Are We Having Fun Yet?

The nice thing about traveling is that it’s the perfect opportunity to test drive cars you might not have previously considered. Even better, when they suck out loud, you can return them with no shame.

This trip, I had a Volkswagen Beetle. I give it a so-so rating.

On the good side, the seats were comfortable, the engine had great acceleration and the fuel consumption wasn’t horrid. It had a nice feel while driving in both city and highway conditions and handled very well. And who could resist its iconic profile?

On the bad side, it made me constantly and uncomfortably paranoid about my surroundings because nearly all of my lines of sight were blocked in some fashion. The rear view mirror was much too small to show what was happening behind me IMHO, although perhaps a larger one wouldn’t have been utterly defeated anyway by the four headrests. Even when I swiveled in the driver seat to look behind me while reversing, my field of vision was limited on both sides by the rear headrests. The roof struts on each side created enormous blind spots which scared the hell out of me while changing lanes and parallel parking. Even the windshield was less than it could be as my seat sat physically so high in the chassis that I was looking through the top two inches of the windshield rather than a preferred 1/3 vertical down the height of the windshield.

The steering wheel seemed designed to block my view of the dashboard. I could find no position which didn’t obscure some portion of the dash or controls. I had a choice of aggravating my carpal tunnel syndrome or seeing the speedometer and ultimately chose the speedometer for fear of local speed traps and radar cameras.

Trunk storage was OK. The two passenger rear seats were a token effort at best: only the smallest of people could get into & out of those without acrobatics or sit with comfortable foot & leg space.

My ultimately love/hate metric for a rental car is whether or not I'd swap my 2001 Honda Civic for the car I'm test driving. In this match-up, my Civic wins in nearly every category which matters to me. Your mileage may literally vary.

In short, it was a cute & snappy little beastie, but I couldn’t drive one for more than a few days without going insane. Road rage is supposed to come from other people on the road, not inflicted by your own vehicle.

Yesterday evening, we saw "The Dark Knight Rises," the latest & final installment in this latest Batman series.

I kinda liked it. Oscar-worthy? I can't think who or why any of the primary characters might be considered for an Oscar. It was an OK movie with a competent and professional cast but I didn't see anything which rises to the level of an Oscar.

( Minor spoiler behind the cut, in case you haven't seen the movie yet. )

I received a new registration sticker for my car's rear license plate last week and finally got a few minutes to afix it appropriately.

While tackling that, I also cleaned out the glove box of my Civic.
In: The new vehicle registration card.
In: The new car insurance card which I should have done July 1.
Kept: Proof of emissions testing from March, 2012.
Out: Expired vehicle registration cards from 2003 and 2004.
Out: Proof of emissions testing from 2008 & 2010.
Out: A huge, dusty wad of extra paper napkins.

I really should do this more regularly.

I had a fun time at the IAGSDC convention in Vancouver. After all, how could I not? It involved travel (which I love), Vancouver (which I love), reuniting with friends (who I love), being away from work (which I f'ing adore) and being a busy project manager/control freak (which I love about myself).

Yup, total win! :-)

Highlights:

• I got to see bitterlawngnome and danthered for the first time since they moved to Vancouver. And they took us to a fun nearby Indian restaurant. Good times!
  
• I caught up with Dan L., a Vancouver local I know through chorus circles whom I haven't seen in many years. Yay!
  
• I danced as much C2 as I wanted. That is to say, I could have danced a whole lot more but didn't feel pressured to dance continuously and there was always a space for me if I wanted to get on the floor.
  
• I called four scheduled guest spots, all of which went pretty well. I even called two additional tips simply by being at the right place at the right time during unforeseen disruptions to the original dance schedule.
  
• The hotel was very comfortable. Yup, the elevators were a bother sometimes but I quickly learned to prepare & avoid them during the high traffic periods.
  
• We've pre-registered for the Salt Lake City in 2014 (we had already pre-registered for San Francisco in 2013).

As I mentioned previously, I'm now the GCA vice-president. I have some ideas I'd like to implement for the next two years of calling schools but I need to consult with a handful of people first, look through a tonne o' documentation the past VP has sent me and examine thoughtfully the feedback we've received from the latest caller school participants. Then I need to write a proposal, discuss with the GCA board for amendments & feedback, then approach the San Francisco convention host committee and the All Join Hands board for funding. Whee!

Following the convention, we took an evening to visit with tdjohnsn & rlegters in the Seattle area. It's been far too long since we've seen them, and our visit was sadly all too short. We'll have to make up for that somehow.

Sunday was most notable for me because I was scheduled to call some top-of-the-hour guest calling spots. I was granted four slots, three today (Advanced, C1 and c2) and one tomorrow (C2).

My Advanced set went OK. I did some relatively easy choreo but it apparently wasn't easy enough for some. I'm guessing the problem squares in the front of the hall were new Advanced dancers. Had I thought it through more carefully, I would have just called A1 rather than full A2: the regular dancers wouldn't have known the difference but the newbies would have had more floor time & faster responses to those calls.

My C1 went well enough, again sticking to relatively easy material.

The banquet in the evening was nice but it ran late and that's when things got a little tricky. The 8pm dance hour was largely chopped in half because of the banquet overrun. Worse, the crowd departing the banquet hall largely jammed the five hotel elevators and/or delayed the callers departing from the front of the banquet hall.

I was early for my C2 gig and saw only three dancers in the hall. OK, no problem. The C1 hall however had three squares of dancers standing on the floor, waiting for a caller to arrive. To keep them from wandering away while the scheduled caller was in transit, I plugged in my laptop & mic and called an extra tip. I then dashed to the C2 hall for my scheduled gig.

My C2 set was well received, I think. When I wrapped up, the scheduled caller still hadn't arrived but kent4str quickly made a phone call and found she was still caught up in the elevator crush so I called an additional C2 set to entertain the dancers until the regular caller arrived. Success!

After a little more dancing, we went to the 34th floor to watch the Canada Day fireworks before joining friends at the bar for fun & gossip.

So far, we've survived Day 1 in Vancouver. Kinda, sorta.

The locals are walking in the streets with jackets and scarves. Frankly, I was overheating in a light shirt. A little cooler would be nice... I hope Environment Canada gets right on that.

We've scoped out the local businesses, food courts and facilities, all of which are very nice. Our current big worry is where we're going to eat when the local businesses are closed Sunday and holiday Monday.

The IAGSDC delegates meeting was pretty much as expected.

• The IAGSDC has applied for 501(c)(4) status.
  
• There are now 55 member clubs, two associations & eight affiliates.
  
• The IAGSDC will probably re-instate bimonthly mailouts of festival weekend flyers.
  
• The proposed by-law changes were all approved.
  
• We're still going to San Francisco in 2013 and Salt Lake City in 2014. We voted to go to St Louis in 2015 and have received expressions of interest for Toronto in 2016, Philadelphia in 2017 and Seattle in 2018.
  
• Three IAGSDC board positions were up for election; the three incumbents were re-elected by acclamation.

The GCA meeting was pretty much as expected too. There were a series of reports from various board positions and some board elections. And that's when things went to hell.

I was acclaimed as the GCA's new vice-president. Oops.

I got even with kent4str for masterminding that little prank: I nominated him for alternate IAGSDC rep. Take that!

The primary role of the GCA vice-president is to run two consecutive annual caller schools.
Since there's no time like the present, I'm already collecting information & ideas for next year's caller school. I'll write more about what I'm thinking on this later.

Tonight, we're off to the opening trail-in dance and schmooze with our fellow dancers, as well as hunt down some food for dinner.

The past week has been more than a bit of a blur.

A week ago Thursday, I learned my cousin, Josh, passed away in his sleep from a cerebral hemorrhage at age 22. On Saturday, kent4str and I called for the Chesapeake Squares at the annual Baltimore Pride parade, then he drove me directly to National Airport so I could fly to Buffalo, collect my rental car and head to Toronto.

On the whole, the trip was fast and efficient. Unlike the Budget office at SJC, the BUF office actually gave me a compact car as I had booked. It was a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta and it was a delight to drive: comfortable, fuel efficient, great acceleration and roomy.

I spent nearly all of Sunday with my grandmother and my aunt Kathy (Josh's mother) in Drumbo and Princeton, Ontario, about 90 minutes west of Toronto. It's probably the longest time I've spent with my grandmother in years and we had a delightful Sunday drive through the area, visiting cemetaries where our various ancestors are buried.

While that sounds a little morbid, it really wasn't: death is a part of life and it was a pleasant experience to visit the graves of my paternal grandparents, along with various other Jarvises in the Paris Plains Cemetary. As I commented at the time, it was the largest gathering of Jarvises I've attended in years, and nearly the quietest.

We also visited the Wolverton cemetary where grandma's late husband is buried. I asked why he was there in 1981 rather than anywhere else: after all, there are no other Mordens buried in that space. She just stated matter-of-factly that my uncle Dave (her son-in-law) noted at the time there were only four plots left and if she wanted them, she should sign on immediately. It's just a business transaction. In exactly the same neutral tone, she pointed out where she will be buried, along with Josh and Josh's mother, just as plainly as saying the grass is green and the sky is blue. Huh.

For the record, I confirmed on Wednesday my parents are to be buried in the Brentha Cemetary near the family farm in northern Ontario. My will also makes it clear I'm to be buried there. Don't try flinging my ashes into space or anything silly like that: have a party instead.

Sunday evening, we had dinner with Kathy and her fiance, Clayton. Many of Josh's friends dropped by to say hello. Apparently, Josh was the nexus of an extensive social network and his home was the place where many in this small town could hang out when desired. His loss is having more of an impact that I knew previously.

I spent the morning of Monday bumming around Toronto, site-seeing, shopping and visiting my old haunts. I miss that city. I spent the afternoon & evening visiting with my Dad at the home of my sister "3 of 6" while Mom was out with Grandma and Kathy. Again, it's probably the longest stretch I've spent alone with Dad in decades.

After his recent ostomy operation due to Crohn's Disease, he's recuperating nicely. He still doesn't have the energy he used to for endurance, but he's clear, articulate and in good spirits.

Tuesday was largely spent on my own and hanging out with my Toronto hosts John & Chris, indulging in some quiet and contemplative time.

On Wednesday, I packed everything and headed to Mississauga to collect Dad and we both drove out to Drumbo to rendez-vous with Mom and Grandma, had an early dinner and then headed to Woodstock for the first viewing (The second viewing was on Thursday and the formal funeral & internment on Friday but I couldn't stay in Canada for those events).

There was a steady stream of Josh's friends and co-workers from 7-9pm. For the most part, I sat with Dad and we continued various conversations from the prior day, both of us rising when summoned by Mom, Grandma or Kathy as needed for introductions or errands.

I'm happy to report Mom was distinctly non-sociopathic. I'm not sure if Dad's improved health has relieved her stress so she isn't wigging out in ugly, nearly violent anti-social behavior, the likes of which nearly had her removed from Dad's hospital by security only a month ago. It could also be that she's simply on her best behavior because she's in public: she has a talent for camouflaging her periodic bat-shit crazy behavior when required to charm strangers or avoid being called on her excesses by those she can't control (ie. Grandma, Kathy and me). In any case, we were fine the entire time and parted on good terms.

When the event was over, I drove Mom, Grandma and Dad back to Grandma's apartment, said my good-byes and headed for Buffalo. I had originally planned to travel early Thursday morning from Toronto for my 8:45am Buffalo-to-DC flight but decided at nearly the last minute that fighting my way through unpredictable morning traffic around the entire Golden Horseshoe area of southern Ontario then get my way through the border crossing was too much stress for a morning trip. Going to Buffalo Wednesday night and taking a cheap hotel room near the airport would provide more rest time. That was the theory, anyway.

Sure enough, I made good driving time to Buffalo and needed a half-hour to get through the processing queue at the border. While my Econo Lodge gave me an enormous suite for my single night's stay, the AC couldn't keep up with the near-record heat in a room that big so I got only three hours of sleep while baking & sweating in bed.

On the good side in the morning, however, I checked out of the hotel, packed the car, drove to the airport, dropped off the rental, checked in at US Airways, got through security and walked to my gate within 30 minutes. Total win.

The flight was uninteresting except for the misbehaving toddlers and overly-indulgent pseudo-parents in row 12, directly in front of me. Horrid. I'm so glad it was only a 50 minute flight.

Once back in DC, I took the subway home, rested a little, did some work and then headed downtown to call a Mainstream & Plus club night for the DC Lambda Squares.

I regret I couldn't spend an additional night or two in Canada. There are so many friends I would have liked to have seen, but my only free time was during the workday and even then, there were periods when I needed to be alone. I wasn't close to Josh so I'm still more than a bit surprised how painful his loss has been.

Friday was all work, including a site visit to the data center to collect equipment from Shipping and reboot some recalcitrant appliances.

Today was our day of good deeds. kent4str's mother is still in the rehab facility, getting physio for her minor stroke nine weeks ago. She's going to be released back into the wild shortly so the three of us descended on her & Dad's house in Mt Airy, MD, to scrub the place top to bottom and re-arrange furniture in the master bedroom for her easier access. We also fixed a minor problem with the central air conditioning condenser drain hose and generally tackled whatever project Ralph required. We were well fed as a reward. I'm looking forward to Zoe's return home.

I have hardly danced a single step this past week but it's been a very productive & interesting week nonetheless.

I called a C2 workshop last Wednesday for our small regular group. In all, it went pretty well: I have three sequences I want to retool to varying degrees, but the other 50+ used that night were fine, including some with cute gimmicks or tricks.

kent4str and I have received our GCA guest calling assignments for the Vancouver IAGSDC convention at the end of this month. I have an Advanced set, a C1 set and two C2 sets; Kent has a C1 and two C2 sets. Woo hoo!

Last weekend's DC Pride square dance demo & parade went better than last year but could be better. The DC Lambda Squares board agrees and it appears we're finally going to start working seriously on creating an official square dance demo team for public appearances & performances.

We're sketchy on the details at the moment --I've been derailed by a death in the extended family and both kent4str and I had commitments to this weekend's Baltimore Pride and the Chesapeake Squares-- but we do have some ideas.

1. It's an invitation-only team. I know this will hurt some feelings but we need to know that those participating can dance effectively, are flexible enough to dance the boy or girl part if needed and are committed to the rehearsals and performance schedule.
   
2. We've created a tentative list of approximately 20 dancers, past & present DCLS members, we plan to approach. Ideally, we want enough dancers for two full squares, plus a few extras for those who need to beg off a particular gig because of illness, work or whatever.
   
3. We'll be dancing to a script so anyone with Plus experience will have enough dance knowledge; we'll do more than just the MS & Plus list of course, but we're just teaching the calls instead of teaching how to dance.
   
4. We're covering a lot more than dancing. We're going to emphasize a complete performance: how to get on stage, how to exit the stage, how to hold one's inactive hands, how we're going to dress, etc., and enforce consistent flourishes & styling. I frequently joke while calling at club nights that it's square dancing, not ballet, so mistakes & imperfections are a cause for laughter rather than embarrassment. Not for the performance team: this is ballet now.

Beyond that, we haven't planned much. Above all else, we need to set a rehearsal time and location and that's no small matter with so many dance events around the greater DC area on any given night. At the moment, I don't even have a clue where to begin on that topic. We also need to do a boatload of research to learn as quickly as possible what will & will not work. Time to dig into the CALLERLAB archives...

In other news, DC Lambda Squares has a great new badge design. The order for new club badges will be submitted Monday and I hope we can show them off at the IAGSDC convention in Vancouver. I really like the design.

And in still other news, DCLS has moved from our dingy, carpeted Scott Hall at National City Christian Church to the music room a few doors over. The room has vastly better lighting, is enormously cleaner --Scott Hall is a charter school during the daytimes and kids are by definition somewhat messy-- and has a tile floor. The acoustics are a little echoey so we'll need to experiment with speaker placement for optimal results but it's better than the audio black hole in Scott Hall. Bill Harrison was the first of our regular callers to use the new hall for Advanced & Challenge night last Thursday with good results; I'm calling for DCLS next Thursday so I'll have more to report after that.

DCLS scooped up 90 names at last weekend's pride festival. The wrist bands and temporary tatoos with the DCLS logo seemed to be a draw, but I think the big win was our raffle of a Kindle. We have a pizza night & open house on Monday so we'll see how many folks come for that. kent4str and I are co-teaching the new Mainstream class (16 weeks starting on Monday, July 9) so we'll hopefully convert some of these names into new dancers soon.

Today's Baltimore Pride parade with the Chesapeake Squares went vastly better than last year's. Last year, we attempted a quick demo in front of the reviewing stand but the audio guys screwed up our pre-recorded music & calling, starting the sequence four calls in and thus losing all of our dancers. It was a mess.

This year, we gave them the music but were relying on our own audio system for the calls. It worked better, but for some reason, someone insisted the dancers dance in front of our float rather than behind so we had to quickly swivel our speakers around so face the dancers. Then the MC from the stage insisted on talking over top the calling & dancing so our dancers could hardly hear kent4str. Fortunately, I could pick out his voice and interpret his calls and re-shout them to our square so we had a pretty successful 30 second demo despite the circumstances. Oh, and the audio guy never stated our music at all. Not a single note. *sigh*

Chesapeake Squares has an open house on Tuesday, June 26, 8-10pm. As I type this, I just discovered to my horror that I'm scheduled to call for them that night. Doh! :-) They're also sponsoring a Kindle raffle for tomorrow's Baltimore Pride Festival... let's hope they get as many names as DCLS did, and that we can translate those names into new dancers!

I received word early this afternoon that my cousin Josh was found dead in his apartment in Kitchener this morning. At the moment, the cause of death is unknown. He was 22.

To say this is unexpected is an understatement. I saw Josh at our grandmother's 85th birthday bash in April and he was as energetic and healthy as any 22 year old should be. An autopsy is being performed.

Josh was an only child and his mother, Kat, was in Indiana when she heard. One can only presume that she returned to Ontario as quickly as possible but I've had no further word from the family. I'm sure she's devastated.

My thoughts keep returning to my grandmother. She's survived a husband, two daughters and heaven knows how many friends. Now she's lost a grandchild for the first time.

Although there's no word on funeral arrangements, I've booked plane tickets and a rental car for this Saturday evening through next Thursday morning. My precise itinerary will depend on family events and arrangements so I'm hesitant to plan more than that currently.

We use nagios for monitoring software & servers, but I need something to help me track & plan hardware location, electrical capacity and such within my data center. Anyone have ideas or suggestions?