Hey all,
I haven't updated in a while so I thought that I'd bring everyone up to speed. First, my apologies for the previous post entitled "disneyworld." I was drunk when I started writing it and must have screwed something up because there's no text to go with it. Whatever I did write was promptly forgotten by my intoxicated brain which is probably for the best as I was very likely to shame Mickey in my inebriated state.
At any rate, Leah and I did go to Disneyworld in mid August with my family. I won't go into details, but it was a kick-ass vacation. I'm sure Leah will post pictures at some point which would serve better than a long winded explanation. If any of you guys plan on going to the happiest place on earth, Leah and I can give you expert advice.
In other news, the fall semester at Cornell started today. I'm not taking any classes, but I'm TAing a course. I had to teach a third of it today which was kind of cool even though it felt like standing naked in front of 100 people while they gawked at you.
The real reason I'm posting is to notify you guys that I've entered a very serious competition. A challenge to determine the manliest of men. That's right, I'm having a beard off. Last night at midnight I shaved my face for the last time. A month from now, me and other challengers will compare beards in a variety of categories to determine which man is the most beardly. Its going to be intense. I chugged 4 raw eggs for breakfast this morning to get to an early start. I'll keep you all updated on the status of this most manly of competitions.
~Tony
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Claire - So, um, I moved.
Well, we haven't had a proper update on here in quite some time, so I thought I'd take a stab at it. If you haven't heard yet, I arrived safely in London on Wednesday morning. I'm pretty well set up here now; almost everything is unpacked and in its proper space, so I'd say it's going well. I'm on the 8th floor, which means I have a rather nice view out my window. And thankfully my room is much larger than it was last year, since it's technically one of the handicap rooms, so I actually have space to move around this time (and the bathroom is huge too!).
I don't do anything for school until the 2nd week of September when I do 4 days observation in a primary school. Then real classes start on the 14th, so thankfully I have some time to kill before I die under the weight of all my school work. But I'm excited to be back in school, so it will be a good death :)
Anywho, I miss you all. Oh, actually, I should add, the new phone I got here has skype on it, so if anyone fancies a chat and has skype, you can call me anytime because I'm automatically always logged in. It's rather fantastic! So give me a shout sometime (Just remember I'm 5 hours ahead of most of you) :)
Miss/love you all
Claire
I don't do anything for school until the 2nd week of September when I do 4 days observation in a primary school. Then real classes start on the 14th, so thankfully I have some time to kill before I die under the weight of all my school work. But I'm excited to be back in school, so it will be a good death :)
Anywho, I miss you all. Oh, actually, I should add, the new phone I got here has skype on it, so if anyone fancies a chat and has skype, you can call me anytime because I'm automatically always logged in. It's rather fantastic! So give me a shout sometime (Just remember I'm 5 hours ahead of most of you) :)
Miss/love you all
Claire
Friday, May 8, 2009
Lizzie-address in Kenya
you're older than you've ever been and now you're even older.... I was thinking about that song today because I can't believe how fast everything is happening. Next week is my last week of work, whoa. Then Claire will be here then it will be lizziefest. Anyways, just wanted to give everyone my mailing address for Kenya (well for training at least, meaning until the end of July).Please start sending me mail now so I'll have something there or coming soon after i arrive, considering how slow mail is.
Elizabeth Edwards, Peace Corps Trainee
P.O. Box 698-00621
Village Market
Nairobi, Kenya
my blog address: http://lizzieskenyablog.blogspot.com/
**THIS IS AN UPDATED ADDRESS, I ACCIDENTALLY SENT YOU GUYS/POSTED THE WRONG ONE. OOPS**
Elizabeth Edwards, Peace Corps Trainee
P.O. Box 698-00621
Village Market
Nairobi, Kenya
my blog address: http://lizzieskenyablog.blogspot.com/
**THIS IS AN UPDATED ADDRESS, I ACCIDENTALLY SENT YOU GUYS/POSTED THE WRONG ONE. OOPS**
Friday, April 17, 2009
Andy - International Man of Mystery
If you haven't heard, I'll be attending UC Santa Cruz for grad school next year. Apparently, I was admitted to BU as well, but I missed the boat because the Chinese post is so slow. Having one known choice made the decision-making process a whole lot easier though. These are the guys I intend to work with: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1086830660&play=1
Things are absolutely nuts on my side of the world. I'm teaching 24 hours a week, not including class prep, and taking 10 hours of Chinese language class. I suck, but whatevs, the classes are free and I'll probably never use the language again after the next three months. I recently picked up a class of Pakistani students as well, but they speak English fluently. Since I don't have anything to teach them, I intend to turn the class into a 2-hour "Whose Line is it Anyway" session with occasional movies. It's pretty sweet when the administration doesn't give a shit. As long as they have an exam, I'm good.
I'm running again (i.e. I've got my fix finally)! Did over 12 miles along the Yellow Sea last week and weirded-out a fair number of locals.
Still, I have basically no social life without Phred and Erin forcing me to go out on weekends. My life consists of work, running, and pirated episodes of Scrubs, The Office, and The Daily Show. I know, it sounds like heaven, but I miss you guys.
I'm still planning on being state-side in mid-July, with a side trip to England and Rwanda in August, before flying to Cali in mid-September. Count me in if anything happens in the northeast.
How do you post photos on this thing?
Things are absolutely nuts on my side of the world. I'm teaching 24 hours a week, not including class prep, and taking 10 hours of Chinese language class. I suck, but whatevs, the classes are free and I'll probably never use the language again after the next three months. I recently picked up a class of Pakistani students as well, but they speak English fluently. Since I don't have anything to teach them, I intend to turn the class into a 2-hour "Whose Line is it Anyway" session with occasional movies. It's pretty sweet when the administration doesn't give a shit. As long as they have an exam, I'm good.
I'm running again (i.e. I've got my fix finally)! Did over 12 miles along the Yellow Sea last week and weirded-out a fair number of locals.
Still, I have basically no social life without Phred and Erin forcing me to go out on weekends. My life consists of work, running, and pirated episodes of Scrubs, The Office, and The Daily Show. I know, it sounds like heaven, but I miss you guys.
I'm still planning on being state-side in mid-July, with a side trip to England and Rwanda in August, before flying to Cali in mid-September. Count me in if anything happens in the northeast.
How do you post photos on this thing?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Erin - China Updates
Hey Everyone,
Erin Mcavoy here. It's been a while since I last wrote on the blog so I thought that I'd update you all on my life. Sorry for not posting anything recently, but everytime I try to write something on this site, it closes on me. Hopefully it works this time so I can regale you all with stories of my adventures in China. Again, I'd like to stress that this is Erin writing on the blog and not Tony.
To be honest nothing too exciting has happened to me. Over winter break, I got a lot of free time so me and some other friends traveled throughout China. It was quite fun and you should check out pictures on the blog. There was one slight hitch during the vacation when I got kidnapped and was forced to work as a sex-slave in an opium den in Northern China. For a couple weeks there, things were looking pretty bleak. Fortunately, I managed to send an SOS to Andy and Phred by tatooing help messages on the backs of my "clients" by using dried opium while they were passed out. Andy and Phred managed to get my message while tanning at a local beach. I'll spare you the details, but they put together a daring rescue. I would compare it to the scene in Rambo III when Sylvester Stalone destroys an entire Vietnamese village by himself in under ten minutes. The highlight was when Andy, after just subduing a group of ninjas with his karate moves, threw a giant machete at a mongolian who was trying to level a gun at him. The machete of course pinned the mongolian to the wall prompting Andy to deliver the classic one liner "stick around."
I was extremely grateful to be rescued and gave Andy and Phred huge hugs. We then began the trip back to our schools so we could continue teaching english to the chinese. However, on the trip back I accidentally waved in the presence of a police officer. The officer mistook my gesture for a peace sign and I was immediately arrested as a political prisoner. After several weeks, the endless torture was wearing on me (although on a side note, waterboarding isn't as bad as the news makes it out to be). I managed to send an SOS to Andy and Phred by constructing a paper airplane from part of my passport and expertly throwing it so that it would glide 10 miles right into Andy's apartment window. Of course I missed and it glided into Phred's windown instead. Nevertheless, the message was received and another daring rescue began. Long story short, they dug a underground tunnel which spanned several miles and opened up in my cell. Once this tunnel was completed, They escorted me out and put a pig in my cell. They then used dynamite to blow the big into a million unrecognizable pieces. The prison naturally assumed that I died of spontaneous combustion (its notoriously common in prisons) and I was home free.
Now I'm back teaching english to the chinese. I'm also writing a textbook. However, I'm mainly concerned with finding a decent guy. I only wish I could get as lucky as Leah and find someone as amazing as Tony. Anyways, I hope everyone is well.
Sincerely, Erin
Erin Mcavoy here. It's been a while since I last wrote on the blog so I thought that I'd update you all on my life. Sorry for not posting anything recently, but everytime I try to write something on this site, it closes on me. Hopefully it works this time so I can regale you all with stories of my adventures in China. Again, I'd like to stress that this is Erin writing on the blog and not Tony.
To be honest nothing too exciting has happened to me. Over winter break, I got a lot of free time so me and some other friends traveled throughout China. It was quite fun and you should check out pictures on the blog. There was one slight hitch during the vacation when I got kidnapped and was forced to work as a sex-slave in an opium den in Northern China. For a couple weeks there, things were looking pretty bleak. Fortunately, I managed to send an SOS to Andy and Phred by tatooing help messages on the backs of my "clients" by using dried opium while they were passed out. Andy and Phred managed to get my message while tanning at a local beach. I'll spare you the details, but they put together a daring rescue. I would compare it to the scene in Rambo III when Sylvester Stalone destroys an entire Vietnamese village by himself in under ten minutes. The highlight was when Andy, after just subduing a group of ninjas with his karate moves, threw a giant machete at a mongolian who was trying to level a gun at him. The machete of course pinned the mongolian to the wall prompting Andy to deliver the classic one liner "stick around."
I was extremely grateful to be rescued and gave Andy and Phred huge hugs. We then began the trip back to our schools so we could continue teaching english to the chinese. However, on the trip back I accidentally waved in the presence of a police officer. The officer mistook my gesture for a peace sign and I was immediately arrested as a political prisoner. After several weeks, the endless torture was wearing on me (although on a side note, waterboarding isn't as bad as the news makes it out to be). I managed to send an SOS to Andy and Phred by constructing a paper airplane from part of my passport and expertly throwing it so that it would glide 10 miles right into Andy's apartment window. Of course I missed and it glided into Phred's windown instead. Nevertheless, the message was received and another daring rescue began. Long story short, they dug a underground tunnel which spanned several miles and opened up in my cell. Once this tunnel was completed, They escorted me out and put a pig in my cell. They then used dynamite to blow the big into a million unrecognizable pieces. The prison naturally assumed that I died of spontaneous combustion (its notoriously common in prisons) and I was home free.
Now I'm back teaching english to the chinese. I'm also writing a textbook. However, I'm mainly concerned with finding a decent guy. I only wish I could get as lucky as Leah and find someone as amazing as Tony. Anyways, I hope everyone is well.
Sincerely, Erin
Monday, March 16, 2009
Lizzie: God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn't rule the world
Helloooooo,
Since I always write long posts I'll put subject headings above each section in case you want to skip around and only read part of it at a time.
I'm EMPLOYED
First off for those of you who don’t know, I got a job! Finally! It’s at another beadstore, yeah, I know I said I was done with beadstores, but I really couldn’t refuse work. Unemployment isn’t that great, I mean, I’m glad I signed up to claim unemployment because that, along with some of the money I got from selling my car, meant I didn’t have to sell my body to make rent money. There were also many signs telling me I needed to apply for/get the job, such as:
1) duh, it’s a beadstore and I’m kinda qualified, and seriously what retail places are hiring for fulltime positions right now? Not many.
2) it’s located on church st. and my bead store back on the Vineyard is on church st.
3) it’s next to an ice cream shop named Lizzy’s (they spelled the name wrong but I guess I can live with it)
Sean Nash came back from
Emily and Cait came to visit and we had tons o fun, especially making fun of the fish in the aquarium. Emily did a good job summarizing on the blog here.
Saturday night Katie hosted a St. Patrick’s Day feast/dinner party. It was amazing, she made corned beef, cabbage and potatoes, a stout stew with lamb, Irish soda bread, and an Irish car bomb cake. Everything was delicious, but especially the cake which was three layers of chocolate cake made with Guinness and soaked in Irish whiskey with Bailey’s frosting in between the layers. We had the party at Katie’s boyfriend’s friend’s apartment because he has a great party apartment. Of course, as with most nights, I have a story:
So I decided I would put green food coloring in my beer to make it green. Well, the coloring came out really fast and made my beer SUPER green and therefore my whole mouth turned green. [sidenote: I wonder if my teeth are super absorbent because they easily change color according to the beverage I am drinking, like with my purple red wine teeth.hmm] Then I spilled the super green beer on my jeans. And for some miraculous reason (it must have been the luck of the Irish) I had decided to bring an extra pair of jeans with me earlier that day since I came straight from work. So I went in the bathroom to change and saw that the green had oozed through my pants and made my legs green too. So I had green pants, legs, teeth, hands, and a green tongue. I was able to get most of it off and changed my pants, but not without everyone there knowing. Then yesterday I went to the famous Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Southie (
June is just around the corner, eek!
I've already been thinking about packing and have started to buy things for Kenya. I need to find a place that sells cute skirts with pockets in them since apparently women volunteers wear skirts about 95% of the time. if anyone has ideas, let me know. At least I've found out that a large number of businesses give discounts to Peace Corps volunteers, which is exciting. It's just really crazy to be thinking about what to pack for 2 years for an unfamiliar place. They'll give me a packing list when it gets closer. Well that subject brings me to...
Lizzie Fest
I hope everyone’s prepared for Lizzie Fest on Memorial Day Weekend (May 22-25). There will be barbecueing, boozing, and perhaps some badminton in our back yard. There’s plenty of room in our house (after counting up our sofas, beds, and air mattresses we have space for about 10-12 people (depending on how cozy people are willing to get and even more space if people don’t mind being on the floor) so get ready for a massive sleepover, yay! You'll all get a facebook invite in the future, I just wanted to give people a super heads up so they can ask for time off if need be.
I bought my bus ticket to come to NYC when Claire’s there that last weekend in March. I work on Saturday so I don’t arrive until
Ok as usual, it was a long update. Here’s your reward: more Swahili vocab.
Mbili (mm bee lee)= the number two
Ndizi (nn dee zee)= banana
Baisikeli (bi see kehl ee)= bicycle
Monday, March 9, 2009
Tony - Living life on the edge
Hey Everyone,
I wish that my post could live up to its title, but I think my weeks are a bit too routine to be classified as "on the edge." Still, I have had some fun times. Take two weeks ago for example, Leah and I went to a Ski resort for the weekend with my Dad. I had a great time and it turns out that Leah is pretty good at skiing. So good that Gretchen would be totally jealous if she cared.
I also got to participate in two recruitment weekends. For the uninformed, a recruitment weekend is where my biochemstry department invites prospective students to a weekend of professor interviews, fine dining, and bowling. These weekends also involve copious amounts of alcohol so you can imagine that I was the first to volunteer to help (and the last to volunteer to drive). Long story short, I got to meet a few cool people, got to enjoy some nice meals at fancy restaurants, and got to drink to my heart's content. For the most part, it went great, but we may have scared some recruits off when we played "shout drunken insults to your bolwing opponent and then chug a beer." In our defense, it was an awesome game. As a bonus, a Skidmore student was invited to one of these weekends. Her name is Caitlin Mcdonald (bio student) and she should be graduating this year. I didn't know her too well at Skidmore, but it was definitely nice talking to her about college and shared experiences.
Thats about it in terms of wild adventures. In my professional life, I've just started rotating in my third (and hopefully final) lab. Its a microbiology lab focused on studying antibiotic resistance. I like what I see so far, but I haven't gotten a lot of hands on work yet. After this rotation concludes, I have to choose a lab out of my three rotations to join for the next 4-6 years. I still don't know which lab I'll join, but I haven't been rejected by any professors yet so I have options. In other news, I just signed a 12 month lease for a $1200, 3-bedroom apartment with some friends committing me to living in Ithaca for the next year. Afterwards I felt way to adult so I'm trying to do childish things. Sadly, the average pedestrian does not want to participate in mudwrestling with me. Incidentally, my current lease ends in august while my new lease begins in July. That means I have an extra apartment for a month (assuming I don't summer sublet). If anyone needs a place to stay in Ithaca, I've got an entire room for them.
Well that's about it for now. I hope everyone is well.
~Tony
PS: Erin asked me to update for her because blogger keeps kicking her out before she can post. Expect another post in a few days about her wild and crazy adventures.
I wish that my post could live up to its title, but I think my weeks are a bit too routine to be classified as "on the edge." Still, I have had some fun times. Take two weeks ago for example, Leah and I went to a Ski resort for the weekend with my Dad. I had a great time and it turns out that Leah is pretty good at skiing. So good that Gretchen would be totally jealous if she cared.
I also got to participate in two recruitment weekends. For the uninformed, a recruitment weekend is where my biochemstry department invites prospective students to a weekend of professor interviews, fine dining, and bowling. These weekends also involve copious amounts of alcohol so you can imagine that I was the first to volunteer to help (and the last to volunteer to drive). Long story short, I got to meet a few cool people, got to enjoy some nice meals at fancy restaurants, and got to drink to my heart's content. For the most part, it went great, but we may have scared some recruits off when we played "shout drunken insults to your bolwing opponent and then chug a beer." In our defense, it was an awesome game. As a bonus, a Skidmore student was invited to one of these weekends. Her name is Caitlin Mcdonald (bio student) and she should be graduating this year. I didn't know her too well at Skidmore, but it was definitely nice talking to her about college and shared experiences.
Thats about it in terms of wild adventures. In my professional life, I've just started rotating in my third (and hopefully final) lab. Its a microbiology lab focused on studying antibiotic resistance. I like what I see so far, but I haven't gotten a lot of hands on work yet. After this rotation concludes, I have to choose a lab out of my three rotations to join for the next 4-6 years. I still don't know which lab I'll join, but I haven't been rejected by any professors yet so I have options. In other news, I just signed a 12 month lease for a $1200, 3-bedroom apartment with some friends committing me to living in Ithaca for the next year. Afterwards I felt way to adult so I'm trying to do childish things. Sadly, the average pedestrian does not want to participate in mudwrestling with me. Incidentally, my current lease ends in august while my new lease begins in July. That means I have an extra apartment for a month (assuming I don't summer sublet). If anyone needs a place to stay in Ithaca, I've got an entire room for them.
Well that's about it for now. I hope everyone is well.
~Tony
PS: Erin asked me to update for her because blogger keeps kicking her out before she can post. Expect another post in a few days about her wild and crazy adventures.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
i can't see ANYTHING
Duhh. I forgot to write about the most recent wonderful adventure in my life. Boston with Lizzie and Caitlin! Also known as the weekend Emily saw the funniest thing she's ever seen and will forever laugh at whenever she thinks of it. The thing I'm talking about of course is the David video of the kid drugged up from the dentist. Specifically, it's the scream that gets me. The look on his face and the way he goes back to being a slug like nothing happened- ahahaha I'm laughing right now.
Anywaysss, the trip! The adventure began when Cait came to pick me up and gave me the task of reading the directions for her. Anticipating this duty, and knowing that I am capable of messing up directions even if they are written plainly in front of my face, I brought Tom along so that he could tell us exactly where to go. This was an excellent plan and it worked well until I began talking about something in the car with Cait and stopped listening to him and we completely missed our turn off. Luckily, Cait pays attention to things when she drives and realized we were in the wrong place. This was TRULY the only time I made us get lost, not counting at the verrry end of the trip when I looked at the wrong street name on the directions and we missed the turn on to Lizzie's road :)
The drive up with Cait was pretty fun. We talked about topics such as: racist stereotypes that we have found to be true, our mutual love for Morning Joe, and of course Octo Mom. We also experienced a mini God-sign when "Part of Your World" came on the radio right after we got off the phone with Lizzie! That's how we knew our weekend would be blessed.
So, Lizzie lives in an awesome house with lots of room and very comfortable beds and therefore you should all visit her! Once we got ourselves unpacked the three of us headed out to Cambridge to begin out Valentine's Day date. We walked around in Harvard Square, taking pictures of any ice cream store we saw for research purposes, and had a great time looking in the Harvard Book store. Lizzie and I mostly enjoyed the story we found about a Naked Mole Rat who decides he would prefer to wear clothes.
After Harvard Sq. we planned to go to this awesome tapas restaurant called ChiChi's or something. That's definitely not the name but I'm blanking. Sadly, we got there and the wait was like 2 hours long. We decided to go to a middle eastern place instead and get couscous. After that, we decided to walk in the 20 degree weather to get some ice cream! It was mostly an excuse to get more pictures for Cait's research but the ice cream was VERY yummyyy. Finally, although I was in an ice cream coma, Lizzie brought us to a bar near her place to get drinks. We didn't stay long though because we were all getting tired so instead we went home to snuggle on the couch and watch Enchanted. It was my idea of a perfect Saturday night!
The next day we all decided to go to the Aquarium. Lizzie wanted to see the penguins, Cait loves seals, and I enjoy sea turtles! It was going to be glorious! When we got there the line was super long. It was also full of kids, and it was freezing cold out. This usually is a recipe for an unpleasant experience and I think we were all wondering if the wait would be worth it but then we made it to a part of the line that was underneath a tent that had been set up and the whole scenario magically changed. Under the tent there was Disney music playing, free hot chocolate and cookies, and many happy children dressed in adorable mini coats. It was one of the best line waiting experiences of my life.
The Aquarium truly was a glorious experience as we had anticipated. There were seals! turtles! penguins! and doofus sharks! Lizzie and I spent a good 15 min at the window of one of the tanks taking pictures of the sharks. And of ourselves imitating the sharks. And of ourselves making doofus noises while imitating the sharks.
Mmmkayy so this is getting long and Top CHef is on so I'm gonna stop here and I'll tell you the rest later! Basically, we drink and eat a lot. TBC...
Anywaysss, the trip! The adventure began when Cait came to pick me up and gave me the task of reading the directions for her. Anticipating this duty, and knowing that I am capable of messing up directions even if they are written plainly in front of my face, I brought Tom along so that he could tell us exactly where to go. This was an excellent plan and it worked well until I began talking about something in the car with Cait and stopped listening to him and we completely missed our turn off. Luckily, Cait pays attention to things when she drives and realized we were in the wrong place. This was TRULY the only time I made us get lost, not counting at the verrry end of the trip when I looked at the wrong street name on the directions and we missed the turn on to Lizzie's road :)
The drive up with Cait was pretty fun. We talked about topics such as: racist stereotypes that we have found to be true, our mutual love for Morning Joe, and of course Octo Mom. We also experienced a mini God-sign when "Part of Your World" came on the radio right after we got off the phone with Lizzie! That's how we knew our weekend would be blessed.
So, Lizzie lives in an awesome house with lots of room and very comfortable beds and therefore you should all visit her! Once we got ourselves unpacked the three of us headed out to Cambridge to begin out Valentine's Day date. We walked around in Harvard Square, taking pictures of any ice cream store we saw for research purposes, and had a great time looking in the Harvard Book store. Lizzie and I mostly enjoyed the story we found about a Naked Mole Rat who decides he would prefer to wear clothes.
After Harvard Sq. we planned to go to this awesome tapas restaurant called ChiChi's or something. That's definitely not the name but I'm blanking. Sadly, we got there and the wait was like 2 hours long. We decided to go to a middle eastern place instead and get couscous. After that, we decided to walk in the 20 degree weather to get some ice cream! It was mostly an excuse to get more pictures for Cait's research but the ice cream was VERY yummyyy. Finally, although I was in an ice cream coma, Lizzie brought us to a bar near her place to get drinks. We didn't stay long though because we were all getting tired so instead we went home to snuggle on the couch and watch Enchanted. It was my idea of a perfect Saturday night!
The next day we all decided to go to the Aquarium. Lizzie wanted to see the penguins, Cait loves seals, and I enjoy sea turtles! It was going to be glorious! When we got there the line was super long. It was also full of kids, and it was freezing cold out. This usually is a recipe for an unpleasant experience and I think we were all wondering if the wait would be worth it but then we made it to a part of the line that was underneath a tent that had been set up and the whole scenario magically changed. Under the tent there was Disney music playing, free hot chocolate and cookies, and many happy children dressed in adorable mini coats. It was one of the best line waiting experiences of my life.
The Aquarium truly was a glorious experience as we had anticipated. There were seals! turtles! penguins! and doofus sharks! Lizzie and I spent a good 15 min at the window of one of the tanks taking pictures of the sharks. And of ourselves imitating the sharks. And of ourselves making doofus noises while imitating the sharks.
Mmmkayy so this is getting long and Top CHef is on so I'm gonna stop here and I'll tell you the rest later! Basically, we drink and eat a lot. TBC...
Book Recommendations?
Hi all,
For one my classes this semester, I am in a book club. We have been reading children's lit. but we are now thinking about reading adult books. Has anyone read any good books lately that they would recommend?
Thanks,
Lauren
oh hai....
Hi everyone! I'm soo sorry about not posting/commenting for so long. I'm not gonna lie, I forget this thing exists sometimes because I feel like I talk to you guys enough to know what's going on, but now that I've actually read the blog I realize I'm completely out of the loop! Gretchen has a car??? Anyway, I loved reading all your posts but I wouldn't blame you for not reading this to get your revenge for me being so laaaaame. Now that I know people are posting I will check more I promise!
Anyway, I don't want to write a huge long thing because honestly not that much has been happening lately besides teacher related things that you really won't find interesting. So, I'll just summarize the good stuff with a list...
1. I am in Maine right now for 2 days on my Februrary break. It's very boring here because none of my friends are home but I've had a good time seeing my parents. When I was home at Christmas it looked like my Dad was going to get a job (finally!) but sadly it ended up not working out. I told him to open an ice cream stand and he laughed. Why can't my parents be ambitious like Cait's?
2. I haven't done anything too exciting lately besides hang out in NY. I had some friends visit who studied abroad with me and we went to see Daniel Radcliffe in Eqqus! He was very good and verrry naked! It's too damn cold to do anything all that exciting!
3. I've been working on figuring out my future life plans, as of right now I think I'll be staying in NYC another year at PS 66 to get some more "street cred" for my resume and so I can stay living with Kasey while she is finishing her two year commitment to TFA. Then I want to take time off to get my master's, probably in Boston or DC! My life plan changes a lot though and there is a slight possibility I will be heading to New Zealand with my friend from high school!
4. I'm planning some trips for April to visit Gretchen and maybe go to Martha's Vineyeard with Lizzie! I also am plotting my end of school getaway. My options include: Mexico, Ireland, Aruba, Disney, Dominican Republic, Paris. I also will definitely want to spend some time in Maine at the camp and I really hope we can all go out there together! I think I'm going to be teaching summer school in July, but I will have three day weekends if I do. I will also have the whole month of August off. We'll figure something out! I CAN'T WAIT FOR SUMMER
5. School life has been crazy and stressful, as usual, but I'm getting used to it now. There is currently a ravarly going on between the 4th and 5th grade. One of my students was suspended for starting a brawl out on the playground last week. She left bite marks on some kids! We have the state math tests coming up so I'll I've been teaching lately is math. After that we have the state science tests blah blah I won't go into it more than that. Some exciting news is that I might be working with one of the other teachers to put on a show at the end of the year. She wants to do Hairspray! I'm happy to do anything with the kids that doesn' t involve standardized tests at this point.
Wow it's hard to do a good update when you're trying to remember what's been happening over the past 3-4 months! I promise I'll be better! Don't un-friend me! I miss you all and can't wait for another reunion!
Anyway, I don't want to write a huge long thing because honestly not that much has been happening lately besides teacher related things that you really won't find interesting. So, I'll just summarize the good stuff with a list...
1. I am in Maine right now for 2 days on my Februrary break. It's very boring here because none of my friends are home but I've had a good time seeing my parents. When I was home at Christmas it looked like my Dad was going to get a job (finally!) but sadly it ended up not working out. I told him to open an ice cream stand and he laughed. Why can't my parents be ambitious like Cait's?
2. I haven't done anything too exciting lately besides hang out in NY. I had some friends visit who studied abroad with me and we went to see Daniel Radcliffe in Eqqus! He was very good and verrry naked! It's too damn cold to do anything all that exciting!
3. I've been working on figuring out my future life plans, as of right now I think I'll be staying in NYC another year at PS 66 to get some more "street cred" for my resume and so I can stay living with Kasey while she is finishing her two year commitment to TFA. Then I want to take time off to get my master's, probably in Boston or DC! My life plan changes a lot though and there is a slight possibility I will be heading to New Zealand with my friend from high school!
4. I'm planning some trips for April to visit Gretchen and maybe go to Martha's Vineyeard with Lizzie! I also am plotting my end of school getaway. My options include: Mexico, Ireland, Aruba, Disney, Dominican Republic, Paris. I also will definitely want to spend some time in Maine at the camp and I really hope we can all go out there together! I think I'm going to be teaching summer school in July, but I will have three day weekends if I do. I will also have the whole month of August off. We'll figure something out! I CAN'T WAIT FOR SUMMER
5. School life has been crazy and stressful, as usual, but I'm getting used to it now. There is currently a ravarly going on between the 4th and 5th grade. One of my students was suspended for starting a brawl out on the playground last week. She left bite marks on some kids! We have the state math tests coming up so I'll I've been teaching lately is math. After that we have the state science tests blah blah I won't go into it more than that. Some exciting news is that I might be working with one of the other teachers to put on a show at the end of the year. She wants to do Hairspray! I'm happy to do anything with the kids that doesn' t involve standardized tests at this point.
Wow it's hard to do a good update when you're trying to remember what's been happening over the past 3-4 months! I promise I'll be better! Don't un-friend me! I miss you all and can't wait for another reunion!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Watch out world...
... here I come! I'm officially booked for my amazing month of travel. Here are my official details:
I leave Denver 2nd March at 5:15pm to arrive at London Heathrow 3rd March, 9:05am. I'll spend time in London, have my interview at Kings, go to Prague for a few days, and then off to a mystery location that Dave won't tell me about yet (I'm required to bring my Rail Pass, so that's our first hint. I'm eagerly awaiting more, though I'm not sure I'll get any...).
Then 23rd March, 8:20am I depart from Heathrow and arrive at JFK at 11:55am, to take the 3:20 train from Penn Station, and get up to Saratoga Springs at 6:57pm.
After 3 days with the kids, I take the train back on Friday 27th at 9:43 to get to NYC at 1:35pm for a weekend with you all!
And lastly, 30th March fly from JFK at 6:55pm to arrive back safe and sound in Denver at 9:45pm.
Hooray!!!
OOooh, and also - if anyone has any British cravings they'd like me to fulfill and bring back for you, just let me know. I'm currently putting together a list, so feel free to have me add whatever you might like. I'll be your mule :)
Miss/love you all!!!
I leave Denver 2nd March at 5:15pm to arrive at London Heathrow 3rd March, 9:05am. I'll spend time in London, have my interview at Kings, go to Prague for a few days, and then off to a mystery location that Dave won't tell me about yet (I'm required to bring my Rail Pass, so that's our first hint. I'm eagerly awaiting more, though I'm not sure I'll get any...).
Then 23rd March, 8:20am I depart from Heathrow and arrive at JFK at 11:55am, to take the 3:20 train from Penn Station, and get up to Saratoga Springs at 6:57pm.
After 3 days with the kids, I take the train back on Friday 27th at 9:43 to get to NYC at 1:35pm for a weekend with you all!
And lastly, 30th March fly from JFK at 6:55pm to arrive back safe and sound in Denver at 9:45pm.
Hooray!!!
OOooh, and also - if anyone has any British cravings they'd like me to fulfill and bring back for you, just let me know. I'm currently putting together a list, so feel free to have me add whatever you might like. I'll be your mule :)
Miss/love you all!!!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I'm alive too! - Leah
Hey all,
I feel very inadequate compared to all the interesting things people have been updating about recently. No, I haven't traveled across the world or looked at any new apartments or been to presidential inaugurations. However, I have been living the very upstate New York kind of life. Well first of all, I went skiing for the first time a few weeks ago. I came out remarkably unscathed. The hardest part of skiing isn't the actually skiing part, but figuring out how to get on and off the dang ski lifts. I fell 4 times that day and 3 of them were getting on or off of the ski lifts. In 2 weeks, I'll be skiing again with Tonys family. They're coming to the Ithaca region for the weekend, so it should be nice. If the weather is going to be Syracuse-ish, I might as well have something to do while its gross out (though today is 55 degrees..so who knows!).
Secondly, I went on a cow vaccinating expedition. Penny (a vet who works at my clinic) partially owns a dairy farm (with her family) and my coworker Cetta wanted to help out with vaccines and seeing as though I've never vaccinated a cow before, I thought it would be exciting. And it was! and also very very very gross. I didn't catch ringworm which is good because apparently its fairly common to get ringworm after working with calves. Anyways, I got to tag and tattoo about 35 jersey cow calves . I can now cross that off my list of things to do in life.
Well, I'm veryexcited to hear of tentative plans to see some of you guys soon. I miss you all a bunch!
~Leah
I feel very inadequate compared to all the interesting things people have been updating about recently. No, I haven't traveled across the world or looked at any new apartments or been to presidential inaugurations. However, I have been living the very upstate New York kind of life. Well first of all, I went skiing for the first time a few weeks ago. I came out remarkably unscathed. The hardest part of skiing isn't the actually skiing part, but figuring out how to get on and off the dang ski lifts. I fell 4 times that day and 3 of them were getting on or off of the ski lifts. In 2 weeks, I'll be skiing again with Tonys family. They're coming to the Ithaca region for the weekend, so it should be nice. If the weather is going to be Syracuse-ish, I might as well have something to do while its gross out (though today is 55 degrees..so who knows!).
Secondly, I went on a cow vaccinating expedition. Penny (a vet who works at my clinic) partially owns a dairy farm (with her family) and my coworker Cetta wanted to help out with vaccines and seeing as though I've never vaccinated a cow before, I thought it would be exciting. And it was! and also very very very gross. I didn't catch ringworm which is good because apparently its fairly common to get ringworm after working with calves. Anyways, I got to tag and tattoo about 35 jersey cow calves . I can now cross that off my list of things to do in life.
Well, I'm veryexcited to hear of tentative plans to see some of you guys soon. I miss you all a bunch!
~Leah
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Andy - I'm alive.
Hey, just wanted to check in because Tony has been giving me trouble. This is my first time in my apartment this year as I've been traveling China since January 1st. It's a pretty sweet life being a professor - long vacations anyway. As my recently updated facebook photos show, I spent the last 40 days living with a Tibetan family in Sichuan, visiting the pandas in Chengdu, spending time with Meredith in Hong Kong and Macao, rejoining Erin, Phred, and Dana in Guangzhou for a second visit to Hong Kong and Macao for the Chinese New Year, snowboarding in South Korea with my best buddy from high school, and finally doing a solo trek to the Russian border to witness the colorful Harbin Ice Festival first hand.
Meredith is safely situated in Rwanda and has purchased a cell phone, which thankfully has excellent reception. I intend to visit there this summer before returning to the states. That is, if I'm accepted to grad school. If not, I'll do another teaching stint in Rwanda.
I'm moving to a new city next week for my final semester of teaching. The environment here is just too shitty for running, and I want to be closer to the ocean as the temperature increases.
Glad to see things are going well: Tony returning to his roots, Gretchen buying a new apartment, Caitlin relieving some stress, Claire teaching maths, Lizzie writing ridiculously long posts...(thanks for the calendar by the way!).
Take care.
And check this out if you're bored: www.myspace.com/andrewbockus
Monday, February 9, 2009
Ready for a visit??
Hey guys!! Soooo, as the title implies, anyone ready for a visit from way out West?
I realise I've been completely lacking in my updating and telling you all of my new life plan, so in order to put everything in context, here is the quick version:
I've decided that, in order to get myself back into the UK and on a proper life plan, I'm going to study in London for my PGCE - my Postgraduate Certificate in Education. I'm going to be a Maths teacher :) Yupp! I love maths and helping people learn maths, and I'm finally excited about a career possibility, so I figure I'm on the right track. ((PS - at this very moment, Eric Jenks just FacebookChat-ed me. ..... )) Anywho, I have an interview with King's College on 10th March, so I get to take a trip back over to London, and thus I figured I'd make myself a little stop on the way back - and that's where you all come in!
I have tentatively laid out the dates of my various visits, but of course I want to run them by the group to see if/who will be where before I purchase. My hope is to go to London for a few weeks (Dave and I are going on a side trip to Prague while I'm there!), then pop up to Skidmore to visit my London Freshers, and then see all the NYC - and hopefully more?? - people before flying back to Denver. So, here is what I'm thinking...
Monday 2nd March to 20th March I'll be in London
Monday 21st March I'll fly to NYC and then take the train up to Saratoga
Friday 27th March I'll take an afternoon train back to spend the weekend in the City.
Sooooo, what do you think?
To the NYC girls - do you think you might be able to put me up for a few days?
To the non-NYC people - any chance you might be around in that time frame?
To all - if you're not around but will be in some vaguely-close time, let me know and I'll see about rearranging myself. I could pop into the city before Skidmore, or even hit it up both weekends and move my Skidmore visit around if necessary. Just let me know!
Miss/love you all!!!!!
I realise I've been completely lacking in my updating and telling you all of my new life plan, so in order to put everything in context, here is the quick version:
I've decided that, in order to get myself back into the UK and on a proper life plan, I'm going to study in London for my PGCE - my Postgraduate Certificate in Education. I'm going to be a Maths teacher :) Yupp! I love maths and helping people learn maths, and I'm finally excited about a career possibility, so I figure I'm on the right track. ((PS - at this very moment, Eric Jenks just FacebookChat-ed me. ..... )) Anywho, I have an interview with King's College on 10th March, so I get to take a trip back over to London, and thus I figured I'd make myself a little stop on the way back - and that's where you all come in!
I have tentatively laid out the dates of my various visits, but of course I want to run them by the group to see if/who will be where before I purchase. My hope is to go to London for a few weeks (Dave and I are going on a side trip to Prague while I'm there!), then pop up to Skidmore to visit my London Freshers, and then see all the NYC - and hopefully more?? - people before flying back to Denver. So, here is what I'm thinking...
Monday 2nd March to 20th March I'll be in London
Monday 21st March I'll fly to NYC and then take the train up to Saratoga
Friday 27th March I'll take an afternoon train back to spend the weekend in the City.
Sooooo, what do you think?
To the NYC girls - do you think you might be able to put me up for a few days?
To the non-NYC people - any chance you might be around in that time frame?
To all - if you're not around but will be in some vaguely-close time, let me know and I'll see about rearranging myself. I could pop into the city before Skidmore, or even hit it up both weekends and move my Skidmore visit around if necessary. Just let me know!
Miss/love you all!!!!!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Gretch-up to 42
Hello friends!
So, first of all. Today is the most gorgeous day of my entire life. Okay that might be a lie, but today has made me realize why I moved south. It's 65 degrees out today! Now that Ben and I have a car, we have gone to Rock Creek Park (the central park of DC) two days in a row. It's been super fun. AND! I have taken up a new hobby. I can now proudly say that I have memorized over 42 senators-thanks to Ben's never-ending CSPAN2 love. I might even be higher than 42 by now. I got the roll call down to at least Senator Gillibrand. I hope to get all 100 by say end of March. We shall see. haha
Anyways, speaking of politics, I don't think I have updated since the inauguration! It was amazing just to be a part of it. We left the house pretty early in the morning; however, it was much later than many people. Due to our tardiness (if 8 am is late!), we found a spot back at the Washington Memorial. (Click on the picture and look for the red arrow to see where we were)
This day made me realize how short i actually am. Since we were so far back, I could only see like the top 1/8th of the video screen (we definitely couldn't see the actual inauguration). However, it was so amazing how quiet and calm and united 2 million people stuffed into a tiny amount of space can be. I heard every single word President Obama spoke. It was amazing. I am so glad I was a part of it. So, yes that was pretty cool.
Next weekend, I will be heading to Syracuse to see my family. The weekend after that I am making Ben go to the animal shelter with me. We shall see if I prevail. haha. Also, Ben's mom is coming, so we may put off the animal shelter a couple of weeks. Ben is heading to Montreal the weekend after that. So we have a few busy weekends coming up.
I found a great brunch place that many of you would love, so the next time (or first time) any of you come down, we shall definitely go there!
Miss you all and talk to you soon!
So, first of all. Today is the most gorgeous day of my entire life. Okay that might be a lie, but today has made me realize why I moved south. It's 65 degrees out today! Now that Ben and I have a car, we have gone to Rock Creek Park (the central park of DC) two days in a row. It's been super fun. AND! I have taken up a new hobby. I can now proudly say that I have memorized over 42 senators-thanks to Ben's never-ending CSPAN2 love. I might even be higher than 42 by now. I got the roll call down to at least Senator Gillibrand. I hope to get all 100 by say end of March. We shall see. haha
Anyways, speaking of politics, I don't think I have updated since the inauguration! It was amazing just to be a part of it. We left the house pretty early in the morning; however, it was much later than many people. Due to our tardiness (if 8 am is late!), we found a spot back at the Washington Memorial. (Click on the picture and look for the red arrow to see where we were)
This day made me realize how short i actually am. Since we were so far back, I could only see like the top 1/8th of the video screen (we definitely couldn't see the actual inauguration). However, it was so amazing how quiet and calm and united 2 million people stuffed into a tiny amount of space can be. I heard every single word President Obama spoke. It was amazing. I am so glad I was a part of it. So, yes that was pretty cool.Next weekend, I will be heading to Syracuse to see my family. The weekend after that I am making Ben go to the animal shelter with me. We shall see if I prevail. haha. Also, Ben's mom is coming, so we may put off the animal shelter a couple of weeks. Ben is heading to Montreal the weekend after that. So we have a few busy weekends coming up.
I found a great brunch place that many of you would love, so the next time (or first time) any of you come down, we shall definitely go there!
Miss you all and talk to you soon!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Lizzie-chronicles of an unemployed girl
Hello friends,
So it’s been up and down here in Boston. I still don’t have a job, it sucks, but I am collecting unemployment while I keep looking. It's not that bad, I get about $170 a week. I’ve worked a day here a day there for the temp agency, which is ok except the pay is lower for short-term jobs. You can still collect unemployment if you work part-time, it’s just less. I’ve been pretty bored during the week, at least Katie only works Thursday, Friday, Saturday so we hang out the other days. I’ve cleaned the house a lot, we joined netflix and I got Katie hooked on Lost so we started at the beginning and now we’re halfway through the 2nd season. I’ve been reading for fun, which is still a weird thought for me, I finally found a gym that’s not a ridiculous amount of money per month so I feel less like a bum every day. I hate not having a job, I’m so used to being busy, I just feel useless sometimes. And, even though it makes me sound like a bad person, I feel somewhat validated when I hear about other people who are in the same boat, like for example my friend’s sister’s boyfriend who is a doctor from Harvard and was some fancy shmancy man in the financial world and was laid off recently. Wow I am a bad person, but misery loves company right?
While my friend was visiting from Argentina my camera was either lost or stolen. All I know is, I was at the top of the Prudential taking pictures and then when we got home I couldn’t find it. So that was upsetting, especially because I didn’t have the money at that point to buy a new one. My dad found one online in all the after Christmas sales and bought it for me, the same one I had but now with double the mega pixels.
THEN, the power cord on my laptop broke, there were wires exposed and everything so I bought a new one. But, apparently it must have fried my computer in the process because the new cord wouldn’t let it turn on. The geek squad told me I need a new motherboard and I might as well buy a new computer for what it would cost. Damn. I wished I hadn’t paid $150 to get my cd drive fixed back in October because everything just went kapoot anyways. I was sooo not ready to cough up $1500 for a nice mac (which is what I want for my next computer) that would be obsolete by the time I get back from the Peace Corps. And I certainly didn’t want to have to keep borrowing Katie’s computer while living here. So, I bought one of those mini-computers (a netbook) and it cost $350.
Now I have it, it seems to be working wonderfully, it has 7 hours of battery life, and it’s 10inches so I can fit it in a purse. And I worked a couple of days this week, so hopefully things are looking up. And, Emily and Caitlin are coming to visit for Valentine’s Day/ President’s Day weekend! Everyone is welcome to come at any time! I hope no one’s forgotten about Memorial Day weekend for Lizzie Fest (that’s what Katie’s calling it anyway) in Boston.
Last weekend my friend Anya came to visit and we celebrated her birthday both nights. Friday we went to a fun Irish pub and before we had even taken off our coats she and I were up at the bar to get a beer and some guy in his 40s comes up to us and says “excuse me ladies I’m going to have to buy you drinks” I tell him it’s her birthday and he says “ohh I have to give you a birthday kiss then.” He then proceeds to lay a slobbery kiss on her cheek, then he comes towards me with his lips puckered and says “is it your birthday too?” and I lean back as far as I can saying “no, no,no my birthday’s in June!” so he leans away from me, pays for our drinks and then goes back to his friends and his lady who he was there with. Haha. Then Saturday we had a piñata, or a “pin-naughty” as we called it. It was a disney princess one that we filled with candy, nips of booze (plastic bottles so they wouldn’t break), and condoms (from the “pleasure pack”) haha. Then we went out dancing, I met and danced with a cute Indian guy, who ended up wanting my number which I gave to him for some reason and then got his so I would know when not to pick up the phone. I just had no urge to see him again, plus, as I was leaving he yelled “love you, love you” and I was thinking “am I back in argentina?“ haha. He called me twice and texted me twice over the next two days, once at 12:30am on monday. Wow, I sure know how to meet creepers. Don’t even get me started on “uconn boy”…
Last night was fun too. I went to Fire and Ice with my friend Chelsea, who went to Skidmore and was a year above us. She’s at grad school here in Boston and we’ve been hanging out a lot. For those of you who haven’t heard of Fire and Ice, it’s a restaurant where you pay $17 and it’s all you can eat. Lauren would probably be freaked out by the idea, but you pick you raw ingredients, put them in a bowl, pick a sauce and they cook it for you on a huge griddle in front of you. The first time we went up I had noodles with steak and some asian-style veggies and sauce and then I got a fajita-style one. Chelsea and I also ordered a huge blue drink in addition to a large margarita. We ordered a “chocolate cake for two” but it was huge, as in literally bigger than Chelsea’s head (we took a picture to prove it). We were laughing wondering how we were gonna eat it, so Chelsea goes over to a table of two guys we had made friends with while waiting for our food, and asks them if they want some cake. So they came over, ate a few bites and bought us another huge blue drink. She and I decided it’s the best pick-up line ever “excuse me, we have way to much chocolate cake, will you help us eat it?” hahah. I still have more than half of it left in my fridge. Maybe I’ll bring it out with me tonight to get more drinks, haha.
So I forgot if I told you about “girl corner” in my apartment. Katie and I have this little alcove between the hallway, her room, and our bathroom that we cut off from the world with cutains. We decided to make it into a ridiculously girly corner. We have a horizontal mirror with a shelf under it where we can put on makeup, a fluffy boa bordering it, pictures of us, a picture of Patrick Dempsey, and an article my mom sent me on where to meet single people in boston (god, she’s already turning into my sassy nanny). Anywhoo, it’s fun, and since I started learning Swahili I put up post-its all around the house on objects so everyone can learn along with me. I have “man” in Swahili on McDreamy’s picture and as soon as I learn “handsome” I will put it up there too, haha.
Now you can learn too, here are some fun words in Swahili:
Paka= cat
Mbwa= dog (pronounced mmm buah)
Mwanamume= man (pronounced muah na moo may) ok that was a hard one I should stick to the small words
Ndege= plane/bird (pronounced nn deh gay)
Okay I guess that’s it for now. I hope no one minds that I put the world clocks on the blog, I thought it was a fun feature. Although, I’m not sure how accurate it is in china/Kenya.
So it’s been up and down here in Boston. I still don’t have a job, it sucks, but I am collecting unemployment while I keep looking. It's not that bad, I get about $170 a week. I’ve worked a day here a day there for the temp agency, which is ok except the pay is lower for short-term jobs. You can still collect unemployment if you work part-time, it’s just less. I’ve been pretty bored during the week, at least Katie only works Thursday, Friday, Saturday so we hang out the other days. I’ve cleaned the house a lot, we joined netflix and I got Katie hooked on Lost so we started at the beginning and now we’re halfway through the 2nd season. I’ve been reading for fun, which is still a weird thought for me, I finally found a gym that’s not a ridiculous amount of money per month so I feel less like a bum every day. I hate not having a job, I’m so used to being busy, I just feel useless sometimes. And, even though it makes me sound like a bad person, I feel somewhat validated when I hear about other people who are in the same boat, like for example my friend’s sister’s boyfriend who is a doctor from Harvard and was some fancy shmancy man in the financial world and was laid off recently. Wow I am a bad person, but misery loves company right?
While my friend was visiting from Argentina my camera was either lost or stolen. All I know is, I was at the top of the Prudential taking pictures and then when we got home I couldn’t find it. So that was upsetting, especially because I didn’t have the money at that point to buy a new one. My dad found one online in all the after Christmas sales and bought it for me, the same one I had but now with double the mega pixels.
THEN, the power cord on my laptop broke, there were wires exposed and everything so I bought a new one. But, apparently it must have fried my computer in the process because the new cord wouldn’t let it turn on. The geek squad told me I need a new motherboard and I might as well buy a new computer for what it would cost. Damn. I wished I hadn’t paid $150 to get my cd drive fixed back in October because everything just went kapoot anyways. I was sooo not ready to cough up $1500 for a nice mac (which is what I want for my next computer) that would be obsolete by the time I get back from the Peace Corps. And I certainly didn’t want to have to keep borrowing Katie’s computer while living here. So, I bought one of those mini-computers (a netbook) and it cost $350.
Now I have it, it seems to be working wonderfully, it has 7 hours of battery life, and it’s 10inches so I can fit it in a purse. And I worked a couple of days this week, so hopefully things are looking up. And, Emily and Caitlin are coming to visit for Valentine’s Day/ President’s Day weekend! Everyone is welcome to come at any time! I hope no one’s forgotten about Memorial Day weekend for Lizzie Fest (that’s what Katie’s calling it anyway) in Boston.
Last weekend my friend Anya came to visit and we celebrated her birthday both nights. Friday we went to a fun Irish pub and before we had even taken off our coats she and I were up at the bar to get a beer and some guy in his 40s comes up to us and says “excuse me ladies I’m going to have to buy you drinks” I tell him it’s her birthday and he says “ohh I have to give you a birthday kiss then.” He then proceeds to lay a slobbery kiss on her cheek, then he comes towards me with his lips puckered and says “is it your birthday too?” and I lean back as far as I can saying “no, no,no my birthday’s in June!” so he leans away from me, pays for our drinks and then goes back to his friends and his lady who he was there with. Haha. Then Saturday we had a piñata, or a “pin-naughty” as we called it. It was a disney princess one that we filled with candy, nips of booze (plastic bottles so they wouldn’t break), and condoms (from the “pleasure pack”) haha. Then we went out dancing, I met and danced with a cute Indian guy, who ended up wanting my number which I gave to him for some reason and then got his so I would know when not to pick up the phone. I just had no urge to see him again, plus, as I was leaving he yelled “love you, love you” and I was thinking “am I back in argentina?“ haha. He called me twice and texted me twice over the next two days, once at 12:30am on monday. Wow, I sure know how to meet creepers. Don’t even get me started on “uconn boy”…
Last night was fun too. I went to Fire and Ice with my friend Chelsea, who went to Skidmore and was a year above us. She’s at grad school here in Boston and we’ve been hanging out a lot. For those of you who haven’t heard of Fire and Ice, it’s a restaurant where you pay $17 and it’s all you can eat. Lauren would probably be freaked out by the idea, but you pick you raw ingredients, put them in a bowl, pick a sauce and they cook it for you on a huge griddle in front of you. The first time we went up I had noodles with steak and some asian-style veggies and sauce and then I got a fajita-style one. Chelsea and I also ordered a huge blue drink in addition to a large margarita. We ordered a “chocolate cake for two” but it was huge, as in literally bigger than Chelsea’s head (we took a picture to prove it). We were laughing wondering how we were gonna eat it, so Chelsea goes over to a table of two guys we had made friends with while waiting for our food, and asks them if they want some cake. So they came over, ate a few bites and bought us another huge blue drink. She and I decided it’s the best pick-up line ever “excuse me, we have way to much chocolate cake, will you help us eat it?” hahah. I still have more than half of it left in my fridge. Maybe I’ll bring it out with me tonight to get more drinks, haha.
So I forgot if I told you about “girl corner” in my apartment. Katie and I have this little alcove between the hallway, her room, and our bathroom that we cut off from the world with cutains. We decided to make it into a ridiculously girly corner. We have a horizontal mirror with a shelf under it where we can put on makeup, a fluffy boa bordering it, pictures of us, a picture of Patrick Dempsey, and an article my mom sent me on where to meet single people in boston (god, she’s already turning into my sassy nanny). Anywhoo, it’s fun, and since I started learning Swahili I put up post-its all around the house on objects so everyone can learn along with me. I have “man” in Swahili on McDreamy’s picture and as soon as I learn “handsome” I will put it up there too, haha.
Now you can learn too, here are some fun words in Swahili:
Paka= cat
Mbwa= dog (pronounced mmm buah)
Mwanamume= man (pronounced muah na moo may) ok that was a hard one I should stick to the small words
Ndege= plane/bird (pronounced nn deh gay)
Okay I guess that’s it for now. I hope no one minds that I put the world clocks on the blog, I thought it was a fun feature. Although, I’m not sure how accurate it is in china/Kenya.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A Quick Hello!
Hello friends,
I just wanted to write a quick post to let you all know that I’m alive. I apologize for not writing…I have little free time and my life is not very interesting. I had a lovely winter break from Columbia, spending almost two weeks in North Carolina. Mark and I looked at apartments, and if all works out as planned, I will move there this summer. Can’t beat paying $800 for a 900 square foot apartment with free access to a gym, year-round pool, clubhouse, business center, car wash, basketball court, racquetball court, etc. Gotta love the south! Now just have to wait and see if Mark gets into the PhD program!
In more current news, I am back in the full swing of things at Columbia. I have an internship in a school in Chelsea that I love, but my courses are considerably harder this semester. I also babysit all day on Thursdays, juggling a stroller and two kids under five around the city…I don’t know how people manage with kids here! Based on my schedule these past two weeks, I am anticipating not having much of a life this semester. Graduate school is still very different from Skidmore and I often long for the days of college life in Saratoga. However, as Tony posted, I know it would be different if I went back now. I do love the city, and it will be hard for me to leave in the summer…I don’t know what I’ll do without all of the great shopping and farmer’s markets.
So that’s my life…so interesting and thrilling, huh?
In an attempt to make this post more exciting, please enjoy the following pictures of treats from Chelsea Market (my new favorite food place!)
Love and miss you all! Please come visit soon!
Peabs
I just wanted to write a quick post to let you all know that I’m alive. I apologize for not writing…I have little free time and my life is not very interesting. I had a lovely winter break from Columbia, spending almost two weeks in North Carolina. Mark and I looked at apartments, and if all works out as planned, I will move there this summer. Can’t beat paying $800 for a 900 square foot apartment with free access to a gym, year-round pool, clubhouse, business center, car wash, basketball court, racquetball court, etc. Gotta love the south! Now just have to wait and see if Mark gets into the PhD program!
In more current news, I am back in the full swing of things at Columbia. I have an internship in a school in Chelsea that I love, but my courses are considerably harder this semester. I also babysit all day on Thursdays, juggling a stroller and two kids under five around the city…I don’t know how people manage with kids here! Based on my schedule these past two weeks, I am anticipating not having much of a life this semester. Graduate school is still very different from Skidmore and I often long for the days of college life in Saratoga. However, as Tony posted, I know it would be different if I went back now. I do love the city, and it will be hard for me to leave in the summer…I don’t know what I’ll do without all of the great shopping and farmer’s markets.
So that’s my life…so interesting and thrilling, huh?
In an attempt to make this post more exciting, please enjoy the following pictures of treats from Chelsea Market (my new favorite food place!)
Love and miss you all! Please come visit soon!
Peabs
Skidmore Visit
Hey everyone,
I visited Skidmore this weekend, so I thought I'd relay my experiences to you in written form.
My decision to go was pretty spontaneous. I was toying with the idea all week, but figured that it would pewter out once graduate school crushed my soul (which usually happens around Thursdays at 2:00 PM). However, at 4:00 on Friday, I looked at my schedule and realized that my weekend was pretty free. Thus I ran home, packed my bags, and drove off into the distance.
I arrived at Skidmore just in time for the 100 days dance. If you remember from last year, that was the dance at the Saratoga Hotel. If I can recall, it was alright but nothing too special when we went. This year however, it was awesome. They moved it to a bigger room and had live music. I also got to see a ton of people I wouldn't have at a typical house party. The only problem was that I sobered up about halfway through and, with drinks being outrageously expensive, could not muster the willpower to reinebriate myself. Nevertheless, an excellent time was had by all.
After the dance, we went to the bars which was only alright. Pretty crowded for the most part and quite cold. We stayed out until 3:00 AM at any rate although we had been trying to get a cab since 2:30. Once we actually found a taxi, we all piled in except for Dave Steinberger who was nowhere to be found. We then experienced a horror movie moment in which a group of college students surrounded our van and slowly lurched towards us. Their gait was sluggish and awkward on account of drunkeness, sub-zero temperatures, and high heels, but the desperate look in their eyes inspired a wave of cold dread deep in the pit of my stomach. Eventually Dave showed up out of nowhere and we shouted for him to hurry. He was the last to board the taxi which already contained 13 people. I can only assume that the people we left behind are dead.
After sleeping on the couch, I woke up the next day feeling refreshed and energized. At least as refreshed and energized as one can feel while slightly hungover after sleeping on a couch. In other words, I felt kind of crappy. Nevertheless, I had a good day. It was chowder fest which was kind of cool, and I got to revisit all the buildings. That night I just hung out with some friends and had a few beers. I did sleep on a bed this night, but ironically, it was more restless than the previous night. I was sleeping in a girl's room who was unaware that I was sleeping in her room (or who I was for that matter). No one knew if she was coming back that night either.
At any rate, I made it though the night undiscovered. I spent the morning saying goodbye to everyone and drove back home, stopping for a few hours in syracuse to see Leah.
Well that was long winded. Sorry if I was boring. I guess the reason I'm telling you all this is because I had a revelation at Skidmore. For the past nine months or so since I graduated, I've been nostalgic for my college days. I was hoping that this trip would give me one last taste of that sweet sweet fruit that was Skidmore. In a sense it did, but something was missing. It was missing all of the seniors that graduated with me, especially the people in this blog. Even though I had fun, I realized that I would trade my entire weekend for a few hours with you guys. Then I realized that Cornell was actually pretty fun. If i had been here this weekend, I would have played edwards 40 hands while watching donnie darko. So after this weekend, I think I'll miss Skidmore a lot less. Now I'm looking foward to enjoying Cornell and hopefully seeing you guys soon. I'm banking on a full reunion on memorial day weekend at Lizzie's.
Thats all for now. I hope everyone is doing well.
Tony
PS: Excellent job with the updating recently. Lets keep it up. I don't want to have to go Christian Bale on anyone (I wonder of anyone got that reference).
I visited Skidmore this weekend, so I thought I'd relay my experiences to you in written form.
My decision to go was pretty spontaneous. I was toying with the idea all week, but figured that it would pewter out once graduate school crushed my soul (which usually happens around Thursdays at 2:00 PM). However, at 4:00 on Friday, I looked at my schedule and realized that my weekend was pretty free. Thus I ran home, packed my bags, and drove off into the distance.
I arrived at Skidmore just in time for the 100 days dance. If you remember from last year, that was the dance at the Saratoga Hotel. If I can recall, it was alright but nothing too special when we went. This year however, it was awesome. They moved it to a bigger room and had live music. I also got to see a ton of people I wouldn't have at a typical house party. The only problem was that I sobered up about halfway through and, with drinks being outrageously expensive, could not muster the willpower to reinebriate myself. Nevertheless, an excellent time was had by all.
After the dance, we went to the bars which was only alright. Pretty crowded for the most part and quite cold. We stayed out until 3:00 AM at any rate although we had been trying to get a cab since 2:30. Once we actually found a taxi, we all piled in except for Dave Steinberger who was nowhere to be found. We then experienced a horror movie moment in which a group of college students surrounded our van and slowly lurched towards us. Their gait was sluggish and awkward on account of drunkeness, sub-zero temperatures, and high heels, but the desperate look in their eyes inspired a wave of cold dread deep in the pit of my stomach. Eventually Dave showed up out of nowhere and we shouted for him to hurry. He was the last to board the taxi which already contained 13 people. I can only assume that the people we left behind are dead.
After sleeping on the couch, I woke up the next day feeling refreshed and energized. At least as refreshed and energized as one can feel while slightly hungover after sleeping on a couch. In other words, I felt kind of crappy. Nevertheless, I had a good day. It was chowder fest which was kind of cool, and I got to revisit all the buildings. That night I just hung out with some friends and had a few beers. I did sleep on a bed this night, but ironically, it was more restless than the previous night. I was sleeping in a girl's room who was unaware that I was sleeping in her room (or who I was for that matter). No one knew if she was coming back that night either.
At any rate, I made it though the night undiscovered. I spent the morning saying goodbye to everyone and drove back home, stopping for a few hours in syracuse to see Leah.
Well that was long winded. Sorry if I was boring. I guess the reason I'm telling you all this is because I had a revelation at Skidmore. For the past nine months or so since I graduated, I've been nostalgic for my college days. I was hoping that this trip would give me one last taste of that sweet sweet fruit that was Skidmore. In a sense it did, but something was missing. It was missing all of the seniors that graduated with me, especially the people in this blog. Even though I had fun, I realized that I would trade my entire weekend for a few hours with you guys. Then I realized that Cornell was actually pretty fun. If i had been here this weekend, I would have played edwards 40 hands while watching donnie darko. So after this weekend, I think I'll miss Skidmore a lot less. Now I'm looking foward to enjoying Cornell and hopefully seeing you guys soon. I'm banking on a full reunion on memorial day weekend at Lizzie's.
Thats all for now. I hope everyone is doing well.
Tony
PS: Excellent job with the updating recently. Lets keep it up. I don't want to have to go Christian Bale on anyone (I wonder of anyone got that reference).
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Caitlin - Waiting for the Big Moment
So, I'll be the first to admit that I haven't posted in a long time. The problem was I didn't have much to say. I didn't want to bore you all with a summary of my life. Wake up while it's dark, go to work, write at my computer, take phone calls from annoying authors whom none of you would be familiar with, make popcorn around 3 PM, maybe get some beers after work and call it dinner, go home and watch "House Hunters" until I fall asleep. Boring, right?
I waiting until I could give you something worth knowing about. So here it is. The piece de resistance.
Fuck yeah, bitches. That's a 9 mm Glock handgun.
Now I tended to shoot over the left shoulder, but many people have assured me that even Jack Bauer has that problem.
I went to Mississippi and went to this place, Mitch's. Basically Mitch has a junk house in the middle of bumblefuck Aberdeen, MS. You can go inside, and for $5 and without any ID, prior gun experience, or even proving your mental capacity, borrow any one of his guns. He has the entire Glock series, hunting rifles, revolvers, and a fully automatic AK-47. You take the gun outside, and shoot it into some dirt piles. For .60, you can nail a target into a wood block and take your shot at that.
In more wholesome news, for those that don't already know, my father is in the process of opening an ice cream and coffee shop. Much of my time when I'm not at work or passed out in front of HGTV, I am watching informative videos about espresso machines, batch freezers, dipping cases. It's moving slowly, but by the time Lizzie comes back from the peace corp, there should be ice cream.
I miss you all - can we see each other soon?
I waiting until I could give you something worth knowing about. So here it is. The piece de resistance.
Fuck yeah, bitches. That's a 9 mm Glock handgun.
Now I tended to shoot over the left shoulder, but many people have assured me that even Jack Bauer has that problem.I went to Mississippi and went to this place, Mitch's. Basically Mitch has a junk house in the middle of bumblefuck Aberdeen, MS. You can go inside, and for $5 and without any ID, prior gun experience, or even proving your mental capacity, borrow any one of his guns. He has the entire Glock series, hunting rifles, revolvers, and a fully automatic AK-47. You take the gun outside, and shoot it into some dirt piles. For .60, you can nail a target into a wood block and take your shot at that.
In more wholesome news, for those that don't already know, my father is in the process of opening an ice cream and coffee shop. Much of my time when I'm not at work or passed out in front of HGTV, I am watching informative videos about espresso machines, batch freezers, dipping cases. It's moving slowly, but by the time Lizzie comes back from the peace corp, there should be ice cream.
I miss you all - can we see each other soon?
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Okay, I've been convinced...-gretchen
Hello all,
I gave in to Tony's pressure and here I am.
hmm..
Ben bought a car! It is very sensible (good gas mileage), logical (low low miles), and very nice -- moon roof and all! Here's a picture (basically); Ben's car is an 2002 Honda Civic EX not an LX. So, that is exciting.
Inauguration is coming up and that is very exciting. On Sunday DC is putting on a crazy free concert at the Lincoln Memorial with Stevie Wonder, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, etc. I mean probably a million people will be there, but it will be cool to even see them as specks in the distance.
Then, the actual inaguration will also be super awesome (and crowded and cold--but awesome!). I am very excited about that. Saturday through Tuesday Ben's friends will be staying here for it, as well. It is going to be a very busy crazy time.
I am also excited about Lauren and Mark spending the night on Friday!!! :)
And now for the strange piece medical news of the month:
Does everyone know what a Nuvaring is? Well, it is a "once monthly vaginal ring" used for birth control. You stick it up your vagina and your good for the month. ("Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Every Dayyyyyyy) . Anyways, some girl called and said she thinks she accidentally put it in the wrong hole. No one believed her (seriously how could you mistake it?), but to soothe her we let her come in. They gave her a sonogram, and what do you know, she somehow stuck the NuvaRing into her urethra and it was lodged in her bladder! Oh the horror! I don't even know how she did that.
Well, that's all I really have to say for now. Right now it seems like Emily and Leah might visit in April. All others are welcome that weekend as well. Since it is so far away, of course, there will be more to update on that subject at a later time. I miss you all! Talk to you soon.
Tony - Killing Time
Hey All,
I've got some free time tonight so I thought I'd post about the mundane details of my life. My first inclination when I saw this blog was to rant about how only Leah, Claire, Lizzie and I have bothered to post anything recently, but that would be beneath me. I mean, its not my place to accuse anyone of not keeping in touch with their college friends. I'm too nice to make anyone feel guilty about that. Its true that it only takes a few minutes to post on this blog, but that doesn't mean I should complain that you guys haven't. I'm not going to name names either. It would simply be inappropriate to say that I haven't heard much from Lauren, Emily, Caitlin, Erin, Andy, and Gretchen in months. Thats why this post is going to be all about me.
I'm rotating in a new lab now. This one focuses on a cell's response to heat. The lab is kind of big and impersonal, but I get to plan my own experiments which is pretty exciting. I'll let you guys know how it turns out after I get used to it. My new years eve was spent with Leah and my brother at a dive bar with free drinks. In other words, it was perfect. I'm taking Leah skiing in a few weeks which should be fun. Other than that, not much new to report. My only two concerns in life are figuring out a weekend in which to visit Skidmore and determining whether soaking my phone in distilled water will stop the keys from sticking or break it.
I hope everyone is fine. I would love to know what you all are doing.
~Tony
I've got some free time tonight so I thought I'd post about the mundane details of my life. My first inclination when I saw this blog was to rant about how only Leah, Claire, Lizzie and I have bothered to post anything recently, but that would be beneath me. I mean, its not my place to accuse anyone of not keeping in touch with their college friends. I'm too nice to make anyone feel guilty about that. Its true that it only takes a few minutes to post on this blog, but that doesn't mean I should complain that you guys haven't. I'm not going to name names either. It would simply be inappropriate to say that I haven't heard much from Lauren, Emily, Caitlin, Erin, Andy, and Gretchen in months. Thats why this post is going to be all about me.
I'm rotating in a new lab now. This one focuses on a cell's response to heat. The lab is kind of big and impersonal, but I get to plan my own experiments which is pretty exciting. I'll let you guys know how it turns out after I get used to it. My new years eve was spent with Leah and my brother at a dive bar with free drinks. In other words, it was perfect. I'm taking Leah skiing in a few weeks which should be fun. Other than that, not much new to report. My only two concerns in life are figuring out a weekend in which to visit Skidmore and determining whether soaking my phone in distilled water will stop the keys from sticking or break it.
I hope everyone is fine. I would love to know what you all are doing.
~Tony
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Lizzie
Happy Belated Holidays!
So, I'm done with that job I was working at and am now unemployed. I'm hoping that changes soon, although I did sell my car for $3600 so even if I can't find a job before June I will have enough money to pay rent until then. One of my friends from Buenos Aires came to visit me so that distracted me from thinking about not having a job. She came on Christmas Eve and left today. I had a fun time showing her around the island and Boston.
We went to the Sam Adam's Brewery two days ago. The beer tasting was longer than the tour, which is the way it should be in my opinion. For a $2 donation to some charity, you get to taste three beers (the boston lager, one of their seasonal beers which was their winter lager this time, and a "special" beer that can't be bought in stores and that changes all the time) and keep the tasting glass. I will definitely go back with anyone that comes to visit me.
New Years was pretty fun although VERY cold and snowy. My friend and I went to a club with my housemates and danced the night away. It was fun, but not really worth the high price we paid for the ticket. One of my housemates had purposely bought extra tickets in case we decided to invite more people. He ended up having 4 extra and scalping them because there were desperate people who needed tickets last minute. We used the profit for our drinks, so at least we didn't have to buy drinks at all.
Through the Peace Corps I have a free subscription to Rosetta Stone to start learning Swahili, so maybe every post I'll put a random word in Swahili. I haven't started yet, so I'll wait until next time.
I hope everyone's doing well! I'll see some of you in February!
So, I'm done with that job I was working at and am now unemployed. I'm hoping that changes soon, although I did sell my car for $3600 so even if I can't find a job before June I will have enough money to pay rent until then. One of my friends from Buenos Aires came to visit me so that distracted me from thinking about not having a job. She came on Christmas Eve and left today. I had a fun time showing her around the island and Boston.
We went to the Sam Adam's Brewery two days ago. The beer tasting was longer than the tour, which is the way it should be in my opinion. For a $2 donation to some charity, you get to taste three beers (the boston lager, one of their seasonal beers which was their winter lager this time, and a "special" beer that can't be bought in stores and that changes all the time) and keep the tasting glass. I will definitely go back with anyone that comes to visit me.
New Years was pretty fun although VERY cold and snowy. My friend and I went to a club with my housemates and danced the night away. It was fun, but not really worth the high price we paid for the ticket. One of my housemates had purposely bought extra tickets in case we decided to invite more people. He ended up having 4 extra and scalping them because there were desperate people who needed tickets last minute. We used the profit for our drinks, so at least we didn't have to buy drinks at all.
Through the Peace Corps I have a free subscription to Rosetta Stone to start learning Swahili, so maybe every post I'll put a random word in Swahili. I haven't started yet, so I'll wait until next time.
I hope everyone's doing well! I'll see some of you in February!
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