Friday, December 2, 2011
Follow-Up First
So, not 2 minutes ago we had another exciting first- our first time setting fire to something in our apartment! BUT DON'T WORRY FOLKS we are completely fine! A paper towel was placed a little too closely to a burner on the stove and we have gas stove/oven so there is always an open flame when we cook. I looked at it an was so stunned by what I was seeing that I stood paralyzed, not realizing fully that it was actually on fire- I thought it must be a trick of the eye. Mid orange juice pour I say, "Oh My!" and Rory turns to see the fire. Acting very quickly and manly, he stopped, dropped, and rolled his bare hand right onto the lit paper towel. It was out just like that and he wasn't even burned! I contributed by smashing a little ember with the spatula and making sure there was nothing left that could build up again into flames. Wow, December sure is exciting!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
December- A Month of 1st(s)
Hi Everyone,
Today is the 1st of December- so happy December to you all! December 1st is such a great day because it ushers in the 1st of so many good things: The 1st day of the 25 days of Christmas, the first day many people start listening to Christmas music, etc. But, for us, this December 1st is especially special because it ushers in many of our firsts as well!
Today was the first day since October that Rory shaves his beard. He and some of our law school buddies decided to try their hand at "no-shave November" (I know- what a great thing for a bunch of professional students to do- good thing none of them were looking for a job). It was the first time Rory had ever fully committed to the event and committed he was- absolutely no shaving at all, even though most of the others shaved their necks at least. While I'm not a huge fan of the big beard, I do enjoy giving Rory crap for having a red beard. See for yourself in the pictures below:
It was also our first time (well at least since I've been in Spain) that we welcomed a sunny, relatively warm December without any snow. The weather here is quite crazy for us Upper Midwesterners. The last day of November was 50 degrees! Part of me thinks it will be really nice to come home to Minnesota to find snow blanketing the ground. The other part hopes Philly stays mild so we won't come back to snow after the break.
Also, today was the first time we've ever made Chicken Parmesan. It was a success and our bellies were delightfully filled after a long day of studying, which brings up the next first we need to discuss. Today marked the first day or our first reading period (study period) for our first law school exams ever! We have 4 days before our first of our exams and then 3 more days before the next, and finally 4 more before the final. Then it will be the first time we fly home for Christmas!
We are getting so excited to be with all of you- our family and friends again. But first we must go through one of the most grueling things life holds- law school exams (second only to giving birth perhaps?). But in all seriousness, I think we'll be all right. We study all day long and we are feeling pretty good (although we think Rory has a sinus infection, poor guy!) about taking the tests, and every painful one we go through will take us one step closer to you. So maybe they won't be all that bad after all.
And then we get to our final and most exciting first- our first Christmas together as newlyweds! We are so so excited!
So, please keep us in your prayers as we go through exams and especially that we have a safe flight home in 2 weeks and we'll see you soon.
Love,
Danielle
Today is the 1st of December- so happy December to you all! December 1st is such a great day because it ushers in the 1st of so many good things: The 1st day of the 25 days of Christmas, the first day many people start listening to Christmas music, etc. But, for us, this December 1st is especially special because it ushers in many of our firsts as well!
Today was the first day since October that Rory shaves his beard. He and some of our law school buddies decided to try their hand at "no-shave November" (I know- what a great thing for a bunch of professional students to do- good thing none of them were looking for a job). It was the first time Rory had ever fully committed to the event and committed he was- absolutely no shaving at all, even though most of the others shaved their necks at least. While I'm not a huge fan of the big beard, I do enjoy giving Rory crap for having a red beard. See for yourself in the pictures below:
It was also our first time (well at least since I've been in Spain) that we welcomed a sunny, relatively warm December without any snow. The weather here is quite crazy for us Upper Midwesterners. The last day of November was 50 degrees! Part of me thinks it will be really nice to come home to Minnesota to find snow blanketing the ground. The other part hopes Philly stays mild so we won't come back to snow after the break.
Also, today was the first time we've ever made Chicken Parmesan. It was a success and our bellies were delightfully filled after a long day of studying, which brings up the next first we need to discuss. Today marked the first day or our first reading period (study period) for our first law school exams ever! We have 4 days before our first of our exams and then 3 more days before the next, and finally 4 more before the final. Then it will be the first time we fly home for Christmas!
We are getting so excited to be with all of you- our family and friends again. But first we must go through one of the most grueling things life holds- law school exams (second only to giving birth perhaps?). But in all seriousness, I think we'll be all right. We study all day long and we are feeling pretty good (although we think Rory has a sinus infection, poor guy!) about taking the tests, and every painful one we go through will take us one step closer to you. So maybe they won't be all that bad after all.
And then we get to our final and most exciting first- our first Christmas together as newlyweds! We are so so excited!
So, please keep us in your prayers as we go through exams and especially that we have a safe flight home in 2 weeks and we'll see you soon.
Love,
Danielle
Friday, November 25, 2011
A November Food Recap + Black Friday
Well we set a new record for time elapsed between posts: 20 days. Our last post was about Thanksgiving, so you may be wondering what we did (besides law schooling) during the rest of November. We have some pictures and other fun tidbits to share with you that should help fill in some of those gaps! Obviously, it mostly involved food.
Danielle and I wanted, a few weeks back, to make pumpkin rolls. We were skeptical that it would work, but we wondered if we could basically take pumpkin filling and cake mix (the recipe for our pumpkin muffins), semi-bake it, then roll it around some cream cheese frosting. It didn't work, but the resulting "layer bar cake" was delicious. I can't remember the dates of any of these food stories, but they must've taken place between November 5 and Thanksgiving.
That being said, our next culinary adventure (which may have actually been before the pumpkin cake, I'm not sure) was a stir fry and homemade egg rolls! We don't have any kind of fryer, but we had a pan and some oil. The pictures might not show it well, but they thusly turned out pretty flat...more like egg squares than egg rolls. Apparently we just don't have much luck with rolling things around here. Everything turned out deliciously, though, for real. We love making stir fry; I particularly like it because it is so easy! Just throw a bunch of stuff in a pan and turn up the heat!
Lastly, Danielle and I hit up one of the local
Ethiopian restaurants nearby on Baltimore Ave. The name now escapes me (of both the restaurant and the food), but the takeaway was that for me it was like Indian food: fine, but I don't expect I will ever crave it. In case you have never had or seen Ethiopian food, the gist is that you basically eat it using this spongy, super-thin bread. The food is generally pretty saucy, though, so it sometimes ends up being like eating with your bare hands. The meal was chicken, mashed chickpeas, spinach, and stewed cabbage and carrots. The tables were about 18 inches tall, but it was all part of the experience! We had a lot of fun.
So that about covers our adventures in food for the month. Beyond that,...
Today we had some fun shopping at Target and Ikea, and fixing up the apartment a little bit! It has been a challenge to do homework at home this semester without having desks (e.g., see Danielle's pictures of me writing my memo all over the living room a few weeks back). So today we got one more book shelf, some desks, and some homy Christmas decorations, all on the cheap. Black Friday is definitely good for some things! Afterwards we got some mediocre Vietnamese food (I really enjoyed the spring rolls, but the entrees were meh), and watched about three movies while assembling the Ikea furniture, cleaning the apartment, and feng shui-ing the place. With our desks and proper shelving now in place (not to mention a little Christmas in the air!), we are ready to face our first law school final exams with clear heads and bright eyes! Hope you enjoy the photos:
All our best,
Rory and Danielle
Danielle and I wanted, a few weeks back, to make pumpkin rolls. We were skeptical that it would work, but we wondered if we could basically take pumpkin filling and cake mix (the recipe for our pumpkin muffins), semi-bake it, then roll it around some cream cheese frosting. It didn't work, but the resulting "layer bar cake" was delicious. I can't remember the dates of any of these food stories, but they must've taken place between November 5 and Thanksgiving.
Lastly, Danielle and I hit up one of the local
Ethiopian restaurants nearby on Baltimore Ave. The name now escapes me (of both the restaurant and the food), but the takeaway was that for me it was like Indian food: fine, but I don't expect I will ever crave it. In case you have never had or seen Ethiopian food, the gist is that you basically eat it using this spongy, super-thin bread. The food is generally pretty saucy, though, so it sometimes ends up being like eating with your bare hands. The meal was chicken, mashed chickpeas, spinach, and stewed cabbage and carrots. The tables were about 18 inches tall, but it was all part of the experience! We had a lot of fun.
Today we had some fun shopping at Target and Ikea, and fixing up the apartment a little bit! It has been a challenge to do homework at home this semester without having desks (e.g., see Danielle's pictures of me writing my memo all over the living room a few weeks back). So today we got one more book shelf, some desks, and some homy Christmas decorations, all on the cheap. Black Friday is definitely good for some things! Afterwards we got some mediocre Vietnamese food (I really enjoyed the spring rolls, but the entrees were meh), and watched about three movies while assembling the Ikea furniture, cleaning the apartment, and feng shui-ing the place. With our desks and proper shelving now in place (not to mention a little Christmas in the air!), we are ready to face our first law school final exams with clear heads and bright eyes! Hope you enjoy the photos:
All our best,
Rory and Danielle
Monday, November 7, 2011
November: More Frightening Than October
October makes me think of Halloween (the movie franchise), Halloween (the holiday), Hocus Pocus, ghost stories, kids running around committing mischief, and the like. I love it. This year, however, November has been all like: "Move over, October, there's a new scariest month in town!" As November roars on, Danielle and I are mere days from our dreaded final exams and other assorted law school terrors. I wake up at night shouting obscenities no longer because I was dreaming about kids stomping on my pumpkins, but because I was dreaming that it was time for my Contracts final!!! As if that isn't enough, it is Thanksgiving weekend, which is the new scariest holiday for me after having seen Thankskilling last year. It chills me.
We have been doing our best to prepare for the impending Apocalypse, though, by studying, keeping up with our readings, and purging ourselves of social lives (not that difficult in the first place). Something else I would also like to address is that we have not had Tastykakes in like...weeks. Maybe months. BUT yesterday was Thanksgiving, so we certainly had our fill of tasty-other-foods. Yesterday morning we went to beautiful Fort Washington, PA, north of Philly to enjoy some delicious desserts with the family and friends of one of our law school colleagues. There were awesome pies, cakes, chocolate-dipped pretzels, and all that jazz. Danielle and I contributed some caramel/chocolate bars, the best Minnesota dessert we could make!
After Fort Washington we headed down and over to New Jersey, where we had a full Thanksgiving meal at another student's home. He, his wife, and their families prepared an awesome afternoon of conversation and traditional Thanksgiving fare. We were so blessed to have the hospitality of so many kind people this Thanksgiving! After the meal we headed back to our place for some video chatting with our families, and then we tried something a little...non-traditional: Wawa hot turkey sandwiches. Stuffing, turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, and cheese all in a delicious hoagie. It topped off the day's food pretty nicely, except for one more "cherry" to fill our bellies: MOVIE POPCORN!!!!
You guessed it (or maybe you didn't): we went to The Muppets last night, where we were given what Kermit calls the Third Greatest Gift: LAUGHTER!!! Go see The Muppets, it's magical. So that was our first married Thanksgiving, aptly celebrated much closer to the site of the original Thanksgiving than we are used to. We hope everyone's holiday was filled with turkey and joy, just like ours!
Lots of love,
Rory and Sweet D
After Fort Washington we headed down and over to New Jersey, where we had a full Thanksgiving meal at another student's home. He, his wife, and their families prepared an awesome afternoon of conversation and traditional Thanksgiving fare. We were so blessed to have the hospitality of so many kind people this Thanksgiving! After the meal we headed back to our place for some video chatting with our families, and then we tried something a little...non-traditional: Wawa hot turkey sandwiches. Stuffing, turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, and cheese all in a delicious hoagie. It topped off the day's food pretty nicely, except for one more "cherry" to fill our bellies: MOVIE POPCORN!!!!
You guessed it (or maybe you didn't): we went to The Muppets last night, where we were given what Kermit calls the Third Greatest Gift: LAUGHTER!!! Go see The Muppets, it's magical. So that was our first married Thanksgiving, aptly celebrated much closer to the site of the original Thanksgiving than we are used to. We hope everyone's holiday was filled with turkey and joy, just like ours!
Lots of love,
Rory and Sweet D
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Experiment: Microwave-Free Living
So, we don't have a microwave. Partly because we didn't move one out here with us and we're too cheap to buy one now. Partly because we don't have the counter space for a microwave. Some people I've told about this have said, "How can you live without a microwave?!" But, we figure since they somehow did it before the 1950s, we probably could too. So, we've decided that it will be a fun experiment to see all the ways we don't actually need a microwave.
The first test came with leftovers. When you cook for two people, there are often left overs that need to be re-heated before you eat them again. We found two solutions to this problem- both very easy. 1) We bring the leftovers to school for lunch and use the microwave there to re-heat. 2) Simply throw the food back in a pot or pan or baking dish and re-heat it on the stove or in the oven. It has been no problem at all! It does take a little longer than in the microwave- but this works out well because we can set the table or do dishes while we re-heat, getting two things done at once!
The second test came with baking. I love to bake, but haven't had a lot of time to do so with law school. As a previous post mentioned, I made Rory some Oreo Ball Cupcakes to celebrate his return from Chicago (they were delicious by the way). This required making the oreo balls, cream cheese frosting, and chocolate coating. Normally, I would melt the cream cheese and butter and chocolate all in the microwave so that it was easy to mix them with the other ingredients. When you put it in the microwave, it gets melty and smooth without burning or taking much time. But, I thought, "I can do this with the stove top." The first attempt to melt the cream cheese left me a burned up, messy glob. Eventually, though, I was able to get everything melted like it needed to be and, as I said, the final result was absolutely delicious.
The third test was actually something we were most concerned about with the lack of the microwave. Popcorn. We love popcorn and have grown up in this age where when you want some, you simply put the little paper bag in the microwave for a couple minutes and are rewarded almost immediately with freshly popped kernels of fluffy deliciousness. Multiple times in the last few months, we have been at the store and thought- popcorn would be nice, but wait, we don't have a way to make it. We've considered getting a Whirley Pop, and probably will at some point. I've also told Rory that we can just get the kernels and make it in a pan over the stove, but he feels that would be a mess. Last night, after dinner and a movie, Rory really wanted to get some popcorn to snack on. There is a grocery store right across the street from the movie theater so we went in and found that they have Jiffy Pop. For those of you who don't know, Jiffy Pop is a little contraption for people who are in our exact situation. It looks almost like a little tinfoil frying pan with a wire handle. You put it on the stove top and then move it constantly over the heat until the kernels start popping and expanding the tinfoil. Eventually after about 5 minutes or so, all of the kernels are popped and you tear open the tin foil to unveil the fluffy goodness inside. This is exactly what we did. Here is the proof that it works (I was a bit skeptical):
I guess that means that so far we are challenges-0, Rory and Danielle-3. It is actually pretty fun trying to take on modern conveniences and fight them. Plus we feel that we eat healthier because we can't just buy microwaveable dinners and junk food all the time.
Love,
Danielle
The first test came with leftovers. When you cook for two people, there are often left overs that need to be re-heated before you eat them again. We found two solutions to this problem- both very easy. 1) We bring the leftovers to school for lunch and use the microwave there to re-heat. 2) Simply throw the food back in a pot or pan or baking dish and re-heat it on the stove or in the oven. It has been no problem at all! It does take a little longer than in the microwave- but this works out well because we can set the table or do dishes while we re-heat, getting two things done at once!
The second test came with baking. I love to bake, but haven't had a lot of time to do so with law school. As a previous post mentioned, I made Rory some Oreo Ball Cupcakes to celebrate his return from Chicago (they were delicious by the way). This required making the oreo balls, cream cheese frosting, and chocolate coating. Normally, I would melt the cream cheese and butter and chocolate all in the microwave so that it was easy to mix them with the other ingredients. When you put it in the microwave, it gets melty and smooth without burning or taking much time. But, I thought, "I can do this with the stove top." The first attempt to melt the cream cheese left me a burned up, messy glob. Eventually, though, I was able to get everything melted like it needed to be and, as I said, the final result was absolutely delicious.
The third test was actually something we were most concerned about with the lack of the microwave. Popcorn. We love popcorn and have grown up in this age where when you want some, you simply put the little paper bag in the microwave for a couple minutes and are rewarded almost immediately with freshly popped kernels of fluffy deliciousness. Multiple times in the last few months, we have been at the store and thought- popcorn would be nice, but wait, we don't have a way to make it. We've considered getting a Whirley Pop, and probably will at some point. I've also told Rory that we can just get the kernels and make it in a pan over the stove, but he feels that would be a mess. Last night, after dinner and a movie, Rory really wanted to get some popcorn to snack on. There is a grocery store right across the street from the movie theater so we went in and found that they have Jiffy Pop. For those of you who don't know, Jiffy Pop is a little contraption for people who are in our exact situation. It looks almost like a little tinfoil frying pan with a wire handle. You put it on the stove top and then move it constantly over the heat until the kernels start popping and expanding the tinfoil. Eventually after about 5 minutes or so, all of the kernels are popped and you tear open the tin foil to unveil the fluffy goodness inside. This is exactly what we did. Here is the proof that it works (I was a bit skeptical):
I guess that means that so far we are challenges-0, Rory and Danielle-3. It is actually pretty fun trying to take on modern conveniences and fight them. Plus we feel that we eat healthier because we can't just buy microwaveable dinners and junk food all the time.
Love,
Danielle
Photo Recap
Hello Everyone!
We'll be writing another full blog post soon. But, I wanted to take a moment to put some pictures up here since there were pictures to go with the last post- but they somehow didn't make it on there (I think Rory wasn't feeling up to the creativeness of organizing photos :). So, here are some pictures from the last week- hope you enjoy!
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| JetBoo wings and name tags |
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| Rory's Pilot ID |
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| The Pilot and Flight Attendant |
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| The apartment of a law student writing a memo. |
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| The memo situation is even worse because we both have to do it. Paper everywhere! |
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| This was the snow accumulating on the neighbors' roofs. What a sight to see when you are about to go out for a Halloween party! |
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| The Eggplant Dish! We decided to grill it. So, this is grilled eggplant with an olive oil and balsamic vinegar marinade over a bed of brown rice, atop a bed of spinach, with a side of fruit salad. I'd say that was a very healthy meal- we did so well with our diet this week!
That's all of them folks! Hope you enjoyed and talk to you again soon. Love, Danielle
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Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Recapping the last 10 days or so
SO what is new everyone? It's already past Halloween (crazy), but hopefully everyone had a great weekend! We had such a good time it was scary. On Saturday we went to a sweet party with some classmates, and had lots of fun getting to know our future colleagues better! We went as a pilot and flight attendant. On Sunday we hit up a haunted house in South Philly, where we subjected our tortured minds to strobe lights, smoke, and screaming. What else were we supposed to do, though? It was Halloween. Honestly, nothing could be scarier to me at this point in my life than our fast-approaching final exams, so I found it relaxing to go and browse the blood-stained psychos and creepy ghouls at the Fright Factory to take the edge off!
Other than the Halloween festivities, life has been pretty law-school-filled. The weekend before Halloween I was able to attend the national conference for the Christian Legal Society in Chicagoland with a fellow law student. We are considering starting a chapter here at Drexel, but may instead maintain our independence rather than affiliate...that is neither here nor there (but it explains why I was in Illinois). That same weekend Danielle had the great opportunity (which she took) to attend the International Law Weekend at Fordham Law School in Manhattan (with the Drexel International Law Student Association). We both had great trips, but it was sadly a weekend that we then did not get to use to sleep in or study. Last week was consequently crazy, but it's law school, so why wouldn't it be? I should say, though, that I realize that other people have busy lives, too, and there are definitely other law students and grad students (and undergrad and high school students, etc.) busier at least than me. I usually have enough time to read the news, check out Facebook numerous times per day, and surf the web...and sometimes blog. For example, I did get to watch the gamecasts online as both the Gophers and Vikings won last weekend! Plus it snowed in Philly, so obviously the world is ending.
In other news, Danielle and I have recently been involved in the newly-formed Labor and Employment Law Society, and Danielle in particular has been busy making posters, helping with other stuff, and BEING ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT! I am so proud! Also last week, we ate wayyy too much dessert after Danielle baked me some Oreo Ball Cupcakes to celebrate my return from Chicago. We also tried out a new Chinese place ('Beijing,' I guess) which was our first Chinese since moving to Philly. So now this week we are going on a bit of a diet: fruit and veggie smoothies for breakfast (some days), lightish lunches (also some days), and vegetable soup for supper (when we feel like it)...and some seasonal squash that we scored at the grocery store. We also bought our firstest ever eggplant! So we need to learn how to cook it now, and it sounds like tonight is the big night! Wish us luck!
In other news, Danielle completed Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4, and is looking forward to the upcoming release of Year 5-7 later this month. We are also looking forward to reuniting soon with Mario Kart! Don't forget to drop us a line and let us know how you are doing, you know, if you think of it! Lots of love.
-Rory
In other news, Danielle and I have recently been involved in the newly-formed Labor and Employment Law Society, and Danielle in particular has been busy making posters, helping with other stuff, and BEING ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT! I am so proud! Also last week, we ate wayyy too much dessert after Danielle baked me some Oreo Ball Cupcakes to celebrate my return from Chicago. We also tried out a new Chinese place ('Beijing,' I guess) which was our first Chinese since moving to Philly. So now this week we are going on a bit of a diet: fruit and veggie smoothies for breakfast (some days), lightish lunches (also some days), and vegetable soup for supper (when we feel like it)...and some seasonal squash that we scored at the grocery store. We also bought our firstest ever eggplant! So we need to learn how to cook it now, and it sounds like tonight is the big night! Wish us luck!
In other news, Danielle completed Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4, and is looking forward to the upcoming release of Year 5-7 later this month. We are also looking forward to reuniting soon with Mario Kart! Don't forget to drop us a line and let us know how you are doing, you know, if you think of it! Lots of love.
-Rory
Friday, October 28, 2011
Philly: Driving Us Crazy
THIS BLOG POST IS DANIELLE APPROVED
Among all the factors that are going to make me and Danielle go crazy over the next few years, Philly drivers will probably be the biggest. I am going to attempt to be delicate (at first) in case any of our friends from the area read this, but honestly it is out of control.
Philadelphia is just south of New York City, both geographically and in terms of car horn usage. It needs little explanation, but it is a real pain to be walking down the street and have someone honk out of nowhere, scaring the crap out of you, every day. When you are in the back of a lineup of cars, too, honking your horn does jack except make everyone edgy.
Stop Signs
Absolutely pointless in Philly. People approach intersections like speed bumps, which is particularly deadly for bikers, who receive little recognition in the city. It isn't as severe as a "California Stop," or what one of my professors called a "Rhode Island Stop," (who knew?) but it is improper, dangerous, and super annoying, especially when considering all of the other really glaringly bad habits of drivers out here.
Conclusion
All that being said, maybe it's a trade-off: I for one would live a shorter life if I stayed out here very long, just from all of the stress and rage that driving causes me. However, because you can drive like a maniac (Full disclosure: Minnesota drivers have their own hang-ups), you probably squeeze a little bit more life into each day! At least I hope that is everyone's excuse for their horrible driving habits in Philadelphia.
Among all the factors that are going to make me and Danielle go crazy over the next few years, Philly drivers will probably be the biggest. I am going to attempt to be delicate (at first) in case any of our friends from the area read this, but honestly it is out of control.
Bike Lanes
First off, Danielle and I bike around a fair amount, and the city thankfully has lots of bike lanes. However, Philadelphians love to double park, and so the bike lanes can be pretty scary. Other obstacles frequently inhabit the bike lanes as well. For example, one of the lunch trucks on Market Street has the hookup for its generator on the street side, and keeps its generator IN THE BIKE LANE!!! Bikers often have run-ins with open car doors, cars turning in front of bike lanes, etc.
Turn Signals
Beyond these issues, signals in Philadelphia are NOT for turning, they are only for use when your hazard lights are on. They stay in shape, though, because hazard lights are perfected in Philly. Never have I seen so many cars driving down the street with their hazard lights on, and drivers also generally turn on their hazards when they are DOUBLE PARKED IN THE FRIGGIN BIKE LANES.
Horns
Philadelphia is just south of New York City, both geographically and in terms of car horn usage. It needs little explanation, but it is a real pain to be walking down the street and have someone honk out of nowhere, scaring the crap out of you, every day. When you are in the back of a lineup of cars, too, honking your horn does jack except make everyone edgy.
Stop Signs
Absolutely pointless in Philly. People approach intersections like speed bumps, which is particularly deadly for bikers, who receive little recognition in the city. It isn't as severe as a "California Stop," or what one of my professors called a "Rhode Island Stop," (who knew?) but it is improper, dangerous, and super annoying, especially when considering all of the other really glaringly bad habits of drivers out here.
Conclusion
All that being said, maybe it's a trade-off: I for one would live a shorter life if I stayed out here very long, just from all of the stress and rage that driving causes me. However, because you can drive like a maniac (Full disclosure: Minnesota drivers have their own hang-ups), you probably squeeze a little bit more life into each day! At least I hope that is everyone's excuse for their horrible driving habits in Philadelphia.
-Rory
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Where Have You Gone Mario Kart?
Dear MarioKart,
I miss the days when I would get lost in your maze-like tracks. Oh, how your vibrant colors and playful songs brightened my life. An hour spent with you was never a waste. As much as I fought against your rules and yelled at you when my cart flew off the track and into the water, I would never trade those times for anything. Please come back to me and I promise I'll make it all right again. This new thing in my life, law school homework, could just never fill the void your absence has left in my heart. Please tell me this note will change everything- that I'll come home to you instead of a hefty Torts book- and I'll drop everything else and run back into your arms. But, alas, I fear it has all been for naught. While this letter has expressed my true and undying feelings for you, I have chosen my path and must now follow it for the time being and live a life apart from you. But, Baby, all I want for Christmas is you.
Love,
Danielle
I miss the days when I would get lost in your maze-like tracks. Oh, how your vibrant colors and playful songs brightened my life. An hour spent with you was never a waste. As much as I fought against your rules and yelled at you when my cart flew off the track and into the water, I would never trade those times for anything. Please come back to me and I promise I'll make it all right again. This new thing in my life, law school homework, could just never fill the void your absence has left in my heart. Please tell me this note will change everything- that I'll come home to you instead of a hefty Torts book- and I'll drop everything else and run back into your arms. But, alas, I fear it has all been for naught. While this letter has expressed my true and undying feelings for you, I have chosen my path and must now follow it for the time being and live a life apart from you. But, Baby, all I want for Christmas is you.
Love,
Danielle
Monday, October 17, 2011
Lasagna and More: A Recap of the Past Weekend
Readers might be finding that I only post about what Danielle and I do on weekends. I recently realized this, and the reason is simple: I hate the weekdays. I don't want to think about them, and you don't need to know about them. They are just law school all day, and it is ugly and gross. Therefore, this post is going to be about what Danielle and I did this past weekend!
Friday began after class was done. Danielle coerced me into going to Michael's with her out in the suburbs, and we got crafty things there to make a wreath, pin cushions, and some picture frames! It was fabulous. We also hit up Kohl's and Target; I bought some sweet sweet new jeans that actually fit me (my old ones were too short and too big), Danielle got a muffin pan, and we got various other things we wanted. Friday night Danielle made the wreath, we watched Ocean's 13, and ate Subway. Then, as is becoming our ritual, we cleaned the apartment until early Saturday morning. Something about midnight on Fridays makes us want to dust.
On Sunday Danielle and I made our first-ever LASAGNA!!! It isn't as if we didn't eat lasagna on Saturday too, but we had been planning the meal for weeks, and the time was right. Check out the pics!
It was even more delicious than it looks, and we had a blast as always cooking together in our...not-so-awesome kitchen. The rest of Sunday was less successful, consisting of picking up a couple suits for me that were getting tailored, and then watching the Vikings eat it as always. I don't get to watch them very much out here unless, like last night, they are on primetime. It has really been a blessing.
Now this week it is back to work, looking forward to the second half of the semester and the fast-approaching HOLIDAYS!!! I love fall. Enjoy your weeks everyone!
-Rory
Saturday morning we met up with our friend Patrick at the Drexel rec center and ran The Drexel Gauntlet: three-person teams competing for the best time in an army-style obstacle course sponsored by the ROTC. This included stairs, swinging across a gravel pit, heaving medicine balls over a net, an army crawl, and walking across a balance beam (and more) all while lugging around a heavy duffle bag. We finished in a surprisingly awesome time and even beat some ROTC kids! Woohoo! We got free lunch, but sadly did not win the sweatshirts that we were hoping to (the sweatshirts were the reason we went). It was a lot of fun, though. We took this picture with an army lady to convince our classmates that we won:
After the Gauntlet Danielle cut my hair, and then we went to New Jersey with the Christian Legal Society for dinner at a member's house. He and his wife (and their adorable three-year-old Julia) prepared an amazing evening for us: cheese and crackers, lasagna, salad, bread, PIE!, chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, pop and APPLE CIDER! Sadly the night did not go quite as planned: another carload of people suffered some serious auto issues and were stuck on the interstate for over two hours! While we enjoyed cheese and apple cider, they waited for a tow, praying they would not get hit by passing cars or worse! Finally our host was able to safely pick them up, and after the ensuing great night of fellowship six of us piled into Danielle's and my Taurus and trekked back to Philly. Danielle had a particularly successful night making fast friends with Julia; they bonded over crayons and a coloring book.
On Sunday Danielle and I made our first-ever LASAGNA!!! It isn't as if we didn't eat lasagna on Saturday too, but we had been planning the meal for weeks, and the time was right. Check out the pics!
It was even more delicious than it looks, and we had a blast as always cooking together in our...not-so-awesome kitchen. The rest of Sunday was less successful, consisting of picking up a couple suits for me that were getting tailored, and then watching the Vikings eat it as always. I don't get to watch them very much out here unless, like last night, they are on primetime. It has really been a blessing.
Now this week it is back to work, looking forward to the second half of the semester and the fast-approaching HOLIDAYS!!! I love fall. Enjoy your weeks everyone!
-Rory
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
We weren't kidding...
Just in case you thought we were kidding when we posted a couple weeks ago that we resorted to using tin foil on our antennae to increase our t.v. viewing capabilities, here is the proof! (They now look more literally like "rabbit ears.")
Sunday, October 9, 2011
The Ides of March and Suit Shopping
Ugh, what a weekend, nicely topping off our week. So the week honestly was not terrible, but we slacked off too much considering that we need to be sharpening our focus rather than slacking. So the stress and struggles this past week mostly involved our own inner demons. I hope none of our classmates are reading this admission of weakness!!! If you are in our class, though, how do you know this post isn't just a clever trick!? HA!
Seriously though we had a rough week, and then this weekend came. We have our first law school event requiring suits this coming week, and Danielle didn't have a suit, so we decided to go shopping. K & G has a suit sale going on, and Buy One Get Two Free sounded like a sweet deal. Unfortunately the only K & G stores are outside of the city, but we figured we could use a drive to clear our heads. Well the first store we found on Google was in King of Prussia. It turned out to be closed, as in no longer in existence! So right there we wasted about 40 minutes in traffic driving out to King of Prussia. From there we found another store using my phone, and you can bet we called first to make sure it was actually a store. It was, but it took another half hour to find. Once at the store, to make a long story short, the sale was a bait and switch and Danielle got no suits yet spent about two hours shopping for them. So poor Rory & Danielle, heartbroken and frustrated and suitless (except Rory got his suits), got some delicious Cold Stone to cheer themselves up!
Unfortunately, after the Cold Stone the drive home took about 45 minutes, and so what was supposed to be an afternoon of shopping and an evening of homework turned into a wasted day. We did go grocery shopping after getting home last night, so we finally have food in our apartment again. We also had the chance to clean and do laundry on Friday night. AND we went to the Ides of March with some great new law school friends. That movie was seriously great. Go see it.
So all-in-all the weekend was probably a wash. What's more, today we went to Macy's and got D a supafly suit, instead of three cheap, crappy suits from
K & G, which sucks. Macy's is sooo much cooler and awesomer.
So it is true that I bought two suits from K & G yesterday, but it was just because I felt bad because that place sucks so much:)
Anyway...the Vikings won today, I guess, which is nice. So between Friday and Saturday the weekend was a wash, but then Danielle got an awesome suit today, and the Vikings won, therefore decent weekend overall. I will leave you with this vision that Danielle glimpsed today: a woman sitting on her stoop in West Philly, with gold hoop earrings and a pink bathrobe on, talking to her neighbor, at 2:30 in the afternoon. Also, go see The Ides of March.
-Rory
Seriously though we had a rough week, and then this weekend came. We have our first law school event requiring suits this coming week, and Danielle didn't have a suit, so we decided to go shopping. K & G has a suit sale going on, and Buy One Get Two Free sounded like a sweet deal. Unfortunately the only K & G stores are outside of the city, but we figured we could use a drive to clear our heads. Well the first store we found on Google was in King of Prussia. It turned out to be closed, as in no longer in existence! So right there we wasted about 40 minutes in traffic driving out to King of Prussia. From there we found another store using my phone, and you can bet we called first to make sure it was actually a store. It was, but it took another half hour to find. Once at the store, to make a long story short, the sale was a bait and switch and Danielle got no suits yet spent about two hours shopping for them. So poor Rory & Danielle, heartbroken and frustrated and suitless (except Rory got his suits), got some delicious Cold Stone to cheer themselves up!
Unfortunately, after the Cold Stone the drive home took about 45 minutes, and so what was supposed to be an afternoon of shopping and an evening of homework turned into a wasted day. We did go grocery shopping after getting home last night, so we finally have food in our apartment again. We also had the chance to clean and do laundry on Friday night. AND we went to the Ides of March with some great new law school friends. That movie was seriously great. Go see it.
So all-in-all the weekend was probably a wash. What's more, today we went to Macy's and got D a supafly suit, instead of three cheap, crappy suits from
K & G, which sucks. Macy's is sooo much cooler and awesomer.
So it is true that I bought two suits from K & G yesterday, but it was just because I felt bad because that place sucks so much:)
Anyway...the Vikings won today, I guess, which is nice. So between Friday and Saturday the weekend was a wash, but then Danielle got an awesome suit today, and the Vikings won, therefore decent weekend overall. I will leave you with this vision that Danielle glimpsed today: a woman sitting on her stoop in West Philly, with gold hoop earrings and a pink bathrobe on, talking to her neighbor, at 2:30 in the afternoon. Also, go see The Ides of March.
-Rory
Balti- "Can I Get Some" - more
THIS POST IS DANIELLE-APPROVED:
Well last weekend Danielle and I packed up an overnight bag and headed for Baltimore. Ever since we decided to move to Philadelphia we have been talking about all of the great road trips and train trips we are able to take from Philly. It is sort of right in the middle of the cultural, political, and historical mecca of the East Coast. So our first choice was Baltimore, a two-hour car ride south through Delaware and into Maryland. We had to finish up a legal memo for school Friday night, so we decided to leave Saturday morning. I actually didn't finish my memo until Saturday morning, but my procrastination is not the point of this post.
The point is that we hit the road and reached the Inner Harbor of Baltimore on Saturday afternoon. We first drove into Little Italy, where we were able to park our car in a ramp for the whole day for three dollars! What a steal, even by Minnesota standards. From there we walked aaaaall afternoon and into the evening. We began by finding a nice Italian corner deli to get some lunch. I had a hot sandwich with peppers, balsamic dressing, and various pork meats, and Danielle had a delicious chicken pesto something-or-other. We shared an AWESOME caprese salad, and finished off the meal with some gelato from a dessert shop down the street.
After lunch it was onward to the Power Plant, which used to be a power plant. The huge building on one of the piers now houses some shops and restaurants, including what we decided is the world's coolest Barnes and Noble. The store is cool because of these reasons: 1) it's a bookstore; 2) it has the original smokestacks right in the middle of the store, and the original exposed structural elements of the plant; 3) it has an awesome aquarium built into the wall at the top of the escalators; 4) the escalators are housed in a clear plastic so you can watch their...inner workings.
From Barnes and Noble it was off to the National Aquarium, which seems to be Baltimore's main attraction. We bought the deluxe package: admission to the exhibits, a ticket to the 4D movie, and a ticket to the dolphin show. The 4D movie was actually the "From Pole to Pole" episode of Planet Earth, which we already have on BlueRay. We do NOT have 4D technology in our apartment, though, meaning we do not have the movie in 3D with the addition of spraying water, smoke, wind effects, and other gimmicks built into our seats. I will never turn down watching Planet Earth, anyway: amazing stuff. The dolphin show was basically what it sounds like: dolphins. They jumped out of the water, splashed some people, and played with balls. I personally was disappointed with the show: half of it was subsidized by a movie which played on two big screens to the sides of the room, and the other half of it was led by a woman who was actually in the room with us, but had a super duper annoying voice. Not her fault, but the Aquarium should find a more suitable job for her. The dolphins seemed nice, though. As for the exhibits, check out our pictures on Picasa! We really really loved the Aquarium overall, don't let my rant on the dolphin show fool you. Anyone who comes to visit us could twist our arms to go again, for definitely. But you can see the dolphins on your own time.
After leaving the Aquarium we walked along the harbor to Fell's Point, where Danielle heard we could catch a free water taxi to Fort McHenry. Along the way we passed by a beautiful wedding at the end of a pier. Unfortunately the weather was dark, gray, cold, and windy, and rain was threatening, but it was still fun to see. Plus it was a chance to have a cutesy reflection on our own wedding, which we had just survived two months earlier! Besides the wedding, the harbor was full of cool ships, from yachts to old WWII ships to little two-person rentals that looked like dragons.
Once we got to Fell's Point we found out that the Fell's Point Fun Fest was taking place. The festival turned out to be a mass of booths and vendors on some of the streets, complete with bands and beer gardens. After finding out that the water taxis weren't stopping at Fell's Point, we walked around for a while, working our way generally back toward our car and enjoying the people watching and site seeing. On the way to our car we passed by a tattoo museum, which was really more of a tattoo shop with a room to the side full of old newspaper articles about tattooing and old drawings and pictures of tattoos. It wasn't much of a museum, sadly, but it was free so who cares?
That night it started raining once we got back to the car, so we found a room at a Motel 6 just outside the other end of town. On the way we got our first glimpse, through the rain and darkness, of Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, where the Orioles and Ravens play (respectively)! Once at the motel we walked across the parking lot to Loafers, a bar and grill, for supper. We split some pizza and a surf & turf wrap, which was delicious. We also got to play trivia on one of the TVs! We played as a team and lost every round until the very last one, when we won! We realized after celebrating, though, that we were the only people left playing, but we were still proud of ourselves for our perseverance. We planned to watch SNL that night, but we fell asleep early, tired out from walking around all day and from being old.
On Sunday morning we went to mass at the Baltimore Basilica, apparently the oldest cathedral in America. The building was constructed in 1806 in the neo-classical style, to prove that Catholics were just as American as Protestants. I would guess that not only is it the oldest cathedral in the U.S., but probably the only one with that colonial feel to it: the colonial-paned windows, white walls, no stained glass, and not quite as ornate or colorful as you might expect a cathedral or basilica to be. The church was recently renovated (the project was completed in 2004) and it is very nice. We also took a guided tour after mass, where we learned about the architecture and history and had a chance to check out the crypt and undercroft of the church. Check it out: http://baltimorebasilica.org/
After the tour we walked around Mt. Vernon, a neighborhood where we saw some other cool churches and apartments as well as the original Washington Monument. Also we needed to go to a 7-Eleven to get batteries for Danielle's camera. So after that we hopped in the car and headed to Charm City Cakes, the shop featured in the TV show Ace of Cakes. The windows were tinted and the doors locked, but we got to see it, so that was cool.
Finally, we headed home. On the way, as we reflected on our first chance to get out of Philly since moving here, Danielle came up with the title of this post. Obviously we had a great time, not least of all because Baltimore smells SO MUCH BETTER than Philadelphia. Also of note, Baltimore seemed to be much "greener" than Philly in terms of being environmentally minded. That was obviously a big deal to Danielle (and me, but especially D) and it might have had something to do with the smell. Overall, the trip was great. Danielle and I got to see a new city, check out lots of cool sites and attractions, be silly together, and get a mini vacation halfway through our first semester of law school. There are pictures in the album posted below that supplement all of the stuff I talk about in this post, so I encourage checking them out. I guess that's it, though, so ta ta for now!
-Rory
Well last weekend Danielle and I packed up an overnight bag and headed for Baltimore. Ever since we decided to move to Philadelphia we have been talking about all of the great road trips and train trips we are able to take from Philly. It is sort of right in the middle of the cultural, political, and historical mecca of the East Coast. So our first choice was Baltimore, a two-hour car ride south through Delaware and into Maryland. We had to finish up a legal memo for school Friday night, so we decided to leave Saturday morning. I actually didn't finish my memo until Saturday morning, but my procrastination is not the point of this post.
The point is that we hit the road and reached the Inner Harbor of Baltimore on Saturday afternoon. We first drove into Little Italy, where we were able to park our car in a ramp for the whole day for three dollars! What a steal, even by Minnesota standards. From there we walked aaaaall afternoon and into the evening. We began by finding a nice Italian corner deli to get some lunch. I had a hot sandwich with peppers, balsamic dressing, and various pork meats, and Danielle had a delicious chicken pesto something-or-other. We shared an AWESOME caprese salad, and finished off the meal with some gelato from a dessert shop down the street.
After lunch it was onward to the Power Plant, which used to be a power plant. The huge building on one of the piers now houses some shops and restaurants, including what we decided is the world's coolest Barnes and Noble. The store is cool because of these reasons: 1) it's a bookstore; 2) it has the original smokestacks right in the middle of the store, and the original exposed structural elements of the plant; 3) it has an awesome aquarium built into the wall at the top of the escalators; 4) the escalators are housed in a clear plastic so you can watch their...inner workings.
From Barnes and Noble it was off to the National Aquarium, which seems to be Baltimore's main attraction. We bought the deluxe package: admission to the exhibits, a ticket to the 4D movie, and a ticket to the dolphin show. The 4D movie was actually the "From Pole to Pole" episode of Planet Earth, which we already have on BlueRay. We do NOT have 4D technology in our apartment, though, meaning we do not have the movie in 3D with the addition of spraying water, smoke, wind effects, and other gimmicks built into our seats. I will never turn down watching Planet Earth, anyway: amazing stuff. The dolphin show was basically what it sounds like: dolphins. They jumped out of the water, splashed some people, and played with balls. I personally was disappointed with the show: half of it was subsidized by a movie which played on two big screens to the sides of the room, and the other half of it was led by a woman who was actually in the room with us, but had a super duper annoying voice. Not her fault, but the Aquarium should find a more suitable job for her. The dolphins seemed nice, though. As for the exhibits, check out our pictures on Picasa! We really really loved the Aquarium overall, don't let my rant on the dolphin show fool you. Anyone who comes to visit us could twist our arms to go again, for definitely. But you can see the dolphins on your own time.
After leaving the Aquarium we walked along the harbor to Fell's Point, where Danielle heard we could catch a free water taxi to Fort McHenry. Along the way we passed by a beautiful wedding at the end of a pier. Unfortunately the weather was dark, gray, cold, and windy, and rain was threatening, but it was still fun to see. Plus it was a chance to have a cutesy reflection on our own wedding, which we had just survived two months earlier! Besides the wedding, the harbor was full of cool ships, from yachts to old WWII ships to little two-person rentals that looked like dragons.
Once we got to Fell's Point we found out that the Fell's Point Fun Fest was taking place. The festival turned out to be a mass of booths and vendors on some of the streets, complete with bands and beer gardens. After finding out that the water taxis weren't stopping at Fell's Point, we walked around for a while, working our way generally back toward our car and enjoying the people watching and site seeing. On the way to our car we passed by a tattoo museum, which was really more of a tattoo shop with a room to the side full of old newspaper articles about tattooing and old drawings and pictures of tattoos. It wasn't much of a museum, sadly, but it was free so who cares?
That night it started raining once we got back to the car, so we found a room at a Motel 6 just outside the other end of town. On the way we got our first glimpse, through the rain and darkness, of Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, where the Orioles and Ravens play (respectively)! Once at the motel we walked across the parking lot to Loafers, a bar and grill, for supper. We split some pizza and a surf & turf wrap, which was delicious. We also got to play trivia on one of the TVs! We played as a team and lost every round until the very last one, when we won! We realized after celebrating, though, that we were the only people left playing, but we were still proud of ourselves for our perseverance. We planned to watch SNL that night, but we fell asleep early, tired out from walking around all day and from being old.
On Sunday morning we went to mass at the Baltimore Basilica, apparently the oldest cathedral in America. The building was constructed in 1806 in the neo-classical style, to prove that Catholics were just as American as Protestants. I would guess that not only is it the oldest cathedral in the U.S., but probably the only one with that colonial feel to it: the colonial-paned windows, white walls, no stained glass, and not quite as ornate or colorful as you might expect a cathedral or basilica to be. The church was recently renovated (the project was completed in 2004) and it is very nice. We also took a guided tour after mass, where we learned about the architecture and history and had a chance to check out the crypt and undercroft of the church. Check it out: http://baltimorebasilica.org/
After the tour we walked around Mt. Vernon, a neighborhood where we saw some other cool churches and apartments as well as the original Washington Monument. Also we needed to go to a 7-Eleven to get batteries for Danielle's camera. So after that we hopped in the car and headed to Charm City Cakes, the shop featured in the TV show Ace of Cakes. The windows were tinted and the doors locked, but we got to see it, so that was cool.
Finally, we headed home. On the way, as we reflected on our first chance to get out of Philly since moving here, Danielle came up with the title of this post. Obviously we had a great time, not least of all because Baltimore smells SO MUCH BETTER than Philadelphia. Also of note, Baltimore seemed to be much "greener" than Philly in terms of being environmentally minded. That was obviously a big deal to Danielle (and me, but especially D) and it might have had something to do with the smell. Overall, the trip was great. Danielle and I got to see a new city, check out lots of cool sites and attractions, be silly together, and get a mini vacation halfway through our first semester of law school. There are pictures in the album posted below that supplement all of the stuff I talk about in this post, so I encourage checking them out. I guess that's it, though, so ta ta for now!
-Rory
Monday, October 3, 2011
Baltimore
Here is the photo album from our weekend trip to Baltimore, MD, on October 1-2, 2011. We had a blast taking a break from school and getting out of Philly for a bit, and we hope you enjoy our photos! We will write another post soon to tell you all about our adventure in Baltimore.
-Rory & Danielle
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Our Apartment
Danielle and I decided that we need to work hard enough to afford a maid someday. We are clean people, but even our one-bedroom apartment gets messy about...one day after we clean it. We constantly have laundry to do (even though we do it regularly) and our living room is kind of a mess. Our dishes pile up, but that is mostly because our kitchen sink is clogged so we have to constantly stop washing dishes and let it drain for a few hours. The dryers in our building are defective, too, so we always pay money to dry our laundry and then end up just hanging it on our collapsable drying rack in the living room for about three days. We have a stack of books sitting underneath one corner of our love seat because I just do not have the time to fix the leg, and our thirty-year-old rabbit ears on the TV have HUGE pieces of tinfoil wrapped around the ends so we can pick up FOX (the Vikings and Glee). This place is a real gem, I tell you. But it is definitely becoming home, at least in my opinion. All these little quirks add to the character, right?
I guess all these chores and appliance and plumbing issues are part of being an adult, but with law school plus my lazy streak I don't know what we are going to do. At least Danielle is here to be a hard worker plus keep me calm.
On an awesomer note, the weather is finally cooling off a little. We had about four days a week or two ago that were nice and comfortable, but then it got humid again. Today it finally got a little breezy and BEAUTIFULLY SUNNY in the afternoon. Now over the weekend it is going to be actually cold, it sounds like. We are very excited to break out the sweaters and think of Minnesota. Probably bust out some pumpkin muffins, maybe some apple-something-or-others, no biggie. Fall is just my favorite season EVER!
That's all for now.
-Rory
P.S. Danielle told me that I should not have apologized a few posts ago for what we do and don't do on our blog. Apparently it is a tip she read for successful blogging. SO I just wanted to quickly apologize for that post. Okay thanks!
I guess all these chores and appliance and plumbing issues are part of being an adult, but with law school plus my lazy streak I don't know what we are going to do. At least Danielle is here to be a hard worker plus keep me calm.
On an awesomer note, the weather is finally cooling off a little. We had about four days a week or two ago that were nice and comfortable, but then it got humid again. Today it finally got a little breezy and BEAUTIFULLY SUNNY in the afternoon. Now over the weekend it is going to be actually cold, it sounds like. We are very excited to break out the sweaters and think of Minnesota. Probably bust out some pumpkin muffins, maybe some apple-something-or-others, no biggie. Fall is just my favorite season EVER!
That's all for now.
-Rory
P.S. Danielle told me that I should not have apologized a few posts ago for what we do and don't do on our blog. Apparently it is a tip she read for successful blogging. SO I just wanted to quickly apologize for that post. Okay thanks!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Jinxes
Our friend Jason suggested that I jinxed the Vikings when I said I would only write another post on Sunday if they won (they lost). I think there might be something to these jinxes, because in the next post I wrote, I said that Danielle and I were sort of...putting Tastykakes on the back burner. Well wouldn't you know that this week has been absolutely the most stressful week of the semester, building on last week which previously held that record. The stress caused me to walk over to CVS last night and buy a damned box of Cream-Filled Coffee Kakes (on sale, thank you very much)!!! They are pretty okay, still not going to make it onto my Leader Board, but I had to tell everyone about how I jinxed myself into buying them.
I have to be very careful with my new-found power, especially considering that it is a jinxing rather than a blessing power. I hope that, having said I must be careful, I didn't jinx myself into becoming reckless!
-Rory
I have to be very careful with my new-found power, especially considering that it is a jinxing rather than a blessing power. I hope that, having said I must be careful, I didn't jinx myself into becoming reckless!
-Rory
Monday, September 26, 2011
Journal to the Center of the Earth
Well, the Vikings lost yesterday for the third time, as I am sure most of you know. I was just happy because Danielle and I finally got to watch the Vikes for the first time this season! Thanks to a couple of long-lost Minnesotan friends currently living across the river in New Jersey, we had a great afternoon catching up, eating some gameday snacks, and utilizing their DIRECTV.
I have been feeling pretty bad lately about how inconsistent our blogging has been, but I think I have reflected my way to a breakthrough, and I am going to share a little of my insight with you all now since confession is good for the soul, as they say. Danielle will undoubtedly read this and make me change some stuff, but for now I am going to speak my mind.
Firstly, I am sorry for promising you all certain, specific blog posts several weeks ago which we have not yet gotten around to publishing. Among those topics promised were the Wii and a virtual house warming party. Danielle has told me that she still plans to do a write-up on the Wii, so keep looking out for that, and we will definitely be doing a virtual house warming party in October or early November. I just wanted you all to know we haven't forgotten our promises.
Additionally, I have posted a few times about Tastykakes and my ambitions to launch a secondary quest to our Cheesesteak quest in which we seek out the bestest Taskykakes in the land. Well here is what I have decided: for the sake of our health, budget, and other interests, the Tastykake quest is hereby, officially downgraded to a casual survey. As new Tastykakes come our way, we will let you know about them. Truth be told, they are too expensive and not Earth-shattering enough so far to justify a regular blog feature endeavoring to explore the reaches of Tastykake tastiness. As it stands, FYI, Danielle holds Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes at the top of her list, whereas I have bestowed that honor on Banana Treats.
So I guess it was just those two things that were bothering me: I think that is all for now, folks. I realize this post not be very interesting, but it is cathartic for me and I think that with this out of my way I can begin an era of pure, joyous blogging. With the move out to Philly, the newly-married life, and beginning law school, I got overexcited. I tried to make this blog into something it was not, and I should really apologize to the blog for that, as well as our readers. I think I crossed a real threshold today!
Happy reading, happy trails, happy days!
-Rory
P.S. The Picasa album should now be available to everyone. Please let us know if you have trouble accessing it. Yay!
I have been feeling pretty bad lately about how inconsistent our blogging has been, but I think I have reflected my way to a breakthrough, and I am going to share a little of my insight with you all now since confession is good for the soul, as they say. Danielle will undoubtedly read this and make me change some stuff, but for now I am going to speak my mind.
Firstly, I am sorry for promising you all certain, specific blog posts several weeks ago which we have not yet gotten around to publishing. Among those topics promised were the Wii and a virtual house warming party. Danielle has told me that she still plans to do a write-up on the Wii, so keep looking out for that, and we will definitely be doing a virtual house warming party in October or early November. I just wanted you all to know we haven't forgotten our promises.
Additionally, I have posted a few times about Tastykakes and my ambitions to launch a secondary quest to our Cheesesteak quest in which we seek out the bestest Taskykakes in the land. Well here is what I have decided: for the sake of our health, budget, and other interests, the Tastykake quest is hereby, officially downgraded to a casual survey. As new Tastykakes come our way, we will let you know about them. Truth be told, they are too expensive and not Earth-shattering enough so far to justify a regular blog feature endeavoring to explore the reaches of Tastykake tastiness. As it stands, FYI, Danielle holds Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes at the top of her list, whereas I have bestowed that honor on Banana Treats.
So I guess it was just those two things that were bothering me: I think that is all for now, folks. I realize this post not be very interesting, but it is cathartic for me and I think that with this out of my way I can begin an era of pure, joyous blogging. With the move out to Philly, the newly-married life, and beginning law school, I got overexcited. I tried to make this blog into something it was not, and I should really apologize to the blog for that, as well as our readers. I think I crossed a real threshold today!
Happy reading, happy trails, happy days!
-Rory
P.S. The Picasa album should now be available to everyone. Please let us know if you have trouble accessing it. Yay!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Spotlight: Feal Good Foundation
So, wait, you're telling me I can go hang out with my new law school buddies, drink, and have fun all for a good cause?! That is exactly what they're telling me!
Last Friday night, Rory and I attended this fun event that Drexel's Student Bar Association (SBA) puts on every year. It is called Cocktails for a Cause, and, as the name suggests, you drink cocktails in the name of a good cause. A local bar in Olde City, called Mad River, lets the school use its facilities for the night. Then students pay a $5 cover to get in and have very stiff drinks poured for them by their professors. (Believe me when I say stiff.) All drinks are $3 and the profs are working to see who can get the most tips. All proceeds from the night go to a charity, selected by the SBA in the planning process for the event.
This year's cause was the Feal Good Foundation (I'm assuming to honor the 10th anniversary of 9/11, but I can't say for sure). Therefore, I thought it would be a nice addition to the blog if we do a spotlight feature on the organization. I also hope to make this a recurring theme any time we have the opportunity to work with or come in contact with an organization that is doing great work for our community. So, let me tell you a little about the Feal Good Foundation.
The nonprofit was founded in 2005 as a support for First Responders who had been called to help in the clean up after the tragedy of 9/11 and suffered with a health problem or injury as a result of the work. The founder, John Feal, led a crew of Construction Demolition experts picking up debris, steel, and rubble on 9/12/01. Within the first week of working on the project, 8,000 pounds of steel fell on his foot, eventually resulting in a partial amputation. After suffering through many medical visits and dealing with numerous medical bills and insurance issues, he decided that no one who had served in the post 9/11 clean up efforts should be forced into debt and inability to pay for health needs from injuries sustained in the course of their service.
The Feal Good Foundation provides eligible first responders with an initial assist of $250.00 to cover basic costs, such as food or utility bills. Then, the eligible person may apply for more assistance, which is administered on a needs basis, to help cover medical bills, rent or mortgage payments, other bills, and/or other basic needs. As the website explains, "The primary mission of the FealGood Foundation, a non-profit organization, is to spread awareness and educate the public about the catastrophic health effects on 9/11 first responders, as well as to provide assistance to relieve these great heroes of the financial burdens placed on them over the last eight years. A secondary goal of the Foundation is to create a network of advocacy on 9/11 healthcare issues. We not only advocate for Ground Zero workers, but show others how they can advocate for themselves and help others through grassroots activism."
For more information on this organization, check out its website at: http://www.fealgoodfoundation.com/mission.html
Last Friday night, Rory and I attended this fun event that Drexel's Student Bar Association (SBA) puts on every year. It is called Cocktails for a Cause, and, as the name suggests, you drink cocktails in the name of a good cause. A local bar in Olde City, called Mad River, lets the school use its facilities for the night. Then students pay a $5 cover to get in and have very stiff drinks poured for them by their professors. (Believe me when I say stiff.) All drinks are $3 and the profs are working to see who can get the most tips. All proceeds from the night go to a charity, selected by the SBA in the planning process for the event.
This year's cause was the Feal Good Foundation (I'm assuming to honor the 10th anniversary of 9/11, but I can't say for sure). Therefore, I thought it would be a nice addition to the blog if we do a spotlight feature on the organization. I also hope to make this a recurring theme any time we have the opportunity to work with or come in contact with an organization that is doing great work for our community. So, let me tell you a little about the Feal Good Foundation.
The nonprofit was founded in 2005 as a support for First Responders who had been called to help in the clean up after the tragedy of 9/11 and suffered with a health problem or injury as a result of the work. The founder, John Feal, led a crew of Construction Demolition experts picking up debris, steel, and rubble on 9/12/01. Within the first week of working on the project, 8,000 pounds of steel fell on his foot, eventually resulting in a partial amputation. After suffering through many medical visits and dealing with numerous medical bills and insurance issues, he decided that no one who had served in the post 9/11 clean up efforts should be forced into debt and inability to pay for health needs from injuries sustained in the course of their service.
The Feal Good Foundation provides eligible first responders with an initial assist of $250.00 to cover basic costs, such as food or utility bills. Then, the eligible person may apply for more assistance, which is administered on a needs basis, to help cover medical bills, rent or mortgage payments, other bills, and/or other basic needs. As the website explains, "The primary mission of the FealGood Foundation, a non-profit organization, is to spread awareness and educate the public about the catastrophic health effects on 9/11 first responders, as well as to provide assistance to relieve these great heroes of the financial burdens placed on them over the last eight years. A secondary goal of the Foundation is to create a network of advocacy on 9/11 healthcare issues. We not only advocate for Ground Zero workers, but show others how they can advocate for themselves and help others through grassroots activism."
For more information on this organization, check out its website at: http://www.fealgoodfoundation.com/mission.html
Our Picasa Pics
We have heard that people are unable to currently access our Picasa album, which we linked to a few posts ago. Just wanted you to know that we are aware of the issue and will post again when we have fixed the problem. Thanks.
Peace and love,
Rory
Peace and love,
Rory
Saturday, September 24, 2011
See More of Our Life in Pictures
Hello Everyone!
Putting pictures onto the blog is tedious, meticulous, and the time you put into arranging them to look neat and orderly is a waste because Blogger just messes it up when you go to post. Needless to say, we are not going to be able to post all of the pictures on the blog that we would like to- and we have lots more fun photos than just what are on the blog posts.
So, if you would like to see more photos from our journey, check out our Picasa web album a couple posts above this one.
Hope you're enjoying the blog and learning more about Philadelphia as we do!
Love,
Danielle
Putting pictures onto the blog is tedious, meticulous, and the time you put into arranging them to look neat and orderly is a waste because Blogger just messes it up when you go to post. Needless to say, we are not going to be able to post all of the pictures on the blog that we would like to- and we have lots more fun photos than just what are on the blog posts.
So, if you would like to see more photos from our journey, check out our Picasa web album a couple posts above this one.
Hope you're enjoying the blog and learning more about Philadelphia as we do!
Love,
Danielle
Out and About Philadelphia: Back in the Saddle
Oh how I have missed blogging! It has been two weeks or better since I had both the time and motivation to write a post, but I promise to TRY to be better about keeping regular with these updates. I know Danielle recently wrote a post, but really we have both been bad lately about keeping this site current, so here's to change and a brighter future!
Reading Terminal Market (LINK) is a busy market absolutely FULL of local vendors. On the tour we did not have much time to explore, but Danielle and I did share a chicken caesar crepe. Good stuff. I love crepes. Anyway, the Market is right next to Chinatown, so another tour of the Market is also most definitely in our future, especially since it was Danielle's favorite part of the tour.
Then it was on to South Street, where the hippies live, and then the Italian Market in South Philly. The Italian market smelled mostly like fish and had more Mexican than Italian food, but it was a trip. After the Italian Market we headed back north through Old City, where we saw St. Peter's Church, an old Anglican church (first service in 1761) still in operation. George Washington worshiped there.
So that was about it. The trip was about 4.5 hours and over three miles long, and it was a great time to meet new people and get a feel for our new city. Philly has an amazing history, and is a great "City of Firsts" Check out the link!
Here is a picture of our feet on the first street to be made out of wood (needless to say, this trend didn’t last too long considering the upkeep wood needs when out in the elements):
Today Danielle and I had the opportunity to sail on the Delaware River with some fellow churchgoers at University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation. Neither of us had ever been sailing, and thankfully we weren't called upon to handle any of the important duties on the boat. We basically just sat and watched Philly and Camden from the river, and listened to some locals educate us about sailing and the area. Unfortunately it was a foggy, misty day, with little wind. So we sailed with the tide upriver, checking out the Camden Riversharks ballpark and the other Philly piers, factories, and condos. Danielle snapped some photos:
Finally, tonight we went to Mass as St. Francis de Sales parish in West Philadelphia. The parish has a beautiful church, which is sadly falling apart but is in the process of renovation. It has a cool history and a reputation for having a great choir at the 10:15am Mass as well as the largest parochial grade school in the US. Among the church's famous, past parishioners is Peter Boyle! Very cool.
Last weekend we had the chance to spend some time with anothernewly-wed couple in our neighborhood and take a free walking tour of Philly! The tour, "Real Philly,"covered Chinatown, Reading Market (pronounced "redding"), Center City, South Street, the Italian Market, and Old City. Chinatown is the second or third biggest in the US, right up there with New York and LA; however, there have been voices calling for the name to change to "Asiatown" because of the influence of various Asian countries in the area. We definitely have to go back and checkout some of the Vietnamese and Burmese restaurants!
Reading Terminal Market (LINK) is a busy market absolutely FULL of local vendors. On the tour we did not have much time to explore, but Danielle and I did share a chicken caesar crepe. Good stuff. I love crepes. Anyway, the Market is right next to Chinatown, so another tour of the Market is also most definitely in our future, especially since it was Danielle's favorite part of the tour.
Next was Center City, with all of its arts, architecture, and history:
Then it was on to South Street, where the hippies live, and then the Italian Market in South Philly. The Italian market smelled mostly like fish and had more Mexican than Italian food, but it was a trip. After the Italian Market we headed back north through Old City, where we saw St. Peter's Church, an old Anglican church (first service in 1761) still in operation. George Washington worshiped there.
So that was about it. The trip was about 4.5 hours and over three miles long, and it was a great time to meet new people and get a feel for our new city. Philly has an amazing history, and is a great "City of Firsts" Check out the link!
Here is a picture of our feet on the first street to be made out of wood (needless to say, this trend didn’t last too long considering the upkeep wood needs when out in the elements):
Today Danielle and I had the opportunity to sail on the Delaware River with some fellow churchgoers at University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation. Neither of us had ever been sailing, and thankfully we weren't called upon to handle any of the important duties on the boat. We basically just sat and watched Philly and Camden from the river, and listened to some locals educate us about sailing and the area. Unfortunately it was a foggy, misty day, with little wind. So we sailed with the tide upriver, checking out the Camden Riversharks ballpark and the other Philly piers, factories, and condos. Danielle snapped some photos:
Finally, tonight we went to Mass as St. Francis de Sales parish in West Philadelphia. The parish has a beautiful church, which is sadly falling apart but is in the process of renovation. It has a cool history and a reputation for having a great choir at the 10:15am Mass as well as the largest parochial grade school in the US. Among the church's famous, past parishioners is Peter Boyle! Very cool.
We topped off the night, and the week, with our first trip to Koch's Deli just a block away. We waited for an hour to get our order in and get our food, but to be honest: totally worth it. We decided to give our Cheesesteak Quest a break for a few weeks while we try out some of the other amazing meals Philadelphia has to offer, and Koch'sDeli was a solid choice for one of those meals. Danielle had a turkey club on toasted wheat with bacon, lettuce, and tomato; I had a special with corned beef, turkey, and beef brisket and coleslaw, Russian dressing, and pepper jack cheese. Jewish delis ain't bad.
Well that's definitely all from me for now. Tomorrow is the Vikings game, so I will make an Angel's-in-the-Outfield-style promise: if the Vikings can keep it together in the second half, I will write another posttomorrow. If not, who knows???
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Philly Speaks: No End to the Madness
Here is our second installment of Philly Speaks. Before getting started with the list of funny things we have heard around school and city since the last installment, I want to issue a brief apology. It has now been 8 or 9 days since our last post. It is not our attention to ignore our adoring fans, nor is it to say that we have become so incredibly boring that we have nothing to share with you. It is, rather, a reflection on the fact that we are fully realizing that no one was lying to us when they said law school would be a lot of hard work. We often find ourselves working late on homework to finally collapse in exhaustion and fall into a slumber dotted with bizarre dreams based on the weird cases we were just reading. We are also getting into the season of midterms, which take up a lot of our time and concentration. So, we are very sorry that we have been absent for the past week. Hopefully we will get caught up really soon (we have another post already on the drafting table and we need to fill you all in on our awesome walking tour of Philly we took this weekend).
Now, onto the list. I do want to throw in this disclaimer: All comments are taken out of context and may be construed to mean things the speaker did not actually intend. But, we're hear for comedic purposes, not to write anyone's biography- so I think we'll be fine.
-This rule only applies when children are engaging in adult activities, such as motorboating.
-Of course there is always more in the animal jar than in the child cancer jar.
-If you teach kids to drive the way I do, then everyone would be much safer. Although, there always was the chance they wouldn't survive their training- but that's why I had five kids; you always have a spare around then.
-What does "Bad Haircut" mean? Is it a baseball term?
And, because we very happily ushered in a new season of "How I Met Your Mother" last night, here are some of my favorite quotes from the last couple seasons:
-Oh thank God! Barney Stinson needs you right before his wedding, you assume there's at least one dead stripper in the closet.
- Oh okay, Lily. Why don't you have a baby with your butt?
-No, you're not a real New Yorker until you've killed a cockroach with your bare hand. (In Rory's case, a true Philadelphian)
-Wait, where are you g- that's a compliment! You're the least needy woman I've ever met. That's awesome! No guy's gonna say "Who's your daddy?" to Robin Scherbatsky; you're your own daddy. And mommy. And weird survivalist uncle who lives in a cabin with a shotgun blaming stuff on the government.
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed that and maybe you even have a little smile on your face now.
Cheers from Philly,
-Danielle
Now, onto the list. I do want to throw in this disclaimer: All comments are taken out of context and may be construed to mean things the speaker did not actually intend. But, we're hear for comedic purposes, not to write anyone's biography- so I think we'll be fine.
-This rule only applies when children are engaging in adult activities, such as motorboating.
-Of course there is always more in the animal jar than in the child cancer jar.
-If you teach kids to drive the way I do, then everyone would be much safer. Although, there always was the chance they wouldn't survive their training- but that's why I had five kids; you always have a spare around then.
-What does "Bad Haircut" mean? Is it a baseball term?
And, because we very happily ushered in a new season of "How I Met Your Mother" last night, here are some of my favorite quotes from the last couple seasons:
-Oh thank God! Barney Stinson needs you right before his wedding, you assume there's at least one dead stripper in the closet.
- Oh okay, Lily. Why don't you have a baby with your butt?
-No, you're not a real New Yorker until you've killed a cockroach with your bare hand. (In Rory's case, a true Philadelphian)
-Wait, where are you g- that's a compliment! You're the least needy woman I've ever met. That's awesome! No guy's gonna say "Who's your daddy?" to Robin Scherbatsky; you're your own daddy. And mommy. And weird survivalist uncle who lives in a cabin with a shotgun blaming stuff on the government.
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed that and maybe you even have a little smile on your face now.
Cheers from Philly,
-Danielle
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Philly Smells
When Danielle and I went on our honeymoon to Orlando, FL, we decided that Orlando stinks. Specifically it smells like something I don't feel is an appropriate word for this blog, but that aside we were offended and disappointed. Walking around our resort, walking to the grocery store, and at the airport, Orlando smelled bad. Minnesota often smells nice, especially by comparison, but we were on our honeymoon so I think we deserved better. Objectively it was probably inevitable because of all of the vegetation mixed with the incredible heat plus rainfall in Florida...
Philly on the other hand smells terrible from all the people. The building next to ours, which we often walk past, has a constant stream of water flowing out from one of the window wells over the sidewalk and into the gutter. For some reason it always smells like stank whenever we walk by that stream, and last week Danielle discovered that the cause of both the stream and stank is that the window well is actually packed with garbage. So that is a great example, right in our neighborhood, of why Philly smells.
We haven't been able to figure out why it smells especially bad when compared to other large cities, but some possible contributing factors we have hypothesized include: 1) the age of Philadelphia; 2) the size; 3) something about tastykakes; and/or 4) the 76ers.
Walking down the street in the other direction this past week, we decided that every house must have had a raging party for labor day and filled up all their toilets with garbage so that they had to defecate in the streets. It smelled absolutely awful, and the boulevards were overflowing with party cups and pizza boxes, but the odor suggested contents much fouler and eviler beneath the surface. Sometimes we will walk by a restaurant or store and a pleasant smell will tease us for all of three seconds before we walk past the adjacent alley and discover where they keep their stank. Then that continues for several blocks until we are able to get back inside a building.
Even inside some buildings, like our apartment building, your nose ought to be afraid. Danielle has said that the smell on the lobby level near the bike lock-up and laundry rooms should constitute a cause of action for some type of tort. Danielle is still struggling to come to terms with her new-found identity as a law student, and that was an early attempt at a legal joke.
Even inside some buildings, like our apartment building, your nose ought to be afraid. Danielle has said that the smell on the lobby level near the bike lock-up and laundry rooms should constitute a cause of action for some type of tort. Danielle is still struggling to come to terms with her new-found identity as a law student, and that was an early attempt at a legal joke.
As in Orlando, I am hoping that this serious issue is attributable to the record rainfall in Southeast Pennsylvania recently, and that the fall will dry it up and winter will seal the odor in ice. If not, then I expect that Minnesota will know when we are coming home for Christmas by the rank scent. Unfortunately I am now at the end of the post and have not found a good spot for a pun based on the word 'olfactory,' but I wanted everyone to know that I have thought a lot about it.
-Rory
Cheesesteak Quest: Abner's Cheesesteaks
Tonight the Quest led us to Abner's Cheesesteaks at 3813 Chestnut St. Let's get right to it.
I ordered a cheesesteak as always and got it with onions, peppers, and CHEESE WHIZ! Cheese whiz is a popular cheesesteak option but is not available everywhere, and this was my first time trying it. I decided it was amazing! I will probably continue to order the cheese whiz whenever possible but won't be disappointed by American cheese, either. One of the best things about the whiz was that they pumped it out of a condiment pump; there was something satisfying about it. It naturally proceeds to permeate the bread, the meat, and your soul in a hot, delicious mess. The peppers at Abner's consisted solely of either banana peppers or peperoncini, I never know the difference. Abner's turned out to also be a shop where they actually mix the peppers and onions right in with the meat on the griddle, which as I stated in the last post is my preferred method, so points there to Abner's. Beyond that, the bread was mediocre, the food was greasy, and the meat was lower quality than the last couple cheesesteaks, but it still had a great flavor. Overall the factors at Abner's added up to a great experience with my beautiful wife! Did I mention they have great waffle fries?
They do.
And they helped me forget some of the minor shortcomings of the cheesesteak.
Danielle had a chicken cheesesteak, also as always, and with American cheese, onions, and peppers. Her meat was probably even crappier in quality than mine, but otherwise I feel confident in speaking for her that she felt pretty much the same as me about the experience as a whole. So basically the bread was okay, the flavor was good, and the waffle fries added serious points. We also shamefully ordered some freshly-baked cookies delivered to our apartment, and obviously those overpowered any remaining disappointment we had with our meal, and revived any diminishing disappointment we had with our personal fitness.
For now Abner's is going to stay off of our Leader Board, mostly because it is 2.5 blocks past Lee's, which had similarly-priced steaks with better meat and bread. Next week we are hoping to venture out of University City for our Cheesesteak Quest and visit South Street! So far, the worst thing about cheesesteaks is having to wait a-whole-nuther week to have one...
-Rory
They do.
And they helped me forget some of the minor shortcomings of the cheesesteak.
Danielle had a chicken cheesesteak, also as always, and with American cheese, onions, and peppers. Her meat was probably even crappier in quality than mine, but otherwise I feel confident in speaking for her that she felt pretty much the same as me about the experience as a whole. So basically the bread was okay, the flavor was good, and the waffle fries added serious points. We also shamefully ordered some freshly-baked cookies delivered to our apartment, and obviously those overpowered any remaining disappointment we had with our meal, and revived any diminishing disappointment we had with our personal fitness.
For now Abner's is going to stay off of our Leader Board, mostly because it is 2.5 blocks past Lee's, which had similarly-priced steaks with better meat and bread. Next week we are hoping to venture out of University City for our Cheesesteak Quest and visit South Street! So far, the worst thing about cheesesteaks is having to wait a-whole-nuther week to have one...
-Rory
Friday, September 9, 2011
Journal: Law School Week 3
This week has been crazy busy, and I think we are finally discovering what law school will be like for us. Danielle and I have had little time for anything except reading and briefing cases, although we have been able to check out several interesting student groups that could provide us with some social outlets, leadership and educational opportunities, and networking in the future! Thankfully these groups also offer lunch usually. What's more, we attended a panel about legal advocacy post-9/11 and got pretty good, catered supper afterwards! Drexel often provides such catered receptions after speakers, and one of the primary activities student groups engage in is bringing in speakers. So yay for lots of free meals this week! They are a life-saver when you are crunched for time and money. Speaking of time, I need to slog through some Contracts reading in the next two hours before class, so I hereby wrap up this journal entry (that is clear language: helpful for a binding contract).
"How can you say to your brother,
"Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,"
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
-Rory
"Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,"
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother's eye." Luke 6:39-42
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Philly Speaks: Things Heard Around the City
Hi All,
So, we thought it would be fun just to fill you all in on some of the funny quotes that we've heard around campus and the city. It may be a recurring post, so look out for the posts labeled "Philly Speaks."
-Actuaries are people who wanted to be accountants but couldn't handle the excitement.
-Minnesota is in the middle of the country, right?... I went to Catholic school and they didn't even show us where Africa is on the map.
-"Werter" (that's how they say water around her)
-Why does New Jersey have the most toxic waste dumps and California has the most lawyers? Because New Jersey got to pick first.
-If I was going to make a sawed off shot-gun, this is what it would look like. (Don't worry- it's just a water gun!)
That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed!
Open your ears and have a great day!
-Danielle
So, we thought it would be fun just to fill you all in on some of the funny quotes that we've heard around campus and the city. It may be a recurring post, so look out for the posts labeled "Philly Speaks."
-Actuaries are people who wanted to be accountants but couldn't handle the excitement.
-Minnesota is in the middle of the country, right?... I went to Catholic school and they didn't even show us where Africa is on the map.
-"Werter" (that's how they say water around her)
-Why does New Jersey have the most toxic waste dumps and California has the most lawyers? Because New Jersey got to pick first.
-If I was going to make a sawed off shot-gun, this is what it would look like. (Don't worry- it's just a water gun!)
That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed!
Open your ears and have a great day!
-Danielle
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Pretty Girls
Danielle and I finally did our second "deep cleaning" of our apartment tonight after a holy day consisting of double duty church (Catholic and Lutheran services), a nap, and quite a bit of Mario Kart Wii. I love the Sabbath.
So now the apartment is looking fairly great again, except for the lack of a desk in the living room, which is causing minor chaos. We have at least confined it to one small corner of the room. Danielle has been diligently searching Craigslist for a desk, but alas the search continues. Thankfully we can at least approach the coming week or two with some peace of mind before we need to get out the Swiffer and vacuum again.
The main point of this post, though, is that while we clean we like to listen to Q102 here in Philly. It is a lot like KDWB 101.3 in the Twin Cities, which I used to listen to a lot. One of my favorite jams on Q102 right now is "Pretty Girls" by Iyaz. So this "Pretty Girls" song, it has a Philly edition, which changes a few of the lyrics to give shout outs to local neighborhoods. We checked online and found out that the Twin Cities has an edit, too, so we just thought we could share the YouTube links for the two city-specific edits and let you all enjoy!
-Rory
P.S. I just love the skyline shots of Minneapolis, especially the second one, with all the lights!
Twin Cities
Philly
So now the apartment is looking fairly great again, except for the lack of a desk in the living room, which is causing minor chaos. We have at least confined it to one small corner of the room. Danielle has been diligently searching Craigslist for a desk, but alas the search continues. Thankfully we can at least approach the coming week or two with some peace of mind before we need to get out the Swiffer and vacuum again.
The main point of this post, though, is that while we clean we like to listen to Q102 here in Philly. It is a lot like KDWB 101.3 in the Twin Cities, which I used to listen to a lot. One of my favorite jams on Q102 right now is "Pretty Girls" by Iyaz. So this "Pretty Girls" song, it has a Philly edition, which changes a few of the lyrics to give shout outs to local neighborhoods. We checked online and found out that the Twin Cities has an edit, too, so we just thought we could share the YouTube links for the two city-specific edits and let you all enjoy!
-Rory
P.S. I just love the skyline shots of Minneapolis, especially the second one, with all the lights!
Twin Cities
Philly
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Out and About Philadelphia
Danielle and I went out on the town today!
Elfreth's Alley, the Betsy Ross House, and the Schuylkill (Skoo-Kill, apparently) Trail. We biked every step of the way (except when we took actual steps and walked), and it totalled about 12 miles!
We had a lot of fun, although I think I scared Danielle quite a bit while biking through Center City. I like to dodge in and out of stopped traffic and burn yellow lights, Danielle likes to be safe. She handled it like a champ, though, and was a loving wife through it all.
So our first stop was Elfreth's Alley, a free walk down a block of 18th century row houses on "Our Nation's Oldest Residential Street." And people STILL live there! We learned a little about the poor Irish and German immigrants who originally settled the neighborhood, saw inside one of the houses furnished to match the 18th/19th century lifestyle, and learned a little about the industrial manufacturing and shipping jobs that drew poor immigrants to the Alley, which sits a couple blocks from the port on the Delaware River.
Our second stop was the Betsy Ross House. Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Claypoole) was a Quaker-then-Anglican-then-quasi-Quaker patriot credited with sewing the first American flag. The house called "The Betsy Ross House" is an old building on Arch Street which Betsy rented with her family throughout her adult life. During the British occupation of Philadelphia Elizabeth supposedly sewed her treasonous flags in her upstairs bedroom away from prying loyalist eyes. Interesting fact: Elizabeth is responsible for the five-pointed star on the American flag, instead of the six-pointed star suggested to her in the design presented by George Washington and her Uncle-in-law, George Ross (and Robert Morris).
Finally, after leaving Old City we headed back West to the Schuylkill River to bike along the Schuylkill Trail. Schuylkill, while pronounced oddly, has a cool meaning: hidden river. It comes from the Dutch, which explains a lot. We biked north for a couple miles and saw some great gardens, biked past the Art Museum, which we plan to visit soon, and saw lots of statues, which seem to be Philly's choicest way of commemorating its impressive history. We will have to go back many times to take in the full awesomeness of the path and to train for a future trip up the Trail to Valley Forge. For now here are a few pictures:
Elfreth's Alley, the Betsy Ross House, and the Schuylkill (Skoo-Kill, apparently) Trail. We biked every step of the way (except when we took actual steps and walked), and it totalled about 12 miles!
So our first stop was Elfreth's Alley, a free walk down a block of 18th century row houses on "Our Nation's Oldest Residential Street." And people STILL live there! We learned a little about the poor Irish and German immigrants who originally settled the neighborhood, saw inside one of the houses furnished to match the 18th/19th century lifestyle, and learned a little about the industrial manufacturing and shipping jobs that drew poor immigrants to the Alley, which sits a couple blocks from the port on the Delaware River.
Our second stop was the Betsy Ross House. Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Claypoole) was a Quaker-then-Anglican-then-quasi-Quaker patriot credited with sewing the first American flag. The house called "The Betsy Ross House" is an old building on Arch Street which Betsy rented with her family throughout her adult life. During the British occupation of Philadelphia Elizabeth supposedly sewed her treasonous flags in her upstairs bedroom away from prying loyalist eyes. Interesting fact: Elizabeth is responsible for the five-pointed star on the American flag, instead of the six-pointed star suggested to her in the design presented by George Washington and her Uncle-in-law, George Ross (and Robert Morris).
Finally, after leaving Old City we headed back West to the Schuylkill River to bike along the Schuylkill Trail. Schuylkill, while pronounced oddly, has a cool meaning: hidden river. It comes from the Dutch, which explains a lot. We biked north for a couple miles and saw some great gardens, biked past the Art Museum, which we plan to visit soon, and saw lots of statues, which seem to be Philly's choicest way of commemorating its impressive history. We will have to go back many times to take in the full awesomeness of the path and to train for a future trip up the Trail to Valley Forge. For now here are a few pictures:
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