Busy Week
Celebrity Death Watch: Larry Siegel wrote TV and movie parodies for Mad Magazine. David Koch funded right wing political causes. Clora Bryant was a jazz trumpeter. Mitch Podolak co-founded the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Vince Naimoli founded the Tampa Bay Rays. Isabel Toledo was a fashion designer, who designed dresses for Michelle Obama among others. Jessi Combs was a race car driver and television presenter. Frances Crowe was a peace activist (and on my back-up ghoul pool list, alas.) Brad Linaweaver was a science fiction writer. Valerie Harper was an actress, most famous for playing the title role in the TV series, Rhoda. (She was also someone I had considered for the ghoul pool, but so it goes.)
Heritage Brewing: I had dinner with flyer talk friends last Wednesday night at Heritage Brewing in Clarendon. The food I had (a turkey burger and salad) was okay, but nothing special. The beer, however, was quite good. I got a flight of their own brews (i.e. four 3 oz glasses). I particularly liked the Revolution (an amber ale) and American Expedition (a ginger wheat ale). I was less impressed with the other two beers I had, to the extent of not remembering what they were, though I am fairly sure at least one was an IPA because I always get IPAs. The atmosphere was cozy and the conversation (largely about travel) was good, too. Overall, a nice evening out.
Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me: Thursday night, a friend and I went to Wolf Trap to see a taping of the NPR show Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. There were some issues at the beginning of the evening with the sound system, which were mostly resolved after the intro jokes, which, alas, don’t end up on the actual broadcast. You can, by the way, hear that broadcast at Wait Wait for August 31, 2019. The panelists were Negin Farsad, Peter Grosz, and Faith Salle, none of whom I was particularly familiar with. (Hosts Peter Sagal and Bill Kurtis are, of course quite familiar.) The guest was chef Jose Andres, whose restaurants include some of my favorites in the D.C. area (Zaytinya, China Chilcano, Jaleo, etc.) and who is also significant for his humanitarian efforts feeding victims of natural disasters. His English is a little hard to understand, but wasn’t a huge barrier. (I should note that we had been reseated by that segment to a part of the pavilion with better sound.) Overall, it was a fun evening.
National Book Festival: I volunteered at the National Book Festival again this year. That also involved spending a couple of hours on Tuesday evening at the training session. My actual shift was Saturday afternoon, from 12:30 to 5:30. I was a Hall Chaperone, which means I stood around with an "Ask Me" sign attempting to answer questions. I was on the lower level and stood near the escalator into Hall B, which meant that I answered about a hundred times more questions than the other hall chaperones in the area, who weren’t quite as visible. (I think it’s more fun if you are busy, so this was a deliberate choice.)
The most common questions were where to find book sales (since the sign for that area was obscured by a pillar) and where to find the two children’s stages. A lot of people needed to be directed to where specific authors were signing, as the line numbers were only on the app and not on the printed program. Also (and this is not news) the Convention Center maps suck. My most interesting observation was that all of the people who asked about the Veteran’s History Project (which was at one of the Library of Congress exhibit areas) were African-American women. Also, there were several people who had no idea what there was to do on the exhibit floor. I told them about the exhibitors and the book sales and the Parade of States and the stages. Overall, it was fun, but exhausting as I was on my feet for the whole time.
The Rest of the Long Weekend: I had good intentions re: housework, but was too tired to get through nearly as much as I had hoped to. I did, however, get some critical errands done and managed to read most of the Sunday Washington Post. I also partly caught up on puzzles, but I am still a couple of weeks behind. I got out of the house every day - Sunday to do a quick grocery run and Monday for a rehearsal for an upcoming storytelling show. Apparently, "oak tag" is very much a regionalism as none of the other people there knew what it was. (For those who don’t know, it is thinner than poster board and the color of manila folders. It was a mainstay of my school days.)
Now I am busy with work and real life. Yesterday involved a dentist appointment (getting two old fillings replaced plus prep for a crown). And today is my birthday.
This entry was originally posted at https://fauxklore.dreamwidth.org/458050.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Heritage Brewing: I had dinner with flyer talk friends last Wednesday night at Heritage Brewing in Clarendon. The food I had (a turkey burger and salad) was okay, but nothing special. The beer, however, was quite good. I got a flight of their own brews (i.e. four 3 oz glasses). I particularly liked the Revolution (an amber ale) and American Expedition (a ginger wheat ale). I was less impressed with the other two beers I had, to the extent of not remembering what they were, though I am fairly sure at least one was an IPA because I always get IPAs. The atmosphere was cozy and the conversation (largely about travel) was good, too. Overall, a nice evening out.
Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me: Thursday night, a friend and I went to Wolf Trap to see a taping of the NPR show Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. There were some issues at the beginning of the evening with the sound system, which were mostly resolved after the intro jokes, which, alas, don’t end up on the actual broadcast. You can, by the way, hear that broadcast at Wait Wait for August 31, 2019. The panelists were Negin Farsad, Peter Grosz, and Faith Salle, none of whom I was particularly familiar with. (Hosts Peter Sagal and Bill Kurtis are, of course quite familiar.) The guest was chef Jose Andres, whose restaurants include some of my favorites in the D.C. area (Zaytinya, China Chilcano, Jaleo, etc.) and who is also significant for his humanitarian efforts feeding victims of natural disasters. His English is a little hard to understand, but wasn’t a huge barrier. (I should note that we had been reseated by that segment to a part of the pavilion with better sound.) Overall, it was a fun evening.
National Book Festival: I volunteered at the National Book Festival again this year. That also involved spending a couple of hours on Tuesday evening at the training session. My actual shift was Saturday afternoon, from 12:30 to 5:30. I was a Hall Chaperone, which means I stood around with an "Ask Me" sign attempting to answer questions. I was on the lower level and stood near the escalator into Hall B, which meant that I answered about a hundred times more questions than the other hall chaperones in the area, who weren’t quite as visible. (I think it’s more fun if you are busy, so this was a deliberate choice.)
The most common questions were where to find book sales (since the sign for that area was obscured by a pillar) and where to find the two children’s stages. A lot of people needed to be directed to where specific authors were signing, as the line numbers were only on the app and not on the printed program. Also (and this is not news) the Convention Center maps suck. My most interesting observation was that all of the people who asked about the Veteran’s History Project (which was at one of the Library of Congress exhibit areas) were African-American women. Also, there were several people who had no idea what there was to do on the exhibit floor. I told them about the exhibitors and the book sales and the Parade of States and the stages. Overall, it was fun, but exhausting as I was on my feet for the whole time.
The Rest of the Long Weekend: I had good intentions re: housework, but was too tired to get through nearly as much as I had hoped to. I did, however, get some critical errands done and managed to read most of the Sunday Washington Post. I also partly caught up on puzzles, but I am still a couple of weeks behind. I got out of the house every day - Sunday to do a quick grocery run and Monday for a rehearsal for an upcoming storytelling show. Apparently, "oak tag" is very much a regionalism as none of the other people there knew what it was. (For those who don’t know, it is thinner than poster board and the color of manila folders. It was a mainstay of my school days.)
Now I am busy with work and real life. Yesterday involved a dentist appointment (getting two old fillings replaced plus prep for a crown). And today is my birthday.
This entry was originally posted at https://fauxklore.dreamwidth.org/458050.html. Please comment there using OpenID.