Trotz.com

So I am far behind on my blog updates. Over the Memorial Day holiday, we packed the troops into the mini (did I mention that we bought a Honda Odyssey back in April - and that we love the thing?) and headed down 75 and I-16 to see my brother and mom. We made a big deal of ‘installing’ the DVD player - which only works on long trips, by the way - so Sam wouldn’t expect that treat on every trip around the corner. He watched the Muppet Movie (via my iPod strung to the back video inputs in the AV system) at least three times. Now he sings Rainbow Connection - so very cute that is! It was a quiet weekend, really, just trying to chill and enjoy some time away. Noah enjoyed his first dip in a pool, and we tried our best to wear Sam out by traipsing him all around downtown. Slideshow of photos from the visit are here.

Tags: memorial day, savannah

A few weeks back we were in Savannah to visit Sam’s grandma, and the highlight of the trip for the little guy was the visit to the Roundhouse Railroad Museum. Only a few hundred yards from where my dad’s store Thrifty was located, this spot was always off-limites and behind tall fences when I was a kid. Abandoned from active use back in 1960s, I often picked blackberries in the adjacent fields as a kid, and recall vividly taking photos with my Canon AT-1 as the Ranger batallion from Hunter Army Airfield practiced urban combat in the abandoned buildings in the early 80s. Anyway, it’s now a wonderful museum of train history, with at least a dozen old engines and cars, including the restored switching engine pictured above. One of Sam’s favorite books these days is The Little Engine that Could (sam loves this version the most), so seeing the tiny (not blue) engine pull the much larger full-size steam locomotive was a highlight of the trip. The ash that covered us was an unexpected memento of the visit requiring a good shower afterward, but seeing the little engine belching steam was pretty darn cool. These demos take place twice a day on weekends and are well worth checking out. For more photos, see the full gallery here.

Tags: sam, savannah, train

So off we headed to Savannah this weekend for some quality time with Grandma Rita, Uncle Jerry, and Scarlett. We stayed downtown at the Mulberry Inn (very comfy, thank you) and hung out with family for most of the weekend. We did explore downtown and it’s environs with Sammy, who had a blast riding the water taxi across the Savannah River, going bumpity-bump down the cobblestone ramps to River Street, and hanging out with our friends the Suszynski’s and their nearly 5-year-old daughter Maddie.

View a slideshow here.

Tags: Family, sam, savannah, vacation

…But his dad didn’t so much. I was down with a nasty sinus infection and managed to lose my voice, but did enjoy disconnecting from the grid for a few days as we hung out in Savannah with my mom (who was recovering from a knee replacement, but is doing just fine now), Jerry, a friend of his visiting from out-of-town, as well as the lovable mascot of the clan, the ever-friendly Scarlett. Sam was initially a bit unsure of her, but warmed up to her obvious charms quickly. Click here for the full gallery of pictures from the trip.

Tags: Family, sam, savannah, Uncategorized

My thoughts are with my dear friend Jan and her extended family this morning, as I’ve just learned that her father passed away unexpectedly on Sunday. Dr. Allan Wexler (Savannah Morning News obituary is here) was a wonderful man who raised an equally wonderful pair of daughters and fostered a wonderful home. I’ve known Jan (and her parents) since I was in kindergarten, and her father was always a smiling presence in their home. Dr. Wexler was active in all areas of his community - as a member of the B.B. Jacob synagogue, rising to the level of Lt. Colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard (165th Airlift Wing), as well as serving as a member of the board for the Savannah Association for the Blind - and let’s not forget what an avid Braves fan he was as well. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers remembrances be sent to the Georgia Optometric Foundation (donate online here or call 1.800.494.0060). Please sign the Savannah Morning News guestbook here.

Tags: friends, savannah

Although I blogged about our trip to Savannah while we were there (twice, actually), I wanted to highlight some other photos I’ve just managed to get around to posting - there are some good ones of the little guy in there. As you can see above, Sam LOVES the stairs at my Mom’s place, and wasn’t happy unless he was crawling up and down them. I’ll be on the road in San Francisco for the next few days, but hope to post some images if I find anything to shoot between meetings. Full photo gallery of the Savannah visit is here.

Tags: sam, savannah

Quick post - Sam hanging with his grandmother in Savannah, apparently dialing Taiwan with the phone Rita let him ‘borrow.’

Tags: sam, savannah

We’re in Savannah to visit Sam’s grandmother, my brother Jerry, and his dog Scarlett. Despite the heat, we paid a visit to the Revolutionary Battlefield and Roundhouse Museum this afternoon. Here is a gallery of photos from our trip to the Roundhouse.

The Savannah Roundhouse is a National Historic Ladmark site, an antebellum (circa 1851) railroad complex complete with a restored turntable where full size locomotives and rail cars could be serviced in the ‘Savannah Shops.’ The location was also the scene of the Siege of Savannah, the 1779 battle where the Americans attempted to retake the city after its capture by the British. Polish nobleman Casimir Pulsaski died fighting on behalf of the Americans, and I recall my father’s participation in various commemorations of his actions on the 200th anniversary of his death in the late 1970s. Dad was born in Poland. The nearby old Savannah Jewish Cemetery was also the scene of some of this fighting, and although closed to the public, I remember going there with my Mom as a kid and being fascinated by the bullet markings in the headstones there.

We went across the street in the heat today to let Sam get up close and personal with his new favorite obsession - TRAINS! The museum itself is great, and Sam enjoyed all the big machinery. The gravel is less-than-stroller-friendly, and the museum shop has a bit too much Thomas the Tank Engine gear; but we had a great time. I think back to my pre-teen years picking blackberries in the rambles that surrounded the then-abandoned Roundhouse Complex, and the time that the Savannah-based Army Rangers had urban warfare exercises here in the late 70s - and I watched from my Dad’s store nearby. We tried to stop in to see what Thrifty looks like these days, but they were closing up for the day - but the old turnstile I played on as a kid is still there!

Tags: sam, savannah, train

So my old buddies in the new media department of The Savannah Morning News are going all Web 2.0 and relaunching their web presence from a very 1999-era treatment to a clearly forward-looking model incorporating user generated content (blogs, flickr-like photo products etc), a clean (if gradient-heavy) design, and other helpful features like RSS. The beta of the site is available here; the old site is here. Like most newspaper sites today, there is a level of content that requires registration - but taking a page from MySpace and AIMPages, has the added benefit of giving the user a personalized home page where you can post entries, photos, link to other sites, etc. Kudos to the editorial and technical teams for putting this well conceived next-gen newspaper site together. Now if only there were a nice gallery of all my photos I shot during my time there at the then News-Press from 1989-1994, I’d be really happy!

Tags: journalism, savannah, ugc, web2.0

Three cheers for our new rep to the old alumni magazine Images, Mary Gilbreath! She took it upon herself to organize the original slackers, the Atlanta members of the Savannah Country Day School class of 1984 for cocktails and dinner. I literally had not seen some of these folks since graduation, and it was great fun to catch up. Attending were Mary Gilbreath, George Petkovich, Louise Mulherin, Mallory Troxler, Michael Friedman, Alex Cann, Kirk Lanier and myself. There was much discussion of people not in attendance (or course) and general catching up. We gathered at the Old Vinings Inn, and the food and drinks were yummy. I took a few photos - the gallery is here.

Tags: alumni, misc, reunion, savannah, scds