The (not so) Big Race

We've been "training" for a little over a month now and will be running a 5k on May 26th. We've talked about doing this for a while, but wanted to wait for the warm weather. Despite the abundance of races in Cville, we couldn't find one that worked with our schedule...so we will be running the 5th Annual 5k Run/Walk for Autism in Richmond. We aren't getting too ambitious. We have friends who do marathons, and my cousin and her husband do mountain running. We are just starting out with the 5k and may work up to a longer race once we see how it goes. I(R) did some 5ks years ago - the good old Messiah College Love Run. However, it's been a while since either of us has run, so we don't have great hopes of winning or placing. My goal is just to finish in under 45 minutes, since that is how long they will record times! Since it's a Run/Walk, we feel like there will have to be some people slower than us! I have really enjoyed running again and it's something that we can do together. We usually go to the gym separately because our schedules are so different. So, on top of running a race and supporting autism, we are bonding-how sweet. We'll let you know how it goes.

Live, Local Music, part deux

After seeing Carbon Lead last Wed, the Mrs. & I headed out for a great night at Starr Hill. We were there to see our friend, Alex Mejias, open for his old band, Portrait of Another.

The evening started off great, with a little pre-concert dinner with Carol & Trina at local eatery Sticks [I recommend the lamb platter, plus upgrade the rice to include feta; it's worth it]. Then it was off to the concert.

Alex played around 6 songs that night, starting around 8pm; by the way, that's a really early time for a concert at Starr Hill. After Alex played there was some band from Chapel Hill [Tuesday Morning? Morning Tuesdays? Till Tuesdays? Something about Tuesdays...] who were ok. Then came the headliners, Portrait of Another. They're a bunch of UVA guys who are really talented, and they put on a great show.

All in all it was a great night of hanging out with great friends while supporting local music. By the way, we recommend 'Dayspring' on Alex's site and 'Helpless Me' on the Portrait site. Also check out their links for Justin Rosolino, who's a fantastic musician that has played with these guys a lot.

Next up: a possible return to Starr Hill for the Sparky's Flaw show on Friday May 4th...do we have it in us after a long day of teaching the children?

Pictures and video of the aforementioned Carbon Leaf show

K-man et al:

More pictures, including two videos we shot, of the Plan 9 Carbon Leaf show can be found by following this link.

Carbon Leaf at Plan 9 Wed April 25th

Last Wednesday the Mrs. Colonel and I got to see The K-man's favorite band, Carbon Leaf, live and in person...and for free. They were playing at the Plan 9 store before their concert at Starr Hill later on that night.
It was a pretty fun show, or EP as I like to think of it seeing as how they played 6 songs [it was free]. It's an interesting venue for a live performance, as the stage isn't too big and actually ends at the curtain; the band had to be careful or they would have fallen back because there's nothing behind it. There was a pretty good crowd for a 6pm show, with about 30 of 40 people there. One fun side note was it seemed like if you were a Carbon Leaf fan, married and in your 30's with at least one kid, you came to this show. Oh, and you dressed your newborn in Carbon Leaf clothing, like hats and t-shirts, which was pretty cool. It was a nice moment I'm sure for these families, who couldn't make the band's "real" show later on since it started at 10:30; it also gave it a different kind of feel instead of your average rock concert.

Also, standing in the aisles of Plan 9 listening to a band while people are trying to buy stuff is pretty funny. The guy trying to get to the Easy E cd didn't appreciate me standing there in the A-F aisle of "Rap, Gansta." Oh well.
It's been really fun to watch these guys as they've grown over the past 12 or so years. I first met them my freshman year at HSC when I was a pledge moving their equipment into our fraternity. ["Wait, you were in a fraternity?" Yep. I was as fratty as the K-Man. Beta Theta Pi. Good times, good times. But that's for another post some other time, most likely when the Mrs. is out of town and I can post it without her permission...]. Back then they had just started out, and they'd play for us 2-3 times a semester for ~$300 and beer and pizza. Later I got to know them fairly well, as I was social chair and I'd book them [and pay them at the end of the night]. Since then the band has continued to do really, really well. They even won the 'Best New Artist' award at the American Music Awards a few years ago, and they regularly sell out fairly impressive venues.
Their new material over the past two years is great, and it's only a matter of time before they make it even bigger...maybe like Jack Johnson [that's the 3rd shout out to the K-man, which is a new record]. The greatest thing, though, is that they've stayed the same down to earth, humble and nice guys that they've always been. Never too busy to talk to the fans, they're genuinely talented musicians who are also just great people to be around. By the way, the guy in the green, Barry, looks like a Seattle-based grunge rocker in these pictures. He's usually much cleaner.

The next post [ironically the first you'll see] will have a link to more pictures and even some video if we can figure that whole process out...

This past weekend I sneaked back to my "nourishing mother," Hampden-Sydney, for a great afternoon and evening of meetings and dinners. Hampden-Sydney, founded in 1775, is America's 10th oldest college or university, and if you've ever heard of it [few have; it's too small and tucked away in the middle of nowhere], it's most likely because it's one of the few all-male schools in the country. Here is a nice article from a few weeks ago by the Richmond T-D on its status, including a list of notable alums, including Stephen Colbert but unbelievably missing US President William Henry Harrison, Hampden-Sydney Class of 1791. Harrison? Yes, that one. The guy who died of pneumonia after his inauguration...'Ole Tippecanoe' himself.

I serve on the board of the Wilson Center for Leadership, a program that I was a part of as a student that seeks to prepare young men for a career in public service leadership. Originally called the James Madison Leadership Program [after the US president and HSC co-founder], it's been renamed after Lt. Gen Sam Wilson, the president of HSC during my years and one of the greatest public servants still alive today. "Why that's a bold claim," you say to yourself. Indeed. But it's also true. Here's a link to a couple of biographies and newspaper articles on this fascinating man, who at the age of 84 still teaches, writes, consults and advises leaders across the world. Here is an excellent article on General Wilson written by Joe Galloway, esteemed reporter and author of the best-seller We were soldiers once...and young. General Sam, as he's known to his students, enlisted at the age of 16 in the US Army during WW2, and served with distinction with the famous Merrill's Marauders in Burma. He then rapidly rose through the ranks, moving from private to 3 star general in his 30 years. He also worked clandestinely for the CIA, including a stint as the station chief in Moscow during the Cold War. Some of the stories he told in the course I took with him entitled 'National Intelligence' are still technically classified, including his work to steal a Russian jet from a Russian air force base outside of Moscow [he speaks flawless Russian, and said that it "came in handy" when he was at the base impersonating a Russian general]. He later rose to head the Defense Intelligence Agency and commanded the famed 82 Airborne. I got to know him through his class but also from church; he taught a Sunday school class at College Church and invited us back to his home each week for an amazing Sunday brunch. Of my time at HSC, my best memories are mostly centered around being with General Sam. And now I get to sit on this board with him, so I can continue to stay in contact. It really is a win-win.

Here are some pictures of HSC's beautiful red brick campus, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

A view of Morton Hall, where I worked on my Political Science and Public Service degrees. The bell tower in the foreground is used to start and end classes; legend has it that you must streak it before you graduate...











Cushing Hall, my dorm my first year there. This is America's oldest dorm still in continuous use, as it was built in 1820. I lived on the right side of this picture, third window up from the ground on the front. At one point most of the college was located in here in the four passages. An interesting design note is that it's actually four separate buildings of four rooms on four floors, ie you can't walk from one end of the building to another but rather must exit and enter each of the four passages.




More pictures will be posted soon!

A great weekend

We had a fabulous weekend here in sunny Cville. This is more of a teaser post; more details will be emerging soon.

In other news, it's great to see that Ad Homonym and the E-pony are back in action after some short breaks.

It's a tough life...or how Bailey spends her day