our weekend activities certainly don't reflect that.....
On Friday we hosted a presidential debate party. I served my world-famous turkey meatloaf sliders (they are covered in pancetta and slathered in arugula mayonnaise), proscuitto, arugula and goat cheese bruschetta, and TJ's puff pastry treats. Fortunately, we had not one, but two Sarah Palins attend our party! A good time was had by all and for once in my life I correctly estimated the right amount of food needed (never forget the 20lbs of cole slaw). Fenway was very social, but for some reason Ortiz freaked out and hid under the bed the whole time (maybe he is an anarchist).
Saturday morning, we woke up early and drove nearly an hour to Greensboro to watch Barack Obama and Joe Biden at a rally. We figured it would be pretty cool to tell our future children that we saw (albeit from very far away) the first african-american president (or at least nominee)--not to mention I needed an excuse to wear my "Scientist for Barack" button. We stood next to 20,000 of our closest friends and heard two great speeches. Regardless of your political affiliation, you have to be impressed by the impact Barack has on people--we saw teens and children genuinely EXCITED to be at a political rally and many groups of people who don't traditionally vote there in full force (minorities, young people). We saw a couple of kids there holding Nader signs---I wanted to tell them not to waste a vote on him (in 2000 I was an idealistic 18-year old who voted for Nader--and after talking to some friends this is a common mistake of youth).
Sunday was spend lazying around, playing tennis, watching football and SNL clips (too funny).
I will try to make non-political posts, but it is difficult because I feel so vested in this election. I am sure I will become a jaded cynic soon.....
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Thank you Thomas Friedman
Last night Thomas Friedman gave a lecture at Duke. It was so popular that they held a simulcast in another theater which we attended. For those of you who don't know Friedman, he is an op-ed columnist of the NYTimes, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of several best-sellers. He was at Duke to lecture about his newest book "Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America." Parker purchased the book this weekend and we are both looking forward to reading it soon.
The thesis of the book is that the planet is undergoing rapid changes such as global warming (hot), increased connectivity due to the internet (flat) and population growth of the middle class (crowded.) These changes are affecting the planet and leading/will lead to disastrous destabilization. Meanwhile, the US has lost "its grove" and needs to reclaim its position in an increasingly "flat" world. His central argument is that if the US leads a "green revolution" we can solve both of these problems with one (solar-powered) stone. The United States' greatest assets are ingenuity, boldness and creativity that can drive the green revolution, but government needs to play a role in the revolution by enacting regulations to inventivize major US companies to invest in clean technologies. We NEED a leader who can preach to the bully pulpit.
During the lecture I felt a sense of patriotism--I hope that our next president starts a green revolution not just to help global warming, but to restore our place in the world. This should is a proposal that should appeal to conservatives and liberals alike.
Here are a couple memorable (paraphrased) lines from the lecture:
Change leaders, not lightbulbs
Drill, baby, drill!? It should be invent, baby, invent. Saying drill, baby, drill would be like encouraging people to buy word processors before the IT revolution!
365 days of earth day won't do anything without policy change
The US has energy politics not energy policy
Because I work for the NYTimes I cannot openly support a candidate; however, I love my wife and my wife loves Obama
We need to go from code red to code green
America needs to be about July 4th not September 11th
The thesis of the book is that the planet is undergoing rapid changes such as global warming (hot), increased connectivity due to the internet (flat) and population growth of the middle class (crowded.) These changes are affecting the planet and leading/will lead to disastrous destabilization. Meanwhile, the US has lost "its grove" and needs to reclaim its position in an increasingly "flat" world. His central argument is that if the US leads a "green revolution" we can solve both of these problems with one (solar-powered) stone. The United States' greatest assets are ingenuity, boldness and creativity that can drive the green revolution, but government needs to play a role in the revolution by enacting regulations to inventivize major US companies to invest in clean technologies. We NEED a leader who can preach to the bully pulpit.
During the lecture I felt a sense of patriotism--I hope that our next president starts a green revolution not just to help global warming, but to restore our place in the world. This should is a proposal that should appeal to conservatives and liberals alike.
Here are a couple memorable (paraphrased) lines from the lecture:
Change leaders, not lightbulbs
Drill, baby, drill!? It should be invent, baby, invent. Saying drill, baby, drill would be like encouraging people to buy word processors before the IT revolution!
365 days of earth day won't do anything without policy change
The US has energy politics not energy policy
Because I work for the NYTimes I cannot openly support a candidate; however, I love my wife and my wife loves Obama
We need to go from code red to code green
America needs to be about July 4th not September 11th
Monday, September 22, 2008
Happy Birthday Parker!
Sunday was Parker's 30th Birthday! He spent the day watching football (not too pleased about the patriots loss) and the Ryder Cup. I made a leg of lamb for dinner which was pretty darn good!
I survived another year of campout and even won season tickets. As a birthday gift, I gave Parker my ticket to the Duke vs. UNC game.
I survived another year of campout and even won season tickets. As a birthday gift, I gave Parker my ticket to the Duke vs. UNC game.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Ana's Campout weekend
Happy Friday!
In stark contrast to last weekend, I will be spending this weekend at Duke's Graduate Student Basketball Campout! What does this mean? I will spend the next 36 hours sitting outside of a rented Uhaul with 20 of my dearest friends drinking cheap beer, eating cheddarwurst, playing beerpong and not showering. Throughout the campout, we will have to run up to a line to check in to ensure that we are there the entire time. Last year we had to check in nearly every hour on Friday night---which means it is difficult to get sleep. Assuming I make it through the campout (I have already completed two), my name will be entered into a lottery to pay $150 for season tickets to Duke games. Since we campout as a group, we split all the tickets evenly. I am hoping that by this time next year, my days of sleeping in a Uhaul are over and I have a PhD!
In stark contrast to last weekend, I will be spending this weekend at Duke's Graduate Student Basketball Campout! What does this mean? I will spend the next 36 hours sitting outside of a rented Uhaul with 20 of my dearest friends drinking cheap beer, eating cheddarwurst, playing beerpong and not showering. Throughout the campout, we will have to run up to a line to check in to ensure that we are there the entire time. Last year we had to check in nearly every hour on Friday night---which means it is difficult to get sleep. Assuming I make it through the campout (I have already completed two), my name will be entered into a lottery to pay $150 for season tickets to Duke games. Since we campout as a group, we split all the tickets evenly. I am hoping that by this time next year, my days of sleeping in a Uhaul are over and I have a PhD!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Our elitist liberal Saturday.
Parker and I joke that we are becoming typical elitist liberals--after all Parker does have a masters in liberal studies. This Saturday we had an exemplary elitist liberal Saturday.
We started off the day by taking our Prius (complete with bike rack attached on the back) to the Durham Farmers market to volunteer at a voter registration table (nonpartisan in nature but organized by the Obama campaign). After spending two hours volunteering (we only got a couple people registers but many people expressed their gratitude for us being out there), we did a bit of shopping at the market. We purchased locally grown tomatoes and ARUGULA (we love the stuff), locally-made mozzarella cheese and cage-free organic chicken and bison.
After a delightful salad of tomato, arugula and mozzarella, we headed a local wine shop for a wine tasting. We ended up purchasing a couple of bottles, locally-made cheese and artisan salami. We enjoyed these treats and some bison steaks for dinner. We finished the evening by going to watch the new movie Traitor--I wanted to go to the local indie theater to see "Burn after reading" but is just too cliche.....
We started off the day by taking our Prius (complete with bike rack attached on the back) to the Durham Farmers market to volunteer at a voter registration table (nonpartisan in nature but organized by the Obama campaign). After spending two hours volunteering (we only got a couple people registers but many people expressed their gratitude for us being out there), we did a bit of shopping at the market. We purchased locally grown tomatoes and ARUGULA (we love the stuff), locally-made mozzarella cheese and cage-free organic chicken and bison.
After a delightful salad of tomato, arugula and mozzarella, we headed a local wine shop for a wine tasting. We ended up purchasing a couple of bottles, locally-made cheese and artisan salami. We enjoyed these treats and some bison steaks for dinner. We finished the evening by going to watch the new movie Traitor--I wanted to go to the local indie theater to see "Burn after reading" but is just too cliche.....
Friday, September 5, 2008
Pictures from Trip
ParkAna at Halibut Point. Please note the Seinfeld shoes.....no dark jeans to complete the look though.
GavLan grabbing a sail boat. Sorry for cutting off your head Lance....
Great views from the rocks!Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Southerns visit New England
ParkAna spent their labor day weekend in New England. Here is a summary of the trip:
We arrived Wednesday night (Thanks Gav for getting us from the airport). Parker went to bed (Gustav made this a busy weekend for our natural gas man) and I stayed up with GavLan to watch Bill and Joe at the DNC.
Thursday, Parker worked in the morning and then we went for a day trip to the North Shore. Gav found a great hiking trail called "Halibut Point." We did a bit of hiking (see pictures on next posts) and then headed out for some lunch. The Boston Globe recently rated a series of places to get fried clams and "the clam shack" came up a winner. We stood in line for about 30 minutes for fried everything (shrimp, clams, scallops, french fries, onion rings) as a strange lady walked up and down the line asking people if they were there because of the Globe article.
After the binge, we got to see the Peabody Essex Museum (Gav practically runs the place) and walk around Salem (tons of weird witch touristy stuff). Next we met up with GavLan's friends and their two adorable sons. We enjoyed beers and sandwiches on the beach. ParkAna played with the kids (I ran into the ocean wearing my "Seinfeld sneakers" to catch a football--don't worry the shoes are still bright white). The day ended with a Barack Obama speech that was amazing!
Friday, Parker worked in the morning (are we seeing a pattern here). Gav and I went to the most amazing craft store ever (Paper Source) to get supplies for ErOdi (Eric and Jodi)'s anniversary present. After nearly two hours in the store, we finally bottled our overflowing creativity up and got the supplies we needed.
Starving, we had lunch at Pico's (amazing ice cream--I had nectarine, Gav had cinnamon) and then went for some late afternoon shopping at Anthropologie (parker napped and worked the whole day, Lance had a friend in town). After shopping (which went way longer than it was supposed to), we headed for the BoSox's game and I picked up my Jacoby Ellsbury shirt! The game was awesome--we won!
On Saturday Gavin and I managed to cover a box in decorative paper for the anniversary gift--this was way more difficult than expected, but it was a success. We then headed off to New Hampshire. The traffic was horrible, but this forced us to take the scenic route. Saturday night we enjoyed a little surf n turf in celebration of Parker's pending 30th B-day. Eric cooked us quite the feast---cowboy steaks (literally three inches thick), lobster, salad, corn, potatoes, and my favorite part of a lobster feast--hot dogs (this is a new england tradition I just don't get, but love nonetheless). The evening was topped off with chocolate "binge" cake and ice cream. Parker got some great books to read and a wonderful gag gift.....
Sunday was a flurry of secretive activity. Lance, Jon and I prepared a super brunch for everyone in honor of 40 years of marriage for ErOdi. While we were doing this, operation memory box was in full swing. Each person wrote nice little notes and memories for ErOdi and we put them in the GavAna-crafted box complete with fun family photos. Brunch was a success--Lance's world-famous french toast, Jon's watermelon salad, and my fritatta were rounded off with sausage, hand-picked (thanks Rose and Jodi) blueberries, and no less than six bottles of syrup! After brunch, we "performed" a song for ErOdi (there is video, hopefully it has been destroyed!). The rest of the afternoon was spend hanging out, meeting Baby ABC, massages (for GavAna) and a delightful outdoor dinner watching Blue eat at least three ears of corn. We reluctantly left New Hampshire that night to catch an early morning flight on Monday.
Thanks to all who helped make this a fantastic trip home!
We arrived Wednesday night (Thanks Gav for getting us from the airport). Parker went to bed (Gustav made this a busy weekend for our natural gas man) and I stayed up with GavLan to watch Bill and Joe at the DNC.
Thursday, Parker worked in the morning and then we went for a day trip to the North Shore. Gav found a great hiking trail called "Halibut Point." We did a bit of hiking (see pictures on next posts) and then headed out for some lunch. The Boston Globe recently rated a series of places to get fried clams and "the clam shack" came up a winner. We stood in line for about 30 minutes for fried everything (shrimp, clams, scallops, french fries, onion rings) as a strange lady walked up and down the line asking people if they were there because of the Globe article.
After the binge, we got to see the Peabody Essex Museum (Gav practically runs the place) and walk around Salem (tons of weird witch touristy stuff). Next we met up with GavLan's friends and their two adorable sons. We enjoyed beers and sandwiches on the beach. ParkAna played with the kids (I ran into the ocean wearing my "Seinfeld sneakers" to catch a football--don't worry the shoes are still bright white). The day ended with a Barack Obama speech that was amazing!
Friday, Parker worked in the morning (are we seeing a pattern here). Gav and I went to the most amazing craft store ever (Paper Source) to get supplies for ErOdi (Eric and Jodi)'s anniversary present. After nearly two hours in the store, we finally bottled our overflowing creativity up and got the supplies we needed.
Starving, we had lunch at Pico's (amazing ice cream--I had nectarine, Gav had cinnamon) and then went for some late afternoon shopping at Anthropologie (parker napped and worked the whole day, Lance had a friend in town). After shopping (which went way longer than it was supposed to), we headed for the BoSox's game and I picked up my Jacoby Ellsbury shirt! The game was awesome--we won!
On Saturday Gavin and I managed to cover a box in decorative paper for the anniversary gift--this was way more difficult than expected, but it was a success. We then headed off to New Hampshire. The traffic was horrible, but this forced us to take the scenic route. Saturday night we enjoyed a little surf n turf in celebration of Parker's pending 30th B-day. Eric cooked us quite the feast---cowboy steaks (literally three inches thick), lobster, salad, corn, potatoes, and my favorite part of a lobster feast--hot dogs (this is a new england tradition I just don't get, but love nonetheless). The evening was topped off with chocolate "binge" cake and ice cream. Parker got some great books to read and a wonderful gag gift.....
Sunday was a flurry of secretive activity. Lance, Jon and I prepared a super brunch for everyone in honor of 40 years of marriage for ErOdi. While we were doing this, operation memory box was in full swing. Each person wrote nice little notes and memories for ErOdi and we put them in the GavAna-crafted box complete with fun family photos. Brunch was a success--Lance's world-famous french toast, Jon's watermelon salad, and my fritatta were rounded off with sausage, hand-picked (thanks Rose and Jodi) blueberries, and no less than six bottles of syrup! After brunch, we "performed" a song for ErOdi (there is video, hopefully it has been destroyed!). The rest of the afternoon was spend hanging out, meeting Baby ABC, massages (for GavAna) and a delightful outdoor dinner watching Blue eat at least three ears of corn. We reluctantly left New Hampshire that night to catch an early morning flight on Monday.
Thanks to all who helped make this a fantastic trip home!
Mob Party--in the style of Durham, NC
A couple of weekends ago, ParkAna were invited to a "Mob Party." Parker dressed up as the classic mob man complete with undershirt, gold chain and pinstriped pants. Unfortunately, his hair was too short to fully slick back and he was feeling a bit sick...... I dressed up as a modern interpretation of a Irish mobster--with plaid skinny pants, a plaid hat and a series of chains hanging from my pants.....Fantastic!
BTW--these are our best "tough guy" faces!
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