Papering the record for appeal.
¶Jake was scheduled to have his first flight in the twin-engine Piper Seminole bright and early this morning, so Renee and I got up early and headed down to BG to watch. He had called us earlier (at about 5:45 AM!) to make sure we were awake and getting ready. That’s a twist in roles!
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¶As a kid, I hated hearing my dad say he didn’t have time to do this or that because of work. Not so much things with me, but things for him. He never had a hobby or worked out, because he never had time. I’ve consciously tried to avoid that as my career developed – Daystream and photography are two examples of me spending plenty of time on non-worky things just for the fun of it. I’ve neglected both recently, though, and I’m a bit upset about that. I’ve been on the verge of telling myself “I just don’t have the time,” but dear old dad is still helping me today. I’ve got plenty of time for work and both of those things (and other things). I just need to prioritize and manage it better.
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¶We had a great brunch at the Toledo Club this morning. Jake drove up from campus after having his first commercial/multi-engine ground session. So we had a really nice meal over discussions of variable-pitch propellers and landing gear. Is there a better way to start a Sunday? I don’t think so.
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¶We had dinner at a Toledo classic tonight - Webber’s in Point Place. It was really a beautiful night — warm but not hot, breezy but not windy. Jake came up from school to join us (perch dinner beats dorm fare!). The food was good, but seemed less than what I remembered, although it’s easily been more than twenty-five years since I’ve been there.
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¶We’re fighting the streaming wars again. DirecTV’s deal with Disney expired recently and the two sides have not agreed on terms for a renewal. So, we’ve lost ESPN from our DirecTV channel lineup. This comes right as college and pro football seasons get underway, too. We haven’t decided if we’ll make a change yet, but we’re looking.
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¶We’re heading home today. We wanted to wait for breakfast at the hotel, so we’re getting a bit of a late start. Breakfast is served in three minutes.
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¶Today is phase three (of four for them, three for us) of the moving adventure — moving everything into the new apartment. Moving in Boston is always an adventure. I was prepared for a bit of a battle over the parking spot, but luckily people honored the hood over the meter. We had to ask a guy to move his U-haul back a bit (into his hooded spot), but he was glad to do so and we really had no issues.
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¶We stopped at a flea market in downtown Somerville on our way to dinner. The colors in this vintage Libbey glass packaging caught my eye.
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¶Moving day! Moving weekend, actually. We’re helping Jonathan and Kassia move into their new apartment. Moving in Boston is always an adventure!
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¶I caught this sweet moment of Jonathan and Renee glancing out the window onto Killian Court (the courtyard in front of the main building with the dome). The light was amazing!
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¶Jonathan contemplated The Alchemist statue by Jaume Plensa a bit before we took photos in front of it. We had made the connection to Spiegel, the Plensa statue installed in front of the Toledo Museum of Art and were comparing and contrasting the two. Spiegel has two figures that are made from letters to symbolize a conversation, while The Alchemist is a solo figure made from numbers to reflect MIT’s focus on STEM.
¶Toledo, MIT, two, one. It’s a coincidence, of course, but it’s tempting to assign some deeper meaning to it.
¶Regardless, I love both of these statues.
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¶The move out of the summer sublet went well and only took a couple hours, leaving the afternoon free. We went down to MIT and Jonathan gave us a tour of campus and the Math Department. I think he had the smile in this picture the entire time. He is so clearly excited and ready to get started. I am so happy for him and proud of him.
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¶I’m sitting in the car with Teddy as Renee runs into Target. The rain is getting pretty heavy!
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¶Some thunderstorms rolled in tonight, right as we were getting ready to leave the house to run some errands. We lost power at home. We’re running our errands now. Hopefully the power returns before we do.
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¶I’ve been a bit frustrated with how the Spitfire’s top folded into the back seat when down – it always seems a bit cumbersome and janky. I’ve tried a few times to put the “parade boot” over the folded top but could never get it to fit right. Heck, it never even came close to fitting right. My frustration won recently, forcing me to resign to the misguided belief that the leather had shrunk over time and it just wasn’t going to fit on the car again.
¶Last night my faith in the Brits (surely they came up with something better than this!) had me wandering the web to figure this out.
¶And I did! This YouTube video explains the proper way to fold and store a Spitfire convertible top in great detail.
¶Turns out, there’s a trick to it.
¶Perhaps not surprisingly, a convertible top designed in the 1960s operates a bit differently from more contemporary tops. In a not-so-obvious twist, you need to detach the top from the upper frame, on the inside of the car, while it’s up and then pull the soft top back as the frame is folded back. This allows the bare frame to neatly and compactly drop into the back seat. With that properly stowed, the top can then be brought forward and folded over the frame.
¶I put my new found knowledge to work this morning before heading down to the office. It took a few minutes but was fairly easy.
¶And now the boot fits perfectly!
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¶The next month or so is fairly busy for us, with trips to Boston and Florida and all sorts of stuff in between. Yesterday sort of kicked things off. Should be a fun and exciting month.
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¶Here’s a wide shot of Jake’s room. It’s pretty nice! And there’s another upgrade over last year’s room - air conditioning!
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¶Jake is up and running in his new dorm, which is nicer and bigger than last year’s room.
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¶We’re back home after taking Jonathan to Detroit Metro…now we’re loading Jake’s stuff into the car to take him to BG.
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¶Today is back to school day — both Jonathan and Jake are moving back to campus. We’re dropping Jonathan off at the airport for a morning flight to Boston and will drive Jake down to BG when we get back home.
¶Back to school efforts actually started at about 2 AM, though. Jake and I went down to the Amtrak station to pick up his friend from Greece, who is on his back to school journey, too. He spent the night and we’ll take him down to BG later this afternoon.
¶The house is emptying out; summer is over.
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¶Heading out on a business trip today. A business trip! Such a rare thing in this post-COVID, everything-can-be-done-remotely world. It’s not my first since the pandemic but I’m still looking forward to it.
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¶Jake has a new found interest in golf and both grandpas donated a set of clubs to the cause. Interesting the urge to pull the patents listed on this 3 wood.
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¶Clothes shopping, for the boys and me.
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