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.