House concert

Liberti's worship leader Dave Braud hosted a house show with his wife Sarah. They had three artists that Dave knew from his time in Nashville, TN. All three were high quality! Sarah and I had heard two of them perform last fall here in Philadelphia and we bought their CDs. We bought another one at the house show last night, too. The artists are wonderful. They are on a three-week tour throughout the northeast. Some of their work has played on Grey's Anatomy as well as other prime-time TV shows! Check out Katie Herzig, Matthew Perryman Jones, and Peter Bradley Adams. Katie's song "Sweeter Than This" is simply beautiful--Sarah and I decided that it's our #2 song together. =)

Sarah and I sat two feet (TWO FEET!) from the artists as they played. After they were done with a set, we talked with them for a while. Then when the show was over, we talked with two of them for almost an hour about their touring, inspiration, etc. The whole atmosphere was very personal, laid-back, and intimate...I liked it a lot.

The procedes of the event went to a documentary a friend from Liberti is making called Women in War Zones. It's an ambitious project that two Liberti guys decided to undertake last year when they went to Africa to film treatment of women in conflict situations. More to come when that's completed and released!

Philadelphia's finest?

So, last night Sarah and I were coming home from the house concert when we heard a firetruck's siren behind us. As required by law, I pulled over to the side to allow the truck to pass. The rather aggressive driver behind me decided to use this opportunity to pass me, but halfway past me decided to allow me back in my rightful place on the road. In all this commotion, however, I neglected to notice that the "no left turn" signs as I turned left from Ridge Ave. onto Girard Ave. (why I can't turn left there...I don't know!) No sooner did I do that did a police car turn on its lights and search light and pull me over. The Michigan driver's license and perfect driving record did nothing to deter this persistent police officer: after a half hour in the petrol car, he handed me a $119 ticket worth 3 points on my license! Yikes!!! Sarah suggested that we get a warning with all the commotion, our ignorance and such, but our officer had made up his mind. Fortunately, he did recommend that we contest the ticket in court and that the judge would probably throw it out. If he believes this, then, why did he still give us the ticket? With all the crime in Philly, I felt like we wasted over a half hour of two officers' time! Alas, alack...

The G-phone

The latest rumor buzzing around the Internet was Google's so-called "Gphone"--that Google was developing its own phone to compete with Apple's iPhone. Well, today Google announced that they aren't designing their own phone: they're designing an operating system, applications, and a platform for many other companies to use to design their phones. Here's the announcement from Google. This has the potential to change to mobile phone industry, making it cheaper for companies and ultimately, consumers, as well as providing an opportunity for any high school tech wiz to write software for a phone!

Now that anyone will be able to write software for phones in this alliance, people are free to dream bigger dreams! Here's a cute video Google made asking kids what their magic phone would do:

Google Street View comes to Philly!

Perhaps the best news of last week was when I discovered that streets in Philadelphia were added to Google's Map website. Street View is the newest addition to Google Maps. They drive around with a car taking hundereds of pictures a minute. Using photo-splicing software, they connect all the pictures together to create a seamless image of the actual street people can drive on. This is unbelievable. Try it out! Go to my house on Google Maps. Then click on the street view button. What you'll see is a view from my front porch! Turn 180 degrees and you'll see my front door--complete with a beware of dog sign. Seth and I guessed that the picture was taken this summer, as you can see his new air conditioner in the 2nd floor window.

The possibilities of this are quite fantastic! Imagine getting directions to a location, then pulling it up on the map to see exactly what the landmarks are near your turn!?! Pretty amazing.

Sarah's birthday, part 2

I had to share this picture taken by our friend Kelly Thayer. It captures the most memorable part of Sarah's birthday, as eight of us attempted to spell S-A-R-A-H with our bodies (unfortunately, I drew the short straw and attempted to form an S with less than moderate success). Sarah wooed the crowd by slipping into the splits at the last second. She can do it all!

Marathon training

The Philadelphia Marathon is in two weeks. Yikes.

Last weekend, we did what most marathon-ers say is the hardest run: 21 miles in a non-race situation. Sarah and I were out at her parents' house near Pittsburgh. We managed to find a nice, flat bike course through the beautiful hills and colorful trees of Western Pennsylvania. The run went amazing well, except that we made the mistake of poor hydration. Since we were what some might call the "boondocks", there weren't many water faucets to be found. We stopped at a town on our way home, but it wasn't quite enough. I had to do a walk/slow jog combo for the last three miles, and Sarah was more than understanding and comforting for me. I scarfed down a few funny-tasting apples in her car after we got back. Unfortunately, I puked them back up a half hour later. Besides that, it was probably our best run we'd had yet. Sarah and I both felt strong, and we managed to run 21 miles in less than 3 1/2 hours (I forget our exact time, however).

Today we ran a 2PM race with mostly other students run students. It was a simple loop around the Schuylkill River. What was surprising about it was that since there weren't many people in the race, Sarah and I both received medals for our age group! We arrived at the finish line at the same time (Sarah technically crossed a split-second ahead of me). Sarah got a 3rd place medal, and I got a 2nd place one. What's crazy is that I've never run in a race expecting to win or even get anything. So, it was a nice surprise.

The last two weeks before the marathon are supposed to be tapered--running less so your body is at peak capacity for the 26.2 miles. We're both nervously excited about it, and it seems that the students share our feelings. Since the course is long, we're looking for people to help cheer us on! If you're interested, please come!!! We'll be running from 7AM until probably noonish.

Soccer game

Yesterday, Mrs. McGreevy (4th grade teacher) and I attended one of our school's soccer games. A few of my 5th graders are on the team, which goes up to 8th grade. Unfortunately, we lost, but one of my students scored one of the two goals!!! Here are some snapshots from the event:

Two of my students.

Another student with a soccer player's younger brother.

Two excited teachers.