Coming Soon!

No, really, big things are just around the corner so watch this space for exciting developments in:

* The Past
* The Present
and
* The Future

Wait, what?

The world is an impossibly small place. That or people just are too imaginitive. Either way, finding another Monter[r]ey rural Pennsylvania is the last thing I expected. Do you think they have churros?

These are the little things that distract me as I begin the drive home.

Goodbye Monterrey, goodbye Pennsylvania. Hello possibilities!

Manisha, Manhattan, and more pictures

Tonight is Kim's birthday but today was my chance to visit my local city of lights. I was inspired to act as a tourist again by my friend Manisha.* She came for an impromptu overnight visit en route from Bogota to Mumbai a few weeks ago and was so excited to be in America for the first time that this was her reaction to my license plate:


Or, likewise, at an American flag and subway car:



Her best smile though? Reserved for a post-dance party trip to a punjabi greengrocers.

[Seriously, she looks like a starving woman in a feast!]

It was a miserable day for pictures but I managed to catch a few things I'd never seen before. My favorite example? The sad panda wandering near Wall Street. Somehow so fitting...





All in all it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon, even if the weather was a bit dreary. That night was a pirate-themed birthday party for Kim in a board game bar (nirvana for Kim, let me tell you) so weather stopped being a factor. My failings at BananaGrams, however are another story entirely...

* Manisha, the best CouchSurfing host in history, with whom I stayed (you may recall) for a week in Manizales, Colombia in October 2008.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do...

... when in Pennsylvania, go to Groundhog's Day?



Okay, sure, why not?

It was all kind of fun. I went with three Allentown CouchSurfers - Jeremy, Daisy, and Jessica - and even though Jeremy got a ticket en route a good time was had by all. While there we met Katy and Frank, from nearby Pittsburgh and whole mess of groundhog enthusiasts. Further proof that there is intelligent life in your backyard.


Waiting for the, er, hog himself.


Obligatory group picture at the Knob.


Warming up by the fire.



Posing with town statuary...


... and other things.

Snow Hiking (remix)

I went hiking today in the Trexler Nature Preserve. I might never get used to this. Skies so clear and fields so white. It's amazing in such a quiet and simple way. In addition to the scenic pictures below, all along the little four mile, snow-covered trail I saw rabbit and deer prints. As cold as I was, I can only imagine how they felt...

This is why I moved North

Well, not for this exactly, but things like it. After all, they just don't make weekends like this in The South:

*) Obama makes Whistle-Stop Appearance in Baltimore. Yours truly is there, along with Kim, and we both drove for hours and then waited in the freezing cold just to see the man speak for five minutes.




Totally worth it.


*) "We Are One" Concert on National Mall with Bryan Andersen, my arch-conservative friend = infinite win. There is simply nothing more I can say than that. Even he was won over by the presence of both Obama and Bono.





[Pictures from "We Are One" Concert courtesy if The New York Times.]

What rhymes with Polka? [My birthday, that's what!]

Through some strange circumstances I have celebrated my last three birthdays in New York. This year was no different, but (blissfully) the commute was easier.* Likewise, wonderfully, as the two usually go hand in hand I have celebrated all three with my sister. The third part of this little trifecta, though, is a bit more unusual: polka. Yes, that's right, think lederhosen.




Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's genetics. Maybe it is Kim's friend and roommate Caley, who is an unbelievable Germanophile. Even if it is a simple combination of all three, though, it is still great fun. I mean, how can you go wrong with beer, sausages, and dancing?

Added bonus: The Devil Went Down to Bavaria!


(I really wish I'd taped the version I saw, but this'll have to do...)

Oh, and did I mention THE ALPINE HORN?



* I mean it would have to be: I came in from Tel Aviv last year. [Which, in retrospect, makes this year's celebration all that much stranger.]

Out of the Valley (and out of the blue)

So tomorrow is my birthday but because I have work, today is my present to myself - and it has the makings of a perfect day.

Here's the checklist:
✓ Gallo Pinto breakfast.
Delicious!

✓ Clear weather.
Added bonus, it snowed yesterday - which is thrilling for me but terrifying for my car.


✓ Hiking
To the Poconos and back for a mid-day, waterfall-laden jaunt to Hawk Falls which was six shades of awesome.




✓ Surprise Bonus: Folk and Indian Music!
Living in Allentown I have come to expect the former but not the latter - much less the two back to back on the local NPR station. Let me tell you, friends, nothing makes driving through empty, snow-covered country roads seem as magical as a tabla and sitar accompaniment. Way to go, WDIY.

PS For those of you surprised by my sudden, northern reemergence, worry not: I finally have the internet again and will fill in the blanks accordingly.

Starting up at The Start-up

I am, as the title of this entry suggests, just starting as the start-up. I have officially moved all of my things in - and up three flights of stairs no less - and positioned my furniture in just the right way. It is so fung shui it hurts.
Yesterday was also my first official day of work, and it mostly consisted of alternating bouts of introductions and paperwork. I am actually living with one of my coworkers, Spencer - a documentary filmmaker I will be representing and space in his house is part of my compensation - so I met him on day one, but the rest of the people I'll be working with have been trickling in for the last day or so for an official meet and greet. It's a bit overwhelming, in a way, but even the mounds of filings I had to fill out for the incorporation proceedings today were not enough to dampen my enthusiasm.

I think I am going to like it here.

EDIT: I take it back. Work is fine but I'm pretty sure I just saw my first snow fall on the horizon - everybody run!

A Picture Shows A Thousand Words; Maps Are Even Better

I like maps. I like maps for a lot of reasons – they have a bad habit of revealing more about their makers than their subjects, for one – but among the simplest is this: maps show distance and to me, the would-be traveler, distance is the same as progress. Take the map below: it shows you, in a way, how I just progressed.



From my parent's house in Florida to my new one in Pennsylvania (with numerous Virginia social visits in between), this map covers a lot of distance and maybe, just maybe, a little progress. Having officially competed school – the ceremony (which I did not attend) took place just before Christmas and my degree is supposedly in the mail – this map shows my next milestone: my first job. What it does not show is that, in addition to being absurdly cold in this frozen tundra, from here on out I am also employed as the Managing Director of a start-up creative arts nonprofit in Allentown, PA.

This is all equal parts terrifying and exhilarating; wish me luck!