That name is my name too

First my dad got me this candy that shares my nickname:

It was a chocolate covered orange slice, yum!

And then we got this junkmail with a familiar return address:

I kind of want to go there.

And then my job got featured on CNN Money as a best company to work for, even though technically we're not a company. Other than that the article is pretty accurate, except everyone in the picture looks super serious and actually people at work are usually smiling and aren't robots.

So in conclusion, I have a good name and a good job, and even though my vacation is over and I won't have a summer vacation for the first time since I was four, I don't really have anything to complain about.

More Hudson River Valley

Since it didn't rain the whole time we were in the Hudson River Valley, we still got to go for a short hike. Well, I don't know if it was actually a hike, because the path was called "Poet's Walk," and it was pretty mild, but at the end you get to be on top of a hill and have a pretty view of the river:

They had to idiot-proof the trail by adding signs indicating you shouldn't wander through random open fields:

We wanted to take a picture of Ben walking past the sign barefoot, having left his shoes at its base to comply with the "No Bootprints" rule, but the ground was too muddy.

Also, we saw a beaver:

It ran away before I could get a more impressive picture.

After our beaver encounter it started to drizzle, so we decided to learn something and go to visit the Historic Vanderbilt Mansion nearby.

This was just for one Vanderbilt and his wife, and they only lived there 8 weeks a year.

We learned a lot of interesting things about the Vanderbilt family, including that in his heyday Cornelius Vanderbilt owned one dollar out of every circulating twenty (compared to Bill Gates's 1:157 ratio today), and was worth more than the entire United States. Also, he had 12 kids when he died, but he left 95% to just one son, because of the other eleven ten were girls and the only other son was epileptic (i.e. "insane" in that day and age).

The mansion we visited was owned by Frederick William Vanderbilt, whose dad was the second-generation Vanderbilt who got 95% of his father's fortune. He and his wife never had any kids, which is why their mansion went to the park service after he died. Also, since it is near one of FDR's homes, during the '30s and '40s the CIA and secret service had a bunch of guys living in it for president-protecting purposes, and they drank all the wine out of the wine cellars (plural because there was one for whites, one for reds, and one for champagnes). What a sweet service assignment for World War Two!

They had a small museum next to the house, which included a section on the 60ish staff required to maintain the mansion and surrounding estate:

The two lonely dudes in the bottom right corner have somewhat cryptic labels:

Day Man

Night Man

So that's how I ended up spending the remainder of my vacation silently singing "you're a master of karate and friendship for everyone" to myself.

Hudson River Valley

We spent the last two days of our vacation in the Hudson River Valley, for the extremely significant reason that it is halfway between Burlington, VT (home of the farthest-away friends we visited) and Philadelphia, and I wanted a break from driving. Despite the dire weather forecast, it only rained for about half of our stay, and for the other half it was quite nice.

This was the view outside our window (when it stopped raining).

We stayed in a bed and breakfast, which was great with the possible exception of its super-bizarre hallway Art: Ziploc bags filled with paint and nailed to boards in semi-patriotic arrangements.

See, it looks patriotic! Also, slightly like blood.

It is definitely made of Ziploc bags, paint, and nails.

Some of the Ziploc Art also had plastic condiment cup lids in it, I'm assuming for extra Art:

History!

Disposable plastic lids!

Other Art had little explanatory tags attached to it:

Hmm, I don't recognize this flag...

... now I learned something!

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any tag that explained why someone decided to fill Ziploc bags with paint and tiny plastic lids, then nail them to boards in various interpretations of the American flag.

Art!

My other favorite part of where we stayed was that they had electric candles in the bathroom, which were obviously electric because:

1. They were made of plastic, and not wax.
2. They had a switch on the bottom, as well as a clearly visible battery compartment.

3. There was a sign in the bathroom telling you they are electric.

My favorite part is not that the candles were electric, but that despite the numerous indicators that they aren't real, they were all covered in scorch marks from people trying to light them with matches:

Gotta love people's determination to set things on fire! If only someone would carry that idea over to the hallway Art...

Vermont

You guys, even though the weather forecast said it wouldn't, it stopped raining in Vermont yesterday! We got to go for a really nice walk around Burlington, and even dine al fresco, all while enjoying sunshine and dryness.

Of course, since it had been raining for the past week, there were some visible reminders of the recent wet weather:

This is not supposed to be underwater.

Neither is this, but he looks pretty at home there.

Also, I knew Vermont had sort of a reputation for hippies, but...

In my mind, the pink polka dots represent discarded foreskins.

Now on to New York!

The downside of vacationing in New England in the spring

Here is the weather from where we were yesterday:

 Here is the weather forecast for where we currently are:

Here is the weather forecast for where we are going tomorrow:

And here is the weather forecast for where we are finishing our vacation with a two day stay that was supposed to involve hiking, orchards, wineries, and other outdoor activities:

Next year we are going somewhere tropical.

Connecticut

I have always resented Connecticut, and it’s stupid silent “c” in the middle that cost me a perfect score on my fifty states test in seventh grade. But now our friends Julie and Dan bought a house there, so I have decided to make amends with the Constitution state, and also to make it the first stop on me and Ben’s New England road trip this week (woo, vacation!).

Julie and Dan’s new house is great! It has a squirrel on the front:

See, I am not kidding.

Even more excitingly, it has a lake in the back!

It was raining, but it's still a beach.

Also, Julie and Dan and their beach are all in Connecticut, but the lake (and the land on the other side) is in Massachusetts. This is great for Julie and Dan because it means they can easily drive to MA for cheap gas and alcohol on Sundays (despite CT's blue laws), but potentially bad for me because if they ever have kids, and then I visit them and take their kids swimming, I will be guilty of transporting a minor across state lines.

The other exciting thing near Julie and Dan’s new house is a Big Y grocery store. The Big Y grocery store is better than all other grocery stores, because instead of a lame customer loyalty reward system that revolves around an easily transportable plastic card, they use doubloons to reward their loyal customers:

See, once more I am not kidding.

Well, technically they aren’t called “doubloons,” but “silver coins.” When you spend enough money on groceries, the cashier gives you a silver coin when you checkout. Then later if you are shopping and you see an item marked as a “silver coin deal,” you just give the cashier your silver coin and she gives you the discount! Assuming you remembered your silver coins, and you have a silver coin for each silver coin deal, that is. Also, apparently there are also gold coin deals, but Julie and Dan haven’t bought enough groceries to earn a gold coin yet, so we can’t be sure what they look like. I’m going to assume they are just as awesome, if not more so, as the gold coins.

So Connecticut was a great success, despite the fact that Julie (whose husband’s last name is Spagnesi) got accused of being racist against Italians by the head of the Hartford Italian American Society (much in the same way my Jewish paternal grandmother used to accuse my mother of anti-Semitism whenever they disagreed, despite my mother having married my grandmother’s also-Jewish son).

Next stop, Boston!

The Book of Mormon

Look where we were today!

It's God's favorite musical, so you know it's good!

We have been wanting to see The Book of Mormon since we saw Jon Stewart rave about it on his show a few months ago. It was particularly awesome because we got to see it with my (formerly Mormon) mom and aunt, who were able to fill us in on all the juicy Mormon background, from having to wear Temple garments during sex ("there's a really long crotch zipper!") to when the Church decided black people are actually people in 1978 (despite them not being "white and delightsome"). Also, apparently at BYU (their alma mater) they send someone to proposition anyone who is 25 and unmarried in the theater department, to make sure they're not... you know.

The show itself was great, but sort of hard to describe. Highlights included dancing cups of coffee in Mormon Hell, God telling Joseph Smith not to show anyone the golden plates he found "even though that would really, really help people believe you and make you seem less crazy," and Jesus in a light-up robe calling someone a dick.

Also, since we were in NYC for the afternoon we got to stop at Baked by Melissa, a mini-cupcake place I used to go to when we lived there. It's great because they are delicious and have a lot of flavors, but you don't have to choose just one because the cupcakes are bite-sized and you get them by the half-dozen. Also, they are really, really cute:

I can't decide whether the caption should be "yum!" or "awww."

Now we are back in Philly and have no more fancy shows or cupcakes coming up, but the Book of Mormon soundtrack comes out on Tuesday!

Ben finally fixed our bathtub!

<Insert obligatory caulk joke here.>

Yay, no more leaking!

National Constitution Center

Yesterday Ben and I went to the National Constitution Center, because we are good citizens and full of civic pride. Also, we had a groupon.

It ended up being surprisingly awesome, and very contemporary - they already had an exhibit on the constitutionality of health care reform, and an interactive thing about whether or not Obama should release the photos of bin Laden's corpse. But the thing I appreciated the most is that obviously the people who run it have a sense of humor, and aren't too uptight about their work. For example, the museum map describes the Signers' Hall exhibit as the "number one destination for people who like to hang out with life size bronze statues." And then there was this sign on a malfunctioning display:

I think that's what I'll say next time I have difficulty with the conference room speakers at work - "this presentation is exercising its 5th Amendment right to be silent."

My New Hobby

For awhile now I've been obsessed with Steotch, who makes the world's coolest cross stitch samplers. For example:

They are all too expensive for me to be able to afford, so until now I've been content to admire them from a distance. But recently she started selling some of her patterns, and after much finger-stabbing and thread-untangling I am very proud to have produced my very own Steotch sampler:

If you look carefully, there are two small errors. Don't tell me if you find them, though, because I am trying to convince myself that they aren't noticeable.

That's right, I made that! I am so proud of myself! Also, now I finally understand why her finished samplers cost so much - they take a really, really long time to make.

As pretty as the front is, I also like to flip it over and look at the back. I think it's neat to see all the raw threads, although I have a feeling that a more experienced cross-stitcher would have produced a less-messy back.

Front

Back

I really enjoyed making it; it required just the right level of mindlessness to be relaxing, and it was very satisfying to see it take shape over time. I bought another pattern to start working on already, I can't wait!

Finally!

Look what is now in the NBC online store!

(Link)

Only six months after the episode aired... but that's not fast enough in this internet-fueled age of instant gratification, so it's too late, NBC - you won't be getting my $49.95 plus shipping!

French Culture, Philly Style

UPDATE: It seems like at least part of the delay was due to the fact that one of the main performers was mistaken as a wino and detained by security. Gotta love Philly!


Yesterday was the last day of the month-long Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (goodbye, backyard trapeze artists). For the grand finale, the French acrobat/musical troupe La Compagnie Transe Express put on a free outdoor show right outside our building - I was pretty pumped about it since there was a lot of hype leading up to it, and according to all the posters it would involve lifting a bunch of musicians 100 feet off the ground with a crane for an aerial percussion concert/trapeze act/light show. Ben and I watched them bring in the crane and assemble the giant cage/sideways Ferris wheel thingy on Friday night, and last night made sure to go outside plenty early to get a good spot.

The show was supposed to start at 7:30, and by 7:15 the street was packed. Even though I was standing only about fifty feet from our building's front door, I don't think I could have gone home if I wanted to - it was just wall to wall people. Most people were pretty good-natured about it, but there were a few who tried to shove their way through the crowd and ended up in shouting matches with those who refused to move (or rather, couldn't really move because there was nowhere for them to go). Also, there was a lady not too far ahead of me who seemed to have a claustrophobic freakout, and she sort of went crazy and ran through the crowd (nothing opens up a path like a crazy person) to the fence surrounding the crane, which she promptly jumped so she could sit on the other side and rock back and forth. The crane operator looked like he wanted to tell her she wasn't supposed to be there but couldn't bring himself to approach her, so she spent the rest of the evening in there. Eventually her husband was able to make it over to her, and he stood there really awkwardly and occasionally patting her back.

Anyway, by 7:55 the show still hadn't started and I was afraid the crowd was going to turn ugly, what with everyone being shoved together so tightly and Philly not being renowned for its well-behaved citizens. Some people started climbing onto bus shelters and lamp posts so they could get better views, and others started booing and chanting "start the show! start the show!" I was trying to remember a TV special on how to survive crowd crushes I saw once, because I was afraid I was going to get trampled to death a few yards from my own home. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to stick out your elbows and just try to ride the crowd like a wave, but thankfully it didn't come to that.

Finally, right at 8:00, the show started. Except, since it was a French circus troupe, "starting" meant one guy dressed like a hobo wandered out and started examining the giant cage/Ferris wheel contraption, while making a big show of falling all over himself and talking to the crowd in French. And maybe the crowd would have had the patience for a slow start at 7:30, but they wanted nothing to do with it after half an hour of waiting. When it became clear that it was going to take awhile for anything interesting to happen, the booing and chanting resumed, with the assorted loud person yelling things like "do something interesting!" or "climb up there already!" This continued for about 15-20 minutes, as more performers wandered in and theatrically "discovered" the contraption but didn't actually do much with it. Finally, one of them climbed to the top of it and started ringing a single bell, which temporarily soothed the crowd. Unfortunately, when after several minutes it was still just that one guy ringing his one bell, someone yelled "do something different!", which the crowd promptly began chanting.

Anyway, after about half an hour of build up and increasing crowd unruliness, the performers finally climbed into their contraption, and as soon as the crane lifted it into the air the crowd calmed down and watched the rest of the show peacefully. It ended up being extremely awesome - the thing spun around while expanding and contracting, and in addition to the dangling percussionists there were also several suspended trapeze artists, who did all sorts of impressive swinging and contorting. The Philly Inquirer posted this short video of part of it, which sort of gives you an idea of what it was like but in no way conveys how impressive it really was.

So all in all it was a good day - I got to see an amazing French circus troupe for free, and I did not get trampled to death by impatient Philadelphians. What more could you ask for in life?