Philadelphia Minus the Airport

This last week our friends from back home, Carly and Adam, flew out for an East Coast adventure and stayed with us at our place. They had a busy vacation, traversing New York City for four days and Philadelphia for one day. We joined them for two of those days, one of them being a trip to Philly. We had never really spent time in Philadelphia before - we'd driven to the airport several times, gotten lost in the city trying to get home from the airport, and then we went to a Fleet Foxes concert at a Unitarian Church in Philly. But none of that really counts as a city visit - so we finally got a chance to explore the history of Philadelphia.

It was a rather quick trip – we didn’t even get there until 4:00pm. But we covered a lot of ground – historic Philly, downtown Philly, and Chinatown. And keeping up with our great tradition, we got lost on the way home (James and I have a knack for this when we got lost in conversation). Somehow we thought we were on US 1 North almost back in Princeton, when all of a sudden what do you know – we see an “Entering Philadelphia” sign. I still have no idea how that happened…so it was a long drive home.

View of the capitol building from down-town Philly in the evening. I loved down-town: tons of great restaurants with outdoor seating along the streets and plenty of urban energy.


Carly and I loved all the beautiful, old brick homes and buildings.


James and I in front of Independence Hall, the building where both the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution were signed.


This is the room where the Declaration and Consitution were signed inside Independence Hall. General Washington sat at the desk up front, and John Adams sat in the chair at the very bottom of this pic. I think Ben Franklin sat in the chair to the left of General Washington's desk.


The infamous Liberty Bell. Yes - it has a big crack in it, and has had this crack for quite awhile.


Carly, Adam, and James taking in the scene at Independence Square, the square where the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read on July 6, 1776.


Another view of Independence Hall.

Cookies For Dinner

So it's true. Sugar makes me feel better. And especially the amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe from Emily's cookie book. James knows this, and I'd been wanting to make them on several different occasions during the last few weeks. But I'd get home from work and just didn't have the energy to make them, bake them, and clean up the mess in this Jersey heat. So the other day I got home from a very long day of babysitting and running co. craziness, and this is what I found on our table. Yep, I felt much better - cookies, a fashion mag, and a sweet letter from my dear hubby. It's the little things in life...

The Hummingbird - A Short Scene From My Life

Characters:

Nanny - 24 years old (thought she was closer in age to having her own children than continuing this babysitting gig that started at age 12 – but no).

Boy - 8 Years Old

Girl - 5 Years Old

Setting: Graduate student needing good pay with flexible hours for summer break once more stumbles into a nannying job. Nanny finds that 8-year old boy is fascinated with toilet humor, is very interested in what role a bra plays for women, wonders why boys and girls have different parts, and in the current scene is interested in the “baby producing” process.

Boy: “Nanny, where do babies come from?”

Nanny: (with large sigh and subtle role of eyes) “Where do you think?”

Boy: “From the stomach?”

Nanny: (Relieved) “Yes, from the stomach. That’s where they come from.”

Boy: “But where do they come out from?”

Nanny: (Grrrr!!!!) “Where do you think?”

Boy: Points to his own groin area.

Nanny: (not sure what to say or how in depth to go here, would rather drop the whole conversation). “Yeah, I guess. Look, we have to leave for camp in 10 minutes – Finish your breakfast! And who is your favorite football player?”

Boy: (persistent) “But boys can’t have babies.”

Nanny: (here we go again). “Yes, you’re right. So they come from women and they come out her lower stomach region.”

Boy: “You mean from where she goes to the bathroom?” (snicker, snicker)

Nanny: “un, well, yes, boy…now finish your bagel!”

Boy: “Nanny, how do babies get in the stomach?”

Nanny: (Are you kidding me?!?) “Uh, it’s a miracle from God.”

Boy: “But that’s not how it really happens. I mean, how does a baby really get in the stomach without ripping up the stomach?”

Nanny: “Look boy, ask your mom…I’ve never had a baby and she has had two!”

Boy: “But I can’t ask my mom! You have to tell me!”

Nanny: “No.”

Boy: “Yes, you do! I’m not eating another bite of my bagel until you tell me.” (Father of children gets very upset if kids don’t eat a big enough breakfast…he asks kids later in the day how much they ate, and nanny is responsible for making sure they’ve eaten all they were supposed to. This gives children an unfortunate amount of power given the time crunches in the morning.)

Nanny: “You need to eat your bagel or you can’t go to camp today.”

In walks girl from brushing teeth.

Boy: “I’m not eating it until you tell me how the baby gets in the girl.”

Nanny: (is this a dream?) “Boy, I’m warning you….ask your parents and eat your bagel.”

Girl: (with matter of fact look on face) “Duh, brother, it comes from the hummingbird.”

Nanny: (perplexed) “The hummingbird? What are you talking about?”

Girl: “You know, the hummingbird that plants the babies?”

Boy: “You’re talking about the stork, sister, and you don’t still believe that dumb joke, do you?”

Girl: “It’s not a joke, brother. That’s what teacher Harriet said.”

Nanny: “Yeah, it’s not a joke.” (praying to God: PLEASE let this just be the end…I haven’t even had my coffee yet!) Walking towards phone. “Now I’m going to call your dad if you don’t eat that bagel in two seconds.”

Boy: (Finally with panicked look on face). “Okay, Okay!”

Nanny: “Girl, get your shoes on. Boy, we’ll be in the car counting until 10!”

Nanny: (murmuring under her breath) “This is not what I signed up for. But thank God for the Hummingbird.”

Theme Time Runs

This post is the result of extraordinary amounts of pressure from my wife, parents, neighbors, the IRS, God, and several anonymous late night callers. Apparently I'm failing in manifold ways by exercising restraint and witholding my passing thoughts from the world at large. I've twice decided to start a blog in the past, and I've twice thought better of it. In any case here are some reflections on things that I've been doing lately, compelled by the higher duties of holy matrimony.

Many churches follow a liturgical calendar through the year from Advent and Epiphany to Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and everyone's favorite - Ordinary Time. This system worked well as a method for teaching a largely illiterate peasantry the life and Jesus and central Christian doctrines, but it has long since outlived its usefulness. After many minutes of careful experimentation and consultation, I've devised a new calendar oriented around the central eucharistic event in the life of most Americans - watching tv. There are three seasons in my television watching liturgical calendar: Notre Dame football (Sept. - Nov. & Jan. 1), Lost (Late Jan. - Early May), and Summer Time. The first two are fairly self explanatory, and each has its own unique rituals and liturgical vestments. It is important to note that the relationship between the two seasons does not follow the same pattern every year. The inbreaking of God into history orders the life of the tv liturgical year in ways slightly less open to human discernment, and sometimes this leaves the seasons messy and prone to disastrous reversals. Notre Dame (the season) either climaxes in glorious ascenscion and the team militant or utter loss and despair, followed by an offseason of penitential prayer. Usually these are accompanied by even more imprecatory (the nasty kind) prayers against the demonic forces of this world and their poodle prince of darkness Pete Carroll. (With his current hairdo Pete looks like a poodle to me. No offense to those otherwise fine animals or their owners.)

Anyway, Lost takes on a very different meaning depending on the conclusion of Notre Dame. After Notre Dame (the team) got beat senseless by LSU on Jan. 4, 2007 during the Feast of Deflated Expectations and Inflated TV Ratings, the abysmal run of episodes the marked the middle of Lost season 3 could not have come at a worse time. It reached rock bottom on the 10th wednesday in Lost when Hurley found an old van and drove it around. I'd never wanted one of the original plane crash characters to die before...or since.

Currently we're in Summer Time, and like Ordinary Time there isn't much to write home about. Which must have something to do with why I decided to run another marathon. Luckily I conned three other guys into doing it as well, but one of them had to drop out for reasons that I won't share here because they reflect poorly on his manhood. It is the fourth week of our marathon training program, and my originally steely resolve to pr is going the way of all my good intentions. So to spice things up a bit, we are considering doing themes for our long saturday runs. This idea occured to me the other day when I wasn't listening to the radio show "Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan." That's a show where Bob picks a bunch of songs that all have to do with a single topic and talks about em. Here's what I have so far:



We get lots of bugs in the morning, which are almost as bad a leaches. Chris seems to attract more than the rest of us,



and inevitably:



Please let me know if you have any other suggestions or would like to donate a subscription to Sirius/XM radio.

Summer Sweets

Yes, this shortcake tasted as good as it looks messy.

Our neighbors, Casey and Rachel, made this intricately decorated cookies. The most tragic part of this picture is that it's missing the George Washington cookie they made...it was incredible, and somebody had the nerve to eat it before I could take a picture.

Also amongst the desserts was a blackberry cobbler, homemade strawberry ice cream, and brownies.


SO SO GOOD!


Summer time sweets are so amazing because you get all of the seasonal fruit to capitalize on. We had a plethora of amazing desserts on Independence Day that allowed us to be proper gluttons. And yes, James and I both went for a six mile run the next day with Marc and Chris....I like to think that we reached some kind of caloric equilibrium, but that might be optimistic thinking. I don't care; I love summer sweets.

Mission Accomplished...

The dresser that James and I spent so many lovely hours sanding is n0w completed...it's actually been done for two weeks or so, and it feels GREAT to have it off our chests. Saying that I underestimated the time and sweat this refinishing project would require is an understatement in itself. So just in case you have found a wooden piece of furniture by the dumpster with great potential, let me give you a few pointers:

1) There are actually products that remove the current varnish and stain, so you don't have to actually sand through all those layers.

2) If the piece has fairly large and deep scratches (like this one) USE AN ELECTRIC SANDER! Even if it doesn't have huge scratches USE AN ELECTRIC SANDER!

3) If you are working illegally in an apartment stairwell with very bad ventilation that feels like 100 degrees and breathing in all the particles of stain that you are sanding off, reevaluate how much this piece really means to you - can you find something comparable on Craigslist? (probably). If you're stubborn like me and want to keep on pluggin with the project, at least buy a little mouth mask to wear so you don't choke on the sanding dust.

4) For the finishing product, don't buy the "two-in-one" stain and finishing product. It is very thick, gooey, doesn't go on very smooth, and leaves big splotches that won't even out. Or perhaps my problem was that I was staining in the noonday heat outside and it was drying faster than I could evenly apply it. Don't do that.

I can certainly tell you that next time I take on a refinishing project (which will be many moons from now I can assure you) I will be heeding my own above advice. But in the meanwhile, the dresser turned out fairly well and I love having drawers to put things. (AKA underwear doesn't work very well on a makeshift shelf in your closet)

Patriotism

I’ve always heard it said in my history classes that too much patriotism can be dangerous. It can lead to a blind sense of allegiance, to an unhealthy hyper-nationalism that was all too evident in the rise of the Nazi party.

The last few years I’ve realized that too much patriotism is not a problem for America. At least, not for the communities I’ve been embedded within. Living in Princeton this last year, and then living in Seattle the last several years before that, I’ve mostly heard criticism of the United States. That seems to be a pretty trendy bandwagon – pulling all of the historical errors out of our imperialist past, compiling them with the errors of the Bush administration, and concluding that the United States has been spiraling downward and downward into the black hole of iniquitous hegemonic dominance. Clearly our sense of pride would be much better off if only we lived in Canada.

Additionally, why focus on national pride when we are all finally becoming global citizens? I heard a radio talk-show on July 4th ask the question of what Independence Day meant to its listeners, and several people phoned in with an explanation that they preferred to think of themselves as global citizens. Thus, the 4th of July held a very minimal significance for them.

I think this attitude is why so very few people ever hung flags in Seattle on national holidays, including Independence Day. Our house in Seattle last year stood as the lone resident within several blocks that dared to offer such a bold statement of pride. And as somebody who holds a great deal of respect for our country that drove me crazy.

It’s not that I have a blind sense of pride for America. Has the United States made grave mistakes in its past? Absolutely. Does the United States have huge blemishes in its history that can never be erased – slavery, manifest destiny, certain imperialist and reckless policies? Yes, of course. But despite all of its flaws I still think the United States has one of the best governmental systems in the world. The constitutional structure is brilliant; the checks and balances between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches function well; all citizens have an equal opportunity to vote; we enjoy far more freedoms than the vast majority of citizens in this world; and we don’t have threats of instability from military coups or insane tyrannical leaders.

I look around the world and see the recent elections in Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe used murder, violence and threats to ensure that the opposing candidate dropped out of the race. I look at the Sudanese government and see that Darfur continues to have great strife and conflict with thousands of innocent citizens being killed, raped, tortured, and displaced daily. I see that China continues to sell weapons and machinery to Sudan in spite of international pressure that it stop enabling the crisis in Darfur, not to mention China’s own domestic human rights abuses all in the name of a gold medal. I see the volatility of many governments in Latin America, with grave problems of corruption and the threat of instability from coups. And at the end of the day I am very proud to be an American citizen.

In terms of global citizenship, I have a great passion for connecting with my brothers and sisters around the globe. That’s why I’m interested in international humanitarian work and economic development. But I guess I’m too much of a realist to speak in terms of a literal “global citizenship.” The United Nations has been in play for several decades now, and we are no closer to erasing boundary lines and sharing our land, resources, and national treasures than we have ever been. So if you’re going to have to be a citizen of one country or the other, I choose the United States of America.

I do realize that most American citizens, despite their lip-service, do have a fair amount of pride for our country. I guess I’m just tired and bored by the popularity of speaking like we hate our country. Constructive criticism is always good, but raging antics is pointless. So hang a flag on Labor Day.