the next big thing

Wow, we have found some gems while cleaning out Tim's high school bedroom. Tim calls this one his "winter tank top". I guess this one is his summer look? Watch out Project Runway!

Also: see all that stuff boxed and wrapped behind him? They are in a van headed to San Francisco right now. A new adventure! Come visit!

julian

On our way up to Philadelphia, we stopped in DC to see this hunky monkey.

I also made a sorting hat, and saw Ginny Weasley (courtney), Colin Creevey (nicole), Cedric Diggory (eric), baby Harry (julian) and someone muggle with a kitten in their pocket claiming to be Filch (tim) at a Hogwarts event in Alexandria. Mmmm butterbeer.

philadelphia

There are lots of places that I never went to whilst living on the east coast, including Philadelphia. Actually, I may have been there, but I just don't remember it (just ask my mom). In July, Tim officiated the marriage of our friends Pat and Jess in Philly, giving us a good great reason to visit.
We started out with ice coffees and pastry from Old City Coffee. Tim also got an amazing cheesey, yolk-y, bacon-y sandwich from the most efficient food truck I've ever witnessed.
Quick photo ops by City Hall (with that 27 ton bronze statue of William Penn on top) and the Rocky Steps aka the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
I heart cities with outdoor art and history. Philly's got both.
The Prides of Philadelphia: the Liberty Bell and the Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich (whiz wit!)
The most unassuming champion of all things Philly? Our friend Nicole (not from Philadelphia), who is quite the Philadelphia enthusiast. She recommended the Franklin Fountain, where we had a fresh peach and blueberry ice cream sundae. Delightful!

Sorry about the camera phone pictures. More photos to come (we forgot the camera and spent $9 on one of these).

back to NC and body hacking?

We went from a cool mid-60's in Alaska to the triple digit heatwave in North Carolina. One way to combat the heat? Put an icepack on it!

Albert is convinced that "body hacking" is going to work. And Tim, growing ever more concerned with his post-30 figure, is joining him on the bandwagon. But how to play games while holding an icepack to your neck for 30 minutes?? Tie it on with a belt...

the brief history of the dead

I found this book while sorting through our leftover boxes at my parents' house in NC. It was Tim's and he never read it, but I found the title intriguing and without any other reading material on hand, I decided to give it a try. It was good from the very first page. It's part end-of-the-world disaster theory, part living dead/twilight zone, part Antarctic adventure. There are some beautiful passages in the book, and I like Brockmeier's interpretation of the dead and afterlife. This book (like the last three I read, weird) is told by several different characters, some more well-developed and more interesting and more alive than the others...I skimmed through a couple of chapters because the character was annoying. There is a little suspense/eeriness that kept me going too, although it doesn't lead to the big movie-production revelation of an ending that I wanted. I won't tell you what actually happens, but I do recommend that you read it yourself and find out.

trying new things

Okay, I just realized that the blogging screen could be wider, so I'm experimenting with the larger format pictures. Like it? Or not?

I'm also experimenting with these:
Not the bike, or flaring my nostrils all the time. It's the Transitions lenses. Only the 6-month trial is over, and it's no longer an experiment. hahaha. I can't believe I got stuck with these. I've got corneas to take care of.

alaska: part iv

We took the Tonsina Coastal Trail as far as we could go. It was high tide and there's a bit that becomes completely submerged and inaccessible. It's a gorgeous walk up the wooded cliffs, into a field of wild irises (!!), through a soft mossy forest, past a clear deep stream, and then down to the windy pebble beach.


The sun didn't go down until 11 pm, and even then it was still light. We caught the sunset in Turnagain on our way home around 10.

alaska: part iii

You don't need to take pictures when David and Phil are around, our talented shutter-happy cousins, because their photos are just so good. See David's Alaska photos here, and Phil's here. We didn't end up taking as many as we usually do, but here they are anyway.

Ghost forests were left behind by the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964. Due to the land shift, some trees/roots fell below sea level and soaked up salt water, killing them on the spot and preserving them for years.

We saw a lot of marine life on the glacier cruise that our Aunt took us on (whales, porpoises, sea otters, the bald eagle!) but we didn't see any bears the whole time we were in Alaska. We did see my spirit animal hopping along the side of the mountain, though. (Tim thinks mountain goats must be my spirit animal because I like climbing on things, and I'll pretty much eat anything.)
However, should a bear attack, here's some good advice...(emphasis mine, in case you can't tell the red line was photoshopped on there)
That was the warning on our easy hike to Exit Glacier, a huge piedmont glacier near Seward. We went on an easy hike to the glacier, which is shrinking like so many other ice masses on the planet. It's summer though, and the glaciers melt a little now and regain a little back in the winter (sadly, melting > gaining, according to the rangers). Next to the glacier, you can feel the cold wind come off the ice and hear the rush of under-ice waterfalls.


Where's the exit...glacier? hahaha.

More Alaska pictures coming up...

alaska: part ii

Just a little east of Anchorage is Flattop Mountain...and you guessed it, it's a mountain with a flat top. It's a short but pretty vertical hike (for me, anyway), and we were climbing up on hands and knees part of the way. Reward? Amazing views and the freshest air ever.

alaska: part i

We were in Alaska for a Rhee family reunion/grandmother's 93rd birthday. We had so much fun. This is my clan.

(my cousin david took the picture of my grandma)

My grandfather and grandmother in Japan, I think aged 20 and 19 respectively.

pelicans are weird

Who knew pelicans inverted their throats when swallowing fish? I found out in Catalina, and it freaked me out.

I mean, look at that throat. It just doesn't look right.

whirlwind

We were driving through central California dustbowl a couple days ago when we saw this:
which is a little cool but a lot depressing.

Read more about the dustbowl here.

weather patterns

My gmail location is set to NC, which means that I get to see cool backgrounds like this:
(weather variation! instead of the same blue cloudless sky every day, not that i'm complaining).

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