Monsanto takes us to Charleston, SC

As much as people may complain about Monsanto , I quite enjoy this agricultural company.  First of all, they employ Bestie and help pay the bills around here.  Second, they take Bestie (and his favorite companion - ME!) on trips periodically.  These trips are a working vacation so don't think they are squandering money (they are actually very fiscally, environmentally and educationally responsible).  Monsanto believes in a balance between work and family and includes spouses as much as possible in order to increase employee satisfaction and productivity.

Anyway, Bestie and I headed out to Charleston from different locations.  Bestie has been in St. Louis all week at Monsanto HQ for a meeting and I had been at home, but our flights met up in Atlanta.  Well, actually that was the plan.  Delta Airlines did their best to make me late.  Engine trouble in Little Rock led to arriving late in Atlanta.  With only 3 minutes to make my flight in Atlanta I was a running fool through the airport, but I made the connection and flew into Bestie's arms  - then we sat on the airplane for 2 hours because of, you guessed it, engine trouble! Gotta love Delta and their old aircraft.  No worries, we played with a new app (see pic) and did a lot of reading!  At least we were together so we could catch up on the week and hold hands like newlyweds.  Notice Bestie's facial expressions below.  He is besotted with me and I with him.

Arriving LATE in Charleston we were starved, but most restaurants were closed by this time and we were NOT going to Waffle House.  The Concierge at the Charleston Place Hotel (thanks Leah!) call The Leaf and they agreed to stay open and feed us.  This was some great food and just set the stage for the rest of the weekend filled with GREAT Southern cooking.

The Charleston Place Hotel was wonderful and beautifully decorated for Christmas.  What a treat!

The next morning, Bestie had to spend time working registration, so I got out and saw some of the sights in Charleston on a quick run.  Again, the concierge was extremely helpful and provided me with a map for a quick run that passed several beautiful spots and provided a relatively flat course.  The weather was perfect and the sights glorious!

For those who don't already know, Charleston (Fort Sumter) was where the War of Northern Aggression started, so there are tons of cannons and balls (he he) all over.

Bestie had a break to take me to lunch so we went to SNOBS (Slightly North Of Broad).  This was a recommendation from our bartender at The Leaf and the food turned out to be wonderful.  

The great thing about Charleston, SC is that it is such a walkable city and that is just what we did after lunch.  I said it was because we could use the exercise but it was really because Bestie looked so good I wanted to show him off to this town and let them know I get to take him home with me!

For those of you who don't know Bestie, he thinks about four things, in no particular order - sex, bikes, Razorbacks, and boats.  Walking along the river/bay area was the perfect afternoon for him as long as we also noticed bikes, talked about Razorbacks and then had sex when we got back to the hotel.  Yeah, my life is so terrible.......(smile).

More of our adventures in the next blog post.  Life with an empty nest just keeps getting better and better!

Mud Running "Nerds"

Oh yeah.  It's Mud Run time again and this year Bestie and I could actually be there.  We agonized over what to wear as costumes then hit upon the idea of being running "nerds".  Now, those of you who know us KNOW we are really cool people so dressing up as nerds might be hard for us, but we are champions at costuming.  A quick trip to Goodwill netted us some fantastic finds for our inner nerds and, by race day, we had made the transformation.

Now, first of all, the Mud Run is not your typical 5K.  The course is 3.1 miles (5K) more or less.  There are no timing chips and not even a timer at all.  You may be told the 'right' way to go or you could be sent off on a wild goose chase.  There are shortcuts you can take if you are so inclined.  Bestie and I did the whole course because we are nerds when it comes to following the rules of the race.  At the end of the race there is a mud pit you must traverse in order to get to the finish line.  Considering the temperature was in the 40s on race day, getting in cold mud was not my idea of fun, but I did it and so did Bestie.  We conquered the mud hill and the pit and completed the entire course with style.

Needless to say, we discarded our clothing after we were done since we were totally coated with mud.  Bestie had brought warm water in insulated containers so we were able to wash off comfortably and without too much problem.That is how thoughtful Bestie can be and just another way he is good about taking care of me.  No one else had warm water because they don't have my Bestie.

It was a fun race, but I don't see us doing it again.  We are about too old to play in the mud, so I think we will leave this 'race' to the young folk and look for races that are more for us old folk.

The race started a great weekend spent with my Bestie as we continue to live the life of empty nesters and find ways to continue enjoying our lives together.

Food Truck Festival or Flood Festival - A Toss Up

The Little Rock Food Truck Festival was all I heard about for weeks before it actually happened.  Bestie loves to eat 'food from a truck'.  We have been known to turn around or stop short in order to pull into a parking lot where a truck is set up purveying food.  I tend to be a little more selective and go for the trucks that look spic and span but Bestie will eat from any food truck, even the ones that have weird substances dripping out of them.  He says those are the ones with the best spices and flavor. Ok....

Knowing this, it was understandable that we HAD to attend the food truck festival in downtown Little Rock even though the weather was threatening storms.

 

Local merchants got in the act and showed off their wares.  Main Street is going through a revitalization effort and there are lots of old and new businesses there.  Bennett's Military Surplus has been there for years and had a lot of people dressed up in the 'fashions' they have to offer.  Kiddo #1 was home with us and we had to get a photo with this camo dude.

We had been at the festival for just a few minutes when the rain started.  It was just sprinkles so we continued looking for the perfect food to have.

This is my favorite food truck.  The shrimp and grits are to die for!

This was the perfect food truck for Bestie.  The rain had picked up and Bestie wanted to see ALL the trucks available before making a choice so we continued down the street.  Amazingly, we did see a lot of people Bestie grew up with and they love food trucks too.  Maybe it was something in the water in his hometown.

 What had been a gentle shower suddenly became a downpour.  Kiddo #1 and I huddled under an umbrella as the water began to rise into the street.  Hardcore foodies staying in line to get food.  Some of them didn't even have umbrellas but that did not deter their desire to try the truck.

You see the water did get fairly deep near the sidewalk.  Thank goodness we all wore flip flops and the rain was warm.

So the rain was an excellent time to check out some of the local entertainment.  These entertainers were in a studio on Main near 6th street.

The rain showed no signs of letting up so we stepped under an awning to escape the torrential downpour.  The name of the store seemed pretty 'cool'.

Even though the rain would slack up, it would return with more strength the next time.  Because we couldn't decide on a food truck and we were soaked, we decided to go do brunch in the neighborhood.  Ever hear of The Afterthought and Vieux Carre?  You might want to check them out for jazz brunch sometime.  We were dry, the food was good, the drinks were better and the music was perfect.

So we hit the Food Truck Festival and got a nice brunch in the neighborhood where we could watch the rain from the comfort of the dry.  Sounds like a successful weekend to me! Plus, Kiddo #1 got leftovers to take home with her.  Bonus!

NCTM in the Charm City

Part of my job as an 'educator of educators' is making presentations about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).  The NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Math) Conference in Baltimore, MD sounded like a great place to do just that.  I had been to Baltimore about 15 years ago and I thought the weather would be great and the trees starting to turn so my partner in crime, Michelle Buchanan, and I wrote up a proposal about 10 months ago and were accepted to present "Getting Down to the Core with Dr. Seuss".  The workshop was designed to address Common Core Math Standards and Literacy and be full of fun.

Since I was going to be gone, Bestie decided to take a solo motorcycle trip and headed to Nashville to stay with friends and watch a Predator hockey game.  He then went to Springfield, IL for a Monsanto meeting.  Then he wound his way back through Missouri and Arkansas to enjoy the fall weather and have some boy time.  This was fine with me because I don't think I could have traveled all that way and not have died from tissue damage to my booty.  I don't care what he says, the passenger seat is NOT that comfortable after about an hour.  Baltimore on a plane or Nashville and Springfield on a motorcycle?  Not a hard choice.

Home of the Baltimore Orioles

Home of the Baltimore Ravens (both these stadiums were right near our hotel)

Baltimore is a great town.  Like all big cities on the water, there is a great waterfront full of restaurants and shops.  Michelle and I headed to the Harbor in search of great dining and ended up at M & S Grill at the Inner Harbor area.  It afforded great views and opportunities for people watching.  The food was so-so and it took almost two hours to be served so the manager gave us 50% off.  We were happy because even though the food was only so-so, the drinks were strong and the view was very nice and relaxing.

 

Last summer, I went to the Dinah Zike Academy in Comfort, TX (see previous post about Comfort), so I took this opportunity to work in the DZ Booth at NCTM.  It was a very busy time and I got to meet a lot of teachers and talk about what fun it is to do Foldables and how effective they are in teaching difficult concepts!  It also gave me the opportunity to talk STEM which is a topic I could go on and on about.

 With Bob Stemme, a national trainer for Dinah Zike.  I wore my banner for a quick shot with him.

On Thursday, Michelle and I went our separate ways to hit as many workshops as we could and then planned to meet up later to compare notes.  Between workshops on student motivation and making math meaningful, I was able to squeeze in some outside dining time.  The weather was PERFECT and I had to take advantage of dining alfresco.  So many people were in line at Subway and Jimmy John's.  I ate at a little Bistro, had a waiter bring me my food, enjoyed the weather in a nice place and didn't pay much more than they did.  I even watched the line and from ordering to food arriving, I beat most of them in getting lunch.  So here is my firm belief - forgo the chains as much as possible and sample the local flavor!

Much nicer than a chain restaurant!

Workshops were over about 4:30 p.m. so I took a quick run to see some of the less traveled areas of the city.  Here is a safety tip:  if the area smells like urine, it is time to turn back to a more 'tourist friendly' area of the city.  When the smell of urine was overpowering, I did just that and turned back toward the Inner Harbor area.  Little did I know that later we would end up in an even more questionable area.

Michelle is a foodie and had heard about a place that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Man vs. Food so she wanted to eat there for supper.  Sounds fine to me. I am always up for venturing beyond the tourist trap areas of cities. We checked out the map, got the bus numbers we would need to get there and back, got exact change for the bus fare and were on our way.  Little did we know this restaurant was in the middle of the seediest area of the city - a fact the concierge failed to mention.  I am not the kind of person to be afraid of big cities.  I have walked through areas that make Chet anxious and I am not the least bit bothered, BUT this bus ride took us through areas I would NOT want to be out in day or night.

This picture was taken in the light, but most of our journey was in the dark and these streets have no street lights but lots of questionable activity.  On the way home we even got to see a drug bust. Joy! (sarcasm)

These two businesses were next door to the restaurant.  I kidded to Michelle that we could earn some extra money and then go shopping.  There was a pole dancing contest going on at the Gentlemen's Club and there was a sale at the Adult Store.  More joy! (yep, more sarcasm)

This is what we went for, the Chap's Beef Pit famous Beef Sandwich.  Nice but not worth getting your throat slit over.

We made it back home by the grace of God and lived to see another day which is good because Friday was OUR day - the day to present our workshop.  While we were setting up, the director of the program committee for NCTM came in to introduce herself and said she just wanted to meet us because she was on the review committee to select what workshops would be accepted for the program and ours was so outstanding she wanted to make a special trip in to meet us!  WOW. (not sarcasm)

The workshop went very well.  Teachers seemed to really enjoy it and they especially liked the door prizes.

 

Oobleck from Bartholomew and the Oobleck

 Ramps from The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins

We had a lot of teachers come up afterwards to say how much they enjoyed the activities and several even mentioned ideas they wanted to try in their classrooms now.  Sounds like a success to me!  Math class does NOT just have to be worksheets and drill and practice homework.  It CAN be full of fun activities too!

A good workshop deserves a celebration so we headed across the street to another little bistro to enjoy the beautiful weather, toast our success and have a small lunch before heading to the airport.

Another travel tip: When possible, use public transport to get around town.  It is MUCH cheaper than a taxi.  Just be sure to ask about the safety of using the transport system after dark!  We LOVED using the metro to get from the airport to downtown.  A $30 cab ride was only $1.60 on the metro and took about the same amount of time.

When we get to the airport, this sign was right at our gate.  We decided it was a perfect photo opportunity and so appropriate for this trip.

 

So it was a great trip to the "Charm City".  We made it back alive and maybe inspired a few teachers to think beyond worksheets and look for ways to make math fun with activities that provide a context for students to understand the abstract concepts of mathematics.  If not, at least we have great stories to tell!

Oh yeah, Bestie made his trip just fine.  He did say his booty was sore. I tried to be sympathetic but somehow he didn't believe me.  I wonder why?

A Trip to UT in Austin

I know.  A trip to University of Texas in Austin, TX for someone in my family is like a trip into enemy territory, but since it is the headquarters of the TEACH program, I do venture down there from time to time. In an effort to minimize the stress this causes sweet little Bestie I refrain from talking about my trips and just say I will be gone on business.  If I even mention the word "Texas" in the house I get to hear about how we (Arkansas Razorbacks) were cheated in the Big Shootout of 1969.  Bestie and one of his friends recently went to see a documentary about the Big Shootout.  Now Bestie is even more rabid when discussing the states that start with the letter "T".  I know some of you find that hard to believe, but he CAN be pretty vocal when it comes to his feelings about sports.  For those of you that don't know, orange is not allowed in our house.  No orange clothing, no orange decorations, I even have to beg to get orange juice.  The pumpkins on our porch at Halloween are white.  That is how crazy Bestie can be - pity me!

Amazingly, there is a lot of orange in Austin. It made me wish I had packed more red - and next time I will.

Notice how the street signs are orange AND have a longhorn on them.

Every other time I have traveled to Austin I have stayed at the conference hotel, but last minute travel arrangements this time made it impossible for me to get a room there, so I decided to try a local Bed and Breakfast I had heard about - The Star of Texas Inn.

It appears to be leaning because it is - but don't all the best old houses or maybe that is just the way they build them in Texas.  Who really knows?

Leaning or not, the front porch was terrific.

I was in the guest house just behind the main house and even had my own front porch which will be wonderful in a month but was pretty hot on this lovely, hot as hell day in Texas.

The room was decorated with antique furniture and interesting art pieces - some more interesting than art.  I hope this picture was created by the children of the owners.

The room featured a soft robe, lovely soaps and lotions, free wine, and best of all - a fan!  As women of a certain age know, it is imperative to sleep with a fan in order to maintain a comfortable temperature!

Once on the UT campus (a short two blocks from the B&B) I use the UT Tower to find my way.  The landmark is great to use to find something because the tower is visible from almost everywhere on campus.  I noted where the Tower was when I left the B&B and was able to find my meeting room easily.  I won't tell Bestie, but the campus really is beautiful.  Unlike many fast growing campuses, UT did not get rid of all the trees as they built new classroom and research facilities.  They also severely limit the parking on campus and place most parking lots and parking decks around the perimeter in an effort to increase safety of students as they move from class to class.  This is something that was also done at UA and UALR, but UA  still lets scooters go through campus.  UT does not so you see hundreds of students on bikes zooming around.

 

So, will I tell Bestie that I do enjoy visiting Austin?  No.  Will I ask him to go with me to Austin sometime?  No.  What do you think I am?  Crazy?  Bestie going to Austin might lead to another Tower Shooting incident.  I know he could only take so much orange, so many drawings of longhorns, so many times of hearing "Hook'em Horns!" and he might just lose what little sanity still lurks in his consciousness. His true love of the Razorbacks and vehement hate of all things Texas is just another facet of what makes me love him.  What you may call insane, I find endearing.  It is another eccentricity that makes Bestie MY Bestie.