Sadness

One of the BEST people and grandfathers ever. You will be missed a ton.

Kindle vs. An Actual Book

The subject of an e-reader vs. a book made from paper is something I've talked about before. But it's something that presents itself once again due to my friends having them and my constant dilemma of trying to decide which books to take on work trips and vacations. Sometimes this quandary is not too intense, but this is only when I have a stack of New Yorker issues that I need to catch up on. However, this is not always the case.


I am not the only one. This short post on one of my favourite sites touches on a lot of the same reasons why I cannot break down and get one (or ask for one for Christmas/birthdays/graduation).


I recently put this choice in the hands of fate. Except Fate was an elderly lady with a Boston accent. She was walking around the convention hall where I was trying to give away copies of some environmental science journals, and she asked me to take a survey about the convention center. If I took it, I would be automatically entered to win an e-reader. I took the survey with mixed feelings. I didn't really want an e-reader, but I did want to take the survey on her fancy-schmansy iPad. 


Maybe the real question is this: forget the e-reader, do I secretly want an iPad?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hank says Happy Thanksgiving!

He's super glad he's not a turkey.

Yards Brewery

On a rainy Saturday, my brother Budd and I took the brewery tour at Yards Brewery on Delaware Ave in Philadelphia. It's a super small local brewery, but the beer is fab (and the tour is free). As a bonus, there is a tasting room with a long, u-shaped bar on one side and pool and air hockey tables on the other.

Our tour guide looked like our Uncle Doug. So, for argument's sake, let's call him Doug. He offered us free samples of an IPA and the George Washington Porter. Being partial to the darker beers, I tried the porter. I made the mistake of letting Budd try a sip. Though he extolled the virtues of the lighter IPA, he also wouldn't give me back my tiny cup of porter.

Mean.

Whilst Doug was giving the tour, he also sipped from a pint of the George Washington Porter. And when I say sipped I really mean that he took long, unapologetic swigs. I didn't blame him one bit.

(Budd by the bottling machine)

(Me too)

It was a quick tour, and if you've been on other brewery tours (as we had done), there's a lot of the same stuff about hops and yeast, etc. It was still interesting (especially to hear how they properly dispose of the yeast and such), and our tour guide was really the best. We actually spent more time in the tasting room appreciating the final product. It's a lot fun, and I'm sure we'll go back to get a growler to take home....though the growler shown below is too big to stand upright in my fridge. Needless to say, my fridge still kind of smells like the George Washington Porter.

(Budd and the growler)

(Cheers!)

I Have Senioritis

Whenever I am about to graduate from school of some kind, the last year or so is super difficult. Not necessarily in terms of coursework but more along the lines of "I have no desire to do any work, and I cannot focus on anything that has to do with school." It can get bad; my last semester of undergrad I seriously considered showing up to the final presentation for my Latin American Plays of Protest class and saying, "No tengo un presentacion hoy. Estoy aburrido con mi vida." 


However, I didn't know that this was an affliction that was going to hit me in grad school too.


Senioritis can cause one to do things that they might never normally do. Even the most dedicated student is prone to it. Some side effects include:

• Realizing that spacing and margins on your papers are extremely important. (More important that the paper itself sometimes);  
• Deciding to write a blog post....or seven;
• Getting sucked into watching the entire second season of Bored to Death in 4 episode increments;
• Looking at all of your old photos for hours and wondering why the hell haven't I bought a photo printer yet;
• Realizing that your computer could get a cold and accidentally erase everything; and running out to buy an external hard drive because your old one is formatted for a PC and you're now using a mac;
• It suddenly becomes important to do freakishly detailed cleaning projects that you would normally hate to do- such as cleaning your keyboard....or the oven;
• Cooking like the Barefoot Contessa moves from a distant life goal into something that must happen immediately;
• Cursing yourself because your recipe box is already in alphabetical order (a project you completed the last time you procrastinated);
• Cleaning the bathroom until it is super clean...and we're talking on the level of "it's never this clean unless a boy is coming over."

Sometimes procrastination is more exhausting then just doing the work you're meant to be doing in the first place.

Fall Baking

Continuing on the theme of Fall and Becca's visit, I bring you the apful kuchen. A lovely German sweet made from the Dahm family secret recipe. It is sweet but not too sugary, and it really lets the taste of the apples shine through. 

(I sliced the apples)

(Placing them in a delicious fashion)

(almost ready for the oven)

(Baked and ready to eat: what you see is cinnamon, not burned apple)

(Happy Fall!)

Autumn and a Western Pennsylvanian

One fall Sunday afternoon, Becca was here from Western PA, and we visited Linvilla Orchards. It was October, the leaves were starting to change, and it was about 85 degrees....not exactly apple picking weather, but we dealt with it.

 Mums were everywhere, and we were able to squeeze past the hoards of sticky, crying children to find the perfect sized pumpkin (who was immediately named Chuck for no real reason at all).

(Becca holding Chuck)

We also wondered who was in charge of creating signs around that place....(and yes, many inappropriate jokes were made about the speed hump sign).

Finally, we grew tired and ready to go home and eat the apples we bought. But there was still time for us to actually take a photo together (something we don't do very often for some reason).

(We didn't want Chuck to feel left out)