Mark Clark Visits Philly

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.