from cousins to Elvis!

What a lovely way to end my Augusta 'vacation60': a visit with Sharon and Susan!
That's my maternal cousin Sharon - the one who resembles me - on the left.
(smile)
Last night, I knew I was in the right place, right time as soon as I had pulled up and parked in their driveway.
How so?
My odometer read 201650, a nice round number that had Mama's touch to it.
(smile)
We dined at Beamie's for dinner last night, after a driving tour that included a trip past the new stadium for the Augusta Greenjackets. I guess that was my cue to return in the summer for some baseball!
(smile!)
We'd also played a game together - want to guess which one?
(smile)
Yep, it was Yahtzee! Not quite as I'd played it in Glennville, though.
Nope! We did all three games simultaneously! Woohoo!
Good thing that Sharon was 'helping' me along, spotting hands for me.
Sadly, I lost all three games anyway, so I'll have to opt for a rematch... this summer.
(smile)

This morning, when they asked what I wanted to do, I surprised them I know.
I asked to see my cousin Valerie's grave.
Sharon's older sister had died in 2004 from a drug interaction. She'd been ill and had gone to a new doctor, one that was unfamiliar with her usual medications. The drug prescribed had clashed with one in her regular regimen, causing her to pass away in her sleep, about this time of year.
It isn't as if I had planned on making my odd request to visit her grave.
The thought had simply presented itself in my mind...
i thank You, God.
And so we had gone to Westover Memorial Park, a cemetery almost devoid of any road signage. The rare exceptions are "funeral route" arrows.
That lack of road signage led to some hilarity along the way! Sharon usually drove, but she was in the back seat and couldn't recognize which pine tree marked the site. Susan was driving and was as lost as I would have been. Yes, they're definitely kin to me!
At last, though, we found the Dubose family plot.
That's Sharon's maternal grandparents, with her grandfather having the flag and her grandmother in the center. Sharon's mom, my Aunt Janet, is the next stone.
Valerie's ashes are buried in the same plot as Aunt Janet.
It was good to see where she is now.
Afterward, we went to the First Saturday open market on Riverwalk. I bought some lovely crookneck squash, while they bought apples and bell peppers.
Then I hit the road for home!
(smile)

The running bear - aka Kevin - had texted me last night.
"Savannah Striders was meeting up after the race. Was I interested in attending the celebration with him, as I had two years ago?"
His treat, he'd added.
Of course I'd replied in the affirmative!
He'll be driving this time, as he still has plenty of energy.
This time, he'd only run the half-marathon, you see.
(smile)
Like running for 13.1 miles - or 21.1 kilometers - is just a la-di-da day in the park...
not for me, that's for sure!
He sent me this photo of him with one of the Elvis Presley "racers", the one who runs barefoot for the entire marathon.
I doubt the real Elvis ever did any such thing - his mother taught him better.
(smile)
Now, to take care of some stuff here before the psychologist arrives!
Later, my dears!

more inclusive diversity, please

This was Diversity Day at SERMACS and I made sure to attend the three different sessions in Lamar C at the Conference Center.
The one thing I noticed was the lack of diversity.
All three "Diversity in the Chemical Enterprise" groups of talks would have been better served if they had been more inclusive. Preaching to the choir is not going to accomplish change.
Curious about what I mean?
The first session was subtitled "National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers" and had an audience that reflected that very limited demographic.
The second session was subtitled "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer" and those listening were of that very limited demographic.
The third session was subtitled "Hispanic Perspective" and, as found in the other sets of talks, was attended by those representing that very limited demographic.
How do I know?
Like I said, I'm part of the choir, even though I do not fit any of those demographics.
I am a white, non-Hispanic, female who is "strictly dickly".
(smile)
I am also a woman who was in the Navy working a traditionally male job.
I am also a woman who was very interested in science, especially chemistry and biology, when in high school in the mid-1970's.
I am also a woman who was involved in the fight to get equal pay for equal work back in that time period. (Being part of the US military allowed me to bypass that pay inequality, as pay rate there was, and still is, based on rank for all.)
In other words, I know the battleground... and I recognize the changes in that landscape.
Forty years - that's two generations - of the "Me" generation has left the majority of the American people battle-fatigued and feeling deprived.
Forty years - that's two generations - of changes created by law to benefit different small segments of the population have left the majority of the American people feeling deprived and shoved aside.
Forty years - that's two generations - of so much change for very small demographics has left the majority of the American people fighting back and taking a stand to be included back into consideration.
That is why we now have the blond man in the White House.
That is why all diverse segments need to act together, to have a united front...
and to include everyone in that action.
Even the heterosexual, white, non-Hispanic, males and females.
That is the only way to cause true change.
I know that the visionary Stan Lee would fully agree with me.

Now, I'm off to spend time with my cousin and her wife.
Here's hoping for true change in my lifetime...
and to the blond man in the White House having just this one term.

atoms...in...space!

Such a fascinating and fulfilling day!
It all began with the SERMACS Awards Luncheon.
The $20 I'd paid netted me a dining experience worth at least double that, with Chicken Parmesan Florentine that led to an exquisite cake with dark chocolate accents.
While we dined, Frank Walworth regaled us with a captivating history lesson titled "ACS Past as Prologue: Action, Character, Strength".
Honestly, he had me with the acronym.
(smile)
As it turned out, one of the award recipients was at my table! Rigoberto Hernandez won the 2018 Stanley C. Israel Award for his work that "advanced diversity in the chemical sciences and significantly stimulated or fostered activities that promote inclusiveness within the ACS Regions". I can tell you this: he was absolutely charming!
I also sat with Dorothy, a retiree from Dupont. Here's the interesting thing about that: the woman was black. That meant she had to be fighting for inclusion in the worlds of chemistry and science fifty years ago.
That means she had me beat by just a few years in that struggle.
(smile)
Ann Nalley, the first woman president of ACS was there, too, a table over. She gave out her namesake award (2018 E. Ann Nalley Volunteer Service award) to Maurice Snook, aka "Mr. Science", for presenting chemistry demonstrations in more than 50 schools of the Northeast Georgia Section for almost 40 years.
I most liked the recipient of the 2018 Southeastern Regional High School Teaching Award. Romina Jannotti seemed totally overwhelmed to be so honored, when she simply thought she was doing her job. Brava!
I'm glad I was finally able to meet Chris Bannochie. He was one of the co-chairs for organizing this conference. He was quite helpful at allaying my fears before my arrival, steering me toward the sites I needed. Thanks, again!
Post-luncheon, off I went to the Riverwalk again, for fresh air and leg-stretching.
I returned for the afternoon coffee hour, walked again, then, wonder of wonders, caught a reception with lots of veggies for the taking! Just what I was needing!
(smile)
Then it was time to board the bus for Aiken, SC, for the evening's celebration!

The ACS National Historic Chemical Landmark Designation was recognizing the Savannah River Site for its production of Plutonium-238. Why was that important? Quite plainly, without that radioactive material, NASA would have had no space exploration. Pu-238 allowed the creation of lightweight batteries with a long life (at least 88 years), providing both the energy and the heat needed by equipment sent into deep space.
I very much appreciated the tie-in between the tour of SRS taken yesterday and the three days spent at the Kennedy Space Center in May.
Right place, right time.
i thank You, God.

The Landmark was installed at the Savannah River Site Heritage Museum, a fairly new place in downtown Aiken. The museum is absolutely full of artifacts going back to the 1950's, when the world was a bit enamored with thoughts of atomic power and atomic this and atomic that. I fully intend to return there and peruse its stockpiles in depth some time in the near future.
I especially like this sculpture, newly installed on the front lawn just last night.
Titled "Atoms in Space", the 15-foot-tall work was created by David Cianni, a welder and metal sculptor, two years ago. The piece was designed, he stated, "in recognition of the SRS production of plutonium-238 that powered exploration of the moon and our solar system from 1969 to the present time".
Very impressive, and for me, very timely, for the 60th birthday I share with NASA.
i thank You, God, that I was here on this rainy night.

halloween, chem nerds style!

What a delightful way to begin this day of Halloween!
I had already boarded the bus for the special tour
when I spotted the trick-or-treaters!
What was the tour I was on?
Well, it was one designed particularly for us chemistry nerds, not one for the regular public as it turned out.
Not that the Savannah River Site doesn't allow visitors
to its 320 square mile enclosure, because it does.

However, the Department of Energy SRS Tour I was on included a rather lengthy walking tour in addition to the bus tour, with Bob Bunnett there to satisfy our curiosity.
The five-hour tour was, amazingly, free, but the Firehouse Subs lunch cost $5.
The time, and money, were both well-spent,
as I wrote here!
Plus, I had a special memento marble after
the extensive walking tour of the Defense

Waste Processing Facility.
There, I had learned about the transformation of the sludge left over from the production of Uranium-238
(for warheads) during the Cold War with the USSR.
Now, that toxic material is being fashioned into a
special glass, to trap the radioactive component into
a solid that won't contaminate our Earth.
Bravo!

Upon my return to the Conference Center, I was
feeling a bit peckish.
Must have been all that walking and learning!
Over to Beamie's on James Brown for sustenance!
My waitress, Stephanie, was dressed like a
YMCA-themed construction worker - fabulous!
I had a house specialty, the Black-Eyed Peas Jambalaya - superb and very filling!
So filling that I needed a walk afterward.
(smile)

Fortunately, the Riverwalk was right there
and the day was gorgeous and warm.
Such a pretty view of the Savannah River, too!
Riverwalk was dotted with historic plaques,
but I was especially taken by this one.
Listen to the poetry of this prose:
"Born from sparkling mountain streams..."
"sediment sifted over ridges of broken rock..."
Remarkable and beautifully written!

By the time my walk was done, the next SERMACS
event was ready to go!
The Exposition Trick or Treat Networking Reception
was underway, with every vendor stocked with candy
and rubber ducks and T-shirts galore!
Plus, there was shrimp and handheld foods for
those who had not yet dined...
and cornhole and a putting green and even a game of
vendor bingo that included free jokes!
I came away with so much swag!!!

More on that later... it's almost time for the next
special SERMACS event: a special screening, just for
the chemistry nerds, of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"
at the 100-year-old Imperial Theatre!
Wow, how exciting to be in this historic building!
My $5 ticket price also netted me a soda and snack -
what a great deal... and the music of Jack Skeleton
to entertain until the "Time Warp" begins at 9:30 !
(smile)

penny in augusta

As I told my cousin Sharon, I came a day early so I could practice.
After all, this was the first chemistry nerds conference I'd been to in twenty years or more, so I wanted to make sure i knew what was going on and where things were located.
That last one had been in Chicago and I was job-hunting and newly married, so it must have been in 1993 or 1994.
Why was I attending this one? Already tiring of being 'retired'?
(smile)
Not hardly!
But being 'retired' allowed me to attend at a greatly reduced price, which allowed me to feel free to purchase attendance at a few special events that sounded quite enticing.
Thank you, Georgia Board of Regents for affording me that perk!
(smile)
Plus, I have my maternal cousin (Sharon) and paternal cousin (Bev) living there.
The business trip would allow me to visit with one of them, too!
I had not seen Sharon and Susan since the wedding... so I see them on Friday!
What a wonderful birthday60 vacation for me!
(smile)

I had a leisurely drive here and found the Quality Inn to be an easy drive from the Augusta Conference Center downtown. Hooray!
There had been some concern, I admit, but I will be able to stay here for less than half the cost of the Marriott. Hooray!
I've officially checked into the 70th Annual South East Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, making this my first SERMACS.
As that was the business to be done today, I took my leave for some fun...
some Tuesday discounted-movie fun, at the local Regal Cinema!

Such a pretty cinema!
My timing was off, though.
I had an hour wait for "The Nightmare Before Christmas",
so I walked around inside, making a game of staying on
the chocolate-colored tiles crisscrossing the lobby.
(smile)
Then, after that one was done, I had another hour before
"London Fields", so... I played my 'game' again.
(smile)
And after all had been viewed and I was going to my car,
a coppery glint caught my eye...
a penny!!!
Wow...
right place, right time.
i thank You, God.

winner of a major award!

Hooray!!!
I can hardly believe it's true!
I entered the "First Man" sweepstakes promoted by Regal Cinemas, using some of my Crown Club points.
That was not the only sweepstakes I entered... but it's the one I won!
Woohoo!!!
I was contacted by Gina Van Dyke of their marketing team on October 24th.
Papers had to be filled out and notarized, as the prize package is valued at $900 -
definitely a major prize!!!
Actually, it consists of four prizes: 1 Levitating Moon, 1 Zero Gravity Pen, 1 Polished Silver Finished Watch and 1 Custom Iron-On Patch.
Wow!!!
Of all the sweepstakes I entered, this was the one I won...
this one, tied to the NASA mission in the 1960's to send a man to the moon...
this one, with its footage of Launch Pad 39A in actual use...
this one, that I could most identify with after my lunch with an astronaut in May.
Incredible!!!
In a few weeks, my major prize will arrive...
maybe even before Thanksgiving...
how super-duper exciting!!!
Stay tuned!
(smile)

i thank You, God!

thanks for holding the game for me

What incredible timing!
When I returned from the movie, I tuned in to the game - to the scoreless game, in the bottom of the sixth inning - and was right place, right time to witness the Los Angeles Dodgers swinging [the bats] into action!
One run was almost immediately followed by a three-run homer!
How amazing to watch to the score change so radically!
That must have been the cue the Boston Red Sox were awaiting. For their at-bat in the top of the seventh inning, they scored a three-man homer, too!
The very next inning, the Red Sox scored another run to tie the game.
Then, in the ninth, Boston batters trotted across home plate five more times.
Wow!!!
The Dodgers weren't done quite yet, though. When their turn came in the bottom of the ninth, they had two more runs in them before they ran out of outs.
That meant a third win for Boston in this World Series.
How many runs, total, were scored in this fourth game?
Well, three times more than in the third game!
(smile)

what a thirteenth inning!

The third game of the World Series had been tied since the eighth inning.
It had been a true pitchers' duel all night long, with each team only able to score once.
I had not watched all of it, just catching bits during the commercial breaks for "Married With Children", then for "How I Met Your Mother".

For the eleventh inning onward, though,
I was tuned in solely to the baseball.
Craig Kimbrel is an interesting fellow, I must say.
His tyrannosaurus stance when he's 'listening'
to the catcher is mesmerizing, especially
with his gold chain swaying beneath his
striking beard as it points along the z-axis.
I would have liked to watch him a bit more,
but he only had that one inning for the Red Sox.
Another man took the mound for the 12th,
again just for that inning.

This Red Sox pitcher, though, had me glued to
the television for every single one of his 6'2"
super-hunky hunk o' burnin' love moves.
Nathan Eovaldi was called up for the 13th inning...
and was there, still, in the 18th, when the
low-scoring game finally was over.
The time was three thirty AM at my house.
That meant I had close-ups of him for those
six innings as he faced 22 batters, garnering
five strike-outs and allowing only three hits.

The first LA Dodger he faced was Max Muncy, a man of
his same age - 28 years old - and a former college ballplayer,
with a good sense of humor and relaxed manner.
Muncy drew a walk from the new pitcher in that 13th inning,
stealing second base on the next man's foul pop out.
The third man up had a solid infield hit coupled with an error
by Boston, bringing Max in for the Dodgers.
That matched the run scored in the top half of the inning by the
Red Sox... and matched the same sequence of events that
led to that run by the opposing team.
How utterly incredible!

The score was then two to two.
The two men, Max Muncy and Nathan Eovaldi, faced each other two more times over the course of the game.
At their next encounter, the Dodger was struck out by the Bostonian. Muncy was apparently quite impressed with the pitching, too. Max gave a nod of respect to the Red Sox pitcher as he left the field for the dugout.
Then came the Dodgers' turn at bat again, in the bottom of the 18th inning, after seven hours of play. Muncy again faced Eovaldi... and this time, Max hit a home run and gratefully took his lap around the bases!
The Los Angeles Dodgers had their first win in the 2018 World Series...
I know that made Mister Willie's 80th birthday that much sweeter.
(smile)
I'm so glad I was at the right place at the right time tonight!
i thank You, God.

I'm off to actually catch "The Sisters Brothers" now...
I look forward to more baseball when I get home!

a nice day for a good knight

Joe Pena, Andy's dad, was laid to rest today, beside his wife, Shirley.

He, like my father, had been in the US Air Force.
Joe had retired after twenty years of service to this country.
(Daddy had served for three years.)

He, like my father, had been a member of a civic-minded, well-established and historic group that benefited the community.
Joe was a member of the Knights of Columbus, an organization of practical Catholic men who were men of charitable action.
(Daddy was a Mason, a non-denominational fraternity with the object of "making good men better" through social involvement.)

He, like my father, had four children.
His were all sons, all present for the remembrance today.
(Only Smitty and I attended the celebration of Daddy's life.)

I was there today, for Joe's mass and the burial and the reception afterward.
As I told Andy, I had always respected his dad as a good man.
I'm glad so many others were there who agreed.
I'm glad to have been able to spend more time with Andy and Sheryl, with Wendy and Liam, with Conor and Ashley and little Alice.
I'm glad to have had the chance to speak to Mamie, who had been Shirley's best friend and was Joe's long-time companion. She talked to me as if we had only been separated a little while, when, in truth, it's been more than 15 years since I last saw her. She even asked about Jeff, not knowing we were divorced.
(smile)
Strange how time can seem to stand still, isn't it?
(smile)
And now, after the last blessings and kind words had been said about this friend's father, time proceeded on its forward journey, as it always does.
i thank You, God, that i was there today, to lend comfort and joy.

Now, I'm going to Wacky Wednesday with Odd Lot for them to do the same for me.