Jacko

I just want to note how weirded out I am today... I'm doing some preliminary research for the Dataforma Christmas card for 2006 and I'm searching on a stock photography/art site called Corbis for images/inspiration. Why is it that when I search on the term "Santa," every 20 or so images is one of MICHAEL JACKSON?

Yes, whether or not you like Jacko, he has done a lot of volunteering for children. Still, the image of him as Father Christmas and his Neverland Ranch as the North Pole are kind of freaking me out here...

UPDATE: The mystery is solved, thanks to my brother! The Neverland Ranch, MJ's former home, is located in Santa Barbara County, CA.

It's Camden... we're always busy!

On Friday, I took half the day off and went to see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ with my friend, Jesse. We had a really great time. One particularly funny moment was when we were pulling into the overflow parking lot (after taking us nearly FOUR hours to get there because of horrible traffic). We were stopped right in the middle of the crosswalk and I commented to the officers on duty what a busy night they must be having. One of them starts cracking up and replies, "It's CAMDEN... we're ALWAYS busy!" (for those of you that don't know, this city has been the murder capital of the USA the past two years). Jesse and I had a good laugh over that one.

We also laughed at our picnic dinner. We had made plans to bring small personal coolers with subs and sodas to eat when we got there. When we opened our coolers, Jesse apologized for his ghetto meal - instead of packing a sub, he opted for the cheaper route by making his own sandwich out of lunch meat from home. I started laughing as I exposed my meal... also a sandwich made from home.

Some general concert notes:

- The concert was great, as the band usually is. A great mix of classic covers and their own greatest hits. Tom is at the top of his game.

- The Allman Bros. opened for Tom and were surprisingly stellar. I've never had a ton of interest in seeing them before, but thoroughly enjoyed their TWO HOUR opening set. Maybe it was a result of the beer I was drinking and the contact high I got, but I don't think so. Seriously.... I don't think I have EVER seen that much pot at a concert (including Jimmy Buffett). Wow... I was as messed up as those brownies Caitlin once made in 507...

- Tom's hair looked the best I've ever seen it. My mom always asks me about his hair when I see him play since it's usually rock-star bad. We like to laugh at it.

- What is up with Mike Campbell (the lead guitarist)? As good as Tom's hair was, Mike's was that bad. Each time I see them, his hair seems to get nastier and nastier and his overall appearance is going downhill. He has some sort of rasta-dreds-stringy-long-haired thing going on. Drugs? (photo to follow as soon as blogger will let me upload)

- I laugh at how these guys seem to be single-handedly keeping vest-makers in business. Who wears vests these days besides TP&HBs? Between the vests, jeans, rolled-sleeve shirts and loose ties, I think they try to pull a sort of modern-day gunslinger look. Oddly enough, it works and they look damn cool for 55-year-old veterans.

Penn State, Dubya, Richard / Anchor, & Kenny Rogers

A few tidbits for your mid-week:

Let's Go State! (Courtesy of Jeremy's Blog- thanks!)
Washington Monthly ranks colleges a little differently from U.S. News & World Report. And Penn State shoots to the top as a result: No. 3, just behind M.I.T. and U.C. Berkeley. "By devising a set of criteria different from those of other college guides, we arrived at sharply different results. Top schools sank, and medium schools rose. For instance, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 48th on the U.S News list, takes third place on our list, while Princeton, first on the U.S. News list, takes 43rd on ours. In short, Pennsylvania State, measured on our terms—by the yardstick of fostering research, national service and social mobility—does a lot more for the country than Princeton." [Via Penn State Live]

Way too proud of my PSU degree here... I suppose they breed us that way.

The Prez. Visits Central PA
George W. visits Lancaster and York today in support of Lynn Swann's PA gubenatorial efforts. I work about 5 miles from where he is stopping in York. Better drive the speed limit today... way too much law enforcement around (including monitoring by aircraft, probably the only time where there is actual truth to those signs about traffic being monitored from above!).

Richard and Anchor
I am sad to report that Richard and Anchor fall into the first category of fish that I have owned - the fish that die within the first week. Big Red (Jake), however, is still alive, kicking, and angry as hell (as usual).

Wise Words from Kenny Rogers (via Cait)
As I was feeling unsettled this week, Cait shared a few lines from Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" with me. She commended us for throwing out the "bad cards" of our lives - and thus pulled me out of my short-lived funk. I wanted to share these words with you all because they are oddly poignant to all of our lives, I think:

Every gambler knows that the secret to survival
Is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep
Cause every hand's a winner
And every hand's a loser

Weekend of Love (Though Not Rivaling Cait, Paul, & Kristina's DC Weekend of Love)

A lovely weekend for this busy girl! I took the day off on Friday because my friend Curtis was getting married. Curtis is a former instructor of mine at Penn State and was very very helpful after I joined the working world thereafter. We became really good friends in the past year and a half... another one of those "big brothers" in my life that I value so much.

Although Curtis' family is from New York City and many of his and Tiffany's (his bride) friends are from the Central PA area, the wedding was in Schenectady, NY (Tiffany's family is from that area). It was a long drive (about 6 hours from here), but absolutely gorgeous. I was lucky enough to be escorted by my dashing brother, Doug.

The wedding itself was wonderful. They rented out a beautiful old mansion/estate that overlooked a little waterway and the ceremony was held outside - http://www.glensandersmansion.com/. The reception was a wonderful mixture of classy romanticism and Penn State pride (33 of the 130 guests were alums, so you can imagine what kind of party it was... props to Tiffany, also a PSU grad, for allowing her husband to play fight songs at the reception).

Curtis' friends were outrageously fun, too. Doug and I had met a bunch of them last fall tailgating at games and got to party with them again this past January in Miami (at the infamous Orange Bowl tailgate). Curtis also had the foresight to bring "Class of" buttons for all us alums so that we could easily identify each other. Needless to say, the combination of a) a huge group of Penn Staters, b) an open bar, and c) a reason to celebrate, we all had way too good of a time. To put it in perspective for those of you who will understand, when sat down at our tables at the reception, someone started pounding on the table across from us and shouting, "We are Table #8, #8, .... etc." Congrats, Curtis!

Since it was also the weekend of our annual extended family camp out , Doug and I drove back to Centre Hall (near State College) after the wedding. We didn't roll into the farm until 5:15 am. Laaaaate night. Thank God Doug was my DD..... I had a little too much fun at the wedding.

The camp out was relaxing and beautiful, as always. I have a wonderful family and have such a genuinely good time every time we all get together. I also ate some amazing food.

An all around lovely weekend. :-)

Richard and Anchor

Meet the newest members of the family! Dan and I won some goldfish at the carnival last night... they've been affectionately been named "Richard" and "Anchor." Not sure how long they may be with us... my luck with fish seems to be that they either a) die in the first week or b) live for 15 freakin years. We'll just have to see.

Still, the number one scaled creature in my heart is still and will always be Jake, my red beta who has seen it all! (I've had him for over 3 years now and he's lived in Harrisburg, DC, State College, and New Cumberland).

Moving Right Along

What a weekend! I wasn't sure exactly how my weekend would go after the dramatic display put on by my ex (might I add again how much this just breaks my heart to see him conducting himself like that), but it shaped up to be a lot of fun.

I spent Saturday morning going to yard sales with Dan, Doug, and my mom. It was a good day for me... I'm on a board game binge right now... I bought Cranium, Scattergories, and Balderdash for $7 total! Rock! This means that you all need to come visit me so we can play some games and drink some beer. That is a command, not a request. :-)

On Saturday afternoon, mom, Doug and I drove to Knoebels Grove Amusement Park (2 hours away). It was a gorgeous Pennsylvania day... 85 degrees, clear blue skies, and a gentle breeze. We had a lovely time riding rides and walking around. Great coasters.

I got caught up on Sunday... housework, cooking for the family reunion next weekend, and getting other affairs settled. I even got ambitious and rode my bike to the grocery store (about a 2.5 mile ride each way). I packed my backpack full of groceries and peddled home, questioning the entire way why I had decided to buy so much heavy stuff... seriously, my pack was about 50 lbs.

Doug cooked dinner on Sunday night and Dan and I were invited to join the fam. We ate dinner, watched pre-season football, and played a competitive game of scrabble (thanks to Doug's yard sale purchase!!)

I'm really looking forward to this week... skating on Monday, football on Wednesday, the New Cumberland carnival begins, Curtis gets married, and I get to spend the weekend camping on a farm with my family. Good times. :-)

Oh! And I just applied for my passport for Kristi's wedding. Not only am I excited for the wedding, but for the opportunities I'll have and the places I'll visit now that I'll have a passport! I'm itching to explore again.

Sending love to everyone near and far.

Cuba

Thanks for all the love in the past week, guys... I had a difficult week, for some reason, and was feeling kind of down about things. But you all remind me how lucky I am, and for that, I LOVE YOU to death! Time to let it all go, I know.

This is pretty random, but one of the things I've been thinking about a lot lately is Cuba and all the possibilities of change in the next few years. I think I've been particularly interested in all the news surrounding Fidel's illness because I cannot wait to visit Cuba. Something about it just makes me yearn to check it all out. I earnestly hope that this can happen, legally, in my lifetime.

With all this talk about Fidel's imminent passing, I also think about the monstrous changes that will occur in the daily lives of the people of Cuba. Hopefully they will find a better way of life (be it with a newly established democracy or a more open communist government, at least). I think we as Americans take so much for granted - our rights for choice and artistic expression, most importantly. I can't imagine a world in which my family or I could be thrown into jail for raising our voices for the things we believe in.