Vacation, had to get away
Had an alternative title that I thought was a bit obscure. Like a reference to a flop Go-Go’s album isn’t, but apparently that song has seen some commercial resurgence OH JUST SHUT UP!!
Somehow my comment to the girls, “got grapes if you want them,” segued into singing “I’m the face if you want it. . . all the others are third-class tickets by me, baby, is that clear?” Very old Who number. Which led to Rebekah asking if those were the real words. I told her they were. Then she asked if I would please stop singing.
Where’ve I been all week? Well, a few things. Some training for tomorrow’s 50-mile bike ride. Did a 50 on Monday, beautiful ride to Chatham and back. That, of course, left me with nothing the next day, when I went up north to scout the route for tomorrow. I ended up not riding any of it, but instead went into the Saratoga National Battlefield, which is a one-way well-paved loop of just under 11 miles, but the hills are formidable and that was EXACTLY as much as I had in me. Wednesday was a rest day, and then on Thursday I took a quick 17-miler around town. Decided to stick with the plan of total bike rest yesterday and today. In between all that, I have been struggling new cellar windows into place, screwing around with concrete and belgian pavers and generally getting in over my head. One entire room is ripped out and awaiting some layout decisions that will let me proceed to wire it, and the basement window wells (newly created) are in a state of experimentation. I’ve also been on a fruitless search for a portable stereo to use around the basement and garage (which means ONE PIECE, something that seems to have gone the way of buttonhooks, except for these gargantuan devices that seem aimed, design-wise, at teenage boys who like big dials and numbered apertures). I was going to go see the exhibit of Steinmetz photos at the Schenectady Museum yesterday afternoon, but it turned out to just be too beautiful a day to do that, so I came back home and thoroughly cleaned my bicycle.
Nothing that puts you in touch with your inner teenage boy quite like lolling around and cleaning your bike. I used to spend entire summer days taking my bike entirely apart, right down to the sprocket bearings (you need a special tool, a cone wrench. I still have mine), greasing it all back up, putting it back together. In this case I didn’t go that far, but it was a fun time anyway.
Finally satisfied my “Wonder Boys” jones by buying the damn thing, since I couldn’t find it to rent. Glad I did. Watched it last night, and it is so very very good. The script, the acting, the cinematography, all the little details — just killer. Better than I remembered. We had watched “Sand Lot” with the girls earlier in the evening, one of the great movies that I would probably never have seen if I didn’t have kids, but which turns out to be one of the best, truest baseball movies ever made, and a damn good movie about growing up boy, too. So it turns out that we had a “Don’t Take Things that Don’t Belong to You That Have Some Relation To Baseball” theme night — in Sand Lot, it’s a Babe Ruth-autographed baseball; in Wonder Boys, it’s the jacket Marilyn Monroe wore when she married Joe DiMaggio. I LOVE theme nights, especially when they’re accidental.
Best shopping find of my vacation week? Deeply discounted DVD of “Beat the Devil,” which I will use to replace my deeply discounted VHS copy. It’s an incredibly great movie that is impossible to understand, rarely shown, barely heard of. Who decided, “Hey, the videotape went straight to the bargain bin — let’s put it on DVD and see if it does any better”? $5.00. (Commenter at IMDB says the DVD transfer is awful — but really, it couldn’t be MUCH worse than the VHS transfer which was quite poor.)
Well, off to deal with ballet class, etc. Early to bed, early to rise, 50 miles to crank away at tomorrow. A last-week push by my amazing secretary brought our fundraising for this little event up to $1,175 for the American Diabetes Association. Incredible.
Mr. Johnson will be going with the gel shorts tomorrow…