Uncle Patrick!

Uncle Patrick was in town for a long weekend to visit us. So much fun!

Well, at least, we had fun. Not sure how much Patrick enjoyed the screaming little guy, but he looks good hanging out with him, right?

Will is practicing his "Why I oughta..." Popeye face

And I had to include these!

Also, I love it when Patrick visits. He always backs up my arguments that our thermostat is set too low! :)

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This weekend

I went to a baseball game with Patrick at Wrigley.

Can you tell?

Go Cubs Go! Click here to read more!

Patrick, you're a handsome (Blue) Devil

I'm in London this weekend, visiting my brother-in-law Graham, but I couldn't wait to share these pictures with you.

The weekend after the photography workshop that I attended in San Francisco, my little brother Patrick graduated from Duke. With a Masters. In Computer and Electrical Engineering. With a 4.0. After finishing his undergraduate degree in 3 years.

Wow.

And he still manages to be cool. Check it out:


We spent the weekend wandering around the lovely Duke campus. So gothic and so beautiful.


There are some places on campus that hold great memories for Patrick, including his fraternity.


And Patrick showed me some of his favorite spots on campus, which included the Engineering buildings. (Show off!)


And then he graduated! And this time it didn't rain!

Patrick at the same tree as last year, only drier.

We had a great time spending the day together as a family.



And Alex showed us a little bit of what it would be like to be a history/international affairs major.


That is, if he was our professor.



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When I was little

I was an only child until I was 8.5 years old. My parents, who were both 23 (barely) when I was born, and my uncle Bobby, who lived with us, were the closest thing I had to siblings. They were alright and all, but it's tough having siblings who are 23+ years older than you. They spend all day working instead of playing. They go to parties you cannot go to. They own the cars and therefore get to make the decision to go to the grocery store instead of Chuck E Cheese. Ugh. Add to it the fact that they were parents/uncle instead of siblings and so tasked with discipline, homework and piano practice enforcement and the aforementioned working, and you can begin to understand why I spent a lot of my childhood yearning for real siblings.

I also loved music as a kid. My family was one of the first in our neighborhood to have cable. My dad got it for the ESPN. I loved it for the MTV. MTV was the best back then - all music, the moonman, the best.

Is it so far-fetched, then, that I would spend time daydreaming about being on MTV, with my siblings (who were always two little brothers), entertaining the masses? I would pretend my jumprope was a microphone, imagine our family band and put concerts on in our house. I imagined multi-colored lights, awesome 80s hair, synthesizers. It was way cool.

It's like watching Phil Collins

While it isn't exactly what I imagined, it did cause me to remember those days when I found my real (not imaginary) brothers playing imaginary (not real) music on Rockband last night. There they are, my rock-and-roll, family band.

The it's-all-about-the-music shot.

They may not be a real live band, and they would probably never play backup to my singing outside of the context of Rockband, but they're pretty cool. And I'd have to say that I pretty much got what I wanted when I got them...


...rockstars. Total rockstars. Click here to read more!

Our vacation, in multiple parts

First things first: Patrick, Tyler's was awesome. I enjoyed the beer and laughs and only wish the stories were crazier.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programing.

Over the past two weeks since Alex and I returned from our amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, can't-believe-we-were-there, life-altering (or at least medium term plan altering) trip, a lot of people have asked to see pictures. So many that I think I should have written down the names because I'm not sure I will remember to send pics to them all. Especially since it may take me a lifetime to get them all organized.

In some ways, I think my ownership of Photoshop is an impediment. I mean, I have it, I can use it, so I should use it, right? BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME. Recent market movements notwithstanding, we're still in a financial meltdown, people. I have to spend a lot of my time focusing on retaining my job and the solvency of our family. You know, silly stuff like that. (To be clear, it's not that we're on the brink, I would just like to stay as far from said brink as possible, you know?)

Fortunately, I think Chris can support us for a little while if things get really bad. What's that saying about death and taxes? Won't the world always need tax accountants? Aren't they going to be the last thing to go, like cockroaches and twinkies?

I'm also going to blame the incompatibility of our laptop and desktop for any further delays. We brought our laptop on vacation, so we could check-in with work, download photos, blog (yes, yes, that part didn't go so well), etc. So all of my photos ended up on the laptop. Tonight I tried to transfer them over to the desktop and I got a random, jumbled mess of crap that could probably one day be sorted into a nice "Our amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, can't-believe-we-were-there, life-altering trip" photo album. But until then, I'm distressed by the disorganized mess of photos in iPhoto right now.

So I'll use NaBloPoMo to get through them, and if you're one of the people who wanted to see our photos, they'll be here. For those of you who forgot we even went on vacation, since my October posting record was not fabulous, check these out:
It's our trip!
Lounging (on the way)
We've arrived!
Birthday revelation

On the day of our arrival, we partook in the bridge climb. It was amazing. Here are a couple pictures of Alex and I on the bridge.


Admit it, you're jealous of our rockin' outfits. It's ok. Click here to read more!

The end of a lovely weekend

Alex and I just got back from Durham. We had a great weekend that was capped off with a beautiful technicolor sunset on our flight home. Can you believe this?


Highlights from the weekend:

• Partying with 18-21-year-olds (or were we just observing them in their natural habitat, like the guy who follows the Geico gecko around?)
• Teaching Patrick how to cook a couple of our favorite dishes
• Running in shorts in 35 degree weather (oops) before breakfast at Foster's, which was delightful (almost as delightful as Guglhupf - thanks for the suggestion, Mom!)

Thanks to Patrick for being such a great host!

And to help Patrick or anyone else who wants to make awesome Bolognese (Cook's Illustrated's old recipe), here's the recipe:

BOLOGNESE SAUCE
From The Best Recipe, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated (original 1999 1st edition)
INGREDIENTS
5 tbsp butter
2 tbsp minced onion
2 tbsp minced carrot
2 tbsp minced celery
0.75 lb meatloaf mix or 0.25 lb each ground beef chuck, ground veal, ground pork
Salt
1 c whole milk
1 c dry white wine
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes packed in juice, chopped fine with juice reserved

(Kathleen notes: I probably don't use the full 5 tbsp butter, just enough to put a good layer of butter on the bottom of the pan. I double the veggies and it still doesn't seem overly veggie-y. If you cannot find meatloaf mix or if buying each of those meats requires a huge expenditure, you can trade for half beef chuck, half pork or even all beef for the kosher folks. I use 2% milk instead of whole and it's still good. I don't think the kind of white wine matters that much; use something you want to drink. I think the real San Marzano tomatoes sold at Costco are the best money can buy, and it's less than $4 for a huge 128 oz can, but you have to want to make more than just this if you don't want to feel wasteful. I also don't chop the tomatoes and instead I put them and their juice in a bowl and carefully squish them with my fingers - Mario Batali style. FINALLY, I also use 1-2 tbsp of good tomato paste, where noted in step 1 below.)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Heat 3 tbsp butter in large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat (Kathleen note: once the butter is melted, I add the tomato paste and cook until a nice deep tomato smell emerges, 2-3 minutes); add onion, carrot, and celery and saute until softened but not browned, about 6 minutes. Add ground meat and 0.5 tsp salt; crumble meat with edge of wooden spoon to break apart into tiny pieces. Cook, continuing to crumble meat, just until it loses its raw color but has not yet browned, about 3 minutes.
2. Add milk and bring to simmer; continue to simmer until milk evaporates and only clear fat remains, 10 to 15 minutes. (Kathleen note: I usually bring this to a pretty full boil otherwise this takes much longer than 10-15 minutes.) Add wine and bring to simmer; contune to simmer until wine evaporates, 10 to 15 minutes longer. (Kathleen note: Again, I boil this.) Add tomatoes and their juice and bring to simmer; reduce heat to low so that sauce continues to simmer, just barely, with an occasional bubble or two at the surface, until liquid has evaporated, about 3 hours (if lowest burner setting is too high to allow such a low simmer, use a flame tamer). Adjust seasonings with extra salt to taste. (Kathleen note: I also add a little freshly ground pepper.)
3. Enjoy with your favorite pasta.

(More Kathleen notes: Cooks recommends serving this with fettuccine. I think it works best, and is less messy, with rotini or penne or some other similar bite sized pasta.)
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Happy NaBloPoMo! and Halloween!

Bless Patrick.

Alex and I are in Durham this weekend visiting my brother Patrick. We've had a lovely time and were totally flattered when he asked us to go to his fraternity party last night. Bless his heart. He thought we were cool enough to join him. :)

Given the timing of the party (last night), it was a Halloween party. I've never been big on dressing up for Halloween, well, at least during the most recent half of my life, but I came up with a good idea that was subtle and did not require any annoying hat, makeup, outfit, etc. It suited me perfectly.

Me, as a devil.
Patrick, as Patrick with an aluminum foil bracelet.

And so Alex and I hung out with a whole slew of kids half our age last night (OK, maybe not half, but some were 15 years younger than me - wow, how is it possible that people 15 years younger than me can party???).

OK, typing that last paragraph and going to that party made me feel particularly ancient. But we did manage to stay out until just before midnight after seeing all of the craziness we could manage to see. And you know what? Upon reflection, I think I like being old. College was fun, but life's been good to me so far. :)

Joe Walsh agreeing, "Life's been good to me so far."
Taken by me, surreptitiously, at a party I went to.

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I think it might be our fault

Not every day, or even every week, but often over the past 10 years (has it really been that long?!?), I've thought about my Dartmouth graduation and how impossibly miserable it was. It poured. And the wind blew. And the air was unseasonably cold. Those of us who had umbrellas saw them soaked through and rendered useless. Those of us who didn't absorbed rain from both the sky and nearby umbrellas until they were rendered useless. Those of us who wore anything but black under our gowns had our clothes ruined. Those of us who did wear black saw our skin absorb dyes that will probably come back to haunt us later in life in some as of yet unknown way (latent black dye disease). Our programs were soaked and resembled wadded up t.p. from a high school prank. Our mortar boards melted around our heads like american cheese on a hamburger. We were happy when our valedictorian decided not to speak, though our huddled mass could only muster a shivering groan to express our happiness. We were sad when our commencement speaker, Doris Kearns Goodwin, did not make the same decision. (In retrospect, her speech was very well done, we were simply too hungover, too cold and too wet to appreciate it.) We counted down the names to be announced and the graduates to walk across the stage, all hoping that we too could volunteer to give up our moment on the stage, our 15 seconds of fame, but we couldn't. At the end, our bodies were wrinkled prunes. We headed home, miserable and incredulous that our school had such a silly policy about outdoor commencement and didn't have the decency to erect a giant tent to protect us.

For years, my mom, my dad and my brothers all reminded me of how miserable my graduation was. In reply, I reminded them that they didn't really experience the misery and so were not allowed to complain about it. They instead watched on closed circuit television from inside Collis, the student center, and played ping pong (ping pong!!!) inside, where it was warm and dry.

Every other Dartmouth graduation I've attended (I've been to 3 others) has been beautiful. Perhaps a little warm, a little too sunny, a little too perfect, but these aren't things worth complaining about.

As a joke at our 5th year reunion, we received umbrellas for our gift. Thank goodness we did. It rained all weekend. We apologized to the other classes - sorry you have to have your reunion with us. Apparently the class of 1998 is cursed.

But I think I'm wrong.

This brings me to something a little more timely: this past weekend. My mom, Chris, Alex and I all flew out to Duke to see my youngest brother, Patrick, graduate. It was a lovely weekend. We toured the campus, met his roommate and some of his friends, and drank from the mystical beer trucks. On Sunday morning, we got dressed up, drove to campus, walked to the stadium where commencement exercises were to be held, and felt the resulting deluge when the sky open up over head. At that moment I thought: is it possible that it's our fault? Is it not the fault of the Dartmouth Class of 1998, but rather the fact that my family is involved? Chris's graduation was lovely, if a little warm, but it was indoors, so it really wasn't ruin-able. And who has ever heard of rain in Phoenix?? The gods probably, simply couldn't get a rain cloud to form over the Arizona desert! These are the things I worry about when I'm cold and wet.

So Alex and I purchased umbrellas from a couple entrepreneurial folks in a van and found a covered location behind a concession stand while we waited for the ceremony to begin. Then my mom called to say that she and Chris were inside the student center, trying to find closed circuit television. The pull of breakfast and warm, indoor air was overwhelming. So we waited for the ceremony to begin, took a few pictures of the miserable scene (I had always wished I had pictures of exactly how miserable my graduation was) and texted Patrick (thank goodness for cellphones) to call us when it was over. Alex and I had McDonald's breakfast and lattes. My mom and Chris played pool (I did not, lest I have to give up my indignation over the ping pong incident of 1998). And we warmed up enough for me to walk over to Patrick's dorm to get a few pictures of him, all wet in his gown.

Unfortunately for Patrick, the class speakers and the commencement speaker, Barbara Kingsolver, went on with the show. (I feel for Mses. Kingsolver and Goodwin - what a thankless job: delivering a commencement address to the cold and wet!) Fortunately for Patrick, the 15-seconds-of-fame/walk-across-the-stage moment happened inside the truly lovely Duke Chapel where it was warm...and dry.

So I must know from my Dartmouth '98 friends - what about your siblings? Did they have wet graduations? Or does the blame sit squarely on our shoulders?

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