Happy Memorial Day

This blog is dedicated to my grandfathers and father who served our country in the U.S. Air Force as career officers:
James Allen: cartographer and photographer behind enemy lines during WWII and the Vietnam war; fought anacondas in the jungle
Roy Tweedie: pilot and pilot instructor during WWII and the Vietnam war; could locate every switch in over 30 different kids of planes with his eyes closed.
William Tweedie: head of air force hospital construction in the western hemisphere; was an inspirational leader to many young officers and loved his job.

American flag on Main street in Manayunk, where I had lunch yesterday.
3 weekends ago: Frankki and I at a hip restaurant in DC. We spent the next day walking around beautiful DC and Georgetown with our dear friend Kirk.

Sam and I visit Philly's Japanese garden in Fairmount park...
Two weekends ago: 180 mile relay race from Woodstock NY to the Bronx. (This is a picture of van #2 before our first set of legs)
Van #2 in the middle of the second leg...wow - running by yourself in the middle of the night without lights except the stars above you and the ones attached to your body is pretty amazing.
Van #2 before our third and last set of legs...everyone is feeling pretty tight and funky by this point in the race.
Victorious team finish...we have yet to discover how tired and sore we actually are. 181 miles in 25h 40min!
This weekend: Catherine and Sam walk along the Forbidden Drive
...and skipping stones...to varying degrees of competency...

Look! Cat got her ears pierced yesterday for the first time! I went to the best place in Philly where workers had metal balls implanted in their arms to look more reptilian, tattoos under their hair and on their faces, and of course tremendous discs in their earlobes. The woman piercer who did my ears seemed was very friendly! She moved to Philly a year ago from CA since Infinity Piercing is famous and it was a good career move...

10 miles in 83 min :)

The weather was a perfect 55deg for the whole race and overcast and drizzly ...I felt very good about the medal I received at the end, even though they gave it all 27,000 runners

Hammock amazingness incarnate. I have been dragging around this baby since spring break freshman year in college to Puerto RicoFirst trip of the year to the beach:)
...and my maiden voyage of kitchen sink clog fixes. Good news: I now own a monkey wrench. Bad news: I cannot claim to have successfully fixed a kitchen sink. Good news: I need a pipe snake :) and I will name him Peety and we'll be friends for ever and ever.

Big weekend!

After sushi dinner with 15 of the ladies, Sam and I played a little basketball in the park near my house.


What is going on here...I don't think it went in......and then there was heat...and god made the BBQ...and there was marinade for meat and vegetables alike
Here is the birthday boy (Jon) with Champagne...also eating caviar and pate
Sam with roommate Alyssa and tastyness of food by the back fence.
My buddy (and painter in crime) Ram with Camille...keep a look-out for the debut of "oval madness"
Thirty twenty-somethings sing happy birthday and the candles go out
"Spirituality Tour 2009" continues!
Nate, Adele, and I go to a Presbytarian ceremony and some of it was difficult to digest...especially the reading of the rules governing warfare in the old testament where we are reminded that when we besiege a city and they do not give themselves over then we should take the men to the knife and the women, children, and livestock as plunder...yeah...so I don't think I will incorporate that learning...
...but then we went to a space of light and whimsy. A garden made of found pieces of glass, pottery and bike parts!
Here is a little shady spot that I could have stayed a long time
Nate and Adele...come visit again :)
artsy shot of my nose

Cat flits to Boston

Bryan, Adele, Nate, Rayna, Steve, and Cat after lively and delicious tapas dinner.

Steve and I making "egg in a hole" for lunch...I mostly just wanted to cut holes out of the middle of the bread slices and then eat the bread cirlces. Suelin, Matt and I went to a gallery opening based on Second Life...I was a bit surprised that the overwhelming majority of avatars are slendar, busty and tan. There are ~20 million people with accounts on Second Life, of which ~1 million are active and 100,000 are on-line at any one time.

KicKing off warm PhillyTime

Cat with roommate James and Irish rock-band concert

At Afghani restaurant in Old City on First Friday (FYI: on the first friday of every month tons of galleries in several square blocks of old city stay open late and offer wine and cheese for hundreds of strolling city-folk to enjoy. Street vendors and performers were in full force). Emma, Cameron and Rohit met up with Sam and I, am we went to National Mechanics, Beneluxx and then a less than inspiring dance club


First trip to Go Vertical - Old City's bigggest indoor rockclimbing gym....looks like I will need to get my own equiptment soon...little sister - any advice?Continuing "Spirituality tour 2009":
this morning I went a meeting at the Ethical Society in Rittenhouse square. The talk for the day was on "Truth and Personal Responsibility" and was especially focused on the idea that we are individually responsible for the actions of the groups we are a part of - including our country's foriegn policy. The talk was bookended by member announcements, piano playing and singing about how we are all aiming to live by the highest moral standards. It was all very digestible except the statement that belief in religious stories (such as the rebirth of Jesus) is diluting attainment of truth in our communal conciousness...not sure that can be a sentiment shared by all the members...

Training in Fl and so-close-to-spring in Philly

13 months after starting work I found myself back in the creepily manicured Vegas for families with small children.

The evil step sisters were poisoning a few children in broad daylight, but I had a fastpass to Magic Mountain so I didn't have time to stop and take out the evil ladies.
Sam and I got stuck on one of the rides while in a tunnel with a bunch of ghost holograms - yay!

Mary, Cat and Birju out in Orlando :)
My friend Ram and I are working on recreating a painting that I saw in Buenos Aires. Stay tuned for pictures of the finished painting. It is sure to be awesome!

Cat dressed up to go out to the tasty vegan restaurant on South Street (Horizons).

Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Tigre