Where are You From?

Why is this a hard question?

Well, sometimes it is. 

While hanging out tailgating in the parking lots outside M&T Bank Stadium where the Ravens played on Thursday night with my oldest son, I heard that question about origins more than I have heard it spoken in a long time.


And it turns out I had a problem with the question. Sometimes the question is not clear. Really!

Did the questioner mean to ask about what community I am living in right now? Or where I drove into the game from?

Did the person want to know where I was born? Or grew up? Or where I call home? Or some other place that I may have an attachment to? Did they mean country? Or state? Or county?

For some people, I realized,  the answer is relatively easy--they are form the same place where they have lived their entire lives. Not so in my case.

I really started to think deeper about the question when my son answered it with a place name for a town where I had never lived and I realized that the question had potentially many twists and turns in the answers. 

In my mind, he was from everywhere. That is how his childhood was characterized, following me career around the world and moving every two to three years and therefore never really becoming deep in a community. 

I chose to answer the question more simply by indicating the place where I have lived for the past almost 13 years. But, I could have chosen to name another small town in upstate NY as the place where I was from--but the question seemed to be looking for a more local answer. 

There is a need to be FROM somewhere, I realized. 

The correct answer to the question may be "that depends" but that would be a definite conversation killer.

Where am I from? I am from a lot of places with a lot of experiences, but the easiest answer is that I am from Elkridge.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - December 2, 2013

1. December crept onto the scene over the weekend. There are only 22 shopping days left until Christmas. 

2. If someone says it's not a competition, it probably is.

3. Black Friday is black because people shop from before the sun rises until well after it sets.

4. The annual Black Friday family Axis and Allies game ended historically accurately again. My dreams of world domination were crushed by the Allies once again.

5. We visited the annual Kennedy Kreiger Institute Festival of Trees this weekend. My favorite tree was the Baltimore Orioles 60th Anniversary tree. How cool was it that I decided to wear some Orioles gear?

6. How awesome was the last play of the Auburn-Alabama game? Not in terms of who won, but in terms of how a tied score 28-28 factored into an ill-advised Alabama field goal attempt that led to Auburn's thrilling 109 yard run back win. I wish I had seen it live!

7. Read an interesting article about how root rot is threatening Christmas Tree production.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Christmas is in the House

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is our decorating day and yesterday was no exception. With the movie The Santa Clause playing in the background, supplemented by music of the season, we "Christmafied" the house. And somewhere during the day Chris also rendered the former Thanksgiving turkey into a soup.

Of course there was the obligatory trip to Lowe's for emergency supplies, new lights for the tree, when it became apparent to some that my attempt to swap out one string of lights for a non-functional one resulted in two different colors of lights on the tree: yellow-white and white-white. This, I was informed, was a major decorating faux pas. I admit, I never saw the difference. But it worked out because we purchased two Christmas gifts while we were out thereby contributing to the holiday retailer's profit margin.

But the best part about decorating this year was found in two new "toys." The Polar Express train circling under our tree is one and the new remote control lighting switches that we installed to control the lights is the other. No more crawling on the floor to turn on the Christmas Tree and all of the associated lights. 

Columbia Mall Poinsettia Tree

I am sure there will be more decorations to hang before the season is complete. We are undecided about setting up the Snow Village this year. While it will be hard to break an almost 30 year tradition, I'm not "feeling it" this year. Time will tell. 

I did have the chance to snap a quick photo of my favorite shopping mall decoration this year--the Poinsettia Tree in the Columbia Mall. Yes, I was out shopping with Chris on Black Friday for a few short, although seemingly eternal, hours. 

Another check in the holiday checklist is accomplished.

Next up? Shopping. Ugh! 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Riding the Polar Express into Christmas

The Polar Express

All aboard the conductor yells and with a clanging bell and a shrill whistle the dreams of Christmas begin and are fulfilled in a young boy's life--so the story goes.

Today is the day after Black Friday and the traditional Christmas decorating day for my family. Trees will be erected and decorated and the Thanksgiving turkey will make its last ride back into storage for another year. 

The Polar Express on the Rails

The Polar Express has become one of the iconic Christmas stories. We have been reading it on Christmas Eve for many years--since 1986 when the story won the Caldecott Medal. We ave loved the story and the magic which it recreates in our hearts every time we read it. Can you still hear the bell?

This year, I finally have my own Polar Express train set to set up under our Christmas tree. I also have these awesome images of a "real" Polar Express riding the rails sent to me by a friend from Colorado. This is the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad version of the Polar Express.

It is time to put away the turkey, make some soup with the leftovers, break out the cocoa and the Christmas decorations and get to work. The Polar Express is ready to ride the rails into my living room and my heart. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Surviving Ravens-Steelers: The NFL Needs to Clean up the Fans

M&T Bank Stadium
November 28, 2013

It was cold. Let me start there. I was prepared for the cold and for the most part, except at the very beginning of the evening, I adapted to the sub-freezing temperatures and enjoyed myself.

The game was good--I have to like the outcome because the Ravens held on, literally, by stopping a two point conversion to secure victory on their home turf. 

Me and Jeremy before the Game

I was lucky enough to attend my first Ravens-Steelers NFL football game in person with Jeremy--a rabid, but reserved, Steelers fan. He had been there before and knew how the evening would unfold. I wore my venerable Todd Heap, number 86, Ravens jersey and Jeremy wore his usual Ben Roethlisberger, number 7, Steelers jersey. 

We had an awesome time tailgating before the game and met up with many other great people who were looking forward to the game. 

But, once we entered the stadium,  things changed. I feel compelled to condemn a significant, but small, percentage of fans who feel that they must abuse those wearing gear from the visiting team. It bothered me a lot. The slurs I heard directed at Jeremy and other Steelers fans were uncalled for--whether children were present (which they were) or not. 

I admit that the slurs and the nasty behavior of a few fans put a damper on my enthusiasm for the game. In one sequence of uncalled for nastiness near the end of the game while the outcome was still in the balance, a man in front of us grabbed Jeremy's Terrible Towel, uttered words about his parentage and how by waving his towel he was disrespecting his wife, threatened Jeremy when he returns next year to the Ravens-Steelers game, and threw the towel towards the edge of the stadium where another fan helped it to fall down from the upper level into the stadium below. 

Jeremy displayed an awesome sense of composure and we managed to get out of the situation without being surrounded by police and thousands of other drunken fans. 

I know how I feel when Yankees or Red Sox fans come into Camden Yards--but I never will abuse them nor do I tolerate those who do. They bought a ticket and they have a right to enjoy the game. I just hope the home team wins and they go home losers. Nuff said.

The NFL needs to get control of the unacceptable behavior. In baseball, there are ushers everywhere who help manage the rowdiness. That may be the answer. I did not see an usher anywhere all evening. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Happy Thanksgiving - 2013

Turkey and the Snowman

The Holiday to begin The Season has arrived. Thanksgiving dawned with clear and cold skies. The season of the Turkey comes to a gut gorging conclusion later today with dinner and football and wine. 

Thanksgiving is the holiday that every American can celebrate--there are no overt religious overtones to divide us from the celebration and it truly is--not a memorial or remembrance type of day. Thanksgiving is the holiday to give thanks to God for his blessings and also say thank you to the ones you love for being there during the past year through the good times and the not so good times. 

Thanksgiving is also a time to remember those from whom we are separated--but to give thanks for them and their love and support.

Thanksgiving is also a transition point. The time when the turkey and harvest decorations give way to the winter and Christmas decorations. The snowman is already trying to push the turkey off its briefly held perch in front of the fireplace. 

Give thanks. Have a great day and don't forget to phone home.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Snarled Traffic on the Rain Swept Roads

Last evening's drive after work was an experience I hope not to repeat soon. My usual 15 minute trip extended to almost 45 minutes because the snarled traffic. The Parkway was jammed and then my next road, Route 100,  was not moving presumably because I-95 was also at a stand still and there just wasn't anywhere for the traffic to go. 

The lights of the cars reflecting off the rain drenched road were strangely fascinating. I took the image while stopped on Route 100--waiting for whatever it was I was waiting for and for which I never discovered. 

The cars and lights were blurred in an almost impressionist painting style, except that I was expected to drive home in the storm. The dark sky of the early evening, it was only just about 5 PM, reminded me that this was winter's calling card.

Storms in Maryland bring out the worst in drivers. As I was waiting in the traffic looking at the long line ahead trying to merge, I was amazed that a mail truck, yup USPS, drove on the shoulder to until where the traffic was joining and then muscled into the lane. My guess is that the driver was late getting back to the post office and wasn't getting authorized overtime. The driver certainly was not delivering the mail.

Dangerous decisions fueled by frustration.

Be careful, its a jungle out there.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

'Twas The Week Before Thanksgiving Storm

The wintery weather is arriving and is already canceling holiday plans. People who had failed to include weather options in their travel plans are not going to be sharing Thanksgiving dinner with the people that had originally planned on seeing.

That is sad and serves to remind us that we need to be smarter and allow for rapidly changing plans. This storm did not just appear out of nowhere. It has been forming for the better part of the week. And we have been watching it come together.

And now it is here!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Who is the turkey now?

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - November 25, 2013

1. Why does cold weather make me ant to move further south? It is 20 degrees outside this morning. 

2. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the study of Apologetics until church yesterday.

3. The football season grown more interesting and complex with a large number of teams in the AFC sporting 5-6 records. Thursday's game between the Steelers and the Ravens promises to be interesting and cold. I will be there, freezing and cheering in the stands.

4. Snow is besieging much of the country. Winter is on the cusp of taking control of our weather.

5. On this date in 1949, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" appeared on the music charts. Tomorrow, two days before Thanksgiving, the TV adaptation of the song airs on CBS. Although it is my favorite holiday TV special, it is just a little premature.

6. While standing next to Chris's car pumping gas in the frigid, winter-like weather today I realized that no one ever fills my gas tanks. Later during the still too cold day, I had to fuel my own vehicle.

7. Leaves are ubiquitous. I removed them from the yards on Saturday and for a few hour everything looked very nice. Sunday morning, many of them had returned meaning I need to start all over again. It is a vicious cycle.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Thanksgiving Sprint

My Thanksgiving Door Topper

It's the week before Thanksgiving and the stress is already apparent. The impending holiday season is no longer something to deal with in the future--it has arrived.

The first presents of Christmas have already begun arriving at the door thanks to the magic of Amazon and UPS. Snow has begun pelting much of the country with not just trace amounts but significant accumulations, just to add to the ambiance.

The Christmas decorations are beginning to shine on some houses in my neighborhood and on my house they are ready to illuminate Black Friday. 

The November race to Thanksgiving is nearly complete and then begins the shortest possible 3 week and 6 day final sprint to Christmas! This has been that unique year where the time between Halloween and Thanksgiving (4 weeks exactly) is longer than the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas! If the shopping hasn't been started, you are already late. There is a depressing thought.

So, let the partying begin! The elves are massing at the front door in anticipation of the season. 

BUT FIRST, take some time to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday full of family, football, and fun! Then let the panic ensue, it is gonna be a crazy holiday season.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD