Category Archives: Personal

January 2012

Monday – 1/23/2012

Went to library at 10am for staff and volunteers mtg. Then met wi Theresa about upcoming library design consultant mtgs.

Went to Toyota Kinderhook to look at new Corollas. Very much like our ten year old car.

Howard Saunders called to say he was coming on the train. Invited him for dinner. Boneless pork ribs. Made BBQ sauce Kansas City style. He brought wine. I had Scotch before he arrived. We talked about the need to live a long life. What does one do at 85?

After dinner he suggested Swoon. We gladly agreed because we had missed yesterday.

Dave’s 13 yr old cat is feeling better. Talked loudly about movies. Spoke with young couple visiting from Brooklyn. She is a clothing designer, he a writer.

Came home. Karen was funny and pawing a bit. She was a bit tipsy.

NO ENTRIES between these two.

Friday – 1/27/2012

Library design consultant in town, Kimberly Cullin. 8 am Breakfast at Tanzys. Theresa P. and Kim. 9:30 at 400 State. With Emily Chameides. 11am presentation with Tom Swope and Dan Kent from Galvan. Marie Rasner, Ginger Benedict from Board. Good discussion. Visited Armory. Swope indicated that architect selection is well underway.

Also he has interest in partners for incubator space in front space of Armory. Partner for artist spaces in basement.

NO FURTHER ENTRIES for this month.

 

1/10/2012 – English Letter Frequency – Redux

Back on September 15, 2010 I wrote a little piece, “Frequency – Scrabble and the actual frequency of letter usage in English”, about what seemed to me to be a puzzling mis-match between the number of tiles in Scrabble and my superficial sense of the frequency of occurrence of letters in English.  While I was away in Hong Kong in December, I received the following email note from David T. Wong, Continue reading →

December 2011

Tuesday – 12/6/2011

Met with prospects who turned out to have two businesses. I will probably work with the husband on a drop off food business focused on weekenders.

Then to Chamber of Commerce for meeting of the Hudson Business Coalition. Dave Colby, Alan Coon, Chad Weckler, and Laurie Selden all in attendance. Talked about rejuvenating the Signage work.

Finished up work on Taste of the Caribbean business plan.

Talked with Danny Brundage about eCornell job opportunity.

Got sub from deli. Took nap. Very full.

Walked up to Taste of the Caribbean to deliver business plan to Ann Marie Furbert. Raining.

Ran into David Drake. Now I will have to go to Trivia Night.

Played trivia with Laurie. Still a very strange person. Complicated family life..

Got General Tsos chicken on the way home.

NO ENTRIES beyond this one.

Mr. Wonderful aka Santa Claus at Hudson’s Winter Walk

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Several weeks ago Mr. Wonderful, in a moment of irrational exuberance at a BeLo3rd meeting about Winter Walk, volunteered to be Santa Claus. The Tanzey girls immediately volunteered a Santa suit, assuring me that “my husband is bigger than you” in answer to the question, “Is the suit big enough”.

wig from Matthew Tudor-Jackson

The Santa outfit was inexplicably lacking a beard. A quick call on the local Web for help brought this offer from Matthew Tudor-Jackson up the street (left).

My first reaction was that this was something from a run amuck costume show for Louis XIV. On further consult with the fashionistas of BeLo3rd it was determined to be BeLo3rd!

So, I was ready for my outing as Santa for Winter Walk, December 3rd.

I dropped the big wig and just went with the ZZ Top length mustache beard combo.

Mark orton as SantaYou can see more pictures of this at the Davis Orton Gallery news page.

I was very busy with lots of little kids and not a few babies for three hours. I was amazed that the Santa myth continues merrily along despite the enormous seemingly every larger maw of commerce.

I discovered that kids in the 3 to 4 yr range know who Santa is but don’t know yet that they are supposed to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. I stopped asking and quickly moved the conversation to the imminent arrival of a candy cane. I guess that 3 and 4 yr olds are a blind spot in my life’s experiences.

7 to 10 yr olds wanted lots of electronic games and Ipod Touches (very specific about those). 11 to 12 yr olds wanted a phone. I foolishly asked the first few if they wanted a cellphone? They looked at me quizzically until I realized that they did not know that phones used to have wires coming out of them. What most surprised me is the persistence of some old toys. A significant number of 4 to 6 yr old girls asked for Barbie dolls and accessories. Only one girl requested an American Girl doll.  Their male counterparts asked for trains. Bicycles and scooters are also still popular.

One girl, age 12, (I asked each for their name and age) told me that she wanted a Merry Christmas for her family. I asked how many were in her family, “Two, Five, how many?” She thought for a moment and said “Forty”. “Oh, a merry Christmas for the extended family?” “Of course.” she replied.

 

November 2011

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Tuesday – 11/1/2011

Drove to Boston to meet with Anthony Mancini at Bernstein. Big outcome is the need to look into Medicaid planning.

Had dinner with Ruth and Paul Richards in Needham. Food not very good. Conversation ok if predictable.

Stayed at Esther Hanig’s pad. Loud TV. Lots of ads we don’t usually see.

Wednesday – 11/2/2011

Took Karen to Griffin Museum for her class. Long drive down 93 to Mass Ave then down Washington Sts and Hyde Park Ave to Sprague St. and meeting with Mike Beach and Peter Flowers.

Mike’s mother had died the night before. Talked about mothers and death for a while. Then we looked at some of their recent work including photo laden process documentation for some transducers. Pete arrived late and I left early. Assume Mike really needed to get on with his personal stuff.

Visited Honan Alston Public Library. Took lots of pictures and talked with Librarian about this ten year old building. Very attractive, airy open floor plan. Some down sides but mostly a successful space.

Drove over to Cambridge for lunch with Linda Larson. Fixed little things on her computer until Karen showed up. Lunch at the Dolphin Restaraunt. Good foods. Linda talked as always. Plans with Karen for trip to NYC in January.

Went to New Balance store. Bought annual new sneakers and a pair of wind pants for outdoor running. Must try to run outdoors until much colder.

Stopped at Trader Joe’s to stock up on simmer sauces and other canned goods…waiting for Esther to arrive to go out to dinner. Karen is at Soup Group.

NO ENTRIES after these for month.

An Earlier Medal for Mr. Wonderful

Jonathan pointed out, via Facebook, that I did in fact receive a medal earlier than my recent Ghostly Gallop fete. There was a time when I was famous, infamous more accurately, for my cooking, especially my meatloaf.

I took special pride in making my meatloaf with so many additives that it looked as though the refuse from the grain aisle at the food coop had fallen in the mixing bowl along with a seasoning of hamburger. Oats was always a starting point along with plenty of chopped onions and green peppers. I also regularly added Wheetena, bulgur, even leftover brown rice. I always topped the mixture off with a coating of ketchup. But, even if put two eggs in to give it some structural glue, the meatloaf never actually loafed. It was always gloppy.

At some point, Jonathan thinks the late seventies, I was awarded a family medal. It is now seriously faded, but a medal nevertheless.

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Mr. Wonderful Wins a Medal

A week ago I ran in the Hudson Area Library Ghostly Gallop 5K race here in Hudson. First race in six years. My time of 41 minutes was hardly stellar, though my PB of 33 minutes some ten years ago hardly made me a threat even in the Clydesdale division. I am happy to be running again.

But the big news is that I received a medal! I am so excited. I don’t think I have ever gotten a medal for anything before. Not sure exactly why I am so enthralled. Every participant who finished the race, even the crawlers, received a medal. Still, I am excited.

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September 16 – 30, 2011

Friday – 9/16/2011

51 degrees this morning. Forecast is for temperatures in the high 40s tonight. Lit pilot light and lubricated the circulation pump. Everything OK.

Sue Chiafullo came by for prep on gallery sitting Saturday. She talks loud and over you. Hard to get a word in.

Still working on blog posting about marketing to old customers. This piece is getting out of control. Got to focus on finishing a junk. Want to use this as a value add to email. MailChimp.

Talked with Matt Almeida. Always dependable. Other clients absent for today.

Saturday – 9/17/2011

Went to NJ for Meredith’s 50th birthday party. Stopped in Summit. Looked at library, had coffee across from train station. Opening of an olive oil shop. Stayed over in Berkeley Heights. Continue reading →