I spent this past week in Philadelphia. For those of you following along at home, I was there just a month before, for FOSSCON and other time with friends. This time our trip was also purposeful, we were in town for the gravestone unveiling for MJ’s grandmother, to celebrate my birthday with Philly friends and to work on a secret mission (secret until November).
Before all that, I spent some time enjoying the city upon arrival. The first morning I was there I got in early and a friend picked me up at the airport. After breakfast we headed toward the Philadelphia Zoo. We killed some time with a walk before making our way up to the zoo itself, where I insisted we spend a bit of time watching the street cars (they call them trolleys) on the SEPTA Route 15 that goes right past the zoo. These SEPTA PCC cars are direct relatives to the ones that run in San Francisco, in fact, San Francisco bought a large portion of their PCC fleet directly from SEPTA several decades ago. Almost all the PCC cars you see running on the F-line in San Francisco are from Philadelphia. It was fun to have some time to hang out and enjoy the cars in their home city.
And of course the zoo! I’ve been to the zoo a few times, but it’s a nice sized one and I always enjoy going. I don’t remember them having an aye-aye exhibit, so it was nice to see that, particularly since the one at the San Francisco Zoo has been closed for some time. The penguins are always great to see, and the red pandas are super adorable.
Humboldt penguins at the Philadelphia Zoo
More photos from the zoo here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/albums/72157673262888271
Tuesday I spent working and spending time with my friend Danita. Camped out on her couch I got a pile of work done and later in the evening we went out to do a bit of shopping. That evening MJ arrived in Philadelphia from a work trip he was on and picked me up to grab some dinner.
Wednesday morning was the gravestone unveiling. According to Jewish tradition, this ceremony is completed approximately a year after the passing of your loved one and coincides with the conclusion of the year of mourning. We had 10 people there, and though the weather did threaten rain, it held out as we made our way through some words about her life, prayers and quiet moments together. Afterwards the family attending all went out to lunch together.
Thursday’s big event was my 35th birthday! In the morning I went out Core Creek Park a few miles from our hotel to go out for a run. The weather wasn’t entirely cooperative, but I wasn’t about to be put off by a hint of drizzle. It was totally the right thing to do, I parked near the lake in the park and did a run/walk of a couple miles on a trail around that edge of the park. I saw a deer, lots of birds and was generally pleased with the sights. I love autumn in Philadelphia and this was such a perfect way to experience it.
That night MJ drove us down to the city and met up with a whole pile of friends (Danita, Crissi, Mike and Jess, Jon, David, Tim, Mike and Heidi, Walt, and Paul) for a birthday party at The Continental near Penn’s Landing. I love this place. We had our wedding party dinner here, and we eat here, or at the mid-town location, almost every time we’re in town. MJ and Danita had reserved a private room which allowed for mingling throughout the night. Danita helped me pick out some killer shoes that I had fun wearing with my awesome dress and I drank a lot of Twizzle martinis (Smirnoff citrus, strawberry puree, lemon, red licorice wheel) along with all the spectacular food they brought to our tables through the night. There was also a delicious walnut-free carrot cake …with only 5 candles, which was appreciated, hah! Did I mention I drank a lot of martinis? It was an awesome night, my friends are the best.
Late Friday and into Saturday were secret mission days, but I took some time for work like every day and we also got to see friends and family both days. I also was able to get down to the hotel gym on Saturday morning to visit the treadmill and spend some time in the pool.
Our flight took us home to our kitties on Saturday evening. I’ve been incredibly stressed out lately with a lot going on with my career (work, book, other open source things) and personally (where to begin…), but it was a very good trip over all.
Rosh Hashanah begins tonight and means a day of observation tomorrow too. Tuesday and Wednesday are packed with work and spending evenings with MJ before I fly off again on Thursday. This time to Ohio for the Ohio LinuxFest in Columbus where my talk is A Tour of OpenStack Deployment Scenarios. While I’m there I also have plans to meet up with my Ubuntu community friends (including going to the Columbus Zoo!) and most of the crew I went to Ghana with in 2012.