Fred and Valerie

We (and by “we” I mean “I”) ordered a Roomba from woot.com the other day and it’s finally shipped! It’s supposed to arrive on Saturday and because I thought it would be something interesting to do, I’m tracking the Roomba’s trip from Carrollton, TX to Stuarts Draft, VA.

UPDATE: The Roomba made it all the way to Charlotte, NC and then to Fishersville, VA yesterday. It’s actually “On [a] FedEx vehicle for delivery” as I type this! Apparently, Ground Shipping was used because it took 24 hours to get from Irving, TX to Charlotte, NC. Either that, or the plane was held up by weather. Still, it’s funny to think that the Roomba may have gotten loose and started cleaning up the FedEx trailer as it was driven to its destination, so I’ll stick with the Ground Shipping.

UPDATE: Instead of being delivered on the “Estimated Delivery Date” of April 28, our Roomba was delivered this morning! Now we can have clean floors again! Of course, it would be nice if the Roomba unpackaged itself and started cleaning our floors before we got home, but I doubt that will happen.

What’s bloomin’? In short, nothing.

BUT, there’s finally a hint of the Amsonia coming back! It’s just a few little pieces of foliage just breaking through the mulch, but it’s something!

Everything else is still foliage, but growing pretty well. I thinned out the Garden Phlox to hopefully avoid the onslaught of Powdery Mildew and they seem to have responded by growing a bit faster.

All in all, everything’s going well and I can’t wait to see the blooms!

Stella d’Oro Daylilies: Still not blooming and the foliage took a bit of a hit with the recent cold spell. It doesn’t look like the cold affected the foliage too much, but it’ll probably delay the blooms.

Garden Phlox: Still not blooming and the foliage stopped sprouting up as much with the cold spell. I’ve been told to cut them back by a third to help prevent the inevitable Powdery Mildew. I’ll work on that this weekend.

Amsonia: Still no sign of anything, yet. I’m starting to get a little worried, but can blame some of it on the cold spell.

Lamb’s Ear: Still looking good and didn’t seem to be affected too much by the cold spell except that they haven’t grown much more than they already were.

Front Irises: Still a good amount of foliage as a whole and one has multiple pieces of foliage at least 2-3 inches long. Overall, looking good, but no blooms.

Spiderwort: Still not blooming and appear to have bit hit a little, like the Stella d’Oro Daylilies, by the recent cold spell. If they’re anything like they were last year, they’ll be fine and will thrive soon enough.

Back (”Test”) Irises: Still have the smallest amount of foliage (and no blooms) as a whole and am keeping my fingers crossed that the recent cold spell doesn’t stunt them too much. I’ve been told that they may take a while, but they should produce at some point.

I know Chicago is not named the Windy City because of its gusts, but I couldn’t help but think of our area as a bit of a Windy City when I read the High Wind Warning in effect for our area (highlights by me):

— Start Warning —

A HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 AM EDT TUESDAY.

DEEP LOW PRESSURE WILL REMAIN STALLED NEAR NEW YORK HARBOR THROUGH TONIGHT. AS A RESULT…EXPECT SUSTAINED WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING. LOCALLY HIGHER WIND GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE OVER HIGHER TERRAIN. THE STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT BEFORE DIMINISHING.

A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS A HAZARDOUS HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF AT LEAST 40 MPH OR GUSTS OF 58 MPH OR MORE CAN LEAD TO PROPERTY DAMAGE…DOWNED TREES AND POWER OUTAGES.

— End Warning —

Lovely.

I just finished up Valerie’s state taxes and she got a nice little refund. I’m doing this a bit late because she owed for Federal and anytime you owe, you’re supposed to wait as long as you can. No sense in giving the government the money early, is there?

As I was saying, I finished up Valerie’s state taxes and just got the following refund message:

Refund Information
Your Refund is: $0.20

Part of me REALLY wants to choose Check for the refund method, but I think I’ll be nice and choose Direct Deposit.

March 8, 2008 in Charlottesville!

Stella d’Oro Daylilies: Not blooming, but the foliage has clearly broken through the ground/mulch on all six. All six have foliage about 6-8 inches in diameter and the foliage is thicker than last week, though a bit blown by the strong winds we had from the snow storm.

Garden Phlox: Not blooming, but the foliage has broken through the ground/mulch on all four. They look more like plants this week than they did last week.

Amsonia: Still no sign of anything, yet.

Lamb’s Ear: Foliage has broken through the ground/mulch on all six. Not a lot of difference from last week, but they’re a bit more noticeable.

Front Irises: Four have a good amount of foliage, while the other two are still barely showing much of anything.

Spiderwort: Not blooming, but the foliage has broken through the ground/mulch on all three. All three have foliage 6-8 inches in diameter and the foliage is thicker than last week, though a bit blown by the strong winds we had from the snow storm.

Back (”Test”) Irises: Two have the smallest hint of a single piece of green foliage, but the other four still aren’t showing much yet.

Finally got some pictures posted of our reception venue search. Here they are!

The Top 3

1. Stonewall Jackson Hotel
2. Colonial Heritage
3. U.Va. Alumni Hall

Thanks, but No Thanks

• Boxwood Inn
• Cavlier Hotel
• Crowne Plaza Richmond Downtown
• Fairfax Hall
• Ford’s Colony
• Founders Inn
• Greencroft Club
• Manor House at King’s Charter
• Waynesboro Country Club
• Williamsburg Hospitality House
• Williamsburg Inn/Lodge
• Williamsburg Winery

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind weekend, but the Reception Site picture is becoming more clear. Here’s the rundown on the places we visited over the past 60 hours…

• Crowne Plaza Richmond Downtown: [Friday] Set in downtown Richmond, parking is obviously a bit of an issue. $10/car for overnight parking and $5/car for the event. The facilities were not horrible, but they weren’t great either. Pretty much a conference center. Final Decision: Out
• Cavalier Hotel: [Friday] This is actually two hotels in Virginia Beach, with one (the “new” hotel) located on the beach side of the road and the other (the “old” hotel) located on the other side. We met up with Valerie’s mom here. There’s really not much to say about the “new” hotel except to say that it looks like it was built in 1970 and never updated. Ever. The old hotel features blood red wallpaper in the room we’d have to use and there’s actually a possibility of four events at the same time. Apparently, they like to, “maximize the use of the space.” No thanks. Final Decision: Out
• Founders Inn: [Friday] Although we had already checked this place out and had it as our #2 location, we made an unplanned stop to take another peek and to let Valerie’s mom see the place. We got a good look at things and, thanks to a manager asking if we needed help, got to take another look at the space. Afterwards, we pretty much ruled this one out because it didn’t really compare to our current #1 and still has the strong feeling of being a conference center. Final Decision: Out
• Colonial Heritage: [Saturday] We packed Valerie’s mom in the car and headed out to Williamsburg. Colonial Heritage is pretty much an old folks golf resort, but their facilities are great. They’re new (about a year old), look great, and the staff is very friendly. Realistically, the biggest downside to this place is that they don’t have any sleeping accomodations, which means everybody would have to stay at one of the local Williamsburg outlet mall hotels. If you don’t know, regardless of what those hotels are rated, they all come across as 1-star hotels. Final Decision: Our Current #2
• Ford’s Colony: [Saturday] We made a slightly unplanned trip out to Ford’s Colony (we had planned on checking it out later that night) to see their facilities. We have an “in” for Ford’s Colony through a relative of Valerie’s so it was worth checking out. In the end, the facilities really just didn’t fit us, which is a bit of a shame because the price would have been great! Final Decision: Out
• Williamsburg Hospitality House: [Saturday] We weren’t sure what to expect from the Hospitality House, but it wasn’t what we got. What we got was out-dated decor, dirty vents, attitude from the front desk, and much more that quickly led us to the conclusion that we would be looking elsewhere. Final Decision: Out
• Williamsburg Winery: [Saturday] Another unplanned trip, Valerie wanted to see what Williamsburg Winery had to offer since we were in town. Unfortunately, the space was kind of bland. I wouldn’t complain if I had gone to a party there, but it didn’t stand out as the place for us to have our reception. Also the $14/adult price tag for the wine (required to be Williamsburg Winery wine) was a bit much; particularly since we’re not fond of Williamsburg Winery’s wine. Final Decision: Out
• Williamsburg Inn/Lodge: [Saturday] Located in Historic Williamsburg, we kind of had high hopes for this place. Our hopes quickly became dashed when we waited 15 minutes after our appointement to find out the person we were meeting was on their way. We waited another 15 minutes for her to show up and explain that a tasting was taking longer than planned. We waited yet another 15 minutes for her to show up and finally start our tour at 4:45, when it was scheduled for 4:00. During the delay, I noticed that everytime I went by the entrance and check-in area, the distinct smell of horse manure (it’s one of “those things” about Historic Williamsburg) was present. We looked at a bunch of rooms that would only hold a rehersal dinner and then headed to Williamsburg Lodge to see the actual reception area. In the end, it ended up being too much like a conference center and not intimate enough for us. Also, things seemed to be a bit too disorganized. Final Decision: Out
• Manor House at King’s Charter: [Sunday] We were expecting this place to be more of an old house on a large plantation, but it’s more like an old house located in the middle of a new neighborhood just Northeast of Richmond. Still, the house was really nice and the woman that showed us around was great! Realistically, the only downside was that in order to accomodate the number of people we’re looking to have, they’d have to be seated in separate, but connected, rooms. Unfortunately, it’s enough to keep us from having our reception there. Final Decision: Out

And that’s the end of our exhausting weekend. In the end, we replaced our #2 location and got rid of a bunch of others. It was a highly productive weekend, but it was also highly tiring. We’re both looking forward to putting our head down on a pillow.

Our current lineup

1. Stonewall Jackson Hotel
2. Colonial Heritage
3. U.Va. Alumni Hall
   

We’re still going to check out Monticello Event Center tomorrow and may check out Barclay Villa during Easter Weekend (depends on scheduling), but we’re pretty confident this is our Top 3 for good. We should be able to finalize by the end of Easter Weekend, which would have us one week ahead of our self-imposed deadline.

What’s Bloomin’?
Stella d’Oro Daylilies: Not blooming, but the foliage has clearly broken through the ground/mulch on all six. All six have foliage about 6-8 inches in diameter.

Garden Phlox: Not blooming, but the foliage is breaking through the ground/mulch on all four. Definite difference from last week, but it’s still just breaking through.

Amsonia: Still no sign of anything, yet.

Lamb’s Ear: Foliage is breaking through the ground/mulch on all six. Not much difference from last week, but a difference none the less.

Front Irises: One or two pieces of green foliage on each one, though a couple are lagging behind. Still, good to see something.

Spiderwort: Not blooming, but the foliage has broken through the ground/mulch on all three. All three have foliage 6-8 inches in diameter.

Back (”Test”) Irises: Two have the smallest hint of a single piece of green foliage, but the other four aren’t showing much yet.

All in all, the garden is certainly more green this week than it was last week. I can’t wait for something to bloom!