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By kate, December 19, 2012 11:19 pm

Last weekend we went up to NY to see the sights. It was great fun (bus trip up there aside… our bus broke down for 3 hours & someone was smoking ON the bus).

We got to stay with our dear friend Thelma & eat some great food (more PIG posts to come).

Times Square

Bryant Park Christmas tree

Can you spot us in the Times Square Jumbotron? Bottom Left corner

We saw the awesome new play by Eve Ensler “I am an Emotional Creature.” Just imagine monologues about the trials and tribulations women face… mixed in with a peppy dance number in between each segment. It was fantastic. Neil was one of 3 men in the audience. He really is a credit to his gender.

Mood

We went to Mood, the fabric store featured in Project Runway. It was amazing. Just kazillions of fabulous fabrics. AND we ran into Kooan Kosuke from Season 10.

Apparently Kooan works at Mood now

I asked him to take a picture with me & he said, “only if you buy some silk” because he was working in the silks department. Wasn’t worth it, though. He is a PR dropout… not the star. But, it was still hilarious to see him.

At the end of the trip I got a call telling me I got a real job. Really my dream job. I’ll be working at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights as a Fellow. I am pretty darned excited.

Viva New York!

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By kate, December 5, 2012 9:17 pm

My friend Chris’s wise words came to full fruition last weekend. Back in college Chris told me that I couldn’t be a Republican because I listened to Dar Williams… which started me on the slippery slope right through the Democratic party to radical lefty I am today.

At my dear professor Jamie Raskin‘s 50th birthday party, Dar performed and I was able to meet her and chat with her for about 20 minutes. It was surreal.

Giving Dar a mega fan hug.

We chatted about how her music led to my political awakening, radical Mormons, Wal Mart all while her husband fed her bites of birthday cake. After we chatted she played her set, all my favorites! There were only about 20 people near the stage listening, but that did not stop my from dancing and belting out ever word to every song. I was sososososo happy! Giddy really.

Staring lovingly at the stage. Neil was embarrassed by my fanaticism so he stood a few feet behind.

Dar started off with the best song ever, The Christians and the Pagans. She also played her new song I am the One Who Will Remember Everything. And, the wonderful classic As Cool As I Am (I will not be afraid of women). It was so fun to see her sing those songs I have loved for so long. It was so dreamy, I was on cloud 9 for days.

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By Neil, October 29, 2012 1:48 pm

NASA Satellite Image of Sandy

As of 11:25 Monday morning Sandy has brought rain and some wind to Vienna, Virgina.  No destruction or flooding…yet. The worst is yet to come and this is the soundtrack I will be listing to (in order of where the band is from).

Songs for Sandy:

Haiti:
Any suggestions?

Cuba:
“The Devils Dance,” by the Cuban Cowboys (the world’s greatest Cuban rock band in San Francisco, CA).

DMV area (DC, Maryland, Virginia)
“Friend to Friend in the End Time,” by Lungfish (Baltimore, MD).
“Let’s Be Animals,” by The Downtown Fiction  (my hometown Fairfax, VA).

Delaware
“One Love/People Get Ready,” by Bob Marley (lived in Newport, DE)

New Jersey
“Dancing in the Dark,” by Bruce Springsteen (Long Branch, NJ)
“Autumn Sweater,” by Yo La Tango (Hoboken, NJ)

New York City
“Yet Again,” by Grizzly Bear (Brooklyn, NY).
“Great Provider,” by Mariachi El Bronx (II) (Bronx, NY).
“The Rat,” by The Walkman (Harlem, NY)
“Sunshine and Clouds (And Everything Proud),” Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (New York, NY)
“The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance,” by Vampire Weekend (New York, NY)

Pennsylvania
“Saturday Night,” by Donora (Pittsburgh, PA).
“Get Through the Time,” by Toy Soldiers (Philadelphia, PA).

Canada
“Raining Patterns,” by CFCF (Montreal, Canada).
“Neighborhood #3 (Power Out),” by Arcade Fire (Montreal, Canada).
“7/4 (Shoreline),” by Broken Social Scene (Toronto, Canada).

Songs for Kate:

France:
“Countdown (Sick For the Big Sun),” by Phoenix (Versailles, France).
“Oui, Non, Encore,” by Louise Attaque (Paris, France)
“Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas),” by Regina Spector (Moscow, Soviet Union)

England:
“London Calling,” by The Clash (London, England)
“At My Window Sad and Lonely,” by Billy Brag and Wilco (London, England and Chicago, Il)

Update 1: Kate is stuck in Europe until Friday. She is in London and is staying with an old college roommate.

Update 2: 5PM – The wind is getting stronger and it’s cold. I just got back from the grocery store (I am shocked it was still open) to get a few things including….

Survival snacks for Sandy

a homemade hurricane mix that includes pretzels, peanut-butter M&Ms, raisins, and peanuts and a bottle of sparkling apple pomegranate cider to celebrate survival.

Update 3: 6:11 pm. I  just heard a tree fall down!

Update 4: 7:21 pm. Heard another tree or big branch break.

Update 5: 8:17 pm. I am chatting with Kate. She made it to her friends house just fine and is doing well. It is still raining in Fairfax.

Update 6: 8:20 am. I survived the night. We may still see high winds and rain until early Wednesday morning, however, I think the worst is over. I still have power and so does my brother in Maryland. Kate is probably having fun in London.

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By Neil, October 28, 2012 2:43 pm

Getting out of NY before Sandy comes to town.

I am in NY as I type and hurricane Sandy is on her way. I was going to stay until Monday to meet Kate at the airport but have decided to go back down to DC instead. I was worried because all the China Town, Bolt, Peter Pan, and Vamoose buses were sold out. Lucky for me there was 1 seat left on the DCNY Deluxe bus. I well be leaving tonight at 7pm. I hope there isn’t too much evacuation traffic.

Update: I made it home. Traffic was fine and the DC metro was still open. Now I am hunkered down in my apartment waiting for the storm…and Kate.

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By Neil, October 20, 2012 10:31 pm

Probably Kate’s last days in the DMV.

This might be the last picture of Kate taken while she lived in Washington, D.C. Lets be honest, unless she gets mugged or an overdose of the mythical French rudeness, I don’t think Kate is coming home. France has better tasting food, universal healthcare, beautiful streets, art, poodles, candy traditions older than our country, wine, no advertisements for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama on Hulu, macaroons, and protests every 3 or 4 days.  Why come home? I just hope if she decides to stay she sends for me!

If not maybe the few nice things we have in D.C. will be enough to entice her back. Like nieces and nephews (picture of June below), Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, trees in fall colors, 2 Amy’s Pizza, Downton Abbey and the Walking Dead which they definitely don’t have in France, an endless supply of turquoise jewelry, Pie Gourmet, and free back massages…that’s a promise!

Kate!!! Please come home!!! Or I’m only going to write blog post with each sentence ending in exclamation marks!!!

Princess June in the Enchanted Forest.

Really, I just wanted to post this picture of June because she looks too dang cute.

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By Neil, August 7, 2012 12:38 pm

Kate and I went to Zion last Thursday for what we thought would be a 3 day adventure. Much to our delight, however, Amy (Kate’s sister) went into labor Friday morning and so we cut short our trip a day and a half early and headed back to Salt Lake for the birth. That night Ruby was born without incident and boy is she cute.

Our newest niece Ruby

Here are a few pictures taken from our short trip to Zion National Park.

HDR of red-rock cliffs of Zion

HDR inside Zion National Park

HDR looking south from inside Zion

HDR of clouds and cliffs

Kate and Jim with 3 patriarchs cliffs behind then

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By Neil, July 14, 2012 3:19 pm

Wolf

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Picture 1 of 18

So here is how the Canadian adventure went.

Jim (Kate’s dad) and I drove up through West Yellowstone National Park on our way to Montana as we were intending to go to a powwow in Arlee, stopping for a little lunch and to make some phone calls. While there we went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery center to snap a few photos of the animals and one of me sitting in a giant teddy-bear couch. That night we camped somewhere in MT.

Jim was trying to take photos of people in the powwow however the organizers forbade Jim from taking photos and so we headed to Glacier National Park a little earlier than anticipated. Glacier National Park is amazing and we camped in an amazing site and then had huckleberries ice cream and cobbler at the 100 year-old Lake McDonald Lodge. The next morning we drove through the park, stopping for a hike on a glacier. At the top we found a mountain goat with a new baby that let us photograph them for over an hour. That night we slept in a teepee in Waterton Lakes National Park, the Canadian side of Glacier National Park and we went into the town of Waterton for dessert at the nearly 100 year old Prince Wales Hotel. Even though everything had closed for the evening the night manager went into the kitchen and cut us a few pieces of cake and then didn’t even charge us for it even though he knew we weren’t guests. He even stopped by as we ate to ask if we needed a glass of milk. Kind Canadians!

Continue reading 'A Summer Trip to Canada'»

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By Neil, June 4, 2012 10:39 am

Kate and I have moved back to Utah for the summer. Kate flew here so she could begin studying for the bar and I drove across country with her father. The following is a list of chronological highlights.

Day 1: In hot mosquito infested Ohio we had a terrible night sleeping next to a graveyard littered with multicolored LED lights and glow sticks. There we were haunted by ghosts who seemed particularly interested in the metal garbage cans across the field from where we slept. About 2 hours after falling asleep I was bitten by a spider which I was unable to locate upon waking and so I fled into the safety of the car where I spent the remainder of the night. No offense, but Ohio is the pits!

Community of Christ Temple: Independence, Missouri

Day 2: Jim wanted to show me some stained-glass windows in the Community of Christ’s Stone Church(not the Shell-like Temple above) in Independence, Missouri depicting religious themes from Mormon history and doctrine. Although we were well past visiting hours Jim and I barged into the unlocked church only to be greeted by a flustered matron: “What are you doing here? The chapel is closed, I am in a meeting. I can’t give you a tour, but I will. Follow me.” So we did and I am glad of it. She showed us the old chapel, explained the early history of her faith (formally called RLDS) and even took us into the basement of the church to show us the original chapel windows. She ended up spending over an hour with us and in the end even apologized for her mean introduction.

Day 3: We arrived into Fargo, North Dakota at 6AM just in time to see my parents before they left for work. I slept most of the day and went on a bike ride with my dad around 3PM.

Day 4: Figuring I needed something to do other than sit at home, my dad “took me” to the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site outside of Fargo. I put “took me” in quotes because what we really did was visit 5 or 6 of his agricultural experiment fields on the way to and from Ronald Reagan’s missiles. The missile command center was interesting yet the overall feeling from the visit was sadness that humanity has created tools capable of destroying just about all life on earth.

Mother and Baby Buffalo: Jamestown, ND

Day 5: Jim picked me up from my parents’ house around 5AM as to give us plenty of time to get to Jamestown before our 7AM appointment with the man Tex and the buffaloes at the National Buffalo Museum. Even so we arrived about an hour late, although Tex didn’t seem to mind. We loaded up into his truck and barreled into the Museum’s fenced prairie to photograph White Cloud the famous albino buffalo. We spotted her hiding in the brush and leaped from the truck with our cameras. She took off and so we climbed back into the truck. As we started to move I felt something climb up my leg and I looked down at my lap only to see 15 or 20 ticks crawling on my pants. In horror I excused myself, ran haphazardly back through the prairie to my car, and stripped. I just chucked all my clothes under the car, checked my nearly naked body for ticks, and then changed into clean clothes. By the time I had dressed Jim and Tex had worked their way up to me and so I hopped back into the truck. We did eventually get close to some buffaloes and snapped some great photos, but for the next 3 days every time I felt a twitch on my leg, I assumed it was a tick. Even now as I type this I am sure there is a tick working its way up my calf. I’ve checked 4 times and there’s nothing there.

Moon traveling across the Wyoming sky

We worked our way across North Dakota, Montana, and into Wyoming before camping just outside of Cody in the Buffalo Bill Reservoir on HWY 20. The sky was clear, the moon was bright, and we slept sound. The above image of the moon was taken from our campsite over the course of about an hour.

Bison in Yellowstone

Day 6: Yellowstone was definitely the highlight of the day. Entering the park we encountered a lone buffalo that was so uninterested in us we were able to get as close as 6 to 8 feet away. Just outside the park we saw a grizzly bear, which I have never seen before, and then the highlight of the decade: a 1 day old baby moose feeding from it mom. It was so small it could barely reach its mom’s teats. Unfortunately, we did not have a zoom lens to take the picture with. Between writing paragraphs I am currently bartering over a Craigslist lens so this never happens again.

We arrived in Utah later that evening and were able to stop by Matt and Sarah’s house to see their new baby, Charlotte. She is so cute and tiny.

Trip Endnote: This morning I woke up at 4:45 to see the partial lunar eclipse and took this amazing photo mashup shown below.

Partial Lunar Eclipse seen from Provo, Utah

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By Neil, April 4, 2012 12:07 pm

Since I was unable to post about my trip while it was happening I will do a small and late recap of the trip. The following images have a short description of each included so just click on one and it should explain its self.

[Show as slideshow]

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Jesse and I spent Monday traveling around with my Dad’s students visiting agricultural sites, listening to lectures and watching PowerPoints, and eating a lot of samosas for some reason. That night we went to the Carnivore – a famous restaurant in Nairobi that serves grilled meats in Brazilian style. They used to serve game meats like zebra, hartebeast, gazelle, etc but news laws only permit the selling and eating of farm-raised animals like crocodile and ostrich.

Tuesday Jesse and I spent the day visiting old friends, our old school ISK and we met with a professor at the University of Nairobi to talk about my future research. That night we went to the Village Market, a popular mall owned by the parents of one of my friends, to have dinner with my friend and one of Jesse’s friends. We were also joined by some other guests who were in Kenya for the Maxi Dash competition that is rock climbing / car race across Kenya (the people in the linked video were the other guests that night).

Wednesday we started our drive across Kenya with my dad and his grad students. Our first stop was Nakuru to visit my dad’s old colleagues, a research sites and to do a little safari in the Nakuru National Park. Nakuru is in the Great Rift Valley which is a very unique geologic region created from the separation of two tectonic plates. Check out the photos above for some great animal shots while in the park.

Thursday was spent driving to Kisumu to visit another research site. Kisumu is a large city located on the shore of Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa. The road to Kisumu was under construction so we were forced to take a crappy rocky bumpy side road that added hours to our journey. That evening we visited the research facility, took some photos of Lake Victory and slept.

Friday morning we visited some test plots and a local lady’s farm. We then drove back to Nairobi so my dad and his students could catch their flight back to the US. Jesse and I spent the night with out friends Prince and Linda.

Saturday was Jesse’s last day and so we had to get all the souvenir shopping and visits to friends before he left. We visited with our old guard that used to work for us when we lived in Kenya. It was great to see him and hear how his family was doing. He also took me to some jua kali work sites and into the bowels of the municipal market to buy Kate some African fabric. That evening we went to dinner at a friend’s house and then Jesse was dropped at the airport.

Sunday I went to church and visited with a few peeps and then spent the rest of the day hanging out with Prince and Linda. Linda is a designer and made Kate a dress out of African fabric (as seen below). And then I visited another family before catching my plane home.

The trip was amazing. It was so great to go back and see how much things have changed. I really hope that I am able to go to Kenya for my PhD research and take Kate to see all the amazing places in Kenya and meet my wonderful friends.

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By Neil, March 17, 2012 12:36 am

Jesse and I just got back to Nairobi after a few day traveling with my dad and his students to Nakuru and Kisumu. The trip was really fun but also included lots of driving.

Yesterday before leaving Kisumu we stopped at a small farm to see how they planted maize (corn). The farmer, a widow, was an amazing woman who worked ceaselessly to feed her family. It made me think of how easy my life is and how blessed I have been.

In direct contrast to visiting the farm our night in Nakuru was one of opulence as we stayed in the Lion Nakuru Lodge. This place was overpriced and overcomfortable. They even put hot water bottles into our bed while we ate dinner even though it was not cold in the least.

Now we are back in Nairobi staying with a dear friend from church. We are doing a little last-minute shopping and visiting and then will sadly be returning to the US and school (I am excited to see Kate again). The photo above is of Jesse holding Princess the baby of our friends Prince and Linda. The one bellow is of my favorite Kenyan foods, samosas. These are not like samosas from India that have a thick pastry crust, but are uniquely Kenyan with more of a springroll type crust.