headed west

Josh and I are headed west tomorrow for a nine day vacation. I'm pretty excited. We'll spend time in Santa Fe, Durango, and Sedona. Lots of sights will be seen, and we'll get to hang out with my family. Stay tuned for updates and pictures!

drive-in

Last night Josh and I joined a few of my co-workers for a night at the Goochland Drive-In. It's about thirty miles away, but worth it considering you get to see two movies for only seven bucks. We got there in time to grab dinner from their snack bar. Between the two of us we had two cheeseburgers, a Goochland dog, a regular dog, fries, popcorn, and two large drinks with refills. Yikes.

The first movie was Captain America. I thought it was fun. And I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality since it was through the radio. Our group sat outside in chairs we all brought, so we used portable radios. The second movie, which I was hoping we wouldn't bother staying for since it didn't start until about 11:30pm, was Transformers 3. I had never seen any of the Transformers movies, and to be honest, I still wish we'd left early.

Overall we had a really fun time though. It was nice to sit outside where you can also see stars and bats flying around. A perfect summertime excursion.

day 2 of Philly conference

So that wasn't my UPS advisor getting in the elevator. I was just overzealous I guess. But professors from two schools combined with current work colleagues means this is still a clash of worlds for me, which is kind of fun.

Today I went to two morning sessions, then a graduate student lunch session, and then an afternoon session. I skipped the last session and instead walked a few blocks to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. I only had 40 minutes before they closed, but I went ahead and paid my admission and walked around anyway. It was worth it. They have several paintings by various members of the Peale family, and recently I've decided I really like Charles Willson Peale. Not just for his art though. He was an awesome guy I think. My favorite piece at the museum was his Self-Portrait with Spectacles. I used to think portraits made for really boring art, but as a history lover (especially of early America) I've come to really appreciate portraits because they let us see the people we read about. And some of them, including Peale and his contemporaries, made some really good portraits.

Philly

So I'm in Philadelphia for a history conference. It doesn't start (for me) until tomorrow, but I actually got up here yesterday so I could spend today doing some research for work. So let me give you a rundown of my day.

This morning I wandered around the streets of Philadelphia looking for breakfast, and I finally found a nice little cafe where I got oatmeal, fruit, and coffee. It was a great start to the day. Next I went to the Library Company of Philadelphia and looked at some old stuff.

From there I walked over to the American Philosophical Society and looked at some more old stuff. I also took a lunch break and wandered the streets of Philly a little more until I found this place where Josh and I ate lunch a few years ago. I had a sandwich. After finishing up at the APS I decided I would forgo museums or historical sites and instead I trekked many blocks to drink some beer. On the way I passed this gem:



Seriously, how awesome is that?! The beer I was walking so far to imbibe was at the Yards Brewing Company. When I finally arrived at their tasting room I sat right down at the bar and ordered a flight of their "Ales of the Revolution." They have a George Washington porter, a Thomas Jefferson ale, and a Benjamin Franklin spruce ale (that tastes like a tree). I also ate a cupcake, to reward myself for all the walking and successful navigation. And just as I finished tasting all my beers they announced that they were doing an impromptu tour of the brewery, so I went on that.



By this point I decided I should head back downtown and toward my hotel. I walked along the Delaware River and had a pistachio sighting! It took three tries crouching on the sidewalk to get this shot with my phone.



After more walking I happened upon Christ Church, so I looked at that and walked around its gardens, and then a couple blocks later I came to the rest of the church's burial ground and saw where Franklin lays. This day was pretty full of that guy. From there I kept walking and finally arrived back at my hotel. I dropped off a few things, and then headed out again, because apparently my feet weren't tired enough yet. After more walking in search of a light dinner, I finally came upon a Whole Foods, where I secured dinner and tomorrow's breakfast for under $9. Score.

So back to the conference. It starts tomorrow. And my history worlds are colliding. I had dinner last night with my NCSU advisor. I will see my GMU advisor tomorrow. And I think I saw my UPS advisor just step into the elevator. I'm excited.

holiday hike

For the 4th of July, Josh and I went for a hike at Humpback Rocks in the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a short hike but steep, and then the views are amazing.





We also had a pistachio shell sighting!



After the hike we had lunch at the Blue Mountain Brewery. We sat outside with views of the hops farm and mountains, and it was pretty great.

Rain spoiled our fireworks-watching plans so we just watched the show from the Capitol on TV. Overall it was still a good holiday.

Weekend(s) Update

Let me tell you (briefly) what the haps have been. Last Saturday (er, the one almost a week and a half ago) my parents flew into Richmond. Sunday we celebrated Grandma's birthday and Sunday night Dad and I enjoyed brews and live tunes at Legends Brewery. Monday Dad went with me downtown and wandered around while I did some research for work. My parents stayed in Richmond all week while I came back to Charlottesville, but then I took off of work Friday to get ready for Grandpa's recital. He had a professional pianist come to the house Friday night and give a salon concert, so we got all dressed up and had the event catered and everything. It was very nice. The next day Dad, Josh, Jay, Sunni, and myself all went tubing on the James River, and Saturday night was a sort of "girls night out" with my mom and aunt.

So there you go, two fun weekends with family (including my parents!).

(This post is short because I'm writing from work [after hours] while I figure out how to get the internet to work at my apartment again, after a big thunderstorm Sunday. Just FYI.)

I want one of these

Last night I got together with some ladies from work for dinner and a movie. The movie was Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and we planned the rest of the meal around a Spanish theme to match the movie. We started with ceviche (not really Spanish, but from places where they speak Spanish...), then some manchego cheese and bread, and our main course was gazpacho. But between the cheese and the gazpacho came chorizo, cooked in a Portuguese pig!

One of the co-worker ladies is from Portugal, so she brought her pig. You put alcohol in the bottom, light it on fire, and it cooks the chorizo. It was delicious.



Ole!

Timo 5k

Yesterday I ran in a 5k race. Other than the Montalto Challenge, I haven't raced a 5k before (only 3.1 miles), but a coworker helps run the Timo 5k, and all the proceeds benefit the rescue squad where Josh volunteers. He and his roommate ran, too. It was hot and the course was cross-country with grass and hills and dirt and stuff. So pretty tough for a 5k. But we all did very well!


I won 3rd place for women overall (prize = technical shirt from local running store), and 2nd place for women in my age group (prize = red ribbon). Josh's roommate also won 2nd place in his age division.


Afterwards the three of us celebrated with lunch and a beer.

summer fun

Last week/weekend was fun. My Richmond family (plus Ryan, who flew out from Arizona) had a rental house at Lake Anna, so I went and joined them Wednesday after work and stayed until Friday. There was lots of hanging out, swimming in the lake (even after dark), playing games, eating, and even a little kayaking.

Friday we headed to Richmond so the fun could continue over the weekend. We had pho Friday night and celebrated Sunni's birthday, and we went swimming in the James River on Saturday. More fun stuff happened Sunday.

I'm enjoying my summer so far. It's pretty nice getting to hang out and relax and not do homework.

geocaching adventure

For Memorial Day Josh and I wanted to do something exciting outdoors, but weren't quite up for a long hike (the original plan), so instead we broke out his new handheld GPS and went geocaching right here in Charlottesville. We printed off the coordinates for seven caches at a local park, and headed out...



We found the first one! As you can see, it was a micro cache.


Josh is recording our find.


We ran into a creek next to the river at one point and had to find our way around. This part of the park was wooded and felt like we could have been miles away in the mountains.


The GPS is kind of fun because you know what direction to go, but you don't necessarily know where the trails are. Sometimes the GPS seems confused though, and you have to wander around in clearings until it figures itself out.


We couldn't find two of them, and we bipassed one when there were people around (apparently you're supposed to be secretive about geocaching and not let "muggles" see you). But we found four, so that's exciting. Here is Josh finding another one in a tree.


People trade out little toys and other random stuff. We added this to the cache.


At a different cache, we traded a finger puppet for this sweet eraser.


All the walking and searching for two hours, plus the 90 degree heat, meant a break by the river was necessary. Here you can see my first temporary tattoo of the summer.


We also ate snacks.


Overall we had a lot of fun being outside and finding "secret" caches. It was also nice to be reminded that the river and wooded parks are so close by. It was a successful first try at geocaching, and I'm sure we'll do it again.

montalto challenge take 2

So last Saturday was the Montalto Challenge, the all-uphill 5k that Josh and I did last year. We did it again, and we both improved!

This year I got word that a particular fourteen-year-old boy had the goal of beating me up the mountain. It's pretty nerve racking knowing you have to actually race an individual up a mountain, rather than simply run up with a friendly group and hope you do better than last year. Anyway, he was ahead of me for the first mile and a half, I passed him and was ahead for just a little while, and he was in front of me (but close and always in sight) the rest of the way up. Unfortunately the mountain part is just so awful that I couldn't care anymore, and the kid beat me. Sigh.

But I beat my time from last year by a minute, so I'm happy about that.

Here's the starting line. (Per usual, Josh took these photos.)


Here I am getting ready to start, wearing perhaps the most awesome running shirt ever. This is the shirt Josh made me for my birthday. (Also note the looong legs on the kid behind me in red...)


Did you want to see a closeup?


Here's how it looks down on the trail part.


And here's how it looks going up Montalto. Almost everyone has to stop and walk a little. (Also note that Josh must have stopped to turn around and take this. He's a hard core runner slash race photographer.)


See how high we're getting?


Josh got a couple of shots of me nearing the finish line, but I was dying, having just run up a mountain, and am not willing to share the unflattering pictures. Sorry.

Aah, the obligatory flared-nostrils-because-I'm-trying-to-catch-my-breath photo.


You can see Monticello just to the right of my arm.


Josh did great. He beat last year's time by 4:20, AND he came in second in his age group! Here he is with the other winners (he's over on the right end.)

EMT

Josh spent six months last year taking an EMT class, and now he's a real-life EMT. He started volunteering one day a week at a local rescue squad a couple months ago. Here he is sporting the stethoscope my grandpa gave him. Thumbs up for helping to save lives!

quick update

Quickly, here's what's been going on:

My birthday was almost two weeks ago. I had to work and go to class that day, but they had dessert for me at work and then the Friday night following my birthday Josh and I went to a German restaurant with another couple and we all gorged ourselves on delicious food. Josh also gave me this really awesome shirt he painted that you will have to wait another couple of weeks to see. Get excited.

This past weekend Josh and I went to his grandparents' house over by the bay. We were there less than 24 hours, but we ate good food, enjoyed good company, and even kayaked on a little pond.

Saturday night we joined my family in Richmond for a sushi dinner, and then Sunday was Easter. I went to church with the grandparents and Sunni, dyed eggs with Sunni, and we all ate at my aunt's house, which included hanging out on the porch because warm weather is back!

My semester is coming to a close quickly, and that means a huge final paper is coming up quickly, too....Luckily I just got a new computer (my old one was from 2006 and the guy at Best Buy told me that was like being 75 years old in computer years) so now I won't have to "warm up" my laptop every time I need to use it, and it won't take a billion years to look at anything on the internet. I might even blog more often now that using my computer doesn't make me want to pull my toe nails out, but let's not hold our breath.

exciting Mondays

Occasionally for work I get to go do research away from the office. Last Monday was special because I got to do that at the Library of Congress in D.C. for the first time. My class met there later in the evening, so I went up early and spent the whole day there. Well, really I got into D.C. (after the 2+ hour drive to the metro station and the 45 minute ride into the city) around 10:30 and stopped by the National Archives to copy some things from microfilm, then I walked down and across the Mall to the Library of Congress. I ate my lunch on the grounds of the Capitol. After working and class I even got to hang out a little and have dinner with fellow students. That was exciting since I commute to school and I never get to hang out with other students, which makes me sad. Of course taking the time to hang out meant I got home at 1am, but it was worth it.

Yesterday I also did some research away from the office. This time I spent the day at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. I mostly copied things off of microfilm, which isn't too exciting, but I did get to grab a delicious lunch and eat on the grounds of the state capitol next to a statue of Stonewall Jackson, among the dogwood trees and tulips. It's the little things.

connecting with history

As you know, I like history. I like it so much I'm making it a career and working toward a second graduate degree in it. But just because I like it doesn't mean I always feel especially "connected" to it. Maybe that's part of its appeal--it's like a different world. Like fiction, only more awesome (and sometimes more tragic or unbelievable) because it's not fiction.

Often in my history classes someone speaks up in class with a personal story that is (or at least they think it is) connected to whatever we're reading that week. For example, when reading a book on suburbanization and consumer culture one guy shared that he grew up in the city the book centered on during the 1960s, and remembered learning to drive in the giant suburban mall's parking lot. When reading about mining in the West, a girl from Montana said her family got there back in the day specifically because they went to mine copper.

I've read a couple of books about New Mexico this past year, and they are always exciting because I'm from New Mexico. But honestly, I don't feel very connected to striking Mexican-American miners in southern New Mexico in the 1950s, or to the Pueblo Indians and their Spanish conquerors in the seventeenth century. (Unless you count the that fact that I attended De Vargas Junior High, and our mascots were the Conquistadors.)

But this last week I felt a real connection. We read a book about the manipulation and control of rivers in the American West, and it dawned on me that irrigation and water control had a very large role to play in my family going to and staying in New Mexico. My great grandfather moved his family to Albuquerque during the Depression (or maybe just before?) to work as a dragline operator digging irrigation ditches. And his son, my granddad, was a civil engineer who worked in New Mexico for the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Agriculture, and finally in the State Engineer's Office managing water resources. Irrigating the arid West has played a pretty fundamental role in the development of the region (and the country), for better or worse, and my family took part. I'm connected.

Charlottesville Ten Miler

Yesterday I ran in the Charlottesville Ten Miler, and it was great! It was 37 degrees, but it wasn't so bad once I started running. My goal, which I wasn't so sure I would make, was to finish in 1:30. But I made it in 1:26:10! Josh had his bike and his camera, so he pedaled all over the place to take pictures and cheer me on, and you can thank him for these.


The hard core guys getting ready to start.


Me, cold, headed to the start.


It begins! There were over 2,200 runners.


So far so good.


Looking intense.


Coming into the finish line.


Got my medal and headed for waaaater.


Apparently I still had the energy to jump.


What a guy.

Brrr

Forecast for temperature at race time on Saturday morning: low- to mid-30s.

Ugh.

still running

So next weekend I'm running in a 10 mile race. I really liked training for and running the half marathon last year, and this year I chose this race instead since I don't have as much time to train anymore (plus the 10-miler is a lot cheaper). I've only been running three days a week, with medium runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a longer run on the weekend. Today I ran my last long run before the race, 8 miles. I haven't been getting a whole lot faster than last year, but I also haven't taken the time and effort to actually work at getting faster. But that's okay. For now.

As soon as the 10-miler is over I will begin training for the same uphill 5k I did last year. Josh decided he would do it with me again, so we are going to work at the gym on things that will make us good at running straight up for a mile. It'll be hard core.

Arizonan litter

Look what Ryan found!

Thursday night show

Thursday night Josh Ritter (my favorite) came to town. I wasn't sure I'd have time to see him, what with reading to do and the gym to visit and cookies to make for Retirement Day, but Josh (not Ritter) had actually showed some enthusiasm the night before about the show and I couldn't turn that down, since Josh (not Ritter) doesn't really like Josh (Ritter). So we went.

Josh (not Ritter) was feeling pretty sick with a cold, and we probably shouldn't have bothered going out, but he pulled through. After being fortified with pizza at Christian's on the downtown mall, we made it to the show at 10 just as Josh (Ritter) took the stage. It turns out the show was part of the same tour Josh (not Ritter) and I saw last summer in Richmond. But it was still good. Because Josh Ritter is always good. In my opinion.

Josh (not Ritter) said the vibrations of the bass helped clear his chest, and I say the music also cheered him up, and overall we had a very fun time.