Dryden Is Home

Women Swimmin': The Main Event

Saturday morning, around 7:55am I was in my green coleman canoe at the east short of Cayuga Lake. My friend Christa was paddling and steering at the back of the canoe while I paddled and snapped pictures from the front. We were volunteering as boaters for the 3rd annual Women Swimmin' (not a race) event. The event is a fundraiser for Hospicare (located about 5 miles from my house up on East King Road) and this year the event had 232 women swimmers and raised over $130,000.

The Ithaca Journal has a complete article with interviews here: http://www.ithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060814/NEWS01/608140325/1002

I've posted pictures to my server here:

http://www.544productions.com/2006/WomenSwimmin2/

and pictures from Friday night's orientation here:

http://www.544productions.com/2006/WomenSwimmin1/

Christa and I were assigned to Pod 20 and soon after the swim began we pulled up along side a swimmer who was doing her first swim. We paddled along side of her (hopefully not too close and not too far) and stayed with her all the way to the west shore and the Ithaca Yacht Club. Most of the pictures of the swim feature her in the foreground making her way across the lake. Her swim was inspiring. She didn't stop the entire 1.2 mile trek. She survived the waves and enjoyed the warm water and cool air. Christa and I did our best to keep her going straight to the shore without doing too much extra swimming.

When we reached the shore we packed up the canoe and headed to congratulate our other friends who swam and boated. I ran into Julie (who swam at 7 months pregnant!) and her office mate in the Cornell Ag. School A. (who also swam) and A's friend S. (who I know from blogging), as well as a few other ag. school people (B.,JiJy, Allison and little Oliver). I saw Corinne (who makes hats and headcoverings) and Leslie and Jonathan and Lucy. I looked around a bit to see if I could find the swimmer we paddled with (we didn't even know her name) and then she appeared. Her name is Georgia (a name I instantly liked) and she told me this was her first year and she was doing the swim for her cousin who stayed at Hospicare when he had a terminal illness. She was doing this to thank Hospicare and to pay them back for all they did for someone that really needed their help. We parted and I started to search for Christa. After checking around the club and giving up I bumped into my neighbor Kim and her contingent of fans. We talked a bit and Christa appeared and we decided to head back to town.

It was a wonderful event and a great morning for being on the water helping out people who were doing so much to help such a great cause.

Ithaca Fest Returns to Ithaca!

Floating!
Originally uploaded by dmakar.

This evening the most original town celebration in the country kicked off with the 2006 Ithaca Festival Parade. When the parade started the sky was cloudy but the rain had stopped. It stayed dry until the last 10 minutes of the parade and then the sky started to open up. The last few pictures of the parade I did while dodging raindrops.

I was on the northeast corner of the Seneca and Cayuga intersection with B & D, C and K. From this corner I saw the following Ithacans:
Mayor Carolyn
Police Chief Lauren
Mai and Mike
Nick and Meagan
Wil and his daughter
Jofish
Aves and (Michael)
Drew, Tammy, Alex and Sofie
Gretchen A.
Hilby and his daughter
Vito and Ben
Shane
Lauren
Tom H.
Jonathan, Julie and Oliver
Amanda and the ReMax in Motion team

Next year I'll definitely be in the parade - so long as there is no lightning and my group doesn't cancel.

May 1st Edition

I had to go downtown today to see a customer, sign off on a contract for a website, visit the CPA and the bank and stop by Wegman's for some milk and cereal. I drove more today than I did all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This evening one of my meetings for tomorrow got cancelled and I was relieved because I could save the miles and gas. All this is actually kind of strange - - I'm trying not to make too many small trips all over town and trying not to use too much gas, but at the same time at the end of the week I'm driving all the way to Boston. Go Figure!

Today I drove, walked, drove and walked some more. Here are some of the folks I saw and some I talked to...

Meagan was walking down her street when I breezed by in the car. I was going to offer her a ride, but with mid-day traffic I was already running a little late to my 1pm meeting.

About 25 seconds after seeing Meagan walking down the hill to town from her house I saw her fiance Nick walking up the same hill on the same side of the street. I almost prevented them from having a hillside rendevouz!

I parked in the Seneca Street garage and as I crossed Seneca on foot I saw Diane from MizBusiness with her new baby. I was in my own world trying to get my camera out to take pictures of the rally on the commons and didn't realize it was her until she said hi in the cross walk. As always I made a half second eye contact with the adult with the baby and then looked at the little baby over my shoulder as I walked south and Diane and the baby in the carriage headed north. Cute little kids distract me, I think it is because my whole life, up until last January (when I was 28), I was the youngest kid in my dad's side of the family. There were never any kids around, no babies, no children, no one.

I took a quick picture of the pavillion where today's immigration rally was held. There were a lot of people there and most of them were listening to the emails and news letters about wearing white. I'm not sure why white was chosen for the day. The email I recieved said to just wear a white t-shirt and then I imagined all these people with pit-stained white t-shirts and thought that is never going to help the cause. I scooted on down the commons to CognoscenTea for my meeting and arrived just 2 minutes late.

After the meeting I walked back up the commons and breezed by Geri who was in a walking conversation meeting (a la the west wing walking meetings) and then I ran into Jeff who I see almost every time I go to the commons. I don't know if it is coincidence of if the two of us are just down there way too much. We talked about dragon boating which is what you do when you aren't actually dragon boating three days a week. I told him that I hoped that the next time we saw each other we were in boats in the inlet or on the lake.

I made it back to the garage just 5 minutes over the 1 hour of free time. I coasted from the 6th floor all the way to the exit and ticket booth and had my dollar in hand. I noticed the gate was open and when I pulled up next to the booth there was a sign - - "At lunch, pass through" (or something like that), so I made off with parking downtown for over an hour for nothing! (Which should just start to make up for the parking ticket I got last week).

As I edged out of the garage and into traffic I saw Sally (my home insurance broker) and one of the secretaries from her office walking up Tioga Street. I headed out to Seneca to go to the bank and as I waited for the light to turn green my neighbor Ian crossed in front of me and headed into Seneca Place.

In the span of about 70 minutes I passed 8.125 people (I only half know Diane's baby, who is at this size - 3 months - only a quarter size of most people). This town in the spring, it brings out everyone! I wonder how much of a distraction it would be for me to have an office on the commons. I would never get anything done!

Heather and Mark visit Ithaca

Around 11:30 this morning I got a phone call while I was sitting in the food court at the Pyramid Mall. I was building a webpage to allow for one of my customers to add and remove events from an online calendar. I was doing this at the mall because I was waiting for my cars tires to finish getting rotated by the staff at Sears. The phone call I got was from my friend Heather who lives in Boston. She was calling from Juna's Cafe in the Ithaca Commons.  She was visiting Ithaca with her boyfriend Mark who was here to interview for the MBA program at Cornell.

I drove from the mall to the commons and wandered to Juna's. I let Mark use my computer to do some pre-interview research (on the Ithaca wireless network - Lightlink). Heather and I went for a walk around the commons, but not before briefly talking to Jofish (who was researching LiveJournal stats and their collapse since last March) and then said hi to Meagan who was getting some studying done. Heather and I dropped by T-Shirt Expressions to see Kamran and then made our way to Autumn Leaves to find Carl and then onward to CognoscenTea to see Geri. After all that walking we returned to Juna's to meet Mark and bring him to campus for his interview. Once we got there I saw Tom and his wife Holly (the photographer and dance instructor respectively) and briefly talked to them.

We dropped off Mark's car in the Seneca garage, dropped off Mark at CU and then dropped by my house out in the country. I gave Heather the quick tour, we played with the cats who were basking in the sun and then headed back downtown for half-price sushi at Little Tokyo on the commons. Halfway through lunch, Wil entered the restaurant with his daughter. After we ate we went back to CognoscenTea for tea (I bought a ChocolaTea and Heather bought a tin of tea). We drove to the Winli grocery by Home Depot for egg roll wrappers, stopped by Ithaca Beverage for local beer (for Heather to deliver to her parents) and then headed back up to campus to get Mark.

I drove us back to the Seneca Street garage and after some kind words and well wishes for travel we split up. I headed back home (dropping off the egg roll wrappers at Stewart Little - details soon), checked my email and took a little nap before evening activities.

It was a cold and windy day in Ithaca. This picture is Mark and Heather just before they departed Itahca for Syracuse.

March 13th Edition

I worked from home all day today and then this evening I dropped in on a customer to deliver some samples. I then dropped in on a friend and talked for a little while.

On my way back to my house I stopped by CTB in Collegetown and I spotted the legendary and prolific blogger of Happily Stuck in Ithaca having coffee and chatting with someone. I didn't even try to interupt him, instead I mention that he was spotted and knowing he checks this blog we'll connect again via email eventually.

I'll do my best to be a little but more diligent with this category as I see people from around town here and there and everywhere!

At Wegman's Today

I've been deliquent in making posts to this category. I guess I felt I kept seeing people around town so much that it just became routine. I figured I'd give it another whirl since I had a "Spotted around town" trifecta this evening at Wegman's.

I saw Tom H. from Thomas Hoebbel Photography, a local photographer that I met through Alternatives Credit Union and have spotted around town since last February. I saw a guy that looked just like him and then I thought, I should contact Tom about doing some business networking adn then a second or two later he walked in front of my car. I waved, he waved. His website is here: http://www.th-photo.com/

A few minutes later I saw my plumbing/heating guy, Brad Hull of Hull Heating & Plumbing. He's helped me out at the house at 1960 as well as the apartment buildings at 934 and 330 West. He was carrying an arm load of food and was looking down when I passed him. Its a small town and I wonder if he recognized me with my winter shaggy bearded look or if he was too busy to realize who I was. He has no website, but he's been googled here: http://www.google.com/local?hl=en&lr=&q=hull+heating+and+plumbing&near=Ithaca,+NY&sa=X&oi=locald&radius=0.0&latlng=42440556,-76496944,6510034506616348997

Then a few minutes after that (I only picked up about 10 things on this Wegman's trip) I saw what looked to be Bill Chaissan at the check out counter. I hadn't seen him since the Ithaca HOURS meeting in October, so I can't be 100% sure if it was him or not. Strangely I had type in "cha" in Outlook earlier today to send an email to Charles and instead Bill's email address appeared (it starts with chais---). Strange coincidence that a few hours later I would see him in person at Wegman's. Bill appears to have quite a web presence, aside from being quoted on the Ithaca HOURS website that I created (http://www.ithacahours.org/learnmore.php), he is also apparently the owner of a B&B in T-burg (http://www.mclallenhouse.com/) and a website design business (http://www.hibernianweather.net/). Perhaps I'll ask him about all of this at the next Ithaca HOURS, Inc. event I attend.

And if you were wondering, of course you were, I'm still in the process of getting over a strange cold. It has be with a minor minor sore throat and a runny nose. I hope to feel better by getting a good night's sleep tonight and then a productive Tuesday. I'll email you soon!

9:45pm at Sticky Rice

I haven't made a post to this category in almost 50 days! Its not that I haven't been downtown and its not that I haven't seen anyone downtown. Its mostly that everyone I see I see on the way to or from a meeting or event with them. I can't even think that I spotted anyone at the Farmer's Market in my recent trips.

Soon after the last post I watched the Ithaca Festival Thursday night parade and having only lived here in Ithaca for 8 months (At the time) I managed to still see about a dozen people in the parade from all around town. Some people I knew by name, others I just recognized from other places in town.

Tonight I had a random spotting so I figured I'd add it to the list. Avery and I stopped in at Sticky Rice for some dessert and Mike C. from Alternatives was talking about the Gateway 2 project (which would be right next door to Gateway 1 - where Sticky Rice is) with one of the owners of Sticky Rice. It seems like there's almost no where you can go in town this week without finding someone mentioning the Gateway 2 project.  Avery suggested Mike C. was there checking up on a business loan. I'm starting to rethink the dedication of the Alternatives staff - if they are working to make customers happy at 10pm on a Friday night!

Shane mentioned Gateway 2 on his blog a couple days back:

http://www.happilystuckinithaca.com/2005/07/tax-abatements-housing.html

Commons Spotting

This afternoon I had lunch plans with a customer at the Ithaca Commons. We met up and headed over to Jimmy John's. The sandwich was delicious - the bread was incredible! Go there just for the bread!

Along my way I spotted more Ithacans, here's this afternoon's list.

The trivia guy I saw on Spencer on Wednesday was dining outside near state and aurora with another member of his trivia team. I don't know their names, but I'll call one of them Mr. Anxious. A few minutes later I saw a woman from their team while I was sitting at Jimmy John's I think we both did the head nod thing.

As I continued lunch Jimmie M. the trivia DJ walked by the window with a woman and child. I am starting to feel like Thursday is also trivia day with all of these sitings.

Shortly thereafter one of my customer's fathers walked by. It was the famous Joe Q. Sr. of ReMax. He was spotted with his wife Tammy.

At the very beginning of lunch, when I was walking from the parking garage to the commons, Rachel from Cornell/CRP, of martini hat fame said hello to me.

I was thinking of a couple of "Spotted, Seen, and Heard" rules today too.

1. I have to spot you, see you or hear you without plans to see you. That means if I walk into your store, meet you for lunch, get a phone call from you I won't mention it here.

2. I will try not to use full first and last names right off, perhaps that will change as time progresses or as people become more recognizable.

3. Eventually maybe I'll have notes about what people are doing when I see them and who they are with, where they are going

4. My goal is to get me feeling more at home here as I start to see more and more Ithacans and to let you know that I'm not here in Ithaca alone.

Tomorrow I head back downtown to do a bunch of things, we'll see who I see.

Drive by spotting

Today I had the pleasure of replacing a couple doors in a kitchen in one of the apartments I am managing. This task included visiting with one of the commercial property tenants and about a battle emerging with our local power company monopoly. The task also brought me from the apartment building to the other apartment building and then to Lowe's and to Home Depot. Woot! A lot of driving around Ithaca.

I first spotted Richard P., a local CPA who I met in January at a networking event at Alternatives. He was leaving his office around lunch time.

I drove up Spencer Street and saw one of the competition from the Monday night trivia contests. He was heading toward downtown.

When I got to Lowe's I saw one of the people that I think are in Avery's Cornell class, I recognized him from the Sibley computer lab/library, but Avery never mentioned knowing him (he must be preservation and not planning).

I dropped off some checks at the bank and on the way out of the parking lot Patrick W. crossed in front of me and waved. In my rear-view mirror I saw Mike C. stop in the cross walk and talk to Patrick. Mike and Patrick led the small business administration loan meeting last Tuesday that I attended. I'm not sure how much a "spotted around town" seeing them just off the bank property on the sidewalk.

Either way it is getting to be routine for me to recognize faces around Ithaca as I walk and drive through town doing business. It is definitely something that makes me like living here and makes me want to stay here for a long time.

Did you see me around town? Leave your comments in the box below.

New Category, first post

As you can tell from my category list on the lower right hand side of my blog, I love to put my life into categories. My newest category is called "Spotted around town" and I hope to use it to mention all of the times my path crosses with other people from around town that I know or met or are getting to know. I will definitely be drawn to thinking this is a small town where many people know many other people.

Today I was having a little tea with a customer in the Ithaca Center. I noticed Shane of http://www.happilystuckinithaca.com/, a blogger and partner in a competitor of 544 Productions AND a candidate for Ithaca Common Council ward sitting in Ithaca Center reading the paper. I've exchanged a few brief emails with Shane, but we haven't met in person. I was hoping I'd have a chance to say hello, but by the time I finished up my tea he was gone. Perhaps next time.

Stay tuned to see who and where and when I spot people around town.