Extended Family

At the Louisville Slugger Museum

Out to Lunch at Lynn's Paradise Cafe

At Churchill Downs, picking a winner in the 5th

Thanksgiving was great. I went to Louisville, Kentucky to see all my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We had a lot of fun. I went to Churchill Downs for some racing and to the Louisville Slugger Museum. Much good food was eaten and fun was had by all. Special Thanks to Matt, Mary, Claire, Gracie and Elise for putting me up.

I also went to my first college football game and saw the UK vs. UT game with 70,000 or so other people. We did a lot of tailgating, cheering and though the game didn't go our way in the end, it did go to overtime and I had a lot of fun.

My parents got another rescue dog. She is a cute baby golden and they are calling her Penny Too. Current score: Humans 2, Varmints: 9. I'll keep you posted on the uprising as it develops.

Please check out my friend Danielle's amazing website Toomuchtodo.org. This year especially nonprofits are really suffering with cut budgets, reduced donations and increased need. Danielle has researched and identified 40 really great causes. The site highlights organizations where the rubber really hits the road and people are doing meaningful work for change. In Danielle's words, "Throughout the site you will find statistics on the overall issues and needs here in the United States. I have tried to match the areas of need with organizations that are committed to fighting the issues that our communities are facing everyday. " My favorite so far is an organization to help homeless veterans in the New England area, but I'm certain that if you check the site you'll find at least one organization you can throw your support behind.

Shorts: I'm off to Knoxville for work. Coaching Beacon is still going well. I saw Almodovar's Broken Embraces and found it indulgent and navel-gazing. Eagles win big today and are still in the playoff hunt. I went to this great play(?): Dutch AV.

Be well.

I guess we just can't have nice things

I've been a bit slack about posting photo's lately. Here's a few I've been meaning to share:

I recently did 8 flights in 3 days. I think I mentioned that. It was hell, but I did see the Eagles plane:

I went to a roller derby with Sussman. It was tons of fun. She thinks she would be good at this but I think she is waaaay to tiny and would get beat down. It was pretty rough.


This one isn't from Halloween or anything. This is just the type of thing you see near Union Square. Of course. It's also not a protest or anything. That sign was all gibberish.


Do you also have the sense of humor of a 12 year old boy? If so, you might also enjoy this:
http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/sporno (Thanks Sipper)

Do you also hate the dancing mucous commercials? Why? Why do we need this?


I am so excited for Mara, who is leaving soon for this program:
http://www.agahozo-shalom.org/blog/2009/10/24/success-at-asyv/
Sounds like such a dream. I would love to work for a year in an orphanage in Rwanda. Maybe I could convert to Judaism to apply... They would probably see through that. I'm going to try to get to Africa next year while Mara is over there (after she has a chance to get settled.) I know she is going to make a huge impact in those children's lives.

Padamosh last weekend was lots of fun, the bits of it I can recall. Next weekend we'll celebrate Kalb's 40th in Little Russia, Salsa dance with Chip & Jen and coach the Beacon Girls in a round-robin in the Bronx. Look out!

Fall on Me

Ok. So it’s been a while. What can I tell you?

I was shocked recently when I was told that my blog was hopelessly out of date. I had no idea there were still any readers. Keri, this one’s for you.

The past 6 weeks or so has been a blur of regional jets. I’m mostly between NYC and Knoxville, TN but it’s hard to do that directly, so I’ve had my fair share of time in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cleveland and once even Detriot. I’m trying to limit myself to one Cinnabon per flight. I’m working on an endorsement deal there, so I’ll keep you posted as my fame expands and eventually precludes my interaction with the common folk. Just remember you knew me when…

Speaking of Cinnabon, I’m mildly addicted to this web site This is Why You’re Fat . I’m thinking of submitting a recipe where I make a layer cake out of Cinnabons, heavy cream, and butter. I’m not sure but I think the purpose of the website is to remind the rest of the world why they still hate us now that Obama is President. Can you imagine seeing these photos in Malawi? It is a purposeful, willful abandonment of those people we all practice.

It’s only been about 5 months since my trip to Zion national park in Utah. Take a look at the photos of the trip through the narrows and also a 2 day hike in the back country. I am pretty much recovered from the mountain exposure.

Book Review: I just read Alex Stewart: Portrait of a Pioneer . It is pretty much just a loving devotion about an old mountain man who could do a lot of things none of us still can, like make butter churns and buckets and build his own house and deal with snake bites. It’s pretty amazing how much better at stuff it seems everyone was back then. I need to check three different DIY websites before I try to hang a picture on the wall. Pretty much everyone living on this mountain in Tennessee could build a house, build everything in the house (furniture, kitchen items), hunt, gather forest edibles and raise crops. None of them really went to school, but when was the last time you used trigonometry or debated the tension between liberty and nationalism. I think if you teleported the members of subway car I was in this morning (Q to 57th street) back to 1920s Tennessee everyone in there would be dead within the week. Conversely, if you brought those mountain people to the present they would probably hunt us, skin us, and use our ‘tallow’ to make candles and waterproof their shoes, and that would be a considerable improvement in our contribution to the human race.

Ultimate: Regionals occurred in Devens, MA. Zojirushi lost all our games and finished 16th, clearing my schedule to be a spectator all day Sunday. I had a pretty good time. This means ultimate is over, except for the fun winter tournaments (like PadaMosh this weekend) Turkey Bowl and all the others that basically take us to the start of the spring season.

In the ‘off season’ I’m coaching the Beacon High School girls team. The girls are amazingly dedicated, meeting to practice from 6:30-7:30 am each day and also after school. The girls have great spirit and a long way to go. I coached them at their first Beacon Tourney for the season: KitKat outside of Philiadelphia. We had and lost 3 games, but the third was the closest, so I think we learned something. Hopefully they will all be much more motivated about doing sprints to get in shape and working on throwing and catching. Our game is a hard one if you can’t throw and catch.

Did I already show you this link? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erRqDpMDFFo&feature=related This is what real ultimate looks like. The girls don’t look like this, yet, but I’m working on it.

I got a flu shot. Later, I got the flu. Maybe it was H1N1. I don’t know. I seem to have survived. It was pretty bad. I cured it by taking a bunch of flights. I’m like Johnny Appleseed for H1N1. H1N1 Mary?

I’m all worked up about two articles I read recently that refer to being short: This one and this one. I’m thinking about applying for disability due to my short stature status. People of short stature are 1/5 less likely to graduate from college! At 5’3” I qualify. I don’t know how I did it. We’re also just as likely as the morbidly obese to die early. I never really realized how much I have to overcome. Go me. Every day I stand up is a victory.

I had a few people over to the apartment for brunch and a Bloody Mary competition. It was a lot of fun. I vanquished all challengers in a Bloody Mary Off. My secret: the more horseradish, the better. I recommend a 1:1:1 ratio of tomato to vodka to horseradish.

The Eagles game last weekend was great. I watched with Jesse as the Eagles ran up points on the Giants. Take that Eli face! (I am really glad baseball is finally over.)

I went to a reading last night for this book, Mildred Burke : Queen of the Ring. Amazing story of a woman wrestling in the 1940s. This wrestling wasn’t even fake yet. Look forward to this review. (She was of short stature too, so the story is all the more amazing.)

I went for a good run today in Prospect Park. (+7). It was really nice out. All the leaves are still changing and the park is gorgeous.

Up and coming: This weekend I’m off to Padamosh. Next week I’ll go see Art Brut. I have an appointment coming up to donate platelets. I’m helping to plan a UPA coaching clinic in NYC. I’m off to Louisville for Thanksgiving to see all my Aunts Uncles and Cousins. It'll be great.

Little to Report

Fall is coming. I went to the US open 3 times and saw both Klijsters and Del Potro but not in the finals. I went to a Jets preseason game; it seems Sanchez may be the real deal (but I look fwd to this post being thrown back in my face after he starts acting like a rookie QB). New job is going pretty well. Zojirushi sectionals was rained out last weekend, but is on again now for this weekend. Despair was great and very suspenseful and as soon as it ended I started it over again because the beginning is packed with all these clues that doesn't really make sense until you read then end. This is a good review, so I won't bother. I am glad football season has finally started and that is about all I have to report.

Oh yeah, I quit my job...

After 11 years, I am finally done with Accenture. It was pretty amazing how almost everyone in my life universally said, “Thank God! That was horrible. What were you doing?” I couldn’t believe how adamant and consistent the response was, even with today’s job market. (There was just one exception.)

I have a new job that is part time. It’s basically the same work, and not that glamorous, but the important thing is it’s only Mon-Weds and on Thursday I’ll be at the animal shelter, on Friday I’ll be coaching high school ultimate. I’m excited about doing other things, and willing to do the same old stuff for 3 days a week if it let’s me do stuff I like the other 4.

The good news is my first client is in Knoxville, TN. Knoxville is gorgeous. There is a river that winds though the town and there are all these gorgeous old homes and store fronts. The people all seem strangely, frighteningly friendly, like they are about to sell you something, but they never do. There’s no direct flight and that will be a PAIN, but so far so good.

The huge find for this week is that the new iPhone podcast software allows you to listen to the podcasts at double time. That’s twice as many slate daily podcasts for me. Emily Bazelon is so much more tolerable when she is talking twice as fast.

Zojirushi, my coed ultimate team this year, went to the White Mountain Open in Vermont//New Hampshire which was a very enlightening experience. We have a lot to work on. Next weekend is the Chesapeake Open down in Maryland. That should be big challenge. I’ll get to see my parents and all the varmints, which will be nice.

I’m reading Nabokov’s Despair which is making me identify with the protagonist way too much. But I should have a review for you on that sometime soon so stay tuned.

I went to see Animal Collective, at the Prospect Park Bandshell, courtesy of Stephen, who had to go out of town unexpectedly for a bachelor party. As pictured below, they went with a nautical theme and the huge shark moved back and forth in the waves.

I’ll leave you with this you tube saga (from Tatiana)which I found pretty amusing.

My Girl

"The morning sun when its in your face really shows your age, But that dont worry me none in my eyes you're everything."

She was a good dog and we all miss her.

Iron Like a Lion

Zion National Park in Utah was great. Beautiful. I totally recommend a visit. Jesse and I were there (and Vegas) June 12-21. I have been meaning to write this up for a while. A lot is going on. (The careful reader will note the foreshadowing)

Zion was not too crowded. We saw a pair of introduced condors, which was a highlight for me. By-and-large the two day hikes we did were pleasant and not too strenuous.

However, we did one two day trip called ‘The Narrows’ which requires 14 miles hiking down the middle of the Virgin River. When we did it the water temperature was 59 degrees which is colder than it sounds after the 4th hour submerged up to your waste. The river has a bit of a current and the riverbed is covered with slippery rocks about the size of thanksgiving turkeys, so every step is a turned ankle waiting to happen. I fell a couple of times and got wet down to my bones. My recollection of the trip is of being cold and wet and grouchy, but Jesse tells me it was beautiful and reminds me that we were passed by a troupe of boy scouts, so how bad could it have been. (I’ll post pictures soon that support his version of the story.)

I live in Fort Greene, Brooklyn now. The move was a bit of a pain, as they always are, but I survived. The new hood is great. I’m about a mile from Prospect Park and I run, bike and play disc in the park pretty regularly. Getting to practice is quick and easy for once. I live above a stop on the C, which I can feel gently rock my bed as trains pull in and out of the station if I listen carefully enough. The neighborhood has lots of bars and restaurants and I am very happy to finally be in Brooklyn where most of my friends live.

I went to see the Staten Island Yankees with Patricia for the 4th of July. That was pretty awesome. We rode the Staten Island ferry to the game and watched the fireworks from the ferry on the way back.

My fellow founding gastronaut Benji Pauker was on my favorite show, the Jon Stewart show. Check him out: (He’s the smart American at the end.)
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=231547&title=jason-jones-behind-the-veil


I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close . It was pretty good and reminded a bit of the The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The book has some quirky affectations with pictures and edited pages and even a section in numeric code, but if you look past all that the story moves along at a good clip.

I went to see Wilco on July 13 at Coney Island. I love the new album. However, something about a title album at this stage seems odd. Even a title track. It’s like he’s painted himself into the painting. The show was the largest I’d ever seen and the band played for over two hours with lots of stuff from YHF, Summerteeth and of course the new album.

The Mets are KILLING me. I am done with them. The Wimbledon Gentleman’s championship was amazing. I’m going to the US Open in a few weeks. NFL training camps are underway: Go Eagles!