Thursday, July 12
Tubing pictures
Here are a few pictures from our adventures on the Brandywine River this past Sunday
Monday, July 9
Weekend!
What a fun weekend! Tubing, 4.5 mile race, friends, food, and beautiful weather. Here's the details:
Sarah and I watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee on Thursday night. (which was great since she didn't have any studies to do!!! her rotations have been doing orientation for a few days; the real deal starts later this week...dum dum dum....). It was a neat movie on its own, but what made me enjoy it even more was that it directly related with the current coursework in my online grad school classes at Walden University! I had been struggling with being interested in the course this week since it seemed to all be about teaching kindergarteners to read without a whole lot of application for me. The movie, however, had elements of phonics, etymologies, spelling games, and other activities that I associated with my latest lectures and readings, and I even wrote a paper this week using one of the games in the movie! It was a well-needed shot in the arm to help me finish up the week's assignments.
Saturday morning was an early: 6:30AM in West Philly to meet the bus. My students and I ran in a 4.5 mile race sponsored by Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. This was the first race with me being the main leader, so I was a little nervous. Unfortunately, the bus was over an hour late, causing us to arrive JUST as the race started (thankfully for us, the church started the race 15 minutes late...gotta love the African American culture!). The kids had a good run despite the hilly course. Two of our runners were flat out lazy and finished BEHIND the ambulance. Finding intrinsic motivation on a warm day isn't always easy for everyone.
This week we start city-wide Students Run clinics. Our first one is in the graveyard behind our school! I'm interested in seeing how the students respond to having a bunch of kids from all over Philly come run in our backyard. They were pretty excited about it before, so let's hope it continues.
Sarah's new apartment is taking shape. It's been great fun for me to help her move in and figure out how she and her new roommate's place is going to look. (okay, so maybe I'm not too thrilled with all the designing part of it, but I can move beds and dressures and run wires through desks with the best of 'em!). It really is a beautiful place, and we've talked about its potential for hosting friends. She's lacking a TV, but what's more exciting...a TV or a roof deck?!? C'mon.
Yesterday about 25 of us went out tubing down the Brandywine River in Deleware after church. The 90+ degree heat made for a PERFECT day on the tubes. Traffic held our group up over an hour past our start time, and the tubing company wasn't too happy and dropped us farther down the river than expected. Still, we had a good hour in the water. Families were splashing in it all over the place.
After our ride, we went back to Libby's house for John's smoothies, pizza and fondu. John and Libby sure know how to host a party! What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday in the summer.
The latest forecast calls for temperatures to be over 100 today here. Yikes!
Sarah and I watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee on Thursday night. (which was great since she didn't have any studies to do!!! her rotations have been doing orientation for a few days; the real deal starts later this week...dum dum dum....). It was a neat movie on its own, but what made me enjoy it even more was that it directly related with the current coursework in my online grad school classes at Walden University! I had been struggling with being interested in the course this week since it seemed to all be about teaching kindergarteners to read without a whole lot of application for me. The movie, however, had elements of phonics, etymologies, spelling games, and other activities that I associated with my latest lectures and readings, and I even wrote a paper this week using one of the games in the movie! It was a well-needed shot in the arm to help me finish up the week's assignments.
Saturday morning was an early: 6:30AM in West Philly to meet the bus. My students and I ran in a 4.5 mile race sponsored by Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. This was the first race with me being the main leader, so I was a little nervous. Unfortunately, the bus was over an hour late, causing us to arrive JUST as the race started (thankfully for us, the church started the race 15 minutes late...gotta love the African American culture!). The kids had a good run despite the hilly course. Two of our runners were flat out lazy and finished BEHIND the ambulance. Finding intrinsic motivation on a warm day isn't always easy for everyone.
This week we start city-wide Students Run clinics. Our first one is in the graveyard behind our school! I'm interested in seeing how the students respond to having a bunch of kids from all over Philly come run in our backyard. They were pretty excited about it before, so let's hope it continues.
Sarah's new apartment is taking shape. It's been great fun for me to help her move in and figure out how she and her new roommate's place is going to look. (okay, so maybe I'm not too thrilled with all the designing part of it, but I can move beds and dressures and run wires through desks with the best of 'em!). It really is a beautiful place, and we've talked about its potential for hosting friends. She's lacking a TV, but what's more exciting...a TV or a roof deck?!? C'mon.
Yesterday about 25 of us went out tubing down the Brandywine River in Deleware after church. The 90+ degree heat made for a PERFECT day on the tubes. Traffic held our group up over an hour past our start time, and the tubing company wasn't too happy and dropped us farther down the river than expected. Still, we had a good hour in the water. Families were splashing in it all over the place.
After our ride, we went back to Libby's house for John's smoothies, pizza and fondu. John and Libby sure know how to host a party! What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday in the summer.
The latest forecast calls for temperatures to be over 100 today here. Yikes!
Thursday, July 5
Chicago celebrations
Chicago was great! My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins were all there to celebrate the 4th of July...Bushhouse style. It was a little unorthadox with Maria and Jordan being gone and one family left partway through the celebration to drive to the other side of their family, but we had a good time.
Things we did:
-Experienced a Chicago building architecture tour
-Ate dinner at the Taste of Chicago
-Saw downtown Chicago's fine fireworks display (synchronized with a live orchestra playing songs like the 1812 Overture, the Imperial March, and the Stars and Stripes Forever.)
-Watched Pixar's Ratatouille (not quite as good as Cars, but beautiful storyline and creativity!)
-Enjoyed Wheaton's 4th of July parade
My flight made it back to Philly safely--despite the weather's attempts to keep me from seeing Sarah. Only some flights were being allowed into the airport due to heavy rain, and fortuntely, mine was one of them! On top of it, we got in early! Sarah was waiting for me at the airport--even arriving 30 minutes early and secretly parking in the short term lot to surprise me! What a gal. After not seeing each other for over two weeks, you'd think it had been years! Amazing what tricks your heart can play on you. As a nice treat for us, the Philadelphia fireworks were postponed due to rain until we came back from the airport. Sarah and I just stood in the street with a bunch of other people and enjoyed the show.
In other celebrations on the 4th, some people ate a lot of hot dogs. 66 in 12 minutes?!? That's 33 feet of hot dogs. The average American eats 65 in a year. Wowzers.
The Cubs have won 10 of their last 12 games. Watch out!
Things we did:
-Experienced a Chicago building architecture tour
-Ate dinner at the Taste of Chicago
-Saw downtown Chicago's fine fireworks display (synchronized with a live orchestra playing songs like the 1812 Overture, the Imperial March, and the Stars and Stripes Forever.)
-Watched Pixar's Ratatouille (not quite as good as Cars, but beautiful storyline and creativity!)
-Enjoyed Wheaton's 4th of July parade
My flight made it back to Philly safely--despite the weather's attempts to keep me from seeing Sarah. Only some flights were being allowed into the airport due to heavy rain, and fortuntely, mine was one of them! On top of it, we got in early! Sarah was waiting for me at the airport--even arriving 30 minutes early and secretly parking in the short term lot to surprise me! What a gal. After not seeing each other for over two weeks, you'd think it had been years! Amazing what tricks your heart can play on you. As a nice treat for us, the Philadelphia fireworks were postponed due to rain until we came back from the airport. Sarah and I just stood in the street with a bunch of other people and enjoyed the show.
In other celebrations on the 4th, some people ate a lot of hot dogs. 66 in 12 minutes?!? That's 33 feet of hot dogs. The average American eats 65 in a year. Wowzers.
The Cubs have won 10 of their last 12 games. Watch out!
Monday, July 2
Sunday, July 1
Food, glorious food
After church today, about 20 of us went to Mama Palma's Pizza. I had been there before and was impressed with their customer service and product quality, and this time was no different! Delicious pizza, popping with flavor. They served our large group efficiently and cheerfully (Seth also had the foresight to call ahead and let them know we were coming!). No complaints here!
Jeremy and I caught a ride from Casey to Penn's Landing where there was an all you can eat ice cream festival going on! We scarfed down seven tubs of ice cream from Coldstone, Edy's, Jack and Jill, Ben and Jerry's, Starbucks, Baskin Robbins, and a few water ice locations. MMMmmmm! I thought it would have been a blast if I was a kid too...can you imagine having so many different choices and all you can eat?!? Oh the possibilities.
Tip of the day: when wondering why your bank account made LESS interest than last month with MORE money in it, consider the fact that the months may have differing amounts of days in them. I checked my ING Direct account for its monthly interest and was about to fire off an e-mail question to their customer service department for why I had less interest in June than in May even though I hadn't made any withdrawals. Fortunately, I caught my mistake before I sent the e-mail. (by the way, if you'd like to make 4.5% interest on your savings account PLUS get $25 JUST FOR SIGNING UP, let me know...if you just sign up with the company on your own, you don't get a bonus--that's only with a referral from a current member like me).
Jeremy and I caught a ride from Casey to Penn's Landing where there was an all you can eat ice cream festival going on! We scarfed down seven tubs of ice cream from Coldstone, Edy's, Jack and Jill, Ben and Jerry's, Starbucks, Baskin Robbins, and a few water ice locations. MMMmmmm! I thought it would have been a blast if I was a kid too...can you imagine having so many different choices and all you can eat?!? Oh the possibilities.
Tip of the day: when wondering why your bank account made LESS interest than last month with MORE money in it, consider the fact that the months may have differing amounts of days in them. I checked my ING Direct account for its monthly interest and was about to fire off an e-mail question to their customer service department for why I had less interest in June than in May even though I hadn't made any withdrawals. Fortunately, I caught my mistake before I sent the e-mail. (by the way, if you'd like to make 4.5% interest on your savings account PLUS get $25 JUST FOR SIGNING UP, let me know...if you just sign up with the company on your own, you don't get a bonus--that's only with a referral from a current member like me).
Saturday, June 30
Frisbee golf in Philly?!?!?
Several friends and I got to do something I never would have dreamed was possible in Philadelphia: play frisbee golf! We had a GREAT time throwing our discs around the course in Fairmount Park. It's a full 18 hole course in the woods. I never would have guessed we were in the city while we were playing. Such a refreshing change from the busy city! All the guys who went agreed we need to play again soon. I felt like I was back in college!
Last night my friend Kelly had her 30th birthday party. This girl deserves a kudos for the amount she's been celebrating. She decided to make the entire month of June a 30 days of celebration for her 30th birthday. Who thinks of these things? Kelly Thayer does. Anyway, she's so creative and fun, and hosted a great party (complete with cookies in the shape of the number 30!). Happy birthday Kelly!
Getting up today for running practice in West Philly wasn't too fun. When only 7 kids were there who were pretty tired and whiney, it was even harder. Fortunately, Erin, another coach was there to help make it better. We ran a little shorter than I had planned, but much farther than we'd gone any time this week. (the heat made running pretty tough)
My friend Nate Frazier just got a job selling Apple products in Center City Philadelphia. If any of you need anything Apple makes, let him know; he'd love to hook you up with one.
I can't believe the marketing hype the iPhone is getting. Yeah, it's a super cool gadget, but the hype is ridiculous. It's worse than the movie Pearl Harbor (and hopefully much better, too!). Philly's mayor got in line at 3:30AM to get one yesterday. One company has already dissected it to see what's inside.
One last geek point: Philadelphia is only months away from having full wi-fi coverage for the entire city! They're the biggest and first large city to do so, and they're being watched carefully to see how the whole experiment goes. I'm content with my current provider, but I might give their service a 30-day trial to see how it goes (for only $6.99 a month at first too?!?).
Last night my friend Kelly had her 30th birthday party. This girl deserves a kudos for the amount she's been celebrating. She decided to make the entire month of June a 30 days of celebration for her 30th birthday. Who thinks of these things? Kelly Thayer does. Anyway, she's so creative and fun, and hosted a great party (complete with cookies in the shape of the number 30!). Happy birthday Kelly!
Getting up today for running practice in West Philly wasn't too fun. When only 7 kids were there who were pretty tired and whiney, it was even harder. Fortunately, Erin, another coach was there to help make it better. We ran a little shorter than I had planned, but much farther than we'd gone any time this week. (the heat made running pretty tough)
My friend Nate Frazier just got a job selling Apple products in Center City Philadelphia. If any of you need anything Apple makes, let him know; he'd love to hook you up with one.
I can't believe the marketing hype the iPhone is getting. Yeah, it's a super cool gadget, but the hype is ridiculous. It's worse than the movie Pearl Harbor (and hopefully much better, too!). Philly's mayor got in line at 3:30AM to get one yesterday. One company has already dissected it to see what's inside.
One last geek point: Philadelphia is only months away from having full wi-fi coverage for the entire city! They're the biggest and first large city to do so, and they're being watched carefully to see how the whole experiment goes. I'm content with my current provider, but I might give their service a 30-day trial to see how it goes (for only $6.99 a month at first too?!?).
Thursday, June 28
Itzhak Perlman
Last night I wrote about the incredible, 4-D concert Nate, John, and I attended at the outdoor Mann Center. Well, John informed me that the violinist we heard play was none other than the world-renown Itzhak Perlman, whom you can read about here, and here, and here! It makes you wonder who else you might encounter in a day and never realize it!
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