![]() Given my love of history, I found it hard to stay away from a historical celebration of my new town. It’s not often you encounter anyone or anything turning 150. The actual anniversary was earlier this month on the 11th, but for some reason the two decided that today would be the official public celebration (although the town was encouraging everyone to ring a bell at noon on the 11th to memorialize the actual date). The weather wasn’t exactly cooperating, but the rain was rather light and so not that dissuasive to me from participating. The celebration took place in the Armory, which is a castle-looking building on Main Street. I have driven past the building many times and was always curious about it. It turns out to be a local event venue, seating about 200 people, so it’s a great place for speeches, meetings, weddings, etc. When I walked inside, I found a number of tables/booths established, each representing one of the many local concerns in the community. I went by each of these stations, taking pictures and pamphlets as I was interested. One of the first items to elicit that interest was a timeline of Harford County, of which Bel Air is the county seat. Just this tidbit of history was fascinating to me and further endeared me to my new local community. Next to the timeline were two pictures of the historic Hayes House, which is the first house built in the area, is currently undergoing renovation, and will open soon for the public to tour. ![]() At the far end of the meeting hall was a huge replica of the county seal along with some historical artifacts and a female greeter in historical dress to answer questions people might have. I confess I was surprised (and pleasantly so) to see the county seal containing the motto “At the risque of our lives an fortunes,” a snippet from the Bush Declaration, signed in Harford County well before the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadephia and containing the same sentiments from the signatories of sacrifice for freedom. Having spent so much time already in the local library, I had to stop by the booth for the library, especially when they were displaying posters describing the history behind the library. Reading through the history of the place where I now live, I wondered about all of the history in the places where I have lived all over the country. They weren’t celebrating any 150-year birthdays, and not having some event like that which invites the public in to learn more made that history more difficult to access. That said, if I had really wanted it, I could have gone out and gotten it. My gratitude for the ease of that access for my new local community then came to the fore as I saw actual wooden nickels on display. They were from a centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town. I had never before seen wooden nickels, though I remember hearing about them years ago. Now with actual bona fide wooden nickels in front of me, I had to check them out and take a pic. I also had to check out displayed right next to the wooden nickels a commemorative plate made for the same centennial celebration. What I find fascinating about the plate is the collection of notable buildings from across the history of the community. I’m not a huge fan of architecture, but I do love history, and seeing this type of object makes me wonder about the connections that might be made in its use. Eating food off a plate like this could be seen as taking the history of the place into you as you consume your meal. Plus seeing the Oddfellows Lodge in the upper left gets that classic R.E.M. tune playing in my head: “Oddfellows Local 151 behind the firehouse, where Pee Wee sits upon the wall to preach . . . .” The celebration event was much more than was inside the meeting hall. After exiting the building, I decided to take a tour of the garden located on the side of the building. The garden contained a public chess/checker board which some young whipper snapper had constructed as an Eagle Scout project, a very worthwhile effort. I remembered by own Eagle Scout project and regretted the changes that Scouting has made since I was a part of it. I’d probably be more supportive of and more active within the organization today otherwise. Behind the garden is a huge courtyard area, probably used for public speeches back in the day. Behind that area is the back of the building, and here I found two interesting surprises. The first was an old-time fire truck, which looks to be about as old as I am, maybe a bit older than that. The second surprise was a trolley car dating back to 1915. I was invited inside the car. Up front is a driver section with a control dashboard that looks like something from 1965 rather than 1915. Behind the driver section is a seating area on one side that does look something from 1915 and a model train track display in the other side. The display runs the length of the trolley, so I couldn’t fit it all into one shot, meaning making another video. All in all, it was great event, and I’m glad I stopped by. I feel a greater sense of appreciation for my new community, a greater connection to it, and a greater desire to participate more in it. Yes, I am already volunteering a couple of hours each week, but I feel like I need to do more than that. I’m not sure what that will turn out to be, but time will certainly tell that tale.
![]() Not long after moving into my new town, I felt the need to give back to the community as a way of getting to know it better. While in this context, I happened upon the website for the Harford County Historical Society and saw that they were in desperate need of volunteers. I love history, and I thought this would be an enjoyable way to follow the prompting I had to give back to the community. After meeting with the society director and one of her associates, an elderly gentleman named Walt, I was assigned an independent project based on my needs with my schedule (or rather the schedule that I presented). That project aims to digitize the collection of oversize documents, Walt showed me his process for creating and naming the digital files, which, being an engineer, I quickly improved by developing a more efficient procedure. Speaking of which, when Walt gave me my training for the project, he asked if I knew anything about computers. I instantly thought, “Well, I’m an engineer, so I hope I know something.” But in that second before responding, a decision confronted me. Would I respond with something smart? Or would I pretend to be ignorant? Or would I just pretend to be a hot shot know-it-all? I settled for something more in the middle: “You could say I’m a little familiar.” Now I go in once a week for a couple of hours to scan oversize documents. The documents aren’t in any specific order, so I’ve gotten a glimpse of all sorts of things from the 18th century on. For someone who loves history, this is a pretty posh job. ![]() Today, though, I got a special treat. Several different projects are in the works at the same time, and one of those projects must involve historical objects, because I see different objects set out around the oversize file cabinet where the documents I am scanning are kept. Today I saw an actual old-time telephone. The telephones that I grew up with as a kid are already museum pieces, so to see something that was an actual museum piece when I was growing up was really cool. Even cooler was being able to touch it. It’s not often you get to touch a real piece of history like this, so I thought that was a special unanticipated treat. Looking at the back side of the phone, I saw holes for screws, and instantly the engineer side of me wanted to take over. I wanted to find a screwdriver and open the thing up! I didn’t, of course, but it was awfully tempting. Looking out the window from my seat by the scanner, I saw a fantastic view of the national and state flags waving outside. The photo I snapped didn’t really capture the vibrancy of the flags waving motion, so I made a short video. Overall, I feel very blessed to have this special gig. It doesn’t offer a paycheck, but the pay it offers is well worth the time I exchange for it. I’m glad I was able to find it! ![]() Few would dispute the idea that Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest US presidents. A racist assassinated him on April 14, 1865. Seeing the anniversary of that fateful day just around the corner, I thought it would be best to remember Lincoln by returning to the scene of the crime. And so I planned a visit to Ford’s Theater in downtown DC today. I have to admit that I turned out to be a bit more adventure than I anticipated and yet not enough. Let me explain. The day began with a drive into downtown DC, which I try to avoid because many of the streets have a higher probability of confusing me, even with the GPS app on my phone (although I do confess the app does help some). I considered taking the Metro instead, but somehow it seemed that I would actually save time by driving in myself and parking at a nearby garage. So this morning I took off and headed into DC. The morning was cloudy, overcast, and very windy when I left. By the time I arrived, the sun was starting to come out. Apparently the parking garage I chose from the options I saw online did not materialize, or at least I didn’t see it anywhere in sight when the GPS app said, “You have arrived at your destination.” Like I said, the app helps out some. I thought the best thing to do would be to keep driving; surely another one must be nearby. After driving a few blocks and not seeing anything, I turned right, went down a block, and then turned right again. At the next light that stopped me, I repurposed my GPS app to find any parking garage. Then I saw one just to the left. I quickly turned in, and after a short conversation with a confused attendant, I found myself going further and further below ground within tight spaces to find a parking space. The maze I had to go through to get out of the building was even worse, but eventually I surfaced. With 10 minutes to go before my tour started, I consulted my GPS app and was misdirected around the corner. I should have just walked straight ahead and crossed the street at that corner.
Rejoining the line, I followed along down very tight and steep steps into the lower portion of the building where a museum is housed. I know some people like taking lots of pictures of the exhibits inside museums, but I’m not one of those folks. Something about me just feels it’s somehow uncouth or just downright wrong. My attitude is that if you want to see what is inside a museum, then go see it for yourself. What’s the point of the museum otherwise? I did make an exception — OK, I made a few exceptions. First, I saw this fantastic framed document in the gift shop that I just felt I needed to capture about the similarities between Lincoln and Kennedy. I did not before realize that these two American presidents had so many similarities, some of which are just downright uncanny. Lincoln’s Rules of Conduct was also on display, though like the previous document was also out of stock (making me feel a little more easy about taking photos). ![]() But the exception that really baked my bagel was Booth’s deringer pistol, or rather I should say a replica of Booth’s deringer pistol. All the promotional material for Ford’s Theater, and as can seen even the display in the museum, touts the displayed object as the actual pistol Booth used to assassinate Lincoln. The photo I took is a little blurry, but it is clear that what is on display is not Booth’s deringer but a plastic replica made from a mold fashioned with the actual murder weapon. It’s nice to “touch a piece of history,” but I would prefer that piece of history to be real. Of course, I don’t blame anyone associated with the museum for not displaying the actual piece; if I were in charge, I wouldn’t have it out on display for anyone to put their hands on. But neither would I be touting a replica as the real thing. ![]() Outside that one exhibit, what I saw in the museum is well worth the trip to see. Lots of exhibits that were very educational. After seeing everything, and taking my time to do so, I learned that I misunderstood the tour description. I thought that everything I purchased with my ticket would take 30 minutes to run through. No, the 30 minutes is just the museum. So after that half hour, I followed folks in line up the stairs to the actual theater area. I went upstairs another level to find a seat in the balcony area with a good view of the box where Lincoln saw his last theatrical performance. The public doesn’t go in there, and it’s clear to me why, so I’m OK just to be in eyeshot of it. After a few minutes, a park ranger appeared on stage and began a history presentation about the events surrounding Lincoln’s final days, which was educational but also kind of creepy since the stage was all set for the current run of Little Shop of Horrors. I regret not recording the presentation. Even an audio format would have been engaging after the fact, especially since it was filled with all sorts of interesting tidbits that I did not know previously. A lot of good the presentation did, though, because as I write this I can’t remember any of those interesting tidbits — more reason why I regret not recording it! So if you plan a visit to Ford’s Theater, going out of your way to attend a tour with the ranger talk is a definite must. Following the ranger talk, we all shuffled out to the street, which was behind the old-time doors I had stood in front of when I was in line at the very start. People began filing across the street for a tour of the Peterson house, and another long line awaited me. This one took much longer to get through — a whole 45 minutes! — mostly because the space inside being so small only 15 people at a time could enter. But eventually I did get inside. The actual room and bed where Lincoln met his end were interesting to see and are the last things seen inside the house. A walkway then leads you to stairs with an interesting quote on the wall. I was so impressed with the quote that I decided to snap a photo. I think the quote speaks for itself. Between the bottom of the stairs and the outside street is a final exhibit room with the highest stack of books I have ever seen in my life. I tried getting it in a photo, but it was so big that I couldn’t fit it all into a single shot. So I made a quick video. As I bibliophile, I just couldn’t stop geeking out over this “Tower of Books.” Once out on the street again, I had to get back to my vehicle. I wanted to linger longer and check out on of the nearby restaurants; there was a Greek place serving “yeeros” and a French café that both looked intriguing. But I had told the parking attendant earlier I needed only 2 hours, and my 2 hours were just about up. Getting out of DC was a bear, and I saw that it would have been much better to take the Metro, which I recommend for anyone visiting the theater. Overall, though, I don’t regret going. This is a definite bucket list item that is worth every minute. And since the theater is still being used as a theater (it wasn’t always so), I may have to go back some time to see a play in the house that Lincoln loved to visit.
![]() In preparation for my first viewing, I decided to have a trilogy party. Watching the first two films brought back lots of good memories, and I surprised myself with how much of the dialogue I actually remembered. I found myself laughing at all the great aspects from the first two films: phrases like most non-triumphant, the circular logic Bill and Ted used to decide what to do next, the conversations they had with future/past versions of themselves, the games they played as they fell down the seemingly endlessly deep hole to Hell, how Missy went from dad to dad, and of course the Grim Reaper. Death has to be one of the best comic characters ever. ![]() So I was happy to see Death make a come back in the third film. And he’s still one of the best characters ever! Of course that means Bill and Ted go back to Hell. How else can Death come back into the story? That scene with Bill and Ted asking directions from the two goblins is just priceless. “Yeah, that’s a robot in Hell.” And speaking of robots, the robot in this film is awesome. I love how his name is Dennis, named after the ex of Rufus’s daughter! Brilliant! ![]() While we’re on the subject of robots, what happened to the Good Robot Usses? I mean, they didn’t have to have every character from the previous films in this last one, and I’m not missing Station and his totally huge Martian butt, but what happened to Station’s creation? Did they not survive the 25 years between the second and third films? And what does that say about Station’s place the universe’s greatest scientist? And what happened to showing the prolonged drop into Hell? That was one of the funnier parts from the second film. I was disappointed to see it cut out of the third, especially given how the film shows the daughters mimicking their fathers with how they speak to each other. Speaking of which, I just couldn’t get into how the daughters kept calling each other “Dude.” I just couldn’t get into that.
![]() I was surprised to get a letter from Amazon today. Yes, that’s right. Amazon sent me snail mail. Naturally I was curious, although I suspected it to be some sort of marketing ploy. But I wasn’t entirely sure about that. Why wouldn’t they just send something like that with email? Wouldn’t that be more environmentally friendly not to mention more cost friendly? Then again, I thought that maybe they were going the snail mail route because the message would stand out more. How many emails does the average person get? Many of them are marketing emails from businesses looking ot generate sales, and people get so many of them (I know I do) that they all just become noise. Sending the message by another way increases the likelihood it will be seen as signal rather than noise.
What I didn’t expect to see was what now looks like an act of desperation. Apparently Amazon monitors the accounts of their customers to see what they are and are not using, and if there is something that bodes poorly in their estimation, they take action to nudge the customer back “in line” with their desire. Of course, all of this is automated. I’m sure they have some AI algorithm identifying the “out of line” customers and then sending out a form letter like the one I received. What I find really interesting is the role their streaming service appears to be playing in their revenue model. They wouldn’t be nudging me in this direction if it didn’t matter to the bottom line.
Of course, as the letter I received shows, I haven’t been using their streaming service, and I don’t plan on it. As I posted earlier, I’ve been reading more from my library. I’ve also ordered some new DVDs from a different site to have an occasional movie night. I wasn’t expecting them for another couple of days (learning the package would take about a week to get here didn’t bother me in the least), but the package actually arrived yesterday. So this letter I received from Amazon doesn’t change what I was going to do in the least. But I do find it interesting. And I wonder what would happen if millions or even just hundreds of thousands of other people would take the same action I took. What would Amazon’s response be? Would we see them in desperation? ![]() Last night I took my nephew and my sister to see the Idaho Musical Production of Schoolhouse Rock Live! I have to start by reminding myself that I'm no longer living in Seattle. I saw Wicked there at the Paramount, and it was an awesome show. What I saw last night was staged in a charter school in Caldwell, Idaho. So I have to keep telling myself that I shouldn't have the same expectations. Actually, I believe that people should be excellent wherever they are, but I'll save that discussion for later. That being said, I found the overall experience enjoyable. There were some noisy teenagers sitting right behind us that insisted on holding conversation during the performance. I'm not sure how best to approach the decline in etiquette I am witnessing in society, but it is a question that will not leave me alone. The play didn’t have much of a storyline. It was constructed simply as an excuse to perform Schoolhouse Rock songs on stage. Normally I would find that unforgivable. In this case I have so many fond memories of eagerly anticipating and then enjoying my childhood Saturday morning ritual that I find myself overlooking a very glaring defect. Apparently most of the audience had similar memories. I estimated about 100 people in the makeshift auditorium, possibly 120 but certainly not much more than that. And no more than 10, including my nephew, were children. Such a low percentage of children in the audience surprised me, especially considering that the musical revolved around songs for children. But it was also a Thursday showing, which means getting up early the next morning for the regular school/work routine. That may have had something to do with it. And yes, the auditorium was very makeshift. The stage entrance was simply a rectangular opening at the end of a gymnasium with a slanted roof of corrugated sheet metal. Two portable loudspeakers sat at each side of the stage. The acoustics were therefore awful, which may explain why some of the sound was not quite right. A live band provided the music, and that helped a bit. But some of the voices on stage just didn't sound right. Wendy Inman's voice appeared better suited to the opera than the musical stage. And Tristan Fishman, I'm sorry but your tenor just doesn't suit the likes of "Conjunction Junction". Maybe I've just heard the original too much, but it just doesn't sound right without a deep baritone voice delivering the lines. And that's sad considering Tristan's acting was among the better of the group. Other voices were incredible, which is really saying something in light of the bad acoustics. Of particular note are Mary-Michael LeClaire and Tamara Hess. Mary-Michael seemed a little stiff in her performances, but I simply ascribed that to nervousness. Her voice during “A Noun is a Person, Place, or Thing” was incredible. If she could bring her composure on stage up to par with her voice she would be amazing. Tamara on the other hand seemed more comfortable on stage. And her rendition of “Unpack Your Adjectives” was better than the original. Christopher Purdy, who played the lead role of Tom, was also excellent. I loved his rendition of "The Tale of Mr. Morton" at the end. The song was crafted when Schoolhouse Rock experienced a rebirth, and it has always been one of my favorites. He did a really good job with that. There wasn't much to the stage, but given that the whole affair was little more than an excuse to sing favorite childhood songs, there didn't need to be. I did enjoy the costumes, especially the animal masks that the children wore while the group sang "Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla". They were awesome. And the child playing Interplanet Janet, whoever she was, did a really good job. Again, it's not the Paramount in Seattle, and there is no real storyline that demands a suspension of disbelief. But if you love the songs or have fond memories of watching Schoolhouse Rock as a child, then this show will provide you with a satisfactory evening. It did for me and my company. |
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