clover

So this past weekend I stumbled upon the absolute best cup of coffee I've ever had in my 33 years on this planet, twice. First, a cup of 100% Kona and then a strong bitter blend of Rwandan beans via a Clover. The Clover Coffee Maker will brew an individual cup of coffee in a sort of reverse french press (with a vacuum)with any beans available, exclusively at Starbucks. See below for a detailed video:



And here for all of Starbuck's bragging rights. Clover used to be a small Seattle based company until Starbucks bought the company to offer the machine ONLY at their stores. Right now only Seattle, Boston, and San Fran have been blessed with these beauties. One more reason to move to Seattle just got added to my list!!

human study

Just a few movies and one musical artist that have greatly amused me. All of them are definitely off the beaten path.

-King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters:


-Wordplay:


-Lastly is an artist we saw this past Friday at the Musikfest in Bethlehem. He goes buy the name Cast in Bronze, wears an all black jumpsuit, rocks out on a carillon, and wears quite an interesting mask. Check it out:

it's friday.......

Just a post regarding the past post entitled "good friday". Rachel has done the research regarding the sermon titled "It's Friday But, Sundays Comin'" and has discovered that the original pastor who wrote & delivered the sermon was Marshall L. Shepard, Sr., pastor of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in West Philadelphia. Sadly, everything on the internet credits Dr. Anthony Campolo who did write a book on the sermon, oddly enough, gaining public credit for the sermon with no known declaration that this is someone else's work.

Below is the email response from Tony Campolo's assistant:

Rachel,

When I "Googled" the topic, I found some of this, and then I made a call and
got the rest of it! "Tony Campolo preaches a sermon taken from an elderly black pastor, the
late Marshall L. Shepard, Sr., pastor of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in West
Philadelphia. "It's Friday, but Sunday's Comin'" is the title of the sermon."

James Warren
Executive Assistant to Dr. Anthony Campolo, Bart Campolo and Shane

Looks like the cat is out of the bag. Have a good weekend everyone.

to wander

A pretty meaningless post really. Just found this website where you can map out all the places that you have visited in the U.S. and globally.



This map shows my global travels, primarily thanks to my two deployments in the United States Navy. Right now, I'd settle to go anywhere with sunshine. The Kittitas valley has been covered in freezing fog for the last week. No sunshine and frost on every single exposed surface, which gives some very pretty pictures. I'll have to post some soon. Good night.

crickey - r.i.p.

Say it ain't so. I just learned tonight that the "croc hunter" died today from a stingray barb through the heart. Go here for more coverage.

This doesn't have a great impact on my world but I thought Steve-o would never die. This guy was a tough as leather, hard as alligator skin, and quick as a cobra (which, I saw him jump around with in the African safari).

More later.

dead cow = relaxation

As I write this blatantly materialistic post I am sitting on, what I would consider, the most comfortable couch in existence. Yesterday, we purchased our first grown-up (non-Ikea) piece of furniture. A leather La-Z-boy couch/dual recliner which is feature in the pictures below:


























When you slide into the reclining position, you're immediately surrounded by the musky leather scent which declares "this is a FREAKIN' MAN'S SOFA"!! The smooth chocolate leather cradles you in as you drift of on what will be many Sunday afternoon naps.

More meaningful posts coming soon. But for now too.....sleepy...to...type....on.

whispering pines

Hey all; the migration is complete. We arrived in Ellensburg, Washington this past Sunday late in the evening, on what we would later find out was the hottest day in recorded history for the town. My air conditioning stopped working in Colorado since my truck didn’t want to pull a U-Haul trailer and power the A/C, so I drove the last three days of the trip in relative misery. To break up the monotony of the trek I tried to keep a log of pretty much anything I could think of. Below is my portion of the log.

Trip Totals:
Days: 6
Miles: 3300.4
Tolls: $53 (that's just PA, OH, & IN....rotten scoundrels)
Driving Hours: 60.5
Gallons of Gasoline: 258
Roads Traveled: 76→80→280→680→81→135→61→70→25→90
Coffees: 7
Dr. Peppers: 9
Bags of Sunflower Seeds: 3

Playlist:
Alexi Murdoch
Belle & Sebastian
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
Beta Band
Blind Melon
Bob Dylan
Cake
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Counting Crows
Credence Clearwater Revival
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
David Gray
DJ Dangermouse
Faith No More
Fiona Apple
Gillian Welch
Jack Johnson
Johnny Cash
Josh Garrels
Josh Rouse
Kasey Chambers
Kathleen Edwards
Led Zeppelin
Lucinda Williams
Marvin Gaye
Modest Mouse
Neko Case
Nirvana
Over The Rhine
Queensryche
Radiohead
Redbird
Shelby Lynne
Soul Asylum
Soul Sides Compilation 1
Sufjan Stevens
Talking Heads
The Allman Brothers Band
The Band
The Beatles
The Boy Least Likely To
The Shins
Toots & the Maytals
Violent Femmes
WILCO
Willie Nelson
Zero 7

Scientific Discovery Moment: Rachel initiated research in Wyoming revealing that it takes approximately five minutes for a Lemonhead to dissolve in your mouth without any excessive sucking on the Lemonhead.

Further research to support the hypothesized “five minute law” will explore if multiple Lemonheads in your mouth will change the dissolve time and if every mouth is consistent with a universal five minute law will be completed on future road trips.

Trip Claps & Slaps: (my cheesy section to doll out rants and thanks)

Claps:

- Ultimate clap to The Lord for providing us with save travel, no speeding tickets, and some of the most amazing country to drive through.
- Supreme Clap to the unnamed tow-truck driver/mechanic in Belleville, Kansas who towed my truck (with the trailer attached) to the Chevy dealership and then started working away on trying to fix it….on a blissful 113 degree day in Kansas!!

Slaps:

- A Slap to the fuel pump which caused the above mentioned breakdown on that 113 degree day.
- Another general all encompassing Slap (with a flying elbow) to the heat wave which plagued us the entire week we were traveling.

Overall the trip was an exciting adventure which let us see some extremely beautiful country:

And also play with electronics while I should of been driving:
Back at Whispering Pines we have been very busy the past week with unpacking, assembling Ikea furniture, and settling to our new home in the Pacific Northwest. Our house is surrounded by tall pine trees which whisper as the wind sails in from the Cascade Mountains, hence the new name of our house. The breeze also fills the house with the scent of evergreen trees and makes me feel like I’m camping in the mountains. I found out last week that I passed the national certification for Physician Assistants which was a huge relief. I start work on 7.31 and a new chapter in my “adult” life. Tonight Rachel and I are going to enjoy the latest movie by M. Night Shyamalan, Lady In The Water. This weekend is also “Jazz in the Valley” so we may explore the town more and possibly catch a concert. Enjoy your own weekend. More to come soon.

goodbye PHL

Tonight, I sit on the eve of a trans-continental trip from Philadelphia to Washington state. I've recently completed my training as a Physician Assistant and am moving to start my new job as a fledgling PA.
I write this with excitement, apprehension, and sadness all bundled tight in my gut. Tomorrow is the beginning which I have been working towards for the past four years. During that time I have grown fond of my in-law's and bonded with new, now seasoned, friends, both of which will be missed greatly.
I've also learned the pathways and uncovered the "diamonds" of Philadelphia during my downtown excursions. So, I dedicate this post to AKA Music, WXPN, WHYY, Big Jar Books, Chink's Steaks (great cheese steaks, however un-PC the name is), Rita's Water Ice, Philadelphia Pretzel Factory, Pod, El Vez, Fork, Reading Terminal, The Mutter Museum, Philadelphia Art Museum, Tin Angel, The Electric Factory, World Cafe Live, and The Kimmel Center. I leave with philos in my heart!

world cup woes

Just wanted to document my world cup withdrawl and post the final minutes of Zidane's career. Quite a disappointing way to close this chapter of his legacy. If the story is true though, Materazzi most likely deserved this little "love tap".

i love ESPN

Just a quick note on how much I love ESPN. For those of us left in the world without cable TV we can still catch live streaming coverage of the world cup games via ESPN360 online. Wish I had knew of this earlier in the tournament! At least I'll be able to see the two semi-final games without the crappy ABC commentary.

I was bummed to see England lose today to Portugal. I really wanted to witness Crouch doing his post-goal dance . The Portugal keeper, Ricardo, seemed to be clairvoyant during the penalty kicks blocking 3 of the 4 pk's.

Back to online coverage of Brazil v. France. I remember watching these two teams play in the 1998 World Cup final onboard the USS Wasp during my last Mediterranean Deployment in the U.S. Navy. The deployment was during the summer of '98 and all of Europe was intent on the World Cup in France during our tour. It was quite an experience to see just how much football/soccer is a global sport. Too bad the majority of U.S. seems to close-minded to embrace soccer and support the national team on a higher level. Well, back to the game....thanks to ESPN!!

Author's Note: France upsets Brazil 1-0!! Sorry, Timmy but your countrymen didn't look like they had the legs that the French did. Zidane put on quite a show with his amazing footwork. Also, is it me or does the French keeper, Fabien Barthez, look like Moby?

Nurse....Scalpel

I said SCALPEL!

Not much to really talk about or report....my brain is kind of fried from studying for the boards. I just wanted to share with all my loyal readers (if there really are such entities) this cool website, O.R. Live. A few weeks ago I watched a laparoscopic nissen fundiplication on a lazy Sunday afternoon from the luxury of my laptop....how freaking cool is that!! They also have podcasts for those of you with one of them video i-pod thingys.

On the World Cup scene just 2 days until the showdown with Ghana!

Still Kicking.....

Well, U.S.A. is still in the World Cup for at least another 4 days. The lads were able to tie Italy, 1-1, regardless of losing two players to questionable red cards. Ghana will be our next match on Thursday morning at 9:50 AM E.S.T.
If we're able to beat Ghana & Italy wins over Czech Republic then we'll be ranked 2nd in Group E and advance to the next round of futbol.

In other World Cup news it seems that around 1,000 Dutch fans watched the Netherlands v. Ivory Coast match, with no pants! Crazy Europeans.

The respite is over and I'm once again going back to the books.

Pre-destination?

I'm working this month with a pediatrician named Dr. Dada.....seriously, DADA. On some of my other rotations I've seen additional signs that your pre-programmed to your profession. To prove this, while on my psychiatry rotation I had a patient whose psychiatrist was Dr. Strange. Even better was the 21 year old schizoaffective patient, who was afraid of a coven of witches were coming to chop off his penis.....then psychiatrist's name, Dr. Wiener. Except, shouldn't he have been a urologist then. Hmm. Should I be a lifeguard or sno-cone maker then. Perhaps I'll someday practice on a beach.

For some additional fun go here: monk-E-mail
The entertainment lasts for hours or at least a good twenty minutes.

re-launch

I'm going to attempt this endeavour once again. No promises.