PlanetHolt.com—Posts by Brian Holt

Boston

bholt — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:45:34 +0000

The remainder of my time in Boston was as excellent as the first couple days. After Kelly and I spent Tuesday together, I had the rest of the week to spend at the MIT Information Quality Industry Symposium, and then spent some more time with Kelly on Saturday. The symposium was excellent—especially the keynote speakers—and I met a number of interesting IQ professionals.

The symposium, spread over two and a half days, gathered a couple hundred Information Quality professionals in Cambridge to discuss and learn about the issues facing practitioners. I attended a number of enlightening sessions, from a theoretical talk on entity / identity resolution (determining which records in a large dataset actually represent the same individual entity, and then associating them together going forward) to the TSA’s use of IQ to make the screening process more friendly for travelers.

Especially good were the keynotes. Mr. Mike Krieger, Deputy CIO( Despite his being Chief Information “Officer,” I understand that Mr. Krieger is a civilian.) of the United States Army, spoke about the unique challenges faced by an organization on the scale of the Army. He mentioned two distinct communities that he serves. The first are the strategic thinkers, mainly located at the Pentagon, who process and analyze vast amounts of data in a bandwidth-rich environment. This processing is intended for forensic analysis and data mining to find patterns and identify, predict, and prevent attacks (especially IEDs). These users don't require real-time access to data, and in some cases may be using data over longer periods of time.

On the other hand, the warfighters on the ground in places like Iraq and Afghanistan require real-time data for situational awareness, target identification, and performance monitoring for weapons systems. In contrast to the high bandwidth available to users at the Pentagon, soldiers in the field are often connected to Army networks over extremely limited links on the order of 16 kbps, and may not have significant amounts of processing power for even that limited data.

Mr. Krieger also mentioned the challenges involved in encouraging common data standards, free exchange of data (ignoring legitimate security concerns for the moment), overcoming ‘fiefdoms,’ and the use of common terminology and metadata. The common saying “Information is Power” holds true, and overcoming people’s natural inclination to hoard knowledge continues to be a challenge for both military and commercial enterprises. In the Army, reminding people of the common mission is helpful, but it’s often necessary to show how more openness can help everyone.

The second day’s keynote was given by John Bottega, Chief Data Officer for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Mr. Bottega is apparently well-known in IQ circles, judging by the reception he received and the comments I heard both before and after his discussion. He was careful to state that any opinions shared were his own, and did not reflect those of the Fed, which probably allowed him to speak a little more freely than he would have as an official representative.

Mr. Bottega has worked in finance for nearly thirty years, and gave an overview of how we got to where we are now, especially with regard to data quality. Traditionally, data had not been considered an important asset—when trading desks are bringing in (for example) $100M per year, optimizations to data standards or quality improvement efforts that may save the company $1M aren’t considered worthwhile when they require time and effort from the guys making the trades.

Unfortunately, those $1M savings probably ignored some side benefits. For example, there was no organized way to understand ownership hierarchies, meaning, for example, that when Lehman Brothers collapsed, its counterparties didn’t have an effective way to sort out which Lehman companies (and there were hundreds) were bankrupt and which were still operating entities.( As Mr. Bottega pointed out, from a counterparty’s perspective, it is just as bad to withhold money from a ongoing concern as it is to send money to a bankrupt one.) Companies did not have a real understanding of their true exposure to risk, which was probably a contributing factor to the recession. It’s not that better information quality systems and procedures would have necessarily led to better decisions, but one can argue that the absence of high-quality information prevented decision-makers from making what was actually the right decision in the long term. In other words, the decisions made may have been perfectly rational and “correct” given the quality and quantity of information available. Of course, the availability of perfect information doesn’t guarantee that decisions would have been made in line with systemic stability in mind.

I was updating my Twitter account throughout the conference with points and observations, as were a few others. It was kind of neat to follow some of their thoughts on Twitter and their individual blogs, and then actually get to meet them in person. Two people actually found me in sessions they were also attending, and introduced themselves (I assume based on my name badge and probably Twitter user photo).

I spent Friday afternoon after the conference wrapped up walking around the MIT campus and along the Charles River. After taking quite a few pictures, I made my way back to my hotel and waited for Kelly. We originally planned to take a Charles River cruise Friday evening, but since the forecast included rain, we decided to wait until Saturday and got dinner at Uno’s Pizza up on Harvard’s campus. After dinner I bought some beers and we hung out at my hotel, watching Zombieland and the second half of Shrek the Third.

Saturday we met for breakfast at my hotel, and then headed out to the Jamaica Plain neighborhood where the Samuel Adams brewery is located. It was very hot at the brewery, but luckily we only had to wait about 45 minutes for a tour and tasting session. The tour was much more technical than the Heineken and Guinness tours I’ve been on in the past, and actually showed us the equipment they use for brewing production beers. (The Boston location is mainly a research and development center; their output is only sold on drought in Boston. Bottled Sam Adams comes from breweries in Ohio and Pennsylvania.) After the tour, we were escorted into their tasting room, where we got to try a number of different varieties, including one that is not yet available for sale. Quite good.

After the tour, we headed back to my new hotel, the Hilton in the Financial District, and checked in. Once settled, we got dinner at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, where we shared an Ahi tuna appetizer. I then had a surf and turf main course, both of which were excellent.

Suitably fed, we made our way down to the pier where our Boston Harbor sunset cruise was to take off. The cruise was sold out, no doubt because of the beautiful weather. We secured a spot on the top deck and enjoyed the sights. It was a very pleasant way to spend the evening (although I think the New York sunset cruise was better). Near the midpoint of the cruise, a man proposed to his girlfriend, who accepted. Most of the women around teared up, although Kelly and I discussed all the ways that could have gone wrong. (Examples: Awkward place for him to be if she said no, since we had no way off the boat for at least an hour… what if he or she dropped the ring into the harbor? Also, while we were skeptical of the guy’s outfit, Kelly pointed out that if he was smart, he wore clothes given to him by her so there would be no way for her to complain about them later.) The cruise finished when the U.S.S. Constitution fired its traditional end-of-day cannon blast, and we made our way back to my hotel for the night.

Briefly from Canandaigua…

bholt — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:57:23 +0000

I’ve been in New York since Thursday, first in NYC visiting Devon and then in Canandaigua visiting Nathan and going to see The Black Keys and The Flaming Lips. I’ll post a more detailed update tomorrow (along with notes about the rest of my Boston trip) but I wanted to share pictures from the concert, skiing on Canandaigua Lake and my day trip to Niagara Falls.

Vacation in Boston

bholt — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:30:53 +0000

I’ve been in Boston since yesterday, as I’m attending the 2010 MIT Information Quality Industry Symposium later this week, and I thought I’d use the opportunity to spent some time visiting Kelly. We’ve had a good time hanging out—we had dinner and drinks at John Harvard’s Brew House last night, and visited the New England Aquarium this afternoon.

My travels to Boston were not uneventful. After flying from Moline to Chicago yesterday morning, I arrived in O’Hare to discover that my connection to Boston was delayed by half an hour. Undaunted, I had breakfast at Wolfgang Puck, who prepared for me a lovely (by airport standards, anyway) little breakfast pizza. I bought an Economist and some crummy earbud headphones, since I left my iPod headphones at home. (I also spent some time in an O’Hare bathroom, which I’ve long thought are awful. Whoever thought that rotating plastic covers on toilet seats were a good idea was an idiot. The only reasonable bathroom I’ve found at O’Hare is in the Customs and Immigration area.)

Once on board the plane, the chief flight attendant kept nagging us over the intercom to hurry up and get to our seats to ensure an on-time departure. Apparently she either didn’t realize we were already half an hour delayed, or she had a unique definition of “on time.” Regardless, we eventually did take off. I noticed the man sitting in the middle seat next to me was reading Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and that the woman next to him was reading the Bible and audibly praying to herself. I couldn’t help but giggle at the scene.

Other than my envy at the many iPads and Kindles I saw around me, the flight was straightforward until we reached the Boston area. Unfortunately, just before we were slotted to land, air traffic control imposed a ground stop at Logan due to impending thunderstorms. (Had we left Chicago on time, none of this would have happened, but I suppose it’s possible our plane’s previous flight was delayed getting to Chicago due to similar issues.) Since American Airlines didn’t anticipate this possibility, we did not have sufficient fuel to continue circling Boston until the storms passed and were redirected to Hartford, Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport. Those of us on board were given the option to deplane and try to drive to our destinations, but most stuck it out. The lines for the bathroom were pretty long throughout the hour or so we were on the ground in Connecticut, but otherwise it was just annoying. To American’s credit, they left the AC on the whole time. (While on the plane, I was actively updating my Twitter account, and NBC Connecticut at least noticed.)

Logan was not running smoothly yesterday, as there were about seven different flights queued up at the baggage claim to which my flight was assigned. I overheard one couple from one of those other flights say they had been waiting over 45 minutes for their bags, but luckily my flight was the first to come up, about fifteen minutes after I arrived. Even better, my bag was one of the first handful of bags on the carousel, and I was off.

Since Kelly was at work all afternoon, I had planned to have my laptop checked out at the Apple store in Cambridge. (The battery has been acting up.) Due to the issues we experienced, I had changed my appointment with their Genius Bar several times before finally settling on a 5 p.m. time. Unfortunately, my phone decided to reset itself back to Central time upon landing in Boston, so I thought it was an hour earlier than it actually was. I was finally able to have them look at it, though, and they told me that I needed to buy a new battery. ($129, or $99 if I gave them the old one for recycling. I figure for $30 it was worth holding on to the old one.) They did replace my power adaptor for free, as a loose connector was said to be a safety issue.

By this time, Kelly was home from work, so I made my way up to Harvard to meet her. I saw her summer accommodations in the PRISE dorm (which aren’t awful, except for the lack of AC…), and then we decided to go to John Harvard’s Brew House for dinner. Having arrived at John Harvard’s sometime around 7, we left when they kicked us out at 12:30. I had the pesto salmon special, which was quite good.

During our time there, we discussed many issues, from world peace to Kelly’s research to the cultural differences between the Ivy League and the Big Ten. It was great.

This morning, having slept in a wee bit later than I had originally planned, Kelly and I met for lunch. I had to change hotels, moving from a Hampton Inn on Monsignor O’Brien Highway to a Residence Inn at MIT, so I had Kelly meet me at the new hotel, which is conveniently located by the MIT T stop. We decided to eat at Legal Sea Foods, where I had sea scallops and mashed potatoes, along with a starter of their excellent clam chowder. Kelly had a garlic shimp pasta concoction that looked delicious.

During lunch, we planned our afternoon. We decided to visit the New England Aquarium, whose whale-watching cruises I have enjoyed in the past, and then take a Charles River sunset cruise.

The Aquarium was great. Their two main exhibits are the eighty or so penguins, whose habitat surrounds the Aquarium’s giant (200,000 gallon) ocean tank. We arrived just as the penguins were being fed, so we watched as the staff carefully fed each penguin, noting the number of fish fed to each bird. While the penguins were smaller than I expected, watching them swim and frolic on the rocks was quite enjoyable.

We then walked around taking in the numerous smaller exhibits, where we saw some of the most unique and fascinating species. Everything from anaconda snakes to leafy sea dragons to northern fur seals were well represented. As you walk through the exhibits, you finally end up at the top of the 23′ deep giant ocean tank, where we found the staff feeding the 600 or so individuals in the tank. (They keep them very well fed to prevent the predators from preying on the valuable specimens.) The sharks, eels, sea turtles, and stingrays were all beautiful.

As we were preparing to leave, we realized we had missed the jellies exhibit near the entrance. These are some of the most eerie creatures in the sea, and it was strangely beautiful seeing them floating peacefully in their tanks. Unfortunately, I left my Nikon at the hotel, and my iPhone battery died shortly after arriving at the Aquarium, so I don’t have any pictures from today.

The river cruises depart from Cambridge, and I wanted to get my Nikon for the cruise, so we jumped back on the T and made our way back to the hotel. After charging my phone, I checked the weather and found that rain was promised for the evening, so we decided to postpone taking the cruise and went back to Harvard for dinner. We ordered pizza at Uno’s and had a lovely discussion despite a moronic waitress. After dinner, I headed back to my hotel and Kelly went home, both of us needing to prepare for tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary!

bholt — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:12:10 +0000

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

See coverage in the Dispatch, and eventually we should see it in the Galva News, too.

The story of the surprise party we threw can be found here.

Surprises

bholt — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:57:08 +0000

The last few weeks have been nothing if not hectic. On May 22nd, we celebrated Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bob’s recent marriage, and over Memorial Day weekend Tom, Katie, Kelly, and I threw a surprise 30th Anniversary party for Mom and Dad. Between preparing to celebrate, actually celebrating, and (oh yeah) work during the week, it’s been pretty crazy.

My siblings and I have been planning a surprise anniversary party for Mom and Dad for a few months now, but it wasn’t until Katie graduated from Illinois and finished finals at OSF that we could really get to work. (I say “we” when in reality it was Katie and Kelly who did most of the work.) Katie and Kelly both spent a couple days at my house in the week leading up to the party landscaping, cleaning, and generally preparing. Katie worked especially hard, with at least one ten hour day by herself. (It didn’t help that Mom was asking questions about why it was so important for Kelly to be there too…)

The girls planted a bunch of flowers around my yard and laid what we believe totaled to twenty-five bags of mulch. On our first trip to Lowe’s, Kelly and I didn’t really think we’d need more than six or seven bags, and besides not much more than that would fit in the back of my new SUV. I ended up making a number of additional trips, and one of my neighbors donated an additional three bags that he wasn’t going to use. Everything ended up looking great.

On Saturday, May 29 (the day before the party), Katie arrived early at my house to put on the finishing touches. I drove out to Princeton to pick up Tom, who took the train to avoid driving his car. After returning to Bettendorf, we went downtown to pick up Kelly from the River Music Experience, where she was watching a friend’s concert. It was around this point that Tom and Kelly started to pick up on the increasing stress levels displayed by Katie and me.

After everyone was back at my house, we finished decorating and getting things in order. Our final late-night attempt to pull speaker wire through my crawl space was probably the only thing we didn’t get done, but that ended up just being an excuse to play my stereo inordinately loud.

I’ve been waiting to post this blog until I could get more pictures of the party, but that hasn’t happened yet and it’s already been too long. I’ll post more eventually…

Sunday morning, Katie was up at the crack of dawn. The rest of us were not, but that was ok. Tom and I went to pick up the fresh food and other supplies while the girls took care of last-minute cleaning and determining serving and table centerpieces with Marsha.

Since the surprise was to happen at 3:00 p.m., our guests started to arrive at 2. Grandma and Grandpa were the first to arrive, along with Barb & Dan, Jon, Christie, & Emma, and Matt. Gary & Marilyn, Nick, and Hannah arrived shortly after, followed almost immediately by Dale, Marsha, and their son Tom. (John couldn’t make it for the main party due to his gainful employment on the Channel Cat.) We shuttled all the vehicles to the nearby parking lot of the Bettendorf Family Museum, and waited for Mom and Dad to arrive.

Around 2:45, I gave Dad a call. Telling him I wanted to fire up the grill, I asked how far they were from my home. Since he told me they were finishing up some shopping at Lowe’s, we asked everyone to head outside for the surprise. Unfortunately, it was threatening to rain, and it was clearly pouring across the river in Moline. We waited nervously for the signal from Kelby and Tom, who were waiting inside, watching the front yard.

Kelby came out to let us know that Mom and Dad had arrived, and Tom went out to greet them. We needed them to come around the outside of the garage for the surprise to work. After an agonizing (two-minute) wait, they walked around and we all yelled “Surprise!” The look of shock and surprise (and horror? Lol…) on Mom and Dad’s faces was priceless.

If they had taken but a few more seconds, it would have been disaster. Almost as soon as the surprise was sprung, the downpour started, and we all made our way into the garage to wait for it to subside. Luckily, before long I was able to fire up the grill and start making pork chops for everyone’s enjoyment.

After a lovely dinner of pork chop sandwiches, spinach salad, applesauce, fresh fruit (from Aunt Marilyn), and fresh vegetables, everyone naturally ended up inside. Mom and Dad told the story of their meeting, first dates, and eventual engagement, as did the other married couples.

The party started to wind down about this point. Most of the family left, leaving only my immediate family and the Holmes, who by this time were bolstered by John’s presence. We continued to enjoy the festivities and fellowship well into the night.

This is getting long, so I’ll keep my recap of Margaret and Bob’s party brief. I drove out to Des Moines with Nathan on Friday afternoon, meeting up with some other friends (Matt & Andrea and Jason primarily, but there were a bunch of Deere people there.) for the Iowa Cubs game that evening. After the I-Cubs victory, we met up with my cousins Kelly, Rick, Christie, and her husband Shawn at Johnny’s.

The next day, Matt, Andrea, Jason, Elizabeth, Nathan, and I went to breakfast at Chef’s Kitchen, a lovely little diner on Beaver Avenue. Brunch is always a good way to recover from a night out, and the food and service at this establishment were great. Jason and Elizabeth did us a great service by recommending it. (We thought for a moment that Nathan might invite a new friend, but alas, it was not to be. Andrea especially enjoyed giving him a hard time about it.)

After leaving my friends, Nathan and I went to check into the hotel, where we immediately ran into Sara and Adam. Since neither Nathan nor I had showered, we exchanged hellos and went to our rooms. Unfortunately, my first room (Room 420… hehe) smelled terrible and was not the suite I was promised, so I immediately requested another room. After settling into the second room, Nathan and I meant to go shopping for some items we forgot. I noticed on the way to the lobby that there were legitimate suites in the hotel, unlike the “suite” to which I was assigned. We complained and moved again—Nate to his second room, and me to my third.

The reception itself was wonderful. Held at Biaggi’s, we enjoyed ninety minutes or so of drinks and hors d'oeuvres. It was very nice to catch up with the extended family, especially as everyone seemed to be doing quite well. Dinner was excellent, with a number of delicious dishes. The ziti al forno was delightful.

Sunday morning, Bob and Margaret hosted a light gathering at their beautiful home. After saying our goodbyes, we also stopped at Shawn and Christie’s nearby home—also lovely—before making the trip back to Bettendorf… and beyond.

Kaitlin’s Graduation Celebration

bholt — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:22:08 +0000

The Holts traveled to Champaign, Illinois, on May 16, to attend the University of Illinois’ 2010 Commencement Ceremony, which celebrated Katie’s graduation from that fine institution. While she actually completed her degree in last December, the College of Applied Health Sciences doesn’t offer a December ceremony, so we waited until May.

There are more pictures in the gallery, and there is a video of the ceremony after the break (you can see Katie from 1:44:09 to 1:44:20).

Having just completed her final final Saturday morning, Kelly flew into MLI Saturday night. I picked her up at the airport, having already collected the cake, flowers, and other supplies necessary for Sunday’s celebration, and we drove out to Woodhull for the night. Earlier in the day I had also made giant signs for the girls, one welcoming Kelly home, and another congratulating Katie on her graduation. (Kelly’s sign was definitely overshadowed by the dozen or so people who had signs welcoming their family member home from his overseas deployment, but she was only returning from Massachusetts, so I don’t feel too bad.)

We caught up with Mom and Dad for a bit before hitting the sack. Our plan was to depart for Champaign by 6:30 a.m., so we needed to be up early. In what might actually be an all-time first, I was the first one ready to go Sunday morning. (Booyah.)

With only a brief bathroom-and-breakfast stop en route, we arrived in Champaign around 9:30, and met Kaitlin and Robert at the Alma Mater statue. This is a traditional place for graduates to have their pictures taken in cap and gown, and there was a long line. We circumvented it by taking pictures from an angle. (Booyah.)

Having secured the traditional Alma Mater pictures, and some additional photos on the Quad, we made our way to Assembly Hall for the ceremony. It was quite typical, with an address by Special Olympics CEO Tim Shriver. (Mr. Shriver is a cousin to Board of Trustees chairman Chris Kennedy, a point they did not forget to mention, and the son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver (who is, of course, the sister of JFK). Ah, nepotism.) After the speeches, the recipients of doctoral degrees were invited on stage, and each of the colleges at the ceremony asked their graduates to stand and be recognized by the crowd.

For some reason, Chairman Kennedy felt the need to apologize for the recent admissions scandal, a distraction which was followed by a lot of self-congratulatory speeches by members of the Board and interim leadership.

After the ceremony, we planned to tailgate near our normal football tailgate spot, but it was raining. We decided to take cover at Murphy’s Pub, where we enjoyed some pitchers and an order of Irish nachoes. While the rain never really stopped, Dad suggested that we move our tailgate to the parking garage near ΑΚΛ. On our way to the garage, Tom and I stopped to buy celebratory cigars, and we also had a (bottled) beer at Kam’s.

The garage tailgate was great. We had deli-style sandwiches, cake, beer, and champagne—all the necessary ingredients (and more!) for a successful celebration. After a few hours, we went our separate ways: Tom back to Chicago, Katie back to Peoria (where she has finals for nursing school this week), and Mom, Dad, Kelly, and I back to the Quad Cities area.

Congratulations, Katie!

Sound the Sharmalarm

bholt — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:29:49 +0000

Last weekend I went into the great city of Chicago to help my buddy Devon Sharma celebrate his being accepted to the New York Bar. (We were also celebrating his brother’s completion of medical school. Smart family, the Sharmas.) A bunch of us were invited to Maggiano’s in Oak Brook for Saturday afternoon.

I arrived at Tom’s apartment around 7:30 Friday night. Since the Blackhawks were about to start, we ordered some Indian food for delivery and settled in to watch some hockey. I gave Tom a hard time for eating with his left hand as we devoured the chicken tikka masala and tandoori chicken. The Blackhawks destroyed the villainous Canucks 7–4, and Tom and I decided to go out and meet up with our cousins Kelly and Kara.

Since we’ve gone out with Kelly and Kara before, I know many of their friends, but certainly haven’t met them all. That night my memory failed me, as I was talking to a girl whom I thought I was meeting for the first time. When she told me that we’d met before, I told her there was “no way I’d forget such a pretty face.” Unfortunately, she was quite sure I had done just that. (So much for that line… and of course I still don’t remember the girl’s name and will probably repeat the embarrassment next time I meet her.)

Saturday morning we woke up to Raff making breakfast. After eating breakfast burritos, we started getting ready to head out to Oak Brook. Nate Smith and Chris McCann picked us up around 1:00, which we thought would be plenty of time to arrive fashionably late to the 1:30 affair.

Unfortunately, the Illinois Department of Transportation foiled our attempt at timeliness, having shut down many of the Eisenhower lanes for construction. We reconsidered and took a more southerly route, but we arrived quite late and significantly under-dressed. (I suggested earlier in the week that we suit up, or at least wear jackets and slacks, but no, everyone was quite sure that jeans and a polo would be quite appropriate. Idiots.) After securing a dirty gin martini for myself, the staff started serving dinner. It was a lovely Italian feast, although Raff was not impressed with the serving utensils for the spaghetti.

After the celebration wrapped up, we stopped for cigars and to pick up beer on the way back to the City. It turned out to be entirely too cold and windy to smoke the cigars on the rooftop balcony off Tom’s apartment, but the idea was sound. While stuck in traffic we watched some astonishingly ballsy man jump out of the backseat of his stopped vehicle (in the middle lane of the three northbound lanes, no less), grab a case of beer from his trunk, and run back to his seat with the beer just as traffic started moving again. Stunning, yet hilarious.

Tom’s apartment hosted a charming little impromptu party Saturday night as we prepared to go to the pub English, where we enjoyed the quaint atmosphere and friendly staff.

Meixner had suggested taking in a White Sox game Sunday, despite it being Mothers’ Day, so I joined him, Raff, Nate Smith, and “Army Dave” (a friend of Nate’s from the Army), and halfheartedly cheered on the south-siders against Toronto. Unfortunately, it was quite chilly, especially in the wind, so we left our seats in the upper deck and went to the bullpen bar, which was much more comfortable, despite the fact that it was pretty difficult to actually follow the action. The White Sox had a 7–5 lead going into the ninth inning, but Toronto hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth, and the final score was 9–7 in favor of the Canadians. (It was not a good day for Chicago to battle Canadians, as Vancouver would beat the Blackhawks later that evening.)

After the game, I left my friends and started the drive back to Bettendorf. The nighttime view of 145 synchronized red beacons pulsing atop the windmills of the Lee-DeKalb wind farm was quite beautiful. (Now that I think about it, this may have been something I saw on my way home from Adam’s last weekend, since I’m fairly sure I took I-55 to I-80 home from Tom’s. Oh well, I never claimed to be entirely truthful on this blog…) Maybe next time I’ll stop and take stop pictures.

Running the Gauntlet

bholt — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:40:17 +0000

I can’t believe we missed this…

Kentucky Derby

bholt — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:56:45 +0000

Last weekend seven other ΑΚΛs and I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, to take in the 2010 Kentucky Derby. Adam Kaniewski, Mike Gecan, and I picked up the RV, while Ken Raffenetti, Chris McCann, Jeff Throm, Nate Smith, and David Meixner all found their way into town one way or another. Everyone arrived Thursday, April 29, and we parted ways on Sunday, May 2.

More pictures are available in the gallery.

April 28

After buying my new Nissan Murano (a topic for another blog…), I headed for Chicago, where I was meeting Adam and Gecan. We spent a little time catching up before loading Adam’s mom’s van with all our luggage and supplies. This took a few hours, but we finished up shortly before midnight, had a beer to celebrate our work, and then went to bed so we could be on the road at 6 a.m. Thursday morning.

April 29—Day One

Waking painfully early, we managed to get ourselves cleaned up and on the road just a few minutes after our 6 a.m. start time. This allowed to avoid Chicago traffic almost entirely, but we eventually realized that most of Indiana is in the Eastern timezone, and that we'd be at least an hour late for our pickup time at Tom Raper’s RVs in Richmond, Indiana. Still, we drove on.

Once in Richmond, we had a comprehensive tour of our new home for the weekend. They showed us how to operate the generator, extend the sides, level the RV once parked, and deal with waste disposal. Luckily Adam was paying pretty close attention, as I was not. Soon enough, we moved everything from the van to the RV, and hit the road.

Gecan and I cracked open brewskis almost immediately. Like every god-fearing American, drinking in the back of an RV has been a dream of mine since I was a small child. Unsurprisingly, it was everything I dreamed of and more. We sat back and enjoyed the ride while Adam drove on, jealous of Gecan and I in the back.

We arrived in Louisville around 6 p.m., later than we had hoped but still with plenty of light to setup the campsite. The other five were already in town, and met us at Expo 5 shortly after we arrived. Wasting no time, someone broke out Adam’s bag set and the games began.

A few of our neighbors stopped by. Since we were one of the first RVs to arrive, we met some folks from New Jersey who were using the Derby weekend as a bachelor party. None of us were impressed with the Jersey crew. Immediately next to us were a friendly group of six or seven who threw bags and were generally pretty cool.

The first night everyone stuck around the campsite. A couple of Mike’s friends stopped by, and we grilled burgers and hot dogs while we drank and caught up. Expo 5 has a big flea market / entertainment area, so some guys wandered over to check that out. I eventually passed out, around midnight.

April 30—Day Two (Kentucky Oaks)

We woke up as the beautiful Friday morning was waning. We enjoyed the hilarious discussion of the previous night’s events while we made breakfast and prepared ourselves for the Oaks.

Since it was such a nice day, and the forecast for Derby Saturday included rain, we decided to dress up. I wore tan slacks with a light green sports coat, but we all looked pretty good. (Except McCann; he wore a t-shirt that said, “I ♥ Mom.”) Raff looked a lot like the Fear and Loathing version of Hunter S. Thompson with a seersucker jacket and t-shirt that said “Your favorite band sucks,” but Meixner won the day with a baby blue sweater vest and pink tie.

We walked the 1.1 miles to Churchill Downs and took a few minutes to soak in the atmosphere. The women were all beautifully dressed, with lovely hats. Throm bought a guide to the races and most of the group started placing bets. (I did no betting, with the exception of a $2 wager I placed off the books with Adam. I won; he neglected to pay up.) We wandered around the main part of Churchill looking for a tunnel to the infield, which allowed us to see how things worked and get our bearings.

Once we made it to the infield, the atmosphere changed. The women still looked great, but things were much more casual. As a group, we were nicer dressed than most of the people there, which was not necessarily the case off the infield. We found a mint julep vendor and bought some souvenir glassware (solely for the glass… right…) and some cigars. Some of the group found a nice grassy area near what I believe to be turn four and we sat around, relaxed, and took in the sights.

We met a local who was shirtlessly sunning himself near our area, and chatted with him for a while. I asked him about Kentucky basketball before getting bored and wandering off. I think Gecan continued to talk to him for a while longer. Raff tells me that at one point he took great offense to his shirt, incredulously asking if Raff thought Led Zeppelin sucked. Apparently his sense of irony was removed with his shirt.

We noticed a couple things about the infield. First of all, a lot of the women, while outwardly classily dressed, did not pay much attention to sitting or laying on the ground in what one would call a particularly ladylike way. Scandalous.

Second, you can’t actually see much of the races from the infield. They do have big jumbotrons up, so the punters can follow their horses, but the actual physical view of the horses was limited to just a couple seconds per race. This video pretty well sums it up:

All in all, the Oaks was a lovely experience, full of mint juleps and sunny weather. After the last race of the day, we returned to our RV, where we made dinner and continued the good times. (It was then that we learned more about what happened with Mike and I the night before.)

Adam’s sister Amy, who attends Bellermine University in Louisville, stopped by for a while with a couple of her friends. I impressed them with my Fusion Frenzy skills before we got bored and headed back outside. We hung out at the RV while some of the others in the group decided to go to the Classy Lady, one of the many strip clubs in the immediate area of the campground. (It was not a great neighborhood.)

May 1—Day Three (Kentucky Derby)

I awoke around 5 a.m. to the sound of a torrential downpour and heavy thunder. The storm had been going for hours, apparently, and had made our campsite a sloppy, muddy mess. (To say nothing of the condition of Churchill Downs’ track and infield…) Unlike the day before, we decided to dress down for the day, wearing jeans and gym shoes to handle the mud.

No one was in the mood to make breakfast, but as was the case throughout the weekend, there were plenty of yells for fresh pots. We headed for the Downs a bit earlier than we had for the Oaks, which worked out well. Despite having warned everyone to bring rain gear a few days earlier, I was unprepared, wearing an Illini windbreaker that was little help in the heavier rains.

The day itself was a bit of a blur. We hung out near the paddocks for some time, which worked well because it was fairly sheltered from the wind and rain, and near beer vendors and bathrooms. Eventually, though, we made our way to the infield, which was a huge mess from the storm.

We met some interesting characters on the infield on Derby Day, too. There were some guys with whom Nate Smith and I argued military strategy, and some Harvard students who were there on a bachelor party. (Incidentally, most of the Harvard guys were jerks, although there was one fellow who was reasonably laid back. To be fair, they probably thought we were also jerks, with our superior attitudes and mint juleps.)

After watching Super Saver win the 136th Kentucky Derby, we headed back to the RV for the last time. On our way back I splashed a puddle, water from which apparently inadvertently caught a Kentucky state trooper. I was merrily walking on my way when I was forcefully grabbed from behind and spun around to face a whole group of police who apparently had too much time on their hands. When told what I had done, I immediately apologized, but that wasn’t good enough for this go-getter. He told me I was just sorry I had been caught and that I had done it on purpose. I mumbled some additional apologies as they yelled at me for a couple more minutes before letting me go. Admittedly, I splashed the puddle on purpose, but considering the conditions of the day, that anyone would be upset is beyond reason.

Nate and Chris apparently went downtown, but Meixner and I made it out solemn duty to finish the dwindling supply of drinks. We eventually succeeded (with the exception of a few shots of vodka… the beer was gone, which was good enough), which wasn’t actually much of a feat, considering the work of the previous few evenings. Shortly thereafter, we ended our last night in Louisville.

May 2—Traveling Home

Since I had the longest continuous amount of travel home (Gecan had to go back to Portland, but only had to get himself to the airport, not drive back to Chicago and then on to Bettendorf), I was the first one up Sunday morning. We got things mostly cleaned up before I went to shower before leaving town.

While the toilets and showers had not been in great shape all weekend, Sunday was quite bad. One of the showers had a cell phone in the drain, and they all were full of clothes and mud. Still, it was better than nothing. I think I may actually have showered more often than anyone else in our group, and even I skipped one on Saturday.

We finally went out separate ways around 11:30 a.m., a little later than I was hoping to leave town, but not terrible. Adam and I took the RV back to Richmond, where I moved our remaining luggage and supplies back to the Kaniewski van while Adam cleaned out the black tank—not a bad division of labor if you ask me. (The black tank, where the contents of the toilet are stored, lasted us until Saturday afternoon, which wasn’t bad. It was a little inconvenient having to walk to the campground toilets after the tank filled up, but easier than dumping it more than once.) Exhausted, we arrived back in Chicago around 9:30 p.m., and I immediately started for Bettendorf. The final drive home was uneventful, and I arrived home around midnight.

All in all, it was a ridiculous and thoroughly enjoyable extended weekend. I was very happy I took Monday off to recover, but I can’t wait for next year’s trip! It was just sad Tuesday when I had to shave my Derby beard and go to work…

Signs of the Apocalypse

bholt — Thu, 06 May 2010 18:19:58 +0000

It’s shocking that Glenn Beck actually said something reasonable on TV:

While I disagree that Constitutional rights are only for US citizens, Faisal Shahzad is indisputably a citizen of this country. Constitutional rights are not meant to protect us when it’s easy or convenient or risk-free to do so. Even assuming Shahzad’s guilt (something we’re not really supposed to do…), no one is specifically trying to protect him. These protections are in place to protect all of us from tyranny, and considering the vehement way in which anti-government protesters have behaved in the last few years, it’s surprising those same people aren’t standing up for the rights of others who have been accused by the government they hold in such low esteem.

I guess considering two-thirds of Americans apparently believe the quote “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” to come from the Constitution and not from Marx’s writings advocating communism, I shouldn’t be that surprised that people don’t understand the existence and justification for our Constitutional protections. Still, it’s sad.