Tag / ARM

by admin

2024: The Year In Travel

As we ring in the new year, it’s time to take a look back at the trips out of Illinois that I took last year.  Things got off to a fast start, as I traveled down to West Lafayette the first weekend of the year with Danny to see Purdue take on Illinois at Mackey Arena.  Since they were still on break, Danny was able to play with the basketball band as Purdue topped their conference rival 83-78.

I returned to campus mere days later, as the Iowa women’s basketball team, featuring star attraction Caitlin Clark, invaded Mackey Arena.  Danny was once again playing with the band, so I watched the game, which Iowa won easily, solo before heading back to my hotel.

Later in January, I made my final trip to Mackey Arena of the year as the Purdue women’s basketball team battled IU.  While the game did not go well for the Boilers, Danny did get to spend some time with his Nana for her birthday the following day.

After a quiet February, basketball again was the reason for my next trip at the end of March.  Purdue’s men’s team was in Detroit for the Sweet Sixteen.  They won Friday night against Gonzaga to advance to the Elite Eight.  Saturday night, we headed across to border to Windsor to have dinner at Caesar’s Palace.  Danny drove up on Sunday for the return trip to Little Caesars Arena, where Purdue earned its first Final Four appearance in 44 years.

We returned to West Lafayette in late April for Danny’s last band concert.  Atter lunch with him and his friends, we headed to the Elliot Hall of Music and settled in for an afternoon of music.  Thankfully, his section was first, so we were able to take our leave early and head back home.

A few weeks later, we returned to Indiana for Danny’s graduation.  First, we all met up at Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana for an early dinner and pictures before making the remainder of the journey to West Lafayette.  After the ceremony, we were allowed time to take a picture or two before Danny went off to celebrate with his friends and we headed home.

A week later, it was time for another graduation, this time in Boston.  We arrived in town on Saturday, hunkering down in a hotel just off the North End.  We eventually met up with the graduate-to-be at a local favorite called The Yardhouse, where we enjoyed a traditional Massachusetts dinner.  After a quick breakfast the following morning, we headed to Agganis Arena on the BU campus for the graduation ceremony.  After a quick lunch, we decamped to the hotel for gifts before a nice dinner in the North End.  Monday we were able to meet up with Angelina for lunch before an afternoon flight home.

With all of that out of the way, I had my first international trip since COVID in July, when I went to Amsterdam for a week to visit Val, leaving on a Tuesday afternoon and landing in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning.  After a day of rest to recover from the overnight travel, I set out to visit the local sights, including the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, before dinner out with my hosts.  On Friday, I headed out to see some working windmills.  The next night, we headed out to the former Heineken brewery to see the Heineken Experience.  After a day of rest on Sunday, I spent Monday bumming around the museum campus before dinner and a tour of the Red Light District.  The next morning, I set out to the airport for the long flight home.

My final trip of the year was a return to Boston in November to celebrate birthdays with Angelina.  I arrived in town on Friday night, getting to the hotel late.  Saturday, we went to see Heretic before going out to dinner.  Sunday morning, I Ubered around Boston to see Angelina at various points of the Boston Half marathon.  Once she finished the race, we had lunch and then I headed to the airport to return home.

 

by admin

2025 Calendar

Now that Christmas has come and gone, we can unveil the cover to this year’s calendar gift, given annually to my mom and sister, and made up of pictures I have taken throughout the year.  I imagine this will be the final edition, with both Angelina and Danny out in the workforce and Michael away at school despite still being mostly homebound.  As in year’s past. the calendar was produced by the good folks at Shutterfly and we will unveil each month’s photo(s) on the first day of the month throughout 2025.

This year’s cover features all three kids posing prior to Danny’s graduation dinner at Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana, with both Angelina and Danny in their respective caps and gowns.

by admin

Ballpark Tour: Braves

With the offseason well underway, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we head to the suburbs of Atlanta to take a look at the latest home of the Atlanta Braves.  So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my one game history with Truist Park.

Stadium Name: Truist Park

Years in Service: 2017 – Present

Visits: 1

In November of 2013, the Braves announced that they would be leaving their longtime home of Turner Field for a new stadium, opening in 2017.  Originally known as SunTrust Park, the stadium hosted its first regular season game on April 14, as the Braves battled the Padres.  The name changed to Truist Park in 2020 following a merger between SunTrust Banks and BB&T.

I made my first and only visit to Truist Park in 2021 while driving home from a trip to Florida.  The Braves were scheduled to battle the Yankees that night, so I decided to make an early stop on the drive home to take in another stadium.  My hotel claimed to be within walking distance of the stadium, which it was but they forgot to mention that it was all uphill.  After I managed to drag myself to the park, I headed to the upper deck, which were the only seats still available.  After snagging a couple souvenir cups, I left the game a little early for the hike back to the hotel.  Thankfully, that trip was all downhill.

Stadium Name: Braves Field

Years in Service: 1915 – 1952

Visits: 0 (or a handful, depending on your point of view)

From 1876 until 1952, the Braves made their home in Boston.  When they moved west to Milwaukee prior to the 1953 season, the stadium was purchased by Boston University.  The pavilion grandstand at the end of the right field line was retained as the seating core of a football, soccer, field hockey, and track-and-field stadium, as was the outer wall.  The stadium’s ticket office was converted into the school’s police station. The rest of the stadium structure was replaced by dormitories covering the former main grandstand; and the Case Physical Education Center, which houses Walter Brown Arena, home of the synchronized skating team.

Now known as Nickerson Field, I’ve made a few visits while in Boston to visit Angelina over the years and to see her skate at Walter Brown Arena.

by admin

FB10: Week 43

An overall down week saved somewhat by one day that kept me above the 30,000-step plateau for the fourth week in a row.  The week got off to an excellent start on Sunday as I ran around Boston watching Angelina finish the Boston Half marathon before flying home, leaving me 14 steps away from 9500, my second straight day over goal.  A day off on Monday to recover dropped me down to 3600 steps.  Returning to work on Tuesday powered a nice improvement, falling 40 steps shy of 4700.  Wednesday was the low point of the week, falling down to 2900 steps.  Another improvement on Thursday pushed me back up, needing just 28 additional steps to get to 4100.  A slight decrease on Friday dropped me down to 3800 steps.  The week puttered out on Saturday with just 3900 steps.

Total steps: 32,476

Daily average: 4639.4

by admin

FB10: Week 42

Yet another good week, as I managed to stay above the 30,000-step plateau for the third week in a row thanks to a trip out east.  The week got off to a slow start on Sunday as I finished the day with 3000 steps.  A week full of morning training started with 4000 steps on Monday.  Tuesday was better, going up to 4700 steps.  A small decrease on Wednesday left me 23 steps shy of 4500.  Another slight decline on Thursday dropped me back down to 4100 steps.  A flight to Boston after work on Friday pushed me up over 6600 steps.  A night out to celebrate birthdays with Angelina on Saturday put me at 7900 steps, my first time finishing above goal since my trip to Amsterdam this summer.

Total steps: 34,950

Daily average: 4992.9

by admin

Ballpark Tour: Red Sox

With the offseason underway, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we look at the Boston Red Sox, owners of the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my one game history with Fenway Park.

Stadium Name: Fenway Park

Years in Service: 1912 – Present

Visits: 1

In 1911, Red Sox owner John I. Taylor purchased the land bordered by Brookline Avenue, Jersey Street, Van Ness Street and Lansdowne Street and developed it into a larger baseball stadium, which he named after the Fenway neighborhood where it was located.  The first game was played April 20, 1912, as the Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders, who would become the Yankees the following year, 7-6 in 11 innings.

I attended my first (and, so far, only) game at Fenway Park in August of 2017, cashing in my birthday gift from the year before.  The hope was that Angelina would be moving into Boston University around that time, but her gap year put a kibosh on that.  The ballpark was… a little underwhelming.  From the outside, you could barely tell that it was a stadium.  Michael even asked where it was as we were standing outside it.

The game went about as you would expect.  With James Shields on the mound, the White Sox did not put up much of a fight.  We were sitting down the left field line, with a good view of the Green Monster.  The seats, which may or may not date back to the stadium’s opening in 1912, were not really designed for people well over 6 feet tall, so there was a lot of uncomfortable shifting as Danny and my knees were smooshed into the seats in front of us.

I would have added an additional game or two in 2020, as the plan was to take Michael to Boston for his birthday and enjoy the monster seats, but a little global pandemic got in that way of that.  Now that Angelina is done with school and working full time in Boston, there is still an opportunity to increase my number of visits in the years to come.