Sterling and Francine Clark Institute

We went yesterday. They have an exhibit called the Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings. It's an interesting exhibit of his sketchbooks and pastels from early in his career. Although an Impressionist, it seems Monet used drafting techniques extensively in developing his paintings. Very evident in his series of paintings of London bridges (Charing Cross and Waterloo). An astonishing portrait of the Rouen Cathedral caught my eye.

The museum is located in the beautiful Berkshires of western Massachusetts, in Williamstown. Aside from the Monet exhibit (which closes Sept 16th) is a wonderful exhibit of Gainsborough, Constable and Turner as well as a permanent collection of a variety of art that caught the eye of Francine or Sterling Clark.

Having brought the 5 year old along, I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked. I'll probably be back soon to remedy that!

IBM Codestation Sentinel box 2

Take box 2, open it and get the LM. Go off to Straylight. Follow the signs to the garden. There are 4 flowers flashing in the order of Red, Blue, Green, Blue, Yellow, Green, Yellow. Put on the HUD and press the buttons in that order. Get the body and arms!

Save your current skin, etc and try everything on. Customise them and save them as a Sentinel outfit so you can go back and add on later.

Codestation Sentinel box 1

Start at the IBM Codestation. Collect the instructions at the clock. Take box 01. Open it and you get a message to look to the sea and a landmark for Laguna Beach. Go to the beach. Meet a gorgeous Argentinian woman :-) Touch the goodies on the table and wear them. If you don't the shark will chase you away! Wade into the water at the buoy and touch the arms. Yay!

Crazy week

It's been a crazy week or so. Trying to get ready to play radio with MGEF. Too much to do and not nearly enough time. I leave tomorrow and won't be back until Monday night. The weather is calling for rain Sunday and Monday. Figures. See ya when I get back!

USS Hawaii commissioning

I debated whether I ought to make this entry or not. As you can see, the debate took a while to resolve itself. I attended the christening and had mixed emotion. On the one hand, the Navy did an excellent job with crowd control, but there wasn't much advertising about the potential to buy goodies at the pier. Bring cash :-)

The boat was commissioned at Groton, at the Submarine Base. The ceremony itself was pretty quick. Hawaii Gov Lingle said a little bit, Hawaii Senator Inouye said a little, the EB guys said a lot more... Master Sergeant Ganotise (ret) gave a blessing in Hawaiian. The highlight of the ceremony was when Gov Lingle told the crew (who were assembled on the pier) to 'man our ship and bring her to life!' The men marched over the brow and 'lined the rails.' At the same time, the optics masts lifted out of the sail, the horn blew and the crowd clapped wildly.

OK, so maybe that tied with the moment the commissioning pennant broke out on the aft of the sail. Both brought genuine tears to my eyes. I waved my flag wildly enough that I pulled some staples out. I was the only one with an American flag. At the commissioning of a US Navy Submarine. Buy flags and hand them out to those around you.

There were hula dancers; young ladies who were so graceful they looked as though they were fluid, not solid at all. Very lovely to watch. Afterwards, a reception at Morton Hall. We had salad, watched more native dancers and took in the scenery. I was privileged to take a photo of Chris and Capt Solms, as well as one with COB Bentley.

After that, we got permission to tour the boat. I went below and was able to see all three decks forward! I'm not going to talk much about what I saw, but the torpedo room was extremely interesting both because of its size and configuration.

I got to see Chris' rack, which isn't very big, but it was an honour to see where he works and lives. I only hope I'll be able to take a tiger cruise before she goes to Pearl Harbor!

New York City

Erika and I went to NYC to see Monty Python's Spamalot at the Sam Shubert Theatre (44th St and 8th Ave). My first Broadway play. My first impression of the Sam Shubert theatre is that it's pretty small. We were up in the highest seats on the balcony, and it was a tight fit to get in there. I can't imagine how a large person would fare...

When the play began, the 'small' nature gave way to 'intimate.' That's a word that's a bit overused, but it suits this situation. In general, the seats were good, although not the best, but visibility was very nice except for the aerials (clouds, sing-along words.) I liked it.

The performers were wonderful. It was clear they were having a good time. I was most impressed with 'The Lady of the Lake', Marin Mazzie. She did a spectacular job, to the point that I really wish the Spamalot CD had her on it! Jonathan Hadary did an exquisite job as King Arthur. Between an impressive singing voice and perfect comic timing, he just nails the part.

For some photos, see Marin's web site, deep linked here.

Highly recommended!

We almost went to the Observatory at the Empire State Building, (34th St and 5th Ave) but time was a constraint. It took about 20 minutes to wend through the line on a Saturday afternoon (5.00pm) just to reach the ticket counter. After that, it was a 45-90 minute wait to go up. Don't do it on a whim, buy your tickets online. Be advised that you'll be going through airport-like screening, but they took my pocket knife, gave me a claim ticket and returned it to me afterward with no trouble at all.

Alpha trials complete!

PCU Hawaii, SSN-776 has returned from her Alpha sea trials safe and sound. The men have been working very hard for this moment, and they should be very proud of their accomplishments. I was able to follow along ( a little bit) with their work by reading the manuals on the SUBMEPP web site.

Typical me

Misquamicut, RI.

Sebastian is standing in the remains of our sand castle. I'm sneaking up on him and Chris is getting ready to fortify the thing against the next set of waves.

This is such a typical shot of me.

YouTube - Galactica's Faith

YouTube - Galactica's Faith

USS Hawaii Christening

USS Hawaii, SSN776 Christened!

Saturday, 17 June 2006, the Navy's newest Submarine got her official name. She was already in the water of the drydock, but Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle broke a bottle of bubbly on the aft portion of her sail and christened her under overcast skies.

The officers and crew were standing aft of the sail, facing forward during the entire ceremony. Several political figures spoke. A recurring theme was that we need to build 2 subs a year to maintain the infrastructure (and the sub force!)

Cameras were not allowed, or I'd post a photo.