The Yankee Weathers Sandy

For the second year in a row the Northeast got slammed by a major storm at Halloween. Sandy, however, caused more widespread damage than the freak snowstorm of 2011. It continues to cause trouble further inland.

Here in the DC area Sandy seems not to have hit us as hard as expected. The number of people who lost power was lower than estimated and restoration is proceeding much more quickly than it did after the Derecho at the end of June. The Metro, which they shut down yesterday, opened again today at 2:00 p.m. And so far flooding appears not to have been out of the ordinary.

I spent yesterday afternoon making sure the Guest Houses were secure and filling tubs, so we'd have water, if we needed it. After dinner students gathered in dorm common rooms and Scott Lounge where we lit fires in both fireplaces. They cancelled classes and shut the whole Seminary both yesterday and today. The power finally went out last night at about 10:30. I say finally because it flickered off and on for about six hours prior to staying off. The winds pretty much died down by midnight, and even the gusts were not particularly strong.

That's not to say we didn't have any damage here. Three trees came down, which surprised us. Not because they came down, but because so few came down. The closest call was this one that came down by one of the dorms. It fell against the wind. Several basements in faculty homes and dorms were flooded. Most of them were pumped out by dinner.

After getting up this morning I walked into the living room and thought, "What an interesting reflection on the wall. I wonder where it's coming from." I put on my glasses and realized it wasn't a reflection. It was the larger of two water bubbles. I did a quick inspection of the rest of the Guest Houses and found water damage in one other room. This is nowhere near the level of the Great Water Disaster of 2008 where I had water coming through the ceiling throughout most of the apartment. Looks like maintenance will be having the roofers back and then repainting some walls.

We were lucky. It could have been worse. It is worse further north and east. Pray for those who have been affected by Sandy.

Keeping Up with Technology

When I arrived at the Seminary to start my job they gave me the Blackberry that goes with the Guest Houses. It has a little tiny screen and a little tiny keyboard. The transition to the keyboard went more smoothly than it might have because I use the considerably larger, but still smaller than a standard (if such a thing truly exists anymore) one on my Kindle to take notes when I read. It still takes me longer to type something on it than it does on the larger computer keyboards. So began my experience with smart phones.

A couple of weeks ago I finally upgraded my personal phone to a smart phone. The battery in my old phone finally gave out after more than five years. I definitely got my money's worth out of it. I amazed my friends at how quickly I could type out a text message, but all that double and triple punching of keys on the standard phone keyboard really does take a lot of time. No one at the Verizon store laughed at my old Chocolate, they even commented that it was a good phone--in its day. So the woman who helped me asked me a lot of questions, listened carefully to my answers, and made a couple of suggestions. We looked at several options, and then I asked her some questions. We talked about battery life, screen size and format, usage, and a variety of other things.

Eventually, I settled on the Samsung Galaxy SIII. I opted for the screen layout and functionality I liked versus the slightly longer batter life. I had some less expensive choices, but I could afford the one I really liked. It doesn't come with a manual. You can download one online, but I haven't done that. I do what my brother's kids do, use it and play with it to see what it does. Have I learned everything about the phone yet? No, but every day I discover something new about it. It's an adventure.

I'm adapting fairly quickly to the touch pad keyboard. The auto-fill function, however, is driving me crazy. Hopefully, one of these days I'll figure out how to turn it off. I still can't, and probably never will, type as fast on it as I can on a standard keyboard, but I won't be using it to write large documents. I do like the larger screen, which is one of the major reasons I didn't like the iPhone. I put the Kindle app on it, so I can read my ebooks, if I end up someplace without my Kindle.

App. Yes it's an abbreviation, but as a term it has entered our language. We may not like it, but language changes. The number of new words the ever advancing technology has injected into our language continues to astound. Email, Ebook, App, WiFi,Hotspot, Blog, and many more. Self-appointed conservators of the English language attempt, much like the Académie Française tries with French, to preserve the language. It's a losing battle.

Technology just speeds along. I figure my smart phone has as much power and memory as the PC I had at Pitney Bowes a little over 20 years ago, and that had as much, or more, power and memory as the computer we had at Darien High more than 35 years ago. That computer took up a small closet in terms of space. I think I have a better understanding of what my grandparents experienced throughout their lives. They literally went from horse and buggy to landing on the moon to desktop computers. My maternal grandfather, however, took it all in stride. He kept up with it all typing with his index fingers. And he was a professional writer. If Granddad were alive today, he'd be all over Facebook and Twitter and waiting to embrace the next communications technology. My hope is that I can emulate Granddad as technology continues to evolve.

So far, so good.

The Yankee Has Company

It wasn't the first visit from a family member. My brother, sister-in-law,and their youngest were here at the end of July. And it wasn't the first time I'd seen Mom since moving down here. We had a gathering of the clan the previous weekend for my brother's birthday. It was the first visit by someone from home, and the first guest who stayed in my apartment. It was Mom's first visit to Alexandria.

I suppose it really wasn't her first. Mom and Dad came through this part of the country on their honeymoon more than 54 years ago. They visited Monticello and Mount Vernon. Mom didn't want to do any of the tourist things on this visit. She wanted to check out my new apartment, see where and who I hang out and work with, and just spend some time together.

She arrived on Friday afternoon by train, which really is a great way to travel. You can board an Amtrak train in Stamford and get off in Alexandria without changing trains. It's about the same amount of time as driving, but you don't have to deal with traffic, tolls, or stops for gas. When I came down to the seminary for my interview and then for my first round of meetings, it was actually cheaper then driving when you calculate out the $0.55/mile reimbursement one gets for using one's car. You arrive relaxed rather than tense from dealing with the traffic.

So right off the bat Mom got a taste of my life. Because the week at work had been a whirlwind, I hadn't had time to run out and get a couple of things to prepare for her visit. Like the inflatable bed or her Gatorade. Off to Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, and Giant. And I needed to check my mail at the UPS Store in Old Town. Then I took her to dinner at one of the local restaurants where I often go on Fridays when the refectory doesn't serve dinner. And then we settled in for an evening of catching up.

Saturday we drove around a bit. We stopped at the antique store and the consignment shop I check out every once in a while. It's fun to just browse. Every once in a while you see something you want or need, like the table for my entryway that I bought at the consignment shop. This weekend I saw quite a bit of Depression Glass that was under priced, but none of it was the patterns I collect or interesting enough to bring home. Besides, I still need to build the hutch top for the white dresser, so I can display what I have.

I'm trying not to clutter up the apartment. Right now it takes about 3 hours to give it a thorough cleaning. I usually break it up into 15 minute segments of dusting, one an evening throughout the week, and then do another half hour or so one night a week to vacuum and/or wash the floors. Another hour over the weekend takes care of anything else that needs doing. I'm also pretty good about picking up after myself. I'm not a fanatic, but in the long run it saves me time. The only thing I haven't managed to wean myself from is piling paperwork, mail, and writing projects on the desk for days on end. I'm better about it. I still have a ways to go. But if that's the worst of it, I'd doing pretty well.

Saturday night we went to Kellee's and Bob's for dinner. I wanted Mom to meet the folks I often spend time with and count on to get me off campus on a regular basis. As usual, I came home with leftovers.

Sunday I did something I haven't done since I arrived down here. I went back to a church I'd been to already. I took Mom up to St. Clement's. It's close, and the coffee hour there is handled better than most places I've been, including my former parish up in Connecticut. It has its good points and its not-so-good points, as does anyplace.

After some down time and a light lunch (well, we did put the sewing machine into the sewing table, but that's a tale for another time) we went to one of the Goodwill stores in the area. I made a wrong turn on the way there, which is why I usually take the Rand McNally area road atlas with me. Once there we found nothing. Of course, like the consignment and antique shops, you have to go regularly to find the occasional treasure.

While I looked at the road map to figure out which way I was going to drive home, Mom asked how far it was to Arlington National Cemetery. Not very far and not very difficult from where we were, so off we went for an impromptu visit. I made another wrong turn when we got there and headed out the exit rather than into the visitors' parking, but it gave us a chance to get a closer look at the Air Force Memorial. I marvel at it every time I drive by it on the highway. It's simple and elegant, and you know immediately the inspiration for the design--the jets flying together and then veering off in separate directions. What I hadn't known until we visited the Cemetery was that the Air Force Memorial is part of the Cemetery.

We arrived just too late for the 3:00 p.m. tour and didn't want to be there as long as taking the 4:00 p.m. tour would have been. We looked at the map and opted to walk to the JFK (John F. Kennedy, for those of you too young to remember) grave site/memorial. As many times as I've seen pictures videos, it just doesn't compare to being there in person. I'm going to use those two words again: simple and elegant. And the view of Washington from the wall engraved with JFK's inauguration speech is simply stunning.

After getting back home, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and talking. We talked a lot about church over the weekend. What's been going on at Grace and what I've been observing during my visits. I don't think we solved any problems.

Then it was off to dinner in the refectory with some of the folks I usually eat dinner with followed by drinks and popcorn in Cafe 1823. Mom met a lot of people this weekend.

We had a quiet morning on Monday followed by a quick lunch with still more folks in the refectory. Then I took her back to the Alexandria station to board the 1:00 train home. That was hard; harder than I expected. But Christmas is coming, and the family will be together again then.

Christmas is coming. I'd better get busy!

The Yankee Leaves Campus

Friday morning I handed the work cell phone to my boss. I prepared a list of all incoming and outgoing guests for the weekend for her and my colleagues at the Welcome Center. Mid-afternoon I headed north. For the first time since I arrived five-and-one-half months ago, I left campus for more than a couple of hours and didn't have the cell phone attached to my hip for an entire weekend. In two-and-a-half hours I would be at my brother Scott's home in Pennsylvania.

I picked a route I hoped would avoid the worst of the Friday afternoon traffic. No such luck. Traffic crawled from Alexandria to just past Baltimore due to a series of fender benders. Once I got off I95 I had clear roads, although I did make one wrong turn and missed other one. So the two-and-one-half hour drive took about five hours. I arrived just minutes before Scott.

That began a weekend of surprises for Scott's birthday. My sister-in-law Maureen and I managed to keep my Friday arrival and Mom's and Bill's Saturday arrival secret. The middle of the boys almost spoiled it when he told his father he'd be home on Saturday, but it was reasonable that he'd come home for his father's birthday. Only when a family friend arrived at 5:00 p.m. Saturday evening did he finally really suspect something was up. Maureen even managed to keep the big present--an Alaskan cruise next summer--mostly secret.

For the first time in five-and-one-half months I got to see Mom and Bill. Mom and I email each other and chat on Facebook regularly, and we talk on the phone from time to time. But it's not the same as seeing each other in person. I remember a period of time during my college years that Mom and I went through a rough patch. My father called me and told me that I was going to go spend one weekend in Chicago with my grandparents while Mom was visiting them. Or else. I went. Grudgingly. We spent a lot of time sitting in silence. I don't think we said more than 10 words to each other that entire weekend. But after that the ice between us thawed, and we were able to start talking again.

Phone, snail mail, email, Facebook, Skype, and whatever other means of long distance communication now or in the future cannot replace actually being in the same room when it comes to relationships. Yes, I do have friends that I've never met in person, but those relationships really aren't as strong as those with whom I have in-person face time. Actually being with my family for a couple of days was incredibly refreshing.

Not having the work cell phone helped the weekend be one of refreshment and renewal. Along with the work cell phone I left my computer behind. If someone really needed to get a hold of me, I had my smart phone. If I had needed a computer, several were there that I could have used. While I didn't drop totally off the grid, I was only minimally connected. It's amazing how much time and space are created when you detach.

The transition back to campus went more smoothly. The lack of traffic and beautiful weather made for a nice, two-and-a-half hour drive home. I also brought back from Pennsylvania a couple of pieces of my past. Mom brought down from Connecticut her old Singer sewing machine, the one I learned to sew on as a child, refurbished and ready to go. And she brought a couple of the old Revereware pans for me, too (the new stuff they make sucks, to put it bluntly). Do these things make me feel more at home in my new apartment, community, state? Probably not. They will definitely help me make this be home because they are things I will use on a regular basis. The fact that they are part of my history is simply a nice thing, an added benefit.

I probably won't get away again until Christmas when I go back up to Pennsylvania for Christmas. But early next year we'll have a couple of student assistants, so I'll be able to go away for a couple of days more frequently. There's a lot of Virginia I want to explore.

Der Yankee Spricht Deutsch

Once a week at lunch a couple of small groups gather to have conversation in languages other than English. For the moment there are a Spanish table and a German table. While members of the community speak other languages, these are the two most spoken, and the German table is definitely the smaller of the two.

The German group met for the first time today. It's been a long time since I've had the opportunity to speak German conversationally, and I'm pretty rusty. However, of the four languages other than English that I have some knowledge of, my spoken German comes back the quickest when I get the chance to use it. And these informal situations are great for that.

When I was at Moorehead State in Minnesota, Fraulein Nobel hosted an weekly Stammtisch at a local bar. I remember those afternoon gatherings as being relaxed and fun. Conversation rambled through a wide variety of topics that were pretty much the same ones we had in English in other settings. I missed it when I transferred to Rockford College.

At Rockford we had a weekly gathering of all the foreign language students in one of the large lounges. No group was static, as many of the students spoke more than one language. The professors tried to keep the conversations as informal as possible, but they were never the same as the Stammtisch.

Over the years I've had opportunities to use one or another of my languages in a variety of settings. I'm no longer fluent in any of them, but I can get by. This is the first time in a long time that I've had a place to converse in German, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

The Yankee Entertains

I have a social life. Honest, I do. But it's taken 5 1/2 months for me to have my first guests to dinner at my place.

As most of you know, and have heard many times, my previous apartment was less than 500 square feet. It wasn't impossible to entertain there, but it the apartment wasn't really set up to have people over for dinner, let alone a party. I hadn't originally planned to be there as long as I was, or I would have thought about the furniture and layout differently. Two people were about as many as I could have over at one time, so I almost never entertained.

My current apartment doubled my living space. My living room and bedroom are two separate rooms! I have an eat-in kitchen that makes it possible to have people in there with me while I cook. I can actually have more than two people over for dinner!

My first guests were Lisa and Tricia. Lisa is primarily responsible for my being at the Seminary, and I love the fact she lives less than a five minute walk away. And while they're not the first to see my apartment, they were my first dinner guests. I got to try a recipe for black bean soup that I've been wanting to do for a while. I enjoy cooking, but cooking for one often seems like a waste of time and energy. For the same amount of effort I can prepare a meal for two, four, or six! The soup didn't take that long to prepare, and it we all enjoyed it. Lisa and Tricia brought gluten-free bread that complimented the soup perfectly.

Conversation flowed from work to homes to parents and beyond. It was a pleasant evening with friends that made for a nice break in the busyness we've all been experiencing for the past couple of weeks.

Time for a party at my house!

Well maybe I'll start with four or five folks...