Our biggest conference of the year was in Philadelphia this year and as most years, I was teaching a class the week before the conference for people who come in early and just can't get enough of the software I teach This year we had more than the usual number of pre-conference classes and most of my colleagues (most of whom I like a lot) were there. It is always fun to go to these things because, as I've mentioned before, I usually travel alone.

Well, Philadelphia was kind of lame, but we certainly squeezed it for everything it was worth. It was made more fun (and more accessible) by virtue of the fact that my bike went to the conference, too. We have these huge 18-wheelers that take all of our crap to conferences every year-- stuff like booths for the demo room, books, computers, servers, cables, furniture... it's like taking a large regional office on the road for a week. There are six oversized 18-wheeler trailers in all. That's a lot of crap. Anyway, I asked, mostly joking, whether I could throw my bike on one of the conference trucks and sure enough, they said YES! Woohoo! So I had my bike the entire week (8 days, actually) and my friend kiltman had his bike, too (his went on the airplane, though). We rode ALL OVER philly. It was lots of fun, except we did manage to ride through some of the scariest parts of town. Which for Philadelphia is saying something! We got there by following the bike routes on a map we had, which took us on a nice 15-mile ghetto tour. I found out later that there was only one murder that day and we didn't happen to see it. Apparently it was a slow day for the gangs...

Other than the project-biking, we rode to the museum and carried our bikes up the museum stairs all Rocky-style (but with a bike) and people-watched. Then we rode several really pretty bike routes up the Skuylkyulikill river (sorry, folks, that's a crazy word and I can't spell it. Unlike Atchafalaya, which is a perfectly reasonable word) and up the Wissahicken Creek (TPPPPPH) toward Valley Forge. And we rode some street they call The Wall in Manayunk. If you know what that is, you might be impressed. If not, whatever. What's funny is that kiltman described this ride as "one of the highlights of the conference" which I find to be an interesting way to describe it.

When we weren't riding, we were eating. There were some really good restaurants that had very few people in them and some "legendary" places that were overpriced and not as good. Name names, you ask? OK. If you're ever in Philadelphia, go to Bistro St Tropez or Patou. They are moderately-priced French restaurants owned by the same chef. BST was hopping, but surprisingly, Patou was empty when we ate there. Apparently when they opened in January, they got a bad review for slooooooow service. It is not as slow now, although it isn't a quick meal. But it is dead-empty. I doubt it will stay in business much longer. Bistro St Tropez has a better chance, as it was a little faster service and probably better known. Both restaurants were, without question, the best meals we had in Philadelphia. As far as overpriced places that weren't as good, we went to a place called Bookbinder's that came really highly recommended. We were disappointed. Food was pretty good, but not worth the money, and the goony waiter could not figure out how to split a check 8-ways. Um, take the number at the bottom, divide it by 8, .... Apparently this was a step below quantum physics for the poor guy. Their menu's highlight was the snapper soup. It was de-lish. But be warned-- snapper means Snapping Turtle, not Red Snapper! If you're from the deep south, this will be neither surprising nor terribly revolting (although still a little creepy), but feint-of-heart midwesterners might take issue with turtle soup...

So there's not much more to tell about that trip, yeah there was work blablabla.

At this point I'm excited about too many things coming up and I don't which one to focus my "yippee!" energy on:
1. My cousins PartnerInCrime is getting married in 3 weeks, and we're going to fly out to Seattle for the wedding, and lots of other family will be there, too. She's marrying a guy everyone likes, and she's really happy, and he's really happy, and so everyone else is really happy, too. Right now she's a little frazzled with the wedding planning and stuff, but I've got to say, she's remarkably cool all things considered.
2. My first triathlon is in 2 weeks and I think I'm ready for it!
3. Our Quebec biking vacation is in 2 months and we haven't made any hotel reservations yet!...
4. ...except for the one in Pittsburgh, where mom and dad are BOTH competing in the Senior Olympics national championships!
5. I registered for another triathlon in August. If the first one is Mickey-Mouse, this one is its big, red, hairy-and-scary opposite. It's olympic distance, in the mountains, and supposedly one of the hardest ones in the series. No, I do not actually expect to finish within the 4-hour time limit. But I will go down fighting!
6. I got a bonus at work, part of which I just blew on a fancy new wetsuit! By the way, if you've ever try putting on a triathlon wetsuit, prepare for a truly claustrophobia-inspiring experience. Really. This, coming from someone who is *not* claustrophobic.

This weekend we're heading down to New Bern to visit the 'rents-in-law and get in some good flat-land riding. WHEN oh WHEN will strawberry-picking season start??? New Bern has a lot of berry farms.

OK, so a lot has happened. I'll update you in a few blogs...

Before SNG,Goofch and I entered a 2-week period of mourning, The last blog was before Easter weekend, coming home from Milwaukee (MKE).

As required by FAA regulations, all flights entering and leaving Chicago O'Hare airport (ORD) were delayed at least one hour and gates changed no fewer tha 3 times. Ironic because the flight from MKE to ORD is 14 minutes in the air. The drive is 90 minutes. I should have known to take a cab from MKE to Chicago. Anyway, so waiting in MKE airport on Good Friday I decided to get some lunch. Sat at the bar, had some food, watched the bartender make drinks. More than 3/4 of the drinks he set up were Bloody Marys. Is Good Friday an official Bloody Mary day and I just missed the memo? They weren't on special, either. I asked.

Finally made it to ORD, and then to RDU, and only ended up about an hour late overall because the pilot took some funky jetstream-express-lane from ORD to RDU.

On Thursday before I got home my friend James and his fiance Katrin came to visit and stay with us for the weekend. Katrin was doing an externship in RTP and although they've been together for over 3 years, SNG & I had never met her. SNG entertained them Friday with some hiking and lots of stories, and I got in just in time to go grab some dinner. We had such a fantastic weekend with them! We did all the local stuff- hiking in Umstead, wandering around the warehouse district in Durham, checking out the museum grounds, playing with the dogs. Even had a few adventures! It was really fun. James flew back home Sunday but Katrin stayed until the 15th.

Modean took a turn for the worse on Saturday when we took him hiking in the park. He was dragging up the hills and finally got where he couldn't walk more than a few hundred feet before he'd stop to catch his breath. Katrin noticed that his gums were white, which meant he wasn't getting much oxygen. He relaxed the rest of the weekend. After that he had inreasing difficulty with climbing stairs, and eventually even just walking on flat land.

We figured the end was near, but he still wasn't in any pain and his tail was wagging. He was pretty zoned out. As the week went on, he stopped responding to commands. If you said "cookie," or "Modean," about half the time he'd look up but that was as much response as he'd give. We gave him lots of love and chicken and ham and somebody was at home with them for lunch every day. As you know, he did expire on April 3 in his sleep. He was a really good dog. I really miss him, but we're getting used to being a one-dog family.

While Katrin was here we went for a ride with Eric and had some really weird weather. It was sunny/warm and them it rapidly changed to cold/WINDY/rainy and even at one point, hailing. Jeez. And none of us were properly dressed for it. The wind was so strong that K & I were in fear of being toppled off our bikes so we took the road bikes onto the dirt road (OH! GASP!) as a shortcut, to SNG and Eric's protests. I tell you, it was worth every bit of mud we splattered into our drivetrains.

We made it home just as the thunder started.

So that only brings you up to 2 weeks ago. Next post- I'll tell you about urban cycling, playing like Rocky, busy bad restaurants and empty good ones, and Amish cheese in Philadelphia.

 

Sad News. Modean passed away last night peacefully in his sleep. He was perhaps the coolest dog ever and we were lucky to have the time with him that we had. We are going to miss him for a long time. 

Triathlon Training Update:

Two new records!!
1. Tuesday: swam 1250 yds in 33 minutes. All freestyle+breaststroke, no rest. That's a new personal best.
2. Wednesday: 2.3 mile jog to work (in hills) in 20 minutes. Also a new personal best.

The 4.3 mile jog home from work is still about 43 minutes, so I think I'm going slower as I get more tired. Or maybe it's an evening thing.

In light of how fast "runners" run and how fast "swimmers" swim, I know my times don't look like much. But I'm neither a "runner" nor a "swimmer," so I'm pretty darn pleased!

WHEW! Posting all those pictures sure was exhausting! That's my excuse for not posting in over a week. But really the excuse is that I've been out of town (as usual!). And, of course, when I got back, catching up with things I couldn't do because I was out of town.

March 18 was SNG's and my 10th anniversary so we took a weekend trip to Wilmington. We had a hotel room on Wrightsville beach with a balcony overlooking the Atlantic. The weather was a little crappy. Saturday was cold, windy, and a little bit rainy, but we were determined to have fun, so we just did all the things we wanted to do only we did them in the cold, windy, rainy weather. Except I didn't get to use my new swimsuit. Bummer.

We ate at terrific seafood places all weekend. One place, called Bridge Minder's, was good enough that we went twice! We also found a funky place for breakfast called Middle of the Island. It's a little diner that was mostly full of locals as far as we could tell. On Saturday we rented a couple of beach cruisers for the day (see SNG's picture below this post). They were single-speed bikes with coaster brakes. Scary! But fun. Way fun. Sunday the weather was gorgeous (but still cold & windy). We walked on the beach and watched the surfers. Then we drove home.

And I packed for Milwaukee. And left Monday morning. And was there until Friday night.

Actually, Milwaukee (hereafter referred to as MKE) wasn't too bad. The hotel I stayed in was average, but it was attached to a (second-rate) mall downtown, so I was able to do some lécher vitrines. The restaurants within walking distance of the hotel were of the highest calibur: Applebee's was the crowning glory, but there was also Mo's Irish Pub and a burrito place. And of course, we cannot forget to mention the decadent food court at the mall. Only at the mall food court can you find Bourbon Street Chicken, a dish so exclusive that even I, who grew up in New Orleans and spend many evenings during those formative teenage years on Bourbon street, had never heard of it until about 5 years ago, when I first saw it in Boston, MA. Only fast-food chinese food chefs know the secret to this gourmet delicacy. And then there is Sbarro, the pinnacle of Italian culinary mastery. BIG slices of pizza. Shaker jars of powdered parmesan cheese-food product. It's genius, I tell you.

Sadly, I was only able to experience these restaurants on the first day I was in town. After that, the client for whom I was teaching had planned lunch and dinner dates for me with students every day. Now I have to say, this is something I wish every onsite customer would do. Normally, I teach classes full of students who may or may not want to be there. If it's an on-site class, it is usually arranged by someone who is not actually taking the class. I show up, I teach all day, I go back to my hotel, I eat alone, I go to sleep, get up, shampoo, rinse, repeat.

But this class was arranged by a director who asked all his managers to send their statisticians for 3 weeks of training (I was week 3) and he sat in on the whole thing. One of his motives for having the onsite class was the opportunity to have a captive instructor-- someone who is devoted to that one company for the entire time. This opens opportunities for one-on-one discussions that you can't really have in public training courses. So I think he arranged all the lunch and dinner dates for 2 reasons-- 1, to help me feel welcome and 2, to get a little free consulting for his statisticians. Which is just fine with me! I love having company, I love talking shop, and I really liked these students. They were really friendly and seemed to genuinely want to be in class. And they know some really good places to eat in MKE (only accessible by car).

It's those kind of classes that remind me why I like my job.

The trip home and last weekend are topics for a new post- this one is getting really long.

If I leave you with a cliffhanger, maybe you'll all come back and anxiously await the next post! While you're waiting, why not leave me a comment? I love comments. They are evidence that I'm not just talking to thin air.

SNG says this picture must be posted on Alphagal's blog
(it is from the weekend trip to Wrightsville Beach) 

But we sure felt safe with this nearby. ;-P 

They're sppoky at night, no? 

A little closer view... 

Here are The Gates from a tall bldg at 51st and Broadway 

Voldemort's cat says: "You are SO going to pay for this." 

Modean says: "Remember this face, because someday, it'll be on the dollar bill. And you will have to give me all the cheese I want! MUWAHAHAHAHAA!" 

Goofch says "I like cheese. Do you have any cheese?"