Weekend of Birthdays

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I would like to welcome into the world, weighing in at 8lbs 6oz and standing (...well, laying) at a full 22":

Jordan Anthony O'Neal

He was born to my cousins, Jay and Aliya, on Nov 18. I went to visit the three of them today at the hospital. That is a good looking baby boy, and I am happy for Aliya and Jay. Aliya is recovering well. She did have surgery so she isn't expected to go home until Wednesday. She should be home in time for Thanksgiving.

This weekend I also took a trip down to DC to visit my good friend Kapil (pictures forthcoming). About a dozen or so of us went to Maggiano's for a good family style Italian meal. Then a few of us meet up with some other friends at a place called Chloe in Adams Morgan. All around, a good night (although I would suggest not trying to get a cab from Adams Morgan to Bethesda - took us a long while to find one that would do it for less than $50).

Happy Birthday to Jordan and to Kapil!

Take 6 at BB King's

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(Email me to see some video clips.)

The evening was a ton of fun!

Okwui, Jenn, and I thought we were showing up early at 6:20, or so, for dinner (thank you Okwui for dinner) before the show which started at 8pm. The line was already halfway down the block when we got there. It is a good thing we showed up when we did 'cause we got pretty decent seats right on the stage left corner (in front of the speakers, but that's okay - my hearing has started to come back now :)

When Take 6 came out they were amazing! At some points, it was hard to believe they were just human voices . (Check out "All Blues.") They were on before Marcus Miller (electric bassist), but I must admit Take 6 tore the place down for me (I am a little bias). Marcus and Vinnie (that is who Okwui and I are pictured with) go head to head on the "Take 6 with Marcus Miller" video - *bangkk*!

Check out the Take 6 website to read more about the group, hear some clips, and see some official videos ;)

Big ups to Shel and Jason for tipping me to the fact that they were rolling through the East (that was birthday present enough :).

PS There is a place in the world for Scientology: If Okwui had not stopped at the Free Stress Test booths right out side BB King's to have a 13 year old girl try and tell him about how Dianetics helps relieve the stresses of life, Jenn would not have caught the fact that Alvin was standing right out side the door (good catch Jenn!), and we would not have gotten to meet him and to take a picture :)

Happy Birthday to Me! :)

Friday, September 30, was my birthday - yay!! So to celebrate I took a trip to one of my favorite destinations: NYC.

I hung out Friday night with my friend Keren. We ate at Cafecito (12th and C), which is one of my favorite places to eat when I visit her. It is a little Cuban spot that serves excellent churrasco. Then we watched Crash - man, that is a thought provoking movie (especially after William Bennett's recent comments).

Saturday I hung out with Okwui and Jenn. We went to BB King's to see Take 6 and Marcus Miller perform. Take 6 is absolutely amazing (check out my next post for some pictures and such).

It was a great weekend, spent with good friends. I don't think I could ask for more. I felt (and continue to feel) so blessed.

Yay for New Old Friends!

I recently rediscovered an old friend and it is great :)

Back in high school, I went to Governor's School for Sciences. After just one month, I made some life long friendships - you wouldn't think you could create such depth in one month... especially for high schoolers. Yet, I am still tight with some of the folks from the program.

Angie is one of my homies from that summer. She is fun, vibrant, smart, and a general pleasure to be around. Unfortunately I haven't been keeping up with her as much as I should. So recently we connected via IM. Come to find out she is all grown up. ...well, married at least :) Here's some pics from her wedding. It's been great catching up on old times with her (in between her study sessions for med school).

It sure is good to have wonderful friends who, even after years go by, are still your homies.

Aged Grapes and Old Milk

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Matt and Molly sure know how to throw a party. This past weekend I had the pleasure of hang out in their new apartment and meeting a lot of their friends from school.

The newly weds hosted a wonderfully fun wine & cheese party. The group of us managed to use all of Matt and Molly's 28 wine glasses (in 4 different styles), consume 13 bottles of wine and... I lost track of the amount of cheese, crackers and fruit. :)

Once again, a testament to the quality of Matt and Molly, their friends were great people. We all spent the night chatting, joking and playing "Freeze Tag," an improv comedy game that left our sides hurting from laughter.

Cheers to Matt & Molly and their PSU friends!

Chicago 2005

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This past weekend my mom and I met in Chicago to hang out and explore the touristy things about the city. I must say I was thoroughly impressed by Chicago and would love to travel back there soon (before the winter comes ;o).

We arrived Friday afternoon and decided to take a trip up to the top of John Hancock Center (thanks for the tip, Adrienne). Although it was overcast, the view was still spectacular! Afterwards we intended to check out N. Michigan, but the stores were closed so we just grabbed dinner.

Saturday we woke up early and took a morning walk around the museum campus and along Lake Shore Drive. Again, the landscaping and the view of the skyline was wonderful. We then cleaned ourselves up and took a ride on the trolley tour around the city. The neat thing about the trolley was that you can jump on and off at any of the pick up spots. We jumped off back on Magnificent Mile, went perusing through a couple of the shops, grabbed some lunch, then hoped back on for the rest of the tour. We got a nice overview of some of the history and a chance to check out most of the major landmarks/highlights about the city.

Later that afternoon we hoped off the trolley again at Navy Pier. Navy Pier is a fun place. We saw some pretty strange performers and ate junk like popcorn, roasted, caramelized nuts, and icees while we strolled the length of the pier. Joe's Be-Bop is a great place for dinner with live jazz and blues entertainment. After Navy Pier we took a couple buses down to Buckingham Fountain to watch the light show there. We could also see the fireworks display on Navy Pier from the fountain.

Sunday we did not get up as early - at least we didn't think so at the time. It turns out we thought it was about 11am when in reality the clock was almost 2 hours fast! So we had "more Sunday" than anticipated, which was a good thing. We went to the Museum of Science & Industry to see the Body World exhibit which, using a break through technology, showed real human bodies, "frozen" in real-life positions, dissected to show the details of our anatomy. It was very interesting (and only slightly creepy). Of course you know I had a blast at the other exhibits in the science museum as well ;o)

Alas, the inevitable: Monday was check out and flight home day. We had a great weekend! And as always, it was fun getting to chill with my mom. She is a great travel buddy :o)

Matt and Molly

After seeing their wedding last weekend, I hope that I have a daughter as beautiful and as sweet as Molly and that she is blessed with a man as wonderful as Matt.

Mr. & Mrs. Freyer

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Presenting... Matt and Molly Freyer!

I had the pleasure of being at Molly and Matt wedding and August 6, 2005. It was a beautiful weekend in Omaha, NE. (My first trip to America's Heartland :) Omaha was lovely and I even got a chance to get out to the corn fields - I was looking for crop circles or something.

Anyway, back to Molly and Matt. Friday night they had a Luau at Matt's grandfathers place after their wedding rehearsal. The luau was a ton of fun! I got to meet a lot of Matt's & Molly's friends about whom I've heard so much. Matt jokingly told me the day before that I was uninvited unless I agreed to wear a grass skirt so of course I had to oblige :)

Saturday's ceremony was absolutely fabulous. Molly looked so beautiful in her wedding dress and Matt was dapper with tuxedo and a fresh cut (although we did kind of miss "the wings" :) It was a short and to the point ceremony (which is not a bad thing at all). Once the vows were exchanged and the rings were placed on fingers, the priest leaned forward and whispered to the couple, "Congratulations. You're married." :)

It looked like everyone had a blast at the reception. The food was great and once again, the friends these two keep are amazing. I only knew a hand-full of people already, but I felt like I knew all of them! Then the DJ broke out with the music. It was a fun mix, and we all dance the night away (well, until 11:15pm :)

Sunday morning those of us who didn't have to break out right away headed over to the Cuddigans for brunch. Matt and Molly opened some of there gifts and we all enjoyed a chill Sunday morning.

I couldn't be more happy for those two crazy kids and their families!

Congratulations, and God bless your marriage!!

Got Dirt?

I read this in my bible study online this morning and thought I would share:

There's a story about a group of scientists who decided that humans could do without God. So one of them looked up to God and said, "We've decided that we no longer need You. We have enough wisdom to clone people and do many miraculous things."

God listened patiently and then said, "Very well, let's have a man-making contest. We'll do it just like I did back in the old days with Adam." The scientists agreed, and one of them bent down and picked up a handful of dirt. God looked at him and said, "No! You have to make your own dirt!"

...too cold

This is a recent image from Picutures of Walls that I just had to share.

:)

Realization

I read this quick three-liner and thought it was kind of cool:

real eyes
realize
real lies

It was scribbled on a wall in one of the pictures on Pictures of Walls. I think the Pictues of Walls site is kind of cool, but I must warn: it has some graffic language and images that some may find offensive.

Go West, Young Man.

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This past weekend I was out in San Francisco, California, with my college friends, the newly wed RJ and Danielle. They took me around the city and the Bay Area on my first trip to the West Coast.

I had a fabulous time! I got to see the Golden Gate Bridge, The Rock - Alcatraz (from a distance), Cable Cars, eBay, and... Apple!

The best part was getting to see RJ and D. There are two cool kats who I like hanging out with and who I missed.

RJ & D: Congrats on your marriage, and I am so happy for you! And thanks for the hospitality!! Oh, and AOMN - you two can figure it out. ;o)

Exit Row Seating

Click here to read an article regarding the emergency exit row on airplanes.

For those who don't know, I am 6'6". This poses significant problems in area of leg room. Thank goodness for the emergency exit row on airplanes!! I have made it my home for many of flights.

On the red-eye back from San Francisco (see my next post for pictures :) to Philly I was stuck in the "regular" seats because the exit rows were all taken. I was quickly reminded why I try to show up extra early for the exits. I don't fit - well, technically I just barely fit - in the regular seats. Needless to say I wasn't comfortable enough to sleep.

I am sure it would be a comical sight to see me squished in the tiny seat. I should have taken a picture :)

Anyway, after I got home I read the article referenced above and felt vindicated - it was actually kind of ironic. (To be honest I thought about going to the exit rows when I was getting on my plane and calling out all of the people who would not meet the qualifications :)

Not to belittle short people, but next time you guys feel the need "leg room" on a flight, think about those of us 6'6" and above you are truly desperate for a few more inches for our knees' sake. Thanks.

Pittsburgh 4th of July

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Happy Birthday, Matt!!

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This past weekend Matt and Molly came out to my mom's house in Pittsburgh, along with my Grandmom and me. We celebrated Matt's Birthday in style with cook out on the back patio, some music, and a surprise visit by his grad school roommate, Obi. Matt got some nice presents (if I do say so myself :), but the one he seemed to like the most was the $2.00 wood & rubber band plane. I have to admit it is fun to play with, and I am tempted to go buy a couple for myself.

My mom went all out on the decorations - you can see Matt's crown in the pictures and Molly's tiara. After all, no king should be without a queen. Matt also got to take home some b-day balloons too.

I hope Matt had a good time. He sure enough looked like it :)

Happy 25th Birthday, Matt!

(There will be more pictures of the Pittsburgh 4th of July weekend in the next posting.)

A little ping-pong, anyone?

This was a fun day with Keren in NYC at the playground in her apartment complex. They had ping-pong tables, and I just couldn't resist :)


PS I don't really wear my shorts like that...
it's just my ping-pong get up ;)

Happy Mother's Day!

I want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my mom and to all the mothers out there.

The older I get the more I realize how much my mom has done for me. As a kid I appreciated what I saw her doing for me -- the sacrifices and the love -- but I didn't really understand the full story (and I still don't know the half of it). I was talking with her in the kitchen this weekend, and she was retelling some of the stories from when I was a little kid and what she did (and didn't do) to make things happen for me. I was amazed by how oblivious I was as a kid, but she was all the while working to keep me straight, to help me get to where I am, and to prepare me for where I am going.

As much as mothers may get on our nerves, we owe a lot to them -- at least I know I owe a lot to my mom. When I think back to times when I felt the most annoyed by my mom, they were invariably times when she pushed me to be the best that I could be and enabled me to excel. I truly appreciate her effort and her love.

Thanks, Mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Anniversary

Today marks Kelley's and my third anniversary. She has truly been a blessing in my life.

I love you , Kell.

Brooklyn Trees

Here are a few pictures I took while chilling in Brooklyn with my friend Keren a couple weeks ago. The weather was lovely; we decided to walk across the Willamsburg Bridge into BK (and no, we didn't get any cheesecake :)

Click on the photo to see more pictures of the spring flowers on the trees. (I figure out a way to display photos that doesn't need Flickr - stinking 10MB/month upload limit. Maybe next month I shouldn't try to upload 5MP photos that are like 2MB each :)

New Blog Template

I just felt like a change :) Tell me what you think.