line of this email, which (for those who haven't read all of Douglas Adams) is the message the dolphins leave behind when they escape the earth.

Aerospace hasn't been anything like a doomed planet to me, although I have had occasion to learn a little about the threat from asteroids! If you'd asked me back in 1985 if I would still be here in just under 35 years, I'd have laughed at you. But there's been interesting and meaningful work and lots of opportunities to satisfy my short attention span. And, most
importantly, there has been the pleasure of working with great people,within Aerospace, other FFRDCs, Government, and SETAs.

This email address will be going away some time tomorrow or the next day as I move
into retirement. People keep asking what I am going to do with my time.
Well, here's a few things:

Read more of the couple of thousand books I inherited from my parents (and the couple of hundred I've bought myself

Knit and crochet and make books

Take long walks, including the ridiculous idea of walking everystreet and footpath here in Vienna, Virginia

Despite the current problems of travel, take shorter trips, including National Parks and interesting little towns. (I have never been to Chincoteague or to Cape May, for example.)

Catch up on writing the last 10 years or so of travelogues, since my website xenophilia.net is more like a cobweb site right now.

Continue storytelling

Do lots of puzzles

I’ve had an interesting career, but I am ready for the next phase of life.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/476722.html

Celebrity Death Watch: Robert Trump was the president’s brother. Ben Cross was an actor, best known for playing Harold Abrahams in Chariots of Fire. Jack Sherman played guitar with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Fern Cunningham was a sculptor. Joe Englert was a restaurateur, who was largely responsible for the growth of H Street NE in D.C. as a nightlife destination. John H. Hager was the lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1998-2002. Allan Rich was a character actor. Lori Nelson was an actress who appeared in a number of low-budget science fiction films. Arnold Spielberg was an electrical engineer who designed the first computer-controlled point of sales cash register, though he is probably more famous as the father of Steven Spielberg. Gerald Carr was an astronaut. Joe Ruby co-created Scooby-Doo. Ronnie Kole founded the French Quarter Festival. Seymour Schwartz wrote a widely used textbook on surgery. Virginia Bossler was a musical theatre and movie actress, best known for playing Jean McLaren in Brigadoon. Ian Mitchell played bass with the Bay City Rollers. Irving Kanarek was Charles Manson’s defense lawyer. Gary Peacock was a jazz double bassist. Bruce Williamson sang with the Temptations. Kevin Dobson was an actor, best known for appearing in Kojak. Constance Weldon was the first woman to play tuba in an American orchestra. Gerald Shur developed the Witness Protection Program. Luiz Dilipe Barbosa was a choreographer who popularized Israeli folk dance in Brazil. Mel Krupin ran Duke Zeibert’s restaurant in D.C. before opening an eponymous deli.

Gail Sheehy was the author of Passages, a very influential book about aging, particularly for women. She also wrote a lot of long-form magazine pieces, notably one abut Grey Gardens, which led to a documentary about Edie Beale and her daughter and their hoarding issues.

Chadwick Boseman was an actor, who played a number of Black heroes. That includes not only Black Panther, but also Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall.

Tom Seaver was a pitching ace for the New York Mets. For those of us who grew up with the team, he will always be Tom Terrific, their all-time leader in wins. There are too many accomplishments to list them all, but one that is unique is having struck out 10 consecutive batters. Reggie Jackson allegedly said that blind people came to the ballpark just to hear him pitch He was one of my favorite players when I was growing up and will be sorely missed.

Kank Kek Iew, better known as Comrade Duch, was the overseer of the Tuol Seng prison during the Khmer Rouge era. He was an evil man, responsible for torture and mass murder and the world is better off without him.

Lou Brock was an outfielder, primarily for the Saint Louis Cardinals. In addition to his batting accomplishments, his biggest claim to fame was breaking Ty Cobb;s record for stolen bases. (His record has since been surpassed by Rickey Henderson.)

What I Hate About Geni: For those who are unfamiliar with it, geni.com is one of several sites that is trying to build a world family tree. It is somewhat useful for finding relatives, but there are a number of things that annoy me about it. At the very top of the list is the long, complicated lists it shows for how someone is related to you.

So the other day, I got one of their periodic lists of DNA matches. Most of those are around the 3rd cousin level, which is probably further away because of Jewish endogamy. In a few cases, it gives me a list of how a match is related to me. This one showed someone as “second cousin once removed's wife's sister's husband's second cousin's wife's great uncle's ex-wife's great nephew.” This would be mildly amusing, but, no, DNA doesn’t transfer across marriages.

Don’t Analyze This Dream – Part 1: Bert Convy was singing the song “Convoy..” ( woke up focused on the word, “convey.”

Don’t Analyze This Dream – Part 2: I have a lot of dreams that seem to involve architecture. Or, at least, that is the part I remember. I had a dream last week that involved climbing lots of stairs in a white tower.

Code Names: We have continued playing frequently. The most amusing evening this past week was one in which one team (not mine!) hit the assassin 5 games in a row.

Rabbit Holes: Looking at real estate possibilities is always a bit of a rabbit hole. Providence is surprisingly affordable, so I need to look into it further. (I’ve been there multiple times and like it, but visiting and living somewhere are different.)

The bigger rabbit hole I fell into recently was the Try Channel on YouTube. Basically, they have videos of Irish people taste testing foods from other countries (mostly American). There are also ones involving them watching television programs or doing various things while drunk, but those are less my speed.

Retirement Preparation: I got a really great retirement gift today. My boss told me I don’t have to do our annual performance review! Just what I always wanted.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/476064.html

Random odds and ends, though I am still way behind.

Beisbol: All of the teams I care about are doing horribly. The only team with a worse record than my beloved BoSox is Pittsburgh (who I don’t really care about). The Nats, the Giants, and the Royals are all cellar dwellers and the only reason the Mets aren’t is because they play in the same division as the Nats. Even worse, the Source of All Evil in the Universe is In second in the AL East, which is, as always, a bad sign for the universe in general. Sob.

Quick Political Note of the Day: I am not watching much of the Democratic Convention, but I couldn’t resist watching the roll call. I have two questions: 1) What on earth was the woman from Iowa wearing? And 2) Does anybody actually think of calamari when they think of Rhode Island? I could see clams, but tentacles? Really? (Note: when I think of Rhode Island, I mostly think of johnnycakes and coffee milk.

Other Places to Consider Living: I should probably also look at Rhode Island (both Newport and Providence) and maybe Southern Connecticut, though the latter suffers from lack of great airport access.

Looking at Boston-area real estate (on-line) is depressing. I am spoiled where I am now, with a lot of space (1100 square feet) and full size washer and dryer in my unit, as well as various yuppie amenities in my condo complex (aside from the expected like gym, pool, and sauna, there is, for example, a golf simulator). It looks like prices in, say, Somerville, would beat least half again as much as what I would be likely to get for my condo, with taxes about double what they are here and none of those amenities, not that I really make much use of them. To be fair, HOA fees are about half what mine are now. But still …

And, no, I don’t know why I am even looking since I have no intention of moving for at least 3 years.

10 Rules For Pairing Potato Chips: I forgot to write about this virtual play I saw a douple of weeks ago. The premise was interesting enough. The world expert on crispology, the art of what potato chips to serve with any given main course, has to avert a diplomatic crisis when a White House menu has both potato chips and French fries on the menu to accompany hamburgers. An agent of a rival country is opposing her, as is another expert on potato chip pairing. She is assisted by her young protégé. This should have been funny, but it didn’t quite work for me.

Code Names: We’ve continued to play Code Names a couple of times a week. I’ve noticed that when we are teaming up, we most often do it along gender lines.

Wednesday night, I thought I had given a rather clever clue, by using “Frenchman” to clue the words “cheese” and “monkey.” Alas, my teammate had never heard the phrase “cheese-eating surrender monkey,” so it didn’t work.

Film Talk: I went to a n on-line talk with Eric Anjou, director of Deli Man and other Jewish-themed movies, including a couple of documentaries about Jewish music, last night. He spoke well, though he was wrong about several things. For example, he claimed that Katz’s is the only Jewish deli left in Manhattan. Er, no, there’s Ben’s, Pastrami Queen (which is opening a branch at the old Fine and Shapiro’s), and, my favorite, 2nd Avenue Deli, as well as others I don’t generally go to. He also said that Kenny and Zuke’s in Portland is gone, which is not true.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/475499.html

Celebrity Death Watch: Bruno Nettl was an ethnomusicologist. Steve Martin Caro was the lead singer of The Left Banke, best known for their hit song “Walk Away, Renee.” David Olney was a singer-songwriter, who died in the middle of a concert. Lee Gelber was an urban historian and tour guide in New York City. Morgan Wootten was a basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland, mentoring a number of students who went on to be pro players. John Karlen was an actor, best known for playing Willie Loomis in Dark Shadows. Sonny Grosso was a policeman who was immortalized for breaking up :the French connection.” Margo Lion was a theatre producer, best known for Hairspray. Michou was a French drag queen.

Christopher Tolkien edited The Silmarrilion and had, apparently, drawn the original maps for The Lord of the Rings. He was on my back-up list for my ghoul pool, which gets me nothing. Related to this (but completely independent), Barbara Remington drew the cover art for the first paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings. If those illustrations seem a bit off, she hadn't read the books first.

Frieda Caplan introduced a lot of exotic foods to the United States, including several varieties of mushrooms, kiwi fruit, jicama, and spaghetti squash. Her company was the first wholesale produce company to be founded, owned, and operated by a woman.

Terry Jones was one of the creators of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He directed three of their movies. He was also a medieval historian and wrote children’s books. He was a very funny man and will be missed.

Jim Lehrer was a journalist, best known for his television partnership with Robert MacNeil, as well as for moderating Presidential debates.

Pete Stark was the first member of Congress to publicly identify as an atheist. He is also known for fighting for health care reform. Unfortunately, he was also notably anti-Semitic and sexist and, generally uncivil towards fellow representatives.

Kobe Bryant played basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was also a noted philanthropist. That legacy is marred by a credible rape accusation in 2003, which was closed when the victim withdrew from testifying because of threats against her. On the plus side, Bryant did go on to be a strong supporter of his daughter (and women’s basketball, in general), who was also killed in the helicopter crash. It's all very complex.

TCC Luncheon: The only thing I went out of my house for this weekend was the Travelers’ Century Club luncheon. We were in the bar area at J. Gilbert’s this time, which didn’t work well for me. The acoustics were terrible, for one thing. For another, the service was even worse than usual and our table practically had to beg to get someone to take our orders. It was a little easier to mingle, but still crowded enough that it was hard to get around to talk to people. Still, there was lots of interesting conversation, so it was worth going. And, by the way, for those who think I am insanely intrepid, I would not be willing to go to some places some people go to. Syria? No thanks.

Retirement Planning: I realized that retiring on October 1st means I should be able to go to Jonesborough (for the National Storytelling Festival) and to an art retreat in Ocean City. However, even without work to consider, it appears that my life will continue to be a schedule conflict.

More Living Room Archaeology: I think I can safely get rid of a schedule for performances at Wolf Trap in 2016.

Grammy Awards: I am glad Angelique Kidjo won for world music album. Also, I realized I don’t understand what the definitions of the overwhelming majority of genres are.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/466896.html

Celebrity Death Watch: Randy Suess co-founded the first bulletin board system brought on-line. Danny Aiello was a film actor. Felix Rohatyn was an investment banker and diplomat. Ram Dass popularized Eastern religion among baby boomers. Elizabeth Spencer wrote the novel The Light in the Piazza which was later made into a Broadway musical. Victor Shargai promoted theatre in D.C., including chairing the Helen Hayes Award. Ailee Willis wrote hit songs for Earth, Wind and Fire, as well as lyrics for the musical, The Color Purple. Les Chadwick played bass with Gerry and the Pacemakers. Sleepy LaBeef was a rockablly singer. Don Imus was a radio personality. Neil Innes was a comedian and played with The Rutles. Marian Gibbons was a prolific writer, most notably of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mysteries, under the pseudonym, M.C. Beaton. David Stern was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association for 20 years. Don Larsen was the only person to pitch a perfect game in the World Series. Tommy Hancock was a big name in West Texas music. Qasem Soleimani was an Iranian general, responsible for several acts of terrorism. Reuben Herch wrote about mathematical experience. Tom Long acted in a lot of Australian movies. Elizabeth Wurtzel wrote Prozac Nation. Neil Peart was the drummer for Rush. Peter Kirstein put the first computer outside the U.S. on ARPANET. Edd Byrnes was an actor, best known for playing Kookie on 77 Sunset Strip. Mike Resnick was a science fiction writer.

Robert Kincaid was a celebrity chef in Washington, D.C. I have often eaten at his restaurant, Campono, while going to events at the Kennedy Center.

Jerry Herman was a composer and lyricist of Broadway musicals. His well known shows include Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage Aux Folles. A lot of musical theatre geeks consider Mack and Mabel his best show. He later had a career as a decorator. He was also my final ghoul pool score for 2019.

Buck Henry was an actor, writer, and director, responsible for (among many other things) Get Smart, Captain Nice, and Quark. The latter had to do with a space garbageman and is a lot of fun for those of us who have occasion to talk about space debris.

Qaboos bin Said Al Said was the Sultan of Oman. He was highly revered there (as I learned during my recent trip) and widely credited with modernizing the country and developing it. He was also notable for a neutral approach towards foreign policy that helped him broker deals, e.g. freeing Americans who had strayed into Iran. I am very interested in how things will develop in Oman without him. (His cousin has been sworn in as his successor.) Also, he was my first ghoul pool score of the year.

Non-celebrity Death Watch: Stacey Nakamura was active in MIT Alumni Affairs, including for the Class of 1980. He worked for NASA since graduation and was also active in the MIT Club of Houston. He was a kind and generous man and will be missed by all who knew him.

Book Club: We had a small group for Wednesday night’s discussion of Self-Made Man by Norah Vincent. For those unfamiliar with the book, Vincent disguised herself as a man to experience all-male environments, ranging from a bowling group to an abbey to a men’s therapy retreat. She came away more sympathetic to men than she’d previously been, but she also suffered a breakdown. The one man who was at our discussion was, somewhat to my surprise, the person who liked the book the most. One of the other people completely detested it, largely because of the breakdown. The rest of us had mixed feelings. I had ethical concerns, particularly related to her dating experiences. At any rate, I thought the book was an interesting read.

By the way, there were comments / complaints that asked "what has she done since?" I admit I had not looked things up before the meeting, but 15 seconds of google will take you to her Wikipedia page and note that she has had three other books published, including one having to do with her experiences as a mental patient.

Loser Holiday Party: Saturday night was the annual post-holiday party of Loserdom, i.e. those of us who enjoy the Washington Post Style Invitational. My contribution to the potluck aspect was insalata caprese, which was a success in that I had no leftovers. There was lots of interesting conversation and the usual fun of singing a bunch of song parodies. Overall, it was a nice evening out.

Metro issues getting home were less fun, but so it goes. They had shut down some stations, which would have been okay, but they were not running express buses on the way home, as they had been on the way there. So the shuttle service took about three times as long as it needed to.

Retirement Countdown: I am irritated with a number of admin things at work, so I am happy to report that (as of today), I have 262 days until retirement.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/465614.html

Celebrity Death Watch: Charlie Cole was a photojournalist. Peter Nichols was a playwright, best known for A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Anne Rivers Siddons was a Southern novelist. T. Boone Pickens was an oil magnate. Eddie Money was a singer who got only one ticket to paradise. Ric Ocasek was the lead singer of The Cars, who were a big deal in Boston in the late 1970’s. John Cohen was one of the founders of the New Lost City Ramblers. Betty Corwin created an archive of theatre on film and tape.

Robert Mugabe was a Zimbabwean revolutionary, turned big man politician and dictator. All in all, he destroyed what should have been a prosperous country to line his own pockets. I’ve been known to describe him as the most evil person who never actually played for the New York Yankees. In case you haven’t figured it out, he was someone I was happy to see die. And, yes, I had him on my ghoul pool list.

Phyllis Newman was a musical theatre actress who won a Tony for Subways Are For Sleeping, as well as starring in The Madwoman of Central Park West. She was also the widow of lyricist Adolph Green.

Cokie Roberts was a political journalist. She was one of the first women to break into broadcast journalism. I enjoyed her news analysis on NPR and the columns she wrote with her husband, Steve. She definitely belongs on any list of inspiring and influential women in media.

RSAD: Some people have Seasonal Affective Disorder in the winter, due to lack of light. I am suffering from a different sort of seasonal depression. Namely, Red Sox Affective Disorder or RSAD. Technically, they haven’t been eliminated just yet, but realistically, they have managed to break my heart this season. At least the Nationals have a good chance of a wild card slot.

Anyway, the combination of RSAD and being super busy at work (with two big projects going on), has got me behind on life in general and too tired to go out much. I’ve skipped at least three events I was interested in because I needed time just to do basic life maintenance, i.e. things like laundry, opening mail, changing the furnace filter, etc.

Andy Offutt Irwin: I did go out Saturday night to see Andy Offutt Irwin’s storytelling show at The Auld Shebeen. He told an interesting mix of stories, starting with Odysseus and continuing on to a personal story about his cub scout days. But most of his material was fictional, about his Aunt Marguerite and other (fictional) relatives, who provide a lot of character-based humor. It was an entertaining evening and it was good to get out of the house, as well as to see several storytelling friends.

Dear People Who Schedule Things: I am reasonably sure there at least four Wednesdays in October. In fact, my calendar tells me there are FIVE. So why is everything I want to do on the same one? (I have already paid for my ticket and a friend's ticket to that event and been reimbursed by said friend, so I am committed. I am just kvetching because, as my mother would have said, what else is human language for?)

Retirement Planning: 353 days to go. More to the point, I have figured out two more things to do when I retire. Namely: 1) Spend roughly a month in New Zealand, and 2) take the Smithsonian Resident Associates art history certificate program.

Crossposts: https://fauxklore.livejournal.com/460102.html

The short version of why I need to retire sooner rather than later is that I have too many things I want to do that work gets in the way of.

The other piece is that I've see too many names I know in the obituaries, reminding me that life is short.

I have two criteria which should be satisfied in the next year - one involving frequent flyer miles and one involving how long I've been working at my company. I need to get somewhat more organized about the financial picture.

What I'm not worried about is how to fill my time. Things I have been googling in my spare time at work include the Florida Trail (kind of a shakedown for the Appalachian Trail) and the Camino del Santiago.