BSA Troop 59 Court of Honors – October 24 2017

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Joel

At the end of October, Joshua’s Boy Scout Troop held their most recent Court of Honors. He earned a notable number of merit badges over the course of the summer and the early Fall. Proud of him.

DSC_0617 from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.

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We traveled to Virginia to celebrate Barb’s 40th Birthday Party

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Joel

In October, we drove down on a Saturday afternoon to the Tysons Corner / McLean / Arlington area of Virginia for a quick weekend away. Namita’s best friend Barbara from high school was celebrating her 40th birthday, and the plans included dinner and going somewhere afterwards for drinks.

We dropped off our kids with my in-laws for the short weekend, and we got underway. The traffic down through Maryland and Virginia was a bit abysmal, so I don’t know how these folks do it. We were staying for only one night at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, checking out Sunday. BTW, I was lucky to find an available room, as most hotels were either booked solid for the marathon, or charging $400 a night. Yikes.

Thankfully we made it to the hotel with enough time to check in, freshen up and change our clothes, and get to dinner at Kapnos Taverna. We met a lot of nice people / friends of theirs from the area. After dinner, we drove down the street aways to hit up a bar for after dinner drinks.

In the morning, we grabbed brunch at the Wildfire restaurant at the Tysons Galleria. We ate here once three years earlier, and the food was pretty good. No, we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to eat there again. After brunch, we hit significant traffic while traveling back up through Virginia and Maryland.

A pox on you, Virginia and Maryland traffic!

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I’ve been biking with bunch of guys from town

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Joel

This fall, I got hooked up with a bunch of guys in town who go biking around the area on Sunday mornings. I ended up riding 3 rides in total with them (9/17, 10/1, and 10/15), until the weather got too cold.

I’ve never been one for group rides, because it’s hard to find people at the same level, or available at the same time. I had to say it was pretty nice to go riding with other people, because I started to like the company. Riding on your own? Sure, it’s fine, but it’s nice to have company too.

Oh man, it cold towards end of September and October — one morning it was 49 degrees and I was out there in shorts and fingerless gloves. I threw on a hoodie too, but it wasn’t enough.

I’m officially done for the year. Time to get the bike cleaned up and stored for the season.

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Happy birthday, Lasanta!

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Joel
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We have been grilling the meats and cooking some good food up in here

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Joel

Hmmm mmmm. We have been grilling and cooking up some amazing food these past two months. Steaks, pork chops, chicken, Italian sausage, and South Indian / Kerala / Malayalee food.

I gotta say this in my beat LaVar Ball voice – it has been straight up delicious around here.

Grilled chicken drumsticks
Ribeye steak
Grilled chicken breasts
Kerala Beef Fry with coconut, green beans, rice, and pappadum

 

 

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Boy Scout Troop 59 Hike – Delaware Water Gap

Posted on October 8, 2017 by Joel

On Sunday October 8th, Josh and members of his Boy Scout troop went on a day hike at the Delaware Water Gap out in Pennsylvania. I didn’t go, but a few parents did. Josh came back in one piece, albeit tired and with sore feet. I kinda wish I had gone – it would have been a good opportunity to take some pictures. Maybe next time.

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Joel’s review of It (2017)

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Joel

Last Saturday evening, Namita and I dropped off the kids to go watch The LEGO Ninjago Movie, and we went to go watch the new It film. It’s the first film adaptation of Stephen King’s It novel, although there was a famous adaptation on TV back in the 1990s that I never watched starring some famous actors. I’m not one for scary movies, but my wife likes them.

The film takes place between 1988 and 1989 in the fictional town of Derry, Maine. This small town has been the site for many tragedies, including a huge factory explosion and many missing persons over the decades. Recently there has been an increase of missing children, but the townspeople are strangely numb. We’re introduced initially to Bill and his younger brother George.

Over time, we’re introduced to the rest of the cast of young teenagers who have their own issues and fears, aren’t the cool kids in school, and who often get picked on by the town bullies. They are a bunch of misfits who band together as “The Losers Club” for camaraderie and friendship, to unite against the town bullies, then when they all realize they are all experiencing waking nightmares featuring a clown.

I’ve never read the Stephen King book, and I never watched the 90’s era tv miniseries. I did hear something about “IT” being alternatively a clown and a giant spider. Didn’t know much more than that.

After watching this film with my fingers often shielding my eyes, I’ll say that the film is done really well. The “Losers” are well written as teenage characters, and the actors and actress are very good. Pennywise the Clown is absolutely frightening, and Bill Skaarsgard did a very good job. Good quality film and I definitely recommend it.

Bring your hands so you can cover your eyes during the scary parts like I did. 😉

IT (2017)

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Joel’s review of Marshall (2017)

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Joel

As one of our Youth Group events, we took some of the kids to see Marshall, the 2017 film about an early case by Thurgood Marshall. I didn’t think we would make it in time to see it by showtime, but the Ipes made it. The theater was nearly empty on a Sunday night, for a “based on true events” type historical film. Go figure.

The film stars Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad, with supporting cast including Sterling Brown, Kate Hudson, and James Cromwell. The story is about an early career-defining case that Thurgood Marshall worked on back in the early 1940s. Chadwick Boseman plays Thurgood Marshall, and Josh Gad is the attorney Sam Friedman.

Back when Thurgood Marshall was an attorney for the NAACP, he would travel the country taking on cases to represent the accused African-American, as the American justice system was often biased against the accused. In this case, the Thurgood Marshall travels up to Connecticut to represent Joseph Spell, a black chauffeur accused of raping the wife of his employer, and attempting to murder her. Due to an unforeseen decision by the judge, Thurgood Marshall must take 2nd chair in court, cannot speak, and must advise inexperienced attorney Sam Friedman on how to try the case.

It’s an interesting film, and very well done. For a PG-13 film, it was pretty intense with scenes of partly simulated sex and heavy topics like rape and murder. Yeah, Not exactly my first choice on films for church youth group, but the kids seemed okay afterwards.

Marshall (2017)

Marshall (2017)

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Sightseeing, dinner, and a scavenger hunt in New York’s Midtown in September

Posted on September 10, 2017 by Joel

In September, we took the train into Midtown with plans for a nice evening out, including dinner and a show. The show didn’t happen for us, so we signed up to do a professional scavenger hunt through Urban Adventure Quest, with a little sightseeing and dinner mixed in. After arriving at NY Penn by train, we walked to 34th St and 12th Ave, in order to check out the famous High Line for the first time.

In case you’re not familiar with it, it used to be elevated train tracks in the early 20th century until being decommissioned in 1980. Instead of demolishing it, the city ended up transforming it into an elevated open space and park. I’ve heard so much about it over the years, and was always curious about it. The High Line stretches from 34th St & 12th Ave all the way down through Chelsea to Gansevoort Street. We walked all the way from 34th St to around 23rd St, and it was interesting. It was very crowded on a Saturday evening, and it’s a big open public space with benches and some sculptures sprinkled around.

After a quick break at the 23rd St Best Buy, we made our way to Times Square to start our scavenger hunt. We started out in Times Square, then dashed from the West side to the East side looking for clues. You access the Urban Adventure Quest website on your phone to read clues and answer questions. It’s best to have multiple phones so one person can read clues and input questions, and a second person to help with mapping and researching. We ran around much of Midtown from places on 8th Avenue the West Side to Park Avenue on the East Side.

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We took a break towards the end for a sorta late dinner at Sophie’s Cuban restaurant. We also stopped by the Nintendo store at Rockefeller Center as part of the break. The kids basically ran amuck through the store for a good 30 minutes, and could have kept going, but we needed to finish our scavenger hunt and it was getting both late and dark. We finally made our way after counting arches and statues at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, to Grand Central Terminal where we completed the final puzzle. I think it was around 11 pm. Wow, it was an involved scavenger hunt.

We grabbed a cab back to NY Penn to catch our train back home. I think we got home around 1 AM.

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Kids first day at school

Posted on September 7, 2017 by Joel

And September heralds the beginning of another school year. Joshua begins 7th grade, and Lily is off to 4th grade.

It’s true that these kids can drive us a little crazy sometimes, but they’re awesome kids. Smart, funny, and occasionally thoughtful. Always surprising though.

Time goes fast.

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