Hiking in NJ - who knew?

Well, I'm sure a lot of people knew, but I just discovered some fun hiking in northern New Jersey - it's not ALL a parking lot!! My discovery was prompted by the fact that I'm required to take a certain amount of credits for NJ CLE in very specific subjects as a newly admitted lawyer. Because I was free this Saturday I signed up for one...in Fairfield NJ. Determined not to let NJ win this confrontation, I planned something I enjoy afterwards to quell my inevitable annoyance. And boy was that a good choice!

I went to Pyramid Mountain specifically to do the Tripod Rock hike. I guess this huge rock is a glacial pre-Cambrian gneiss boulder perched on three smaller rocks. It's pretty interesting. The hike itself was beautiful. There are several trails to choose from, some run right along the reservoir, others up over the mountain. There are a few lookouts at the top and you can see the skyline of New York City from one of them!! I had a beautiful day and a fun hike!

The Center for Art in Wood

This place is fantastic! It's a gallery showcasing wood art, mostly wood turning pieces but some other art in wood as well, including unique paintings done on the lathe and hand carvings. The pieces are unique, the space is amazing, and the stories behind the history of wood turning and the art work are so interesting.

I highly recommend stopping into the gallery - 141 N. 3rd St., Philadelphia. And check out their website!

Watch out New Jersey!!

I've been saying this for a few years now, about how global warming can't be ALL bad, because the rise of sea level will result in the beach coming to Philadelphia's doorstep! (Albeit, at the expense of New Jersey...)

Anyway, it's finally out in the public now - scientists (well, one former professor) are saying that by 2050 the water level will be so high that New Jersey will be swallowed and Philadelphia will need extra high walls to protect it from the Delaware. So much for the beach...

Apparently we Philadelphians will also be free of traffic jams on the Schuylkill because robots will be driving our cars. Looks exciting.

These commercials are really weird...

Not sure if you've seen the new commercials for Uni-Ball pens yet, but they are WEIRD. Here's a few below:

This is precious!

What a great inspirational speech!

Bike theft

I'm still a little sensitive about the theft of my bike, 6.5 years ago. My favorite bike, a green/blue Trek 820. Stolen from Rittenhouse Square area.

So when I see this (pictured below), my heart goes out to this bike owner. I am also incensed at the audacity of the thief, cutting the gears out of the back wheel!

I guess that's Philadelphia for you...

SNOW! In OCTOBER!?!?!

Boy oh boy has Mother Nature gone crazy! Saturday, October 29, we had a snow storm. Not too bad in Philly - just a lot of wet snow/sleet and no real accumulation. But in parts of Pennsylvania 40 miles west, there were 5-10 inches of accumulation and in parts of northern PA and NY State there was up to 2 feet of snow!!!!

Unfortunately, I only got one picture. I took the storm as an opportunity to stay in my pajamas and do nothing, really (except worry about finding a different field to play our rugby game at the next day...).

I'm hoping this will be our only "snow storm" this winter. Although with this kind of start, who knows!

Blocktoberfest!

This weekend I attended, among other fun things, Blocktoberfest! I hadn't heard of this event before, despite it being the 3rd year they had it in Philly. This year it was Bigger Better Beerer! Check out the website here.

The event features beer from local breweries, music, food, crafts, etc. And it's a non-profit with all proceeds from beer sales going back to area educational initiatives. Look for it on the streets of Philadelphia next year!!

Well, well, well!

It's been about a month since I blogged. I'd give some excuses like nothing fun happened to me, I haven't done anything exciting or worth writing about, etc. etc. etc. But that's just not true. A lot of fun things have happened! These top the list:

1. I sewed myself a suit skirt. That took a while. Don't look at it too closely! I'd put a picture up of it, but I took the picture of myself in my mirror (which is a fat mirror), so the photo isn't very flattering (but not because of the skirt! haha!)

2. I started a job. It's fantastic and I love the people I work with. I work now!

3. I baked a lemon meringue pie the other day and ate half of it in one sitting (don't get mad at me JS).

4. I've been watching the men's rugby world cup - there have been some great and shocking games! Down to the final four: Wales v. France, Australia v. New Zealand.

5. I got an iPhone! I still really really miss my flip phone though...

I'll try to be a more regular contributor again, for those loyal readers out there! :)

"Do our genes decide if we're kind or cruel?"

I was unpacking and found this newspaper page that I had saved for some reason. Initially I had no idea why, until I turned it over and read the bottom - an interesting little piece about how our genes might influence our demeanor. Read the whole article here.

Basically, there are specific genes linked to specific emotional characteristics like aggression, emotional expression, empathy. "In most cruel people, the 'empathy circuit', which runs through 10 different regions of the brain, goes down either temporarily or permanently, leaving the person with 'zero empathy'". The author uses Osama bin Laden as an example. The reasons for the cruel actions could be partly innate, partly a result of some early traumatic experience, or an interaction between nature and nurture.

I'm not sure how I feel about this article - it kind of says nothing at all while saying a whole lot at the same time - but it's kind of interesting to bring back the old nature vs nurture discussion and just how much of how we end up is governed by these principles! Food for thought!

I must be a tropical storm magnet!!

I went down to the Florida panhandle over Labor Day weekend. What do you know? A tropical storm arrives just as I arrive! Despite an overcast first few days, and an extremely wet and rainy second few days, we had heaps of fun walking the beach, eating, fishing, sun bathing (yes, I did get some sun!), and boogie boarding in tornado watch weather!!

Sunday night rewarded us with a fantastic lightning storm over the ocean. While I missed some good shots (of course the sky lights up the minute I go back in the door), I got some good ones. Pretty impressive!! Isn't nature amazing?!?!?!

East Coast Natural Disaster Week

I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been busy getting my last days of vacation in before starting my job in September. The Year of Kim is coming to an end…

Anyway, my last few weeks have been quite eventful, thanks to a few natural disasters. Last Tuesday we had an earthquake; and this weekend we had a hurricane!

Now, I had been in a few earthquakes before. By “been in” I mean I’ve been there when rumblings happened. By “earthquakes” I mean generally minor shakes. Once in Michigan when I was little, once in Costa Rica, and most recently in New Jersey.

The earthquake in Costa Rica is an interested story. While I was working with leatherback turtles there, we patrolled the beaches all night. So after returning to our science station at 5am, we generally passed out exhausted until brunch at 11am.

Our station was about 50 meters from the Pacific Ocean. One morning I awakened to my bunk bed shaking (we shared a room with 10 roommates!). Thinking someone was deliberately messing with me, I turned over with a scowl on my face, only to find that nobody else was in the room! The shaking continued for a few more seconds and I realized it was an earthquake. A fleeting thought crossed my mind – “I hope there’s no tsunami” – and I rolled back over and fell asleep. Later that day, someone merely mentioned that we had an earthquake and nothing else was heard about it.

Tuesday in New Jersey was interesting as well. I was at our family friends' beach house and the house started swaying back and forth. For a second we thought it might be someone rumbling around upstairs for something, but it was a bit too violent for that. Looking out the window I saw the neighbors at their doors terrified by the shaking as well. “It was an earthquake,” I shouted. A quick glance at MSNBC confirmed it – 5.8 in/around Charlottesville, VA.

Of course the hurricane would come the weekend I move into my new apartment. My mom had been worrying about this thing for over a week, so we decided to move up the move in day from Saturday to Friday, and I’m glad we did because boy did it rain on Saturday!!!

Apart from the rain, I don't think Hurricane Irene lived up to the hurricane of the century moniker, at least not in Philadelphia. Nothing was down in my neighborhood and I only heard of some flooding in a few suburbs around here. Not sure how the NJ barrier islands fared though, since I currently only get one TV channel (Spanish TV Univision) and no internet.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the earthquake. But I do have pictures of the hurricane!! And the aftermath - blue skies!!!!

If I were a water creature...

...I'd like to be an octopus! Look how cool this is!!!!

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Cats Re-enact Harry Potter

This is hilarious. And spot on. Lots of laughs!

Niagara Falls, slowly I turned, step by step...

Well, it wasn't exactly a "true" visit of Niagara Falls, but it was pretty close! We drove by on our way from Buffalo to Toronto and here's what we saw! Haha!

It's like raayeeeeaaaaayyyn on your beach day!

I had been planning to go to the beach at some point this week and picked Thursday because it fit better into my schedule. Plus, earlier in the week the weather didn't look too bad for Thursday. Well, I guess in terms of beach days this one was kinda bad.

I got there and it was overcast (which was a bit of a blessing since I had forgotten sunscreen...). But not one to be deterred by the weather, I set up camp anyway. Shortly afterwards it started to sprinkle. And kept sprinkling. So I put my sunglasses on, laid back and rain bathed! I did a little exploring and finally headed over to my friend's parent's house for a wonderful dinner!

I probably wouldn't be laughing...

...except these girls were on Tosh.0 laughing at themselves and having a good time of it. So I figured I'd pass it on. Both these girls look like they have longer legs than I do, so rest assured I won't be attempting the hurdles any time soon! Good on them for finishing the race out!!

A commercial I actually like

I don't usually pay attention to commercials. I use that time to zone out and think about things I want to think about. Or do something else. Or I just don't really watch TV. But recently one came on that caught my attention - a Toyota Venza commercial. (I must admit, it took me about 5 times of seeing this commercial to realize that it was for a car.)



Anyway, I think it captures the increasing internet-technology-culture of America. Is this culture good or bad? I guess that's up to you to decide. But I'd prefer to be in the parents' friend group!

Lex Gillette

To follow up on my previous post Mini Reunion!, the blind athlete my friend is working with is also a singer-song writer and motivational speaker. Check out his website - pretty impressive!

Breakfast in the wilderness

I spent a lot of time up at Cook Forest State Park this past week - running through the woods, tubing down the river, hiking, and EATING! Breakfast at the forest is one of my favorite things, and as you can see, it's an all out brekky!!


We're so lucky to have such a beautiful and largely untouched outdoor area so close by. One of my all time favorite places in the world!!

Straw that broke the camel's back

I’ve decided that I have no respect for soccer. After the men’s world cup last year and all of the shenanigans – “injuries”, rolling around on the ground, grabbing the ankle when it’s clear from the replay that the impact hit the upper thigh – I was really put off.

But I decided to give the women’s world cup a chance. And boy was I rewarded with a gem. I caught the end of the USA v. Brazil quarterfinal match. The US was already down in the first period of extra time. Still down into the second period of extra time, Brazil started the time wasting. Walking to take throw ins, delaying on free kicks, and then the worst display of sportsmanship I have EVER seen.

Brazil’s number 13 (Erika) was shown on the ground, clutching at who knows what. Play stops, the medics come out and load her on the stretcher, and as she’s being taken off the field, the replay shows that with NOBODY around her, Erika collapses.

Bring it back to real time – just as the medics get her to the sideline, she unstraps herself and sprints around the outside of the field. Next think you know, in the middle of play, she’s streaking back onto the field. The referee (who I heard had a shocker anyway), futilely waves a yellow card in this girl’s face, but time ticks on.

Fortunately for the US, perhaps justice was served. Two minutes into stoppage time in the final extra period, Abby Wambach scores a header in the corner to tie the game 2-2 and send it to penalty kicks. The US wins on kicks and heads into the semifinals to face France. I don’t think I’ll be watching. I’m sick of such disgraceful displays of unsportsmanlike conduct that has ruined an otherwise fantastic sport.

Mini Reunion!

Sorry this is late in posting – internet has been hard to come by. Wednesday I made a midpoint stop in Harrisburg to visit with my friends JN and JPS!!! So good to see them!!! We had a good ole fashioned country breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then tried to have the waitress take our picture.

Here is the first attempt, after several non-photos.

And finally here’s the last attempt, after several times of instruction!

As an interesting side note, JN is in a masters program out in San Diego in sports management and she told me one of her projects was finding a sponsor for a para-olympian named Lex. Lex is amazing because he competes in track and field, BLIND. That’s right. Lex runs the 100m and 200m sprints (he’s blind!) and does the long jump and triple jump (blind!). How awesome! He has a sighted guide runner, who also used to be a sprinter, and who gives him instructions running right next to him. It just goes to show you that nothing is impossible and people can overcome some seemingly debilitating events and conditions to succeed! What strength!

Who knew you could have fun in MSP?!?!?!

In 2002 I vowed never to return to Minneapolis; well, specifically Blaine, MN. In the last 9 years, I've been back at least 9 times (all for rugby). I've lost count.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Do not make a vow that you have absolutely no control over keeping.

But this time, I'm back in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for a wedding and to visit my good friend JS. This time I was excited to come back. And this time I'm actually having fun! And there's way more to come!!!

So far I've participated in some fun workouts (I'm still sore from the Thursday Prowler pushing/pulling)...




Shopped at the Mall of America (obviously this is a must)...

(http://twincitieshotspots.blogspot.com/2010/05/mall-of-america-minneapolis-saint-paul.html)

Gone to the beach (yes, MSP has beaches!!!)...


And eaten some delicious food, albeit in the basement because the tornado sirens went off (I guess it wouldn't be the midwest without a severe storm!).

(I had to take the essentials...)

Update on Mim Kagrini!

Well folks, Mim Kagrini the Olympian is back!!! This time to demonstrate that taking performance enhancing drugs is not cool and affects more than just one person's life. It's because of the dopers that the non-dopers' lives are hugely affected!

Here's the story: there's a little organization called the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). And basically they are responsible for ensuring the drug freeness of all athletes in Olympic sports. Rugby is now an Olympic sport, so athletes in the national rugby pool are going to be subject to USADA's rules. This means an invasion of personal privacy - athletes are required to make "whereabouts filings" every three months detailing their exact location at exact times for every single day of their life between the hours of 6am and 11pm. (Whew, at least we get 7 hours to ourselves!)

If we wake up one day and decide we want to do something spontaneous, like go to the beach, we have to update the form (via email, text message, smart phone app, or some other method). If we fail to update the form and USADA shows up to drug test us where we should have been and we aren't, USADA will give us a call and we have 60 minutes to get there or we get a failed test.

If we fail to update the form at the 4 scheduled update times throughout the year, we get a "failure to update" which affects our eligibility and our team's ability to participate or get funding. If we go camping in the wilderness, we are expected to give USADA the coordinates of our camp site (yes, longitude and latitude, those things we learned about in 7th grade), so that they can show up unannounced outside our tent for a pee sample.

Yes, we Mim Kagrini is in a relationship with USADA. A very intrusive relationship. But like my dad says, "you chose it." Did I? Really? At least Mim has good aim...

Post Office Peril!

Listen up everybody - Canada is having postal issues. Apparently they've already reduced their mail service to three days a week, with a possible complete stoppage in the near future. Postal workers are disgruntled, and everybody knows what that means. Although with the reduced mail service, it stands to argue that there is less of a chance someone will go postal.

The reason for the drop off in service is obviously the drop off in actual physical mail. The age of electronics allows checks to be sent through the interwebs. Emails can be sent instead of good old hand written letters (people still use their hands to write things? do kids even know how to hold pencils?). And specialized courier services have replaced the federal postal services.

In my opinion, this is actually a dire situation. Apparently the US Postal service loses hundreds of millions of dollars a year by just operating. Maybe they should stop selling those "Forever Stamps."

www.flagsbay.com

Not much happening

So there's not much happening in my life right now to blog about. My biggest travels are done, I spent some quality time at home and now there's just a few things to take care of before the job starts. Nothing funny ever seems to happen to me anymore - I must be getting old and boring.

BUT, I have a friend who's taken on a challenge this summer - to write a blog post every single day!! So far she's been doing quite well, and if you'd like to check out her writings, visit her blog Structure Fire. It's there. It's happening. It's funny. Although I noticed she missed a few days recently....

Homemade stuff!!!

I've taken my time at home to do some homemade crafting. This includes sewing myself a dress, making my own moisturizer, cooking mint curried chicken, and making Greek yogurt!!! Okay, the yogurt we didn't start exactly from scratch, but basically using just a tablespoon of store bought Greek yogurt and a quart of whole milk, you can make a tub of yogurt!! Yummy!!





Sewing was fun - I had a little bit of help putting in the zipper and hemming it up nicely (and also cleaning up some of the rough edges). But in the end, I had a dress that fit me well and that nobody else in the world has!! Pretty cool!



The moisturizer I'm a little unsure about. I read that all you needed was equal parts olive oil, coconut oil, honey (or beeswax), and water. So I had just that and mixed it together as directed, then left in the fridge to solidify. But it's not quite blended.... I'm skeptical but intrigued.