Rob's Blog

A trip to Yankee Stadium

 

Once you get over the high prices and long lines, the new stadium is quite impressive. Very spacious and open, though the lines to get into the Yankee Museum and Monument Park were huge, even 1 1/2 hours before the game. I don't know what time you need to get there to do those things. Anyway, it was all worth it, as I had a nice day with my son Zach, and the Yankees won a very well pitched game, 4-1. Both starting pitchers (C.C. Sabathia for the Yankees, Matt Garza for the Tampa Bay Rays), pitched 7 strong innings, giving up one run apiece, but the Yankees clobbered the Rays bullpen for 3 runs in the 8th. And the Yankee bullpen has recently been flawless, as they were today.

 

The Yankees Win! Thuuuuuuuuh  Yankees Win!!!!!!

Continue reading for more pictures.

In Search of the Perfect Quilt

Or, searching for Intercourse in Pennsylvania. Yes, there really is such a town in the Pennsylavania Amish country, southwest of Blue Ball and north of Paradise. What's with these names?! Anyway, it was a struggle to get there - every main road in Pennsylania seemed to be under construction, turning an already long 3-hour drive into a 4 1/2 hour one. I'm officially avoiding that state. Anyway, my wife and I finally got to Intercourse (really), and looked for quilts there, and in nearby Ronks. Linda was on a mission to replace our very worn out one, circa 1930, and was having a really hard time. None of them "spoke" to her, and they seemed either uninspired or overpriced, or both. My suggestion to just buy a blanket and be done with it didn't do much to help. Finally, looking through a local paper, we found some out of the way places, that were private residences/farms. These quilts were much nicer and much more reasonable than the ones we saw in town. So, if you want to save yourselves some time, we'd recommend Country Lane Quilts, 221 South Groffdale Road, in Leola, PA (where we bought ours) and Esh's Handmade Quilts on Route 340 1 mile east of Intercouse. (Is that like East of Eden?) The one place in town that was pretty good was Village Quilts, in Intercourse. It was really late by the time we finished our sojourn, and headed towards Lancaster for dinner. We had no idea where to go, but wandered around the town and made a great find. A really nice restaurant called The Press Room, complete with jazz trio. Good food and drink after a long day. We finished at 10, and with minimal traffic and avoiding the nightmare roads we took getting there, it still took us 3 hours to get home. Oh, and the quilt. It's beautiful!

This is IT! (Wedding ring pattern)

Our little town

The Press Room, Lancaster, PA

My Son's Graduation

It was a bittersweet event, attending my son Zach's graduation from Goucher College On the one hand, I'm very proud of him, both for his accomplishments, and for the adult he's become. But I worry about his job prospects, how he will cope with the "real world", whatever that is, and whether he is happy. Someone said "You are only as happy as your most unhappy child." As much as you want your kids to learn how to navigate life on their own, it's hard not to try to micromanage. At least for us.

It also brings back my own memories of college, also bittersweet. Like Zach, I graduated from a small liberal arts college. My student days, from 1969 - 1973, were filled with tumult; societal, political and personal. They weren't  "the best years of my life", and neither were they the worst. As with everytning, there were moments of elation and sadness, profound connections and searing loneliness, enlightenment and confusion. One thing about time, though, it does fly, whether you're having fun or not! And it's a one way ticket. So it's best to try and enjoy the ride and the scenery as much as you can. Youth is not wasted on the young, it's a gift endowed upon all of us.

more pix next page

Portuguese Water Dog Puppy Tug of War!

Yes, we have the now famous breed in our home, a 9-week old puppy, Rosie. Our "house" dog, a Boxer-Great Dane(?) mix has been extremely tolerant, and in fact enjoys exasperating her younger sibling.

Uncle Irv

 

No wonder I don't like this time of year. It seems there are a lot of losses that occur amongst the, sometimes artificial, yuletide cheer. My Uncle Irv passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 17, a week before his 93rd birthday. He had a wonderful life and will be sorely missed by all of us, and especially by Vera, his wife of 66 years. Before they even had a term for it, Irv was my life coach. He was my friend, informal book club partner, chess tutor and tennis teacher. He was smart, learned, funny, loving, playful and generous. He was the mastermind behind the "Flushing Toilet Bowl" - touch football games our family used to play around Thanksgiving, outside of my parents apartment building (hint: our family lived near Flushing, Queens!) Forward laterals and trick plays were allowed and encouraged.

Barack Obama - Galvanizing youth

My son Zachary posted on his Facebook page, what I think is an eloquent reaction to the election of Barack Obama. One of the exciting things about this election has been the record turnout, and the excitement that it's generated, particurly among our younger citizens. I hope it bodes well for the future, for their sake. Here's the post:

Earlier I wrote that I thought the song "Summer, Highland Falls" was the theme song to this campaign, and that, as the song goes, I would experience either "sadness or euphoria" by the time all the votes were counted. Luckily, euphoria won out.

"They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known."

I still haven't really processed this yet. I was optimistic, but I wasn't sure our country had it in them to elect an African-American. Well, I was proved wrong. I have regained faith in our nation. And now it is up to us to work with our new president to set this country back on the right track. And it's going to take a lot of work. And all of that work might not be able to be completed in an Obama administration. Even two terms might not be enough to completely repair what George W. Bush has done to our nation. But he can set us on the right path. I truly believe that.

I first decided I was going to support Senator Obama after I read his book, "The Audacity of Hope." It was mainly a policy book, but it all made sense to me. And I was struck by the lack of partisanship Obama displayed. He was and is not an ideologue, and I knew that was a quality I admired. But as much as I liked him, it seemed all but certain that Hillary Clinton was going to be our nominee. I was proven wrong. It was a grueling primary, one that I thought at the time would hurt Obama in the general. I thought the longer it went on, the worse shape we would be in. Again, I was proved wrong.

So after a particuarly nasty general campaign, it has all turned out for the better. We have a truly unique opportunity here. We have to take advantage of it. Because if we sit back and don't work hard to improve our nation with President Obama, we will be no better off than we were a day ago, let alone four years ago.

"So as we stand upon the ledges of our lives, with our respective similarities.  It's either sadness or euphoria."

Yes we can.

Sunday is the new Monday

I was thinking, as I was working on my work computer one weekend - When did Sunday become the new Monday?! I wasn't the only one working. I was having active conversations with several of my colleagues, who were also busily typing away. Now all of these people also have Blackberries (aka Crackberries), and we all are constantly utilizing them in all sorts of inappropriate venues, including meetings, "quiet time" with your spouse, at meals, in movie theaters, and even though I'm embarrassed to admit it, while driving! When did it become so crucial to be connected all of the time? Part of it is that when you are disconnected the incessant flow of email messages doesn't stop, and then you're faced with dealing with dozens at a time when you get to them. And whenever you leave the office for a few days, whether it's for a conference, or God forbid, a vacation, you're still inundated with literally hundreds of those nasty bolded emails, badgering you to respond.

OK. So to adding insult to injury, not only am I overwhelmed with "connectivitis", but my brain had the audacity to DREAM about a work problem. This was not some symbolic, metaphorical, kaleidoscopic image of my psyche, but actually a very mundane issue. Namely, whether to use a dark grey palette for some graphics: HEX #555555 - not that I knew that in the dream - or the lighter HEX #AEAEAE. You can't make these things up. BTW(!), we're going with the darker grey.

Snow in Montclair

On Friday, we had a decent amount of snow here in NJ, 7" or so. Of course, by the time they closed our building at work, a lot of us were already there. But at least it was a nice quiet day anyway. It was a  fairly easy drive home that afternoon, as the roads were cleared by then, and I came back to find my son Jeremy, and girlfriend Stacey, shoveling snow. Well, actually, when I came home they were building a snowman, but allegedly during a very short break (right!) from their work.

Jeremy on the job

Stacey doing her thing

Travels with my Aunt Vera

Children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends celebrated my wonderful Aunt Vera Schiller's 90th BIRTHDAY on Sunday! She is a truly unique person. Warm, optimistic, intelligent, practical and with a great sense of humor. She and her husband Irv have been married for longer than most of us have been alive - 65 Years! She shares the philosophy which Irv espoused on the occasion of HIS 90th birthday, that the secret of long and happy life were the three "L's": Love, Laughter and Luck. And LUCKILY for Irv, Vera is the much more optimistic member of this longstanding union. And finally, if I look that good at 90, I'll be very happy. In fact, I'd be happy to look that good now! Vera, you're "mahvellous!"

My Aunt Vera and Uncle Irv

 

Children and Grandchildren

(More Photos, next page)

 

Al Emer Memorial

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Download Sail_stream.wmv

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my friend and colleague Allen Emer, who suffered an untimely death while camping in Round Valley State Park in New Jersey. He was on a kayacking trip, and went to sleep in a tent hammock overlooking the resevoir. Tragically, lightning struck the tree where Allen had attached his hammock, but his final resting place was one which he loved -- the outdoors. Allen was an avid sailor and loved boating and kayacking in Spermaceti Cove at Sandy Hook in New Jersey. On an early and beautiful morning at the end of June scores of friends and famiy arrived at Spermaceti Cove to celebrate Allen's life, love and friendship.