Sophistication

Here's to my husband Sean. A man of utmost sophistication . . .

Photo taken at Sugarplums and Tea, a new favorite.

Holiday Fun

The day after Christmas . . . My belly is full of good food, I love all of the goodies I received (especially the beautiful ring Sean bought for me), and a good nap is in order. This year Sean and I didn't have to go anywhere. The party came to us. We enjoyed a gathering of friends and neighbors on Saturday. Then my parents came to stay on Christmas Eve. Christmas day was spent with Sean's family. I don't think I stepped foot outside in two whole days. Merry Christmas!

Enjoy these photos taken with Sean Christmas present (the lens for his digital camera which he bought for himself a month ago . . . It made Christmas shopping a lot easier for me). Link

The magic of courage

Saw this post on youtube today. It touched my heart. Just watch it and listen.
Click here.

Cars

The latest round of bailout talks with American car manufacturers has got me thinking. First of all, I think that I am sick of everyone being "bailed out" and second of all, I am feeling less and less sorry for companies that are begging for rescue from their own poor management and years of selling cheap, poor products.
I asked Marci last week to name just 1 small, quality, fuel efficient car made either by Chrysler or GM. She thought for a few seconds and couldn't name any. I then asked her to name 1 similar vehicle made by Toyota, Honda, or any other "foreign manufacturer." Within seconds she named 3. Try this little experiment yourself and see what happens. I'll leave it with you to digest the results. But the exercise seems to answer itself.
For fun, I decided to do some research on the top ten worst rated cars of 2007. So here they are:

10. Saturn ION
9. Chrysler Aspen
8. Chevrolet Trailblazer
7. Hummer H2
6. Hummer H3
5. Chevrolet Uplander
4. Dodge Nitro
3. Chevrolet Aveo
2. Chrysler Sebring
1. Jeep Compass.

Suspiciously, (or not) every car is either a GM or Chrysler product - with GM having the distinct honor of having a total of 7 in the top ten. Congrats to Chrysler who only had 3.
Absent from the list is any foreign manufacturer. Ok, so you may ask what are the criteria for this list? I'll let you read it for yourself here.
Very impressive. Is it any wonder why both companies, once giants in the auto industry, are literally days away from bankruptcy - and don't even get me started on unions, where the average wage to work in a GM factory to build these wonderful products is $28/hour.
Just if you wondered, based on an average year (with no overtime), that's a salary of $58,240 per year.

Caveat - I point the finger squarely at big unions and poor management for this one, NOT the guy on the production line trying to make a decent living.

I won't go into the depths of how Detroit has sold us on cheap junk with no re-sale value for years, and years. We as Americans have been forced to accept mediocrity, and poor quality, and lousy design from our own car companies for decades. Does anyone remember the Pontiac Aztek? Who in their right mind in the engineering and design dept at GM, dreamed this thing up and then thought - "Wow, what a beautiful car!!" Who signed off on the paper, allowing this behemoth of ugliness go into production? Sorry - no offense to those of you who actually bought one of these....but really??

The sad part of it is, surely the greatest, most prosperous nation in the world is capable of so much better. I work for a large American engine manufacturer where I can honestly say that quality is the most important aspect of everything we do. I am proud to represent an organization that sells a well engineered, quality product. Our very name is synonymous with quality. And we are constantly, driven, and pushed towards this on an internal level. Thousands, upon thousands of hours of product research and development are completed before any new engine is ever released.

So we are faced with a dilemma? Do we bail out mediocrity? Do we simply accept poor products and poor management and poor quality with a nice check from the federal government? Keep in mind, that is your taxpayer money - you know, the stuff the government takes from you before you even get it. When was the last time you heard someone say - "Gee, I really want a nice new Buick in the driveway!"

I expect some good response from this one....

So go for it.

S.

Annual Christmas Letter

Here's the annual Steele family Christmas letter. We don't do cards and since we've become tech geeks, an e-version is the only way to go. Merry Christmas!



Dear Family and Friends,

It’s that time of the year again. You know, Christmas cards and annual family Christmas letters. So here goes ours . . .

In March, Sean marked 2 years with Cummins Power Systems and had the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas with work. Unfortunately, I made the stupid decision not to join him and stayed home and worked while he had all of the fun.

April kept us really busy. We visited friends in Virginia, and Sean experienced some of Marci’s childhood friends during their annual get-together at Cove Valley Camp in Mercersburg, PA. He now can explain the ins and outs of the game Corn Hole.

We traveled to South Africa in June to spend time with Sean’s Grandparents, Auntie and Uncle and cousins. While we were there we attended his cousin’s wedding and had the privilege of touring and sightseeing around Cape Town and Stellenbosch.

In July we spend a weekend in the Poconos with Marci’s parents and some extended family. It’s always so relaxing and restful.

August was a year of home ownership. Even with a new home, we are realizing how much work goes into the constant upkeep and making it ours. It doesn’t help that Sean continually comes up with new decorating ideas and home improvement projects.

This fall Marci started her 9th year teaching 2nd grade in Manheim Township School District. No longer the new kid on the block.

In November we took a short trip out to Phoenix to visit Marci’s sister, brother-in-law and nephews. 80 degrees in November is quite nice!

Marci attended her 15th year high school reunion. We actually all looked similar to our old high school selves. Okay, so our hair isn’t quite as big and we’ve gained an inch here or there, but really not so bad.

Now we look forward to a new holiday season of fun, friends and family. May God bless you this season and in the coming year.

Love,
Sean and Marci

Christmas

Our Christmas tree is up. Marci did a wonderful job of decorating it with all manner of glorious lights, ornaments and shiny things. My job was simply to get it into the car, and then into it's assigned place in our home. It's not that I don't like Christmas, for some reason I am just not that into decorating the tree. So I completed my secondary task which was to hang the lights on the trees in our front yard. I am proud to say that we are the first home on our street to complete the decorations on our house. Perhaps we provided some inspiration to our fellow neighbors, as I have since seen a few more homes get all light up.

The past few days this week have reminded me of a few things I am thankful for during this holiday season. So here they are - in no particular order:
1. A warm, heated home
2. A warm jacket and scarf - especially during the 15 deg wind chill today
3. A great marriage to a wonderful wife.
4. A close family - both on my side and my in-laws.
5. A great job.
6. American citizenship.
7. Opportunity
8. Freedom
9. A great church

Just to name a few.

Merry Xmas.

Sean.

Hunting

It is quite difficult to visit customers at this time of the year. Why? Because nearly all of them are out in the woods shooting at deer.
I find this fascination, and utter devotion to blowing away Bambi quite interesting. As soon as it even starts to get a little chilly, I start to hear passing mentions from all sorts of guys that "deer huntin' season is coming soon." They all talk about this with a sort of wild glazed look in their eyes. I can see dreams of the smell of gunpowder, and orange vests turning in their minds.

Of course, being born in Africa I am not at all unfamiliar to the concept of hunting. I often used to relish stories my Uncle Doug told about the days he would spend on the African savannah, tracking, and playing lethal games with big african wildlife. In his case you carried a large rifle not only as a tool to kill your prey, but also as a means of defense against animals who were faster and had bigger teeth than you did. Truly, the word "hunt" applied to these situations.

Here in PA, not so much.

I don't think it is "hunting" as much as it is "going into the woods with a gun." Maybe it should be called "deer ambushing." Is this wrong? Maybe I don't know enough about the sport, but usually when you hide in one place for hours on end waiting for an unlucky deer to walk by, and then unleash heavy firepower - that is an ambush. Not that this isn't effective - it just seems sort of unfair?

Don't get me wrong, I like eating deer meat, but perhaps it would be more sporting if all the deer had guns as well.


Sean.

Shopping

We need to go shopping for Christmas. This is a task that I am not looking forward to. Not because I don't love giving people presents, truthfully, I loathe the traffic I have to get through to purchase all the presents. I went to the mall to day for a haircut (at the instruction of my wife) and if the parking lot was any indication of the state of our economy, we are going to be just fine.

Parking lots are a source of human weirdness for sure. I am amazed at how some people just switch off their brain when entering a mall parking lot. From the old guy in the Buick LeSabre who is driving at 1.7 mph, to the visually impaired person who manages to consume 2 parking spaces for a Honda civic.

Anyway, so now my hair is cut and I am sitting here blogging because there are 4 ladies in our living room who are laughing out loud, and opening presents at the same time. This means I have no access to my beautiful tv. Marci's gal pals are over here for their annual Christmas gift giving. This is a tradition that has been going on for years. It always amazes me how much fun, and words women can have at these events. It's kinda cool. Most guys would never call each other and say "Hey man lets all get together, just us guys and watch each other open our presents, Hooray!!" Could you possibly even imagine this? Now if the call that went out went like this "Hey, you jacka$$'s come over to my place for Xmas so that we can insult each other, tell dirty jokes, drink beer, fart out loud and laugh about it" you can bet that all of my guy friends would be here.

That's the difference between guys and girls. Marci still has problems understanding this. Part of being a man, is knowing how to insult your fellow man in a way that actually says - "hey I like you well enough to make fun of you." Women just don't communicate this way. Guys like to insult each other, we think its funny, ladies don't. You would never see a girl pointing at another woman's belly saying, "what happened here?, maybe you should cut back on the beer - HAHAHA" That would not go down well. A guy can say that to another guy, and both have a good laugh. Hey, in our world a beer belly is a medal of honor.

Anyway, I digress. I am going to go into the living room now, into the fray of words and laughter.
On the other hand, it's kinda nice to come home to a house full of 4 lovely ladies!


Sean.

Winter - ugh!

I woke up this morning to a layer of snow over everything. It continued to lightly snow for most of the morning. Then there was a blizzard when it was time for the drive home. You'd think the fact that I live in PA and have lived here my entire life would have helped me like winter. Not so much. I appreciate the beauty and briskness of snow. I appreciate a walk after the snow has muffled all sound around me. But I'm not ready for it just yet. This is what I came home to . . .


Yes, those are pumpkins on the porch and some petunias and mums in the garden. I thought it was still November and not even quite Thanksgiving. Oh well, winter has arrived.

Travel

We are back from Phoenix. We had a great time. The 80 degree weather wasn't too shabby either.
However, arriving at the airport and finding your vehicle in 32 degrees, covered with a fine layer of snow will snap you back into reality quickly. Marci was jumping up and down at the car door begging me to let her in, out of the cold while I loaded our stuff into the trunk. It's always nice to come home from a long trip and flop down onto your own bed. There's just something about swinging the door open to your own home that makes you let a out a breath of warm relief. The smell of familiarity. It somehow fells like the most comforting thing to let your house wrap it arms around you again.

Much less can be said for air travel. I don't quite know where, or when I stopped enjoying this part of the adventure. Maybe it was when they made you completely disassemble and then re-assemble yourself at the security checkpoints. Maybe its the long lines at the airports, and is it just me or does every employee of every airline just look miserable and annoyed these days? It's somehow feels like its my fault that the airlines are losing money because of years of poor management, delays, and under staffing. Now, the bar of misery has been raised even higher.

It costs $15 dollars to check 1 piece of luggage, and $25 for the next. Am I the only person who thinks this is completely insane? That's like staying at a hotel, and being charged for the air you breathe while staying in the room. How on earth is one supposed to travel without luggage?
Surely this is part of carrying a passenger. Ok - 250 pounds of extra boxes and junk I can understand, but ordinary luggage? Really??

As we were herded onto the plane I saw a nice sign from US Air, explaining that drinks and coffee are all now $2 per serving, and a small snack is $7. I opened their on-board magazine out of sheer boredom and read the note in the front from their CEO, explaining with his big smile that this was their new "you choose your level of service" strategy, and how it was going to make my whole US Air experience so much better. So, let me get this straight - $15 to check my baggage (per person, so that is actually $30) plus a drink for us each ($4) and a pathetic sandwich with a nice plastic spork for lunch ($14) equals a total of $48 (one way)
He's right - this is much better strategy than free. And they wonder why they are losing money.
When did Southwest - (remember them? the "discount, no frills") airline suddenly become the luxury option?

I wish the Captain would simply turn on the PA and state the following:
"Good morning folks, this is the captain speaking. Today's flight is going to suck - you are going to be cramped, freezing and uncomfortable, and our bathrooms are going to be extra nasty. You will probably have to sit next to some annoying passenger and pretend to be polite. We are going to rip you off with our pathetic cabin service and your luggage is likely already smashed in the cargo hold. We are definitely going to be late for your connecting flight, because I don't feel like making the plane go any faster. So, sit back, relax and enjoy your flight suckers"

And another thing - when are they going to update the Skymall magazine? Seriously, I see the same junk in there year after year.

Pictures from Arizona are here.


Sean.

Home Again

We are home. I'm already missing the 83 degree weather in Phoenix. We stepped off of the plane this evening in Philly and I almost suffered from frostbite. What a shock to the system! But as always, the vacation must come to an end. Sean and I had a fabulous time with my sister, brother-in-law and nephews. It was so wonderful to see them and spend some quality time together. We meandered around Old Town Scottsdale, took in the sights in Sedona, relaxed together, and strolled the streets of downtown Phoenix. Sean and I needed a little get-away and this was a perfect opportunity. Thank you, Lori, Michael and boys. Miss you already!

(P.S. There are photos of the trip. I'm married to Sean and his new camera, aren't I? He's editing them as I type. We'll post those later.)

Weekly news update.

Here is the weekly news update.

1. I took an online IQ test, and I scored above average. If this is true, then why is it that after a year of living here I still cannot figure which drawer in the kitchen holds the dishtowel.
2. I am reveling in the fact that Comcast now has a selection of old James Bond movies in HD. I have since indulged myself in 4 days of 007. Last night I dreamed that someone was stealing my wife and much to her surprise I grabbed her while she was sound asleep. I may need a possible break from watching Bond.
3. We are going to Phoenix later this week for a few days away from the sprawling metropolis of Lancaster PA. How am I going to cope with being away from all this excitement for so long?
4. It is now officially cold in Pennsylvania. Last night it was 38 degrees.
5. I drove a BMW 3 series the other day, and suddenly realised why American auto makers are in such trouble.
6. My 401K is now only my 201K
7. Found a new beer called "Harpoon Ale." Very good. Thanks to my friend John for recommending this sweet nectar of heaven. Hooray, Hooray.


Have a great week.

S.

Wow

OK folks,
Wow, I didn't expect all those comments on my last post. I truly appreciate all of your feedback.
Unfortunately, since this is an open blog some anonymous members of our new society have decided to post some not so nice things that I really don't feel are pleasant.
The goal of this blog is to create warm fuzzy feelings about family, life, love and friends - not a forum for a political gunshot wound.

So I take full responsibility for throwing the "cat amongst the pigeons" but have removed the last post and comments in the interest of maintaining happy thoughts.

Feel free to comment - (nice things only)
:)

S.

New Tradition

I have always loved the weekend. It means you can sleep in and take a break from the work week. But lately I have come to love it even more. Sean and I started a new weekend tradition of having a brunch of coffee and bagels or pastries either on Saturday or Sunday morning. (I usually have tea because I'm not much for coffee. However, I have discovered that I like caramel lattes because they're so sweet it's difficult to taste the coffee. I'm all about the sugar.) Anyway, today we headed out to one of my favorite spots in Lancaster, Prince Street Cafe. Sean had never been there and enjoyed it. Although next time he gets a table while I order our food. He kind of got mine a bit mixed up. Still tasty though.

We're taking recommendations for future brunch locations. We have the usual Panera and Starbucks. Of course there are the local goodies, such as Coffee Co and Prince Street Cafe. Any others?

Things aren't always as they seem...

This week I decided to reward myself with a present. Why? Just because.

So I bought Apple TV. This is a cool little device that allows you to download HD movies, stream music wirelessly from your Itunes library to your stereo, view your photos on the tv, etc, etc.
I know, I'm such a tech nerd. I love it.

Getting it set up was a pain. I had to run another HDMI cable behind the wall.
This got me thinking, that things in life are not always as they seem. For instance, take a look at
the picture of our TV (nicely installed on the wall), and then the picture of whats behind the TV.

What a mess.

Oh well!

S.

Voter Burnout

Have you heard of this?

Its a useful phrase, coined conveniently by political organizers. This way they can put a definition on those folks like me who are sick and tired of hearing about this election.

It's much easier to handle something when you have a name for it. Its much easier to not offend anyone. We are great at that in America. This all happened when we started calling the janitor a "custodial technician." Or a secretary an "executive assistant."

So, if there are people out there who are suffering from "voter burnout" you can now form a special focus group designed specifically to win back those precious lost votes. You can create new positions, for instance: you can have an "administrative assistant to the public relations liason" for the "special voter burnout task force"

Thats great! Who's going to pay for this? Oh never mind, were going to use money from a government grant. How much you ask? Oh, a couple hundred million, that should do it.

Good - aren't you glad that votes come cheap?

Speaking of cheap - if the credit markets are so screwed up, and there's no money to borrow, why did I get an application in the mail today from Chase bank for a $50,000 home equity loan with "payments as low as $198 per month!!!"

Here's where I am with all of this.

1. I'm tired of getting forwarded emails telling me that Obama is a complete terrorist, and we will all die if he is elected.

2. I'm tired of John McCain calling me his friend, and telling me that he will veto any pork barrel bill - and I will "know their names"

3. I'm really tired of hearing about "change" when I see nothing but more of the same from both sides.

Wow - I must have a really bad case of voter burnout.......

Fall is here

I love the fall.

The cool crisp air in the morning, the leaves changing on the trees, the days of sweltering heat finally behind us.

Soon it will be time to put the mower away, and watch the grass go back to sleep.

This is the best time of the year to be out on the road, visiting customers. I can drive with the windows down, I don' have to get back into a steaming hot car, and for some reason people just seem more relaxed. I like to take my camera out with me, the air is nice and clear and I never know when I can quickly snap a picture of the leaves turning.

I drove past this little tree a few days ago, and it looked like it was on fire, so I pulled over, grabbed my SLR and took a few shots. (Click Here)

What is your favorite part about the fall? Carving pumpkins? Pulling on your favorite sweater?

Warm cookies from the oven, with a nice cup of hot chocolate on standby?

Sean.

Bomb

Real quick blog...
Image the sound of a World War 2 bomb falling out of the sky....
Now imagine that is the stock market.

BOOM. :(

Oh, well, see you later 401k. It was nice to watch you do quite well the past 5 years.
Now, its just sad to watch you vaporize away....bye bye.

TIME TO BUY BABY!!! STOCKS ON SALE!! :)

S.

Update on the war...

It's official.
The war I have waged against my cholesterol is over.
Result? The war is lost.
I had my levels checked again last week. After 6 months of a new diet, and almost 8 pounds lost the total deduction was 8 points. Down from 288 to 280.
Pathetic.
Give me the drugs, I am done.
It seems that my DNA is wired a certain way and there is nothing I can do about this other than resort to medication.
Oh well, thanks to Costco Pharmacy for supplying my medicine at $6.34 for a 30 day supply.
So for about the cost of 1 cheeseburger I can be much healthier, and seriously reduce my risk of heart attack later in life.
That's not too bad I guess.

Now, where are the bacon and eggs?

Sveedish fish

I have recently rediscovered my love for Swedish Fish. I'm not really the kind of person that eats a lot of candy, I cant tell you the last time that I actually ate a whole chocolate bar. Usually, if there is a bag of salty chips, or hershey's kisses in front of me, by default I'm "goin' for the chips."

But last week we were grocery shopping and Marci and I walked past the swedish fish in the candy aisle. I started drooling, and walked away with a 7.9lb bag.

I just love something about this food!! Best of all its fat free, and Marci hates them. More for me!

What is your favorite candy?

Sean.

Mad

Ok, I need a quick rant to get this out of my system before I head out today.

I am furious over the $800 billion dollars it is going to take to bail Wall Street out of the hole THEY have put themselves in. FURIOUS!!

These are the same people that drove the price of oil up to $147.00 a barrel, raking in huge profits while we were paying $4 bucks at the pump. The same people, who had CEO's making in some cases, over 1 billion dollars a years in annual bonus. The same people that made completely irresponsible, unsound financial decisions based purely on nothing but greed and frankly a lust for money.

I realize that the alternative of a completely collapsed financial market would not have been a good path to take - but while the fat cats at wall street now look to the government with that guilty child look on their faces, let us not forget who put them there, and how this all happened.

My opinon? The CEO's of Bear Stearns, the now broke Lehman Bros, Merril Lynch, and Goldman Sachs need to appear on national TV and explain to the American people how they allowed this to happen - since we are now the ones who now have to pay for their sins.

Every dime of their annual bonuses from the past 4 years needs to be returned and placed in a fund for inner city schools. Could you imagine what we could do for a few poor communities with 1 Billion dollars?

Ridiculous.

Please feel free to post your comments. I am anxious to know how you feel about this!

Sean.

Fixing Things

About 10 minutes ago I heard some noises coming from the garage. I opened the back door to find Sean, just having returned from the car wash with my car, putting on the finishing touches. Then I noticed that our year old, smooth driveway now has a gouge taken out of it. Hmm? So I ask, "Sean, why is there a hole in our driveway?" Sheepishly he looks at me and says, "Oh, I tried to jack up the car in the driveway. It's not bad, is it?" I remarked on Sean's tendency to not think things through before acting, shook my head in wonderment and came back inside. About 5 minutes ago, I went outside to see this . . .


This would be Sean fixing the hole. A hammer, aim 'n flame, and a little bit of stone and tar should do the trick, don't you think?

There's no such thing as a free lunch

My Dad told me that one day, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
In essence, what he was trying to teach me is that every action in life has its consequences.
No action is performed without a re-action. This theory came home to roost today, as one of Wall Street's oldest and most respected financial firms collapsed under a cloud of bad debt.
In a matter of months, the value of Lehman Brother's stock crashed over 95 percent.
To put that in perspective, in January 2008 a single share was valued at a little over $60. Today, it was valued at 21 cents. Yes, you read that correctly.
Why did this happen? Billions of dollars invested in mortgage debt. As the value of assets owned through debt by Lehman plummeted, all their invested fortunes simply vanished into thin air. Gone. Money on paper simply erased. The years of lending gobs of cheap money to people who could not afford it in the first place had finally caught up. As the whole mortgage industry, stitched up with yards of ARM's and bad debt has tumbled, Lehman Brothers was dragged along into the pit.
Its total outstanding debts are a total of $786 Billion, and the value of its assets are: $639 billion.
That is a gap of $147 Billion.
The math is quite simple. They now owe a lot more money than they are worth. Usually when one finds yourself in this situation, you get a loan to make up the difference until you can put yourself into positive territory. Herein lies the problem. No one is willing to fork out $147 billion dollars in loans. Not any banks, and this time not the government.

So do I feel sorry for them? No.
Wall Street has been treated like a casino the past few years. You can only engage in risky, unsound, business practice for so long until it catches up to you. When may I ask did someone in upper managment raise the red flag? This is a company that has been in existence for over 100 years. Would the founders Emanuel and Mayer Lehman have approved of this? Thankfully, the american taxpayer will not have to pay in to bail them out. Enough is enough. Enough of the greed. Enough of the credit card mentality.

As I read online today from one financial advisor - "goodbye Lehman, it was nice knowing you"

Looks like lunch time is over.

Sean.

Dust and Diesel

My face is very sunburned right now...

Why?

I spent the day with some folks from work at the Diesel National's in Englishtown, NJ.

They have a 1/4 mile drag strip there, and the basic idea is that if it runs on diesel you can race it.

This is one of the things I love about this country. Americans have a need to race each other. It could be a lawnmower, a wheelchair or a golf cart, no matter. If it has wheels on it, someone is getting challenged to a duel. This was evidence by the fact that I witnessed 2 dump trucks race each other today. One of the highlights was the "R.V" class race - there was only one participant and yes he did proceed to race his very large pink motorhome down the track. The garbage truck race event regretfully had no participants this year.

We had a tent set up with all sorts of parts, filters a few display engines and I spent most of the morning answering questions, shaking hands and giving out free stuff. (People love free stuff)

One thing I learned about truckers today is that they are a proud group. They love their trucks.

I spent some time walking though the parking lot (which was a sea of all kinds of beautiful trucks) It didn't take long for them to recognize the "Cummins" logo on my shirt.

"You work with Cummins?"

"Sure"

"You gotta see my truck...."

I had a great time talking with these guys. If you think waxing a car is tough - try a whole truck.

Anyway, I took some pics

Here is the link

Trucks

Go Sarah go.....

This morning we assembled the Matt Goss Band back together, and were given the opportunity to play for the McCain, Palin rally at F&M University in Lancaster.

What a fun day. Besides getting to hang out again with old friends, the rally was a lot of fun.

How did we get this gig you ask? Well, due to some contacts made during President Bush's campaign in 2004 we were asked to play at all three of his rally's here in P.A. The same folks who were organizing the McCain rally called our buddy Matt up and asked if we could do it again for John McCain. So we accepted.

The place was packed. It took much of the day to get set up. We had to load in at 9am, get set up and then leave so the whole building could be swept for security reasons. Not quite as stringent as when we met the President in 2004, but not too far off either.

One thing I do know is that people really like Senator McCain, but they love Sarah Palin.

As soon as she walked into the hall, the place went nuts. People were chanting "Saaarah, Saaarah." It is obvious that this lady handles herself with incredible poise and has a down to earth charm about her that people really relate to. Her smile, and demeanor are somehow familiar. She doesn't carry the stuffy, jaded, Washingtonesque aura around her. What really impressed me were the amount of women that were cheering for her.

After McCain left the building she spent another 20 minutes shaking hands, smiling, holding babies and taking pictures with people. The crowd just did not seem to want to let her go.

So this is just what I saw folks, you judge for yourself.

As a republican I am glad to see how this has energized the GOP. Its good to feel like there is some hope for the party, and for this election.

As usual during the elections I have been receiving lots of "forwarded" email smearing Obama, calling him everything from a communist to a terrorist to the antichrist. The watercooler talk at work resounds the same (on both sides). Some of us in the church have latched on to Sarah Palin like she is the God sent messenger here to fix everything wrong with the country. Its amazing how everyone else has decided on her behalf that she is now an evangelical christian. Funny, she actually has not come out publicly with her faith since she was asked to accept the nomination for VP.

My point? There seems to be a lot of hype, and lack of informed people willing to throw their vote to a candidate based purely on emotion. The freedom, and power of a democracy is only effective when you make an informed decision, and use your vote based on the facts. What will a candidate do when in office? How will they vote on any particular issue?

I asked someone the other day who they would vote for. The answer, "Oh for Obama, because I just hate all republicans" Great. I have no problem with someone voting for Obama, that is their right as an american. But surely there has to be a better, more informed reason than that?

So, know the facts.

For your convenience, here is a link to each candidates website. Check them out, get rid of the spin, and you decide.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/

School

School is back in session. All 25 of my kiddos arrived on Tuesday morning. Some looked scared. Some looked lost. Some looked tired. And then there were the few who came barreling into the room and haven't stopped since. I've received the usual question of "how did your first week go?" To be honest, it was one of the better first weeks that I've had in a few years. As I said, there are the few little stinkers who never stop talking or moving. I do have an aide in my classroom this year. She is assigned to a student who has some behavior needs. He's not a screamer (like one I had 2 years ago) or a true ADHD child (I have 4 last year). At this point, he's been fine. We're still figuring out what his exact needs are. My aide is fabulous. Very calm and unobtrusive. Sometimes I forget she's in the room. But overall I don't have the major overt behavior problems that I've had for the past 2 years. I think most of the issues this year will be more along the academic lines. I have a few children who are quite low in their reading and math abilities. But with the help of quite a few support staff, I think we can move them along. The first week sped by and I came away with a sore throat from talking all day and sore feet from standing all day, but I felt good. So, let's hope and pray that this is a sign for a good year.

There's no such thing as an atheist

I used to have a teacher in Bible school. He had a long, crazy history as an evangelist.

One of those people that is passionate about spreading the gospel, and lived his life with no apparent fear. Anytime he approached an atheist he would tell them - "thats impossible, there's no such thing as an atheist." His reasoning was that an atheist believes that there is no god, no anything. That, in and of itself is a belief. Therefore you believe in something, and thus - you cant be an atheist.

Hard to argue with, and very clever. I can just see an atheist who hears this turning their eyes into a stare while they process.

I found a video blog on youtube this week by a guy named Pat. He is an atheist. He really made me think about things. Pat is anti-religion. He believes that all organized religion is nothing but a system of devised values used to entrench people with fear and create a stranglehold of power for the select clergy. Truthfully, its hard to argue with that. Pat has become one of my favorite video blogs to watch because he speaks the truth. I have heard more sense from him recently than I have heard from a lot of Christians.

"But from the mouth of an atheist?"

Yes.

"Are you becoming an atheist Sean?"

Hmmm..

Just kidding, of course not.

In fact, my faith in God is stronger now than ever before. His views seem to re-affirm my faith. The sad thing is that I agree with many of the things he says. He stated quite clearly during one of his very entertaining monologues that "If Jesus really was real, and was as compassionate and caring as he was shown to be like in the bible, if he returned tomorrow he may just be ashamed at the way his followers have acted on his behalf"

If this is not the crying out of a world in desperate pain, I don't know what is.

Of course, many "christians" who watched the blog, responded that week to him with death threats, curse words, threatening scripture verses, fire and brimstone. In fact one guy taped himself on youtube praying for Pat.

Nice.

Do we respond that way because the truth hurts? Why are we so offended if he doesn't believe in God anyway?

I am not by any means remotely close to being a perfect christian - and can someone define what that is anyway? Marci is always telling me I need more compassion and this is true.

I feel compassion for Pat. I feel he is lost. I emailed him and told him I enjoy his blog and that I would really like to have a beer with him one day. He seems like a fun guy, and I'm sure we'd have a great time. I'd like Pat to know who the real Jesus is one day. Not what our "religions" have made him out to be. Jesus simply came to earth and just walked. People were drawn to him, all he ever asked any of his disciples to do is follow and learn. Why can't we as a church be more like that? Where did we lose this along the way? I know some of you may respond that we need to "fight for our rights as believers, defend our faith" and this is all true. But all the "religion" in the world never won a sole except though love, peace and compassion.

If you would like to view Pat's blog, let me know in the comments field, and I will email you the link.

Sean.

Whack a mole

These past few weeks have been crazy. I have done it again and scheduled myself with too much stuff to do. I am now tired. Staying up late to watch the Olympics hasn't helped things much either.

Did you ever feel like work is similar to a game of "Whack a Mole?" You know - you whack one problem down, and another one pops up. Yup, thats my life right now! Oh well, better than having no work.

This weekend I am going to hang crown molding in the study. I have been convinced that the best way to do this is to use the pre-fab stuff and not the real deal. Our friend Bill tried to hang the real kind and almost lost his mind. To do this, you need a machine called a "compound miter saw." This sounds like it would be a fun object to own. "Kids, don't touch your father's compound miter saw!" What a fun thing to say.

We went to Baltimore this past weekend. My good friend, and "sister from another mister" Nikki asked me to come down and sit in with the worship team. She is the worship leader at Bridgeway Community Church in Columbia MD. We had a blast. Besides laying down some funky grooves - the kind where you have to bob your head at a slight angle, we had an awesome time of worship. Nikki's voice has literally made me cry before, she has more vocal control than anyone I know. We spent an evening in the inner harbor, which happened to be packed with hoards of Yankee's fans (Yankees were playing the Orioles.) I just don't get a whole game of baseball.

I just cant sit there. I know it's a great american tradition, but I would never subject myself to the traffic problems the affection for this game creates. Having said that, if you think baseball is boring, try watching a game of cricket.

I took some pictures - here they are.

Sean.

Now What?

Now what are we going to watch since the Olympics have ended? Sean and I have been glued to the TV or the computer over the past 17 days and have loved every minute of it. We have become Olympic junkies. As I type this, China has handed over the Olympic flag to London and this symbolizes the end of the 2008 Olympics. Sean stated it very well when he remarked tonight that it's like a friend who has come to stay for two weeks and then must go home. We feel sad. And a little worried that we have nothing to watch on our TV. Hmmm? Guess it's time to go back to the old fashioned form of entertainment and read a good book.

Home

We can say that our house is now our home. A year ago we became the proud owners of our first home. It's hard to believe that a year has flown by already. We love it here and often will find ourselves saying, "I love this house." It fits us perfectly. So, to show you all where this house has come from to what it looks like now, take a look.

The plot of land we couldn't wait to live on

The hole in the ground

It actually looked like a house.

Almost ready for us to move in

A year ago - August 25, 2007

Today - August 24, 2008

For some more photos and some interior shots, click here . . . Home.

Busy weekend

We had a rather busy weekend.

Friday night: Bob Dylan tribute concert

Saturday AM: New tires on Sean's car and a baby shower

Saturday PM: Party at the Hoffman's

Sunday AM: Sleep in!!

Sunday PM: Photo shoot for the Wingert's 40th anniversary

Sunday afternoon we drove up to Messiah College and took some photos for our friends, the Wingerts and company. All manner of family and friends were there so we took the opportunity to get some nice family shots. It went great and we had a blast. It's always east to take great pictures when you have lovely surroundings and good weather. I enjoyed every moment.

It feels really good to have total digital control over all my pictures. Gone are the days of film. My new camera is starting to feel like an extension. I just imagine, point, compose and press the shutter. Click. And there it is.

Anyway here are some of my favorite pics: Click Here

To see the whole gallery of pics: Click Here

Have a great evening..

New Do

Well, I finally did it. I got it chopped off. What a relief! I am actually happy with the results. Less hair and no more gray. What do you think? Only nice comments please. If you don't like it, lie!

"We came to smash the Americans"

Did you hear this statement in the past 2 days? The now famous words uttered bombastically by the captain of the french swimming team. The same team that was defeated by the American swim team during the 4 x 100 men's swimming relay at the Olympic games in Beijing.

Ok, so I may not be the world's foremost authority on international diplomacy but I know this, no matter what country you come from if you are going to talk trash you better be able to bring it.

Even more classic was the comment of one of the guys from the American team.

"I don't want to hear any of that, I'll just take care of business when we get to the pool"

I watched the conclusion of the race in utter disbelief, as the fate of the "frenchies" was sealed by one hand's length. I was on my feet, both hands clutching my hair when Marci and I saw the glorious sight of the words "United States" flash first across the screen.

I think I was screaming as loud as Michael Phelps was. Even more tasty was the sight of the french swimmer (the same guy who claimed he was there to smash people) wallow in the water in a stunned shock.

So here's to you frenchy. Yes you helped us defeat the British all those years ago, and yes you gave us a very nice statue of a big lady - but let this be a lesson: never underestimate the power of a bunch of ticked off Yankees.

Au revoir'

Sean.

Final Product

Poor Sean. He just wanted to hang a few shelves and make the study beautiful. After some trials and struggles he did just that. Here's the study during shelf hanging . . .


And after . . .

Not bad, huh?

Sunday Ramblings

I tried to hang some of those fancy "floating shelves" in our study.
This did not go according to my plan. All I ended up with was 4 holes in our drywall. :(
I felt rather ticked off after that - especially since the wall is covered in red paint and touching it up is going to be a pain. (See attached picture for details.)
It's my fault, for once I didn't read the directions and I used the wrong wall anchors to hang the shelf. Turns out they were actually a lot stronger than I thought and removing them trashed our wall.

My war with Value City has come to an unceremonious end. I managed to fix our furniture and you would never even know that it was damaged. I have decided not to drive all the way to Harrisburg to exchange it again. Now they just keep calling me to let me know that the replacement stuff is here. Oh well, I think I will let them sweat it out for a little.

We are enjoying a day at home today. Marci and I just needed a day to chill at the casa.

Did you watch the Olympic opening ceremony? Amazing. Marci loves the Olympics.
She keeps saying loudly, randomly and with great exuberance "I love the Olympics!"
This is very cute, even when it catches me totally off guard.

Have a great Sunday.

Raw

A really wonderful friend of ours came over for dinner last weekend. We had a great time, and the whole week we were looking forward to her company. As the evening sun drifted lower in our kitchen window, and the evening's conversation spun it it yarns around our meal we approached the topic of God.
Our guest has lost someone very special and dear to her recently. A tragic accident resulted in the loss of a good friend. Marci asked her how she was handling things, and how she was doing.
One thing I love about our friend is the openness of that big warm heart she has. She openly talked about her emotions after the accident and how the whole situation had made her feel.
My heart was feeling sore for her as I recounted in my mind what I felt like the moment I heard the news. We spoke about God and how she had struggled in her mind to reconcile this whole event and still believe in a merciful Lord.
Then she said something that made my thoughts stop so suddenly I could feel myself breathing.
" I had to realize through this situation that I serve a God who would allow my friend to die"
Wow - did you get that.
I did. Very suddenly. Understand, that our friend still loves the Lord, very much so. But what she said was real to her, and certainly justified. But how can you possibly resolve this? Because it's true, it happened.
That made me stop and think. Once in a while you hear something that makes you do that. This was one of those moments. Stop and think about the realness, and the weight of that statement.
It wasn't said in any sense of anger or bitterness, It was said in all Godly respect and honesty.

Do I always see the bigger picture? How small am I? How on earth can something like this happen? I tried so hard to process this information last week. My limited conclusion is this: God is a merciful God, yet we live in a world corrupted by sin. I am convinced that as humans, we sometimes expect that God's mercy is lived out in the flesh when we ask for it here on earth. We expect it. Why wouldn't we? We are flesh and bone. I think that God's mercy exists in the fact that He died for us already and has bridged the gap we created between us and Him. That is where true mercy is displayed, on the cross and the fact that every day that we live in sin and we are forgiven. There is no account held against us who trust in Jesus.

Life is really hard sometimes. We are faced with sorrow and the question "why did this happen?" Amidst all of that I was reminded last week that we are all mortal beings. We forget this sometimes. This planet is truly only temporary. The young lady that lost her life in this story was a believer. I thank God for that. She is in a place with no suffering, and no pain.
Perhaps a way to settle this terrible tragedy in our minds is that she has now experienced the full extent God's grace. She has been reconciled to the Father through the death of his son and now lives and his heavenly kingdom.

I still don't fully understand, but for all of us I hope the following.
May you stop, slow down and breath this week. Don't miss your life going by.

Sean.

Quick update

Well, after a nicely crafted email to Value City Furniture's corporate website I got a call from a customer service rep today.

The result - Nothing.

"Sorry, I spoke to the store manager, and they wont deliver or pick up from your address"

Thats it, I am done fighting with these people.

Obviously they have no concern for customer service - even when they sell you damaged goods.

I shall return this furniture, get it replaced and go on with my life.

I make a solemn vow never to purchase anything at this company again.

I learned a very valuable statistic a long time ago.

For every satisfied customer you create, they tell at least 2 - 3 people.

For every dissatisfied customer, they tell at least 10-15 people, who then tell another 2-3 people each.

You do the math.

So Value City, I'm done with you.

Annoyed

I'm tired and grouchy tonight. Tired because I've been going non-stop for 2 days, and grouchy since I had a really bad customer service experience this week.
So, since this is America, and this is our blog, I am going to share my opinions on this matter.
We have been waiting for almost a year now to buy a nice desk for our study, I work at home when I am not in the office, and Marci being a teacher needs a place to get paperwork done.
We finally found the right desk at Value City Furniture in Harrisburg, The price was right, and it was the ideal desk for us. So, last Thursday I made the decision to buy it and bring and end to this endless search.
I went to pay for it, and the sales person informed me that "we don't deliver to your address."
"What?" I asked. This seemed odd as, they have delivered furniture to us before, and we lived further away. Not wanting to argue, I just asked to see the manager.
Out walked this man, after making me wait a little, and I informed him of my problem.
"I'm sorry" he told me, "I have to draw the line somewhere, we don't deliver to your address"
I explained how absurd this was since, they have before, and they do deliver to other places that are further from us - this was clearly marked on their map, pinned up on the wall next to the cash register. The conversation went like this:
"I cant believe you wont deliver to my address - we live 4 miles away from East Petersburg, and clearly you deliver to that location, its on your list"
"I have to draw the line"
"This is crazy"
"We'll with the price of fuel....."
To cut a long argument short - I walked out ready to use some special words on this man.
I called my wife, and she calmed me down. I agreed that we could just rent a U-haul and get the furniture ourselves. So we did this over the entire evening last night, only to get most of it home, to find it badly damaged.
That's right. Are you mad yet? Can you feel my pain!!!
So I saw another manager today, and let her know that she needs to come and get here damaged furniture since I was not renting another u-haul, only to hear the same thing.
"I'm sorry sir - we don't deliver" So, now I have to organize more transportation, and more time out of my life to return their damaged crap, which they promised was good for delivery. "it will all be inspected before you pick it up sir" I was told last week. Right.
What do I get for this: $50
That's right, the desk cost over $1300, and I get $50 for my wasted time and gas.
Nice.
So now I have a delivery for Value Sh!@#y Furniture.
You suck.

Sean.

Man shoots lawnmower.

Well, it finally happened.

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man was accused of shooting his lawn mower because it wouldn't start. Keith Walendowski, 56, was charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed.

According to the criminal complaint, Walendowski said he was angry because his Lawn Boy wouldn't start Wednesday morning. He told police quote, "I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want."

A woman who lives at Walendowski's house reported the incident. She said he was intoxicated.

Walendowski could face up to an $11,000 fine and six years and three months in prison if convicted.

A call to Walendowski's home went unanswered Friday morning.

Stupid lawn boy.

A day in the life...

Marci and I took a little road trip yesterday. Not because we wanted to, but because I had to see a customer, 4 hours away from home. I knew it was going to be a long day in the car by myself (This happens a lot in my job) so I asked her if she wanted to come along for the ride. Originally, she turned me down, as the prospect of sitting in the car for that amount of time I'm sure wasn't that appealing, I could hardly blame her. We woke up the next day, and she told me that she had thought about it and decided she wanted to go.
Great! I was glad, we get to spend the day together, and I don't have to be all alone.

A funny thing happens to Marci when she goes for a long ride in the car. We usually start out chatting, listening to the radio. Then after about half an hour, she gets really quiet, and this straight ahead stare seems to creep its way onto her face. As I glance over occasionally, I can see that her long eyelashes are starting to slowly bob up and down, getting gradually lower and lower. I smile to myself. I know what is happening, I've seen this before time and again.
Then I offer the usual "Are you getting sleepy sweetheart?"
I always get the same response: " I'm getting sleepy, I think I need a nap"

Then, she pushes her seat back, folds her arms, takes a deep breath and lights out.
Invariably, her head falls to the right side and she's fast asleep.

This past trip yesterday, was a true testament to the power of the "sleeping car"
We left at 8 AM, and she was out by 8:30.
I took a picture.


Do you fall victim to this phenomenon?
She woke up around 35 mins. later, and told me I had to pull the car over at the nearest rest stop for a potty break. (That is another event that seems to happen on all our road trips)

Anyway, we had a great time. I helped fix a customers 140 ton crane, and 2 hours later we turned around made the trip home.

Hooray beer.

Last night we went to the new "Iron Hill Restaurant and Brewery" in Lancaster with our good friends, Preston and Kelly, and our new friends Nathan and Jackie.

This place is very cool. They brew all their own beer on site. They are very proud of this, as the very enthusiastic waiter reminded us more than a few times during the course of the dinner. Highlights of the evening included watching Kelly sip her way through the "sampler." This is a collection of approximately 12 different samples of their own brew, ripe with exciting names like "Ironbound Ale and Vienna Red Lager" Even more fun was watching Nathan actually drink all 12 glasses of his sampler, each one being followed by a satisfied grin. Truly a devotee of all things brewed with hops and barley. My own personal favorite was the "Pig Iron Porter." A lovely, rich beer where "the distinct roasted and chocolate notes are well balanced by a slight bitterness."

So here's to good food, fellowship, and to the brewmeister. You Sir, are responsible for endowing upon us that sweet nectar of life, beer.

Cheers.

Change

We're a little bored with our blog. Sean suggested that we change to Wordpress and found that they have a free blogging setup now. But I'm not sure just yet. I looked at it a bit yesterday and I feel that I can do everything here on Blogger that I can do on Wordpress.com. And I'm simply too cheap to pay for web hosting, so that I can use Wordpress.org or the iWeb software on our Mac. So for now, we're just changing the design. Maybe that will take away some of our boredom.

Back to Work

Well our weekend trip to Spruce Lake came to an end all too fast. We had a great time.
The weekend's activities included a nice hike (where I found a lovely little stream and waterfall) a good round of mini golf, and a visit to see some cute puppies.

Who could ask for anything more you may ask? Yes I know, us Steele's live on the edge.

Worthy of mention is the old, creepy, abandoned hotel we found. The old Buck Falls Inn. Once very much the place to be in the Poconos, now derelict and according to local lore, quite haunted.
Oooooooh.

You decide for yourself.

Click here to see the pics.

Camping - American style

Hi folks,

Marci and I are camping with her folks in Spruce Lake retreat in the Poconos Hills.

I say "hill's" beacuse most folks around here mistakedly call them the Poconos Mountains.

Newsflash, these are hills. I have seen and hiked real mountians, and these are definelty not really mountains.

Anyway, we are camping American style. Our camper is air conditioned, we have surround sound, and I am updating this blog via a wi-fi connection.

When I was a kid we camped with a tent, some firewood, a small trailer to pull behind the car and some hot dogs for food. If the weather was warm enough we would sleep under the stars, and listen to the sound of the wind gently breathing through the limbs of the pine trees.

We cooked dinner over the camp fire, and an old guitar usually provided the evening's entertainment. The days were spent hiking the in Drakensberg mountains, and drinking ice cold water straight from the pristine streams. (See above picture for clarifiaction on what a mountain looks like - that is the Drakensberg, in SA)

I treasure those days, they are great memories for me.

On another note, today I went for a hike to a lovely waterfall to take a few pictures. The hike back up the hill with my tripod slung over my shoulder was long and hot. The 87 degrees and humidity didnt help.

It felt really good to get back into the air conditioned camper......

Post vacation summary

It's been a while since I added to this blog, so here goes. Now that we are almost 3 weeks past our vacation, I have had some time to gather my thoughts and consider my observations.
1: 18 hours on a plane is about as exciting as going to a podiatrist.
2: Is it normal to be constantly saying to oneself, "hmmm, 3 weeks ago today we were......" followed by a sigh.
3: That nice relaxed feeling you have the first couple of days back to work, lasts for just that - a couple of days.
4: There is no place in the world like your own bed.

That's about it so far. At least, that is all I can think of at 10:36pm at night.

In other news, Marci and I bought a pool membership in our development. It's really nice, and after mowing the lawn in the 346 degree humidity this afternoon it was worth every penny.

I have also finally completed editing our pictures from the trip. Unfortunately the weather was against us. My dreams of a National Geographic - esque photographic envoy were not realized. This was a complete shame as Cape Town is so beautiful. We pretty much had rain the whole time. A trip out to Cape Point which has stunning natural vistas, seaside cliffs and ocean views was met by a thick fog that obscured visibility to a mere 30 feet in front of the car. The only vista I got was a picture of a stinky baboon, taken by Marci leaning out of the car window. Oh well, better luck next time I guess. I did manage to get some good shots. After weeks of editing, tweaking, adjusting and nitpicking at every picture (fellow photographers know what I mean) I have compiled a collection of my favorites. Check them out here. These are posted purely for artsy-farsty necessity and perhaps some self indulgence.
Enjoy.

What If . . .

This is not the first time I’ve been tagged but it’s the first time that I’m actually responding to a tag (Sorry, Rachelle, for never answering your request). But since I’m on summer vacation, I have some time on my hands. So, thanks to Robyn, I have some questions to answer. Here we go:

1. If you could inherit a comfortable home in any city in the world that you could use but not sell, where would you want it to be?

• Can I have 2 choices? Paris and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

2. If you could be instantly fluent in one other language that you currently do not read or speak, which would it be? Why?

• Spanish . . . it has become such a predominant language, it’s beautiful and I could sure use it to communicate with many of my students’ parents.

3. If you were given an hour to spend an unlimited amount of money in any store in the world where would it be?

• Banana Republic . . . I just really like their clothes.

4. If you had to give your children to the care of someone famous, whom would you pick?

• I’d give my hypothetical children to Kirk Cameron (remember him from Growing Pains). Hey, he’s not as famous these days but I know we share similar values and he's already doing the father thing.
  

5. If you could cast an actor now alive to play you in a new film, what kind of film would it be and whom would you choose?

• It would have to be some sort of comedy (hey, I live with Sean and life gets a little comedic around here), with a little romance thrown in to satisfy my girlie side. I think I’d like Sandra Bullock to play me. I’ve always liked her. But I really like Julia Roberts too. I’m so undecided about these things.

6. If you could have an elegant dinner alone with anyone presently alive, whether you know them or not, who would you want it to be?

• My favorite guy, Sean!

7. If you could resolve any single dispute, anywhere in the world what would you solve?

• Child abuse and neglect

8. If you were instantly able to play one musical instrument perfectly that you have never played before, what would it be?

• The guitar! I love when Sean plays the guitar and have talked about having him teach me (think that may put a strain on the marriage?).

Now I get to tag some folks, something I’ve never done. Take a crack at it friends . . Glen or Amy, Rachelle (feel free to blow this one off like I did for you), Chelle, and Katie.

(And feel free to reply to this post with your own answers!)

South Africa

What a trip! Sean and I are now suffering post-vacation blues. We would love to be back in Cape Town, but reality calls.

Our adventure to the Mother Land, as Sean puts it, was fabulous. We started the journey with an 18 hour flight from JFK to Cape Town. We did have a layover in Dakkar, where we refueled and had a security inspection. However, we did not leave the plane. We arrived in Cape Town on Friday, June 13 and met Granny and Grandpa. After some tea, good conversation and good old South African bobotie for dinner, we headed to bed for much needed rest. The following morning, Granny and I joined Zonna and the girls for hair dos and giggles. Excitement was in the air! Later that afternoon, we celebrated Zonna and Steven's wedding. What fun! Those South Africans love to give speeches and they love their wine.

Here's the rest of the vacation in a nutshell:
Sunday, June 15: Lamb cookout at Annika and Martin's house (friends of Auntie Viv and Uncle Ron). Yum!
Monday, June 16: Scenic road trip to Calvinia with Granny and Grandpa for a visit with Auntie Viv, Uncle Ron and Arron at their hotel, Hantam Hotel.
Tuesday, June 17: Sean and I meandered around the small town of Calvinia. He finally got his biltong (jerky-type food. His was made from kudu). I got my mango juice. Tasty! Had a lovely dinner with the gang.
Wednesday, June 18: Headed back to Cape Town in the rain. Winter weather there. Sean and I checked out Tyger Valley Mall that evening. Had a delicious meal at Annapurna Indian restaurant. Probably the best we've ever had.
Thursday, June 19: Breakfast with Grandpa's brothers. Great to see them! Then Sean and I ventured out alone and booked a hotel at the waterfront. Walked along Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Shopped a bit and had dinner at Ferryman's Tavern. Braved the rain and wind again.
Friday, June 20: Drove all along the Cape peninsula. Saw beautiful cliffs, bays and beaches and a mangy baboon. Ate delicious fresh fish. Didn't get to see Cape Point due to heavy fog.
Saturday, June 21: More fog so we missed out on Table Mountain. Instead we headed out to Stellenbosch and found a lovely guest house to check into called the Villa Grande. Walked around the quaint town and had dinner at De Volkskombuis. More bobotie and chicken pie. Of course, the ever present bottle of wine and rooibos tea.
Sunday, June 22: Drove out the Stellenbosch wine route and checked out some wineries. Found my favorite Spier chardonnay and brought it home with me. Dinner at 1802.
Monday, June 23: Time to leave. Granny and Grandpa got us to the airport. We met Zonna and Steven for lunch (they were coming back from their honeymoon) in the airport. Sad goodbyes!
Tuesday, June 24: FINALLY arrived home at 11:15 a.m. after 24 hours of travel. Ahh, home!

Thank you to Granny, Grandpa, Zonna, Steven, Viv, Ron and Arron and all of the wonderful friends we met there. You made our stay extra special and we miss you already.

Check out all of the links for a bit of education and check out these photos . . . South Africa (Sean would like you all to know that Picasa doesn't do a great job displaying them. Unfortunately, the compression they use doesn't give photos the same quality that the originals . . . whatever that means).

Zonna and Steve

Ok,
Just a quick update. Here are the pic's from Zonna and Steve's fabulous wedding in S.A
I promised everyone I would post them asap, after my final editing and quality control!
I am now also faced with the daunting task of going through the other 518 pictures I took.
Updates on those to follow as soon as I can get through all of it!
If you would like the original copies, let me know and I will gladly email them to you.
Picasa's lousy jpeg compression tends to really make things look grainy...


Click on the link below.

Wedding

Day After

For those of you who travel, you know that flying to and fro can pose some challenges . . . getting to the airport on time, standing in long lines for check in or security, going through customs in an efficient manner, dealing with other travelers, and most importantly: Sleeping on the plane! Luckily for Sean and I we had no trouble with any of the above mentioned experiences. Except that last one. It is the kicker and most important and necessary on a long flight. There is no way to get comfortable on a plane. I do believe we could now be considered contortionists after finding multiple sleeping positions throughout our 18 hour flight home. Yes, I said 18 hours! We left Cape Town, South Africa at 6:00 p.m. their time, so that would mean noon our Eastern Standard time. We flew all night with a stop over in Dakkar for refueling and a security check. Although we never got off of the plane. Then we headed on to JFK and arrived there at 6:30 a.m yesterday morning. After going through customs and claiming our baggage we jumped on the Air Train to take us to our long term parking lot. Finally, we pulled out and headed home around 8:00 a.m. and turned into our own driveway at 11:15 a.m. Which means we were traveling for about 24 hours. Ahh, home!

It is good to be home. I speak for Sean as well when I say that we feel like we've been hit by a truck. But it was all worth it. We had a fabulous couple of weeks in South Africa celebrating his cousin's wedding, spending time with family and taking in the sights. There will be more blogging on that later when we upload the photos. But for now, here are two fun shots of a mangy baboon we saw near Cape Point.

Belated

Sean's 33rd birthday was on Tuesday, June 3. I'm a few days late with these wishes. I had wonderful intentions of blogging that day, but, well it just didn't happen. So, here's how we celebrated and my wishes for Sean . . .

I have a philosophy that birthdays are meant to be special. Maybe because my parents always made the effort to make my sister's and my birthday a day set apart from every other day. That could mean something as simple as a special dinner. (By the way, thanks, Mom and Dad). So, since Sean had already purchased his new camera for his birthday, I set about trying to make his day a little different than the rest. I made him breakfast in bed, which simply consisted of an English muffin and tea (I don't cook.). I think he was awake enough to enjoy it. He's so not a morning person! Then I gave him 2 T-shirts so he'd have something to open on the actual birthday. Finally after a day of work for the both of us, we went to dinner at Annie Bailey's, one of Sean favorite restaurants, so he could drink a Guinness and have some good ole' Irish fish and chips. Ahh! When he said it was one of his most enjoyable days, I knew my simple little efforts had paid off.


So, happy birthday, Sean. I love you for so many reasons. Here are a few that I'll share with our devoted blog readers.

• I love Sean's ability to be completely his own person and not care what others think.
• I love his creativity . . . in visual art and musically.
• I love his sense of humor and ability to make others laugh.
  
• I love his ambition, work ethic and integrity.
• I love Sean's South African heritage.
• I love that he comes with a great family.
• I love his patience with me and his sensitivity.
• I love his "it is what it is" attitude and his positive outlook on life.
• I love Sean!