Shoulder To The Wheel

This is where I hope none of my friends get pissed at me. Matt and I were in Rochester this past weekend to see our friend Mike perform in the production of Nuts put on by the Penfield Players. Our lives have been incredibly hectic and stressful lately and I just needed a weekend to chill. Unfortunately, that meant sacrificing time with friends. My apologies.

Saturday, we went to the Science Museum and tooled around there for a couple hours. There’s an awesome exhibit about weather and Lake Ontario. I really dug the stuff that Meteorologist Kevin Williams put together for the exhibit. He spoke to my class when I was in middle school and that inspired me to get more interested in weather. I probably would have pursued meteorology more if there wasn’t math involved. Who knows though. I’m always up for a career change. After the museum, we popped over to see Matt briefly. I think we got the “Wha-huh? What are you guys doing in town??” from him, but that was ok. Dinner was at Taste of China in Irondequoit. Really Good Chinese food. Go there if you like Chinese food! Prices are good too.

Now Saturday had been gorgeous right up until we got to the Penfield Conservation League (think Rod & Gun Club) for the play. The play rocked the house, as did the wind. We thought the roof would either fly away or a tree would come crashing through it. The next day we found out the wind had gusted to 72 mph.

Sunday, Matt and I bummed around my parent’s house in our pajamas and enjoyed doing nothing. I started having doubts about driving home on the NYS Thruway while watching the Weather Channel. The weekend before I had ran into some nasty bits of Lake Effect snow and wind on that route. I started discussing going home Route 390 south to I-86. This looked like a good idea until we received the latest RADAR images for that area. I still decided to risk it. While on Route 390, I made a split-second decision to get off the expressway. Part of this decision was fueled by the hot from the oven doughnuts sign at Krispy Kremes. With doughnuts in hand (and in belly), we drove back to my parents. They were glad to see us to say the least. Later that night we found out that if we had continued on Route 390 that we would have had to turn around due to a 30 car pile up that closed the road between two exits.

Yesterday, we took off in the morning and took the long way home (390 to 86). I ended up working from home. Our decision to stay in Rochester turned out to be really good. The roads had been very bad the night before with the State Police telling people not to drive unless it was an emergency. It made me feel less guilty about missing work that morning.

Passing of a Change Agent

Yesterday was a beautiful day compared to Saturday night and Sunday’s weather. It was almost ironic that yesterday was the day that Ev Seastrum, one of the main consultants for Chautauqua County’s Comprehensive Performance Partnership, died. He had suffered from cancer of the liver for a long time and we knew he was going to leave us any day. I had a feeling that yesterday would be his day. Once they put up the latest CPP Hot Sheet, I’ll post the address so you can read some of the great things people said about Ev.

Trip to D.C.

Our plans are becoming more cemented for our trip to Washington, D.C. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. We have a place to stay and we know we’re hanging out with some friends. Now that’s planning! I really have nothing more to add at this time.

Secret Weekend

I do have to add that I’m whisking Matt away for a weekend soon. I’m not telling him where. I’ll update you more on it once we get back from there.