The place where lost socks go...

Writing this entry from a motel off Interstate-80 in the middle of Ohio. gyades and I are bunking down here for the night before finishing our journey to Lansing, Michigan tomorrow... where we shall see in the new year (and decade) with the sweet & adorable tawneypup!

I expect this to be the penultimate post of the decade for me. Tomorrow will conclude the year properly with my final entry on 2009 statistics and the year-in-review. Meanwhile, as we wait for our pizza to arrive, here is a summary of the Nomad 2009 Decemberween Five State US Tour... so far! Three states down, and two more to do!

Day One: (Wed Dec 23) Started my trip with an unexpected flight to New York City. Upon landing, instead of driving eight hundred miles, I spent a nice mellow evening in Staten Island with Mom.

Day Two: (Thu Dec 24) Christmas Eve is nearly always spent at my uncle's house in New Jersey. This family tradition has been in place since my father and uncle moved to the States circa 1970 -- years before I was born. The other family tradition (i.e., arriving late) was also in full swing; dinner did not begin until 21:30 because that was when my sister and her boyfriend finally arrived! There were fifteen of us present, and we still cover four generations.

My bio-family (father's side)


High points for this year included the return of the carol singing session and replacing the gift card exchange of recent years with a highly amusing White Elephant. The low point was when Dad surprised me by asking whatever happened to the cat that I spent $3000 on in medical bills last year. In answer to this tactless question, I softly replied: "She died." Dad responded by laughing -- I was flabbergasted. After thirty-four years, I know his shortcomings as a father... and this is not normal. Perhaps he had had too much to drink?

Day Three: (Fri Dec 25) Upon waking, my uncle insisted on cooking me a large breakfast. Then it was out the door and embarking on the drive to Boston, to spend Christmas Day with the family of my beloved cheshcat. I arrived at 14:00 -- just in time to settle in before dinner. It was very odd to be there without my dear cheshcat, but everyone was very warm and welcoming all the same. I find that I rather like the tradition of spending Christmas Eve in New Jersey with my family and Christmas Day in Boston with hers. We have been doing this for several years now and it works well!

Day Four: (Sat Dec 26) Spent the day with cheshcat's aunt and uncle. We sat and talked, we played two games of dominoes (I lost at both), and they took me out to dinner. Some time after dinner, I said my farewells and drove a short distance to drop in on onebrightroad. We got ice cream for dessert, exchanged gifts, and talked for a bit -- joined in part by sunastria. It was..... interesting.

Day Five: (Sun Dec 27) Drove back to Staten Island and spent the day with Mom and the Kiddo. Some quality family time... and it means a lot to Mom to have both her children under one roof. With the Kiddo living in California and me in England, that no longer happens very often.

Day Six: (Mon Dec 28) Exchanged presents with Mom and the Kiddo. Brought the Kiddo to the cemetery where Teta is buried, as he had not been since she died. In the evening, I drove into Manhattan to have dinner with Dad, one of my aunts, and one of my cousins. The latter two I had not seen in many years. During the drive to Manhattan, the clear sky offered me some stunning views of the New York City skyline. Despite having grown up in the city, its beauty never fails to impress me. The dinner was at a very posh vegetarian restaurant... and was delicious! As for the company? Well, Dad was much better behaved, and it was good to reconnect to my aunt (who lives in Egypt) and her son (who lives in New Jersey) after so many years. Following the meal, I went back to Dad's condo on the upper East side for a few hours before returning to Mom's apartment for the night.

Day Seven: (Tue Dec 29) This day marked the transition from family to friends. In the morning, I met up with the adorable squeektoy42 and we headed into Manhattan for our annual romp around the Christmas-decorated city. Along the way, we picked up her husband, A, the lovely perspicacious, and the marvelous ms_redcat. We began in Madison Square Park, where we fed peanuts to the squirrels. Then we got lunch -- and got warm -- at a diner before making our way to Macy's to see the story windows there and to ride the wooden escalators. Next stop was the Christmas windows at Lord & Taylors, followed by a taxi uptown. Getting out at Radio City Music Hall, we took in the holiday decorations before strolling over to Rockefeller Center. There, we admired the tree and the skaters... then crossed the Fifth Avenue to see the story windows at Sak's and watch the giant snowflakes light up and dance to the Carol of the Bells. Here are some pictures from the evening:

Weird alien Christmas trees near Radio City Music Hall


Squeeky and me -- we've got balls!


The tree, close up and far away!


Note the nearly full moon in the background on the close-up shot of the Rockefeller Center tree... and the statue of Prometheus below it in the distant shot! Also, it is worth noting that this is very nearly the same shot, taken three years ago, that became my default icon!

To finish off the day, we had a delightful dinner at a Mexican restaurant in St. Mark's Place before heading back to Jersey City to crash for the night.

Day Eight: (Wed Dec 30) In the morning, I saw my dear squeektoy42 off to work, then spent some time with her husband, A. In the afternoon, the ever-awesome gyades picked me up and we drove from Jersey City to the motel in Ohio where I currently write. The drive was generally pleasant, and it was very good to have some time to catch up with such a close friend.

Now, it is off to bed with me! Tomorrow, we finish the drive to Michigan and ring out the year with my darling tawneypup and, I hope, many other wonderful people from the Lansing crowd! So, gentle readers, I wish you all a very good night!

Monday December 29^th: Woke up at Mom's place[1], brought Lucretia II in for an overdue service, had breakfast, and got showered.

After all was in order, squeektoy42 arrived. She and The Kiddo and I went out bowling. I had brought my ball and shoes from the Event Horizon; it was nice to have them again. The last two times that I bowled -- in October (with squeektoy42) and July (with The Kiddo) -- I had to do without. We bowled two games and I did very... average. My long term mean score is 150 points per game. On this day, it was 149.5. Like I said, very average. Actually, if I had had time to warm up, I suspect I would have done better than average, as the first four frames of my first game were much poorer than the rest of what I bowled.

Once we had finished bowling, we went back to Mom's apartment. gyades had arrived and was swapping presents with cheshcat. When they finished, the four of us -- gyades, cheshcat, squeektoy42 and I -- piled into Lucretia II and drove into Manhattan.

Our first destination was Madison Square Park, where we often go to feed the squirrels in the shadow of the Empire State Building. That park has the friendliest gray squirrels that I have ever met! Although I enjoy feeding them on my own, I particularly like to go there with cheshcat because she gets an enormous "little girl smile" on her face! Whilst we were in the park, the scrumptious pomoloco joined us... complete with a pink fuzzy hat (replete with pink fuzzy ears).[2]

Two bags of nuts later, we met up with resourceress and AP[3] at a diner to share a late lunch as the sun went down. I had an excellent dish -- macaroni & cheese topped with vegetarian chili! Yum!

On leaving the diner, pomoloco (and her furry pink hat) had to depart. The rest of us headed onwards to the evening's adventures. We made our way up to the Macy's holiday windows, then to Lord & Taylor for more of the same. En route, we passed the New York Public Library, with its giant stone lions in the front. Of course, this meant that we[4] had to stop to climb on the lions for a photo opportunity. When we arrived at Saks on Fifth Avenue, squeektoy42 made a very interesting observation about the version of Carol of the Bells that they were playing this season. She noted that it was very, very familiar. It turns out that the recording is of a bell choir that she was a part of! Wowza! Very nice!

As we proceeded along the streets of Manhattan, our group had a remarkable synergy. You see, Gentle Readers, although cheshcat has been steadily recovering from her injury since the September surgery, a full day of walking about New York City is still beyond her current capabilities. She can walk just fine over short distances -- often without a crutch or even a leg brace now. Still, hours of walking in crowded streets would not yet be wise for her to attempt. As such, we borrowed a wheelchair to make the outing possible for her. During our travels, we all came together as a team to protect my beloved cheshcat. AP pushed the wheelchair; resourceress and gyades stood at the sides to prevent any clueless pedestrian from crashing into her; squeektoy42 was our "lookout" to run ahead and check around corners. Finally, in the front of this procession, I stood with one crutch, politely shoving people out of the way if it looked like they might run into Chesh's recovering leg.

It made me quite happy to see some of the closest people in my life coming together as a team to protect one of our own. It was in this configuration that we entered Rockefeller Center. The crowds there were wall-to-wall[5]; I began carrying both crutches to shove folks aside -- still being ever so polite about it! In this way, we got cheshcat a ringside seat to watch the skaters gliding about on the ice. We have done this together many times before, of course. Indeed, during our very first December together -- back in 1994 -- I took her out to eat at one of the restaurants that has windows looking directly onto the ice rink[6]. Still, it is always nice to come back to this place. Despite all the crowds, it is always a very peaceful experience.

Once we were done at Rockefeller Center, our group split up. Everyone who is not named anarchist_nomad eventually went to get food. Everyone who is named thusly stood in line[7] for about two hours to spend too much money[8] to become one of the skaters. Ever since starting my ice skating lessons, I had been wanting to skate on the ice at Rockefeller Center -- gliding along beneath the giant Christmas tree and the statue of Prometheus. The last time I was on this rink was December 31^st -- nearly fifteen years earlier -- and back then I could only shuffle about on the ice, not skate. I did very little in the way of tricks, but it felt phenomenal to glide elegantly along this very famous patch of ice. The lovely squeektoy42 took pictures[9], and I am very much looking forward to seeing how they came out!

I remained on the ice until they closed the rink and kicked us out at midnight. Then I rejoined the rest of the group which, in my absense, had acquired a new member: The enchanting ms_redcat! This brought the total number of people taking place in our outing to eight... all of whom, I noted, are P**T*** attendees. Most nifty! It was like creating a little microcosm of P**T*** and carrying it along with us! I did not get to enjoy ms_redcat's company for long, but it is always good to see her... and she used the opportunity to give me my 2006 Yule presents, too!

Soon afterward, we all went our separate ways, with cheshcat and I heading back to Staten Island to spend another night at Mom's apartment. We got in shortly before two o'clock in the morning, and went to sleep soon thereafter.

Total Miles Driven: 1492

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[1] Not surprising, as this is where I went to sleep.

[2] One bonus of this hat is that the strings hanging down from it made it very easy to steer pomoloco in whatever direction I chose. Very handy, that!

[3] AP == "husband of squeektoy42 with no LiveJournal"

[4] In this instance, "we" really means me. And then, after some encouragement (from, um, me), resourceress, too.

[5] Or would be, had there been walls.

[6] It was a belated birthday dinner and we waited at the front of the restaurant until they had a window seat available so that we could watch the skaters whilst we ate.

[7] It was in the US, so it was not a queue.

[8] Twenty-eight dollars, as opposed to the four to six quid that I spend at the Oxford Ice Rink.

[9] As well as fetching the car from the carpark before it closed, thus making it possible to fulfill this skating dream. Thank you, Squeeky!!

[Am writing this entry from a Long Island Rail Road train. No internet connection is available. Again, will post from the Event Horizon later and backdate.]

The first leg of Nomad's summer tour -- New York City -- is winding down. I write this en route to the Islip airport, where I am about to hop a flight to Chicago.[*]

Although this initial stop was relatively short -- only two and a half days -- it was quite good. For such a short time, I feel like I got a reasonable amount done:

I saw Mom, I saw The Kiddo, I saw Dad. I saw squeektoy42 and her husband, AP.

I enjoyed several of Mom's homecooked meals -- nostalgia on a plate!

I spent time in three of the five boroughs of my home city: Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens. Driving through Brooklyn doesn't count.

I played my annual game of mini-golf with The Kiddo; this year Mom tagged along, too. Final scores: I won with 40 points, The Kiddo came in next with 46, and Mom finished with 49.

I got my bi-annual eye exam -- still no change to my prescription! -- and bought new lenses to replace the horrible scratched plastic that I had been seeing through. Hooray for clear sight!

I caught the first showing of The Dark Knight with The Kiddo at midnight on Thursday. Wow. Dark, indeed! Out of the seven Batman movies, I think that this is easily the darkest of them. Okay, I never saw the travesty of 1997's Batman & Robin, but I still think that I can speak confidently on this. Go see this movie -- it is worth it! (Don't bother waiting around for an Easter Egg at the end, though. Unlike Iron Man, there isn't one...)

I visited the new Coptic Church that "my" congregation has just about finished building. Money for that church was being collected as far back as I can remember, from when I was a child. The result, I am pleased to say, is quite impressive! Besides being a remarkable building, the new church seems to have become a focal point for the Coptic community in the area, which looks to be a positive thing. I have not practiced this religion for over twenty years -- and I have no plans to return to it ever -- but I can appreciate the value of community building.

I enjoyed a New York classic -- Ralph's Italian Ices -- with Mom and The Kiddo. Good stuff!

I went bowling with The Kiddo and we had some fun... though without my ball and my shoes -- which are at the Event Horizon -- my scores suffered accordingly. Suffice to say that my best score of three games was a paltry 125.

Without a doubt, though, the zenith of this whirlwind visit to NYC was the "Last Play at Shea" concert last night. Indeed, the concert was so good, that it deserves its own post. And with nearly an hour left to this train ride, that is exactly what it is going to get!

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[*] Once there, I am going to help gyades celebrate his birthday! So happy birthday, gyades!!!

Back in Oxford again... this time with no plans to leave until Friday.

Spent the bulk of yesterday in London having a day that mixed fun and frustration. The frustration part came first. I drove out to Battersea to register with the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and get the ball rolling towards adopting a new kitten into our home. I may have well not bothered and saved myself the trouble. The Battersea Dogs & Cats Home will not adopt a kitten to us because of an insurmountable philosophical difference. To wit: they will not adopt a kitten to a family that will keep it indoors, believing that cats are "wild animals" and will not be happy if they are not allowed outside. Meanwhile, none of our cats have ever been allowed to roam outside, as we believe that cars and other hazards pose too much of a threat. The "wild animal" argument is bollocks -- you don't adopt "wild animals" into your home. Cats are domesticated and if they were truly "wild animals," the shelter need not worry so much about people who let their cats go unattended[*]. I appreciate that the Home screens applicants carefully to make sure that their cats are going to a good home. However, this is beyond a question of providing a "good home" and is simply them being overly dogmatic[**]. I have known plenty of cats -- including some of our own -- who live their entire lives indoors and are quite happy[***]. No cat I have ever known has been happier than Foxy as she cuddled next to cheshcat or me on the couch, or Stumpy as she gets her daily dose of scritching, or The Boy just about all the time[****]. Feh. So that was a waste of my time.

The day did get better, though -- that is where the fun part comes in. In the evening, I made my way to North Greenwich to see Roger Waters perform at the Millennium Dome. I have seen him perform ( several times before, ) but it has been many years. So off I went to the ugly-as-hell Dome to go to the show. The first act was ( a nice selection of songs, both from Pink Floyd and his solo work. ) The second act was, quite simply, The Dark Side of the Moon. I have never heard the album live before. It was... spectacular. For the encore, Waters and company played ( several songs from The Wall. ) Twas indeed a great concert! The enormous video screen in the back of the stage was artfully used, with a variety of images that enhanced the music. Most noteworthy was a comic-book sequence that illustrated the true story told in "Leaving Beirut." As one might expect from a Pink Floyd show, there was a floating pig above the audience at one point. At a different point -- during "Perfect Sense, Part One" -- there was also a floating astronaut. Very cool! As one would also expect from Pink Floyd, there was an abundance of pyrotechnics on the stage -- explosions, fireworks, et cetera -- and dramatic use of lighting. The most stunning example of this was a gigantic three dimensional rotating manifestation of the Dark Side of the Moon logo at the top of the stadium at the end of the second act... all made out of brilliant lights!

So the concert did a lot to easy the grouchy mood that the Battersea folks left me with, and it made my trip into London worthwhile. I eventually got back to Skullcrusher Mountain around 2am and collapsed into bed with cheshcat and The Boy soon after. It was a little odd to see Waters perform without The Kiddo this time... but he and I have plans to meet in New York to see Billy Joel's "Last Play At Shea" in less than two months, so that gives me something else musically themed to look forward to.

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[*] I have also heard people use the "wild animal" argument as justification before when they are tired of caring for their cat, so they just dump it outside. This is a pathetic excuse for a truly reprehensible behaviour.

[**] Ignore the potential for making a pun here, please. Really, it just isn't worth it.

[***] There is also a cultural effect going on here, as most people I know in the UK think it is weird to keep indoor cats, while most cat carers I know in the US keep their cats wholly indoors.

[****] Before Foxy and Totoro died, anyway. Now that he is alone for the first time in his life, he is noticeably less cheerful. The Boy is a very social cat, which is one of the reasons why I want to find him a kitten quite urgently.

[*****] Where, by some stroke of luck, The Kiddo and I ended up scoring some incredibly good floor seats!

Right -- this is what incredibly tired feels like. Now I remember.

With cheshcat in the States, I have been taking advantage of free evenings[*] to catch up with important people across the pond. On Sunday evening, after returning from Birmingham, I spoke to the Kiddo for a couple of hours... then followed that call up by giving the delightful JCM a ring. Similarly, on Monday evening, after ice skating lessons, I rang up the adorable squeektoy42 for a bit. And last night I was up way too late talking to the beguiling iamthesphinx.

One result of all this chatty goodness is that I feel re-connected to the lives of several people that I care about from far away. Another result is that I have not had a full night's sleep in nearly a week. On both sides of the Atlantic, legend has it that I do not actually need sleep. Like most legends, this is partially rooted in truth... but is not entirely correct. It finally caught up with me today, and I am quite knackered. Any incoherence in this entry can be justly attributed to that.

As such, the ever-nifty gyades has agreed to reschedule this evening's conversation for next week so that I can get to bed early. This is probably a very good idea, as tomorrow is May Day.

As usual, I will be taking May Day off from work. I have not worked on May 1^st in six years, out of respect for my Anarchist forebears, the Haymarker Martyrs. To me, it is the most important Anarchist holiday, and I usually celebrate with some sort of activism[**]. Last year, for a change of pace, cheshcat and I indulged in the traditional Oxford May Morning activities -- starting with the all-night bonfire at Port Meadow, continuing on to the Magdalen College choir at dawn, and the Morris dancers and street performers after. Twas a very good time, indeed! We finished with a yummy breakfast at Frevd's -- and I was way too tired to remember now what I ate -- then she went to work and I went to sleep.

This year, I have decided to mix and match a bit of everything. It is good that I am going to call it an early night and retire soon after bell ringing this evening... as here is what I have in store for tomorrow:

Dawn: Listen to the Magdalen College choir sing from their tower overlooking the Magdalen bridge.

6:30am: Ring in the May with the Oxford University Society of Change Ringers at the University Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. I have never rung at this tower, so I am rather excited about this.

7:30am Lardy breakfast[***] at Keble College with the OUSCR.

Noon: May Day march and demonstration. I don't know if there will be an Anarchist contingent (besides me), but this is our holiday and I intend to be out there on the streets!

2:30pm Premiere showing of the Iron Man movie in Oxford! I already have my ticket and am -- perhaps naively -- psyched up for it!

5:00pm Take a walk, just to keep in practice. Only three or four miles.

6:30pm Handbell ringing at St. Giles, followed by tower bell practice.

11:30pm Beltane phone date with the enchanting frogcastle.

Looks to be a very fun day tomorrow, combining the best of several worlds. I'd best be off now to ring and then sleep, as I would prefer to be rested when the alarm sounds at 4:30am tomorrow...

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[*] Well, free after about 10pm, anyway... which is when I usually get home.

[**] Sitting on a shelf at the Event Horizon, I still have the video tape of the nightly news showing a cop assaulting me during the Tempe May Day march of 2003. Whee!

[***] Vegetarian lard in my case.

Birthday[*] cards have started to arrive in the post! Excellent! So far, I have received cards from Mom and The Kiddo. Wonder if any more will come in before the big day next week...

Actually, today was a pretty good mail day in more ways than one. Besides the birthday cardage -- and wouldn't it just figure after yesterday's entry? -- our visas[**] arrived in the post today! So many thanks to those of you who proffered advice both serious and silly... but it has thankfully become a moot point! cheshcat and I now have [at least] another two years to reside in the United Kingdom -- hooray!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic Puddle, I received word from gyades that a cheque for $2000 had arrived, somewhat unexpectedly, paying off an old debt from an ex-housemate. This debt, originally nearly $5k, was accumulated from 2001 - 2002... and the payoff process has been happening very slowly -- $50/month -- since then. The whole process has been an enormous frustration, so it is a very nice surprise to see it all over and done with.

Now it is off to St. Giles for the usual Thursday evening handbell and tower bell practice. I had best make the most of it, as I will be missing practice next week for my birthday, and the week after to see Jonathan Coulton!

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[*] One week to go until my birthday and, as a reminder, the party will be next Saturday -- March 15^th -- at Skullcrusher Mountain in Oxford! If you are on my f-list, then you can consider yourself invited.

[**] Interestingly (and irksomely) enough, the new visas -- which, unlike the old ones, are not tied to my job at the University -- were not granted as extensions of the previous ones but, rather, dated from the day of approval, earlier this week. This introduces the amusing situation where we are now in the UK under two simultaneous visas -- a work permit visa and a highly skilled migrant visa -- and will remain so for the next twenty days. Said situation is also annoying, as those twenty-two days of duplication are effectively lost time for me... and may come back to bite me later in the form of additional paperwork when it comes time, three years from now, to apply for indefinite leave to remain and citizenship.

First things first: I want to thank everyone who shared kind words about last week's good news -- namely the discovery that The Boy does not have cancer. Really, it means a lot. In two days, we should have results for Foxy's next set of tests. This should either confirm or rule out a thyroid problem. If the thyroid is ruled out, then we still do not know what is wrong with her... and a different line of testing will commence. Wish us luck!

Second things second: Don't forget to go to yesterday's entry and vote in my birthday poll! I plan to choose the location for my birthday party tomorrow, provided there seem to be enough people who are interested in (and able to) attend to actually have a party. Otherwise, the Oxford University Society of Change Ringers is planning an outing to Cambridge for that day, to spend time with our counterparts at the other place.

Meanwhile, it has been several days since I updated with any of the goings on in my life. ( This seems as good a time as any to rectify that... )

Oh, and for those of you still trapped in the States, I should note that the dollar sunk to a new record low today versus the Euro. I did warn some time ago that y'all should get out while you still can. Of course, with most of my life's savings in two pieces of US real estate, the plummeting housing market and US dollar hardly leaves me unscathed, either. Ah well, at least I am earning in sterling now... which is in decline, too, but not as badly. With any luck, the UK will switch to the Euro sometime soon. And I think I see a pig on the wing flying by my office window...

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( Footnotes )

Writing from the Jersey City apartment of the lovely squeektoy42 and her husband A. Leaving in just a few more minutes to go to JFK and fly back to Jolly Olde England... which means only a short update today.

Thursday was spent in Staten Island with Mom and the Kiddo. With him in California and me across the pond, it is pretty rare to have all three of us under one roof. I think that last December was the most recent time prior to this. We exchanged gifts and enjoyed our shared company. Mom said (again) that it was the best Christmas ever.

Friday, I went to Manhattan to visit Dad. Then I took a crosstown bus to the Museum of Natural History, where I met up with some fellow P**T***ns: squeektoy42, A, goatoverlord42, PS, and MD. We took in a little of the museum -- particularly the marine life room (and the great blue whale). When we left, PS and MD parted ways while we headed off to partake in the splendor that is New York City decked out for the holidays. It is, of course, an annual tradition.

We started at Radio City Music Hall and strolled from there to Rockefeller Center to see Promethius, the ice rink, the angels, and the tree. Next stop was Saks, for the windows and the giant snowflake / carol of the bells extravaganza. When we left Saks, it was time to head to the theatre -- we had excellent tickets to see the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The show, while not brilliant, was good fun. I don't know if it is the sort of thing I would see repeatedly, but I am very glad to have seen it once. And many thanks to A and Squeeky for giving me the ticket as a Yule gift! When the show ended, we walked down to Macy's to see their window displays, then over to Lord & Taylor's to finish our window viewings. With the holiday traditions completed, we made our way to Little Korea for dinner, then took the train to their apartment in New Jersey (where we still are). We arrived at 2am, as did resourceress and cheshcat, who had driven down from Boston. Despite the lateness of the hour, we all hung out together and schmoozed until well after 4 o'clock in the morning.

Today has been quite mellow. After the late night, we all slept in. Eventually, resourceress set off for Boston again -- she has a Dresden Dolls concert tonight and must be back in time for that. Then goatoverlord42 left a while later. And soon the rest of us will be heading out, too.

Overall, a very nice ending to a very nice -- if somewhat hectic -- holiday trip to the States. Always quite pleasant to visit my other lives (and the people in them) for awhile!

Next entry will be from the other side of the ponde once again!

After winning the GO game yesterday afternoon, I drove downstate to the Bloomington-Normal area to visit The Kiddo[*]. He completed his Masters degree in May and, thus, will be leaving Normal next month to begin working for Google. Therefore, yesterday's trip was most likely my last visit to that area.

When I arrived, we went to get lunch in town. Then we picked up The Kiddo's girlfriend and went to play miniature golf. I won, with the low score of 54 points. He came in second with 59, then his girlfriend came in last -- despite a very strong start -- with 63. This is revenge for the game we played last summer, when The Kiddo won handedly. The agreement was that the loser had to buy ice cream for the winner, so I enjoyed the spoils of mini-golf as the sun went down. Then it was off to the bowling alley. We played three games; my scores were 145, 196, and 139. I was particularly impressed with my second game, as I marked in every frame -- twice in the tenth. Not sure if I have ever done that before; if so, it has certainly been a long time. I did, however, slip once and through my first gutter ball in years. Although I made the spare to close the frame, it still cost me the chance to break 200 for the first time in a very long time.

After the bowling alley closed, we dropped his girlfriend off and The Kiddo and I went back to his apartment for a few hours. Somehow in that time, we ended up reminiscing about an obscure cartoon that we used to watch, over twenty years ago, called Kidd Video. This cartoon was so unknown that, some time ago, we began to wonder if we had imagined it. Although I have the whole second season on video tape [somewhere], we found some episodes on-line and watched a couple of them.

At about 3am, I left to drive home. This was probably a mistake. Within twenty minutes, the skies opened up and I was in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. Eventually, I pulled into a rest area to nap while the storm raged. The net effect of this was that I did not get back to the Event Horizon until 7:30am. I promptly collapsed into bed and did not rise until noon.

This afternoon, I paid a visit to my old place of employment, Fermilab. It was my first time there since October, and it was good to see people again. I had several nice chats, especially with JHY -- who I have known since 2000, when we were graduate students together on Super-Kamiokande. I also got a tour of an interesting experiment that an old colleague is now running. Besides enjoying these visits, there is also professional networking value in returning to the lab.

In the evening, I joined crim_ferret and unclevlad and datahawk and wyldekyttin[**] for dinner in Naperville. The food -- a pick-your-own stir fry -- was very good and very different from my usual fare in England. Even better, though, was the conversation. During the meal, another storm broke loose. This merited several breaks from the dinner table to stand outside and admire its fury more closely. When dinner was over, we returned to their house to continue enjoying the good company.

Now I am home once again, and about to collapse into bed once more. resourceress will be flying here in the morning, and I am ever so excited to be seeing here again for the first time since January! Not that the vacation has been substandard thus far, but I think that the rest of this week shall be much fun!

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[*] For those who do not know, The Kiddo has been my nickname for my brother since long before LiveJournal existed.

[**] And one other member of their tribe whose LJ name I do not remember.

Continuing the chronicles of my Summer Vacation...

Yesterday, I met The Kiddo and his girlfriend in Woodridge to spent the afternoon at the Cypress Cove water park. I had been there two years ago, with resourceress, and we'd had a great time... but then there were no water parks for me last summer. So I had some catching up to do. The park is cute, and not very big[*]; it has three body slides, a tube slide, a lazy river, and a drop slide. We were there for four hours and got to partake of all a fair number of times. Indeed, The Kiddo and I raced several laps around the lazy river in a fashion most unlazy -- to the amusement of the kids doing lifeguard duty. The weather was quite cooperative, which I particularly appreciate since it is raining today. With the exception of said girlfriend flipping at the bottom of the tube slide and banging her head, it was a very nice afternoon. When the park closed, we went to get Mexican food at the nearby Burrito Loco so that I could stock up on Mexican and sate such cravings for another two months. After dinner, they headed south and I went back to the Event Horizon.

During the evening, I got a call from sweetsourcat. We talked for a couple of hours, having a very nice conversation... and the longest chat of our friendship (so far). We've known each other since I moved to Chicago in 2003, and I've always liked her. So getting to know her better, even after I've moved away and she is just about to do the same, is quite nifty. She has some big changes coming up in her life, and it is great to see things falling into place for her.

This morning, I woke up to find an e-mail in my Oxford InBox from JI. He sent me an "e-highfive." It seems that the latest cooldown of the K-400 -- the one that I set up and started before leaving last Thursday -- has been quite the success. We have reached a new low temperature (for us) of 6.3mK and we are making the measurements that we wanted with the legacy detector. Counting the many months that we wrestled with the K-400 malfunction, this result has been over a year in coming! It feels great to have succeeded on this front because it clears the way to some serious R&D (and publications). Electronics are now being put into place, with the cryostat still cold, to take our work to the next logical step. This makes me a very happy scientist, indeed! Perhaps the only thing better than taking a nice long summer vacation is watching one's work make good progress while enjoying said vacation.

Today has been raining. So the day has been largely devoted to errands. I renewed my International Driver's License. I got my annual haircut. I hit the comic book store and found that my bag had gotten so full that it had to be upgraded to a box. There were about 125 comics in said box, being the new issues that I collect which have come out since cheshcat last picked up my subscriptions in early March. Lots of good reading to be had in my near future! I also drove up to Villa Park to get fitted for my wetsuit and other equipment, in preparation for a SCUBA dive in Lake Michigan next Sunday. It has been nearly two years since I last dove, making me very eager to get back under the waves once again!

Now I am home again, waiting for gyades to finish getting ready for his impending departure to England. He leaves the Event Horizon tomorrow, and we are both eager to get in another game of GO before he heads out. I have not beaten him in quite some time... but I have been practicing. So, gentle readers, wish me luck!

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[*] Thus making it a nice warm up for the upcoming trip to Hurricane Harbor!