Happy Holidays

Its been a while so I thought I would write a quick post. Things are going well, we finally got an actual snow storm. There was a bit of freezing rain, which was interesting to see, but we learned something about Pennsylvanians and snow. Basically, people around here are terrified of snow. The forecast called for a few inches and everyone freaked out. They cancel school around here if there is like an inch of snow in the forecast, even if it doesn't actually snow. Also, people are really afraid to drive in it. So this week Sandy and I got to feel like hardened veterans who were unphased by a little snow.



Our Thanksgiving went well, we cooked a pretty good meal. It was nice to have an excuse to sit around all day eating and talking to our far-off families.

I am still stressing about grad school. I really want to get into a good program. A big relief has been looking into post-graduate certificates. Which is basically where you go take some classes without being accepted into grad school. So if I don't get into any programs I am going to (hopefully) start taking some classes that I can later apply towards a degree. The hardest part is not having a strong agricultural background. I know if I can just get taking classes at a good university I will be able to prove to people that I am a high caliber student and would be a great graduate student. I just feel that it is worth working really hard to get into a top program, because then I can get my PhD at a top school and then work at a top school.

Speaking of agriculture: I have been working at the Dancing Hen Farm still. Here are some pictures I took a while ago before everything died. Lately we have been working on re-building the heated greenhouse. Basically, you light a fire in a chamber that is surrounded with gravel. The rocks heat up and prevent everything from freezing overnight. Its been really fun, but a lot of hard work. We moved about 10,000 pounds of rock each using 5 gallon buckets.


Top left is a shot of the farm. Top right is a broccoli plant, I didn't know what they looked like. basically a whole big plant that grows the eating part in the middle. Bottom left is the Twin Bridges, a couple old covered bridges on the way to the farm. And bottom right is the inside of the greenhouse we are rebuilding. Its hard to see, but under the plant trays is the gravel bed that we are re-doing.

No Human Being Would Stack Books Like This!

If you recognize the title of this post, then you may recognize the lion statue and the steps I am standing on. That is a quote from the movie "Ghostbusters" one of my favorites. Which made yesterday's trip to New York City all the more fun when I was able to actually go to the New York Public Library, where the opening scenes of the movie were filmed. Our hunt for a "self-contained free-floating full-torso vaporous apparition" proved less than successful.
This is Sandy eating the first bite of our pizza at Lombardi's, officially recognized as America's first pizzeria. One bite and its easy to see why they have been around all this time. The pizza was simply amazing. Also in Little Italy I got a cupcake from a small shop. It was chocolate and frosted with the filling from a cannoli, and had little pieces of the cannoli cookie sprinkled on top. Best cupcake ever, it was big and the texture and flavor were just amazing.

30 Rockefeller Plaza is pretty famous. Its the main building for NBC, and I think all the shows are filmed there like Conan O'brien and Saturday Night Live, and probably at least some of 30 Rock.
This is Sandy inside Trump Tower. We went in just for fun. It was crazy how much famous stuff is all crammed together. All these photos are taken like minutes walk from each other. I'm not posting pictures, but Times Square, Port Authority, The Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, Central Park, Saks Fifth Avenue, St Patricks Cathedral, and the Diamond District are all right there too. Not to mention huge stores for like every designer in the world. Its mind blowing to go to New York and see all these famous things crammed together. Actually, St. Patricks Cathedral and Saks Fifth Avenue are next door to each other, and Rockefeller plaza is across the street. And boy was it all crowded.

We then jumped on the Subway for a few minutes, and walked more. Our second walk took us to Little Italy, Chinatown, Broadway, Wall Street and Ground Zero. We didn't even walk very much yesterday but saw a TON. We actually came upon Ground Zero by accident. Sandy wanted to go to this big store, and we did, then walked out and looked to the left and realized the big empy space was where the World Trade Center was. It was a little weird to realize how many people were right nearby when the planes hit. Its also strange to me that there are a lot of other big buildings nearby, I can't imagine what it was like to stand in one of those other buildings and look over at the burning towers. It was weird to accidentally come upon the location of what is probably the most historical event of my lifetime.

So yeah, we covered a small section of one of the 5 bouroughs of New York City, and saw more than I can remember. 8 million people live there. Its a bit odd, because its amazingly small in the amount of ground it covers. At the same time, its amazingly huge considering that all that ground is covered in pure city, densely packed buildings, sky scrapers, subways underground. Man made stuff everywhere.

I felt like I was being crowded the whole time I was there. Yet as I was leaving I couldn't wait to go back and explore more, and see more famous stuff that I didn't see yet, and of course eat more awesome food. I think I could visit there a lot and never experience it. It seems to me that in order to really know the New York experience, you would have to live there. If I lived there, I think theres about a 50% chance I'd absolutely love it and a 50% chance I would completely hate it.

Fall is here (sort of?)

Things are pretty well here in PA. I have been enjoying the fall colors as they come in. Its weird because the leaves have been changing color in strange ways. Some areas are completely changed and the leaves have fallen, but the many of the trees around here are still green. I don't have any really good pictures, but I made it into some areas that were in the height of fall and it was pretty amazing. Everything was so golden it made the daylight seem really intense.

I started helping at a small farm that does community supported agriculture(CSA). The owner is really great and being really flexible with me helping on my random days off. A CSA is where people buy "shares" in the farm for the season and get a big box of vegetables delivered every week. In exchange for my help I am gonna get some vegetables too, the ones I brought home this week were really good and fresh. I made some fresh salsa using the onions, garlic, and a variety of peppers I brought home and it was really delicious. It feels good to be involved with something that I would like to study in Grad school.
I will try to take some pictures of the farm next time I'm there, but you can check out the website until then. http://www.dancinghenfarm.com/

The farm is about 45 minutes from us, and it is in a great rural and hilly area. The farm was super quiet, in this tinly little vally with only a few houses and farms. That may change somewhat because there is a lot of this shale about a mile down in that part of the state that gives off natural gas, and a lot of farms have been selling mineral rights. Overall it shouldn't be too bad for the farmers, with new drilling technology they won't need many wells. Once the wells are built it shouldn't affect life too much. It iwill bring money into an area that needs it.

I took a few pictures on my drive home last week, the sunlight wasn't cooperating so I only got two that are worth sharing. Enjoy.

Quick Update

Things are going well here in Danville. We are planning a small trip early in November, currently it looks like we will go spend a day or two in New York City, see some of the sights and hopefully eat at the country's first pizzeria.

We've both been pretty busy lately, Hit the link below to see what I've been up to.

www.paeveningnews.com

Enjoying the weather

Hey. Haven't posted in a while, things have been pretty busy.

Last Saturday we went to Knoebel's Theme Park. Its only about 20 minutes away from our apartment. It is an old fashioned amusement park, you buy tickets and pay for each ride you want to go on, but the prices are reasonable. It is home to the Pheonix which is one of the best roller coasters in the world and has been called the best wooden roller coaster. They also have the Twister which is an even bigger wooden coaster. Both were a lot better than I expected.

This week is the Bloomsburg Fair, and Sandy and I went last night. This fair is the biggest in all of Pennsylvania. I would say its almost as big as the Utah state fair. It was pretty fun, we mostly looked at all the animals especially the fancy chickens and rabbits. The agriculture part was pretty awesome, there were some really huge vegetables. The winning pumpkin was 1024 pounds.

Now on to the food. Pennsylvanians love these things called perogies. They are like big raviolies stuffed with mashed potatoes and cheese and then deep fried. They are awesome. At first Sandy and I were both a little skeptical be we like them now. We also had a real candied apple, it had a thin crunchy candy coating on the outside of a super ripe apple- it was amazing, and a mess, we were both red for a while. And I bought some fresh cashews from a little old lady, and they were really good.

Lastly, today has been another perfect weather day. I rode my bike to Bloomsburg, It was a little more uphill on the way home than I expected, but overall an awesome ride. I gotta go, I am cooking dinner and need to go work on it.


Well thanks for reading.

Home Sweet Home

Welcome to our home! Come on in!

Here's our front room. Hooray! We are finally getting basic cable on
Wednesday. The cable company charges you an additional fee if you only
have internet (stupid, I know) so we decided to get cable.
Now this means I have one more way to procrastinate my projects!

Wes playing video games

This is our bargain buy. We bought the dining room table from some
lady for $25 and the table cloth was $3 from Big Lots.
It took a little work to clean up and paint but Wes and I kind of like it.
It's much better than the alternative, a card table and folding chairs.

I just made cookies.

Now onto our bedroom

This is Wes's "man corner" He can put whatever he wants in
this corner and keep it as clean as he wants and I can't say a thing.
This is one spot that is just his. He is hoping to expand his
"man corner" to a "man room" one day

Just another pic of the bedroom

Here is our lovely blue bathroom. At least it not pink :)

Wes and I are really enjoying having our own place. It is definitly a lot quietter than the sorority house! We are both getting adjusted to the area and for the most part everything is going great.

Last week was orientation week. We just went over policies, computer systems, schedules, etc. so it was pretty boring but I did get to know the other interns. Two of them are from Williamsport, PA and the other is from Southern California. We all have very different personalities so it makes things fun.

This week I start my 4 week rotation working with production and purchasing in the food service department (cafeteria). I have to start going to Geisinger at 6:00 am...some days even as early as 4:45 am. I feel very lucky to have gotten into this internship. Geisinger is a very reputable hospital and the staff is great. I will definitely use this time to learn as much as I can and make the most out of this opportunity. This next year is going to fly by.

Right now I am just focusing on the internship. I have slowly been applying to a few jobs. I hope I can find just the right one...one were I can just work ten hours a week or less. This may be tricky so hopefully I can charm them in the interview :)

I hope everyone is doing well!

Finally some pictures

I can finally post some pictures. I just got off work and am pretty tired, but thought I would put on on some pictures. I haven't taken any really of our apartment itself but here are a few pics.

This is Sandy and I at the welcome place for PA

This is a view of Danville from the Susquehanna River
Same Park, Different view
Sandy Standing by the Susquehanna River
Picture purely to embarrass Sandy until she figures out how to remove it!
This is St. Cyril's Academy. A bit of a mystery to me, my current investigation has me understanding that it is a Catholic Boarding School (not used for that any more) and a Nunnery. I am thinking it is a branch of Catholicism that follows the Pope but may not be totally Roman Catholic. It is linked somehow to a Slovakian group of Catholics, and a organization that is sort of like the Knights of Columbus but called something else and tied to the Slovakian Culture. I really want to get a tour of it.

Settling in

Well I think we have to declare ourselves settled. I have some pictures but am waiting for my memory card reader from newegg. I lost my camera cable, and of course its something made special for Nikon's so I can't just get a replacement at a local store.

I don't think we have been able to say thanks enough to all our friends and especially families who have lent us an immeasurable amount of support so far. We appreciate everything!

I had my first day at work today. I am serving at a place called BJ's Steak and Rib House. It seems really cool, it is upscale casual, so I am surprised they hired me with no waiting experience. I got complimented by management today for looking "very nice" and they were "very impressed that I pressed my shirt". The food is really good, 1 perk is I get a lunch item for FREE every day I work. Check it all out at http://www.bjsribs.com/indexhome.cfm

All in all, things are going more easily and less stressful than I think we both anticipated. One thing that is harder for me than I thought is being away from Gabe and Katherine. I knew it would be tough, but I could even look at their pictures the first week I was here without choking up. I mean I'm their Godfather! What happens if I need to make someone an offer they can't refuse!? Its a little hard from 2,000 miles away. But I know they have enough great people to look out for them while I'm away. Luckily I have a good source of pictures in my sister. I have made a screen saver with the pictures she puts on her blog and its easy as pie to add more when she posts them.

Well we enjoy reading your comments, if you would like to read one but don't know how you simply have to click the little comment link on the bottom of each post, it will open a new window you can type in. Thanks for reading.

Back In Touch!

Well, we made it to Danville. Even more importantly, we got our internet today. I am happy because our internet is pretty dang fast for the price. We went with a local company, and so far we are actually getting the speed we are paying for, so I am happy.

We are also finally settled completely in our apartment. Sandy has been painting chairs and my old desk the past few days, they look really nice, my desk looks like an expensive piece now (if you ignore the dings and dents, which are tough to paint over).

Our apartment is nicer than I had dare let myself hope. The apartments don't open to the outside, they open to a central hallway. Its pretty funny because the central hallway smells sort of musty and the carpet is really old, so I was sort of freaking out until we opened the door to our place and saw that it is freshly remodeled. Tile flooring the in the kitchen and bath, newer appliances. It also came equipped with a few luxuries like a washer and drier and a dishwasher. The bathtub is a little old, its bright blue, and so is the tile around it on the wall, but we have made the best. Sandy has a bright colored shower curtain and we both had bright towels. I also hung my clay sun that I painted in bright colors, I dare say it looks downright nice in there now.

And they are supposed to get new carpet in the common areas outside the apartments so that's nice. Pretty quiet place too, which is nice.

I'll get pictures up as soon as I can, both of the apartment and the area. Until then. Ciao!

Packin up

Thank you to all of those who came to the picnic/going-away party. It was great to see all of our friends and families together even if it was a little bitter sweet. I hope you all had a good time. I know I did! We will miss you all very much!

My last day of work was Thursday and I do not feel at all bad for quitting either one of them. I just hope I will never have to work at 24 Hour Fitness again! It feels really nice being able to sleep in!

Just a few more days here in Utah. Wes and I are just getting things packed up. I have been dreading this for the past couple of weeks. I guess I should consider myself lucky because I really don't have that much stuff. Just think...by this time next week, we will be settled in our new house in Danville.

We begin our trip early Monday morning. Our first day of driving will be a long 12 hours through Wyoming and Nebraska. Then after that it shouldn't been too bad. We will keep you posted on our 4 day, cross-country journey. This is going to be quite the adventure!

LOOK BELOW FOR THE NEW LOCATION OF OUR PICNIC ON SATURDAY!!!

My first blog

HI! I have been bugging Wes for weeks to set up this blog and now I am finally able to post something. {edit: Wes has had this blog set up for weeks, and now i'm finally getting around to posting-wes} Wes filled you in on our awesome vacations this summer. Both were too short!Now we are getting ready for our voyage across America from Utah to Pennsylvania. We leave in less than 3 weeks. Both of us are very excited and also a little worried. We are planning a going away BBQ on Aug. 2nd at 5:00 pm for anyone who whats to come. Update !!! We are now having our party at Riverton park 12765 south 1400 west. We hope to see you there!

Been A While

So, Its been quite some time already since I put this blog together. Hopefully soon we will get Sandy adding some content as well.

A lot of great and fun things have happened this summer, but two sort of stick out. First we went to our friends' wedding. Jake and Kari got married in South Lake Tahoe on June 22. Jake is a great friend of mine, we are fraternity brothers as well. Kari is in Sandy's sorority. The trip to Lake Tahoe was a ton of fun. We rented a condo with a bunch of our friends. We also saw a lot of people we hadn't seen in a while. One thing I really took away from that wedding was how great friendships are timeless.

The second thing was our trip to Oregon with Sandy's family. We rented a condo there as well in Lincoln City, Oregon. The coast of Oregon is beautiful. We had a great time doing all sorts of things including: playing on the beach, building sand castles, flying kites, going to an aquarium, eating awesome chowder, visiting a great rose garden, exploring tide pools, and just hanging out playing Wii.

I'm gonna try to add a little slide show, so if if you can see it enjoy some photos of us.

Hey this is the blog of Wes and Sandy. I know everyone is getting a Blog nowadays, we realized it would be an awesome way to keep in touch with friends and family. We are moving to Pennsylvania in August for Sandy's internship at the Geisenger Medical Center. Its a little scary, but also really exciting. (It will be less scary once I find a job!)