Busy Weekends 2010

It's been very busy for Kevin and me. The two of us work all the time. Even though we have very different jobs, we seem to work the same amount. Everyone knows I'm supposed to work a lot, but Kevin teaches a number of classes, so he's always either grading or writing short stories. But we still had time to have a little fun this weekend.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and the perfect day to go look at apartments in Long Island. Afterward we walked around and had lunch in a park near the apartment.

Then that evening, Kevin went out to dinner at Keens with the guys, and his friend Jeff M from California and Brady stayed over. That set us up perfectly for Sunday morning hangover bagels. The decade that I lived outside the New York-area, I missed bagels the most. I definitely do not take them for granted now.

Speaking of New York, we also found out this weekend that Briggs got a fellowship to finish his dissertation in New York! Congratulations! Can't wait until you join us.

My Parents' 25th Anniversary 2010

On Friday we took my parents out to dinner at Sushiden to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Congratulations!

My parents on Friday

My parents' wedding in 1985

Baby Vivienne 2010!

More great news! Cate and Matt had a second baby girl. She looks like another cutie-pie and both baby Vivienne and mother Cate are doing well. Congratulations to Cate, Matt, and big sister Phoebe!

Family of 4!

Look at this great big sister!

This does not bring the expected baby count down however, as Casey and Victoria, Rachel and Tim, and now Pete and Adrienne are all expecting babies as well. We're looking forward to meeting all our new little buddies soon.

Program in Writing Spring Party 2010

Party after a reunion event at Stony Brook. Peter Elbow and Pat Belanoff were the featured speakers. They used to run the Writing Program together here.

Program Director Gene and Peter E

Party mingling

More mingling

Patty, Rita, Marilyn

Peter and a friend

Baby Madison 2010!

Our friends Cathy and Mike had a baby girl!

The new family together in the hospital

Close-up of Madison

Congratulations to the Steffan family! We are so excited for you!

Things My Wife Complains About: #13 Being Profiled

As an English-speaking thirty-year-old white male of European extraction, it's difficult for me to find opportunity for linguistic/age/racial/gender/ethnic discrimination. I suppose for a time I paid more for car insurance than was strictly necessary, and those scars are real. I try to sympathize with the injustices leveled around me, but I had difficulty finding the proper compassion for my wife during our recent vacation in Colombia.

Would you believe that in this Spanish-speaking country someone had the audacity to answer my wife in Spanish? I mean, this is 2010.

I tried, inadequately, to put myself in her shoes. How would I have felt were I in Scotland, say, and someone just started speaking English to me? My imagination failed. I couldn't fathom the injustice. Worst of all, the women who profiled my wife were British. They were trying to speak Spanish just because they were in a community where everyone speaks Spanish. Could you be more provincial?

Proposed Solutions!

1) Refuse travel to Central and South America, the Caribbean, the Iberian peninsula, California, Texas, Florida, and several neighborhoods in greater New York City to limit exposure to future profiling.
2) Purchase Spanish Rosetta Stone, Levels 1-5: play discs backward to unlearn Spanish language.
3) Don't talk to--or listen to--anyone who doesn't know the languages you speak and the situations where you prefer speaking those languages (hard).

Visiting Andrew 2010

We had a brief stop in Ft. Lauderdale and Boca on the way back from Colombia. We went to dinner with Andrew and his friends, sampled draft beers, and enjoyed some Jameson's black label when we returned to Andrew's apartment, so it was a very full evening. Then Andrew graciously took us back to the airport.

Posing with Mike and Andrew's fantasy football chart

Cartagena, Colombia 2010!

Kevin and I just returned from a fabulous trip to Cartagena. A lot of people have asked us why we picked Cartagena. What they really mean is - why did we pick Colombia? We first took an interest in Cartagena when we were shopping around for honeymoons. We weighed Martha's Vineyard, Ireland, Cartagena, and Greece, so we were all over the place. We crossed out the practical Martha's Vineyard, and the still-too-cold-in-June Ireland. Cartagena seemed like a good combo of affordability and romance. The more we looked into it, the more excited we got. Ultimately however, I realized that hundreds of people would ask us where we were going on our honeymoon and instead of getting a response with the happiness and excitement that I wanted surrounding all wedding-related topics, people would warn us that we would get kidnapped. And what if they were right? No one would even feel bad for us or send us ransom money. So we went to Greece and saved Cartagena for when no one was looking.

The Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas

It turned out however, that Cartagena was very safe. There were policeman and military men on nearly every block of anywhere a tourist would want to go. And the old city within the city walls is beautiful, especially at night. You could just go to the old city and be happy. The food there is delicious too. But we stayed near the beach, so we also spent some time there, and explored the Castle (go through the underground tunnels!) and the much less inspiring view from La Popa. We also took a day trip boat ride around Las Islas del Rosario (take the big boat if you don't want to spend the next couple of days sore) and stopped at Playa Blanca for sunning and swimming.

It was a fabulous trip with the caveat that air travel is officially awful in this country now. Not checking bags, multiple security lines, customs, and shorter lines for visitors than US citizens inside the US. After this summer is over, or rather the wedding-season is over, we are going to cut down or cut out air travel.

On top of Cartagena's City Walls

Outskirts of town

Fernando Botero statue at the Plaza de Santo Domingo

Entertainers at the beach in Boca Grande

Heading to our favorite bar at Plaza de los Coches

Montréal, Canada 2010

We are heading for Cartagena, Colombia soon, but I wanted to post a couple of pictures from our recenttrip to Montréal. Kevin gave a conference in upstate New York so we took the opportunity to go a bit further north. Kevin had been to the city before, and I had never been, but I had been to Québec province before so I was generally down with their faux-French ways. We started right off with a Schwartz's smoked meat sandwich. Wow, excellent. Then we walked around and went for (chocolate) drinks at Juliet et Chocolat and (stout) drinks at Ye Olde Orchard. The next morning we had brunch in Old Montréal, walked around,and finally went to Mont Royal.

Point d'observation, Mont-Royal

In line at Schwartz's

The lovely ladies of Old Montreal

Outside our brunch spot

Espirit Red Carpet Opening 2010

This week, in between working a full day, and going back to the office late night, Michele took her friend Susan, her cousin Tatiana, and me to the opening of the Esprit flagship store in Manhattan. It was a semi-fancy affair with a red carpet and free wine and champagne.

Half the people there were related to the fashion industry in some way. And the other half of us, well, not-so-much. The difference was a bit obvious. There were models mixed in the crowd, and a ton of other people who I figured were "somebody" except I don't read fashion magazines or watch the right television shows so I couldn't figure out who they were. Here is an incomplete list for those of you who know about these things or care: Emmy Rossum, Robert Verdi, Erin Lucas, Andy Hilfiger, Amanda Ross, Merideth Melling Burke, Paula Meronek, David Meister, DJ Mia Moretti, and Ryan Kehoe. There were also a bunch of people who seem to be known simply for being all the places famous or rich people go.

I was most impressed by Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was standing on the red carpet when we arrived. Jennifer Love Hewitt! She has lost too much weight and seemed positively waifish (this photo adds 5-10 pounds) but we love her just the same.

Before we left Macy Gray performed a few songs. It was a fun night, and thanks to Michele, so different than what I usually get to do.