Interesting Statistic...

Good Ol' Ironsides

Earlier this spring, Rob and I met up with Amanda and Jeremy to tour the USS Constitution (aka Old Ironsides). Named after the Constitution of the United States by President George Washington in 1797, she is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world. She earned her nickname of "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812 when she captured many British merchant vessels and 5 British warships. (see Wikipedia for more info).

Rob and Jeremy have a long history of causing trouble when they are together. Somehow, they think rules don't apply to them...

Luckily our navy tourguide was busy sharing interesting factoids with the rest of the group while Jeremy and Rob were snooping around all of the little exhibits otherwise they probably would have had to walk the plank....or something.
Interesting piece of trivia about Old Ironsides: The special effects production crew from the movie Master and Commander used the Constitution as a model for the ship in the movie. We also got to tour a retired battleship that is in the same area as the Constitution. It's a WWII gunboat with anti-aircraft guns and 4 torpedos. It was cool to see their mess hall/operating room, the tiny sleeping bunks, the command center (like something from an old war movie), as well as the intense kitchen with 3 industrial-sized kitchen mixers.

Rob said that when we have 12 boys I can have 3 industrial-sized kitchen mixers too...I can hardly wait!

A Childhood Flashback

I don't know why I remembered this last night before falling asleep, but I did, and then I thought someone else might enjoy reading one of my favorite childhood poems. It's kind of long, but it's great.

I'm a sucker for rhyming poems. This one is just so fun to read out loud that, for all my friends who at work reading this, I will totally understand if you feel the need to at least whisper it really quietly at your desk...

Casey at the Bat

by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that--
We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despisèd, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt;
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped--
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;
But Casey still ignored it and the umpire said, "Strike two!"

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate,
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate;
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville--mighty Casey has struck out.

PS. If you want to see what happens to Casey next, click here

Good Food...Tuesday

How many husbands do you know would do all the following (at the same time):

A: Encourage their wife to go on vacation
B: Without them
C: Instead of attending a conference they had already paid for her to attend
D: During a week when they had visitors coming
E: Over Valentines Day weekend

Answer: Mine!!

My parents and little brother had planned a week-long trip to Naples, Florida to play golf. Of course, when I found out about this trip, I had to go out on a limb and ask if they would fly me down to join them. Wonder of wonders, they agreed! And when I proposed the idea to Rob, he graciously told me to have fun, knowing that I was suffering from a little bit of the Early February Winter Doldrums.

I had a blast and when I came home I decided to surprise Rob with a belated Valentines Day Dinner. We had steak, mashed potatoes, and for dessert, ....

A Chocolate Souffle (courtesy of Mark Bittman at the NYTimes)

This was my first attempt at a souffle and it turned out absolutely beautifully. And the (minimal) effort required is definitely rewarded with the ultra decadent, delicious results.

Time: About 45 minutes

About 1 tablespoon butter for dish
1/3 cup sugar, plus some for dish
3 eggs, separated
2 ounces good quality bittersweet, melted
Pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 2-cup or one 4-cup soufflé or other deep baking dish(es). Sprinkle each with sugar, invert it and tap to remove excess sugar.

Beat egg yolks with all but 1 tablespoon sugar until very light and very thick; mixture will fall in a ribbon from beaters when it is ready. Mix in the melted chocolate until well combined; set aside.

Wash beaters well, then beat egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until whites hold soft peaks; continue to beat, gradually adding remaining tablespoon sugar, until they are very stiff and glossy. Stir a good spoonful of whites thoroughly into egg yolk mixture to lighten it; then fold in remaining whites, using a rubber spatula. Transfer to prepared soufflé dish(es); at this point you can cover and refrigerate until you are ready to bake.

Bake until center is nearly set, 20 minutes for individual soufflés and 25 to 35 minutes for a single large soufflé. Serve immediately....because you will be very happy you did!

Yield: 2 servings

The MLK Snow Bowl

It wasn't quite as big as the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the AllState Sugar Bowl, or the Chick-fil-a Bowl (although, how do you take yourself seriously when you are the playing in the Chik-fil-a Bowl??) ...but this past Monday, a few lucky men in Cambridge participated in the 1st annual MLK Snow Bowl.

Christian Robinson, Lane Morgan, Ben Beasley, Rob Ellis, and Kyle Leingang took a break from studying the law to gather on Cambridge Common for a hardcore game of snow football.

Luckily, the field was coated in a blanket of snow a few feet deep, so the fresh powder made each tackle a little less painful.
After every play the guys were completely covered in snow. Rob would hit the ground and come up with snow sticking to his little goatee, turning it totally white. Cute...like a young, skinny Santa...

Team 3L (Christian and Lane) were pretty fierce competitors.

Team 2L (Rob, Kyle, Ben) huddle-ing up. Kyle played with both sides as all time QB.

This is serious business; Rob, during a water break, is strategizing how to mount Team 2L's comeback.

After about 3 hours, the SnowBowl came to a close. Cambridge Common's field of untouched snow was totally trampled and the guys were all pretty beat...especially Team 2L. :)

Hello...Anyone out there?

Not that I deserve to have anyone out there, when I only manage to post once a month....but in an effort to rustle up some positive inertia to help me get blogging again, I wanted to share something that made me laugh last night.

*Disclaimer: Allegedly this is from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I haven’t been able to confirm it, which makes me think it might not be true…but I still laughed out loud.

Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first date experience.

She said it was midwinter....Snowing and quite cold... and her date had taken her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah for the day...

They were complete strangers, and had never met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon.

They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte. They were in the middle of nowhere, about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room! Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while.

Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, or she would lose it in the front seat of his car.

They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic, being a real gentleman and not peeking. The feeling of relief she felt overwhelmed even the obviously embarrassing nature of the situation.

Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem.

Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about “what is taking so long” with a reply that indeed, she was “freezing her butt off” and in need of some assistance! He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She got the giggles too and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem.

Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal. Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way, her first time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender.

Oh and how did the first date turn out? He became her husband and was sitting next to her on the Leno show.

First Snow of the 2008 Season

I think Cambridge winters have something against people trying to get out of town for Christmas. This time last year we were hit with a huge blizzard the day before our trip to Brazil. And this year, a few days before Christmas....

Luckily, this year we were just driving down to Connecticut for Christmas so we didn't get too stressed about travel when the snow started coming down. In fact, I was especially not stressed because my work was canceled on the first day of the storm so I got a surprise long weekend!

So while the greater Boston area was blanketed under about a foot (ish) of snow and sad people were waiting for hours and hours for the flights to get out of the airport, I stepped out my front door and went snowshoeing.
But....now I'm ready for spring to come. :)