Jerusalem: Part Two

Andrea and I made the decision to each post about a different portion of our trip to Jerusalem. Andrea got the first half, so I will be handling part two. As I am writing this before she has even begun, I hope to pick up almost at the exact point where she will have left off...

Having indulged our craving for shwarma we made our way into the Jewish Quarter of the City and headed for the area surrounding the Western (Wailing) Wall. When we arrived at the wailing wall we entered a large archaeological park where one can see the ruins of the many structures that once surrounded the temple area in Jerusalem. The most foreboding structure is, of course, the temple platform itself which has gone through many facelifts over the years. As you can see, the stones from the period when Herod extended the platform are quite daunting...


Considering that Andrea is 5'2" you can see that the stones are nearly a meter tall.


And, according to the person at the end of this line, she wasn't even touching the end of the stone! Rest assured, if we found any of these on Hippos they would stay where they were...

As you walk to the Eastern part of the park you enter an area where one can be assured Jesus walked. The stairs leading up to the Temple. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit this area because it borders Al Aqsa Mosque, and it was closed so that the Muslim Holy Day was not disturbed.



We left the archaeological park, and the Old City for a time and walked up the Mount of Olives. This walk is incredible, for many reasons. First and foremost, the Mount of Olives is a remarkably, and surprisingly, steep hill (video will soon be posted on You Tube). There is, however, a reward for the labor of walking up the hill - the view.



Once on top of the Mount of Olives we stopped at the Church of the Ascension where Jesus' Ascension into Heaven is commemorated. The church is now a mosque, however, the Muslims who control it allow Christians to come in and see the place. After leaving from there we made our way back down the Mount of Olives and walked the traditional path of the Via Delarosa, the path which commemorates Jesus on His way to the Cross and, ultimately, to His death. Along the way there are many markers denoting the traditional stations of the Cross - the ending point is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

After this we had the rest of the evening free to shop or go back to the guest house. The next day would bring even more sights.

We got up early on Saturday, met our bus, and headed for Bethlehem to see the Church of the Nativity.


This Church is one of three built by Saint Helena (Constantine's Mother) and commemorates the Birthplace of Christ. Over the years it has changed hands many times. As you can see from this picture the door has gotten smaller and smaller over the years. This change came because the church was being stripped of all its marble for use in other areas.


The inside is spotted with incredibly ornate decorations. In the front of the church there is an area called the grotto where one can go down and, supposedly, touch the spot where Jesus was born and where he was laid in the manger.

After finishing up at the Church of the Nativity we had time for shopping at the various Olive Wood stores and for lunch...we had more shwarma...



Having thoroughly stuffed ourselves (literally - I had two shwarma), we met the bus and headed for the Herodion (or Herodium...or Herodyon...depending on which sign you read). This was honestly one of my favorite sites...the sheer magnitude of the fortress is remarkable and the magnitude of what Herod accomplished can be seen on a grand scale. The site is one of Herod's many wilderness fortresses which he built to help protect his kingdom. It is also in the Judean Wilderness...where the shepherds would have been "keeping watch over their flocks," as Dr. Schuler pointed out...


The wilderness surrounding Bethlehem and Jerusalem.


The main tower of the Herodion.


Top plan of the Herodion.


Herod's Tomb?


The Palace at the Herodion, complete with swimming pool.

As Andrea always points out we were "running where Jesus walked," and what a great run it was. Now we are back at the Kibbutz. As I write this we have already finished a full day of work and are getting ready for another...

The Attention Getter

I know Andrea just posted to say we'd be back tomorrow with pictures and posts, but I felt the urge to post at least one photo to pique your interest...



This is the FIRST picture I took on the camera when we got to the Old City in Jerusalem. It is Saint Mark's Road - the guest house where we stayed was just down the street.

Tomorrow we start again...dark and early...until then. Enjoy.

Home Sweet Kibbutz

Jerusalem was GREAT! After I go through pictures and videos tomorrow, you'll hear more from me, in the mean time, I just wanted to "check in" because I'm sure you missed me, and now you know we're back safe and ready to dig another week! Come back for pictures and stories tomorrow!

Blog-worthy

What a treat! Two posts in one day! I guess I'm back "on" with my blogging... I knew inspiration would come sooner or later.

This afternoon we walked across the road from the kibbutz to a new restaurant - Arny went last year (the first year it was open) and sad we needed dessert. So, Arny, Cameron, Kristina, Rachael and I had an AMAZING dessert experience. Our server brought out a tray of plastic desserts to show us the choices, and we ordered. Cameron and I shared some apple pie and some crazy delicious chocolate mousse/cake thing with frozen creme broule inside... I think we'll be going back. After we started eating, the server came back and said, "You are quiet, that is a good sign, I think?!" He was not wrong!

The pictures in order are:

Our desserts, Cameron looking amazed at what was laid before us, Rachael enjoying hers, and Arny and Kristina enjoying theirs (I love this picture of Arny!)...

Feats of Strength

There's an episode of Seinfeld that revolves around the Costanza Family's holiday tradition called "Festivus." Essentially it is Frank Costanza's invented holiday which the family celebrates around Christmas time. Some traditions include the "festivus pole," the "airing of grievances" (I GOT A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH YOU PEOPLE) and the "feats of strength," which means someone has to wrestle Frank... Today we weren't wrestling any geriatric veterans, but what we were wrestling were gigantic basalt and limestone rocks.


Inside the square...many of these await our arrival tomorrow morning and have to be removed before we can do more digging...


Using the "Arny Net" to remove a large basalt stone...

Andrea, who is pulling double duty as a blogger on this (our personal blog) and the "official" dig blog (Dig It) posted a great You Tube video today of what it truly takes to get these monsters out of the square - they aren't light, although the limestone is much more manageable than the basalt.

Thus far I have been incredibly happy with our square, and with our team in F8. We've gotten a lot of work done, especially when you consider the fact that when we started to dig in our square we had to work through at least a half meter of debris that was dumped on the site last year. Now we are nearly a meter down from the original ground level, we've found (fingers crossed) a wall and a door frame and we are only about a half meter above the street level. All-in-all it has been a quite eventful week.

Tomorrow is our last day for the workweek. When we get done on the mountain we will come down, eat a quick lunch, finish packing for Jerusalem and then leave the Kibbutz by 2:30. We will be touring on Friday and Saturday, and will head back on Saturday night just in time to eat a picnic dinner (Saturday is Shabbat and the dining hall is closed) and then to bed to get ready for more digging on Sunday! We will not have our computers with us in Jerusalem, and even if we did we would not have time (or internet access) to do any posting of anything. So, we will have to get you up to speed when we get back...Fear not - we will return to our regularly scheduled programming shortly (and there may be a short post tomorrow before we leave, but I make no promises).

I'll leave you with this...this morning we saw the moon set and the sun rise while we were on the dig and both were quite spectacular.


Andrea's camera ended up underneath her ice-cold water bottle and when we took it out of the pack it was a little foggy...it created a neat effect on this photo however.


The sun rise...thankful for the cloud cover (it did not last until breakfast today, we were not nearly as spoiled.

Cam's Mom Should be Proud

There are only 5 people working in our square - Arny (our fearless leader, whose first year here was also my first year, so we go way back), Cameron (you know who he is), Eric and Will (here with the Concordia Irvine group) and me. The disadvantage our group has is that Arny gets called away occasionally to do survey work (mostly at the end of the day), and I get called away to do drawings (which has thus far been mostly at the end of the day, as well, but as more is revealed, I will spend less and less time digging and more and more time measuring and drawing). However, even with this "handicap" of being left sometimes with only three workers in the square, much dirt has been moved these past 4 days, as you have probably learned from Cameron's posts. What is more impressive is how many big rocks have been moved by these boys, and how far they have to move them (especially up) as the dirt gets lower and lower. And so, as I said, I believe Cameron's mom would be proud of how hard he is working and how many big rocks he can move (and his dad can use this information to get any yard work done at home, perhaps) - and I'm sure that while Cameron is proud of his "rolling-stones" skills, he is probably even more proud of the fact that he got a college degree and doesn't have to do this for a living.

Enjoy the videos. The first is the general "this is how big, heavy rocks are moved," and the second is Cameron and Eric rolling a stone through a doorway, then showing off their "manliness."

Blogger's Block

I haven't quite gotten into my groove yet. My posts are sparse and uninteresting thus far, and I keep hoping to make them better. Maybe I haven't adjusted to being here quite yet, maybe I am trusting that Cameron will take care of life on the blog-front, maybe I've been here too many times to be inspired by everyday things that we do here anymore? ... Nah! I think it's just a temporary "out-of-order" and I will be back on track soon. In the mean time... I'd like to leave you with the most important rule on the dig site: STAY HYDRATED!!!

First is the worst...

Before we left we took our nephews and niece to the park and the zoo. At one point we were "racing" and my youngest nephew kept singing "First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the treasure chest." Now, I remember this rhyme from when I was young, however we used to say "third is the one with the hairy chest." In the context of the dig so far I have to say I like his version better, and it seems much more appropriate as we made some neat finds today in our square. It should also be noted that the first day was not necessarily "the worst" and the second was not necessarily "the best," so all that really needs to be taken into account is the fact that, in respect to the first week, today was somewhat of a "treasure chest." Did you get all that?

The day started just like the first two days...cloudy, and somewhat comfortable for working in. The sun stayed away until breakfast, so we waited until then to put up our sunshade. Even before this we made a cool find - a piece of braided glass, probably some sort of ornamental piece, we will have to wait and see if we hear anything more about it.

After breakfast we made two more finds; a (formerly) round stone flattened on both sides. One of the sides had a groove cut into it. At some point it had been broken as one of the sides that should have been round was flat. There are still some questions as to what it is, or was used for, but the thought is that it might have been some kind of mortar stone. The other find, which came right at the end of the day, was a piece of a grinding stone. The stone was smooth and had been worked into a round shape. There was also a "foot" attached to it. At one point it probably would have had four feet to stand on...

The "wonderful" thing about all of these finds is the break from work that generally comes along with them. In some cases, most specifically with the important items, Kristina (the Assistant Director and Small Finds Registrar for the dig) has to come over and take field notes about positioning, etc. At the same time Dr. Schuler comes over to way in on what it may be and to photograph the item where it was.

In other news, we have been working this week with Arny (a dig veteran) and two guys from Concordia University Irvine, Eric and Will. Eric and Will have been a lot of fun to get to know and to work with. The have dubbed our group "Arny's Army" and come in every day humming the theme from The A-Team...

This post has gotten rather long, but I wanted to address a couple of comments from the past days. First, I changed the permissions on Flickr so that you should be able to look at all sizes of any given picture. Second, I will do my best to post photos, but I can't make any promises. It will depend on whether or not I remember to take some while we are up on the site, it's not always the easiest thing to do...

It's Windy...

I remember when we were here three years ago...the clouds in the morning were fleeting and the air at the dig site was generally calm. Thus far on the dig we have had rather mild weather in comparison. The clouds hung around and kept things nice and "cool" until nearly breakfast time, meaning we had nearly 3 good hours of work in the morning with almost comfortable conditions!

After breakfast the sun came out and it was torture, apart from the wind. The wind, which I never remember feeling much of on the dig. However, some could argue that I spent much of my time in a cistern and have no business commenting on the windiness of the dig. So, I will leave it up to you, the reader, to decide whether or not I am a trusted source.

In addition to the wind on the site there has been a constant wind moving east across the Sea of Galilee which I can say with some certainty was not "the norm" when we were here before. It makes life easier on the Kibbutz...and makes the Sea of Galilee, which is MUCH lower than three years ago, quite choppy.

In other news, my square, F8, was covered with debris from previous years when we first opened it yesterday. Throughout the day today we worked toward removing this fill in order to get down to the previous ground level. By the end of the day I would estimate we had about a quarter of a meter (everything is metric here, you will just have to get used to it) left to remove. We also found what looks like a doorway on the south side of the square - we should begin true excavation of the square tomorrow, so an update on the doorway (and possible room attached) could be forthcoming before the end of this week.

Food For Thought: How crazy do you have to be to pay (good) money to "volunteer" to work hard for 7 hours a day? (I was going to say "all day" but since we work from 5 - 12 it didn't seem quite right)

"Israel Romance"

It's amazing how very "at home" I feel at this kibbutz - coming on this trip 3 previous years will do that to a person, I guess. The best part, though, is within the first few days of returning, actually being recognized by people here. Ephrat is the woman who works to provide all volunteer diggers/"archaeologists" housing, food, laundry services, etc. for the month of the dig. If there is a problem, question or concern, she is the lady with all the answers. This afternoon at lunch, she came over and welcomed me back and congratulated Cameron and me on getting married. At dinner, she came over again and said it was a wonderful thing and stated, "I feel like we have played a part in your romance here." Although she thought we met on the dig (when we were both here 3 years ago), after we told her we were already dating by that time, she still insisted that this place has a history in us and she was glad to be a part of it and that it is a "wonderful thing." Well... she's not wrong! I suppose this place is pretty important to us, and I am very happy to be back here now sharing the whole experience with Cameron.

And... I just think it's cool that people remember me here!

In other, random news: one of the wheels broke off my big suitcase, so my goal is to get rid of enough stuff before we have to leave that I just don't have to try to cart a one-wheeled, lopsided heavy suitcase back home... hopefully I'll be able to condense and get creative with my packing!

Day One Done

Day one has come...and gone.

I awoke...early...at 3:00 AM, and was unable to get back to sleep before we met the bus at 4:45 AM. Similar to the first day of the dig three years ago, we spent much of the time before breakfast clearing the sight of loose rubble and vegetation that has grown over the past year. We also plotted out the squares (typically 5 meter by 5 meter areas) where teams will be working. There are so many people on site in these first two weeks that Dr. Schuler has opened up five squares to begin. As for Andrea and I, we will be in Square F-8. Although, very soon Andrea will be called upon to draw all kinds of rocks. I'm still impressed by the way she is able to focus all of her energy into her hand...

It is nearly 9 PM here, past bedtime for archaeologists...

So, here's my food for thought:


I would recommend going HERE to get a bigger and better view...

Hello from the Airport.

We are at Ben Gurion Airport. We've made it to Israel. We will be on the dig site in close to 12 hours...

Food For Thought: Please explain why an airplane with "No Smoking" signs everywhere, including the lavatory, and a smoke alarm in the same lavatory also has a small ash tray (like the ones you used to see in car doors)...in the lavatory. Inquiring minds (as in Andrea and I) want to know.

We're Off to See the...

Somehow wizard seems a bit of an odd word to use to describe the trip we are about to take. So, perhaps, we're off to see the Schuler?

Our final preparations are done. We re-packed last night to ensure everything is underweight, and I still think we are cutting it close with Andrea's bag. Luckily, when we return home we will have less to bring as some of the weight comes from tools that will be broken or left, food that will be eaten and clothes that will be ruined. I find it hard to believe that my first dig experience was three years ago already, and my bags were most definitely lighter on that return trip. I left much of what I had brought specifically for the dig at the kibbutz in the hopes that we would be able to return to the site. Unfortunately, we were sent home...Hippos and I have some unfinished business. I look forward to what we might find this year!

The next time you hear from me may be in a few hours (if I send a brief message from the airport in Tel Aviv), or it may be in a couple of days (as the internet may not be immediately available at the Kibbutz).

For some additional reading - since tomorrow is the Fourth please take a look at "4 More Forgotten Founding Fathers" on mental_floss.

Food for thought: I'm trying to decide if I should end posts that same way I did three years ago with a "food for thought" question. Any thoughts?

TRAVEL UPDATE; 5:51 PM Eastern: It pays to have connections. Andrea's sister and our nephew came to visit us at the Philadelphia Airport. Unfortunately, the airport doesn't offer much outside of security, so, using her sister's military status, we were able to come back through security into the USO area where we had some food, time to play and internet to use!

I wanted to update the luggage situation - Andrea's bag came in at exactly 50 pounds! What a sigh of relief that was, any heavier and we would've had to unpack something, or pay a $50 fee.

We need to be at our gate by 7:15, so we have a bit more time to hang out with family.

More updates will come when we reach Tel Aviv.

Being the Story of an Uneventful Drive.

Our drive from Billings to the Twin Cities by the numbers...

0 - Number of flat tires we suffered. Not that one should have assumed we would get a flat tire.
1 - Number of Kitchen Sinks we saw on the side of the road.
4 - Number of Road Construction False Alarms. Twice we saw an "End Road Construction" sign when there had been no Road Construction. AND the other two times there were signs warning about impending Road Construction that never came.
6 - AM that is, the time we got out on the road. Just as we planned!
8 - Central Time, when we arrived in the Cities.
11 - Number of hours my right ear was plugged today.
13 - Number of hours we drove.
47 - Number of miles we were actually in road construction. Very surprised it was so little.
852 - Number of miles driven today.

You're Not Wrong.

According to the world of science the earth is BILLIONS of years old. Also, according to scientific study, data from the past century and a half shows that man has had a direct impact on earth's climate. Now, frankly, I'm no rocket surgeon (to quote one of my favorite shirts on mentalfloss.com), but those numbers just don't seem to add up.

I've heard illustrations which state; "if the timeline of the earth were the length of your arm, man would have only been around for the tip of your fingernail." It would seem that it is scientifically irresponsible to "conjecture" that data collected only within the past two hundred years really has anything to say about how the earth has cooled, or warmed, over the course of a few billion years.

Now, a new report from NASA suggests that the problem of global warming is not as sinister as we might think...unless, of course, you're heliophobic.

For further reading:

NASA Study Acknowledges Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Past Warming

NASA Study Shows Sun Responsible for Planet Warming

My favorite quote from the latter article:

About 1,000 years ago, Greenland was warm enough for the Vikings to colonize and grow vineyards. Today Greenland is almost entirely covered in ice. Tell me: is the earth warmer today than it was 1,000 years ago? Did they have SUVs and coal power plants in the days of the Vikings? This isn’t tough to figure out, people.

The End is Near

This blog has served me well for almost three years. However, I find that as time moves on I am, more and more, neglecting it for long periods of time. Add to this the fact that Andrea and I are currently preparing for working overseas and have made plans to create a "Turkey-specific" blog and you should see the necessity for the retirement of this blog.

As such, this blog will continue to function through our trip to Israel, and upon our return our blogging priorities will move to The Stuffing: Two Years in Turkey.

The Illustrated Me

Andrea drew this one. It's quite fantastic, in my opinion - from a photo taken near Harriet Island in St. Paul.

And I drew this one...ummm, Andrea's a much better artist than me...

Police: Man Tries to Sell Stolen Items

The headline of this story seems inoccuous enough until you actually read the story itself:

GREAT FALLS - An employee at the Wal-Mart in Great Falls faces felony theft
charges for allegedly taking electronics from the store and posting the items
for sale on an employee bulletin board.

Remo Spencer was arrested Saturday at Wal-Mart.Spencer had posted an ad on an employee bulletin board indicating that he had several iPods and computers for
sale.

A manager became suspicious and reviewed surveillance footage, discovering
the thefts, police said.Police said Remo returned eight laptop computers and seven iPods valued at nearly $7,000.

Police said Remo returned eight laptop computers and seven iPods valued at nearly $7,000.

This reminds me of the part in Office Space where the guys have just discovered that they have stolen A LOT more money from the company than they meant to and Michael Bolton says,

"You know what I can't figure out? How is it that all these stupid neanderthal
mafia guys can be so good at crime, and smart guys like us can suck so badly at
it."

Although, I'm not sure which criterion fits the perpetrator of the above crime...

Thanks Riley (and Debbie)

My birthday was on Monday (April 6). I got a package in the mail today from my sister-in-law. It was, essentially, a birthday party in a box complete with cake, frosting, silly-string, balloons and other party favors...here are my two favorite things from the box...

First, these little "Sticky Wall Walkers" were apparently picked out by my nephew, Riley. Who, by the way, shares my birthday! Happy Fourth Birthday Riley (again)!!

Second, no party is complete without paper "blowouts!!" Thanks to Andrea for helping demonstrate how they work...

Oh, and also, thanks to Andrea for my new Flip Video Mino on which these videos were shot - I have a feeling this thing is going to come in handy when we get to Israel and Turkey...

For the Love of Obama

Well, this is an incredibly awkward-looking exchange between President Obama and British Conservative Party Leader David Cameron. Anyone else think it looks like Obama is going in for a kiss and Cameron is about to reluctantly accept?

Photo by Paul Rogers via msnbc.com/Getty Images

In the Interest of Something

I have been contemplating for days something worth posting; trying to delve something of meaning from the mundane tasks of my everyday life. So far, nothing... In the interest of bringing something from nothing I would like to call your attention to the theory of evolution.

(see what I did there?)

The Science of Sifting

Someday these will be a great tool for educators and parents...

Via Mental_Floss

The Hum of Conversation, or Why Does My Brain Hurt

Right now we are at Off the Leaf, a great new coffee shop in Billings. Actually, not so new, it's been open since late this summer. It has quickly become one of our favorite spots.

Andrea spent most of the time that we were here grading papers while I was reading about all kinds of different things. While I was sitting here, overwhelmed by the hum of conversation around us, I was trying to write (or finish writing) a post that I started a few days ago. The inspiration just wasn't there.

I've been reading a book recently called The Trouble With Boys by Peg Tyre. It is a fantastic and informative read for anyone who is interested in the modern education system.

- Note: The above was written at the coffee shop, everything that follows was written while sitting on my couch.

Before we left the coffee shop I typed and deleted text from this post multiple times, at one point I deleted an entire paragraph. I was asking myself on the way home why it was so hard to actually write, and think about publishing, what I was thinking about the book. The only answer I can come up with is that I don't want to come off as insensitive. The book has gotten me thinking about how different kids are treated today, how different schools are... Actually, how different everything is if you're a kid.

It really seems like kids are no longer allowed to just be kids. Parents expect their kids to bring home worksheets and homework in Kindergarten and first grade, sometimes even in preschool. They are expected to know their ABCs, be able to count to ten, tie their shoes and spell their name BEFORE Kindergarten. Whereas, I had a note sent home in First Grade reminding my parents to teach me how to tie my shoes. Kids in third and fourth grade, and probably younger, are carrying around cell phones, texting, instant messaging, joining online communities, etc, etc. I didn't use a cell phone until I was in high-school, and I didn't have my own cell phone until I started college! In an era marked by violence and war a boy's imagination has, by many, been deemed inappropriate. The game of tag has been "outlawed" on many playgrounds because the physical contact is inappropriate or has the potential to become too violent. Instead of simply focusing on inane and harmless topics, like numbers and letters, kid's shows now discuss politics as well (my sister-in-law brought this one to our attention).

Schooling in the United States is less about becoming well-rounded and educated and more about defeating your opponents; ie - other students. Students are expected to sit still, pay attention and "fly right," and there is no outlet. Art, creative writing, Music, PE and Recess are all being taken away and replaced by rote memorization and test preparation. If you cannot sit still or have trouble focusing on something then you must have an attention disorder - after all, it's not like kids learn differently or anything. It is no wonder our (public) schools are failing boys... it is no wonder our (public) schools are failing...

In the end, I believe it comes down to a simple solution: Let boys be boys, let girls be girls and let kids just be kids.

February 27; The Top Ten

Top Ten things that have happened in the past 365 Days.

1. February 29, 2008 - Andrea and I were married in the Chapel at Concordia University, St. Paul. We had discussed April 1, but I thought that was too close to my birthday. Then we realized that February 29 was on a Friday! Perfect! Only our immediate families and two friends were invited. The Drs. Schuler also played a big part.
2. March 6, 2008 - Having only been employed by the Boys and Girls Club for just over one month, I assumed the role of "interim Unit Director" while my boss went on maternity leave. I soon realized I did not want her job yet.
3. April 6, 2008 - I turned 23 and got a Wii (that rhymed)
4. Late April 2008 - Travelled back to Minnesota for the Jones' wedding. Hit a blizard around the North Dakota/Minnesota border. At one point, we spun around 720 degrees. Thankfully we ended up on the "authorized vehicles" access road. We were even facing the right direction.
5. Early May 2008 - My boss came back. I reassumed my original role as Program Manager.
6. June 10, 2008 - Summer Program at Castle Rock Clubhouse begins.
7. Mid June 2008 - Having taken, and passed, all required Praxis II exams (and doling out an extra $400 total) I, finally, recieved my diploma from CSP. I still think it's ridiculous that "taking the test" is a requirement for recieving your diploma. I understand the concept of taking the test, but you don't even have to pass it... I had better not get started on this... On to number 8.
8. August 8, 2008 - Summer Program at Castle Rock Clubhouse ends - THANK GOODNESS!!
9. December 2008 - Andrea and I interviewed for and were offered the position of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) educator at TAA (Turkish American Association) in Ankara Turkey.
10. January/February 2009 - Andrea and I accepted the position in Turkey and also committed to volunteering on the last year of the Archaeological Dig at Hippos, Israel. Concerning the latter, our decision making was made all the easier when Dr. Schuler said that he could pay Andrea's way if she would draw for him.

My Latest Post Ever

Andrea was wondering this evening about the origins of the terms "to boot" and "cold feet." It turns out "to boot" has absolutely nothing to do with your feet. In fact, it's actually an Old English term derived from the word "bat" which meant "good or useful." The Old English bat is also a root of the modern word "better."
In addition, according to the source below, there is no legitimate explanation for the term "cold feet."


For this and more phrase origins visit here.

A Weekend Away

As promised on Friday, here are some of the highlights from our weekend trip to Yellowstone.

Our first stop was at the Boiling River. The Gardiner river, near Mammoth Hot Springs, is heated by a hot springs flowing into it. 

As you can see in the above photos - the steam from the hot springs has frozen. It's amazing to the see the juxtaposition of heat and cold.

Mammoth Upper Terrace in Three Seasons - July, October, February

Just a couple of pictures of us - less than halfway through our FIVE MILE snowshoe excursion.

Coming Soon

Have no fear - new blog entry coming later this weekend complete with pictures... pictures that have not been taken yet, but will have been taken by the time we return from our overnight trip to Yellowstone/Gardiner, MT. 

Snowshoeing in the park tomorrow - relaxing by the pool at the motel tomorrow night. 

See you on Sunday!

And yes, I did just take that picture with the MacBook - this thing rocks.

Countdown Begins

Groan Worthy

The amazing thing is that, even though I know the real words, all I hear is what is written on the screen.

I hope you enjoyed this, it's going to be stuck in your head all day.

Painting With Light

 This, to me, is absolutely incredible. 

Welsh artist Michael Bosanko creates the amazing light graffiti effect using only five coloured torches and by leaving his digital Canon camera on a long exposure.

The 39-year-old has spent the past five years perfecting his art which is created in a similar way to how people write their names with sparklers on Bonfire Night

For more of his artwork, and to read the full story - click here.

Found on the Upcoming Queue on Neatorama

I need a DSLR that can take long exposures - my camera thinks 60 seconds is long enough...

Happy Presidents' Day

It's the Third Monday in February and you know what that means...PRESIDENTS' DAY! Hooray!

I am a big fan of Presidential Trivia and, therefore, I really enjoyed this recent post on Mental Floss - The Quick Ten: 10 Weird Facts About Presidents

According to a recent poll conducted by C-SPAN James Buchanan was the worst President ever... In fact, there were three presidents who were ranked worse than William Henry Harrison. A fact that I find rather odd considering the fact that Harrison was only President for 32 days before he died of pneumonia. Ouch. The other two Presidents ranked below Harrison are, Franklin Pierce at number 40 and Andrew Johnson* at 41.

Not surprisingly, Abraham Lincoln was ranked number one.

Rounding out the top five were: George Washington, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Other notable rankings:

JFK was ranked sixth. Does he really deserve this?

John Adams was voted number 17. I find it interesting that Adams' Presidency was probably the "low point" of his political career.

And, George W. Bush was 36. Apparently, not "the worst ever."

See the complete list here.

*If they ever make a movie about Andrew Johnson, I nominate Tommy Lee Jones for the lead role.

Sunny Sunday

What a great day! Andrea and I went to Pioneer Park and played some Disc Golf. 

Definitely a little bit rusty - my disc was caught in a tree twice. The first time it was within my reach, the second time I had to throw another disc at it to dislodge it. 

My least favorite hole on the course - a straight shot down a relatively steep hill directly into the creek that runs through the park. My first shot, from the top of the hill, sailed high and was the second of two to get stuck in a tree. It took me a few minutes to get the disc out. Luckily the course wasn't very busy.

Andrea hit me with the frisbee on this one... to be fair I was standing behind the basket.

Pretty sure that Andrea made this putt.

Blank

My brain is tired.

According to Wikipedia: February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 321 days remaining until the end of the year (322 in Leap Years).

Labels

Do many people look at the labels on these posts? My best example of this concerns my post from a Feb. 10 concerning the switch to digital which was labelled sarcasm - still not sure if a certain person related to me through marriage was being serious when they commented on that post...

I find it funny that one of the suggestions for a possible label is "scooters." It makes me laugh quite consistently. I think maybe I'll start using it randomly.

TWO HUNDREDTH POST?!

According to my blogger dashboard this is the 200th post on this blog.  

The first entry was July 29, 2006 and read something like this...

"This is a test, it is only a test. Do not shut off your computer. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. This is only a test?!!!"

As you can see, the whole thing started out rather innocuously. Since then, its gone through some drastic overhauls. From my "completely random" phase to my "nothing but odd news stories" phase to my "getting a bit more serious" phase to the "I forgot about the blog, and I'm gonna start again" phase which happened about three times to now...which, I guess you could say is a conglomeration of all of the above (minus of course the forgetting about the blog). This blog has seen me, essentially, grow up. Since I started it I have; walked at college graduation, proposed to a girl, been told yes by said girl, completed my student teaching, received my diploma in the mail, gotten married on Leap Day (not many people can say that), gotten my first "real" job and accepted a position in Turkey as an English teacher. 

Pretty awesome, I'd say. 

In other news, here's a haiku I just wrote...

Persnickity Pete

Proudly Pontificated

Pure Profundity

Seven Days

Just in case you haven't heard, on February 17, 2009 TV makes the switch from analog to digital. This is just a reminder. I just found out... I mean, I don't know why they didn't advertise this sooner. The message scrolling directly across the top of the screen, in front of the character's faces, during the first five minutes of Scrubs was the first time I had ever heard of this new technology. 

I Can't Stop Thinking About This...

Every Pepsi is tainted for me now...

This is pretty entertaining though. I laugh whenever I see it. 

Link via Neatorama.

A Mystery

Today we went for a hike below the rims with my parents. As we were walking we came across this pipe which came straight down the rock face, curved around a few more rocks and then headed down toward the street. The purpose of this pipe is a mystery. Mom commented that "maybe there's a urinal up there somewhere." 

Is Fatigue My Muse?

It's after 1:30 in the morning and here I am, still at my computer, still looking at odd occurrences from around the globe, and wondering... why is it that, when I'm absolutely exhausted, I feel compelled to write. Not only that, but the later it gets the easier the words seem to flow; the more creative I become. 

Today felt long, probably because it was. I woke up, as is customary on Fridays, at 6 AM and went to early morning Bible study. Came home, watched Sportscenter and then went to work. After eight hours of the "same ol' thing" I headed to our DCE's house for a "guys night." Finally got home around 11:30. Andrea was talking to her old roommate through Skype. She had been watching Oklahoma, but paused it. When she was done talking, she turned it back on... and fell asleep on the pull out couch watching it. Now I'm sitting here, not really paying attention to it and wondering why in the world I'm still awake. Well, at least tomorrow's Saturday. Oops, I meant to say... today...

One of These Things.

Yesterday at work our art coordinator had the kids do an activiy where they had to make as many words as possible using only the letters from the word "rainbow." See if you can pick out the incorrect response from the following list...

RAINBOW

1. bow
2. rain
3. in
4. ran
5. bin
6. nab
7. brown
8. row
9. now
10. on
11. ban
12. rib
13. kitty litter
14. rob
15. no

Clever kids make the day so much more interesting...

How many words can you make? Check the comment thread to see if you can beat me.

How do I become an Odor Investigator...

NYC's mysterious syrup smell tracked to New Jersey

NEW YORK – City investigators have tracked down the source of a maple syrup smell that has puzzled New Yorkers several times in recent years. No offense, New Jersey, but it was you.

The harmless but long-confounding smell, which has drifted through swaths of the city at least nine times since 2005, was traced to a facility across the Hudson River that processes seeds for use as artificial flavorings.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that a team of odor investigators — environmental protection, health department and emergency management workers — "put our noses to the ground" to identify the culprit after another whiff in early January.

Read the Full Story.

Touche Google...Touche

Try this, type "worst band in the world" in as a Google Search and press enter.



Here is the page that you will end up with.



Notice anything? Look closely at the bottom. According to Google, Creed is the worst band in the world.

According to the urban dictionary;

Definition 1: Worst band in the world - "Creed" according to Google. Although it's fixed now, you used to be able to type in "the worst band in the world" in Google and search it. "Creed" would be seen everywhere.

I've got news for you, it's not exactly fixed.

P.S. - Don't bother with the youtube videos, you'll just be depressed.

Zombies on Road?

Pranks with Electronic Road Signs Stir Worry
COLLINSVILLE, Illinois - Hackers are messing with electronic road signs in some U.S. states, warning of zombies and raptors down the road. Traffic safety officials aren't amused.
The latest breach came during Tuesday morning's rush hour near Collinsville, Illinois, east of St. Louis. That's where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES."
Similar pranks have been pulled in recent days near Indianapolis and in Austin, Texas.

Via - MSNBC

KABLAM! Magnetic Poetry!

You gotta love magnetic poetry. Our fridge is covered with it. 

Most of these are leftover from a Christmas party that we had around, well, Christmas time! One of them could be even older than that! And one of them I just made tonight. If you think they don't make sense, I have just one question for you - are they supposed to?

How Poignant.

I have posted an image of my iGoogle fortune cookie before, I thought that this was really poignant for two reasons.

 ONE: In my current position I am, at some points, "handling" up to 200 kids ages 6-18 (not the only adult in the room, but in charge nonetheless). 

TWO: Andrea and I have accepted the position of English Teacher in Turkey - I assume we will be working with large groups of people, mostly adults. 

THANKS iGOOGLE!!

The Vanity Card

One of my favorite shows on TV is The Big Bang Theory. It's intelligent, clever and incredibly well acted. 

Andrea is a big fan of it also, and one of our favorite things about the show are the "vanity cards" at the end of every episode; some are completely random, some are clever rants about life, some have some connection to the episode that preceded them, most of them are really funny. 

It turns out that, Chuck Lorre, the creator of Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma and Greg, Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory has made a habit out of putting these short, clever paragraphs at the end of each episode AND, even better, the entire collection has been archived here!!

Follow the links to see a couple of our favorites from this season of The Big Bang Theory, and if you have the chance, check out an episode of the show here. 

First Aired: Nov. 24, 2008

First Aired: Jan. 19, 2009

My New Favorite TV Pitch Man

While the products are legitimate, something about these ads seems more like satire to me... 

Slap Chop

Two things: First; celery, radishes and carrots do NOT constitute a salad. 

Second, a hard-boiled egg, pickle, green onion and ham all diced up together for breakfast?!

ShamWOW: Made in Germany, so you know it's good!