Hey, y'all! Happy to keep this going as this is fun to get to know each other a bit more. I think this is 28 but the one before me was 17 so was confused. Edit - it's 27!
Name is Jake, 34 yo and live with my wife and 4 yo son in Lexington, VA. Born in Lexington and raised in Natural Bridge Station, VA. My wife is an attorney and grad of Washington and Lee law. I graduated from VT class of 2012 and majored in Poli Sci. My dad was VT class of '74 so always wanted to be a Hokie. If the question arises - no I don't know coach Pry personally, but know many people he went to high school with here at the old Lex High. Everyone here is super excited for him and he even brought a bunch of his staff (Marve, Bowen, etc) to have lunch here at the Palms a few months ago while coming back from a recruiting visit with Matthews I believe in Harrisonburg. That was the talk of the town.
Also of Lexington celebrity for music people, saw the band Baroness rise from here to stardom. John Baizley is the brother in law of a good friend of mine from high school. He personally sent me a package in like 2005 with their first two demos, stickers, and a shirt that I've never seen elsewhere and still have. Love rooting for them.
My first work experience out of college was with Devils Backbone brewery just as they were growing. Really cool time and learned a ton about the beer industry, still a lot of good friends there. I was pursuing a law career myself but ended up working in local government which had many unique twists and turns for me. Also have some stories there. Met my wife while she was in law school at Macados in Lex and now have a son and a baby on the way! I now work in the non-profit world as a finance advisor for environmental projects. Work with water/wastewater/stormwater infrastructure and carbon credit projects. Funny story - went to a big Biochar conference in CA earlier this year and met a former VT professor who lives close by. Hokies everywhere!
As far as hobbies, other than VT sports, big into music. Have been playing guitar for over 20 years and play locally on and off with the Late Night Stumblers from Lexington. Went to high school with most of those guys, also play acoustic shows with their frontman Bryce at various places. Also big into history as well, especially early American/colonial and Civil War (especially growing up in Lexington). My family on my dad's side are all from Nelson County, VA so have always been interested there in the history and Hurricane Camille in 1969. The band I play with put out an awesome song "it's Coming Down" about just that. Will likely be playing some music over there at a brewery or two this summer if you're passing by.
And with that, fire away! I also have a good memory of VT football games from 95-present so if we want to talk fine details there, all for it!
Comments
What's the most almost arrested you've been?
Cake or pie?
Cheese or whatever the heck French is?
1) Home in Lex from BBurg for winter break and still slightly under drinking age. Was out running around with friends being jubilant. Went up to a park downtown that closes after dark and pushed the gate open, and proceed to frolic around. I mean yelling really, really loud. Got back walking to a friend's house and everyone was laughing at me. The next morning I was told that two cop cars parked right next to me on the street and watched me, laughed, and drove off.
2) Pie by far - cake is just bread. Pie is so much more interesting and can be savory or sweet. For instance, we recently made an onion pie which was phenomenal. Also sweet pie with ice cream is far better than cake.
3) Team cheese - preferably very sharp cheddar. Also like Gouda. Ashamed to say I have had baked Brie - a very UVA snack. But not near the top of my list. I really like sharp cheddar and summer sausage or other similar charcuterie together. I personally think cheese makes mostly anything better. Still don't understand how French can be so wrong on this.
"I really like sharp cheddar and summer sausage or other similar charcuterie together"
This man gets it!
To expand here - about 10-12 years ago when I was working at DB, my uncle (an avid Hunter) took his venison down to a processing plant somewhere near Lynchburg, and they made the best venison sausage ever. Added cheddar and jalapeños. At the time, I brought home low fill Vienna Lager (back when it was brewed in Lex - FYI it's all brewed at ABI in Williamsburg now). My goodness, what a good combination. Old Vienna tasted way better.
Nothing wrong with a sharp cheddar. I do love gouda, but you can't go wrong with a good block of parmesean. Asiago is nice too, and I have a soft spot for pepper jack.
All cheese is good, except for soft cheese.
Colby Jack and pepper Jack are actually really good cheeses too. Parm I really haven't dealt with other than grated on pizza/pasta/etc. But I like it. You don't have to talk me into cheese. I'm gonna try it.
tell me more about this onion pie
Is Lexington a good place/general area to retire to? Looking to get back to that area someday.
Ideal place for me:
Not too hot.
Lots of outdoor activities. I'm not big on city stuff.
Fairly quiet. Yeah, I'm boring, so sue me.
Fairly small/cozy place but not tiny. Wife won't let us go anywhere that does not have cardiologists around.
Need to be able to buy Indian food and spices to be able to cook at home.
Lexington is an extremely popular place for retirees. But I will say this to temper any expectations:
1) the city proper is about 2 square miles. Real estate assessment is inflated because W&L and VMI properties account for nearly 2/3rds of the jurisdiction. Lex signed probably the smartest agreement ever with Rockbridge County in the 1980s that, in lieu of ever annexing any part of the county, the county would pay them a portion of their tax revenues annually. That payment is in excess of $2 mil per annum now. So the city is flush with cash but nowhere to grow.
2) Real estate is expensive as hell, but incredibly stable. If you buy there, it will only appreciate. If you want public utilities like water and sewer, you have to basically live in the city or just outside in Rockbridge around the greater lex area. A lot of retirees live further out in the county, but if you want amenities or things to do, really bad idea. Rockbridge has historically been averse to development though, so if you want dark skies and no light pollution, might be your thing.
I personally think it's a great place but I've lived here most of my life so I may be biased. Augusta Co to the north has much more economic development going on, but IMO Rockbridge is more laid back and Lexington is an awesome, very walkable town. Can buy masala and other Indian spices at Kroger in Lex, but that's about the extent of your grocery options. Carillon has taken over the hospital so you're in that system here, they have cardiologists that see folks here but if it's anything significant, you're likely going to Roanoke. I think Lewis Gale is starting to have some options here too. And Augusta Health has a center as well, but again likely will be sent to Fishersville for more intensive things.
Outdoor things - if you like walks/hikes: downtown lex is such a walkable city. You can walk the main downtown and W&L/VMI campuses and make a day of it. There's also the Woods Creek trail which runs directly through town to Jordan's Point, which then picks up the Chessie Trail. That's a 7 mile trail that you can walk between Lexington and nearby Buena Vista on the old Chesapeake & Ohio railroad right of way. That's probably one of the best hikes I've ever done. A lot of people jog or walk portions of it.
There's also the Natural Bridge State Park at the southern end of the county. Nice 1 mile trail under the bridge and they've added a few more trails nearby. Forest Service also has Locher Tract and St Mary's wilderness. Much access to the parkway and AT as well.
I can give more detailed answers on specifics if you point where you're interested.
Here I am with the clickbait - you'll never guess this crazy story from VA local govt!
(Give me 20 legs to hear the answer!/s)
Joe I think we could make some additional revenue here.
Lol no clickbait. Working for local elected officials is certainly interesting. Have had one call me super late at night after too many beers which was comical. Had very important interviews to conduct one time and the entire debate somehow focused on they needed some food, and what they were going to eat. Lengthy debate on what was for dinner. Gotta love local politics.
Had a severely colorblind guy hold us up for weeks because he couldn't grasp the exterior color scheme of a building, which was natural brick (existing) and white (existing) - no changes.
One of the people in our architecture department who does renderings is colorblind. It's awesome sometimes.
Also forgot to mention I'm a big WWF/WWE mark. I go way back. This is the coolest intro ever and I'm sorry I can't embed right now.
Edit: I figured out how to embed!
Also this is probably the best entrance ever in the history of anything.
This used to give me such an adrenaline rush as a kid.
Which building do you dislike most, on the main campus? Why?
Good question. Probably Derring or Whittemore Hall just because that brutalist architecture stands out like a sore thumb on campus. Could add Slusher Tower to that list as well. Just seems like they started slapping big buildings up in the 70s without regard to the aesthetics of the rest of campus.
Hey VTJ12- thanks for getting the ball rolling. It seemed like there was no interest, but traffic on here might be slow cause of the holiday weekend. I'll have to remember that next year.
By the way, you're #27. If you could edit that.
What's the dumbest thing you've ever done?
What's the nicest thing you've ever done for someone?
Who is someone current or historical that you would love to sit and have a few drinks with?
Fixed, thanks!
Dumbest thing - wow could probably come up with some good things if I thought hard enough. Remember riding a friend's bike to Foxridge from campus one night with no light. Rolled off the drill field to catch the trail next to the duck pond and hit the curb, completely wiping out. Accidentally got turned around in Oak Lane for a half hour. Complete mess of an excursion.
Also I remember as a teen, we had extended family we don't get to see often visit and I grabbed our film camera and took tons of awesome pictures. Forgot to check if there was film and it was empty, so big disappointment with no pictures for anyone.
Nicest thing - one thing that stands out from childhood was when we had a book fair at school and my parents gave me a little cash to get something. I decided to buy a book for my class (I think 2nd or 3rd grade) so we could all read it together. I'll never forget how proud my teacher was and her telling me that was a very selfless thing to do for the class.
Person I would like to meet/have some drinks with - Dave Grohl is near the top of the list. Being a music guy I'm a big Foo Fighters/Nirvana fan, and he seems like a super cool and down to earth guy. Coincidentally, he recently bought property near the Lexington area and has been popping in and out of town the last couple of years. A few people I know have met him and showed me pictures and I'm pretty jealous. Hopefully I'll run into him one day when he's around.
just as an aside topher, i think in general things have slowed down from 12 months ago with the move to TKPC-only model
1) I thought Lexington only had a spanky's not a macados, did that change?
2) have you been to the cat and the owl, if so thoughts?
3) Have you ever been in the tunnels beneath W&L?
So we did have Spanky's way back in the day, but that's been closed for some time. Macados opened in another building around 2008/2009. Spanky's became another place called Malone's for a little while in the 2000s and then became a couple different Chinese restaurants.
Have not been over to the Cat and the Owl.
I have not been down in the tunnels but I've heard about them. I think the Cadaver society there meets down there at night and gets around campus through them.
You should try the cat and the owl some time, it was quite good the few times I was there.
Growing up in Covington, we used to go to the Cat and Owl often. Not sure who owns it now, but it was decent place to get a steak. Nothing incredibly fancy, but it was still enjoyable.
I always enjoyed Food and Friends in Lewisburg or going to the Eagles Neat in Crows. Pretty sure the latter closed in the early 2000s.
The guy that owns the Rail Bar and Grille bought it from Bruce.
Cat and the Owl was definitely "the fancy restaurant" by my standards growing up lol
Had our rehearsal dinner there - 32 years ago. It was good then.
Best vacation?
Worst vacation?
Best vacation...tough to choose having been on a few fun trips in recent years. Two years ago went out to Arizona and spent a week in Sedona, went to the Grand Canyon, and the Hoover Dam on the way back to fly home from Vegas. Really enjoyed the southwest. Did a few good hikes in Sedona, drove up to Williams and took the Grand Canyon railroad to the Canyon which was fun too.
Also on the best list, spent a week in Germany and Austria back in 2019. Traveled through Bavaria and went to the beer halls in Munich, went to Zugspitze down in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then to Austria and visited Salzburg, Hallstatt, and finally Vienna. Hallstatt was incredible, super nice host at the inn we stayed at and the lake was fantastic. Pretty long train ride to get there but was totally worth it. Old town Salzburg and Vienna are two of the most beautiful cities I've seen.
Haven't been on any truly bad vacations. Gone on a few long trips for work that weren't as enjoyable. Had to fly to Chicago early one Monday morning for about a 1.5 hr meeting (could've been a Zoom meeting) and then fly right back. Pretty lame.
Favorite beer and style?
I generally like pretty light, sessionable beers. Probably one of my favorite single styles is a Hefeweizen or a Dunkelweizen. Ayinger Ur Weisse is a really good dunkelweizen.
I also really like light pale ales, like Devils Backbone's Striped Bass or Blue Mountain Full Nelson. The Lagunitas Daytime IPAs are also a favorite of mine in the summer. I'm not much on IPAs but I like the lighter pale ales with just a little hop bitterness.
I hear too few people singing the praises of Ayinger. Big fan of their Celebrator
Tell us about your pet peeves.
One of my biggest peeves is people running late constantly for work meetings. I understand sometimes things come up, but I've worked with a few people that are habitually late and also forget about meetings far too often. And usually they were the one requesting the meeting! Seriously don't waste my time if it's obviously not that important.
Also related to work/meetings - excessive use of the breakout meetings function on Zoom when it's not necessary at all. I almost roll my eyes when I hear "and now we're going to go to breakout groups." It's like a feature people learned in a tech demo and feel obligated to use for no reason at all. Most of the time you could just have the same discussion in the main group.
Honestly I have extreme Zoom/Teams fatigue at this point and would prefer if we just brought back good old fashioned conference calls.
The use of tired buzzwords. In the public finance world, tons of people using "catalytic" or "impact investing" to describe new grant or financing programs - everyone thinks they're doing the newest most innovative thing ever. Or some project being synergistic. Awful.
Also when people follow up to an earlier email and say "just wanted to circle back."
As far as just everyday stuff, I can't stand leaving the kitchen dirty/dirty dishes in the sink and going to bed.
One of my life's pet peeves is made up words to soften a context/sound important. Bugs the hell out of me. Political parties are masters at it. Just say what the F you mean please.
Only way to deal with it is to play "buzzword bingo"- several examples below
If your meeting is long you can add extra rows
Wow, might actually try these during some meetings. I think I could cover my whole card quickly.
A buddy of mine hates galvanize. I have to hold back a laugh every time I hear someone use it.
I feel this. I decline any meeting without an agenda. I also rule over my calendar like a Chechen warlord, and I will drop from meetings if they are not productive or are going on too long.
Re this and the Teams comments below- Hate it when (someone not my boss, or close friend) just types 'hello" and nothing else; I will not answer unless/until more is typed; "do you have time to have a quick call"; or "hey do you happen to know where to find....." or even "hey, how is your day going?"
I don't have time or energy for random messages without a point.(Many time these are from someone I've never spoken to before (in a company with tens of thousands of employees). Start with hello but then send/ask your question.
agree re: Teams. simply saying "hi" or "happy *insert day of the week*" or any other generic greeting without any substance isn't going far. If you reach out to me, you had better have a specific direct question or be asking to chat about some specified topic. In those cases, I try to make myself very available. Likewise, I don't just message people to say hi. If I'm reaching out to you, I have a purpose and I'm going to let you know exactly what that purpose is and what I expect from you
OMG, my daughters and Mrs. Egbert do this and it irritates the crap out of me.
Don't make me reply 4 times before we finally get to the point of the message/ the task you need me to perform.
Guilty of circle back emails. Only use it when someone owed me an answer and they are not giving it and it's holding up my team from executing other things. It's more polite than saying HEY ASSHOLE YOU ARE THE PROBLEM
I'm with you on this one. I think the circle back email, despite the passive aggressiveness, is a necessary evil. I'm very "ok" with this being a pet peeve, but I've hit too many "i didn't see this" or "haven't had a chance to get to my emails for days" to not employ the tactic....
I usually use "just following up on this" followed by the original email.
this is what Teams is useful for. If someone doesn't respond to my e-mail I just reach out to them directly on Teams. If that doesn't work, I go to their supervisors. (fortunately, I work for a pretty decent company that does a pretty good job hiring folks and I very very rarely ever have to escalate to supervisors.) An e-mail and then a Teams DM to follow up usually does the trick.
My boss just emails you one sentence reminders like, "Where are we on this?" Pretty direct method. I've been guilty of circling back in the past but I try to just say, "Hey wanted to check the status on this" or the ultimate passive aggressive "Wanted to see if you need anything else from me." Even though it's totally on them lol.
I think "checking on the status" of something is the most polite, direct way of doing this.
guess I'm not really seeing the difference between "circling back", "checking the status", or anything else that was just mentioned...
i've never actually used the term "circling back" in an email...
I have never used circling back myself but the funny thing about this is the person I most need to do this to is my President, and typically the way I do it is by saying "replying to bring this back to the top of your inbox to make sure you saw it". Of course she is super busy, so she appreciates it and knows that if I have action items I need her to address she is thankful for me bringing it to her attention. I guess that is just called "managing up",
It's a different way of saying the same thing, and I think "circling back" just got overused with all of the other buzzwords. Same with "touching base," for the same purpose.
just wanted to circle back on this to check the status
Should we have hanged all confederates after the civil war?
why
What's something your son has done that was the hardest for you to stifle your laughter?
So my son has been out to a couple local shows where I've been playing music with people, a couple local breweries. He drew this picture at school of everybody playing music - guitars, drums, even included mic stands and pedals! He's getting super into music which I love.
I happened to notice there were these little objects also on the floor by everyone's mic stand or sitting behind them. Like a little rectangle or something. I asked hey what are those little things everyone has? He said, "oh those are everybody's beers!" Lmao. I shook my head but just had to laugh.
How did you come to be interested in revolutionary/ Civil War history? Is it because of the Lexington connection?
Pretty much. Just growing up in Virginia and visiting Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg growing up really influenced me a lot. History was always a favorite subject in school. Virginia was really the beginning of our country in so many ways, but it also marked the beginnings of the British Empire as well. The impact of English common law and customs on our system of government and many of our laws today is significant. For instance, just over the mountain here in Alleghany County, there was the big court case in recent years over the Crown Grant and the Jackson River (essentially the property owners were able to produce a land grant from the British Crown from the colonial days that conveyed full English covenants of title, including the riverbed itself). More of these Crown Grants exist throughout VA, and the courts have ruled that those grants under English common law are still enforceable. I just think that historical and legal connection with English law in the state is fascinating.
Then growing up specifically in the Lexington area I was exposed to tons of Civil War history from a young age. That has also brought a great deal of controversy to the city in recent years as well, with lots of public debate on Confederate-named places, streets, etc. But having this much early American history this close-by from my earliest childhood memories I think had an enormous impact on my interest in the subjects.
Not sure if it's still the case today, but in the early 90s when I was doing work reviewing mortgage loan files, I saw a few properties in Baltimore where the "ground rent"( a really obscure way of dealing with property-mainly in
Baltimore- where when you buy and sell houses, it is just the improvements that change hands; the owners pay "rent" for the land the house sits on- great "scam-like" setup done by savvy landowner back in colonial days to retain a perpetual income stream)-(back to the relevant point lol)- we were paying ground rent to the Crown of England for some properties we serviced the mortgage on in Baltimore.
what's your favorite kind of soup?
Oh excellent question. So my parents recently found a great recipe for an Asian-style chicken noodle made with fresh ginger. Absolutely phenomenal, especially after it sits a day and the ginger becomes more pronounced. That's become a part of the regular rotation.
Also during the fall/winter we make a butternut squash soup with bacon, smoked gouda, habanero, fresh chopped apple and onion.
My wife's parents are of Central/Eastern European descent, so we have made a lot of goulash and borscht/beet soup in recent years. All about some hearty stews when its cold.
my cousin has been making a white borscht for easter lately, i'll dig the recipe out!
zurek? had a lot of that when I was working in poland.
very similar, just without the fermented base
This sounds amazing!
Good question. Wrong answer.
favorite hokie game youve been to in-person?
favorite memory or play from a hokie game?
In-person game I would probably say 2011 Miami at Lane. That was such an awesome back-and-forth, competitive game from start to finish. On that fourth down with Logan faking to David Wilson and having a lane a country mile wide to run it into the north end zone was unreal, the place went absolutely nuts. Then I remember Miami driving on the last possession of the game, and when they took that timeout I said to my friends next to me, "I bet they're going to play Sandman." And sure enough they did and the whole place erupted. Probably the most thrilling game I've been to in person.
Favorite memory of a Hokie game, even though I wasn't there in person, would have to be watching the 2014 Ohio State game. Everything just seemed to go right for us from start to finish - we came out and went up several scores, and Bud's defense was absolutely dialed in down the stretch. That bear defense he surprised everyone with shut Zeke Elliott and the OSU run game down, and JT Barrett looked like a deer in the headlights. When Donovan Riley took the pick six back to ice it at the end, everyone in the room just erupted. And Brewer time after time coming up with clutch third-down conversions and awesome throws. Just a great night to be a Hokie.
Favorite single play...that's a tough one. But I'll go way back and say Eric Green's pick six against Miami in 2003. Maybe not the most remembered defensive score of that night (DeAngelo Hall's 'Give it to me, Roscoe' strip and score' takes that). But I remember Green just played it perfectly and anticipated Brock Berlin's throw, ran it right into the endzone. At that moment I was like wow, we are finally going to take down Miami after having hard fought losses with them in '01 and '02.
That interception would definitely be on my list of favorite plays.
Going to an iconic stadium like the Shoe or Notre Dame? Fantastic.
Being there and having the Hokies WIN? Priceless!
What's your favorite album?
What movie have you seen the most times, ignoring the movies your kids watch repeatedly?
What's your favorite "no-skip" album?
Favorite album...very tough question, but I'll go with Drive-By Truckers "The Dirty South." Since that album came out, I just find myself continually coming back to it and listening. Got me into DBT obviously but also introduced me to the songwriter extraordinaire Jason Isbell, and have loved his work ever since. "Never Gonna Change" and "Goddamn Lonely Love" are two of my favorite Isbell tracks, and then other great rockers on there like "Where the Devil Don't Stay", "The Day John Henry Died", and "Carl Perkins' Cadillac". The songwriting is fantastic and absolutely heartbreaking. Really got me into the alt country/rock/Americana genre that those guys and Isbell have helped move forward.
Thank you for qualifying movie seen the most times with ignoring your kid's movies...seriously was a great movie, but if I have to watch Over the Moon again I might cancel Netflix. I feel like that movie was on repeat constantly for the longest time.
Movie seen the most times...probably the original Batman with Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson. Watched it a billion times as a kid after it came out and still love watching it to this day. Also Goldeneye is probably up there too, huge James Bond fan and with that movie coming out in the 90s and then the video game I probably watched it a ton as well. Favorite movie top to bottom is probably Goodfellas. Just a classic and an awesome soundtrack too.
Favorite no-skip album...the obvious answer is Dark Side of the Moon. You have to be in a Pink Floyd mood to really sit and dedicate the time to listen to it all the way, but the way all the songs tie in together and flow perfectly you just can't skip. It's truly a masterpiece - and how they keep coming back to the same movement throughout the album (chord progression in Breathe at the beginning, Breathe reprise, and Any Colour You Like which is the same progression a whole note higher) is awesome. They put those parts in after intense songs wrap up so you literally can Breathe. The pacing is great.
Also will mention Nirvana Nevermind. Whenever I put it on I typically don't skip any tracks, there's not any filler on there really. Just about all the songs are classic, it could pretty much be their greatest hits record. All songs relatively the same length and nothing really gets dull.
Such good picks, man. Jason Isbell can do no wrong in my mind. I used to play Decoration Day and Southern Rock Opera on WUVT all the time. I love the song Zip City because it cracks me up.
My kid also went through an Over the Moon phase. Ever had an actual Moon Cake? They're nasty to my western palette, and I'm an adventurous eater. Lotus seed paste isn't it.
DSOTM is a solid pick.
Absolutely love Zip City too. "Get ten miles to the gallon, ain't got no good intentions." I cover that sometimes when we play live. I really like Cooley's songwriting as well.
I have not had an actual moon cake, but after the number of times I have heard that moon cake song, my desire is fairly low lol.
That one and "Your brother was the first born, got ten fingers and ten toes
And it's a damn good thing 'cause he needs all 20 to keep the closet door closed"
My recommendation in the genre is Lucero (Tennessee and then Rebels, Rouges, and Sworn Brothers would be my two favorite albums from them).
I would also recommend William Elliott Whitmore (Animals in the Dark and Song of the Blackbird are the two albums that got me into him)
Really love Lucero, I think the first album of theirs I ever heard was That Much Further West. Mine Tonight off of that album is one of my favorites. Also like Slow Dancing off of Tennessee and their cover of Kiss the Bottle.
Haven't listened to much of Whitmore so I'll be sure to check him out!
Thanks for doing this VTJ12!
GokartMozart youre up! AMA #28
Ok. I'll try to get something up this afternoon.