This just in!!! My doppelganger is up to no good on the other side of the pond. Though we share similar ideology, he's always been the crazier, somewhat more muscular one. That leftist bastard has sullied our name one too many times.

Nothing hits the spot after many hours travelling like a little campfire and some sake. The campfire has always been a steadfast item on my "Big List of Good Things" and Sake is a relatively new addition, but the result, when the two are combined in one evening means wicked-sweet. Fortunately for the partiers out there, Jude and Michelle's wedding was not entirely about the wedding. Honestly I feel bad for Jude because though he invited all kinds of great people, myself included, he had but tiny slivers of time to spend with each one. From my vantage point, Jude did a fair share of enduring along with the celebrating. Remind me not to have a wedding. Sorry Mom, it looked like a lot of work.

Timmy kept us enrapt with his mad Johnny Cash impression and super-strumming capabilities. Too bad that it rained during the reception or I'm sure we'd have been singing Kum-ba-ya near the campfire a second night in a row.

Pete Dillon and his "Brother from Another Mother" Per Henningsgaard. Oddly enough, both are enrolled in PhD programs in paridaise-like settings. Pete for his PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry in Berkely, CA and Per for his PhD in English in Perth, Australia

Fun times in the North Woods. Jude and Michelle's wedding was indeed the highlight of the trip, aside from all the boozing and partying, that is. I guess this means that the pressure is on for all of us unmarried long-term daters. That means Jennifer and Me, Paul and Mary and all of you other people, you know who you are.

Two weekends, two kinds of fun.


Last weekend was my first shot at the lovely Team Time Trial event. I kind of got wrangled into this thing when a couple of my teammates decided that they were going to do it, and needed a 3rd guy. My reputation of being game for anything made me the lucky duck in this case. The team time trial is run when the team, consisting in this case of four members heads out on a set course with a bazillion dollars worth of disk wheels and aero bars and then we all take turns pedaling till we puke around a 40 kilometer course. It was all going well, I had borrowed an extra 1000 dollars worth of bike shit, had changed my bike all around into some sort of freakazoid TT rig and then soon enough it was race day. My teammate Ted Slack picked me up at the house, about 5:30 in the morning and we were on our way. We registered, met up with the other two guys and started to get ready. What was this!?! I had utterly forgotten my cycling shoes! If you've ever tried to race your bike on clipless pedals while wearing running shoes, you know that this isn't a recipe for success.

So, I did what any self respecting cyclist would do, and I followed the lead of the greats who came before me, namely, Dave Stoller from Breaking Away, and taped my feet to the pedals. As it turned out, it wasn't such a bad idea. We simply rolled to the starting line, and then Ted held me upright while one of the other guys strapped my feet to the pedals with athletic tape. Now that I was trapped on the bike, there was nowhere for me to go but forward, so on we went. As it turned out I was the fastest guy on the course with his feet taped to the pedals, which won me accolades from the Tough Guy department. Additionally, thanks to my burly teammates, we ended up winning the New Jersey Cat 4. Team Time Trial Championships, complete with a great big trophy, some medals and also some schwag.


This weekend Jennifer and I are packing up. We have in our bags 1 tent, 2 sleeping bags, 1 gallon of sake, one hatchet, 4 sets of undies (two each) one small Japanese trinket, and 1 bottle each of sunblock and bug spray.
We fly out of Philadelphia tomorrow at 7:00 AM. Any guesses as to where we'ere headed? I'll fill you in with more details as they materialize.

Jennifer and I are quite pleased with ourselves. As you can see, we're happily standing in our mostly complete bathroom. It's awesome because it is fully functional, though no door yet. One can complete any and every major bodily hygene operation, including bathing, defacating and flossing. It ROCKS.

Its the lovely bath tub and shower unit, tiled by Jennifer, plumbed and grouted by yours truly. It's an awesome place to bathe, certainly better than the sink or the previous incarnation which had only cement walls. It rocks.

Behold the mostly finished bathroom. Jennifer and I busted our humps for the past couple of days and I think we have a winner. I'll level with you, it was mostly Jennifer busting her hump. I was mostly sitting on my rump.