Not so complainy update

Happy New Year!!!
We are excited for all that 2010 has in store for us. A baby, a move or two, a new job. It's going to be a new decade for a new phase of life.
Health: Since, I last wrote my health got worse, and now better. Hurray! My pink eye spread to my other eye, and I thought I broke a rib on Christmas from coughing too much and too hard. I'm on antibiotics which seem to have helped my cough a lot, and the left side of my back feels almost normal. Unfortunately yesterday I pulled the same thing on my right side, which my midwife told me hurts most right where my kidney is, which raises a couple questions. I have to put pressure on it, everytime I cough to lessen the pain. My boss probably hates me for it, but staying home this week has really helped out. Pink eye's gone, my voice is coming back, and the cough on it's way out.
Pregnancy: Things are looking pretty good. I'll be full term on saturday which kind of blows my mind. We are feeling more prepared stuffwise, with something for the baby to sleep in, a rocking chair, a stop watch, etc. When I look at the side view of my stomach in the mirror, it makes me laugh.
Christmas: It was so fun to have the Romeros here. They were good sports, since I probably acted and looked like a zombie slug the whole time they were here. We had a little feast in our tiny apartment, and enjoyed the company of one of our friends from church. They slept over, and went to the Children's museum the next day.
We are taking advantage of out Netflix trial while we're both at home. Up made me cry within the first 5 minutes, Food Inc is a must see, and we ordered Harry Potter 6 before we realized we never got around to seeing Harry Potter 5.
Anthony's been baking like crazy the past couple of days. Mmmm. He's used our new grain mill (thanks Quinns!) to make whole wheat bread, and cake out of rice flour. And then he went through a two day process to make panettone. I always thought panettone was kind of gross with it's boxed dryness, and weird chunks of fake fruit, but it turns out that when it's fresh, and made with chocolate chips, it's really really yummy. He's been a major sweety, encouraging me to rest and giving good back messages.
I'll be back at work on Monday. Fairy tale week. My second to last week of work, before the baby's due. Crazy!
We love you guys, and you're all in our prayers. Happy 2010!!!
Sharon

Home for the Holidays

I haven't written anything in a long time so I feel like I really need to update the blog on what has been doing on. Sharon had also written some updates that I added also, sorry for those who have already read them.

School: I'm done. I finished all my course work at Carnegie Mellon and I'm graduated. The ceremony and diploma come in May, but it is looking like we won't be here for that. It was a pretty stressful semester and I wasn't sure how I was going to do. Grades are in though and this ended up being my best semester so far. It helps that 24 credits (which would usually be 4 short classes or 2 normal classes) was my capstone project with Bosch ( By the way, I would like to thank those who participated in the survey we sent out). Our work culminated in a report and presentation given to the Bosch team here in Pittsburgh. They liked our work and it sounds like they might have another project for students to work on in the future.

I've been saying goodbye to all my friends. We went out to eat Indian food with a bunch of my Indian friends. There is an amazing Indian restaurant, called Tamarind, close to campus and right behind the church. We went out to the famous Primanti Brothers restaurant with my friends from Pittsburgh. It was a fun experience, but the food wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be. It was traditional Pittsburgh, meaning a lot of coleslaw and french fries on the burgers.

Job: For those who haven't heard, I have accepted a job with General Electric (GE) in Connecticut. I start the beginning of July. We are excited for the opportunity. I've had my eye on the job since I talked with some Alumni from my program who were at the Career Fair at Carnegie Mellon. I liked the idea for several reasons. First, it is a 2 year rotational leadership program they call the Information Management Leadership Program (IMLP). Which means, if you perform well and they like you, there are opportunities for good career growth in the company. If at the end of two years they don't like me, or I don't like what I'm doing, it will be a convenient time to leave, with great experience and 'graduation' from a highly valued program.
Second, every 6 months I will be rotated into a new project with a different focus and exposure to different roles (4 rotations in total). I could be working on designing and implementing a database one rotation, helping gather requirements in another rotation, doing software/application development on another rotation, or doing process improvement. I like this idea because I want experience in different areas. It is kind of giving me a 'consultant' like experience without the travel and other downers that can some with consulting.
Third, we still have options for where we end up. We will be moving to Connecticut for the first rotation, but on any (possibly all) the rotations I could be moved to a new geographic location. We would live there the duration of the rotation and move on to the next one. We like this because as a young and fairly mobile family it will give us the chance to try out some other locations. We are excited to start in Connecticut because we will be about an hour from New York City on the train, or less driving (Depending on traffic).
Fourth, I'm in an industry I've been interested in getting to know more about. I will be working in the GE Capital group, meaning all my rotations and likely future employment would be in GE Capital. That ranges from their consumer finance (like credit cards), to commercial finance (like financing small businesses or green technology development) to other financial areas. GE has actually been trying to shrink this part of the company since the financial crisis, but it means the opportunities for what I do are greater, I also don't see them ever getting rid of this part of the business like they are getting rid of NBC Universal.

So, we are excited about work. We are now working out all the details of what we will do from now until July. Probably visiting a lot of you and introducing our new child to the family.

Baby: The pregnancy is going well. We are officially in the last month! We are in the 38th week, which means the baby could really come anytime in the next 5 weeks. Sharon is taking it well. It would be a lot easier if we could keep her healthy. Something about Pittsburgh irritates Sharon's respiratory system and causes her to cough a lot, combined with a runny nose, cold weather, and working at a preschool you have a recipe for making someone sick. The last three weeks have been pretty bad. We are off to the doctor today to see if we can't speed up recovery. She will stop working in a couple of weeks so she can rest before the baby is due. We finished our lamaze class a few weeks ago. It was a decent class. I was expecting more practice and not as much lecture, but the videos helped prepare me for what it will be like.

We have been getting everything together for the baby. People here are super nice. We have a car seat for infants and a basinet on loan from friends. We got a rocking chair and crib for free through friends and freecycle (if you don't know about this you should read up on it).

Fun:
Thanksgiving: We visited my family in Utah. It was great to be in the mountains again and to play out in the field behind the house, visit with family, and feel the crisp mountain air. We did the 'Turkey Trot". A 5k community event put on by the stake(Picture above). Sharon made it all the way. I got to break in our new gift from my sister with our niece, a back pack for carrying the new baby around.

Wedding: Sharon's co-worker got married the beginning of December. We were invited to the ceremony and reception. It was a lot of fun. It was my first Catholic Wedding. It was nice and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Christmas: We stayed put for Christmas. It was fun and above all relaxing. We had Sharon's sister and her family from Niagara Falls here Christmas day and had a dinner with them and a single guy from our ward. It was an enjoyable evening. The next day we just lounged around and visited. It was just what we needed.

Beginning Dec. Update - Sharon

Hey Family,
The beginning of December has treated us well. Here are the highlights.
* Anthony's graduation!!!! Not walking with a cap and gown till spring (maybe), but he is finished, done, completely free and moving forward from school! Yay! Friday was his last day with any school obligations, a major presentation. I came home from work that night to 4 loads of laundry already done. What a hunk. :)
* Wedding: My friend from work has been engaged for over a year and has shared every joy and misery of wedding planning with her coworkers. This was both Ant and my first Catholic wedding. It was fun to go with kind of anthropological eyes. Lots and lots of ritual. At the reception there was loads of fancy food and lots of drinking. I think I'm still naive enough to not recognize when people are drunk as opposed to just being silly. But I found it interesting to still feel the spirit on this happy occasion. Marriage is of God.
* Church: Sang in the ward Christmas presentation today. Had a really fun pajama brunch Christmas celebration. And hit a sweet Christmas concert organized by the stake, I think most of the performers were CMU and Pitt students, most of which are probably not members.
* Pregnancy: I must be noticeably huge now, because funny things are starting to happen. When we met some of Ant's Indian friends for lunch, the waiter brought me a mango lassi that as far as I know no-one ordered, and it didn't show up on our bill. People have been asking to touch my stomach, or just doing it without asking. One of the toddler mom's at work saw me in the hallway, looked at my abdomen, and just started laughing...kind of a sympathetic laugh I guess. :) Etc, etc. Anyway, I've been feeling pretty good. My cold (which I now attribute to just plain being allergic to Pittsburgh) acted up a lot this last week, so I drove to work instead of walked. I'm feeling well enough to walk there and back now, as long as the sidewalks aren't icy.
So that's some of life in a jiffy. We're excited for Christmas! Woohoo!
Love you guys. You are all in our prayers,
Sharon

End of Nov. update - Sharon

Hi Family!
highlights from the past couple of weeks.
Our visit to Utah! So fun. It was good to be back with the Quinns. We were able to meet neice and nephew Truman and Jean for the first time. Anthony comes from cute baby genes. Woohoo! It's probably related to having cute genes in general. Anyway, it's sweet to know that baby Quinn will be entering a family with uncles that will go on their treasure hunts, and Grandparents that will cuddle and play with him/her.
While we were there, Valine, Camille, and Tiff threw an awesome baby shower for us. Lots of Quiche and yummy food. Aunt Dorothy and Mary, Aunt Joanne, and cousin Laura (Wallace) were able to make it. I was really happy to see Uncle Don too, even though he hid out in the basement watching a grandson. I was also able to see an old room-mate and my mission trainer. Such great people in the world. And Generous! We got a ton of really cute, really useful things. I feel confident that our baby won't go cold or naked now. :)
Other UT highlights included
*the Turkey Trot: We walked a 5k, which felt really good. I'm so glad that my pregnancy is going well enough that I can do that.
* (Cousin) Jake Quinn's wedding: So sweet. They were both so much more composed that I was during our wedding. Temple weddings are the best! And they had excellent crepes at the reception. Mmm.
* Mckay performing in Savior of the World at the Conference Center. He's only 14 and probably one of the tallest in the whole cast. The performance was great!..and made me cry again this year.
* Food! Wow, those Quinns know how to cook. Anthony and I laughed about coming home to Pittsburgh to a scrambled egg dinner.
Anyway, I could go on and on. But I won't. The rest of life is good. Going back to work today wasn't nearly as crazy as it could have been. The main toddler teacher is off for the next two weeks to prepare for her wedding, then honey moon. So, we had 14 kids today including two toddlers. It went relatively smoothly. I was alone with them during nap time...which is a challenge. Getting 14 wiggly 2-5 year olds to sleep must be teaching me some sort of life skills, right? This week is outer space week! It'll be out of this world. :)
Anthony is presenting in class for one of his finals. After this week, he'll be pretty much done with school. Woohoo! He's pretty pumped.
I'll hit 34 weeks next Saturday, and am starting to feel pretty pregnant. For instance, swollen feet. When we went to Mckay's show, my shoes started to feel really tight. So of course I took them off for the show, but couldn't fit them on when the show was finished! Well, I guess I squeezed them on with overflowing pudge long enough to get out of the building. But as soon as we got out, I pried them off. Bodies are so amazing, and sometimes so weird.
Alright family, I love you all and thought all Thanksgiving about how grateful I am for you. Really, I don't think there is anything more important to me than the gospel, and the blessing of having family that lives it. Have a good beginning of December. Ah December. Bring it on!
Sharon

Take a Survey about Home Automation

Home Automation
The project I've been working on this semester revolves around Home Automation. That means having the ability to control things in your home from one central location. That includes being able to control things in your home remotely through a smart phone, like the iPhone, or from your computer. It is pretty cool stuff.

We are trying to get a feel for what peoples perceptions and demand for a product like this would be, including what they would be willing to pay and what channels they would consume it through. We put together a small survey and we are looking for a wide range of opinions and thoughts, so please take the survey and pass it on to others:) You can click here to take it, or click the link below.
http://www.eSurveysPro.com/Survey.aspx?id=e4ceff1c-7295-4862-9900-09f56094c847

As an incentive we have secured a $100 gift certificate from restaurants.com. People who have submitted a survey will be put in the drawing to win that certificate. The survey won't be open for long so go quickly.

Thanks.

Sharon Update - request for flu prayers

This is a Sharon update, but I thought I would just add that I wrote a longer review of the Ballet if you want to read it, it is after this update.

Hi family,

It's been another eventful week....including...

* An awesome visit from the fire dept, to my preschool. This weeks theme was Heroes and Helpers, because most of my little boys seem to think that all heroes do are use their martial arts skills and run around and yell. So, we had a day on firefighters, medical emergencies, police, helping our friends...and of course superheroes. I got the local firefighters to come for a visit, and they ended up staying for a whole hour, gave a really thorough tour of the truck, and let the kids climb around it, including sitting in the drivers seat. They brought big stickers and little plastic hats for everyone. So cool.

* Anthony's Birthday! Thanks for all the calls and singing. It was also our first day of Lamaze classes. It was weird being around so many pregnant women. It seems like it'll be a pretty good class, especially when combined with what I've learned about the Bradley Method and a some of the relaxation imagery from Hypnobirthing. Don't worry, it's not as weird as it sounds.

* Ant's interview in Connecticut went well and they love him. Who couldn't? So, he'd be doing a 2 year leadership training program with GE starting January 10th. That's right, 6 days before the baby is born. Crazy!!! Anyway, it seems like an awesome program, and we're hoping they'll let us push back the start date till say...March 1st.

* Midwife appointment. Everything's on track. For my last appointment I couldn't believe that I was gaining a pound a week, but now it looks more like 2 lbs a week! Woah!!! The baby is head down which is a huge relief. Just stay that way please baby.

* Yesterday started off the way every Saturday should. Sleeping in, whole wheat waffles, grocery shopping, and then my body sort of started to shut down. We bought a thermometer for the first time in my life, and my temp was 100.5, at least. Ant's was coming up around 96 and 97, so I wouldn't be surprised if mine was actually closer to 101, 102. I called my midwife and he called in a perscription for Tamiflu. I feel much better today. My head, throat, nose and energy level are still not where they should be. But I'm feeling much less achy and a little less pukey. And my temperature is down. If you guys could keep us in your prayers that would be great. Now that my temp is down, I'm more worried about what the medication could do the baby. Tamiflu isn't suggested for pregnant women since there hasn't been any research on the effects on the baby. In rabbits and rats, it looks like it could cause minor bone deformities in offspring. Eek.

Love you guys!!!! Hope all is well with you!

Sharon

P.S. I forgot to mention that we went to the ballet Friday night to celebrate Ant's b-day. It was amazing! The performance was called "Light/the Holocaust and Humanity Project." It made me cry...and also want to dance again. But at this point the dance would probably include other dancers rolling me around. :)

Light/ The Holocaust and Humanity Project

Over the summer some friends in the ward contacted Sharon about going in together on season tickets for the Pittsburgh Ballet. The idea was that they would buy one set of season tickets and each person would choose one performance they wanted to see. It worked out that they all wanted to see different performances. We jumped on the opportunity to see Light / The Holocaust and Humanity Project. This ballet was created at Ballet Austin by the artistic director Stephen Mills.

Background: I guess the guy in charge of the Holocaust Museum in Pittsburgh and the director of the Pittsburgh Ballet talked about doing something around the Holocaust, one thing led to another and Stephen Mills from the Austin Ballet ended up coming and helping produce Light with the Pittsburgh Ballet. It makes sense to have a project like this in Pittsburgh where there is a fairly large Jewish community.

The Ballet: The ballet was divided in seven sections: Adam and Eve, Family, Target Behind Doors, Isolation and Degradation, Boxcar, Ashes, and Hush. Each section had its own piece of music and was contributed from five different composers. It was amazing how it came together and flowed.

Thoughts:

• I was thinking this could be really cool, or it would be really lame. Lucky for us, it was really cool.
• One thing that struck me as we were waiting for the program to start was that it really took a step back and started from the beginning creating the base that we are all brothers and sisters experiencing the World.
• The dancing was beautiful and very artistic.
• As the name suggests, light played a huge role and I really liked that. It was used not only to create mood, but added to the story serving as a driver to the plot as well as creating scenery.
• My favorite section was the ashes section. The choreography was beautifully danced, combined with a great score and dramatic lighting, it proved to be very moving.
• It was interesting that most of the sections were danced in customes that made the dancers appear nude. There was really only one section where they had clothes on, but at the end of that section they striped and the next section was danced as if they were in their undergarments. Some might find this distracting, but I thought it added to the dramatic effect and really helped focus attention on the human and suffering side of the holocaust.
• I really liked that no where in the ballet were the oppressors represented. None of the dancers were dressed in Nazi uniforms, swastikas, or anything else like that. It seemed to be more focused on the inner feelings and human sufferings experienced.

So, those are some of my thoughts. If this is ever performed in a ballet near you, I highly recommend it. I've embedded the ad PBT (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre) had on youTube and a slideshow so you can get an idea of what it was like.

Fallingwater

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Pennsylvania. A bright blue sky and warmer than usual temperatures. It was a great day full of fun activities for us. This was one of our more eventful weekends as far as events worth reporting on. Read on for a full review of our happening weekend.

Magee-Womens Hospital
We had our official tour of the hospital where our little munchkin will most probably be born. (how is that for decisive?) I have to say I was impressed. The labor, delivery, recovery rooms were the most impressive. They were big. They not only had a bed, but they also had a bench/couch, chairs, and a whole lot of equipment hidden inside beautiful wooden cabinets. The interior decorating was almost nicer than our apartment. As we left the tour guide said we were headed to the post delivery suite. I was thinking if what we just saw was a room, the suite would have to be really nice. I was disappointed. It was little and didn't feel as homey, just more hospital like. The food is supposed to be great though. Anyway, it was great to get familiar with the hospital. The one big take away I got was I need to prepare for the post birth part. Car seats for the ride home, a doctor for the kid, and how to be a dad. I tend to be falling into school mode for that, meaning I'm planning on cramming between when finals get out and the birth of the baby.

Fallingwater
Wow. That is all I can say. I didn't realize just how close we are, just a short 1 hour drive, I think I will want to go again in the spring. The weather was amazing. We were able to walk comfortably through the nature trails on the grounds and see some good views of the house and observe how it blended into the surrounding environment. The tour of the inside was really fun too. It made me want to learn more about Frank Lloyd Wright. Apparently he hated clutter and designed his houses so it would be hard for his clients to fill his space with junk. He was also all about 'breaking out of the box'. I thought of the Pete Seeger song "Little Boxes".

pete seeger songs
Free Music | free Mp3

Anyway, most of the rooms had a part that opened up to the outdoors and made you forget you were in four walls. I especially liked the windows on the corners of the house that could open and the whole corner was open with an unobstructed view. Some other things I liked were the natural swimming pool at the guest house, the stairs that descended into the river, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.'s bedroom on the 3rd floor. He placed his bed in the part of the floor with the most windows positioned so when you were laying in bed you were looking out a window into the forest.

Candide
We were invited earlier this week by a couple in our ward to see the musical 'Candide'. Music by Leonard Bernstein, adapted from the book by Voltaire. I guess it is best described as a satire on the philosophies of optimism or the thought that this is the best of all worlds, created by a perfect God, and that everything that happens is the best of all possible things that could happen. There were some pretty funny parts. I found a good broadway version on youtube. You can watch the first part below. You probably want to fastforward to about 3 1/2 minutes in to get past the opening credits and overture.


The group that put on the version we saw is called Quantum Theatre. They are unique in that they don't have a regular theatre where they preform. Instead they move venues for every play they do, and they are usually in unusually places. We heard of them doing shows in cemeteries, out in the woods, and old warehouses. Last night they used an old abandoned car dealership building. They worked in a bunch of car props and references. It was fun. I liked the way they put the stage together. The orchestra (small) was in the middle of the stage like a 'pit crew' and all had on mechanic jumpers. I want to read the book now.

So that was our fun weekend. Now we are off to another fun and busy week. I will be doing some final round interviews and should be hearing back from some employers. Your prayers our welcomed.

Check out our photo album if you want more pictures.

Sharon update: entering November

Hi Family!

It's been another fun couple of weeks. Nothing super significant, mostly the everyday happy.

* Pregnancy: I'm starting to feel big and round. This weekend I kept bumping into things because I expect to fit into places that I no longer do. For Halloween I wore the same costume as last year. I was a pirate. Ah, the benefits of owner lots of clothes that were really loose to begin with. The only thing that didn't fit me, was a choker. My neck is getting fat! Oh well. I had an appointment with my midwife and everything seems to be going well. My blood tests came back normal, and everything is on target. The baby is a mover and shaker. I guess he or she still has enough room to do somersaults which is pretty fun.

* Anthony: Still in the waiting period of hearing back from potential employers. He has possibilities with Deloitte, IBM, GE, and E&Y. Keep us in your prayers. School keeps him busy, but he still makes lots of time to play with me.

* Play: We've enjoyed taking walks this beeaauuutiful autumn. Last weekend we soaked in all the colors on a great trail not far from our house. It feels like we live in such a community. We skipped an apple festival to go to a Library book and bake sale.

We took our friend, Gabe out for his birthday dinner at the best Indian restaurant I've ever been too. Mmmm. We'll take you there if you come visit us in Pittsburgh.

This Friday we left for D.C. right after I was done with work. We stayed with Mom and Dad who cut my hair, took us on a fun walking tour of Georgetown, and fed us good food. The highlight was going on a boat ride in a canal built in 1828. They changed the water level for us and pulled the boat/barge with mules. It was really cool. Then we were off to the temple, which was great as usual. We found out today in Stake conference that our temple district just got switched to the Columbus OH. But Mom and Dad make D.C. too appealing.

* Work: Work is going really well. This week is Dr. Seuss week. My kids make me laugh everyday. My energy level is kind of on the decline though. I found this last week that I start getting really tired at about 4:30, and hour before I'm done. So I think I'll have to start eating trail mix at 4:15 or something as a preventive measure.

Hope everything is going well with everyone!

Sharon

p.s. Has anyone ever taken fish oil pills? Ick. I force myself to take one every once in a while for those baby brain building omega-3s, but they make me taste fishiness for hours and hours afterwards. Have any tips?

Fall Fun

This fall has been rather enjoyable. This is the beautiful view on our back porch. Sharon has also written an update, so I will keep this short as we have a lot of overlap.

School: I survived the first half of the semester. I front loaded it, so I would have more time the last half to work on my capstone project. This has turned out to be a good thing because no one else on my team seems to have time to get things done, so it's good one of the six of us is thinking about it. That made it sound really bad, but it isn't that bad, it just feels that way some times. Tomorrow we have a major milestone due, that will be a good measure of how much effort everyone has been putting in. I've been enjoying my last classes, trying to get as much as I can out of school before I'm done.

Pregnancy: Sharon is doing well. I am amazed at how easy she makes being pregnant look. I always thought women got moody and cranky when they were pregnant, but so far life has been good. That could change as we enter the 3rd trimester. Everyone has been asking for a belly shot, so we came up with this idea on our walk.

Jobs: Sharon gave a good update on this. The job hunt has been taking a lot of time, about the equivalent to a whole other class. It could have been worse if I were traveling for more interviews; fortunately few companies are flying candidates out for on-site interviews. I guess that comes with difficult economic times. If the executives can't get flown around, why new hires? It's looking like Pittsburgh, Connecticut, or Boston could be potential landing spots for us right now. I've been reading about Connecticut the most and liking the possibility, except for the cost of living.

Fun: We did our annual pumpkin carving. As we were leaving DC we found we found ourselves wondering if they would be smashed when we got home. We took that as an omen. When we got back, they were gone. Down the street a ways we found remnants of pumpkin, but there was no way of identifying if they were ours, just the circumstantial evidence.











In my opinion this fall has been much better than last fall. I don't know if last year my head was down more or what, but fall this year has been spectacular. We've been able to get out and enjoy it more too. There is a great park near our house that drops into a ravine so you can't hear or see much of civilization. It was nice walking along the path and enjoying the trees. It was a nice calm day with little gusts of wind that would come and blow through the trees knocking dozens of leaves off the branches. The leaves would then slowly and peacefully float down to the ground. It reminded me of watching snow fall in the lamp light in front of our house when I was growing up. It made me happy.

Going back to DC was nice. I really liked Georgetown. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal ride was fun. I liked when they filled the lock to bring the boat up to the next level. It was cool that they still had the original tow paths and had mules to pull us along for most of the tour. I wish they did longer tours. I liked learning about the history of the canal too. We were lucky to catch it on the last weekend of the year. If anyone is in DC when it is running I commend it.

I'm looking forward to the next few weekends. We are going to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and a ballet called Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. So we should have some good updates/reviews coming up soon.

For more fun photos you can see our online photo album.

Sharon Update - Fall

(Don't feel guilty for skimming! This has turned into a detaily journal entry type rambling)

Phew,
Pittsburgh is getting chilly. I'm sitting on the floor by our space heater with a scarf on. I've finally broken out my winter coat, which surprisingly still fits!

Today is a very laid back plan C: grocery shop, clean, carve pumpkins. Plan A was the temple, but the water pipes broke, and plan B was to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Waters and check out beautiful changing leaves, but we're expecting rain and maybe snow.

The past couple of weeks have been really great, with lots of blessings included.
* Anthony's been handling the stress of applying and interviewing for jobs very well. He turned down a second interview with Deutsche Bank to have first interviews with IBM and GE. He felt really good about his IBM interview, which selfishly made me a bit nervous since they warn that the job could potentially include travel 100% of the time. But!.. he's heard back from GE, has had a second screening interview with them, and will be flown to Connecticut for a third interview in early November. Yay! We're accepting prayers.
* Anthony's also been handling school stress well. I came home from work the other day to find all the laundry done and folded, and if he happens to be home, he tries to have dinner on by the time I get home. I married such a hunk.
* Prego: I'm feeling really good and getting big. I bought a couple of maternity dresses last week which helps me feel less frumpy. My energy level has been pretty good and yesterday I had another appointment with my midwife. He is so cool!, and answered all my many questions just as I was hoping he would.
* Work is going pretty well. We had performance reviews, and I got a raise! I wasn't expecting it in the least since I just made the transition to salary, and thought that would be considered a raise. Every little bit helps. One of my co-workers was...released?...fired? No-one really knows. But it's made this week a little stressful with a more difficult teacher to student ratio. I've kind of given up the hope of getting off work on time, but it's o.k. Coming up with lesson plans has been taking a lot of time, but it's pretty fun, and I figure I can keep all my ideas on file for fun family activities. Last week was "Staying Healthy" week. Ruben, my kids loved the Oral Hygiene song. I taught them the chorus, and then we danced around in a congo line.
* Church: we're staying busy as usual with our callings and are feeding the missionaries tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to get some of our recent convert friends over as well.
* Fun: Last week we finally made it to the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh's contemporary art museum. It was sweet! Very refreshing and thought provoking. It's been a while since I've immersed myself in modern art. It made me think of fun days as a security guard at BYU's museum of art. (Joan and Lynne, which reminds me. Shawn and Amy Moon who you worked with there, and married each other...are in our ward. Sheesh, it's taking me a year to remember to tell you that!)

Last night we went out for a date. Which was really fun, since we've been so tired, most of our dates have consisted of grocery shopping, watching a movie at home, or babysitting for other people. We went to a cool restaurant called The Bangkok Balcony, and then Coldstone for dessert. I have to brag about our concoctions for a second just incase you are planning a trip to Cold Stone any time soon. 1: Pumpkin mixed with Cheesecake icecream with white chocolate, grahm cracker, and pecan mix-ins. 2: Fudge brownie batter ice cream with snickers, reeses pb cup, heath bar, and snickers. Woah. That may have been gilding the lily a bit, but how can you go wrong with gilding chocolate with more chocolate? Anyway, it was fun to dress up in jewelry and a little makeup....and apparently on rainy Friday nights, everyone else is staying in, which makes for quick service.

Alright. Love you guys!!!! We love you all, and think of you every day.
Sharon

Case Challenge

This weekend I was able to be a part of a really fun competition. One of the large consulting firms sponsored a case challenge competition at the Heinz College. This post is all about how the competition worked and how the team I was on did. I’ve written a lengthy reflection here, so if you just want to know how we did you can jump to the end.
The competition worked like this.

Thursday evening at about 6:00pm they issued the case. Teams have a little more than 36 hours to go through the case, figure out how they will approach it, and come up with a solution.
Saturday morning at 8:00 am teams must turn in electronic copy of their PowerPoint presentation that will be used for presenting to the judges.
Teams a randomly split up into 5 rooms, 5 teams each room. One at a time each team presents to a panel of judges (who were role playing people in the case), no other teams are present. The team has 20 minutes to present their solution and 10 minutes to answer questions, and defend their solution. This lasts until about noon Saturday.

After lunch, the 'Top 5' is announced, which is the best team from each room. Those teams receive a 'twist’ or new development in the scenario and had one hour to adjust their solution and presentation.
Each 'Top 5' team then presents their adapted solution to a new panel of judges, answers questions, and defends their new solution with the same time restrictions as the first round. Eliminated teams, and other top 5 teams who have already presented their solution can sit in on the presentation, but can't ask questions.

Finally, they pick the best team.

At each stage the team is evaluated on how they approached the problem, the solution, the presentation (the actual PowerPoint slides), presentation skills, and their ability and skill at answering questions and defending their choices.

This makes for a long 48 hours if you go all the way through the competition. The environment is very competitive as everyone is motivated by the prestige of winning a competition sponsored and judged by a high end consulting firm and also the lucrative prize of $500/team member for first place; $250/team member for second; $150/team member for third place, and a bunch of nice prizes for the fourth and fifth team.

They only accept 25 teams, each team with 4 members, into the competition. It is surprisingly difficult to get in because of the aforementioned incentives.

I was approached by one of my Indian friends to be a part of the team he was putting together. I was hesitant to accept since it was conference weekend. However, he is a great guy and we work well together, but don't have the chance to do so very often (we tried doing a coding competition last year that did not end up going so well). I also wanted the experience so I accepted. The other two team members I had never met before Thursday night. They were both great guys and we are all great friends now. We were one of the lucky teams that got in.

The case was a real life problem the firm had worked on with a few of the details changed. It involved a terrorist attack in the United States and the setting up of a new government agency. We were tasked with outlining and creating the plan to get the organization up and running quickly and efficiently taking into account a bunch of small details.

We didn't take the all nighter approach. Both nights we were done by about 11:00pm. We put in a lot of intense hours on Friday, but by 10:00 pm we were pretty much done. Saturday morning we made a few tweaks and turned it in. We were the last group to present in our room and weren't sure what to expect, they didn't have too many difficult questions for us.

We made the 'Top 5'. The hour we had to work on the twist was probably one of the fastest hours I have experienced in a long time, but our first solution was set up well for the twist so we felt good about our adapted solution. We were second to last to present, so the 3 other teams before us and a few other students were in on our presentation.

It was going well, until I got up to present my part. I was talking and suddenly my train of thought was interrupted mid-sentence and I lost what I was about to say. There was an awkward silence in the room. My mind switched to crisis mode, what was I trying to say, why couldn't I think of it. I glanced up at the slide behind me to try and get my thought back, no luck. Thoughts like, 'oh, no! I blew it for the team', and 'I can't believe this just happened' started going through my mind. I was able to keep my anxiety down and stay calm, and eventually started talking again picking up on the last point I remembered talking about, suddenly I remembered what I was going to say. I was so relieved. Even with my pause, which probably wasn't as long it felt, we finished in our 20 min. limit.

Naturally, the second round of judges had tougher questions and was a little more aggressive. We had prepared ourselves well and we all participated in the Q&A.

We had to sit through one presentation then wait for about 30 minutes while the judges debated the rankings. They then presented the solution the firm used on the actually engagement, which was much more detailed and comprehensive than what any of us had come up with.

They announced the winners from 5th to 1st. After the 5th and 4th positions were announced and our team hadn't been announced, we all looked at each other surprised. 3rd, still not us, my mind was going crazy and my heart starting to beat. 2nd, another team, we looked at each other with awe. 1st place... The Jaguars, our team.

Wow. What a rush and how exciting. None of us could believe it. The craziest thing about it all, and this would be true even if we hadn't won, I kind of liked the whole process and really enjoyed doing it.

Some thoughts I had. It really seemed to be more about how you thought about the problem and how you were able to present that, rather than what you came up with. I guess that’s how it is in the real world. It doesn't matter if you have the best solution in the world, if you can’t communicate it people won’t appreciate it and accept it, it won't get anywhere.

Caterpillars, crime and kicking - Sharon Update

Hi Family!
Happy Conference weekend!

*Work has been going really well. The week on Greek mythology turned out really fun. We counted how many snakes are on Medusa's head, and made cyclops eyes to wear on our foreheads. No parents have complained about nightmares...so that's a good thing. Next week is going to be based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which I wasn't to pumped about after 4 weeks of world-culturish type lessons. But now that I have it all together I'm really excited. We'll talk about butterfly life cycles and make antennas to wear as we fly around the room. We have a couple of new students from the toddler room...un-potty trained. Ah, preparation for parenthood. I'm also trying to help train a new assistant, who seems really cool, accept for when it feels I'm trying to do one on one projects, take kids to the potty, and resolve conflicts between 14 kids all at the same time. A conversation this week concluded that, if you see the autistic after-schooler kicking me in the stomach, that would be a good time to step in.

*School: Anthony seems to be doing really well. He's spending the weekend working on this Deloite competition with a group. It sounds challenging and fun.

*Job interviews: He's had a few set up, and it's weird to think how soon this transition from school to real life career will happen. Where will the wind take us?

*Fun: Last night I went with a friend from work to see a performance of Crime and Punishment. Wow! It's like 2 hours of punishment, with a few minutes of crime. It was very very well done with a small cast of 3, and brings up interesting insights on sin and repentance. This friend works in theater and has been really nice to get me (and Ant, accept this time) into 3-4 different plays for free. She's fun to hang out with, because religion in general is totally foreign to her. So she always has really fun questions about the church, the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity. Today, I'll go to a birthday party of one of my students in between sessions of conference. I'll be shocked if it's not Spiderman or Batman themed.

*Pregnancy: Woah, I'm getting fat. :) I can still fit into all of my pants...which I buy baggy to begin with. But on Sunday I realized that it's time to look beyond my closet for church clothes. I have a cool V.T. companion that lent me some cute clothes, so I'm good to go for another couple weeks. I'm thinking about being a pear for Halloween. It's been really fun to feel the baby kick. And I'm generally feeling really really well, accept for not wanting to wake up in the morning.

So that's life. We love you guys and hope all is well!
Sharon

G-20, Career Fairs, and Great Races

Life has been busy the last month and I am ashamed I let my good updating habits go by the wayside. Since getting back from DC we have had a lot of catching up to do with all our friends in Pittsburgh. This is an attempt to make up some lost ground.

The School Highlights are as follows:

- It's my last semester. I'm working hard to fight off feelings of senioritis.
- I'm on a great capstone project with Bosch, the company that makes car parts, power tools, and kitchen appliances.
- Last week we had the much anticipated 3 day career fair (it was really two fairs back to back). I felt I got some good face time with the companies I'm interested in and found some opportunities that look promising and fun for starting my career. I have started to hear back from a few and we are praying the interviews go well.
- I'm in a Conflict Resolution class that I have been enjoying. We read an interesting book, 'Difficult Conversations' put out by a group at Harvard. I liked it, I will probably write a review to put up later.
- I have been getting back into the habit of swimming. My goal is to go at least 3 times a week. My body is slowly adapting, the first time I went my arms felt like jelly after.

Some life highlights:

- Sharon is now 5 months pregnant! Wow, it seems like yesterday we found out.
- The G-20 just came and went in Pittsburgh. Interesting environment. Everyone in Pittsburgh was talking about it and dreading it. I only saw one protest march past the front of the school, but I heard a lot of police sirens and I'm starting to hear a lot of stories.
- The Elders Quorum had a Brazilian BBQ as their opening social, it was the best Elders Quorum event I've ever been to. I made cheese bread and people seemed to like it, despite the fact that it didn't turn out all that well.
- Sharon and I finally made it down to 'The Strip District'. It's not what is sounds like. It is a really cool street market. It kind of reminded me of Pike's Place Market in Seattle. It has an open flee market feel with a lot of street vendors, most selling Steelers garb and food. Pretty fun environment and it looks like some good restaurant opportunities.
- Pittsburgh's 'The Great Race' is happening today, a Pittsburgh tradition. It's almost like the Boston Marathon, except it isn't a Marathon. It's only a 10K.
- It is starting to rain more and the cool weather is starting to slowly creep in. The leaves are hinting at change, exciting.

You know when we get to the weather the conversation has died. Hope the update was informative.

Sharon Update - Midwives, Mosques, and Mythology

Hi Family!
It's been another fun week here in Pittsburgh.

Last Sunday we had a little get together, which turned out to be my birthday party. It was just going Gabe and our friend Amy over for dinner and games, but since half of the Proulx clan was in town, we had them all over, plus a girl Gabe met at the singles ward. I made chicken curry and Ant made me a really yummy ice cream cake. After playing Loaded Questions, which is a really fun game by the way, we headed off to the Mosque for a Ramadan celebration. Anthony's friend that we gave a Book of Mormon to, invited us for what they call Humanity day. It's an inter-faith celebration of...humanity I guess. Anyway, it was really good, and the keynote speaker was amazing.

My real b-day on labor day, was really laid back. Hurray for not having work! We went to the ward "picnic" which ended up being in the cultural hall since our park got rained out.

The main event of the week for me was finding a midwife that I like. The women's hospital here, has a team of 8 midwives. I've heard really good things about them...mostly. After meeting with them last week I had second thoughts. Most of the benefits of having a midwife seemed lost with their team. I think the midwife I was speaking with sensed what kind of birth I wanted to have, and she referred me to this guy named Patrick who refers to himself as Mr. Midwife. I had a free consultation with him this week and was very very pleased. He delivers in the women's hospital, but operates as a separate entity. His Cesarean rate is about a third of the other midwife team, he stays with you during the entire delivery, makes house visits if you'd like, and is guaranteed to be the midwife who delivers the baby. Oh! And my insurance covers him!

Work is going well. This is the third week of our "world cultures" lesson plans, so I'll be covering South America, the Polynesian Islands, and Africa. Woohoo! We try to teach to the interests of our kids, and one of our kids has been obsessed with Greek Mythology lately. So if I can pull it together, that'll be our theme next week. I don't really know much about Greek Mythology though, so if you have any fun ideas, let me know.

Anthony's classes seem to be going well. He comes home most enthusiastic about his Conflict Resolution class. He's been analyzing his personality type and conflict style, which has caused for some fun conversation.

Last night we had Christian Hurst and his wife over (for those of you who know the Hursts). It was really fun. They live in a town about an hour North of here, but come to Pittsburgh regularly. It was fun to hear her story of conversion and baptism before they got hitched. I made a really yummy 2 melon cold soup, if anyone's interested in the recipe. Actually, Anthony wasn't wild about it. But I ate left overs for breakfast this morning.

Love you guys!!! Hope the new school year is going well for everyone!
Sharon

Media

Jib-Jab, 'That's what we call the News'.

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So, this was made in 2007, but recently I've been reminded of how ridiculous the news can be.

If I were to add one thing I would add something about the news being more about opinions over facts. I always thought of the media being a place where facts are presented with little or no opinion and bias. It is so difficult to get a balanced delivery of information.

However, I think that was a naive point of view to take. I had a good conversation with Del (my father-in-law) about this. We were discussing many things, one of which was the news and how it runs today, but he pointed out that it has always been about presenting opinions with the intent of persuasion. He gave an example of Lincoln and the North using media during the Civil War. Thinking more about it I remembered that even back during the early days of the church the church printed it's paper and the mobs printed their papers which created a lot of conflict and emotion.

I'm still figuring out how I feel about all of that, but I realized there was a connection between this and my recent thoughts after reading the 'Thirteen American Arguments'. The realization is that I'm soo.....I don't know the right word. Not ethnocentric, but the same idea from a generational/time point of view, maybe tempo-centric?... I've felt the debates and issues in the recent elections have been so heated and important, as if they had never occurred before my generation and my interest in politics. If they had we would have found the solution already, right? We are 'that great nation' that has the best solutions to the worlds problems, if we were having this much trouble, debate, and hate brewing it must be the first time we have gone through this. I was wrong, these debates and diverse opinions have always existed and always will, but that is healthy.

I'm reminded of the lessons from the Book of Mormon and other scripture that we need to learn from our past. It seems we hardly ever do. We are quick to forget what our fathers have gone through. I guess I'm starting to realize the value and appreciate the perspective that comes from knowing and understanding history.... but I digress into the other thoughts branching out from my original post, so I will end this before I drag on much longer. Leave your thoughts. I will end with another funny clip from SNL making fun of the election coverage by one of the large news networks. Enjoy.

Sharon Update - Back in Pittsburgh

Hi Family!
It feels really good to be back in Pittsburgh. As cool as Alexandria and D.C. are, it doesn't feel nearly as home-ish.
Reasons we've loved our first week back.
* The ward. We've missed the people. I don't know what it is about our Summer ward (maybe it was us!), but I don't think many people will notice that we're gone.
* Our cute little apartment. What a miracle. No mice, no bugs in our huge bags of grains we left, just a few slow and easy to catch spiders that guarded our windows and doors. And they did a good job, there were quite a few dead bugs around each spider...village.
* The Romeros visit. Joan and Ruben brought the kids down to go to the "Dinosaur museum." It was sooo much fun! I couldn't stop smiling as I watched Zion hop around on dinosaur tracks. Cute kids and good visiting time!
* Gabe Proulx, our good friend just moved out here too, and has hung out with us almost every other day since we've been back.
* Work! I thought it would be kind of hard coming back after being able to nap and eat whenever I wanted, but not so. I was getting pretty bored during the day. My kids were really cute on my return and often come up to remind me that there's a baby in my belly.
* School. It sounds like Anthony has some fun classes and projects lined up for a busy last semester. I can't believe he'll be done in a few months!
We are happy and healthy, and enjoying life.
Love you lots!!
Sharon

p.s. Ellsworth fam: I enjoyed the health care debate. i contributed next to nothing, but I really liked hearing differing opinions delivered so thoughtfully and intelligently.

Last Day of Work

The last day of work is the first day of unemployment.... It kind of felt like the last days of High School. Everyone in the office was your friend or suddenly was interested in knowing you. Instead of yearbook signing everyone swapped business cards, arranged, or expressed interest for continued association in the future.

The team went out to lunch and there was reminiscing over the projects and jokes being thrown around. My boss, after downing a few beers, blurted out, "So, you coming back?" I responded with, "Do you wanted me back". He said it would be great and everyone began to try and sell us on the firm, but no formal offers were made. It sounds like if I were to apply for a job there and let them know, I would most probably get hired.

It was a good experience and DC was fun, but I'm looking into some other options before I pursue this one. I am also open to hearing of other options, if you know anyone interested in a Masters student in Information Systems let’s talk.

Megawoosh

I saw this video as part of an article I read. I guess this video is getting a lot of hype right now for several reasons. One, Microsoft is using it as part of an ad campaign, and secondly (for obvious reasons) people are questioning its validity.

I've seen a few videos similar to this where some kids build a slide off the roof of their house that shot them across their yard and into a pool, but this is a much larger proportion.

Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy this, particularly my brothers and brother-in-laws (especially Aaron). This could be a fun Thanksgiving or family reunion project/adventure... We have the PC hill and that great field behind the house to work with, or we could sneak onto the mountain at night and put something up..... just think about it.

Sharon’s Updates

This week was busy and I have created a couple of posts below to capture the major events. I have put Sharon’s family update first, which is a good quick overview. I should note that Sharon is good about writing family updates and it was suggested that I post her updates for a second point of view and since this is the Quinntessentials it only makes sense to have updates from both of us. I will start posting them from here on out, so without further ado, Sharon’s update….

Hi Family,
   It's been a fun, kind of party-ish week and a half.  I think I'll try to write it in bullet form so you can skim through all my lengthy commentary. :)
*  Balloons: Anthony and I won over $50 in gift certificates at a little town event adult balloon toss.  It was really fun.  Live music and free food.  The fact that I made it out without getting soaked was nice too.  If only Anthony could say the same.  :) 
*  Family!:  My cousin Mary and her husband Barney arrived late Saturday night from Orem.  She's due about 3 days after me, so it was fun to have another prego around. :)  I enjoyed showing them how to use the Metro system, and around D.C. a little.  We went to the temple on Tuesday to do a session and go out to lunch with my parents who have officially started serving their mission in D.C!
*  NYC:  Anthony took a couple of days off work (which has been suuuper slow), so we could go up to New York with Mary and Barney.  We slept at my parents place in PA, met up with our friend Gabe Proulx and made our way to the Big Apple.  It's fun because Gabe, Ant, and Barney all lived in the Bountiful Court apts. and were all friends before I moved in.  I grew up with Gabe, who talked me into moving into the BC, where I met Anthony.  Yay!  And then in a round about way, Mary and Barney met because I had lived there.  Anyway, so it was good to be with so many close friends/relatives.  In New York, we saw Phantom of the Opera, ate some New York Pizza, saw Ground Zero, the Apple store, took a Ferry to and from Staten Island where we could get a good view of the Brooklyn bridge and Statue of Liberty. 
*  Amish country:  The next day we felt like being lazy, so we checked out Hershey Chocolate World, and went out for some seriously authentic Pennsylvania dutch food.  Mmm.  Hamloaf and woopie pie.  Then back to D.C.
*  Mary and Barney headed back last night after we had a fun visit/lunch with my parents and Quoc, and old family friend.  And then we headed North to Maryland where we could watch Phish...Anthony's one and only favorite band. They broke up a few years ago, but have reunited for a tour this summer.  It was pretty sweet, but it was past my bedtime most of the time.  And I couldn't help but wish for tiny earplugs for the baby, who is now 4 moths along!  Woohoo! 
   It was definitely a fun week.  I guess it was kind of the last Hurrah before heading back to Pittsburgh (which we're looking forward to) and going back to teaching preschool (which I'm trying to get pumped up for).  I guess I'm a little nervous since I've been so spoiled with so much free time to play and sleep. 
  Love you guys!  We constantly feel blessed to have you as family!
  Sharon  

She also had a lot of pictures attached all of which, plus more can be found in our online photo album for the summer here.

DC

Phish Concert

Saturday we bid farewell to Barney and Mary and headed up to Columbia, MD for my first Phish concert (and probably the last) at the Merriweather Post Pavilion. This was Sharon’s Christmas/Birthday present to me. I have wanted to see this band live since I got into them in High School, you can read my previous post about it here.

It was a nice evening and we had great seats in the Pavilion. The concert was really good. I wouldn’t say it was ‘amazing’ just because I had set my expectations pretty high. I wish I could have heard the music a little better, but the experience was really fun and totally worth it. I’m looking into how I can get a copy of the show now. Phish is cool that way, they encourage the sharing of concerts, music, etc... One guy behind us was videotaping it, which I think was against the rules at the Pavilion to do so, but there were a lot of illegal things happening. After the first few songs he asked me to switch places with Sharon because I was too tall and kept getting in the way. He said he would send me a copy of the tape. I switched and can only hope he comes through with the tape.

I think I came to learn many things at the concert one of which is that a bunch of the songs I like are sung or strongly influenced by the pianist, Page McConnell. I need to look more into his side projects and band, Vida Blue. I also realized that as much fun as the concert experience is with the crazy people, fun light show, and seeing the band interact, I like having recordings to really hear the music.

In true Phan fashion I will end with the set list

First set:
Crowd Control 
Kill Devil Falls
The Sloth
Beauty Of A Broken Heart
Axilla I
Foam
Esther
Ha Ha Ha
Party Time (World Debut, a Jon Fishman song)
Tube
Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan
Strange Design
Time Turns Elastic
Second set:
Tweezer
Taste
Alaska 
Let Me Lie
46 Days
Oh! Sweet Nuthin' (Velvet Underground)
Harry Hood
Encore:
Good Times Bad Times (Grateful Dead)
Tweezer Reprise

The Big Apple

Sharon’s cousin, Mary, and her husband, Barney, came to DC for a little vacation  before Barney starts his MBA and Mary gives birth to their first child. I got a few days off work so we could all go and play. We headed up to Marietta, PA to pick up Gabe a friend Sharon grew up with and the rest of us got to know when we all lived in the same apartment complex in Provo.

With the gang together we drove over to New York to get as much in as we could in one day. We took the ferry over from Staten Island which allowed us to see the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. We then took the metro up to time square and got tickets to Phantom of the Opera (we tried to get into Wicked, but that didn’t happen). We had some New York pizza, went to Central Park, saw the Apple store, checked out the Trump Tower and its supper expensive ice cream shop (we passed on that for some Baskin Robins), saw ground Zero, and then headed home.

New York was a packed day so we took Thursday nice and slow in Marietta. We visited Hersey, PA (really Derry, pronounced dairy, Township) and enjoyed the magic of Hershey’s Chocolate World. We stopped by Sharon’s old work, ‘The Country Table’, to get a taste of the Pennsylvania Dutch food. It was really good. That afternoon we headed back to Washington. More pictures can be found on our DC album for the summer.

This was a really fun trip. We were with good fun people and we all got along well. It was nice to get out and just have fun. However, as great as a place as New York City is I realized that I probably wouldn’t want to live there. I do think that living close enough to make it there once or twice a year to enjoy Broadway and other attractions would be really fun.

National Night Out

When I walk home from the Metro I walk through a little park next to the library and fitness center.  I have come to view this as a place that brings the community together as it has been a happening place this summer. When we first got here we discovered there is a free open air family movie once a month. A few weeks ago they had the “Del Ray Music Festival”, which was a whole Saturday of live bands. On Tuesday I noticed them setting up for another event, as it happens it was ‘National Night Out’.

I had never heard of this, but I did some research today and found out it happens all over the country. It was started in the mid-80’s by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW), a “nonprofit crime prevention organization… which works in cooperation with thousands of crime watch groups and law enforcement agencies”. The purpose is to:

• Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
• Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;
• Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
• Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

It sounds like there are about 12,000 communities in all 50 states that participate. They all have the event on the same evening. If you haven’t heard of it you can organize one for you community in 2010. (more)

So, for our walk Tuesday we went down and checked it out. It was basically like a huge block party sponsored by local businesses and law enforcement. They had a fire truck out for all the kids to play in, a local band playing for the crowd, and free food:) We got a little bite to eat and sat and listened to the band for a song or two. Then they took a break and had the ‘Adult’ water balloon tossing contest. Sharon and I made it to 3rd place and won $50.00 worth of coupons to some of the local shops! We are excited to use them for dates our last few weeks before we go. One was also to a baby store.

Hurray for community events.

The Thirteen American Arguments

Last year, while listening to NPR in the middle of the primaries, there was a book review for Howard Fineman’s ‘The Thirteen American Arguments’. Since I heard about it I have wanted to read it. Sharon got it for my birthday and I have since been slowly working my through it and finished it this week. I thought I would write a little review.

About the Author: Howard Fineman is “Newsweek’s senior Washington correspondent and columnist” and shows up in all sorts of publications, new programs, etc. He’s been covering politics his whole career as a journalist and appears to have done a fair amount of research to produce this book.

The Book: Fineman makes the point that over the years he has reported on politics he has noticed a few underlying themes independent of time, people, and events. Basically, the challenges and opinions of today aren’t unique, but have been around for a long time and should continue in the future.
The arguments:
1. Who is a Person?
2. Who is an American?
3. The Role of faith
4. What can we know and say?
5. The limits of Individualism
6. Who judges the law?
7. Debt and the dollar
8. Local v. National authority
9. Presidential power
10. The terms of trade
11. War & Diplomacy
12. The Environment
13. A fair, “More Perfect” Union

It would be easy for him to take a side or be biased, but I felt he did a good job looking at both sides of each argument. I agree that it is important to understand the historical context of the complex conversations that are going on today. In history classes I never paid enough attention to current events, or class, to recognize the parallels and reoccurring themes. With all that said, I thought he should have explored the complex relationship between these arguments in greater detail. The relationships are only implied through the small overlaps of topics in the chapters.

A case in point: I was reading again today about the arrest of Mr. Gates, the Harvard professor who was arrested at his home a few weeks ago, and reflected on what argument really was behind that event. In reality, it is a combination of several of the arguments like, ‘what can we know and say’, ‘the limits of individualism’, ‘who judges the law’, and I would go as far to say, ‘who is an American’ (and what are their rights). I could probably come up with better examples, but you get the point. After reading the book I look at current events differently.

I tried to find the original NPR article I heard, but I couldn’t find it so I put a clip up of Mr. Fineman on Comedy Central’s ‘The Colbert Report’. Colbert gives him a hard time, but you get the idea of what the book is about.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Howard Fineman
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Tasers

Public Personal Goal

A Public Personal Goal is a personal goal you make publicly, so that you feel motivated to keep it... or at least that is how I'm defining it.

You hear a lot about making goals and I've heard that making a public goal makes you more likely to achieve it, because you are accountable to a larger group of people. It's like consciously choosing to subject yourself to peer pressure to achieve a positive outcome.

Some of you may have noticed that this month I had an explosion of blog posts. The last year and a half I have averaged about 2 posts a month and last month I posted 7 times. I'm proud of that. I know some of you out there are much more regular bloggers, but this is a turning point for me. I want to publicly make the goal to post at least 7 more post this month. That would put me at 8 posts for the 8th month of the year.

I'm also soliciting your opinion. My updates used to be called the "Ant-ology" before I got married and started the Quinn-tessentials. Anyway, I realize that some of you may not want to read my random thoughts and musings and just want a simple 3-4 updates a month on what Sharon and I have been up to. I am thinking of starting the Ant-ology again as a home for the more random and frequent updates about whatever I might be thinking or interested in. What do you think? Too much work to keep up on two different blogs? Or a good idea?

I'd appreciate your feedback.

New York Getaway

What do a car wreck, The Music Man, and Peter and the Wolf have in common? I was in none of them this weekend, but I saw them.

This past weekend was a nice getaway for Sharon and me. Friday I was able to work from home and get off early so we could head up to Marietta to visit Sharon’s parents and friends. The drive up was the worst commute I have had to date. It usually takes us about 2-2.5 hours to get there from where we are living in Virginia, but it took us over 4 hours to get there Friday afternoon. There were accidents everywhere, or potential for them. We pass the DC temple on our way, which is normally a half hour drive, but it took us a good hour to get there this time around because a moving van had broken down in the middle of the highway and was sitting there with its hazards on. A little further down the road, about the time we got on 95 headed north toward Baltimore traffic slowed to stop & crawl mode again because of a fender bender right where there was a bunch of merging lanes. We enjoyed a couple of miles of normal traffic after that, until it slowed to again. This time we were lucky, because it we had been much later we might have been stuck a lot longer. An RV and the truck pulling it had flipped. As we were slowing down we saw the first emergency vehicles blaring their way to the scene. As we inched along more and more of them kept showing up, in the end the 4 lane highway was down to 1 lane and the shoulder of the road. We were lucky not to be in anything, but unlucky to be in a car without air conditioning on the hottest weekend so far this summer.

It was good we left early because Friday night we had a date at the opening night for the newly formed Marietta theater company, The Susquehanna Stage Company. They put on ‘The Music Man’. It was directed by Sharon’s old High School director and included many of her friends from Marietta growing up. Marian was, and still is, one of Sharon’s best friends growing up, Nichole. We enjoyed watching it and they really did a nice job. It was fun because Marietta is in some ways similar to ‘River City’.

Saturday we got in the car and drove through New Jersey, the corner of Connecticut, and New York to Caramoor, where there is a nice summer music festival with concerts in the beautiful gardens of an old estate. The music selections were generally geared toward families with children. Two of Sharon’s cousins were part of the festival. Michael Barrett, a protégé of Leonard Bernstein, conducted and I believe, was the organizer of the festival. He also does a festival in Moab, UT.

Their opening piece was by a French composer who wrote a ‘mock’ symphony with about 20 short movements, each representing different past times. It had two dancers who were acting out the past times in a very entertaining fashion. Sharon’s cousin, Michelle Ellsworth, was one of the dancers.

Their second piece was ‘Peter and the Wolf’. They did a nice job and they had a great narrator. It had been awhile since I had heard the whole thing with the narration. I realized my idea of the story was incorrect from my childhood. I always pictured it taking place in the winter with snow, etc. but listening to the narration it made it sound more like a summer setting with the duck swimming in the pond.

We made it back to DC Sunday night without any accidents. The only traffic was caused by a chair in the middle of the road, the things people let fall by the wayside.

You can find more pictures of our adventure this weekend and from DC in our album.

DC