Tag / ARM

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2018: The Year In Music

I managed to see 4 different concerts last year, across 3 states. This is the story of those shows.

The first show was in Las Vegas back in March.  In conjunction with the IBM Think conference, the Barenaked Ladies were performing on the beach at Mandalay Bay.  IBM had hooked one of my co-workers up with a cabana for the show, due to her being a legitimate superfan of the band, which the rest of us got to crash.  The group cycled through their hits, including the theme song to The Big Bang Theory, which was a nice surprise. I don’t think you could ask for much more out of a free show attached to a tech conference.

The next night, there were two shows going on.  We had our choice of Train or The Chainsmokers, and I went with option 2.  The show was at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and it was not quite what I was expecting.  In my defense, I am an old and thus was not up to speed on the nature of the Chainsmokers, so I should have been more familiar with the type of music the band would be performing.  While the two guys I were with decided to bail after a half hour or so, I decided to stick it out and was genuinely entertained, if not in the manner I was expecting.  I can’t say it is something I would want to see again, but I’m glad I did so at least once.  And, hey, you can’t beat the price.

In August, Pearl Jam came to Wrigley Field for 2 shows and I attended the first one.  It’s been a long time since I considered myself a Pearl Jam fan, and the show, while entertaining, certainly dragged for long periods between songs that I knew.

Finally, in October, I traveled to Boston to, on top of Angelina related things, see Garbage at the House of Blues.  The 20 Years Paranoid tour, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of Version 2.0, had played in Chicago the week before, but I’ve already done that a time or 5.  With Game 1 of the World Series taking place across the street at Fenway Park, Garbage put on another fine show, ripping through the entirety of their second album, along with some covers and special treats.

And that does it.  Time will tell what 2019 has in store and I look forward to finding out.

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2019 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, made up of pictures I have taken throughout the year, with entries from 5 different states. Once again. this year’s calendar was produced by the good folks at Shutterfly. As in year’s past, we will unveil each month’s photo on the first day of the month throughout 2019.

This year’s cover features various shots of Angelina, Danny, and Michael in New York from our trip to visit Angelina in April.  There are photos from Central Park, the Empire State Building, the 9/11 Memorial, and the Museum of the City of New York.

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FB4: Week 46

A second straight good week and my first back-to-back good weeks since Europe in September.  Things got off to a good start on Sunday, as I traveled between skating rinks in Massachusetts to see Angelina’s competition and ice show, finishing the day with over 7600 steps.  A cancelled flight on Monday meant no work, which left me with just over 4600 steps.  Tuesday used a couple of trips over to North Plaza to finish just 8 steps shy of 9600 steps. A holiday party at Fogo de Chao helped Wednesday come in with the holy total of 7777 steps.  Thursday combined some shopping with a night out to become the best day of the week with over 10,300 steps.  Friday was another down day, just surpassing 6100 steps.  Saturday used a night out to see Aquaman to bounce back to just over 8600 steps.

Total steps: 54,691

Daily average: 7813

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FB4: Week 45

After 5 down weeks, we ended the week over goal for the first time since the end of October.  The week got off to a slow start on Sunday, as they are wont to do, finishing with a mere 5400 steps.  Monday was a nice bounce back day, coming in over 9200 steps.  Tuesday came in just over 7300 steps, thanks in part to an after-work trip in to the city to pick up a birthday cake.  A birthday celebration for Val helped Wednesday end with nearly 8300 steps.  Thursday was another strong day, coming in at over 7400 steps.  Friday was another good day, with just under 7300 steps.  Saturday was spent back in Boston to see Angelina, going over many of the same stops as my October trip, though with my mom this time, so my step total was a lowly 13,167.

Total steps: 58,317

Daily average: 8331

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FB4: Week 39

A hugely successful week, thanks to a couple of trips out of town.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, finishing just a step shy of 2650 steps.  Monday picked back up, coming in at nearly 8000 steps.  Tuesday I headed off to Boston, where dinner with Angelina and a Garbage concert put me just over 19,300 steps.  Wednesday was even better, thanks to a tour of Fenway Park prior to game 2 of the World Series and a trip to Harvard which put me over 23,300 steps.  Thursday was back to work, where I managed to just eke past 7000 steps.  Friday was more of the same, with only 17 steps less than the day before.  Saturday we traveled down to St. Louis for a band competition, where walking around town on my birthday left me at over 9700 steps.

Total steps: 77,172

Daily average: 11,024.6

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FB4: Week 11

My second highest weekly total of the year so far, thanks to a weekend trip to New York to see Angelina.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, as I came in just below 5000 steps.  Monday’s trip to Wrigley Field for the home opener was called off due to snow, which left me just over 5500 steps.  I returned to work on Tuesday and scored my first day over goal, coming in just over 7200 steps.  Wednesday brought me in close to 8000 steps, before Thursday fell back down to under 5900.  Things picked up on Friday, as Danny, Michael, and I flew to New York.  A trip to the suburbs followed by a train ride to our Midtown hotel racked up nearly 9200 steps.  Saturday was a glorious day, as I set a new high mark with 27,470 steps, thanks to trips to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, Central Park, the Guggenheim museum, and the Empire State Building.

Total steps: 68,279

Daily average: 9754.1