New Year, New Me

It's that time again. The new year, and a new decade, loom ominously on the horizon. Looking back on the Aughts, I can think of a lot of things I should have and could have done better. But it was not all for naught, as I have accomplished many things that your average bear probably hasn't even dreamt up in his hibernation. But enough about the great things I've done, what is more important is the great things I have yet to do.

I've always said, somewhat jokingly but secretly seriously, that my purpose in life is to be remembered. I want to leave my mark on the world. I know I have a niche somewhere, but I am still searching for it. One day, however, I will find a way to leave this mark. Whether there is a building named after me, a street, a foundation, or a small blurb in a history book, I want my life to mean something long after I'm gone. And I want it to mean something to people who never met me and who were not related to me.

How am I going to do that, you ask? I wish I knew. But that is the point of ambition: you pick a goal, and you work hard, and you hit forks in the road, you climb obstacles, but you keep moving, you choose your paths, and eventually you reach your destination, a little battered, a little worn, but extremely accomplished and proud, with a list of achievements in your foot prints.

So as this decade comes to a close, I find myself way behind on my path. I envisioned myself doing much more at this point in my life. So this decade is a new beginning. I have a laundry list of goals, many of which I probably won't meet. But what I want to change about myself is the effort I put towards them. Anyone who knows me as more than a casual acquaintance knows that my life has more or less fallen together despite my lack of involvement in it. It has always been my way to put more effort in to putting less effort, when I should be putting that effort in to actually doing things the right way. But as I get older, I realize I'm only cheating myself. No one else really cares what I learn in class, what sense of accomplishment I feel on the inside. What people want from me is results. It's what we want from all of the company we keep. It's not the nature of people to want to be dragged down by those around them. We want to be achievers, and we want to surround ourselves with people of like minds. I've hidden my underachieving self deep beneath a calm, cool, and collected illusion of who I really want to be.

This year, I become a go-getter.

Gone are the days of taking short cuts and cutting corners.

Here are the days of motivation, aspiration, ambition, and achievement.

I wish you all the best in all of your endeavors, and I encourage you to check in on mine. Hold me to my word. A life like the one I want for myself cannot exist without the support of everyone around me.

So Happy New Year to all, and I look forward to walking down the right path with each of you by my side.

And now, for the fun part, a look back at a decade to remember. Some people weren't around for many of these experiences, but that doesn't matter. In staggered chronological order, the highs and lows of the Aughts, with some purposefully excluded for the sake of myself and others:

It was 2001, and high school graduation seemed like the biggest day of my life. A distant memory, the Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro was packed with a raucous Annapolis High crowd. Three months later, and my new home in Blacksburg, Virginia comes calling. Pritchard Hall, and what would turn out to be "The Worst Roommate Ever." This kid was a nightmare: a cultural abomination, he was born to Koreans, adopted by Jews, educated in the ghetto, and associated with the upper middle class whites. His lack of identity made him stranger than fiction, and his quirks alienated him from the rest of our hall. That, and he made weird noises and stared at me through a conveniently placed mirror while I laid in bed.

Virginia Tech gets credit for my identity. I was an awkward high school kid who never really fit in to any group, but I had plenty of friends. I was athletic, but not a star. I was shy with some kids and a social leader with others. I didn't have a clique, and I was never satisfied with what I was doing. I was smart, but shockingly lazy, which embittered the dumb, hard-working kids and frustrated the smart, hard-working kids. All the while I found myself somewhere in between those genres of people, never sure with whom I belonged. But college was a new beginning and a fresh start. I made friends quickly. I was around people of similar minds, similar intelligence, similar work ethic. I had people to play sports with, people to study with, people to socialize with, others to play video games with. It was a perfect storm of all of my strangely unrelated interests.

And then I joined a fraternity. This opened up the doors. I was on MTV for a show that featured colleges across America (I Bet You Will..., created by Morgan Spurlock of Super-Size Me fame). And then we took the fraternity to new levels. We got it an official house. We established a reputation on campus. I started a charity event that now occurs every year and raises thousands of dollars for various organizations. I found a cultural identity that was missing in the religiously non-diverse schools I had attended in Annapolis, and I quickly decided it was not for me. I got my first job interning with the athletic department. I became a ridiculously passionate VT football and basketball fan. It was my first passion, and it will probably cut years off of my life.

As college drew closer to an end, I made friends that have lasted through the years, and who I expect will still be around until the day I die. I learned to keep in touch with people a little bit better (thank you, Facebook). I moved in to my own house for the first time with a couple other guys. Windswept, on Pheasant Run Ct., will never be forgotten. It is still the greatest estate in AEPi history.

Senior year was a blur. We traveled to all the away football games. And then graduation hit, and I was lost. I had a degree with no direction. I slipped in to the black hole that is the restaurant industry (though I do thank Liz for getting me the job, as I needed an income). I made more friends, but fell further and further from anything resembling pride and self-respect. I knew this was not the place for me.

I started writing sports for the newspaper - another in a long list of accomplishments that fell in to my lap. I worked hard and impressed my bosses, but never gave it the commitment it deserved. It didn't pay well enough to quit the restaurant job. Then Jay comes calling and offers me my first break. Again, a job that didn't require an interview. This is the 6th job of my life now, and still no official interviews. DVSport, Inc. was a great gig. Lots of travel, lots of sports, and a good amount of money. I lived in college football. It was stressful being gone all the time, but I loved what I was doing. I eventually got fed up with upper management, though, and decided my time was coming to an end.

Changes needed to be made. So on a whim, I chose law school and the LSATs. With little effort, I managed to score quite high and began applying to schools all over the country. Unfortunately, my laziness during college held my GPA a bit lower than law school likes, and my LSAT score alone could not get me in to my first choice schools.

It was back to another restaurant in the meantime, where once again I got in with a connection and had to do almost nothing to earn the employment. Money was great there, and I maintained my stint with the newspaper. Law school acceptances and rejections came pouring in, and Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law became my new home.

It was another fresh start where I could begin anew. This trend is one that I enjoy, as I get tired of the same thing all the time. I easily slip in to routine ruts.

So here we are, half way through law school. I have quickly risen to the top of a a few student organizations and am leaving my mark there. My goals, if accomplished, will improve the law program at ASU for years and years to come.

This is the decade, in brief, that has passed. I hope to be able to include much, much more in the decade to come. Someone's first job is to name this one. The Tens? The Teens? Both are boring. Find me a catchy name and I'll celebrate it.

Giving Thanks

I supposed the inevitable result of leaving the comfort of my hometown and my family and loved ones, coupled with my relocation to an area heavily populated with Native Americans has changed my outlook a bit on Thanksgiving. It is a clash of ideals, but I think I've managed to focus on the really important parts.

To start with the bad, I have a friend out here who is particularly sensitive about the plight of the Native American people. Anyone who has spent much time with me knows I am not insensitive to others, but at the same time I am not at all sensitive myself when it comes to touchy subjects. That might not be clear: what I mean is, I'm empathetic to others, but I don't easily get bent out of shape by ignorant or derogatory comments directed at my own heritage, culture, background, etc. But this friend of mine, who is normally extremely easy going and laid back, gets very defensive at even the best-humored jokes about his people. And he hates Thanksgiving. He hates what it stands for, he hates how it came to be, its tradition, its values. He also hates the name, "Redskins," for all the same reason. Nevermind that he's a Giants fan. And I think he has every right to be upset about a holiday that is meant for giving thanks for all the things we are lucky enough to possess, but that is based on an era when we took and took and took and then just slaughtered the hands that fed us. I'm sure the real story is somewhere between what the average American thinks, what we read in text books, and what the Native Americans think happened. No one living at that time was going to write this story without some bias.

But while I understand his displeasure with the theme, I think its meaning and its purpose has made it something different. Some of the best inventions are the result of some of the worst decisions and mistakes in history. Thanksgiving might be one of those mistakes. What was done in that time period was undeniably horrible. But what has come out of it is one of the happiest days of the year for so many Americans. It is a time to embrace your family and your loved ones, to bring people together, to relax, to be carefree, to enjoy the best meal of the year with all the people who are most important to you. It is a vacation from the routine, an excuse to let down your guard, a reason to get in touch with old friends, a relief from the stresses of "the real world." Sure, it still symbolizes the meeting of the pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe, if that actually happened (again, no one seems to really know what actually happened). The way the story goes, the two peoples came together for a joyous day of feast and festivity. That is the essence of the holiday. What happened before and after that celebration are not really a part of what today is supposed to mean.

So, with as much respect and sympathy and appreciation and recognition as I can give to the Native people (as family lore goes, I may even be part Native myself, a distant descendant of Metacomet, better known as King Philip), when an apology will mean nothing, I still celebrate this holiday as a reason to give thanks for family, for friends, for life, and for the amazing feast we are about to enjoy.

Many thanks to the Haiks for taking us in as a part of their Phoenix valley transplant refugee dinner, bringing us in to the family atmosphere that makes Thanksgiving so special.

Everyone enjoy your dinners and your family time. Appreciate that you are able to take this time out of your life, even if you aren't very close with your family, or if you don't get along with them. It's an important day, and it can create some great memories if you'll let it.

Lastly, congratulations to the Wittings for giving birth to healthy twin boys, Dylan



and Tanner Witting.

Valentine's Day 2009

I don't have pictures to document anything, but I figured since I gave Thanksgiving so much attention, I ought to give a brief reenactment of our Valentine's Day.

To start with, we slept in. That was probably a good enough present as is. Virginia Tech was supposed to play at Maryland at 2pm here, but the game wasn't on TV. So, we decided to order the game on ESPN Full Court. It was the weirdest thing. I saw all these stories about how we lost, but I can't for the life of me remember there even being a game on that day. So weird. I just have a two hour span of blackness in my memory.

So after that, Melissa decided she wanted to go shopping with her new credit card (if you are her family and are reading this, she's being responsible I promise). So she got in the shower first and I took the opportunity to sneak out and take care of some V-day business. It is not easy to surprise someone with whom you share a one bedroom apartment.

I had bought a card about a week ago. We both said we shouldn't spend any money on the holiday. Melissa is actually a hater of Valentine's Day, and I long ago promised to change her mind. I went to Frye's and fought a ridiculous crowd in their floral department trying to find the perfect flowers. I opted out of the bouquet theme and went with a single two-tone rose. It was a sunset-orange with pink 'trim.' I also bought two glass champagne flutes for the bottle of champagne I bought earlier in the day while we were at the grocery store shopping for dinner. I tried to buy it without her seeing it, but that was virtually impossible. We got Freixenet...only the finest. It was her choice!

My roommate was borrowing my car, so I was borrowing hers for the excursion. I left the rose on her windshield and snuck the glasses and the Snickers she had asked for (but didn't know she was getting) into the house while she was getting dressed. I showered and then we headed to the mall for her to get the new clothes she had been hoping for for so long.

I offered fashion advice as a part of my 'make the day special' promise. She couldn't find the boots she really wanted or any jeans, but she did get four nice tops (that is fashion lingo for 'shirts').

We were on our way out of the mall when the gelato stand wooed us for samples. They get us every time. This time, we decided to actually buy something though. We got a pint of two flavors - white chocolate peanut butter, and dark chocolate. The girl behind the counter compared it to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Not far off.

So we headed home and I started to make dinner. We had a bottle of wine that Melissa had bought randomly a week ago but never opened. We uncorked that while I got dinner started. This was the crowning achievement of the night.

I started with the yams and sweet potatoes, cutting them into shoe strings to make french fries. I brushed them with olive oil and then dusted them with sea salt, Himalayan grey salt, and organic raw sugar. They went into the oven while I got started on the rest of the dinner. This was the experimental phase of dinner.

Next was the broccolini. I wasn't sure I'd like broccolini, but Melissa requested it. I threw some butter in the pan and then tossed in the greens, then added a little balsamic vinaigrette. I covered the pan and let it sautee while I prepped the steaks.

We had gotten two cuts of filet mignon from the grocery store. They were a little fattier than restaurant filet, but not so much as to annoy us. I rubbed them with a little sea salt and cracked pepper, then put them in a pyrex glass dish on top of one small slab of unsalted butter each. I put two more small slabs of unsalted butter on top of each cut. Those were tucked away to be cooked last. We both like our steaks mid-rare.

The broccolini was about finished at this point, so put it in a Corningware dish lined with aluminum foil and stowed it in the microwave to stay warm.

Next came the portabella mushrooms. In the same pan, I threw another small slab of unsalted butter and then tossed in a packet of mushrooms. They were pre-sliced. I poured in some Worcestershire sauce and then put the lid back on.

All the while, I was checking on the fries periodically. I was getting worried. They were not looking good. Some were charred to blackness, others were still soggy and cold-ish.

Once the fries were as finished as we thought they were going to be, I took them out and covered them with tinfoil. The mushrooms I put on a low heat.

I threw the steak in for a very short period of time so that it would be mid-rare. It ended up being closer to rare, so it had to go back in after we sat down to eat. No big deal.

The food all ended up being spectacular. The portion of the french fries that didn't burn and didn't stay soggy were fantastic. The mushrooms and the broccolini were delicious. The steaks were perfect. The wine complemented the meal pretty well.

After dinner, we got a movie on demand, lit a bunch of tea candles around the apartment and drank our champagne. We had our gelato with the Snickers broken up and sprinkled on top.

All in all, it was a fantastic day.

Disclaimer: Many uses of "I" in this blog should really be "we." However, I refused to let Melissa do any work, and she only gave guidance here and there on the finer aspects of chef-ing. She also helped with some prep work, but I made her promise she enjoyed helping before she was allowed to lift a finger.

Finals

It took me about 30 seconds to realize I was in over my head, so to speak, during my civil procedure midterm. Before you jump to conclusions, I'll explain.

I spent the week leading up to the exam learning everything I could learn about civil procedure. All the things I didn't understand or learn or apply during the semester (which, as a result of my stubbornness and the style of teaching my professor employed, was just about everything) I taught myself. Actually, the more I think about it, the more impressive it is that I even went into the test with any confidence at all. How many people could learn civil procedure in a week?

So why was the test so far outside my scope of understanding? Glad you asked. The simple answer is, we weren't tested on civil procedure. No, the 24 page outline I created as a study guide with every single piece of relevant information, the separate outline indexing each of the applicable Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and each of the relevant statutes in Title 28 of the U.S.C., was not even the slightest bit helpful on this exam.

You would think the professor who said class attendance was voluntary (I only missed one class all semester not counting the one I missed while I was in Annapolis) would test in a way that didn't involve classroom discussion heavily. Or, maybe he would make the first three questions, comprising one hour of the two and half allotted, on legal philosophies and our views on the effects of legal decisions on their respective fields, on the confusion of statutory language, and on the idiomatic references to federal common law, requiring that our views on these topics reflect only classroom examples. That would probably do a much better job of testing us on our knowledge of civil procedure. I hope that's what he did. Oh wait, that is what he did.

Nothing kills studying confidence and momentum like walking in the door knowing you're going to do well and walking out feeling like it's time to let go of your ankles (sorry parents for the graphic reference, I can't think of a more colorful way to explain it) and in the meantime finding out within 30 seconds of receiving your first final as a law student that even your best attempts at BS-ing won't do.

The only positive is that everyone says my professor doesn't ever fail anyone on anything. And my midterm grade in there (worth 30%) is very solid, top 10 in the class.

Regardless, I have Torts tomorrow. This is the test everyone warned us would be the doozy. So, if Civ. Pro. was the easy one (it was open note, while Torts is closed note), I'm really excited to find out what a difficult exam is like. At least this test is mostly multiple choice. Even if I'm clueless, I'm statistically required to get some points.

I'm still feeling good about Contracts on Tuesday, despite not having looked at my notes once for that test since classes ended. I did extremely well on the last midterm, which is being weighted pretty significantly (63/67.5), which was actually a 14/15 on multiple choice. Makes it so I have a little more wiggle room on the final.

Back to the frigid east coast in six days.

Thanksgiving Live Blogging Episode 6: Aftermath

As I type this, I'm eating my first round of leftovers (not counting the plate of food we made late-night while people were here). I made a white meat turkey sandwich with mayo, cranberry, and stuffing, on whole wheat white bread (from the farmer's market).

Last night's dessert didn't get a write up, so I'll touch on that now. We haven't gotten into the pumpkin spiced pudding pie yet, but the traditional was fantastic. We had it fresh out of the oven with frozen Cool Whip (Mel's thing, I had never heard of serving Cool Whip that way, but it was good).

We had a couple friends over last night for drinks and relaxing after dinner. It was nice. We all stayed up kind of late just shooting the...stuff.

Mel and I are both resisting the overwhelming urge to go out and spend money on Black Friday. We're trying to convince ourselves that the crowds aren't worth the prices. I'm probably going to do some online shopping after she goes to work at 5.

Last thing for now before we go run errands...just want to thank everyone for reading yesterday. I checked my counter and I had 130 readers from 31 different countries and 112 cities visit my blog. My previous record was about 35 people. I had no idea so many people would be interested in my Thanksgiving experience.

Thanksgiving Live Blogging Episode 5: Couched

And we finally sat down to eat. After a great, long day of cooking, we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor. I've been trying to enjoy the moment, as they say, recently, rather than constantly think about what else I could be doing at any given moment. It's a hard transition to make, especially since I have no idea why I'm not capable of it in the first place.

But I enjoyed today. Except I found myself easily distracted.

Anyhow...

Dinner was a monumental success. The turkey was cooked perfectly (thanks to the advice from my dad, my sister, and Mel's mom). I carved it, albeit slightly unconventionally, successfully as well.

Turkey: A+

The green beans turned out a little wet. Still tasty, but very runny and not quite as casseroley.

Green beans: B-

The mashed potatoes were a very good consistency. Very creamy, a little lumpy (how we like it). Could have used a little more unhealthiness for flavor.

Mashed potatoes: A-

The sweet potatoes were out of this world. I wish I could divulge the secret recipe. I saved them for last.

Sweet potatoes: A+

Stuffing was good as well. I had already gotten a taste of the stuffing other night when Mel jumped the gun on cooking T-day style. I knew what I was getting into this time around.

Stuffing: A

Cranberry sauce was quality. I'm not a big fan of cranberry in general, but it was a great complement to the rest of the dishes.

Cranberry Sauce: A

We made little whole wheat dinner rolls that I was not too fond of. I didn't ask Mel what she thought of them, but neither of us went back for seconds.

Dinner rolls: C

Our appetizer might have been the crown jewel. Brie baked with honey, almond slices, apple slices, pear slices, and halved grapes. Served over toasted wheat French bread and Breton crackers (greatest crackers in the world).

Brie and Cheese Platter: A+

Overall grade: A+ (Yep. I used a very complex formula to determine this grade. You wouldn't understand if I tried to explain it. It is a combination of hours worked, ingredients included, enjoyment of experience, pleasure of company, taste of food, quality of work space, and other elements).

I'm being encouraged to mention that while Melissa is eating her third serving, I have yet to return for seconds. Dessert!


The whole spread. Bon appetit!


I'm carving away. Antsy to get eating.


That's the young man himself, basking in all his glory.


Us. Obviously.


The brie and fruit platter.

Thanksgiving Live Blogging Episode 4: Home Stretch

The turkey is out and cooling off. Hopefully it's cooked all the way through. I had to run home while Mel showered to pick up the closest thing to a carving knife I could find (funny, the things you forget about until the last minute). I showered while she put the finishing touches on some of her creations.

We're still waiting on stuffing and for now, the potatoes are just potatoes, not mashed. The sweet potatoes and the green beans are almost done cooking as well. But it's getting close. The brie is smelling fantastic; I just pulled it out of the oven. It's waiting for us to eat it as an appetizer.

The first cocktail of the night was met with mixed reviews. Cranberry vodka in apple cider with some fresh lime juice squeezed in. Mel is a bigger fan than I am. I might just have wine or beer with dinner.

We're thinking about having some people over after dinner for a pot luck dessert (maybe), relaxing, have a couple drinks, play some games kind of after holiday. I miss the Melting Pot post-dinner Thanksgiving parties at the Masons. Maybe we can start a new tradition like that here.

Back to work. Thanks for reading. We're almost set for dinner. No pictures this time around. Don't take it personally.

Thanksgiving Live Blogging Episode 3: Coming Together

Cranberry concoction: check.

Brie with honey, almonds, pears, grapes, and apples: ready for baking. (I didn't mention this in the last blog. But I have pictures to prove its existence. Read on.)

Mashed potatoes: boiled and ready for mashing. (We took the peelings from some of the potatoes and fried them with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, gray salt, and pepper and snacked on some homemade potato chips).

Sweet potatoes: mashed and ready for cooking, casserole style. The recipe is again being omitted to preserve secrecy (McD Specialty Dish). Waiting for marshmallows (added against the head chef's better judgment for my sake).

Green Bean Casserole: ready for baking, mixed with chopped mushrooms soaked in Worcestershire, organic cream of celery soup, unsalted butter thinly sliced on top. Waiting for crispy onion toppings (the salad kind, not the canned).

Stuffing, pumpkin pie, dinner rolls: coming soon.

The apartment smells like holidays. We're pushing on.


Beginnings of the green been casserole.


Hot potato jacuzzi party!


Sweet potatoes, mid-mashing.


The brie plate, reminiscent of the Middleton's experience.


Our own potato chips. One of the most successful parts of the day, thus far.


Ingredients, before my Ginsu chopping was employed.

Thanksgiving Live Blogging Episode 2: Prep Work

I'm getting dirty looks for writing while I should be working. But I'm doing it anyhow. I have a reputation and I don't want to disappoint my readers (one of whom is separating herself from the "reader" category, despite being one of my biggest advocates and placing herself squarely in the "girlfriend doing all the work" category, the existence of which I was unaware until now).

I candied some pecans. But they may have to be redone. We didn't burn the nuts, but some combination of the butter, the organic honey, and the organic brown sugar burned in the pan. The burner was set a little high, I'm afraid, and the 'simmer' step may have been unintentionally replaced with the 'burn' step.

At about the 45 minute mark, I popped the oven open to check on the turkey. It's starting to brown a little bit. The smell is indescribable. Something about cooking your first T-day turkey. Magic. We pulled it out and sucked some juices from the bottom of the cooking tin and squirted them right back on top. We're not sure if the turkey is supposed to be filled with juices on the inside as well. We're hoping that's normal, and treating it as such.

We're starting on the cranberries as well. We put a bag of fresh cranberries in a big sauce pan and poured in water and organic sugar. Boiled for awhile. Note to readers: raw cranberries have a unique talent. They can make your cheeks contort in unimaginable ways. Very sour. Recommendation: avoid at all costs.

I just scrubbed the potatoes and gave them a pre-mashing bath party. They were cooperative.

We just QC'd the pecans. Synopsis: "Those are definitely burnt."

We mixed up the makings for dessert as well, and it is currently chilling in the refrigerator. Literally. Ingredients: Cool Whip, reduced fat graham cracker crust, pumpkin spiced pudding (sponsored by Bill Cosby), a pinch of cinnamon and some vanilla extract (I might have overapplied the 'niller).

Onward.


Pecans...a little burnt. But still looking delicious. The taste test proved that our ingredients and ideas were good. We missed on the execution.


'Tater party!


Stirring the cranberry goodness.


The Bird. We tried to think of a name. Mel was a little amused and disgusted when I said "This will be your final resting place, young man" as I deposited him in the cooking tin. So we've just been calling it "Young Man." Yea, weird.


And into the oven we go.



The first stages of golden-brownness. Smells magical. This is pre-re-basting.

Thanksgiving Live Blogging Episode 1: Breakfast...ish

We got a late start to the festivities today. After waking up, we both went out on to the porch to enjoy the perfect 70 degree, sunny day. I just built our bistro patio table yesterday while Mel was at work, so the porch is on its way to being functional, finally. Pictures to come later of the apartment, now that it is mostly furnished. Back on topic, I'm going to post several times today as we prepare our first Thanksgiving dinner together (and first without our families, whom we miss very much). It's a strange feeling missing my first family holiday. Hopefully it's not something I ever have to get used to.

Breakfast...ish (We ate around 1pm):

Protein Pancakes (quantities omitted to preserve sanctity of secret recipe):

Whole wheat pancake mix
Fat free organic milk
Cinnamon
Apple Sauce
Ground Flaxseed
Organic raw sugar
Organic local honey
Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
Kashi Go Lean granola clusters
Vanilla extract
Egg whites

Mix it all together. Cook. Enjoy with butter and organic maple syrup. I think we're on to something good with these (not to take full credit, we were inspired by US Egg), but we didn't get the amounts quite right. Much like the infamous Pumpkin Bread Bungle 2008, we had a little doughy-ness, and not quite enough sweetness.

While we were preparing that, we threw some turkey bacon on the skillet and snacked as we invented. I think today is going to be all about snacking while working.

(On a soft, unrelated note, as I write this, the Lions v. Titans game just ended. They are doing a T-day montage with family pictures of every single member of their broadcast crew--from director down to key grip--with a sort of sappy/happy song in the background...very touching)

I started work on the turkey, too. I'll get to that in the next post. Here are some illustrative pictures. Hope everyone enjoys their holiday.

Happy Hokie Day!



Prepping the turkey. We're pretty excited about it. Notice the pictures hanging in the background...I finally hung our first art yesterday. Mom, you might recognize those (obviously they are too small to really see) as the three prints from Taliesin West (technically, two from Taliesin and one from Falling Water). We're both hooked on new artwork, hoping for a desert/southwest theme (scenic, reds and oranges and yellows, cacti and sunsets, things like that). I'm a fan of kokopellis. Not that I'm asking for anything.



The spread. Couch, courtesy of the Gulleys. Table, courtesy of IKEA.



Having a great time cooking up some flap jacks.



Squeezing in the organic local honey. Helps me with the allergies, hopefully.

Here's to a good next year

I'm writing this while I should be sleeping. It is 1:30 in the morning (central time, where I am in the Music City), and I have a 7:40am flight. But I'm just not that tired. I figured I could do a recap of 2007, with all of its ups and downs (lots of downs are sticking out).

In no particular order, here are my most distinct memories of the past year. Might want to grab a tissue.

I gained and lost a puppy. I was lucky enough to have her in my life for 3 good months before she was hit by a car. Right around the same time, I lost a grandmother, and then shortly after, my alma mater was traumatized by a massacre that will forever be remembered as one of the worst mass shootings in US history. I lost peers, and my friends lost friends and loved ones, but I didn't know anyone personally. I almost regret that I didn't, because I wish I could have shared some of the burden that some of my closest friends and brothers had to endure. My Redskins family lost Sean Taylor, whom I compare to Lawrence Taylor as a player who would have changed the game forever.

On the other end of the spectrum, I was witness to some happy things as well. I made some great friends, people that I will (hopefully) forever keep close to me. I grew closer to others whom I already knew. One of my resolutions from last year was to open up a little and let people get closer to me, which I think I started to do a little bit.

I got to see Virginia Tech's basketball team win a game in the NCAA tournament. I got to see the Hokies football team earn their 3rd ever BCS bid. I got myself out of the miserable rut that was a part time restaurant job and decided to make something of myself. I'll be in law school in less than a year, and hopefully from there will go on to be a successful member of a sports firm.

I grew closer to my siblings (including my sister-in-law), and it became official that I will soon have a brother-in-law as well. We were never distant, but now I feel closer than ever to all of them. I think it comes at the perfect time, since I may be living 3000 miles away soon, and will need to keep friends and family closer than ever.

As usual, I have learned a lot about myself and about other people. This is a practice I began in college. I consider myself a people watcher and a pretty good judge of character. Each experience I have, I store in the back of my mind as a lesson about the quality of people. I am less judgmental and more observational than I used to be (which was one of my resolutions from last year).

Thanks to this blog, I have finally started to write again. My brother and I have discussed collaborating on a short novel in the near future, and I am very excited to get started on it.

As I sit here in my hotel room alone in Nashville reflecting on the past year, I realize there are countless things I would like to have done differently. But there is no sense in looking back and regretting my mistakes. I can only hope to do it better in 2008.

I rang in the new year with complete strangers who welcomed me in to their circle for the evening. I'm not sure I would have shown the same kindness to a random person in a bar a year ago.

So I can safely say my new year started on a very high note. I have begun 2008 seeing the best in people. My new resolution is to return the favor to as many people as I can throughout the coming year.

So, happy new year, and here's to a great 2008.

Happy Holidays

My sister and I decided to kick off this Christmas with the first annual Christmas Eve Day Flag Football Tournament. We are searching for a more...contemporary name. That one is a little long-winded, but it can't get much more appropriate and informative. We held the games at Severna Park High School. The turnout was a lot better than expected (about 20 people), but it wasn't quite enough people to make three teams for a round robin tournament. So we played two games with the same teams. Of course, the Renaut team won both games. The first was on a series of plays that could only be described as a Christmas miracle. After leading most of the game, our quarterback (yours truly) threw a costly interception that led to a score on the ensuing drive. Trailing 16-12 with 20 seconds left, we put our speed team on the field for the kick return. The ball went out of bounds, giving us one shot at the end zone from our own 20. It began as a totally botched play, with the pass rush coming in virtually untouched to get me. However, a quick-witted, sack-avoiding pitch back to my eligible center opened up the field for a little trickeration. A wonky duck-bomb by the former BYU safety fluttered downfield and was somehow snagged by one of our receivers on the 2 yard line. He tip-toed in to the end zone for the game winning score.

Game 2 was a different story. We jumped to a quick lead and never looked back, finishing a shortened second half with a 27-6 victory.

We all parted ways satisfied, and Christmas festivities ensued. Christmas eve dinner at my sister and her fiancee's house was delicious. We had a polyphase (that's a purely phonetic description, someone please correct me) roast and fried oyster casserole along with some hot cider with mulling spices and green beans sauteed in some sort of sweet Asian sauce. Pumpkin pie was the perfect dessert. We opened a present each, as is the Renaut tradition, and then settled in to watch the end of the Chargers win.



Christmas morning was more of the same. I was a little late getting to Liz's for the 10:30 start time, but I pulled up at the same time as my mother and grandmother, so all guilt was washed away. The base of the tree was surrounded with presents, and we quickly got to work. I got a good haul, bringing in everything I asked for and more. Tops on the list were my white, authentic 75th anniversary Sean Taylor jersey and a 21 towel from the tribute game at FedEx Field (thank you J/B). I also got some great Under Armour gear and my first set of *used* golf clubs so that I can pick up a new hobby (thanks E/Z). I got more sports memorabilia wall art than I know what to do with, and am now very excited to move in to a place with more wall space (read: buy my own house and decorate my sports/gaming room) (thanks M/D). In the meantime, I am loaded up with health foods and workout supplements to get my act in gear come New Years resolution time (thanks M/E). I also got some good airplane reading (Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick) that I will open as soon as I finish Lloyd Pie's A Darker Shade of Red, about the truth behind redshirt football players back in the 50s and 60s when football was an entirely different sport. I think the most unique gift is the Easton family (one of my ancestral lines, very prominent family from Rhode Island, that claims the first governor of Rhode Island, appointed by the King of England) coat of arms I can now proudly display on my wall when I rearrange my current situation (thanks D).

Lots of candy and toys in the stocking, too, that I will regret enjoying all week.

On a darker note, I am feeling old. My half birthday is on the 27th, which puts me that much closer to 25. Nothing like the holidays to make you feel depressed about these kinds of things. Fortunately, I'm still a child at heart.