Mar 7, 2014

After getting home late last night I decided to sleep in a little and take an afternoon job at Vineland Memorial. It ended up being only one double period math class so I was in and out. I was able to get all my laundry done in the morning so I just had to pack up my stuff and decide what to bring with me once I got home. I picked up Brenda then got Ryan and Bree and we were on our way after a stop at Shop Rite and Taco Bell. To New Hampshire!

It was a really long ride, taking us about 9 hours with stops included. We stopped a few time for gas, snacks, and bathroom stops. During our late delirium Brenda and I got chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches. They were wonderful. The final part of the drive was a series of winding back roads in the woods that eventually led us to North Conway and the Eastern Slope Inn. We headed to our respective rooms and were quickly ready for bed. After we pulled it out of the wall, that is.

Mar 6, 2014

I got started a little late but still pretty much when I wanted to leave for Lancaster. It was a long yet enjoyable drive for the most part. Podcasts make it go much more quickly. I got to Buchmiller DGC about ten minutes before we planned to meet there so I used the frozen porta potty and put my boots on.

Joanna got there shortly after I did and we got started on the course. It was completely covered in snow, which wasn't really so bad. The worst part was the tee pads were icy so it was hard to step up to drive. It was a fun course despite the inconvenience, and I didn't feel the snow was much of a detriment.

We weren't sure if we wanted to travel too far to play another course so we went downtown to The Seed, a vegan cafe, where I got an amazingly delicious reuben that I subbed seitan for tofu. I made the right choice. The soup wasn't too good, but I liked the place.

Next stop was Spring House Brewing of course. I finally got to try the Lil' Gruesome Peanut Butter & Jelly Stout. It was okay. I was underwhelmed by it, but I had a pint anyway. I prefer the Chocolate PB Stout.

We had plenty of time left so we went to Gallery Row to check out a handful of art galleries. A lot of local artists have great work on display here. There was no photography that I saw, but I did really enjoy the work of Freiman Stoltzfus, who did paintings over maps and music-inspired paintings. It was a nice collection.

We went to the Federal Taphouse to see what they might have, and I ended up being really surprised and excited to try a bunch of what they had on tap. They had almost 100 taps and an amazing selection.

I started with a Nut Roll brown ale by PBC. Fantastic. I had to have the Lief & Leed by Molen. It's a sour so it was great. Next I had the Koko Brown from Kona, and it was nice to actually be able to taste the coconut in this delicious brew. I finished with a couple of high alcohol beers, the Horn Dog Barleywine by Flying Dog and the Culmination by Long Trail. Both were very tasty and had me feeling pretty good.

We went back to the car to drop off our warm clothes and walked across the street to the venue. We didn't wait too long after going in for Fireworks to begin their set. They kicked off with a new song and then dove into a fast set of mostly Gospel tunes before ending with When We Stand on Each Other... It was a great set except for how extremely short it was.

The Wonder Years were next and the crowd went crazy. I was right up front but I dropped back so I could actually breathe and move by myself. After a few songs it calmed down, but everyone went nuts for almost every song. It was a great set, but they are one of those bands that will always have a great set and leave you still wanting more. I love those guys. Jen and Stephen happened to be there and we met up afterward to talk for a while as Stephen spoke with Nick for a while.

After that it was a long drive home listening to more podcasts and music. What a great day.

Mar 5, 2014

I worked at Vineland Memorial for meetings again, but this time I was actually quite busy. Made up for my easy day yesterday. Later Chuck and I went to The Oar House for their beer tasting/rating event. They had 20-30 beers for us to sample and rate for taste and quality so they can decide what they want to order next.

They brought out snacks and pizza for us as well so that was great. We got started with a few beers we hadn't had. There were a good handful that we had tried before, including several Sly Fox beers that we didn't care for. However their Helles Lager was amazing. I need more of that. We had a great cider from Possman, and the Evolution Sprung was great. Harpoon's Long Thaw White IPA was great, and the Lot #6 Double IPA was amazing all around.

Glasstown Brewing donated a few growlers of their beer for us to try as extras. All good, of course, but the Bourbon Ale was so much better than the one I had at their brewery. This batch is perfect. Toward the end we had the darker beers, including the great Lucky 7 Porter and the Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. We finished with two pepper beers from Twisted Pine. Billie's Chilis, which I've had before and loved was first. It's a habanero beer and amazingly flavorful with the big spice. The Ghost Face Killah is one I have been wanting to try for a long time. It's made with the ghost pepper (the hottest pepper in the world?) and it smelled amazing.

 I should mention that the lady next to Chuck passed both of the beer samples to us after smelling them. The rest of the people at the table graciously passed us their beers they didn't want so we got extra samples. Britney, our waitress and hostess for the evening, poured us the rest of what was left from the Glasstown growlers also so we got our money's worth. It was a really good time so I'm glad we went. We headed to Applebee's for Quizzo next. Matt and Jamie met us there and we were so close... but still lost. Third place, 20 points out of second.

Mar 4, 2014

The day started out well as we got a 2 hour delayed opening because of the poor road conditions. I didn't think it would be that bad, but a lot of roads were indeed still icy. Since the school day was delayed some meetings were canceled and I ended up only working for an hour! Things just kept getting better from there.

I was now able to drop off my car for an oil change at BJ's so I walked over to Starbucks while I waited. Bree was working so she kept me company and made me a triple venti black and white mocha. I think that's what it was called anyway. Whatever. It was really good. So I sat there talking with her for a while until I got my call that my car was done.

By that point though, Jeff texted me to say he was coming down from Philly and wanted to hang. So we hung out at Starbucks for a while catching up and then ran some errands together. I went to Michael's and Wal*Mart for some things I needed. It was good to hang out and chat for a while. We made plans to hang out again soon, but, well, we will see about that.

Another stroke of luck: Brenda left work early so we were able to head up to the rock gym sooner than planned. I did a few routes I was struggling with Sunday. I made it up one of them, but the one yellow route under the lip I just couldn't do. Brenda made progress and finished two that she hadn't done before.

I asked the employees there if they would mind if I set up my lighting and take some photos in their party room. They seemed cool with it. It's good to make friends with people. So I set up my makeshift studio and got everything ready then we waited for Eddie.

This saved him a trip heading farther south from where he lives to meet me, however I don't know how he felt after getting totally lost trying to find the gym. I understand the feeling since that place is terribly hard to find. Once he did show up we got some good shots of his products and design work. It was fun and a good end to a great day.

Mar 3, 2014

Yet another snow day from school today. They called it early last night so I knew I didn't have to be up. I actually had quite a productive morning. I got some work done and some potential future work. I spent much of the day updating the blog and editing photos. I got a pizza and watched last night's shows.

I went to Union Lake at sunset for some photos with the snow. It wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, but it was nice and peaceful to stand by the water as it washed up. It gave me some time to think outside of my room. The rest of the night I continued catching up on the blog and watched some Louie.

Mar 2, 2014

I was up early trying to be productive and then I ended up watching Bad Grandpa. Ryan and I went to the rock gym. It's the first time he has been in quite a long while, but he was still doing really well. I tried some harder ones and I was having a bad day. I just felt weak so I was struggling to get over certain parts which made me weaker. It was fun, but I wasn't happy with how I did. When I came home I had dinner and watched a documentary on North Korea before heading over to Kate's for a short time.

Mar 1, 2014

Kate and I went up to Iron Hill for their Barrel Bourbon and Bugs event. They had brewed small batches of twelve beers. Six wild ales and six bourbon barrel-aged dark beers. We got both samplers and dove in. So many delicious beers were in there. My favorite was the Flemish Red (no big surprise there.) The Saison Wood was great as well in the wild set. The Bourbon Wee Heavy was great, and the Bourbon 2 Logan TJ was just perfect for the style.

Jamie and Matt met us there after we had started and we got food to go with our many beers. I got a glass of the F. Red because I so rarely get to have sour beers. The place was really busy, and I'm not surprised. I hope they have more of these events in the future.

I headed to Williamstown where I was shooting a 70th birthday party for DaVonne's grandmother. I got there on time, which turned out to be really early. So I took some shots of the setup and then just wandered around and talked to people, shooting groups when they came in.

Once the guest of honor arrived they did their surprise and then got down to dinner shortly after. I got to have some of the great food and take a break to eat with DaVonne. After dinner they gave some really touching speeches about how she has affected all of their lives. It was pretty awesome to see such a happy family and hear some of the amazing stories. It was a great event and I had a really good time working it.

Later I went to Ryan's and we had a long walk around the neighborhood and then came back to his house to play some Mario Wii.