Feb 25, 2017

Since we got to bed early and realized that the weather wasn't going to be bad until later we decided to make a disc golf day of it. We went to Delaware and started at Brandywine. We had the course to ourselves so early in the day and had a fun round. It was cloudy but already nice temperature.

We went right to Iron Hill next and played the short tees for once. It was fun playing slightly different holes even if some of them didn't change much. We passed by a couple of groups toward the middle of course so it went pretty quickly. It was starting to get warm by this point. This is still one of my favorite holes aesthetically. The first part of it is just long.

We had worked up an appetite so we headed to Drop Squad Kitchen for some V Steaks and soup for lunch. We sat in the lawn chairs along the river and enjoyed this view while we scarfed down half of our sandwiches. They're so salty, but so good.

Next up we decided to try out Greenridge DGC in Newark. A guy at Camp Sankanac told me about it and said I would enjoy it. It's still a little rough around the edges, but overall it's a great, fun course. This area where the trees had recently fallen isn't part of the design obviously, but it did make for a uniquely challenging shot. Some of the holes seemed unnecessarily tight and not thought out. We each put our disc in the water at least once, and I had to take the long way across a flowing stream and climb down to retrieve one from the other side of a riverbank. All said, I would definitely play this one again.

I was kind of surprised it was still somewhat early in the afternoon after that long course, so after sitting on the park bench and having our leftovers at Greenridge we headed to White Clay Creek to play one last round before the rain. It had been a long time since I'd played so I forgot a lot about this one. It's a fun short course to contrast all the long ones we played earlier. It's a nice little gem and I definitely like it more than Lum's Pond. We'll need to get out here once more before we leave.

We were just about to go to Iron Hill Brewery when Chuck told me we were invited to Alex's Dad's birthday party at the sailing club. We drove home in the torrential downpour of rain, picked up a few growlers at Glasstown, and headed over to join the party. We met some of the family, played a couple of stupid party games that we were goaded into, and mainly just spent the time talking and having a good time. I'm glad we went. We left with a couple tubs of hummus to boot.

Dec 23, 2016

After not enough sleep I ended up getting to work a little late because I couldn't find my keys. I got there before homeroom was over and began my day unaware that the half day was even more shortened because they were having an assembly at the end of the day. It ended up being great since my 3 classes were only 47 minutes long and then I had off so I left work by 11. Becca and I took advantage of the early release by meeting at South Vineland Park to play disc golf.

Halfway through the game I got a call telling me my dentist appointment wouldn't be covered by insurance today because it was scheduled one day early.  I was annoyed, but we decided to take advantage and headed to Iron Hill DGC in Delaware. It was a beautiful day for playing and we had a good game. Becca had some great putts and I played alright. I'm glad we got to go out since it was so nice. The canceling appointment was a good thing after all.

We were both really hungry after playing so we went to Drop Squad Kitchen for dinner. We each got the cheesesteak and were really happy with it. I need to go to that place more often. The guy is a little overzealous with trying to upsell, but he's very nice. We went down the road to Bellefonte Brewing afterward and got a flight and a glass of their brett raspberry "secret" sour. The beers were okay, but nothing to write home about. The sour was really pretty though.

It was time to head home after that. I went to Walmart to brave the Christmas crowds and get a few last minute things for Becca and Aiden. The lines were even shorter than an average day so it wasn't bad. We went to Glasstown before they closed for the holiday to pick up a growler of Fisherman's Ale and we each had a pint. It was super crowded there AND a guy kept talking to us and commenting that we were wearing green so we must be Irish. And he was wearing green. Then he told us about how to get stickers and bring them to your local brewery for the wall. There he is in the photo.

To finish out the busy holiday evening we went to Michael's, Marshall's, and Shop Rite to get all the rest of the things we needed. It was finally time to come home and chill after what was supposed to be a relaxing night in.

Dec 11, 2016

I began the day waking up earlier than I planned thanks to loudness just on the other side of my wall (like too many days.) I felt pretty good anyway and got up to begin working on uploading the Frank Turner interview and writing the blog. I got into it and started posting links to the completed post which grew pretty quickly. I got retweeted by Frank himself and it started getting a good amount of views.

I was kind of beaming with excitement over finally posting the finished product and I grabbed my outdoor stuff and headed toward Delaware. On my way I stopped at Auburn Road Vineyard to pick up some Christmas presents. I continued on to Iron Hill disc golf course. My hands were freezing at first, but after about 5 holes I had warmed up. I forgot the feeling of a disc ripping into fingers in the cold. There were only a couple of other people playing so I felt like I was alone out there. I had a great time. I think it might be the best course around here.

I wanted to make the most of my time so I went to Brandywine for one more round. This one I really did have to myself. I played through the course pretty fast and it was getting colder as I went. Playing fast warmed me up again, but it was a little windy which made it more difficult sometimes. The dead trees that sparsely dotted the wide open fields were beautiful. It almost looked like they were placed there that way.

I headed up to Philly after the round to get some dinner at Whole Foods. I sat on the roof of the parking garage in the car and ate before I went to The Foodery to check out the beers and find more Christmas presents.

I decided to head to Union Transfer early to see the opening bands. Petal played first, and they were okay. Pinegrove played next. I've heard of them, but I have never listened to them. Their live set was incredible. They were energetic and their songs were unique and catchy. I definitely will be checking out their record.

Kevin Devine came up last and played a heavier, faster set than I've seen him play before. It was great and I loved the energy. He played a mash up of his song and a song from each of the openers so that was fun. He also did his signature freestyle rap, this time about a beautiful man named Sebastian who interns at a Boston venue they recently played at. Besides the music always being great, half the reason I love seeing him is because he's hilarious and just makes me smile every time. The set ended late after a lot of talking since it was the last night of the tour. I headed home to grab some stuff and then went to Becca's to stay since she just got back from the Grand Canyon.

Nov 19, 2013

I worked at Lakeside for a Geography teacher today. She didn't leave enough plans and, curiously, the plans she did leave were to read a Lewis Carroll poem with the class and have them analyze it. I didn't put together that it had nothing to do with Geography until the second class. Regardless the students finished much too early so I put on Remember the Titans to occupy the rest of the period. Since the internet was down and I hadn't seen the whole movie in a long time I used my break periods to finish watching it. It's a really good flick.

I went home to change and then met Ryan at the gym. We did a bunch of back exercises and some handstands which seemed extremely awkward today for some reason. I used the showers at the gym for the first time today. Only slightly awkward because the locker room was really packed when I got out.

I met my grandmom at Saigon for dinner. I had been craving curry so I went for it. I asked for it extra spicy like always and it was actually spicy! It was the perfect mix of spicy so that I could taste it, but I didn't feel like I needed to drink a gallon of milk. They no longer have smoothies for some reason so I had to forego dessert. 

Kate and I headed to Delaware next to go to Total Wine so she could buy Christmas presents in the form of large bottles of beer. Jeff met us there and browsed with us. I ended up getting a mixed six pack and a six of Rogue Hazelnut Brown because it is the best thing ever. They have a growler station which I would like to take advantage of in the future.

We followed Jeff over to Applebee's in Wilmington for his Quizzo. We had some time before the show to hang at the bar and have a beer until he got started. He went through the rounds really quickly, but I kind of prefer that to all the waiting we usually do at the home game. Some of the questions were really hard, including the sports round, for which we got no questions correct. It was a fun game, especially the movie quote clip round. Surprisingly we were only 3 questions out of 2nd place and 5 out of 1st. Not too bad. Who really knows the smallest countries in the world by population?

Damn Vatican City... Anyway we made it home and I've stayed up too late waiting to get a job for tomorrow. Maybe in the morning time.

Oct 6, 2013

Kate and I headed to Delaware in the morning to go to Iron Hill DGC. The forest was beautiful in autumn colors and leaves covering the ground. Regardless of how we played, the scenery was worth the trip to walk around the woods. There weren't many people there, so we didn't have to worry about crossing over anyone. The game went pretty well for both of us. I had some really good shots and some really bad ones. Overall it was a good day of playing though.

I always forget how long the course is. I start questioning whether it's a 27-hole course, but then I remember it's just because each hole is 400 ft or more that it plays longer than the ones I'm more used to. After finishing up the long course, we headed to Stewart's Brewing to get a flight and some food before we headed back. I didn't expect the place to be such a sports bar. There were TVs everywhere and fans with many different jerseys. I asked to be placed near the door since it was furthest from both loud TVs and yelling fans. Most of their beer was middle of the road, but the Big Bear Amber Ale was damn good. Definitely a smooth, drinkable beer.

On the way back home we stopped at Eliza's birthday party at a gymnastics gym. Aiden was there with Devin, and of course Tracy was there doing backflips down the trampoline thing. The kids and adults were allowed to play in the big foam-filled hole so we were doing dives and flips into it. Aiden was really enjoying himself just like the rest of us were. After singing happy birthday it was time to head out.

Later we gathered at Erika's to play games. We played a round of Settlers of Catan and that took up quite a bit of the night. It seemed like everyone was just on the brink of winning before Ryan finally did. We need to have more game nights.

Sep 6, 2013

I had quite a busy day, beginning at a house near Philly in the morning I had to shoot for a real estate listing. I enjoy doing these jobs sometimes, but I feel I have a hard time making empty rooms look interesting. I think I need a wide angle lens that isn't a fisheye to give them a flat look and show them more accurately.

After the shoot I headed to Sedgley for a solo round. I really like that course for a quick, varied game when I'm in the area. I made some great putts. When I finished I headed over to the Legacy Photographics office in Bridgeport for my training session. Along with a handful of others I had to "unlearn everything I knew about cameras" so I could learn to do things Dave's way. It was basically a review, but they do things a specific was so it was actually very helpful to have him go over things repeatedly so it burned into my brain. The other photographers seem cool too.

When I finished there I headed to Delaware and killed some time getting food and watching shows on my laptop while I waited for my shoot time. I had to meet the people at the church and set up for video in the chapel. I had to wait longer (after they pushed the time back already) because they hadn't written their script for the narration yet. The job really isn't worth all of this. Anyway, they finally got it together and I shot three versions of the narration so I had some options, then I headed home. It was a good, productive day.

Apr 15, 2012

Ryan and I went to Brandywine Disc Golf course for a round in the morning. We played the front 9 and then went to another part of the park for a run.

The run was hilly and very rocky, making it slow at times as I stepped carefully. It was an enjoyable run though. We ran for about 45 minutes then met up and walked the rest of the trail before returning to finish the back 9 of the course. It was a nice day for both and we had a good round.

When I came home I showered and went over to Kate's for a while to hang out before coming home for bed.