Last Friday Mer and I met up with our friends Matt and Liz. Matt had just completed his doctorate, and won the best dissertation award in the process. So, we decided to celebrate with Dr. Matt and Liz, and so we went to one of Dr. Matt’s favorite restaurants, Texas Roadhouse. Mer and I had never been before – we had figured it was mostly a steak place (which it is), and we rarely (ha!) get steak. Still, we figured it should have good burgers.

Turns out they have a lot of great food. Too much good food. While Dr. Matt and Liz both were veterans and skipped the appetizer, we decided to try the loaded chili-cheese fries. The chili was a bit bitter but was very good. We should know since we also got cups of chili as one of our two free sides with our meals. I got fries as my other side (I refrained from topping them with cheese).

I was getting quite a lot of grief from my table-mates since I ordered a strawberry drink. Normally this is not a deal for comment, but they had to make it at the bar, and it came in a large beer glass. So, at first everyone was threatening to turn me in to CVCA (we can’t drink according to our contract), and then they decided that the reddish-pink drink was not manly, and I got a hard time for that. It was pretty good though.

Mer got a country-fried steak that was the size of a small nation, and I got some really excellent “chicken critters” – Texas Roadhouse’s chicken fingers. Needless to say, neither Mer nor I finished our food, but since we live only a mile or so from the restaurant we were able to dash home and put the leftovers in the ‘fridge. Dr. Matt and Liz both managed nicely with their steaks (both rare – ugh!).

After the food drop-off (where we got to give Dr. Matt and Liz a tour of the house), we headed to Akron to go to the Coach House Theater to see a comedy called The Nerd. I really like the Coach House – it is a small theater built in an old coach house, and it can only seat about 90 people, so it is very intimate. On Friday, there was an audience of about 20. I felt a little bad for the actors for playing to such a small crowd, but at least we were a very lively crowd (in a good way – lots of laughter). The actual play was really really really funny. The actions of the nerd made my skin crawl – he was oblivious to everything going on around him, and just ran roughshod through the entire play. Since the nerd had saved the main character’s life in Vietnam, everyone had to put up with him. It was a great play; very funny.

After the play, we headed over to Mary Coyle’s ice cream parlor. It is in one of the about three blocks of Akron that could pass as a northside Chicago neighborhood. The ice cream parlor is old-fashioned, and is only about four blocks from where I lived back in 1995-96, although oddly I never made it until last Friday. Meredith and I were pleased that something in Ohio was open past 10:00 (it was about 10:15 when we got out of the play). The four of us got sundaes, and had a good time chatting. We finished the ice cream and conversation (zeugma!), and headed to our separate homes. Congrats to Dr. Matt!

Meredith was kind enough to let me go out and buy a few new Wii games to last me for the next year. One of the games that I tried tonight is called “Boom Blox.” It is a game about knocking blocks over. It is much fun. You are trying to accomplish a goal (knock over all the blocks, knock over some of the blocks, etc.), and you are usually trying to do it in the least number of throws (although sometimes the goal is maximize points). So, it is a puzzle game with a kick-butt physics engine where (and this is important) you still get to knock things down!

My game criteria has boiled down to:
– it must be easy to learn
– it must be entertaining
– it must be able to be played in 10-15 minutes (if I choose)

Boom Blox meets all these criteria nicely, and throws in the bonus of knocking things over (including the cute animal-esque things that cheer you on. Not that I tried knocking one over or anything.).

After about a year of having the Wii, I made it to “pro” level on bowling. That makes me a pro at baseball (tenuous), bowling (tenuous), tennis (solid), and golf (solid). The last sport on the system is boxing, but I rarely play that, so I really don’t expect to make it to pro level there any time soon, if ever.

Last Wednesday was Day Two of bachin’ it, and it was a very busy day. Fortunately, I still managed to find a way to have an outlet for an outlay. I had a normal school/work day, then I ran after school, showered, ate a quick meal that Meredith had been kind enough to leave for me, then dashed off to my music (dobro) lesson, then sprinted back to CVCA for a meeting about the Dominican Republic trip. By the time the meeting let out it was almost 9:00. After a busy day, your average husband-bachelor would go home and get some shut-eye, but I am not average! I pushed through the fog of fatigue, and decided that I should go to Rico Latte and try their new gelato. On the way (mind you, it is about a one-mile trip), I decided to swing by Zach and Londa’s apartment to see if they wanted to join me. It turns out that they were game, so the three of us headed over to Rico Latte. Zach and Londa got gelato, and I got gelato and a chocolate shake.

The gelato was the real thing; too often places advertise that they serve “gelato,” by which they mean “ice cream.” Gelato has a very rich flavor and is very dense and smooth. Rico Latte’s was the real thing, but in my opinion, it was average for gelato. The shake was interesting – it was milk and ice mixed with chocolate. I have never had a shake like that before. It had a good flavor, and the consistency was a bit thin. I liked it, but I suspect I’ll stick to Rico’s hot chocolate from now on.

Day two cost for Meredith: $7.

Day three was another normal day at work. After work, I had Ceili Club, so I got my exercise in dancing. I went home and showered and ate a quick meal (rice), then I headed to Cleveland to the Cleveland Clinic to visit one of my students who had a foot infection. I managed to get to the Clinic okay this time (when I went there in the fall, I got quite lost), and found my student, Mark, in good spirits. His infection was under control (there had been talk of amputation), so that was great. Mark’s sister, mom, and grandmother were there, and I visited with them for a little over an hour. I started back home about 8:30 or so, and on the way home I decided that my cup of rice was not cutting it, so I decided I wanted some Handel’s ice cream. Handel’s is a local ice cream chain that has some of the best ice cream around, and I decided I wanted a Hurricane, Handel’s version of a Blizzard. Mine was vanilla with Oreo and peanut butter cups. Yum.

After I ate my rather-restrained-of-me medium Hurricane, I decided I needed some hot food, and that fries sounded really good. On the way home, I stopped at Arby’s for their spicy curly fries, and in a moment of panic at the drive-through ordering area, I ordered two large fries. They were really hot and hit the spot, and then spilled over the spot. By the time I finished the second container, I was feeling a little queasy.

I ended the evening by chatting with Shannon for about 30 minutes, and then went to bed, happy in the knowledge that Meredith would be home the next day.

Day three cost to Meredith:  about $10.

Total cost for Meredith’s going on Senior Trip: about $80.

It is good to have Meredith home!

This last week Meredith went with the seniors to a state park for three days for the annual Senior Trip. That left me alone Tuesday night through Friday around noon. This is never a very good thing, especially for our pocketbook.

Tuesday afternoon I mentioned to my friend and colleague Zach that I was bachin’ it. Zach got married in December, so I did not expect a guys’ night out, but Zach’s wife (Londa) was out that evening with some of her friends, so we decided to go out.

I ran after school while Zach took care of some school things. Zach met me at my house (after I had showered) about 5:30 or so, and we headed off to Zach’s old stomping  grounds in the southeast suburbs of Cleveland. He took me to a Mexican (or possibly Tex-Mex) restaurant that I cannot remember the name of, and it was fantastic. That may have been the best Mexican food I have ever had. My restraint at only ordering two burritos was offset by the one-and-a-half baskets of chips and salsa that I ate. We had a leisurely meal, during which we talked a lot about CVCA and the challenges it faces and some possible ideas of how to do some things better.

Zach then took me to an outside mall that had a Barnes and Noble bookstore, where I was forced to buy Meredith a DVD and a CD. We then settled down to two games of chess at the outdoor chess tables. We split the games; I won the first and Zach humiliated me in the second. We took a break and wandered the (mostly closed) mall, and then I decided to get dessert to refresh myself for the rubber match in chess. The Barnes and Noble had Cheesecake Factory cakes, so I got a piece of chocolate cake that was good, but also got a triple-chocolate-chunk cookie that was phenomenal. Wow, that was good. Armed with my brain food, I managed to win the third game.

Zach and I got back home about 9:30 or so, and I went to bed. It was a very fun evening, but Meredith’s trip had cost us about $60 the first evening, with two more evenings to go….

Sometimes I get a bit behind in blogging (really – France and Diakonos spring break blog entries are coming any day!). A couple of weeks ago, CVCA had its annual Junior-Senior Banquet (know as “prom” to all the kids). The students get all spiffed up and have a great meal, followed by the casual “after-party” where there is more food and more fun things to do.

This year, the theme of prom was “Tropical Getaway.” Our friends and colleagues Dubbs and Joy were in charge of the event this year (they are the junior class advisers).They did a nice job. The event was held in downtown Akron in an old Mason hall, in the grand ballroom. The ballroom is elegant in itself, with high ceilings and double-winding staircase, and Dubbs and Joy added many decorations (pineapples on tables, a few fake palm trees, and so on). The pre-dinner entertainment was a steel drum band, which was fantastic. I really enjoy steel drum bands – they put a smile on my face. My biggest gripe of the evening was that my duty as a chaperon had me downstairs directing people where to go, so I did not get to hear as much of the band as I would have liked.

Being on door duty did have its advantages. Mer and I got to see the students coming in, and they were dressed to the nines. The girls had very nice dresses and looked very pretty, and the guys were in tuxes and looked handsome. It was very nice seeing the groups come in.

The food was nice. The adults get a separate room with a buffet, so I cannot speak for what the kids had, but I suspect it was much the same (except as table service). I had to duck out a little early to run the AV equipment (sound system and LCD projector), but Mer took care of me by bringing me desserts.

The entertainment of the evening was mixed, to be honest. It was a man with three monkeys, and I’m not sure the formal event was the best venue for monkeys. That aside, you could not see the monkeys from the back of the ballroom, so probably only about 1/3 of the kids could see. The act went on for about 40 minutes, and I can’t be too upset that the students were getting restless by the end.

The formal event ended with the showing of the senior video, which is put together every year by the head of the Bible department – it takes most of his spring break to make it. It shows pictures of the seniors, formal shots as well as casual shots from around school, and baby shots as well. That is always the highlight of the evening – the videos are well done, and the kids like to see themselves and their friends.

After the evening was over, I changed and spent about 45 minutes tearing down the AV equipment while the other adults helped to clean the ballroom. Once everything was taken care of, Mer and I headed to the Cuyahoga Falls Natatorium for the After Party.

After Party is much more casual. As a bonus, Mer and I walked in to the building and were told we had to register. We said we were staff and were surprised we had to register; it turns out the door folks thought we were students! That is smile-worthy (especially as I’m almost 20 years out of high school).

We ate some more and talked with students. There was some line dancing going on, and there was a wandering card magician who was very good. The racquetball courts were open, as well as basketball and floor hockey. I would have loved to have a hand at racquetball or at hockey, but the students were having good times in those areas and there was not room.

All in all, it was a fun evening, and once again I was grateful that neither Mer nor I was in charge!

  

I finally got around to taking some Dobro (resonator guitar) lessons starting in February. It has been interesting – some things come fairly easily (chords, some right-hand picking patterns), while some things come very hard (scales, note reading). Still, I’m cautiously pleased. I do need to practice more (I’m lucky if I put in two hours over a week, excluding lessons), but once I start doing that, I think things will come better. I’ll be taking most of the summer off from lessons, since I have to pay by the month and Mer and I will be gone for much of the summer, but I hope to stick with it even as we travel. Here’s the one song I have memorized right now, although I’m working on a couple more.

Yesterday was another fine weekend day. We slept in, and then did a few puttery things (I mowed while Mer went to the grocery store). We then had a nice light lunch together while listening to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, a favorite Saturday pastime. I then took a leisurely nap while Mer graded. We were planning on going to a graduation party in the early evening, but that was postponed due to an illness. We were also planning on going out to a play at Actors’ Summit with a friend (and former student) in the evening, so we made quick dinner plans and went to Aladdin’s restaurant, where we had a wonderful time laughing (Kevin, our friend, is funny as well as studying acting, so he is quite a character).

We got to the theater about 7:30 or so to see Born Yesterday, a play from the late 40s. We knew little about it, except it had been billed as a Pygmalion (think My Fair Lady) set in 1940s Washington. We also thought it was a comedy that would border on farce. It turned out to be a dark comedy, with the main character (a greedy businessman) being abusive to everyone around him, including the woman he lives with (which must have been eyebrow raising in th 40s). The ties to Pygmalion were very tenuous – the main character asks a reporter to make his girlfriend smarter so she will not be an embarrassment in Washington. That is about where the similarities with Pygmalion end.

The acting was fine as usual. We are getting to recognize many of the actors that play at Actors’ Summit, and it is great fun to see them playing different roles. The lead actress who played the ditzy girlfriend was the same actress we saw a few weeks ago play a major role in The Crucible. Needless to say, the roles were very, very different.

The set was very good – it was set in a luxury hotel room, and the set did a nice job suggesting a big room with two levels and several doors.

I liked the play well enough. It took a few minutes to recognize that the play was not going to be a farce. It was easy to strongly dislike the rude and violent main character. The girlfriend was funny as a ditz, and the reporter was well acted as well.

After the play, we all went to Cold Stone for ice cream. We continued to have a good time, and saw several CVCA students. On the way home, I was wondering how students see us when they run into us, so I asked Kevin (who has only been away from CVCA for two years) how he felt when he saw teachers in their civvies. Kevin asked an incredulous “What?!?” so I explained myself again. Kevin said that he had heard, “What do you think when you see teachers in their skivvies?” I think even the suggestion of that has scarred him for life. That was a good laugh for several minutes.

So, a very good Saturday with good company. Mer and I watched the 1994 movie version of Born Yesterday this afternoon, and it was about as good as the play (they did not mess with the plot too much). The movie spends a lot more time with the girlfriend than with the businessman, and that was probably a good move. As Mer put it, she is a dynamic character whereas the businessman is a static character, so it adds some more interest. I preferred the play because I like live theater and it was my first viewing.

We have one more play in the Actors’ Summit season, plus a chance to use a gift certificate to get to see The Nerd at another local theater. That may wrap up the theater season for us until next fall, or we may try to sneak some plays in for our anniversary in August. We’ll see!