March 17 - Jake's Over-Birthday
First i need to explain the term "Over-". It is a term Megan came up with to describe having something again or more. For example, she'll wake up in the morning and have a bowl of cereal but 30 minutes later declare she's still hungry and needs her "over-breakfast". Now any time there is a second iteration of something we call it "over-" whatever.
So Jake was born on a snowy Feb 24th back in 1994. But he wasn't really due until April 1 or so and as a result of being a preemie he had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks. March 17, 1994 was the day he came home from Norwalk Hospital so we like to celebrate, or at least acknowledge that great day in Cunninghame history.
So Jake was born on a snowy Feb 24th back in 1994. But he wasn't really due until April 1 or so and as a result of being a preemie he had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks. March 17, 1994 was the day he came home from Norwalk Hospital so we like to celebrate, or at least acknowledge that great day in Cunninghame history.
Happy Over-Birthday Jake!
College Road Trip - 2nd stop Central NY
We learned a valuable lesson on the Boston trip, siblings are welcome on college tours, much to Megan's dismay.
I had hoped to save visiting upstate NY for snow season so we could check out a new ski mountain in conjunction with a college trip but an open house opportunity presented itself so we took advantage of it. It was going to be a busy 30 hours with a lot of driving but we made the best of it and took off on a Friday afternoon, destination Syracuse NY.
Checked a few options on Google Maps but elected to take a route i'd known from years ago, we headed west on 84 and north on 17. I hate it when i want to take a different route than the GPS, the damn thing yells at me to turn around or take a different exit.
On the way up we stopped at the famous Rosco Dinner. It surely is famous, says so right on the sign.
We ended getting to Syracuse around 9:00 PM. Meg was happy, the hotel pool was still open so she and Amy headed down for dip while Jake and I hung out in the hotel room. Our hotel was about 10 minutes from Syracuse University which meant we could plan on sleeping late and grabbing breakfast at the hotel before heading over.
Alarm clock goes off as planned but that was the end of our plans going as expected. Amy and Jake took showers and just as I was about to step in myself the hotel fire alarm went off. We waited a minute or two hoping it would turn off but it didn't. We grabbed coats and headed down to the parking lot. We ended up waiting outside for about 20 minutes before they let us back in. So now our schedule was off a bit. Amy, Meg and Jake went directly to breakfast while I ran back up stairs to shower. I joined them just as they finished up so i grabbed a quick bite (the food sucked by the way, free buffet breakfast isn't all it's cracked up to be) and we headed back to the room to grab our stuff and check out.
We loaded the stuff in the car and took off for the school. I noticed a tire pressure light was on for the left front tire so i pulled over and checked it. Seemed fine so we drove a bit more and stopped at a gas station where i put some air in. Light stayed on but everything seemed fine so we kept going.
We arrived at the school with time to spare so we parked and headed to the adminssions building where we waited for the tour to start. We walked around the campus but didn't go in many buildings. Of the few tours we've done the guides at Syracuse were a little below average, at least the ones we had. Nice kids but I don't think they sold the school well.
I had hoped to save visiting upstate NY for snow season so we could check out a new ski mountain in conjunction with a college trip but an open house opportunity presented itself so we took advantage of it. It was going to be a busy 30 hours with a lot of driving but we made the best of it and took off on a Friday afternoon, destination Syracuse NY.
Checked a few options on Google Maps but elected to take a route i'd known from years ago, we headed west on 84 and north on 17. I hate it when i want to take a different route than the GPS, the damn thing yells at me to turn around or take a different exit.
On the way up we stopped at the famous Rosco Dinner. It surely is famous, says so right on the sign.
We ended getting to Syracuse around 9:00 PM. Meg was happy, the hotel pool was still open so she and Amy headed down for dip while Jake and I hung out in the hotel room. Our hotel was about 10 minutes from Syracuse University which meant we could plan on sleeping late and grabbing breakfast at the hotel before heading over.
Alarm clock goes off as planned but that was the end of our plans going as expected. Amy and Jake took showers and just as I was about to step in myself the hotel fire alarm went off. We waited a minute or two hoping it would turn off but it didn't. We grabbed coats and headed down to the parking lot. We ended up waiting outside for about 20 minutes before they let us back in. So now our schedule was off a bit. Amy, Meg and Jake went directly to breakfast while I ran back up stairs to shower. I joined them just as they finished up so i grabbed a quick bite (the food sucked by the way, free buffet breakfast isn't all it's cracked up to be) and we headed back to the room to grab our stuff and check out.
We loaded the stuff in the car and took off for the school. I noticed a tire pressure light was on for the left front tire so i pulled over and checked it. Seemed fine so we drove a bit more and stopped at a gas station where i put some air in. Light stayed on but everything seemed fine so we kept going.
We arrived at the school with time to spare so we parked and headed to the adminssions building where we waited for the tour to start. We walked around the campus but didn't go in many buildings. Of the few tours we've done the guides at Syracuse were a little below average, at least the ones we had. Nice kids but I don't think they sold the school well.
I'd been to Syracuse once before, many years ago, to see a Van Halen concert. I vaguely remember the concert but had no recollection of the school itself. The campus was nice but a little too close to the city for my liking. One of our guides, a guy in is junior year, told the story of walking back to his dorm from the library and clutching 2 pencils in his hands just in case he got jumped.. Not really a good story to tell prospective students and their parents. I applaud his honesty and the point he was trying to make was how they had good campus security in that anybody who wanted an escort could get one but still odd story to tell. The bench above was a landmark pointed out on the tour, called the kissing bench. something about kissing the one you love and getting married or something like that. One parent freaked when they mentioned all the snow Syracuse gets (got to love lake effect snow!). As we walked up a hill they told us during the height of winter that the snow banks would be 9 feet tall. I liked that.. nobody else in our group did though.
We wrapped up the tour and headed off to our next destination, Ithaca College. Back in the car i figured the tire pressure light would be off after having time to reset but that was not the case. The indicator said left front tire pressure was low, 23 psi (30 is norm) so i got out and looked at it again, seemed fine so we did the hour-ish drive down Ithaca. It was a beautiful ride, as we came in through Cornell, you could see Ithaca across the way on the other hill. Amy really liked the town, said it reminded her of Fairfield CT (it didn't for me).
The Ithaca campus was gorgeous (there is a saying, Ithaca is Gorges, a play on the beauty and quantity of gorges in the area).
It was an open house and the school did a great job, very organized and well presented. We took the tour of the communications school where Jake's current interest in media lies. We got to see a lot of behind the scenes stuff. All the campus TV and radio productions are student run, giving the kids great opportunity to get hands on experience.
After the luncheon Jake and I did one final campus guided tour while Amy and Meg took a break. We got to walk through a bunch of the school buildings. This picture grabbed Meg's attention, she was really impressed with the gymnastics setup.
We all agreed that Ithaca was a great campus and the school + kids we met were fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised if Ithaca was one of the finalists on Jake's list.
We wrapped up around 3:00 and headed home. Again the tire pressure light was warning of a problem with the left front tire but it seemed fine. We drove out of Ithaca and i decided to check the pressure myself so we stopped at a gas station and purchased a pressure gauge. Checked left front - 35 psi! over inflated (slightly) from putting air in earlier that day.. i scratched my head, couldn't figure out why the light was signaling a problem. So for the fun of it i checked right front, 32 psi. right rear - 32 psi and finally left rear - 21 psi! Oh great. the indicator light was telling me the wrong info.. i pulled up to the air pump and filled the tire. as i did that i took a quick look and what did i see? i nail in the tread, right along the sidewall. :-(
I was not liking the idea of a long lonely ride back down rt17 in the dark with a potential tire problem and the spare wasn't going to last the 200 miles we needed to go so we started looking for a tire repair shop. We round one outside Binghamton NY. We dropped off the car at a Firestone and ran to Dunkin Donuts while they did the repair job. When we got back the manager informed me they couldn't fix the tire due to the location of the nail. Shockingly he didn't even have a tire to sell me, he just sent me on my way. We found another shop down the road, they were closing but took pity on me and check it out. the mechanic said he could fix it and we were back on the road 30 minutes later. The manager at the 2nd shop told me that when tires are rotated they often forget to reset the location on the car's computer which is why it was telling me the wrong tire location.
We stopped at the Roscoe Diner again for dinner and then made our way home. It was a long day, especially the last part with the tire crap but it was a fun trip.
Now we just need to start looking at less expensive schools!
College Road Trip First Stop - Boston
I'm not a fan of Boston. My hatred for the city dates way back to the 80's when, while attending college in Rhode Island, we drove to Boston for a day trip. Trying to drive around that place just sucked, people are friggin' insane in the way they drive, or don't drive.... Minding my own business driving down a four lane road and the idiot in front of me simply stops.. he gets out of his car and just walked away. Who parks like this? Boston people that's who! Wicked Awesome i tell you .... NOT! I've avoided Boston throughout my life based on this single event. 1986 world series, Mets vs. Red Sox, Boston is evil!
So Jake decides he wants to check out schools in Boston, just great.. can i drop him off in Quincy and put him on the T? I guess not.. so we have to drive to Boston. I get the shakes just thinking about it.... I have been back there a few times since the 80s and swear, every time i drive to Boston i get frustrated.... So we put the address of the Double Tree Hotel in the GPS and head off. Dropped Meg off @ Amy's sister for the night and the 3 of us continued on. MASS pike was busy as usual, even on a Sunday of a holiday weekend (Columbus Weekend). As we get into Boston we see a Double Tree Hotel right off the highway in Cambridge but checking the GPS we still had 5 miles to go so we pass the hotel and make our way further into Boston to find "our" hotel. Cross the Charles and make a right... follow the river driving a few miles.. turn right again, re-cross the Charles... turn right again and now we're headed back following the river in the opposite direction. Finally the GPS announces "your destination is on the left in .5 miles" so we look up and guess what we see.. THE SAME HOTEL WE JUST PASSED!... now i realize the city of Boston has no control over the directions my GPS gives me BUT I DON"T CARE! So we check in (early afteroon at this point) and decide to walk around. We headed over to Harvard to see what there was to see and maybe try to find Will Hunting.. Didn't see him but there was a street festival going on. seemed like 10 blocks of Cambridge were closed off, lots of food and vendors and some bands playing.. People seemed to be enjoying themselves, i wasn't, i don't like Boston.
(view from hotel)
We walked along the Charles River on the way back to the hotel. it was kind of nice, if you like scenic parks and stuff...
Sunday night we took a cab (i knew better than to try and drive more in boston) to dinner at a nice place amy found. It was a Brazilian BBQ restaurant which was really good.
Got up early Monday and drove, yes drove, to Northeastern University. Traffic was light but of course it wasn't a smooth ride. GPS said turn right... but there was NO RIGHT to make. Thankfully i have good directional skills, i worked it out on my own and we made it to the campus without too much trouble.
We did our tour of Northeastern. My impression before seeing it wasn't all that good but by the end of the tour I really liked the school and the 5 year program which includes an internship.
I was really surprised at how they managed to give you the feeling of a (somewhat) traditional campus in the middle of a city. I liked the contemporaryness (is that a word?) of the school. The people we met were all very nice and did a great job representing the school.
Next stop was Boston University. Back in the car for more city driving. But I wasn't too worried, check a map and it wasn't far. Relatively uneventful gettting there and i was shocked to find plenty of parking on the street right in front of the BU admissions building. We checked in and waited in the admissions building for the tour to start. i was not liking BU as much, based solely on appearance. The office was a converted browestone or something like that.. felt very formal and stuffy. Brick, ivy, dark wood... Then we met one of the tour guides... he rubbed me the wrong way too.. came across like a politician. but whatever. who am i to judge.
We avoided the politician and hook up with a tour guide named Megan who was in the Communcation program (Jake's interest at this time are in that area) and walked around the BU campus.
I didn't love the setting for BU, too much in the city for my liking but Jake liked it.
We got to see the student union, the library and a dorm as we walked around. The "campus" seemed much bigger than NU and i'm not sure if that is good or bad.
The third and final stop for the day was Emerson College. Back in the car for a quick ride to the center of Boston. quick? did i use that word? oh, meant to say torturous! Looked at the map, looked at my watch and said we have plenty of time. We'll stop and grab a bite to eat once we get downtown. HA! Jumped on some highway like road for a few exits and got off near downtown. GPS says 1 mile to go and suddenly traffic is at a dead stop. Once again relying on my keen sense of direction I opt to ignore the GPS and make a left... i'll just drive down a few blocks, make a right and i'll be right where i want to be... except after 1 block the road ends and my only turning option is a left since the road is one way. 10 minutes later i'm sitting in the exact same spot as i was before i took matters into my own hands... so we wait.. and wait.. traffic is at a crawl.. finally we start to move and what do we find? the stupid road we want to cross IS CLOSED for some stupid race. The road is full of runners. I can't go straight, i can't turn left...i'm stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, i'm slamming the steering wheel and using profanity. We turn right.. the opposite direction we need to go in... we keep going and going there is no way to make a left to get back where we need to go. Finally make a right and jump back on the same highway like road i was on before. this time we stayed on it in hopes of going past the school and the race and then we could circle back. That worked and we eventually found our way to the address we were given. drove around a bit and found a parking lot, walked up to the main street right at the Boston Common. we grabbed a quick bite and headed over to the admissions office. You'd have no idea you were in a college. It looks like any city block and if it wasn't for banners saying Emerson College on them you'd just assume everything was apartments and office buildings. It'd be pretty cool if you liked living in a city.. i don't. But it isn't about me.. we did our tour. It started out good but the 2 people leading it were droning on and on and on and after about 90 minutes Jake had had enough. We bailed and hightailed it out of Boston. I didn't even take any pictures @ Emerson. Emerson is a highly regarded school but I don't think Jake liked it.
End of the day - Amy and i really liked Northeastern. Jake liked BU the best. Nobody liked Emerson.
what's next?
summer's over.. ice cream's over.. too early ( just barely) for skiing.. what to type about???? college road trips!!!
have to organize pictures but will write up our adventures in finding a college for jake some time this week.
have to organize pictures but will write up our adventures in finding a college for jake some time this week.
Bonus Action
10-8-10
The eight of us went out to dinner Friday night and hit up a local ice cream shop. After stuffing our faces (and emptying our wallets) at Kobi's hibachi restaurant we stopped by the ice cream shop next door. The sign in the window says voted #2 Ice Cream Shop in CT so we figured we'd found a hidden gem in nearby Shelton CT.
Turns out the #2 designation was probably #2 in that shopping center. Most likely a distant 2nd place to the nearby Wendy's restaurant where they serve the "frosty". It was so good that I don't even remember what the name of the place was . . . . the girls did have fun on the Dino ride and we played Flintstones trivia... what was the name of the Rubbles' dog? i didn't get that one.
The eight of us went out to dinner Friday night and hit up a local ice cream shop. After stuffing our faces (and emptying our wallets) at Kobi's hibachi restaurant we stopped by the ice cream shop next door. The sign in the window says voted #2 Ice Cream Shop in CT so we figured we'd found a hidden gem in nearby Shelton CT.
Turns out the #2 designation was probably #2 in that shopping center. Most likely a distant 2nd place to the nearby Wendy's restaurant where they serve the "frosty". It was so good that I don't even remember what the name of the place was . . . . the girls did have fun on the Dino ride and we played Flintstones trivia... what was the name of the Rubbles' dog? i didn't get that one.
NOTE - i had to use google to find the name of the place - Chic's Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream
All good things must come to an end
9.26.10
or at least take a break.
The pressure of finding new places to get ice cream and have dinner was just too great, we couldn't take it any longer. This weekend was the final episode of Sundae Drive for 2010 and possibly forever...
Milford CT was our destination for dinner and we were in the mood for Italian. The original plan was to hit Olive Garden (Meg's fav) for dinner but when we called at 4:30 they already had a 45 minute wait and would not allow us to put our names in. Plan B was still Italian but Bertucci's instead. Dinner was very good. We got a big table in the corner, almost seemed like a private area and our waitress Michelle was super happy. Jake + Lorri had pizzas, I had a steak + chicken combo, Jon had a house special, Meg went with Shrimp Fra Diablo minus the diablo. Alyssa had 4 cheese ravioli, Amanda went for MAC + Cheese and Amy had a Chicken pasta dish. As always we played the "guess how much dinner cost" game and i won :-)
After dinner we headed down the road to Dip Top.
sung to the tune of Rapper's Delight -
i said a dip top the dippie the dippie
to the dip dip top, a you dont stop
the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie
to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat
We sat in the parking lot eating and everybody complained how cold it was outside, i think it was like 68! The ice cream was good. i didn't love mine, cappuccino crunch. if i dropped it i would not have ordered the same thing again. no idea what anybody else got, except for Megan cuz she got same as me but didn't eat it (its in our freezer) and Alyssa got "Crazy Vanilla" which was just regular vanilla ice cream but multi-colored. And now that i think about it a bit more, Lorri had softserv vanilla dipped in chocolate and i think Jon had softserv chocolate, at least that is what it looks like in the pic above.
So that wraps up (get it, wraps up, rapper's delight . . see the tie in? i crack me up) Sundae Drive for 2010. It was tough finding new places each week but we had fun doing it. We'll continue doing stuff together and there is talk of next summer doing "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" stealing the theme from some TV show on the food network or something like that. In the meantime we'll try to find something to blog about this winter.
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