The Kennedys

Happy Easter

2010-04-02T16:36:00.003-05:00

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Love,

The Kennedy's (All 3 of us)

Taking Friends to Tennessee

2010-02-06T18:21:00.043-06:00

The weekend after Labor Day, we took our good friends Tim and Nicole Callahan on their first trip to Tennessee.

After landing at Nashville Airport on Thursday evening, we headed to dinnner at Cabana in Hillsborough Village. Nicole's ear was stopped up, so we tried an old-timey remedy at the restaurant. Unfortunately for Nicole, it didn't help much. Fortunately for us, we got this awesome picture.

Rachel's sister, Heather, and friends, Mandy Ellithorpe Graves (pictured here with Rachel and Heather) and Jennifer Hutson met us for dinner. Cabana is one of my favorite restaurants in Nashville. The food is really good, and it has a really cool atmosphere. The Manager, bartenders and wait staff have always treated us very well, too.

After dinner, Mandy and Heather headed home, as they both had to work on Friday. Jennifer was our tour guide, as we took Tim and Nicole "Honkeytonking" on 2nd Avenue in Nashville. I always enjoy the music at the Honkeytonks. It ranges from the old school country at Roberts to more progressive country at Tootsies. One of the highlights of this trip was one of the musicians playing the "Guit-Fiddle". He ended "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by playing the guitar up to his ear like a fiddle. It was quite impressive.

We gave Tim and Nicole the 2nd Avenue Guitar Musician Quiz. After they scored a poor 6 or 7 out of 12, we took their picture (please note that true southerners will typically score 10 or higher; Yankee immigrants typically score 8 or higher).

They had several specials running that Thursday Night on 2nd Avenue. I'm pretty sure you have to have a double first name to qualify for this special (Jim Bob, Ima Jean, etc).

Friday morning, we woke up and were entertained by Toby the Wonderdog. This past summer, the Hargises learned that Toby enjoys swimming. Mrs. Hargis realized that rather than walking Toby in the heat, she could sit in the shade and throw a ball into the pool to help him get his exercise.

We took the indirect route to Knoxville, so we could take Tim and Nicole to the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. Lynchburg is in a dry county (ironic, isn't it) in southeastern Tennessee, between Nashville and Chattanooga. As evidenced by the GPS in the car, there is not much around Lynchburg. In fact, there aren't even any side rodes off of most of Lynchburg Highway between Tullahoma and Lynchburg (the fact that I use Tullahoma as a point of reference describes just how remote Lynchburg is).

Rachel with Jack Daniels

Here is our group taking our "free shot of Jack Daniels on the rocks". Our tour guide, Betty, who coined this photo-op phrase, was fantastic. She had worked at the distillery for some years and was quite the character. One of the members of our tour group asked her how long she had been there. She responed, "Since about 10 AM." She was very knowledgeable and thoroughly entertaining.

The tour concluded in the gift shop, where we got free lemonade (dry county = no samples).

Friday night, Rachel and I had a dinner at the University. Mark Clark took Tim and Nicole out to dinner and then down to Calhoun's on the River (thanks Mark). After our dinner, Rachel and I picked up Tim and Nicole at Calhoun's and drove out to my cousin's to spend the evening with him and his wife. Hanging with Laddy and Amy is always a great time because you can't help but have a good laugh.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and had breakfast at Mom and Dad's. Mom had biscuits and preserves, which Tim rather enjoyed. After breakfast, we posed for this picture and then headed to campus to tailgate. Although you can't tell from this picture, Tim was going to the University of Tennessee Football Game.

Tim and Nicole with Knoxville in the background.

Tito and Emerson Wray

The Jumbotron

A view of Neyland Stadium from The Hill as The Pride of the Southland arrives.

After a quick trip to the UT Bookstore, Tim donned more appropriate orange apparel for the football game.

Nicole shot this picture of the Vols running through "The T". This is where my discussion of the game ends, as Crompton Version 2008 showed up, completing more passes to the Bruins than to the Vols.

Tim and Nicole, thanks for joining us on a trip to Knoxville. It is our hope that we were able to return a small bit of the hospitality that you have shown us since we arrived in Philadlephia.

Snow - Go Away

This year, Philadelphia has received over 70 inches of snow - A new record. Two weeks ago, we received 16 inches at our house over the weekend. Then, on the following Wednesday, we received 19 inches more. Below are a couple of videos from the event. The first, is the view out our front door, as the snow is still coming down. The second video is me working my way over to broom off the satellite dish. Based off the railing, which I brushed off in this video, we got about 4-5 more inches of snow after this video.

Rachel has promised that if we get one more big snow this year, she is moving back to Tennessee, with or without me, until spring arrives.

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Special thanks to Laddy and Amy, who bought us this butt-kickin' new video camera for Christmas. Thanks guys!!!

Christmas 2009 - A Time For Joy

2009-12-28T18:16:00.033-06:00

Despite the expressions displayed by the two gentlemen in the photo above, Christmas is a time for joy. It is a time to visit with family and friends and to celebrate the birth of Jesus. As with most holidays celebrated in America, it is also a time to eat plenty.

Rachel and I arrived in Knoxville on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas (only a day and a half late - more on that in a minute). After dinner, breakfast, and only a few brief hours with my family, we packed up and headed to Nashville.

Monday evening, Rachel, her parents and I celebrated Rachel's sister Heather's birthday at Amerigo's in Nashville. Heather is once again a year older than I am, which is reason enough for me to celebrate.

Tuesday, Rachel and I met our good friends Liz and Tim Nagy, proud owners of Peter, the world's largest 4 month old, pictured with me in the title shot for this blog, for lunch on West End in Nashville. Liz and Tim made their first trip home from Sydney, Australia as new parents for the Christmas holidays. Rachel and I really feel sorry for Tim and Liz, as they have to constantly endure the rough climate of Sydney (pretty much sunny and 70 year round). They also really "roughed" it on the way over, as they layed over for a week on Maui to break up the trip. It was great to see them and to meet Peter.

Tusday night, we headed to Linden, TN (about an hour and a half west of Nashville) for dinner with Rachel's Mom's family - Aunt Janice and Uncle Dan, their daughter Amy, husband Charlie and son's Trey and Caleb (pictured here), daughter Becca, Cousin Stewart, and Uncle Tommy. We ate at the Rusty Fishhook and then went to Tommy's for desert and to socialize for an hour or so.

Wednesday was a down day, with no plans. Rachel got together with some of her high school friends that evening. Her dad and I watched some bad football - BYU vs. Oregon St. and bad basketball - Illinois vs. Missouri, a game of turnovers.

Thursday evening, we celebrated Christmas Eve with Rachel's Dad's Family - Sister Ginger and Ricky and their sons Neil and Patrick and Sister Judy and her sons Daniel and Jonathan.

Christmas morning, we opened presents with Rachel's parents and sister.

Toby the Wonderdog, pictured here with Rachel's mother, was also with us Christmas morning. Thanks to Tim and Nicole Callahan (actually, Tim's dad), Toby had some good presents to open, too.

Rachel and I left Nashville around lunchtime and headed to Knoxville to join my family for Christmas evening. We drove directly to Reid's and Renee's (cousin and his wife) for Christmas dinner.

This is my cousin Reid and wife Renee and their two kids, Kara and Ryan. My Uncle Stan and Aunt Lou are also pictured here with them. We get together at Reid's and Renee's house every year Christmas evening.

Renee's parents and brother also join us each year (or we join them, depending on how you look at it). Ronnie, Kaye and "Little" Ronnie all live in the Raleigh, NC area.

After we left Reid's and Renee's, Rachel and I went back to my parents' house and opened presents with them. Exhausted, we turned in about 10 PM.

Saturday, we met Tim, Liz and Peter for coffee on Market Square Mall in Knoxville. We forgot to give them one of Peter's gifts at our initial dinner in Nashville. Tim and Liz are similar to us, in that Tim is from Franklin (near Nashville) and Liz is from Knoxville. Their travel schedule often matches up pretty well with ours.

The city has really done a lot around old downtown Knoxville and the Market Square Mall area. They have given all of the buildings a face-lift and attracted some nice stores and cafes in addition to the condos that have been developed in the area.

Rachel and I, once again, had the opportunity to hang out with our big buddy, Peter. You really get a much better perspective of just how big he is when Rachel is holding him.

Sunday morning, we had to get up early and start the long drive back to Philadelphia.

REFLECTIONS - Makin' Memories in Harrisonburg, VA

Due to some work meetings that ran over, we ended up leaving Philadelphia several hours later than we had intended to on the Friday before Christmas. Normally, this would have been a minor inconvenience. Unfortunately, the delay this year threw our travel directly into a large winter storm that moved up the east coast.

We ran into snow about 8 PM just south of Winchester, VA. It quickly became obvious that we were not going to make it through, so we pulled off of the interstate and got a hotel room at the Hampton Inn in Harrisonburg, VA (home of James Madison University). Due to the 20+ inches of snow accumulation and a portion of I-81 being closed, we stayed 2 nights.

The video below shows the landscape during our drive to Tennessee on Sunday morning. They were still unable to get the interstate completely cleared in northern Virginia.

With a full day in a hotel room, unable to go anywhere (including restaurants within walking distance, as they were closed because employees could not get to work), I had a lot of time to compile several observations and reflections during this trip:

1) 5 Stars, Two Thumbs Up, Kudos, and a bag of Cheetos for the Harrisonburg, VA Hampton Inn. Clean room, continental breakfast (especially important since all restaurants were closed) and a friendly staff made this hotel a winner. They went above and beyond the call of duty when the evening Manager brought pizzas in for the guests, who were all stuck without food. The Hampton Inn policy was also to lower their normal room rate by $30/night in order to help people get off of the treacherous roads. We still have to write our Thank You note to corporate.

2) If I am going to be stuck in a hotel room, I am happy it was below the Mason-Dixon line. Why? Because you get biscuits and gravy at the Continental Breakfast. I never realize how much I have missed this southern delicacy until I spend the night in a southern hotel.

3) Technology is great. When you are unexpectedly confined to a 600 square foot space for 36 hours, against your will, wireless internet and cable television on a flat screen television make all the difference in the world.

4) By harnassing technology, one can win friends. I became the cult hero of the Harrisonburg Hampton Inn on Saturday morning December 19. Laptop in hand, Rachel and I headed to breakfast, where I amazed everyone over the age of 50 by having instant real-time weather reports and up-to-the-minute road conditions in 3 states. I provided weather updates and convinced several older couples that they should probably stay put an additional day. The following morning, I plotted the proper course to deliver them safely to their destination.

5) Isolation in a hotel in the middle of nowhere makes you appreciate computer social networking. It is easy to see why the freedom seekers in Iran and survivors in Haiti went to Facebook, Twitter and other electronic social media to provide updates. It is a powerful communication tool. It also helps pass the time. At this point, I would like to thank all of my friends who "Liked" my status of being stuck in a hotel in northern Virginia. You are some really insensitive people.

6) Mama Mia is for women. I normally like romantic comedies and other "chic flicks". However, Mama Mia pushed way beyond my estrogen threshhold. Had I not been stranded in a hotel room with a pregnant lady, I would not have finished that movie (My mom loved it).

7) There was obviously a big hockey game somewhere in Virginia or Tennessee. We saw no less than 6 separate cars with Quebec license tags. The only logical explanation for this is that there must have been a hockey game... or French cooking and/or wine festival.

8) Everyone in Quebec drives 65 miles per hour regardless of weather conditions. Friday night, before we ran into snow, we passed several cars from Quebec going 65 miles per hour. Sunday, on the snow covered roads of northern Virginia, we were passed by several cars from Quebec, going 65 miles per hour.

9) My wife is smart!!! Thinking ahead, she procured extra toast and packets of peanut butter and honey from the continental breakfast line. Thanks to her, we had peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch, even though all of the restaurants in the area were closed.

When we pulled over for gas north of Roanoke, Rachel made me take this picture. She thought it was hilarious that a FedEx truck would be snowed in. I bet the driver didn't think it was too funny.

Labor Day Guys Weekend - New Bern, NC

2009-12-19T11:48:00.019-06:00

Labor Day Weekend, I flew to Raleigh, NC, where Mark Clark picked me and Jeremy Graves (Tuscon, AZ) up at the airport and shuttled us to a riverside cabin outside of New Bern, NC to meet up with Larry Wray. Graves needed a "guys weekend" right after spending 14 days in Maui (none of us are quite sure why you would need to get away after being in Maui). Clark found an awesome cabin on-line and Graves booked it.

We got a great deal on the place. It sat on the river, had a fully stocked kitchen, grill, dock for fishing and canoeing, canoes, and had DirectTV (no local channels as we learned when trying to catch the 3 PM CBS SEC football game).

Larry Wray served as our Grill Master and Chief Chef for the weekend. He brought seafood for a boil, beef for cheese steaks and steaks. The food was AWESOME!!!

The boys relaxed and fished a bit. I would make fun of Graves for this "whopper" that he brought in, if Larry had not caught a tree along the bank (unfortunately, I could not get the video of that event to upload).

Graves got out and canoed a bit. I tried to go out with him, but I felt that the canoe was very unstable with me in it (I can't imagine how frightened he must have been). It was peaceful and uneventful, except for the guy who came whizzing by at 30 mph in his speed boat twice a day. He about ran over Jeremy once when he was canoeing as he came through.

Of course, no guys trip with Larry, Clark and I can be complete without video games. We had the Wii and Tiger Woods 2009 (seems so ironic now). I also brought the old N-64 and Larry, Clark and I took Glasgow Rangers through the phantom "World League" unscathed in Fifa 1999. It's a classic!

A view of the fully stocked kitchen and bar area.

REFLECTIONS - New Bern, NC - Cultural Capital of North Carolina

Little did we know, but New Bern is the cultural capital of North Carolina. I always figured most of the action occurred in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill Research Triangle, but New Bern had many activities Labor Day Weekend.

Saturday morning, we loaded up and headed into town to watch the UT vs. Western Kentucky game. We went to Halftime Pub and Grub, a new sports bar in New Bern. This sports bar would stand up to any sports bar I have been to. They had 27 high definition televisions, and Chef Ben Wheat (the owner) took really good care of us. The highlight of the day was that we were able to watch the game with Montario Hardesty's Dad (pictured with us above). Hardesty, Tennessee's star Running Back, is from New Bern. Mr. Hardesty and a friend were there watching the game. When the younger Hardesty was recruited, he originally committed to North Carolina and then changed his mind on National Signing Day and came to Tennessee. I think the picture shows why he was originally going to North Carolina, which is where his younger brother is projected to go.

There is also downtown "Historic" New Bern to visit. Ironically, I will not be able to write about the experiences there, as there were none - we never ventured to "historic New Bern".

On Sunday, they had wrestling, or as it is better known in the south - "Wrasslin'" at the area high school. Unfortunately, we thought the festivities began in the evening. The event started at 2 PM, so we ended up missing it. Robert Gibson, of the Rock and Roll Express and "Hands of Stone" Ron Garvin were the headliners. The most interesting match to our group was the Lady's Champion, Tracii Taylor vs. Little Brutus, the Midget Champion.

I can only imagine the stories I would have been able to write about if we would have had the time straight.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T20:09:00.014-06:00

As many of you probably know, Rachel and I do not travel home for Thanksgiving. With the crowds and chaos at airports and 3 hours distance between our two families, it is just too much trouble to travel when we will be going home for Christmas in less than a month anyway. It is our one holiday at home.

Our good friends, Nicole and Tim Callahan, invited us to go with them to Nicole's family get-together in New Jersey for Thanksgiving. Nicole comes from a large Italian family, so Rachel and I were very anxious to see what Thanksgiving in New Jersey was all about.

The family - about 50 in total - converged on Nicole's mom's place in central Jersey. Luckily, there is a community center there, which the family rents for these events. Nicole's Aunt and Uncle also live in the community, and they are "connected" (Nicole's Uncle is the President of the Community organization).

Let me tell you, New York/New Jersey Italians know how to do Thanksgiving. The main course is very similar to a southern Thanksgiving - Turkey, ham, stuffing, relish tray, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, peas, corn, sweet potatoes, and they even had biscuits and cornbread. Nicole's Mom, Uncle Tom, and Cousin Jack were the main chefs. Jack, upon learning that Rachel was a vegetarian, had even prepared cous-cous for her.

The picture at the beginning of this blog shows the desert table. There were enough pies to feed a small army. Cookies, Nicole's Mom's AWESOME rice pudding and pastries were also plentiful.

The primary difference from a southern Thanksgiving was that there was an opening course. Nicole's mom had made manicotti from scratch for an antipasta course. They also had Italian salad, which was awesome. I am a big fan of the extra Italian flare added to Thanksgiving. We should do it this way in the south!

I have to give an extra shout-out to my buddy Tim Callahan, who fought through a concussion, earned in a vicious hit from "Uncle Bob" in the annual Thanksgiving morning Callahan/Carroll touch football bowl. After the vicious hit, Tim went on to throw 3 TD passes, take a shower (which he doesn't remember), ride to New Jersey, and eat Thanksgiving dinner, before going to the hospital to learn that he did, in fact, have a concussion. If you zoom in on the photograph here, you can likely see that one of Tim's pupils is much larger than the others (which we now all know is a sign of a concussion). "No fun" Nicole has now forbade him from playing in next year's game.

REFLECTIONS - Black Friday

The above picture is from the back of the Best Buy store in Montgomeryville, PA at 4:30 AM on Friday November 27, 2009. This is from the exact spot where I was standing in line 30 minutes before the store opened for Black Friday. The video below shows the line at the front of the store that led from the door, around the side and half way around the back of the store 30 minutes prior to opening.

Prior to Friday morning, I was a Black Friday virgin. I had never participated in this ultimate symbol of capitalism. After my experience at Best Buy, I will never participate again. I had always been told that Taiwan was capitalism on steroids. I am not convinced that Taiwan must be like Black Friday every day of the year.

At 5:07 AM, I entered the front of the Best Buy store with one simple mission - pick up two gifts. I would then head back home and go to bed for an extra hour of sleep before taking Rachel to work. Things didn't quite work out as planned.

I was surprised by the lack of chaos when I entered the store. This is when I learned of the "Racetrack System". Best Buy blocks off aisles with huge boxes of stereos, TV's and other appliances, so that shoppers are directed through a single line, as they enter each department. If you want an I-Pod, you have to form a single cue and maneuver through the "Audio Racetrack". If you want printer ink, you enter the single-file "PC Racetrack". I believe that this invention was set up to protect passive southerners, like myself, from aggressive shopping "Yankee" women. I have few phobias in life... only spiders, alligators and angry northern women.

There is only one problem with the Racetrack System. If you miss what you are looking for on your first pass through, you have to reenter the line and continue the entire process again.

Best Buy severely disappointed me on this trip. The items that I was trying to retrieve from their mailing circular were not clearly marked or distinguished from other items. Many of the large ticket items on the floor were not clearly price marked.

After wandering through "Racetracks" aimlessly for about 25 minutes, I left Best Buy dejected and giftless. Live and Learn. Some people just aren't cut out for Black Friday shopping. I am one of those people.

Outer Banks 2009

2009-11-07T15:08:00.074-06:00

The last week of August, 5 couples, 7 kids 4-years old and younger and Albright rented a beach house in the Outer Banks, NC. (In the picture: front row kids L-R - Kate and Abby Edwards, Jack and Emma Jeter, Henry Viscardi; 2nd row Adults and infants - the Kennedy's, Tim and Nicole Callhan, Meg and Keith Edwards and Olivia, Vanessa and Rob Jeter, Mike and Sarah Viscardi and Caroline, and Brian Albright).

This is probably my favorite picture from the trip. Abby randomly pulled this book off of the book shelf and was running around with it. Tim asked her what she was reading, so she held it up. Everyone in the room lost their composure!!!

This is Henry Viscardi. Henry normally has arms, legs and a torso attached to his head. Very few 4 year olds will lay still long enough to be buried in sand. Henry obviously will. He ran around most of the week covered in sand. When he was not digging on the beach, he ran around inside the house with his Handy Manny tool set repairing everything in sight.

This is Olivia hamming it up for Tim's camera.

Rachel with Abby and Kate.

(Albright making steamers). Every family was responsible for dinner one night. Brian boiled crab pots for Friday night's dinner. They were D-Lish!!!

Sweet Caroline

Me and Albright making our fashion statement. (Please note that he is sporting Lilly Pulitzer, while mine are a more economical brand).

Me, Rob and Albright enjoying steamers.

Olivia wearing "Pasta Night".

Rachel, Sarah and their matching tops.

Rob and Emma chilling in the living room.

Sarah Viscardi - lifelong Vanderbilt fan, caught sitting in a University of Tennessee beach chair - SCANDALOUS!!!

Tim, Nicole, Rachel and I rode from Philadelphia to the Outer Banks together. We left Friday and stayed in Norfolk, VA. While we were there, we went to see the Norfolk Tides baseball team play. Above is a photo of Tim, Nicole and Rachel outside of the stadium before the game.

The Tides is a AAA team and at least used to be affiliated with the New York Mets. I believe that they are now with the Nationals or Orioles, as the Minor Leagues re-aligned several years ago to place Minor League franchises closer to their Major League home market. For instance, the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs are now one of the Philadelphia Philly affiliates (only 90 minutes from Center City Philly). Trenton, NJ is the A affiliate for the New York Yankees (again, they are only ~90 minutes from Yankee Stadium).

The Tide Mascot was very active before the game started. He took a special liking to Nicole (see video below). He was very good interacting with both kids and adults.

Tim and I left in the 2nd Inning to pick up Brian Albright from the airport. Brian currently works at the Dow Plant in the San Fransisco area, and flew in for the week. Brian's flight was delayed due to the hurricane, so we did not make it back to the stadium until the bottom of the 8th inning. We saw the Tides seal the win and donned our sporty 3-D glasses for the Fireworks Extravaganza.

Below is a video of the Tide Mascot torturing Nicole.

Above is a picture of the sunrise I awoke to on the first morning. I took this picture from the deck outside of our kitchen.

This is our big green house. It comfortably slept 11 adults (some might argue that there were fewer adults than this, but technically 11 people met the legal definition of adulthood) and seven children 4 years old or younger. We had a pool, hot tub, a Playstation 2, pool table, foosball table, horseshoe pit, basketball goal and wireless internet. It also had many, many bedrooms, bathrooms and dual dishwashers, which comes in very handy when living with 18 people.

(View from our overlook deck)

(Another view from our overlook deck)

We arrived to the beach house on Saturday afternoon, while Hurricane Bill was about 150 miles east of the Outer Banks. Before we left the following Saturday, Hurricane Danny rolled directly over us (luckily, it was a lower grade storm). Due to the storms, the lifeguards kept everyone out of the ocean Saturday through Monday. Below is a picture from that Sunday. As Keith so eloquently stated many times during the week, "The Sea Was Angry, My Friend."

Tuesday was "Mothers' Day Out". For their event this year, the ladies chose to take surf lessons and eat lunch. (Pictured above L-R: J.M. (Instructor), Sarah Viscardi, Rachel, Vanessa Jeter, Meg Edwards, Nicole Callahan).

The girls arose early and headed off for their 9 AM surf lesson, leaving the dads (and Tim and I) to execute breakfast duty with the kids.

(Surfer Meg). The entire session was about 2 hours or so, including the time it took them to get fitted for their wet suits. After getting their suits, the ladies received instruction on the beach for about 30 minutes and then spent about an hour in the water. According to Rachel, this was plenty of time in the water, as they were all worn out.

Surf Nicole won the distinction of being the first surfer to get up on her board. Her reward... a free lunch.

(Surfer Rachel) Tim and I left the house when the Dads took the kids to the beach in order to get some pictures and video footage of the surfing. We made it to the beach about 15 minutes before the end of the lesson.

After the surf lesson, the ladies came back to the house and showered before their lunch.

Sarah and Meg even decided to dress alike.

Below is a video of Rachel getting up on her board. This is the first shot I got when Tim and I arrived to take pictures.

On Tuesday night (our normal trivia night in Philadlephia at the Lucky Dog), Rachel and I hosted trivia for the three teams. The winning team of Tim Callahan, Meg Edwards and Sarah Viscardi are shown here. They were a well-balanced and solid team (do not ever go up against Sarah in "Entertainment Trivia"; she is lights-out).

Rob, Vanessa and Brian are shown here. Going into the night, they were the favorite. We played the normal 6 rounds - Current Events, Sports, Random, Music, Portrait Round, and Entertainment. According to Brian, I chose lousy music, lousy pictures for the portrait round, lousy entertainment and current events noone would know (which was somewhat true, as nobody had been watching TV or reading the newspaper). Nice blanket, Albright.

Wednesday was Guy's Day Out. The group (present company excluded) decided to play golf. This was also one of the Decathlon events.

We had a 7:45 ish tee time at Nagshead Golf Links, which meant we had to be up at the crack of dawn, as it was an hour drive from the peninsula. The course was very nice, but pretty tight, which meant I lost several balls throughout the day.

Edwards preparing to tee off.

Callahan winding up for his tee shot.

We split into two-threesomes. Keith, Tim and I played together. They were great partners for me, as I am fairly confident that we were the less serious-minded of the two threesomes.

As expected, Mike Viscardi took the golf event, shooting near par. Callahan edged Albright, who had not played in over a year, for second by one stroke. Also, as expected, I finished dead last.

Following golf, the guys had lunch at a micro-brewery in Nags Head. Here is a picture of Callahan eating his first hush puppy ever. Somehow, the great southern fried delicacy that are hush puppies did not gain wide acceptance in the north. Although, I am confident that with the gaining popularity of NASCAR and country music, hush puppies cannot be far behind. The food at the pub was pretty darn good. In addition to hush puppies, I loaded up on fried okra, too.

(L-R Rob, Keith and Mike passing an appetizer to me at the Brewery after golf)

Wednesday after golf, all of the families loaded up and headed to Corolla for Wine Tasting and a picnic near the lighthouse.

It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon, and we had a wonderful time. There was space for the kids to play (and for Albright to conduct his Fantasy Football Draft conference call).

(The Sound at sunset)

(Currituck Lighthouse)

(Artsy sunset photo - Courtesy of Brian Albright)

(Chef Robert Jeter and Emma) Rob and Vanessa provided bar-b-que for the picnic dinner. It was great being back in the south, where we could get some good old North Carolina pork bar-b-que.

Meg, Nicole and Rachel before dinner.

Tim, Nicole and Rachel enjoying dinner after wine tasting.

Nicole at the conclusion of a long day.

Thursday, the day was spent relaxing on the beach and male competition in more Decathlon events (horse shoes and obstacle bocce). Callahan won both events. Thursday night was poker night. This is a shot of Rob and Tim at the outdoor picnic poker table. Notice Tim's shirt, advertising the Philadelphia Phillies, the "losingest" franchise in sports history... any sport. The pain is somewhat dulled by the World Series Win in 2008.

Keith invoked the "40 Rule" for poker night - No beer at the poker table smaller than a 40 oz. As you can see in the above picture, Tim quickly violated the rule. Here, the refined Brian Albright is enjoying the "Champagne of Beers" Miller High Life.

Keith and I with our "GARS". Keith is wearing his "Rolling with my Gnomies" T-shirt, which is one of my favorite T's. After jumping out to a quick chip lead, I faded fast. Albright ultimately took poker night. Edwards was 2nd.

Saturday morning, after the passage of Tropical Storm Danny (it was afraid to upgrade to a Hurricane following the angry taunts of Keith Edwards yelling at him from the ocean on Wednesday night), we all packed our cars and headed home. It was a great trip with great friends. Special thanks to Rob and Vanessa Jeter, who spent a week with us during their relocation to Midland, MI (I mean this literally, as the movers took their furniture the night before they left to come to the beach. They would reunite with their furniture after there LONG drive from the North Carolina coast to Midland).

Independence Day - Guys Weekend

2009-09-19T09:49:00.057-05:00

I apologize for my long absence from the Blogging World. I don't really have a good excuse. Life has just been busy for the last bit. Lots of good things to blog about, but not much time to actually write it down. When you wait so long to put it down on paper, you forget a lot of the funny things that actually happen.

Each year on the Fourth of July Weekend, a group of my college friends gets together to create new life stories and pester each other endlessly. This year, Mark Clark, Bill Langston and Reed Stephenson visited Philadelphia, the Cradle of Liberty and The City of Brotherly Love, for Independence Day.

Mark Clark arrived on Wednesday afternoon. After picking him up at the airport, we joined some of my Dow Chemical (heritage Rohm and Haas) buddies at La Scala's downtown for "Center City Sips". Pictured here (L-R) are Jeff Roberts, SMW (who actually reads this blog occasionally), Evan McCaskey and Lucas Kammerzell.

Thursday, I worked while Clark toured the city. Bill arrived Thursday afternoon. We picked him up from the airport and headed downtown for a while. We went to Eulogy, an old pub with a plethora of Belgian beers on tap. We then headed back to La Scala (outdoor seating and nice weather) to meet another group of heritage Rohm and Haas friends.

With time to kill, we stopped at a Bar-b-que restaurant slash Tequila bar on our way back to the car. Of course, Mark Clark, gourmet food expert, could not resist buying a bar-b-que sandwich, despite my protests (there is a reason that Philadelphia is known for its cheese steaks and not its bar-b-que). Mark choked down his sandwich and side items, and then we headed to the airport to pick up Reed.

For anyone who does not know Reed, I really don't have enough space to try to analyze him. All I can say is... he is an absolute riot to be around. You never know what is going to happen. A simple task, such as an airport pick-up, can take on exponential levels of complexity and hilarity when Reed is involved. The story begins with Reed calling us from Atlanta earlier in the afternoon to tell us that his flight is on time. He also informs us that there is a "hot blond chick" on his flight, and he has already introduced himself to her. She is flying to Philly to visit a friend, who works for Dow/Rohm and Haas.

Fast forward - Reed's plane lands in Philadelphia. By this time, he has applied the full court press on his new lady friend. Our group is now committed to attend the Independence Day Parade downtown because she is riding on one of the floats. Reed is convinced that with his new connection, he can get us onto that float. We have also been volunteered to provide taxi service for the young lady from the airport to downtown - No problem; we are all anxious to meet her. We inform Reed that we will pick him up outside in front of baggage claim in 10 minutes. Fast forward 20 minutes. We are now on our 3rd trip around the baggage claim area of the Philadelphia International Airport. No Reed. Bill pulls out his "Sweet Ass I-Phone" and places a call to find out where Reed is. Reed has no memory of the previous conversation where we told him we would pick him up outside of Baggage Claim. Trip 4, we finally pick up Reed at the predetermined location. As Reed enters our car, he informs us that our frequent phone calls ruined his chances with the blond girl. Apparently, we threw off his mo-jo.

Luckily, Mark Clark captured footage of this event on his VLOG. The link for this video is:

When we do manage to pick up Reed, he, of course, is waiting on the other side of the road for pick-up. It didn't occur to him that he should wait where the other 300 people are waiting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFFb32-mHjY&feature=related

From the airport, we headed to The Lucky Dog, where Clark ate his second full dinner of the evening.

Friday morning, we headed to Pottsville, PA, about an hour and 15 minutes from our house, to the Yuengling Brewery - the oldest brewery in America. Yuengling was founded in 1829 and is still run by the Yuengling family. Interestingly, each generation must purchase the company from the previous generation. The family's strong German roots insist that you will take better care of something if you pay for it. The four daughters of the current owner all work for the brewery and are making plans to purchase it from their father in several years.

One of the traditions of Guys Weekend is that we find a local brewery to tour. The first tour was packed, so we headed to a local pub for lunch. Here, we learned about the Pottsville Maroons, a professional football team, that should have won the 1925 NFL Championship. Originally from the independent "Anthracite League", the Maroons joined the NFL in the early 1920's. They had the best record in the NFL in 1925, but were not awarded the championship because they were suspended for playing an unsanctioned game against a Notre Dame All-Star Team, which included the Four Horsemen. Pottsville won that game, too, but the championship went to the Chicago Cardinals.

After lunch, we walked back up the hill to the brewery for our tour. Our tour guide was a young lady, who was obviously ready to go home for the day. She knew all of her facts, which she was able to recite in a monotone, but she was less than enthusiastic in her presentation. She finally warmed up to us about half way through the tour, after Reed threw on the charm.

This is a good shot of Clark and Reed in the bottling operation. This is by far the most complex part of making and packaging beer. Lots of moving parts, so many points where something can go wrong.

Today, Yuengling also brews in Tampa Bay, FL, in addition to Pottsville. It is distributed in over 30 states.

We drove back from Pottsville to Valley Forge, PA and toured the old encampment that afternoon. This is where Washington quartered the Continental Army in the winter of 1777-1778. The site has the original houses, where the officers were quartered, as well as recreations of the barracks where the enlisted troops slept. Some of the barracks are pictured behind Bill. Each would house about 6 soldiers.

Here, Reed is posing in front of Washington's headquarters. Much of the house is still original, and they have it set up as it was during the Revolutionary War. Martha actually came up from Virginia to stay with George in these quarters during the winter of 1777. Although the house looks large, apparently there was not much room, as about 15-20 advisers, staffers and servants also stayed in the house.

After touring Valley Forge, we cleaned up and headed to dinner in Manyunk. We ate at the brewery, which is situated along the river. The weather was great, so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the evening.

Clark at the Brewery.

Reed chilling at the brewery.

After dinner, we walked around Manyunk, which is the Philadelphia equivalent of Chicago's Wrigleyville. It is a trendy part of town where recent college graduates live. It is surrounded by stores, bars and restaurants. Pretty cool little place. The video below is of Reed trying out a new toy at one of the antique stores in the area.

It is a brave new world, as the guys turned over a new leaf this year for Guys Weekend. Rachel and Mark Clark signed us up to run a mountainous 5K on Saturday morning. Part of the Pickle Series that Rachel has done for the past several months, the race was for those who enjoy a little humor in addition to running. Each of us won an award in the race. Our trophies are shown here.

We cleaned up after the race and headed into Philadelphia to observe some of the Fourth of July celebrations. We went to the Constitution Center and saw the presentation there. It was fantastic, as usual. There were a lot of outdoor exhibits, too, to celebrate our nation's birthday. It was a lot of fun.

We cooked out at the house for the evening (title picture shows us all out on the back deck at the house enjoying burgers, corn and lots of other great food). It was a great way to cap off another successful Guys's Weekend.

REFLECTIONS - Kenny Chesney Concert

Rachel and I went to see the Kenny Chesney Concert in Philadelphia on June 27 (thanks Mom). In my opinion, Kenny puts on the best concerts out there. If you go, I promise you that you will have a good time.

One of the best things about the Kenny Chesney Concert Series is that he always has great acts opening for him. This year was no different. Lady Antebellum was the first act. They are one of my favorite new, young groups. Miranda Lambert (pictured here) played second. While I am not normally a big fan of her music, she was very good live.

Next up was Montgomery Gentry. Eddie Montgomery (shown here) is a big-time entertainer on stage. He can spin a mic stand like a UT majorette spinning a baton. Montgomery Gentry is a great opening act because they have some fun songs that really get the crowd going.

My favorite band in country music is Sugarland. They played directly before Kenny took the stage. Christian Bush, brother of the lead singer of the rock band Bush, is the mandolin playing member of the duet. I also posted a video of Bush playing below.

Jennifer Nettles is the lead singer for Sugarland. She is AWESOME!!! I absolutely love her voice (video of her singing is also posted below). The crowd was really into Sugarland during the concert. You could hear the fans singing along with almost all of their songs. Having a band of Sugarland's caliber opening, speaks to how popular Kenny Chesney is.

Near the end of their concert set, Bush and Nettles were zipped into large plastic bubbles. They then rolled out over the crowd. Below is a video of Jennifer Nettles as she rolled over us.

Kenny was the final act. He never disappoints. Rachel and I are always amazed at how hard he performs. Any other concert that you go to, the artist will stop, introduce his/her band, walk around stage between songs, or do many other things to stall and catch his/her breath. Kenny Chesney rocks it out the entire time he is on stage. I have never seen a performer work that hard for 2 1/2 hours straight.

Father's Day in Knoxville

2009-08-08T19:59:00.022-05:00

Father's Day weekend, I flew to Knoxville for some meetings at the University of Tennessee. It was nice because I got to be with my Dad on Father's Day.

Saturday night, I got to hang out with Laddy (my cousin), Amy and Ellie. Ellie was born when we were home for Christmas, so this is the second time I have seen her. Ellie is a riot. She is a good baby; she was not fussy at all at dinner. When we got to Laddy's and Amy's, we played for a while, gave her a bath, and put her to bed. Didn't hear her cry once.

Sunday, I had lunch at Beaverbrook Country Club with my parents, Uncle Stan and Aunt Lou, and my cousin Reid, his wife Renee, and their kids Kara and Ryan. It is always good to get to see family when I go home.

The lunch was very good, and it was nice because I bumped into some other old friends at the club. It was a beautiful day. Beaverbrook is really beautiful in the spring and early summer.

(Picture below of my Mom and Uncle Stan) REFLECTIONS - Bean and the Taxi Crab

A couple of weeks ago, Brian Bean, one of my roommates from college came to Philadelphia with his son Wesley and our friend Shane Pledge and his son Matthew to see the St. Louis Cardinals play the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bean grew up near St. Louis and moved to Winchester, VA in high school. He and Kevin Tharp were my roommates my sophmore and junior year. Brian's dad lives in Wilmington, DE, about 45 minutes south of Philly. Brian has always been a HUGE Cardinals fan, so he and Shane decided to do a road trip with their sons.

They drove to Washington DC to watch the Cardinals play the Nationals and then came up to Bean's dad's for the Phillies game on Saturday. We met them several hours before the game at Chickie and Pete's, a Philadelphia food landmark (if you ever come to Philly, you have to try Chickie and Pete's crab fries).

It was awesome catching up with them. We hung out for about 3 hours and then put them on the "Taxi Crab" to the stadium (about 1 mile away).

I was able to get some great video inside the Taxi Crab.

To conclude, I have a video of the Taxi Crab leaving. Be sure you have your volume turned up so you can hear the music playing.

The Clampitts Take New York

2009-07-26T19:55:00.048-05:00

For Christmas this year, Rachel and I gave my parents a guided (by us) trip to New York City, including a show on Broadway.

(Dad, Rachel and Mom at Rockefeller Plaza)

One of the great things about living in Philadelphia is that we are only a couple of hours from NYC. We drove to Hamilton, NJ, about 45 minutes from our house and took the train 1 hour and 15 minutes into Penn Station in Manhattan. It is the only way to go because you don't have to fight traffic or worry about parking in The City.

(Mom and Dad in NYC)

We went up on Thursday in order to make it a little easier to get Broadway tickets. Unfortunately, the weather was not great. Luckily, it wasn't hot. However, it rained quite a bit on Thursday, which hampered some of our activities.

(Mom and Dad on a double-decker bus)

We tried to take a bus tour of Uptown Manhattan. Unfortunately, the rain started as we prepared to reboard after making our first stop. For the roughly 1/2 mile we rode on the tour, we had possibly the worst tour guide I have ever heard (this says a lot, as our guide the last time we were in NYC with Sarah and Greg Cornell was terrible). She had lousy jokes, and she was very difficult to understand.

(Dad and Mom in Central Park)

We got off the bus tour at Central Park and walked around for a little while. It always amazes me that architects planned for the MASSIVE space that is now Central Park so long ago. It is really impressive how big it is. When you are inside it, it is pretty neat to see the skyscrapers sticking up over the tree line. It is also nice because you are insulated from much of the noise normally associated with New York City.

(Rachel, Dad and Mom in Central Park)

The hotels surrounding Central Park

(Mom, Dad and Rachel in front of the Waldorf Astoria) As part of the treat, we stayed at the famous Waldorf Astoria (thank you for being a Hilton property, so points could make this possible). It is a very cool historic hotel. I would recommend staying there if you ever have the chance.

The lobby at the Waldorf is very ornate. If you click to enlarge this picture, you can see the replica clock that stands in the center of the lobby. It was beautiful. The hotel has kept to its formal roots (which is totally not me). They ask that guests wear collared shirts when in the lobby area. Luckily, I read this before I went to stay there, or I am sure that I would have offended them.

After checking into our room and cleaning up, we went to an early dinner in Little Italy before the show. Little Italy is in Downtown Manhattan and has many wonderful Italian restaurants.

We picked Cafe Lunesta based on Heather's (Rachel's sister) recommendation. She did not lead us astray. The food was excellent and prices were reasonable, especially for New York. I saw some mixed reviews on the web with regard to their service, but they treated us very well. This is a photo of Dad and Mom in the restaurant.

After dinner, we hopped on the subway and headed up to Broadway. We decided to see Jersey Boys over the Lion King (Rachel's parents had seen it and liked it). It won a Tony Award a few years ago. It is the story of Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons and their rise to fame. The music and acting are FANTASTIC!!! I would go see it again in a heartbeat. It has some rough language in parts to be true to its Jersey roots, but you can easily overlook that given the quality of the music and acting.

After the play, we walked back towards our hotel. We wanted to take Mom and Dad through Time Square at night. It is amazing how much light the advertising signs put off. It is like Las Vegas on steroids with respect to light. We also walked Mom and Dad by Radio Center Music Hall - home of The Rockettes.

The picture of all four of us in front of Radio City Music Hall above is a funny story. I asked a young lady to take a picture of all 4 of us. I then realized that she was drunk (it would have been helpful to know this before I asked her to take our picture). If you enlarge the picture, you can actually see the raindrops that accumulated on the lens as she tried to figure out how to snap the picture. This would not seem so strange if every camera around the world didn't have the "snap" button in exactly the same place as every other camera in the world. Mankind may have not been able to standardize on a system of measurement (Imperial vs. metric), but we have definitely standardized on where to place the "Shoot Photo" button on cameras. This fact did not help this poor girl. She was entertaining though.

The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel, left our bags with the bellhop and caught a taxi to Battery Park to catch our boat to the Statue of Liberty. The taxi ride was not adventurous by New York standards. Luckily, this cabbie knew the traffic patterns well, so he kept us from missing our boat, despite the fact that it was morning rush hour.

Unfortunately, the weather Friday morning was also crappy. It was really foggy, as you can see by the pictures. Still, the Statue of Liberty is a site that is worth seeing in any weather. You can really get emotional putting yourselves in the shoes of people, who left all that they knew for a chance for a better life in the new world. They often had no possessions, other than the clothes on their backs and the entry fee required to be processed into the United States. After spending months on the boat, the first site they would see as a sign that they were arriving was the Statue of Liberty - the symbol of freedom.

The Statue of Liberty

After taking the self-guided audio tour at the Statue of Liberty, we got back onto the ferry and visited Ellis Island. This is where the immigrants were given physicals, tested for mental illness and processed before being allowed to enter New York City. Some could be stuck here for days if they encountered problems during the entry process.

Dad and Rachel in the great hall at Ellis Island - This is the hall where immigrants waited to be called to pass through to the next phase of their processing - they physical. It was amazing to learn about how the officials would observe the immigrants throughout the process trying to spot anyone with a highly contageous or other dangerous disease or with mental illness.

Dad and I in the great hall of Ellis Island

After touring Ellis Island, we got back onto the Ferry and headed back to Manhattan. Here is a picture of the city from Ellis Island.

After eating lunch, we walked to Ground Zero and toured the church where some of the volunteers stayed during the clean-up effort. It is a beautiful little chapel. You can't see much at Ground Zero now because they have it fenced in. Still, you can see how big of an area still has nothing standing on it. It is really hard to take in still.

We then caught the subway up to Park Avenue, retrieved our bags from the hotel and went back to Penn Station to catch the New Jersey Railway to Hamilton.

Saturday, we relaxed around the house. It was Dad's birthday, so we took him to dinner at Fogo de Chao in Center City Philadelphia. Fogo de Chao is a Brazilian Steakhouse. Ladies - you can stop reading and skip down to the next picture/paragraph. Gentleman - Fogo de Chao is the mecca for carnivorous eaters world-wide. Meat-eaters world-wide should make a once a year pilgrimmage to FdC. When you enter, you are issued a circle, which my dad is holding here. As long as it is turned to "red", you are safe. Once you turn the cirlce to "green" however, hold onto your hat. 16 different cuts of meat (steak, pork, chicken, lamb) are brought by your table and served to you, until you turn the circle back to "red". Once you work your plate back down to a workable level, flip it to "green", and more meat arrives at your table. Unlimited sides of mashed potatoes, carmelized bananas, warm cheese bread and palenta accompany the meal.

Ladies, Fogo de Chao has an awesome salad bar, so you should take your husband there for a healthy meal.

I love this picture. Notice that my dad can barely sit up after consuming 14 lbs of meat. The funniest part of the evening was when he commented on just how enjoyable that meal could have been if it had just been me and him; he felt that the consistent reprimands from Mom and Rachel regarding how much and how fast Dad and I were eating, were a bit distracting from the meal.

Sunday, we relaxed some more at the house. Sunday evening, we grilled at the house. We grilled burgers, asparagus and corn on the cob. We also had Rachel's bean salad (awesome dish) and roasted potatoes.

Rachel enjoying corn on the cob.

For desert, we had one of our favorite Bobby Flay deserts - grilled pineapple on top of grilled pound cake, covered with a caramel rum sauce and ice cream.

REFLECTIONS - Rachel's First Phillies Game

This past Tuesday, Tim and Nicole Callahan (along with Tim's dad, Big Tim, and sister, Aileen) went to see the Phillies play the Cubs. Nicole and Tim are pictured here flanking Rachel. I went to a game in September 2007 before Rachel moved to Philadelphia, but this was Rachel's first game at Citizen's Bank Park.

During the game, Tim asked me what I thought was the nicest ballpark in baseball. After thinking for a while, I came to the conclusion that I probably haven't been in any parks nicer than Citizen's Bank Park. It compares favorably to Citi Field (Mets), The Ted in Atlanta, the new Comiskey in Chicago, PNC Park (Pittsburgh) and Comerica Park (Detroit). While I have not been to Camden Yards, I can say that I have not been in a nicer baseball stadium than the Phillies park.

The Phillies won the game in the bottom of the 13th inning on a 3 run walk-off home run by Jayson Werth. Unfortunately, we all had to work on Wednesday, so we headed for the cars in the top of the 13th and missed it.

The park has excellent seating, great food and lots of attractions. It also has a couple of peculiar items, which I thought were worthy of a Reflection. First, ushers do not allow anyone to walk down the aisles to the outfield seats from the concourse during an at-bat as "a courtesy". They make you wait until an out is made or until the half inning is completed before taking your seat. If this arrangement occurred in a southern city or in a city where the fans are known for their sportsmanship, this nuance would not have caught me by surprise. However, I have never seen this in any other, and the whole idea seems out of place in the city where the sports fans are most famous for "Booing" Santa Claus. The City of Brotherly Love is not exactly world renown for its hospitality to opposing fans and teams, so this "courtesy" caught me fully by surprise.

The other activity that was deemed Reflection-worthy was the Philly Phanatic (mascot), using the well-known T-shirt cannon to launch hot dogs to fans between innings. This was no ordinary T-shirt cannon, however, as it must have been using an extra high pressure cylinder pump, as the Phanatic was able to practically put these hot dogs into orbit (they were frequently reaching the 3rd deck). As I gazed upon this spectacle, I could not help but wonder, "What does a hot dog that has just been exposed to several hundred pounds per square inch of compressed gas look like when it is opened?" I have to imagine that it is likely about 1/3 of its original size due to the compression, and I can't imagine that it would be very palatable.

Annapolis, MD and the DC Zoo

2009-07-12T09:12:00.024-05:00

The first weekend in June, Rachel and I went with our friends Keith and Meg Edwards (and daughters Kate, Abby and Olivia) to Annapolis, MD for the "One Fit Mama" 10K race. While not meeting the criteria of "Mama", Rachel was able to enter the race and run with Meg's team.

We left Saturday morning and drove to the National Zoo in Washington DC. We spent the afternoon walking the girls around to look at the animals in the zoo. After a while, Kate and Abby got tired of walking. Since Keith only has one set of shoulders, I got to take Abby for a ride on mine. At 3 1/2, the girls' memories amaze me, as they were able to tell me all about all of the animals we saw. If I read one of the signs to Abby, she was able to recite all of the facts back to me 20 minutes later.

The D.C. zoo has a really nice panda exhibit. It beats the great panda exhibits in any zoos I have been to previously (including the San Diego Zoo). It was a clean, spacious and natural habitat, and the panda moved around quite a bit while we were there, which is good because they are typically fairly lethargic.

As I mentioned, Keith took Kate on his shoulders. One of the highlights of the trip for me was shortly after arriving at the zoo, Kate pointed out the zebras to Keith. When Keith walked over to the railing with her, she enthusiastically asks, "Daddy, is he pooping?" I got a good chuckle out of that one.

Exhausted, we left the zoo about 3:00 PM and drove back up to Annapolis to check into our hotel. After cleaning up, we headed into downtown Annapolis. If you have not been, I strongly encourage you go. It is a beautiful small town, perfect for a romantic getaway, or to go to watch your wife run a 10K.

We met the "One Fit Mama" team for dinner at a seafood house (the food was very good), and then Rachel and I walked around the town afterwards. Annapolis is home to the Naval Academy, and backs up to the Chesapeke Bay. Yachts dock all along the restaurant area, and the scene is quite vibrant. The town itself is historic and has some beautiful older buildings and churches.

Sunday morning, Rachel and Meg got up early and headed over to the race. After he got the girls dressed and ready, Keith and I drove over to the Navy football field, parked, and caught a bus to the finish line. It downpoured at the beginning of the race, so Keith and I managed to get the three girls, stroller and umbrellas onto the bus. This is a picture of Rachel (back left) coming towards the finish line. I am happy to report that she passed both of the girls pictured in front of her here.

After the race, we caught the bus back to the Navy football field for the awards ceremony and refreshments. Meg's college roommate, Mel, actually won the Half Marathon (she was FLYING - she beat the top male finisher by 2 minutes). This is a picture of Meg and Rachel after finishing the 10K (5.2 miles)

Being an avid college football fan, it was fun for me to walk around Navy's stadium.

This is a picture taken outside of the stadium before the race. It also shows the poor running conditions for the race start.

I got a good shot of the retired Blue Angel F-18 Hornet parked outside of the stadium. Every school in the SEC (except for maybe Kentucky, Vandy and Mississippi St.) should have some sort of war machine on display to strike fear in opposing fans. I think an M1 Abrams tank or an F-22 Raptor strike jet would look great outside of Gate 21 at Neyland Stadium.

After the Awards Ceremony, us and the Edwards showered and checked out of the hotel. We headed up to Mike and Sarah Viscardi's for lunch (Mike is a childhood friend of Keith who lives in the area). We met Mike and Sarah last year, when they were in Philadelphia for a visit. On our way, we stopped at the World War II Memorial, which overlooks the bay toward the Naval Academy. If you enlarge the picture, you will see the Academy in the background.

Rachel and I at the World War II Memorial.

This is a shot I took of the Naval Academy from the bridge near the race finish.

Kate, Olivia and Abby at the World War II Memorial.

A great shot of the entire Edwards clan (Kate, Olivia, Keith, Meg and Abby).

A special thanks to the Edwards for allowing us to tag along with their family on a great trip!!! We look forward to our next trip together - The Outer Banks during the last week of August.

Memorial Day at the Arizona Biltmore

2009-06-15T17:38:00.036-05:00

I found a special deal at the Arizona Biltmore resort in Phoenix, Arizona for Memorial Day Weekend. The resort was celebrating its 80th birthday by providing rooms for $80/night. Having visited the resort during our stay in Scottsdale in March, it was a deal that we could not pass up.

The Arizona Biltmore was built in 1929 by the McArthur Brothers. One of their nephews, Albert Chase McArthur, is the architect on record. Frank Lloyd Wright was a consultant on the project for a few months in 1928, and the building looks and feels like a Wright creation (he is often mis-credited as being the architect of the resort). McArthur had studied under Wright for a few years after graduating from Harvard. In 1930, following the stock market crash, the McArthur brothers were forced to sell their shares of the resort to the chief financier, William Wrigley, Jr. One of his vacation homes is pictured here (it sits on a hill overlooking the property). The entire project had a Chicago connection, as Wrigley, the McArthurs and Wright were all from Chicago and forged their relationships there.

The property remained under Wrigley's private ownership until his family sold the property to the Talley family in 1970. During this time, it was invitation only and hosted many movie stars, athletes, and every sitting U.S. President from Herbert Hoover onward. Each sitting President has continued to stay at the Arizona Biltmore to this day (Obama has not yet, but he will receive an invitation shortly). Ronald and Nancy Reagan honeymooned there in 1952 and visited many times afterward. In the 1930's and 1940's, invitees typically moved their families to the resort for several months at a time - often October through April. Everything needed to sustain a family was on the grounds - restaurants, clothing stores, drugstore, doctor, barber, etc. There were rooms for the nannys, drivers, butlers and other servants that would accompany the family to the Arizona Biltmore.

Friday night, David (a friend of Rachel's from high school) and Dani Latimer took us to a really cool bar called The Vic. It had outdoor seating and was awesome (even though the days were heating up, nights still cooled off into the low 70's). It was great to hang out with David and Dani again. They are both hilarious and a blast to hang out with.

Saturday morning, Rachel and I took the organized history tour of the resort, which is where I obtained most of the facts I am spewing forth in this blog. This shot is taken from the patio on the 2nd floor. Interestingly, the original search light of the hotel is still mounted just above where this shot was taken. In the 1930's, the hotel was 8 miles outside of the city limits (the city has sense sprawled all around it. The search light was used to show guests where the hotel was located. During Prohibition, the search light also served an additional purpose. The cigar room, where the liquor was hidden, had a moon roof. If a line of cars was seen speeding up the road from Phoenix towards the resort, the search light operator would swing the light across the moon roof, alerting those imbibing alcohol that a raid was imminent. The liquor would be hidden and the social group would disperse before the authorities arrived.

A view through the courtyard.

This is a picture of our cottage, which overlooked the courtyard area.

This is a picture of the courtyard area. It was really pretty, especially with the mountains in the background at sunset. The restaurants, bar, clothing stores, etc. surrounded the courtyard. In the evenings, kids would play on the grounds, while families ate outdoors at the restaurants. It was really kind of cool to see and a great place to people watch.

It was especially funny to watch some of the younger kids play in the area. They were drawn towards this fountain, and almost always came away wet.

Above is a nice panoramic video of the courtyard area with all of the stores and restuarants.

This is a framed photo of the resort in 1930, soon after it opened. At that time, it still was a desert. Phoenix, Arizona is perhaps the most inefficient consumer of water on earth. If you are an environmentalist, chances are that you hate Phoenix and Las Vegas. Water is transferred through open air aquaducts from the Colorado River to Phoenix (the evaporation rate has to be HUGE, as there is no tree cover for the transfer). Grass is everywhere at all of the resorts in Phoenix and Scottsdale, meaning that a great deal of this water goes to upkeep of grass that would not naturally be there otherwise. While it is beautiful, it is certainly wasteful. The landscape in the surrounding area is so unique, it would still be beautiful without all of the lush grass and palm trees.

This is a picture of one of the gardens on the premises. There are amazing flower gardens all over the grounds.

The lobby is really cool and exhibits the Frank Lloyd Wright influence with the low lighting and horizontalism. This shot looks down over the front desk area (the bar is in the distance). In the 1970's, a guest called the front desk and complained that the bar customers were being too loud. The front desk worker told the guest to open their door and shout over the bannister at the bar patrons. When the guest looked over the balcony to the bar, he saw that the rucos was coming from a few of the guests singing at the piano in the bar. It was Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Liza Minelli. He did not go to bed; he came downstairs. In the 1990's, the hotel pianist saw Billy Joel sitting atthe bar. He began playing only Elton John songs until Billy Joel got up from his seat and joined him at the piano. This bar is also the birthplace of the original tequila sunrise (1940's). Interestingly, the original recipe does not contain orange juice.

The Arizona Biltmore has several pools. This is a photo of the Catalina pool, which is one of the original pools at the resort. Marilyn Monroe once remarked that this was her favorite pool in the world.

This is a picture of some of the "corporate" rooms adjacent to the Catalina Pool. These condos are 2 bedroom, 1500 square foot dwellings.

The highlight of our trip was meeting up with Charlie and Dana Outlaw, their daughter, Amanda, and Pete Symonds. They happened to be vacationing in Arizona at the same time we were there. We had dinner with them both Friday and Saturday night. I worked indirectly for Charlie when I was with Eastman Chemical. They have been good friends of ours for a very long time. We had not seen each other in over 3 years, so it was great to catch up with them.

Saturday, we worked it out where Amanda could come over and play at our main pool before we went to dinner. The main pool has an awesome water slide for the kids. Of course, after Amanda rode it, the big kids - Rachel, Charlie, Pete and I rode the slide with her several more times. It was a lot of fun. The video above is of Amanda coming down the slide on her first run.

REFLECTIONS - Tea for Two

The Arizona Biltmore serves high tea every day at 2 PM October through May. They have done this since the hotel opened in 1929. Rachel and I made a reservation for Sunday (the last day tea was offered for the season). Three courses were served - appetizers (pictured here), scones and pound cake, and deserts.

Rachel enjoyed a nice southern mint tea.

The highlight of my meal was the quail egg. Those of you who know us well, know that Rachel and I often spend our Sunday afternoons watching The Food Network as we work around the house. In my numerous hours of Food Network viewing, I have learned that quail eggs are the quintessential ingredient for a true 5-Star meal. All of the Iron Chefs use quail eggs frequently, and although I have never seen my hero, Guy Fieri, adorn a pile of fried goodness with a quail egg, I fully expect him to any episode. Rachel summed up the quail egg concisely, "Ummm... it tastes like a little deviled egg."

Me enjoying my sensible Earl Grey Tea. It is particularly difficult for a guy as big as me to get my fat fingers through the handle on a tea cup. I learned to love tea time during the summer I lived in England. Having tea at the Arizona Biltmore made me think back fondly to having tea at Frank's and Liz's in Liverpool. High tea is a tradition that America should adopt more universally from our English friends. It is social; it is relaxing; and if you lay off of the crumpets, it is relatively healthy.

The Mets Game at the New Citi Field

2009-05-17T07:32:00.020-05:00

Keith Edwards invited me to attend a New York Mets game with him at Citi Field, the Mets brand new stadium, on May 9th. I GLADLY accepted.

Keith's uncle had 4 tickets for the Mets game, and Keith returns the favor later in the season with 4 tickets to a Phillies game. I picked Keith up at his house about 8:45 AM, and we made the 30 minute drive over to Hamilton, NJ to catch the New Jersey transit to NYC. It is about an hour and 15 minute train ride to Penn Station, and a round trip ticket is about $21. It certainly beats driving in NYC traffic, and there is $10 or so in tolls, if you drive. NJ Transit is definitely the way to go.

We ate lunch at a pizza shop in Penn Station and then caught the Long Island Railroad over to Flushing Meadows - Queens, where the Mets Stadium is located. You could also take the subway, but it is much longer with many stops and one train switch. The Long Island Railroad is a direct shot, and the Mets Stadium is the second stop. On our train ride over, we marveled at all of the parking on top of retail stores. To save space in New York City, you actually park on top of the Best Buy or Home Depot where you shop, instead of having an adjacent parking lot. Necessity is the mother of invention, and with limited space in NYC, roof parking lots are a great innovation.

Citi Field is a very nice stadium, with a beautiful brick facade. The seating is a great improvement over the old Shea Stadium (which has already been torn down by the way). Shea had many obstructed view seats, where you had to judge the location of a fly ball based on where the fielder was moving because the seating deck above you did not allow you to actually see it. Citi Field is a much better design.

When you enter Citi Field, you come through the gallery pictured here. Escalators whisk fans away to the higher levels. It is pretty efficient. The human traffic entering and leaving was remarkably manageable for a pro baseball game. Even the trains weren't jammed full, as they were running extra trains for the game. Like all of the newer MLB baseball stadiums, Citi Field has excellent concession stands. Burgers, Nathan's Hot Dogs, pizza, chicken, you name it; this stadium has it.

This was like no other day at Shea Stadium. I can't believe that we did not have to pay extra for this, but Sebastian Bach, lead singer of 1980's hair band, Skid Row, sang four songs prior to warm-ups. He covered two Queen songs and then closed with "18 and Life" and my favorite - "I'll Remember You" (Craig, if you are reading this, I can't hear that song and not picture Ron Dyer lip-syncing with choreography). I am pleased to report that Sebastian appears to be getting along well, and he still executes the high pitch screams in the chorus for which he is known. I have provided a small video clip, with audio, for everyone's enjoyment below.

BabaBooey, Executive Producer of the Howard Stern Show, threw out the first pitch for the game. Honestly, it was the worst first pitch I have ever seen. The umpire, who was not paying attention, was struck by the offering about 15 feet outside of the right handed batter's box. Luckily, he was not injured as the pitch never broke the 45 mph threshhold. I hear Stern deservingly abused him for the next two weeks. It was bad. He was there for a good cause though - bringing awareness for children with autism.

After the game, we went to meet Keith's sister, Christina (and her husband J.R.) for dinner. They were in Manhattan for a wedding that same weekend. On the way to dinner, I took this picture of the Empire State Building.

We also passed Madison Square Garden, which is located directly above Penn Station. It was the first time I actually walked outside at Penn Station to see it.

BUSTED!!! He didn't actually go in... I swear.

We ate at a restaurant called FATS - Fat Ann's Truck Stop. The food was actually pretty good. They had biscuits and gravy as an appetizer (and keeping with my blogging tradition, I took a picture of my food). I could not resist ordering biscuits and gravy in Manhattan. They weren't bad, but they don't compare to my grandmother's. This is more proof that you can find anything in Manhattan.

Special thanks to Keith for making this day possible. I certainly did not think I would get to see either of the new NY stadiums in their inaugural seasons. It was awesome!

REFLECTIONS - Abby and Wendell The Cat

Keith has a full house - Keith, his wife Meg, almost 4 year old twin daughters Kate and Abby, baby Olivia and Wendell the Cat live in their house in Flourtown. The video below was taken at Keith's and Meg's Kentucky Derby Party. Abby, one of the twins is holding Wendell the Cat and telling me all about him. Unfortunately, you cannot make out everything she says because of the adults talking behind her in the kitchen. I try to repeat it all, especially her last comment. She is so funny!!!

My favorite part of the video is how Abby sways back and forth with Wendell. She carries him around the house like he is a barbell sometimes. If you look at Wendell, he appears pretty relaxed. According to Keith, noone else in the house can get away with carrying him or swinging him around like this. He runs from Keith and Kate, Abby's twin. For some reason, he likes Abby.

Perhaps the best part of this story is how Wendell got his name. Wendell has actually been a part of the Edwards family longer than Kate, Abby and Olivia. You see, Wendell the Cat is actually named for Relief Pitcher, Turk Wendell (once again, Keith's love of the Mets showing through). Turk Wendell is known more for his superstitions than he is his record as a closer. He chewed three pieces of licorice every inning and forced the umpire to roll the ball to him at the mound rather than throw it to him to begin an inning. He would also wave at his CF and wait for him to wave back before beginning an inning. My favorite - he wore a necklace of animal claws, horns, etc that were trophies from game that he had killed while hunting. Wendell the cat is a much calmer and more conventional namesake.

The Cooper River Bridge Run... And Fall

2009-05-03T20:46:00.024-05:00

Rachel and I flew to Charleston for the Cooper River Bridge Run the first weekend in April. We stayed with our good friends Lindsey and Chris (Shaggy) Hamil in Summerville, just outside of Charleston. Mark Clark came down and joined us for the race and the weekend.

Rachel and I flew in late Thursday night. We actually were delayed flying out of Philadelphia due to thunderstorms in the southeast and didn't arrive in Charleston until 2 AM (thanks Shaggy and Lindsey for picking us up so late). Friday morning, Shaggy and I took Libby, his Labrador Retriever, for a walk around the neighborhood. Libby is a fully trained hunting dog. The highlight of the walk was when Shaggy ordered her to chase a duck that had just come out of the pond. He called her off just before she jumped into the pond to go after the duck, which had quickly retreated into the water.

Early April is a great time to be in Charleston. The flowers were in full bloom, and the highs were in the mid 70's. Charleston is one of Rachel's and my favorite places to visit, but it gets extremely hot beginning in early June (sometimes earlier).

After eating lunch at Sticky Fingers, Shaggy took me and Clark to the Ice House for his weekly Friday afternoon dart game. Rachel and Lindsey went for pedicures and then joined us later (great shot of Rachel and Clark).
Lindsey and her friend Mike, who is also a regular at the weekly dart game.
Shaggy, with The IceHouse in the background. According to Mike and Shaggy, this is "the last true bar in Charleston". I must admit that it was an interesting mix of old and young, blue collar and white collar and tatooed and untatooed.
Rachel, Lindsey and a couple of the girls who are regulars at the dart game. Lindsey works with the girl on the left (if I were more timely with my blogs, I would have remembered her name).

Shaggy and Lindsey dropped Rachel, Clark and I off in Mount Pleasant early Saturday morning for the Cooper River Bridge Run. It is a very popular 10K that starts in Mount Pleasant (2 miles), goes over the Cooper River Bridge (2 miles) and ends in historic Charleston (2 miles). This year, 33,000 people completed the race. It was crowded. This is a picture of me, Rach, and Clark about 40 minutes after the race (actually about 40 minutes after Clark finished, 35 minutes after Rachel finished, and 33 minutes after I finished). More on the details of the race in "Reflections".

After the race, we went back to Shaggy's and Lindsey's, cleaned up, and then headed into Charleston for the afternoon and evening. Our reward for running 6.2 miles that morning was afternoon desert at Kaminsky's. Friends, if you ever visit Charleston... please remember one thing - Go to Kaminsky's. It is a little desert restaurant located on Market Street, near the Hilton. No menu is necessary, as the homemade deserts are housed in a display case as you enter. Stop in for a desert and coffee sometime when you are in Charleston. You can call and thank me then, or after you get home.

After desert, the girls went shopping on King Street, while Shaggy, Clark and I headed to the Blind Tiger. On our way, we passed by Broad Street and "The Four Corners of Law", which is one of my favorite intersections in Charleston (Rachel and I actually had some of our wedding pictures taken here). On one corner sits the old Charleston City Hall; on another corner sits the Charleston County Courthouse; another corner has the Federal Court House; and the final corner houses St. Michael's Church and the ultimate law - God's law.

Charleston is a city that boasts some wonderful sights. It is also a city that is extremely proud of its long history. If you ever visit, I also advise that you take a history tour. The history still ranks second behind Kaminsky's.

These are pictures of some of the church steeples in Charleston. None of the steeples have church bells, as they were melted down for cannon balls during the Civil War (or "War of Northern Aggression" as it is known in Charleston). In the 1950's the United States Congress attempted to appropriate funds for new bells for all the church steeples. However, the city refused the money in order to honor its fallen sons.

The Four Corners of Law at dusk

The Blind Tiger is a really cool outdoor bar in Charleston. You actually walk through a traditional bar and into the back, which has a large outdoor courtyard.

Shaggy and Clark at the Blind Tiger.

Me and Rachel in the swing at the Blind Tiger.

The one proud purchase from the girl's King Street shopping spree was an "Oragami". No, I am not talking about a folded paper animal...these are a single clothing accessory that can be folded into 12 different outfits. I must admit that I have been pretty impressed (Rachel is actually wearing the Oragami in the title shot of my last blog - The Easter Photo). We thought about sending one to Michelle Obama, because it would be perfect for a woman on the go, who needs lots of different outfits to impress the media. She could run into the bathroom with her oragami and come out with an entirely new outfit. Amazing!!!

For supper, we went for seafood at AW Shucks. After dinner, we went to Tommy Condon's Irish Pub, another one of my favorite Charleston hang-outs. Unfortunately, it was already packed by the time we arrived, so we were unable to get seats inside to listen to the Irish band. The race effects finally caught up with us, and we headed back to Shaggy's and Lindsey's about 10 PM.

Sunday, we had a low-key day. After Bojangles biscuits, Mark headed back to Knoxville. Chris, Lindsey, Rachel and I went to the Summerville Art Festival and walked around for a couple of hours. That evening, we ordered pizza and watched a movie. We hope to make it back down to visit Chris and Lindsey again in September.

REFLECTIONS - The Fall

Why would Steve have bandages on his hands, you might ask. During his 6.2 mile struggle, he ate pavement. I don't often refer to myself in third person, but I am still trying to get over the resulting mental trauma.

I will be remembered as the Curt Schilling of the 2009 Cooper River Bridge Run. Like a true champion, I overcame my injury to finish the race, and like Curt Schilling, I did it - bloody sock and all. Unlike Curt Schilling, the remainder of my stats (like race time) were not at all impressive.

I wish I could tell you a cool story about how it happened, like how I was running at the front of the pack and got tangled up with the lead pack of runners. Or how, exhausted, I tripped at mile 6 trying to finish the race at under a 5 minute mile pace. Unfortunately, all of that is untrue. The fact is, I tripped over my own two feet at 0.5 miles. I WASN'T EVEN TIRED YET!!! Luckily, the Love of my Life immediately created a human barricade to prevent me from being trampled by other runners. To her I owe my life.

2009-05-02T11:07:00.007-05:00

We were invited to Flourtown Country Club for brunch by Keith (far left holding Olivia in above picture) and Meg (vertically challenged female in middle with 2 adorable girls - Kate and Abby - in front of her) Edwards on Easter Sunday. Rob, Vanessa, Jack and Emma Jeter (family between Keith and Meg), and Tim and Nicole Callahan (far right) completed the group.

Flourtown Country Club is an older, historic country club, located about 20 minutes from our house. The building is a cool, stone building. The brunch was awesome - LOTS of great food. They also had an Easter Bunny there, playing with the kids (Tim and Keith felt that the Easter Bunny's makeup was psychotic looking, but the kids did not seem to mind).

Rachel and I on the pack porch, in front of the golf course. As you can probably tell, it was still cold and windy in Philly at Easter.

Shot of the golf course from the porch.

Thanks Keith and Meg for inviting us to Easter Brunch. Being several hundred miles away from family is tough during the holidays, but spending it with friends makes it a lot easier.

REFLECTIONS - Eye on America

Click on the link below for some great information on building energy efficiency. Trust me, it is worth the watch for a few minutes (don't I recognize one of those guys?).

http://download.rohmhaas.com.edgesuite.net/2009/pcm/eoa_america.swf

Unfortunately, you will have to cut and paste the link into your Address bar, as I could not get the link function to work in blogspot.

Please note - If you read this blog and work on the 7th Floor of Home Office, don't waste your time entering the link below, as you have been subjected to this video enough over the past 2 months, as you have gotten off and onto the elevator.

Makin' Sushi and Other Random Acts

2009-04-26T15:48:00.018-05:00

In March, Rachel and I took a sushi making course at one of the area high schools. The following Sunday afternoon, we decided to apply our new trade with Tim and Nicole Callahan, who also joined us for the class. The photo above is of Nicole and Rachel preparing the ingredients in our kitchen in preparation of making maki-rolls.

All sushi purveyors know that the key to good sushi (in addition to fresh fish) is properly prepared sushi rice. Sushi chefs in Japan will train on preparing sushi rice for 5-10 years before they are allowed to move on to the next steps of sushi making. If the rice is bad, the sushi is bad. Below is a video of us completing the sushi rice preparation. Nicole is demonstrating the cutting and folding motions of finishing the rice. Tim is adding the proper amount of rice wine vinegar, which is key to giving the sushi rice its stickyness, but not clumpyness. I am fanning the rice as the vinegar is added and the rice is folded. In addition to making me look ridiculous, it serves a very important purpose in the rice preparation. If you don't fan the rice while it cools and vinegar is added, it will clump. "Rachel K" (not to be confused with Rachel Ray) is the narrator.

Once the ingredients were cut into strips and the rice was properly prepared, we rolled our sushi. We made some nigiri sushi (fish strips sitting on an oblong small packed pile of rice. However, most of our sushi was prepared in maki- rolls and cut into slices, such as the ones shown here. As this was our first time, some of our rolls (mainly mine) tended to open. Rachel rolled pretty tight rolls, so hers are shown for display purposes.

In the end, we had an excellent meal and afternoon of socializing - all while watching the NCAA tournament. It was a great time!!! We also found a good Asian food store with fresh and cheap ingredients (we will probably buy some of our produce there from now on, as the prices and quality were good).

Random Crap - Not Really a Reflection
This picture does not really belong with this or any other blog. We celebrated Nicole's birthday (she is 25...whatever) by surprising her for a bowling evening. She is sporting her fratty pink monogrammed bowling shirt, so I had to work the picture in somewhere.

Also in March, I made it to my first Philadelphia Flyers game. The fans are rabid!!! We had a good time, even though they beat the Predators. My buddy, Keith Edwards, went with me to the game. Although not a Flyers Fan (he is from Buffalo), he is one of the bigger hockey fans I know - he is also our hockey expert for trivia. We left the women folk at home and headed out to the Wachovia Center for hockey and $40 worth of junk food.

Finally, I will brag on my wife one more time. In addition to smoking me in the Out-And-Back 4 mile run this past Friday evening in Philly (the second race in a row where she has beaten me), she won the award pictured with her here at her February run, part of the "Winter Pickle Race Series". Awards were given based on who could most closely predict their 5K time. Watches, IPods and other devices that could be used to pace were not allowed. She guessed her time within 3 seconds and won the pickle. Very nice...

The PT Girls Visit Philadelphia

2009-04-21T18:19:00.022-05:00

The PT girls (Becky Sexton, Sara Pigg Walker, Jennifer Kain Richardson, and Rachel - pictured above) came to visit us in March.

Becky arrived Thursday night. Rachel picked up Sara and Jennifer at the airport Friday morning, and Friday afternoon, they toured historic Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Flower Show was in town, and the girls were able to get tickets from our friend Meg. The Philly Flower Show is an annual event, and is apparently a very big deal because it significantly increases train traffic the week it is in town. Even the later trains leaving the city are full, when the Flower Show is in town.

The girls visited the Liberty Bell on Independence Mall. They also took a tour of Constitution Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the first Congress met. They went to the Constitution Center and saw "The Story of We The People" (if you ever visit Philadelphia, visit this multimedia show; it will make you proud to be an American).

They also visitd Ben Franklin's grave (pictured here). The grave is in a church graveyard near the Constitution Center. People throw pennies onto Ben's grave for good luck. The church actually uses the proceeds of the pennies to fund maintenance of the graveyard. You can see the feet and broom of one of the maintenance guys who collects the pennies. As he told us, "Ben used to say, 'A penny saved is a penny earned.' As we say here at the church, 'A penny tossed, is a penny lost.'"

Friday after I got out of work, we took the girls to Jim's Steaks for an authentic Philly Cheesesteak. The outside world all knows Pat's or Gino's as the king of the Philly Cheesesteak. Many locals would consider Jim's to be king. Rachel and I really like it (plus, they have a Veggie steak for Rachel). It is located on South Street.

The girls enjoying the first bite of their cheesesteak.

Me wolfing down my cheesesteak.

Saturday morning, we took the girls to Valley Forge National Park and looked around. We also had a picnic while we were there.

Saturday afternoon, it was time for a little Guitar Hero. Becky, Sara and Jennifer made up the band. Rachel and I were rotating members. We lacked a good drummer.

Sara "Hendrix" and Becky "Van Halen".

Sunday morning, before we took them back to the airport, we took the girls to the Art Museum so they could run up "the Rocky Steps". This photo is a view from the top of the Art Museum steps.

REFLECTION - The Before and After - Locks of Love Public Service Announcement

Ironically, Bill Langston commented after my last blog on how long Rachel's hair had grown. It was a very timely comment, as Rachel got a haircut the following Friday. When I say haircut, I am not talking about a "trim" or a "shape-up", but a full-fledged cut. To the right is the "Before" picture, taken Friday morning before Rachel went to work.

The "After" picture (to the left) was taken the same Friday evening, after Rachel visited her hair dresser, who removed 11 inches of her hair. We celebrated the event by going out for Asian Fusion food at a new restaurant to us - Fuzion (it is about 1 mile down the road and is excellent).

The "casualty" went to a good cause, too. Part of the reason Rachel had grown her hair out so long was so she could donate it to "Locks of Love". Locks of Love (locksoflove.org) is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term hair loss from any medical diagnosis. Volunteers can donate at least 10 inches of hair, which is then used to make wigs for these children. So, Rach's hair went to a good cause. For more information, visit locksoflove.org.

Commercial Meeting and R&R in Arizona

2009-04-08T20:46:00.039-05:00

The first week of March, I was in Scottsdale, AZ for my company's annual sales meeting. Rachel flew in Thursday evening, and we took a long weekend of R&R. Late March/early April is the perfect time to be in the Phoenix area, as the weather was sunny and mid to high 70's all week.

We stayed at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, which is absolutely beautiful. The lawns were very well manicured, and the flowers were already in bloom.

Our sales meeting ended early on Thursday. I caught a ride with my coworkers (who were flying back to Philadelphia) to the airport, where I picked up our rental car for the weekend. I then drove to Phoenix Municipal Stadium for an afternoon Cactus League Spring Training game.

I chose to see the Oakland A's, for no other reasons than: 1) their spring training location was between the Phoenix Airport and Scottsdale and 2) the Oakland A's are an easy spring training ticket to obtain. My planning was not perfect, as the A's were playing the hometown Diamondbacks, so the stadium was pretty much full. Luckily, because I was a single, I was able to get a ticket in the shade behind home plate.

It was an extremely relaxing afternoon. Perfect weather, baseball and good food - three of my favorite things. I sat next to a family from Chicago, who had retired to Phoenix (the grown daughter was visiting for the week from Chicago). They were very nice, loved baseball, and were a fun group to sit with.

On Friday, I sent Rachel to the resort spa for a massage and pedicure, as part of her birthday. It also allowed me to catch up on work email and get a few things done. I was surprised how much more enjoyable it is to do work from beautiful, sunny surroundings, than it is from an office (don't worry folks, I did take a day of vacation. I just took this opportunity to make up for my detour to the spring training game on Thursday.)

After her spa pampering, Rachel and I caught lunch at one of the resort restaurants. We then headed to the pool for the afternoon. The weather was warm enough to get into the water. However, with the low humidity, you quickly dried off once you got out of the pool.

I took Rachel to dinner at my favorite restaurant in the world - Element at the Sanctuary. I ate there twice last year with customers. The food is awesome, and the views are spectacular, especially at dusk. Chef Beau MacMillan cooks the best steaks I have ever eaten (he beat Bobby Flay on a Kobe Steak challenge on Iron Chef America). Unfortunately, Rachel was suffering from a sinus and ear infection and couldn't really taste her food.
Although she was unable to taste the food, Rachel was able to enjoy the scenery and views from Element. Positioned on the side of a hill, Element at the Sanctuary, sits over the resort pool and overlooks Paradise Valley, which is adjacent to Scottsdale.

After dinner, Rachel and I met up with some of her friends from high school back at the resort. David Latimer and his wife, Dani, and Jason Payne and his sister, Samantha, met us at the resort restaurant. We had a really nice time catching up with them (David, Dani and Jason all live in Phoenix now; Samantha was in visiting Jason for the weekend).

Saturday, Rachel and I headed into Phoenix, where we visited the the Arizona Biltmore. Owned and managed by Waldorf Astoria, the Arizona Biltmore was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, who served as a consultant on the project for several months during construction in the 1920's. His trademark style architectural is obviously displayed throughout the resort.
The inside of the resort is also obviously inspired by Wright, as most of the structures display his horizontalism design. The furniture is also obviously Wright designed and matches much of the furniture at Falling Water, just outside of Pittsburgh.

Passing through the lobby from the front of the hotel, you enter a courtyard in the rear. This courtyard has beautiful gardens and a multitude of restaurants and shops. It is a very nice area to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Rachel on the lawn chess / checkers grounds. Apparently, this was an extremely popular pastime for the rich in the 1930's and 1940's. Several old photos in the hotel showed guests playing lawn chess.
The pool area at the Arizona Biltmore was spectacular. It was large, well maintained, and on this particular Saturday... crowded.
The most awesome aspect of the pool was the large waterslide.
Adjacent to the pool area were more flower gardens. The Arizona Biltmore is certainly an oasis in the desert.
Saturday afternoon, Rachel and I headed two hours south of Phoenix to Tucson, to visit Jeremy and Ginny Graves (pictured with us in this blog's title picture). Jeremy is one of my best friends from college. His wife Ginny is also one of our favorite people (like many of my other friends, he definitely married up). We spent Saturday afternoon and evening with the Graves family eating pizza, playing Wii and socializing.

Jeremy's and Ginny's daughters, Olivia and Madison, are absolutely adorable and extremely well-behaved. They let us Wii bowl with them. We also enjoyed watching the Graves family establish their Wii sports ages.

After Olivia and Madison turned in for the evening, Rachel and Ginny humiliated Jeremy and me by beating us in a round of Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii. Rachel and I then had to head back to Scottsdale to turn in for our early flight on Sunday morning.

The rest and relaxation was much needed, and catching up with old friends is always an enjoyable event.

Due to the length of this blog, there will be no Reflection. You are probably tired of reading by now anyway.

The Polar Bear Plunge

2009-03-28T08:29:00.013-05:00

Being the romantic that I am, I decided to take Rachel away for a romantic getaway for Valentine's weekend. Where would I go, you might ask... to Sea Isle, NJ for the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Rachel and I, accompanying our friends Tim and Nicole, joined a few thousand other people with questionable judgement in jumping into the Atlantic Ocean on February 14th.

The temperature was in the mid-40's, and the water temperature was not so comfortable. The team pictured here (yes, that is a guy in a Penguin Suit), and led by Tim's uncle Richie, assembled at Tim's parents' condo at noon for a 2:00 PM dive.

At 1:40 PM, we marched down to the beach, where thousands of other "Polar Bears" and observers were waiting to jump. Sea Isle hosts a parade before the plunge, an enormous tent with bands and food afterwards, and a 5K race the following morning. The weekend is a large event, and the proceeds go to charity.

This is a good shot of Rachel and I only moments after exiting the ocean from our plunge. The rule is that you must dive in and get your head wet. Notice the nice red color that I display from the coldness.

Most people ran in, ran out, and threw on their clothes. However, Rachel and I both jumped twice, thanks to Tim's Uncle Richie. (Richie leads the charge each year with his patented, "Alright men, stay close together, but don't bunch up.") Others quickly donned their sweatshirts and pants, but I like to air dry.

CHEST BUMP!!!

I love Capri Sun! Just had to include this picture because my editor (Rachel) thinks it is funny.

REFLECTIONS - Costumes

Perhaps the most entertaining portion of the weekend was attending the post plunge parties. Several participants were in costume. The Polar Bear King, pictured above, was my favorite. In addition to his Coors Light Trident, cape, crown and crab necklace, he was also sporting a nice set of Homer Simpson Valentine's Day swim trunks. The Polar Bear Queen was also in attendance.

Philly Lobster Guy was another costume wearer. There was also a girl with HUGE orange house shoes. One of the better ones that we saw was a guy wearing a U.S. Swimming jumpsuits, a "Phelps" swim cap, and carrying a 4 foot long bong.

Rachel and I had a great time over the weekend, and we owe it to Tim and Nicole (and Mathias, one of Tim's college roommates) for being such good hosts.

Dayton vs. LaSalle

2009-02-28T06:59:00.008-06:00

Several of our friends in Philadelphia are "transplants", like ourselves. Many of them attended the University of Dayton for college (it is a R&H target school for recruiting engineers). Meg Edwards, one of our good friends (and the mother of three pictured above), is "the main squeeze" in their local alumni association chapter. The Flyers came to town a few weeks ago to play LaSalle (one of the Philadelphia Big 5) in an important Atlantic 10 Conference match-up. Having the in with Meg, Rachel and I donned our red and headed to Tom Gola arena for the game. *** Please note that Brian Albright, the guy in the snazzy yellow sweater is a Dayton grad. Also note, that yellow is La Salle's color.***

Pictured above L-R: Brian Albright, Kate Edwards, Meg Edwards,(Me in back), Olivia Edwards (baby), Keith Edwards, and Abby Edwards, who serenaded us with her rendition of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" on the way to the game.

The Flyers built a significant lead by half time on some hot shooting from the perimeter. In the second half, they cooled off a bit, and La Salle made a run on them to tie the game with just a few seconds left. Dayton held the ball for the last shot. One of the Dayton forwards missed a 17 footer from the lane elbow with 3 seconds left. Their most athletic guard shot down the lane, caught the rebound off of the rim and jammed it home for the win as time expired. WHAT AN AMAZING FINISH!!!

Dayton has a very athletic team but are streaky shooters (sounds a lot like my Vols). They also run the same offense as Tennessee, where the guards circle around the top of the key meaninglessly, without looking to pass the ball inside.

In this photo, Rachel with Brian "I Wear the Opponents Colors" Albright.

REFLECTIONS - The Palestra

For my birthday, our friends Tim and Nicole Callahan, invited us to a Big 5 game at The Palestra. St. Joseph's was playing Temple. The Palestra is the gymnasium for the University of Penn, but many of the Big 5 games are still played there. It is "The Cathedral of College Basketball" and opened in 1927.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. I tried to take pictures with my Blackberry, but they were blurry. Rachel commented that it was the best arena she has ever been in for watching basketball. I agree. It holds about 8,500 fans, and the seats run down to the court. The atmosphere is awesome!!! The Hawk mascot for St. Joe's flaps his wings for the entire game. I imagine it takes an aggressive training regimen for a person to be able to repeatedly lift his/her arms above his/her head repeatedly for over 90 minutes straight.

Unfortunately, Temple defeated St. Joe's. It was another night to watch Dionte Christmas light up a team, as he did my Vols in December.

If you ever have the chance... go to the Palestra, even if you don't get to attend a game.

Spring Mountain - Skiing Locally

2009-02-22T17:03:00.014-06:00

Sorry for the long absence, folks. I don't have a good excuse, as Rachel and I were not up to much in January. I just haven't sat down and written in a while. I hope to do better, as I now have a few items to blog about.

One Sunday in January, Rachel and I went skiing at Spring Mountain resort.

Rachel did some research and found that there is a place to ski only 15-20 minutes from our house. Although smaller than the resorts in the Poconos, you can't beat Spring Mountain for convenience. With a very short drive and no traffic, you can be at a ski slope that is not overly crowded for the most part. Since it is 50 minutes to an hour outside of Philadelphia, the center-city crowd will likely opt to continue on to the Poconos, leaving Spring Mountain to the locals.

With 3 lifts, and a beginners area on a separate slope than the intermediate area, Spring Mountain does not feel crowded. Although the slope ratings are a bit elevated (a black diamond is really more like an intermediate slope), it has a decent run or two and a terrain park for snowboarding and/or ski jumping. Spring Mountain would be a great place to take a first time skier to learn.

(View from near the top of the intermediate slope)
(Rachel skiing down the intermediate slope)

REFLECTIONS - Congrats to Rachel - One Race Per Month for One Year

Last year, Rachel set a goal to run one race per month for an entire year. She has now accomplished that goal. This reflection contains a few pictures from some of her most recent races. Sadly, professional photographers took the pictures from the past two races, as I am not getting up early on a Saturday morning when it is less than 30 degrees to go run.

All of these races ranged from 5K to 10 K in length. In 2009, she is kicking it up a notch, as we are running the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, which is a 10K in April. She also wants to run the Broad Street run in Philadelphia, which is a 10-miler. While her example as rubbed off on me slightly (I did run several races in 2008), I cannot say that I am committed to a 10 mile run.

Tennessee Christmas and Beautiful Biscuit Blog

2009-01-18T18:10:00.020-06:00

The title picture says it all - Welcome to the world Eleanor (Ellie) Grace Fields!!! My cousin Laddy and his wife Amy gave birth on Saturday December 27th to a healthy baby girl!!! Meeting the new addition to our family was the highlight of our trip.

Rachel and I left Philadelphia for Knoxville on Friday December 19 after work. We drove 8 hours and spent the night with my Uncle Larry and Aunt "Sae" in Abingdon, VA that night. Luckily, they stay up late for us, so we have a place to crash, instead of driving the entire 10 hours to Knoxville in a single late night.

After breakfast, we headed to Knoxville to spend the day with my mom and dad. While we were on our first pass through Knoxville, we had the chance to hang out with the expecting mother (pictured here with Rachel) and father.

After spending Sunday with my mom and dad, we headed down to Nashville to see Rachel's family.

Monday evening, Rachel's mom's family gathered in Linden, TN, about 90 minutes southwest of Nashville. We ate dinner at The Rusty Fish Hook Restaurant. Becca, pictured here with Elmo, is the newest addition to this side of her family. She is the daughter of Rachel's cousin, Amy, and her husband, Charlie. Amy is the daughter of Ann's (Rachel's mom) sister Janis and husband Dan. Amy's brother Stuart was also there.
Becca also has two older brothers, Trey (pictured here) and Caleb, who was eating at the other end of the table.
Rachel's Uncle Tommy was also in attendance. He is the one, who accompanied Rachel's parents for their visit in August (when we went to Yankee Stadium).

Tuesday morning, we went to the Loveless Cafe with Rachel's parents for biscuits (and we dropped a dehumidifier off to Rachel's Dad's friend, W.C.).

The Loveless Cafe has been pictured on The Food Network on more than one occasion and is home to "The Biscuit Lady of Nashville". The food, especially the biscuits, did not disappoint.

Tuesday night,some of Rachel's high school friends came over to hang out. Rachel Bomar brought "Libby the Incredible" over. Libby has been pictured in our blog several times. Libby came into the world at 11 lbs 13 oz. As you can see from the picture, she continues to be a very large girl (only 3 months old). She is in the 99th percentile on all of the charts.

Libby is a happy baby, and is obviously very relaxed. Here, she is sleeping on one of Rachel's other high school friend's lap (Jennifer Hutson). Mandi Ellithorpe Graves was the 4th muskateer in attendance.

Christmas Eve day, we relaxed. I chilled out with Toby the Wonderdog. In this picture, he decided to join me at the bar, while I checked email.

Christmas Eve evening, we celebrated with Rachel's Dad's family (sisters Ginger and Judy and their families). The highlight of that evening is always "Dirty Santa". We exchange gag gifts and eat... two of my favorite things. I wanted Rachel's cousin Daniel's fireworks and I-Tunes gift card. I ended up with a car cleaning kit, which is not bad. I also got to shoot some of the fireworks with Rachel's cousins after dinner.

Christmas morning, we woke up and celebrated at the Hargis household. Rachel, Toby and Heather, Rachel's sister (all pictured here) had a wonderful Christmas. After lunch, we headed back to Knoxville to celebrate with my family. We went straight to my cousin Reid's for dinner. We ate and watched Ryan and Kara (Reid's and Renee's kids) open their Christmas presents.

Friday, we opened presents with my parents. We also visited one of my friends from high school, Craig Daniel, and his wife Ashlea. It was our first chance to see their beautiful new house and meet their new son, Reid. Their blog is listed in my links section.

Saturday, we just chilled with my family and then went to the hospital to meet Ellie. Amy is a champ! Her labor was so quick, they did not have time to administer an epidural. She came through it all just fine.

Reflections - The Beautiful Biscuit Blog

On our journey home each Christmas, we pass the signs marking the Mason-Dixon line - the official division of North and South. On our first morning in the south, "Aunt Sae" served biscuits for breakfast. On our second day in the south, my mom served biscuits for breakfast. Rachel decided, and I agreed, that we should eat biscuits every day we were in the south for Christmas. Mission Accomplished. This was not a challenge at all, as I LOVE BISCUITS, and in the south, there is no shortage of supply.

We decided to kick it up a notch by striving for world class biscuits during our visit. We ate biscuits from nine different sources. Technically, three days worth of biscuits came from Hardees. However, even the Hardees biscuits were of varying quality.

I will not execute the great miscue of actually ranking "family" biscuits, as that would result in no good. I will simply document the biscuits that we received from family members, as a testement to the southern-hood of our two families. I will rank the non-family biscuits.

Saturday - Aunt Sae
Sunday - My Mom
Thursday - Rachel's Mom
Friday - Renee (my cousin-in-law)
Saturday - My Mom

Now, the rankings:

4) Hardees - Old Hickory, TN. Although this Hardees received the lowest of my rankings, I will qualify it by saying that the worst biscuit that I had on this trip was very good.

3) Hardees - Bristol, VA

2) Hardees - Goodlettesville, TN - Interestingly, this Hardees can boast having the award winning best biscuit cook of the entire Hardees chain - nationwide. I may have been swayed by the prestigious award bestowed on her, but I thought these were probably the best biscuits I have ever eaten at a Hardees.

1) The Loveless Cafe - the famed "Biscuit Lady of Nashville" has been displayed on the Today Show and on the Food Network in a Bobby Flay "Biscuit" Throw-down. The biscuits and the preserves were both out of this world. The recipe is actually several decades old and contains secret ingredients. The recipe has been a condition of sale both times the restaurant and hotel have changed hands.

The Vols Visit Philadelphia

2008-12-25T10:26:00.011-06:00

One of Rachel's pet peeves is leaving Christmas decorations up past New Year's Day (I personally think Christmas should be in our hearts year round, so we might as well display its symbols for more than the 5 weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years Day). She has given me quite a lashing for leaving the Christmas tree picture posted on the blog past the deadline. I apologize for my absence from the blogging world for a few weeks. I really have no good excuse other than enjoying spending time with family and friends during the Christmas season.

I am once again several blogs behind, so I will be working to catch up over the next couple of weeks.

Before Christmas break, the UT men's basketball team visited Philadelphia to play the Temple Owls. The Friday evening before the game, the local chapter of the UT National Alumni Association hosted Coach Bruce Pearl at a reception at The Ugly Moose (isn't that a great name for a pub) in Manayunk.

Coach Pearl did not disappoint. It amazed me how down to earth he is. He came into the bar, ordered a drink, and then socialized with the rest of us, like he was just another guy there. He did not come to talk to us; he came to talk with us. He asked us as many questions in one-on-one conversations as we asked him. He was very pleasant to talk with.

After socializing for 45 minutes or so, he addressed the group for 10-15 minutes and then allowed us to formally ask questions about the team. In his opening comments, he spoke about some of the frustrations of coaching a team this young and inconsistent. He also stated that "This team is not the #8 team in the country." Unfortunately, he was right.

Coach Pearl really impressed me, as he discussed his coaching (teaching) philosophies. It is obvious to me, after his talk, that he is not only a superior basketball mind, but also a sensational teacher. We all know that he is a tremendous motivator.

Saturday, Tim and Nicole Callahan, Rob and Jack Jeter, and Brian Albright attended the game with us at the Liacouras Center. Again, Kevin Davis, President of the Philadelphia Alumni Association, came through by getting us a hospitality suite at halftime (with refreshments). We were able to get great seats through the Temple Athletic Dept.

Although we had a great day, the game did not go our way. The Vols kept it close at halftime, but in the second half, Temple pulled away, as Dionte Christmas, their All-American Guard got as hot as any shooter I have ever seen in person. He lit up three-pointers from all angles with defenders in his face. If you ever have the chance to watch him play, do it. It is a treat.

REFLECTIONS - Infomercial Personalities

As many of you know, Dow Chemical Company is in the process of acquiring The Rohm and Haas Company, my employer. This transaction brings about a fair amount of job insecurity for me and many of my friends and coworkers.

During the long drives over the Christmas holidays, I had time to reflect a bit. If I had it to do all over again, would I have made a different career decision? Would I have chosen a path that would have delivered more job security? Unfortunately, few positions, other than judges or Penn St. football coaches, who are both obviously appointed for life, deliver certain job security.

So, then I thought, "What career path would make me the most money with the least amount of work or talent required?" Most careers require both work and talent to make money - doctors, professional athletes, engineers, etc. Actors don't have to work that hard, but they have to have talent (some pro athletes also fit into this category). Devoid of any obvious talents, I moved forward in my thinking. Watching TV one night between Christmas and New Years Eve, the perfect job hit me. This job requires no talent nor work ethic and produces good $$$. All I need is a "schtick". These two gentlemen are now my hero. Who is your favorite? (Send in your answers, and I will publish results in a future blog).

The Champion - William "Billy" Mays - born July 20, 1958 in McKees Rocks, PA. He is best known for his well manicured beard and yelling at people, encouraging them to buy cleaning products, such as Oxi Clean and Orange Glow. Famous line, "Hi! Billy Mays here for [insert product name]!"

The Challenger - Vince Offer (no I did not make up his name). No stats available. The new guy on the block is famous for his ShamWow commercial and now the SlapChop (apparently one of his schticks is "advertising products containing only two compound syllables"). He actually demonstrates the products in his commercials and is, as one review put it, "entertainingly annoying". Famous line, "You're gonna love my nuts!" - SlapChop commercial

Merry Christmas From the Kennedy's

2008-12-25T10:23:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

The Army Navy Game

2008-12-23T17:48:00.025-06:00

The first weekend in December, Rachel and I had the opportunity to attend the Army vs. Navy football game in Philadelphia. Thanks to Dave Ash, a friend of mine who works for the Haas, who got us tickets (his two sons both attended the Naval Academy). This game is steeped in tradition and is a venue that I would recommend any football fan attend, if they ever have the opportunity.

Lines were long to enter Lincoln Financial Field (home of the Philadelphia Eagles) due to tight security. President George W. Bush attended the game, so everyone was subjected to a bag search and had to pass through a metal detector.

This game is on a five year renewing contract. Four years, the game is played in Philadelphia, which is half way between Annapolis, Maryland and West Point, New York. On the fifth year, the game rotates to Baltimore, MD or the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ to be closer to the host school. (The Army Cadets are pictured here. You may want to click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Three hours before the game, the cadets from both academies march into the stadium in columns. Unfortunately, it was such a cold day, Rachel and I did not make it for the cadet march. One of mine and Rachel's favorite parts of the event was seeing all of the cadets in their uniforms. (Naval Cadets pictured here. Again, you may want to enlarge it to see the uniforms better.)

An hour or so before the game, the Army Knights jump team parachuted into the stadium, followed by a Navy Seal jump team. The Army Knights are recognized as one of the best jump teams in the world. Let me tell you that the Navy Seals are crazy. Two sets of jumpers locked legs with their parachutes open an glided into the stadium linked up, before releasing to land on different ends of the stadium. The video below shows the last Navy Seal jumper entering the stadium with the American flag in tow.

Following the National Anthem, the U.S. Navy flew over 4 F-18 Hornets. As you can see at the end of the video, they were in an extremely tight formation. They were also at relatively low altitude.

Not to be outdone, the Army flew in 4 helicopters at very low altitude.

The game itself was not very competitive. Navy has been superior to Army on the gridiron for the past few years, and this year was no different. Navy won the game 34-0.

Another neat event of the day was that cards circulated throughout the stadium, giving fans the opportunity to sign a Christmas card that would be mailed to Iraq or Afghanistan for service- men and women, who will not be able to come home for the holidays.

We also had the opportunity to watch another awesome tradition. When the Commander in Chief attends the game, he or she sits on one side for the first half and then switches sides at half-time. Below is President George W. Bush being escorted through an Army Cadet column by the Commandant of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is greeted by the Vice Admiral in Charge of the U.S. Naval Academy at midfield and escorted through a column of Navy Cadets.

This is a special rivalry. The day is filled with traditions celebrating our great nation. There are no drunks or rude fans around (all rose to their feet and cheered a President with an approval rating hovering at 20%). Only the cadets themselves, who are well-represented throughout the stadium, overshadow the fanfare of the day. They truly represent one of the reasons we all live in the greatest country in the world. Merry Christmas!!!

REFLECTIONS - Mixed Signals

As Rachel and I were doing some of our Christmas shopping during the holiday season, we wandered by Linens-N-Things to take advantage of some of the bargains available from a bankrupt store. Before going into the store, we encountered one of the funnier oxymorons I have seen in a while. Rachel summed it up best, when she uttered, "Really???"

If you blow up the picture by clicking on it, you will notice that in addition to the clearly marked "Going out of Business" sign, Rachel is pointing to another sign that says, "Now Hiring". Now I am by no means an employment expert, but I am betting that there isn't a lot of job security at this location. I advise against taking this position unless they just throw money at you. I certainly would argue against a vestment period.

Mark Clark Visits Philly

2008-12-13T07:57:00.027-06:00

A few weeks ago, Mark Clark visited us for a few days in Philadelphia. He began his authentic Philadelphia journey by participating in something natives experience on a frequent basis - delays at the Philadelphia International Airport. The great thing about Philadelphia airport is that it can delay you coming in, and it can delay you getting out.

After a relaxing day of Guitar Hero World Tour on the Wii (weather was horrible,not that it would have changed our Saturday plans that much), we drove down to Chickie and Pete's near the Sports Complex. Here, I actually had to defend average Philadelphians, as we had the worst server I have ever experienced. I didn't want Mark chalking this one up to the stereotypical attitude that most southerners view big city northerners as having. This guy went well beyond that, as he essentially chastised Mark for politely requesting a separate tab. He received the tip he earned (I would like to note that this is perhaps the first time I have stiffed someone on a tip since Rachel and I moved away from Knoxville almost 5 years ago).

From Chickie and Pete's, we headed over to the Wachovia Center to see the Philadelphia 76ers play the Oklahoma City Thunder. I am not a big fan of NBA basketball, but I wanted Mark, Rachel and I to experience a 76ers game. It was some of the most uninspired basketball I have ever seen played. When the most entertaining aspect of the game is the announcer, you have a serious marketing problem. This marketing problem is evidenced by the absence of butts in seats. Don't waste your money on seeing the Sixers, if you visit Philadelphia.

On Sunday, Mark, through comments a UT Ag alumnus had made, asked that we visit Longwood Gardens.

Longwood Gardens is the premier botanical gardens in the United States. Based on this description, my enthusiasm for visiting was about as great as my enthusiasm would have been for attending another Sixers game that afternoon. Once I arrived and began walking around, that view quickly changed.

Longwood Gardens resides on 1000+ acres of land originally owned by William Penn, namesake of Pennsylvania. In the 1700's, he sold the land to the Pierce family, who began planting various species of trees on the land by the late 1870's. Longwood Gardens was purchased by Pierre DuPont in 1906 to prevent the trees from being used by lumber mills. At the time Pierre was CEO of DuPont Chemical Company. He would later run both DuPont and General Motors as CEO simultaneously.

The DuPonts continued to add to the collection of trees and flowers. They also built a massive greenhouse that is quite spectacular and designed several massive European-style fountains on the ground. All of these additions make the grounds breath-taking.

While we were there, they had a glass pumpkin display shown here. These pumpkins are hand-crafted and blown and are absolutely beautiful. They are actually made locally in a nearby county.

They make changes to the greenhouses seasonally. I want to go back sometime when everything is decorated for Christmas. I would also like to go back for the Fireworks shows with the fountains on Independence Day.

Enjoy the pictures of the greenhouses contained below.

Reflection - Tim Tebow

DISCLAIMER
I write this reflection somewhat tongue and cheek, as I am a big believer in positive role models, like Tim Tebow. I am also a believer that when someone, like Timmy, is raised on a pedestal, the media, society in general, and jerks like me, try to bring them down. My purpose here is to more poke fun of ESPN's and others' handling of "St. Tebow". I think he is a great guy, and I truly believe that the world would be a much better place if there were many more Tim Tebow's... as long as none of them went to Florida, Georgia or Alabama.

The Tebow family truly is remarkable. His parents are missionaries, and Tebow has spent a lot of his life ministering outside of the country. His older sister is also a missionary. Even now, Tebow takes time to visit prisons and minister to inmates about Jesus.

If you watched the ESPN football awards show the other night or halftime coverage of any Florida game this season, you know exactly why I might make fun of the coverage. They constantly show the "Tim Tebow Humanitarian Special" as I like to call it (it disturbed me greatly that ESPN used the exact same footage for his award the other night that was used during the half-time special at each game this season). The film is absolutely OVER THE TOP. They can't just report on the work that Tebow did as a missionary with his family in the Phillipines while on spring break. They have to go into detail on how he, with the help of a medical assistant, performed circumcisions on Phillipino babies (he also did this to several SEC defenses,including ours) while there. They go on to show the little kids saying despicable things, like "Go Gators". In the interviews after the film, Corso and others absolutely fall all over Tebow and the family with "oohs" and "aahs". And, of course, they have to refer to him by his "Superman" nickname.

According to ESPN, he is all powerful, all knowing and omniscient. Here are a few recommendations for future undertakings for Superman St. Tebow (in addition to the fact that you can accurately plug his name into any Chuck Norris reference):

1) Lead the auto-bailout. Who could possibly be more qualified to be the Car Czar than Tim Tebow. Toyota and Nissan would shutter with fear.
2) Take Jay Leno's spot. I know, I know... which one? The answer is both. He could take Leno's new spot in Primetime and fill his Late Night Spot, too. Sorry Conan. "Conan" is no longer as tough of a name as "Tim Tebow".
3) The Bachelor - this would allow him to hold ESPN's parent company - ABC's ratings high. Plus, no more boring dates of ice cream, movies and hot tubs. Tim could see how well they perform minor surgical procedures in third world countries or talk to inmates at San Quentin.
4) Coach - who is that guy Auburn just named head coach? Didn't he have a losing record at Iowa St? Why did you fire Tommy Tubberville for that?
5) Hedge Fund Manager - through his sheer will, Tebow could boost sectors of the economy.

You could go on and on, as there appears to be nothing that Tebow cannot do.

Sienna Austin

2008-11-28T15:08:00.005-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Kelly Birdwell Austin presented at a medical convention in Philadelphia. We were lucky enough to catch up a couple of times while she was in town. She and I had dinner on Thursday evening, when she arrived. Her husband, Eric, and little girl, Sienna, arrived on Friday. Eric did his undergraduate work at Penn, so they caught up with some of his friends on Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday morning, Rachel and I took them to brunch and got to see Sienna in person for the first time since last Christmas. She is about a year and a half old now, spunky and talking. She is a ball of energy (takes after both of her parents in that respect).

New York City - The Return of Schwabbie

2008-11-21T21:45:00.008-06:00

Rachel and I visited New York City on Saturday November 1. This time, we drove to Trenton, NJ (about 35 minutes from our house) and caught the New Jersey Rail into Penn Station. This is the economical way to do NYC. Round trip tickets were $25 each.

When we arrived at Penn Station, we quickly spotted a couple of girls, in costume, who were obviously on their way home from the night before (Halloween). Mind you, we didn't arrive in NYC at 8 AM. We got there after lunch!!! These girls were ROCK STARS!!!

Thanks to Katherine Todd and her son, Ethan, for letting us stay at their apartment. KT and her boyfriend, John, are pictured with Rachel outside of the Wharf Bar in Manhattan. We watched UT get blistered by South Carolina, with Jim Schwab (pictured in the title shot), who was visiting from Switzerland. He works overseas for Honeywell.

We spent the afternoon with Katherine and John, catching up on old times. We then went out for a nice dinner in Manhattan and headed to the bar to meet Jim. It was a wonderful weekend catching up with old friends. I won't mention the UT vs. South Carolina game other than to say, "We watched it." Luckily, the comradery took my mind off of the huge loss.

Sunday, Katherine and John took us to a wonderful brunch at Bubby's. After brunch, we went for a walk near KT's and Ethan's apartment. This picture, and the one in front of the United Nations Building (below) were taken on our walk. It was a beautiful day, especially for November.

We caught a 3 PMish train back to Trenton. We were home by 5:30 PM to begin getting ready for the upcoming week of work.

REFLECTIONS - Pharewell Phil

Much has been written on this story already, so I will keep it brief.

I wish Phil Fulmer good luck and God speed. He has been extremely loyal to the University of Tennessee and has brought a lot of good memories into the lives of Tennessee Football fans. He is a class act, who never threw any of his players under the bus, even when he probably should have.

That said, it is time for a change. I defended Coach Fulmer through the early part of this season. As I watched Rich Rodriguez at Michigan, I thought, "Things could be worse." It was apparent at the South Carolina game that change is needed. Wyoming proved that "Things cannot get worse."

Some out there like to point to Penn St. as a shining example of how to treat a coach. They have allowed Joe Pa to stay around WAY past his prime. I have 2 responses to that. 1) The Law of Averages states that given enough seasons, Tennessee would have returned to glory for a year, much as Penn St. has in 2008. How many losing seasons are we willing to endure? 2) UT is in the SEC. In the Big 10, you can get by with mediocrity. That is why someone from the SEC whips the Big 10 winner by 3 touchdowns each year in the BCS Championship game. Speed kills, and it sure as heck kills a mediocre team.

For those who criticize the decision by the argument, "When did college football become about the money?" Answer: When we got million $ TV contracts, lucrative athletic sponsorships, ridiculous coaching salaries and rising ticket prices. I am more guilty in supporting this injustice than most, as I pay way too much for season football tickets, and I am glued to the TV every Saturday watching overpaid coaches of schools with big shoe deals throw the pigskin around. Unfortunately, as long as my team wins, I will continue to buy those season tickets and pay Direct TV for the College Game Day Package, so I can watch them play. Fulmer stopped putting butts in chairs, and that is why he is gone.

I conclude with this... I have heard many hurl insults and very hurtful comments at Coach Fulmer during this disappointing season. He may have not earned the contract extension that Hamilton gave him last year, but he has darn sure earned our respect for the success he has built at the University of Tennessee and for the class he has displayed throughout his tenure.

The University of Tennessee

2008-10-31T20:59:00.013-05:00

For the Mississippi State game, Jeff Cathey and Dave Pavlonis booked a house in Gatlinburg for a guys reunion. Although Keith Carver stood us up to allegedly work on his PhD, the rest of us had a really great time shooting pool, talking smack and catching up with each others lives. Will Carver, JJ Brown, Howie Avery, Bert Sams, Mark Clark, Jerry Adams, Patrick Wade and Brian Light were all in attendance (in addition to Jeff, Dave and myself) for various parts of The Guys Weekend. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the actual participants, but I did get some nice pictures of campus.

We actually won the game!!!

REFLECTIONS - Congratulations Phillies!!!

In case you did not know... and judging by the Fox TV ratings, many of you may not... the Philadelphia Phillies are the 2008 World Series Champions!!!

That's right. Once again, the Kennedy's have brought a world championship in baseball to their new city. When we moved to Chicago (south side) in 2004, the White Sox ended their 80+ year World Series drought. So, when the Kennedy's moved to Philadelphia in 2007, it was a foregone conclusion that the Phillies would reign victorious this year.

On Friday, the Phillies and 1-2 MM of their screaming fans descended on Center City for the Championship Parade. I thought it appropriate to share my observations from this parade.

5) Honking horns - OK, anyone who has ever visited Philadelphia, or any other east coast city for that matter, knows that a true Philadelphian does not really need a reason to honk their car horn. However, for the parade day, EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, was honking their horn for the Phillies. (For those of you reading this that may be natives of east coast American cities, take note. You are the only people in the U.S. who use a car horn so much, and you absolutely mortify all southerners. In the south, a car horn is never used to express anger, rage or frustration at someone. A southern car horn is only used to acknowledge a buddy, who is out on his front porch enjoying some sweet tea, as you drive by, or to say "Hello" to the neighbor, who is driving his tractor down the middle of your two lane road.)

4) Allegiance - Philadelphia fans are loyal!!! I have not seen so many people descend on one place. There were hundreds of thousands of fans that came out in force. Parents held their kids out of school, people skipped work, working people left work to attend the parade. The side effect of this was that the public transportation, designed to accommodate 50,000 people, became extremely bogged down. I was not able to catch a train out of the city Friday evening until after 7 PM. The crowd began dispersing at 1:45 PM.

3) Spirit - fans were adorned in their finest Phillies wear. Hats, T-shirts, jackets, jerseys, you name it. I saw a pimp on a street corner in a bright red suit with red shoes, red socks and matching red hat. The only thing not red was his cane, which had a large "P" ornament on its top.

This raises a question for me... The Philadelphia Phillies that I grew up watching wore maroon uniforms. At what point did they switch to a candy apple red color?

2) Dedication - The fans who descended on the city for the parade showed great commitment. My best illustration of this is the gentleman that rode in front of me on the train, as I went to work Friday morning. I caught the 6:40 AM train. This guy was decked out in his Philly jersey with matching cap. He carried with him, one lawn chair, one 30 pack of Budweiser and a cell phone, which he used to announce to his buddy that he was laying out of work and would meet him at 30th Street Station to start drinking in 35 minutes. I guess 7:15 AM in Philadelphia is 12:00 somewhere.

1) Priorities - Although I, nor anyone else, could move anywhere downtown on Friday, Philadelphia transit worked when it had to. It just so happened that I attended a corporate function in our lobby at 11 AM. Outside, I watched a police escorted 3-truck Budweiser convoy come screaming down Market Street, going towards the parade. It was a model of efficiency.

The Northern Illinois Game

2008-10-26T19:08:00.026-05:00

A few weeks ago, several of our college friends gathered in Knoxville for the yearly football reunion. This year, we selected the Northern Illinois game because it 1) fit everyone's schedule; 2) would be easy to get tickets (little did we know that we could have probably gotten everyone tickets for Alabama this year, with the way the team is playing); and 3)Rachel's and my friends from Chicago, Danielle and Andy (pictured above) are Northern Illinois graduates.

I actually had some business in Nashville, so Danielle and Andy flew down on Thursday. We met Rachel's sister, Heather, for dinner at Cabana in Hillsboro Village. It was a great restaurant; they served gourmet southern food. It was probably one of the better eating experiences I have had in several months. Rachel's highschool friend and freshman roommate, Jennifer, joined us for dinner and then led us out to the Honky-tonks on Broadway and 2nd Avenue (we wanted Danielle and Andy to get the full impact of Nashville and Tennessee).

To leave the ultimate impression on our friends from the north, we pulled Dr. Hargis's (Rachel's Dad) 1970 Cadillac DeVille out and took it for a spin Friday afternoon. This picture earned me the nickname, "The Colonel" from Andy for the rest of the weekend.

We drove the Caddy down to the river, where Rachel shot this picture of Danielle and Andy. Later Friday afternoon, we headed to Knoxville and met up with Clark, Ben (Clark's brother), Jeremy and Jenny Graves and Cooney at Crown and Goose (a really nice new restaurant and bar in the Old City of Knoxville - 2 Thumbs up).

Saturday, we headed over to Neyland Stadium around lunch time to tailgate(game at 7 PM). It was great to see everyone. Several people came into town for the game and stopped by the tailgate. Many are pictured below. Melissa Cooney eeks out Jeremy and Jenny Graves, who drove from Phoenix, AZ for furthest distance traveled. She flew in from Rio de Janeiro for the weekend. Larry, Keri and Emerson Wray drove from Wilmington, NC. Danielle and Andy - Chicago, Rachel and I - Philadelphia, Sarah and Greg Cornell - Jacksonville/Gainesville, FL, Jennifer Hutson - Nashville, Kristen Lee - Nashville, Mark Clark, Ben Clark, Ben and Elizabeth Blanton - Knoxville.

L-R Jenny Graves, Jeremy Graves, me, Rach, Larry Wray, Keri Wray. Special thanks to Larry and Keri for bringing crab cakes and a seafood broil. It was definitely the best food we have ever had for a tailgate. It is also good that Larry brought his cooking equipment, as my grill reliably did not work again for the tailgate. Strangely, my dad can get it to work. However, me nor none of my friends can at a tailgate. It must be the elevation of the parking garage (actually, we learned that you have to tigthen the hand fitting with pliers).

Larry and Kerri, with their 2 year old daughter, Emerson. Emmie is extremely intelligent and outgoing. She was a lot of fun to have along at the tailgate this year. She brought her own pottie with her, which was pretty cool. She also affectionately renamed Ben (Clark's brother) - Tito. We have no idea why she started calling him Tito, but we are pretty sure that the name is gonna stick.

Mark Clark holding Emerson Wray

Jeremy and Jenny Graves

Sarah and Greg Cornell

Melissa Cooney and Kristen Lee

Rachel and Jennifer Hutson

REFLECTIONS - The Before and After

You may have remembered that I blogged about Rachel's best friend - also named Rachel - a few weeks ago. For those of you who do not remember, below is a "Before" picture of Rachel Bomar, two weeks before delivery.

Below is the "After" picture, taken approximately 3 weeks after delivery (yes, this is the same person).

Many of you are probably wondering what could cause such a dramatic transformation in one person's figure over a one month span.

Enter Exhibit A - Libby Jane Jerrell (or "The Little Sumo" as lovingly described by her own mother). Tipping the scales at 11 lbs 13 ounces and 22 inches long, Libby dramatically altered Rachel's appearance, as one might imagine.

Mrs. Hargis and Libby

5 Year Anniversary

2008-10-03T11:21:00.033-05:00

A few weeks ago, Rachel and I celebrated our Five Year Wedding Anniversary. What is the perfect romantic getaway for a five year anniversary, you might ask? Pittsburgh!!! Look out Casanova... Steve Kennedy really knows how to treat a lady.

OK. Maybe Pittsburgh is not the number one romantic getaway for couples, unless you are out of vacation and need a location to celebrate your 5-year anniversary that is within driving distance of Philadlephia. However, we were pleasantly surprised by how cool the Steel City is. Although the weather was rainy all weekend, we managed to enjoy our stay in Pittsburgh. We will definitely go back.

In addition to PNC field, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates (pictured above), Pittsburgh is also home to Heinz Field and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

This is a picture of the hotel that we stayed in. It is a very interesting design.

The video below is of the Duquense Incline.

We took the incline to the top of the hillside on Saturday. There are restaurants on top of the ridge that overlook the city. The title picture of the Pittsburgh skyline and the picture of Heinz Field were both taken from the top of the Duquense Incline.

Saturday evening, we went to the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals game. Unlike for the Yankees and Mets, we were able to get really good seats 6 rows up on the 3rd base line for VERY cheap. There was nobody there. I bet there weren't 10,000 people at the game. It may have been due to the weather. The game was awesome! Pittsburgh won in the 11th inning.

REFLECTIONS - FALLING WATER

Sunday morning, Rachel and I drove 75 minutes towards Philadelphia and stopped to see Falling Water - the most famous Frank Lloyd Wright house.

Designed in the 1930's, Falling Water is probably Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous design. The house, designed for the Kaufmann family (famous retail store in Pittsburgh), is built over a waterfall and incorporates the rock cliff into the structural design of the house.

The living room actually has stairs that go down to the water. This access, combined with opening the windows in the living area provides effective air conditioning in the summer by drawing the air flow across the water and then through the room. It also provides a very peaceful water sound inside the house.

The Kaufmann's son actually left the home to the state of Pennsylvania before he passed away. The home, the guest house and all of the furniture inside of both were all designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Wright used the layout and design of the windows to make the indoor living spaces seem much larger than they actually are. A lot of the design features on the house are really cool. For instance, the windows are built into the stone but do not have actual seals. I have no idea how they do not leak, but they don't. I also don't know how it deals with freeze/thaw cycles, because I would think that glass and stone have different coefficients of expansion (the windows should crack as they expand at a different rate than the stone, when the temperature swings).

The shelving in the kitchen was built into the walls and actually folds up to form additional table space for visitors or servants.

The living room also had built in shelving. You will also see a large outdoor living area through the window in the living room. Falling water actually has more square footage in outdoor living space than it does on the inside. Almost every room has a outdoor space. The house is totally designed to fit into its surroundings and to cause its guests to focus on the outside.

The fireplaces were really cool. The living room and each bedroom had a fireplace. A single chimney served the fireplaces of each room, but each room had its own chamber. You can see that the stone work for this room's fireplace is a lot wider than the fireplace itself. This is to house the other chambers.

A picture of one of the bedroom patios with the mountain in the backdrop. Not only was the home beautiful, but the surrounding land is gorgeous.

This is a great picture that shows how the windows on one of the reading rooms open up completely. The windows opened from both sides, making the room feel a lot more open.

More of the outdoor living spaces.

Here is Rachel enjoying the herb garden outside of the son's room. Notice that she is wearing her purse on her front. This is so she would not bump into any of the furniture and damage it. As it is all antique, they ask that you be very careful about bumping anything.

A walkway connects the main house to the guest house. This is a statue in the walkway. What is cool is that water from the roof is actually diverted through piping that turns this statue into an indoor fountain.

The living space outside of the guest house.

This is a picture of the living room water access from outside of the home. Notice the waterfall is directly behind this access point.

If you ever have the chance to visit Falling Water, I strongly suggest that you do. If you are ever visiting Pittsburgh, drive out and see it. It is well worth the trip. It is an amazing house. You will never see anything like it. You never will be able to; as the tour guides point out, this house would never pass building codes today. It uses too many creative and non-conventional engineering solutions that would cost an architect a fortune to get approved on a case-by-case basis these days.

The Greek Festival

2008-09-15T20:06:00.005-05:00

The weekend after Labor Day, Rachel and I caught up on some house work, licked our wounds from UT's trouncing out on the Left Coast, and wished hopelessly that Skip Holtz might become the Vols next head coach (this point is all in jest).

On Sunday, we accompanied our friends Keith and Meg Edwards to a Greek Festival about 10 minutes from the house. Their daughters, Kate and Abby, pictured with Keith above and again below, were a riot. Believe it or not, they are twins. Not only do they not look alike, they act NOTHING alike. Kate is the dark haired one. Although smaller and quieter than Abby, she is the Alpha female and will destroy anything that violates her territorial rights (OK, this is a bit of an exaggeration). Abbey is the bubbly extrovert. Put them together, and you have hours of entertainment, not to mention a pile of picked flowers (they picked each of us multiple flowers).

The festival was a lot of fun. It was at an Orthodox Church, and they had carnival rides and games for all of the kids. They had a massive assortment of Greek food, which is why Keith and I were there. I followed Keith's lead and tried a new dish. I can't remember the name of it, but it had potatoes, eggs, and cheese. It was really good.

After lunch, we headed to Merrymeade Farm, which is a farm market and livestock zoo very close to our house. We looked at the farm animals, grabbed some fresh produce and enjoyed ice cream cones.

A relaxing, well spent Sunday.

REFLECTIONS - SUPERSTITIONS

Bill Langston entered an extremely thought-provoking blog last week (please see "Schwangston" link in my favorite blogs area) regarding sports superstitions. As requested, I left a list of my personal superstitions from long, long ago, when I was actually in shape and played sports. For instance, I didn't shave on the days I was scheduled to pitch. I also had pre-game rituals for getting ready for basketball and baseball (put the uniform on the same each time, warmed up the same, etc).

With Florida coming to town this weekend to likely administer a GARGANTUAN butt-whoopin' to my Vols, and through Bill's prompting, I thought it appropriate to analyze the superstitions that might be affecting this team.

1) Steve Kennedy game attire - All avid football fans believe that their actions directly affect the performance of their team on the field. I believe that my attire may be the cause for the poor football performance in recent years. I wore a lucky cap/T-Shirt combination that went 24-2 over the two year stretch of 1997-1998. It included a National Championship. Unfortunately, both items became so frayed they were forced into retirement.

I have struggled to find "lucky" attire since then. I thought I had found it briefly in 2004, when the Vols began the season 3-0, including a win over arch-rival Florida. The Eric Ainge era began and then quickly flickered into a bad memory with a sack in the Notre Dame game that ended his season and turned him into a mental wuss for the next 3 years.

2) Every great sports program that has fallen on hard times has a single defining instance that led to derailment - a dreaded "CURSE". The "Curse of the Bambino" (began when the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees) plagued Boston for over 90 years before they finally won the World Series after a 90+ year drought. The Cubs hope to end the "Curse of the Goat" (the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern cursed the team when they would not sell a ticket for his pet goat to attend the 1945 NLCS) this year. My new home, Philadelphia, has the "Curse of William Penn" (no sports team has won a world championship in Philadelphia, since the statue of William Penn on top of City Hall was eclipsed as the highest point on a building in PA in the 1970's. The recently completed Comcast Tower erected a new statue of William Penn to break the curse. Result - the Philadelphia Soul won the Arena Football Championship).

Tennessee must therefore suffer from a curse:

a) The curse of James Banks - star WR kicked off of the team in 2003 for violating team rules (in Tennessee, "violation of team rules" = "he liked to smoke weed"). I doubt that this is the curse, as the Vols were a lousy 8-5 in 2002 before his dismissal and had the audacity to lose to an ACC school in the Peach Bowl that year.

b) The curse of Mark Alexander - in 1998 (the last year that Tennessee won a National Championship in football, University Center Manager and Neyland Stadium Gate Gestapo, Mark Alexander, threw one Stephen Ryan Kennedy out of the Florida game for trying to enter the stadium on a borrowed student ID. This unloaded an entire battery of "curses". These were all aimed personally towards Mr. Alexander, however I may have accidentally cursed the entire stadium). The rest of that season was salvaged by the fact that my future wife retrieved a piece of turf from that game, which I kept alive in my Kingsport apartment until UT captured its first National Championship in 45+ years. The turf subsequently "gave up the ghost". This curse is likely not the culprit either, as the Vols were a respectable 11-2 in 2001.

c) The curse of John Ward - retired "Voice of the Vols" ended his brilliant career at the end of the 1998 National Championship season. Not the likely culprit as John Ward never cursed anything. He is pseudo-deity.

d) The curse of Joe Johnson - retired UT President. This man is salt of the earth and one of the nicest gentlemen to ever walk this earth. Again, he would not curse anything. One still has to wonder given the philandering and inappropriate conduct of the past few UT President.

3) Maybe it wasn't my attire... maybe it was the loss of one of the most celebrated and frequently encountered items of clothing on the UT campus. No, I'm not talking about the Kappa Sigma "croakies" or Massey Hall underwear. I am referring to the eternal Mark Clark UT Power-T logo baseball cap. Although I don't remember precisely when its use was greatly reduced, I am certain that it lead to some sort of "orange imbalance" in the world and likely several losses.

4) I conducted a little research for this Reflection. To correctly identify the event that started this downward spiral, one has to define when the bad times began. I propose that 2002 was the beginning of the end. Although the 2000 season was a disappointing 8-3 and 2001 ended with a loss in the SEC Championship game and a chance to play for the National Championship, we were 11-2, BCS contenders and Citrus Bowl Champions. I propose that the wheels fell off in 2002, with an 8-5 record capped by a loss to Maryland in the Peach Bowl. Anytime you lose to an ACC school in football, it should be viewed as a negatively defining moment for your football program.

That said, what world events could have resulted in the 6 years of University of Tennessee football bad karma that have ensued?

a) Introduction of the Euro on January 1, 2002 - likely not the culprit, as the Vols won their New Years Day Citrus Bowl Game.

b) World Wrestling Federation changes its name to World Wrestling Entertainment - although this was an earth-shattering event for Mark Clark, Larry Wray and myself, it likely had no effect on UT football.

c) Dick Cheney serves as President for several hours after George Bush has a colonoscopy - although this is as frightening as Randy Sanders serving as a Head Coach, I believe this, too, is coincidence.

d) Freddy Heineken, Dutch beer magnate, dies - a traumatic event in the lives of beer-lovers world-wide. However, Jack Daniels is the drink of choice at Neyland Stadium. He has been dead since 1911 with no ill effects on volunteer football, other than a few pre-1927 losses to Vanderbilt.

e) The LA Angels win the World Series with "The Rally Monkey". This likely began the "Curse of West Coast Visiting Dominance" on the Vols. However, I don't think this curse carried over to all aspects of Tennessee football, or we would have not stomped the Golden Bears at home in 2006.

f) Ingrid Betancourt kidnapped in Bogota, Columbia by FARC rebels. I initially hoped that this was the cause of our misfortunes. Ms. Betancourt was heroically rescued earlier this summer by government forces in a peaceful rescue, and I was sure that UT football fortunes would change for the better. Not the case at UCLA.

g) Worldcom files for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. If this is the cause for UT football poor performance over the past several years, then the events of this week (Lehman Brothers became the new king of bankrupt U.S. corporations) will either lead to curse reversal or one DISMAL 2008 football season.

With the Gators coming to town Saturday, we will find out.

Jennifer Kain's Wedding

2008-09-04T20:29:00.025-05:00

Rachel and I flew to Nashville for Labor Day Weekend to attend Jennifer Kain's wedding (to Jasper). This is a picture of the infamous "Pigg and the Gang" (L-R Sara Pigg Walker, Jennifer Kain Richardson, Rachel Kennedy and Becky Sexton).

The crew, all friends from Physical Therapy School at Belmont University, also attended a bridal brunch Saturday morning. This was good, as it allowed me to watch college football in the afternoon.

The wedding was held at a Presbyterian Church in Brentwood, TN and was one of the most beautiful services I have ever attended. The reception was at a country club near by and was very classy. (Sarah and Brian Walker are shown dancing here, as Brian fulfills his obligation of "one dance").

My bride and I at the wedding reception.

The Groom's Cake was absolutely amazing. It has Reese's Cups all around it. It was the most magnificent cake I have ever seen, probably because I am a huge fan of peanut butter and chocolate.

The Wedding Cake was gorgeous, too. It was a strawberry cake and was absolutely delicious.

On Sunday, Becky and Sara came over to the house to swim. Kristen Lee and Rachel's best friend, Rachel Bomar Jerrell, also came over. The pudgy girl pictured here with my Rachel is Rachel Bomar Jerrell (she is pregnant, in case you are an idiot). It is hilarious because she hasn't gained weight anywhere except in her belly. She looks like a watermelon on toothpicks. Sadly, she can run stairs faster than I can.

Sunday evening, Rachel, Kristen and I met Rachel's sister, Heather, for dinner in East Nashville. We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Rose Pepper's. It was really good. It was great to see Heather.

Here I am, chillin' with the ladies.

REFLECTIONS - TOBY THE WONDER DOG

Rachel's parents took in a stray dog a few months ago. Promptly given all vaccination and named "Toby", this little dog has a lot of spunk and personality. He is quite entertaining. The vet estimates that he is about a year old.

The two videos below show Toby at his finest. In the first, Dr. Hargis dodges so Toby can fetch his tennis ball.

In this vid, Toby shows his mad catching skills.

New York City

2008-08-31T09:57:00.030-05:00

Last weekend, Rachel and I headed up to New York City for the weekend.

Honestly, New York City is not one of my favorite places. It is crowded, and the people do not tend to be very happy or friendly. We went this particular weekend in order to meet up with Sarah and Greg Cornell (pictured here) and to attend a New York Mets game at Shea Stadium (Shea will be demolished, like Yankee Stadium, at the end of this season).

We arrived early Saturday morning and began our day with a tour of the Bronx Zoo. Above is a video of the polar bear, who was especially playful. I give the Bronx Zoo high marks. Although it is not large in land area, The Bronx Zoo has high quality exhibits and very good habitat for its animals. The only downfall was that it was a bit crowded, like all other spots in New York City.

Saturday evening, we took the subway from Time Square to Flushing Meadows in Queens to see the New York Mets play the Houston Astros at Shea Stadium. She was built in the late 1950's. It has several seating levels, which results in a lot of restricted view seats (you can't see foul balls due to the overhanging level above you).

Citi Park will open in 2009 and is situated directly adjacent to the Shea Stadium outfield. It looks like it will be a very nice park. The brick facade is beautiful.

Flushing Meadows is also home to the tennis stadium. This is the stadium currently hosting the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. The tournament began the Monday after this Saturday. It looked like a very cool stadium. I was surprised it was that big. I think it would probably hold every tennis fan in the United States - all 4,000 of them.

Sunday, we took a bus tour of Uptown Manhattan with Sarah, Greg and their friends. We had the worst tour guide ever. He was plenty knowledgeable, but he was certainly not excited about the material. I guess in some ways, he was reflective of the stereo-typical New Yorker - unhappy with life in general.

This is a shot of the Time Warner building.

Our tour took us by the Trump Towers. No sign of "The Donald" nor his hair.

Central Park. It always amazes me how large Central Park is. We learned that every tree, path and hill was planned, planted and created. The original city planners really had foresight to leave that much open space available.

Metropolitan Museum of Art.

My favorite spectacle in the city is always the New Yorkers. It is a sea of diverse humanity. This gentleman is one example. He has great hair. Unfortunately, picture quality is low because I had to inconspicuously shoot this with my cell phone. New Yorkers are entertaining, even if they are not very friendly or happy.

REFLECTIONS - CONSIDER AMTRAK

In order to avoid driving, Rachel and I took Amtrak from Philly to New York for the weekend. It was the first time that either of us had ridden Amtrak. It was actually a very pleasant experience. So, for this "Reflections", I decided I would tell you reasons you might want to take Amtrak, if you have the opportunity, rather than fly:

1) LEG ROOM - The coach class seats have more leg room and more butt room than an airplane seat. Side-by-side seats, so you don't have to worry about being crammed into a row of three or more.

2) Arrive 15 minutes before your train leaves. No more arriving 2 hours before your flight. For short to intermediate trips, Amtrak will often get you there faster than a flight, once you factor in 2 hour early arrival, likely delays and waiting on checked luggage.

3) Use your laptop and electronic devices the entire time. No longer do you have to turn off your electronic devices to take off and land. Best of all, each side-by-side seat comes with its own set of electrical outlets, so you don't have to worry about your laptop battery expiring during your trip.

4) Safety - although Amtrak does not have a perfect record, you are much more likely to walk or limp away from a train wreck than you are from a plane crash. The only way gravity could take effect would be if the train wreck occurred on a bridge.

5) Central location - I can think of very few airports located centrally inside a city. You typically must land and then secure other transportation arrangements to get to your urban hotel. Not so with Amtrak. Amtrak stations are located centrally inside most cities. Our hotel was two subway stops from NYC's Penn Station, where our train arrived.

6) No surcharges or lost luggage. Unless you are packing for a 3 month trip, you don't have to check luggage on Amtrak. You can comfortably stow all of your suitcases above your head in the luggage racks.

7) Although there are some pretty cool airports these days, 19th century train stations are simply beautiful. They are some of the coolest architectural expressions in many cities.

8) No expensive airport parking. We parked at our local train station for free, took regional rail into the city, where we caught Amtrak. If we would have flown, we would have paid $30 to park.

Amtrak is not perfect. It is not cheap, but it is competitive with respect to flight prices.

Visit to Knoxville

2008-08-22T20:21:00.007-05:00

Last weekend, I headed to Knoxville for a weekend of rest and relaxation and to shoot with the Knoxville R&H Team in the Helen Ross McNabb Charity Sporting Clays Tournament. And of course, if I visited Knoxville, I had to visit my favorite restaurant - Altruda's.

After picking me up at the airport, Mom and Dad drove me to the restaurant, where we met my Uncle Stan, Aunt Lou, Reid (Cousin) and Renee and their two kids, Kara and Ryan for dinner. In this picture, Aunt Lou is moving an empty Mich Ultra bottle to prevent Ryan from taking a swig (he is starting early).

Mom has Kara and Ryan as my Uncle Stan looks on in this picture.

After dinner, I went to Laddy's and Amy's, where Mark Clark and Patrick Wade met us. We hung out for the evening, watching the Olympics (and Michael Phelps's PHENOMENAL 100 meter Butterfly finish).

Saturday morning, Dad and I got up early and met his shooting team at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We then headed up to Grainger County to "Birds and Clays", the site of the tournament. I shot with Shane Phillips, Todd Murphy, Steve Prater and Jon Arnold from R&H. Our team finished 3rd in the 10:30 AM flight. I shot OK personally, considering I had not shot a target in 2 years.

Saturday evening, I hung out with Mom and Dad. We ate a home cooked dinner, went out for ice cream and then watched Phelps break Mark Spitz's record. It was nice just to lay around and relax.

Reflections - McGhee Tyson Regional Airport

Sunday, I flew back to Philadelphia. The flight was fairly uneventful, but the experience was somewhat strange nonetheless. For those reading this blog, who have never flown into or out of Knoxville's airport, it is a very small, uncongested experience... quite relaxing really. A few strange experiences happened to me on this particular Sunday:

1) Waterless urinals are one of the latest achievements of the "Green" building movement. I fly regularly and have visited MANY airports over the past 6 months. I find it strange that McGhee Tyson airport should present me with my first personal encounter with a waterless urinal.

2) For the first time in my life, I had a delayed departure time actually bumped up. Don't get me wrong, I get delayed all of the time (especially flying into and out of Philadelphia). This time, I was initially delayed for one hour. When I arrived at the airport, the flight had been delayed 60 more minutes. However, as I ate my dinner at Ruby Tuesday's in the airport, I heard my name paged for final boarding. The flight was moved back up.

3) My favorite - as we taxied to take off, our flight attendant informed us that we were first in line for departure. In Philadelphia, I have sat in line on the runway as high as #36. In Knoxville, I have never seen two planes taxiing at the same time, much less waited in line to take off or land. I got a big chuckle out of that one.

2 Weeks of Albright

2008-08-20T15:28:00.007-05:00

Immediately following the Weekend of Tim, the group began celebrating 2 weeks of Albright (the relative durations should in no way be viewed as a reflection of importance of the two individuals; it is simply an indication of planned activities). Brian Albright, Plant Manager of the Rohm and Haas facility in Mozzanica (Milan, Italy), is back visiting the states for 2 weeks while the socialists celebrate August in Europe (scheduled work stoppage). Brian is on temporary assignment in Italy until October, when he will return to the states.

Tuesday evening, we all met at the Lucky Dog for weekly trivia. Pictured here are Aileen (Tim's sister, as promised), Nicole and Rachel. When Albright is in town, it is always "Lady's Night" at the Lucky Dog.

The boys were also in full attendance (Tim, Me, Keith, Albright and Rob).Although we fielded a full squad, we struggled with trivia - not even placing. (Tied for first and lost in the tiebreaker this week, somewhat redeeming ourselves).

The Weekend of Tim

2008-08-14T19:09:00.022-05:00

Last weekend, Tim Callahan turned 30!!! Pictured here are most of the male members of the Tuesday night trivia team (and also a subset of the monthly poker night). From left to right - Rob Jeter, Keith Edwards, Tim Callahan, Vince Valenzuela and yours truly. The celebration was at the pub where we play Tuesday night trivia - The Lucky Dog. They have excellent food to go along with their friendly staff and trivia nights.

In case you are wondering, we are all holding European Manbags. Nicole challenged us to dress like Tim. As Tim's sister Aileen so eloquently put it, "Just wear the girliest clothes you have." None of us could do Tim's wardrobe justice. Luckily, Meg brought purses for all of us.

Tim and Nicole (his wife) enjoying Tim's molten chocolate birthday cake.

Rachel and Meg Edwards at The Lucky Dog.

On Saturday evening, Nicole surprised Tim by having us all attend the Trenton Thunder (A - Yankees farm team) baseball game. Tim got to throw out the first pitch. About 15-20 birthday honorees got to throw out pitches. Although Tim got the pitch to the catcher with no bounces from 54 feet, a 9 year old boy and 2 teenage girls threw harder than he did. I guess he is getting old.

The coolest part of the evening was the "bat-dog". During the first inning, they use a golden retriever as the ballboy/batboy. The dog goes out and fetches the bat after the batter gets a hit and brings it to the dugout. He also retrieves foul balls and takes them back to the dugout.

In this video, Tim is accosted by the Thunder Mascot.

Tim and Nicole at the baseball game. Nicole is a good wife to set up all of these great events for Tim's birthday, and to put up with him under normal circumstances.

Several of Tim's family members attended the baseball game. His sister Aileen (don't ask me how I didn't get a picture of Aileen; don't worry, she will be in my next blog), his mom and dad, several aunts and uncles, and Nana (pictured here) all came to the game. I met Nana at Tim's and Nicole's Super Bowl party earlier in the year and got to sit next to her for the first few innings of the game. She is a riot. Nana and I get along very well together because she is a big-time Duke basketball fan. She knows her stuff, too - not an amateur.

Keith with the twins - Kate and Abbie.

Vanessa (Rob's wife) with Emma. Emma has the most beautiful blue eyes and smile. She can brighten your day when she grins at you.

Rob and Jack. Jack has not acquired man's fascination with baseball quite yet. He was ready to call it a night about the 6th inning. I was, too, as I had forgotten how long minor league games take due to all of the between inning activities, like kids running the bases, the dugout dance contest, etc.

On Sunday, "The Weekend of Tim" continued with the guys hitting the golf course (Keith, Tim, me, Rob). As usual, Tim was about 15 strokes better than #2, and I was last. We had great weather and a lot of fun. Our place was the post course watering hole. Rachel had much appreciated snacks waiting on us.

REFLECTIONS - Adder for the Neyland Stadium Renovation Project When visiting the Trenton Thunder during "The Weekend of Tim", I saw this "doozy" in the bathroom. It got me to thinking of items that might be helpful to include in the Neyland Stadium renovation (in case you cannot tell, this is a handy-dandy cupholder for your drink positioned conveniently in the bathroom. Another helpful suggestion for the folks at Neyland Stadium - Eastman recycle bins in the Men's restrooms. This would eliminate the clutter pile of Jack Daniels bottles that are routinely discarded after mixing in Coke's. Remember... Good Sports Always Recycle.

The Hargis Family Visits Philadelphia

2008-08-10T18:55:00.017-05:00

Weekend before last, Rachel's family came to visit us in Philadelphia for the first time.
Her parents, pictured here at General Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge, flew up on Southwest with Rachel's Uncle Tommy (right). They arrived on Thursday evening. Friday mid-morning, we took them over for a trolley tour of Valley Forge.

After a quick lunch at our house, we drove downtown to take a double-decker bus tour. The bus tours are a great way to see Philadelphia. You can purchase a ticket good for 24 hours. We rode the bus the entire time because we liked the tour guide on our bus. However, you can get on and off at attractions as you like. The bus makes ~10-12 stops at various historic locations throughout the city.

This is a picture of Rachel's mom and Uncle Tommy on the bus. We had a great day for the tour. It was sunny, but not blazing hot (mid 80's).

Rachel and I on the bus.

This is a picture of City Hall, built on one of the five original squares in Philadelphia. A statue of William Penn sits on top of the building. It was the tallest building in Pennsylvania by gentleman's agreement until the 1960's or 1970's. Several buildings have been built since in Philly and Pittsburgh that are taller. Since that happened, Philadelphia has not won a major sports championship (yes, Philly, like all losing sports cities, has a curse).

The tall building here is the Comcast Tower, the first LEED Platinum skyscraper in the world. It was completed within the past year and is now the tallest building in Philadelphia. It is also credited with "Reversing the Curse". A new statue of William Penn was constructed on top of the Comcast Tower (any new building project in Philly is forced to donate "art" to the socialist economy; therefore, Philadelphia is the "sculpture" city). Since William Penn once again looks over the city, the curse is lifted as demonstrated by the Philadelphia Soul winning the Arena Football Championship. Although I have argued that arena football does not officially qualify as a "major" sport, Philly residents insure me that the Phillies are going all the way.

This is the love statue in Center City. It is the most photographed sculpture in the world. The "O" is crooked to symbolize that love is not perfect, but it is beautiful none the less "blah blah blah".

A nice shot of the Philadelphia skyline as we took the double-decker from the Museum of Art towards the Philadelphia Zoo.

Following our tour, we took Rachel's family to Jim's for a Philadelphia Cheesesteak. We decided on Jim's because it was highly recommended by the tour guide and an insert in the U.S. Airways travel magazine. Most importantly, Jim's serves a mean "vegie" cheesesteak. Most Philadelphia natives would scoff at the idea, but it was very handy for Rachel and her mom.

Rachel's dad enjoyed his cheesesteak.

The final picture below is one of my favorite shots of Philadelphia, looking down the Ben Franklin Parkway from the Museum of Art. This street was constructed to resemble the Champs D'Elysees in Paris.

REFLECTIONS - Yankee Stadium

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Yankee Stadium. After the Hargises arrived, Uncle Tommy mentioned that he would like to visit Yankee Stadium. Since it will be bulldozed at the end of the season, this was sort of his last chance. Rachel and I had been trying to arrange a trip, too, so this was the perfect weekend.

Since the trip was sort of last minute, I had the "opportunity" to drive the family from Philadelphia into the Bronx. Unfortunately, the Bronx is the borough of NYC furthest from Philadelphia. The drive was actually pretty easy until we got to the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey to the Bronx. At this point, my blood pressure elevated significantly due to the traffic. However, we made it safely to the game.

We parked next to the stadium, picked up our Stubhub tickets and headed for our seats. Our tickets were not very good, but they were inside the stadium. The weather was beautiful that day, as there was a nice breeze and temperatures were only in the low 80's. We paid $5 each for our Nathan's hot dogs (except for the vegetarians in the group), grabbed some peanuts and cokes and enjoyed the Yankees whipping the Angels. I am not a Yankee fan, but the atmosphere was great.

From our seats, we could see the new stadium being built next door. It looks like it is going to be a really nice stadium. If it is not, the world's richest franchise can only blame themselves.

Ironically, a girl in the row in front of us will be a graduate student at the University of Tennessee and work in the Marketing Dept. for Athletics beginning this fall. Her mom was hilarious. She was obviously an immigrant and was an avid Yankees fan. Yankee Stadium is definitely a diverse collection of mankind.

Run For the Hill of It

2008-08-07T19:59:00.004-05:00

Two weekends ago, Rachel and I ran the "Run For the Hill of It" - a 5 mile race along the river next to Chestnut Hill College. As you can probably tell from my picture below, I was less than thrilled to have my picture made before the race (besides the fact that I was up running 5 miles at 7 AM on my Saturday morning). My payback... Rachel gets the headline photo.

In all honesty, the race was actually pretty good. It was on an unpaved path that followed Wissahickon Creek. Almost the entire run was covered by a canopy of trees, and the morning was unseasonably cool for late July in Philadelphia. As poor as the pre-race pictures may look, believe me, they are much better than the post-race pictures would have been. Plus, it was nice to get the day's workout completed before lunch.

REFLECTIONS - This Dyson Guy is Pretty Smart

I am sure that most of the readers of this blog are at least topically familiar with the Dyson line of vacuum cleaners. They are the commercials with the guy who describes his invention of the bagless vacuum cleaner that uses multiple cyclone technology to prevent the vacuum from losing suction. Although very expensive, the vacuum cleaners are pretty darn cool.

At any rate, Mr. Dyson's new invention is located in the bathrooms at the Providence, RI airport. This is a picture of the Dyson hand dryer. Instead of the conventional convection heat hand dryers in most public restrooms, the Providence airport are trialing these babies. It is a "green" alternative to the heated dryers. No heat. In only 3 seconds, this device literally sucked every bit of moisture from my hands. It was AMAZING!!! Apparently, it uses much less energy than the conventional dryers, too.

The "Board" Meeting

2008-08-03T07:47:00.006-05:00

Sunday before last (yes, I am behind on my blogs again), Rachel and I attended a Rohm and Haas "Board" Meeting at John Holz and Stephanie Bortko's house. As you can see, they have a really cool pool area. They had 15 or so Rohm and Haas folks over, along with their families for a cookout and afternoon of pool fun.

This is a picture of John, the accommodating host. I am actually not a part of the work group that they invited over. However, I hunt a little bit with John and know most of the people invited, so he and Steph were kind enough to have us over, too. It was a magnificent afternoon weather, food and entertainment-wise.

It was a nice afternoon of rest and relaxation following the Kenny Chesney concert.

Poets and Pirates

2008-07-25T14:53:00.012-05:00

Last Saturday Night, Rachel and I went to see Kenny Chesney in Concert at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. Mom got us tickets for Rachel's birthday in the 5th row. They were INCREDIBLE seats!!! Thanks Mom!

Although it was extremely hot (93) that Saturday, the humidity was under 30% and our seats went into the shade after only about 90 minutes of the concert. The concert started at 4:00 PM and went until about 11:15. Now that's a party!

Unfortunately, my camera batteries died early during Kenny's performance. Below is a short video clip that gives a sense of the atmosphere. First of all the stadium was packed. Secondly, everyone was into it. He does a really nice job selecting his opening acts (they are all people who are full of energy and who get the crowd going before he ever gets on stage). In the video he is singing "Summertime". Beach balls are whizzing around everywhere, and the fans are into the song. It was really cool.

Keith Urban was the act before Kenny. Those of you who are country music fans out there are probably asking, "Why in the world was Keith Urban the opening act for anybody. He is a former Country Music Entertainer of the Year." Well, you are right. We are just lucky that he is taking his new fatherhood seriously. Since he and Nicole just had a baby, he is making a few appearances (probably to get some sleep) on the Poets and Pirates Tour, and luckily Philadelphia was one of the stops he made. It was his first concert since the baby was born. He was NOT rusty. The guy is electric, and so are his musicians. He is one of the true musicians in country music, as he bangs out some of his own guitar solos. It is impressive when the band's headline lead singer is also arguably the best musician in the band. That is definitely the case for Keith Urban.

If you were like me, when you saw that Sammy Hagar, former lead singer for Van Halen, had joined the Poets and Pirates Tour, you were probably like, "Huh?" I was. I now know why he was on the tour. The guy is a trip. It is obvious that he loves entertaining. He is a complete clown on stage. You can tell that he truly enjoys being out there. He had a tiki bar on stage and would occasionally call for a drink from the bartendresses, who were manning it. He would take a sip of his drink and then give the rest to someone in the audience.

Even though Van Halen was named for the lead guitarist and drummer, it is obvious that Sammy wrote a lot of their songs during his stent with the band, as he performed several of their hits. He opened with "I Can't Drive 55" and kept the crowd going for about an hour and a half.

Out of all of the entertainers on this tour, Leann Rimes was the one I was least interested in seeing. She is unquestionably the most vocally talented of anyone on the tour (or just about any tour for that matter), but her style of music does not typically appeal to me. However, I must admit that she had more energy than I was anticipating, and I enjoyed her portion of the show, too. Towards the end of the show, she threw on the Philadelphia Eagles jersey shown in this picture. That got the crowd (who did not boo anyone - Surprise in Philadelphia) riled up.

Gary Allan was the opening act. He is actually one of my favorite country artists and fits the Pat Green mold for Kenny's opening act - a high energy, partying performer, who has a regional cult following. Gary has a strong following of Californian Country Music enthusiasts. He also wins Rachel's "Persaverence Award", as he nailed down the smoldering 4 PM opening spot wearing jeans (the next 2 performers were in shorts). It did not seem to bother him.

REFLECTIONS - Can I See Your Southern Card?

I have often told people that rednecks do not only exist in the south. In fact, some of the biggest rednecks I have ever seen, live north of the Mason-Dixon line. Take Reed's, Bill's, Clark's, Patrick's and my buddy, Preston from St. Joseph's, MI. He is the only human I have ever seen have a dip in while drinking a pitcher of beer (he did not remove the dip, and yes, he was drinking directly from the pitcher).

The young ladies below further back up the statement that "You don't have to be southern to be a redneck." Nothing screams "redneck" more than three girls in bikini tops and daisy-duke shorts holding up a "Priceless" sign.

But again, that last statement may not be entirely true... Alas, nothing screams "REDNECK" more than a rebel flag flying above The Philadelphia Spectrum (ahh the irony... the Spectrum is the former home to the Philadelphia Flyers, one of the least "southern" yet most "red-neck" institutions ever created).

Now that I have provided empirical evidence, let's all agree to Kennedy's Theory of Redneckism: "All Rednecks do not live in the south". (The rebel flag RV was toting PA plates, and Preston was definitely a native of Michigan).

With that, I will introduce Corollary 1. This is actually a transitive property of Kennedy's Theory of Redneckism: "Just because you are a redneck does not mean you are from the South."

The perfect illistration of this corollary came about 2/3 of the way through Kenny's set, when he announced to the crowd that he was going to cover a special song that night since the crowd was so fired up. When he proceeded to sing David Alan Coe's "You Don't Have to Call Me Darlin', Darlin'", Rachel and I were ecstatic. After all, Kenny chose to cover the #2 song in the hearts of all true southerners ("Sweet Home Alabama" being the first). As we began belting out the lyrics to the first verse ("You don't have to call me Waylong Jennings. You don't have to call me Charlie Pride. And you don't have to call me Merle Haggard anymore..."), we noticed that we were essentially the only people in our section that knew the lyrics!!! If you sang this song at any bar, pub, football tailgate, NASCAR race or any other venue with over 100 people, folks would be standing on tables and chairs wailing at the tops of their lungs. In Philadelphia, you get CRICKETS CHIRPING. Nothing...Nada. Blank stares and silence. It was a rather awkward moment.

But, you will all be proud to know that Rachel and I let the other 50,000 + fans know that there were at least 2 southerners in the house, as we belted the song out to completion (Complete with multiple "Let me, Let me, Let me, Let me" during the chorus. If you are one of my northern friends reading this blog, I can explain to you later).

Survey Says

2008-07-24T20:18:00.015-05:00

What breed is Gracie?

A

B

C