New Years Eve

Rachel had to work on the Friday after Christmas, so we drove back to Philadelphia on Thursday. Rachel also had to work New Years Eve Day. Luckily, I was invited by a friend of mine from work, John Holz, to go pheasant hunting. John, pictured here (far left) with his chocolate lab, Bailey, Mark and Mark's chocolate lab, Hemi (yes, the dog is named after a V8 car engine) is an avid hunter. We arose with the chickens and headed up to Allentown for the hunt, where we bagged 14 birds between four of us. I had a blast. It was as much fun watching the dogs work as it was actually hunting. Bailey is a 7 year old female, with a lot of experience and discipline. She was expert at finding birds and never strayed too far ahead of the group of us. She could also discern between the scent of a dead bird and a live bird. Hemi, a 2 year old male, was on his second hunt and had not yet acquired Bailey's discipline (he got too far ahead of us once and flushed a bird that was too far out to shoot). However, what he lacked in discipline, he made up for in enthusiasm. He was one of the most active dogs I have ever seen, and did not allow any brush or overgrowth stop his travel. He did a very nice job finding and flushing birds in only his second hunt.

For New Years Festivities, Rachel and I met a group of friends at the Lucky Dog, a pub that we now frequent in Lafayette Hill. This is the pub where I play trivia on Tuesday nights with the guys (see "Reflections). The girls in the group, have a "Book Club". The guys all laugh, as it would be much more accurately described as a dinner club, since it is really an excuse to get together and go out to dinner (reading the book is optional).

From L-R, Nicole, Meg and Vanessa are three of the book club founders. Not pictured are Nicole's husband Tim and Vanessa's husband, Rob (a fellow Rohm and Haas employee and the person who invited me into the trivia group).



Meg's husband, Keith is also a Rohm and Haas employee and member of the trivia team. Unfortunately, Keith has to travel quite a bit with work, so he misses many trivia nights. Keith is also a strong advocate of the Rohm and Haas Poker League, a monthly group consisting of our New Year's Eve Party Group plus many more Rohm and Haas employees and friends. DISCLAIMER: This poker league is in no way associated with or condoned by The Rohm and Haas Company.

Brian Albright is the Area Manager of our Bristol complex north of Philadelphia, but his claim to fame is that he is the Commissioner for the Rohm and Haas Poker League. He is also the Class Clown of our group, and its most eligible bachelor.



Reflections - The Trivia Team

6'0" from the University of Dayton, Brian Albright is a co-captain of the Trivia Team (the team name changes each week and is typically named for a Seinfeld Episode, so I cannot refer to us by a single name). Brian specializes in art, figure skating and other trivia categories where your wife would likely know the answers.

6'5" from the University of Texas, Rob Jeter is the other co-captain of our trivia team. Hailing from Memphis, TN (Germantown High School), Rob is the Supply Chain Planner for all of our Emulsion Plants in North America. Rob's trivia specialties are obscure movies and music trivia.


6'0" from Penn State University, Eric Reinheimer is a Process Engineer at the Bristol Plant, just north of the city. Eric's trivia specialties include current events and hard rock. From Lehigh Valley, Eric also helps the team with Philadelphia-centric questions.




6'0" from Penn State University, Tim Callahan holds the distinction of being the only non-Rohm and Haas employee on the trivia team. Being a native Philadelphian, Tim assists the team on local history questions and sports. Tim is also the only team member who can participate in the annual Mummers Parade and is the coach of the softball team that I hope to play on this spring.

6'2" from the University of Dayton, Keith Edwards specializes in sports trivia (with an emphasis on hockey, as none of the rest of us are strong in that area). Unfortunately, Keith travels for work quite a bit and has to miss some weeks.

Christmas Day 7 - Day After Christmas

The entire Kennedy Family was worn out Christmas evening after dinner, so we opted to not open presents with mom and dad until the morning after. Mom's big present was some boots, which Rachel picked out and she loved; Rachel's big present was a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner; I got the dressier coat that I needed for my new job at work. Dad really didn't have a big gift from us because he pretty much buys all of the hunting stuff he wants.

That evening, Rachel and I met up with Tim and Liz Nagy, who were in from Madrid for Christmas. They are getting ready to move to Sydney, Australia. They lived there a few years ago and are excited to be going back. Rachel and I are excited for them, as we plan on visiting in February (should lead to some future blogs).

After hanging out with Tim and Liz for a couple of hours, Rach and I met Mark Clark over at Laddy's and Amy's (my cousin and his wife, who have appeared in the blog before). There, I played Boxing on their Wii for about 3 hours. Thus ends Wednesday. Fast forward... Thursday morning. Step 1: Steve can no longer lift his arms to wash his hair. Step 2: Steve cannot lift the muffins that his mom baked to his mouth. Step 3: Steve practically screams as he makes his first attempt to raise his arms to the steering wheel.

Unfortunately, Rachel had to work on Friday, so we drove back Thursday. Not much to report here, other than a bunch of off-key singing and silly games to pass the time.

Reflections - What Are They Thinking
Short and sweet - Every grocery store that I have visited in the Philadelphia area stores their shopping carts outside. There is ZERO indoor shopping cart storage. HELLO PEOPLE!!! We don't live in the Caribbean. They must use a special type of wheel grease on these carts (the kind that doesn't freeze in arctic conditions).

How is it that after serving as the first capital of our nation, they have not figured out that they should store shopping carts indoors under regulated temperatures?

Christmas Day 6 - THE DAY IS HERE

Christmas morning, we woke up and exchanged gifts at Rachel's house. She got the Juicer that she had been wanting, so I now have more vitamins in me than a GNC store. I got some really neat I-Pod accessories from her mom and dad and her sister got me another kickin dress shirt for work (her gift last year took me through a successful job interview and some intense customer meetings; it is my "lucky" shirt). Rachel's dad also got us a remote control car starter... ahh the joys of living in the north.
After lunch, we headed to Knoxville for Christmas with my extended family. We arrived at my cousin Reid's (and his wife Renee's) house around 6 PM for dinner. After dinner, we watched Renee's and Reid's kids - Kara and Ryan - open their presents. Kara is 4 1/2 and Ryan is 2, so they are prime for getting hyped for Christmas. He was especially funny, as he is at the age where he babbles on about something all of the time, but you can't quite catch everything he says.

It was also good to see my Uncle Stan, pictured above with Mom, Aunt Lou and Renee's parents, Ronnie and Kaye, and her brother Ronnie. We are one big happy meshed family on Christmas evening each year.

Reflections - The Christmas Spirit
Unlike Rachel, who does not allow me to put up Christmas decorations until the weekend of Thanksgiving and who makes me take them down the weekend between Christmas in New Year, some people really have the Christmas Spirit. Here are some pictures of one that I really get a kick out of. Seaborn and Sandy, who I have never met, live about 5 minutes from mom and dad. They would be a great target for an "Eco-conservative" as Reed referred to himself, as I am pretty sure they are using enough electricity each night to power Las Vegas for an hour. Unfortunately, I had to take 3 pictures because the decorations run all the way up to the road making it impossible for me to fit it in in one single shot.

Christmas Day 5 - Christmas Eve in Nashville

Christmas Eve morning, we woke up and went to the gym with Rachel's mom - More on that in "Reflections". That afternoon, Mrs. Hargis gave Rachel's dad his BIG present for Christmas - an XBOX 360. She gave it to him while I was there so I could help him hook it up on his big screen TV downstairs (Rachel also has a bunch of male cousins who were coming over for Christmas eve, so I think she wanted to contain them in the basement as much as possible).

In a single day, I learned that my father-in-law is more "hip" than me (I don't have an XBOX 360, and this was before my Wii), and that my mother-in-law can kick my butt in a gym (again, more on that in "Reflections").

It was Rachel's family's turn to host the rest of the Hargis's for Christmas Eve. Dr. Hargis's sister, Ginger (2nd from right), her husband Ricky and two sons Neil and Patrick, as well as Dr. Hargis's other sister Judy (far right) and her two sons Daniel and Jonathan came over for dinner and to play Dirty Santa. To clarify for pervs like Hennessy, that is where everyone draws numbers. The 1st person blindly selects a gift. The 2nd person can steal that gift or pick an unknown gift from the pile. You proceed until the last person has selected a gift. Most of the gifts are gags, but also include something of value. I got a $15 I-Tunes card and $5 cash (gifts are to be $20).

It was a good time. Rachel's cousins (clockwise from upper left - Patrick, Jonathan, Neil and Daniel) provide good entertainment. Patrick and Neil are musically talented and Daniel is a complete cornball. The four of them should go on the road with a comedy variety routine. After they left, we went to bed in anticipation of Christmas morning.



Reflections - The QUAD MILL
A picture does not do this diabolical machine justice. The Quad Mill is a new and innovative piece of work-out equipment. The U.S. Olympic Ski Team, the NY Giants and now the Tennessee Titans are using these machines for training world class athletes. The mill has front and back platforms that oscillate up and down. You stand on one or both platforms, depending on the exercise, and attempt to keep your eyes level with the horizon for 60 seconds, by doing repeated squat thrusts. The catch is that since this thing oscillates, the actual pressure of these thrusts is magnified many times over. If you are a Titan, you may last 5 minutes. The gym record was set by an Iron Man Triathlete, who managed 10 minutes on the device.

Proudly, Rachel and I both managed 5 sets on the Quad Mill, and were able to walk the next day. My mother-in-law, whose age shall not be revealed here, did 10 minutes. I would be humiliated, but she can also out-swim, out-run and out-bike me, so I had reasonable expectations.

Some little known facts about the Quad Mill:

1) Lance Armstrong used the Quad Mill to win his 15th Tour de France in a row.
2) St. Tebow uses the Quad Mill to help him walk on water.
3) Henry the VIII was said to favor the 'Torture Rack' because he considered it too inhumane to put people on the Quad Mill.
4) The Quad Mill once defeated Chuck Norris.
5) Count Dracula would have been known as Vlad the "Quad Miller" instead of Vlad the "Impaler" if the Quad Mill had been around.

Christmas Day 4 - Hanging out in Nashville

On Sunday, we hung out in Nashville. That morning, Rachel, Heather (Rachel's sister), Mrs. Hargis and I went out and fed Mrs. Hargis's horse, Secret. She is a three year old Tennessee Walking Horse that lives in the pasture behind their house. Their neighbors board and train several horses.


Sunday afternoon, we went to the Stadium formerly known as Adelphia (now LP Field) for the Titans game against the NY Jets. The Cleveland Browns lost earlier in the day opening a spot in the playoffs for the Titans should they win their last 2 games. The whole family went. Rachel and I sat with her dad (the gentleman in the picture who looks Russian), while her mom sat with friends (she has a regular gang that she goes to games with). Sister Heather was also there with friends.

Following the game, we stopped by and saw Kelly Birdwell Austin and her husband, Eric. It was the first opportunity that we had to meet their daugher Sienna, who looks like an 8 month old Kelly (I am sure DNA testing would support that Eric is the father).

Reflections - Reliance on the Blackberry

I am now one of millions of Americans that has become totally reliant on technology, specifically my cell phone. When traveling for work recently, my phone fell out of my pocket as I was leaving Phoenix. Unfortunately, I was not immediately returning home, as I had to visit some clients in California. Rachel called on my phone while I was on the way to the airport. I missed it once I got into the security line at the Phoenix airport. Therefore, I knew it was either in the shuttle or at the U.S. Airways check-in counter.

I cannot describe the feeling that fell upon me. I felt helpless. It was like I had lost all connectivity with the world. As I sat in the terminal, I could check no email, I could not pass the time surfing the net for football scores. Most importantly, I could not call my wife. Even worse... I did not know if I could call my wife once I landed, as I was unsure of her phone number; it was programmed in the lost Blackberry.

I had to pick up the Account Manager who was flying in from Atlanta Monday morning. She had no way to contact me when she landed. Luckily, I had her flight information and was circling the Ontario, CA airport. As she climbed into the car, she stated, "Hey, I just talked to John with the shuttle company in Phoenix. He has your phone and is going to mail it to your wife." After I finished laughing, I enjoyed the sense of relief of knowing that my phone was safe and coming back to me.

Christmas Day 3 - The Fesmires

On Saturday morning, Rachel and I woke up early and left Knoxville for her parents' house. After seeing her parents, we set out to pick up her sister in West Nashville and headed for Waverly to meet her Mom's family for a Christmas dinner.

There, we saw Rachel's Uncle Tommy (mom's brother), who was pictured on this blog previously at Gus's before a football game, and her mom's sister Janice and her family.



Caleb and Trey (pictured below) and Becca (pictured with "Grandma" Janice above) provided the entertainment. It was great to see Uncle Dan (Janice's husband) and Rachel's cousins Stewart and Amy (and her husband Charlie) as well.














Reflections - The Wii

I was extremely lucky this Christmas to be able to spend time with my family and to receive many wonderful presents that I did not deserve. The tops of these presents was our Nintendo Wii. This system is revolutionalizing how we play video games. The more I play with it, the more I am impressed by it. It is extremely interactive and can be played by children of all ages - 4-80. You can even get exercise while playing, as you stand and mimic the actions of the participants in most games. It is completely addictive!!!

In addition, it is compatible with Nintendo Game Cube games, so your old controllers and games can be plugged in. It is connective with Wireless Internet, and the Wii Nun-chuck can be turned sideways and used as an original Nintendo controller. With the wireless access, you can go to the Nintendo Store and download classics, such as Tecmo Bowl, Excitebike and Punchout for $5 each.

Finally, you can create "Mii's" that resemble you and/or friends. I have posted a poll at the top of the page to see who you think most resembles their Mii. Mine is not that good because we can't get the hair right, but I think Rachel's and Clark's look really good. We made one of our friend Sheralee that is a spitting image of her. She was not included in the poll, as many of you have not met her.

I highly recommend that you each go out and buy one, if you can find it.

Christmas Days 1 and 2

On Thursday afternoon December 20, Rachel and I set out from Lansdale, PA for Tennessee. The "Reflections" session below will detail why we left several hours late. Suffice it to say that we left the Philadelphia area around 4 PM.

We initially planned on getting a hotel somewhere in central Virginia, but were kindly offered a room at my Aunt Sae and Uncle Larry's in Abingdon, VA, even though we would not arrive until midnight. It was the first time that Rachel and I visited their new home, which they bought in August. It is a beautiful place out in the country. It was also the first time that we had been able to hang out with them in a couple of years, so it was a very nice evening.

The next morning, my parents picked us up, and we went to visit my grandmother in Grundy, VA. We had not seen her since last Christmas. She immediately told us that we needed to get started on "continuing the Kennedy name", as I am the last chance. She thought we should get started this winter, as she is tired of waiting around. Although she is in her early 90's and has emphysema, she certainly has kept her wit and sense of humor.

Laddy and Amy (for those who don't know, they are my cousin and his wife) came up to Aunt Sae's that evening, and we had the 1st Kennedy Christmas that evening. It was a very nice time. We headed for Knoxville at about 10:30 PM, as Rachel and I had to get up early Saturday morning to head for the Fesmire Christmas in Waverly, TN.

Rantflections - Enterprise Sucks!!!
As I mentioned above, Rachel and I did not leave Philadelphia until 4 PM. We planned to leave at 1 PM. We rent an SUV for our annual Christmas Trek to help us make it home despite winter weather and to provide cargo space for Christmas presents. Being a value shopper, I booked an Enterprise SUV through Expedia.com. 1) When I went to pick-up my car, the Enterprise place had a sign in the window stating that they had moved. I called and got directions to the new location. 2) When I got to the new location, I was informed that since I was over one hour past my reservation time that my full-sized SUV had been rented to someone else and that all they had was a smaller Ford Escape (not a problem; just the principal). I kindly informed the young lady that I had never heard of such a policy, even though I rent cars frequently. In addition, no where on my reservation did it say anything about such a policy. Further, I had spoken to one of their reps on the phone the day before, and she had not mentioned this policy nor the office's move to a new location to me. 3) I could not park my car at the rental car facility (STRIKE 3 - ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!). "Enterprise - We'll Pick You Up" should read, "Enterprise, We'll pick you up because we won't let you park at our office, which has moved". So, the pick-up guy followed me back to my house with the rental car. I then rode back to the office with him. Finally I drove home. My favorite part... I had to make the guy dock an 1/8th tank of gas, or he was going to try to hold me to the amount of fuel in the car before transporting me and the pick-up guy all over northwest Philadelphia.

Disclaimer: I have been a very satisfied Enterprise renter in Kankakee and other locations. I think it is just poor management of this office. I received a phone survey from Enterprise following the rental. The lady asked me 3 multiple choice questions and did not give me the opportunity for additional comments. You got the benefit of those comments here. Blogging is therapeutic.