Aviously

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

@iAmAviG

December 5, 2016

America’s dorkiest actress has written the dorkiest autobiography/memoir of 2016 and that equals sheer perfection.

Anna Kendrick is the teenager we all were, the adult we crave to be, and this book is full of stories we all had (or wish we would have had).

From her struggles moving from Maine to NYC to LA as well as living in subpar housing. Dorking her way through life was the way Anna wanted to do it, and she had the times of her life doing it.
From Camp to Twilight and Tony Award Nominations to the Golden Globes, she’s literally done it all. Singing…dancing…acting…there isn’t much she can’t do.

But Anna doesn’t hold back, making sure to highlight the ups and downs of stardom, and that everything isn’t always destined to be roses and rainbows.

One of the more interesting and entertaining autobiographies/memoirs that I’ve read in recent years, and highly recommend it for any Kendrick fans. This book gets an 8 out of 10.

Finding Dory

@iAmAviG

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December 2, 2016

Yesterday I finally got around to watching Finding Dory, and while most sequels don’t live up to their hype, this one did.

Following on the fun family style of Finding Nemo, Dory brings out the best in the voice actors and Pixar.

When last we saw our characters they had just come back home from 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney and now a year later Dory is going on a search for her parents, which takes her across the Ocean to Monterey Bay, California.
Throughout the movie Dory slowly puts memories of her childhood back together as she seems to slowly be overcoming her “short term remembery loss”.

This movie is great for all ages and gets a solid 9 out of 10.

National Museum of the Marine Corps

@iAmAviG

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December 1, 2016

People know Quantico as the location of the Marine Corps Base Quantico, the training base for the Marines, but what most people don’t know is that Triangle, Virginia is home to the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

The museum and the surrounding grounds houses the history of the Marines, covering everything from the Revolution thru Iraqi Freedom and beyond, but also features a large part of its 135-acre land for the Semper Fidelis Memorial Park.

The Museum features galleries showing Marines getting recruited, physical courses that they train on, rifle training, and the gear they use.
From a historical perspective they have stories and reenactment models set-up in galleries such as “WWI”, “Vietnam War” and the “Korean War”.
In the spacious lobby they have helicopters and planes hanging from the ceiling.

The Memorial Park has a nice walking path spaced out with memorials remembering different troops and movements from over the years.
Units with special plaques, events in which the Marines lost soldiers, as well as statues showing Marine leaders from over the years.

The Museum and Memorial Park are all free, and on any given day you’ll see young Marines around the building learning their history.

Google Photo Scan

@iAmAviG

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November 30, 2016

Google launched “Photo Scan” in the last few weeks, and its main goal is bringing your shoeboxes full of photos into the 21st century.

Photo Scan allows you to scan your photos into Google Photos, using your phone camera, and the quality on it is really good.
The app “scans” the photo as a whole, before getting you to focus on all four quadrants individually.
Due to this process, the app virtually guarantees no glare on any of your photos

The quality of the photos are surprisingly high, as I tested it on multiple photos from the 1980s, and was pleasantly surprised by the results.

Sure it would take lots of time to scan your hundreds of photos in, but maybe the time is worth it if it means preserving your photos for years to come?

The app is available on Android as well as iOS.

Giving Tuesday 2016

@iAmAviG

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November 29, 2016

For the third straight year I will be celebrating Giving Tuesday today. Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday have been all about getting the best deals on all your products, and now today you turn those savings into money for those that need it more than we do.

Shot@Life, a United Nations Foundation who provides vaccines around the world, will be doubling donations all day. The same doubling of your donation is available at the American Diabetes Association and Operation Warm (coats for the needy).

Speaking of Operation Warm, from today thru Friday Hollister will be giving $1 to them for each Snapchat Hollister+OW Geofilter used, so get snapping!

Meanwhile, you can support the Snow Leopards and all donations will be doubled there as well.

As for me, I will be supporting today, like I do every day, the Brooklyn College Tanger Hillel.

Regardless who you support, get out there and give back today!

Colonial Williamsburg

@iAmAviG

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November 28, 2016

Colonial Williamsburg. home of the old school Americans, living life as if it was still the 1700s. From baking bricks to crafting iron and riding in horse and buggy and having no electricity.

Lots of old buildings, which are running off natural light and fireplaces, leading to early closures in the winter…or else you just can’t see anything.
Despite this, the museums are open later all year round, due to new technology: electricity.

There are plenty of things to see and do on the grounds, and some of the exhibits alternate days/hours so that they have enough people to staff it all (although this may have just been a result of a November visit).
As such they give out daily maps which show what is open and when.

Outside the town is the Great Hopes Plantation, with tobacco sheds, gardens and lots of building/expanding going on as well.

The thing I found most interesting was the baking of bricks, and how they build up a house, with brick/clay outsides and full of raw bricks. They then feed the six tunnels with 12 fires (from both sides) and let it burn, stoking it for about a week. At that time they take apart the building and see how the burn went. The better baked, the redder the brick are.

But while it is a great experience for children, I feel that an educated adult will be mostly bored exploring the 173 acres of land.
As someone with a knowledge of the time period, and having explored older locations in the past (whether through ancient forts, multiple ship sites, or just museums), I felt that taking hour-long tours of these buildings and wandering town was somewhat of a bore.
I can at least now say I’ve done it…but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to others as a place to visit.

Jamestown and Yorktown, Virginia

@iAmAviG

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November 23, 2016

Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown are two corners of the American Historic Triangle in Virginia (Colonial Williamsburg is the third…but that’s for another day).

Let’s focus on Yorktown first:
The American Revolution Museum will take you through the history of the revolution, from events such as the Battle of Great Bridge to the Seige and Lafayette to the Declaration of Independence.

Behind the museum is a little village where you can learn about the times, from the drafts (and how to avoid them (for just $300 you could get out of fighting)) to living a life of Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.

You can also see how the doctors of the time did their work, ammunition was stored, and some of the herbs that were available for use in the late 1700s.

The Jamestown Settlement settlement is a much larger area, that consists of a museum, settlement, harbor, and fort.

The first part you walk through, after the indoor museum, is a little settlement, complete with tents, troughs, and of course drying/flayed animal skins.

After that you can walk into the harbor area, which includes three ships, mostly built in recent years, which show how soldiers of the day lived at sea, as well as the guns and artillery.

Lastly you can walk through the Jamestown Fort, which has gun demonstrations every half hour (with the firing of a musket), houses and armories, as well as actual vegetable gardens and live chickens strutting around.

The costs are cheaper if you buy both of these locations together (which can be purchased online in advance or at the door) and at the door you can use a AAA discount.

American Civil War Museum, Virginia

@iAmAviG

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November 22, 2016

The American Civil War Museum is a collection of locations in and around Richmond, Virginia, dating back to the 1800s.

Historic Tredegar – An Iron Works facility from the 1800s houses the Civil War Museum as well as a free National Parks Museum for the Richmond National Battlefield
The White House – This was the home of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, and you can take a 45-minute tour (no pictures) showing you the life and times of how the first family lived
Museum of the Confederacy – This facility is adjacent to The White House and has the history of the Confederacy housed within
Appomattox – One of the final battles of the Civil War (Battle of Appomattox Court House) was fought here, and has the house of Wilmer McLean, where Lee surrendered to Grant

Parking at these locations are free, with validation at the front desk, and the prices range from $8 for Tredegar to $20 for all of them.

Richmond International Raceway – @RIRInsider

@iAmAviG

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November 18, 2016

This weekend marks the final race for legendary driver Tony Stewart, who I’ve been a fan of for 13+ years.

This week I visited Richmond International Raceway, the home of Tony’s first ever win in 1999.

Open during regular business hours (8:30AM-5PM) the track gives out free tours, and to take you around their large facility they take you out in their replica pace car.

The .75 of a mile track sits on a huge footprint of land that features warehouses that host programs on the weekends, such as local gun shows.
When first formed the area was home to the Richmond Fairgrounds and the wrought iron fence as you enter the grounds is still engraved with “Strawberry Hill”, whose steeplechase horse races were held there until 2001.

I got to see the front stretch as well as came through the truck entrance to the pit area and got a close up look at Victory Lane.

So if you are swinging through Richmond make sure to make a pit stop at RIR for a quick look at the track.

Inner Harbor – Baltimore

@iAmAviG

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November 17, 2016

The Inner Harbor in Baltimore is a great spot to see for a little taste of ships throughout American history.

The USS Constellation (1855), lightship Chesapeake (1930), US Coast Guard Cutter Taney (1936) and the USS Torsk submarine (1944) can all be seen for $18, and it gives you a nice taste of how our sailors survived on the seas.

From living quarters (smaller in the sub than the Constellation) to the eating areas (same, as everything tends to be in a submarine), and how they load their ammo and keep the waters safe, there is plenty to learn for everyone (plus it’s ships!!).

Adults will be fascinated with the history and children will enjoy ringing the bells, spinning the wheels and listening to the radios of mock communication.

Also in the Inner Harbor and within walking distance is a 9/11 Memorial (located between the ships) dedicated to the people of Baltimore who died on that day.

And not far away are Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, and M&T Bank Stadium, home of the football Ravens. Camden Yards are among the nicest areas amongst baseball stadiums and I would like to go back for a game at some point.

Click for full widescreen panorama

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