BABY!

Two things: 1) Merry Christmas to everyone, and 2) Jon and I are going to be parents! The baby is currently small, bean-shaped and bean-sized. We're due mid-July. Good times! We're excited, and we'll keep you updated.

Hope everybody has a good Christmas!

Darf Days

The 27th annual Darf Days* came to a close today. (*the 3 day celebration of my birth as called by my wonderful spouse). We kicked off the weekend with a trip to see the Twin City Cyclones at the Annex. The home team did battle against the Renegades, but the opposing goalie was killer and the rest of their players were just too fast. The final score was 5-1. There were two notable moments from the evening. First, almost as soon as I sat down, the mascot, Cy, came up behind my, putting his beak REALLY close to my head. But it wasn't so close that I noticed. Jon started laughing, and when I turned around, I was nose to nose with the huge blue bird.

Later, Jon stepped out to the lobby, and I stayed behind to watch the game. A group of kids from the youth hockey association came to our section selling pucks for the "Chuck a Puck" contest. I heard them talking to the family behind me when all of a sudden I hear "Ahh," as one of the kids comes tumbling into my lap. Grasping for anything to break his fall, the 10-year-old puts one hand on my back and his other hand on my chest to try not to roll all the way down our section. Luckily my ample bosom was enough to break his fall.

Saturday had much less sexual harassment with dinner at the 4th Street Filling Station. The highlight was spending time in a dimly lit restaurant with Jon AND the triple layer strawberry cake we brought home for a late dessert. Dinner was followed by a slightly competitive game of Scrabble, and the opening of Christmas presents.

Sunday, the actual day of my birth, was relaxing. We started the day with gifts and grocery shopping, and we closed it out with naps, football, and Japanese food. I also received many well wishes from family and friends, which I appreciate and enjoy.

All things considered, Darf Days 2007 was a great success.

TOY

Amanda, in all her splendor and glory, has received the Teacher of the Year award at her school! What's cool about it? Well, she got a banner and balloons, a prime parking spot, the acclaim and respect of her peers and co-workers, and the opportunity to fill out a giant application for the district-wide TOY process. Good for her! I am a proud husband. I was so proud, in fact, that I gave her one of her birthday presents early and now need to go get something to replace it.

Also, this comes on the heels of our sister-in-law Ashley winning the TA-of-the-year award at her elementary school in Raleigh. I'm not sure what it says about my brother and I that the ladies we married both won that award in the same year, but I'm sure it says something.

So congrats to Amanda and Ashley! Your kids are being taught by great people.

Gobble, gobble

Thanksgiving was a great success thanks to my husband the turkey cooker. He made a delicious turkey roast in the crock pot with orange marmalade and cranberry sauce. We also had wonderful rolls from the Brasfields, a tasty salad from Catherine, mashed potatoes, stuffing, mac&cheese, green beans, and pumpkin pie. Shame on me for not taking any pictures!

My Harris Teeter

Overheard at the grocery store between a 7-year-old and his mother.

Kid: Now, I don't want you to get all worked up over this.
Mom: What? I won't get worked up.
Kid: Have I started to earn my prize?

To me, this says a lot about the dynamic in their household.

PUGS

Lucy, Clara, Lucy

We <3 test assembly

J's paper: A Cooperative Method for Large Scale Test Assembly was accepted for presentation at the 2008 conference of the National Council on Measurement in Education in NYC.

Woo Hoo!

Shelia sheared a sheep

Saturday afternoon, after having toured the house and gardens at the house at Biltmore, we took off down the road to River Bend Farm. Still a part of the Biltmore estate, the farm houses a small old-time village, complete with woodwork, metal work, wood work, kitchen gardens, creamery (by that they meant ice-cream parlor, no cows), and a display of antique tractors and farm equipment. Here we watched a sheep get sheared and visited with an 18-year-old Draft horse named Bert. His brother Ernie was in his stall.

As a part of the Biltmore Harvest celebration, they are hosting a variety of folk music acts, a story teller, and small theater group. During an Irish jig demonstration, a little girl, maybe about 4 years old, decided to jump up and start dancing. The crowd thought it was cute, and the little girl danced from her seat, up to the front, and onto the stage. She seemed unsure as she made her way closer and closer to the dancer until she grabbed the woman’s hand that was doing the demonstration. The two finished the jig hand-in-hand. It was very cute and very funny.

We strolled the kitchen garden, full of fruits, greens, gourds, and greens. And we browsed the shop at the winery, sampling gourmet foods, dips, and salsa.

After a full day, we ate dinner in Asheville at Ed Boudreaux's Bayou Barbecue. This restaurant blends Cajun food with a varied barbecue sauce selection to create Jon's favorite restaurant ever.


Photo 1: Jon @ Biltmore

Photo 2: Jon with a chicken Po'Boy glow.

There is no ‘keeping up with the Vanderbilts’

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, and we headed out to Biltmore. It was very crowded, but we avoided some holdups by buying our tickets online. We also saved $6, so I recommend that for sure.

We were able to get tickets to go into the main house right away, so we jumped in line. Once inside, Jon noticed a roof top tour that sounded pretty cool ($15). We toured the first floor on our own where we saw an incredible banquet hall, complete with pipe organ and two seats built into the wall that were very throne like. There were also several moose and elk mounts up on the walls, but we were told George Vanderbilt wasn’t actually a hunter, and he ordered the taxidermied beauties through mail order. One of my favorite rooms was on the first floor, the winter garden. An open room just off the main entrance, the winter garden room is open to the sky by a huge sky light, and citrus trees grow there inside all winter. Our roof top tour took us out onto the ledges with the gargoyles, onto balconies, and even into the attic. The views of the changing leaves were incredible. On the balcony just outside G. Vanderbilt’s bedroom our tour guide told us that when the property was purchased, Vanderbilt literally owned everything he saw from his bedroom window, as well as one-mile on the other side of Mt. Pisgah. Just after his death, his widow sold a lot of the land to the federal government in order to create Pisgah national forest, thus the view is actually better today than it was at the time it was bought when much of it was barren, used farm land.

Our tour dropped us off on the second floor right where we had left off in our self-guided exploration. There were just so many rooms and closets, servants’ quarters, a bowling alley, an indoor pool, multiple pantries, walk-in refrigerators, changing rooms, and more. There are 65 fireplaces but only 16 chimneys, giving testimony to the intricate flu system within the house. There is a contra postal staircase, an architectural technique that is actually used a lot in sculpture to counter balance heavy materials so that they support themselves. The indulgence in wealth and opulence was grotesque, but the use of natural materials, unique and antique furnishings, the plumbing, electrical work, and feats of engineering and planning were nothing short of amazing.


Photo 1: Gargoyle with human tushie.
Photo 2: Jon and I in the walled garden@Biltmore.

Wow.

Thanks to Esbee for this. I owe you one, g.
Check out this video: One Semester of Spanish - Love Song



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Uncle Tupelo Honey Café

So we’re spending the weekend in Asheville, and we are one great meal and one great show into the weekend. We arrived Friday evening at the Days Inn West (nothing special, a bed, breakfast, etc.). A real highlight was the Tupelo Honey Café in downtown Asheville. We started the meal with an appetizer of pickled onion rings with a jalapeño aioli. This was a dish more quickly inhaled than eaten. We plowed through these unusually sweet snacks just before our entrees arrived. J ordered an omelet with ham, cheddar, and tomatoes. The order came with home fries made with rosemary. I had the tomato soup and grilled cheese made-to-order with cheddar and gorgonzola cheeses. The sandwich made a delicious melty, creamy bite when dipped into the soup. For dessert, two biscuits topped with blackberry jam and/or tupelo honey from Texas. The honey was delicious, and the biscuits were fantastic, buttery, dense, and soft. Service at the restaurant was quick but not overly friendly. The value at Tupelo Honey is unmatched. We had two entrees and an appetizer for $24, and the meal featured local, organic, and natural ingredients.

After our meal we headed to the Orange Peel to J’s 8th Guster show and my 6th. We enjoy seeing shows there because the crowd is usually really good and the venue is smoke-free. Guster was awesome. We heard a lot of old favorites. What was interesting about this show was seeing the band take new shapes. What used to be 3 guys, 2 guitars, and one huge set of drums has turned into a full on rock band that has up to 6 people on stage at one time or another and utilizes keyboards, trumpet (though just a touch), and cow bell. While Brian has definitly toned down his "Thundergod" ways of the past, he's becoming a very solid kit drummer and Ryan sings maybe better than he ever has. It's really neat to hear them finally growing into the sound they've been shooting for. They've increased some audience interaction with influences from touring with the Barenaked Ladies. At one point Ryan made up a song on the fly while the band joined in with an improvised beat, and at the end of the show the band rotated to different instruments while Brian stepped out and sang the theme from "Cheers."

Pictures and more to come.

Fair footage

This was my pick to win the wreath contest at the Dixie Classic Fair. It got second, which may have been because no door would shut with this thing on it. But dang! It's a 3-D turkey wreath! I love it. It's first in my book.
Thanks for the peach cobbler Palmyra Methodist!

They will be driving soon

My middle school darlings made the following errors this week.
1. Within one paper the word, "octubre" went through the following transformations:
octubre
octure
octurede
ocurede
ocureded
ocureded

2. The question was, "What would the pros and cons be if you were no longer allowed to use your lockers?"
Answer: "You would half to carry your boobs everywhere you go."
(It was a 6th grade boy. Poor thing--puberty is not kind.)

Photos of the band!

Grandma's Genius will be playing at the Royal Bean in Raleigh this weekend. Check 'em out! They'll be playing in Kernersville, we hope, soon, so stay tuned!



Photo 1: Jon "rehearsing"
Photo 2: GG at the Borders in Raleigh
Photo 3: GG at Borders in Winston

Mouth full of chiclets

It's 9:30 a.m. The students are filed in their rows, writing their answers to the focus question on the board. I see a boy in the front row making an odd face. He asks for a tissue. It's not long before I notice the tissue is bloody, and he is making an even weirder face.
"I pulled out my tooth; can I get a drink of water?" said the boy.
"Yes, and would you like an envelope for your tooth?" said the teacher.
"I guess..." he said.
I was delivering the envelope to his desk while he was out of the room when I noticed the tooth as it sat still bloody on page 11 of the boy's Spanish book.
It was the first time I've ever thought I was going to vomit while teaching.

Turn onto the dirt road...

We had dinner a couple weeks ago at a barbecue restaurant in Dudley Shoals, NC. We were invited by a fella I work with who plays guitar and sings as a part of the band, Bluegrass Blend.

We knew we were in for a down home experience when we got off I-40 and it still took us another 20 minutes and several turns before we finally reached Sim's Country Barbecue. We were in a rural area--you can tell because all the street names are people's full names (Charlie Little, etc.). We drove down the long and winding dirt road, and at the end we saw a log lodge reminiscent of the chow hall at a summer camp. For $9.95 a person you get all-you-can-eat beef, pork, or chicken barbecue, slaw, beans, rolls, and corn cakes. A pitcher of ice tea for two is $1.50, and you can buy a small homemade cake for $2 for dessert.

Perhaps the most interesting fact about the place is their sponsorship of their clogging studio and teams. Preserving the mountain tradition of clogging, Sim's Country barbecue becomes a place where the young and old, professionally trained and amateur, and the "I've never done this befores" all clog together throughout the dinner hours.

This place was family oriented, and a great place to let the kids play with each other and dance. there is plenty of seating for groups and it is apparently a popular place for church groups to go to. We hope to take others to this hideaway because it is such a different atmosphere for listening to music, eating, and preserving Appalachian culture.

How does your garden grow?

Here are some pics as requested by G-ma :) Zinnias and my lone geranium. The zinnias are about 3.5 ft. tall.

Babies!

We are Aunt Manda and Uncle Jon once again:
Jarius Noriel Clarkson
b. 9-5-07
7lbs. Head full of hair.

School's In

Here are some pics of my classroom. Today was the first day of school for me and the first day of college for my not-so-little-anymore brother. Yea Rob!

Open House

Our first open house is tomorrow night. I have mixed, not-so-great emotions (fear, anxiety, nervousness etc.) each year because of the following things:

1. Parents who speak to me completely in Spanish after I have spent all summer not speaking Spanish. After a summer in N.H. this is even more true since I saw no people of any color for several weeks.
2. Parents who say, "I took X years of X language and I only remember blah."
3. Parents who say, "The only words I know in Spanish aren't appropriate to say...ha ha ha."


Okay, it's not that bad, and open house does get me excited about the year ahead. I understand that folks are just trying to find some common ground, and I do appreciate that.

Baseball Hall of Fame

Best mustache ever.
Jon and the Babe.
Babe Ruth's bowling ball. I just thought that was cool.

Curt Shilling's bloody sock. Doesn't look like ketchup to me.

Soccer on York Beach

Here are some pics of our last night in the northeast. We miss this place.

It's the little things

We spotted a dead bird carcass in the yard, and we didn't want the pugs to roll in it. Jon immediately retrieves said bird in a Target bag and disposes of it in the trashcan before I turn around.

I love this man.

Jiggity Jig

We're home again, home again. It's so strange to be back in Winston. We've been in 6 states just this week, so we find ourselves a little confused at times about where exactly we are. On the way home from dinner today Jon said, "We go east, right?" And I had to really think about which way home was.

It was also strange to come home to our home, which looks exactly the same as we left it. (Thanks to Catherine :) But I really want to rearrange the furniture and get rid of things we don't use. I guess that's what a summer in a very small apartment will do to you. I'm just not interested in having extra stuff taking up our space.

On another note, I have dirt under my nails again. I missed my garden.

Hit the ball and touch ‘em all

Today, with Jon in Athletics green and myself in Cubbies blue, we crossed something off our life’s “To Do” list—a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. We arrived in Oneonta this afternoon, set-up the pugs, and hit the road to Cooperstown. An otherwise small village in southern New York, Cooperstown was buzzing with baseball pilgrims waiting to gawk at Babe Ruth’s bat and inspect the newly hung plaques of Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripkin Jr. who were inducted just last week.

After a recent trip to NYC and visits to several museums there, the Baseball Hall of Fame was certainly our favorite. It was the type of museum that makes you feel like they want you there. The HOF is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily during the summer. Upon entrance you get your hand stamped because you can come and go throughout the day. We also loved seeing that taking pictures and videotaping in the museum is welcome and “encouraged.” We didn’t feel like we had to hurry, miss a meal, whisper, or rely on mental pictures and gift shop baubles to remember our trip.

The museum has exhibits and memorabilia from all of baseball, as well as mini exhibits of Babe Ruth, the Women’s Leagues, African Americans in baseball, baseball in the movies, a small sculpture garden, and ballparks (called, “Sacred Ground”).

Live free or die

As we sat listening to the band of the week at the rotary band shell in Dover, we started talking about how we feel in having to leave our new northern home. It’s hard to put into words what has clearly left a mark on us about this town. Jon asked this afternoon, “Are we small town people?”

The town has a number of locally owned restaurants all located downtown and within walking distance from our apartment. Wanting to dive into our new town, we’ve been to nearly all the Friday night concerts at the park, attended Dover night out, explored local beaches, open mics, blueberry picking, and any other local, dorky thing we could. Everything was so close, outside, low-stress, accessible, easy-going, and early enough in the evening that we could do things throughout the week and be back home in time to get enough sleep for work the next day.

We’re going to miss all these things about the feel of this town. I’m not saying Winston is lacking in all these things, but events are too late at night, crowded, hard to find parking for and full of drunken and smoking people (because it takes place in a bar). Many times it’s just not the kind of scene we’re looking for. I like having a summer without getting beer spilled on me.

I love our house in NC. I love my job, my garden, my friends, and the barbecue and iced tea. But Dover is always going to be a special place for us where we explored a new region, grew closer in our marriage, and discovered what we really love to do—sit back, listen, laugh and love the place we’re in.

Pictures from NYC!

Here are some pics from our trip. I also added some to our posts below.
Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.
Ground Zero.
Amanda in Times Square.
Jon in Times Square.
Strawberry Fields.

Modern Art and Dunder Mifflin

Wednesday was a busy day in New York. We started out riding into Port Authority and walking up to Rockefeller Center where we saw NBC studios, the GE building, and Radio City Music Hall. Jon had his picture taken at Dunder Mifflin, and we looked for Tracey Morgan and Tina Fey but they weren’t around.

We made our way to the MoMA just after it opened. It has six floors with installations and exhibits of photography, architecture, painting, sculpture, digital media, printing and book making. We really enjoyed seeing Picasso’s works and those of Matisse, Warhol, and Van Gogh. The digital media only had a handful of exhibits but were some of the most interesting and enjoyable. I think computers are going to bring art into a new realm of interactive exhibits that can change and adapt to the viewer. It’s exciting to see the beginnings of this at the MoMA.

We ate lunch at a place that was probably a chain with an utterly forgettable name like “Le Bistro,” but it was really good and full of folks on their lunch break so I feel like it was a good decision. They had stations with make your own salad, sushi, Chinese food, hot and cold sandwiches, and pizza.

The rest of the day was transportation themed. We went to Grand Central Station, Times Square, and Port Authority. We found ourselves trapped by traffic in Newark, so we hung out at the hotel until things cleared out a bit on the George Washington Bridge. We got a good start on the drive home and stopped near Hartford, Conn. Thursday we head back to New Hampshire and to the puppies!

(A and J in Central Park)

Gonezilla and other dinosaurs

The number of homeruns hit last night by the New York Yankees was ridiculous. We went hoping to see A-Rod hit his 500th, but he ended up being one of the few Yanks not to hit a HR. I wouldn't call either of us Yankee fans, but we certainly have a love of the game. It was really exciting to watch the Bronx bombers make history in breaking the their single game homerun record. The folks behind us at the game were from Japan and big Hideki Matsui fans, so they were tickled to watch him hit 2 HRs.

Yesterday we also went to the Natural Histiry Museum and really enjoyed seeing the dinosaur exhibit, especially since at one time I wanted to be a paleontologist. We also liked the origins of man exhibit, eat that Creationist Museum! the museum also provided our quote of the day from a 7-year-old, "(Sigh) I hate bears!"

After the museum, we ate lunch at Big Nick's, famous for their 27 page menu. It's a great place to take a picky eater--not a good place for the indecisive. We then stopped in at Grom for gelato. We also explored Central Park with Strawberry Fields, the Dakota, the Lake, the Belvedere Castle, and Bethesda Terrace.

I must mention the highlight of the day provided by a 13-year-old-boy on the subway. He was with two adult men and another kid about 17. The train pulled into the station, people got off and got on. All of a sudden the 13-year-old looks up in shock and jumps off the train onto the platform just before the doors close. The adults didn't notice, but the 17-year-old said, "Eric, what are you...? Eric just got off!" We're pulling out of the station and the 13-year-old is on the platform making a face that was somewhere between realization and bewilderment at what he had just done, and the other 3 guys are just watching him get smaller in the distance. It was so funny. Poor kid, they were from out of town, and I hope they were all reunited.

(Jon and I in Central Park)

Terminal Illness

We spent very little time today standing still. So far New York is a lot of waiting around for someone to pick you up and drop you off somewhere else. We arrived in Newark at about 11:30. Then, my friends, we began the real journey. I present to you: How to get from Newark, NJ, to Port Authority, Manhattan, NY, for $4.40.

1. Take the shuttle from your hotel to the airport.
2. Take the Airtrain to terminal C.
3. Go downstairs and outside to lane 2 and take the airport shuttle to P6.
4. Leave P6 parking area and back track, cross the street to the bus shelter.
5. Wait.
6. Take NJ transit bus 107 to Port Authority. (Jon is waiting for the 107 above).
7. Arrive bounced, but not broken in Manhattan for the cheapest price possible using public transportation.

After navigating through the above steps we walked to the Times Square subway station and rode to the end of the line at Staten Ferry. We waited at the Ferry Terminal for a free boat ride past the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge. But you can’t just stay on the ferry to get back. You have to disembark and wait in the terminal for another ferry on the return trip. (But you can’t beat free!)

We walked past Battery Park, but not really in it because of construction in the area, and made our way to Ground Zero through the financial district. While I think we felt like we needed to go there to pay our respects, there isn’t a lot to see right now. The days of mangled wreckage and smoldering steel are long gone and rebuilding is well underway. It just looks like a work zone. We did see the bronze mural, which I think is called the “Wall of Heroes” and a place where people burn candles and leave mementos. To others visiting the city, I would say don’t go to Ground Zero right now unless you feel like you need to. Sidewalks are closed, jackhammers and bulldozers are loud, and it’s a pretty congested area as everyone else is also taking the detours around the construction. The bustle really takes away from any silent reflection or solace you might be looking for.

Again we found ourselves under ground and returning to Port Authority. Once there we explored the terminal a bit to find where we would be catching our bus to get back to Newark. We also went ahead and bought bus tickets for tomorrow and Wednesday, so we won’t have to wait in line again. We ate dinner on 42nd Street and hoofed it to Times Square and took pictures. All this only to return one last time to the Port Authority bus terminal to get back to our hotel (see above instructions, only read them in reverse :) . Luckily the hotel had warm chocolate chip and walnut cookies waiting and a cool, comfortable room.

Eating with Mayor Mike

Captions: Jon at Mayor Mike's, Traffic on the Mass Pike, the Capital building in Hartford, Civil War memorial in Hartford

Our evening in Hartford started off well and ended even better. We got directions form the ladies at the front desk for where to go to find some eats. They gave us map and we started out to Black-Eyed Susan’s for bbq and Cajun food. Unfortunately, the place was closed, so we worked our way up Asylum Street (interesting name…) and found a place called, “Mayor Mike’s.” We took and look and the menu, finding typical American fare and went in without many expectations. Jon ordered the Gorgonzola burger that came with bacon, onion, and the cheese. I ordered the Pesto grilled cheese, which came on Texas toast with tomatoes, cheddar, Monterrey jack, pesto, and cotija. Wow. It was the best grilled cheese sandwich I have ever eaten, and I have eaten my share of toasted cheese. Both of our sandwiches came with fries, but they were more of an after thought. Don’t get me wrong. The fries were really good, but the sandwiches were out of this world.

The bar was hoping at Mike’s but we were alone in the dining room. The manager came over and talked to us about visiting Hartford. When he couldn’t come up with something for us to do Sunday evening off the top of his head, he went and sought out possible activities. He then gave us directions and thoughts for what we might want to do in the morning before we leave. It was an all around great dinner.

We wandered down the block to Bushnell Park and enjoyed seeing the state capital building and a civil war monument in the shape of an arch like one would see in Europe. We also saw a hawk hanging out in the park in a very tall tree overlooking the capital building. Also, I have a new favorite tree—the cucumber magnolia.

We got back to the hotel and watched TV for an hour before going down to the pool. We finished off the evening with a little indoor pool Frisbee. Monday, we are NYC bounding.

There are no good songs about Connecticut

My husband is a master counselor. He can get at the nitty gritty of a problem, dismantling it until it rolls over in submission. Today, we took the dogs to the kennel. Our shot records from North Carolina did not have the dogs’ bordatella vaccines. We knew they were vaccinated because they were boarded in April at their own vet, and the vet would have let us know if one of the girls was due soon. We also asked before we left if the girls would be need any medical stuff during the summer and we were told no. Rather than giving up, Jon stayed with the lady reflecting her feelings and our predicament until she thought of a solution. The “What can we do?” approach.

She took our dogs with a disclaimer we signed that we would not sue her if the girls caught kennel cough. (Kennel cough isn’t fatal, can be treated with antibiotics, and all the other dogs at the kennel are vaccinated so there’s no real risk). This was a huge relief because we were leaving for Connecticut right after dropping them off and we had already paid for our hotel room. The place where they are staying is really nice and there are ducks, goats, and a horse, and other dogs, of course.

Tonight we’re at a Sheraton in Hartford, Conn. It’s breaking up the drive to NYC, and now we can really claim that we’ve been to Connecticut. It’s pretty here, from what little we’ve seen. It’s raining now, so we’ll probably hang out for a bit then venture out for dinner.

Measurable Progress

Jon has successfully completed his first internship as a psychometrician! His project, "A Method for Cooperative Test Assembly for Large-scale Assessment," had great results. The results were so good, in fact, that the president of the company was intrigued. The method, in a very elementary interpretation, basically made selecting test items easier from the start by automatically choosing items that meet both psychometric and content constraints. Interesting, no? The 4 interns made their presentations on Thursday, and each had varying degrees of technicality. The projects will be submitted to the NCME conference to be presented next spring in New York.

We really enjoyed getting to know the folks at MP and the other interns. The interns were like a group selected to be featured in a college brochure with one from the western U.S., the Midwest (by way of Korea), the east coast, and the south. Two guys, two gals. I was like their manager, showing up to dinners and special events but not doing any of the real work--the Miss Elizabeth to their Macho Man.

(The pic at the top is MP. Second, dinner with the interns Eun-Young, Becky, Zach, and Jon. Finally, Jon and I in his cube@MP. Photos from/by Eun-Young. Click to enlarge.)

The Saints are Coming

I saw a commercial for Sunday night football!

Lookin' for a home

Amanda has already covered the highlights of the White Stripes show, but I just wanted to add a couple cents.

First, Jack White is a unique talent. I can't really describe it, but wow. The Presence, the musicality, just the sensibility he has - he really feels it. I have a small man-crush on Jack. And Meg holds it down so well. She's rock and roll.

The songs from the new album were great live. Especially Icky Thump, Effect and Cause, and Slowly Turning Into You (which was my favorite of the night, I think).

I can't say much more about it, just because I enjoyed it so much. Here are a couple of good Youtube videos from the show. The first is a great recording of Jolene, and next is their closer, the old standard "Boll Weevil." Enjoy! We did.

Mainely Moose, Music and Fried Chicken

In our many trips to Maine, we have discovered the use of the word Mainely in many business names, for example: Mainely New Hampshire (a store that sells locally made items), Mainely Auto, Mainely Crafts, etc. This was the inspiration for the title of the post.

When we left for Portland, ME, for the White Stripes show, I found myself watching the sides of the highway for wildlife. Typically, when we are in a rural area and Jon is driving, I help watch for deer. Sunday I was watching for moose. In Kentucky when I was reporting, the police always recommended hitting the deer rather than trying to avoid it because many people would lose control, go into the woods, go into the oncoming lanes, etc., causing a worse accident. Here we saw a bumper sticker that said, "Brake for moose, it could save your life." There is also the sticker, "Break for Moose or die. It's really up to you." A little different philosophy due to the size difference. On the drive, we did see a deer and a fox, but no moose. Though I would one day love to see a moose just hanging out, the last thing I wanted to see was a giant moose in the middle of the road at midnight on a deserted Maine state road.

In Kennebunk, on the other hand, we saw chicken, fried chicken. My friends, it was a Popeye's. We did not anticipate seeing this New Orleans-based chicken franchise so far north.
This ended up being our preshow meal.

The show was great. We sat stage left, opting out of standing on the floor, which was already full about 100' back from the stage. The opening act was Dan Sartain, a rockabilly act from Alabama. I like the song "Gun vs. Knife," and one about spring break 1998--I'm sure what it's called.

Portland kicked off the American leg of the White Stripes' tour. They opened with "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Grounds." We were happy to hear Jack's haunting cover of "Jolene" third in the set. They played a lot of songs from the new album, and the title track, "Icky Thump," was rockin'.

One of the best effects of the show was the big red screen behind the band that alternately showed the silhouettes of Jack and Meg two stories high. They blended the shadows during, "I'm Slowly Turning into You." Check the pics below. Awesome. I kind of wish we had bought tickets to see them in Boston the next night too.

Astro, astro!

Until we have time to properly blog about the White Stripes show in Portland, ME, Sunday. Here are some pics. Note the big screen in the background. It was like watching a movie of the show. Very cool. The last pic is Meg singing, "Cold, Cold Night."