Whew boy… we’ve been packing Aaron up for his first semester at Rutgers. It’s spritzes and cheese now before a big crab fest for dinner.

Joe landed a gig at Walmart filling pickup orders, which is great for him! But we missed him at last night’s dinner at the Maplewood with the ‘rents and will at tonight’s shellfish extravaganza.

I will certainly (over)write something tomorrow to commemorate the big move in, so I hope you’ll check in here tomorrow, too. As always, here are a few things to check out, thanks for reading.

retroStrip

I saw retroStrip featured earlier in the month on MacWorld and was excited to try it out. retroStrip resurrects the old Control Strip from System 7 and beyond. I used the hell out of the Control Strip on my PowerBook G3 Lombard. This is a hackier affair than the original, but that’s the target market,

Hawk Haven Naked Chardonnay

Rhonda and I took Aaron to Sweet Amalia for lunch Friday, partly to celebrate his last Friday before going off to college, and partly just because we all love the place. We sat outside in the hard afternoon sunlight, baking away but lavishing in a stunning lunch.

We made the mistake of “just grabbing a bottle there” and paid close to 40 bucks for a 20-dollar bottle of Hawk Haven’s Naked Chardonnay. It was a perfectly gluggable and dry white, eblematic of the style. I enjoyed every sip.

Speaking of chardonnays, Dave Mullen has a great article on oaked vs unoaked styles. Worth a read.

Bellview Viogner

Speaking of white wine, we grabbed a bottle of Bellview’s Viogner this weekend, since it was 10% off. It’s a refreshingly different varietal: I detect the flavors that I often associate with dry sherry, a nuttiness that doesn’t always present in fruitier whites. Viogner is one of the grapes blended into their Astraea, which I enjoy on tap.

Aaron is off to college in two days! Sheesh. He had his last guitar lesson with his longtime teacher, Merritt, on Thursday. It was a bittersweet hour and sad but fond farewell.

We got his first guitar at the now-defunct Music Central nearby. It was one of those my first guitar beginner kits and the guitar was predictably terrible. He upgraded to my old electric in short order after his first teacher gave us the thumbs up to do so.

His first teacher, Devon, left teaching at the end of 2018; he moved over to Merritt’s Music Service in Millville when Guitar Central closed, and we followed him there. Merritt took Aaron as a student after Devon’s resignation, and that worked out for everyone. Aaron even played at a big recital back in 2019. The COVID shutdown in 2020 led to lessons over Zoom, which proved helpful even after things started opening up after quarantine–in situations where we couldn’t make a lesson, we could pivot to virtual and not miss.

Merritt eventually moved his operation to his house, and we would roll over to his house and play on the enclosed back porch with Rufus, his dog, and occasionally Mr. Gray, a big ‘ole cat. Once, Merritt handed me a bass or an acoustic (I can’t remember which) and I started playing during the lessons, too. That really made it fun for me and I learned a bit myself after nearly 30 years of noodling.

I was tempted to keep the time slot for myself and take lessons until Aaron was home on breaks and the summer, but I don’t really have that much time to practice in between Thursdays. Or it’s not enough of a priority.

For the Stoics, the ideal state of mind was tranquility, not the excitable cheer that positive thinkers usually seem to mean when they use the word ‘happiness’. And tranquility was to be achieved not by strenuously chasing after enjoyable experiences, but by cultivating a kind of calm indifference towards one’s circumstances. One way to do this, the Stoics argued, was by turning towards negative emotions and experiences; not shunning them, but examining them closely instead.

Oliver Burkeman, The Antidote

The word “equanimity” comes from the combination of two Latin terms: aequus, meaning “even, level” and animus, meaning “mind” or “spirit.” Equanimity is characterized by the ability to remain calm, composed, open, and non-reactive in the face of challenging or distressing situations.

Equanimity: The Holy Grail of Calmness & Grace?

We are in the end who we are, that there seems to be a certain essence in us that we must allow to guide us through life. If we defy this compass, we can end up in places we don’t belong. But if we trust it, follow it, we might do something as grand as fulfilling our purpose.

Rebecah Toh, vague, inchoate feeling

Another week vacationing in Ocean City, NJ concluded! It’s always sad to leave vacation but it’s nice looking forward to finding your old rhythms, too. For my part, I walked and swam a lot (I did row once, when we came home on Wednesday before our dinner at Knife and Fork) in place of rowing. My weight stayed consistent despite some allowances in the fermented grape department, a few desserts, and pizza and fries + other requisite boardwalk eats (salt water taffy, anyone?). Rhonda wasn’t up for some of the walks, so I took half of them alone this trip. I of course love her company on a walk this summer, but as an only child I have cultivated a tolerance at least, and an appreciation even, for being with myself. And hey–I have my own mission.

An additional benefit of striking out alone: I checked out some places I was curious about.

Positively 4th Street Café

One of those was Positively 4th Street Café, which is a cute coffee shop on the north end of the island, close to Ocean City High School. It’s got a kitschy, cozy vibe, with art installations including guitars and other mixed media, elevating the space. I have a feeling the joint gets packed; I managed to get there just before the line to order was snaking out the door. My Americano was serviceable but I enjoyed sitting outside, beneath the awning, amongst the mix-and-match furniture, and calling the office for some business. I logged 18,000 steps that day (we went to Wildwood as well).

Cathy’s 14th Street Bakery

Another spot I was curious about was Cathy’s 14th Street Bakery, which a mentor of mine who lives in OC raved about but decried their sporadic hours. I was in maximal indecision mode once in the shoppe; I didn’t want to overbuy, but I didn’t want to come home without a decent sampling of their donuts. I ended up getting a mix of things, including two different kinds of jelly donut (cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar), a Boston creme (the last of the day in fact, much to another shoobie’s chagrin), and some rings, including their cider donuts. I had a half of a glazed and a half of a cider and they were good.

Bright Lights, Little City

Thursday night into Friday was a little wild; we had a lightning strike on a transformer outside our room around 5 pm, and the hotel lost power until about 1 am. All of us: mom, dad, me, Rhonda, joey, Aaron–had different recollections about what happened, but there was some serious shit that went down.

I had a hotspot so we were able to stay on the internet and get updates about what the estimated restoration of power would be (and refresh our RSS feeds, of course), but we housed our takeout in an increasingly stuffy dining room. Nipping out for Gyros and Greens allowed Rhonda and I time to soak in some Subaru air conditioning, and we found a few minutes for a quick pint while dinner was being prepared. These are the digressions that make vacation vacation.

Back in OCNJ, Aaron and I sat outside for a while to keep cool later in the evening and were treated to seeing some line workers in buckets fixing the problem. We heard some shop vocabulary, including “I’m in the hole!” And the response, “Yeah, get out of there.” It was so nice outside before the crew arrived that I fell asleep. The power came back on and we all enjoyed the return of the air conditioning. Aaron and I reflected that the job of a lineman must be both physical and intellectual.

Couldn’t resist; I saw this on a shelf at a local used bookshop.

Also see “Always Merry and Bright.”

Angrybunnyman:

We like to pretend there’s a final form of the self called Expert. That you graduate, shake some spectral hand, get your little paper, and ascend to the mountaintop.

But here’s the truth — expertise is not a tombstone you plant in the soil of your mind. It is motion. It is hunger. It is an action verb.

Expertise is a Hungry Beast and You’re Just Its Handler

It’s been hot. Then not so hot. Rhonda and I disagree on the historical heat level around these times. She swears its hotter than ever, while I recall thick SJ humidity and gnats from my childhood. We have reason to be suspicious of consciousnesses.

My recent addition/substitution of swimming in the morning has been thwarted by chilly overnight temps. Committing to a full 30 minutes in zone 2 has been a nice return to grinding out some meters on the Concept2.

Speaking of swimming, I’m posting this from Ocean City, New Jersey. Pool, ocean: lots of swim time to be enjoyed.

OCNJ

We’ve been spending a week or two in Ocean City, New Jersey, since 2009. That’s 16 years! We’re here now, and said vacation will explain my dearth of posting. Morning walks, breakfast treks, pool swims, and slices of ‘roni await. See you on the other side.

Glass

Glass is a photo-centric social media service; it’s paid, so the noise is low. There are enthusiastic photogs sharing pics and commenting on others. I like to open the app, widen my own field of vision, and let the images speak for themselves.

Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Rhonda and I split a waffle cone of this last night and it was awesome. Kohr Bros will be had, too, and soon.

William Painter

In April 2019, I got my first pair of William Painter sunglasses: “The Hook,” which feature titanium rails and an integrated bottle opener. They’re expensive but they do last. Beach time means sunglasses.