Geoffrey H Wood

One of the goals on my "list of things to do at some point in my life" is to write and publish a book. I've been an avid reader, and writer, for most of my life and I've always thought that a natural extension of that would be write my own book.

Sunday morning started oddly when I awoke and looked across the room to the other bed to notice that Nick was missing. However, there was an odd stain on top of the still-made comforter and Nick was huddled in the corner of the room with the fake blanket that nice hotels tend to leave at the foot of the bed. I'll leave it up to you to decide what happened but Nick blames on the fact that he was awake for 20+ hours with all the travel and the late night, eh, "festivities" the day before.

From Washington DC 2008

From Washington DC 2008

From Washington DC 2008

You know that you're getting older when you try to sleep-in and catch up on sleep but are still out of bed by 9 AM. Such was the case for me on Saturday morning. All is well though, since my good buddy, Nick, was flying out from back home that morning. Nick's wife had stayed home with their two sons and he had decided to split a room with us so I was looking forward to hanging out with him for the weekend. Hope and I waited around for him but finally caved to hunger and grabbed some fancy pitas from Cosi just as Nick called to say he was at the hotel.

We ate quickly and trekked the few blocks back to the Bethesda Hyatt. We found Nick, got him settled, then took off to get him some lunch (and us some drinks). We settled on the swank Redwood Restaurant and Bar in the Bethesda Row shopping area. After a confusing bout with the waiter over pickles, a ceramic tub of butter, and a lack of mayo, Nick and I decided to head back to the Irish pub from the night before to watch some football for the afternoon while Hope window-shopped.

From Washington DC 2008

Next up was the rehearsal dinner(1) so we quickly got changed and headed down to the lobby bar for some drinks with Matt's family. However, we weren't that quick and we had to take our beers to go through the courtesy of a few Starbucks cups that I noticed where left over on the bar from breakfast. Our ingenuity really impressed Matt's dad, Flip.

From Washington DC 2008

Dinner was a boat cruise that started at the waterfront and went down the Potomoc. We saw great views of the riverfront and many of the monuments as well as enjoyed great Chinese food and bottles of Yeungling(2) along with Matt and Jane and their families. One of my favorite parts of the night was sitting out on the upper deck with Nick and Matt listening to Mrs. Potter's Lullaby on the iPod. You see, we all went to high school together in Cedar Rapids but while Nick and I chose to spend our collegiate years at I-State, Matt decided to get all collegial at Creighton. However, Matt did spend one excellent summer with us in Ames and brought with him the Counting Crows. We had known of the Counting Crows obviously but that was the summer we all became fans (thanks to Matt). Ever since, whenever someone plays Mrs. Potter's Lullaby we raise a glass to Matt. Cheers.(3)

From Washington DC 2008

After the cruise it was time for more drinks at the lobby bar. We sat down with Matt's step-dad, Joe, who refused to let us pay for any drinks. The bar closed early, and Nick wanted to watch the end of the Red Sox game, so we tried to hit up the bar at the hotel restuarant (to no avail). Matt, his dad, his cousin, Nick and I then went across the street to Tommy Joe's. Flip bought a round of drinks (I tried but he wouldn't let me) and then he, Matt, and the cousin turned in. Nick and I stayed to the end of the game (Red Sox lost) which just about coincided with last call. 

(1)Though the rehearsal was actually the next day, so maybe it was just "dinner" (2)I'm a big fan, if anyone's making a run from the Mid-Atlantic to the Midwest, please pick me up a case. (3)Or, as Nick says, salute.

My old buddy Matt finally married his long-time girlfriend Jane this past weekend.

Conveniently for us, the wedding was in Washington, DC. I've always enjoyed Our Nation's Capital and ever since we got engaged there in 2004 it's become an annual trip for the wife and I.

From Washington DC 2008

The wedding was on a Sunday(1) so knowing that we'd be taking a PTO day on Monday and we decided to stretch the trip out a bit and left first thing Friday morning. Our early departure time and direct flight allowed us to land, Metro to the hotel, meet Matt to grab my tux, try on the tux and Metro downtown by lunchtime. We try to hit up a new museum each time we're in the area and we bowed to the power of suggestion(2) and decided to check out the International Spy Museum. From there we walked over to the National Mall and hit up the National Museum of the American Indian, the newest of the Smithsonians. I'd noted the architecture on past trips and always wanted to check it out but had not had the chance. Now, my overall impressions are tainted a bit because we working on only a few hours of sleep, but I wasn't as impressed as I had been at Air & Space and American History. One reason may be that there just didn't seem to be that many exhibits in the place - a good section of the building was just a massive atrium. 

From Washington DC 2008

From there we took the Metro to Chinatown to meet up with my cousin Dave and his wife Katrina for dinner. They picked out the Matchbox "an american pizza bistro" known for a massive gas torch out on the patio. We were lucky to get a seat on the patio but unfortunately they had discontinued the torch to be more earth-friendly. Dinner was good, though, and we had a great time reconnecting with Dave & Katrina.

From Washington DC 2008

After dinner we called up Matt and Jane and found out they were having drinks at Irish pub in Bethesda just down the street from our hotel. We took the train and joined them for a Guinness or two before we called it a night.

(1)Washingtonians actually celebrate federal holidays so a lot of folks had Monday off from work. (2)Lots of International Spy Museum ads in the Metro

Over Thanksgiving Weekend, Hope and I roadtripped from my folks place in Arkansas back to Cedar Rapids for my Ten Year High School Reunion.

The reunion was over two nights, the first was a casual night at the bar(1) and the second was a more formal reception at the Crowne Plaza downtown. Both nights were interesting; I readily recognized some people, others looked familiar but I couldn't think of their names, others had names that I recognized but looked totally unfamiliar, and still others were completely foreign to me and I'm not sure if they were really in my class.

I enjoyed both nights and really appreciate the folks that put it together. We did not have a five year reunion and our class officers(2) were apparently not interested or unable to be involved. I had a pretty good time and I'm probably more excited now for the twenty year event than I was before this one.

I didn't really do my part(3) and send in my information so that it could be compiled and distributed to everyone else, however, it's neat to read about what people are up to. People have moved coast-to-coast and others are still in town. Many people are married, some are not. Many have kids, some have several (I think the highest count was 4). Only one person submitted a narrative and it's by far my favorite:

"Greer, Sarah

Sarah is alive and well in New York City. She is a schooner captain and manager of a charter boat company in Chelsea. She has spent some time sailing off Maine, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean as well. Shoot me [an] email [if] you're in the big apple"

A schooner captain? Wow. This could be completely accurate or completely false. Either way, it's pretty awesome.

(1)"Third on First" which, as far as I know, is the only bar that Kennedy folk go to. (2)Apparently being elected class president is one of the few positions that obligates you to virtually nothing until ten-eleven years in the future. (3)other than showing up

In honor of our second wedding anniversary(1) Hope and I decided to take a quick trip to Cleveland this past weekend. A couple years ago, when we moved to Indy we decided we wanted to do as many weekend getaways to drivable locales as possible and this if officially our third(2).

I was a little dissapointed in the large exhibitions. They had one each on the Van's Warped Tour, Pink Floyd, The Clash, and the artist Phillip Burke. I would rather have seen several of the past exhibits like Dylan, the musical Tommy, or John Lennon. The Pink Floyd exhibit was part of the stage set for 90's concert featuring The Wall; it actually had us walk through the bricks and featured a 25' version of "the teacher". The Burke exhibition was my favorite of the four. I wasn't familiar with his work but I really enjoyed his work. We even purchased a HOF edition print of this one:
After the HOF we decided to hit up an Irish pub to have some dinner, drink some Guinness and reminsce about our honeymoon. I found Flannery's Pub online and it looked like a place that would work. We had a little trouble finding the place and were just getting ready to turn around when we heard some bagpipes. Flannery's was a lot of fun and we struck up a conversation with the couple next to us, Charlie & Kristin, who were in town to visit the HOF from New York. We had a great time and the four of us nearly closed down the bar.(5) I also decided a Guinness or two into the night that it would be fun to collect t-shirts from Irish pubs and $20 later I have successfully collected one.

(1)March 12, 2007 (2)Cincinatti, OH in June 2005 and Louisville, KY in September 2006 (3)580 mi per GoogleMaps (4) Too much Robbie Robertson though, as expected (5)Thanks to DST they closed early

It worked so well last year that we decided to continue with the e-Christmas, er rather, e-New Years’ letter for 2006.

On the move!
The year started quick as we had decided in late 2005 that after nearly a year in the condo that we were definitely “house people” and needed more room for the both of us and our dogs. In early January we closed on a house on the northeast side of Indianapolis that more than doubled our square footage! We’ve truly enjoyed our first year in the house that is only minutes from Geoff’s work and has easy access to the interstate for Hope to get downtown.

Who's here? Who's her? Hoosier? What the..
2006 was our second year as transplanted “Hoosiers’ and we’ve had a lot of fun getting to know more people here in the city. We’re still active in the leadership group for the Indianapolis Cyclone Club and enjoy regular Iowa State gamewatches with friends we knew from school and other Indiana Iowa Staters we’ve met since we got here. The picture at the right is the two of us with former Cyclone star and current Indiana Pacer Jamaal Tinsley at Iowa State Night at Conseco Fieldhouse. For the second half of the year we’ve been participating in a small group for young married couples at our church and enjoy the bi-weekly bible study and other social functions with the group. We enjoyed hosting many of these friends and their four-legged kids at a birthday party for our yellow lab Levon (4 years old already!) at the Broad Ripple Dog Park.

We’re very grateful to Geoff’s co-worker Chad and his wife Jackie who have integrated us into their group of friends in Indianapolis. We enjoyed many nights barbequing, playing bocce ball or cornhole (back in Iowa we called this “the bean bag game”), weekend days on the boat out at Geist Reservoir and even the few rounds of “flippy cup”. We also had a great time with this group camping and boating on Lake Monroe in August. Not to mention we all play together in an organized adult kickball league! We returned the favor when we hosted Chad and Jackie in Ames for the ISU-Nebraska game. We all had an excellent time (save the game) and the Cyclone faithful really showed this Purdue and IU couple how to tailgate, not to mention introduced them to FAC at Peoples.

Track the Storm!
As you’ve probably guessed we made a lot of road trips to Ames for football games this fall. The scores certainly weren’t what we hoped for but the tailgating was excellent as expected. We’re ever grateful to Austin and Mel, Kerry and Renee, and Chad and Mandy for volunteering their spare bedrooms for such visits. With new coaches in basketball, football and wrestling in Ames for 2007 the buzz for the future is truly exciting for Cyclone fans. After one early game Geoff and friend Justin Washburn met new basketball coach Greg McDermott.

Occupational exploits
We are both enjoying our jobs; Hope continues as ACSM’s Assistant Director for Certification and recently opened a side business “The Fitness and Wellness Company” doing personal training and wellcoaching (you’ve probably already received a letter or card ;). It was a busy year for her group but paid off recently when one of the certifications she manages was accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, which is integral to compete in her field.

Geoff had a big year at work with two promotions, first as the GIS Product Manager and very recently as the Information Technology Director for a large civil engineering, GIS, and survey firm headquartered in Indianapolis. He’s keeping busy balancing the two positions and working with his developers and pc and network technician staff in Indianapolis, Ames, and Charlotte, NC. The firm is still growing strong, now with eight offices in Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina and most recently Tennessee.

Leav-in' On A Jet Plane...
Work travel kept pace with 2005 as Hope had great opportunities through work to visit Orlando, Louisville, Denver, Charleston, Harrisburg, PA, Westfield, MA and fabulous Las Vegas and Geoff had trips to Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston and several trips to Southwest Florida (as well as trips to the Iowa office nearly every month).

Hope took a couple days off in December to travel back to Iowa in what became a flurry of visits to her siblings, parents, grandparents and friends.

Geoff enjoyed another “Annual Mid-Summer Get Together” at the cabon in Wisconsin with the boys from back home and its annual precursor gathering at the D’Amico house in Cedar Rapids for the NFL Draft party.

We took a personal weekend trip over Labor Day to Louisville, Kentucky and enjoyed touring the horse track at Churchill Downs and 4th Street Live! complex.

We went to Geoff’s cousin David’s wedding in Washington, DC and had also had a great visit with longtime friend Matt Klinger and his girlfriend Jane. This picture was taken while the four of us were hiking the Billy Goat Trail along the Potomac River in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park (we’re standing in Maryland and Virginia is across the water).

teaghlach
Geoff’s folks Mike and Cathy and his youngest brother Sean have settled in nicely to their new home in Bella Vista, Arkansas and we had the benefit of visiting them for both Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving. Brother Joe and his wife Mary are doing well downtown in Des Moines and his newlywed sister Sara and her husband Ryan Keller are in Montezuma, Iowa.

Dixie and Gary are still on the farm near Westgate but Hope's sister Heidi and niece Bailey undertook an exciting move to Mount Pleasant, Iowa where Heidi took on the position of Career Counselor at Iowa Wesleyan College. Her brother Heath and his wife Amy are doing well in Cedar Rapids with their daughters Lauren and Alli and are expecting a third child later this year.

Thanks again for finding our letter online and taking the time to read what became a fairly lengthy discourse. We wish everyone a prosperous 2007!

Love,

Hope and Geoff