Traveling with 3 month olds

Flying with a 3 month old is nothing! It's easy! At 3 months, Caleb had flown to Illinois, California and Florida.

Driving with a 3 month old is a whole other ball of wax. You can't take the baby out of the car seat when you're driving (as opposed to at the airport or on the plane). Plus, the same trip takes only a few hours instead of 3 days. (Yes, 3 days of driving from Wichita to Cleveland.) Have I mentioned that Reva only likes the car 50% of the time? The rest of the time is spent screaming, even if we're moving! (If you don't have kids, you haven't yet learned that stoplights are evil. It's one of the great discoveries of parenting.)

I would much rather be flying, but we couldn't afford 4 tickets this year. Josh'll be done with his dissertation next year, though, and working, so hopefully we won't have the same problem.

We're sorry we won't get to meet Julia just yet. But we're looking forward to seeing her in May.

(This is in reference to Doug's comment below about New Years. Apparently, the new version of Blogger is not good enough to recognize an account that has been converted as a team member of this blog, so no comments from Jill until Doug has a bit of time to switch the blog over. Hopefully that won't be too long since I think it's out of beta now. Sadly for you, I can still create new posts.)

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to Mr. Papsdorf and Mrs. Greenwald. I hope the first day of your fourth decade was spectacular (and that I got your ages correct).

Our Eyes Only

The new version of blogger lets you make blogs password-protected and just for authors. Doug could make the BLD blog visible only to those of us with passwords so we could post pictures with impunity (which I do anyway, but I know some people are more careful).

Just a suggestion. (I'm sure the new blogger does lots of other things, too, but I haven't spent too much time looking at it.)

new years plans

hello all. if you are coming to lovely cleveland for new years, please let me know your plans when you get the chance. all i know so far:

- the mazzuccos are coming by plane, arriving saturday & departing monday; i have their flight info
- the papsdorfs are coming by car, arriving saturday & departing TBA
- maurissa can't come

i should probably start planning food and sleeping arrangements so just give me the heads up.

hope you are all doing well and can't wait to see you.

New Address

Devon and I moved into our new house on Nov 17th. We're still organizing things, but some pictures are up and the tree is decorated. I don't want to post the address online, but as soon as I get the internet connected, I'll email it out. All previous addresses should get forwarded to us so never fear. We are now officially in Modesto. We're renting, but it's nice to be in a home without neighbors on the other side of the wall. I hope the holidays are treating you all well.

Rob

Joining the ranks

Hi Friends,
I made the requisite call to Shan, so I thought it safe to post my crazy news! (I hope she doesn't mind my teasing her)
Jay and I told our parents this Thanksgiving that we're expecting a baby in July. I guess that makes it true. Although, given our schedules of late--Jay phrased it best when I told him, How is that *possible*?
Regardless of the logisitics, which I shall spare you, I am well on my way to getting pudgy and to setting records for peeing. Luckily, since I've been on surgery, after an initial pep talk, baby has been quite cooperative in the morning sickness department. If not for the exhaustion, which may be work's fault somewhat, there are times when I could forget that I'm pregnant. I'm almost afraid to write that--better go knock on some wood.
Miss you all!
Fondly,
Kristin

The flight is booked

The Mazzuccos are going to Cleveland. All four of us, Dec 30 to Jan 1.
See you there...
Info below


Philadelphia, PA (PHL) to Cleveland, OH (CLE) on Sat., Dec. 30, 2006
Cleveland, OH (CLE) to Philadelphia, PA (PHL) on Mon., Jan. 1, 2007
A confirmation e-mail of your itinerary will be sent to dcm3@alum.dartmouth.org.
Flight Details:
Depart:
6:30 a.m.
Sat., Dec. 30, 2006
Philadelphia, PA (PHL) Arrive:
8:05 a.m.
Cleveland, OH (CLE) Travel Time:
1 hr 35 mn OnePass Miles/
Elite Qualification:
500 /100% Flight: CO2488
Aircraft: Embraer RJ145
Fare Class: Economy (I)
Meal: None
No Special Meal Offered.
Continental flight 2488 operated by ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. dba Continental Express.
Depart:
3:17 p.m.
Mon., Jan. 1, 2007
Cleveland, OH (CLE) Arrive:
4:47 p.m.
Philadelphia, PA (PHL) Travel Time:
1 hr 30 mn OnePass Miles/
Elite Qualification:
500 /100% Flight: CO1599
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Fare Class: Economy (I)
Meal: None
No Special Meal Offered.

ThirdEye

Julia, please ask your dad to add the Third Eye Associates website to the list of BLD links.

The site its' quite up and running yet, but you can check it out anyway.

Dan

Happy Thanksgiving

Gobble gobble

Mr. Papsdorf Goes to Washington

Just thought I would let you all know that if you're looking for something fun and exciting in our nation's capital this weekend I could probably sneak you into "Christ's Descent to the Dead in the Early Latin Church: The Eternal Fate of Those Who Died before Christ."

Yes, that's right, yours truly will be discussing the doctrine of Christ's descent to the dead as it developed in early Latin Church at the AAR meeting in Washington D.C. this Saturday. Now for those of you who aren't excited by the prospect of discussing obscure doctrines from the 5th century the AAR is also the place to hear about the latest developments in feminist, post-colonial interpretations of just about anything and breaking news in Wicca studies, so a good time can be had by all. (I'm sure Lincoln and Rob would be enthralled.)

So, if any of you happen to be in the neighborhood trying cases before the Supreme Court (Kevin), lobbying for looser regulations in the biomedical field (Dan), or trying to sell confused tourists Abraham Lincoln's car (Willis), let me know. Otherwise, I'll try to sneak into some really funny papers so I can post some fun synopses next week.

That is all.

P.S. Reva, Caleb, Jill, etc., are doing fine.

The Company

Aqumen Biopharmaceuticals. Add it to the blog list if you want to. Yee haw!

Two weeks' notice

The day has finally come.

Today I accepted a position as Director of Regulatory Affairs and Project Management at a startup medical device company (I'll tell you the name when it's public knowledge). The job requires 70% of my time, and it allows me to do whatever I want in my free time.

Tomorrow I give two weeks notice at my company.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, Third Eye Associates, my regulatory consulting and product development company officially launches.

Thanks, everyone, for their prayers. I'm really excited for this to finally be happening. Now, of course, we have to find some paying clients.

New Year's Eve dates

I need to submit for my vacation days and was wondering when people are arriving and leaving Cleveland.

I started work again yesterday. It's hard to believe Reva is already 6 weeks old.

good times

we got a new cat. his name is sam. he has the luxury of staying at my house and trying to eat my cereal. when gretl, our other cat, visits from hillary's apartment, he likes to sit on sam and bite his neck. if i have kids, i hope they are just as well behaved.

Mo Dee gets her due

For those who don't still get the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, the "Seen & Heard" section has a blurb about and even a photo of our very own Maurissa and her work on "Over the Hedge". Woohoo!

Khoa's Kids

So I just wanted to share some pictures of the elusive Khoa Ha-Kids! Henry loves to hug people just like his daddy and Lucy....well...she just looks like her daddy. The obviously non-kid or Adin person is my friend Amy Wevaudou who's trying to get me to move to Italy with her. It's nice to be wanted.

here i am

Three Questions

1) Will there be 2 BLDers working in Delaware in a month?
2) Will the multinational conglomerate Third Eye Associates officially enter the world market in a month?
3) Will Mazzucco ever put his money where his mouth is?

The answer to these questions and more at your next Snugglebugs and Wiggleworms event.

BLD New Year's

Kevin and I were discussing the history of BLD New Year's last night. Pleasae feel free to correct any errors. Please note, I am using the year of the EVE, not the DAY. There is bound to be confusion here. Here is a summary:

1998: No BLD New Year's. We spent the evening in DC with Amanda and Simone, among others, and I left early the next day to drive back to Chicago in order to beat the blizzard

1999: Inaugural BLD New Year's at Lincoln's. Papsdorfs only married couple.

2000: Cleveland; Papsdorfs, Walshes married. No babies. (Tiffany, when did you get married?)

2001: Boston. Mazzuccos now married.

2002: California. Kevin and I were pathetically alone on NYE, as I was working Labor and Delivery and Kevin was watching fireworks on tv, although he could have walked down a few flights of stairs to see the same fireworks outside.

2003: Linthicum, MD. Aidan and Mary Grace and Amanda and Caleb first 4 BLD babies.

2004: New Jersey. Fasanis, Porters and Doucets now also married. Wesley, Caitlyn added to Gen 2.

2005: Richmond, VA. Christian added to BLD Gen 2. Anne and Jill secretly pregnant. Greenwalds now married.

2006: Cleveland again. Julia and Reva now born, with babies Slack and Mazzucco #3 on the way. Hurst and Willis engaged. By my calculations, since the last time we had NYE in Cleveland, there have been 9 babies born(plus 2 more conceived), 5 weddings and 2 engagements. I'd say we have been a productive little group.

By the way, we get dibs on Mr. and Mrs. Hurst for babysitting. (Just kidding).

We can't wait!

Get out of the big firm while you can

Is it me, or are Kevin's posts starting to sound more and more like something out of Voces Scribentum?

Papsdorf sighting

I was in Kansas City yesterday. It was my first time in Missouri, I think. It was the greatest 5 hours of my life. I met some people from Dodge City that looked like Papsdorfs. They talked like Mr. Papsdorf, and said that drugs do bad things to people in the big city.

I think we should spend New Years' in Dodge City. I hear it's good times.

BLD New Year

Hello BLDers. The next few months are probably going to fly by, so I wanted to know if I should start making plans for people visiting Cleveland for New Years or start looking at flights to go elsewhere. I am cool with things either way, but I'd like to start organizing stuff if I'm hosting. Hope you are all doing well!!!

Devon's Done!

OK, so it's not a new arrival to the world... Congrats to all new, and newly repeated, BLD 'rents. Our current news is that Devon's done with the Army today! While she still has 2 yrs in the IRR, we're thinking she's going to be all right, given the difficulties already experienced by the gov't in trying to call up inactive reservists. She drives down to Turlock tomorrow so we can finally live under the same roof again. No more camouflage for her every day!

And her back continues to heal slowly. She's doing pilates classes now and a stronger core seems to be helping her quite a bit.

Reva Reva Reva

Yes, Reva is about all we think about around here just now. She's doing very well, weighing in at a hefty 9 pounds 14 ounces today, above her birth weight so we don't have to worry about how often she's eating any more (not that I was; it was a lot and I assumed that meant it was enough).

The baptism went very well yesterday. She slept through the whole thing, even when Father accidentally dumped holy water all down her face (and not just over her head).

She's a great little baby and we're all doing much better than we were when Caleb was just a week old. Eventually we'll get around to posting some more pictures. I've been told by those who have seen her in person that the pictures we sent after the birth don't do her justice. (Of course I believe them.) Now, though, I think it's time for a nap.

something to be thankful for

So, I was LOVING psychiatry until I took my final (shelf) in it today.
Now, not so much.
It was dreadful and it will be a mercy pass, if I do. (and I'm not one to say that I failed crap unless it's true)
Anyway, if you are one of the luckies who is done with exams for life, I'm envying you today.

And, I'm slightly confused, because until 8:30 this morning, I was pretty sure I wanted to be a psychiatrist (plan d'jour). Now, there is a bit of doubt. BLECH

A Black Dog and a White Rabbit

While the wait continues for new babies I wanted everyone to know that I have recently acquired a new white rabbit.

It was one of those situations that I went to a local farm for some eggs and chicken manure (I now garden...getting closer to domestication as we speak...Hah!). I left with a dozen eggs, a large squash, a bag 10 large lemons, a bitter melon plant, a "supposedly" cholesterol reducing Okinawan lettuce plant, 4 bags of manure and yes...a full grown white rabbit. Cage included.

It was one of those situations that you can't say no as the farm couple suggests that you take the rabbit and immediately begins to take down the cage while excitedly saying that they'll give you the doe so that maybe you can find another buck rabbit and then have babies that you can sell and make money at $2.50 a lb. Not to mention that you just give Uncle Nolan a call and he'll come down and slaughter the rabbits for you.

So let's celebrate new babies with new bunnies! Yay BLD!

On a side note, I've also gone back to school...but not to overextend myself I am only taking Spanish! Perhaps a year of studying abroad might be on the horizon. Yeah yeah could of, should of, would of but I took Japanese at Dartmouth instead.

And Rob, if I head to Napa soon...we're going to Opus.

Someone Please Help Me

Our secretary is leaving, so we are looking for a new one (again). I have the good fortune of receiving resumes and screening them. While mostly tedious, the job does have its entertaining perks. Here are a few of the highlights so far:

1. Emails from "anumberoneblonde" and "slamminbabe"

2. A person who has spent the last few years caring for her elderly mother while composing novels, including Latin Lover in 2003.

3. An anonymous email stating that my email doesn't work, and asking if a fax could be sent instead.

4. An email with the subject (verbatim): "To The Regaurds To Your Excutive Secretary Postion"

Please tell me you know someone in the Cleveland area looking for secretarial work. I would be eternally grateful.

speaking of oie vey

the next time any of you decide to devote 3 hours of your life to watching the Cleveland Browns play football, please reconsider. i am thinking next weekend i will schedule a dentist appointment or run a marathon without training for it instead. either would be more enjoyable and less stressful than watching another debacle like yesterday's. at least the indians had a good year. oh, wait...

Oi vey

That constitution stuff hurts my head. Happy Rosh Hasshanah, Mo. I know that I spelled that wrong.
I'm on my psych rotation right now and I love it. Especially geriatric psychiatry.

That's pretty much it. My first-kiss boyfriend is going to be a father. That does weird things to me and I'm not sure why.
I owe him a congratulatory email. I owe Shannon a longer email.

I owe my head some bedtime. But, I wanted to say hello and that I was thinking of you all.

I hope that you are well and happy. Rob, I want to go wine tasting in Napa very much. Whenever we talk about taking a trip, that's my vote. So, hopefully we'll get there soon.

I miss you my friends,
K

Wine Tasting

I don't know if you know this, but Napa wineries charge money for wine tasting (la-tee-da). I experienced one of the perks of the industry this past weekend though. With my business card, I was able to get free wine tasting at any winery we went to for Devon, her mom, her step-dad, and me. This included the $30 fee at Opus One (a partnership between Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild) for a single glass. That's where this picture was taken. It was pretty cool being an "industry insider" - especially during my first Napa wine tasting trip. So, should you ever go to Napa, get my card! Or better yet, bring me along...

I Voted NO to the New Constitution

and I voted yes to all the other amendments to the current constitution. As expected, I think Josh stated the basics more clearly than I would have. However, I would add a couple things. In my personal situation, the three petition-trustees I voted for are all against it, Unai's for it (as well as on the committee that created it), and individuals with a wide spectrum of idealogical beliefs came together to oppose it in various publications. Clearly, I was leaning towards voting against it from the start. I did read everything I got and even cut out the WSJ op-ed from a couple Fridays ago.

The primary argument for the new constitution is increased democracy, especially as it was reiterated in Unai's email. However, the supposed increase in democracy is really an increase in *appointed* positions to the governing committees by various groups of "under-representated" members of the community . Appointed positions would outnumber directly elected positions, limiting the alumni's ability to effect change through elections. And don't get me started on the "power arc".

If they really wanted a more democratic association, they would simply elect an alumni council (Pres, VPs, Sec, Treas, etc.) or assembly through direct elections. One alumni, one vote. The council (however many there may be) would nominate a slate of trustee candidates with the same option of petition candidates as currently allowed. I'm not that up-to-date on what we currently have, but it seems a whole lot more convoluted than is necessary.

I just like voting against Unai.

VOTE

A quick reminder to check your email for the link and PIN to vote on the proposed alumni constitution and/or the additional amendments to the current constitution.

http://dartmouth.electionadmin.com

Surgery update

Surgery was a success. They found a big tear of the medial meniscus, which the surgeon sutured. There was also a partial tear of the ACL, which they did not do anything about.

I went back to work the next day, and will be laying down all weekend to recover.

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts.

Dan

Days to go? Weeks to go?

I know Anne understands exactly how I feel and I'm sure some other BLD women can relate as well - will this baby ever decide to come out and meet us?

My doctor keeps telling me second babies come before their due date, but I'm starting to have real doubts about this one, now that I'm only days away from the estimated arrival.

Everything is ready - co-sleeper, car seat, clothes washed, names picked (probably), health insurance (you wouldn't think that might have been a problem, but that's life when the primary breadwinner is still preparing to win bread). We've even scheduled the baptism for October 1st, assuming baby actually arrives by then of course. (Sorry, no trunk show for us either, Shannon, but we'll be thinking of you.)

In good news, Josh seems to be getting more productive as I am getting less productive (though perhaps I should get bonus points for building up fat on baby).

I have nothing else to talk about.

um... maybe the cavs will be good again

Today is my brother's birthday. Please pray that he survives the evening. I am only partially kidding.

I lost in week #1 of my fantasy football league. I know you are all crying on the inside.

Shannon, I have an engagement party in Cincinnati the weekend of your trunk show, or I would definitely come down to visit.

Comments

1. Dan, we will be praying for you. I hope that the surgery goes very smoothly, and that you have an easy recovery. Lucky that you are married to a physical therapist.

2. More than 20 years ago, my mom saw Galapagos turtles mating at the Cleveland Zoo, and she still talks about it. She says it was absolutely riveting, and she couldn't tear her eyes away.

3. I dreamt last night that Baby Papsdorf was born, and it was a boy. Does anyone have a home phone number for the Papsdorfs? I do not. If you do, please email it to me. Or if you are the Papsdorfs and know your own phone number, please email it to me. We pray for Baby Papsdorf and Baby Doucet every night.

4. I am planning to launch my business with a trunk show on October 1. Let me know if you'd like to be invited.

5. The Walsh family is currently enjoying a week in Hilton Head. It is quite relaxing, and we would highly recommend it to all.

E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles

I have knee surgery scheduled for Wednesday. I'll be hopefully getting a meniscus repair, but possibly getting a meniscus removed instead.

I saw Invincible this weekend. It was the greatest movie I've ever seen. Except when the Eagles lost to the Cowboys.

Geronimo Berroa

One more thing...

Since I know not a single one of you reads the El Paso Times on a regular basis, I thought I would post this article from the "Living" section. My uncle, a REAL cowboy, is the feature of the article. He's a stud too.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/living/ci_4297666

Blog this

Good call, Jon. It is "The Rainmaker."

Lots of goings on with the Mazzuccos. I tore some meniscus in my knee Sunday, which may have ended my frisbee career forever. My partners and I met with our accountant for the first time. We hosted a French exchange student for a few weeks, but then she went back to France. And, since I'm yapping, Betsy and I are having another baby. I was going to call people individually, but I've been too busy, and now it's old news. She's due in March. I hope to be unemployed in less than a month.

New Address

I started working Aug 1 at my new job for E&J Gallo Winery. That also means I had to move. Time to update your address books! My new address is:
1824 Empress Lane
Turlock, CA 95382
It's the door in the middle (the small 2/2 condo). We're renting until we can find something to buy. My cell phone stays the same for now. When I say "my new address", I mean only *my* address at the present time. Devon is living at my parents' house until she's done with the Army on Oct 2. Speaking of the Army, I am TOTALLY out of the military as of June 12. My 8 years are up and they would have to draft me to get me back in. Whew!

Are we sure we want to go to Cleveland twice in one year? I mean once for New Year's is enough, but for Jon's wedding too?! Maybe we should rethink this. Turlock anyone? Just kidding...

Why are we waiting?

Rabbits continue to eat Aidan's peppers in our garden, and I persist in going to work every day.
I recevied the terrible and fateful news last week that I would not be fired after all. My body continues to conduct expert biomechanical analyses to be regarded in the highest courts in the land while my mind and soul drift ever so further toward an elusive position that will save and better human lives, rather than playing baby vulture to the evil beast that pecks the eyes of our society's rotting carcass. (No offense to the esquires among us.) In any case, it turns out I'm going to have to do more than tell everyone I'm leaving and stop showing up at work to get rid of my job.

I'm open for suggestions.

"And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell." Matthew 18:9
Kristin, do you think you could get me a discount lobotomy?

Alternatively, for the secular minded, recall the scene from which this quote is taken:
"I'm just wondering, do you even remember when you first sold out?" (I predict only Ha-Doug will know the source)

By the way, if I knew it just took a pregnancy to get power over the location of the BLD New Years...

It's not selfish if it's good

Hey all,
Just sitting here in the med student on call room, praying with all my might that no children need to be admitted to the hospital today. I would much rather blog. It's not selfish when you want other people to be well, I suppose.
At any rate, just thinking of you and hoping that your lives are going well. Not much new in AL. Jay starts his firm job on the 21st and finished his clerking over a week ago, so that dirty rat has had a couple weeks off. I'm trying not to dwell on it. He went up to Buffalo recently to visit Jeff Ott, for anyone who knows and may care.
Otherwise, our dog is adjusting to my being gone, although, he still acts up a bit more now that I'm not at home. Fair game, I suppose.
Catch y'all later.

Updates

Here are a few updates.

1) We finally signed our last rookie draft pick on Friday. Then I spent some of Saturday tying up loose ends, but it ended up being a pretty relaxing weekend. My friend Tanya and her husband hung out Friday night (Tanya went to law school with me), and then Hillary threw a semi-surprise birthday party for me on Saturday night, since I wasn't really able to celebrate my birthday the previous weekend due to work.

2) We've all but decided that the date of the wedding will be May 26th (over Memorial Day weekend). So I hope none of you have ironclad plans that weekend. Save the date!

3) Any more input on New Years? I know we have discussed Cleveland, and that's still great on my end. But I also know that there will be a new Doucet, Slack, and Papsdorf around that time that might not make it the best option. Let me know what you guys are thinking.

7 weeks to go

I have also been shockingly silent on the BLD blog. I ask your forgiveness and point to Caleb's blog which is well over a month old as evidence of my general slacking as opposed to avoiding the BLD.

Seriously, I've been working insane hours as well, though vastly undercompensated compared to Walsh and Mazzucco. The only bright spot is that I'm earning comp days like mad, which all translate into actual money during my otherwise unpaid maternity leave.

I've decided my main problem is that I've been trying to convince my employer that they can't live without me. No, that's not the problem. The problem is I've come to believe it. So I'm trying to put 100 different things in place before I go on leave for 6 weeks, worried that everything will fall apart while I'm gone. Which it won't. Or maybe it will. Either way, it's only 6 weeks and I'm sure it would all be fine again within a few months.

Thank goodness I'm not playing Family Business at work. Real life FB would probably have me committing career suicide just to get into a different game, like the $1 buy in poker for $20 worth of chips where everyone can have a good time. (I'm sure you will all be shocked to learn that I am a terrible poker player. Seeing as it's my family's game of choice, Josh is always struggling to win at least as much as I lose so we come out as close to even as possible.)

Baby update: everything's good. Baby looks big. Doctor predicts on time or early arrival.

General Update

I apologize for not having a post that rivals the parallels of real life to Family Business... I realized that I should give an update on Devon's status at the very least since I haven't posted in a while. Devon's back is doing better - when she doesn't have to go to work and sit at a desk all day, she gets better quite quickly. But, since she is at work every day, she is getting better much more slowly and frequently has poor days on the roller coaster to recovery. I'm convinced that she is also carrying stress in her back from her incredibly incompetent command in the Guard. It's such a bad environment for her and I can't wait for her to leave.

I also can't wait for her to leave so she can join me in Modesto. Today was my first day with E&J Gallo, though I spent it in Fresno touring the biggest winery in the world (I think - certainly they press the most grapes there in any given year) and looking at accounting journal entries that eventually will have some relevance to my job in Modesto. I believe I found a temporary place to live in a new townhouse community in nearby Turlock while we seek to buy a small place here in town. We know exactly what we want and where we want to buy it so we're just waiting for the right property to open up. Hopefully that happens soon. I am excited for the $320k mortgage on a 2/2, 1200sqft home and can't wait to start paying!

Otherwise, all is well and I'm excited to get working for Gallo and actually earn money instead of only spending it. Should be a nice change of pace. My all your mobsters stay off the hit list...

Everything I needed to learn in life I learned by playing Family Business

I am frightened by how similar my current work situation is to a game of family business.

Consider the following
Mob 1:
Supervisor; very nice woman; wants everyone to be happy; doesn't want bad things to happen.
Doesn't understand why eveyone is trying to kill her. She sees everyone as an ally, and likes to have us in the game.
Has all 9 mobsters left, but doesn't have any attack cards, and everyone except her knows she's losing.

Mob 2:
Office director; tries really hard, and loves power cards; he's dying to kill the cancer, but he just doesn't know who that is; he also knows that playing the hit might make everyone left in the game his enemy; he's trying to convince me that I don't want to play anymore, so he can knock me out of the game without making any enemies.
He has 5 mobsters left and good cards, and plays a reasonably strong end game.

Mob 3:
Practice director; needs everyone to be his ally b/c he doesn't have any cards of his own; he has a good track record of winning, though, so everybody is a little scared of attacking him.
5 mobsters left, 5 take it on the lams

The New York Mob
Hanging around with 3 mobsters; holding the Vendetta and a few police protections; when attacked by 1&2 tried playing "don't kill me, I'm too weak." #2 responded with a hit and a "Kill the cancer!" cry, followed by a dou-blay, but #1 said "let's see if he'll be the proverbial b*." I played the truce, and have slowly taken my two remaining mobsters off the list. So now I'm playing super-ally to everybody until my company is on firm enough footing. We'll see if Lucky and Meyer can survive long enough for the day that I lay down the Vendetta. And even then I'll have to play it as if I'm doing everyone a favor (no, really, you wanted me to finger that Take it on the Lam).

Mob 5:
Partner A; previously ignored in light of loudmouth cancer New York Mob. Now that NYM is buddy buddy with 1-3, #5 has taken center stage under 2-3's radar. #1 is deflecting contracts left and right, but #5 is talking smack because he's looking for a battle with #2.
down from 4 mobsters a few weeks ago to one Sammy Purple at the end of a long hit list.

Mob 6:
Partner B; sitting around with 6 mobsters, the safe house, the crackdown, and a few other reasonably strong cards. Appears to be allies with #3, and #1-2 appear to think he does not exist. Enviable position.

1-3 have no idea that 4-6 are allies, and they don't even really know what would entail winning the game.

Yes, it's an interesting challenge, but all the things Jill and Betsy don't like about the manipulation of FB are magnified when it's real life.

My hope is that, when it's all done, everyone will think they have won.

The mob war is on.

A Strange Package

So I got home yesterday to find a pretty big package sitting in front of my door. Cool, I thought, a present for my birthday. I pulled the package into my house, got myself situated, and then took a closer look.

From a UPS Store in North Carolina. Huh. I don't have any relatives there, so that's a bit odd. No matter. My zeal for presents, which remains unchanged from my days as a young child, took over, so I opened the package without giving its shipping origin another thought.

Inside, I found what looked to be a large pile of old clothing. Quite perplexed, I reached under the first old pair of jeans and found a card with a small bulge in it. A birthday card was inside, "To our special son." Ok, I thought, maybe my parents uncovered some old clothes of mine, or even got a little weird on me and bought some used clothes somewhere. Or perhaps my grandmother is starting to feel the effects of old age, and this was the result of some early senility. Who knew. I opened up the card to find $60 and two little notes scribbled inside. One saying, "Love, Dad" and the other, "You're a special guy, Love, Michelle."

Michelle? What?!?! I was thoroughly confused. Am I an illegitimate child or something? Adopted? Who are these people? If I'm adopted, how do I look exactly like my sister Bethany? Perhaps we were both adopted.

As these irrational thoughts continued to race through my head, I remembered the small bulge in the envelope. Hoping for some more information to help me solve this mystery, I quickly tore the potential clue from its hiding place in the bottom of the envelope.

A class ring. Class of 2007.

Logan High School.

Is there an inscription or something?

Jonathan W. Hurst

A wave of relief washed over me, only to be quickly overcome with even more bewilderment.

So let me get this straight. There is another Jonathan Hurst. His parents (or at least father and mystery "Michelle") sent him old clothes, $60, and a class ring from a store in North Carolina. They clearly don't know exactly where he lives, somehow got my home address, thought it looked good enough to them even though the kid hasn't graduated from high school yet, and shipped the package off. AND, this imposter implausibly has a birthday the same week as I do.

Needless to say, I was (and still am) a bit creeped out. I suppose stranger things have happened, but it was all a bit surreal.

Seeking Unemployment

Congrats to you, Kristin.
I'm still playing Family Business at work. They decided a few weeks ago that I was a cancer, so they decided to knock me out of the game. Fortunately, I called out my alliances and they are taking it on the lam for me left and right. Meanwhile I'm using up my defense cards by putting in Walshoriffic hours for a month so that I have more billable hours than all my colleagues, and I also have to pretend I'm happy and come up with a publication plan for myself. All this to buy an extra month of work while I wait on a grant application. If we get the grant, we're out the door immediately.
On the lamer side, I took the patent bar right after they told me I needed to bill 10 hours per day, and, between being stressed and unprepared, I scored three questions out of 100 short of passing. It was a bummer, but I hadn't really prepared, and I knew I'd be borderline going in.
In any case, we're still hanging by the skin of our teeth here, and I am employed... for now.
I appreciate all of your prayers, and I will let you know when there are more developments.

Dan

Whine-ending

Not Rob's type of wine. Anyway, I thought since you all listened to my belly-aching for so many weeks about the boards that I'd let you know that I passed. I'm in peds right now and really, really like it. I particularly enjoyed pediatric neurology. We'll see how the rest of the year goes. It's a lot of hours, but I'm enjoying it more than the first couple of days.
Hope all is well.
Kristin

List of Links

I added a list of links below the dropdown for all of the archived posts. Let me know if you'd like anything added.

As for increasing a site's ranking on Google, having other sites link to your site will help, but it is only part of how Google determines page relevance and/or importance. No one outside of Google really knows what their complete formula is, although a lot of people have spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. Wikipedia has some good info about PageRank. Being a total nerd, I also found this article which goes into more detail, with examples and some math.

with somniferous almond eyes

Websites

Doug,

First, thanks for calling me back. Sorry I haven't had a chance to return the call. The end of the week was a little nuts, and then I spent this past weekend in Cincinnati with Hillary and her family.

Second, can we modify the BLD website to create a list of links along one side? Perhaps underneath the list that's there of the BLD blog members? From what I've read and been told by people supposedly in the know about such things, one of the best ways to increase your search ranking on places like Google is to have other sites linking to it (I think I put a post up about this a while back). So it would be great to be able to list www.ncsports.us and www.neilcornrich.com on this website. I was also thinking this might benefit other BLD members down the road who are embarking on new business adventures (Dan & Shannon), and who would presumably benefit by having a higher ranking on Google searches.

Hello

It seems that you have all been scared away by the postings of my crazy husband. Christian, Mary Grace and I went to visit my mom for a few days, and I think Kevin was a bit delirious without us. Now I'm home, and I've gotten him back in line.

Happy 4th of July, one day late. We had a great day, and a special firecracker -- my sister had her second baby, Peter Thomas Cory, yesterday!

aloha

Greetings from the great state of Hawaii. Shannon took Mary Grace and Christian to western Pennsylvania for a weekend, so I decided to go west myself.

I am starting a company. It is called Third Worm Associates. Basically, the idea is that I can look in the brain or brains of a segmented worm to determine whether it needs luxury clothing.

That is all the news for now. In the meantime, contact Jon if you have any questions about cryptic flyers with frogs.

And no, this is not a joke. Glad to be back on the BLD '98 blog. Arrividerci.

A few titillating updates

1) Apparently I have a hole in my roof. Unfortunately, I did not discover this hole until I finally decided to clean off my roof. It's about the size of a softball, and the last time I can remember cleaning a branch off my roof that was big enough to make that hole was months ago. Oops. On the positive side, I've been "working from home" today as my roof gets repaired.

2) Hillary and I went swimming the other day at my development pool. She can kick my ass. It is depressing.

3) I called Doug the other day and left a message for him, but he didn't call me back. Jerk.

4) Rob, congratulations on your graduation. What sort of house are you and Devon looking for? How far is Modesto from Sacramento?

5) July 4th weekend should be fun. I'm planning on going with Hillary and my family to Blossom Music Center to see the Cleveland Orchestra. Then the next day Hillary and I are going with some friends to Put-in-Bay (an island in Lake Erie) to hang out. Yeah yeah, I know it's no ocean island Rob and Mo, but it will have to do.

Hope all is well with everyone. Kristin, I expect a comment in response in 2 minutes.

JH

Graduation

I finally graduated and have been enjoying doing nothing - or close to nothing - for the past week. Devon and I will be in Modesto next week looking for housing. I thought I would give you a preview of our first Christmas card together. Should we successfully mail it out, it will be our first card for our third Christmas. Not bad!

Woe is me

The Cleveland Indians are officially terrible, and I am officially depressed about it. Looks like that 20-pack of tickets for the season wasn't the wisest investment in the world. Waaaaaahhhhh... :(

Not all Talk

Three colleages and I have filed to incorporate Third Eye Associates, Inc. We are a consulting firm dedicated to helping bring new technologies to market in the medical device industry. We are also applying for a department of defense grant to design a device that would screen blast victims for traumatic brain injury by looking in the eye.
I have not quit my day job, but you can address business correspondence to dmazzucco at 3-e-a dot com.
I would happily accept help with web site and newsletter.

Dan

PS Doug and Ann, Betsy and I would like to have dinner with you next weekend (24th) in the boston area. We'll be in Devens.

Happy Times

Hello all,
Finished the boards. All is much better at our house now (at least until the scores come back in 6 weeks).
Anyway, just wanted to write something that wasn't complaining for the first time in a long time.
Hope you are doing well.
Thinking of you,
Kristin

Snugglebugs & Wiggleworms LLC

I am starting my own business called Snugglebugs & Wiggleworms, a custom sewing business making children's clothing and interiors. I'm pretty excited about it. (The name comes from my nicknames for our kids.) Doug has graciously agreed to help me with my webpage. Another friend is going to design a logo for me. I will be making the whole gamut of children's clothing, from dresses and pants to skirts and coats, etc. I also make bedding, curtains, etc. for baby nurseries and kids' bedrooms, and some other things including tepees, diaper bags, sleeping mats, little kid-sized chairs, etc. My current plan is to sew as much as I can this summer to make a lot of demo pieces, and then have a business launch party in the early fall.

It's all very fun starting a business -- filing articles of organization, getting a tax id number. Kevin likened it to when we got college recognition to the BLD. Anyway, I'm very excited about it all.

Shannon

Wine Finals

A Viniculture class that requires a paper and an in-class exam without partaking of the fruit of the vine while doing either is a bunch of bull. That's almost a greater abomination than bar-exams, M-CATs and Chem 5.

I'm boycotting the NBA but very excited about World Cup! Check out the Hawaii guy for Team USA, Rob!

As for woman's periods I never keep track of mine and lie to my doctor when she asks, "When was your last..."

Nebulizers (sp? English isn't my first language you know) are no fun unless you and your friends are pre-teens and the asthma sufferer's mom thinks it would be a good idea to let the whole lot of you take hits because you're all showing early signs of colds or allergies or something. Not that I would know anything about that.

Rob, one more question...since you're a Cali boy, ever try hooka? It goes great with Cabernet Sauvignons.

I still work in a restaurant and am planting an herb garden. No...not that kind of herb guys.

USMLE=Ulcers for Coal

Our house is so stressful right now that my dog got ulcers.

Okay, fine, they were from bacteria in the lake water or something, but he has them and I have stress...

Updates

Hello all.

Rob, I can't stand watching soccer, and I also can't stand watching basketball. It was even painful for me to watch the Cavs games, even in the playoffs. There are so many fouls, most of which are stupid, and the ridiculous number of game stoppages really makes it annoying for me to watch. Of course, some people find baseball boring, but I could watch that all day long.

My body is really sore today. I was digging post holes for my deck all day yesterday. That is hard work. I got three done and have two more to go. I decided I didn't need to work out or go for a run - the digging was more than enough exercise.

Hillary got her school assignment for the next year and a half. She'll be at Rhodes High School in Cleveland, OH. It was her top choice among the five she had to choose from, so we were happy. She also got assigned to her top choice for a teacher/mentor from Rhodes, so it was good news all around.

My sister Keriann may transfer from BC. She really dislikes it there (it was, after all, her 6th choice for schools or something). She's doing their pre-vet program, and John Carroll (on the east side of Cleveland) has one, too. She'll decide in the next few weeks, I think, so any prayers of support would be great. She's really struggling with the decision.

That's it for now. I did a lot of other work on my house this weekend, but I decided, for once, not to bore you with details.

Also, I saw Nanny McPhee on Friday night. I stopped in a store to grab some things and told Hillary to pick anything out that she wanted from the movie store in the meantime. That was a big mistake.

Wow, No Posts...

I haven't seen any posts for a while so I thought I would jump in. My mother-in-law visited for the past week and left yesterday (Saturday). That was an incredibly draining experience during a rather tough week of school at the end of the quarter... Not as tough as taking the boards, bar, or any other difficult test (this is B-school remember), but time consuming enough. There was the usual emotional blow-up with Devon and her brother vs. mom, caused mostly by mother-in-law's own personal issues and reading into events and comments. There was also the usual make-up time, though this one seemed to accomplish more than normal.

I'm up late tonight working on my last paper for the viticulture and enology class. After tomorrow, I only have a take-home final and an in-class final to go. Also, I only have two weeks left with HP.

Still no idea where Devon and I will be living in Modesto, but I'll start working there Aug 1.

I haven't watched a single game of the NBA playoffs for the first time that I can remember. And I love it.

I plan on watching more games of the World Cup than I ever have. And I can't wait. Anyone want to Tivo all 64 (or so) games for me in case I miss some? I'd record them the old fashioned way myself, but the cable company cut off our free cable finally. It only took them 15 months to figure it out... too bad, all I needed was one more month. I included a picture of my Swiss replica jersey I had my classmate get when he went back to Switzerland for a few weeks to visit family.

That's about it.. Back to the fake winery paper.

Yeah, I have an update. My life sucks. But, it will get better in a week and a half, I hope.
That's about it and a bunch of pseudopseduohypoparathyroidism poop.

My sister-in-law is home for her freshman to sophomore summer and I can't help remembering visiting Mo in Indy and living the good life at Kappa Sigma Mu.

I haven't smelled butter like that in a long time.

Updates?

Any word on Jess?
Any word on Jon's painting?

I'm going to Rob Winn's wedding this weekend.

And then Betsy and I are going away next weekend for our 5th anniversary.

And I'm still on the verge of starting a company, but things keep slowing me down. Hopefully I'll get fired or laid off soon so that I don't have any other excuses.

Play?

"Play?"
I enjoyed Over the Hedge very much! My sister-in-law and I went to see it today. It's very visually pleasing. I enjoyed the slow-mo scene with Hammy.
Anyway, go see it.
My mom's going tomorrow.
And Mo's by-line looks very important.
I'm glad I know her, because that makes me famous (a little?)

Prayers for Jess Ellsworth

In case anyone didn't get this email from Tiffany...

Hello all

I just tried to send you a message from my Dartmouth account but I don't think it worked, so I'm trying again.

I'm sorry if you get this twice.

I don't know how many of you know that Jess is having surgery tomorrow. She hurt her knee again last month. Luckily, not her ACL this time, but they think it's probably a torn meniscus. This will be her fifth knee surgery. She's trying to have a good outlook, but it's been hard. She'll be completely off her feet (confined to her apartment) for probably two weeks, and then will have 2-3 months of recovery/therapy, depending on what they find in the surgery.

I think she would appreciate any thoughts, messages, cards, etc. that you could send her way over the next weeks and months. If you need her address/phone number, just let me know. Her mom was planning to come in today and stay until Saturday.

Thanks all,

Tiffany

Public Access

Yes, this blog is viewable by anyone on the Internet, but I highly doubt anyone comes here randomly. Only members can post.

I can't stop listening to the new Tool album. The new Pearl Jam is pretty good too.

stare like a junkie into the tv

Happy to Oblige

1. No recent painting, but there are some exciting developments. The wood flooring is going in as we speak in the upstairs hallway, the deck is being started this Saturday, and the baseboards around the living/dining room (along with a few other odd jobs) are going in a couple weekends from now.

2. I was born at the end of July, so perhaps there is a corollary to the Christmas candy hypothesis that involves Thanksgiving cranberry mousse and pumpkin pie.

3. I am 42 beers in to my 100-beer World Tour of Beers. Ohio has done me proud. In addition to the phenomenal Great Lakes beers, another fantastic beer on the tour is the Hippie Pale Ale, a product of Buckeye Brewing Company in nearby Bedford Heights, OH.

4. Actually, my parents have four kids. They were born at the end of june, end of july, beginning of august, and mid-september. So, I think we need to also add Halloween candy to the hypothesis.

September 15, and Proud of it!

Yes, I am a proud Sept 15 baby. Unfortunately, I also have the additional confirmation that I was conceived on NYE. Since I am certain my parents only "did it" (huh, huh, he said "did it") 5 times, NYE is the only possible date for conception. Now, no more talk of periods and such. I want to hear more about Jon painting walls. It's fascinating.

Dan is wrong

I respectfully disagree with Dr. Mazzucco. Based on the standard method of calculating a due date from last menstrual period (called Naegele's rule), you subtract three months and add 1 week to the first date of the last menstrual period to get the due date. So, for example, if your last period started on December 11 or 12, your due date would be September 18 or 19, and you are likely to have conceived on December 25 or 26. All this assumes a regular 28 day cycle. This means that if Dan's actual due date was October 1, he was conceived on or around January 6. Let's all take a moment of silence in honor of that special event.

Perhaps this is too much information for most people. However, when you spend 8 years and $100000 on your education and spend your days with small children, you have to exercise your unused knowledge when the opportunity arises.

More Mazzucco

1) Devon, I'm sorry to hear about your back pain. Lower back pain is often refeered to as the worst pain that will never kill you, and for good reason. We'll be praying for your healing and coping.

2) Giving your kids nebulizers is the worst. Shannon, we had to do it a few times with Wesley, and it was really hard. We now have to give him Albuterol occasionally, and it's really hard even to accept that he has asthma. In some ways, I feel at fault b/c I have asthma and I feel like I passed on poor lung function to him (FYI, I didn't have asthma in college). I hope you never have to do that again.

3) The true "New Year's baby" syndrome is oft-confused. There is a clear glut in births around Oct 1 (my birthday, 9 months after NY day). For example, Kevin is Sept 30 and Khoa is Oct. 2. However, as I learned when Betsy was pregnant with Aidan, the 40 weeks gestation or 9 months is from start of last menstrual period, and assumes ~two weeks from start of menstrual period until ovulation (and conception). When you get an ultrasound date, it tends to be based upon characteristic anatomical dimensions (orthopedic, not genitourinary; Rob, get your mind out of the gutter), so hopefully it corrects somewhat for the variability in time from menstruation to conception. In any case, gestation is approximately 38 weeks after conception, so Kevin and Khoa and I were conceived approximately mid January (assuming we were not preemies). Buttercup Doucet and Tyrone Papsdorf, however, were most likely conceived on or about new years'. Since Anne didn't actually attend New Years', it probably occurred soon after. Rob, get your mind out of the gutter again. Aren't Rob and Maurissa mid-september babies, as well?
This brings us back to the question of the Oct 1 glut. I've started to formulate rediculous theories about people re-evaluating their families near the end of season holidays, and of Christmas cany putting women on a more consistent schedule beginning in the new year (similar effects have been shown in all-girls dorms).

4) Again, there is no 4.

Poor Devon...

I don't know if I already mentioned this or not, but Devon has a herniated disc (L5) with a tear in it. At least that's the initial results from the MRI (taken 3 weeks after realizing that something was VERY wrong with her back). She's able to walk and get around now, but sitting is not a recommended part of the daily routine - only reclined positions.

As one might expect, the military hospital system blows. They have yet to give her more than 72hrs off of work at time (Devon just hasn't gone in to work these last 3 weeks though). We're working on getting her convalescent leave. Her command isn't much help yet - they haven't bothered telling her to forget about coming in until she's better. At best, her supervisor tells her how much work is piling up. Things are getting sorted out I guess, but it can be frustrating for her, and in turn, for me too.

She has an appointment with a neurologist next Tuesday, the 30th, to get a specialist's opinion on the MRI. We'll just go from there. We also had to cancel our Switzerland trip after graduation. Somehow, many hours on the plane and hiking around the Alps didn't seem appropriate.

Lincoln, Devon knows your pain...

Oh, and the cable company finally cut off our free cable. It took 19 months for them to figure it out. We're suddenly dependent on Blockbuster Online for video entertainment.

Mazzucco comments

1) Re: OtH - Betsy and I saw it Friday. It was the best (and only) movie we saw in the theater this year. I particularly liked Hammy and the energy drink scene. And of course, seeing Maurissa Horwitz listed as 1st Assistant Editor.
2) Re: announcements - It's probably not easy for people who don't go calling people every day to call everyone and tell them big news, so it's better to be on the blog than not at all. That said, Lincoln probably should have called me about the engagement and emailed me to ask me to fill out a stupid form so he could take the bar (instead of vice versa).
3) Re: bars - I'm taking the patent bar, so I'm sort of commiserating with the rest of you taking exams. However, I'm aiming to get as close to a failing grade without actually failing, so it makes studying a little more complex. I'm also getting more time with my family than some others have had, so I'm thinking the patent bar is easier than the more general law bar.
4) There is no 4.

No news here

Hi all,

Kevin is up at Dartmouth tonight for the AQ Trustees and Overseers weekend, and both of my kids are asleep. I just sat down to a bowl of cereal for dinner (truly one of life's simple pleasures).

Nothing really exciting to report here. I got Mary Grace her first pair of scissors this week, and she has gotten quite proficient with them. I didn't realize that it's not exactly intuitive to use scissors, but she figured it out. She seems to be a leftie (like me), but prefers to use scissors with her right hand (also like me). Also, I had to give Christian a nebulizer treatment in the pediatrician's office this week, which was among the most miserable 20 minutes of my life. I know there are some of you out there who can sympathize.

As for where the smiling faces of my darling children went, Kevin thought it was a bad idea to have their pictures on a blog that can be accessed by the general public. I don't really understand why it's so bad, but perhaps I just don't have enough appreciation for the creeps in the world, so I defer to his judgement.

Kristin, hang in there with studying for the boards. Total misery, and the vast majority of the material will have exited your brain by the time you leave the testing room and you will never need it again.

I need to go on record with something, and request an informal poll. I take exception to the recent practice of posting major life-changing events on this blog. I mean, we have known each other for more than ten years, and I have learned about babies and engagements on the blog of all places. I am strongly against this practice. Opinions?

Wowsers

Our numbers are growing!! It's exciting. No offense intended to Jon or Jill, but isn't it fun to hear about people other than the three of us? (although, I still love hearing about your lives...truly!) I'm happy that the other BLDers have amended their ignoring ways and joined our ranks. Not much new here, just (not) studying for the boards. Doug, I have a lyric for you. Gotta say, I love this guy. I'll let you figure it out, but when you do, download the song. It's Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen rolled into a youngster (my opinion). This song, in particular, is one that I love, because it (to me) makes the point of you can argue from the left, the right, this religion, that religion, but in the end, it's individual people we are losing and isn't that sad? Anyway, anything to avoid RNA transcription reading, I suppose.

Peter said to Paul you know all those words we wrote Are just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go

I had no idea...

Thanks, Hurst, for filling me in on the fact that I've been missing everything by not blogging. (I sometimes have trouble finding time to check my e-mail once a week, so don't expect me to comment on a regular basis, though.)

Congratulations! To Lincoln and Laura, to the Papsdorfs and Doucets, to Mo for her movie, Rob for his job, and anyone else that I may have forgotten (I'm still working through all the past postings.)

Our family is doing well. Chad and I got away for the weekend for our anniversary last month, which was so nice. We hadn't spent a night without the girls since Caitlyn was born. My mom met us and took the girls, and then the girls and I went to Ohio for the week to see my family. It was a nice trip, but we all came back sick, thanks to my sister and her kids, and it took us a week to recover. Oh well.
The girls are great. Amanda is very excited to be getting a new, big bed this weekend. The girls are moving from a crib and toddler bed into bunk beds (we're not bunking them), which I am not ready for. My sister-in-law is moving away this week and she's giving us her twins' beds. Amanda will be fine, but I not looking forward to having Caitlyn in a bed that she can get into and out of by herself. It promises to be a rough week (or month).
That's all the excitement here for now. It's great to hear how everyone is doing.

Tiffany

Hello all. I thought I'd post something that had nothing to do with working on my house. I got back Monday night from a glorious 4+ days in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Hillary and I went down there for a mini-vacation and stayed with her grandmother (who is a very cool lady, I must say). It was gorgeous - 75 to 80 degrees and perfectly clear skies the entire time we were there. On Sunday, we went sailing. Despite the fact that I battled sea-sickness for about an hour of the trip, it was awesome. I got to see many dolphins swimming and playing around, which was spectacular. I've only seen dolphins at Sea World. Speaking of which, my childhood awe of what the Sea World trainers got the dolphins to do has diminished substantially. Those dolphins do jumps and tricks on their own in the wild.

Anyway, it was great to get out of the office, even if it was just for a few days. Plus, all it has done in Cleveland is rain for the past week, so it was especially gratifying to be in nice weather for a bit.

Hmmm.... maybe we should have BLD New Years in California...

Leaky ceilings suck

especially when you've been waiting over a year for an incompetent building management company to fix it...

here comes the rain again

We have pictures, too

I was going to post them right on the BLD blog, but since Doug beat me to it, you'll have to go to Caleb's blog to see them (and some other fun pictures of Caleb, of course).

Baby Papsdorf is due Sept 18 and Baby Doucet is due Sept 19. Anyone want to take bets on who shows up first? I'd like to think I have the upper hand since this is baby #2, but Caleb was about a week late so I won't get too confident.

Anyone have good ideas on where to buy a toddler bed?

I'm not ignoring you

I've just been uber-lazy lately. And I think Anne deleted your email because she didn't recognize the email address. Either that or it was routed to her spam folder for reasons known only to AOHell. I will now get off my butt and forward your email to her.

As for the Habs, they deserved better. I thought they played very well; those last 4 games could have gone either way. The turning point of the series was when Laviolette finally decided to replace Gerber with Cam Ward. He didn't win the series for them single-handedly, but if it hadn't been for him, they never would have had a chance. Still, Carolina was extremely lucky to win 4 games in a row by a single goal, 2 of them in overtime. In a series that close, whichever team gets the bounces usually wins. It's just the way hockey works most of the time.


and it's all right where it belongs

wow

Okay, so I haven't exactly checked this blog since about February and my head is now overloaded with the shock of all this happy news. Congratulations to everyone, particularly Doug and Lincoln, since I'm only caught up on the last couple of weeks of blogging and will take a while to catch up on the rest.
Thank you everyone for your support for "Over the Hedge". It opens May 19th (yes same day as Da Vinci Code and sadly, a week before Xmen which I'm sure will slaughter us). Anyway, I actually think it's a pretty great little movie and truly, highly recommend it. I didn't go to the premiere b/c they flew me to a couple of film festivals to screen it. Actually that weekend I got to take it to the Indianapolis International Film Festival - not the most pretigious, true, but lots of fun for me because my parents and friends from high school got to see it a little early. To celebrate the end of the project, I'm going to Australia for 2 weeks mid-June, which I'm really looking forward to it. Sadly my boyfriend can't go with me ($$$), so my mom's going to come. Hopefully the mother-daughter voyage won't end in a murder-suicide, but I feel pretty confident that we'll have fun together.
Well I don't really have any exciting big news, aside from finally coming up for air after a crazy 3 years on this movie. And then I'll be diving back in again sometime after I get back from Australia. All my best to all of you. I'd like to say I won't go MIA like this again, but I think we all know that's a lie. =) Miss you all!

Surprise!

I really wanted to call all of you, but I don't have many people's numbers and it's already so late in the game and I feel more guilty about not having told you than I do about not calling and it's been driving me nuts that most of you don't know yet and I really really hope you're not mad I didn't call, because you guys are all so important to me and, and... I've been procrastinating as usual. I'm really sorry. 8(

But I'm so excited!! It's going to be a girl!

she's an extraordinary girl in an ordinary world

Special Rob

I have been called "special" before, but not in the way you meant it I think. Thanks for building up, not tearing down Josh. hehe.. Shan, there's a little graphic that looks like a photo above the link "Recover post" when you are typing your post. Click on that and load your picture... I uploaded a late submission from the holidays.

Speaking of being special - I won a prize in the raffle after the golf tournament last Friday. It just happened to be a Wine Lover's Basket of assorted bottles of wine and wine-related items. It was all Gallo stuff donated by one of the alums who works there. So now I have Gallo jockwear and some extra wine. I am special. And I'm special for longer than 9 seconds... Sorry, I couldn't let it go.

Hooray!!

I have been reading the blog regularly for quite awhile, but couldn't remember my username or password. Luckily Doug knew my username and I remembered my password (it's not that difficult when you use the same password for everything).

I have had a lot of comments about posts, but it's too much, so I will let most of it go. I will agree with Kristin and Jonathan about the bar. Total misery. Kevin has taken it twice (no he didn't fail the first time, he took it in two states). I still shudder when I pass the stupid place where he took his bar review class for the VA bar. We saw each other for approximately nine seconds over the course of two months before the Virginia bar, but we managed to conceive Christian in those nine seconds, so they were clearly both productive and enjoyable.

Do you have to be special to post pictures to the blog? If so, how come Rob gets to be so special? If not, how do I do it and why aren't more people doing it?

Christmas baby time has passed

Just thought I'd respond to a statement of Dan's...the time has passed for any Christmas babies, unless they are very very early. I know this little factoid, not because I am trying to have a baby, but because it seems that everyone I know is. If one were to conceive now, I believe we are into Feb. So, I think it's safe to say that any NYE-plan-changing babies are already incubating. Speak up!

THIS BLOG IS BEHAVING BADLY! Tough to post. Things that I wanted to say: 1. Jay does not secretly read the blog. So, feel free to write whatever you want about him--I do. 2. Lincoln, I'm taking the boards this summer. We can both hate ourselves together.

Stealth Blog Readers

It has come to my attention that there are certain spouses, or soon-to-be spouses, that read the blog. I'm definitely all for it. But you should have to post/contribute your insightful/witty/sarcastic/comic remarks as well. Anything is better than what Lincoln writes so it will raise the level of conversation. Petitition Ha-Doug for acceptance (Devon and Laura) and start contributing!

I'm "networking" tomorrow at the Chardonnay Golf Club in Napa. I start my day with a midterm for my class, The Business of Wine (a Viticulture and Enology class, not the B-school's class), then head to Napa for the b-school golf tournament on Gallo's nickel. That is followed by a dinner and raffle at the course before returning home. I like business much better than engineering.

Congrats to Lincoln who is done with law school. He is now officially a law-yer. Assuming he passed. Which, I guess, isn't official or certain yet. Therefore, delay your congratulations. On the other hand, I'm sure Laura passed, so feel free to congratulate her.

Back to studying wine. Mmmmmmm, wine.

Back from Vacation

Oh my goodness! What happens when I take a couple weeks to go to Spain and Portugal!

Congrats Lincoln! Couldn't happen to a better guy. I mean, if you exclude all the previous BLD men of course.

The world tour of beers is way cool! On Kauai we have a hard enough time just finding Guiness on tap! To bad they didn't mail beers to your door.

Spain and Portugal were cool. And Spanish is very cool! I hope to learn a lot more. Spanish cuisine is not very cool but it looks like the top restaurants in the world keep appearing in London and Spain (Restaurant Magazine) which I don't understand considering both places have pretty sucky local cuisine. Oh well! If your rich you get the best and if your poor you get what's left.

Cheers to Mo about the movie. I'm definitely going to see it! Especially since I haven't seen a movie in the theater since over a year ago. Sin City to be exact.

Dan...please invent a new core for surfboards. We could make millions. Something non-toxic would be best,

Congrats to Papsdorfs and the BLD Gen2.

Oh...and Spring in Cali if overrated. They're still trying to be as cool as Hawaii. Though Bogle is a decent wine and Hawaii has no decent wine. But who cares. Hawaii is still better than Cali. That's why Cali-folk keep moving here....arrrrrgh!

Love ya all!

updates

1. The draft weekend went well. Our main guy, Donte Whitner, went higher than expected at #8. He was thrilled and so were we. Hopefully, Adam Vinatieri doesn't talk to him any time soon.

2. I was wondering if Over the Hedge was the movie Mo worked on for the last seven years. I will definitely go see it now.

3. Dan called me twice this weekend, but I only called him back once, so I owe him a phone call. The second time he called me was on Sunday in the early evening. I was in the midst of trying to sign all of our guys who didn't get drafted. It was crazy. At once point, even though I was constantly on the phone or answering call waiting, I had 8 new voice messages because I just couldn't get to them. It was great fun, even if a bit stressful, but I still would have rather talked to Dan.

4. The Indians are infuriating, as usual.

5. I am not clamoring to get New Years. Like I've said before, I just thought it would be a good place to host since we really have two houses. But if someone else has a compelling interest in having it elsewhere and people would rather do that, it's fine with me. That being said, my mom mentioned to me again this weekend that she hopes New Years is in Cleveland so she can get all the baby toys down from the attic. She is in serious "I want to be a grandmother" mode. Sorry, mom. I am definitely NOT helping out in that area at the moment.

6. In keeping you all apprised (yawn) of my house progress, I managed to remove all of the wallpaper in my master bedroom while watching 57,000 hours of the draft this weekend. At least I found a way to be productive.

OVER THE HEDGE

It's out, it's out!!! Over the Hedge premiered last night. Alert: ALL BLDers must support Mo by going to see this movie. Even Gen2s need to go.

ps. Mo, you have to tell us if you met Brooke Shields...I noticed she attended the premier

Springtime in Sacramento

OK, so the sun finally decided to show itself in CA. After only a couple (seriously, only a couple) days without rain in March, we're finally getting the normal springtime weather. By normal, I mean sunny and around 80. Ahhhh... So, I decided that I would finally get a haircut. I hadn't cut my hair since December since I had a job and all. I posted a before and after photo with Devon.

Speaking of Devon... She has a herniated disc in her back and is on drugs. Just say no to herniated discs. But the drugs aren't so bad. I told her even Bret Favre was addicted to Vicadin (sp?). Anyway, we're just trying to get her healed so she can resume normal movement and such. While I have never had back problems, I can SEE how painful it is. I'm sure Lincoln will confirm.

Other than that, all else is cool. We're trying to plan out our two weeks in Switzerland after graduation in June. Anyone else want to come? Dan, I think fun ball wants a return visit and more pictures...

Congrats to Hursty - his safety from OSU was indeed taken in the first round! SHOW HIM THE MONEY!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I couldn't help it. Hursty had me at "NFL Draft".

Mazzuccos

Sorry I've been unavailable of late.

A lot has happened with us. We've been busy even though we still don't have any friends.
The boys are a good time. The Flyers are winning. And Lincoln is engaged.

Of other interest, I'm studying to take the patent bar so that I can help Kristin write a patent on a clever idea she's hopefully working on. When I pass the bar, I'm likely to quit my job and start doing consulting on my own. The consulting will be different from what I'm doing now in that I'll be helping society in some way instead of helping people argue about money. For more on this topic, I quote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

"This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much most of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy."

In any case, when/if I do leave my job, I'll let you know. Also, I'll need people to hire me to do stuff. So if you could each come up with a medical device invention, I can help you patent it, raise money, develop it, get it approved by FDA, and market it.

And it's a long way until NYE, we'll see if anyone else wants to host so bad that they'll make a Christmas baby.

Big Weekend

Well after a so-so performance in free agency (some good deals balanced with getting fired by adam vinatieri), I head into the NFL Draft weekend. If any of you have nothing to do on Saturday, check out the first round. I am hoping my client Donte Whitner (safety out of Ohio State) goes in the first round. It should be a blast if he does.

Josh, if golf-ball sized hail can do $5,000 damage to a car, what would it do to your head? That sounds pretty dangerous to me. It doesn't hail all that much in Cleveland. It just stays cold until July. I froze my behind off at the Indians game last night, but at least we killed the Red Sox (15-3).

Also, I am now 26 beers in to my 100-beer World Tour of Beers. I can't remember if I posted about that already or not, but here's the link:

http://www.winkinglizard.com/beertour.asp

Golfball Sized Hail + Car = Bad

So one of the things I've always said I missed about Kansas was the thunderstorms. I'm not so sure about that now. Turns out that 10 minutes of golfball sized hail can do about $5000 worth of damage to a car.

In slightly better news, it turns out that insurance is a good ideas, since they're going to pay for all but $250. A word of advice though, if any of you out there are like me and never had serious bodywork done on your car before, you should know that it can take 2-3 weeks in the shop. So... if like me you think you'll save a few bucks by foregoing the rental car reimbursement coverage on your insurance policy, don't. Now we get to bum rides off my parents for the better part of a month. Sweet...

That's the latest from the heartland; hope you all are having better April's. (I guess we know Lincoln is.)

P.S. Regarding Rob's yoga, (insert Nelson Muntz "Ha, Ha" here).

B-School Update

OK, so I highly recommend that you never take Derivative Securities. Comparing the cash flows for a forward contract vs. a synthetic forward (long on the underlying asset, short a zero coupon bond - I think) is not a great way to spend your day. Despite my professor's vast accumulated wealth from managing Merrill Lynch's weather derivatives desk in London, I think I'll stick to index funds...

Forwards, futures, options, etc. are not my friends. The members of the BLD are though! hehe..

Kudos

I must say, Rob, you have really stepped up your game on this Blog. Back in the day, it used to consist almost entirely of me, Kristin, and Jill. At least we have a little more action nowadays.

I had a pretty chill weekend. Got to leave the office at noon and then went to Good Friday mass with my mom that afternoon. Stayed in Friday night helping Hillary because she had to test out of a computer exam early Saturday morning. Then I spent all day Saturday painting. Although it doesn't sound like much fun, I actually enjoyed myself. Painting is one of those activities I don't mind doing because you can see things progressing toward a finished product. It's kind of rewarding.

Sunday was great. After church, Hillary and I went back to my parents' house for a grand Easter celebration. We did away with the traditional (at least in our household) Easter ham for a smorgasbord of goodies, including steak, shrimp, varieties of chicken sausages, and several side dishes. I am still full. It was awesome.

Hope everyone had similarly good weekends. Post your updates, even if they're boring (like this one).

P.S. the Indians are 0-2 so far in games I attend. I may not go again this season. :(

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a great Easter Sunday! Devon and I went to my parents with Rick, Randy & Monica. We took some of the wine we bought yesterday while wine tasting in the Sacramento area (Bogle is probably the most well known from here). I highly recommend the 2003 Phantom from Bogle. It's a really great blend and isn't too bad on the price (~$16).

Anyway, Happy Easter to you all. Even Lincoln.

BTW

Thank you, Rob, for writing. I had an exam today and have been checking for entertainment all week, but alas, only my most recent post. Write more. What is everyone doing over the summer--anyone doing anything different???
How are the BLD GEN 2s? I hope well.
I'm headed to Savannah for the weekend. I've never been, but I think it will be nice. I hope that everyone has a great Passover/Easter!!
MISS YOU,
Kristin

ps. I wrote this in font Georgia, keeping with my weekend theme...I may even put in another picture because I think it's fun to do so. Can other people see my pictures or am I just entertaining myself? Also, do they slow the blog down? Wouldn't want to do that!

Yoga

So Devon and I did a pilates and yoga class Tuesday and another yoga class tonight. Let's just say I'm not very limber at this time in my life... With the music on, I feel like I'm stretching in a massage parlor (relaaaaaaaaaax). Just thought I'd share since there hasn't been anything new for a while.

So, it seems that instead of "snow days" in the South, they have "tornado days". Supposedly we are expecting inclement weather--the schools are closed, the courthouse is closed. Anyway, I'm going to try to post a picture of this scary scene (taken from my front porch). Let's just say, I like the Southern version best...so far. I hope that you all are doing well. Kristin

haha

well i think we'll probably do pong in my garage, if this thing actually happens at my house. i've got enough space heaters in case it's cold, and there's plenty of room in there. if this ends up being a go, i'll need lincoln's super top secret building specifications for his pong table so that i can construct my own. lincoln, i promise i will protect them with my life.

What?

No one wants to visit beautiful Modesto, CA? Dang... Well, seeing as how Devon ISN'T pregnant yet, I suppose we can travel. It's a lot easier to fly half way across the country rather than all the way. As long as we get to play pong in a carpeted basement with a 5' high ceiling again (with a drumset to bang on for dramatic effect), we're in.

The real question is:
When is Willis going to get around to hosting another Buffett party?

right

as far as i know i am not going to be a father by new years eve either. in fact, that would take a medical miracle or the next coming of the angel gabriel.

Cleveland Sounds Good to Us

While the Papsdorf clan loves to travel to new and exotic places, we like the sound of Cleveland for New Years this year. It's a day's drive from my parent's house, so we can stop there on the way for Christmas and stop again on the way home - all for much less money than flying. Plus, my aunt and uncle live in Cleveland and they always have the best sausages when we come to visit.

We will decline the opportunity to host New Year's this year, though we would be in the running with a new little one due to arrive in September. (Surprise!) We will defer to those who may be having a new baby closer to January 1st in matters of NYE party locations, though we may have to wait another 3-4 months before anyone really close to the date will be sharing the news.

Of course, as far as I know, Jon isn't going to be a father by New Years Eve, but I guess he can still host the party, as long as his mom can provide lots of toys.

Now I must go watch Lost. I love Netflix.

It's never too early to start planning

(i learned that from Amanda).

So I was wondering if you guys have given any thought to New Years next year? I would be happy to offer my house (and also my parents') for the upcoming celebration. Like I mentioned last year, the houses are just two doors apart, so we'll really have two houses to spread out in. Plus, my mother was talking to me this weekend about pulling all the baby toys down from the attic for all of the BLD kids. (Yes, she is in serious need of being a grandmother, and her children are falling down on the job). So, clearly there is nothing urgent since it is only March, but I just wanted to present the idea again while I was thinking about it.

Hope all is well with everyone. Keep the updates coming.

Speaking of updates, I finally had a free weekend this past weekend, which I spent almost entirely working on my house. It was actually quite fun, and I had people helping and keeping me company most of the time. Almost all of the ugly wallpaper is finally down and replaced with paint. It has been a long time coming. I should have taken before and after pictures so you guys could more fully appreciate the awfulness of the wallpaper & carpeting before it was replaced.

Plus, I now spend a lot of time watching informative shows such as Sell This House, House Hunters, Trading Spaces, etc. I will be more than ready when it is time to sell my house, at least according to the people on those shows.

JH

It's a small world

Jon, I just discovered two facts that should brighten your mood.

1) I work with Wendy (Habeski) Simon's husband.

2) The COO of my company is Alex Schowtka, a former world-class swimmer and member of the West German 800m free relay team that took silver at the '84 Summer Olympics. For the non-swimmers in the audience, that relay had one of the most memorable finishes in Olympic swimming history.

this boy's so spectacular

Mazzucco update

Quickly...
The Mazzuccos are on vacation in Sovy, Il.
Things are going well. The boys are fun.
I'm looking for a new job b/c I don't like working with lawyers. Maybe I'll sell cars.
Also, I'm playing with a new frisbee team b/c I didn't like the leadership of the last team (I was the captain).
I'll write more later.
Mazzucco

here's another good one

these keep getting better and better (or worse and worse, depending on my mood)...

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/sportsNews/view.bg?articleid=71689&format=&page=2

High Strung Atheletes

Seems to me that high strung atheletes seem a lot like high strung tourists.

So for your entertainment...here's the best lines I've heard at our restaurant!

10) Where does the rain come from????

9) I know you're closed but _____________ (fill in the blank).

8) Do you put your drinks in cups?

7) Excuse me. This 1/2 roasted chicken has dark meat.

6) This pasta primavera doesn't taste like the ones in Georgia!

5) Can I get a clam chowder no potatoes?

4) I so neeeeeeeed my coffee! Do you have decafe?

3) Is this tuna salad sandwich made with fresh ahi?

2) Are you really closed?

And my personal favorite of the month....

1) You put mayonaise on your burgers? That's not how they do it in America!

oh and one more thing

Josh,
I can kinda top your sticker/button furniture issue. Jay and I bought a super cheap TV holder about three years ago (sticker variety) and Jay spent a LONG TIME putting it all together only to discover that his 27 inch TV is just a bit bigger than other 27 inch TVs. So, he got all ticked and started to beat the thing and I finally convinced him to just saw a side off. So, our TV stand is SUPER rigged.
And none of our furniture matches.
But, don't feel bad for us, because at least we don't care about water marks ...which kind of works out because one of us wouldn't care even if our furniture were good and did match (I'll leave it to you to figure out which one of us that is...not me).

RATS

Well, free agency was going well.

Unfortunately, Adam Vinatieri has decided to go in another direction with his representation. Apparently we weren't doing a good enough job. I suppose this is the life of an agent. Always unpredictable and always at the whim of some pretty high-strung athletes.

Well I wish him the best. My only response would be summed up best by the article below, about a player who did stick with us and I think got pretty good results.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=407991

all right

what's the deal, BLDers. i'm up to my ears in free agency, and i keep checking this blog every once in a while, hoping for a new post to distract me from work for a few minutes. but, noooooo. surely there are some interesting things going on out there. if not, then just type anything. tell us about a dream you had, or how you changed your child's diaper, or how you just remembered something ridiculous about our dartmouth days. anything will do.

THE NEW CARD

Thanks to a phone call from Shannon, I was given the heads up that Mayfair Games had finally put the finishing touches on redressing Family Business. The game is essentially the same, but the cards have been dressed up. Each mobster card now sports an actual drawing/ picture of the mobster, and the playing cards have all be redesigned. A few mobsters have also been added or subtracted.

But the real news is the addition of a new card. It is called the "Turncoat" card. It allows you to kill one mobster from the team with the most mobsters at that time (your choice in the case of ties), AND to resurrect a dead mobster from the RIP pile from the team with the least amount of mobsters at that time (again, your choice in the case of a tie). The only catch is that you may not bring a human player back into the game using this card. My initial thought is that saving this card until the end of the game (like I usually do with the Vendetta) could be huge.

My friends and I in Ohio have not yet played with the redressed version and the new card, but should this weekend. I'm looking forward to it. The "Turncoat" definitely seems like it can be a game-changing card. Nice work, Mayfair Games.

The Hawaii 3-0

So I have entered the next decade and it is rad.

I had three nights of parties...one of which was a surprise one thrown by my Hawaii friends! Lots of great food, good wine, Newcastle, a cigar and a 20 yr. tawny port. Don't feel a day over 21. Especially when my friends doused me with 2 gallons of ice water and a huge piece of chocolate cake in front of my bosses.

Thankfully, I'm not a lawyer. ; )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPUDDIN

Just a shout out to Adin Kawate on her birthday today. Hope you have a good one.

JH

haha

1. i watched almost all of tpb yesterday. my brother was watching it, and i got sucked in. it's impossible not to.

2. doug, remember when we did movie quote of the day and trivia of the day? that was kind of fun for a while. although no one could get your movie quotes after a while because you know too many of them.

3. they keep pushing free agency back which means i keep staying up late every night working, only to ultimately accomplish nothing and to have to do it all over again. hopefully one of these deadlines will actually stick.

4. i ordered furniture for my re-done living/ dining rooms. i think it will look nice. i have never had anything actually match before, so i am looking forward to that. maybe one of these days i will actually take pictures. if i had a camera, that would help.

They are lyrics

My parting words are lyrics from music I am currently into. So far I have quoted "Somebody Told Me" and "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" by The Killers, "Running Out Of Time" by Hot Hot Heat, and "Castle On A Cloud" from Les Misérables.

I saw someone doing it on another blog and liked (stole) the idea.

fling out the fish and the unleavened

Speaking of Movies on TV...

Anyone happen to catch TPB on VH1? It played multiple times (I watched some last night and today). Ahhhhh, memories.

question

what do Doug's mini comments mean? Entertaining, yes. Understood, not so much.

Is Kevin Ready?

I happened to catch the last hour or so of The Firm last night on the Hallmark Channel (at least one movie they've shown in the past 6 months that Josh might have watched if he weren't so focused on saving the universe in his new Star Wars PC game), and I started to worry about Kevin. I mean, I know he's working out, but can he run fast enough to escape murderous hit men and hold himself horizontally against bars above their heads? All before heading to a meeting with the heads of a mob family who know he's been talking with the FBI?

Kevin, can you do that?

Jon, you're a sports lawyer, so you don't have to deal with the mob (at least not so much in Cleveland). I think. But what if some of the football players decide you haven't served them well and come after you. Can you beat them off or run fast enough to get away? I'm sure you could outswim them, but somehow I think they're more likely to attack when you're not in the pool.

It suddenly strikes me that being a lawyer is very dangerous.

NFL Combine

an interesting experience. i was in indianapolis for the NFL Combine, which is pretty much the biggest meat market around for upcoming NFL draft hopefuls. we had three players there, but also used the opportunity to meet with teams about potential free agents. i actually had a pretty good time. saw a lot of famous people (at least by NFL standards), and due to neil's suspension issues, i had to be the one who actually met with all of the team general managers about our players. it was fun. hopefully i didn't screw anything up.

indianapolis is a pretty neat town. very pedestrian friendly. on saturday night, i was done with everything around 4 or 5 pm, so i just walked around, knocked around this huge mall, and got some dinner. even by myself, it was enjoyable

well that's about it for me. the next two weeks will be extremely busy with free agency, so i may not post for a while. or i may take some time out to vent if things get annoying. hope all is well.

24601

Anne & I saw Les Mis tonight for the first time and it was fantastic. I now understand why so many BLDers have raved about it all these years. "Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men." Awesome.

And yes, I know Team Canada lost in the quarterfinals to Russia. It's very very disappointing, but I can't say I was surprised, not with the old, slow team they assembled.

nobody shouts or talks too loud

It's finally happened

I've hit the wall. I'm completely, totally, 100% sick of school.
And, that is all I have to say.

FAVOR

If you guys could do me a favor (and I think I already requested this a while back, but if you could do it again, that would be great).

click on the following website:

www.neilcornrich.com

Also, if any of you have any personal websites or blogs, and could post a blog on there with this website link, that would be fantastic. We are trying to get this website #1 on google and yahoo search pages. apparently (and doug you may know this better than i do), it will help not only to have the website get hits from other computers, but also to have the page linked by other websites.

thanks very much!

Jonathan

not at all

one of my criterion was finding a rec room with dimensions that would fit a pool table and a bar.

speaking of my house, almost ALL of the gosh-awful flower wall paper is now down. still some painting to be done, but the bare, scratched-up walls are a remarkable improvement. and the wood floors are going into my living/dining rooms as i type.

last weekend of swimming this coming weekend. thank the lord. it's been a great 8-year run, but i am ready to move on and leave the handling of crazy teenager swimmers to someone else.

hope all you couples out there have a good valentine's day. but just to keep things interesting, a little family business reminder:

"On Feb. 14, 1929, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down. "