The Ipes made a break for freedom in June – Our 24 hour weekend in Annapolis Maryland

Posted on June 6, 2020 by Joel

After nearly 3 months in the pandemic, the Ipes were getting a serious case of cabin fever. Also, the kids and I desperately needed haircuts. After Labor Day, we heard that Maryland would be opening up salons and outdoor dining. I know it has only been 3 months, but we decided to take a calculated risk. Salons, restaurants, and hotels were taking precautions, so it seemed a quick 24 hour weekend jaunt would be worth it.

We initially planned on heading to Baltimore, but hotel room rates were all expensive. We’ve been to Baltimore a number of times, but we were open to new suggestions. We then looked into Annapolis, a smaller city 40 mins south  of Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay. The hotel room rates were more in line with what I wanted to spend, and plenty of restaurants were open.

We found a Great Clips in Maryland that would be on the way. We headed out late on a Saturday morning and went straight to the Great Clips. About an hour away, I checked in for 3 of us online. We took turns waiting outside, while one person went in one at a time. All staff were PPE. Afterwards, we went our merrily away to Annapolis.

We got there too early to check into the hotel, so we parked downtown, grabbed lunch near the water, and then walked around a bit. It’s a nice small city, lots of red brick in many of the structures. We walked around the downtown area, and Luke & I checked out a comic book store, and bought some stuff for ourselves.

After 3 PM, we checked into the Hilton Garden Inn Annapolis Downtown, freshened up, and went for a walk to check out more of Annapolis on the way to dinner. The city itself wasn’t crowded, but that had to be due to the pandemic. It was nice weather, and the walk was easy.

Num’s sister recommended Blackwall Hitch so made reservations for 7 PM. They had a huge tent set up in the parking lot, and it was all plastic utensils and such. After 3 months, it was so nice to have food and drink that we didn’t have to make ourselves.

Sunday morning was pretty chill. The hotel restaurant was closed for indoor dining, but they were offering boxed hot breakfasts to-go, so we put in an order, and Luke & I went to grab them to eat in the room. Nums and I took a walk to downtown after breakfast, and my sister-in-law and her daughter met us at the hotel afterwards to hang out a bit. We had plans to check out of the hotel, grab tea, and then see more of the city before we left.

I had plans to have tea, but then I saw we were at a pub that also had beer and wings. Sold! Enjoy your tea, ladies! Afterwards, we walked around downtown some more, checked out the sights, and even a local bookstore.

Even quick weekend getaways have to end, so we drove back home. It was only 24 hours, but still worth it.

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3rd month of the pandemic and I’m exercising a whole lot now – 350 miles in May

Posted on May 31, 2020 by Joel

Monster milestone for me this month. For the past few months, I’ve been riding solo rides on the weekdays, and doing group rides with a bunch of friends in town on Sunday mornings. This month, it’s an all time personal best — 350 miles. That’s unheard of for me. I used to go riding in years past when I was younger, doing 25 miles a weekend, hoping to hit 500 miles for the year. I’ve blown way past that, and it’s only May.

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I picked up new Sony WF-SP800N wireless earphones for biking and other outdoor exercise

Posted on May 25, 2020 by Joel

Sony WF-SP800N

With all of this riding I’m doing, I gotta say it’s getting a little dull. Mile after mile of farmland, horses, and cows. The same horses and cows every day. This month, I started using my Sony WF-1000XM3 for a few rides, and having music to listen to was a game changer. Instead of focusing on what the road looks (and feels) like for every mile, I could zone out and let the miles pass me by.

While it was good to have music, this model is not water resistant, and they don’t stay in your ears well when you’re doing a lot of heavy exertion. At the end of one recent ride, one earbud fell off onto the road, and I had to circle back to go find it. Some cosmetic damage, but still worked great. But I needed another option.

Since I already have the Sony Connect app on my phone, I opted for the new Sony WF-SP800N wireless earbuds. They’re a sportier model with little curved things to lock into your ear, and water-resistant.

Overall, much better for biking.

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Check out the jigsaw puzzle we finished

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Joel

How do you keep your sanity during a pandemic? I don’t know, but I think you have to keep busy. Nums borrowed a jigsaw puzzle from a neighborhood friend of hers, so we all decided to get in on the action with this one. It took us quite a while, but we eventually figured it out. It was a group effort.

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Josh and I rode a 26 bike ride along the Jersey Shore, and we lived to tell the tale

Posted on May 2, 2020 by Joel

I’ve been telling Josh for a long time now that biking along the Jersey Shore is kinda nice. Flat roads, the Atlantic Ocean on one side of you, shore houses and stuff on the other. He came around, and agreed to go on a ride on a beautiful Saturday in May. We loaded up the bikes and drove to Point Pleasant.

The plan was to park at Point Pleasant, and bike all the way to Asbury Park, grab lunch, and ride back. We got to Point Pleasant at 2 PM, and it took about 2 hours to get to Asbury. Josh settled for a root beer, and I got a slice of pizza to go.

It took us 4 hours to navigate our way there and back again for 26 miles, but it was a good ride overall. Longest that Josh has done also.

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Month 2 of the pandemic, and I’m biking a lot more despite the rain

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Joel

It’s the 2nd month of the pandemic, and we’re all still home. Wow, this was unexpected.

I’m still at it with working out after the work day is done. I’m trying out different routes when I can, although it’s been a bit rainy this month. When possible, Nums and I have gone out for neighborhood walks, as are many other people. I keep seeing the same people more than once as we circle the neighborhood.

New milestone this month — 181.4 miles of activity.

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Well, if we are stuck at home during a pandemic, we might as well get a new TiVo Edge

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Joel

Let me start with the fact – We bought a new TiVo Edge DVR this month.

Your questions are probably somewhere along the lines of:

  1. “Why?”
  2. “People still use TiVos?”
  3. “What’s wrong with the cable company’s DVR?”
  4. “Why aren’t you using streaming services?”

These are all valid questions. I’ll try to answer them.

  1. Why we bought a new TiVo? We bought our last TiVo devices for the Family Room (a TiVo Roamio Plus) back in 2014 after we moved into the house. After spending a few months watching TV in the basement, my wife had enough, and wanted something upstairs on the main floor. After 6 years, the Roamio Plus has been acting up, and not connecting well to our TiVo Mini Vox in the Master Bedroom.
  2. Do people still use TiVos? Yes, they do. Not as much as before, but you have to really do it for the interface. And really hate the cable company DVR UI.
  3. I hate the FiOS DVR. I used it for a while years ago, and it was a piece of junk.
  4. Why not streaming? Well, funny enough, we use a lot of streaming services AND watch / record live TV. Okay, so the kids don’t watch live TV, but Nums and I do. Yes, you can find stuff online, but you often have to purchase the individual episodes. I don’t want ot own episodes of Property Brothers.

In prior years, it was easy for me to justify a TiVo because it was primarily for recording shows & movies, and had Netflix on there built-in. Great. In the 6 years since, we’ve seen many more streaming services come out, e.g. Disney Plus, Apple, CBS All Access, and none of these are available on TiVo. So we’re watching Netflix and Amazon and Hulu through TiVo, and using anything else available to watch the other streaming services.

I find this frustrating.

Why not go all streaming? Funny enough, if I were to cancel TV from our FiOS package, it would cost me more a month. Dumb.

The TiVo Edge is slightly faster than the old Roamio, so it works well enough so I can watch live sports and other live shows. We’re living with the mix of streaming services, but I’m not able to justify it to other people. For now, this is good enough.

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To forgo pandemic-induced madness, I’m focusing on my physical fitness

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Joel

How does one keep sane during a pandemic? Renovating your house? A plethora of adult beverages? Jigsaw puzzles? How about lots of fitness? That sounds healthy.

Now that I’m not spending 90-120 minutes commuting to northern NJ or Midtown, I’ve got extra time to get fit. For a hot minute, I thought I’d have more time for running and attending classes at the gym, but Governor Murphy shut down the gyms until further notice. After I check out mentally from work, I’ve still got some sunlight, so I’ve been off biking. I logged 105.3 miles this month, between the treadmill and the open road. Not bad.

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Welcome to the great pandemic of 2019

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Joel

Welcome to the pandemic!

So, this is crazy. We entered this lockdown in mid-March, and it’s been a few weeks. Based on conversations with friends and coworkers, we all thought that we’d be done and back to work in two weeks. Right before the lockdown officially started, we grabbed dinner at a new place in Princeton called The Meeting House. We ate out, thinking this was probably our last eat-at-a-restaurant meal for the month. The pandemic doesn’t seem to be abating, and we’ve got no word on going back.

The kids and us have been all working remotely, much like everyone else. The kids work in various spots around the house, Nums is working up in the master bedroom, and I usually work in the Lounge or Family Room. I also rotate around. The cats now have people to hang out with during the day, whether we want them to or not.

Like everyone else, we didn’t know how long this would go on. I think everyone has had to scramble to get groceries and toiletries and other personal care supplies. We ran out of meats, so people started giving advice on what they found and where, and we like everyone scrambled to get things like groceries and stuff. Paper products and cleaning supplies have been cleaned out in most places. Earlier this month in March, we heard there were meats at our local Aldi, so I ran there to grab what I could.

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Celebrating Luke’s 12th birthday, pandemic-style

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Joel

Despite a pandemic raging in the country, time still passes, and milestones still come along. Luke turned 12 this year

No one is throwing parties so what can you do? All you can do is do something small, even for an amazing kid full of personality. We picked up a small ice cream cake for Luke, and celebrated his birthday quietly at home.

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