Here's Laura's brief summation of our reading group from 2+ weeks ago:

The discussion of this month's book, "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov, was a little on the short side, which was just as well, since we also had to go through the process of nominating books for our next September 2003 through February 2004 reading selections. (I'm also going to keep the synopsis of the discussion short tonight, since I need to leave time to get to the nominations part of the evening). Most of the members agreed that the book fell short on characters (especially women, of which there was only one in the whole book), plot, and language, although a few people liked it anyway (or, as one member said, "It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be!") Discussion of the actual content of the book (as opposed to the history of the book, the merits of the book, etc., which we also talked about) tended to address the ideas and theories underlying the story. Andy, who nominated the book but was called out of town unexpectedly, emailed his thoughts, which mostly centered around the interesting possibilities of psychohistory and the parallels between the history portrayed in Foundation and the historical evolution of European society

If this book illustrated anything, it's the difference between discussing an sf book and discussing a classic, and the difference between what's considered a "Classic" in sf vs. mainstream literature. No one can defend Asimov's prose (although some were willing to cut him some slack since he was in his early 20's when he wrote this), the book isn't even a novel but an aggregation of five loosely connected short stories, everyone knows characterization doesn't matter in his era of Asimov, so when judged literarily against the likes of what we usually read, it falls far short. Compounding that is the basic idea of psychohistory, the ability to boil down predictions of the future into algorithms and number-crunching, which Asimov had come up with as the basis for one story, but Campbell and future editors were so smitten with that it became the jumping off point for a whole series of novels spanning 50 years of his career. I kept trying to keep the book in its proper context, to talk more about the circumstances under which it was written, why it was an important book, why it was voted the best sf series of all time, and that book 2, "Foundation and Empire" is much better. But as Laura said and I'd thought the same thing, as an introduction for most people in the group to true sf, it was a poor choice.

This trip is taking almost as long to recount as it did to live through it. When last we left, we'd just finished up our last full day in Columbus, and as Friday dawned it was time to hit the road and head for home. Scott came with us to breakfast at a chain called "Fresh Start" or something like that which was very good and substantial enough to carry us through lunch. Then it was off to I-70 and the eastward trip to the general vicinity of Harrisburg, PA, the more-or-less halfway point. The kids movied out in the backseat, Beth was elbow-deep in yet another book (she had been looking for something diverting in a general girly sf/f way, so I had suggested Bujold's "Curse of Chalion", which she plough through on the way west, and then the sequel, "Paladin of Souls" on the way back. Since Paladin of Souls is next on my list as I slog through the Hugo nominees, it was advantageous for me too since she could remind me in as much detail as I needed what had happened in the first book). So we only needed to stop for gas and bathroom breaks before reaching York, PA around 5pm. Checked into a business-type Quality Suites hotel, much newer and nicer than the other flophouses we'd been parking at, and even found a Chi-Chi's for dinner, which doesn't sound that exciting but we don't have one in our area any more, so for us it was a treat.



During the day we'd picked up some tourist propaganda on the area and Beth found there was some sort of balloon festival going on just outside of York, so after dinner we managed to find our way there (not by looking for balloons in the air, since there weren't any at that point), out in some park in a small town just north of York. They were just getting going as it had been too hot during the day, so we got to see about 20 or so hot air balloons inflated pretty much one by one and take off. It tends to be a very photogenic sort of thing, so got lots of pictures and video.



The next morning we weren't in a big rush to head for home, so we detoured back west for half an hour to Gettysburg, as I kind of wanted to visit the battlefield which we hadn't been to since the pre-kid days in '92 or '93. Since it was Saturday, the visitor's center was hopping, and we didn't bother paying extra for the cyclorama or the electric map since we'd seen them before and the kids could care less. Justin had some passing interest in what he was looking at in the museum part, but Chloe was bored silly. Walked over to the cemetary but that was as far as we got in the battlefield itself. I knew ahead of time we'd only have a couple of hours, but I definitely want to get back there sometime soon and do it right.



So we piled back in the car and headed for home, stopping at Wendy's just south of Harrisburg for a late lunch, then made it back to the ranch in about 6 1/2 hours. The house was still standing and all the mail had been delivered that day in a big bundle and covered up with the doormat. And no cat to clean up after or collect, either.



It's great to have the tv option for the kids on these long trips, since it cuts down substantially on the amount of sniping and complaining coming from the backseat, but on a drive like this one through Pennsylvania where there's actually something to see, it's kind of a shame that they miss the whole thing. At one point Chloe's ears hurt from the headphones and she was tired of what Justin was watching, but she wasn't sure what to do instead, so I suggested she do what we used to do and look out the window, and say "look, there's a horse" or whatever. She ultimately decided having sore ears and watching more of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II was a better option.

After two days at Cedar Point, the rest of the trip to Ohio couldn't possibly be as exciting, right? Well, yes, right, but since we'd driven so far to get there I wasn't about to turn around and drive home so soon, so Wednesday morning we checked out of the Breakers and drove back to Columbus, arriving at Scott's place around 1pm or so. We had a few things in mind to visit, based on a book on touring Ohio with kids that Beth had found at Ocean State, but nothing that was too time-consuming. Scott gave us the tour of Columbus (that is, he gave me the tour of Columbus, the kids were busy in the backseat and Beth was reading a book), and our first stop was the Deaf School Topiary Gardens, which no one had heard of but turned out to be a block from where Shelley works. Someone had taken it upon themselves to create a topiary tableau of Georges Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Grand whatever", said to be the only painting that's been recreated in topiary, a dubious claim at best. We also stopped downtown at Columbus's own recreation of the Santa Maria, the original of which never made it near Columbus, but that's okay. Shelley said the locals view it as kind of a joke. We didn't take the tour, but there was hardly anyone else around, and there were empty bottles floating in the water.



While I was trying to parallel park so we could see the thing close up, Justin decided to present me with his Father's Day present. Not sure why he picked that precise moment, but there was no arguing with him. Afterwards we met up with Shelley back at the house and went out to eat at a local barbecue place that was reminiscent of Tennessee's here, but with better napkins. On the way back we stopped at a big ice cream store/factory/mecca down the road that Scott will be sad to leave behind. The kids could go to sleep in separate rooms at the house, which always works better than in a hotel, although they were still up kind of late.



Thursday Scott navigated us over to the Anthony-Thomas candy store and factory out in some office park on the edge of town. Unlike just about every other factory left in existence, this one still gives you real tours (free, even) of the real factory, with a free chocolate/peanut butter buckeye at the end (I got two since Chloe won't eat peanut butter). The kids thought that was all pretty neat, as did the grown-ups. For lunch we went to the Ohio State Hall of Fame Cafe, where you can dine surrounded by artifacts and holy relics from Archie Goodwin and various other former Buckeyes. I reminded Scott that he won't have one of those in Bloomington.



In the afternoon we headed on over to COSI, the science museum which, although in a brand new state of the art building, has apparently has fallen upon hard times and is closed two days a week for the summer. There was a good travelling exhibit there of dinosaurs from China which Justin liked a lot, as well as the Gadgets area with lots of little hands-on science experiments, and both kids went for the I/O section with all the computer stuff. We got into another section with the vague name of "Adventure" which turned out to be this elaborate maze that was supposed to be like an Indiana Jones-style archaeology puzzle, looking for clues in dimly lit caves with doors that opened and closed as you walked through them. Chloe got too freaked out after a while, so I took her out of there and while everyone else finished the maze we checked out the Ocean section, which had several hands-on water experiments in one section, and a recreation of a submarine in another. The museum closed at 5, but there was a 5pm showing of the 3D Imax movie "Bugs", which Justin had wanted to see at home, so we checked that out. The 3D effect was kind of neat in this context, we kept reaching out to touch stuff that was right in front of us. Chloe didn't like some of the bugs being quite so large, but she made it through okay.



From the museum we went straight to dinner, meeting up with Shelley again in the German village at Schmidts, a big German restaurant known for their sausages (Scott had recently delivered an order of 20 lbs worth to Uncle Kenny, who needed to stock up once he found out Scott was leaving Columbus soon). They had a buffet that was a good way to sample different things, and had enormous cream puffs for dessert (although I opted for the banana cream pie). We got back to the house at a decent hour, so we put the kids to bed earlier than they'd been all week, and had enough time to watch Pirates of the Carribean on Scott's new DVD player (although I passed out shortly before the end).

Our trip to sunny Ohio began on a Friday afternoon, since Chloe still had one last day of school to squeak in before we could leave. As it turned out, they had tacked on an extra day for the following Monday to make up for some bogus snow day they'd used on a particularly cold but snowfree February day, but we decided to ignore that, as did many others, I expect. So the car was all packed up and ready to hit the road when we collected her at school and drove as far as Parsippany, New Jersey. We stayed at a Days Inn that was fine on the inside if a bit run down on the outside, and were disappointed to discover that the restaurant which the hotel surrounded was a Fuddruckers. If we'd known that, we wouldn't have stopped for dinner along the way.



The next day we availed ourselves of the meager free continental breakfast before hopping back in the car and driving the rest of the way to Columbus, arriving there at about 6:30 or so. The kids kept quiet watching movies in the backseat, Beth read most of the time, and I just watched the road go by. The Lemkes arrived with Mom shortly after us, and we ordered pizza to avoid having to pile back in the car again. We hung around well into the evening (witnessing the delivery of a new refrigerator, which gave the kids a box to play wtih) before venturing off to find out hotel in Columbus, a Best Western about six miles away, which had the attraction of an indoor and outdoor pool, but had no elevator and spotty airconditioning.



Sunday was the reason for being there in the first place, to see Scott graduate (again), this time from a big 10 school like his siblings. Shelley's mom was also on hand, and although the forecast was foreboding, it didn't rain until that night. Some extra clouds would've been a relief for the 7000+ graduates who filled one end of the horseshoe. We managed to find a shady spot in the upper deck, and the kids held out as long as they could, but Beth and Bob finally took them back to the aforementioned hotel pool while the immediate relatives (and Bev) stuck around to make sure Scott actually got the sheepskin, which he did. I captured it all on my new video camera, so as soon as I can figure out the software it'll be a major motion picture.



By the time the festivities were over it was getting near dinnertime, so we all congregated back at Scott and Shelley's place and he grilled up burgers and dogs. Then it was back to the hotel for the night, and we were on our way the next morning (after a better free continental breakfast) to Cedar Point. Before we hit the road Monday morning we had to stop at KMart to pick up some sneakers for Justin, since we'd somehow missed bringing anything other than sandals for him. There is no direct route to Cedar Point from Columbus, so we opted for route 13 from Mansfield, but it was closed in two places (I guess because of flooding with all the rain they've had in the midwest the last few months), so the detours slowed us down a bit. But everyone else was well behind us, so we were the first to arrive, more or less on time at 1pm or so. The room wasn't ready yet, and nobody else had arrived, and we hadn't had lunch, so we went into the park, found some pizza to hold us over, and rode on a few rides until everyone else got there. I took a very nervous Chloe on the Corkscrew coaster, which fortunately didn't have enough of a line to give her time to change her mind, and she was crying the whole way there, but once the ride was going she was fine and by the time it was over she wanted to do it again. It was hot and humid, and around 4 or so a big cloud appeared and it started pouring, so we hightailed it back to the hotel and were able to check in and eat dinner at Fridays, by which time the sun had come out again, so we got in a few more hours in the park, staying until it closed at 10.



I knew Cedar Point was big and had lots of roller coasters but I didn't expect that much from it, but it turns out to be very well kept and clean, the lines weren't long except for two or three of the major coasters, and there were so many rides that we could've spent three or four days there easily. The two-day tickets Shelley had acquired for us were also good for the water park, but we never even made it over there, and there were rides we would've gone on (like the flume) that we never managed to do. With two days, the kids could revisit rides they'd like the first time and wanted to do again, and work up the nerve for coasters on day two that were too formidable to ride on day one. We stayed at the Breakers hotel, on the far side of the park and right on the beach, so you could come and go at will, which is also handy. Bob was unimpressed with the rooms (what, no fridge? no hair dryer?) but since you didn't spend that much time there it didn't really make much difference. Although again, because it was the older, cheaper section of the hotel, no elevators. One would think they could add them if they wanted, maybe they plan on gutting the place some time soon and don't want to spend the money on it now?



You can enter the park from either end of the hotel. Beth took off with Scott, Shelley and Bob on Tuesday morning to take advantage of the early entry feature of staying at the hotel to get in line for the Dragster at 9 instead of 10. They weren't checking id's, so basically anyone with a ticket could get in from those gates (I suppose in theory it would be difficult to get to those gates unless you were staying there already). After standing in line for half an hour, they announced the thing wasn't working, and by the time they got to the line to have their hands stamped for later in the day, they'd stopped doing that too. The coaster didn't end up back in service until at least 5pm or so. Beth said later after looking at the Dragster in action up close that it must've been fate intervening to prevent her from doing such a crazy thing (she's still thinking about the guy that flew off of the Superman ride at Six Flags a couple of months ago). So they went on the Millennium Force instead.



Went on a bunch more rides on day two, lower humidity, no threatening clouds at all. The kids wanted to go back on the Corkscrew, Chloe also liked the Gemini (a wooden coaster with parallel tracks and two sets of cars at once) and the Wildcat (individual cars and short drops and turns like a state fair roller coaster). Since it wasn't raining, dinner for 11 wasn't a problem at the Italian restaurant in the hotel, which was surprisingly reasonable, although the waitress was acting kind of weird about the dessert options. We'd come back late in the afternoon and hit the pool for a while before dinner, and after feeding ourselves the Lemke's and Mom took off back to Chicago, and S&S headed back home too, so we went back to the park one last time for a few final rides and stuck around for the Snoopy Spectacular multimedia extravaganza which was mercifully short and extremely hokey (is there such a thing as a good laser show?)

Is it just me, or is this sort of image not really all that exciting:







This is the transit of Venus across the sun a couple of weeks ago. It hasn't happened in over 100 years, will happen again in 2012 (when it will be easier to view from the US) then won't happen again for another 100+ years. Other than the obvious rarity of the event, visually it's not all that spectacular, like most of the pictures from Mars lately. The June Astronomy magazine devotes quite a bit of coverage to this, and I understand its importance in history as early astronomers used events like this to try to determine with greater precision the distance between the earth and the sun (the "Astronomical Unit" or "AU"). But the images I've seen look like someone needs to clean his lens off.



Got back last night from Ohio, got lots of pictures to upload, hopefully tomorrow instead of working I can put together the travelogue.

Yesterday was kind of a dreary Sunday and Beth was threatening to ditch me with the kids for the afternoon, so I decided to go to a piano recital. As luck would have it, there was one to go to, out in Ashburnham, which is about 30 miles from here basically in the middle of nowhere, where a piano technician has about 20 restored antique pianos and sets up a concert series with visiting artists in the spring and fall, and the last one for the session was yesterday. Jack Reynolds had told me about this a long time ago, and I'd seen the listings in the calendar before, but I wasn't quite sure where Ashburnham was (I think I was confusing it with Amesbury, which is clear in the other direction and even further away), so once I figured it out it seemed doable.



The pianist for this concert was Benita Meshulam, who of course Ii'd never heard of, and she was playing a program mostly of music of Manuel de Falla, most of which I'd never heard of either. The venue was the local church (Unitarian, I guess, since there were no crosses anywhere), and she played an 1877 Erard piano, which had a tendancy to sound a little too reverberant in the hall, but that may have been the case with any piano in there. It was a pretty good crowd for a rainy Sunday afternoon in the sticks, I'd definitely want to check it out in the fall, since it really only took about 45 minutes to get there. The concert was good too, spanish classical music tends to sound kind of the same after a while, but she seemed to have the affinity for the music that her biography claimed she had, and came back for a rip-roaring Ritual Fire Dance as an encore. I don't think I'd heard an all-Spanish piano recital since Ms. Bosits did her doctoral recital on Villa-Lobos back at NU. I'm in no hurry to rush out and buy the music, but it was a nice change from the usual Chopin Scherzo or whatever.

After almost 3 and a half years of working downtown, I finally did something I've been meaning to do, which was take a long lunch break and go hear a concert. The First and Second Church on Marlborough street has a Wednesday afternoon series in their chapel, and Sergey Schepkin was playing the last 8 preludes and fugues from book 2 of the Welltempered Clavier. Schepkin's name has come up in some of the BPAA events, but this was the first time I'd ever heard him. Apparently he specializes in Bach, and while he's no Rosalyn Tureck, he presented a compelling program of these varied pieces, including some of the tough keys (G-sharp minor, B major). His interpretation isn't really comparable to Tureck anyway, as he looked for more of the substance of Bach's counterpoint and actually got quite emphatic about some of the subjects, not pretending that he wasn't playing on a modern piano. The piano itself wasn't very forgiving either, as it was kind of blurred, even with all the carpeting in the room, but it didn't seem to be a problem for him. With the exception of the A minor, these pieces are completely unfamiliar to me. The first couple, although they took several minutes each, turn out to only be a couple of pages long, and were well thought out and seemed to have a destination in mind. Sometimes the tempo went a little haywire, but the tone always seemed to be under control. It was a brisk 20-minute or so walk over to the back bay during a sunny break in the day, and shortly after I got back to the office, a black cloud came up and it poured for a while. Timing is everything, and this couldn't have been better timed. Next season they're moving the concerts to Fridays at 6:30 so that people don't have to rush off at the end, but the lunchtime concert isn't a bad thing either. There's plenty of this sort of thing going on, but most of the time if I see something that looks interesting I promptly forget about it until it's too late. So it was good to get out of the office for a couple of hours and do something productive.

Finally got caught up on about four months worth of pictures that I hadn't posted here yet. If there's a reason, it's because it took a while to reinstall everything after I upgraded my PC a couple of months ago, but now I should be all caught up. I didn't really weed through them very much or get rid of red-eye or anything (more software to reinstall first), so mosey on over to the photos subdomain and take a look.