Jun 26, 2012

Day two at my 9 to 5 job, I'm still training, and it's getting easier to remember all of the things I need. There is a lot of memorization for shortcuts and data entry.

After work, Kate came over so I could shoot some photos of her dress to send to a person interested in buying it. I got some decent shots for her to send. 

I went for a bike ride before it got dark, and later Christy came down. We got ice cream, took a walk around the river area, and then played Wii for a while before she headed home.

Jun 25, 2012

Today was my first day of work at ARC. This is my almost-cubicle. I met all the people I'd be working with and found out what I'd be doing. Obviously I'm under a lot of supervision and paired with a training person. I like most of the people I work with, except for their constant chattiness. I don't know how I'll feel about it yet.

After a long day of work/training I came home, ate, and relaxed for a while. Before bedtime I went out for a long run around the neighborhood. Had to enjoy the nice weather at some point during the day.

Jun 24, 2012

It was a gorgeous day, so I took my bike out for it. I headed to the gym first and did some weights there then I headed to Parvin and took a little break in the shade.

I biked around the lake and then headed home slowly. It was a long day of riding, but it was so nice I couldn't let it pass.

Kate came over later to play Wii and have a few beers. Innis & Gunn is always great.

Jun 23, 2012

Today was the NJCB event with Victory at Canal's. We offered samples of the Summer Love, which is a fantastic beer, while trying to sell NJCB memberships. I had a few samples myself. I was there for a few hours and sold a few memberships. Mike told me to keep the cash so that's cool.

That was most of my day except for going out for a run later around dusk. It was a nice night for it.

Jun 22, 2014

I spent the morning getting some things together for NJCB and visiting some places around the area to talk about the club. I went to Silver Run for a run a little later.

I went to dinner with my grandmom at Chili's, and then I went up to the park to meet Christy for a walk and then to get a couple of drinks at PB's.

Jun 21, 2012

This is the only image I have for today. I went for my drug test in the morning and then went to do my official application at ARC. It went pretty quickly and easily with the requisite awkwardness that comes with applying to a job where my mom and her female friends work. Ryan and I went to the rock gym later and then to Iron Hill Brewery for dinner afterward. We went to Erika's to play Wii for a few hours later.

Jun 20, 2012

After sleeping in since we got home pretty late, I spent the early day inside. Later I went for a long bike ride and went over to Ryan's aunt's for a swim. I biked home and then it was time for Quizzo.

Jun 19, 2012

We were up a little early for the Ben & Jerry's tour so we did some of our own touring of the area. We stopped at Cabot and tried way too many cheeses for any time of the day, but even worse because it was morning. So many good ones. We went to the chocolatier next door and had some small samples. They aren't stupid; they don't give away so many. Then we went to the little general store market where they have mustards and jams. We got a sample of freshly pressed apple cider as we watched the press at work.

Not a bad morning already, but then we went over to the Ben & Jerry's factory tour. It's always interesting even if I know what they do. We got our tasty sample at the end of the tour and then went out to the Scoop Shop to get some more samples before heading out.

Since The Alchemist doesn't exist as a brew pub anymore we went to their brewery/cannery where they brew one beer: Heady Topper. This is constantly trading places with Pliny the Elder as the number one IPA in the world. It's pretty good. I'm not sure why I didn't get a six pack.

Our next stop was Magic Hat's silly, circus brewery. We did the self-tour and then went down to the bar for a few samples of things we hadn't had. For lunch, it was to the Vermont Pub for a beer and a sandwich before heading to Zero Gravity brewing. There are so many on the passport that it gets hard to follow them all.

One of my favorite little places we stopped was Fiddlehead Brewery. It was off the beaten path-ish, and they were really friendly. While we sampled, the bartender offered to let me try a pickled fiddlehead. I accepted, of course, and it was really good. Most pickled things are, but it was nice little quirky thing.

We took a break from beer and hit a couple of wineries since there were a few in the area. We got plenty of small samples, being sure to keep our BAL up while we were off the beer trail, I guess.

Our last Vermont brew stop was Otter Creek. This place has a huge selection of amazing beers. It's probably good we finished here. We got a bunch of samples and some more food to soak it up. We hung out here for a while before heading out.

On our way home we stopped at Willow Park DGC before we left the state. It was mostly open with a few wooded holes. Only 9 holes and none of them too extraordinary, but it was nice getting out of the car and enjoying the weather for a while before sitting in the car for several more hours.

We drove through Albany on the way back, and we couldn't pass up the Albany Pump Station Brewery for dinner and another flight. We were almost burnt out on beer, but they had a good flight and some good food as well.

The rest of the drive home was long and a little sleepy, but we made it back.

Jun 18, 2012

Kate and I got our stuff together and headed north for our trip in the morning. We stopped at the Pez factory in Connecticut, but they charge quite a bit for a tour so we skipped it.

It took us a while, but we made it to Vermont! And then we still had quite a while to go through the state.

Since it's right off the highway we stopped at Harpoon Brewery for a few samples of things like the Leviathan Quad and their small batch Saison. We looked around the store for a while and then got back on the road.

When we got to our campground we put up our tent, started a nice fire, and then got to drinking.

We ended up drinking quite a bit and had the fire going really well for a while.

It was a fun and slightly drunk night. We retired to the tent after the fire was totally out and we couldn't drink anymore.

Jun 17, 2012

Ryan and I went to the rock gym in the morning and did some bouldering, trying out different routes. It gets hard really fast and my forearms really feel it.

My dad and Tracey had Aiden's fourth birthday party at their house. The family was all down there for food, barbecue, and watching Aiden eat his cake and open presents.

I biked over to Ryan's aunt's house later in the evening and we went for a run around their neighborhood. Afterward we hopped in the pool for a refreshing swim.

Jun 16, 2012

I went down to Mays Landing with Kate in the morning to meet her family at a camp where they rented kayaks and we took a big van over to where we were putting the kayaks in the river.

Eventually we got the kayaks on the water and paddled along. The family was paddling slow, but Kate and I paddled ahead. It was a nice trip down the Mullica River.

We stopped at a restaurant on the water where we waited for the rest of the group and had some beers. When they showed up we had sandwiches and more beers while we played horseshoes.

After hanging out for a while we got back on the river and headed out.

It was a pretty calm day on the river, but it was fun paddling. We got back to the camp where we pulled the kayaks out and gave them back. We hung out and waited for the rest of her family to get there and then we headed out. It was a nice day out.

Later, we went up to Philly with Chuck to go to The Fire to see Dinner and a Suit. We had a few beers in the bar area and watched the openers on the TV monitor.

Dinner and a Suit was great as expected. We hung out for a short time after the show and then headed back home.

Jun 15, 2012

We had a nice sleep in the tent after our long day of hiking, but then we had to go home. We packed up the site and got on the road.

It was a really nice day, and we stopped a couple times to get food and gas. We didn't hit much traffic except for near DC.

Just back into New Jersey we got pulled over because Steph didn't yield the left lane to a cop that was behind her. She was worried because the right blinker was out. In hindsight she probably should have just moved without the blinker.

When we got home I went home and chilled out for a while. Later I met Ryan for a neighborhood run and then a walk and talk.

Jun 14, 2012

This story is best told through photos. We slept in for a while and then got up to eat and head to the Dragon's Tooth hike along the Appalachian Trail.

The hike started off rocky and uphill. This feature would show up continuously throughout the day.

There were also some nice flat, heavily wooded areas.

It wasn't too long before we got to the Dragon's Tooth feature, which was on an offshoot to the trail. We had to climb up to get to the very top.

The view was beautiful from the top, though it was a little scary standing up straight on the narrow section.

We hung out and had a snack while we sat up there and then we climbed down and hiked back down the trail we came up.

We went to a little gas station to get some snacks and drinks to go with our food for lunch and took them out to a field next to it to have a little picnic. We ate and lay in the grass. And Steph ate her green pepper like an apple. I have never seen that before.

After we hung out for a while, we headed over to the trailhead for McAfee Knob, another Appalachian Trail section. Steph and I waited in the car for a while as Jess hiked ahead.

The trail was interesting and well-maintained with bridges and log steps that took a moderate grade up the ridge.

It got more rocky at some points and we were rewarded with some overlooks along the way. The trail was mostly wooded, though it passed through some open fields and under high tension wires.

When we got to McAfee Knob, it was an amazingly beautiful view. We took a lot of photos of the view and then of each other on the famous outcropping. We had a lot of fun taking different shots and trying not to fall off as we got close to the edge.

The sun started to go down and we were treated to a gorgeous sunset of orange and deep purples. I got some amazing shots.

We took some fun silhouette shots after it got a little darker. We tried a bunch of things like getting Jess and Steph to jump at the same time and make a heart with their arms. Then I had them flip their hair around. We had a good time.

As we walked around we ran into some thru-hikers who had made a fire at the top. They were planning on camping nearby. We talked to them for a while about hiking the trail and how nice the place was.

We went back to the knob area to take long-exposure shots of the stars. I got some nice star trails. This shot looks better after I edited down some of the city light and brought the stars up some.

Our hike back to the car was fun in the dark. We had a couple of flashlights out the whole time, but we were taking it slow so we didn't trip. We did trip. It was slow going and we worried that we might get lost at times, but we found our way back and happily headed back to our camp.