Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Ron's dad
An exhaustive list of things Ron's dad likes:
1. Florida
2. Classic cars
We went to the all-GM show this weekend, which Ron's dad helps organize every year. The cars were organized by era, and walking along the rows of beautiful car after beautiful car (the oldest was from 1939), was like walking through US history. Year after year, GM turned out amazing, stylish, thoughtful designs that showed so much evident pride. And then...you hit the 1980s. What happened? The cars had been enormous for ages, but they suddenly lost their angles and curves. Rather than lightening bolt sexiness, glamor, and intelligence, the cars became arrogant, lazy-looking, Flintstone-simple, carved-out-of-granite dolts. There weren't enough examples to say for sure, but I saw signs of hope in a few of the newer models. Still, my heart belongs to the beauties of the past.
1957 Oldsmobile
1. Florida
2. Classic cars
We went to the all-GM show this weekend, which Ron's dad helps organize every year. The cars were organized by era, and walking along the rows of beautiful car after beautiful car (the oldest was from 1939), was like walking through US history. Year after year, GM turned out amazing, stylish, thoughtful designs that showed so much evident pride. And then...you hit the 1980s. What happened? The cars had been enormous for ages, but they suddenly lost their angles and curves. Rather than lightening bolt sexiness, glamor, and intelligence, the cars became arrogant, lazy-looking, Flintstone-simple, carved-out-of-granite dolts. There weren't enough examples to say for sure, but I saw signs of hope in a few of the newer models. Still, my heart belongs to the beauties of the past.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Inside Ironman training
Basically, yeah.
There's your swimming:
Then you've got your biking:
Top it off with a nice run:
Ta dah!
There's your swimming:
Then you've got your biking:
Top it off with a nice run:
Ta dah!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Tomi-san
The thing about my friend Tom isn't just that he's super-smart (created a major in neurobiology for himself), or athletic (rowed throughout college), or hot (nick-named "The Body" by Charlottesville's gay community), or weirdly, randomly talented (singing bass at a Russian Orthodox church in DC, despite not being Russian Orthodox or even speaking Russian). It isn't even that he is the best I know at making the people he loves KNOW that he loves them (such an underrated skill!). Dayenu, dude.
But it's not just all those fabulous qualities. It is also that he is truly, genuinely, hilarious. He is the person on whom I can 100% rely on to bring insight and humor to every single conversation. See for yourself:
Tom Fries tells a true story at SpeakeasyDC's open mic from SpeakeasyDC on Vimeo.
All of my memories with Tom involve a LOT of smart-alecky-ing, and confessions of (semi-) inner dorkitude ("I heard the most interesting statistic on NPR the other day..."), and generally inappropriate commentary. One of my warmest, most beloved college memories is of a grey, gloomy February spent entirely in his company. We'd gone to UVA's gorgeous pool and swum a million laps. Then we went back to his apartment, where we made something ridiculous like fettucine alfredo, and brownies, and proceeded to undo any calorie deficit to the point of actual physical pain. We recovered by lying on his floor moaning, and he introduced me to "All About Eve". It was perfection.
Tom's moving to Germany for a couple of years, because his company loves him so, and DC and my dinner parties will be a duller place for it.
Besos, Tomisan! Bon voyage, gute Reis, miss you already.
But it's not just all those fabulous qualities. It is also that he is truly, genuinely, hilarious. He is the person on whom I can 100% rely on to bring insight and humor to every single conversation. See for yourself:
Tom Fries tells a true story at SpeakeasyDC's open mic from SpeakeasyDC on Vimeo.
All of my memories with Tom involve a LOT of smart-alecky-ing, and confessions of (semi-) inner dorkitude ("I heard the most interesting statistic on NPR the other day..."), and generally inappropriate commentary. One of my warmest, most beloved college memories is of a grey, gloomy February spent entirely in his company. We'd gone to UVA's gorgeous pool and swum a million laps. Then we went back to his apartment, where we made something ridiculous like fettucine alfredo, and brownies, and proceeded to undo any calorie deficit to the point of actual physical pain. We recovered by lying on his floor moaning, and he introduced me to "All About Eve". It was perfection.
Tom's moving to Germany for a couple of years, because his company loves him so, and DC and my dinner parties will be a duller place for it.
Besos, Tomisan! Bon voyage, gute Reis, miss you already.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Spa World
Full disclosure: The point of this blog, at least partially, is to create a forum to receive feedback on my writing. The story below is long, and not a typical blog post, but if you get through it, I'd love to know what you think.
Also, what is going on with the formatting? Does anyone know how to fix the spacing, etc? Annoying...
SPA WORLD
Also, what is going on with the formatting? Does anyone know how to fix the spacing, etc? Annoying...
SPA WORLD
About 45 minutes outside of DC, in the kind of bland strip mall that makes city-dwellers a little smug, is an oasis of wonderful weirdness called Spa World. The enormous facility is modeled after the more luxurious traditional bath houses in Korea, and prior to visiting for the first time, I'd heard just enough about it to make me both curious and slightly concerned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)