Getting to Chicago

Janel and I had a tough time getting to Chicago this year, and almost decided to cancel our trip altogether. We were planning on flying out on Sunday, but a bad storm was in the forcast. This was similar to the prior week, during which time the roads were in terrible condition but PDX (our airport) was working without a hitch. So, Allen gave us a ride to the airport before the storm hit hard on Saturday, and we stayed in a hotel.

Sunday morning we got up to the sound of our phones getting text messages to discover that our flight was cancelled. We called United, and the first flight we could get out was on Christmas day. This would have only left us 4 days in Chicago, and we could not push our return date because of my surgery. Luckily we were able to bypass the massive line of people (only 4 customer service people had made it to the airport that day) and cut to the front because of my Premier status on United. This allowed us to get Standbye tickets for Monday.

Our next step was getting home. Allen had brought us to the airport, and we did not want to trouble anyone to pick us up because the weather was terrible. So, we rode the Max home, planning on getting a taxi from one of the stops to our house. When we were almost home, we had to bail on the max (temporarily) because Janel had to go to the bathroom really bad. As we were tromping through the foot of un-shoveled snow, a couple stopped and offered to give us a ride (which we thankfully accepted).

That pretty much brought us to the end of day 1. Before I tell the rest of the story, how about a couple of photos?

Here is one from our driveway showing a thick layer of ice between two layers of snow.

From Christmas 2008 Portland

Here is one of me holding two of the pieces of ice that were embedded in the snow.

From Christmas 2008 Portland

We decided to get up on Monday morning and try standbye (after checking the airport to make sure no flights had been cancelled yet). We hopped in the car (which already had chains on it) and drove through snowy Portland to the airport. Unlike in Chicago, Portland is not really equipped to deal with this sort of snow storm. So, you can't even see pavement on the major highways, while the local roads are NEVER plowed. My parents were discussing about how Western Springs decided to not salt the local roads this year. Portland never salts anything!

After about 1:15 ride to the airport (not bad actually), we parked the car and headed in. We discovered that despite the fact that the system had reported that the 6:15am flight to Chicago was "On Time" ... this turned out to be a bit of a lie since it was 9:00am and the flight still had not taken off. So, I talked to an agent and had them add us to standbye for that flight. We got really lucky. There was one open seat, and another seat where the person had not shown up yet. Since I was Premier, I got to bypass everyone else and move to the front of the standbye list. So, assuming that the random guy did not show up AND the flight actually did not get cancelled, we had a flight home.

After waiting until about noon, they finally boarded the airplane. The fun was not over yet. First they had to finish clearing the "big" runway so that we could take off. Then they had to de-ice the plane. Then I heard on the ground-control radio that one of the United de-icers was on fire. Then they announced that all their de-icers were broken but one, and it was sorta on the fritz. After about 3 hours of sitting there, we were finally able to take off.

So, we made it home! I never expected Portland weather to be the cause of flight delays at Christmas time. The last storm that was this big in December in Portland was over 40 years ago. So, hopefully this means we won't have to deal with anything like this after we have kids :).

Wedding Registry Suggestions

Back when Rohini and Steve got married, Janel and I put together a list of the stuff that we registered for and actually use AND the stuff we wished we registered for. Mariko wanted the same thing, so I thought I would just post it here.

"Cuisinart DLC-2ABC Mini Prep Plus, Brushed Chrome" (link)
- I thought ours was a bit cheaper than this one ... there might be a cheaper version ... but you get the idea

Zojirushi CD-LCC30 Micom 3.0-Liter Electric Dispensing Pot (link)
- Hot water heater ... we use this every day for tea and making oatmeal or just getting a jump on boiling small amounts of water on the stove

Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 12-Inch Everyday Pan with Lid (link)
- We use this all the time ... really cheap on Amazon

Schott Zwiesel Forte Burgundy/Pinot Glass
- This is the brand that makes the wine glasses that use titanium instead of lead. I really like them ... and would scope it out. They are really nice, but also very sturdy. You can put them in the dishwasher and such. Janel and I got a larger (12?) set of cheaper wine glasses (and water glasses) for if we are ever entertaining, and have a set of 4 of these which we basically just use all the time.

Nested Glass Bowls (link)
- I can't find a name to search for ... but we have a set of like 8 nested glass bowls that we use all the time. The take up relatively no space which is really handy

Set of Corning Ware

Nice Knives
- If you are going to get knives, I would recommend the Wusthof Classic line. The Wüsthof Classic 8-Piece Block Set (link) is good. They are quality knives and not *too* expensive.

*BIG* Pot (~12 quart)
- Lots of options here. One is the Cuisinart Classic Stockpot (link).
- Janel and I like to make a giant batch of soup about once a month which we freeze. We then have it once a week, which cuts down on the amount of cooking and is easy/healthy. We can give you some good recipes if you want. But ... I would get a big pot if you are interested in going this route. 12 quarts is a good size.

2 "Medium" pots.
- 8 quart pots are really useful. It seems obvious that you would get one ... but we have two of them and use them together all the time.

Oxo Good Grips Tongs (16in link) (9in link)
- These are really nice. They come in a variety of sizes. Even though they are not "officially" made for it, the longer ones make great grilling tongs (I was watching a grilling show and they said that they recommended them). The shorter ones we use for all kinds of stuff.

Martini Glasses -- I would almost recommend not registering for these. We registered for 4 and ended up getting 12 which is just way too much.

Matching decent luggage is also something to consider if you don't already have some decent stuff.

More Towels than you think you need.

Christmas in Portland

We had a fun December this year. We hosted a Christmas Party and had ~15 people over. At the party there was a little "outfit contest" (no theme other than Christmas). It was a close contest. Allen was dressed up as "the Holiday Tramp" wearing a ridiculous dress and some makeup. Kendra was a Christmas tree, complete with working Christmas lights. Kendra and her Christmas spirit ended up beating Allen by one vote.

The past week we got "a lot" of snow. Okay -- compared to Chicago it was basically nothing, but in Portland a few inches goes a long way. Janel ended up having the entire week of school cancelled. Anyway, here are some random photos...

Our house at night. Next year I need to do the 2nd story too.

From Christmas 2008 Portland

Our tree:

From Christmas 2008 Portland

Snow on our street:

From Christmas 2008 Portland

Beer + Bears makes a Busy weekend

Janel and I had a nice busy (yet unproductive) weekend. Saturday we headed downtown and went to the Holiday Ale Festival in Pioneer Square with Allen and Melvin. This was by far my favorite beer festival since coming to Portland (and I have been to a good number of them). For whatever reason, winter is the time for Stouts and Porters, which I am a big fan of ... while summer time is all about hops and IPAs (which do very little for me).

Some beers that I really liked ...

• Sleigh'r (Ninkasi Brewing) -- a 7.2% ABV, 50 IBU "Amber Hybrd" -- Something other than a Stout or Porter is at the top of my list.  This was good stuff.  Pretty dark for an Amber.
• Santa Baby Stout (McMenamins Thompson Brewery) -- a 5.8% ABV, 30 IBU Stout -- McMenamins is a big brewery out here in Portland, and they hold a contest across all their brewers every year for the festival entry, and this selection did not disappoint.
• Babushka's Secret (Widmere Brothers) -- a 9% ABV, 70 IBU  Stout made with KGB (one of their Stouts) along with 14lbs of local rasberries per barrel during fermentation.  I am not a big fan of "sweet" or "girly" beers, but this was good stuff. 

Some other beers of note ...

• Smoked Porter w/ Vanilla Beans (Stone Brewing Company) -- A 5.9% Smoked and Wood-Aged Porter -- This thing tasted a lot like a Root Beer Float.  Very strange.  A bit too sweet for me, but interesting
• Abbey Grand Cru (New Belgium Brewing Company) -- A 9.5% ABV, 19 IBU Belgium Strong Ale -- This was the "first" beer made by the makers of Fat Tire, and it was really really bad
• Black Pepper Chocolate Stout (Lagunitas) -- This thing was interesting because it actually tasted of pepper.  I thought it was a bit too much, but it was worth tasting

There were a lot of other good Stouts and Porters, but I won't list them all.

For dinner we went to Mio Sushi on 23rd and Johnson -- our new favorite Sushi place in Portland.

Sunday we went to watch the bears game at a new place -- Cactus Jacks.  It is a "Bears Bar" that is a bit of a drive, but it was way better than our standard Sunday hang-out of BW3s.  We will be spending our future Sundays (and next Thursday) there with all the other Bears fans.  After the game, we played in two soccer games (luckily Soccer Plex is really close to Cactus Jacks).  I will be heading to bed early tonight :).

Back Online!

OK, it looks like I am back online. I have been having some DNS troubles the last couple of days, but I think they are cleared up now so everything should be working correctly now.

I have uploaded all of my old photos, but am still going through the old albums and such, so picasa is a bit messed up. I have also imported almost all of my old posts. There are probably a few more to finish up tomorrow.

New Blog

I have decided to call hosting my own quits. I am sick of getting hacked and don't want to deal with it anymore. I decided to move to blogger because (1) I already use google apps for a lot of stuff, (2) it seems to be integrated into a lot of external stuff (like facebook), and (3) it has all sorts of cool programming APIs that I can use for importing my older posts.

I have not yet converted all my older posts over, but will be doing so over the next few days. I have written some code to do it for me, but I triggered some spambot code while doing to postings so I have to wait a day to try again.

This website will be moving over to www.iansteiner.com shortly.

Italy and Germany

Allen and I took a work trip over to Italy to attend a conference. We spent some time in Venice, Milan, Como, Tuscany, Florence, and Rome. All of the photos are posted in my gallery.

We flew into Venice on a Saturday. We had no trouble finding our hotel, but ran into a bit of a problem. I screwed up and booked the room for Sunday and Monday nights instead of Monday and Tuesday. Doh. Luckily the concierge was able to find us a room at a nearby monastery :P. It ended up being pretty much just like a hotel room, so things worked out just fine.

From Italy - Venice

Sunday we got up and headed out to explore Venice. We started out the morning with some espresso in the Campo Santa Margareta.

From Italy - Venice

We then headed up to check out the Realto. Sadly, the farmers market was not in full swing (since it was Sunday). Then we headed up to the train station to get our tickets to Como the next morning. Well, this is where we came to roadblock #2. They decided to have a train strike on Monday (when we needed to be at the conference). So, we got tickets to Milan for that evening (after being told that we would be able to to get a train to Como from Milan Monday morning before the strike kicked off at 9am). After getting our tickets and booking a room in Milan, we headed out and did a quick tour of the city. We road around on the water taxis, and hit up Piazza San Marco (and the Basilica there). The Piazza was nice, but I was not particularly excited with the Basilica. We skipped the Palazzo Ducalte because of time.

From Italy - Venice

After this we headed back to the train station and headed over to Milan. We did not do much in Milan, as we just had time for a meal and were up near the train station and not downtown. The one thing I will note is that we tried horse for dinner that night. It was good.

The next morning we got up and headed over to the train station to take a ride up to Como. Here we found out that, despite what we had been told the night before, the trains were on strike. So, we had to take a $150+ cab ride up to Como. Doh.

Como is a town on a lake up near Switzerland. Not lots of stuff to do there -- it is more of a place to go and relax. The conference was okay. I enjoyed catching up with Hillery and Ron (from Grad School) as well as some other people. The papers were not particularly exciting. Here is photo from near our hotel looking out towards the lake.

From Italy - Como

After wrapping up the conference, we hopped on the train and headed down to Castiglion Fiorentino where we stayed on a farm. It was very nice and a great deal. We had a bit of trouble getting to the farm, and if I were to do it again I think I would want a car. It was also a bit tricky because the people that we were staying with did not really speak much English. We still had a great time. Here is a photo of the farm.

From Italy - Tuscany & Florence

We had a full day on the farm, but the weather did not cooperate so we took a train ride over to Florence. I was not a huge fan of Florence. The Duomo was quite nice, but the rest did not do much for me. Here is a photo of the Duomo, and a photo from the top of the Duomo.

From Italy - Tuscany & Florence

From Italy - Tuscany & Florence

After the farm, we headed down to Rome. I had not heard a lot of good things about Rome in the past, but I really enjoyed it. I think most people go during the summer when it is nasty hot and there are tons of people. The rain spared us, so the weather was great for wandering around and scoping things out. Allen had already seen a lot of the sites, so we generally split up during the day and got together for dinner.

The day we arrived, I visited the Colosseum. It was really pretty cool, but I only really needed ~20 minutes to explore it.

From Italy - Rome

From Italy - Rome

After this I headed over to see the Palatine. Sadly they closed the entrance to the Palatine at 3:30pm, and I arrived at 3:32, so I did not get to go in. I headed home and had a nap before heading out to dinner with Allen. We first swung by an English Tea House at the Spanish Steps, and then walked down to Trastavere for dinner. After dinner, we walked by the Spanish Steps and down by the Trevi Fountain.

From Italy - Rome

The next day we got up and walked together down past the Pantheon and to a market where we split up.

From Italy - Rome

From Italy - Rome

I headed up to the Vatican. St. James cathedral was pretty amazing. It was architecturally my favorite cathedral that I have ever seen. Overall, I would only rate the cathedral in Jerusalem as better.

From Italy - Rome

I visited the tombs of the popes, as well as the Vatican Museum (which includes the Sistine Chapel). The museum was pretty amazing -- they have tons and tons of stuff.

After the Vatican, I hurried back down to the Palatine and this time I made it on time and was able to scope things out. I really enjoyed the Palatine. It is an area with all sorts of ruins from Ancient Rome. Here are some select photos.

From Italy - Rome

From Italy - Rome

For dinner that night Allen ordered Raw Beef. It was good.

The next morning we got up early and headed to the airport and flew to Frankfurt. Frankfurt is pretty much dead on Sundays. Apparently everything except for restaurants shuts down on Sundays, so there was not much to do. We saw all the sights in Frankfurt, which is not much.

Here is a photo of the Opera House (boring).

From Germany - Frankfurt

Then we headed over to the Old City (they small part of Frankfurt that was not bombed into oblivion in WW2).

From Germany - Frankfurt

We had a great dinner at a Cider Tavern called Fichtekranzi‎. Cider (alcoholic) is the drink of choice in Frankfurt. We also tried "Green Sauce", which is also a popular topping (on just about anything) for that part of Germany. It is a mixture of Cream, Yogurt, and 7 Herbs, and was really good.

From Germany - Frankfurt

The next day we headed home.

Shoulder Surgery

I will be having shoulder surgery on November 26th. The short story is that I will be in a sling for ~6 weeks. I will be doing PT for ~3 months. I am hoping to be back to 100% by the summer.


UPDATE: My surgery has been postponed until Jan 2.


I have been going through PT for the past 3 months or so and it has gone very well. I also recently had an MRI. After wrapping up PT and getting an MRI, I went back and saw my surgeon. Although the PT went very well, she saw some problems in the MRI that could not be addressed with exercise alone. I have a few tears in my cartilage that is in the shoulder capsule. Fluid is leaking through them and getting into places that it does not belong. This forms cysts. If these cysts continue to grow, they will begin to put pressure on some nerves that are in the area which will cause muscular problems. The tears and cysts will also promote bad arthritis down the road.


I will say that I think I did a good job with my PT (for the first time ever). Going in, both my surgeon and therapist commented that I was pretty weak. Having wrapped things up, I can now do their most advanced strength activities at PT, and my doctor has commented that I now have good strength (they gave me a 5/5). So, I should be in good shape going into the procedure.


So, the plan is to go in (arthroscopically) and repair the cartilage problems. This will be better than cutting me open for multiple reasons, including (1) less damage to the surrounding tissue (which they expect will mean less arthritis down the road) and (2) the ability to repair some cartilage on the back side of the capsule that is hard to get to otherwise. This should help the tears to heal, stopping the flow of liquid and allowing the cysts to drain. It will also help to give me more stability so that I am less likely to dislocate it again in the future. There is of coarse no guarantee about future dislocations, and I will have to continue to "be careful" for the rest of my life, but I should no longer have my shoulder popping out while stretching or putting on a jacket.


I will be out of work for ~1 week, and then probably work from home for a while. Work is pretty chill during December usually, so this will be a good time for me. I will be in a sling for ~6 weeks. During these 6 weeks, I will be doing a lot of PT based around just getting my arm to move again. After this, I will have another 6 weeks of strength PT.


This is a very common surgical procedure. The non-arthroscopic version has been around for a long long time, while the arthroscopic one is ~7 years old. It has shown a lot more success than older non-arthroscopic versions (probably what Danny had). I will likely be a bit more stiff coming out than going in, with somewhat less range of motion, but I don't see this as a big deal. I am already far more loose than the average person (hence the problem) so this is not really a big deal. It sounds like things like swimming and throwing, while possible, will generally not be a good idea going forward. I should be able to "play catch" without a problem, but nothing serious and nothing when I am tired. So, my general outlook is that I will probably continue to "take it easy" when it comes to activities that put me in a vulnerable position. I see the surgery more as a "prevent nasty arthritis" and "prevent dislocations while doing everyday activities" than something to really enable me to play goalie or competitive basketball or something.

Beacon Rock

Janel, Melvin, Danny, Anna, and I went to Beacon Rock, a popular hike on the Washington side in the Gorge. We also hiked to nearby Rodney Falls. The short 1.8mi hike to the top of the rock was a good easy trek, but the falls were a bit uneventful.


Location: Beacon Rock, The Gorge, OR
Date: Aug 3, 2008
Number of Photos in Album: 10
Distance: 1.8mi (the Rock) / 2.2mi (Falls)
Ratings: 4 (the Rock) / 2 (the Falls)

From Beacon Rock

Jason's and Erin's Wedding

Janel and I flew into Chicago for a couple of days to attend my cousin Jason's wedding.


Location: Cafe Braur, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL
Date: Aug 9, 2008
Number of Photos in Album: 30

From Jason's Wedding

Erin's Visit

Erin came into town for a week long visit. She had just taken the bar and had some free time before starting up work. She helped us with some house decorating, and we also went on three trips.


Erin and Janel first did a quick Gorge Tour. Below is a picture of Erin at Wahkeena Falls.

From Gorge Trip with Erin

We were planning on making a camping trip to the coast over the weekend, but that fell apart when it was 103 degrees in Portland and the entire city made an exodus out there. So on Saturday we took a day trip to Lookout Point. We started out to the point, but I decided I was not a fan of the big cliffs on the trail, so we walkded down to the South Beach instead. I am a big fan of beaches that you have to hike to, and this one did not disappoint. Afterwards we scoped out the big beach on the north side of the point (with the campground). It was pretty amazing -- that beach was completely fogged in while the south beach was great.


Location: Lookout Point, Oregon Coast
Date: Aug 16, 2008
Number of Photos in Album: 21
Distance: 4.8mi to Point (not completed) / 3.6mi to Beach
Rating: 4


Here is a photo of Erin and I at the beach:

From Lookout Point

On Sunday we took a trip down to Silver Falls. I left my camera at home, so no photos :(. As always, Silver Falls was great, but it was definitely not as good this time of year as it is at other times. The water was not flowing nearly as much as it does in the Spring or even Winter.

Shelley and Pablo get Married

Janel and I took a trip down to San Jose to attend the wedding of Shelley and Pablo (who I introduced). The day before the wedding we took a trip to Sonoma with Sain and Jame (and his gf). Sorry, no photos :). This was a lot of fun. One of the wineries we stopped at was having a big vintage release party, so for $10 we got a bunch of food, live music, and basically all the wine we could drink.


We stayed at Sain's house, and then went to the wedding on Sunday. It was at a winery in the Santa Cruz mountains, and was probably the most beautiful setting for a wedding that I have ever been to. We had a lot of fun catching up with a bunch of old friends from grad school.

From Shelley's and Pablo's Wedding

Saddle Mountain

Janel and I climbed to the top of Saddle Mountain, which is located between Portland and the Coast just off 26. It was a fun and relatively easy hike to the top with some 360 degree views from the top. We had blue skies, but it was a bit hazy in the distance so we could not really see all the mountains. On a clear day the views would be spectacular.


Location: Saddle Mountain, OR


Date: Sep 13, 2008


Number of Photos in Album: 20


Distance: 4.5mi


Rating: 4


Here is a view from the "saddle" looking up towards the summit.

From Saddle Mountain

Wallowa River Loop Backpacking

Allen, Steve, Kevin, and I took the yearly "boys-only" backpacking trip to the Wallowas this year where we took the Wallowa River Loop Sept 19-21.


[html]

From Wallowas

We went clockwise around the loop, camping at Aneroid Lake, heading over Polaris Pass, camping at Frazier Lake, and heading out over Glacier Pass and down through the Lake Basin.


Days: 3


Camps: Aneroid Lake, Frazier Lake


Trailhead: East Fork of the Wallowa River Trail


Rating: 5


Distance: 6.3mi / 11.8mi / 17.9mi


Note: I would highly recommend against going counter-clockwise through this loop. Going over Polaris Pass from the West would be a major pain in the butt. There is a steep slope of scree on the west side of the pass, and sliding down it was hard enough. Going up that way would be less than fun.


One thing that we read about this trail is that, while amazing, tends to be very crowded. This was definitely not our experience. Granted, September is a bit late in the year to go and some of the alpine meadows were a bit past their prime, but we did not see that many people. On day 1 we saw nobody. Day 2 we saw 4 people. Day 3 (Saturday) when we were in the Lake Basin we saw a good number of people but it was by no means "crowded".


Our original plan had been to spend 4 days doing the trip, camping at Horseshoe Lake on day 3 before heading out. However, the rain hit hard on day 3 and we just decided to push the 18 miles out.


OK ... let's get down to the trip summary.


We drove out to the Best Western in Enterprise on Wednesday night, meeting up with Kevin in Pendleton. This was not a bad drive from Portland, and we were able to get all packed up and to bed at a reasonable hour.


Thursday we woke up early (Steve was not pleased) and headed down to the trailhead which was a short drive away. The first part of the hike was not all that exciting. We climbed ~3200ft slowly but surely over ~6.3mi to Aneroid Lake. While the trail was a bit uneventful, the lake was great. It had some great views and we were all alone. It was probably one of the best campsites I have ever had while backpacking.


[center][html]

From Wallowas

From Wallowas

[/html][/center]


We got to camp at lunchtime, and had all afternoon to ourselves. We took a trip around the lake, which I would highly recommend. Then Allen and Steve took another hike up towards Bonnie Lakes while Kevin and I relaxed at camp.


Friday we got an early start, as we wanted to get to Polaris Pass before some weather that we saw on the forecast came in. The hike up to Polaris Pass over Tenderfoot Pass was great. This was probably my favorite part of the trip.


Here is a photo of me on the way to Polaris:

From Wallowas

Here is a photo of the four of us at Polaris Pass:

From Wallowas

The hike down from Polaris was rather steep and over some unstable scree for the first section. While I did not enjoy this, I was very happy to not be going up. After getting down the scree, we hit what was the most annoying set of switchbacks ever. These were the most gradual set of switchbacks I have ever hiked on and took forever for apparently no reason. We finally made it to Frazier Lake camp around 3. I was completely wiped out. This camp was nice, but definitely not as good as Aneroid.

From Wallowas

That night a massive thunderstorm moved in. It was pretty cool -- we would see a flash and then hear multiple bangs as the sound reflected off the mountains which surrounded our camp. It was also very gusty. We would hear the wind coming in, which was loud enough to wake you up, and then about 5 seconds later the wind would make it to the tents and just start ripping them around. This was probably the second worst storm I have ever been in while camping.


On the morning of day 3 we woke up to fog but no rain. We headed out towards Glacier Pass. It was really foggy, but still really nice.

From Wallowas

Glacier Lake was nice, but we could not really see the surrounding peaks so it was not as good as it could have been. As we headed down from Glacier Pass, it started to rain. We met up with Allen and Steve at Moccasin Lake (who had gone ahead earlier) and then headed towards Horseshoe Lake. Moccasin Lake was very nice and would be a great place for a base camp. It is ~13 miles from the trailhead though.


We made it to Horseshoe Lake, and to make a long story short, decided to make the push out. The rain was still coming down hard and we were past the "good" stuff. We finally made it back to the car around 6pm.


It was a great trip but could have been better if the rain cooperated. I would like to go back sometime for some more backpacking, but probably would not bother for a non-backpacking trip. Most of the good stuff was far enough back that you really could not day hike to it.

New Photo Album

I am switching over to Picasa. It is easier to use than Gallery, I love the geotagging and facial recognition, and is easier to make prints. I will be slowly migrating my entire album over there. In the meantime, you can access all my old photos at the "Old Photo Gallery" and the new photos at the "New Photo Gallery" (links on the right).


I am uploading my photos at Picasa in full resolution, and making prints from that website seems quite easy, so give it a shot! :)

One thing I really miss from cable ...

We're on a mission from God

I feel like I am watching Blue's Brothers. Apparently the war in Iraq is "a task that is from god"...

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan." [Huffington Post]

She also investigated getting some books banned from a local library because of inappropriate language. [Time]


It keeps getting better ... unless she manages to win.

Who needs real science in schools?

OK ... I have tried to not be too political on this blog but I am giving up. Don't worry ... it will be over after the election.


Check this one out ...


McCain's VP Supports Teaching Creationism


Awesome. Just the kind of leader we need when McCain croaks two years in.

Age and Inexperience

A lot has been said about Obama's age and relative inexperience. I realized something interesting tonight...


Clinton was 46 when he was elected. He spent no time in either the House or Senate before his election. He was the Governor of Arkansas for ~14 years.


JFK was 43. He was a House Representative for 6 years, and a Senator for 8 years.


Abraham Lincoln was 51. 8 years in IL Legislature, 1 term in Congress.


Obama is 47 years old. Obama was a community activist and lecturer at UofC for 6 years. He was a IL House member for 8 years, and US Senator for 4.

To all you Gmail Users ...

There is a new feature in gmail that you should all enable. It addresses a new vulnerability that was recently identified. It is really simple to do.


Login to gmail.


Click on "Settings" in the upper right.


Make sure the "General" tab has been selected (it should be by default).


Scroll down to the bottom to the "Browser Connection" section.


Select the "Always use https" option.


Save your changes.


Usually when you login to gmail, it will encrypt your password when you send it across. However, future transactions inside of gmail are done via cookies and may not use SSL (encryption). Enabling this feature forces all communication to be done over SSL.


This addresses a hack that will be released in ~2 weeks. You can read about it here if you are so inclined.

Weddings

We were back in Chicago at the beginning of July for a couple of weddings. First we had Katie McFadden's wedding out at Notre Dame. It was a good time. Rohini and Steve were there, and it was great to catch up with Rohini and spend some more time getting to know Steve.


Here is a photo of Janel and Ro.





And a photo of Ian and Steve, holding the girl's purses :P.





During the week we spent some time with family and friends. Got to see Megan and Trevor ... played some risk with Bober, Jim, and Matt. Good times :). Janel was busy with all sorts of stuff for Rohini's wedding...Bachelorrette party, Sangeet, Rehearsal Dinner, and more.


Saturday we had a couple of weddings. It was chaos (for me at least). Janel's day was a bit less chaotic as she was in Rohini's wedding. I started out the day at Rohini's Catholic ceremony. Then I went to Jeff's wedding. Then to Rohini's Hindu ceremony, which was a lot different than your traditional Christian ceremony.


Here is a photo of Janel and I at Ro's wedding. Janel got to wear a sari :).





After this I headed on over to Jeff's reception for a couple of hours. This was a lot of fun -- I got to catch up with a lot of old friends from LT/UIUC. After dinner I headed on back to Rohini's ceremony. This too was a lot of fun. We had a nice mix of American dance music and Hindi music which was a lot of fun. I had to be good and not drink (much at least) because I had an early flight to London the next morning.

England

After my trip to Chicago and all the weddings (see below) I flew directly to England on my way to India. I stayed with some of my relatives (my 2nd cousin once removed) in England and had a great time. I spoke with them for the first time about 6 weeks before going to England, and took them up on their offer to stay with them. They were great hosts.


Monday I headed out to Cambridge with Francis. Cambridge was a a beautiful campus. It is arranged a lot different than your standard American University (Oxford is the same way). They have a bunch of little "Colleges" within the University. You actually apply to the college, and spend most of your time with the prof's and students in that college. There are some university-wide lectures, but for the most part you stay within the college. Different colleges are "known" for different things, but there is no "College of Engineering" per-say.


Anyway, here is a picture of "the backs", which is some small fields and a river on the back-side of all the colleges.





You can see all my pictures of Cambridge here.


The next couple of days I hung out in London on my own. I did spend an evening with my 3rd cousin Michael which was a lot of fun. We wandered around a bit downtown and then took the tube out to an English pub out in the more residential part of London that he likes to frequent.


I did most of the tourist stuff in London and really enjoyed the city. I started out in St. James Park and then hit up Westminster Abby (photo below). Both were great. No photos were allowed inside most of the "religious" buildings (which was fine) so I only have photos of the outside.





After Westminster I walked by Parliament and Big Ben (which looks way cooler than Congress in DC in my opinion).





Then I headed up to Trafalgar Square (for the first time) and then headed over to the London Eye (photo below), which is a HUGE ferris wheel on the Thames across from Parliament but decided not to go up because of time constraints. Trafalgar Square was nice -- but I enjoyed it a lot more when I swung by again around 5pm as there were a ton more people there.





I took a boat tour up the Thames to Greenwhich which was one of my favorite things that I did. Here is a photo of the meridian point:





Here is a photo looking down from the hill at the Meridian to the Naval College and across the Thames to the rest of London. Don't get confused -- that is a different ferris wheel than the Eye.





That evening I had dinner with Michael.


The next day I started at the Tower of London, which was okay. The Tower is actually a large fort that has been used for a variety of different purposes of the years. Today it houses the crown jewels. I enjoyed seeing the jewels, as there is a story in Janel's family that one of her ancestors was a lady-in-waiting to the queen and got caught trying on the crown jewels, and was then kicked out of the country. Not sure if it is true :), but it is a fun story! Below if a photo of the outer walls, and the "white-ish" building in the middle is the "white tower" which I think is what the fort is named after.





Next I hit up Tower Bridge, which is commonly mistaken for "London Bridge" which actually was a rather uneventful bridge which now lives in Arizona. I went up Tower Bridge, which was okay. Mostly just fun since now I can say I was in it :P.





After Tower Bridge I headed on over to St. Paul's cathedral which was great. They were practicing for a symphony when I was in there, so I go to enjoy the acoustics for (relatively) cheap :). I also walked to the top which was a good time. I would highly recommend St. Pauls. Below is a photo from the highest lookout level.





After St. Pauls I hit up the British Museum for a few minutes to see the Rosetta Stone. Below is a photo of the central hall at the museum which has a really cool roof.





Next I headed over to the Natural History museum, and then walked through Hyde Park to see Kensington Palace. It was pooring down rain, so I don't have any (good) photos. Then I met Francis and John for dinner. We had a fantastic dinner at this little French restaraunt in Kensington called "Le Circe" that is owned by the company that John runs. It was amazing food and I would highly recommend checking it out if you are ever in London.


The last day I headed out to Stratford-upon-Avon, the town that Shakespeare was born in. Francis and I enjoyed seeing the countryside and scoping out the town. Below is a photo of what for a while was thought to be his wife's childhood house. It turns out it is not, but it was a nice place to visit :).





You can see all my photos of England here.