Ploafmaster General

I’m up in the Milwaukee, WI area with my family for Thanksgiving. Earlier this week we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Organ Piper Pizza in Greenfield, just outside of town. It’s been open since 1976 and is, apparently, only one of 3 places like it left in the states. This place had me smiling ear-to-ear from the moment I saw the old sign with flashing lights and its mock Tudor exterior. The smile only widened as we heard the classic organ sounds and watched the flashing lights, quacking ducks, and mechanically-actuated percussion around the room.

Was the food any good? It was fine - exactly what you’d want at a family pizza place. Tavern-style pie that was crispy and tasty, and soda by the pitcher. The kids loved it and so did all the adults. If I lived near this place I’d be here every few months to be sure.

And hats off to Perry Petta, the organist. That man is a treasure.

This past Saturday I took a drive down to Farmville with my bike. I wanted to test my cycling endurance a bit with my longest ride yet: out and back to Burkeville, the eastern end of the High Bridge Trail. This was just over 30 miles and it left me a little bow-legged, even with some nice cushy chamois liners.

The trail itself leaves a lot to be desired. Don't get me wrong - the weather was gorgeous, and being outside on my bike (especially without having to dodge traffic) is better than not, but the trail isn't all that exciting. Excepting the eponymous high bridge and its views, there wasn't too much to see.

A persistent tree canopy rose over my head, just a week or so past peak fall foliage, and the path only turned occasionally. Most bewildering was the end of the trail in Burkeville - nothing but a lonely picnic table and no clear way to reach the trail directly at that end other than the trail itself!

Still, I feel a sense of accomplishment for having ridden that far. My previous longest ride was a little more than 22 miles (On a single speed! Around the city!), and I really get the effort on this one. The grade was pretty easy over the entire ride, but pedaling that long and sitting my obese frame on a bike saddle for over 3 hours was as much a mental exercise as physical.

I only wish I’d had more to photograph!

This past Friday was my birthday and I decided to walk the 2.5 miles from my home to the restaurant where my family would later meet me for dinner. The weather was gorgeous, so I took my DSLR with me. I didn't get much, but I figured since I had the time and no pressure, I’d rather have more than my iPhone on hand if I saw something interesting.

I’ve been quite a bit more active lately taking strolls around town. Yesterday, while my car was in the shop I was able to enjoy a particularly beautiful morning and snapped some photos along the way around Richmond’s Fan District

I recently had some time to hang out with my son at a park in town and he let me take some pictures of his handsome self.

Jill Bearup is a stage combatant with training in the art of fake fighting. Her YouTube channel has evolved over the years from from an assortment of topics to a tighter focus on all things stage/TV/cinematic fighting, whether it’s about weapons and reach, the absurdity of certain stylistic/armor choices in a fight, or how to defend yourself with a hat pin.

But my favorite format of Bearup's videos are those which appear to be analysis of particular fights from TV shows or movies, but really end up presenting a thoughtful video essay on characters, themes, and story within that media. Take the Avatar example at the top of this post: yes, Bearup speaks to the styles of combat and the shifting nature of the fight. But Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't an animated documentary about martial arts; it’s a dramatic story with dynamic characters! So Bearup details how each combatant's circumstances and character arcs inform their behavior and choices in this climactic duel. She speaks from a position of deep understanding of the show and the the motivations of each fighter. Watching this video gave me newfound understanding and appreciation for what was already my favorite sequence from the entire series.

It’s worth checking out her channel in general, but if you like media analysis/video essays and want a heavy dose of fight deconstruction along for the ride, you could do a lot worse than her examinations of Inigo and Wesley's fight in The Princess Bride, or the throne room duel in The Last Jedi.

Lately I’ve had a few things kicking around in my head that seem obvious, but I feel the urge to put them down in words on my blog for personal record and clarity. This one's about friendships.

I'm 40 years old now and have seen quite a few relationships come and go, blossom and whither. I often think about what can help friendships get started and, more-so, what it takes to keep them going. Even if the right pieces are in place, some friendships eventually fade for a variety of reasons, but I feel like I’ve gained some insight since childhood on what has the capacity to sustain friendships for the long term. I still fail at this often enough myself, of course.

How it Started

Most friendships seem to be instigated by either a chance encounter, life circumstances, or some unifying social group. I think about a chance encounter like striking up a conversation with a stranger in a coffee shop that turns into an extended conversation, which results in the exchange of social media profiles and eventually a long-running friendship. We just happened to be in the same place at the same time and happened to interact.

Life circumstances accounted for most of my childhood friends. My best friend during elementary school was a boy who was in the same class with me, and we mutually tolerated/enjoyed each other's quirky personalities and shared some common interests. Even if we weren't always in the same class, we still attended the same school and lived in the same town, so it was easy for our parents to drive each to the other's house, or meet up on the playground at recess.

Unifying social groups could be topical conventions which bring together like-minded and commonly-interested folks, predisposed to have at least a few things in common with each other by virtue of attendance. Whether it’s the campus ministry I participated in during undergrad, or a conference for people who make websites, these settings provide a lot of social shortcuts that can help strangers accelerate the whole getting-to-know-you part of a new relationship. I’ve made friends online this way where the unifying social factor was a mutual friend that started a podcast. I'm not religious anymore, but I still have quite a few friends I made during those college ministry days or in past church congregations.

I'm a Firestarter

"We have a lot in common."

Common interests are like starter logs. They can get a friendship going, but you need more than that keep the fire burning. Most of the friendships of my youth and early adulthood were defined by common interests because so many young people wrap up their identities in their interests. Grunge rock. Making stuff. Beach life.

But most people don't like all the same bands for their whole lives. Most people don't want to do all the same activities, visit the same places, read the same genres of fiction. People change, and with personal change comes a new, or at least shifting, sets of interests. It’s entirely possible that your interests may shift with your friend's, but it’s also possible you’ll run out of things to do and talk about if that’s most of the scope of your friendship.

I'm pretty sure that’s why my best friends from high school aren’t even acquaintances of mine today. We all went to separate colleges at different times and, when we came back together after an extended time apart, we’d all been shaped by new experiences, influenced by new people, and our tastes had changed in different ways. Those common interests were just about all we had between us, so there wasn't much left when they no longer aligned. I don't morn the loss because I recognize that none of us really did anything to split up the group. We just grew up and grew apart.

"Well, I gotta keep it going keep it going full steam"

If common interests are the fire starters, shared experiences and proactive communication are the fuel and oxygen, respectively.

With legal adulthood came increasing autonomy. Now I could travel, make some (limited) financial and social decisions on my own, and generally explore the world around me a bit more. I didn't need my mom to drive me to my friend's house to socialize. My friend and I could decide, together, that we wanted to drive up to New Jersey to see Weezer in concert one college summer. I'm not in to Weezer as much anymore (though their first two albums will always be some of my favorite music) and my friend was never as big a fan as I was, but we will always have that trip. We will always have that time spent traveling, sharing in the choices, consequences, and rewards of those days. Shared memories have the ability to unite us in ways that don't change with our tastes.

But that same friend and I rarely talk anymore. We were best friends for years (and I dare say we could still pick right back up and have a helluva time together), but because the lines of communication have long run silent, we just don't keep up with each other. There are loads of factors that can disrupt communication; with this friend I think it’s because we shifted into different stages of life. But what differentiates that friendship from the ones I still count as strong and active is that my still-healthy friendships include regular, two-way communication.

"I felt so symbolic yesterday"

I don't think I'm saying anything profound here, and I'm certainly not speaking from a place of expertise. But I dunno, maybe it’s the kind of introspection that comes with the awareness of one's own aging.

Thanks for reading, friend.

Yesterday my family went to Fort Fisher State Recreation Area in North Carolina, in the Wilmington area. We wanted to hang out by the ocean in the unseasonably warm weather and test out a new kite that my sister-in-law and her husband gave the kids for Christmas. As we approached our destination my wife checked the weather and saw a special advisory statement for dense sea fog rolling in from the ocean. I don't think there's anything more alluring to an amateur photographer than fog, except perhaps decaying buildings.

I don't have a whole lot more to say about this other than the kite was terrific, and the chill of the fog was an oddly welcome break from climate change's late December spring temperatures.

It’s commonplace in liberal circles to talk about friends and family "lost" to Fox News. There's "Fox News brain", "Fox News brainwashing", and other variations of what I'm starting to feel like is a form of denial. I'm sure there are folks who really have been duped by false and/or misleading information from that god-awful TV network, but I suspect the truth is more depressing. We just don't want to admit that Fox News has merely provided pithy soundbites and new dog whistles to our loved ones that have always believed some terrible things.

The trailer for Pixar's upcoming scit-fi feature Lightyear has been out for a little bit now, and I’ve been mulling over why I'm so excited about it. Because seriously, I am super excited for this movie. There was a lot of weird confusion and questions around the Extremely Online set following this trailer mainly because folks were trying to figure out whether this is supposed to be the backstory for the toy in Pixar's Toy Story franchise, or if it's simply a spin-off based on the character.

I don't actually care how and why it connects to Toy Story. I know trailers are frequently made by different groups that have nothing to do with the movie production and they're working from incomplete footage, but the tone of this one has all the wonder and excitement of a classic space adventure story. A beautifully grandiose take on Bowie's Star Man plays behind shots of launch preparations, spaceports, longing stares out the window, action and adventure in strange locations. There's even a shot of Buzz's ship on a marshy planet reminiscent of Luke's X-Wing on Dagobah.

If you grew up watching anything Star Wars or Star Trek, how could you not be excited by this? Yeah, I know this will likely have plenty of silly humor and call-backs to Buzz's haughty toy persona from Toy Story, but I'm hoping it can also be an exciting sci-fi adventure film that’s accessible for kids, but enjoyable for anybody who dreams of traveling between the stars.

Today the weather was BEAUTIFUL. And it was a walking kind of day. We walked about 5.3 miles, actually. It would have been more but we took advantage of the free and excellent downtown bus service several times. In the morning we left the B&B after pancakes and headed for Waterfront Park. It was almost chilly that early and the wind by the ocean certainly added to the feeling of autumn's late arrival.

We were simultaneously enjoying the outdoors and killing time until the opening of Robert Lange Studios where we could see a painting by our friend Cassandra Loomis Kim. It was wonderful to see our friend's work in a group show (her work is "King Grizzly") away from home, but it was also a really cool gallery in its own right. I'm a particular fan of Nathan Durfee's work which reminds me a lot of children's book author/illustrator Dan Santat.

After the gallery we wandered uptown toward the College of Charleston, grabbing an okay lunch at Basic Kitchen before visiting a disappointing triceratops-themed coffee shop. It’s called Tricera Coffee, but it’s really just a sad, slow business with a bunch of triceratops toys in random places around the interior.

We made up for the disappointment by meandering through Marion Square before grabbing some truly delicious pastries from La Patisserie at Hotel Bennett.

Here is where we grabbed our first bus to the western end of the old market, after which we walked a short distance to our true caffeine destination: Second State Coffee. This place just straight up delivered. The espresso was delicious, the cappuccino was perfect. I bought a bag of beans to take back to Virginia, it was so good. The barista was terrific and even tipped me off on a different way to try brewing a Chemex (going to look up "double blooming" when I get a chance). Turns out they have a second location now just across the bridge from Charleston, so we’ll likely grab some brew on the way back to NC to get the kids tomorrow.

The afternoon consisted of meandering around a bit more, killing time before our dinner reservation at 5:30 (reminder: we are olds). So we walked by the old Dock Street Theater and the French Huguenot church, hit the market so Valerie could get souvenirs for the kids, and even snagged a little cocktail before din-din. We supped at Poogan's Smokehouse - part of the same group as Poogan's Porch where we ate so many years ago. The food was pretty good, but the service left a lot to be desired. The one cocktail I ordered? Truly abysmal.

We didn't want as early a night as yesterday so we grabbed another bus to head up Meeting Street to Little Palm, quite possibly the coolest bar I’ve visited in a long time. There was a real Miami Beach club vibe in this bar at The Ryder Hotel without feeling kitschy, and the drinks were super inventive. Great staff, great interior, even greater drinks.

We caught one more bus further downtown so we could finish the night with some fantastic frozen treats from Off Track Ice Cream. Bellies full and tiredness setting in to our aging bones, we headed back to the B&B where we're now recuperating and winding down. We head out after breakfast tomorrow, but it’s been a spectacular return to this old city in The South. There's a lot of fun to be had and sights to be seen without feeding the Plantation Tourism Complex, and I hope we can make it back sooner than another 10 years.

I don't have quite the energy of my evenings in Maine to write about this little weekend away, but Valerie and I are in Charleston for the weekend alone as a slightly late celebration of our anniversary. The kids are with my mother-in-law in North Carolina and we're staying at a B&B (not the house above - that’s a private home for some wealthy NewYorker). This afternoon and evening were chill; walking around The Battery, meandering up Bay Street until we dropped in to an incredible (and incredibly renovated!) favorite from our first visit 10 years ago: The Gin Joint. This place is still the absolute jam. I wish they were open on Sundays so I could go again tomorrow night.

We caught a Lyft all the way to the other side of town for our dinner reservation at Chasing Sage, an impossibly cool vegetable-focused restaurant that did almost everything right. The decor, the menu, the music, the dang bathrooms! This place was cooler than me. The food was great, the cocktails were great, and Valerie and I felt like we were on the verge of 30 again like our first visit, instead of nearly 40 as we are now. Turns out this place is in the super-hip neighborhood of Cannonborough/Elliotborogh which, as you can predict, is a post-gentrified district of Charleston. Now the gentrifiers are complaining about the encroachment of college students, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway we have a light itinerary for tomorrow that includes lots of walking. The weather turns sharply autumnal tonight which should make that walking lovely. But most of what I'm looking forward to tomorrow is sleeping in without my kids climbing in bed before 6 AM.

A few shots from Chile's Peach Orchard back in the summer shot on Kodak E100 slide film using my Hasselblad 500 C/M.

The Westland Shopping Center was built in what used to be the "Far West End" on West Broad Street back in 1963, and boy does that sign place the strip mall marvelously in that decade. I know being way out in the counties was considered the hinterlands at the time, but a saguaro cactus? Hilarious. Anyway, this was shot on Kodak E100 slide film with my Hasselblad 500 C/M.

And here's the final post of my film shots from the Maine trip. If you read the proper blog post for that day then you’ll remember it was the Portland day. I don't have any photos of the incredible bagels or coffee I consumed, but I still managed to snag some goodies along the way.

Tandem was, of course, a highlight of the day because of its thematic resemblance to Richmond's own Lamplighter (bike themed, first cafe in an old service station, etc.).

Of course, Tandem is all about the two-person bike, not the tall bike. But you get the idea. Really missing that pistachio cake I ate there. Chef's kiss, man.

After hitting one more coffee stop we drove to the south end of Casco Bay to Fort Williams Park so we could check out the Portland Head Light. I loved this park so much.

And we headed back to into town for one more coffee stop which we enjoyed in Post Office Park while a busker played the harp.

Everything from this day was shot on a roll of Lomography Color 400. I think I let this film age a bit too much as its saturation and contrast bumped up a bit too high for my taste, but that last photo still managed to retain some natural-is skin tones and dynamic range. Anyway, as I’ve said before - I didn't got to Maine for the sake of photography, but I'm going to bring a camera with me wherever I travel, and these three days' worth of photos are exactly why. The memories are truly great, but the images provide that extra reference, texture, and detail to my recollection.

I head to Charleston, SC for an anniversary weekend with my wife this coming Friday and I'm sure I'll fire off at least a roll or two while I'm down there. We’ll see whether I get anything worth sharing :-D

And here we go with my film photos from the 3rd day in Maine (really my 2nd full day if you recall). These were pretty much all from Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Loads of time on gravel roads, stopping occasionally for some gorgeous sites, and high-tailing it out of there once we realized the storm was headed our way :-D

All of these were shot on Kodak Portra 160 using my Hasselblad 500 C/M.

This isn't the most beautiful photograph I took that day, but it was the most fascinating thing I saw - naturally-occurring, triangular slate formations that protruded near-vertically from the river bed.

Unlike Acadia, with which my friend Robert is deeply familiar, I don't know what all these places are called. Somewhat anonymous beautiful spots, I guess. Whatever their names, it was the most breathtaking scenery of the whole trip.

You can consider this a companion post to my second Maine post. Sure, I included a number of iPhone photographs, but my next few posts are all about the film I shot on my Hasselblad 500 C/M when I was in Maine.

I got a few keepers I was happy with from Acadia, and a few additional fun shots after we left.

I didn't visit Maine to take photographs, of course. But I do take a decent camera with me every time I travel because I'm an enthusiast. And the weather really cooperated each day I was up there.

That weather, of course, made for some pretty fine meals outside.

Honestly, the weather was so exactly my jam (chilly in the morning, perfect low 70s and low humidity in the afternoon) that it was almost as significant a part of my vacation as seeing my friend and the beautiful landscapes of Maine.

Today is my wedding anniversary and, as the title indicates, I’ve been married to Valerie for 17 years. I don't have anything profound to say this morning, so I'll share an anecdote. Yesterday while the kids were at school, we went out to lunch and enjoyed great food and beer in some glorious weather. We followed lunch with some relaxing at a cafe sipping coffee and passing time with conversation. It was a real treat to have such calm and unhurried time with my wife to talk, take in a meal, and be comfortably idle together.

We're taking a weekend trip in two weeks to truly celebrate, but days like yesterday are what reinforce how much I still love my wife and the years we’ve had together.

I think Apple's silicone MagSafe case might be one of the more comfortable cases I've ever used; soft to the touch but not squishy, good grip, and rigid enough that I'm confident it’s protecting my phone. I'm a big fan of orangey-pink tones that we frequently call "salmon" or "coral", so I got the similar "pink pomelo" color that seems to complement my pale blue phone.

I didn’t really step outside today until I grabbed my Chipotle delivery off of Robert’s porch. As I said yesterday, he had to teach today so I was mostly heads down sneaking in some distraction-free work. Once he wrapped up his day he dropped my at the airport shortly before boarding. I got lucky on the first leg and had a two-seat side of the row to myself. Now I’m just wrapping up a layover in Philadelphia before the final leg back to Richmond.

This has been some of the best travel and friend time I’ve had in ages, but my bed is going to feel great tonight.

About to Eat (or A.T.E.) is a relatively young YouTube channel from some of my favorite Buzzfeed food people. The channel essentially features a number of themed series based around interesting concepts such as cooking only one type of food for 24 hours, examining the different ways the hosts cook certain ingredients or dishes at home, or one of my favorites, the "Day in the Life" series. Day in the Life is produced by Alvin Zhou (who has his own channel that is a true delight) and shares his experience in the kitchens of various restaurants in New York City across a variety of cuisines and styles. I love this series because a) the videos center almost entirely on the chefs and restaurants featured, b) you get an inside look at highly skilled people making delicious food, and c) I think Zhou's genuine curiosity and enthusiasm come through in each video. If that video at the top of this post doesn't make you want to find the nearest Ghanaian restaurant, you aren’t hooked up right :-D

Today was Portland day! We headed out early for the long drive from Bangor with a two-pronged morning mission: Montreal-style bagels from Forage and a coffee crawl involving some of Robert's favorite roasters in Portland.

Let's start with them bagels. These were cooked in a wood-fired oven as befits the Montreal-style process, and while they vary a bit from the NY-style I grew up with in the Tristate Area, they were no less delicious. That characteristic crisp, chewy skin was still there, yielding to a tangy sourdough interior that had fermented two days prior to baking. One sesame and one sea salt, each with butter, and I was in my happy place. I haven't eaten bagels this delicious in a couple years. Seriously.

Then it was on to coffee, and we had to start with Tandem Coffee Roasters. Did they bit a little style from Richmond's own Lamplighter with that bike theme and converted service station cafe? Who knows, but their coffee was delicious, and the pistachio cake I shared with Robert was incredible. It tasted like a lemon poundcake with pistachio meal, and crushed pistachios, lemon juice, and sugar syrup on top. That pic at the top of the post was my cappuccino. Next up was Speckled Ax who—completely new to me—wood-roasts their coffee. This cappuccino was even better than Tandem's and I bought a bag of some fruit-dried Ethiopian to take back to Richmond.

Side note: yes, two cappuccinos in a row, no sweetener added. I normally prefer espresso or pour-over, but in Portland as in Richmond, the shops are still using disposable only cups and no dine-in. I feel like paper cups mess with the flavor of espresso, so that’s out. And none of the shops we hit in Portland were doing pour-over because of the time involved.

We interrupted our coffee crawl for a surprise stop at Portland Head High and Fort Williams Park on Casco Bay. If my film turns out okay, the shots I got at this park will be some of my favorites, I think. For now, check out this vertical pano of the lighthouse, and the registry plaque.

Our final coffee stop was Bard Coffee in the Old Port neighborhood, and boy was that great. One more cappuccino, and also a nitro cold brew. The cap was certainly tasty but the nitro was some of the best I’ve ever had. All the rough edges were rounded off and while most nitros have that "virgin Guinness" taste of toast and chocolate, this stuff was still fruity and crisp.

With so much caffeine in our systems, we headed out of Portland to Freeport for a visit to the massive L.L. Bean campus in Freeport. They had pretty much everything you could imagine, including a pair of stuffed moose that had been found dead in the woods with locked antlers. Macabre! After a little light shopping (and not buying) we drove a short hop to Maine Beer Company for some truly delicious beer and pizza. Our final beer stop was Side by Each Brewing Co. in Auburn on the way back. This brewery takes care of their people and makes delicious beer, so it was a fitting final brewery on my trip.

The vacation part of my trips is pretty much over now since Robert has to teach starting at 8:00 tomorrow. I'll be sneaking in a work day where everybody thinks I'm off so I can get stuff done without distraction. Then around 4 PM I'll head back down south to Richmond. Not sure whether I'll publish a final post tomorrow, but I can tell you it’s been a helluva time up here in Maine, and I hope to return before too long.

Addendum to yesterday's statement about "too much delicious food and drink to recount": let's just say I had enough to drink that my sleep was transient last night. I woke up sore and tired, but excited enough for what today would bring that got dressed right away and sat down to chat with Robert about what today would bring. The weather looked iffy, so we decided to start with breakfast at a great gas station diner-like place called Dysart's.

As I was eating a tasty breakfast sandwich with French toast for the bread, we decided to chance the rain and head up to the relatively new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in north central Maine. It was a long drive to the park and along gravel roads, but road trips are the way Robert and I love to hang out. The photograph at the top of this post was taken within the park, and there are (hopefully) some choice photographs shot on my Hasselblad to be seen at a later date. We eventually made it to the picnic area with an expansive view of Katahdin itself and numerous other peaks at the top of the Appalachian Trail. We got some great photos, but we could also see some serious weather headed our way.

So what did we do? We hit up some more of Maine's fine craft beer offerings, like Bissell Brothers in Milo. We snagged some suds and enjoyed the rapidly cooling weather on their covered patio while the rain picked up.

The staff were friendly but the bathrooms were another story...

We returned to Bangor and grabbed another round at Bangor Beer Co where we ran into some of Robert's delightful colleagues, then decided to take a chance on a newish barbecue joint. I won't name it because then I’d have to shame it, because it wasn't great. Us two Virginia boys knew what we were getting into, but had to take a chance just in case it was actually good. So with the smoked meat a failure, Robert called an audible and we wrapped up the evening with some seriously good ice cream from local joint, Gifford's. So tasty.

Tomorrow is my last day of exploration with Robert (I'm here all day Monday, but he has to teach all day) before heading back. The rough outline includes Freeport, Portland, loads of coffee and beer, and more glorious exploring. Whoohoo!