A lot of commuting this week with full days in the office Monday thru Thursday, dinners on Monday and Tuesday and a Happy Hour on Wednesday. Penelope didn’t fare well on the Tuesday morning commute. The car in front of me hit a cyclist and as I stopped to check on his injuries, I was rear-ended by a minivan that then left the scene. “P” is currently at the body shop being repaired. Fortunately the damage is minimal due to the fancy Porsche rear impact deflector guards.
We streamed the movie “Meru” on Amazon. Great climbing movie with all the usual set backs and tragedy of this genre. Jon Krakauer did great narration. The team ultimately were the first to summit Meru.
From Wiki:
After attempting but failing to summit Meru in 2008, Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk return to the mountain in order to conquer its peak – a 4,000 foot wall known as the “Shark’s Fin”. As they climb, the men also document their ascent. “You know, I’m always a climber first,” said Chin on balancing climbing with filmmaking. “I’m always thinking about the safety of myself and the team. And I make that evaluation before I take the camera out.”[2] The film is a mixture of footage that chronicles both attempts (the failed 2008 and the successful 2011) while crafting a narrative about the climbers’ attempts to face their demons. After suffering a horrific accident while filming on location with Mr. Chin, Mr. Ozturk has a mere five months to recover before their second attempt, battling near-fatal injuries. Four days after Mr. Ozturk’s accident, Mr. Chin returns to the filming location to finish but is caught in a catastrophic avalanche that he miraculously survives with barely a scratch. Mr. Anker wrestles with bringing his mentor’s dream to fruition and the loss of both him and his climbing partner many years ago.
On Saturday afternoon we saw “Miles Ahead” a pseudo-biopic of Miles Davis starring and directed by Don Cheadle. I give it a solid C – the plot was pretty convoluted around a stolen master tape of Miles’ return to music after 5 years – but the historical recaps and the music were good. Ewan McGregor seemed quite out of place as a Rolling Stone journalist with a Scottish accent who befriends Miles. Particularly enjoyed the “current day” Miles band at the end featuring Gary Clark Jr, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter.
On Sunday we did the typical early dinner while Alicia attended her SAT prep class. Coal Vines in Plano was the destination this week – good sausage and pepper pizza, over-priced and weak Manhattan, and a Dallas Blonde beer from Deep Ellum brewery. We finished out the week with the usual Madam Secretary and Good Wife viewing.