Smelly Stickers!

When I was in the 5th grade in New Jersey, scratch and sniff (smelly) stickers were the thing to collect. We traded them big time and it was competitive. Sometimes you couldn't tell what they were supposed to smell like by the picture and it's a surprise. You just give them a little scratch and then smell them. It was so much fun. As you can see, some of mine have been scratched a lot. Can you believe some of them actually still smell! Not strong - but they do still work. Amazing. We'll you can't scratch them in my blog but maybe one of you will find them in my old trapper keeper (with a metal button - not Velcro) one day and can give them a try.

I think the car smelled like gasoline and the skates were leather.

Looks like I was missing 1 bubble gum smurf! There was 3 of each scent.

The mini stickers we in demand when they came out!

My Early Art and Love of Birds

Well kids, thought I would share a few things from my childhood that I stumbled upon recently. I loved birds and drawing at a young age. I remember memorizing every bird name in a book of N. American birds that I got from school. My love of birds hasn't diminished but I seem to have lost the art interest. I always put my age on my early drawings. I think I thought I was going to be famous one day and wanted to document when I did these things :)
This work seems to be done with markers but I remember doing a lot with pastel chalks as well.

Next up - my scratch and sniff sticker collection.

1989-90UNH Freshman Crew

I decided it was time to add and discuss the 5th "R" of my blog - Rowing. I haven't rowed in about 25 years but it was a huge part of my life at UNH for my freshman and sophomore years. Even though it was certainly my biggest sporting accomplishments and rowing in my fresh 8-man boat was probably one of the highs of my life, it has drifted into foggy memory as the years have passed. So why bring it up and write about it now when I'm 45? Well, it's because I just read a wonderful book called The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. It is about Joe Rantz, his life, his years rowing at the University of Washington, and pursuit of the gold medal at Adolf Hitler's 1936 Olympics in Berlin. It was a fantastic story and I'm so glad it was told. In addition, for me, it brought back so many memories of trying to row freshman year, ergometers, seat races, blisters on hands, double workouts in the winter, rowing through ice, ice sickles on my beard, defeat, and victory. Although I certainly wasn't at their level, I know what those boys went through and I cried when it was over as I was reading the epilogue. Then I decided I needed to write down my little story and preserve it for me and my kids.

In the fall season we did head races. I think those were 3 miles long and we probably on did one or two. I remember we did one at Dartmouth but I don't recall to much about it. As freshman we were focused on learning the technique of rowing and getting in shape. I think there was only 2 guys who had any previous rowing experience and I wasn't one of them. Early in the process we picked sides to row on and I became a starboard rower. We hit the water nice and early so that we were back off the water (Oyster river) and had time to run back to campus before 8 am classes. Getting up that early every day of the week in college was no easy task but your boat didn't appreciate it too much if you didn't show and thus they were short a man.

In the winter, once the river froze, we did lots of land training which included running, weights, stairs, and ergometers (rowing machines). I thought ergometers were pure hell back then. We would sometimes workout twice a day in winter and during spring break we went down to Tampa Bay FL to row in warmer weather twice a day.

By spring the boats were set and I was in the first freshman it. Starting from the bow of the boat (1 seat), it consisted of: Eric Burroughs ("Bucko"), Derek Whipple, Dewitt Newton ("Dewar"), Matt Collins, Luke Ramsey, Graham Duncan, Alex Hoffmaster, John Harris, and Kristina Louise Delaney (coxswain). I didn't know any of them before we met our freshman year at crew. But I spent more time with them than anyone else that year and we had so much fun. We went through a lot together.

The spring season is the major racing season. The races are 2,000 m sprints. I found an old schedule that says we raced the following:
April 7 Dartmouth
April 14 Tufts and Weslyan at Boston
April 21 Temple
April 28 Phillips Exeter Academy
April 29 Harvard
May 5 New England Championships
May 11,12 Dad Vail Regatta (considered at the time our div II national)

I honestly don't remember the Dartmouth or Temple races but it looks like we came in 2nd to temple down in Philly. I certainly remember the race in Boston. It was cold with really rough water (maybe some rain as well). Our coach, Sean O'Connell, really wanted to win. He had major competitive issues or some sort of grudge with the Tufts coach I think. It didn't' go well. We were generally not a good rough water crew, which may have gotten in our heads. By the time the race started I was freezing and could barely feel my hands. I caught a "crab" at some point in the race which certainly didn't help our cause. We came in 2nd to Tufts.

The Harvard race was a highlight. Our coach talked to theirs so that they would bring a freshman crew with an equivalent amount of talent to our boat to race us (with only a couple rowers with prior experience). I think it was their 3rd freshman eight but I can't be sure. We won the race and I have a Harvard crew shirt (losers give you their shirts in crew) to show for it. I was glowing the rest the day.

Clip from our University paper on our Harvard race.

New England Championships
 
We were starting to peak at just the right time heading into the New England Championships and then down to Dad Vail for the nationals. Then there was a minor hiccup. Sometime after the Harvard race I broke my foot playing intramural basketball. I went to the UNH clinic where they took an X-ray and confirmed it was broken. The doctor was about to start having a cast put on my foot and lower leg but I knew I wouldn't be able to row like that and I just couldn't stop now. I asked the doctor if I absolutely needed the cast and if it would be okay to row. I explained my whole situation and he agreed that if I used crutches and didn't walk on it, that it would be ok to row since rowing was more of a pushing motion. Coach sure was relieved. Changing the chemistry of the boat right before all the championships would not be good.

The New England Championships were raced on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester MA. There was no docks. You just waded out into the water, set your boat down, and then got in. Except for me of course :) Because of my broken foot I had 2 teammates carry me and set me in the boat. I'm sure someone has a picture of that but I don't. It was quite a sight and I heard lots of other crews talking about it later and wondering what was going on. There were 18 schools in the freshman (novice) competition including Tufts and Coast Guard. We really wanted to show Tufts and everyone else that we were a much better crew then we showed earlier in the season. The water was calm so there would be no excuses this time. We won our heat and had the fastest heat time of any boat. In the finals we raced to victory over Connecticut College, UMass, URI, Coast Guard and Tufts! Victory could not be much sweeter. We got a lot of crew jerseys from our competitors that day!



Getting in our boat for the race. I'm in the 7 seat.

Gold medals and championship trophy!

Article on our victory in the university newspaper

Dad Vail Regatta (Div II National Championships)

The Dad Vail Regatta was out national championship race which is held in Philadelphia on the Schuylkill River. The river banks were loaded with racing shells. It was an amazing site to see all the different schools and boats there to race. I'm not sure how many boats were entered in the novice 8 category but I believe we had to race in 2 heats prior to the final heat. I think only the top 2 boats advanced from each heat. Unlike the New Englands, we didn't dominate our heats and I believe we struggled to get the 2nd spot each time. I believe we struggled in both of those heats because of rough water but we gutted through it. The water was calmer in the finals and we were ready to go for it. We raced a solid race and gave it our best but ending up losing to our nemesis, Temple University. We know we gave it our all and so I don't think anyone was disappointed with our effort or the Silver medal. It as amazing. My family came down to watch as well which was really cool. Karl was there taking pictures (most of these) along with my mom and Brad. I don't recall if Crae was there or not. I'll have to ask him about that.

Me with mom and Brad between races

Racing - probably in one of the heats

More race action!

Rowing up to get our medals

Karl (Poppy) was on the dock or close by taking these pictures

Rowing away with our medals

Carrying the boat back to shore

My freshman year at UNH was amazing. I enjoyed my classes, declared my major in microbiology, and made some great friends in my dorm. But crew and my freshman boat affected my in ways that can't easily be described. The dedication, teamwork, depending on others, time management, pushing through the pain, the camaraderie, the fun...the lessons were endless.

2016 Family Vacation to VT and NH

We took another trip up to VT and NH to see all of our family this summer. We rented a Toyota Rav4 and drove up to stay with Diane's parents first for about 4 days. Then we drove over to NH and stayed with my brother Brad for another 4 days before heading home. It was a 2-day drive in each direction. We hit some traffic but the road trip went smoothly over all. The kids and Diane had all their electronic devices and I had some new CDs to listen to (Sevendust, Rob Zombie, Disturbed, and Zakk Wlyde) in addition to lots of podcasts I had saved up to listen to.

We got to see all of Diane's family on July 4th. Her sister (Ellen) and kids (Sarah and David) both came over for a cookout. David also brought his girlfriend. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time but I ate way too much (common problem) and had to take a big nap afterwards. We didn't actually take any pictures when everyone was over (that was silly) but here are some photos of kids at the local river and lake. I enjoyed running trails along the river and lake area first thing in the morning. The weather was perfect.

Drew caught some crawfish in the river!

Having fun wading in the river

Little hoops at the park on the way to river

Hanging with Sarah at the local lake

Here are some photos of a trip Sarah, Emily, Drew and I took to Mt. Zion Zen garden in Hubbardton VT. It is a beautiful garden (large rocks, water, bridges) owned and maintained by Kit Davidson. I believe it is all private property but he keeps it open to the public for all to enjoy. How cool is that?! There is also some cool trails including some challenging ones that I hiked to the top of the mountain. The kids started with me but turned back to hang at the garden. Drew caught (and released) a young frog that still had it tail!



Emily and Drew at the garden
 

Sarah, Emily and Drew

Great view along the trail down to the zen garden area




The zen garden

Narrow and steep section of hike

Steep climb up!



A selfie from the top...it was a warm day

The view from the top

Below are some photos from our visit to Hope Cemetery in Barre VT. This is a beautiful place to visit with amazing granite sculptures and mausoleums. Some of the mausoleums even have beautiful stained glass windows in the back of the room. I saw one stunning one with Leonardo da Vinci's last supper painting in stained glass. You can walk or drive around and we did a little of both.

After we checked out the cemetery we headed over to Montpelier (VT capitol) to have dinner with Mark and Heather at a cool pizza place called Positive Pie. The pizza was very good and I got to enjoy one of the most sought after beers in America for the 2nd time (Head Topper). We had a great time at dinner. I wish we could see them more. Hopefully they will come spent Thanksgiving with us this year.

The legendary Heady Topper IPA

The next day I met Mark at Karmê Chöling in Barnet VT. This is the first and one of only 2 Shambhala land centers in the U.S. I have been spending a lot of time meditating at the Atlanta Shambhala center and taking classes there so I was really excited to at least stop by and see the land center I had heard so much about. If I continue studying in this tradition, I'm sure I'll take some courses or do a retreat there at some point.

View of the center from the vegetable garden

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche memorial



Look at the size of those bows!

The main building

The kids always have a blast in NH when the get together with all their cousins. Brad's house becomes total chaos but it's gotten a bit better as the kids have gotten older. One of the things my kids look most forward to is going to the beach and this year we went twice. The waves were actually really good for body surfing both days but the first day we went was particularly rough - at least compared to what we usually experience there.

All the kids together at Brad's house

All the kids except Wes (he was grumpy after a nap)

 

Pokeman Go was the rage this summer. I helped Emily with this one :)

Emily and Gwyneth...at least she liked Emily :)





I was the first in the water! Cold as usual...look at Drew:)

On day we went up to Manchester with Brad's family to the Great Escape. This is one of those places where you get locked in a room and have to solve puzzles to access keys and get out. I wasn't really sure what to expect but we had a lot of fun. We were in the "circus" room which at the time was their most difficult room with only a 20% success rate (out in less than an hour). In addition to us, we had another family of 3 locked with us. The puzzles were really quite hard and it was really neat how everyone really contributed to different puzzles to help us get out. We were all working on dirreent puzzles at the same time. We ended up getting out in about 63 minutes - not too shabby at all.

Group photo after our escape!

Emily and Gwyneth at the house

Quality time with my bros and Karl! Can't believe I never got a picture with mom.

Will and I with our UNH shirts

The drive home was long as always but it went relatively smoothly and Diane and Emily enjoyed hunting Pokeman at the rest stops. I just like to get in the photos :)

Caught that little bugger

Another great trip. It's a bit sad to think we won't have too many more trips like this now that the kids are getting older. Hannah is a senior and Drew is a Junior. But we are already talking about possibly meeting somewhere at the beach next year. I think it would be really fun to rent a huge house on the beach with a pool. We talk about it a lot but never seem to do it. We'll see if it happens next year. As long as we get together it will be nice. Until then....