Three goals set, three goals met!

1. Make my bladder last as long as the gas tank. Check!
2. Wait until it's at least ten degrees before I get gas. Check!
3. Get as far west as possible before I hit the storm. Check! Making
good time so far and the weather is clear - so far!

Why is it getting colder?

I love the wolf moon

But I'm not sure I like seeing it when I go to bed and then again when
I've already been driving for 45 minutes. Ok, sun, it's your turn!

Chicago, here I come!

Wolf Moon!

I took this picture when the moon just appeared over the horizon on my
drive north. I thought it looked especially big and bright. Turns out
I was right. Big shock. This is the first full moon of the year and it
is also the biggest (by like 15%) and brightest (by like 30%). Turns
out that the moon orbits the earth in an elllipse rather than a
perfect circle. The closest point in the moon's orbit is called a
perigree. (The iPhone does not know this word and keeps trying to
autocorrect it.) A full moon coincides with a perigree once or twice
a year. If everything continues according to plan, this will happen
once this year - tonight! So, if you have clear skies, get out and
take a look!

Good thing my mother doesn't keep food in the fridge

Don't call my mother a lush, but if the shoe fits ...

The beer finally came to rest in the fridge. It will be safe over
night and then go back into the trunk for the ride back to Chicago.
I'm exhausted. Time for a beer!

The porch is too cold

So, I bought all this great beer to bring back to Chicago. Problem is,
it is going to be 3 degrees tonight, not counting the wind chill.
According to the Internet, this beer would likely freeze and crack the
bottles or just plain get skunked. I could not let that happen. I
unloaded all the beer onto my mother's porch, which is not insulated.
Problem solved? Nope! The temperature on the porch is 20, which means
that the low abv session beers would still freeze. Thoughts?

New York is fun

Not only did I have my favorite pizza, but I also went to my favorite
beer store - Sam the Beer Man. My father used to know the original
Sam. This place has it all and, unlike PA, they sell sixes and
singles. I picked up a couple Troegs Mad Elves to bring back. It is
fantastic. Let me know if you want to have a tasting party. First
come, first served.

Fun with topography

This, my dear Midwestern friends, is a mountain. You may not have seen
one before. Sometimes they run right where you want to put a major
highway. If they do, you can either go over them or tunnel through them.

Illinois does not have mountains or, as far as I can tell, even hills.

Reading terminal market

If you've seen National Treasure, you know this place. This is Reading
Terminal Market. This particular stand is one of the Amish bakeries.
The sticky buns are famous and delicious!

Victory is mine ...

Call me stupid or merely uninformed, but I didn't know that Victory
made so many different types of beer!

Flattery is the way to my heart (or liver)

Finally, a beer named after me. And with an accurate likeness!

Best pizza ever!

Nick's pizza, Endicott, NY. So good. My favorite pizza ever. Hands
down. And, I only make it here about once every two years, but Nick
still remembers me. There is something to be said for small towns.

One more nod to the wa

I'm going to miss the WaWa gas stations and hoagie shops. I love the
touch screen to order your hoagie just the way you want it. And the
Herr's potato chips. Yummy. But tomorrow I'm on my way to NY for the
world's BEST pizza. That's right, the best.

They call him the little pooper

But it's a misnomer. The dog on the right is Bingo and he is about 6.
The dog on the left is Toby. He is also an Australian cattle dog, but
he is full-grown at one year old. Both were rescued and I'm beginning
to understand why. Bingo is a good dog, but he barks for about two
hours every night. Toby doesn't bark as much, but he frequently is
trying to get Bingo to play, which can also kick off some barking. He
also eats waste from just about any animal he can find - horse (2
barns across the street), rabbits, deer, Bingo and his own. Poop in,
poop out. And it all happens pretty fast. Yep, the little pooper.

Oh, yeah, and Bingo is the dog in the drawing in the previous post.
Isn't that a great representation of the dog?

You can't go wrong with bacon

I'm not sure exactly what you do with this, but how can a jar of bacon
spread be wrong? Sort of reminds me of that commercial for dog treats
where the little dog is running around repeating the word bacon. And
now I sort of want some.

Lights! Camera! Shop!

It's sort of hard to tell what's in this picture, but these are all
the overhead lights in one studio at QVC. I've never seen so many
lights in one place. As you can see, I was really impressed by the
place.

Third career

I seem to change careers about every ten years. I'm thinking my next
career will be as an artist. After all, if stacking milk crates counts
as art, I've already made a ton of art in my house and storage unit.
Indeed, Inde makes art two or three times a day, but we call it quad
art.

Life lesson

I had a great lunch with an old friend. After lunch, they brought two
fortune cookies. I declined saying that I'd rather have no luck than
good or bad luck, which is where I seem to be right now. Then, while
walking back to the car, I stumbled across this little gem. I guess I
need to be more diligent. Makes sense.

I <3 Philly

Witness my return to the city of brotherly love. And yes, it is small
enough to fit in between two cars.

50,000

My car just turned 50,000 miles! Please note that I am driving the
speed limit but almost out of gas. Gas is expensive here!

Geeks

Yard's - good. Utz chips - good. WHYY (public broadcasting) pint
glasses and a bottle opener from the PA liquor control board - and
we're major dorks.

6'1" beats 5'1"

Grocery shopping with my tall nephew is much easier!

Something for everyone

Yard's!

What a fun tour! This brewery has been around for about 20 years but
makes some brews from recipes that were written in the 1700s. It is a
totally green brewery and a great place. I'm bringing some back with
me ...

You can't fight city hall

You can barely make out William Penn at the top of city hall. I used
to have this view from my office and, unfortunately, I frequently saw
it at night, too. A very good friend has taken over my office and I
understand that he, too, sees the back side of Billy Penn late into
the night. I guess you can't fight the man or city hall. At least the
Phillies finally broke billy's curse.

View from the top

There is always something cool about a bar on the 40th floor. Usually
it's the view. The bar at 2 Liberty did not disappoint, as far as the
view goes. The staff was polite, but seemed undertrained. The food
was ok. But really, if you're going here, it's probably not for the
food.

Quiz

My cool friend also had these three objects in his kitchen. I had no
idea what they were for. I have a small prize for the first correct
answer.

Salt and pepper

I caught up with a bunch of old friends on my first day back in the
city. After a very fun lunch, I walked down my favorite street (the
Ben Franklin parkway) to a friend's house back in my old hood. His
place was very cool, which I should have expected. He had these salt
and pepper shakers on his table. I have never seen anything like them.
I think he said they were German. Leave it to German engineering to
improve on salt and pepper shakers.

Ahhh ... A comfy chair

I think this takes the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle too far. This
is perhaps the least comfy chair I have ever experienced; it is made
of a recycled radiator. It hurt just to look at it.

New box, less fat

Sno-caps, one of my favorite movie treats, has a new box. I'm not sure
how I feel about it, but at least now they have 25% less fat.
That works for me.

Bingo

This is a pastel of my sister's dog, Bingo, that was drawn by my
neice. She is incredibly talented. She has captured the dog's
personality on paper. Unbelievable.

No explanation necessary

You know what I'm talking about - a WaWa hoagie and Herr's potato
chips, while listening to xpn. Satisfaction guaranteed. Welcome home!
Now, if we could just change those ridiculous anachronistic blue
laws ...

Welcome to Pennsyltucky!

Home sweet home!

Gloomy and gray

Ok, Cleveland sucks. Maybe that isn't fair because I'm actually still
a little outside Cleveland, but it's still nothing fancy. Gray skies,
gray buildings and plenty of gray cars - or at least salt covered
cars. And, you know those Verizon map ads, I'm starting to believe
them. I've been out of 3g coverage for a while and on the edge
network, which generates interference with my iPod. I'm not quite
half way east and thinking this was not such a great idea. Nothing a
little fried food won't cure!

Ohio

If I apply for a job, can I write this trip off on my taxes? I'm only
four hours into the trip, but I've made two pit stops. I guess my
bladder is smaller than my gas tank. I'm going to try not to stop
again until PA, in about 4 hours? Rats! I don't think I'll make it.
And I'm hungry, too, but trying not to eat junk food.

(another) road trip!!

Here I go, again. My car loves unemployment. This time, I'm heading
east. And I already made my first pit stop. It's going to be a long
day.

Bread disaster!

So, I had quite a few problems with my bread tonight, not one of which
affected the taste. I bought a new bread pan because my old one had
lost some (read: all) of it's anti stick properties. The loaf I baked
in the new pan is perfect. The loaf I baked in the old pan, is a
disaster. Can you tell them apart? Ugh!

No soup for you!

Yummy already. Even better after a day in the fridge? Can't wait!

It's going to be soup!

I really enjoy broccoli and cheese soup. This, allegedly, will be
broccoli and cheese soup. I'm always a little nervous about something
that tastes better after a day or two in the fridge, but I'm giving it
a try. Might have lots of leftovers ... Like my failed baked beans.

Unemployment = shopping at Marshall's

Cute and practical. Gotta love junior fashion these days.

The choice of my generation

I remember when Pepsi used to come in these cans and have real sugar!
I thought it tasted good then, but I'm not so sure now. High fructose
corn syrup rocks!

Jimmy John's wisdom is better than a fortune cookie

I have always been a huge fan of Jimmy John's for the sandwiches. But
who knew you could also get a lesson in morality and time management
at the same time as your sandwich? Now THAT is efficient, especially
because they really do make your sandwich so fast you would freak.

I'm melting ...

This is what happens to a ball point pen that falls into your oven and
sticks to the glass window while you are reheating lasagna at 375
degrees for 40 minutes. A special prize if you can tell me where the
pen is from. Another prize if you can tell me whether the melting pen
released any toxins that are harmful and infected the lasagna.

Taking the plunge!

So, I've decided to get rid of the hockey hair - hence the title to
this post. But I can't figure out how deep to dive. Should I go short?
Or for a trim? And, more importantly, is there really room in this
little fishbowl for me? Love the pirate, though.

Cookies!

Okay, I had dreams of making two or three batches of cookies, but
stopped short at one. But I had a great afternoon! The snow sort of
stopped but some "snow day" friends came over to bake cookies. The
baking started with hot chocolate (with Bailey's) and got better from
there! I did manage one batch of chocolate chip cookies. More to come
tomorrow ...

Winter storm alert!

We are finally getting some snow! According to the weather channel,
we are expecting 8-12 inches, sometimes falling at a rate of an inch
per hour. Nice. Add a new project to my list: shovel the sidewalk and
driveway. I think I'll wait for some real accumulation, just in case
this is another false alarm.

Turn up the heat!

Apparently KC's thicker winter coat is not warm enough. She had to
crawl into the nest of covers (created by her co-conspirator, Inde) to
warm herself up. Silly kitty, lounging about all day. I much preferred
when she earned her keep in Philly patrolling the house for mice.
Here, no mice and the rats are bigger than she is!

Unemployment projects

My recent stint of joblessness has turned into quite a cooking and
baking explosion. I made a pan of lasagna (sauce from scratch) and
banana bread (with chocolate chips and cranberries). In this picture,
the banana bread is on it's way into the oven. Nothing like banana
bread with chocolate for dessert after a huge piece of lasagna. Yummy!

More needles on the tree or the ground?

The Christmas tree was really nice. It smelled great for about three days, and then it started losing needles. Every time someone came to the door, the dog brought over a giant stuffed toy and spun around in circles, knocking even more needles off the tree, but only on one side! (She would have broken some ornaments, if we had any glass ornaments left -- she broke them all the last year in Philadelphia when she knocked the tree down and dragged it into the kitchen. Live and learn.) The tree survived the holiday season and was finally taken to the trash yesterday, leaving thousands of little annoying needles in its wake. I volunteered to clean them up because I get annoyed when I get one stuck in my sock in July. After about an hour of vacuuming, sweeping and picking up needles with my hands, I thought I had them all. This morning, however, I dust busted another 16 little needles from the stairs. Ugh!