HokieRider

2010-03-15T09:54:00.004-04:00

I realize I haven't been very active here lately. There's really no reason, just nothing too horribly interesting going on.

When the snow melted, the water came into the house. That sucked. We now have a few chunks of missing drywall in one room, and no trim around our front door. Once it stops raining, Ejdo is going to put a drip plate up on the roof so that water coming off the shingles goes straight into the gutters. Hopefully this will help and we'll be able to fix all the stuff inside.

Sawyer managed some mischief on Saturday night. We left him out of the crate for the first time since the cookie incident and it failed miserably. He nosed his way into the pantry and ate all of his pig ears and treats, a small baggie of rice, and got into our expensive protein powder. We were not happy. Had to make him yarf it all up at 11 at night. Bad news.

The main reason for posting today though is hockey. The Olympics were fantastic. Almost every men's game had something exciting going on in it. I have a new "favorite" international player in Girts Akipans from Latvia. Coolest name ever. I hope that dude makes it someday.

Big issues going on in the NHL with regards to dangerous hits/play. This issue has really taken off and this week was a perfect example of why. Last Sunday, Matt Cooke of the Pens nailed Marc Savard of the Bruins with a questionable hit. Was it an elbow to the head, or a shoulder? Hard to tell, but either way Savard is out, for a while. Unluckily enough for Cooke, the NHL owners just happened to be meeting and discussing head hits. Surprisingly, he escaped without a suspension, but there is quite a bit of bad blood. I realize these aren't sized properly, but get over it. Here's the hit:

">

Then last night, Sid Crosby gets essentially slew-footed by Steve Downie of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Luckily Sid escaped without serious injury, but the fall looked NASTY. Here's the clip:

">

Both Downie and Cooke are notorious "dirty" players within the NHL. Some would argue that Mike Richards hit on David Booth would classify him as a dirty player. Clip of that hit:

">

Others would say that Alex Ovechkin is dirty because of his relatively common knee-on-knee hits or yesterdays boarding against Brian Campbell. Clip of that hit:

">

Regardless of whether these players are classified as dirty or clean, lucky or embellishers, whatever, there needs to be something done to protect players from these types of impacts. Often, players get hit with a larger penalty due to "intent to injure" the other player. Even if something is a clean hit, there can be an obvious intent to injure the other guy.

I have no idea how to put a system in place that would prevent hits to the head, or slew footing, or boarding, without removing some of the passion and speed from the game. It would be very difficult to play hockey successfully without going full bore. But perhaps a new penalty needs to be created. An "intent to injure" penalty. It could work similar to a game misconduct. Even if you make a clean hit on someone, if it is obvious that you were gunning for that guy, you get to visit the locker room for the remainder of the game. This seems similar to what happened to Ovie yesterday.

There are two major issues with this plan. First off, Ovie's hit yesterday would fall under this new penalty. However, this hasn't been created yet, so he was punished for something that wasn't exactly illegal. I don't agree with that. The other issue is that of embellishing. Sid gets accused of this on a regular basis and yes I'm sure he does it sometimes. I would be willing to bet that most players do it when they know it will work. But making an injury seem like more under this new penalty would cause there to be many more game misconducts handed out. The implications for all teams would be severe.

Since I'm not an owner of an NHL team, or on the NHL staff, its not my job to fix this problem. But as a fan, I hope they can figure it out. As great as it is to see a bone crushing, clean hit during a game, its heartbreaking to watch a player lie motionless on the ice. Something has to give.

2010-02-22T09:03:00.003-05:00

The snow is melting.

I was really excited about this until we realized that we were getting water into the house. We had an ice dam. After abotut 4 days of fans and stripping off trim, Ejdo decided just to get a ladder, go up to the roof, and clean out the ice. Scary proposition, but it has helped immensely. Too bad we already cut a big hole in the wall in the computer room :-( But, at least it was a room we hadn't already repainted. I guess its time to choose a new wall color.

Along with that, the Olympics are going on. I love the Olympics. Especially the winter ones. I have vivid memories of watching speed skating and skiing as a kid, and watching bobsled with a Marine Corps colonel in college. Theres just something so exciting about watching an athlete excel at a fringe sport in front of the world. Best thing ever.

Yesterday was Super Sunday. Not the Super Bowl, the new Super Sunday. First at 3 PM the Russian hockey team played the Czechs. Then at 7:30 the US team played Canada. After that the Swedish team played the Finns. What a day.

Unfortunately the Russians defeated the Czechs pretty soundly. They were completely dominant and the Czechs had a tough time with puck control. In the late game, the Swedes dominated the Finns.

The real highlight for us was the US/Canada game. The US hadn't beaten Canada in 10 tries in the Olympics, but this was the one to end that streak. It was an amazing game that had us screaming till the end. Awesome stuff.

Add in Lindsay Vonn, Bode Miller, Apollo Ohno, Shaun White, and all the other US athletes, and there's been some great stuff on TV recently. Makes up for the fact that everything outside is a melty, muddy, disgusting mess.

Almost.

2010-02-10T16:53:00.007-05:00

Snoverkill. It is truly overkill. I love the snow, as many of you know, but even I have a breaking point. This is getting to be a little nuts.

But when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. So I go for walks with the dog and take pictures. Here are some of the good ones from today.

This is what Golden Ball Tavern looks like as of 1 PM:

Notice how the snow has formed a shelf of sorts over the water:

Same shot of the lake as the pretty blue sky from a few days ago:

Trail's eye view:

These next two are what it looks like when a 40 mph wind rips across a parking lot.

2010-02-10T10:29:00.011-05:00

Snoverkill. The most fitting name for a storm ever.

The view of the deck at 10 AM:

The view of the street at 10 AM:

You can see the snow is really coming down. We're in a blizzard warning, and have probably recieved another 8+ inches since last night. Its incredible that this keeps happening to the DC area. Its relentless this year. I haven't seen this much snow is a long, long time.

Here are some shots from the last few days.

Sawyer is king of the hill:

Sawyer is still king of the hill. Think about this, Ejdo is 6'4" and the dog is at head height. Thats how much snow we've moved from our parking spots. Pic:

Golden Ball Tavern on Sunday:

Whats that number again?:

Golden Ball Tavern on Monday:

Sawyer likes the snow:

He really likes the snow:

I'll try to keep updating throughout the day today, but there is a very real possibility that we'll lose power at some point. Hopefully we won't, but it could happen.

2010-02-10T08:38:00.003-05:00

Can you believe we're at it again? Blizzard warning all day today. Started snowing last night and woke up this morning to 6-8 inches of blowing snow. Its amazing how we just keep getting pounded by storms.

So our road never got plowed from the last storm and now we're supposed to get 16+ inches more, with 50 mph winds. This can't end well.

Oh and the name for the new storm......Snoverkill. Very fitting.

Pictures of the last few days and the new snow to come. Stay safe everyone!

2010-02-06T08:26:00.010-05:00

Snowpocalypse 2010 Day 2.

Its just as incredible as they said it would be. Woke up at 8 and couldn't convince myself to go back to sleep, because I just HAD to see what the snow looked like. And its amazing.

Some of my 8 AM photos had to be taken through the door, because the door doesn't open right now. The snow is high enough on our porch that we can't open the screen door. Its awesome.

When I let Sawyer out to go to the bathroom in the backyard, he looked at me like I was nuts. He did a few bunny hops through the snow, then came back and looked at me. I shoveled a little spot for him, and he did his thing. Pretty funny.

No numbers yet, but the snow was well up the dog's belly. I'd estimate 18" or so right now. Weathermen say we should expect another 8+ inches today. The news is loving it. They just showed a woman walking down Connecticut Ave to go into Chevy Chase MD for a sandwich at Giant. Its a 6 mile round trip from where she lives to the Giant and back. But hey, what else is she gonna do today?

8 AM shot of the deck:

8 AM shot of the street:

8 AM shot of backyard:

8 AM shot of Sawyer trying not to sink:

This is all pretty incredible. I can't wait to go out in it later on.

10 AM shot of the deck:

10 AM shot of the street:

Sawyer trying to go down the stairs:

1 PM. We've spent the last 2.5 hours shoveling outside with all the neighbors. Our goal was to make it so the truck could get out, so that Ejdo could deliver a pork shoulder to Mike/Michelle's for smoking. This will not happen. Ejdo made it off Gutman and barely onto Golden Ball before getting stuck. Luckily, we were all out there to help shovel him out. It was a fun little exercise in futility.

The snow is still falling at an heavy rate. A very heavy rate. Its really quite incredible.

Here are a few photos:

Snow is falling at a heavy heavy rate. I bet we're looking at 2" an hour right now. We're going to be stuck here a while.

Around 3 or so we decided to walk to Giant. Our neighbor went with us, since she needed a few things. It was amazing to see what the roads looked like, and the damage that had occured. Here are a few shots of our walk, and from when we got back.

As of 6 PM, a plow has come down Golden Ball. He got stuck at one point and our pack of neighbors helped him out. As thanks, he plowed everything in front of our homes for us. Nice guy. Hopefully this means we may be able to get out tomorrow, although I still don't plan on being able to get anywhere non-essential for a few days.

I'm ending my official "live blog" now too. There won't be near as much change now that the snow has tapered off. The sky is clearing, you can see a few stars, and its really quite beautiful.

Leave a comment and let me know you read!

2010-02-05T16:23:00.010-05:00

Snowpocalypse 2010. Live blogging the storm.

1 PM view of the deck:

4 PM view of the deck:

4 PM view of the street:

5 PM view of deck:

5 PM view of the street:

5:00- You can see the snow has picked up a bit and the temp has dropped a bit. Its sticking much better than an hour ago. And if you look closely, you can see where Sawyer and I were playing in the street shot. He's now fond of catching snowballs.

5:12- The snow is really coming down hard now. Pretty impressive how much is falling and how large the flakes are. We're gonna have fun tomorrow!

6 PM view of the deck:

6 PM view of the street:

6:00- The road is basically covered. Only one line of tracks visible, all taking same line regardless of in or out. Predictions for overnight snow now include the possibility for thunder snow. I hope I'm awake when it happens. Also possible rates overnight have been bumped to 2-3 inches per hour. Amazing.

7 PM view from deck:

7 PM view of street:

7:00- Blizzard warning for DC. You can see the snow falling much heavier in the 7 PM photos, especially the one of the street. Winds have picked up as well. I had trouble taking a shot without the flag getting in the way. We're the lead story on the NBC Nightly News.

8 PM view of deck:

8 PM view of the street:

8:00- Some local programming in the 7:30 hour was completely pre-empted by weather news. Nothing new is happening. Big flakes, falling fast. Ejdo shoveled the walk between the 7 and 8 pictures. You can barely tell in the 8 pic. Watchin the Caps play the Thrashers. Decent game.

9 PM shot of deck:

9 PM shot of street:

Gratuitious shot of our flag, with snow accumulation:

As of 9, its really coming down. Local weather is reporting sightings of lightning from the thundersnow. Mostly near Charlottesville. I'm hoping we get some here cause that would be really cool. Ejdo just shoveled again. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts this time. Worth noting in the deck photo, the tomato pot is just about totally covered at this point.

10 PM shot of deck:

10 PM shot of street:

10 PM shot of dog in back yard:

Looks like about 9.5-10 inches in the backyard right now. Rough estimate. Last update for the night. I'm not posting pictures all night long. It sure will be interesting to see what we wake up to. Tomorrow will be a new post. See you all in the morning.

This all should be entertaining if nothing else.

2010-02-05T08:54:00.025-05:00

As you've probably heard, the months of November through March are generally referred to as "winter". Here in Virginia, that usually consists of some cold temperatures, but nothing to extreme, and some ice. Since moving from Blacksburg, I think I've seen 2 feet of snow. Total. In 5 years.

This year however, is different. We're actually experiencing winter this year. The temps have been cold, sometimes not getting above freezing, and we've had snow. And not just a few dustings here and there, but real honest to god snow. Its been fantastic.

It all kicked off on Dec 19th/20th, when we recieved almost 20 inches of snow. See earlier post for photos. It was awesome. No work, no school, lots of play time. Unfortunately, lots of shoveling, but thats ok too. Thats all part of getting snow.

Then a few weeks later, we had a couple of inches here and there. Not enough to really be noteworthy, but enough to cause minor disruption in this "southern" state. Jan 31st was our next significant snow, dumping about 6 inches on the area. Just a few days later, we got another 4 inches Feb 2nd. To say the least, this has not been normal.

Now we're prepping for yet another whallop, starting today around noon. Believe it or not, forecasters are telling us to expect 20-30 inches of snow. In DC. How crazy is that?!? Let me tell you, its crazy. Grocery stores were running out of meat (yes all MEAT). Traffic was gridlocked around every store. It was total chaos. Schools closing the day before a storm. The federal government shutting down before a flake falls. Its insanity here.

But we're ready. We've got plenty of food (as always), plenty of beer (as always), and plenty of room for pictures on the camera. Here are a few shots of the last few storms. Enjoy, and look for more once the snow starts falling again!

Jan 31/Feb 1:

Feb 3:

2010-01-17T16:21:00.012-05:00

Its been a while, I know. I apologize. The holidays were crazy, I was sick, there's a lot going on at work, etc, etc. I could throw a million excuses here, but the fact is, I haven't even thought about blogging for a while. But this weekend, we have something worth sharing.

Took the dog on his first camping trip. We left on Saturday the 16th around 9. Got to the parking lot and headed out on the trail at 10:30 or so. Yet again, we neglected to think about the fact that the trails we'd be hiking on may in fact still have snow and were left slipping and sliding our way along the entire time. Eventually we'll remember the Yaktrax. Maybe the third time will be the charm.

The trail was pretty steep for a while and we traveled basically uphill the entire way to the shelter. Got there around 11:30 and decided to have some lunch while we figured out how far we were going to go.

As usual, lunch was salami, cheese, and rolls of some sort. Similar to every lunch we had in the Czech Republic, only not eaten in a parking lot or sidewalk bench :-)

We decided we'd attempt to summit Comptons Peak. We would have to hike approx 5 miles to get there, then come back. After a few hours of stumbling around like drunk people wearing heavy packs, we arrived at Skyline Drive. The peak was still a good mile or so away, but we started up the trail to give it a whirl anyway. Didn't get too far before deciding we should just go back and make camp. It was here that I mentioned that we hadn't seen any deer. On command, a huge doe walked out in front of us. She was not afraid of us in the slightest, although Sawyer really, really wanted to chase her. We watched for a few mintues and the dog let out a few sounds of protest that we wouldn't let him go, then headed back towards the shelter.

The way back was almost all downhill, which was very nice. There was a pretty sketchy rocky section that was challenging on the way up, and really challenging on the way down. But the view was pretty great.

And of course, we had to get a group shot. Not always easy with a dog.

Sawyer was a real trooper for his first time out. He carried a RuffWear Pallisades pack with two 1 liter water pouches, his food, his poop bags, a blanket and a fleece shirt for sleeping, vaseline for his feet, and a bowl. Eventually he carried his prong collar as well, since he was off leash most of the time. Once we got him balanced out, he did great. Forgot how wide he was at times, but still followed his nose when it took him somewhere interesting.

We got back to the shelter around 4:30 and started to set up camp. As usual, I worked on the "domestics" while Ejdo went and collected firewood. This was also our first time out with the new REI Cirque ASL 3 tent, so it was a little more challenging than setting up our old North Face. Luckily, I did it once at home on Friday to remember how it all went.

Sawyer started to get chilly and tired at this point, so I set up his sleeping pad ang put on his fleece to try to make him more comfortable. This is our "home", version 1.0.

Another hiker came up a little after we got our fire started. His trail name is WoodStove and he was a really nice guy. Pushing 60 years old, he travelled 12 miles through tough, snowy terrain that day and was sleeping in a hammock. Tough dude. Had dinner (Backpackers Pantry Chicken Saigon Noodles) and conversation with him, then enjoyed our dessert (BP Peaches and Cream), and our after dinner drink (hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps). The dog was looking pretty cold and tired, so around 8 we decided to hit the hay.

Got snuggled in the tent. Sawyer was on the pad, a blanket, and my fleece jacket, wearing his fleece. Ejdo and I were on our air pads, with down bags (mine was 0deg, his 20), long underwear tops and bottoms with dry socks. The socks were key for me, because my boots were leaking all day and I soaked through two pair of socks. Kinda sucked.

After only a half hour or so, we heard noises and saw lights. Two young guys (maybe college age) were coming in and only had stuff to sleep in the shelter. So we moved our tent over to campsite 3, which became Home version 2.0. No pictures, too tired.

It was a lot colder here, so I put my shell over Sawyer to try to keep him warm. He shivered a lot though :-( Around 4 or 5 it started to rain. Not too hard, just constant. Got up around 7:30, laid around a while avoiding the rain, then Ejdo and WoodStove heated some water for breakfast. Technically, I got breakfast in bed, since Ejdo brought the hot water to me and I had my oatmeal in my sleeping bag. Sawyer enjoyed his warm kibble as well.

Eventually got everything packed up and ready to go around 9:30 or so. Took one last picture from the shelter, signed the log book, and headed back to the car.

Got home around 12 or so. Lots of wet gear to dry out, laundry to do, and sleeping to catch up on. We both have some pretty sore muscles from skidding everywhere, and will be left with bruises I'm sure, but it was fun.

Lessons for next time: The dog doesn't need to carry so much water. He carried much more than he needed, and we could have, and should have, carried some of it. It was also a little too cold for him at night. I think 40 or 45 at night might be a better cutoff for him, rather than 30. He could also use a longer fleece so that more of his body can be covered.

We need to cut weight in our packs. We both had some extra stuff that we didn't really need, but its gonna come down to things like bags for items like the kettle, tent poles, and things like that. We're going to try water bladders rather than multiple Nalegenes next time too, since they weigh a lot less. And don't take both enough water and the water filter. Only one or the other.

All in all we had a good time. It would have been a much more restful night if those two guys hadn't showed up, and I think the dog would have been much warmer too. But thats part of using public spaces to sleep, you've gotta roll with the punches. Final numbers: 9.5 miles hiking, around 2000 ft of elevation. Not too shabby.

I'll try to be better about this whole blogging thing, but no guarantees.

2009-12-22T16:53:00.013-05:00

OMG it snowed in DC. The entire world goes crazy where snow is in the forecast here, and this time certainly didn't disappoint.

Snow was predicted to begin falling Friday evening. I had the relative UN-fortune of needing to go to the grocery store on Friday afternoon. It was a total madhouse. I needed gas for the car and some baking supplies. Figured I'd grab some milk and bread while I was there. No biggie.

Almost an hour later, I was on my way. There were people purchasing large numbers of bottles of shampoo. There were people with multiple 12 packs of toilet paper. I saw one gentleman with 15, yes 15, boxes of cereal. How long are you people expecting to be stuck for?!? Insane.

But once the snow began, man it was beautiful. White as far as the eye could see. Our deck turned into the ocean; the propane tank and tomato pot were buoys along the way.

Got to spend 3 days home with Ejdo and Sawyer, which doesn't often happen. We accomplished a lot, but still relaxed and enjoyed our time together. Unfortunately I developed a cold along the way, which kinda sucks, but thats the way things go.

Obviously, we spent a good bit of time out in the snow. First to enjoy it, then to shovel. Ended up with between 18 and 20 inches, depending on where you measured and who you asked. No matter the depth, Sawyer loves snow.

Here are some pictures from our weekend. The ones where snow is falling are from Saturday; the gorgeous bright sunny day was Monday. Enjoy!

2009-11-30T08:59:00.004-05:00

Had a crazy weekend in Pittsburgh for the holiday, but I'll get to that later. First I want to pass along a link showing that I'm not the only one that has a huge issue with Monsanto. This article is from the front page of the Sunday Nov 29th Washington Post. Very interesting. Enjoy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/28/AR2009112802471.html

2009-11-13T13:38:00.003-05:00

Wow. It has been absolutely pouring here for the last 3 days. I'm getting really, really sick of the rain. Sawyer is getting really sick of the rain. Drivers are finally learning how to navigate in the rain, which is the lone bright spot in the whole thing.

Last night I emptied my rain gauge. It was completely full. 5 inches of rain in basically 2 days. It will be interesting to see what it looks like tonight.

Today is Ejdo's birthday, so we're having shrimp for dinner. All he wants is steamed shrimp with Old Bay. He's an easy man to please.

Hokies play tomorrow at 1 in their new white uniforms. They look pretty sweet.

No pictures that are steal-able, but the gloves, shoes, and pants all have Ut Prosim elements. The inside of the collar says BEAMERBALL. Gloves and shoes also have Hokie Stone elements. They're pretty sweet looking.

Those unis will be up against UnderArmor's camo unis which Maryland will be wearing. Camo sleeves, and instead of player names, the backplate will say things like Courage and Brotherhood. Could be cool. Too bad the game is only on ESPN360. Luckily, my laptop has an HDMI output, so it won't be too horrible looking.

Steelers play the Bungals on Sunday at 1. Instead of televising that game, I get to watch the Broncos beat up the Deadskins. Right. Maybe I'll watch the figure skating instead.

Pens lost last night....again. But hey, its only November. I'm not sweating it too much. They play the Bruins on Saturday. There are a lot of injured guys right now, so once they're back, it will be smooth sailing. Get the injuries out of the way now, so we don't have to worry about them during the playoffs, right? Wouldn't it be great if it really worked that way?

Go Hokies, Steelers, and Pens! I'm gonna be busy in front of the TV this weekend! Enjoy!

2009-11-11T15:25:00.006-05:00

So, onto the food. I've been making more of an effort to document the interesting new foods we eat because I'd like to share with everyone that you don't have to limit yourself to what you find at the grocery store. Fishing and hunting are fantastic ways to obtain protein, and you have way more fun than you do crusing the aisles at the local food mart.

This past weekend we were up in West-by-God Virginia at my parents cabin. Their cabin is in a community with a 150 acre lake, which is stocked with various fish. Rainbow trout, brook trout, and large mouth bass are all easy to find, and we hear there are catfish too. This lake is almost perfectly clear, fed with rainwater and snowmelt and is really, really cold. If there's a good place to eat the fish that you catch, this is it.

We didn't get in until pretty late on Friday, so Saturday was our first opportunity. I'd like to start by mentioning Sawyer loves to fish as much as we do. You'll see that in one of the upcoming pictures. He wanders around and investigates why our lures are stuck. Hopefully he doesn't scare away too many fish.

We always go to the same place along the lake, but soon that will change. Ejdo "procured" a depth finder and has retro-fit it so we can use it on my parents canoe. So next time we go up there, we'll be able to fish the middle of the lake. What this means for Sawyer and fishing is yet unknown.

Ejdo was the lucky one all weekend. We were fishing less than 40 ft apart most of the time, but they hit his lure much more than mine. He got a nice rainbow on Saturday morning, but we were unsure if it was big enough to keep. That lucky guy went back into the lake. A few hours later in the afternoon though, Ejdo hooked this guy, and he was definitely a keeper.

Took him back to the house, read online about how to filet a trout (pretty different bone structure than the fish we usually catch) and stuck him in the fridge.

Sunday morning, we were back at it again before we left for NoVa. Again, Ejdo was the lucky one. All I caught were sticks and leaves, but he came up with this nice rainbow trout and a largemouth.

You can see in the picture how much Sawyer loves fishing. Got this final fish all cleaned off and fileted out and headed home.

Fast forward to last night. I decided that we were going to make our fish with this recipe: Pecan Crusted Trout with Citrus-Rosemary Butter. Turned out to be a pretty time consuming creation, but it was fantastic. The fish was quite light, and was almost overpowered by the pecans. The butter was a real PITA to make but tasted fantastic. And the cabbage mixture was really, really good, despite the lack of ingredients. Served with a side of potato (we recieved half a massive potato in the CSA and it was more than enough for both of us as a side).

So our first adventure with cooking trout was a pretty successful one. I think next time we will prepare it whole fish style, with less powerful ingredients, so that we can really highlight the fish. Regardless, it was yummy.

2009-11-11T15:03:00.004-05:00

I have some food to discuss, but first I wanted to talk about how awesome my dog is.

Today is Veterans Day, so we're all at home. Ejdo and I sat around and were lazy all morning. The only thing we really accomplished was eating, doing dishes, and looking at new fishing rods/reels online. Very productive.

He left around 2 to go hunting with his dad, even though its been pouring rain all day. I was kind of wanting to run, but feeling a little unsure, since again, its been pouring all day. I looked at Sawyer and said "Do you want to run in the rain?" and he jumped right up and ran to the door. So off we went.

Now we're back after a few miles through the woods. Its amazing how enjoyable it actually is to run in the rain. Very peaceful, only you and the path to think about. We saw one other runner and she looked to be enjoying herself as well.

My dog is awesome because he is the best running partner ever. He has helped me train for 5 mile trail runs, triathlons, and a number of road races. He always wants to go run, always has a "smile" on his face, and never has an excuse. If I'm not sure how much I want to run on a particular day, he always reminds me that running is fun and we should go, like right NOW!

Anyway, he's all curled up in a ball sleeping on his bed now, all tuckered out from our jaunt in the woods. This pic was taken right after we walked in the door this afternoon. What an awesome dog.

2009-11-10T09:10:00.005-05:00

I have a few things to get to, but most involve photos that I don't currently have access to. So I'll start with this.

Have you heard the new commercial about farmers being the stewards of our land? The ad is sponsored by Monsanto, an agricultural seed producer. This ad is quite tricky, in my opinion. It evokes a sense of the average American farmer as a good steward of our land, when in fact, many aren't.

The ad mentions that today's farmers produce more food per farmer than in the past. What they don't tell us is this is because many small farms have been run out of business by larger, corporate farms, and genetically modified (GM) seed products. These larger farms have the ability to create more corn each year yes, but at what cost? Many times these large agricultural sites do not rotate crops or naturally enhance the soil the way smaller farmers do. They simply fertilize the hell out of the land once the product has been harvested, in hopes that there will be enough nutrient content to grow as much, or more, product next year. Many small farmers get priced out of the market because it takes more money to farm in an environmentally sustainable way, thus raising the price of the product. These farms go under, and large corporate farms simply buy up the land.

As I mentioned, this ad is sponsored by Monsanto, who produces seed. You may have heard of "Roundup Ready" seed in the past. This is GM seed that allow a higher use of other herbicide/pesticide products while functioning properly. In the past, high use of pesticides/herbicides would damage the crop, but this product allows a farmer to spray a much higher concentration of pesticide/herbicide to kill off competitors. This photo shows Roundup Ready canola.

This obviously encourages much greater use of these chemicals on the land and is essentially the opposite of organic, or even natural, farming. I'm not even going to mention the effects of all these chemicals on the land itself or the thousands of pollinators, wildlife, or (God forbid) humans. Yet Monsanto says they are "committed to conserving natural resources."

Even worse, in my opinion, are the products that have built in pesticides, such as the Yield Guard Plus corn pictured below. This corn has pesticide built into the seed to prevent the European corn borer from damaging the crop. I don't want to eat that!

Monsanto has publicly shown that they will sue those that infringe on their copyrights in any way, including farmers that save seed and other agricultural companies. I'm not suggesting that its wrong to protect their copyright against other companies, but shouldn't a farmer be able to save the seed from the plant he has already purchased? This is how farming stayed sustainable for centuries. This is like saying that you can purchase a cow, but when that cow delivers a calf, you have to return the calf to the person you purchased the cow from. In what world does that make sense?

The only redeeming thing Monsanto has going for themselves right now is their claim that they will not create "terminator" seeds or Gene Use Restricted Technology (GURT) seeds. Basically these are seeds that are sterile, and thus unable to produce more seed. GURT seeds are produced by other ag firms and farmers are required to purchase more seed every year to continue to farm that particular plant. My issue is, if Monsanto isn't allowing farmers to keep seeds, then whats the difference? Farmers using Monsanto products still legally have to purchase new seed every year, just we as consumers can "feel better" knowing our corn didn't come from sterile seed. Give me a break.

So lets recap. Today's farmers produce more food than ever before (because the corporate farms are driving small farmers out of business), the company that sells seed to the large corporate farms essentially requires the use of more (and more powerful) chemicals to grow the product, and if you attempt to farm in a natural or organic method, you are doomed to fail. But somehow Monsanto can help solve the world's food crisis (while banking quite a bit; the 2008 net income for Monsanto was $11.365 billion.)

Monsanto wants us to believe that their genetically modified seed products can help feed they world. In my opinion, the only thing that will get fed is the bank account of the Monsanto board of directors.

//All the photos and descriptions of products come directly from the Monsanto website.

////I bet you can guess who makes Roundup too ;-)

2009-11-03T17:16:00.002-05:00

This is long, and I apologize in advance.

Today I found myself in an odd position. ADT was coming to place more sensors at some windows in the afternoon, and the morning was relatively booked, as I was going to the gym, going to vote, and taking the dog for a walk (since we'd be stuck around the house all day waiting for ADT).

Well ADT threw me a loop and showed up early. I still had a towel on my head from the shower, but I was thrilled that I now had the entire afternoon to do as I pleased. Did some much needed cleaning around the house, putting junk away and generally straightening up things. Surfed the web for a little. Scrubbed the floor (joy of joys). Got the mail and discovered something that I wanted to return ASAP, so Sawyer and I went for another walk. What a lucky dog!

As we're leaving the house, we encounter another woman with a dog that looks like a relatively young labradoodle. I have issues with people paying big bucks for designer dogs, but thats not really something I spout off about while on a walk. She made the turn into the park and we continued on to the mailbox at the end of the street.

At the next turn for the park, she emerges and asks me if I saw the big buck. Sadly, I had not. I responded that someone was going to get a great surprise when they find him. Her response is what prompted this blog posting. She said "Well hopefully he won't end up on a dinner plate or with his antlers in the den."

Those of you that know me know that we don't purchase beef in our house. We eat venison. Ejdo and his father hunt whenever they get the chance, and the deer they harvest provide enough meat for 10 people each year, plus some. We butcher the deer at home, make the sausages and jerky at home, and feel very good about the food that we eat and the impact we make on the environment.

When this woman made that comment, she obviously had no idea about my family and our connection to hunting. She had no idea that a very large part of my job is coordinating deer hunts. She simply knew what pop culture, Disney, and PETA have told her. She thinks hunting and eating venison is a bad thing.

How can we as hunters/anglers/foragers change the minds of people like this? What methods can we employ to educate others on why it is good not only for me, but for the environment, to harvest this deer? There has to be a way we can get our point across without becoming a joke like I feel PETA has. PETA has some good ideas, but the extremists invalidate their name.

IMO, harvesting deer for food purposes is one of the best things the average person can do for themself and the environment. The removal of a single doe can have a huge impact on the number of deer in our forests. There are already far too many deer in Northern VA, and if you look at the woods, you can see it. The natural, native understory does not exist in many places, because the deer have eaten everything. This vastly affects the way that entire ecosystem exists. If a similar ecosystem were allowed to advance for 50+ years, the large, mature overstory trees would die and there would be nothing to replace them. Our forests would begin to disappear. The above argument doesn't even touch upon the loss of predators within much of America and the fact that other than the hunter, the only predator many whitetailed deer encounter is the SUV.

As for the human impact, the beef that you can find in the average grocery store is only somewhat similar to "actual" beef. Many commercial cattle operations feed the cattle corn, which is not what beef have evloved to eat. This alters the fats held within the meat (corn is mainly a carrier of Omega-6 fats, while grass carries Omega-3). In addition to an altered diet, many cattle operations innoculate their cattle with antibiotics and hormones to encourage good health and proper growth. These antibiotics and hormones are passed on to the consumer upon consumption. One major issue associated with this is that many Americans are now developing immunities to these antibiotics, and when they get sick, the drugs no longer work. Some theorize that these hormones are contributing to the issue of young girls entering puberty earlier than in the past.

Venison is lower in fat than beef, so low in fact that we have to add pork fat to our ground venison to make it bind together for burger. As deer still prefer to eat clover, grass, acorns, and soybeans to corn, they are much higher in the helpful Omega-3 fats. Deer move quite a bit, with some having daily ranges of up to 1 mile, and their muscles and heart are in much better shape than a cow that is kept in a feed lot. The culinary world is beginning to embrace venison as a specialty meat more and more, and you can purchase venison by the pound at stores like Whole Foods. Small steaks can go for up to $20 a pound.

I wanted to tell this woman "I understand that you don't know me or what I do, but I feel that your statement is extremely one sided and rather ignorant." But I didn't. I kept walking and let her feel the akwardness of the situation. She has the right to her opinion. She doesn't have to share it with everyone she meets. Someday I hope to be able to educate her, but today was not that day.

2009-10-16T13:50:00.007-04:00

I'm rather late in getting to this, but a few weeks ago I found a pretty cool frog hanging out in our grill cover. Decided it was time to play with the camera and take some fun shots. Enjoy!

As you can see, I had some fun with this little guy. He was a great model for me. Very accomidating. Let him go before Sawyer knew he was there.

Look up for a post next week with some images of various homemade foods. Been trying to take more pictures of what we eat. Have a great weekend!

2009-10-13T09:14:00.005-04:00

This was a weekend of firsts. First time riding my bike "long" distance. First time trying homemade lemoncello. First time inviting 30 relative strangers to my house. It was an interesting weekend to say the least.

The ride was challenging. Ejdo and I got up and going by around 5:40, so we were able to get to the ride site before the suggested 8:00 start time. There were already a few people there, but most arrived after us. That gave Ejdo plenty of opportunity to flash people when he dropped his towel not once, but twice, while changing.

This was billed as an "easy" century route, but man did it hurt me. The fact that we were riding into a constant 10 mph headwind didn't really help, and the rain was pretty annoying as well. Add that to the fact that the temperature dropped about 15 degrees while we rode, and it wasn't the most comfortable day on a bike. So we all decided around mile 36 that we would "bail" on the century and go for a metric instead (100k). Here's a shot of us making that not so tough decision.

A ride tradition is the carrying of the pacifier. The first person to whine gets the pacifier until someone else whines. While in posession of said pacifier, you can whine away. Right after making the decision to bail, we started riding uphill, into a headwind, and the rain picked up. I stated "You gotta be fricken kidding me" and recieved the pacifier a few moments later. So I carried that for the remainder of the ride. Why the remainder? Because I was too far away from everyone to hear anyone else whine. I sucked. But thats what life is about right? Feeling crappy and still moving on. Thats what I was trying to tell myself anyway. Basically no pictures from me on the ride. I was just trying to keep up.

After the ride, all these people that we just met came back to our place for some burgers and beers. We had a great time. Sawyer was very well behaved with 30 new people in the house, and all the loungers were fairly well behaved as well. We laughed a lot, drank a lot, ate a lot, and poked fun at each other a lot.

All in all, it was a great day. Rode 68 miles, met a bunch of "new" people, and had beer multiply at our house. Started the day with 2 cases, ended with 3. You gotta love that!

2009-10-06T09:50:00.003-04:00

I have been a blogging slacker once again. Its amazing how something that really doesn't take much time out of the day can get easily left behind in the hustle and bustle of life.

The Steelers are frustrating the hell out of me once again. They play like Gods for 3 quarters, then fall to pieces in the 4th. I mean, the Bengals beat us. The Bengals! Just sit and ponder that for a moment.

The Chargers really should have won that game on Sunday night. The Steelers were practically letting Phillip Rivers do whatever he liked. He had two drives in the 4th quarter that I don't think took more than 3 minutes total. And the two kickoff issues!! Are you kidding me?! That was easily one of the more difficult football games I've watched in a long, long time.

Luckily, the Hokies are helping ease my pain. They're kicking ass this year in all the right ways. Tyrod is showing himself to be a real quarterback, not a "dual threat" that really doesn't throw the ball all that often. This week against Duke (which was one of the most poorly officiated games I think I've ever seen) he threw for over 300 yards and rushed for.....1. Now thats what a QB's stats should look like! Ryan Williams is kicking butt at RB. As long as they don't blow anything for themselves, we could have a damn good year.

And hockey has started!!! God its a great time of year. The Pens are 2-0 with wins against the Rangers and the Islanders so far. The Caps kicked some serious butt against the Maple Leafs too. Pens got their rings the weekend before the first game. They're huge!!

Add to that the fact that we're attempting our first century this weekend with a bunch of RBR'ers. Should be a big challenge for us, but I'm really excited about it. Plus, I get to plan another party for after the ride.

Pictures of the century to come in a few days I'm sure!

2009-09-15T12:57:00.002-04:00

I have a new favorite blog to read. I've been much more interested in cooking in the last few years, as Ejdo and I both really, really enjoy eating. And becoming a member in the CSA has expanded this even more, since now there is a wide variety of food coming in my door, whether I know what to do with it or not.

So I've been reading a lot about cooking and flavors and what makes things taste good. I was recently turned onto this blog by another blogger.

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook Doesn't that sound like something I should like? We hunt. We fish. We would love to garden, but the solid clay backyard and lack of sunlight have pretty much nixed that idea. And boy do I like to cook. And eat.

So now I have a new blog to pore over when I'm looking for ideas on what to do with the food from the CSA. Right now I've got 3 eggplant that should probably be used this week. We'll do grilled eggplant sandwiches one night, but I might take a page from PlateSpinner's book and do a ratatouille one night. Its always an adventure. And soon we'll be inundated with squash that will need eating. I'll fall on that grenade.

//// I'm also going to be purchsing a new book. "The Flavor Bible". Not a cookbook, just a grouping of what flavors work well together. If I've got X, what flavors will match well? Sounds perfect for inventing your own recipe. Sign me up.

2009-09-14T13:04:00.002-04:00

I am a horrible blogger. I have been negligent and apologize. Here is a nice long blog posting to attempt to redeem myself in your eyes. Hopefully you can find it in your heart to forgive me for being so neglectful. :-)

Hokie lost her d@mn mind!

Also known as the Patriots Sprint Tri race report.

Long story short: I did a tri and I did pretty good. Didn't die. Bonus.

Long story: Sunday was my first triathlon, at least my first one doing the whole thing. I did a sprint as part of a relay earlier this year, and while we had a good time and finished 4th, we decided to do it less than a month before the event. To say we were “well prepared” would be a bold faced lie. So this time I started a training plan 3 months out. Well worth it.

In the morning things were rushed, like they always are on race day. Didn’t arrive as early as I would have liked, mostly because of all the other people trying to get there as well. Luckily, all I had to do was set up my transition area and get my chip/body marking.

It was about 64 degrees at 7 AM when everything started. Water temp was 74. As a novice, I was in the last wave of starters, so we got to watch all the others go out. It was a strange swim, because of the tides of the river. It was high tide, so you could walk almost half way to the first buoy. Kinda odd.

It was total chaos when my group started. As the novice/relay group, most people had never done this before. I was mentally prepared for the chaos....or at least I thought I was. The first five minutes were insane. I decided just to hang back and let people go nuts in front of me, then get into a rhythm. It worked pretty well. By the first buoy I felt good. The long stretch I was picking off people all along the way, while only having to deal with a few crazies on their backs going perpendicular to the race course. Made the turn back to shore and swam as hard as I could.

Ejdo was there waiting for me to tell me I suck and should go faster. He’s very helpful. The run to the transition area is quite long. I would bet it was almost 1/3 mile through a park and a large mowed field...with a steep short hill. It wasn’t horrible, but there were a lot of pedestrians about and one walked out in front of me. I yelled at him pretty good and he got out of the way.

Got all my stuff on and grabbed my bike. Running in road bike shoes sucks.

The ride itself was almost totally flat. One roller about 4 miles in on the out and back. It was crazy to see all the people on really nice, high zoot bikes, that were squeaking and rusty and completely unmaintained. I could hear almost everyone’s chain as I approached to pass. Nuts.

Thought I was hallucinating at one point on the bike. There was a larger woman in black shorts and a Williamsburg bicycle jersey in front of me. I was moving quite a bit faster and passed her no problem. A few miles down the road, there was the same woman again!! Larger woman in black shorts and a Williamsburg bike jersey. I thought I was losing my mind. We passed each other back and forth a few times, with me entering the transition area first. Tried to put it out of my mind, but I still couldn’t figure out when she passed me to get in front during that ride.

The run was pretty uneventful, other than I passed that woman again. She must have gotten out of the transition area faster than me. Took me a little while to get my legs back; pretty sore and crampy from the bike (need to adjust saddle height). It was a different route than they usually use for this race, but I think we got some more shade because of it. Surprised they didn’t have a timing mat at the turnaround, but I didn’t see any cheaters.

Felt strong through the run. Knew where I was and tried to put in a bit of a kick at the end. I could hear a guy behind me and I wanted to make sure I beat him. Squeaked it out by a few seconds.

After the race I was telling Ejdo about the hallucination with the woman on the bike. I told him that I really hoped there were two of those women. Not 30 seconds later, he points over my shoulder and I see two larger women approaching with black shorts and the same Williamsburg bicycling jersey. I told them they made me think I was losing my mind and we all had a good laugh. It was a great day.

I finished in 1:37. Averaged 17.4 mph for the 12.4 mile bike, which gave me the 9th fastest bike in my group. I was 12th out of the 44 novice women. Would have been barely top half in my age group, so I’m glad I went novice. It was a good day. Packed up all our stuff, back to the hotel for a shower, the off to Pierces Pitt BBQ for lunch. Home by 3. Fun stuff.

Ejdo is a great support team. He takes care of my bike maintanence for me, so I always have a nice, quiet, well performing machine to ride. Its great that he comes out to support me and always knows what to say to keep me going, even if other people think he’s nuts for shouting “You suck! Go faster!”. I can’t thank him enough for helping me out.

So there it is. My first tri report for all of you. It was a good race, but now I’m sore. Time to relax for a few days, then get my legs for the century.

Sadly no pictures, as we left the camera in the hotel room in all the early morning insanity. Hopefully the shots from the race photographers won't be too expensive.

2009-08-07T11:05:00.002-04:00

I've been really lax in the blogging lately. For that I apologize. But I've been darn busy!

First the training for the tri is going pretty well. I did a mini tri on Monday, just to see how it really feels to go from swimming kinda hard to biking kinda hard to running kinda hard. Swim to bike, no big deal. Bike to run, much bigger deal. My calves were on FIRE! So, now I know I need to do more bricks and stretch the calves in T2.

We went to Williamsburg with the fam last weekend. It was a pretty good trip. Some issues with sleeping arrangements, but they got worked out quickly. We hit up Busch Gardens the first day. It was cool. K went on all the rollercoasters, since now she's tall enough. I went on them all too, but with much more trepidation than she. We ate some decent food, walked a lot, and generally had a good time.

The second day was Colonial Williamsburg. Ejdo and I decided to go on a bike ride first, since the tri is very close to where we were staying. We got a little lost getting there and didn't really ride the course all that much, but we had a good time. A quick shower and change and it was off to meet up with the others for lunch.

Colonial Williamsburg was impressive. All the artisans are real, they actually make all the stuff thats on display. The kids got to "make bricks" and we saw General Lafayette. At the end of the day there was a thing where the band played and the "unit" fired their guns and a cannon. Smaller than the Skipper, but still cool stuff.

Back to work after that, and now its Friday again. We're off to the lake tonight to spend the weekend with everyone. Next weekend Brian turns 30, so we're going to go down to their place and make fun of him for being old.

2009-07-16T08:35:00.005-04:00

Day 5 of Maine 2009.

Its a Monday and we have to leave. How typical of a Monday to be a let down. But our flight wasn't until 4, so we had until 2 or so to go out and do stuff. Not a total loss.

Had breakfast, took about an hour to pack all our fragile (italian) stuff, then checked out of the b&b. Spent a little while talking with David, the owner, about Portland and Maine in general. He was very friendly and a great host while we were there. I'll be emailing him today to get a custard recipie from him.

We decided we would head up towards Freeport to visit the Cold River Vodka distillery. Unfortunately, we thought it opened at 11 and it really opened at 12. So we went into Freeport and had lunch at a place called Azure. Pretty good stuff. Ejdo had fish and chips and I had a grilled portabella salad.

Still had a few minutes to spare, so we followed the signs to the "Big Indian". We knew we had arrived when we saw a big indian. For no apparent reason. On the side of the road in front of a restaurant that had nothing to do with indians. But hey, its a big indian, gotta take a picture.

After visiting the indian, it was time to go to the distillery. We had a private tour from one of the distillers, and it was pretty cool. Cold River makes potato vodka, which is a little different tasting and distilling process than a grain vodka. It was neat to see all the tanks and hear about the process. They make vodka the same way as its done in Russia and Poland and are the only distillery in the US that does it that way. Got to taste the original and blueberry flavors. The blueberry was really intersting. They just filter the vodka through macerated blueberries and it picks up the sugar and flavors that way. Cool stuff.

At this point we were kinda stuck. We had to be at the airport (20 min away) in an hour. We didn't want to go back and walk around Freeport again. Didn't really want to go to the touristy part of Portland. Not enough time to do much of anything. So we drove out to the other state park near Freeport, just to take a look at it.

Sadly we didn't have enough time to go hike anywhere, but they had a huge trail system there. Seems like it gets a lot of use, as there were probably 10 or so cars on a Monday afternoon. They take care of the trails too. It had rained earlier and they closed the trails to bikes because of it. I did get to snap this picture of one of their signs. Its not every park that has to have a winter and summer yield pattern for trail use. Kinda cool.

All that was left was driving back to the airport and dropping off the car. We had some beers in the Shipyard restaurant in the airport and had an uneventful flight back. Sawyer was conflicted when we got to S&J's house, because he had just been given a pig ear. But he showed how much he loves us by leaving it (for a minute or so) and running to us.

We had an awesome trip. It was mentioned that since we went away for 5 days for our 5 year anniversary, we need to do 10 for 10, and so on. Could get difficult, but could be quite fun. Maine was pretty awesome, but I think if we were there any longer we would have had to start travelling a lot farther to do stuff. We pretty much maxed out on Freeport and Portland. It was definitely an interesting trip though. Thanks Maine!

2009-07-14T22:50:00.000-04:00

So we're home now and we're tired. I added the photos from the first 4 days so you can check those out. I'll write about day 5 tomorrow and add the pictures from that, and some leftovers that just show a little of our time in Maine.

Enjoy all!!

2009-07-12T23:19:00.003-04:00

Day 4 of vacation 2009:

Today was the day we were really looking forward to. I made plans for us to take a schooner from 1912 out to an island and have a lobster bake. We were sailing with Portland Schooner Company. The boat was fantastic. This is not our boat:

This is our boat:

There were so many interesting things to see and learn about the ship and the trip out to the island was great. The wind wasn't so great, so we used the engine quite a bit, but it was still cool.

Cow Island is used for a kids day/week camp most of the time. The kids learn about the ocean and our ties to it and how to live in the outdoors. All of the buildings were from 1907 when the US built them as defense against the Spanish. Pretty amazing.

Our lobster bake was incredible. Lobsters, mixed green salads, cole slaw, potatoes, corn, and blueberry bakes. Awesome. Couldn't have asked for anything better.

The sail back we had a little better wind, but we still had to use the engine quite a bit. It was still a great sail. The people running the boat were pretty cool, the other guests, maybe not so much. But what do I care, I was here for the lobster and the sail.

After the ship we headed into Cape Elizabeth to check out the Portland Head lighthouse. We couldn't go into the lighthouse itself, but the museum was pretty nice. Ejdo had never been to a light house before and I think he enjoyed seeing one.

We left the lighthouse and headed to Portland to walk around a bit. Went over to the Shipyard Brewery to get some tastings and buy some stuff. It was pretty cool. The Chamberlin Pale Ale was really good. Portland is really a different city. The part near where we area staying seems to be more of the locals area. The area where the brewery is located is the Old Port area, aka the tourist area. It wasn't bad, just very touristy.

We had dinner at Street and Company. I had read about this place before we got here, so I knew a little about it. We arrived a little early and they sat us in the lounge to wait. It was nice and we could look at the wine list ahead of time so we knew what to order. The restaurant was packed. It was pretty impressive how many people were there on a Sunday night. Our table was near a window at the end of the restaurant. We ordered a glass of wine each and got a salad each. My salad was great. Spring greens, apricots, and gorgonzola cheese. Yummy.

We shared the lobster diavolo for our entree. It was huge! It was a 1.5 lb lobster with mussels, clams, and squid, along with linguine. I bet there were 2 lbs of linguine in there. Amazing, but huge. There was no way we were going to finish all that food, but it was so freaking good. Spicy and savory and delicious.

After dinner we drove back to the b&b then went for a walk. Some of the walk was a little sketchy, but it was ok. Ended up back at Local 188 again for some drinks. Back at the B&B now, and its getting to be time for bed. Tomorrow we have to go home, and thats a bummer, but its all gotta end sometime.

2009-07-11T20:48:00.003-04:00

Day 3. We decided to check another state off our lists and head over to New Hampshire and drive up Mt. Washington. Everyone has seen a car with a bumper sticker stating that "This car drove up Mt. Washington". Well we wanted to drive it ourselves, even though we didn't have our own car.

Google and the Garmin both said it would take about 2 hours to drive there. It was pretty close on the way there. The drive up to the peak only took about 25 minutes, and was much less scary than Pikes Peak. That being said, it was no walk in the park. I can see how it would freak a lot of people out. Driving to the mountain, it was about 80 degrees and bright and sunny. Up on the summitt, it was 52 with 25 mph winds and cloudy. Amazing how quickly it changed. Its said that Mt. Washington has the worst weather on earth and I can definitely see why. The trails are also very difficult. We checked out a few and they didn't look like anything we were running to rush into.

The drive back took FOREVER. We decided to go the "more direct" route from Google maps, and it sucked. The traffic through the towns really slowed us down. Ate lunch in a town called Conway NH at a brew pub called Moat Mountain. They had a smokehouse there as well. Ejdo had the smoked pork sliders and I had a bison quesedilla. Both were fantastic. Ejdo also had the Czeck style Pilsner, which was pretty darn close to a real Czech Pilsner. I had the Lager, which was a little hoppy, but pretty good.

We drove straight to Freeport and hit up a few of the outlets (got some good stuff for cheap) then had icecream and went to check out the LLBean Summer Concert Series show. Found this bike in the Patagonia store. Awesome find.

We weren't really sure what the music was going to be like. Come to find out its a kids type group. The guy's name was Dan Zane and he was like Bob Dylan for kids. Real laid back, crazy hair, real easy stuff. The kids were eating it up. Ejdo and I, not so much. I haven't stayed on the sunny side in a while, and I wasn't really feeling it tonight. So we stopped and go a bottle of wine, and are getting ready to relax the evening away.

2009-07-10T22:18:00.004-04:00

Day 2 of vacation 2009:

Happy Anniversary to us. Five years ago today we both were freaking out. Today, to celebrate that, we slept in and had an awesome day.

Breakfast at Morrill consisted of french toast, hard boiled eggs, and egg custards with nutmeg. Pretty good stuff.

After some organizing and figuring in the room, we headed up towards Boothbay for the rest of the day. Stopped in Bath for lunch at a really cool place called the Starlight Cafe. Ejdo had eaten there before and it was great. Fantastic sandwiches. Found a shop where we're going to buy some stuff on Monday, and were informed that we should get on our way because the "traffic can be pretty bad". Hey, we're from DC, how bad could it be? Answer...not that bad. Rte 1 is only one lane in each direction and where it goes straight through a town it slows considerably, but we were always moving.

Arrived at the kayak place, Tidal Transit, right around when we were supposed to, so that was good. Our tour guide was Kelsey, a very, very crunchy girl about our age who has obviously never met Mr. Schick. But she was a great kayak guide. Our tour also included an older couple who took a tandem. They are from Connecticut, but are actually thinking of retiring to Charlottesville. Who woulda thunk it?

Kayaked for 3 hours around Indian Head Island. Stopped on Ram Island for some snacks and to sign in the log book. Saw lots of osprey and cormorants, but sadly no seals. I think if we had been at a different time in the tide we would have gotten lucky, but no dice this time. Lots of wind on the way back, and we had to paddle through a culvert that had quite a current running through it. A little scary to go through, but kinda cool at the same time.

After kayaking, we walked around Boothbay for a little, then went to eat at the Lobster Dock. We had steamed mussels, and full lobster dinners each. The mussels came with a white wine dipping sauce and were fantastic. The lobsters. Well come on, they were whole lobsters caught in the water right off the restaurant deck. You can't get much fresher than that. And they were awesome. We destroyed those things. And I'm glad we ate early, because as we were leaving, there was a huge line growing off the deck. We got lucky.

Walked around Boothbay for a few more minutes, then headed in towards Freeport. We couldn't remember if the LLBean concert was today or tomorrow, so we wanted to check it out. Well its tomorrow. But we picked up some stuff for the dog at LLBean, and some socks for ourselves at the outlet. A quick trip to the grocery for some water and its back to Portland and in for the evening.

We took in a lot of sun today, and are both pretty tired. I'm watching the tour now on TV and Ejdo is in the shower. I think it will be an early night.

Till tomorrow.....

2009-07-09T22:29:00.004-04:00

Ejdo wants you all to know this will be verbose.

So we're off to Portland to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. This is the first time we've gone on vacation by ourselves since our honeymoon, which is a little strange to think about. However, that also means this is the first trip since our honeymoon we have to pay for by ourselves. That part is a bummer.

When we landed in Portland, and went to collect our rental car, we were told we had a brand new Camry. Well thats cool and all, but we were looking for something a little better than that. So we upgraded. To a Mustang convertable. Its sweet. The weather is great, the wind is in our hair, and we're in a red Mustang. What could be better?

We're staying at one of the top rated bed and breakfasts in Portland, the Morrill Mansion. We're staying in the Burnham room, which is the largest room not considered a suite I think I've ever been in.

After we landed and picked up the car we went basically straight to Wolfe's Neck State Park. I enjoy checking out the parks in other states, to see how they're run and what they're like. It was a beautiful park. Right on the water between the Casco Bay and the Harrassaket River. It was awesome. The views were fantastic, there were osprey, and the sun was shining. We had a great hike.

Once back in Portland we had some downtime in the B&B and made some reservations for dinner. We ate at Five Fifty-Five in Portland. I have to say it was the first time I ever ate a meal and felt like I could have been in an episode of Top Chef. The head chef at the restaurant has been featured in Food and Wine magazine, and you can tell why. We started with drinks. Ejdo got a Pilsner Urquell on tap, and it was great. Probably the best we've had in the US. I had a 555 cherry royale. Its like a kir royale, only with cherry liquor instead of blackberry and with a sugared rim. Good stuff.

This was the first time I was ever given the option of a 5 course tasting meal. It was tempting to try, but we decided to get bits and pieces instead. We split a cheese plate featuring an idiazbal cheese. Its a spanish sheeps milk that was awesome. The plate came with croquets, strawberry compote, and toasted mixed nuts. Very yummy.

I had a mixed greens salad and Ejdo had a grilled chicken caesar salad. Both were fantastic. Then our entrees arrived. I ordered the smokey rabbit-spring chicken risotto. It had baby peas and green garbanzo beans, with an egg on top. Freaking awesome. Ejdo had the Fisherman's Stew, which was in the best red sauce I think I've ever had. Mussels, squid, cockles, and chorizo. What man wouldn't love that?

No room for dessert, even though they all looked fantastic. I actually felt bad leaving food on my plate.

On the walk home we went past a bar/restaurant called Local 188 . We always talk about being more spontaneous, so in we went to have a drink. I got a caprihina and Ejdo got a Moscow Mule. Both were STRONG!!! The Moscow Mule has ginger root soda and vodka. It was spicy! My caprihina was just flat out strong. Handfulls of limes and many ounces of rum. The bartender was a nice guy and amused us for the hour or so we were there.

After a walk home, its time to watch a movie and call it a night. Have a good one everyone!

2009-07-07T08:39:00.002-04:00

Attention Drivers: Please Pay Attention and Look For Cyclists!!

Feeling the need to share last night's scary experience. I was on a short training ride for the Triathlon. I just started riding again after swimming, and had completed the loop on Conservation and turned onto Cottontail towards J & S's house. There is a fairly steep hill to go down, a swim and racket club at the bottom on the right, and a slightly less steep hill to go up again. I was zipping down the hill in the drops around 25 mph when I sat up and started to slow. There are often a lot of cars parked on the street around the swim club, and I didn't want to get doored. Probably traveling 14-15 at this point.

Approaching from the other direction is a gold/champagne colored sedan. The vehicle signals to turn into the swim club and slows a bit. This indicates to me that the driver has seen me. Nope. Just a slight pause, then the driver floors it to make the turn into the club. I grab fistfuls of brake and skid to a stop, literally. The female driver, who I can clearly see, simply drives on into the swim club lot, unaware, or uncaring, that she nearly ended me.

Normally, I just try to put stuff like this out of my mind, and go on my way. But this one really bothered me because not 30 seconds after it happened, a number of kids went by on bicycles. It occured to me that those kids probably wouldn't have been able to stop in time, and could have been severely injured. So I pulled into the swim club lot.

The woman was easy to find. She was still painstakingly pulling into the farthest parking spot she could find. I approached, and waited for her to exit the car. I was still in the driving area of the lot, not wanting to get too close to either her or the vehicle. There were plenty of people around, and I didn't want anyone to feel like I was threatening her.

I said "Ma'am, do you realize you nearly killed me?" She said nothing. I said "What if I had been a child? There is no way a child on a bike could have stopped in time. You would be responsible for injuring a child." She said nothing and started walking towards the club. I turned and said "What if I was another vehicle? I would have been traveling at least twice as fast as I was. You would have been responsible for a significant accident, possibly injuring yourself and another person." She said nothing and walked away.

It was obvious to me that she wasn't going to even apologize, and I was floored. In a bit of a daze I simply looked at the other people in the lot. They all looked shocked that this woman had nothing to say to me. Some looked quite sorry. I wasn't going to follow her into the club and cause a huge scene, so I rode away. Had to stop and talk to J about it.

I was pretty upset. Not so much that she was so oblivious to me. Honestly I've come to expect that here. But the fact that she was so cold and callous about it, even when confronted in public, even with the thought of it being a child. Is it really that hard to say I'm sorry to a stranger who you've nearly killed? I have seen people give more apology for that when bumping carts at the grocery store.

So, the moral is. Please pay attention. Not all cyclists are adults with a superhero complex. Some are children with limited skills. And you don't want to be responsible for that.

2009-07-01T10:34:00.002-04:00

Things are chugging right along here lately. Training for the tri is going quite well. I've noticed a real difference in my swimming already, just from doing it twice a week. Some of the old (and I really mean old) form is returning. I think I'd like to get a kickboard or kidney float to do some drills and really start torturing myself.

Its been nice to get back on the bike more too. Its amazing how much fun you can have screaming downhill while the cars rush by. And since they're repaving Huntsman Blvd, I've gotten to ride on brand spanking new asphalt for the last week or so. They're even (finally) putting in a designated bike lane! I'm super excited about that.

Got some new running shoes from Metro Run & Walk. They are under new management and I think I like the change. Store still looks the same but there is a different mindset now. They instituted a frequent buyer program, have come out with a newsletter, and have organized demonstrations/seminars at the store. Much more put together. Kudos to them.

Gee, other stuff. Bought a new smoker, had some friends over and smoked some ribs. They were phenominal. Taking the smoker down to the lake with us this weekend to do some more.

The truck broke, Ejdo fixed it, but that didn't do the trick, so he's got to work on it again. Oh well.

Watched El Bandito this weekend. He and Sawyer still aren't really sure what to make of each other. They play fight a lot, but its rougher than Sawyer likes. I wish my dog wasn't such a wuss.

Only 8 more days till we go to Maine!!!!

2009-06-25T09:39:00.002-04:00

I'm officially into my triathlon training. Last week was week one and I think it went pretty well. Monday was a bit of a disaster, because I read week 1 of month 2 instead of month 1 so I swam and biked longer than I was supposed to. From an exercise perspective it was fine, I wasn't exhausted or anything, but from a body perspective I screwed up. I had to give blood at the Dr that afternoon, and didn't drink/eat enough so my electrolytes and fluids were all screwy. Had a little headache that I didn't think too much of, till we were watching the evening news and Brian William's face started to melt. I've never had a migrane with aura before, so it was a weird experience. After a few hours of not really knowing things I should know, I went to bed at 9. Felt much better the next day and continued on the right track for training.

This week has been busy at work with lots of hiking, so I'm pretty tired. Did 4 miles on Tuesday and another 3.5 on Wednesday, all at Sky Meadows. Most of that is either straight up or straight down, so the legs are a little cooked. Sure felt good to get in the pool after all that though!

Today I'm in the office all day, which is a needed break. My legs are a little sore and just generally tired. Biking for about an hour tonight shouldn't be too horrible, even though it will be hot. Drinking lots today in prep.

Going to Metro Run Walk tonight to get some new running shoes and check prices on foam rollers. Bring the pain!

2009-06-16T09:14:00.006-04:00

Holy crap, the Pens won the Cup!

This has been such a crazy series, full of ups and downs. Games 1 and 2 were the same thing on a different night. Games 3 and 4 back in Pittsburgh were like a whole new Pens team showed up. Then game 5, no one in black and gold showed up. But we came back game 6 with a vengance.

Then it was game 7. For all the marbles. I was driving to meet my parents in WV, and had Pensblog Charlie on one window, a Lets Go Pens in the other, and my "Its a great day for hockey" towel in the back window. Lots of thumbs up and honks while in traffic.

Then the game. First period, nothin but nail biters. Not enough of this, too much of that. General freaking out. Second peroid. Max Fucking Talbot. I love you. Thank you so much. You made my year. Third period. Cross bars for Det. Amazing, secret service officer save for Flower. Then, the buzzer. Total chaos.

Was tempted just to go on to Pgh for the parade, but it wasn't in the stars. Looks like it was a great time. Would have loved to be down on the south side outside Mario's, or in Diesel on Saturday night. How crazy. Where else in the US does the winning team take the most famous trophy in sport to a club? Awesome.

Pittsburgh truly is the city of champions. I'm excited for the surely upcoming Sports Illustrated with Sid and Ben on the cover. You know its coming. They'd be stupid not to.

The only sad thing is now there's not much to get excited about. Its a bit of a down time in sports. Its not like the Buccos are gonna win the World Series this year. Its time to just relax and enjoy the warm weather outside.

But for now, just remember that when no one said they could beat Detroit, they did. We are the Champions. And watch this video. If NBC really wanted to do hockey right, they'd just use the CBC feed for everything. Those Canadians know how to make great TV with hockey.

2009-06-11T15:02:00.000-04:00

Greatest photo ever:

Go Pens. Game 7. Do it.

2009-06-01T11:49:00.004-04:00

We survived...barely. We had the girls from about 5 on Saturday night til they went to bed on Sunday. We swam, ate, argued, walked the dogs, picked flowers, baked a pie, played video games, watched a movie, read books, and then did most of it all over again.

Along the way Bandit killed a rat in the backyard, I got a ton of water stuck in my ear, Ejdo scraped his face across the bottom of a pool, all of K's activities were somehow cancelled, and J became obsessed with Bette Midler's Wind Beneath My Wings.

It was a long, fun couple of days. Sadly, no pictures. I think we were just trying to keep up. Maybe someday when they're our own kids we'll be proactive enough to think about the camera, but so far everytime I've had the kids alone it has totally slipped my mind.

I need a nap....

2009-05-28T15:27:00.003-04:00

What a couple of weeks. Things are good, just hectic. Something is always going on.

Went to the lake for Memorial Day. Crabfest as usual, sponsored by Michael. I managed to escape without too many cuts on my hands this year.

Punched my card to stay in the family by successfully wakeboarding on Sunday. Luckily I seem to have remembered everything I learned last year. Now I just have to figure out how to get better.

There was a lot of ping pong, food, drink, and roof jumping that weekend. Good times.

This week the Pens punched their own ticket...to the Stanley Cup finals! Looks like a rematch of last year, Pens v Wings. Last time that happened was 1983-1984. The team that lost in 83 won in 84, so here's hoping!

Taking care of the kids this weekend. Mike and Michelle are off in New Orleans celebrating their 15 year anniversary. We're attempting to plan our 5 year, but its hard to decide where to go. Leaning towards Savannah/Hilton Head or Portland Maine.

Pictures of the lake and our weekend with the kids to follow I'm sure.

Much love to all!

PS You can now follow me on twitter @ HokieRider

2009-05-19T10:29:00.003-04:00

Satan Scores!

And the Pens win another one. The Cardiac Canes tried to pull another out at the last minute, but the Pens held on for a 3-2 win in the first game of the Eastern Conference Championship.

Satan's goal was fantastic. He was just coming out of the box for a penalty and, BOOM, there's the puck, there's Miro on a breakaway, there's a 1-0 Pens lead. Awesome.

Then, 80 some seconds later, BOOM! There's Geno backhanding a floater over Cam Ward. Nice.

Looking pretty good so far. The defense is looking good, Fleury looks pretty good (needs to work on his stickhandling a bit), and Mellon Arena is rocking.

LETS GO PENS!!

2009-05-15T10:41:00.011-04:00

So this past weekend we did our Sprint Triathlon as a Relay team. We decided to race as Team Becherovka a little over a month ago, so expectations were not exactly sky high. But I knew we would have fun and it would be something a little different than our average weekend at the lake.

Michelle was our designated swimmer. She had some concerns about the water temp (it was pretty darn cold) and in the end probably wished she had the wetsuit. She ended up being one of the very few to go without one. But she had a great swim time and looked relatively happy upon exiting the water.

Jason was up next as the biker. Jason used to bike quite a bit, but when he took a new job about a year ago, his commuting ended. Definitely not as much bike time as he would like lately, but Jason came out and showed us all what he can do. He put up the 6th fastest time on the bike of all the relays. He hustled his buns alright!

I was last as the runner. I will say I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but had a great time doing it. There is incentive in seeing everyone's age on their leg, as you don't want to let some "old guy" beat you!

After the end of the race the times were posted. Team Becherovka pulled off a huge day and ended up coming in 4th out of 25 teams. Not too shabby considering we decided to race a month ago! Shots all around!!

A good time was had by all. Now in planning- the Patriot Sprint Triathlon in Williamsburg, VA. But this time, we're all doing the whole thing. Bring it on!

2009-05-13T08:50:00.003-04:00

My life has been completely consumed by hockey for the last....gee...almost month. I'm starting to wonder if my heart can take all the stress I put on it. I really think it beats faster during a stressful game (like this entire series) than during a race. Its crazy.

But tonight is Game 7. Either we win and keep playing, or lose and go home to golf. As they say, "This one is for all the marbles." It doesn't help that the series happens to be between Pittsburgh and Washington and that Ejdo is a big Caps fan. We've been working really hard to not shove victories in the other's face. It can be challenging.

Of the six games played so far in this series, three have gone to over time. Two hat tricks have been scored....in the same game.... by opposing players. There have been zero fights. Garbage has been thrown by both teams fans after home losses. No one is immune.

We had the awesome privledge to attend last Mondays game at the Verizon Center. The Pens sadly lost, but that was the hat trick game for Sid and Ovie. Amazing game. Worth every penny. And Ejdo rocked the hawk.

Along the way, we ran our triathlon (finished 4th out of the 25 relays!! More to follow soon....after hockey maybe) went to Pittsburgh for a wedding, and attempted to keep our house from falling into disrepair as we paid attention only to the TV.

"Its a great day for hockey!!!" LETS GO PENS!!!

2009-04-16T08:58:00.003-04:00

4-16-07

There isn't much to say that hasn't already been said a hundred times over. I wasn't there. I didn't hear the shots or feel the panic in the air. All I did was watch on tv. But I wept.

This was my home. These people were my family, like distant cousins you only see at family reunions or football games. Their pain was my pain, but there was nothing I could do.

This link takes you to a great article in the CT about Matt LaPorte. He was the only cadet killed that day and he went out as a warrior. Remember him.

Watch Nikki Giovanni again. Really listen to her words.

The only way we can honor their lives is to remember them. Remember the 32.

2009-04-08T10:29:00.003-04:00

I think I've made a decision. (has there ever been a less confident declaration?) I'm seriously considering doing the Kinetic Sprint Triathlon next month down at Lake Anna. Its pretty short, 750 swim, 18 mi bike, 5k run, and I think it would be a good intro race.

I didn't do my trail running series this year and I'm feelin like there is something missing. I'm less inclined to really put forth a lot of effort in my workouts when there is no point. I'm lifting and running, but there is no purpose for any of it and that is fairly de-motivating for me. Not as de-motivational as this, but still:

I need a goal. And what better to whip me into shape than a triathalon just over a month away. Sounds like a good plan to me......

2009-03-27T21:06:00.004-04:00

Just checking in. Basement is almost done. Pics of before, during, and after should come sometime early next week.

Computer is almost fixed. Just need to install a few more drivers.

Watching basketball and hockey, drinking a good beer, and digesting a pretty damn good dinner. Made a fake fried catfish. Really tasty without all the hassle of actually frying.

My bracket is doing pretty good; the two games that are on now are both going my way. The Caps were winning big, 3-1 in the first period, but are up 4-3 now. They shouldn't let these teams hang around. The Pens are looking so much better. Their game the other night vs. the Flames was so exciting to watch.

Life is pretty good right now. Here is a beautiful shot one of my "interfriends" took this morning. He's a fantastic photographer and can find beauty in the dreariest day.

2009-03-23T08:43:00.002-04:00

Well it has been an interesting few weeks.

We ripped apart the basement and started our mini-remodel. At this point we're almost done, which is nice. We've put down new flooring, painted everything and are hopefully finishing the trim tonight.

I might even be able to show you pictures soon too. Our home computer fried its hard drive, so its been hard to do anything computer related. But, we got a new hard drive and more RAM, so once we figure out how to install it all we should be back in business.

Mike and Michelle got a new dog, a Norwegian Elkhound named Bandit. He's pretty cute, old, but cute. I've been calling him "El Bandito". He and Sawyer haven't entirely figured out who is in charge yet, but I'm sure they will soon.

Aside from that not much else is new. Work is work for both of us. Sawyer is fine, getting a little done with the renovation though.

Pictures when I can. Love to all!

2009-03-10T18:25:00.007-04:00

This weekend there was a program at the park called "Women of Leesylvania". Two re-enactors came and showed what it was like to be around in the 1830s at the park. There were games, paper dolls, basket weaving, and, rather unfortunately for me, an additional dress to model.

The girls were speaking with one of the re-enactors when I hear the words, "Would you girls like it if we dressed your mother up?" :EEK:

I responded that she was welcome to dress up their mother, but she wasn't in attendance and that I was their aunt. ;-) But the damage was done. Half an hour and one hilarious video later, here I was in all my layers of glory.

Admittedly, it wasn't as bad as I thought, and the kids thought it was great, so I can't really complain that much. That being said, I only had it on for 15 minutes or so and the corset didn't have any bones in it.

After my public humiliation, we decided to go for a walk on the beach and go to the playground. The girls had fun looking for shells and we got some good pictures together.

After the playground, we were off to Wegmans for some cookies. These girls keep a busy schedule and had to be home in time for cosmic bowling that evening. A good time was had by all.

2009-03-10T18:13:00.011-04:00

Running a little behind, but here goes....

Last week we got an awsome snowstorm Sunday into Monday. Around 6 inches of snow fell, which for NoVa is quite a lot of snow. So of course, no work on Monday. We spoke with Stephanie and Jason on Sunday night and decided that a morning at the dog park was appropriate.

So around 9 on Monday morning, off we went. Its about a mile and a half (each way) to walk up there, and it was actually rather treacherous. Here are some shots from the frivolity that followed in the park. Laika and Sawyer had a great time. We were all alone at the park and it was wonderful.

2009-02-26T14:21:00.005-05:00

Just a quick couple of shots of Sawyer from him impromptu photoshoot the other day. He was watching Stephen cut his hair and the light was good, so I took advantage of it.

2009-02-24T13:19:00.002-05:00

I recieved a confirmation email today that we have officially purchased a share in the Dragonfly Farms CSA for this summer. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is basically us buying into a number of local farms. Local for us goes up into PA, but its still relatively local. We'll be splitting our share this year with the Perschbachers and the Fertigs. I'm not sure exactly how that will work out concerning how much food we'll all actually have, but it sure helps on the costs.

We will recieve approx. one bushel of fresh fruit and vegetables every week from May through September. Along with that we'll get fresh baked bread, cheese, honey, eggs, flowers, mushrooms, coffee, dog treats, jam, jelly, and wine vinegar. Total cost is $1595, which comes out to about $30 a week per family. Think about what you spend on all that stuff and tell me you wouldn't feel better about spending an extra $5 and getting farm fresh produce and eggs rather than stuff trucked halfway around the country. I'm super psyched about it.

Here is a link to Dragonfly Farms. Their website is really nice and you can find out all about their CSA on the CSA page.

This link will take you to a local harvest site all about CSAs where you can search for a CSA in your area. Consider doing this as an alternative to grocery store shopping. It not only gets you more involved in the process of farming but allows you access to fresher, healthier foods.

2009-02-23T10:51:00.003-05:00

Things here have been pretty quiet lately. Not boring, but not busy. Ejdo was out of town all last week (in West-by-God-Virginia) so Sawyer and I had some free time to go on walks and to the park. He's become a lot more protective of me around bigger dogs, so I'm trying to take him to the park as much as possible to get him used to them more. New photos of him coming soon....he had an impromptu photo shoot while watching Ejdo cut hair last weekend.

Got recertified as a professional rescuer for CPR last week too. Big excitement...now we don't have to do it every year, just every other. This is great news. Seems like every year they change the compression/breaths ratio, but I think as long as your technique is good you'd be helping the semi-dead person in front of you. I recently read an article that the proper pace can be found by humming Staying Alive by the BeeGees. Its also the same pace as Another One Bites the Dust by Queen, but thats not as good of a visual I suppose.

Wednesday I had dinner with Stephanie, Jason, and the kids at Michelles house. We watched a few episodes of the Muppet Show too. Its fun to watch stuff like that with kids that have never seen it before. Amazing to see things through their eyes.

Did a herd health check at Widewater on Thursday. It was a LONG day. Got down there around 9:30 to put up "Do not enter" signs and didn't get home till 11 that night. But we had a good time, took 9 good deer, and got some good data. I have pictures, but won't post them unless people really want to see, cause lets face it, they're gory dead deer photos.

Friday all I had to do was help flag some trail at Mason Neck, so I took Sawyer with me. While Marc and I flagged, Sawyer ran around and burned off energy. It was a pretty good day.

Saturday Steph and I went with the Perschbachers to look at a dog. Saywer and Laika had to sign off on her before they could get her. Sawyer could care less, but Laika didn't seem thrilled. Steph and I were both hesitant, as we thought the dog would be a lot more work than the foster let on. Turns out after we left, the dog suffered a fairly significant meltdown and started snapping at other dogs. No thanks.

Sunday we celebrated Michelle and Jana's birthdays. Michael just got back from Thailand and had presents for us which was awesome. All the men got carved teak budda masks and all the women got Thai silk scarves. Very nice. Then we watched 2.5 hours of pictures. I was exhaused, but it was really interesting.

So there you go....my week in a couple of hundred words. Add in a few workouts and some less than stellar meals alone and that's pretty much all that happened. Had some nice phone conversations with various family members to keep me from talking to the dog too much.

Love you all!

2009-02-09T15:20:00.004-05:00

So its been a while. I've been busy, so sue me. But I'm getting grief about not updating so here it goes.

The Steelers won the Super Bowl! Again! I really thought I might have a heart attack during the game, but I made it through. They really made that one exciting for us. When Larry Fitz went screaming down the field I really started to think it was all over. But Santonio (or San Antonio depending on who is speaking) hauled in that ball and the game was over. Wasn't even worth it for the Cards to come out on that last possession, there was nothing they were going to be able to do.

All in all a great game. I made some awesome cupcakes with the Steeler logo on them, had some friends over, drank some beer and generally had a great time.

Did a burn out at James River SP. It was hot....literally. We burned almost 130 ac (I think) of mostly grass. It was pretty awesome. I got some video this time too, which was kinda neat. Long day, but totally worth it.

Took some nice walks with the dog when it was snowy. He's a trip. Yesterday we caught him with his head in the cereal box....literally. There were two lone Cheerios at the bottom of the box and he was trying to figure out how to get at them. Hilarious. He must have stood like that for 20 minutes. The Cheerios are still there.

Aside from that, things have been pretty quiet. We chose a color for the basement walls, bought some new shelving for the laundry room that now provides us with enough room for a chest freezer (YAY!), and got a football. Real exciting stuff over here. Better watch out!

2009-01-12T08:49:00.002-05:00

God I love my Steelers. They make life so much more entertaining.

Few things are better than a defense that forces turnovers and an offense that can run the ball and the clock. Love it.

Next week is the Ravens.....a tough game. But the Steelers at home are hard to beat, and the Ravens haven't had the best of luck at it lately. So heres hoping!

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!

2009-01-09T15:16:00.002-05:00

2009. Its a little crazy to think about. I've been out of HS for basically 10 years now. Sometimes that makes me feel old, sometimes I just think about how much of my life there still is to live. And all the things I still want to do.

I've been trying to come up with "resolutions" that don't suck. I'm not a "be nice to everyone" kind of resolution person. Thats just not me. Last year the biggest acomplishment was to keep an accurate log of my workouts and save more money. I did great on my log till we went to Europe, then it fell apart a bit. I saved it some towards the end, but I don't think I even had a tab for December. I suck. We saved a bunch of money though. I think that is one place we're actually doing fairly well.

This year I'd like to camp more. I don't think we camped at all last year and that was very disappointing. We just got a new tent so Sawyer can go with us. We just need some snow.

I want to go somewhere different. Ejdo hasn't seen much of the US and he has been talking about going to Utah/New Mexico. I'd love to go back there. And climb mountains. We couldn't do that in CO with my parents, but if we go this year we've got to climb something.

I'd like to ride my bike more. Its not as convenient for me, because Sawyer needs/wants to run and I do trail races so I need to run, but I love the feeling of speed and risk that you get on a bike. Although running through the woods is exhilirating, nothing is quite like riding a bike.

I started crocheting last year and I enjoy that, but I feel like I need something else to do. Some hobby to get me out of the house and doesn't cost a ton of money. I'd like to start swimming more. Or get into muay thai. I said that last year too, but maybe this year we'll find a good place.

I'd like to read more this year too. Last year was kinda a bust on the reading front. I read a few books in Europe that I had been wanting to, but not much else was really new. I re-read my books a lot. Going to the library used to be so fun to me, I've started going again. No reason not to.

The family discussion has been coming up much more too. I don't think either of us want to confront it, but I know we're both thinking about it. We're not in the proper financial/job place right now, and there aren't specific plans to get there, but I think we're going to have to make some changes this year to get there.

So thats it I guess. Thats probably as close as I'm going to get to making a list of resolutions. Again, I suck. But its nice to get it all out on paper. Kinda.

2008-12-31T16:06:00.006-05:00

So here are some shots of the bathroom to show what we did to it. First the bathroom as of our move in:Pretty bad right? Here's a shot once we started to work on it. Took out the sink, toilet and all the wall stuff. Then we had to hang a new piece of drywall on the ceiling. PITA. Took out all the flooring, another PITA. Here's bare floor and patched walls:

Next thing we did was paint, which helped immensely but was another PITA. It seemed that everything that could go wrong, did. The old paint reacted with the primer and bubbled, so we had to scrape and sand at least 4 times. Horrible.

After the paint was up, the floor went in. Neither of us had installed a tile floor before, so it was a lot of trial and error. This is what it looked like with all tiles in place but no grout yet. Amazingly it didn't really take us that long to tile.

From there we finished the grout and baseboards, which was a little challenging, then put the toilet back in. We found a really nice vanity on sale at Depot, so that went in as well as a new light fixture. Throw in a towel ring and you've got yourself a bathroom.

Its pretty small, so its hard to get a good shot that I'm not it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out though. And now we've learned another new skill in tiling. Horray us.

2008-12-30T13:04:00.004-05:00

Christmas is over. Man was it crazy. In keeping with the alternating tradition, this year Ejdo and I were Christmassing in Pittsburgh with my family. A change in tradition however, my mom was not hosting Christmas dinner. I had mixed feelings on this, but I understand why we did it.

Drove up on the morning of the 24th. Got in around 1-ish. I, of course, forgot something, so we all schlepped out to the mall. Yep, we went to the mall on Christmas Eve. But it wasn't that bad and we were back home around 3:30 or so. At 5:30 we went to my OCD aunt & uncle's house for dinner. That OCD applies to both....they're perfect for each other. Nice lasagna dinner, Ejdo and I ate with the old folks upstairs. Good stuff.

Opened gifts that night because Dad had mass at 7 the next morning. Ejdo and I got a new TV for each other this year, so we asked mostly for money. But we still got a few other items. A great one was a framed watercolor of Burress Hall by P. Buckley Moss from Fran & Bob. Its already hung in the living room.

Other highlights include a new watchband, Yaktrax Pro so we don't fall like idiots next time we camp in the ice, and a great glass necklace. Good stuff.

Christmas day we went to my uncle's house to spend time with my dad's family. They're more formal, so we were dressed up drinking nice wine and eating fancy cheese and shrimp before a brunch of quiche and ham. It was all very good. Left with lots of money for the TV.

Following that, we went home and changed, then went to my cousin's house for dinner with my mom's family. Much less formal. We wore jeans and sweaters and were the nicest dressed people there. Two uncles were in sweats and we spent most of the evening watching House and watching the over-sugared children run around. It was exhausting.

Friday it rained almost the whole day. We got out to Hartwood to walk the dogs in the morning. Sawyer played at the dog park and had a blast. Sammy and Lucy were hell on wheels as usual. In the afternoon we went to see Marley and Me. It was very good, but bring Kleenex. I cried, but I expected to. Even saw Ejdo shed a few. Sawyer is working his way into his heart. After that we went to Quaker Steak and Lube for wings. Ejdo had been wanting to go there forever, so we finally got out. The dry rub salt and vinegar wings were awesome!

Saturday was gorgeous. Went running in the morning with Sawyer and Dad. Mom took Sammy and Lucy for a walk and Ejdo worked out in the basement. Some exercise for everyone. Then we went to the Zoo....another thing Ejdo has been hearing about but we hadn't done. It was great. Beautiful day. Lots of people, but it wasn't bad walking around. The new polar bear exhibit was pretty cool and we got some neat shots of the sand tiger sharks swimming over us.

Sunday is was back home. We left around 8:30 and just kept going once we got home. It was time to get stuff ready for New Years Eve and the Orange Bowl. Not sure how good an idea it was to have parties on two consecutive nights, but it will be fun. We're frying a turkey for New Years, so my grocery list is pretty long. We also had to re-do the stereo system for the new TV, get stuff for the newly completed bathroom (sorry no pics yet, just got the camera back), and do all the laundry from being out of town.

Crazyness. Hope you all had a good holiday! More pics once I get home and upload from the camera.

2008-12-08T15:20:00.007-05:00

Back from a weekend in Michigan. Boy it was an adventure.

We left early Friday morning. Met Stephanie and Jason at the kennel where we left the dogs. A quick trip over to the airport and we were on our way. First leg was from Dulles to O'hare. No issues there. Once at O'hare we got a bite to eat then made our way to the gate. South Bend- boarding. Great. Its a small commuter, so we have to get our boarding passes scanned, then go down a flight of stairs, out onto the tarmac and walk to the plane. We get to the plane, drop off our carryons and are about to get on when the luggage guy says "Hey, this plane is going to Wichita, not South Bend!" So we gather our stuff and go back to the terminal. Oh, did I mention it was 14 degrees out?

Our flight boarded 30 min later. Tried to go visit Katie at ND, but had some navigational issues and not a lot of time, so that didn't work out.

Went to the DANK for dinner on Friday. Fried fish and polka, what could be better? Stayed there till 9:30 ish, then went back to drink in the hotel.

Saturday was with the fam. Nothing too exciting. If I ever get the photos, there are probably some good ones from the party. Spent the night drinking in the hotel again. Two 750mls killed in 2 days among basically 4 people.

Sunday was a blur of air travel. South Bend departed late, so we got into O'hare 15 min before our flight was boarding. We had to run to the gate, basically from one end of the airport to the other. It sucked. But we made it. Home around 4:15. Got the dogs at 4:45.

Home to do laundry and watch the Steelers pull out a win in the last minutes. Hey, a win is a win.

All in all, not a bad weekend. And now Ejdo owes me big.

2008-12-03T09:31:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving wrap up:

Things were good. Ejdo fried a turkey, which was awesome. I don't know many food items that don't immediately improve once fried. And the skin off a fried turkey is a thing of beauty. Looks a little darker than a traditional baked turkey, but tastes SOOOO much better. Yum.

We had some good family time. The 'rents came down on Wednesday after almost getting stuck at their place in WV. Why anyone builds a "retirement" place in WV is beyond me. You've spent your life in the snow of Pgh, so you'll retire to the snow of WV? Huh?

Anyway, we had the typical Thanksgiving day on Thursday. Lots of cooking and prepping. We drank a lot at dinner (J-dawg's coffee was particurarly strong this year) and had a great time talking and laughing.

Friday we went for a hike at Fountainhead. Took the dogs. Sammy and Lucy don't get walked enough, so it was good for them to get out. Lucy sounds like she's going to die all the time, but she's getting better. Friday night we had chili with the Harrison gang. At least most of them. Cathy wasn't feeling well so she stayed home. But Bob makes a mean chili. I was impressed.

Saturday we went down to the lake. Watched the Hokies beat BooVA, then went to Lake Anna Winery for some tasting and purchasing. Good stuff.

The 'rents left early Sunday. And by early I mean EARLY. And because of that, we didn't get a chance to sweep their car and left a charger, wool hat, gloves, and our camera in it. Bummer. But we'll see them again soon enough I suppose.

As for now I'm fighting off a cold (and failing as of today) and we're travelling to Michigan this weekend. Yes, thats right, Michigan. In December. No one is very excited about it either. It will be cold and there will be lots of family. Recipe for disaster. But thats life.

More to come from that adventure I'm sure.

2008-11-14T08:53:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a very frustrating day. I forgot to go pick something up that I need pretty badly, so I have to go today. My birthday gift to Ejdo wasn't a hit in my mind or his. Its rainy and cold. The stupid Hokies lost to Miami 16-14. The windows in our house are so crappy there's a freakin breeze through the living room.

Ahhh. Feels good to just vent.

Now, heres some good stuff. I made a kick ass homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner last night. We're going to have a fancy dinner tonight for Ejdo's birthday. We might actually get the walls in the bathroom painted (with color!) this weekend. My boss isn't in the office anymore today, so its blogging and RBR for my morning.

Looks like things aren't so bad.

Heres a cute puppy photo to brighten everyone's day.

Have a good weekend all!

2008-11-12T21:18:00.012-05:00

Almost time for Austria. Can't forget Hluboka though. This was my absolute favorite castle of the trip. The most gorgeous building I've seen. Many, many movies have been shot here simply because of the beauty of the castle. A few of my favorite shots:

Ok. Now onto Austria. First stop Linz. It was a nice enough town, but it was strange to not understand anything again. I was just starting to figure out Czech and now I was surrounded by German.

We only spent one day in Linz, so not many pictures. From Linz we moved on to Vienna for 3 days. We were lucky enough to get to see the King Tut exhibit while there (and most of it was in English!). The highlight was a trip to Prater, which is basically a big Austrian amusement park. Various recognizable attractions, like the swings and sky coaster. Others, not so much. There was a merry go round that used live horses. Wonder what PETA would say about that. Here are some of the ride highlights:

Now the catch with all these rides is that they are all post lunch. And lunch at Prater is a thing of beauty. Behold, lunch:

Thats a pork knuckle, a Budjovice Budvar, two different types of mustard, fresh horseradish, and a side of cabbage. Yum. But none of us were feeling that great after the swings.

Our last few days in Europe were spent doing typical tourist stuff in Vienna. We hit a few coffee shops, more castles and royal homes, and a few museums. Generally intersting, but I think we were a little burned out and a lot of the information was the same, so it got a little monotonous. A few highlights:

All in all, we had a great time. There were some rough patches for all of us, but we all still like each other, which is helpful considering we live so close together, and I think we would do it again. Perhaps some things would be different, but it was such a great experience, I don't know how you could not want to do it again.

Hope you all enjoyed!

2008-11-12T19:53:00.013-05:00

Karlovy Vary. Where to begin? Beautiful town, strange vibe. There is a lot of money in this town, mostly because of its roots as a spa town. In the Czech culture, you can be prescribed time at the spa by a doctor. Yeah, like, "Dr, I'm stressed, work sucks". "Ok, go spend 2 weeks at the spa, then call me in the morning". Crazy. So there are natural hot springs in Karlovy Vary, so it was an obvious choice for spas.

Unfortunately, the town is losing much of its Czech culture. The russians found out about the healing powers (aka money making possibilities) and are slowly buying everything out from the Czechs. We heard through some that members of the city counsel are being paid by the russians to approve sales to russians over other potential buyers. So it was weird. Most of the signs were in russian, not even Czech. It was very beautiful, but not my cup of tea.

Anyway, as for the springs. You're supposed to drink the water to cure your ills. So some are for good stomach, some for good head, etc. They all tasted nasty. And the minerals are so strong, you're not supposed to let the water touch your teeth. Crazy.

Again, beautiful buildings. Everywhere. Lots of money. Behold, the Grand Hotel Pupp:

Just one of the many completely gorgeous streets:

But the biggest reason we were there was the Becherovka factory. Becherovka is a medicinal herbal bitters that is made only in this town using only the water found here. It is a secret recipe and is a traditional Czech drink. We had quite a few bottles at our wedding.

The last time the whole family was in Karlovy Vary, Stan, Stephen, and Uncle John did the tour of the factory. But it was the Czech version and they didn't understand much. One thing there were pretty sure on was that there was a fire. Turns out Stan needs to work on his Czech a bit. No fire, and in fact we were asked to pray that that never happened because the whole place would explode due to all the alcohol on site. A tour, a tasting and a toast:

We also ate well. The girls (Michelle, Stephanie, and I) had facials one day and the guys got a little impatient waiting. Here's what happened:

We eventually caught up with them and had a nice meal.

From Karlovy Vary we went to Cesky Krumlov via Plsen. If Plsen sounds like Pilsner to you, it should. Its the town where the Pilsner style of beer was invented. And its the home to the original Pilsner beer, Pilsner Urquell (literally the original pilsner). This factory was nothing like Kozel, more like Disney does breweries. But it was still pretty cool. Come on, a beer vending machine. How could that not be cool?

Onto Cesky Krumlov, my favorite town of the trip. We did all kinds of cool outdoorsy stuff here. Took the kids horseback riding and rafting in the same day. The rafting was the #1 thing I wanted to do on this whole trip and it was totally worth it. There are dams across the river and channels were cut into the dams for rafting through. Kayaking competitions take place all along the river. It was awesome.

Cesky Krumlov is also cool in that the castle has a moat that is protected by bears. No water or crocodiles, bears. Bears that are fed old bagels and doughnuts, but still, bears.

We stayed at a most excellent pension, right on the river (the Vltava river). They fed us amazing breakfasts and we got to watch all the goofballs go by on the water. Great place. We were upstairs and downstairs was the daughter's confectionary. Awesome.

Cesky Krumlov was our last Czech town and it was by far my favorite. I'd move there in a heartbeat. Great vibe, very friendly people, and fantastic food. On to Austria!

2008-11-12T17:53:00.015-05:00

OK. Week 2. Prague. Where to begin. We saw the window where the 30 years war began with the chucking of a priest (defenestration, what a fantastic word):

We saw the astronomical clock, of course:

We saw St. Wenceslas.

We ate lunch at a fantastically interesting place whose name translates into "At the Seven Roaches". Who wouldn't want to eat there?

A really neat thing about Prague: before all the streets had names, directions were given based off what the buildings looked like. It was in an establishment's best interest to have a picture of something on their building so directions were easier. So it would be said that the restaurant was at the Three Gold Stars:

Or at the White Swan:
You get it. It was a fantastic way to learn nouns, colors, and numbers. One of my favorite things about the town. We lived by the Green Tree, ate at the 2 Cats and at the Little Bear. Everything was "U", or at, the item pictured. Good stuff.

We went to the Jewish Quarter, which was pretty interesting. There is the tiniest cemetery I've ever seen with thousands of people crammed into it, because the Jews were only allotted so much space in the city. Rather sad.

The Municipal House (Obecini Dum) was another awesome thing to see in Praha. It was decorated by all the great Czech artists. Most have their own room/rooms where they were given full reign over what was placed in the room. Alphonse Mucha, one of the most famous Czech artists did a few rooms in the Dum and they were awesome. The whole thing is art deco, which Mucha popularized and its amazing to see. Here is just part of a wall in his room:

We were lucky enough to get tickets to see the Czech National Symphony in the Dum. Had ourselves a 150 crown ($10!) ice cream before we went in, which was totally worth it:

The symphony was amazing. The acoustics were fantastic and the atmosphere was just incredible. One of the few times I've almost been moved to tears by live music. Just the opportunity to do that was one of the highlights of the whole vacation to me.

We also visited Vysehrad, the "traditional" castle of the Czech Republic. It is here that the nation was governed in midevil times. We saw the castle (obviously), the church (of course), and something new (right), a cemetery. Only this cemetery contains the graves of all the famous Czechs that ever lived. Artists, musicians, inventors, politicians, everyone. Mucha, Dvorak, Skoda, Smetana. It was pretty neat to see all these important people in one place. Imagine what that would look like in the US. Here is the large crypt that many of the urns are kept in:

We needed to do laundry while in Prague, but there are no laundromats. You basically go to a cleaner, they weigh your clothes, wash them, and give them back to you the next day. Silly us, we didn't know it took that long so we had to wash clothes in the tub. Yay for family bonding:

After 4 days, we moved on to Karlovy Vary. On the way we stopped at Karlstejn and the Krusovice brewery. Karlstejn was one of the few castles built for the sole purpose of storing the royal treasures. Most are locked up in banks now, but replicas are on display. It was founded by Charles IV who was the King of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire (aka, very important dude). It was quite beautiful:

Now, onto the brewery. We arrived at 3 only to find out that the last tour went out at 2. We were informed about a place that sold stuff (which was all we really wanted) down the street a bit, so we headed down there and used our purchasing power. Saw some hops growing along the way:

This post is getting way too long, so we'll pick up everything from Karlovy Vary on in the week next.

2008-11-12T16:57:00.012-05:00

I know I'm a horrible human being, but I'm finally getting around to posting about Europe. I'm gonna do it in weekly intervals, to keep things relatively easy to deal with.

So, first week. We were in Ostravicice for most of this week, visiting Brno most days and spending time with family the rest. I won't bore you with the family stuff, but it was pretty fun to meet all the relatives. And to eat all their awesome food.

Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic but it felt like home by the time we left. Knew where everything was (basically) and could get around fairly easily on our own. Started to really pick up the language here. Enjoyed some fried cheese sandwiches as well:

As I mentioned before, all 10 of us shared an apartment this week. Here is a shot of most of us in the main room of the apartment. My inlaws slept on the two couches and it was our kitchen and living room. No kitchen sink, and only a small college type fridge. Spent a lot of time on the balcony outside the double doors.

Notice the case of beer. We went through quite a few of these. Much needed and appreciated. The beer in CZ is far superior to most beers I've had in the US and are quite a bit cheaper.

While in Brno we ate at the Hotel Pegas, which is a restaurant that also is a brewery and rents rooms upstairs. Everyone does a little bit of everything here. Pegas has great food and beer and is also the place where we were, ahem, seperated from our camera. Huge issue at the time, still not happy, but it could have been much worse. Hotel Pegas:

One thing we did plenty of, aside from drink, is visit castles. While in Ostravicice/Brno we hit two, Spilberk and Pernstejn. Spikberk is right in Brno and is where the city's royalty lived. It also contains the jail. Many many people died in this building due to the conditions in the jail. It was amazing to see. Totally underground, very little light, very little ventilation. I could get into the details, but there are a lot. Let me know if you want to know more. Creepy place.

Pernstejn was pretty awesome to me as it was the first castle we visited. Used in lots of Czech movies because of its beauty. Lots of intricate vaulted ceilings and rockwork. Pernstejn is so big you can't really get a shot of the whole thing at once.

We also spent some time in the Pavlov area. This is a major wine production area for the country, but in a different way than Napa in the US. Here most people own their own grapes and produce their own wine. You simply knock on a door and see if they have wine to taste. It was fantastic. Met some very interesting people, including one gentleman who served us while only wearing a dirty wife beater and his boxers. Amazing. And the wine was fantastic. Who'da thunk it?! We also visited another guy whose cellar is older than the US, but he was fully clothed so the pictures aren't as good :-)

Left Ostravicice and headed to Prague by way of Kutna Hora. Its a world heritage site, very cool. They had some awesome architecture and, of course, a church. But the coolest thing is a church at the edge of the town called the Ossuary. Imagine Indiana Jones running through the little obstacle course dealy at the beginning of Temple of Doom. Ok, remember all the bones? It was kinda like that....only way, way creepier. Turns out a lot of people died of the plague here. And once the threat had passed, the priests wanted a way to remind people of their own mortality. So the dug up the bones of the dead, cleaned them, and decorated a church with them. Don't believe me? Take a look at this chandelier:

Yeah that made entirely of bones. All of them in fact. It contains at least one of every bone in the human body. I spent a while looking for the little bones from the ear, but it was a little overwhelming. Here's one last shot from there, showing one of the four huge pyramids of skulls. Weird place.

From Kutna Hora we went on to Prague, via the Kozel Brewery. Talk about awesome. We actually arrived 25 minutes late for the last tour, but the receptionist called the tour guide and asked if he would be willing to stay late to give 10 Americans a tour. He agreed and off we went. Turns out he was the engineer that designed most of the factory. What a tour! We saw the bottling plant, the tanks, the goats, everything. And at the end, we drank! Fantastic tour. Best of the trip for me. This sign basically tells you all how healthy their beer is for you. You can have 3.5 eggs, 225 grams of meat, 325 grams of fish, 1925 grams of soup, or .5 liter of beer. You pick:

In Prague we're staying at the Betlem Club. Great place to stay right in the middle of Old Town. Good stuff. More to come next for week 2.

2008-09-07T12:09:00.008-04:00

Still working hard on the pictures from Europe. There are around 7,000 of them to go through, so I hope you're all still patiently waiting.

Here are some shots of tropical storm Hannah to tide you over. Click to see larger photos.

This gauge generally shows the lake at a level of about 2-3 feet. Its almost at 12 in this shot.

This is the overflow pipe taking water from the lake, under the dam and out into the creek that runs behind our house. It was moving at a pretty good clip.

This tree is next to the trail that leads to the "boat launch". There is usually a little fishing area to the left of the tree and a paved driveway of sorts to the right.

Here is what the path looks like. Don't think I want to stay on the trail.

Despite all the rain earlier, it ended up being a beautiful day by 6 PM. This is the view from the top of the dam over the lake.

Finally, here is a video I took of the overflow pipe. Its amazing how much water was rushing out of the lake.

County officials were there to keep an eye on things. They told us if the water got higher, we might have to evacuate, but it would have to get really, really high for the water to even get near our house.

Anyway, we're working through all the Europe pics. Perhaps I'll have something to post sometime this week. Don't hold your breath.

2008-08-18T21:09:00.003-04:00

Back from CZ. Lots of pictures to go through, so nothing really to show yet. Look for updates in the next few days. We're getting together again on Sunday for the big photo swap, but hopefully I'll have some time to get something on here before then.

2008-08-02T16:42:00.002-04:00

Czech Republic Week One:

Stayed in Ostorvicice for basically all of week on. It is a small town outside of Brno, the second largest city in Czech Rep. All 10 of us were in one apartment, with one, yes ONE, bathroom. To say the least, there were a few issues. European toilets are not perpared for the onslaut of 10 americans.

Visited with lots of family, drank lots of beer and ate lots of good food. Unfortunately, the camera was lost in the process. It was left behind in a restaurant and by the time we realized it, was long gone. So, no pics this time. I may be able to post some for the next week off of the camera we are borrowing from Stephen's sister. For now, links will have to do.

Brno consisted of beer at Hotel Pegas. It is a pivobar, aka a beer bar. They brew their own beer there and it is quite good. They also have quite good food. I had smazeny syr for lunch there one day. Smazeny syr is fried cheese. Fan-freaking-tastic. This is where we lost the camera. Bummer.

We visited Spilberk, the castle of Brno. Toured the jail below the castle, not the castle. Crazy stuff. There are cells where men were sent "for life" and the expected time frame was less than a month. Amazingly creepy.

Also saw Pernstejn castle. Used a lot for movie filming. Beautiful setting. You could see fantastic mountains and forests all around. Incredible architecture with vaulted ceilings. Amazing to think of how they did all that work so long ago.

Visited the crypts in Brno where bodies have been preserved for hundreds of years with no embalming of any sort. It was a little creepy to see how well intact some of these bodies were. Most still had skin and many still had teeth and fingernails, after 350 years. Weird.

Along the same lines was our visit to the "Bone Church" outside Kutna Hora. You wanna talk creepy. Contains the bones of 40,000 people which are either stacked into huge pyramids of skulls or made into artwork such as chandeliers and chalices. Its supposed to make you consider your own mortality. Reminded me of something out of Indiana Jones.

Anyway, now we're in Prague. Staying at the Bethlem Hotel, which is pretty awesome. Not only do I have a huge bed and my own bathroom, but as you can see, I've got internetu!! Yay!! Hopefull I'll get to post some more before we leave here. Who knows when else we'll get internet access.

2008-03-31T14:02:00.001-04:00

2008-01-15T14:16:00.001-05:00

2007-11-06T09:09:00.001-05:00

2007-11-06T08:41:00.001-05:00

Better late than never, here are some new pics from the Monday Night football game yesterday. I went with my dad. It was cold and rainy, but awesome.

2007-02-14T13:37:00.000-05:00

Sawyer got a new bed in the mail from a friendly RBR member. As you can see, he obviously hates it.

Lets see what happens in a day or so when I actually go to work. All the other beds have met their end during a workday. The dog is getting spoiled with all these snow days. He's gonna have a shot of reality this weekend though, cause he's gotta go to the kennel while we go camping. Eventually he'll be able to come, but this time the logistics aren't quite right. Pics in a few days.

2007-01-02T16:20:00.000-05:00

Been a while since I posted on here. Things have been crazy. Went to Jacksonville for a weekend while Stephen was there on travel. Got to see some really cool animals at their zoo. I was actually pretty impressed. The elephants just recently arrived from Kansas City and were loving the moat inside their area.

Then we went to Pgh for Christmas. Crazy as always. Got to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while so that was pretty nice. The biggest change though is the addition of a dog. Thats right, Stephen finally caved and realized he had no more excuses, so we got a dog. We adopted him from the Washington Animal Rescue League. It was a pretty lengthy process to get him but we're happy with the results. He's a one year old hound pointer mix and he's got some energy but is very willing to just lay near us. He's turning out to be a pretty good dog. Can't ask for too much more after only being here a few days. Here's some pics.

So thats about all thats new here. Hope everyone had a great holiday season and lets hear it for no more organized binge eating!

2006-11-30T17:23:00.000-05:00

Well I've decided that this has to be my week from hell when it comes to cars. I'm driving to work on Monday, all the while thinking "I need to get gas" because the light came on Sunday night. No big deal, theres a gas station on the way in. So I'm on the narrow two lane road when up ahead I see a pack of turkey vultures and crows muching on something in the road. The car ahead of me drives through and the birds part like the red sea. I get there and they all decide its safe to land again. BAM. A huge turkey vulture lands right in front of me. I swerve to miss, but alas, nail it anyway. Whoosh...there goes my Toyota emblem flying over the roof. So I keep driving till I can turn around, go back and retrieve my emblem. Call the hubby....everythings ok, car is drivable, etc, etc. OK, so I turn back around and head for the gas station.

Get to the gas station, reach in the bag for the wallet....WTF!!! NO WALLET!!! Well, ok, I have the check book. Go inside...no checks allowed. AARRGH! Call the hubby again and he comes and rescues me via AMEX.

Get an estimate, $484. Whatever. Fine. Driving to work today, on 95, and I get behind a big truck in the middle lane while trying to move to the left. BAM!! Rocks. Flying everywhere. I'm getting pelted by the damn things. Get to work. Just divits where they impacted the windshield. Until it gets hot. Then cold again. Damn. Now I have a 4 or 5 inch crack in the windsheild. I can't win this week. I'm staying home tomorrow to avoid any more work related car injuries.

2006-11-08T18:08:00.000-05:00

I kinda felt like as much as I enjoyed going, PT wasn't working as well as I wanted it to, so I went and had accupuncture last Monday. Now I don't know if its all in my head or what, but my ankle feels almost back to normal now. I still have a little bit of pain, but I can run, climb, bike, hike, pretty much everything I did before with little to no pain now. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. I just got back from a 2 mile run and I feel like a million dollars. Have a good one ya'll!

2006-10-18T22:54:00.000-04:00

took a ton of pics today at shenandoah river and sky meadows. really liked the way some of them turned out. the colors were lookin pretty good....but they'll probably peak next week sometime.

2006-10-17T18:34:00.000-04:00

Saw this map on a friends myspace page and figured I'd make my own. It shows all the states I've been to in red and all the remaining ones in grey. Hopefully next summer I'll be ticking a few more off the list when the fam goes out west.

2006-08-29T18:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday there was a fire at Leesylvania State Park. Nothing big, but enough to have the Prince William Fire Department up there at 6 AM working on it. I got to work at 8 like normal, got yelled at, then went to watch the guys work for the rest of the day. Kinda cool, except for the getting yelled at part.

So today the first thing I do is go check on the fire. Everything looks kosher. Nothing has jumped the line, not a lot of large debris to worry about catching...looks pretty tame actually. Kinda like a boy scout fire the morning after a campout...only 2 acres big. My boss however disagrees. With me. And the guy who has worked for 3 years as a wildland firefighter. So what do I get to do all day today, but babysit a burned out fire. Oh, and did I mention the heat index was 105 today? And the ground is still hot enough to ignite? Yeah, fun times. Heres what my legs looked like when I got home from work:

Yuck! At least I got a 30 minute break to eat lunch :-(

2006-08-11T11:30:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd post some funny pics of the family:

2006-07-25T17:22:00.000-04:00

Went for a ride yesterday...first time since the ankle fiasco. Its still not feeling too good, but I just had to get outside. I've been riding on the trainer in the basement for a couple of weeks but that is just about the most boring thing on the face of the earth. Only went a few miles. Stephen went with me just incase, but everything was great.

So I decided to go again today. Things were still hurting, but I wanted to go again. Didn't go as far, but this time I got lemonade at the end. Some kids up the street were selling it. Starting to ride with clipless pedals with a cup of lemonade in your mouth is an experience, but it was worth it to see how happy the kids were. Got a pic too, once I convinced them I wasn't psycho. Pretty good pic considering it was my cell phone.

Also got a spray on liner and a black diamond plate box for my truck today. About $800 for both...but its not my money so it just felt great spending it!!

2006-06-27T11:56:00.000-04:00

as a comparison...here is my left foot:

2006-06-27T10:12:00.000-04:00

Been forever, I realize, but I've been busy. Went to Pgh for Memorial Day. Brian and Cassie got married (pics to follow). We've been doing a lot of climbing, and that is what leads me to this post. Last Tuesday I was attempting a V2 that I've done before and totally bit it coming off the wall. Landed half on the mat with my right foot and sprained my ankle worse than I've ever seen someone sprain an ankle before. Its gnarly. I'm kinda suprised that nothing is broken, but I've now had two doctors assure me of it, so I guess its just a nasty sprain. So I'm out of commission for quite a while now. And everyone keeps telling me "You know, I've heard that sometimes a bad sprain is worse than actually breaking it". Yeah, that helps a lot. Thanks people. Jerks. Anyway, here are some pics. Kinda gross, but I think kinda interesting to keep track of the swelling and bruising. This is one week from injury.

So, now that I've grossed everyone out....anyone have any good book suggestions? I'm going away with my mother this weekend, and hiking is now out of the picture, so I need something great to read. Probably at least two something greats to read. Help...please!

2006-04-17T20:05:00.000-04:00

I realize its been forever since I updated, but I've been busy. We bought the house, painted most of the really bad stuff, and this weekend we're moving in. I've got some pics to show the before and after, so you can see the changes we've actually made. We're in the process of making screens for the windows (since the people before us didn't like the way they looked!!) and once we have those it will be a pleasant place to work without having to chase bees and hornets out all the time. Our new next door neighbor (who is also just moving in) is giving us some plants from her front yard that she doesn't want, so I'll be able to make the backyard look habitable soon too. So here are the pics.

The formerly orange living room:

The formerly avocado green kitchen:

The dining room where they came together to form the ugliest room on the face of the earth:

The master bedroom which once was red around the sink and manilla folder yellow on the walls:

And some shots of the work being done, my nieces, my husband and his sister, and the sis on the fridge:

Since I took these pics, we've also painted the turquoise bedroom a nice blue and we're half done turning one of the lime green bathrooms into the same green as the kitchen/dining room. I'll keep posting when I get the chance!

2006-03-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

Well its been forever since I've posted here, because we've been in the process of buying a house. Barring any poorly aimed asteroids we will become homeowners on 31 March. The current homeowners had some interesting ideas about colors. Here are a few pics of the casa. The woman in some of the pics is Eliza, our very patient realtor. She's incredible. The guy in the flannel is my wonderful husband. The pics start upstairs and work their way down. Hope you've got your sunglasses on.

2006-02-06T13:32:00.000-05:00

This weekend was an exciting one. Went camping out on the AT with a bunch of friends, and since it was gonna rain we decided to stay at a shelter. Ended up staying at the Jim and Molly Denton shelter, AKA the Hikers Hilton. It was pretty nice. Had a shower (not that it would be warm now), a nice spring fed spigot for dishes, and cooking pavillion and a pretty big shelter with a nice bench. Once we got everyone together we left (late as usual) and got to the parking spot around 9:30, I think. We then started drinking. This shot is next to the road at the tiny little parking area we found.

After a nice muddy mile in the dark that took at least 3 times longer than it should have we arrived at the shelter. Set up the tents, got a fire started and the drinking commenced. Here's the shelter with fire and a shot of the girls.

Saturday morning we woke up to rain....and more rain....luckily we knew of a few wineries in the area, so off we went to drink some more (notice a theme?) The first one we went to was Oasis, where they didn't have many wines to taste, but they did have a nice big fire. We got to talking with the owners wife and she gave us all a free champagne tasting too. Pretty sweet deal.

Then we went to Rappahanock winery where they have a lot more wines to taste and to be honest the wine is a lot better. Had some wine, bought a few bottles and off we went to hike back to camp. When we got there we discovered that some people had moved into the shelter (which I think is pretty shady when you see three tents, but thats just me) so our situation changed a little. We hung out in the cooking pavillion and had our own fire there while they did whatever they were doing in the shelter. Drank the new wine, ate some dehydrated dinner, and drank some more. They were probably regretting their decision around midnight, but thats fine with me.

Left on Sunday morning after the obligatory group shot.

Got home, cleaned up, and got ready for the Super Bowl, where my Steelers were once again victorious! Not the most exciting game in the history of the NFL, but there were some sweet plays thrown in there. Randel-El had an awesome TD pass to Hines Ward, and Fast Willy Parker broke for a 79 yard TD. Not too shabby.

Brian fried up a cajun turkey and I made some red beans and rice.

And again...we drank. Not as much this time though, and only beer, so its a little better in my book. A good time was had by all. Crazy weekend, but it was fun.

2006-02-02T13:37:00.000-05:00

I guess its been a little while since I posted here. We've been really busy at home...we're going camping out in Shenandoah this weekend and we're having a bunch of people over on Sunday for the game, so its been a lot of cleaning and packing and shopping and craziness. Hopefully I'll have some sweet pics to show for the weekend. We're doing part of the AT near Linden VA and we're gonna stay at the Denton Shelter...AKA the Hikers Hilton. Its a pretty sweet shelter, so even though we're not gonna stay in it we'll still get to reap some of the benefits like a cooking pavillion and a fire ring. Should be a lot of booze and s'mores. Personally I'm stoked.

I just read that some HS chic scored 113 points in a b-ball game. Her team won 137-32. Damn. That would suck to be on the other team. I mean, talk about feeling defeated. It doesn't get much worse than that. Seriously, was that necessary? So what if she broke some stupid record. Is that going to help her lead a productive meaningful life? I suppose if she gets into a good b-ball school and plays in the WNBA it might work out for her financially, but that doesn't mean shes gonna be happy. Some records don't really need to be broken as far as I'm concerned. So what...move on...live life.

2006-01-27T14:53:00.000-05:00

Almost forgot....finally got a pic of the piebald deer living near the park. It appears to be around 2 years old, but could be male or female for all I know right now. It actually started to walk towards me for a little while yesterday while I was taking the pics. Its mostly white on the underside and up its back, then normal brown colored on the top. I think its awesome looking and hope to get some better pics sometime soon.

2006-01-27T14:49:00.000-05:00

Well I went out into the fields of Phase II today and very successfully GPS'd all four areas. I was then able to very successfully transfer the info onto my computer as .ssf files. However, my GPS software won't export them into ArcView shapefiles, or at least not properly, so I'm kinda stuck....which means I get to surf the web all afternoon looking for the answers. Too bad I'm working on a 44 K connection that is slower than molasses. Anyone out there in interweb land have any thoughts on how I can fix this?

High point of the day was boss man telling me I can work from home to do GPS stuff now. Guess who's not gonna be in the office Monday!!

2006-01-25T15:31:00.000-05:00

So its another crazy windy day here at the park. At last check we were up to 42 mph on our wind meter thingy. Feels like our trailers are gonna get blown over. Had a little excitement this afternoon when a vehicle got stuck in some mud and we had to get the bulldozer to pull it out....bet you all wish you had my job huh? Yeah, it sucks right now.

So I've recently been added to someones "ignore list", and I'm a little upset about it. I was simply expressing an opinion, which is something that everyone does only this time my opinion was contrary to this other persons. So what is the moral of the story? Only express opinions you are sure match up with other peoples? Yeah, sure, big guy...I'll get right on that. If you can't accept different opinions then why even communicate with others? They might disagree with you and you just might be forced to accept that.

2006-01-23T12:49:00.000-05:00

So everyone is very impressed by Kobe scoring 81, but here's my question...isn't basketball a team sport? What are the rest of the guys doing while Kobe is running all over the court? These aren't the school yard boys from 5th grade, these are NBA players who have proven themselves worthy of that at some point in time. So why does Kobe get to run all over the court and showboat? Seems a little anti-team pro-Kobe to me.

I think that is one of the reasons I just can't get into basketball. Its too easy to leave the team behind and play just for yourself. That doesn't really work in football. Look at Mike Vick. He tries to do it all himself, and thats why the Falcons haven't been in the playoffs since he's been QB and won't be as long as he is. They are team sports for a reason, you need a whole team to play properly. More coaches need to remind their players of that.

I think the guy I respect most in the NBA right now might be Antonio Davis. Davis saw his wife being involved in a verbal altercation with another man in the stands and rushed into the stands to see what was going on. He was trying to protect his family and instead got booted from the game and suspended for 5 games. Now I'm sure he knew that would happen, but is that really the same as the Brawl last November? I don't think so. This was a guy being a man when it comes to his family. Great article here.

Enough sports. The weather today sucks, I feel like crap, and I'm bored at work...pretty typical of VA in January. Oh well. No wonder I talk about sports so much.

2006-01-22T20:05:00.000-05:00

Hell yeah!! Pittsburgh's goin to the Super Bowl!! To be honest, I don't think it matters who we play, they guys are just so determined to get Jerome that ring, they'll do whatever they have to. Love that Steeler football! Lets go get that one for the thumb!

2006-01-18T13:13:00.000-05:00

Imagine you are a man in jail with hundreds of scary convicted felons. You are in the cafeteria when a big bear of a man approaches and says, "So, what are you in for?". What do you think the response is gonna be when you say, "I helped my girlfriend plant a finger in my chilli from Wendys to try to extort money from them." Man, talk about being someones bitch...you couldn't even get away with conning a fast food joint. The "ladies" are gonna be all over these two like white on rice. I really like the fact that they both had other outstanding charges that are going to make their sentances longer. I know I would certainly be getting my face in the paper and on the news if I had outstanding warrants. I guess at least you can redeem yourself a little since it was a real finger. Anything to make you feel better. How stupid.

2006-01-17T22:13:00.000-05:00

Do the people who audition for American Idol really think they can sing, or are they just trying to get on TV? I can understand (kinda) some of them if they are just trying to get on TV, but the ones who really think they can sing are hard to watch. Its especially bad when they are accompanied by a family member that thinks they are the greatest singer in the world. Sad to watch. Its almost as though most of the people who try out for this show have tone deaf relatives. Incredible.

BTW, did you hear about the guy from the 'Burgh who had a heart attack in a bar on Sunday watching the game? Right as the Bus lost the ball on the 2 yard line, this guys heart freaking stops. Talk about into the game. Lucky for this guy there were two firefighters in the bar with him who did CPR till the ambulance came....dude wants to go back to the bar for the game this week, but his pacemaker won't be totally calibrated by then and he could have another heart attack, so they want him to stay in the hospital. Now thats a fan!

Go Stillers!

2006-01-16T12:19:00.000-05:00

Today I feel bad for all the people that said that the Steelers had no chance of winning this game. The whole game was ours right up until the last 1:20, but the fates aligned properly and we came away victorious. I feel a little bad for Indy, in that their storybook season really didn't end up that way at all, I feel for Tony Dungy and his family, and I really feel for Vanderjagt, but I'm freakin ecstatic that my boys pulled out the victory. Love the TDs by Randel-El and Heath Miller. Love the interception by Troy Polamalu (which was an interception, no matter what the blind guys wearing stripes say). Love the one-handed, God I hope this works tackle by Ben Roethlisberger:

Love the Steelers...what else is there to say. Denver awaits, but we've gotta take a minute and just celebrate the win that no one thought would happen.

Here we go Steelers, Here we go! Pittsburgh's goin' to the Super Bowl!

2006-01-14T19:49:00.000-05:00

Today we planned on removing a limb for some of Stephen's parents neighbors, but nature got in the way...in a number of ways. Tree work is all about having the right angle, something that was proving very difficult to do in this particular tree. The 30 mph winds didn't help either though. We were there for about 3 hours and didn't really accomplish anything, so we're going back next weekend.

Tonight we put new horns on my car. The old horn sounded like the old nerdy guy on the Simpsons, while the new one is more along the lines of Duffman...you can't really miss him when hes in the same area. Love it. They came off of an '85 Caprice classic station wagon, and my Corolla means business now.

The Skins lost, which part of me is a little upset about, but the real game is tomorrow. Hopefully my 'Stillers won't suffer the same fate as last time at Indy. Got to watch some hockey today too...finally. I love the new rules with OT and shootouts. Saw a great OT between Philly and Colorado today; Avs won on a great shot. We're gonna go to the Pens-Caps game here on Feb 11th. I'm excited, but I'm pretty sure the Pens are gonna lose, cause we have the absolute worst defense in the league this year, but it will be nice to see Mario and Sydney again. And we're getting the $5 cheap seats, so it should be a good time....if I don't get a nose bleed from the altitude.

2006-01-13T16:33:00.000-05:00

Ah, gotta love random state government holidays. Today the state of VA celebrates the fine confederate holiday of Lee-Jackson Day. Which means that I got to do what I wanted for once instead of sitting at my desk being bored. Trip to the gym, wash the car, do some laundry...wait a minute...what happened to doing what I wanted?!? At least I get Monday off too, perhaps then I can do something fun.

So the Steelers have a freakin huge game on Sunday and what does Joey Porter do but start jawing about how the Colts don't play real football, they just try to trick you into losing. Well Joey, I hate to tell you, but they tricked us damn good a few months ago. You should only talk smack if you won the first meeting slick. We got our asses handed to us, and now you're taunting them. Is that smart? No. Shut the f up and just play ball.

Rant over. Go Steelers!

2006-01-12T12:32:00.000-05:00

My husband has informed me that my blog is boring, but I told him thats his fault, since he reads it, thus eliminating one large topic. So I work with what I've got.

Here are some pics I took today. When I took the pics it wasn't too foggy, but enough to look creepy. By the time I got back to my desk to edit, I couldn't see my jeep anymore. Now its 60 degrees and sunny. VA has some weird weather.

10:45 AM:

2:45 PM:

2006-01-12T09:55:00.000-05:00

Today is a pretty blah looking day. Its really foggy, so foggy I can't even see the water from my desk anymore. It looks like the world just ends at the fence. Days like today usually make me want to stay in bed, but I'm surprisingly in a good mood cause I just found out I'm probably gonna get to do some cool stuff at work. One of my co-workers from another district just called to tell me hes working on a burn plan for one of his parks, and we can probably use a similar plan for two of my parks. Burning these fields would be really cool, and I hope this all works out. Other than that I'm just sitting round looking at wildflowers to plant out in some fields here and waiting for it to get bright enough to take pics of the foggy woods. Pictures like that are intriguing to me because they seem so soft and comfortable. Hopefully I'll be able to get some decent shots. I'll post if I get anything good.

2006-01-11T09:20:00.000-05:00

So I don't feel so bad about having nothing to do at work because one of the other people with my position says he is in the same depressive state now as well. It doesn't make me any less bored, but at least I don't feel like I'm slacking off.

My hands are healing remarkably well considering what I did to them. I only have one band-aid left, out of the five I started with. I might even be able to climb somtime this week.

Why do the stupid people always end up as the ones in charge? We have a guy here who is totally obsessive about everything being done right, so he decides to do it himself, even though its someone elses job description. Well thats all fine and dandy, but then he does it WRONG! Then the person who should have done it in the first place has to go back and redo it, which sometimes takes longer. How is that kind of ineptitude deserving of more pay and responsibility? I'll never understand.

2006-01-10T19:03:00.000-05:00

So this is my first run doing the whole blog thing, but work is really slow so I figured I'd give it a go. I don't think my life is all that interesting, but this will give me something to do all day. I really like my job when I have things to do, but in the dead of winter its pretty slow, so I spend a lot of time on roadbikereview.com and doing crossword puzzles on washingtonpost.com and usatoday.com. The USAtoday site is pretty cool cause it tells you automatically when you put in the wrong letter, which I do often.

I'm married to a wonderful man I met at Virginia Tech. His name is Stephen and he's a mechanical engineer, which means he makes all the money in our relationship. Luckily we are into the same kind of activities, and go climbing and camping a lot.

I guess when I'm not working on crosswords or talking to people on RBR I'm either riding my bike or rock climbing at Sportrock. Stephen and I only started seriously climbing a few months ago, but we're both getting pretty good at it. I had a rough time on Sunday at the new Earth Trex gym in Rockville, so my hands are pretty ripped up, but thats ok, they'll heal. I used to work at REI, which was one of the coolest jobs I've ever had, but the money just doesn't work out right in NOVA.

I'm a rabid football fan, with my two teams being the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Us Hokies have been taking crap for a while now about Marcus Vick, and I'm damn glad the school finally wised up and kicked his ass out. He's gonna have a great time in jail. As for the Steelers, well we've had a pretty good season, but this game at Indy is gonna be tough. I think they learned a lot the last time we played there, and I'm hoping they can put some of that knowledge into work on Sunday.

So I guess thats all I really have to say for now...I guess this will be easier when I don't have to explain my life story all the time. So for now, heres a pic of my bike and hopefully soon I'll have pics of Stephen and I to put on here.