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Miscellaneous Events!
- Elections results
Congratulations to the new officers:
President: Joe Brenner
Vice President: Bill Sell
Corresponding Secretary: Barb Pitcock
Board Members: Dan Artley and Scott Baynes
- October 31 - Halloween party (Theresa)
- November 14 - Thanksgiving in the Woods
- December 12 - ACT Holiday Party
- Yoga anyone?
Any one interested in Yoga classes? I go the Yama studio on Tuesday
evenings at 7 pm. This class is held by Katherine and lasts until about
8:45. Drop in cost is $14.00 per class.
YAMA STUDIO is located 5710 Bellona Avenue near York Road. You can
check out their web site.
www.yamastudio.com (Zeke)
- Twelve months of Adventures in Dining
May is “Cinco de Mayo” month – so, of course, we will be going Mexican!
Ole! Rather than get caught up in the crazy crowds for the actual May 5
date, let’s do the Cinco de Mayo un poco tarde (that’s espanol for “a bit
late”!)
So we will be celebrating “Siete de Mayo” on Thursday, May 7, instead. I
was thinking about returning to the little Mexican restaurant on
Philadelphia Road in Rosedale. That place was very authentic and
inexpensive (and BYOB, including glasses!) Let me check it out to see if
it’s still open! Anyone have any other good Mexican suggestions? Let me
know. (Barb P.)
| Date |
Place | Time |
| Jan. 26 | Chinese New Year celebration |
6:30 PM |
| March 19 | A-Wee-Bit-Late St. Patty's
celebration | 6:30 PM |
| May 7 | Un-Poco-Tarde Siete de Mayo
celebration | 6:30 PM |
| July 9 | No dining adventure |
? PM |
| Sept. 17 | TBA |
6:30 PM |
| Nov. 3 | TBA |
6:30 PM |
- Weird, Wacky Baltimore
Any thoughts? Put on your thinking caps and come
to the planning meeting in January with some great ideas for out-of-the-
way, weird and wacky places to visit. (Barb P)
Here is the schedule for the Weird Wacky Baltimore events:
| Date |
Place | Time |
| March 16 | Science Center 'Body Worlds 2' exhibit |
? |
| April | <No plans |
? |
| May 17 | Baltimore Duck Tour |
11:30 AM |
| June 22 | TBA |
? |
| July 20 | TBA |
? |
| Sept. 14 | TBA |
? |
| Nov. 9 | TBA |
? |
Follow-Ups to ACT Events
by Scott W.
During the month of March and April ACTers took 2 little jaunts that
are highly recommended to all.
- It was a dark and stormy night . . .
Six intrepid Adventurers set out to get dinner and a drink one evening in
the nearby city of Brotherly Love. The rain poured down in sheets, but
still Jim Mitchell and Barb Pitcock brought us safely to the trendy part
of town, recommended by one of my coworker friends. We found a spot to
leave the cars that seemed to be perfectly legitimate places to park.
After a short walk we stepped into the Urban Saloon for a drink and
some munchies. Spirits were high, the World Series was in town, and
Philly's fans abounded. We sampled some local brews and had tasty food.
The next thing we knew, we were accused of illegal parking and thrown
into nearby maximum security Eastern State Penitentiary! Clearly,
parking laws are strict in Philadelphia because inside the prison's
imposing stone walls, we found ourselves in YARD OUT in line with MANY
other people outside the cell blocks. Cruel guards taunted us as we stood
in the pouring rain waiting for a turn to plead our innocence. They tried
to wear us down with psychological tactics - multiple video screens
depicted the horrors that might await us once inside.
Finally, we could step up to the intake desk. Surely, we could explain
that we were from out of town and clear up any misunderstandings about
parking zones. We'd have been happy to pay a small fine. But INSTEAD- the
cruel warden yelled, What are ya standing around for? Get inside! We
were forced to run through the rabbit warren-like intake process. At one
point, we were even separated - men from women!
Soon we were all reunited once in LOCKDOWN. There was no new prisoner
orientation and we were terrified by the strange new world of crumbling
prison walls, dark corridors, slamming doors and strange inhabitants. We
soon discovered that our new home was laid out in radiating design with
long cell blocks connecting to a central guard station. There was no easy
escape! Soon it was clear that not only were there other inmates in
Eastern State, but also ghostly former inmates and demons haunting the
place. Luckily Trish, Barb and I were able to protect Scott, Jim and Mike
since they were all terrified. At one point, just when Jim was feeling
safe waiting in line in the central hub, he was attacked by a demon and
just barely managed to escape her clutches.
We soon found that our new home was big, as much as eleven acres. It took
us some time to make our way through to the Mess Halls and Kitchens. They
put us on hard labor shifts in the Laundry rooms and the morgues. We only
got short breaks in which we were allowed to stand outside between the
cell blocks. We tried to plot our escapes, but no idea seemed like it
would work.
All of us were forced to participate in a cruel mind altering experiment
in which we were issued 3D glasses and marched through a terrifying,
wildly colored altered reality. We began to believe that we really were
guilty of illegal parking! I thought I would lose my senses when the
walls appeared to come ALIVE and leap out at us! Finally the experiment
was over and we were allowed to remove the 3D glasses. There had to be a
way to escape or get a message to the outside world.
We just barely recovered our grip on reality when all outside light was
extinguished! As an emergency measure, the inmates were issued tiny
keychain lights. At first there was hope! -- but it was dashed when
there were no keys attached to the chains. It was clear we had to bust
out! We ran through the darkened and crumbling corridors, past demons and
globins that would have driven us mad if we could fully see them! Finally
we burst out into the rainy night! FREE AT LAST! We were so happy that
it seemed like the music and smell of delicious food had to be real!
Our first act as free people was to hurry over to a local coffee shop and
get a warming drink. Once the terror had faded a bit, we made our back
to where we had left the cars. Would they still be there after what
seemed like years? They were! They were! The six adventurers finally
escaped the city limits of Philadelphia. (Laura)
- Body Works II
In March about 6 or 7 of us went to the BODYWORKS exhibit at the
Maryland Science Center at the Inner Harbor. Very interesting. It
stays until Sept. 1, 2008.
This is not a trip for the morbid. If you want morbid, I'm sorry but
it is off to the movies for you. However, the idea is strange --
vacuum pack a recently deceased body with silicon polymers, put it in
the position you want, and then slice and dice. Then finally off to
the museum -- with the deceased's permission, of course.
However, as dead people these guys are posing. They may well be dead,
but they aren't dead looking or real looking. I was fascinated; but
after two hours, I still didn't think of them as ex's. They just
weren't real.
But I now know 3 times more about the space I inhabit than before I
made this exhibit. Hip replacements, heart attacks, black and
cigarette lung -- they were all there and weren't so scary. It was
more like a trip to the garage with the car. The mechanic let you
watch him disassemble the engine while he explained why the rings get
worn, only a little more personal.
Overweight? Not me! However, my favorite was the tiny little 300 to
400-pounder who they sawed into a 2 inch slab. Yup, right down the
middle. I saw him as a rather colorful surf board. However, as
several people pointed out to me Look! Inside is a tiny normal
person. Just so the point couldn't be missed, they had a healthy
subjectively normal person next door.
Another notable exhibit to me was what happens when you ski into a
fixed narrow object. It wasn't really like that. It was a person on
skis and they started rearranging him from his middle to his outside
in layers to show you how the muscles function while skiing. However,
with his glass eyes wide open and his body heading left and right, I
envisioned why I don't ski.
Don't miss this exhibit. You might even be seeing the future of the
funeral industry. This would affect the housing industry because
we'll need more and bigger closets. After all, who wants to be the
one that tosses grandma. Maybe even social issues: I'm sorry I can't
do this with him watching. Our future may be downtown. After all,
the only difference between embalming fluid and vacuum packed with
silicon polymers may be the coffin and a grave plot. It does take up
a little more space than the urn on the fireplace mantle, but for the
couple that didn't talk much anyway, there is that sense of normality.
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