A Trip to the Fort

Last weekend we found out (the fun way) that we don't have to go all the way to Mississippi to see gun toting reenactors.

I present: Mission San Luis!

One time home of some Spanish and Native Americans!

Doesn't look like much but during its heyday, this was probably equivalent to a Goldfinger-era Fort Knox.

Every so often some of the people of who currently work there give little demonstrations of what life must have been like for those old timey settlers. First up, a march!

Picking your nose is timeless.

That mound over there is actually a giant Apalachee Council house.

Not too shabby. Next we got to go inside the actual fort and check the place out.

Once inside it became clear that 8 bit space invaders was based mostly in reality.

This building was used to shoot at aliens.

Next they showed us how they might defend themselves:

It was neat to see all those old guns shoot. They had matchlocks, flintlocks, hand held cannons called "hand guns" and a normal cannon. The leader of the reenactment told the crowd about how innacurate all the weapons were. He said that they didn't even aim their guns too hard, turning their heads away at the last moment so that they wouldn't get hit with sparks from the guy next to them. Sometimes only a few of guns would go off and sometimes they wouldn't hit anyone for a couple of minutes, but fortunately for them the ammunition dealt astounding levels of damage to its victims, vaporizing them instantly.

A cannonball grazed this guy's ear.

Also they sometimes would urinate on attackers climbing up the walls.

All in all it was a fun and informative trip.

Hope to see you there sometime!

Clotiiiiildaaaaaaa!!!

So. It's not just dogs that chew on shoes. :(

Habitat For Humanity

This past Saturday Elliot and I participated in landscaping a Habitat For Humanity house here in town. A group of people from our work, pictured below, worked together with others from the community to rip up grass, lay down sod, plant trees and shrubs, mulch, and water the yard. It was hard work, but it was fun.

Happy Anniversary, Us!

Today is Mary's and my 2nd wedding anniversary!

567∞!

I love my wife and I love my life!

Mississippi Beach

Recently, while we were in Mississippi, we decided to visit a beach. One thing that we noticed about this beach, was that there seemed to be a lot less wildlife than we were used to. No beach grasses or trees and hardly any birds.

There was this one armadillo(not pictured), but it was dead. We even looked for shells but couldn't find any... at first.

What sort of creature could possibly live in such a desolate, lonely place? Must be bitter and probably ornery, crabby you might say.

You'd be right: a hermit crab.

And eventually another one.

The sand was really nice though.

A new passion: "Settlers of Catan" board game

The alternate title for this post is "How a board game might have changed my life."

I was reading Wired magazine the other day when I came across an article titled "Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game Redefines Genre," which piqued my intrest to say the least. I love games of all kinds and I am always interested in playing new ones. Board games have traditionally played a supporting role to videogames but ever since I tried and loved Cranium, I have been open to trying a greater variety of board games. I was very excited to hear that there was a "perfect" one now available and I sought to try it out immediately after reading the aforementioned article.

Long story short: Holy cow! I love Settlers. It is simple to play and offers more opportunities for strategy than any other board game I have ever played. The game is literally different every time you play and is always surprising me. It is so much fun that I have recently been putting off playing video games just to play more of it. Needless to say, I am finding the gameplay richly rewarding and deeply satisfying, even when I loose.

My experience with Settlers has taught me something that applies more broadly to my life which is this:

"One must not hold on too tightly to an idea of what one would like the world to be like. Constantly take stock of the current situation and try to accept it and use it to find a path to success. Always stay focused on the positive goals and figure out a way to get there from where you are right now."

Not bad for a board game, and I am not even very good at it!

My hope is that you try this board game and have enriching experiences just like I did. Good luck everybody!

Recently Mary and I went on a little tripi to Mississippi!

In our quest to see every state in the U.S. we figured it was time to see Mississippi. We decided to visit the gulf coast city of Biloxi and used their city's webiste to find some interesting things to do.

First on their list of places to visit (it might be alphabetical): Beauvoir, the late life home of Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederate States of America.

Au revoir, Beauvoir! (this is the back of the house after we just left.)

At first, the idea of visiting the one time home of the president of the Confederate States of America seemed a little weird. But after some consideration, we came to the conclusion that it is a piece of American History and we can't just ignore the parts that are associated with negative things.

It seemed remarkably busy when we got there, which we took as a sign that it was an interesting place. Soon we were touring the newly restored house. There are many interesting things about that old house,

Faux 3-d! It was all the rage at the time and was done with paint, not wall paper.

Jefferson Davis bathed in that cast iron tub! Crazy!

so walking and looking around was fun,

Hello!

but it wasn't long before we began to suspect that something was going on.

Turns out that it was Confederate Memorial Day and Beauvoir was hosting a memorial service. After the tour we just sort of followed the crowd over to the cemetary area where there was a stage set up

Cool! Looks like something out of an old western!

and people in civil war costumes milling about. Even the band had a civil war sort of theme to it.

Wow! Just like something out of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

As more and more people started to gather, including a lady dressed in black civil war era mourning clothes, we felt more and more out of place. Oh, did I mention that they were armed with muskets? Try as we might, it was tough to ignore the rediculously large number of rebel flags,

Just the tip of the iceberg.

and by the time they started to march around,

Less cool: Just like something out of "Birth of a Nation."

Mary and I decided we just weren't that into this implicitly positive association with the Confederate States of America. Also, this one motorcycle gang in particular seemed a little too into it,

Not the most diverse gathering.

though they clearly have a sense of humor. As does the gift shop.

Apparently, Loons love it here.

All in all it was a pleasant excursion, but not nearly as pleasant as where we went for dinner. But since we didn't take any pictures of Kim Long Asian restaurant(the food was seriously tasty), the next post will either be about our trip to the beach or the bed and breakfast where we stayed.

Happy Earth Day!

Yay for the Earth! Please help save water by turning the faucet off between spits when you brush your teeth.

Radon: Mitigated

The ever present threat of Radon gas has finally been mitigated at our house. After finding out only a few weeks ago that we were threatened with borderline high Radon levels, we decided to get some mitigation contracting done. Here are some pics of the finished result.

Yeah, that's a fan that sucks air from a hole dug underneath our house and pipes it 10+ feet up in the air so that the radon gas can mix with the rest of the air, just like if there were no house there to collect it all. It's all about soil communication and pressure differences.

Hey, what's that on the fan enclosure? Looks serious, let's zoom in for a closer look.

Booyah! This is super serious! This guy handles radioactive material so like, don't alter or disconnect it.

Love Is...

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

New Recipe Blog

I've moved our recipe blog to:

internationalvegetarian.blogspot.com

FYI

David Sedaris

Elliot and I went with our friends Mark, Leslie, and Steve last night to see David Sedaris speak. It was great! I'll have to write more later...

*Edited*

Okay, so we've had tickets to see David Sedaris speak since November. Elliot and I were super excited and so glad when April 16th finally rolled around. We've read several of Mr. Sedaris's books and heard him on NPR, so it was a treat to be able to go.

Before the performance, David Sedaris was doing a book signing. We hadn't bought his most recent book, so we purchased a copy and he signed it. Yay! He was very nice... even to the person in front of us in line who talked to him FOREVER about NOTHING. I guess you've got to be nice to your fans, though.

For the performance, David Sedaris read several new stories that he's working on, and then there was a Q&A session. All very entertaining. It was a fun night.

Happy Easter!

Elliot and I are taking it easy today, eating chocolates and filing taxes. We hope that you are having a happy, candy-filled day, too.

Last night we went to the Co-cathedral of St. Thomas More, a Catholic church here in town, and watched our good friend, John, be confirmed. The service was 3 1/2 hours long, and full of candle lighting, singing, confirmations, and baptisms. Here are a few pictures.

Elliot and I, just before leaving the house:



John getting confirmed:



Elliot and John after the service:



Yay for John!

Okra Creole and Banana Bread from Barbados

We're finally working on our World Peas project again! Yay!

Last night Elliot and I made Okra Creole and banana bread from recipes used in Barbados. Elliot couldn't really get past the sliminess of the cooked okra, but he enjoyed the taste of Okra Creole nonetheless. The fresh corn really adds a nice flavor.




Our first loaf of homemade banana bread:

Caterpillar Camo

We're always finding cool new animals and insects in our yard. Here's the latest-- a wonderfully camouflaged caterpillar. You can't tell from the pictures but it scooted its little body along like an inch worm. Adorable!

Eggah from Tunisia

I forgot to post the recipe when we made eggah a while back.

It was very tasty-- like a baked omelet. We ate it as a light dinner with a salad, but it would make a perfect dish for brunch.

Radar Gets Jealous

Lately, Radar can't stand for Applesauce to be sitting in my lap. If she sees him there, she comes over, licks his head, and then sits on top of both of us. I guess she's asserting her dominance with some sort of passive/aggressive cat behavior. Applesauce is the biggest pushover ever, so he just lets her sit on top of him. As long as they're not fighting, it's fine by me. Keeps my legs warm, anyway.

Chris and Jen

Thank you Chris and Jen for letting us visit this weekend!

Happy Birthday, My Husband!

Today is Elliot's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, YOU LIVE IN A ZOO, YOU LOOK LIKE A BEAUTIFUL SUPERMODEL, AND YOU SMELL LIKE FRESH FRUIT!!!! (I modified the song as I saw appropriate.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As Elliot and I are both a wee bit Irish, let us wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day! (I hope you remembered to wear green!)

More Wildlife in our Backyard

This time: snake!  

Potentially Mundane.

But totally cute.

I like how seeing something as ubiquitous and potentially mundane as a snake in my yard gets me excited.  I am sure that they must slither on by more often than I realize but this is the first time I can remember seeing one.  I guess the real exciting part is realizing just how diverse my backyard's ecosystem really is.  Biodiversity!

Finally: Nielsen Ratings Come To Our House.

I have heard about Nielsen ratings since forever.  I even heard, when I was a little kid, that if you were chosen to be a Nielsen family, you got free cable for a week.  Having free cable and a chance to tell someone all about what TV shows were my favorite was a lot of what I was looking for as a child.  So imagine my great surprise and delight when I received a postcard informing me that I would receive a phone call and that the outcome of that phone call would determine whether or not I would become part of a Nielsen family.  

After all these years, I would finally get to tell them what I watched on TV and also maybe get free cable.  In reality it was even better than free cable: cash money.  They sent us enough money to buy a pizza delivery with tip, which I thought was awesome.  I guess it doesn't make sense that they would provide me with new viewing options and then ask what my normal viewing patterns are.  Here is the best part of the entire thing though - we don't watch any TV(At least not on the TV and for Nielsen internet TV doesn't count).  

I spoke at length with Nielsen representative on the phone and it turns out that it doesn't matter if you actually watch TV or not.  I made sure to record the several hours of Arrested Development DVDs that I watched, just so they know what's up, but I left the rest of the diary blank.  Maybe they will get the picture, maybe not, but I am glad that some research, somewhere, will show that we are not watching any TV except DVDs like Arrested Development.

P.S. We don't even have a digital converter box so we couldn't even get TV if we wanted, but in reality I think I should get one so that we could use TV as a way to keep informed in case of emergency.  Of course, whatever sort of emergencies are only brodcast on DTV and not on the radio probably aren't emergencies of the type that I would really care about.

College Baketball!

       We always have a lot of fun at FSU football games when we attend, so when Mary won tickets to a basketball game we though we would give it a try.  It was Clemson playing FSU and it was great.  It was a close and fun game and Clemson almost came back to beat FSU but didn't.  It made me want to experience more live basketball, that's for sure.  There was a colorful, humorous, announcer that would be difficult to describe here but I would highly recommend hearing a game if you can't see one.  A good time was had by all, especially this guy.

Go team!

To Animal Kingdom for Ben's Birthday

Last Saturday, in celebration of Ben's birthday, Elliot and I met Ben and Sheila and some of their friends at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was fun! Elliot and I got to see a lot of the attractions that we didn't have a chance to see when we went to Animal Kingdom this past November.

Ben and Sheila:


Elliot:


Some kind of cool bird:


We ate dinner at Boma, which is a restaurant in the Animal Kingdom resort area that serves African-inspired dishes served buffet-style. It was reeeeeeeeeally good. I definitely want to go back there some time.

On Sunday, we went shopping at one of Orlando's (many) outlet malls and found a lot of good deals. It was a very nice weekend. :)

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Happy birthday to my baby-est sister, Laura!

Here's a picture of me, Sara, and Laura from December 2007:

Congrats again to Sara and Bret!

My cellphone rang at 2:30 today.

Sara: Do you have a minute to talk?

Mary: Well, I'm at work. But what's up?

S: Bret and I got married today.

M: That's weird.

S: Why is that weird? That's what people do after they get engaged. They get married.

M: Engaged people usually tell their friends and family the DATE that they're going to get married.

S: Why would we do that? Then everyone would want to be there. We wanted it just Bret and me.

M: Hmmm. Well... congratulations!

MacHomer

Friday night Elliot and I saw "MacHomer," which is a performance of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" by one man who acts out the parts as if they are Simpson's characters. It was very good. Better than we thought it would be. The actor uses props and he imitates 50 different voices from the Simpson's during the play. Elliot and I had a great time.

Noche Flamenca

Last night Elliot, John, and I went to a performance by Noche Flamenca. It was awesome!



The group had two guitarists, two singers, and four dancers. The dancers' bodies were as much a part of the music as the guitars and singing-- the dancers stomp, clap, slap their arms and thighs, and call out to each other. It felt very emotionally intense at some points in the performance.

Elliot especially liked the show. It was a unique experience, and I'm so glad that we went.

I got Mary some chocolate for Valentine's Day!

They came from far away! They have no preservatives(unless you count sugar)!

Here's how the unboxing went down.

Fancy outer box! The foil reflects heat I think! Can't have those chocolates melting.

Fancy inner box! There's a special message in there and also a cold gel pack.

The orange stuff isn't chocolate, but insulation.

A garantee of quality!

YUM!

Honest Abe

Happy 200th birthday, President Abraham Lincoln! (My favorite president!)

Interesting fact: Charles Darwin had the exact same birthday as President Lincoln. Happy 200th, Charles Darwin!

Although the two men never met, here is an article about how Darwin's and Lincoln's life works were connected: click here

3rd Annual Visit to Apalachicola

Elliot and I took our 3rd trip to Apalachicola this past Friday and Saturday. We had a wonderful time, despite the fact that it was basically a series of mishaps and misfortunes.

We were excited to go back to Apalachicola because we took up bird watching this past year and we figured that we might see some new species. Friday after work we packed for our trip and hopped in Elliot's car. About an hour into the car ride, a bird flew into the side of the car, killing itself. We didn't run into it-- it ran into us. Not a happy way to start the trip. Especially not a bird watching trip.

In Apalachicola, we rented a room at a bed and breakfast, then went and had a delicious dinner. Once we got back to the room, I climbed into the bed, which was very high off of the ground and required a step-stool to get into. It was a big, four-poster bed and it had a thick, wooden frame. When I decided to get back down off the bed, I slid down the side and hit my leg very,very hard along the frame, giving myself big, purple bruise. It hurt so badly!

The next day, Elliot and I walked all over the downtown area. Apalachicola has a bird sanctuary with a science center and a nature trail, so we decided to go check it out. The science center was closed, so we took the nature trail in order to do some bird watching. We saw a big flock of robins at the start of the trail and we took a long time observing them.

As we continued, walking past the robins, I felt a scratch along my lower back and reached back to brush away whatever was touching me. I felt dirt or something like it all over my back. Unsure of what it was, I touched under my waistband and felt still more dirt. Feeling concerned, I reached down into my underwear and felt that my underwear was full of dirt, too. I had no idea where it came from, so I got frantic.

"Elliot! There are little things in my underwear! LOTS OF THEM!!!"

Without even thinking, I pulled down my pants and the back of my underwear, brushing frantically at my rear end. Elliot helped me, trying not to laugh.

We got everything out of my pants (still not sure what it was or how it got there), looked around to make sure no one saw, then moved on. Not twenty feet ahead we saw a sign. This is what it said (no joke): "Due to a recent problem with vandalism in this area, police will be patrolling here on a regular basis. Video surveillance cameras have be set up along the trail. Vandals will be prosecuted."

Elliot and I sure got a laugh out of that. I'm sure that the Apalachicola police department got quite a laugh, too, watching some crazy lady dance around with her butt hanging out of her pants. (If there are in fact cameras, that is.)

At the end of the trail, we DID see a bald eagle! That made it worth it.

The rest of the trip was fine-- we bought some chocolates from a chocolatier. They weren't very good. Then we went to a few antique stores, found nothing that we wanted to buy, and went home.

Can't wait to go back next year!!!

Happy Birthday, Sara!

Today is my sister Sara's birthday. She shares her birthday with our Uncle Jack and our cousin Lori. Happy birthday to all!

Here's a picture of Sara that's AT LEAST 6 years old:

Skink!

Specifically, either a "Five-lined Skink" or a "Southeastern Five-lined Skink," according to wikipedia anyway. Either way, it's a juvenille and it looks totally cool.

We found it in the back yard crawling around in the dirt, probably hunting centipedes. Which they supposedly eat. Yeah, right. Let's just say I haven't seen any skinks up untill now but I have seen centipedes on multiple occasions. You do the math.

Congrats to Sara and Bret!

My sister, Sara, called me tonight.

Sara: Come over. I have something I want to show you.

Me: What is it? We have to go grocery shopping and it's already late. Can it wait until tomorrow?

S: No. Just come over. I want to show you.

M: Did you get a pet? A cat?

S: No. Come over.

M: Are you pregnant or something?

S: No!

M: Did you find a baby somewhere? Is there a baby involved in this?

S: No!

M: Then it can wait until tomorrow. I'll call you then.

S: Just come over!

M: Tell me what it is you want to show me, then I'll decide if we're coming over.

S: It's an engagement ring.

So congratulations to Sara and Bret. No date is set yet, but the ring is very pretty (we did go see it, after all). A diamond solitaire. Good for them!

Robin 'hood

Our neighborhood has been full of robins lately. Today they descended on our yard. The cats were beside themselves...