Blog du Wren

Summer Juggling Pics

For Della and me, this summer has been jam packed with juggling gigs. It's been a whirlwind of festivals, fun, and getting our routine down pat. We're usually so busy, however, that I don't get a chance to take any photos. Luckily, there are helpful folks around that shoot and share.

Here are a few photos that have made their way to us via various forms of social media. They are from (in order) Tin-type photo

from Stringband Jamboree, Kids Fest in Bellingham, neighborhood Night Out in Seattle, Food Truck Fridays in Bellingham, Stringband, Seattle Night Out, Polecat Anniversary show* and Anacortes Arts Fest.

A big thanks to all the photographers for sharing and all the audiences for enduring—er, I mean, watching.

Tuesday September 8 2015

File under: juggling, work

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Sleeping Around 2014-2015

If ever there was a case of data being both boring and exciting at the same time, this is it. Data from my Sleeping Around calendar from the last year both captures my imagination with its simple encapsulation of a life and almost puts me to sleep with its predictability.

First, the predictable stuff: as has been the case for the last 3 or so years, my time comes out almost evenly split between the 3 major categories. Nights spent housesitting changed by less than 2%. The division of travel between its 3 sub categories stayed more or less similar, thought a 9 day trip to Dominican Republic boosted the international numbers. All in all, this year was a lot like last year.

As for the exciting stuff, just analyizing and presenting the data makes me smile. Little differences like a drop in nights in a car or a jump in nights in a hotel reflect little excitements that make this year different than last year.

Additional Stats
Nights in a Car	18	This number is significantly lower than last year due to Della getting a place in Bellingham so the van not being our primary spot when in town.
Nights in a Tent	1	This one's significantly lower. the lowest it's ever been. With no Chautauqua and only a day trip to Lopez Juggle Fest, I barely squeezed one night in at a frisbee tourney in Friday Harbor
Nights on a Boat	2	Nothing quite as exotic as tropical live-aboards in years past. Instead, just a conveient layover spot in Seattle on a friend's moored 33-footer
Nights in a "Hotel"	31	A full month sleeping in hotels and hostels. This includes a week long work trip to Mt. Rainier, my Wheel of Fortune trip to Hawaii, that DR trip, and various other quick trips. Good thing I didn't have to pay for them all!
Longest Stretch at Home	14
# of states (other than WA)	8	CA, OR, NV, NY, CT, MD, CO, HI

As my database* grows with more years of data, the more I like looking at the trends slowly emerging. Here's what 7 years looks likes.

And, with past years to compare this year to, setting goals for next year is easier. Resolved: I will spend more than 1 night in a tent, and my international travel numbers will go up*. But most of all, I resolve to keep logging the data!

(For recaps on previous years sleeping around, check out these posts: '08-'09, '09-'10, '10-'11, '11-'12, '12-'13, and '13-'14.)

Wednesday August 5 2015

File under: stats

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Fare Thee Will - The End of a Trivia Era

Last night signified the end of an era. The longtime host at my favorite trivia place ended his epic 7 year run of hosting the best damn trivia around. The night was a fitting tribute with the Longhorn totally packed. Extra trivia, extra prizes and extra fun, with hip-hip-hoorays, "for he's a jolly good fellow"s, and even a few tears. Hopefully Savanah will be as appreciative of Will and his trivia hosting prowess as we all are here.

I've posted about Longhorn trivia a many times before (as it was a big part of my life). In looking back, I see that it was almost 7 years to the day when I first attended (post here) where Andrew, Saxtor, and I got first place. Well, last night, Saxtor and I again ed up (with Rebecca and Andrea) to put a nice bookend on my Will-hosted Longhorn trivia career with an epic win. The stakes were a little higher this time with the loot including 2 beers, 4 t-shirts, $25 gift certificate, and 4 Mariners tickets! Good times.

The ending of an era often creates the beginning of a new one, and it is my hope that that is the case here. With my best attempts at filling Will's shoes, I, along with Matthew, will be stepping into the hosting role at the Longhorn starting next week. I've been stockpiling my questions for weeks and am super excited. It's going to be great. I hope I do Will proud. There's only one way to find out. Come check it out: Wednesdays at 7:00 at the Longhorn Saloon in Edison, Wa. Hope to see you there!

Thursday July 30 2015

File under: trivia

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Juggling at Bacon Fest

This summer, Della and I have kind of a lot of juggling gigs booked. At last count, between performing, teaching, and, more often, a hybrid of the two, I think I am up to 14 or 15 events*. Some are private parties or weddings, some are big public festivals (Anacortes Arts Festival, Subdued Stringband Jamboree), some are school gigs, and some are fundraisers. It's kind of a busy schedule for not so much being a performer. :-)

Recently, one of the events I juggled at was Bellingham's Bacon Fest, which is just as it sounds: a festival about bacon. The event benefited the Max Higbee Center, so not only was it , but it was for a good cause. did our best to radically proliferate delight (stated mission of Bellingham Circus Guild) by roaming around and juggling, stilting, rope tricks, and more. I think at least a little delight was proliferated.

The Bellingham Herald was there taking pictures and snapped a couple of fun ones of yours truly.

I'm kind of digging on this being a juggler thing. Hanging out at festivals, making folks smile, putting a little money in my pocket (or bacon in my belly as was the case here)—not a bad way to spend a glorious summer in the Northwest.

Saturday July 11 2015

File under: juggling

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The Better Than What Was There Before Building Company

Over the years, I've picked up little bits of handyman know-how here and there—from jobs, volunteering, personal projects, etc. And I occasionally have reason to put said skillz to use (like in building my cabin*, for example). Practical application of a skill is always a satisfying endeavor for me, so this past week, when I was invited down to Portland to help in the construction of a garden shed, I was stoked.

Working in the 95°+ heat, Andrew and turned a pile of lumber, gravel, and used doors and windows into something that looked and will serve as a great place for storing garden tools and to do some spring time potting. The * and sun-exposed windows may even make the space usable as a little greenhouse.

Little miscalculations and inexact cuts, while hardly noticeable in the finished structure, left us joking that if I ever started a construction company, it wouldn't be called "Quality Building" or "Grade A Construction". Instead, we came up with "Wren's Better Than What Was There Before Construction Company - The results might not be perfect, but if you wanted perfection, you would have paid somebody". Hopefully Andrew and Fam find this garden shed better than what was there before. Luckily for me, it's not hard to outshine an uneven plot of gravelly sand!

Saturday July 4 2015

File under: Portland, work

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Island Disc

The last frisbee tournament I went to was a hat tournament on the island of Maui (posted about here). It was a great excuse to have a little vacation under the guise of competition and exercise. Two plus years later, I found myself packing up the tent, water bottle, and this time an ankle brace, and again heading out to an island for a hat-style tournament.

The Disc Divot tournament in Friday Harbor was a little closer to home, and a little less frisbee focused, but I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. We played frolf on the amazing Roche Harbor course, played pick-up with new fun people, played stick cup and other lawn games, swam in the local lake, barbecued, and watched an outdoor drive-in style movie, all set against the gorgeous backdrop of the San Juan Islands. The weather was perfect and it was a much needed excuse to re-visit a spectacular place so close to home that I often forget it is even there.

So a big thanks to Brendan and his crew for putting it together and I greatly look forward to next year's fun!

Monday June 15 2015

File under: frisbee, games

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Real Food Show

Della co-wrote and is co-starring in a circus-inspired kids show about eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle. The show goes into elementary schools for assemblies and the kids love it (and learn a little something to boot)! They are currently booking shows for the 2015-2016 school year. You should get them to come to your town! Check out the promotional video.

Tuesday June 9 2015

File under: circus

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Another Published Crossword

My march towards a "career" in crossword construction continues, albeit more slowly than I would like. My fourth published crossword came out this week, this time in The Uptown Puzzle Club, a subscription service "offering its members substance and quality with five original crossword puzzles per month." I was a member of the club way back for a couple years and then picked up again recently. It's nice to always have a high quality puzzle around.

The theme for this one is one of my more ambitious, and I was stoked when Patti accepted it. Constructing any [American standard]* crossword is a lot of work, but putting together a 21x21 is a real time investment. And as with any investment, it is nice to see it pay off [metaphorically, mostly. There's a pride in seeing a puzzle of one's own in print. And while there is a financial pay-off, and for UPC it is better than most, it rarely pays you enough for your time.]

I currently have a couple of puzzles into editors with the hopes of keeping on keeping on, but this is my last one scheduled for publication as of now. And with turn around times of sometimes 6 months or more (I remember working on edits of this puzzle while I was in DR bac in Dec.), it might be a while before my next ones hits the presses. Luckily this one should be enough to keep you busy for a while. If you want a copy and aren't a subscriber, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Sunday May 31 2015

File under: crosswords, work

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Anacortes Disc Golf Course

What better activity to fill the gorgeous Sunday of Memorial Day weekend than a nice round of frisbee golf. Even more exciting is that it was my first time playing the Anacortes Frisbee Golf Course! For years I had heard talk of plans to put it in here or there, but never materializing. Finally, though, it is a real thing—9 holes complete with official innova baskets!

We were a group of 6 which was proved really helpful for spotting and searching for errant discs. The course is dense with plenty of undergrowth making for more time spent looking for discs than actually throwing. If you are planning on checking it out, I do recommend long pants and close-toed shoes. The hope is that after the frolfers have their way for a while, it will keep the undergrowth in check, esp. the super invasive ivy.

The was fun with short-ish holes (having pro and beginner tee "boxes") that covered some beautiful forest. And being walkable/bikeable from downtown is a definite plus as well. The downside, however, is the dense underbrush in which we lost 3 discs in only 7 holes. (We had to cut the course short because we spent so much time looking for lost discs.)

I'll definitely play it again. A course is always more fun after the first time, because you start to get to know the pitfalls and shortcuts of the course. Plus, you're more apt to find one of your old lost discs! So if you're ever passing through town and looking for a fun little adventure, check out the Anacortes Disc Golf Course.

Monday May 25 2015

File under: Anacortes, games

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The e.g.

File under "My Life Is Awesome": I recently had the great opportunity to attend the e.g. Conference in Monterey, California. It was 3 days full of inspiration, ideas, schmoozing, high class living, and, of course, a little juggling.

The best way I can describe e.g. is that it is a lot like TED. In fact, it is held at the same place TED was started, and there is much overlap between the organizers, attendees, and concept: get really interesting people and have them talk about what they are doing. The presenters ranged from photographers and film makers to adventurers to scientists to artists to even YouTube stars. The presentations were well prepared (with slide shows and hitting time points uncannily) and always interesting.

On top of just being interesting, I was familiar with a lot of the presenters' work, which made it so much more engaging. There was the artist who makes with just his footprints, the youTube science guy whose demonstration on spools kept us debating for a good hour on the drive home, the adventurer and photographer whose journey across Australia I had just seen a movie about, an author whose books I've read many of, and Adam Savage of TV's Mythbusters. Adam did a fun talk on juggling(!) which was totally awesome. A bunch of jugglers found him in the lobby to talk juggling with him afterwards. I even got to show him a trick!

The conference was relatively small with only maybe 400 attendees and presenters, which gave it a great intimate feeling. And besides the presenters being super interesting, all the attendees seemed to be top of their field or have something super interesting to add. It was lots of fun striking up comversations with whomever and realizing that they were an exec, inventor, or previous e.g. presenter.

Another interesting aspect of the conference for me was the aura of money. Tickets to the event were $4000, so most of the attendees weren't likely to be found behind me in line at the local taco truck. Many of the adventures or pursuits presented about were not something I could head off on tomorrow (the guy that drove one Mercedes-Benz SUV 500,000 miles around the world, the guy that replicated a float plane his father took to Brazil and retraced that journey, the guy that flew drones around volcanoes to get spectacular footage). It was a bit of a glimpse into how life can be with lots of money, which triggered as many thoughts and ideas as the presentations themselves.

The e.g. is something I am still processing and will probably for some time to come. The inspiration and ideas, the rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, and the great community time with Chautauqua* made the event something that I won't soon forget. Now it's time to start scheming how to find an invite to next year's e.g.!

Tuesday May 19 2015

File under: misc

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