Happy New Year!

We had a pretty mellow celebration here in Iowa. Barack Obama invited us to his New Year's Eve party, but we decided to lay low and party with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest instead (this is not a joke). We drove 17 hours on Saturday to come home, as I had some housekeeping I needed to take care of here on Monday.

[4:15 pm edit: Way back when, I complained about the Central Time Zone and how annoying it is. Well, last night, they played New Year's Rockin' Eve live. No tape delay. Do you know what that means. People here in the midwest celebrate the New Year at 11 pm. Why? I don't know. people here are weird. For some reason they live life like they live in the Eastern Time Zone, with most people starting work at 7 am. There's a lot of things I don't understand about this place; Central Time may be the hardest for me to understand.]

We also we wanted to be back in time for the caucuses on Thursday, and judging from the weather report I saw/heard for the Northeast, I think we made a good choice in leaving a little early. Incidentally, I still don't know who I will be caucusing for - if you feel strongly for any candidate, please make your case in the comments - but I'm not voting for Tom Tancreado, no matter how good your argument. I can go either way, in terms of party, I mean.

I usually don't make Resolutions, because I usually don't keep Resolutions. But this year, I've made a few. Most of them will remain in my head, but one of them is to try to be more productive in my writing. Hopefully, that means more posting on this here blog; hopefully, it means interesting posts on this here blog. We connected with some old friends while in Boston and spread the word of the blog; in addition to the legions of fans already visiting, I want to keep people happy.

Kimberly and I are also working on something else for the internets which is a little more interactive and collaborative - we're keeping it private for now, but hopefully it will go public in the future.

My first post of the year will be right below this. I'm sure Kimberly will check in soon to complain about the weather - it isn't supposed to get over 10 degrees today, so I have to agree with her for right now.

Please feel free to comment if the inspiration strikes. We hope to see you soon.

2007 The Year in Pictures

Last year was pretty exciting for Kimberly and I. We drove all over the country, including a move from Portland to Iowa. We spent two months in Italy eating and drinking everything in sight. And we got a niece, 1900 (who, coincidently, kind of looks like a pumpkin right now, because of her red hair and chubby cheeks).

1900 with her grandmother Nonnina

As part of a project I was working on in December, I went through pretty much every picture we took last year (and pretty much every picture I've taken since I was 6). Since I already did most of the work, I uploaded some of the ones I thought were the best of the bunch to Flickr.

Most of them are from our trip to Italy.

Some you may have seen before.

Some are a peek into future posts.

Some are technical.

Some are dramatic.


There's a bunch more on the Flickr page: my preferred viewing method is the slide show.

Hope you enjoy.

Happy Holidays

Kimberly and I are on a bit of a holiday over these holidays. We're hanging out with my family, eating too much food and bewildered at all the snow here in Boston.

We'll get back to some posting when we get back to Iowa. One of my New Year's Resolutions will be to post more regularly, so we'll see if that lasts past January 15th, like my gym membership.

Hope you're having a nice holiday, and keeping warm, wherever you might be.

I'll leave you with this picture of Kimberly and our niece 1900 to warm your heart. Not even the Grinch can make you sad after seeing this picture.

One down, seven to go...

Well, it's over. Done. Finito. Phew...

The semester is finally done. It's official. My grades are submitted (all 50 of them). The portfolios have been read, the finals reviewed, the math double-checked (thank you Excel). I've been done with my own work since Thursday, and so this means I'm actually DONE!

Want to know my dream plans for the break? My secret aspirations?

I ordered 5 books from Amazon and none of them are school related. Whoopie!! Thousands of pages of relaxation. Now if only they arrive soon.

Of course, I have two new preps next semester that I need to lesson plan for, and three crazy-hard classes of my own that I need to start studying for before classes begin (yes, we PhD students start studying BEFORE classes start, that's just how geeky we are). So the break won't be all rest. But, that's okay, any break at all is welcome right about now.

See you in a few days, I'm sure I'll have to stop reading at some point!

A Point for the Middle

For the most part, I haven't been too nice to the Middle on these here interwebs. It's not that I don't like it here, it's just that I like to complain, a remnant of my east coast upbringing that I don't think will ever abandon me, no matter how hard Kimberly wishes. Despite the terrible drivers, extreme weather, and difficulty finding things we have become accustomed to having (like feeling in our extremities), we are settling in with our very nice, terribly coiffed (like I can really say anything about anyone's hair), very Christian, Midwestern brothers and sisters.

So, I come here today not to fault the Middle, but to praise it, for there is something here in Iowa which I could not find in Portland: a dingy, cheap, sketchy, wonderful Italian grocery store.

You may remember a while back when we discovered that there was some notoriety for Italians in Capital City. Well, I finally made it to their neighborhood (on the recommendation of a friend in Portland who is originally from Iowa) and found the wonderful Graziano Brothers market in South Des Moines.

Grazianos was great - cinder block building, no windows, haphazard parking lot - and was packed pretty tight with basic Italian staples. There were 20 different kinds of canned tomatoes, 10 different kinds of roasted peppers, 50 types of dry pasta, lots of fresh pasta (including ravioli and tortellini), fresh pizza dough, parmigiana cheese, panettone, and pretty much anything else you could want from your Italian specialty market. They had fresh bread that wasn't sliced on Wonder. Most importantly, they had a deli with home-made sausage, bulk olives, and fresh cut meats, including wonderful prosciutto and salami.

Of course, you can get all these things in Portland. Except that the prosciutto will cost you $30 a pound. At Grazianos, just $15. And in Portland, the chances of the counter help speaking Italian to the customers is low. Here, there were actual Italians, and the were being their typical Italian selves (cutting in line, throwing the elbow, etc). I still don't know how they get here, but apparently they're here. And I 'm not going to complain.

The next step is to find out if there's any good pizza down in that neighborhood. Making my own dough is fine, but can get old. And don't even get me started on the local 'pizza' places (if they didn't serve wings, there would be no reason to go there). There's an Italian Festival over the summer, where I'm sure they'll have pizza, fried dough (but they'll probably call it funnel cake), and sausage subs (here in Iowa, they call them Guinea Grinders, which no one finds interesting or offensive in the slightest way).

While I might have to wait for the ground to thaw before I can check out the festival or the pizza, I know that tonight I can have some prosciutto and good bread.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

So, this snow thing. It's going to stop soon, right?

No?

It's snowing again today. At the moment, it's a balmy 12 degrees out (Fahrenheit) and I'm watching out my office window as the snow piles up again across campus. This makes the third dumping of snow this week. And, while it sure is nice to have all that ugly gray snow covered up by the pretty white stuff, I'm awfully tired of slipping and sliding and landing on my ass. Not fun!

Send us your warm thoughts and hot cocoa dreams...

(Finals this next week too- the end is in sight!)

Things I'll Miss About Oregon: Volume 12 [Sitka Spruce]

When we got married a few years back, we spent our 'honeymoon' on the Oregon Coast in the nice little town of Manzanita. To get out to the Coast, you head west from Portland on Highway 26, up and over the Coast Range, until you hit Canon Beach and Highway 101. Right when you come down from the Coast Range, you hit a flat spot in the road. It's along this flat spot that you will find the World's Largest Sitka Spruce tree.

We had driven out to the Coast a bunch of times. I always contemplated, but never followed through on, stopping at the Sitka Spruce. Kimberly stopped once when she was like 12. On the way home from our honeymoon, I decided to pull into the parking lot. We spent about an hour just hanging out near the tree (it was a Wednesday and we were the only ones there), taking pictures, hiking around. It was pretty fun.

Sadly, on Sunday, the world's largest Sitka Spruce finally fell.

The tree was somewhere between 700 to 750 years old. 50 years ago, it was scarred by a lightning bolt. Then last year, during another storm, a giant chunk fell off, showing that the inside was rotting. The tree toppled this past weekend.

Kimberly in front of the Sitka Spruce. You can see the scar
from the lightning strike on the tree above.

No one really knew when the tree would fall because of the rotting wood. I think most people thought it would stay up a little longer than this.

Anyways, the Sitka Spruce is gone. It's kind of a sad day.

Kimberly pretending to be a hobbit under a
neighboring tree (this is not the Sitka Spruce)

Our First Snow of the Middle

A snowy creek in the woods behind our house.

When we woke up on Saturday morning, there was some strange noises coming from the bottom of the bed. At first, I though it was Miles chasing a rubber band or something. After a few minutes, I realized that something was tapping on the window.

Our backyard

When we rolled out of bed, we found the ground covered in snow and ice raining down from the skies. Kimberly was very excited. Though she has been in snow before, she's never been in an ice storm before. When we went for a walk later in the afternoon, Kimberly was completely enthralled with the icy trees and frozen forest. I have to admit that it's pretty beautiful when the trees are all covered in ice and everything kind of twinkles in the light. It's not as fun when the trees start losing limbs under the weight of the ice.


Some pics of the ice and snow here (obviously), some on Flickr (if you're interested).

Our apartment is right behind this tree. Ain't the building lovely.

High Class

When we were traveling in Italy, we did a lot of eating and drinking of wine. We tried our hardest to eat and drink whatever was the local specialty.

When we were in Siena, we found a nice little wine shop. The old man inside spoke no English, but he took a liking to us and was opening bottles for us to taste. We were able to determine that he and his family had a small vineyard where they were starting to produce their own wines. The quality was pretty good and the bottles pretty cheap, so we ended up drinking a decent amount of his wine while we were in Siena.

Since they had started making their own wines, they were converting their shop to sell their own wines and were trying to get rid of everything else. In the corner of the store was a 'Everything for 18 €uro' shelf, so I went to investigate while Kimberly and family talked to our new friend. I noticed that there were some pretty nice looking wines, including one of the Italian B wines (in Italy, they have Brunello, Barolo, and Barbaresco wines, which are all of high quality. They rank in a certain order, from most bestest to least best, but I can never remember that order; I just know they're all supposed to be pretty good). There was one that had a price tag on it for 7o €.

Not really understanding the situation, I confirmed with him that everything, and I stressed the everything, on the shelf was 18 €, even if marked with a different price. He said that, yes indeed, all the wine was 18 €.

Since I had never tasted one of the Italian B wines, and since this one seemed to be on sale at an amazingly reduced rate, I decided to spend the money (18€ = ~ $25) and try it out. Kimberly's mom and sister, who were traveling with us at the time, actually carried the wine back to the US for us. I am their debt for this task.

Anyways, last night we decided to open the bottle, since we were having some baked pasta. We figured a nice, Italian red would go perfect.

We opened the bottle and were blown away. The wine was pretty amazing.

After dinner, while savoring the rest of the bottle, we decided to do a little research on the bottle. It turns out the wine was definitely worth the 18€. We could have bought half a plane ticket with that bottle of wine.

Sometimes, you just stumble on a good deal. And fortunately for our taste buds, we jumped at the chance.

Shaky Hands make for Blurry Pictures. The label says:
Poggio all Oro
Brunello di Montalcino
Castello Banfi
Riserva 1995

This Is How They Roll in Iowa

It's miserable here today. It snowed about 1/2 an inch last nght and now freezing rain is falling from the sky. It's the perfect combination as the snow is forming a solid core of ice, making it impossible to leave the house.We'll post some pictures later on.

So to warm everyone up, I present this video. This girl actually has a radio show on the college station here, which I had listened to a few times before someone sent me this video.

There's so many fantastic parts to this video, I can't count them. Although my favorite is when she says "you make me hotter than a stick of hot glue; I'm gonna scrapbook everything we do." If that doesn't sum up the Middle, I don't know what does.

Please enjoy. I am.

The 3:10 to Tucson

A few weeks back, we went to Phoenix to visit my brother's family and to welcome young little 1900 into the family. While we were there, we decided it would be a good opportunity to visit some friends who had moved to Tucson a few years back (about an hour south of Phoenix), and whom I hadn't seen in about 4 years.

After college, a friend of mine from UVM and a couple of his high school friends decided to move to Boston, get jobs, and have a good time in the big city ('big city' in relation to Hartford and Burlington, not 'big city' in relation to NY). The three of them, me, and a friend of mine from high school all moved into a 4+1 bedroom house in Cambridge (with our unofficial sixth roommate, Banana Man). We had a foosball table. We had a basement, and a guy who would occasionally come over and pee in the basement. We were across the street from the greatest dive bar in the history of dive bars. Needless to say, we had some good times.

After a few years, the 262 House started breaking up. Babies and marriages and time all contributed. New guys moved in, but it was never really the same. Rob had moved out before me to live with his girlfriend, Kyrsten, and they would eventually move to Tucson together. Soon afterwards, I left the house and moved to the Northwest.

Rob and Kyrsten are two of the happiest, most positive people I've ever met in my life; if you can find someone who would speak ill of them, I will give you a shiny nickle (dogs don't count, as I know some people who aren't super big fans of Kali). They're created a nice life for themselves in Tucson. They have an awesome house, with a swamp cooler. They have three dogs, that despite the occasional 'dog freak-out,' are pretty cool. And they have an awesome backyard. We spent most of time back there, where Rob cooked up some phenomenal chicken quesidillas on the grill. We sat deep into the night, drinking beers around the fire, reminiscing about old times at the 262, catching up on our lives away from Boston, and listening to Rob's impressive stories about winning chili cook-offs (no small feat for a Yankee from Connecticut living in the Southwest).

The next morning, Rob took us to a small local place for some tasty Mexican breakfast goods. Kimberly could hardly contain her excitement. The food was spicy good, and we certainly ate our fill.

Afterwards, we took a quick jaunt into the Saguaro National Park, which is right on the borders of Tucson. Pictures can't do this place justice. It is one of the more breathtaking places I've been to, right up there with Joshua Tree National Park in California - something about tall, green, statuesque succulents stretching to the horizon in an otherwise desolate place really gets me going.

On the way back to Rob's place, we drive through the 'city' of Tucson and some of the neighborhoods. Overall, it seems like an artsy, funky place - lots of coffee shops, bars, and thrift stores in cool old buildings. Although we didn't get to experience it so much on our feet, it seems that the city has a much more human scale to it than the strip mall concrete that we experienced in the Phoenix area (You can walk places? Aghast!) (am I too hard on Phoenix? People love it there, and I guess I only spent like 3 days there, but I'm not sure. It didn't leave a good first impression with me. Maybe I need to give it another chance).

As we left Rob and Kyrsten and their gaggle of dogs to head back north, we out through the desert and past the Saguaros. Tucson gave me a good sense of why people love the desert - the sense of isolation, the drama of mountains and cacti shooting up in the stark landscape. It will be nice to go back in May and experience the area a little more in depth. Rob and Kyrsten are getting married. Let the party start.

Just a minor interruption...

to tell you that it is 15 degrees outside right now. No seriously. It really is.

that is all.





updated at 2:50...

It has warmed up to a balmy 26 now! Woowee! It's like spring (except not really).

This Baby has Cooler Clothes than Me

Dreaming of Enter The Dragon

A few weeks back, before Thanksgiving break, the two of us took a trip down to Arizona to visit our niece, 1900. While I was not overly impressed with the Phoenix area, it was really nice to get out of the on-coming cold of the middle and spend some time in a 90-degree desert. And it was really nice to finally meet 1900.

To entice everyone to the desert, BtO and S.I.L.K. had a naming ceremony for 1900, even though they're not Jewish; the whole thing was just a really good excuse to throw a party in the very cool Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. Almost the entire immediate family from both sides was there (except for my Uncle Loveday and S.I.L.K.'s brother, who doesn't fly), so it also served as a bit of a family reunion.

My father, BtO, 1900, S.I.L.K., Aunt Youyou, and S.I.L.K.'s father

Needless to say, 1900 is pretty cute. Somehow, two blond-ish parents ended up with a bright red-headed baby. She has enormously large cheeks, which I had to fight against every gene in my body to not pinch. And she has huge [color omitted] eyes. If I had a son, and I wasn't related to her, I would put a down payment on the dowry for her.

My mom, Sister-the-Youngest, BtO, 1900, S.I.L.K. and us.

Since Kimberly and I are 1900's favorite Aunt/Uncle pair (not to mention, the only Aunt/Uncle pair), we had to get her the best gift. I think we did ok:

[Looking back on it, 1900 got a lot of clothes as gifts. It almost makes me wish we had gotten her a book or a stuffed animal or something else different and cool. Although, since all the other clothes she got were pink or white, I figure this nice brown onesie, which goes well with her red hair, will be a nice change for her.]

After the ceremony and some great dinner [please note: I love roast duck, even when it's made with chicken], we went back to 1900's place, where her favorite Aunt and Uncle got to hold and play with her. I was trying my hardest to wake her up, but S.I.L.K. was having none of it.

Me, looking terrible, with two much better looking ladies

The event was a success and a blast. The Botanical Gardens were gorgeous and served as a wonderful backdrop. And 1900 was a charming young lass. It almost makes you want to have one. Almost.

"Shut Up Toby"

[If you didn't watch The Office last night, and care about the show, this post might be considered a spoiler]

The Office has been pretty weak lately - I think the move to a one hour format hurt. I mean, the show is still probably the best sitcom on tv right now, but it was slow going for a little bit there. But last night was a return to form.

The whole deposition was fantastic, and classic Michael Scott. It makes me wish Jan was still the boss and Ryan was just a bit part of the show. My favorite was when the Dunder-Mifflin attorney was reading Michael's journal and asked "who is this girl Ryan? Not as pretty as Jan, but still sexy?" Then Toby started laughing hysterically. That killed me.

The Michael - Toby relationship is one of my favorite parts of the show. Something about Toby's sad-puppy face and Michael being so mean to him just gets me every time.

And the Kelly-Pam ping-pong thing was a nice side story, although I feel like Jim is enough of a geek that he would have been better at ping-pong; it wasn't surprising that Dwight is a ping-pong savant. Kelly talking smack, not trash, to Pam was priceless. It would have been better if Pam was nasty good at ping-pong and just slammed it in Kelly's face every time, totally emasculating Jim in the process.

[Quick Tangent: Due the writer's strike, it appears The Office will be running out of new shows here in the near future. Apparently, NBC is thinking of showing the original British version of the show to finish the season. I think this is a great idea, and maybe the only good thing to come of the strike ( I miss you Daily Show ). While I really enjoyed the Brit version, I think the length of the American version has allowed it to pass the Brit version. The Brit version has more painful awkwardness with the boss, but the American version has a better supporting cast. And Dwight K Schrute.]

Oh the weather outside is frightful

A long time ago in a temperate place, I got some advice about my future. Dr Athlete (from City U) used to live in our new home town and had much advice. "It's going to be cold" she said. She even gave us an ice scraper with a warm mitten handle. Dr Culture (who is from up north) says "No, it's not so cold. You'll be fine!" Peter just laughed and said "she's going to be cold. But she'll have to learn."

Well, I have been cold. So cold in fact that I bought some of these. They are so fantastic and I thank Em for suggesting them. Now my hands don't freeze while I grade! My office is decently warm, but I've been spending a lot of time in our department computer lab which they keep quite chilly (what with all the computers I guess). Various people walk in and out during the day and chuckle at my getup. It's not unusual for me to be wearing a hat, or coat, or extra layers to keep warm. Note that it is only the middle of November. I'm totally screwed.

Dr Athlete's parting words were, "Don't worry, you'll be so productive there. There's nothing else to do!" It's scary how right she was. This semester is winding down. I'm ending my time teaching 52 students (we actually only have one week of classes left as we have individual conference appointments after the holiday). My three classes are winding down too. I still have two group projects to finish, one research project of my own, and a few papers to write. Amazingly, next semester is already starting to take form. I'm only teaching one of my own classes next semester (but now have total autonomy- I even get to pick textbooks!). But I still need to write a syllabus, figure out assignments, order textbooks, get at least my first week of lesson plans written before the new term starts. I'm also a teaching assistant for a course in my field (yay!) with a favorite prof here, so I need to start reading the new text book and figuring out what this class involves (think more intro to my field than general ed requirement). New Prof and I are also doing a research study on some new things we're implementing in class. Hopefully we'll end up with a publication. And I'll have three new classes for next semester of my own. I just met with another prof (let's call him Testing Prof) to talk about a potential research study for next semester. It sounds promising, and even though we won't have any money, we might be able to get two publications out of it. A third prof (Teaching Prof) has invited me to go to Mexico to teach at some point over the summer. And I might be able to continue the research project I'm doing for one of my classes and turn it into the beginnings of a presentation or something.

I'm looking forward to this upcoming break. Farm U has resigned itself to students leaving for Thanksgiving, so they close the whole campus down all week. We'll be back in Rose City on Saturday to relax and recuperate (well, and catch up on all the stuff that I haven't had time for over the semester, and write paper, and collect data. But relax too). After that there's two weeks of school, a week of finals, and then four precious weeks of holiday. We're looking forward to a little time off together. And we're planning to make it up to Minneapolis (finally!) too!

It's amazing how quickly 4 months has gone by (and scary too). Perhaps the Middle won't be so bad after all.

Traveling is for the Birds (Not Cats)

Sometimes, I think they don't love me anymore. First, they disappear for 3 months, sticking me with Ben and Jerry - those guys were always playing pranks on me, making it look like I was making a mess, when really, I'm OCD about keeping clean. Then, when I finally get settled in and can deal with all the hissing, they come back and drug me for a week straight until we end up in this very strange new place.

And now, once we've all settled in, they take off again. Something about a baby. Don't they know babies are dumb? They can't even feed themselves or talk. Not like me. I talk a lot. And I'm a ferocious hunter, stalking my food bowl, making sure it can't get away. Although, it might be nice to meet a baby - I could snuggle up to her warm little body, steal some food, maybe steal their breath.

I'm pretty sure these two are getting ready to leave me again. I'm not dumb, I can read the tea leaves on the wall. I see the leaves turning colors and falling off the trees. I see the kids in their silly little costumes, throwing eggs at houses. I feel how cold it's getting - and man, it's getting cold. I know the 'traveling season' is upon us (I think you humans refer to it as the 'Reason for the Season'?).

But the most obvious way I know they're leaving is they introduced me to my 'baby-sitter.' This crazy Chinese chick came over a little while back, and I heard them talking about how to take care of me. Here's how you take care of me: PUT FOOD IN MY DISH AND PET ME! It's really quite easy. Here's what not to do: pull my arms out of my socket and ignore me. I know I'm a cat, so I'm flexible and all nimbily-bimbily, but my arms, they really don't move in that direction so well. Chill out, woman.

So, in order to avoid this crazy woman, I'm going to sleep on this red thing until it's warm out again - I don't know what this thing is, but I know they take it with them whenever they go away. If I just camp out here for the next 2-3 months, they won't be able to go anywhere without taking me. I'm just so lonely here when I'm alone. I get so sad and miss the snuggling with Kimberly. She keeps me warm. And fed too. It's not like I can feed myself. I mean, I am only a cat.

Excuse me, do I know you?

When I lived in my two previous university towns I frequently ran into people I knew or just people who were familiar looking. At Hippie U, I had the same route most days (going from class to class) and often crossed paths with the same folk each day. We didn't know each other, but we did recognize each other. At City U, I knew a lot of people around campus (mostly due to the fact that I spent way too many years there and had many different positions at the U). I always ran into people I knew.

Here at Farm U, I don't really know anyone. But, as I walk across the quad each day, I see people that I just know that I know. And it seems so strange that these people would be here in the Middle. How did they get here? And then, I look more closely and realize that they just bear some sort of passing resemblance to people from City U (or even Hippie U every once in a while). I'm sure that eventually I will indeed recognize people here. But not yet.

An Open Letter to the City of Phoenix

To the City of Phoenix and all Phoenicians:

Hi there, Phoenix. I have always heard the you are a wonderful, up and coming new American City. The weather is supposed to be great, especially in the winter (when the high only gets to the 80's). People are moving to you in droves, escaping the cold of the Midwest and rain of the northwest.

However, I have to point out a few things that make you really difficult to like.

First of all, your airport is terrible. Considering that you are a hub for Southwest Airlines, as well as a major tourist and snowbird destination, you would think you would have a nice, clean airport. While a new, modern airport would be nice, how about just fixing up your precious Sky Harbor? How about some windows in the terminals? How about some color on the walls, or public art work? And don't even get me started on the passenger pick-up/drop-off areas, where I watched as person after person came perilously close to getting side-swiped by passing motorists.

While many will argue that renovating an airport while it is still functioning is a pain in the a-- and causes many headaches, it is possible. Just do it one terminal at a time. I would think that Southwest alone would be clamoring for a nice airport, and maybe they are, but I have to say, Sky Harbor is a dump.

Now, about your drivers: if anyone ever tells me that drivers in Boston are the worst in the country, I will laugh very sarcastically in their face (like this: HA HA HA HA HA), then make them drive in Phoenix (or from Ames to Des Moines for that matter, but that's a whole different post). Here's a tip for all Phoenicians: it's very difficult, and probably dangerous, to text message on your phone, while driving with your knees and going very fast. I should interject here that the highways in Phoenix are of wonderful quality, newly paved and spacious. However, when you have a wall of people 4 across going 60 because they can't figure out what LQTM means, it doesn't matter how well kept the highways are.

Additionally, in order to have a functioning highway, you need to have some of the on-ramps open so that people can actually get on the highway and drive on it. At 430 in the morning, when you get off the highway to buy gas for your rental car so you don't get dragged over the coals by the rental company, you should be able to get back on the highway relatively soon. Like, maybe, at the exact same place you got off. Having to drive 10 miles on surface streets, following poorly placed detour signs, to get on the highway because all the on-ramps are closed, is unacceptable. If it had been a busy time of day, I have no doubt we would have missed our flight.

Finally, I need to comment on the abundance of strip malls and sprawl. I understand you have almost endless flat land down there. But let me clue you in on something: just because you can, doesn't mean you should keep pouring concrete over the desert and building another Target or Home Depot. I understand that the weather for most of the year makes it difficult, if not impossible, to walk anywhere. But how about not having everything be miles apart? How about trying to create some pedestrian friendly areas? Density can be a good thing, especially in a place that has no natural water source and has so much concrete that it is disturbing the surrounding weather patterns. Urban planning and zoning, while having many flaws, is probably a concept that you will want to further explore, and possibly even implement.

Having said all that, I would like to complement your City on its wonderful Desert Botanical Gardens. While we only spent a little time there, it is obvious you take great pride in this place. I can imagine few places that would be a better setting for a sunset.

Thanks for letting us visit, Phoenix. We may come back someday, but probably not to visit you. Maybe as a gateway to your surrounding desert. Or to visit friends and go to weddings. But we almost definitely will not be coming in the summer. 120 degrees is not really my cup of tea. Even if it is a dry heat.

XOXO
PEter

Yesterday, It Was a Good Day

Fortunately for our niece, 1900 (I have made an executive decision to change her name from 'BTF' to '1900' for the purposes of this blog and, maybe, also in real life; if you know her name, you should be able to figure out why (hint: it has nothing to do when she was born)), the Red Sox won another World Series yesterday. Now she doesn't have to go through life worried that they won one right before she was born, then never won one in her lifetime (like people born in 1919, or late 1918, even). Although I'm not sure she realized what happened (um, actually, I'm pretty positive she doesn't realize what happened, she's like 3 days old), she was in the spirit for the celebration, courtesy of a gift from Auntie S-t-Y.

For the record, I think S.I.L.K. is not a Red Sox fan; I think once she said that she was a Seibu Lions (of Japanese baseball) fan. I'm not sure how far B-t-O has gotten in convincing her to get with the Sox, but since Seibu is where Daisuke Matsuzaka played before he came stateside, hopefully she was an easy sell. Fortunately for me, Kimberly had no affiliations before she met me (people in Oregon aren't really Mariners fans for some reason. And it's really hard to root for the Mariners; trust me, I tried for a year and it was really hard (*cough* fair weather fans *cough*)) so I could mold her to my liking much more easily.

That's nice

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!

The Red Sox did it again, winning the World Series last night for the second time in 4 years.

While no less satisfying, this one felt much different than 2004. That year, I think I blacked out during the last out while screaming in some random bar in Seattle (where, oddly, I was completely surrounded by Boston accents). This year, the final inning was more of a formality than anything. There was one tense moment, when it looked like a light hitting shortstop would ruin it, but Kimberly's new boyfriend, Jacoby Ellsbury (the pride of Madras and Navajo Nation), erased that with relative ease.

Up there, that's the Red Sox Japanese contingent. Matsuzaka-san (Kimberly's other Red Sox boyfriend) on the right, pitched well, but it was that one scene of Ortiz putting gum on his hat, then their wacky handshake/bow that really stood out. And on the left, Okajimi-san, who, in my opinion, was the Red Sox MVP this year. Especially considering he came over to keep Matsuzaka company. He was lights out all year, only faltering when he was obviously out of gas after being overworked in the World Series.

I have to admit that I was a little scared of the Rockies, even telling one of my friends I thought the series would go to 7 games. But boy was I wrong. The Sox dominated from start to finish.

I'm a little sad I'll miss the victory parade this time, but it's just not possible to make it back to Boston on such short notice, especially with another trip looming at the end of the week. I hope everyone back east enjoys the celebration.

And a helpful hint, falling off a traffic light is probably not the best way to celebrate winning (I hope this kid is alright):


(photos from Boston.com)