Arlington National cemetery

I just got done watching one of the Civil War videos by Ken Burns who did the epic documentary for PBS. Anyway, since we are so close to Gettysburg I wanted to go there before we left, but I wanted to brush up on my history before I went. But today I learned that Arlington National cemetery was established in Robert E. Lees front yard so that it would be a reminder to everyone who was responsible for the bloodshed of the Union army. Apparently the man who chose the site had served under Lee before the war and then developed a deep hatred for Lee when he went to fight for the Confederacy after the war began.

Oklahoma

I was talking to a girl the other day that is a fried of mine, but I don't know terribly well. Through some unknown means we got on the subject of her hometown an hour north of Dallas and the fact that she want to college an hour north of that near the red river. On a whim I asked her if she had ever heard of Duncan Ok, which is just North of where she went to school, since that is where my parents were raised and all of my grandparents lived until a few years back. She looked at me as if I were a ghost and she blurted out that that is where her grandparents had lived until just a few years back. I of course said the same thing, and then we told stories about how we both played at the same park as kids 20 years before our paths would cross. I wish I were a mathematician so I could figure out the odds of this happening. If anyone wants to do the math and get back with me Duncan has a population of 20,000 people but I would think one would need to factor in that only some of those people are grandparent age.
Oh, and I called my granddad to see if he know her grandparents, but he couldn't hear me. Oh well, I'll just assume they were best friends.

Quote of the Day

I was talking to a radiologist yesterday trying to convince him to take a job somewhere else, and he said, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but you still have to mow it."

I think that was a great line.

Right now

Right now I am sitting in a cafe looking out the window and it is pouring down rain. It's Feb 4 so I guess I should be thankful that it is not freezing rain or snow. The groundhog saw his shadow so that means 6 more weeks of winter. I can't wait for it to warm up.

Today I bought a new to me bike. Between the two of use we now have four bikes, but they all serve different purposes. This new bike is called a "full suspension" bike meaning both the front and rear wheels move to absorb the bumps in the trail. I am pretty excited as it is super smooth like riding in a Cadillac or an SUV.

Last weekend it warmed up to about 50 degrees and the sun came out, so I got to work on my motorcycle with my friend Alex who thankfully has more motorcycle knowledge than I. We established pretty quickly that the motor is seized up so chances are my motorcycles is trash, but I read online that if anything can break it loose Marvel Mystery Oil can. So I poured a bottle of it in each cylinder and we will see what happens.

I don't think I have ADHD, but if you know me, you know I need a project and need to be doing something. It dawned on me last weekend when for the first time in 8 weeks or so I was able to get outside for more than 20 minutes to walk the dog. I think I and maybe everyone needs something to hang their hat on. I need a purpose and a mission. It may just be washing the car, cutting the grass, or pulling weeds, but it is so fulfilling to have accomplished something no matter how small. I think it gives structure to my day and it gives me something to look back on at the seventh day and say this is good. I think Sarah would agree with me she gets crazy in the summer and over Christmas break when her days have no structure or purpose.

Oh, and today I got a letter from my grandmother. She sent us $20 cash for Christmas. It would have arrived sooner but she sent it to the place we lived 2 years ago. The guy at our old place opened it found 20 dollars and then wrote my grandma back and returned the money. I don't know this guy, but I think I may go by and meet him, maybe I'll even give him $20. I love it when people aren't crappy.

Lately

Nothing has really been going on in our lives so I haven't had the occasion to write much of anything, but here is the big picture view. Sarah has turned in the rough draft of her thesis so she will spend the next 3 months or so finishing it. Finished is relative though as she would like to see about getting it published and that will probably be a project that lasts another year or two. Simultaneously, she is applying for jobs, and teaching two classes. She has gotten a couple of nibbles from a few schools. We have a broad idea of where we will be in the fall, but things probably won't be finalized probably until March or April.

I, on the other hand have been much less busy. I just put in my 40 hours/week and spend the rest of the time watching Ken Burns documentaries. I'm ready for winter to wear off, but of late we have been home bound to find shelter from the cold.

The third member of our family, Millie is doing well. Today I put her boots and sweater on and we went for a long walk. One of the other dog owners commented that she had too many clothes on, but I said she was from Florida, and this seemed to pacify the passerby.

More later...

Birthday

I had a nice day yesterday. We got up early and went to church, and then came home and opened presents. There were slim pickings, but what else would you expect with a birthday 2 weeks after Christmas. I am pretty excited about my gift however. Sarah and the in-laws got me a fly fishing expedition which I am really excited about. One of my best friends Alvis, will drive up from West Virginia to attend. It is a full day of fly fishing and I understand that we are supposed to eat what we catch for lunch on a fire by the stream. Pennsylvania supposedly has some of the best fly fishing in the country. I think that present will have to wait until May for its redemption as that is when the fishing peaks.
For lunch we went for a drive with some of our best Pennsylvania friends to a burger joint about 45 minutes outside of town. They literally have the biggest hamburgers in the United States. Their 6 pound hamburger made them famous, but now they have a 15 pound hamburger which costs $40. Anyone who can finish the 6 pound burger gets their name on a wall. I think the last person to do it was a girl from New Jersey. Rumor has it she was just over a hundred pounds. I had a one pound hamburger, which was the biggest burger I have ever eaten. I can't even imagine how a person could eat 5 more of what I ate.
Since we were in that neck of the woods and it was a day of extremes we decided to go to the biggest gun shop in Pennsylvania. I am not a big hunter, but people in central PA are. This place, called Grice's Gun Shop, had 12,000 guns. That is a lot of guns.
We came back home and skipped dinner...a one pound hamburger will really stick with you a while.

Mark and Sarah in VA

This picture is a little old, but we thought we'd post it anyway. It is at Joel's property in Virginia.

Motorcycle

I don't know if anyone is wondering, but I got a motorcycle. If you don't care you should skip this post.

So one of the guys I work with gave me a motorcycle. This summer Sarah and I took a class where they teach you to ride, and as we were going through the class my office mate told me about an old bike that has been sitting around his house for years. He said I would be doing him a favor if I took it from him, so I obliged. I also helped him roof his house, but that is a separate favor. Anyway, it took us about 2 1/2 hours but we finally got it over to our house. The bike does not currently run so I could not drive it over, so the two of us had to lift it into the back of his truck. Ramps would have been useful, but there were no ramps in sight. This process was further complicated by the fact that the rear wheel is frozen in place. So we finally got it over here and I am looking forward to it warming up enough for me to see if I can get it started. I have found a couple of good websites which I expect will guide me through the process. One of the websites tells me that a bike that has been sitting for a while and was not properly prepared to sit will often freeze up. Apparently the piston rings will rust to the cylinder. If I find this to be the case then I will probably sell what parts I can on Ebay and give the rest to the garage next door. So, whenever it warms up I will probably see if I can get it to turn over. I really just want to work on it and see if it will run. The last thing I want to do is ride a 1979 Kawasaki that I "restored". If nothing else maybe I will learn a little more about engines and have fun taking something apart that it doesn't matter if I can get back together.

2005 in review

I wanted to add a few things to the previous post, but Mark said I had to make my own, so here goes... Looking back at 2005, we accomplished a few things:
1. We have learned to accept winter, I think. I get to wear scarves (fun!) and Mark discovered cross country skiing. We still would like to be somewhere warmer, but once I resigned myself to being cold, I found that I noticed it a lot less.
2. I conceived of and drafted a book (kind of), which would feel like more of a major accomplishment if there wasn't so much more work to do on it...
3. While 2004 might have been the year of the home improvement projects, in 2005 we took DIY to a whole new level and learned
a. how to install a car stereo, ourselves
b. how to quarter and cook a whole chicken
c. how to groom Millie ourselves
As Mark likes to say, "I can do anything, but not to code." He's not clear on if he can't or won't, though.
4. We got motivated to make a blog, which you are reading right now.

Wild and Crazy New Years

So, given that I will soon turn the big two seven and the sun is setting on my days of being a NYC socialite I thought I would ring in the new year one last time at Times Square. I mean what better place to be than in a crowd of millions of people standing in the cold 3 hours past my bed time. So that didn't happen, but Sarah and I did have a crazy day in central PA New Years eve started off with breakfast at a little diner outside of town. The food was really cheap, but there was an excess of little annoying signs like "Please keep your feet on the floor" "One free refill on the above drinks" which included coffee "Extra Jam 10c" and "No credit cards or checks". Sarah and I didn't talk about much, we were busy eves dropping on the booth behind Sarah. This guy talked for a solid 45 minutes without taking a breath about bears, and what made it even more impressive is that he did this 45 minute soliliquy while eating his breakfast.

After breakfast we came back to our cold home. Old houses have character, but they didn't use insulation then which is a bummer for us.

Then Sarah applied for some jobs and I provided moral support by watching TV. We now get the Speed channel and the Golf channel. I do not find this very useful since our Volvo is slow and I don't golf. Even if I had a fast car there is no place to golf here. The snow covers the course 14 months a year.

This took us to noon....12 more hours of 2005. So...We decided to spend the waning hours of 2005 at what else but Wal Mart. So, we made our list and off we went to the most hated store in all of America. I got a coke at the snack bar they were having a 25 cent sale. I think that is as close to the lottery as I will ever get.

I am not sure what happened after that, but the next thing I new it was 5:00 and there was only 7 more hours of 2005. In addition to 7 more hours of 2005 there was also only 1 more hour until Office Depot closed so we rushed across town to buy a 200 disc CD case because we were hit with the urge to organize and alphabetize our CD's with an urgency only paralled to that of a commuter with no restroom in sight. So we came back and organized our CD's, and I must say it was all too pleasurable.

5 more hours of 2005. So we watched a crime drama show and who knows what else and went to bed at 9. I suppose that is par for the course. I think I woke up around midnight when I heard some fireworks going on, but I was nesteled in the warmest place in the house. We got some flannel sheets. I wish someone would have told me about how warm those are two winters ago.

Picture of the Springs

Here's a not so recent picture from Ginnie Springs, taken at night.