Rachel and Russell

Breakfast with Dad

2011-07-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

This one is pretty self-explanatory.

Thomas and Bella

2011-07-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Thomas loves his Bella. And Bella is so good with her Thomas.

Here they are hanging out together...

This video was taken after a long walk, so Bella was good and tired (and her tongue was hanging out).

Crib Fun

2011-06-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

How many games can you play in your crib?

1. You can play with your puppy dog!

2. You can play peek-a-boo with Mom!

3. You can jump around with Dad!

Zoro!

2011-05-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Look how Dad puts Thomas to sleep!

Crawling and Puffs

2011-05-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Two videos for your viewing pleasure! One of our boy crawling, and one of him enjoying his Puffs. Can you believe he'll be 8 months old this week?

Shorts!

2011-05-01T13:26:00.001-07:00

In celebration of the warmer temps this week, we've gotten out the shorts for Thomas.
And no shoes either -- hooray for baby feet!!

In other news, Bella loves her new dog bed. It's a dog duvet from Molly Mutts. (It's stuffed with old textiles, so it's good for the environment and smells like home to puppy.)

Scooting

2011-04-09T18:44:00.001-07:00

Thomas is soooo close to crawling! He now scoots around on all fours and his tummy -- sometimes heading backwards. Here he is enjoying some new toys sent by Grandma Peterson. That horse really tickled his fancy! Thanks, Grandma!

April!

2011-04-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

We've had a great April so far! Rachel got to hang out with her little man all weekend...

Thomas is trying to figure out Puffs, little first finger foods. Bella also enjoys his Puff-flinging endeavors. Russell caught a few ZZZs with his boy while watching baseball on Sunday.

6 months old!

2011-03-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

Thomas turned 6 months old this weekend! We're not sure how that happened. He's sitting up (mostly) unassisted, eating (almost) everything we give him, and even learning to play baseball!

Waffle shirts with dad...

Feeling froggy!

Learning how to keep his eye on the ball...

Jumperoo!

2011-03-13T08:36:00.001-07:00

Many thanks to Erik and Lori for sending us their Jumperoo! Thomas LOVES it. Let the jumping begin!

Wedding Dress Redux

2011-03-06T14:31:00.001-08:00

Instead of keeping my wedding dress preserved in a box in the closet in the hopes that strapless dresses are still in fashion by the time a daughter or granddaughter is married (yeah, right), I decided to get some use out of it. A friend-of-a-friend used the satin train to sew two baptism outfits, a boy's and a girl's. Thomas wore the boy's romper last week, and the girl's is just in case! Here is the sad state of my dress now, and the two adorable outfits. I think it's nice symbolism of the journey from bride to mother. If anyone would like the name of my friend, I highly recommend her! She does lovely work.

Dunked!

2011-03-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

Our boy was baptized last weekend at Holy Trinity here in Philly. We had great fun all weekend with visiting family and friends. Thomas is blessed to have so many wonderful people in his life!

With godparents, Rob, Megan, and Erik!

He showed Grandma and Grandpa Miller how he can sit up now.

And he got to meet his cousin, Lexi! We think they'll be good friends.

Week in Review

2011-02-14T06:10:00.000-08:00

We had some good laughs with Thomas this week!

And all that laughing really tuckered him out...

On a side note, Russell and Bella shared a little pasta on Saturday. Not sure what the dog whisperer would think of this...

February

2011-02-06T17:05:00.001-08:00

This week...

Dad styled Thomas's hair!

Mom got to cuddle with a sleepy Thomas, who couldn't make it through Goodnight Moon.

And Thomas grew more in love with his exersaucer!

Goodnight Moon

2011-01-31T15:43:00.000-08:00

Dancing with Dad

2011-01-30T16:53:00.001-08:00

I took this video before the holidays, but it still melts my heart!

Catch Up

2011-01-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, I slipped the last few days...but look what fun we've been having with Thomas!

Puppy Love

2011-01-26T17:53:00.000-08:00

Thomas is discovering Bella...and Bella is discovering Thomas!

Cheating

2011-01-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, I didn't get a photo of Thomas today (I'm already slipping!), but here is a pic I took last weekend of Thomas and Dad. It's a blurry photo, but look at Thomas sitting up! He is always trying to sit up now...

Monday January 24th

2011-01-24T14:36:00.001-08:00

After the walk home from daycare...

Every Day Thomas

2011-01-23T13:03:00.000-08:00

Thomas loves his bouncing seat -- our thanks to Jack and Roxanne for lending it to us!

Thomas

2010-10-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

It took the birth of our child to get us back onto the blog...introducing Thomas Miller! Here he is on his activity mat, hitting and kicking his favorite stuffed elephant. We think he's pretty cute. (And promise to post more soon!)

Phillies Web Redemption

2010-05-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

This is by far the cutest Web Redemption on Tosh.O, by far the funniest show on Comedy Central. Phillies fans will remember this little girl well--she threw back the foul ball that her dad caught and was all over the local news.

Tosh.0

Web Redemption - Phillies Fan

http://www.comedycentral.com/

Web Redemption

2 Girls, 1 Cup Reaction

Demi Moore Picture

Guy Humor

2010-03-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, I've had the pleasure to catch up on all the guy movies I've missed in the last decade or so. (Mostly by choice.) Russ and I've watched Old School and The Hangover, and I caught a few key scenes of Half Baked. Consider me educated in all guy humor. A selection of guy jokes I now get:

"Once it hits your lips, it is so good."
-Will Ferrel's beer bong, Old School
"I got a big day tomorrow. You know, going to Bed Bath & Beyond. We might go to Home Depot. I don't know, if we have time."
-Will Ferrel before his beer bong, Old School

"You're NOT a fish!"

-Half Baked

"And my wolfpack has grown by 1. So there were 2 in my wolfpack. And now I know for sure I've added 2 more guys to my wolfpack."

-Alan, The Hangover, right before he tries to make them all blood brothers

I also noticed that the same wedding singer appears in both Old School and The Hangover. Apparently he's pioneered dropping the f-bomb in cover songs, which Russ informs me is now the coolest thing in karaoke. The actor's name is Dan Finnerty, of Dan Finnerty and the Dan Band. Click here to link to his scene from The Hangover. And here's the Old School adaptation of Total Eclipse of the Heart:

Year of the Tiger

2010-02-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

Today is the Chinese Lunar New Year, and we've all entered the Year of the Tiger. We made our own batch of traditional Chinese dumplings (jiao zi) to celebrate. Jiao zi means "money" in Mandarin, and serving dumplings on New Year's day is symbolic of good fortune in the new year. Our dumplings were filled with roast chicken, shitake mushrooms, spinach, and other veggies. And there is the obligatory pic of Bella. She usually sits in the kitchen when we're cooking, right in the middle where we need to walk. Here she's waiting for food to drop from above.

Happy New Year!

And...More Snow...

2010-02-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

Another snowstorm today in Philly -- the second in four days. We're now .4 inches away from the city's total snowfall record! (1996 record is 65.5", we're at 65.1") Rachel's office closed for the day, but, committed scientist that he is, Russ is at the lab working today. The city's buses will all stop running at 5:00, so let's hope he makes it home! All of the area highways have been closed as well. It's pretty when you don't have to drive in it or shovel it, right?

***UPDATE***
Note to self: when SEPTA says bus service shuts down at 5 pm, they mean wink, wink 3 pm.
It was a cold walk home in the snow, but Rachel was kind enough to place a fresh pair of clothes in the dryer to be pre-warm and had some water boiling for hot coco.

February Snowstorm

2010-02-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

Our second major snowstorm of the year hit this weekend. The city is blanketed with 28" of snow -- in the record books, that's the No. 2 snowstorm in the past 100 years. In the past 94 winters, less than that has fall in entire seasons.

So while that may not seem like much to our Midwestern readers, it's a lot of snow for Philly! We are thoroughly enjoying not owning a driveway or needing to shovel our walk. (Some of the only perks of renting.) We took Bella for a long walk last night; here are some pics of our neighborhood and Bella's frolics through the drifts.

Arizona

2010-01-23T06:50:00.001-08:00

We met the rest of the Miller clan for a long weekend in Phoenix, Arizona, last week. Highlights included a trip to Sedona, about 2 miles north of Phoenix. Some pics of the drive are below.

New Game

2010-01-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, here is the new game I've been playing over the weekend. Go to this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Randompage

which will send you to a random wikipedia page. Click one of the links in the page to a new wikipedia page. Repeat until you get to the target page, in this case lets say Madison, WI, keeping track of the number of clicks required.

Who can get there the fastest? Put your best score and your random page in the comments.

I just got there in 8 from Votive Candle, which probably wasn't that good.

New Year's Day Tamales

2010-01-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

To celebrate 2010, we cooked, assembled, and steamed a big batch of tamales today with friends. What a fantastic way to begin the new year! I have a feeling that a New Year's Day tradition has begun.

Here are our friends Carolina and Pieter.

And these are the tamales, in all their glory.

It's Almost Christmas!

2009-12-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

It's almost Christmas and the Millers are ready.

Our pup's stocking is a new addition this year...

Our first Christmas tree!And Christmas breads! Rachel has been attempting to duplicate her mother's breads for our Christmas morning. So far, she has a 50% success rate. (The loaf on the right didn't rise correctly.) But the successful loaf still equals 100% deliciousness.

Christmas Snow

2009-12-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

We walked to our friends Phil and Nicole's house last night in the snow storm (for some amazing, authentic foundue) and took these photos along the way. Most of the time we walked in the street because no one in Philly knows how to shovel their sidewalks. But no one knows how to drive in snow, either, so no cars were on the streets.

Altogether we had about 6" of snow. Just enough to stick around until Christmas!

Addendum: The Philly airport reported 23 inches of snow over the weekend! More than 300 flights were cancelled. Glad to be staying in Philly this Christmas!

Snow Dog!

2009-12-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

Philly has already had 2-3 inches of snow and it's still falling in big, thick flakes. I know that all you Nebraskans and Wisconsinites think that isn't much, but for Philly it's a lot of snow. Parts of the area are expecting up to 10 inches. It's also Bella's first snow and we were eager to see how she'd react. She LOVES it. Loves eating it, running in circles around us in it, lying down in it, etc. Here's a video and some pics of our snow dog!

Uplift

2009-12-13T17:30:00.000-08:00

It's time for a more uplifting post! Here is Russell, watching the Huskers game versus Texas with Bella. (Note: Bella isn't allowed on the furniture. Guess who likes to pick her up and put here there?) Russ is turning the longhorns on their heads. Too bad the Huskers couldn't do the same!

At our trainer's suggestion, we got Bella a yoga mat to chill out on. She absolutely loves it and doesn't think it's a big chew toy, thank goodness. We're currently working on the command "go to your mat." (The dog version of "go to your room.")

Dude, Where's Our Car?

2009-12-01T15:40:00.001-08:00

We've lived in Philly for just over three years now, and deep down we knew something was missing. We had eaten the cheesesteaks, become Phillies fans, and embraced the local "how yous doing?" slang. But it wasn't until last month that we felt completely welcomed by the city. That happened when our car was stolen. We parked the car a few blocks from our apartment (and we don't live in a "bad" neighborhood, by the way) on one Sunday, and the next Sunday when we went to drive it -- it was gone. After the headache and hassles of filing a report with the police and going through our insurance company's requisite paperwork, we signed over the title of our missing car to our insurance company. So, if you see our Maxima out there -- call State Farm, because it belongs to them!

On the bright side, we don't need a car to get to work and can now use a car-sharing program when we need to get out to the 'burbs for a few hours. And we'll save a bunch on car insurance, maintenance, etc.

Happy Trails, Maxima! Hope the chop shop didn't hurt too badly!

Those Juiced Yankees

2009-10-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Check out the segment on our local Fox morning show this morning. Philly fans wrote the book on trash talking...

October in Philly

2009-10-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

Some highlights from our October:

Octoberfest with Phil and Nicole, friends of ours who moved to Philly this year. This fest came complete with a polka band. Phil wasn't too sure about dancing the polka.

We went to our first Ivy League football game, at the University of Pennsylvania. We were unimpressed with the size of the crowd, to say the least. The view of the Philly skyline was nice though. The Eagles used to play at Franklin Field, which I'm sure pulled a larger crowd. The Army-Navy game was also played here.

We also went to Nebraska for a Huskers game (forgot the camera, so no pics).

And, of course, much of our time has been spent watching the Phillies make it to Fall Classic! Game 1 is tonight, and Bella is ready.

Flying Monkey What?

2009-09-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

This summer, I've been eagerly waiting for a new cafe to open its doors in our neighborhood. If you've visited us in Philly, chances are we've taken you to Reading Terminal and I've made you order a cupcake from the Flying Monkey Patisserie. They are fantastic, and the bakery is opening a second location just 2 blocks from our apartment! I have anticipated enjoying coffee and cupcakes on a more regular basis there.

Unfortunately, their new name leaves something to be desired. Seriously, Flying Monkey Deuce? The owners have obviously not hung out with frat boys enough to get that one. I definitely won't be ordering anything chocolate.

Vick in Philadelphia

2009-08-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

The Philadelphia Eagles have signed Michael Vick today, and animal and dog lovers around town are furious. If you didn't know, Vick has spent the last 2 years in prison for his sponsorship of a dogfighting group. Here is a summary of his involvement in the dogfighting case: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20090814_ap_summaryofmichaelvickdogfightingcase.html (The summaryis that he organized a dog-fighting group and helped kill 6-8 "underperforming" dogs by drowning or hanging in 2007.)

Here's what I think of overpaid, animal-abusing NFL players:

Let's hope Bella demolishes it!

Dog Bed, Monkey Head

2009-08-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

We finally relented and bought Bella a dog bed. She hasn't quite figure it out yet...
We can't show you the other things she's been doing to her new dog bed...just not PG-rated for the kiddies. Needless to say, she loves her dog bed. A lot.

Oh, and that monkey toy she got for Easter from Donna? She beheaded it. Yummy -- stuffed monkey brains...

Camping in the Rain

2009-07-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

We ventured up north to the Poconos for camping and hiking this weekend. Ricketts Glen State Park is about 2.5 hours north of Philadelphia, nestled in the Lehigh Valley. It has 22 waterfalls total.

Bella thoroughly enjoyed hiking, although it was tricky in some spots to navigate while walking with her. She was very excited and tugged pretty hard on the leash. Here we are by a "wedding cake" type of waterfall.

And then, the rain began.

And it continued all night...

We huddled underneath shelter that we'd fashioned from a tarp and rope. Here's Bella by the light of the lantern.

"It's a trench!"

Our Dutch friend, Pieter, was driven to divert the water in a system of waterways. (Maybe trenchwork is in his blood?) Unfortunately, there was just too much water.

After a long day of hiking and general muddiness, our puppy curled up on a pile of laundry, still smokey from the campfire. We think that's a sign she'd like to go back.

Dog Bed, Dog Park

2009-07-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

Bella is trying to tell us something. That something is: "Get me a dog bed!!" She does this by climbing onto our coffee table, which, to her benefit, is a padded table-bench. But she barely fits onto it, and it's pretty pathetic and adorable. We have avoided purchasing a dog bed because in all likelihood she will tear it shreds. That likelihood is decreasing every day, as she gets older and stops generally tearing things to shreds.

In other news, we enjoyed a beautiful summer evening at the dog park tonight. Here's a video of our pup playing tug with a neighborhood dog.

Doga

2009-07-05T17:07:00.001-07:00

While we were down at a beach house in Cape May NJ earlier this summer Rachel and BelAir decided to do some lazy morning Yoga, or in this case Doga. Pretty cute. I think Bella needs to work on some of her moves but shes got downward dog down, although she's rarely meditative while doing it.

Spring Baseball

2009-06-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

There's nothing that signals the end of winter quite like baseball. It's finally warm enough to enjoy being outside, the hot dogs are warm and the beer is cold, the field is always bright green, and the long 160-plus game season stretches out before you, promising a long summer. This spring we traveled to see friends and family in two National League cities and to enjoy this spring rite of passage.

In April we visited friends Megan and Brad Riechmann in St. Louis and took in the Cubs-Cardinals game. (One of the hottest rivalries in baseball.) As you can tell from the picture below, the Cubs did not shine that particular day. (Losing 2-8. Although they did come back to win 10-3 the next day.)

The Cubs-Cards rivalry is intense. We felt like we were back in Philly and not in the good ole' Midwest, the banter at the ballpark was so good. To Brad's dismay, Megan has promised to actually put a Cubs onsie on their new baby boy this fall, if one happens to fall into their laps. Don't worry, Meg -- it's on the way!

We also ventured to the top of the St. Louis Arch to enjoy the view of the city. Unfortunately, it was a very windy day and once at the top viewing area you could feel the arch swaying back and forth. Needless to say, we didn't stay long.

In June, we ventured to Chicago to see Russell's brother, Rob, and his wife, Stacey. Rob is a veteran Cubs fan, and Stacey has donned Cubbie blue as well in the last few years. We saw the Cubs play the Cleveland Indians on a scorching 80-degree sunny day. It was especially brutal because we sat in the bleachers, where no shade is to be found. Oh, and it was a 13-inning game! After 5 1/2 hours in the sun we all left Wrigley sunburned and more freckled than when we went in. Popsicles and cold beers helped cool us off.

Sitting in the bleachers, we were able to interact with left-fielder Alfonso Soriano. Russ and I have nicknamed him "the Cat" because of his feline ways and little hops when he runs to catch a ball. Check out this video of a fan spraying him down with a water bottle (which she also used on the crowd, thank goodness!). In the picture, he's telling us how many outs there are (two).

This was an especially exciting win for the Cubs, as it ends the Miller Curse! Russell had never witnessed the Cubs win a game, even though he's been to many games over the last few years. And, until last year, Rob hadn't either. It was the Miller Curse. Thankfully, now the only thing standing in the way of a Cubs world series win is that nasty goat. This could be the year!

We finally heard the Cubs win song, Go Cubs Go!

Walking the Dog

2009-06-14T18:31:00.001-07:00

No, not that type of woking. The sort that results in the type of doggie bags that tend to get tossed directly in the trash... As you can imagine, we've been walking BelAir a ton since we got her. A city dogs life is a lavish affair where your owner is forced to take you out for 4-5 walks a day, so you can exercise, relieve yourself, and terrorize pigeons. Rachel and I have become quite well acquainted with all the "deuce" spots in a 6 block radius, and Bell has charted an internal map of all dog parks, dog day cares, and dry cleaners that give out treats (all very good things) as well as all automatic doors and scary dogs houses (bad things that require us to cross the street to proceed).

On this particular walk, Rachel and I went to marvel and document perhaps my greatest parallel parking job ever. It required only two bumps of the cars before and after me (which I believe are officially fair game in the philly parking scene). I had an equally impressive parking spot earlier in the month that I forgot to document.

Since we had the camera, we decided to take pictures of each other by this small and peculiar monument that sits at the end of Clinton street, probably one of the more beautiful lazy alleys in our new neighborhood. The plaque says "A merciful man is merciful to his beast." It must have been put up by an animal lover, I wish I knew more about it, but whenever I walk the pup by there I notice it and call her a beast. We have fun.

Probably the most cute/annoying thing that Bella does on our frequent walks is to go up the steps of a brownstone walkup. At first we didn't know why she was doing this and suspected that she may have lived in one. Our new theory is that these are the walkups of houses that have dogs, and shes going in for a closer smell.

You might think, "Oh, that doesn't sound too bad," and you are right. But as you can see our hood is packed to the gills with these walkups and its not unheard of for her to need to go up 3-4 per block if she is particularly curious that day.

Catchup Post

2009-05-17T05:35:00.000-07:00

I realize that we have been very slow to post blog entries this year, so here is a post to catch you up to speed on what we've been up to. Undoubtedly, the puppy is taking up much of our free time! Our Bella is growing at an average rate of 6 pounds a month. Holy #$#*, we're going to have a big dog on our hands! She's currently at 40 pounds (was 27 when we adopted her). Here are some recent pics of her and Russ. (We have to thank Donna for the monkey toy, which is her absolute favorite and she has been very careful with.) She now has a whole routine of tricks: sit, lay down, shake, fetch, touch (touch her nose to our hands), find it (find the treat; gets her into the car), and catch -- but the ones we use the most are No! and Down! Still have some work to do...

Rachel's parents visited us in February, and we had a wonderful time showing them around Philly and the area. We went to DC for a 3-day weekend, seeing the Amish countryside in Lancaster, PA, and touring the battlefield of Gettysburg on the way to Maryland. While still in Philly, we stopped at the obligatory historical spots, like Independence Hall (below) and the Reading Terminal Market for one darn good cheesesteak!

On our weekend trip, we spent a day in Gettysburg touring the battlefield. It's a very well done national park. We bought a self-guided audio tour that we could listen to while we drove through the battlefield, which is huge. The picture at the bottom right is where the famous Pickett's Charge began. (2 out of 3 Confederate soldiers who marched in Pickett's Charge were killed as they marched across the battlefield.) It is a beautiful but very eerie place.

It happened to be Valentine's Day that weekend, and we celebrated with dinner at the Dobbins House Tavern, a historic house from 1776.

Once in DC, we spent a full day touring the Capitol Building and walking through all of the memorials on the mall. Here is the Lincoln Memorial and Greg and Ann at the Nebraska column of the World War II Memorial.

To complete the tour of local battlefields, we also visited Valley Forge, which is just outside of Philly in the suburbs. It's a much smaller national park, and not technically a battlefield, but it's now a nice green space for the neighborhood. They have recreated some of the military settlement of the Continental Army, who were stationed there to watch the British Army that had drive them out of Philadelphia in the winter of 1777. While Philadelphia was being pillaged, Washington and his men waited out the winter until they could continue the military campaign in the spring.

We found an intriguing church dedicated to the Continental Army at the park, the Washington Memorial Chapel. The entire chapel is dedicated to the army, with military banners, wood carvings, and sculptures. It was interesting to see so many military symbols as part of a religious space. Here are pictures of some of the wooden carvings of soldiers.

And to thoroughly catch everyone up, here are a few pictures from our Easter in DC with Russell's sister and parents. Our niece Alexis is so cute!

More Puppy Pictures

2009-03-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

We've had Bella for over 3 weeks now, and she's doing great. We started her in obedience training yesterday (using the Click system, which really seems to work), and she is picking up commands quickly. It seems we have a smart dog on our hands, so we'll have to keep her busy and challenged!

Here are some more pictures of our pretty Bella. She loves to "herd" her balls and get two of them in her mouth at the same time. She'll play with them for hours by herself, batting the balls around with her paws. It's super cute. This pink rubber mesh ball is perfect, because she can wrap it around her jaw and get another ball on top.

It also works as a great chew toy.

Here's Russ bonding with his girl.

And here's a video of her playing fetch in our apartment.

Flyers vs. Capitals

2009-03-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I went to our first NHL hockey game this week, with our friends Pieter and Carolina. The Flyers were up against the Washington Capitals, whose best player is the evil Russian, Ovechkin. It was clear that he is evil because he is really good, he had by far the best 1-on-1 skills and had mutiple shots, 1 goal, and 1 assist. I think he may work for the soviet KGB.

Having only been to womens college hockey before, I was blown away by how fast and good the players were. It really makes me think that hockey is probably the most physically and technically challenging of sports, what with the hitting, passing, and ice. Additionally, we lucked into getting tickets in the "all you can eat section". Pieter and I proceeded to have a small contest as to who could consume the most hot dogs, nachos, ice cream, and popcorn. He won. Afterwards, we decided that they should introduce a section right near the "all you can eat" called the "all you should eat" section, to cut down on the stomache aches. All was made good, however, once we got into true hockey spirit with some Labats Blue and Mohlson Canadian.

We had to rush home on the train to our puppy, which was breaking our hearts by being alone in her kennel. She expressed regret that she was unable to compete in the "all you can eat" contest.

The Fresh Princess of Bel Air

2009-03-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally took the plunge...and adopted a puppy! Her official "show dog" name is The Fresh Princess of Bel Air, because, just like Will Smith, she's originally from West Philly. But we're calling her Bella. True to her nickname, she's a beautiful little dog. She's about 4 months old, a German shephard/border collie mix (we think), and very sweet. It could just be a coincidence, but we think we've trained her to sit already. (Seriously, she's sat on command like 5 times!) We adopted her from a local non-profit shelter, the Morris Animal Rescue, who have been great. She was picked up as a stray about a week ago.

Here she is about to jump on the couch:

And her she is being a crazy puppy. This is what we saw running at us for most of the afternoon!

By the end of the night, she was completely tuckered out.

I'm sure we will experience a revival in blog postings with our new abudance of cute puppy pictures. Watch for many new Bella pics to come!

"Is this real life"

2009-02-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

I don't want to get in the habbit of just posting random videos, but I can't help myself on this one. A more elaborate recap post is enroute. With out further adieu, David after the Dentist. "Is this real life?"

2008-12-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

I believe I would have reacted similarly when I was a kid, but perhaps Wii need to evaluate our society.... This makes me think that Nintendo has figured out a way to deliver crystal meth via televisions and hand-held controllers.

50 kids happy to get a Nintendo Wii for Christmas - watch more gamer videos

Leslie Hall, post 2

2008-12-22T18:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, so one post doesn't do this gal enough justice. I also wanted to link to her exhibition of awesome gem sweaters. Make sure to read the captions for each sweater.

I think this Leslie Hall is going places...

Leslie Hall and the LYs

2008-12-22T08:27:00.000-08:00

This is an opening line for a song that I can get into, "On the way to the club we pass by a Dairy Queen...". This is a pretty awesome group thats strutting their IA stuff, and I like it. Perhaps Ames IA will be the next grassroots music nexus like Seatle in the 90s.

Its strange, because I heard about this group from a guy from philly that went to madison for a show where they opened. Bizarre.

Open letter to Ted Turner

2008-12-20T16:19:00.001-08:00

Re: NE Tetanka?

Ted Turner just opened up a restarant here in Philly where he is selling, gasp, Bison. Actually I've heard that bison is pretty good to eat, very lean, that isn't the problem. My concern for you, Ted Turner, is whether your intentions with my fair state are genuine. If you don't know, Ted has been buying up many ranch lands across the great plains, he now owns over 2 million acres, making him the largest land owner in the US. These properties are scattered all over the plains states, but he is now the single largest landowner in Nebraska and the united states of a.

This land grab of Ted's has really rilled up the feathers of the local ranchers of Cherry county in Nebraska (a large county in nebraska known mostly for the infamous butt bandit, the subject of my next expose), as he has been overpaying for the land and making it difficult for local farmers to expand their own operations. Boo hoo, right? But I think perhaps he has a different agenda. Is it coincidental that these ranch lands overlap with the Ogalala Aquifer, the largest single pool of groundwater in the country? I think ole Ted may, and I may be going out on a bit of a limb here, be part of some sort of shadowy society of overlords.

Only time will tell if Ted's intentions are good in Cherry county. but if he enters the bottled water industry I'll get a bit more worried. Or, perhaps he is the true butt bandit....

Sweet, Sweet Nutmeg

2008-11-25T18:44:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have seen the Colbert Christmas Special last Sunday. Just in case you missed it, here is a highlight of John Legend's contribution. Eggnog, anyone?

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: John Legend

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Rabbit Hunting

2008-11-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

Found this excellent kentuky video about rabbit hunting with beagles. We were checking into this breed of dogs for a potential puppy purchase. Then I heard them bark, wowsa. The video is pretty cool though, makes me want to 1. listen to more banjo, 2. hang out with these dudes, 3. thank the landowner, and 4. shoot guns while wearing orange clothing.

Here are some of the best quotes from the flick.

"We like the chase more than the .. killin. We like to watch a good dog work."

"Nice rabbit, be a good breakfast"

"I feel sorry for him, he's from michigan.... you see how he shoots funnny?"

"let em run the rabbit before we shoot it, that way the dogs get some work out"

Recap post

2008-11-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since we posted, so here is the recap of the last month or two.

1. We moved. It is a nice place in a much more residential neighborhood with tree lined streets and of the best restaurants in town. We're now just a block away from Tria, a great wine/beer/cheese place that we've liked since we first found it a couple years ago. Plus its a great apartment with more space for us.

2. We watched as the Phillies won the world series, which lead to many late nights watching baseball around town. The party after the final game was wild, and our new location put us right in the mix of all the revelry. We hung out with the crowds on Broad Street for a while but left before any of the craziness erupted. My favorite crowd members were those that had the presence of mind to bring a pot and a spoon to bang. I was unaware of that phenomenon. I thought the guy that broght a large american flag was sort of hamming it up.

3. On election night, we watched Obama win before 10 pm EST, which was way earlier than we were expecting. On our walk home we saw another impromptu celebration on Broad Street. This one was much more civil; it didn't end in tipping over trashcans, and the crowd was a bit less drunk. It was equally jubilant though and I engage in spontaneous high-fives with random people on both nights.

4. Rachel and I are now down to the last season of The Wire, which is pretty sad. There will soon be no more wondering if Bubs can keep clean or pining over the fate of Bodie. The following clip is a hilarious clip of the Wire that's been modified with a laugh track. It changes everything.

5. I was honored when president-elect Obama asked me to be his chief of staff, but I politely declined so that I could keep up with my very important research. I only hope the staff isn't all ex-Clinton-ites when its all done.

6. I talked Rachel into dressing up as two dominoes for Halloween. I underestimated the awkwardness of walking around town in large box costumes. The domino chest bumps were worth it though. Next year I'm thinking more minimal (I think I may be an Okie Noodler).

7. I'm near the end of the a huge stash of pop-ice that I bought in the summer, which is really making winter a reality.

8. We went to an Oktoberfest beer tasting of an enormous amount of German beers with our friends Pieter and Carol. Afterwards I was a bit sick of hefeweizen, literally. And we were amazed to try the bacon tasting Rauch Biers, which were very smokey tasting. They reminded me of some very smokey Scotches I've tried. I would not like to try these beers again. Lots of the other beers were fantastic though, and I realized the beauty of the more traditional beers of Germany. It sobers my increasing love for the American "extreme" ales a bit.

9. I've started watching Paris's BFF show on MTV (a product of getting cable). I think they are all bitches (in a cool way) and wish Paris could pick them all.

TTYN

Russ

Alexis's Baptism

2008-09-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

We were in the greater DC area last weekend to celebrate the baptism of our niece Alexis. Here we are with the little darlin'. It was good to see Valerie and Rob as well as Russ's parents and Aunt Claudia and Uncle Jeff's family. Can't wait to party this weekend with the Millers at Stacey and Rob's wedding!

LHC Rap

2008-09-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

I'm about 2 weeks late on this post about the Large Hadron Collider, unless the world ended when they started it up and this is some sort of alternate dimesion. But I think this ultra, ultra, uber, ultra nerdy rap video was too good to pass up. Its also actually pretty informative and I feel I know more about additional dimesions and unified theory than I did 5 minutes ago.

OMG, Couric Punks Palin!

2008-09-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

I admit I'm not one of these Katie Couric fans that fancy her a hard hitting journalist (although I admit I've not watched her recent journey into nightly news, and think of her as primarily a fluff GMA personality). But I must say, she tee'd up on Sarah Palin in their interview, and I think she derserves some serious credit (primarily for getting the interview, cause it didn't look like it took too much to show the lack of knowledge in Palin). It was the bad cop to Sean Hanity's good cop. The spirit of Tim Russert is likely smiling (the bills are 3-0!)

Abandoned

2008-09-25T20:17:00.001-07:00

This is probably one of the more interesting blogs I've looked at in a while, about some transplant exploring lots of abandoned buildings in Baton Rouge. It takes a single theme and does it right. Plus a strange, erie feeling takes over one when even looking at the photos of these buildings; its like pure bottled sad, dessolate, and alone.

Nebraska is gaining recognition!

2008-09-10T15:27:00.001-07:00

Someone sent this to me and asked if this is a common Nebraska treat. I wish. I'm not sure if I should be proud or sad. Nebraskans have always pushed the culinary boundries.

Bal'more Day Trip

2008-08-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Labor Day, we visited the beautiful Baltimore inner harbor. The city of Baltimore has obviously spent time and money refurbishing this downtown area, and there's a lovely walk around the harbor, which is lined with restaurants, science and art museums, historic ship museums, and of course the obligatory Duck tours. It's a great outdoor space.

For us, the main draw was the Maryland Science Center and the Body Worlds 2 exhibit: The Brain, Our Three Pound Gem. Many of you have probably seen this exhibit or one of the two others currently touring North America. The exhibit presents real dead bodies that have been preserved using "plastination" to instruct and inform laypeople about human anatomy. The bodies are donated for this purpose, and the bodies are preserved and dissected to display the muscles, arteries, organs, and nervous system. (Skin and fat tissues are generally not preserved, although most bodies had eyebrows, eyeballs, and ears -- to make them look more like people, we think. Check out the link above for pictures.)

The bodies are each dissected differently and posed differently -- the "yoga woman" was in a back bend, the baseball player was midswing, and the soccer player was midkick. As if the method of preservation and the fact that real bodies are being displayed before you wasn't enough, the way in which they were presented was fascinating. You could see how the muscles worked together within all of the athletic poses and how all of our organs, muscles, and nervous system fit together. There were also many other pieces of plastinized damaged anatomy -- including a black smoker's lung, tumors, different kinds of cancers, and hearts.

It was very similar to the Mutter Museum, the medical science museum a few blocks away from our apartment in Philly. As the museum's slogan says, they are both "disturbingly informative."

Before heading home, we lightened the mood by checking out the Science Center's Chesapeake Bay exhibit, which featured a giant mechanical blue crab. And as we all know, Russ is obsessed with blue crabs. Here he is learning to commune with the blue crab.

Rusty in Denmark

2008-08-24T17:14:00.001-07:00

Last week I went to a scientific conference in Snekkersten Denmark, which is about an hour north of Copenhagen at the closest point between Denmark and Sweden. Prior to heading up to the conference I hung out at 7 a.m. in a sleepy, jet-lagged daze which is captured by these pictures exhibiting my desire to photograph street food that I ate, evidence of Obama-mania in Denmark, old buildings, and myself in front of ships.

The science was excellent and I had a great time and met a lot of people. Here is me doing the science thing and pondering an insightful comment on my poster.

During the conference I got the opportunity to visit the Kronborg castle in the neighboring town of Helsingor. This is the castle that inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet after either Shakespeare himself or a member of his acting troupe made an appearance there to entertain the Danish royalty. It is your classic castle, moat and all.

There were many pieces of original art in the castle, which have been slowly acquired in the last century from the thieving swedes who stole it all when they occupied the castle in 1658. The castle also doubles as a modern art museum, which makes for a fairly schizophrenic combination of visuals in the large old rooms. One piece of art makes me think that a friend, Kirk "eagle" VanderMeulen, may have some Danish blood. I'm of course referring to the figure off to the rights enormous calf muscles.

Here is the blow up.

After the conference I hung out in Copenhagen for a night before I caught my flight home. The city is excellent, but contrary to what I was expecting was actually quite tagged up. This lead me to feel more homesick for Philly.

How to eat blue crabs

2008-08-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the summer I was very geeked up about going down to Delaware to eat some blue crabs on the beach. The trip was excellent, and we found ourselves at Ed's Chicken and Crabs, which was a pretty awesome crab shack. Unfortunately, I don't know how to eat blue crabs, and although I did enjoy them I couldn't help to wonder how good they would be if I could get actual chuncks of meat with out shards of shell in them. Needless to say there is plenty of vlog literature on the subject. Here is a couple chesapeak good'ole'boys telling you how to do it.

Princess Bride on the Banks of the Schuykill

2008-08-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a lovely evening out on the banks of the Schuykill River a few weeks ago. The local car sharing program was projecting The Princess Bride (and giving away free popcorn) along the riverwalk by the Schuykill River. It was fun to hear so many people simultaneously parroting that famous line, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Here are pictures of our friends enjoying the picnic and taking the chance to catch up on your sleep.

Above are our friends Ping, Carolina, and Pieter.

Pieter didn't last very long.

Here is Russell with Ping's dog, Cookie. Cookie is pretty cute.

Singed Flesh Burritos

2008-08-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Of course, these burritos do not include "singed flesh" in the ingredients list. But as you can see below, the first time I made these amazing burritos I did indeed char my right wrist. (Too hot of oil + onions = ouch.) Now every time I see that scar, I'm reminded of these damn good burritos. So I thought I'd share the recipe with everyone. Just mind the hot oil.

Picadillo Pork Burritos

1 pound lean pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 medium garlic cloves, minced

2/3 cup salsa or picante sauce

1/4 cup raisins

3 Tbsp silvered almonds, toasted (toast in dry, medium hot pan carefully for 3-5 minutes until golden)

1/3 cup queso anejo Mexican cheese, shredded

2 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped

4 flour tortillas

-Place pork in a large bowl. Sprinkle with cumin, salt, and cinnamon; toss well.

- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 3 minutes; stir occasionally. Add pork mixture; cook 2 minutes, stirring often. Add salsa and raisins; simmer over low heat 5 minutes or until pork loses its pink color and sauce is thick. Remove from heat; stir in almonds, cheese, and cilantro.

-Heat tortillas according to package directions. Spoon 3/4 cup pork mixture onto each tortilla; roll up.

Yield: 4 amazing burritos.

Huffington Post app.

2008-07-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Jeff keyed me into this new application that the Huffington Post has out there that links up all the public political campaign contributions to a google map-like format. Its actually quite frightening. Jeff found it while being googled, its near the top of a search for "Jeff Howard Lincoln Nebraska". On the map you can see his name and address and that he is clearly a Ron Paul supporter (how did that work out for you Jeff?).

The application is actually quite interesting, as you can either search for people you know to see who they gave money to or look in your neighborhood to see who is donating to whom. It becomes pretty interesting when you start toggling between the 2004 contributions and 2008, showing a clear increase in democratic funding. Or to satisfy your more paparazzi instincts, you can see who all your favorite celebrities donated to. I guess I knew this was all in the public domain but it kind of seems a bit much to have it all easily accessible like this.

Sopping Wet

2008-07-26T03:48:00.001-07:00

On his walk home from work Wednesday, Russell got caught in a downpour. After a week of heat and humidity, a cold front ripped through the area and brought sheets of rain down on Center City. He reportedly started sprinting home when he saw the wall of water coming behind him, but he was soon overtaken by it. Thunder from the storm was so close that it set off car alarms. A lightning show ensued. He was almost blown off the Walnut Street bridge by the strong wind. Here is Russell, after finally making it home:

And here is a video of how much water was in his shoes.

Beach camping in Dela-wonderful.

2008-07-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I decided to beat some of the heat we've been experiencing in Philly lately by heading down the coast to Delaware to do some camping at the Delaware Seashore State Park. The camping area is just on the bay side of the "isthmus-like" strip of land on the coast. We had a short walk in the sand to get to the beach, which was beautiful. The water was freezing, however, which has been a big problem up and down the east coast lately.

The cold water didn't stop us from working on our tans (or in my case a lack thereof). We both got some serious beach reading done (rachel: the omnivore delima, russell: the confederacy of dunces), but unfortunately weren't able to break in our new aerobie, as the wind was pretty steady and strong.

The highlight of the trip (for me) was the crabs at Ed's Chicken and Crabs, your classic crab shack serving blue crabs dusted in old bay on a sheet of butcher paper. I've been mildly obsessed with eating blue crabs lately, and since there aren't a lot of crab shacks near philly this was part of the reason we decided to go so far south to the beach. Here I am preparing emotionally for the crabs with some corn.

Rachel was not so impressed, and felt a bit bad about eating something that clearly was alive only minutes ago. While Bunk on the Wire is unafraid of eating the "crab mustard" that can be found withing the cooked beasts, she was more into her ice cold Pacifico and a crab cake sandwich, which looked very good also.

It was so hot out that our little buddie even needed a pull from my lager, which I graciously allowed.

Before settling down for the night, Rachel and I hit the beach again with our camping chairs, a couple lagers, and each other. This was really the highlight of the trip. We had the beach totally to ourselves for most of the evening and we got to watch the moon rise over the ocean. I don't know how common it is for the moon to come up at night, over the ocean, to the east like that, but it was amazing.

We then settled in for the night. One thing that we didn't realize about beach camping: Its freaking HOT on the beach! Although the evening was quite cool, we awoke in an oven of a tent. It was still great though, as we just headed back to the water for a final cool off before we left for philly again.

Rock Paper Scissors Recap

2008-06-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

Here is the long-awaited PBRPRPSCLCS (PBR Philadelphia Rock Paper Scissors City League Championship Tournament) post. Our team, the Paper Cut Posse, went out in a blaze of glory -- wait, no . . . that's not right -- we were mostly all out in the second round, even with a first-round "buy." The Droog (a.k.a. Steve) was our best contender, who made it to the final 8 (out of 50+ players) but lost to the RPS savant, Loomer. Here is Loomer looking stumped (left) while the Droog considers his next move (right).

Le Tigre (a.k.a. Russell), unfortunately joined us losers after the second round. But he lost to the 2008 PBRPRPSCLCS champion -- Mr. Is. Click here to see the complete standings and to read the league blog.

I consoled myself after losing with collecting the signatures of the players featured on our tournament street cash. (At each tournament, street cash is given to each player, who then play street matches on the side. Whoever wins the most street cash by the end of the night wins a prize -- cash money.) For the championship tournament, special street cash was created featuring players, characters all. Here is my signed street cash from the night:

Baconshark, the 2007 PBRPRPSCLCS tournament champion.

Fighting Mongooses, one of the Majestic Twelve (one of the Paper Cut Posse's rival team). We keep our distance.

Posthumyn, a serious street cash contender and one of the only womyn players in the league.

PJRhymeswithSausage, who kindly reminds me to "stay out of the library!"
(You had to be there.)

And everyone's favorite, the Paper Tiger. A man without a team,
yet every team's favorite player. He's a mystery within an enigma, etc., etc.

Taco cat IS a palindrome

2008-06-28T22:19:00.001-07:00

This icanhascheezberger site is super precious. I'm a total dude, but these cat pictures make me all warm and fuzzy. Seriously yo.

Wissahickon Hike

2008-05-28T18:20:00.001-07:00

We escaped the heat of the city and hit the Wissahickon River trails last weekend. The Wissahickon is one of three rivers that meet in the Philadelphia area.

Here's a bit of history about the river, for all you history buffs: The river valley was originally settled in the 1600s and the river used for mills built along its banks. The historic Rittenhouse Town was settled by the Rittenhouse family, one of the founding families of the area. They built the first paper mill in North American here. General Washington led the Hessian troops against the British on its banks. Now it part of Fairmont Park, our city park of over 9,2000 acres. It is an oasis of green within the city.

Qbert lives in Baltimore?

2008-05-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

Jack Roarrok has learned me a few very important things over the years. 1) BBB makes a wonderful camping libation, 2) the best way to get a garlic out of his husk is to manhandle it, and, as you can see in the google maps above, 3) Qbert apparently lives in the bay of Baltimore. The last one is perhaps one of the more amazing things that I have seen on google maps. It somewhat frightens me, and its made me be on the lookout for that crazy bouncy snake thing, coily. In case everyone (Rachel falls in this group) didn't grow up an indoor kid envious of the neighbors who owned a CalecoVision, Qbert was an extremely basic video game in the 1980's.

Curiously, on the wikipedia page somewhere they mention that he has "expressive eyes". All I see are the the crosseyes of a spaceball.

Also, click here for some retro- qbert enjoyment.

Roxanne and Jack in Philly!

2008-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is a photo collection from our weekend with Roxanne and Jack in Philly. (Copyright, Jack and Roxanne. For a full report, visit their blog --linked below.) Here we are with our friends Ping and Laurel, who joined us for drinks after dinner. (Happy Birthday, Laurel!) I'm not sure why Russ is praying or whom he's praying to...

On the way to the bar, we walked past Independence Hall, which was the U.S. capital for 10 years while the White House was being built. It's also where the Declaration of Independence was debated and signed, George Washington was sworn in as president, the Liberty Bell hung in the bell tower before it cracked, and Nicolas Cage vandalized the rooftop in search of clues. We took the tour inside the buildings later that weekend.

The next day, we went to the source of all things cheesy, Geno's Steaks in South Philly. It's the real deal (just like the gigantic cheesesteak at the top of their signage indicates). Here are Jack and Roxanne, eagerly anticipating their cheesesteaks.

We did some sightseeing that afternoon: we saw the Liberty Bell and the Mutter Museum (a medical museum) and we walked around Old City, the historic district of Philly. Because it was "nice" outside (probably "cold" to our Texan friends), we had dinner at the Jamaican Jerk Hut, one of our favorite BYOBs where we can pretend we're in Jamaica. We brought our own rum and beers and thoroughly enjoyed the authentic Jamaican food. We proceeded to Bob and Barbara's, one of the best dive bars in town. It's a shrine to everything PBR, as you can see below. I'm not sure I like how women come off in this one...

Russ knows that I never nag...

On Sunday we did a bit more sightseeing, toured Independence Hall, walked along the Schuykill River path, Jack ran up the art museum steps ala Rocky, and love blossomed at Love Park. It was a wonderful weekend with our friends -- Philly loves you! Come back soon!

Philadelphia: the Madison of the East Coast.

2008-05-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

Our fellow ex-Madisonian pals Jack and Roxanne came to visit us over the weekend, although they forgot to bring their (and our) favorite 4 legged creature Louie. We forgave them (this time), and revealed that we had developed an elaborate plan to steal him had they brought him. The weekend was excellent, and as we didn't take photos of the events, I will refer you to "To Austin and Beyond" for the actual pictorial description of the weekend.

In lieu of an elaborate photo-description of the things we did, I've made some semi-elaborate Google maps, which you should check out.

Friday Night
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=104888613734646386343.00044d1e2476a21c37439

Saturday Night
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=104888613734646386343.00044d1ea9da101940974

We had an excellent time, expect an additional post with some photos we hijacked from Jack and Roxanne's camera before they left.

Welcome to the Colbert Report!

2008-04-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I were very excited to find out that Stephen Colbert was coming to Philly in advance of the Democratic primary here next week (Rachel is still undecided by I already told mamma I'm for Obama). He calls it "Democralypse Now". When we heard he was coming we luckily were near a computer and signed up for tickets.

Well, although the line was enormous and we nearly didn't make it in (they overbook the shows to ensure they are full) we stuck it out and got a seat in the last row. It was worth it, if nothing else then to see how the show gets made. We were both surprised by the fact that only once did he screw up one of his (involved) lines and need an additional take. Especially funny were the sections where he went to the constitution center and independence hall in Philly (incidently, these are the primo tourist sites in town so if you (J and R) visit us you'll get to see the place where Stephen Colbert was, which is also the place where the founding fathers were). All in all it was a very funny evening.

Competitive Rock, Paper, Scissors

2008-04-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

I think I've found my calling. While science has been a nearly all consuming ordeal for nearly 7 years now, I've felt empty. I've tried to fill that void in the past; I drifted from pool and shuffle board, to softball, to online chess and risk, only to realize the void remains. Well, I'm happy to report that I have found it, competitive RPS. In my first two events I've done pretty good, placing 3rd and 1st, with the first prize netting me a pretty nifty 60 dollar prize, enough to cover my PBRs and cab fare home. Well these showings have just wet my appetite for the 2008 PBR-Philadelphia-RPS-City-League-Championship-Series, which starts up next week. I'm gunning for rookie of the year honors, or perhaps the top team prize with my crew, the Paper Cut Posse. We'll see how the season shapes up.

Needless to say, I've been practicing. Which is pretty awkward to explain to Rachel when she wonders what I'm doing in the bathroom for hours on end.

Expect more updates about the season (or, equally as likely, expect this to slowly run its course like chess, shuffle board, pool, and softball).

Ben who?

2008-03-31T20:41:00.001-07:00

Living in Philadelphia you quickly realize that the city has an obvious obsession with one B. Franklin. Rightfully so I guess. He had his hand in every pot in the young Philadelphia; he started the first fire department, the first american loaning library, as well as the first academy of higher education in America, which ultimately turned into the University of Pennsylvania. All this with a bad case of gout. Because of all these accolades there are hundreds of statues or monuments to him around town (not to mention all the businesses named things like: Franklin Liquor, Ben Franklin Pretzel, etc). On my way home from work the other day Rachel and I took photos of all the Ben Franklin statues, which totalled 4 if you count a mural on the side of a building. Not bad for a 25 minute walk.

Here is the mural of ole benny, although it is pretty odd mural, I mean whats cheaper than a outdoor painting of a statue?

This one is right in the middle of campus and features the old, wise Ben, that could be seen canoodling with wealthy french ladies about the court.

This is obviously my favorite one. He's a great listener.

Ben... Did you take my hat?

New York

2008-03-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

We recently spent a weekend in New York City. We had been ashamed that we hadn't been there yet, because it's only 90 miles and a two-hour train ride away from Philly. It was easy to get there and back via the New Jersey transit system. Now we can proudly say we've experience the splendor and chaos of New York. We spent most of Saturday at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where we were dazzled and puzzled by all that modern art has to offer. They had an especially cool furniture exhibit; and we loved the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit, which showed how design allows us to absorb the amazing amount of information available to us in the "information age." Below is a video of the flight patterns in the United States.

Next, we went to the Top of the Rock viewing deck at the 70th floor of Rockefeller Center. Here are the northern (Central Park) and southern (Empire State Building and downtown Manhattan) views.

After enjoying a lovely evening at an Italian restaurant in the East Village, we saw the sights in downtown Manhattan on Sunday: Wall Street, Battery Park, the World Trade Center site, New York Stock Exchange, and Trinity Church, a historic Episcopal church that was built in 1846. Here is the view from Battery Park, where you can see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island -- next time we'll visit in the summer and take the ferry.

We look forward to spending more weekends in the big city of New York. It is staggering in scale; but the history and museums alone make it worth the visit. A perfect weekend trip for anyone who visits us in Philly! (Sorry, couldn't resist the plug.)

New Couch!

2008-02-22T12:04:00.000-08:00

Introducing the newest addition to our home: an ultra comfy new sleeper sofa. (That's right, no more air mattress!) The days of "ole' green" are gone, we're somewhat sad to say. Luckily, our friends Pilar and Sebastian have adopted ole' green, so we can visit whenever we like.

Here's a funny series taken while we experimented with our camera timer, in order to get all three of us in the frame.

Austin, Texas

2008-02-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

We had to find out for ourselves if the stars are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas. And, they are. We just spent a great three-day weekend with old friends from UW-Madison, Jack and Roxanne. They are living in Austin and were kind enough to show us the city and countryside.

Our first stop was for good Tex-Mex and a beautiful view of the sunset over Lake Travis. We also sampled some local Texas-sized brews at a local haunt, which provided complimentary ponchos for the "chilly" 60-degree nights.

We also found a shuffleboard table in downtown Austin, although we are apparently rather rusty at our old favorite bar game. The lack of side walls really impaired our game. Or maybe it was just the Texas-sized beers. At any rate, see Rachel miss her shot below.

The next day took us to the hill country of central Texas, where we hiked to the top of Enchanted Rock, a 1800-foot high granite rock formation. You can see how the rock is eroding in great slabs of the side of the formation.

We were also really excited to see Louie, Roxanne and Jack's fabulous dog (just don't tell him that he's a d-o-g). He accompanied us on all our hikes and we enjoyed some face-to-face time in the car. Unfortunately, Louie wouldn't fit into our carry-on suitcase, so we'll have to plan another trip to steal the best dog in the world. Here is another shot of Enchanted Rock, taken as we hiked around the formation.

Finally we headed out to a clasic pit barbecue place, Coopers, in Llano Texas. It was amazing. I've never ordered meat by the inch before, but if you have the chance I highly recomend it. below is our ribs and brisket order, in all its saucy goodness.

Saydee Ann!

2008-02-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

Another adorable niece was born in January! Rachel's brother Erik and his wife Lori are the proud parents. Saydee Ann is their second daughter; she was born on January 17th. Mom and baby are both doing well. Saydee is above with Grandpa and Dad and big sister, Hadlee. (More photos to come of Saydee once she's had her beauty sleep!)

Congratulations, Erik and Lori!

New Year's Eve

2008-02-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

We were very happy to host our friends Megan and Brad Riechmann from St. Louis for New Year's Eve. They did a whirlwind tour of all that Philadelphia has to offer: Historic sights, fabulous restaurants, and international concerts. I don't think we could have fit any more into that weekend! Here they are by the famed Liberty Bell.

The highlight of the visit was a New Year's Eve concert featuring Alo Brazil, a Brazilian music group. We were quick to learn they also dance! (See bikinis below.) It was a high-energy, carnivalesque show that had us dancing all night.

This was a new year's eve to remember, and we were so happy to see Megan and Brad again. Hopefully next year we can catch a Cubs-Cardinals game in their neck of the woods!

A White Christmas

2008-01-05T20:49:00.000-08:00

We traveled halfway across the country to be with Rachel's family in Gering, Nebraska, for Christmas 2007. And we were met with a beautiful white Christmas. The area had already had about 5" of snow during the previous week, and during the week we were there the drifts grew to more than a foot. We were greeted with big, thick snowflakes upon leaving the church at midnight mass!

Miraculously, the snow did not impede our travels. It seems as though our streak of bad traveling luck has ended! We left the Denver airport on the only day that we could have successfully made the three-hour drive to Denver, as the winds blew the snowdrifts over the roads the following day. Thankfully, the snow was only a beautiful addition to Christmas instead of the traveling challenge it could have been.

Our Christmas was filled with shrieks of delight and ticklefests, as we strove to make our nieces as hyper as possible! (You're welcome, brothers and sisters-in-law!) They are simply adorable little girls, and it was such a pleasure to spend a week with them. They are each growing so fast and changing so much between visits -- a reminder to get home more often! Here we are with Natalie (1 year) and Kaitlyn (3 years). Kaitlyn is quite the big sister and takes good care of Natalie, who is doing everything she can to keep up.

And Uncle Russ had tremendous fun chasing Kaitlyn around the couch...

... which was very successful...

And here is Hadlee Sue (2 years), looking adorable in her Christmas dress. Hadlee's favorite words are "mine" and "it's stuck," which seems to apply to literally everything.

Hadlee will also have a little sister soon. Due to arrive in January, little Saydee Ann was thinking about being born early but eventually thought better of it. We're hoping she arrives safe and sound in 2008.

Rachel's grandparents from Alabama also made the journey to the Midwest, and it was good to spend time with them again. Granddad, thanks for the good Scotch! Here they are, with Rachel's parents:

It was wonderful to be home with the Petersons for Christmas. Family members converged from across the country, family holiday traditions were maintained, and new family members were initiated in the joy of Christmas. It was a beautiful Christmas to remember.

Thanksgiving in Nebraska

2008-01-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

While this may not seem like the typical Thanksgiving weekend picture, we did find ourselves playing hunting video games with the Millers that weekend. They are fierce competitors, each and every one of them. Even Donna took a turn shooting deer and elk and "critters."

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Millers in their new Lincoln home. All of the siblings were together for the first time since our wedding in 2006! Hopefully that trend will change in 2008!

Here we are with Russ's brother, Rob, and his fiance, Stacey. It was great to have a beer at Yia Yias again and revisit the old college stomping grounds.

American Freaking Gladiators!

2008-01-05T16:41:00.000-08:00

I was flipping through the chanels the other day and found myself captivated by a marathon of American Gladiators on ESPN clasics. Man I loved that show as a kid! I looked forward to Sunday mornings with Nitro, Turbo, Siren, and Lace roughing up some comically smaller chumps on the gauntlet.

And now I hear they are bringing it back. Somehow I don't imagine it'll be the same. With or without the hulkster..

Eagles v. Giants

2008-01-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

Rachel, wonderful wife she is, teamed up with our friend Carol to get her husband, Pieter and I tickets to an Eagles game. We decided to get our moneys worth by going down and tailgating in the parking lot, Wisconsin-style. We cooked up some beer-italian sausages (no brats to be found in philly).

Lagers and Brats = good. Lagers and brats before a football game = great.

Our seats were great, we had an excellent view of the game. It was definitely cold and damp, but that just completed the ambiance.

Jamaica

2007-10-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

In honor of our friend Jeff's 25th birthday (honestly!), we joined him and eight other friends for a week in Negril, Jamaica. What better way to celebrate your birthday than with some of your closest friends in the Caribbean islands? We had a wonderful time, despite what must have been 10" or more of rainfall that week! We stayed a block away from the 7-mile beach, one of the biggest tourist attractions on the island. There are a few big all-inclusive resorts, but most of the beach is lined with restaurants and bars, like the ones advertizing in the photo above. We had about two sunny days, which we spent on the beach. The water is perfect -- you can walk out about as far as the ropes and the water is crystal clear.

When it was raining or cloudy, we spent time at the Freedom Villa, our accommodations, playing cards, reading, and chatting with everyone. Jeff has stayed at the villa before and has befriended the managers, John and Anita. They also give tours of tourist attractions around the island, and we made several day trip tours with them. Our first was to the Manfield Falls, where we did a riverwalk through a series of small waterfalls. The second was to the Black River and Appleton Rum Distillery. It poured rain partway through the Black River tour, but the tour guide still managed to entice a few crocodiles to approach the boat (a snack helped). Here's a view of the river, with red mangrove trees that grow "roots" from their branches to drink from the river:

But we didn't mind the rain much, right Jeff?

The rest of the week was full of relaxation, for both Russell...

...and Rachel.

We'd love to return to Jamaica again and enjoy the beautiful beaches, eat the amazing food, and see the sites again soon. I'm sure we only scratched the surface of what Jamaica has to offer. Maybe for Russ's 25th birthday...

Hiking in the Poconos

2007-10-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

The beautiful Pocono Mountains, just a few hour's drive north of Philadelphia, was the setting for a weekend of camping and hiking with our friends Pieter and Carol in late September. The leaves were just beginning to change color. Above and below are scenes from the more gentle of the two hikes we did, at the Hickory Run State Park in the Lehigh Valley. There were a few small waterfalls on this hike.

The second hike, the Glen Onoko Falls Trail, definitely raised our heart rates more, but luckily it was not as treacherous as the sign warned:

It definitely was a challenge! We resorted to scrambling up sides of the mountain, almost rock climbing in places, when we lost the trail. Luckily, we only met one very timid and small snake and no one had to be air-lifted from the gorge.

And we were rewarded with views like in the picture below, taken from atop the waterfall in the above picture.

We're hoping to make the hike again in October, once the leaves have turned colors more. It's worth the view!

Nebraska!!!

2007-09-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, my parents succumbed to the internal pull back to Nebraska and have moved into a new house outside of Lincoln. We made it back there recently to check out the new house, celebrate my Grandmother's 90th birthday!, and catch the Nebraska vs. USC game. Well, the first two were great.

Rachel and I got a chance to hang out with my friend Jeff and her Cousin Melissa in Lincoln (just another perk of having the family back in Lincoln). Jeff is managing a thriving import business (I'm pushing for a little exporting but I don't think he's in to it). He recently got back from a trip from Nepal where he has set up a factory.

Melissa and Rachel chatted up a storm as well, but I didn't hear any of it. I'll leave her to tell that story another time.

Rachel and I had excellent seats at the game, 50 yard line and only about 10 rows from the USC bench.

There was a brief moment when we all thought NE would win the game. Then the second quarter hit. Then the third. Then the fourth. The game was great though.

The next day we had the celebration for my Grandmother. 90 candles is a lot, but she got them all out!

Grounded in Philly

2007-08-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

As new transplants in the Philadelphia region, we've been looking forward to any chance to visit family and friends in the good ole' Midwest. And the final wedding in a three-year wedding spree of friends and colleagues in Madison, Wisconsin (where we just moved from), was the perfect opportunity to see as many friends as possible. The wedding of our friends Carol and Mark was drawing friends from as far as California and several friends were moving away from Madison shortly after the wedding. Attending the wedding was the best chance to see as many of these friends as possible in one place, at one time. We weren't going to miss it for the world. We made sure our wedding attire was properly dry cleaned, purchased a wide array of personal hygiene products in small, airline-approved 3.4-oz, bottles, and packed our bag for the weekend.

Fast forward to midnight Friday. After 8 hours of waiting in the decrepid Philadelphia airport, a short period during which the airport was closed to all air traffic, and numerous announcements of half-hour, hour, and four-hour delays in our departure time, the good people at United Airlines decided to cancel our flight. We were left stranded in our new hometown.

During the 45-minute taxi ride through south Philly (my first experience of a taxi driver immediately locking the doors after exiting the highway), we debated how we would get through the weekend, knowing that our friends were all together enjoying our favorite dive bars and badly dancing to wedding music without us. We decided to do the only thing we could under such circumstances: celebrate.

The following night we prepared a lovely three-course meal, donned our wedding garb, popped open the champagne, and celebrated our friends' wedding in our own small way. The steak was perfectly done, the mood intimate, and the centerpieces breathtaking. My favorite aspect of the event was the venue, which sported a lovely view of downtown Philadelphia. So romantic.

Classic wedding music was played, some people in the room did "get down," and the bride and groom were toasted. May they always be surrounded by friends and family who love them, even from across the country.

Phillies V. Mets

2007-07-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

At the outset of this entry I have to admit that I'm more of a wanna-be baseball enthusiast than a certified baseball enthusiast. Many a wife has faced the sometimes uncomfortable truth that their husband is a sport(s) enthusiast, and I am no different. In the hopes of maintaining my relationship and spending time with my husband during the aforementioned sport(s) season(s), I've embraced baseball as my new sport: Favorite team? Check. (Phillies, soon the only sports team in history to lose 10,000 games) Favorite player? Check. (Ryan Howard, slugger sometimes-extraordinaire) Favorite mascot? Check. (The Fanatic, whose rotund belly never ceases to entertain me, even if the game isn't.)

I still make many rookie errors, such as (but certainly not limited to) asking what the score is when it is posted in various places (in various ways) throughout the stadium, needing clarification on the type of pitch just thrown -- Is the slider diferent than a curve ball or is it simply a curve ball that slides? Where is Scooter when I need him? -- and in general just being there for the beer and pretzels. I never fail in the area of trash-talking, which was recently demonstrated at the Cubs V. Phillies game, where "Chase Butt Utley" was called out more than once, to the detriment of our safety in a stadium of 40,000 Phillies fans. (I also moonlight as a Cubs fan.) Needless to say, this will not be a blog in the vein of sports writing.

With this caveat, let me tell you about the Phillies V. Mets game Russ and I attended last week. These two teams are National League East rivals, due to their geographic proximity. Unfortunately, the Philly fans at this game must have been too tired or depressed at the score (or the looming 10,000 mark) to demonstrate the roughhousing we've heard sometimes happens at these games. The Phillies lost 5-2 (or something like that; I stopped bugging Russ for the score around 3-1), and the only fireworks were off the field, set off after the game to celebrate the 4th. The Phillies fans did boo whenever any decent Mets players came up to bat: Beltron, Reyes, and Wright's only sins were being good players and not being on the right team. Phillies fans also booed one of their own, Burrell, who is currently in the middle of a slump. All in all, it was not the most exciting baseball game -- after the Phillies failed to rally and tie the game, the only animated characters were wearing Mets shirts. The Fanatic seemed to rouse some by smashing a Mets batting helmet to the tune of Sinatra's New York, New York, a testament to the rivalry. But, as I'm learning, a real baseball fan isn't there just for the wins. They're there to watch a baseball game. After all, there are 80-plus more games in the season and plenty of time for this year to become The Year. Plenty of time for me to distinguish the curve from the slider.

Down the Shore

2007-07-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

We went to the beautiful Jersy shore last weekend, to Cape May, which was gorgeous. I was expecting New Jersey to be an apocalytic wasteland, filled with industrial complexes leaking dangerous chemials, nuclear power plants, and landfills. Although we did pass by a nuclear power plant on the way I found the entirity of our New Jersey trip to be 100% agreeable. I'm not sure where all this bad reputation has come from.

We went with some friends from Philly, one of which had just gotten a new Helga Lomography camera, and took some cool pictures. I want one now but I may first try to break my camera so it takes crummy pictures, which may be a more organic route to a lomo.