Happy Christmas Eve!

Since getting home late Monday night we've been enjoying the chance to just relax around our own home. Yesterday we did have a rude awakening when my car wouldn't start as we were heading out to go grocery shopping. Luckily Dave answered my phone call, and our neighbors were still around to give us a jump. I guess it's time to start thinking about buying a new battery.

I also had a couple phone interviews yesterday for jobs in Richland, WA and Raleigh, NC. I wasn't able to fit in a third interview with a software company in Boston, so that will happen in early January. Hopefully some of these initial contacts will lead to more serious interviews. I'll keep you posted. As for Jason he will be meeting with at least two schools at a January conference in DC.

Happy late birthday to Lauren! I hope you had a great day yesterday, and enjoy your break from school. Have fun in Memphis too!

While at home I got to spend a lot of time with my kids. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Mt. Vincena-Reesie-Doo Erupts!

Hopefully you can make out the actual eruption. This was our pre-dinner entertainment... otherwise I doubt the kids would have eaten their food. Enjoy the silent movies... or blame Jason for any motion sickness you might experience. :-)

Finally! Vincena Gets To Build A Volcano!

Yee-haw!

Uh... yeah. We're obsessed.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Cha-cha-charleston...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I'm the king of the castle...

A silly tree-trimming picture...

Ho Ho Ho!

Today Jason finished grading all his final exams. The grades are submitted, the Fall 2008 semester is over (today was graduation), and he is officially free, free, free! So what were we to do??? Decorate for the holidays, of course!  As you can see, our stockings are hung by the windchimes with care...



We also bought our Christmas tree tonight at Lowes.  This year I was lucky enough to get lights and a tree stand for free through Tallahassee Freecycle.  The top looks a bit naked, but it's nothing a good tree-topper won't fix.  The pictures don't quite do it justice, but you get the idea.

So happy holidays from our relaxed home to yours...

Lauren's my new hero...

If you liked our dancing elf video, then you'll love this. My niece created it, and it might just be the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Happy Holidays!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Apparently this is the only time I'll ever see Jason dance to country music. Enjoy!

We're back... from outer space...

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Jason and I are back in Tallahassee, and quite tired from all the driving. Here are some highlights from the trip:

• Driving from Tallahassee to Winston-Salem on the day before Thanksgiving... 15 hours awful hours, but we did get to stop at an REI outside Charlotte to winterize ourselves for our upcoming trip to PA.


• Thanksgiving: turkey and sweet potatoe casserole and tiramisu... oh my!


• Jason's nephew is talking a mile-a-minute. Being around a kid who will repeat everything I say causes me to use the phrase "Oh, shoot!" more in 5 minutes than I have in the last 5 years.


• The day after Thanksgiving was spent glued to a What Not to Wear marathon, watching Nate, throwing the football, and meeting up with my friend Matthew from grad school
  
• Saturday we drove from Winston-Salem to Franklin, NC. Along the way we...
  
  
  
  • stopped in Asheville to meet a faculty member of one of the schools Jason's applied to (Western Carolina). We love Asheville.
    
  • checked out WCU as well as Cullowhee, Sylva, and Dillsboro
    
  • saw Quantum of Solace in Franklin at a movie theater that was incredibly serious about forcing you to buy things from their concession stand.
    
  • wussed out about camping since it was raining and miserable. Instead we stayed at the Carolina Motel (but I still used my sleeping bag because it was so cold). They had the cutest stray cat that I wanted to adopt, but I figured that Hazel would not be amused.
    
  
  
• After our amusing stay in Franklin, we drove home yesterday, stopping along the way at Tallulah Gorge State Park. We stretched our legs on a rainy hike down to the falls and back. If you're ever driving near Atlanta on I-85 or I-75, but you don't have to go to Atlanta, here are our recommendations:
  
  
  
  • Use 129/441 between Macon, GA and Commerce, GA. These roads keep us sane since they maybe add 30 minutes to our drive, but allow us to avoid all things Atlanta (crazy drivers, weird interchanges, and accident-induced stand-stills).
    
  • Stop in Madison, GA which is just off I-20 and hour outside of Atlanta. It is a really friendly town with loads of charm. We had lunch here and were just about ready call it home by the time we got our check.
    
  
  
• By the way, I really, really, really hate these flower bullets. If anyone knows how to get normal circles and squares, please let me know.

Edit: Thanks, Blogger help pages. Buh-bye flowers!

Past, present, and future

Hi everyone. I figured an update was in order. Our water leak was fixed and the rain stopped... both pretty much as soon as I posted about them. So that's good. It's been sunny but chilly lately. I feel like we get a lot of wind in Tallahassee, and that's what makes it feel cold. Turtlenecks, scarves, and hats are my friends.

Today was beautiful and much warmer than the past few days. I went without a coat, and exercised outside in the evening in shorts and a t-shirt. I heard that a cold snap is coming though, so it will be back to winter wear for us soon enough.

We are both still in the job search. The juries are still out on the two Sandia jobs I interviewed for, so today I applied to a statistical software company that is based in Cary, NC where we used to live. It is a great company with amazing benefits (M&M Wednesdays!!!), and one of my friends works there as well. Jason is excited about a job posting at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC (Mountains!!!), and we're planning to check out the town on our drive back from his sister's place after Thanksgiving.

The cats are doing well. Jebo is still loud, but it seems like it has been good for him to have to take the stairs in our new place. His stomach no longer appears to drag on the ground, and I guess that's always a plus. Hazel is still pushy and stubborn (she's actually trying to lay down on my hands as I type this... I've pushed her off about 8 times so far, but she's still not deterred), but she does have a nice warming effect when she sleeps on my back during the night. OK. Enough of this topic... I don't want to freak Mom out too much. :-)

In other news, we've decided to test our bodies' ability to stand extreme conditions over the Christmas break. Since we have almost a month off we are going to travel... first to PA from December 16-22, then we'll spend a few days in Tallahassee (having Christmas at our house with our friends Stacey and Adam). And then... we're spending December 28-January 2 in the Bahamas! We are very excited. We're driving to Ft. Lauderdale, taking a cruise ship across to Freeport, Grand Bahama and spending time at an all-inclusive resort kayaking, snorkeling (my thinking is if I talk about the water sports, then the water will certainly be warm enough to do all those fun things), and generally enjoying the sun. Hopefully this trip will help Jason recuperate after a busy semester. He'll be teaching the same three classes in the spring, so he'll definitely need this break to be ready to do it all over again.

OK... that's enough for now. I hope you're all doing well, and I'll talk to you soon!

Love, Me

Too much water in Tallahassee...

Since arriving home from travel I've been greeted by walls of water at every turn. Recently we found another water leak near our water meter (you apparently did a great job "fixing" the last leak, friend of our landlord!). For the past two days we've gotten by with our water turned off for most of the day. Mr. Fixit was supposed to stop by today, but with the miserable weather we are experiencing I won't be surprised if our landlord somehow can't get in touch with him again today.

Last night it started raining, and it's been pouring ever since. We were hoping to go camping this weekend, but unfortunately it looks like it's supposed to keep raining until Sunday. So basically we are completely waterlogged, and will probably be this way until early next week. Yey! :-(

New Mexico

One down... one to go...
Hiking tomorrow... direct flight to CA on Sunday...
More later...

We're still here.

It may not seem like it, but we're still around. I've just been really busy with a lot of work meetings in October (CA, IL, and here in Tallahassee), and getting ready for travel during the first couple weeks of November (NM and CA). I'm looking forward to things settling down later on this month and for traveling to see family over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Today we heard Joe Biden speak on campus. That was our excitement for the day. Now I should get back to work. There's a bit more I need to get done before we go home for the night. I'll be sure to send an update more than once a month from now on.

Lovebugs and other annoyances...

Ugh... it's lovebug season again, and the front grill of every car is covered in them. We went to the pool tonight and the air was thick with pairs of these flies. Every spare surface was covered, and if we stood still for too long they landed on us. The pool was filled too. They can't go away soon enough for me.

In other annoying news, a water pipe near our water meter developed a crack late last week. We're still waiting for our landlord's friend to come by and fix it. In the meantime we're keeping our water shut off as much as possible.

Work is busy as usual. In three weeks I am off to CA for a week for an optimization workshop in Palo Alto. October in general is really busy for me so I'm trying to get a lot done in September. Jason's dealing with teaching and research, and we're both starting to apply for jobs.

Thursday will be our next-to-last ASL class. The course has flown by.

That's the update for now. I hope you're well.

Blue Sky

Fay has dropped over 20 inches of rain on Tallahassee, but earlier today we had our first sighting of blue sky and sun in over 48 hours. More storm clouds are rolling in tonight, and as I type this I hear some rumbles of thunder.

We drove to campus today to check out Jason's new office, and on the way we spotted a lot of downed tree branches. That seems to be the extent of the storm effects on our side of town. I've heard that some buildings were flooded on the NE side of town though.

Fall semester classes start tomorrow.

Hello Fay!

The rain, wind, and cooler temperatures have definitely arrived. So far, so good. It doesn't seem any different than the regular rain we've been experiencing over the past couple of weeks, except perhaps that there's no humidity.

Political Party Quiz

What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In? created with QuizFarm.com

I scored as Green <'Imunimaginative's Deviantart Page'> Green 100% Socialist 92% Communism 67% Anarchism 67% Democrat 67% Fascism 17% Republican 8% Nazi 0%

Carrabba's Chicken Bryan

The other night we made this recipe for Carrabba's Chicken Bryan. It was so good! You should definitely check it out if you're looking for something new to make.

We didn't have any white wine and it calls for a lot of butter, so I replaced both with 1 cup of chicken broth, a splash of cider vinegar, and a tablespoon of butter. It still tasted very much like what we had in Destin.

Trip to Destin

Yesterday we went on a mini road trip to Destin, FL. We hit up the outlets for some work clothes, checked out the beautiful white sand beaches, and then had an amazing dinner at Carrabas.

We had a great weekend here, and I hope it was the same for you.

Today's a special day...

Happy Birthday to my Momma!

Happy First Day of August!

Wow... I can't believe that August is here already. The best month of the year for our family, in my opinion. Jonele and Julie may be too busy and stressed out to agree with me, but I stand by that statement.

Jason and I have been busy ourselves recently. We've been doing a lot of biking. Sunday we rode 27 miles on the St. Mark's Trail (all the way to St. Mark's and back... wouldn't Jen be proud? :-) ), and then yesterday we rode around town to Mission San Luis and the library.

Last night we had our second sign language class, and it was very overwhelming. We have to cover two chapters in the hour we're in class, and that is quite a bit of new vocabulary. I am hoping that it will be easier next week when I can go into class already having looked at what we're going to cover beforehand (we just got our books last night). But we are learning a lot, and it is fun to recognize signs I've seen Julie and Ian use before.

I've also been making a lot of progress on my work projects, and I should probably get back to that now. I'm working on a paper at All Saint's Coffee Shop today, while Jason bikes some more with our new friend Justin. I hope all is well wherever you are!

JP

First Sign Language Class

Our class tonight was really great. We each got our name signs and then learned some basic words. I've decided to keep track of the words that we learn here, so in case I forget my worksheets I will always be able to look up what I should be practicing. Jason and I have also decided to add five words of our own each week.

Words we should know

Alphabet
Numbers 1-20
Ready
Again
Please
Slow
Practice
Volunteer
Problem
How
Who
What
When
Where
Why
Which
Trouble


I
Tired
Try
You
Yours
Me
Mine
Name
Sign


Hungry
Last
Motivation
Tall
Good
Help
Read
Book
Flower

Mmm... Thai spring rolls

Here's a look at my first attempt at making spring rolls and cooking with tofu. I think they turned out pretty good, although I think I'll use a different dipping sauce next time. The peanut sauce is ok, but I think hoisin sauce will be better.

What have I learned from this adventure?
(1) We have a great oriental market near our house.
(2) Rice paper is a bizarre, but very cool creation.
(3) Fish sauce is absolutely disgusting, and unfortunately the smell lingers in the kitchen for days.

I guess two out of three isn't bad.

Happy Thursday!

Things are good here in Tallahassee. Now that my summer travel is complete I am getting back into my routine. Work during the day, hit the gym for an hour in the evening, and then head home to watch a movie with the cats. It's been very pleasant, but the cats are starting to become a bit too clingy for my liking. It will be nice when Jason gets back in a week so they can go back to sleeping with him and leave me in peace. :-)

Congratulations are in order for Ian -- I'm so glad that you decided to take that new job. I know ya'll will love to be back in CA. By the way, the ASL class starts a week from today, so be prepared to receive videos via email to keep you updated on our progress. For those who don't know, Jason and I are going to be taking a course on American Sign Language for an hour each week for eight weeks. We decided it's high time that we pick up the skills necessary to keep up with Aspen and Bree.

In other news, a high school friend of mine, Lauren, is moving to Tallahassee on August 1. She's starting law school at FSU this fall, and I'm hoping that her transition from NYC to T-town is an easy one. It's going to be nice to have an old friend so close by, even if it will only be for a year.

I guess that's it for now. A paper I have to read for work is calling my name, so I should go. I hope you're all doing well, and I wish you a great upcoming weekend.

Love--JP

San Diego

Greetings from chilly southern CA! Last night I was able to meet up with my sister, her husband, and their friends for dinner and then treat them to dessert at my math conference's poster session. It was great to see them after two years apart, although after being deluged by math they may be looking forward to another two years away from me. Just kidding!

While I am lounging here at the resort, my equal half is busting his butt on the farm in PA. Here he is with my grampa and brother after a long day making hay (almost 900 bales). It's good to see that he's still in one piece, but then again, he still has at least two more weeks of hard labor. :-)

If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain...

then you would have loved being on St. George Island. Actually, in retrospect, it only rained one morning out of six, but I'll keep this post title anyway. At least the pina colada part is quite accurate... it was Jason's drink of choice during our stay.

Our time was filled with morning yoga sessions courtesy of our friend Stacey (we basically recreated the scene from "Dan in Real Life"), afternoon beach-sitting, Gulf-swimming, and poolside relaxation. We also did a lot of cooking, which was great fun.
Family portrait: (L-R) Jason; his dad, Larry; his sister, Stacey; his mom, Margie; Stacey's husband, Jeff; their son, Nate, on his shoulders; and Jill.


Take 2, in front of the Gulf:

Cheesin' for the camera:

Now it's back to reality. I hope you all have a great weekend.

St. George Island, here we come!

Tomorrow is the big day... heading for the beach house!

Random photos

I thought it might be fun to provide a video tour of our new place, but the videos I took are proving too large to post right now. I'll have to try again, but in the meantime here are some photos.

The first photo shows the view from our front porch. Our condo, of course, looks like all the others. Then there's a photo of the cats hard at work. They have really taken to sleeping on my dresser and periodically checking out the backyard through the window.

Painting the roses red...

Or more accurately, painting our kitchen yellow. As you can see below, the original paint color was an "under the sea" blue, which was way too dark for the small space. So yesterday afternoon we started painting. I love our new yellow kitchen. Just a few touch-ups, and we're done!

Move-in is Complete!

... or at least 95% complete, and it feels great. All of us (cats included) love the new place. We have so much more space, and are really able to organize everything. I will post some photos tomorrow, but in the meantime here is a photo of our breakfast nook where we had dinner tonight. Just don't mention this photo to Jason, as I'm sure he'll hate it. Oh, and Gram... I told you I'd put up the picture! :-)



One annoying thing that is left to do is sell some of our furniture. I am having a really hard time selling my metal bed frame, but (fingers crossed) I am hoping it will be out the door by Friday. We also had some miscommunication with our landlord, and he left one bed too many in the apartment. We were given permission to sell it for him, but now that's another thing on our list. But at least we have paid rent on our old place for this whole month, so we are able to keep the stuff we're trying to sell there while we set up the new place.

So we're definitely busy, but all is well. We're certainly much happier here, and that is the point. More later...

Disc Golf!

I used to laugh whenever friends would go on and on about disc golf and how much fun it was. I thought it was a little strange, and since I don't really think ball golf is all that fun, I was mystified by their excitement.

But today all that changed. I played my first round of disc golf, and I... am... hooked! Jason and I went to Tom Brown Park today just to walk around, but once we arrived we saw the disc golf course and remembered that we had a Frisbee in the trunk. We played all 18 holes, and man was it fun, in spite of the fact that our Frisbee was pretty flimsy and thus hard to get into the basket. I posted a disc request to Freecycle once we got home, and I got a reply. So hopefully the next time we head out to the course we'll have some real discs to use.

Anyway, that was our fun for the day. Disc golf... it's a whole new world.

It's good to be home...

... in spite of the heat! :-)

It's been nice to be back home since returning from PA. The past couple of days have been spent packing and organizing for the move next week. We're just moving down the road from our current apartment, but we're using this as an opportunity to purge so our next move (out of Tallahassee :-) ) will be easier. We've been Freecycling like crazy, and feeling lighter by the minute.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

May Show

PICTURES FROM MY NIECE'S HIGH SCHOOL ART SHOW

A catcher's mask and baseball (a drawing for her brother):A painting of our family farm:

A drawing of her hand and a necklace:
A nature scene made with tissue paper:
An owl painted on wood:

Maplewood Prom

I haven't posted in ages since I've been away from home since the end of April. Jason and I drove from Tallahassee to East Tennessee to visit his parents, and then on to PA (where we currently are) to visit my parents. Along the way we visited the Tallulah Gorge State Park in north Georgia, which was really beautiful. I'll post some pictures of that later on.

This post is focused on my niece's junior prom which was on May 9 at the Riverside Inn in Cambridge Springs. We got to go and watch what I've come to understand as a small-town PA tradition -- basically that the whole town comes out to experience prom with the high schoolers. Here are some pictures of my niece with her boyfriend, Garrett:
And some other pictures of friends and family: