At the ETC main manufacturing facility

Jon went to an ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls) Company Conference held in Madison, WI, this past week. One of the high points was a tour of the manufacturing facility in Middleton, WI. This innovative and successful company does not take its ties to the performing arts lightly:

"ETC's 325,000-square-foot headquarters in Middleton, Wisconsin, built in 2004 and expanded in 2009, is the hub of the company's global operations and an homage to the art of lighting and entertainment. Virtually a theater in its own right, ETC's 'Town Square' atrium stages a 1940's street, complete with a life-size recreation of the famous Nighthawks painting by Edward Hopper. Set-like façades such as a marquee theater and an Art Deco skyscraper hide real departments. When the 300+ ETC Source Fours in the ceiling rig are bright, the scrim-like walls create the illusion of solid city structures. When the lights are artfully dimmed by an ETC lighting control system, the workaday world of ETC materializes into view."

Frodo Lives!

Raising the question, is Falling Creek Camp located in Middle Earth?

(The song is Frodo's version of Bilbo's song, first sung at the end of the Hobbit.)

Final glimpses of life in Ann Arbor

The blog says good bye to Ann Arbor. Jon is having a "Big 10" summer, as he is now in Madison, Wisconsin at the ETC convention while Susan tends to the debt ceiling debates back in Winston.

Welcome Ironworkers!

As the comparative endocrinologists moved out of the University of Michigan dorm, the Ironworkers moved in for the 27th Annual Ironworker Instructor Training Program. If you browse through the program catalog you will see that the union has a comprehensive set of education offerings that cover everything from math and computer skills, project planning, apprentice tracking to history of the ironworkers union and ornamental wall coverings (bring your work clothes for the latter, as it's hands-on training).

Iconic farmer's market

Saturday morning, downtown Ann Arbor. Established 1919.

Good questions (and even better answers)

While Susan went to her comparative endocrinology meeting, Jon went to the museums of Ann Arbor.

The political situation in the heartland

Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is the object of a lowkey statewide recall effort. (Photographed in Ann Arbor.)

The happiness of being a Phillies fan

Parking fears assuaged

Fears that it would prove difficult to park in the charming college town of Ann Arbor were proved baseless (although it did take the blog several tries before it got the cool solar-powered meter maid to take its $$$).

Off to Ann Arbor

The blog heads off on a short road trip to Ann Arbor, MI, tomorrow for the North American Society of Comparative Endocrinology meeting. The blog hopes to avoid hearing the sound of Mitch McConnell's voice while it travels.

Oh no

Tuesday, noon, in Susan's backyard.

Resident evil

A view of Susan's wild backyard through her new dining room window at noon today. (Evil because this creature shamelessly consumes Susan's day lilies and hostas.)

Joseph Winston is on facebook

An article in today's Winston-Salem Journal about the start of planning for the hundredth anniversary (in 2013) of the merger of Winston and Salem inspired reflections on Joseph Winston, the Revolutionary war hero who contributed the Winston to our city's name. It turns out that he is on facebook. Which is more than one half of the blog can say for itself.

Where American theater (theatre?) lives

Maurice and Susan stroll by Arena Stage in southwest DC on the 4th of July. Two points: 1. It is not at all obvious when one is walking past Arena Stage that the sidewalk follows the curves of the structure. 2. The blog still can't figure out the theatre/theater thing.

Here's an inspirational excerpt from the mission statement of Arena Stage:

Arena Stage produces huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. We have broad shoulders and a capacity to produce anything from vast epics to charged dramas to robust musicals.

Baseball chic

Jon's new Nationals shirt honors one of the most venerable baseball superstitions - stay off the line! Read about it in a book aptly titled Don't Step on the Line: Sports Superstition (see pp. 9-11). Susan's new Phillies shirt pays homage to the great broadcaster Harry Kalas. If you listen carefully, you can hear the crowd at Citizens' Bank Park singing High Hopes after every home victory (or just ask the blog to sing you a chorus.)

A "holdout"

Follow the link to meet Mr. Poldiak, proprietor of T.A. Sullivan and Son Monuments on Washington Avenue in Clarendon, VA. Yes, he is aware that his 1/8th acre site is worth more than half a million dollars. No, he is not interested in doing anything other than making gravestones, primarily markers for private burials in Arlington National Cemetery.

Got it!

The blog would be embarrassed if its readers knew the lengths that it went to in order to get this shot (taken through the window of a moving car). On the way to brunch in Asheville after dropping Nate off at Falling Creek.

Falling Creek Camp, 2011 edition

Warrior spirit? Check.
Servant's heart? Check.
Positive attitude? Check.
Moral compass? OK, but wouldn't a magnetic compass be even more useful, given the relative lack of opportunities for troublemaking in the sheltered world of Nate's posh camp?

Shovel ready

Greenleaf Gardens was built in 1959, modernized in 1989. And now it is within walking distance of a major league ballpark! (Yes, the blog thinks that the stimulus package was too small.)

I really don't...

...care (if I never get back, that is). Susan and Maurice outside of Nationals Park on the 4th of July 2011.