Happy Birthday!

Today is the 28th birthday for The Son and Daughter#2. Twenty-Eight years ago they were born about 7:30 AM at Alexandria Hospital. The Son was born first followed about 6 minutes later by his twin sister. Here is wishing both have a great day.

Speaking of Daughter#2, she and her husband stayed with us last night after they attended the Iron Maiden concert at Jiffy Lube Live (formerly Nissan Pavilion). After weathering a thunder storm it all apparently went well. Jiffy Lube Live? What a name.

We're having work done on the house. We've had the basement area, including the bathroom, repainted. Now we're having the wallpaper stripped off the dining room walls, prepped and painted. Next on the agenda is our bedroom. That's if Ann and I don't kill each other over what color it should be.

Practice continues for Sunday's Diamond States Regatta. I have practice tonight in both the Mixed 2X and the Quad (4X). I'm sure I'll be one tired camper come tonight.

Race Results and Mistaken Identity

So Daughter#2 wants to know how the races went on Sunday. Well good and bad. My boat came in 2nd out of two. Not surprising as we were racing a boat whose average age was 20 years younger. The margin of defeat was somewhat embarrassing though. The Son's 4+ also came in last, but a lot closer then my boat. The good? The weather was gorgeous. Sunny, not overly hot and a light breeze. Water conditions were wonderful. Who wouldn't want to row under those conditions? Also good? The club as a whole did really well. The Mens 8+ came in 3rd in a race where only 2 seconds separated the top 4 boats. The Womens 8+s came in 1st and 3rd. The Womens 4+s came in 1-2-3. The Women's Lightweight Quad came in 1st and our Mixed 8+ came in 1st. Quite a good showing. They served some ice cream after the racing was over, which The Son got to enjoy. Since my race was next to last, we chose to just return to the boathouse and not stop at Sandy Run. The Regatta was run out of Sandy Run. It was a good time for all, I think.

In other rowing related news, my Coach has asked me to row in a mixed Double (2X) with her at our next Regatta, which is Diamonds State in Middleton, DE. That takes place next Sunday. I've never entered a sprint race in a boat that small. We practiced this morning to see how thing might go. It wasn't hot, but Lord the humidity. I was soaked by the end. We did four 1,000 meter pieces. I was just exhausted by the end. I had also did the same thing the evening before, also in a Double. I don't think I was fully recovered or more likely, properly hydrated to do back to back practices like that. We have another practice in the Double scheduled for Sunday morning.

In a weird happening on Tuesday I was confused for the base taxi driver. Most of the guys that do the bulk of the driving for my van pool were out on Tuesday. Another driver took us to his office building just outside the base gates and then I had to drive the van onto the base. After dropping off the two remaining riders before proceeding to my building, this women hops in the van and asks to be taken to the base medical clinic. I was sort of taken aback and stunned and not quite sure what to do. I figured she must have had an appointment there and since she was walking with a limp, I figured it wouldn't hurt to take her considering the clinic is on the way to my building. As we drove along she was asking all these questions on where she could and couldn't be picked up by the taxi. It finally dawned on me that this women thought our van was the Base Taxi (they do use the same white 14 person vans although they are clearly marked with signs that say "Base Taxi" on them). I dropped her off without incident never really telling her that my van wasn't the Base Taxi. Weird.

First Race and Other Topics

It appears that I've been absent for some time now. Nothing posted at all for June. That's embarrassing. I'd like to say I've been super busy and couldn't get around to it, but that's so not the case. Just a case of laziness. With this post hopefully I can get back on the wagon.

The rowing season is off and running. I've been sculling a single since early April and my other rowing club began practice in early June. Our first race is this Sunday on the Occoquan. The Occoquan Boat Club (OBC) is sponsoring the Occoquan Masters Sprints. I'll be racing in a Quad in the "E" age category. "E" = Avg age is 55-59. My main rowing club is primarily a sweep rowing club. We race in 8+s and 4+s. We only dabble in sculling boats like the Quad. So of course, I'm in the Quad. I'm in the bow seat and responsible for steering the boat while I row. Fun times that. We haven't had much practice time in the Quad(see statement about the club being a sweep rowing club). So far there is only one other boat in the Quad category. They're from Pittsburgh and Three Rivers Rowing. They are an "A" age category boat. I have no illusion of keeping up with guys 20 years my junior. I would just like to keep close enough that the race is respectable once the time handicap is taken into account. (The younger the average, the less time handicap you are awarded). Racing against us old guys, Three Rivers will have to give us a significant handicap. I just have no idea how much - 15 or 20 seconds? We'll see.

On to other topics. Daughter#1 has moved back in. The family got together and painted the basement room for her. Less you think she is living in some small, dank, dark basement be advised that the room is huge, fully carpeted, has its own full bath, a fireplace and sliding glass doors to the backyard. The room has 4 windows in addition to the glass doors. She's hooked up with cable and Internet so she's all set. She is also coaching the women in my rowing club who are in the competitive category. Its neat having her out on the water with me. In other even better news, she has landed a job with Georgetown University. Things are looking up. We just need to get her husband a decent job down here.

In other news, hell must have frozen over here because The Son has also joined our rowing club. Something I thought I would never see. I've been asking him for years and he's always said "No". I think the combination of his sister now being involved with the club, his old high school coach also joining this year and his utter boredom with running and using his Elliptical for exercise finally got to him. We've already rowed several times together in the same boat. It helps that he rows starboard and I row port. He rowed in high school so its not a new endeavor for him. I actually think he's getting excited about racing tomorrow. It will be his first race in over 10 years. I hope his boat does well.

So as not to make this overly long and use up all the news in one post (plus it's time for lunch - priorities people!), I'll get this posted. Hopefully it won't be another month and a half before the next post.

Boomerang Child

Like a fair number of adults my age. Ann and I have have been empty nesters for about 2 or so years now. Ever since The Son moved into his condo back in 2007. Being an empty nester has its good and bad points, but we have made the adjustment and have pretty much settled into our own routine. That has all changed as of yesterday. We've now joined another select group - parents of a boomerang child. As Wiki defines it, a boomerang child is one that has moved back in with their parents after a stint of living out on their own for a period of time. Our boomerang child is Daughter#1. She has been living in Connecticut with her husband for several years now. During that time she has obtained work and been subsequently laid off several times. She has worked part time gigs when available. The economy has hurt her and her husband pretty hard. He works in sales and a large part of his income is based on commission. The economy has taken a bite out of his commission income due to lower sales. With Daughter#1 out of work and with his lower salary, they have had a hard time making ends meet. Daughter#1 decided that she needed to go back to school as her Journalism degree wasn't bringing her much in the way of job offers. She has decided she wants to get into nursing. An honorable profession. Unfortunately, a degree in Journalism doesn't get you much in terms of prerequisites to get you into nursing school. In addition, Connecticut doesn't seem to offer as many alternatives in terms of getting into an accelerated nursing program. Virginia offers several alternatives for such a program. Therefore she decided to return home to work on her degree program. Her husband will be joining her shortly, we hope. He has been applying for jobs here in the Washington area and we're hopeful he'll land one soon.

It will be strange for a while having a kid back in the house full time. On one hand it will be nice having help with the dogs and she will also be joining my rowing club. She will be one of the coaches for the Women's competitive team. I know its something she enjoys doing. I just hope the women, who have been known to run off a coach or two in the past with their antics, treat her with some respect. On the other hand, Daughter#1 is notorious with using excessive amounts of hot water and wanting food items not usually on our shopping list. I'm sure it will all work out for the best in the long run. She's already had her first class at the local Community College (Chemistry) as she continues to work on those nasty preregs. I'll give her this, once she has an idea in her head she'll stay focused on it until it's complete. She's the most anal child I've ever known. She has a lot of work ahead of her, but I have confidence she'll manage it.

It's a Sad Day in Washington

For sports fans here in the nation's capital, it is a sad day as the beloved Capitals, the best team in the NHL this year, laid an egg in the playoffs losing to the Club de Hockey Canadien - the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens were the 8th seed. Frankly it wasn't a fluke. Even though the series went 7 games, the Canadiens totally outplayed the Capitals though out the series. I think the loss certifies Washington as the worst sports town in the world. The Redskins - last place, the Wizards - last place. The Nationals - back to back 100 loss seasons. It certainly makes being a sports fan here a trial. Sigh.

On a lighter note, we got a new high def TV. Now we can watch our lame sports teams in sparkling 1080 clarity.

Another thing that makes me happy - Daughter#2 has decided to return to the pitch and play soccer. She joined a league in Harrisonburg. One of the things I miss, now that my kids are older, is watching them play their various sports. As the kids were growing up, particularly when they were in high school, our weekends were spent following the teams our kids were on be it Daughter#2's travel soccer team or her high school soccer team or the high school crew team that Daughter#1 and The Son were on Their regattas would literally last all day long from 8:00 in the morning to 4:00 or so in the afternoon and, in the bigger ones, do it all the same the following day. Anyway, I plan to travel out to the Valley to catch at least one of her games.

It's suppose to be a good weekend weatherwize so I'm hoping to both get out on the water and do some rowing and break out the bike for my first ride of the season. I just wish it would stay warm instead of this 80 degrees one day and 40 the next. A little consistency would be nice.

Back in Town

Last week I was out of town on business. I got an all expense trip to lovely Sacramento courtesy of the Government. For all that I was subjected to three and a half days of endless PowerPoint presentations. By the second hour of each day my eyes would glaze over as engineer after engineer presented their piece of the puzzle. They did feed us very well so there was that. One dinner included a catered affair at the Aerospace Museum of California, which was really nice. Dinner and drinks among the exhibits. We finally finished up on Thursday and I caught the red eye out of San Francisco. That was not without its own drama. I took a commuter flight from Sacramento to San Francisco. When we got to San Francisco we were told that the gate wasn't available yet as we were a bit early. Several minutes later the pilot informed us that the plane occupying our gate was going no where due to some problem or another. Long story short by the time I was finally able to disembark and get to my gate to catch the flight home, I was told I was too late, the plane door was closed and I would have to get rebooked. With visions of being stuck at the airport overnight, I approached the customer service desk. Turns out United has two red eyes going into Dulles with one leaving about 40 minutes after the flight I was booked on. I made that flight even though I got stuck in a middle seat versus the window I was suppose to have. When I finally landed at Dulles my bag was already there so apparently they let my bag on the first flight. At that point I realized I couldn't find my car keys. While I looked I texted Ann to stand by as she might have to come pick me up at the airport. Always the supportive spouse she first gave me a ration of shit and ended with the loving words of - "Take a taxi". It's all about the love. I did eventually find my car keys although obviously not where I thought they would be. Did I mention after traveling all night, I had an appointment for my annual physical? Well I did. As far as I know everything is working fine although I'm still waiting to hear the results of the lab work. I was expecting to hear the worst about my blood pressure given my traveling all night, but it was surprisingly good for me - 130/70. My weight was another matter. After pigging out all week, I was way heavier then I should be. I told the Doctor that i would be back at my lightweight limit (165 lbs) by the end of July and I should be. That was the bulk of my Friday not including running around doing errands at PetSmart and Target. I also crashed around 8;30.

Saturday was spent recovery from the California trip. I walked the twins in the morning, which is always an adventure. I also restocked the pantry after a trip to Giant. That's my job, going to the grocery store since Ann seems to have a phobia about actually going to the store. The rest of the day I watched the Nationals (wow they're above .500) and the Capitals stage an amazing comeback to beat the Canadians in OT.

Sunday my crew club held its first of three Learn to Row Days. We had 25 people show up to try out the sport of rowing. Given how windy it was, the water was surprisingly calm and we were able to get the visitors out on the water. Pictures and more of LTR to follow.

Back on the Water

The weather over the weekend here in northern Virginia was just great. Temperatures reached into the high 70s with low humidity. It felt so good just to sit out in the sun. The start of this month also marked the first time when I could get back on the water in a single. I directed my browser to the appropriate web site and paid my membership fees and then hoped in the car and drove over to Sandy Run Park. The park was pretty crowded for a Friday mid-morning. This was mostly due to the schools being out for spring break and the coaches taking advantage by scheduling practices during the day rather then late afternoon after school lets out. In addition, the first full regatta was the next day. So some last minute fine tuning of starts and getting familiar with the course, I presume. I signed out my boat (but forgot to list the time I left - oops) and headed up stream. The water conditions were good. A slight breeze, but no choppy water. The first time out I want nice flat water until I get the feel of the boat again. Sculling in a single is not unlike riding a bile. Once you master it, you never really forget how to balance the boat but the first few minutes you're still a little unsure if you'll remember how to row and keep from flipping the boat. Overall I would judge it a good first outing. I got the boat to move much better then I had any reason to believe. I'll be the first to admit that my winter training this year was pretty much nonexistent and I need to work my way back into shape before my sweep rowing starts in June. Again given my fitness level, I was able to row decent distances between water breaks. My hands came out in ok shape. First rows of the season are notorious for chewing your hands up with multiple blisters and abrasions until the callouses develop. I had no real blisters although I manage to abrade the skin off the tip of my middle finger on my left hand. and a small part of my left palm. My right hand came out unscathed. I rowed up to Fountainhead park and back. A distance of 7 miles. I'm hoping to get up to 350 miles before the season ends. The wind started to pick up just as I was finishing up, but managed to get the boat back to the dock in one piece. I just missed hitting one rather big log floating in the water and one large tree that had fallen into the reservoir due to high water eroding the banks. Both times I turned around just in time to see them and stop the boat. Hitting objects in the water is not recommended.

Saturday had a meeting of my men's team (sweep rowing) for some instruction on the erg having to do with catches and releases. Unfortunately I missed the part of the message saying that's what was going on and I just thought it was an organizational meeting of sorts and didn't dress appropriately for erging. I listened to our coach for a bit and then cut out after the other rowers started their pieces. I feel a bit bad about that. After I got home, I took our two new miniature schnauzers (Amy and Emily) out for a long walk. At two years old they have endless terrier energy and long walks helps to calm them down a bit and not get into so much mischief at home (like chewing up one of our dog beds). We still trying to arrange some basic obedience training for them so they don't go so ape shit every time they see a living soul be it human, another dog/cat/squirrel. It does make it challenging to walk them. I try to go out on our walks when I think the least amount of pedestrian traffic will be about. The rest of the day was spent running errands and then, finally, watching the Final Four. I was happy to see Butler win and not so much to see Duke win. I will definitely be routing for Butler tonight.

Sunday morning Ann and I headed off to mass. Lord it was crowded Not quite as bad as Christmas eve masses, but not an open seat to be found. Seemed all that kneeling was a bit harder on my knees then usual. Getting old is hell. After mass and another long walk of the twins, it was off to get some much needed mulch for the island out in front of our house and the shrubs that border the house. and front walk. The yard looks 100 per cent better. Given the yard work and the nice day, I cracked my first Corona(s) of the year. Now if it will just stay warm. Fingers crossed.