Time for Andy to contribute to this thing again. I've been tasked with writing about our adventures in Gettysburg and Baltimore. We actually went to Gettysburg a couple of months ago I think. Now I've got to find out the date, or it's going to bug me..... Looks like it was the first weekend in August. We went down on Friday night and spent the night in King of Prussia, PA, just outside of Philly. The mall there is huge, but more importantly, they have a Cheesecake Factory. I'd never eaten there before, but it was great. Huge menu, good food, and decently priced. Great combination! Got to say though, I've never been into cheesecake (nasty stuff that cream cheese). Kristi got the brownie cheesecake to go, and back to the hotel. She was raving about it so much, I figured I'd give it a shot. Big mistake. That stuff was AWESOME!!!! Great. Now I'm addicted. I drag the poor girl there every chance I possibly get. The good news is that we branched out and tried the Godiva chocolate cheesecake, and it was WAY better than the brownie one, and that's saying something. Our nearest Cheesecake Factory is about 30 minutes away, so it's not like we can eat there everyday (phew!), but I'm confident they'll get to know us.

John Faust sent me a CD with 3 albums worth of Brazilian MP3s a couple of weeks ago. This Tribalistas CD is pretty kickin'. Not usually my sort of thing, but this is some good stuff. Passe Em Casa - great track.

So, on to Gettysburg. We wandered westward across southern Pennsylvania on Saturday morning. I had to make a little detour through Amish country (Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse, to be exact). It was fun to see the nice Mennonite lady (traditionally dressed) out with her leaf blower. Actually, I don't think that we saw any true Amish while were there - I'd be surprised if we did anyways. We probabably got to Gettysburg around 1pm. When I came here a few years ago with my family, we did a tour with a battlefield guide that actually got in our car and pointed out everything as we drove around. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Kristi's family did the same when they were out here at the 4th of July, and their guide was kinda dull. So we were a little concerned with what we were going to get - it was really up to the luck of the draw what kind of guide we would get. We decided to go for it though, and we definitely came away pleased. I think the guy was actually in the Civil War. Older, unkempt, ragged hair, blind in one eye. I took one look at the guy and knew we were going to have fun. Kristi told him that she was more interested in human interest stories, and he certainly disappoint. He was constantly interrupting his narrative with some little story that he'd just remembered about an event that happened at the location that we were driving past. He was a hoot!

After we finished up the tour, it was time to head back to Jersey City - about 3 hours. I wasn't looking forward to it after a full day of driving, but we toughed it out. We even made a little time to detour through Hershey so Kristi could see the town, and the fun little street lights shaped like Hershey Kisses.

Our last excursion was to Baltimore to check out the Inner Harbor. That was another place that I'd been a few years ago with my family. (We did all of that stuff with Dave & Pam when they lived out in Harrisburg.) The central attraction of Baltimore's Inner Harbor (very cool place) is the National Aquarium. They've done some work on it since I was last there, and they are adding on a whole new wing (Australia) that is supposed to be finished in 2005 - guess we'll just have to go back.

National Aquarium

The drive down to Baltimore wasn't too interesting. Lots of traffic after you get off of the Delaware Memorial Bridge as it collapses traffic down to 2 lanes - stupid. Then we passed a column of motorocycles (going the other way, thank goodness) that had to be a couple of miles long. The police were holding up traffic for them, so it was obviously some sort of ride for charity, or something like that. We tried to swing an early check in at the Renaissance in Baltimore, but since I'd gotten the room for so cheap on Priceline, they weren't going to let that slide - we didn't actually get checked in until around 5:30pm. Anyways, we wandered around the harbor for a while - there's lots of shops and junk there - just stuff to see. Sunday morning was the aquarium, and then we took the long way home. We wandered south of Baltimore a bit to Annapolis. When I lived in DC I'd heard that it was a pretty cool place, but we never went. I just wanted to take a peek at the Naval Academy. Turns out that it's this really cute old town, with a fun mainstream, and a cool vibe. I imagine that we'll end up going back some weekend and staying in a B&B down there. We crossed over the Chesapeake Bay, and drove back up through eastern Maryland (which is all farmland, in case you were wondering.)

I think that our next trip may not be until our Anniversary. We're heading up to Vermont for the weekend - that's gonna be a blast. But we've spent a lot of dough on travel this year - all of the trips to UT, the trip to Austria, Greece, and Israel for early next year, and today I just blew $760 on flights for Christmas. So we're going to try to be good for a little while. We'll see how I hold up......

Andy and I knew that we'd get some good church callings since we are from Utah and everything!! But I wasn't quite prepared for the call that I got!!! I was called to be the early morning seminary teacher!!!! It was a bit of a surprise! After discussing it with the CES leader though I think we've determined that it may not work to have it early morning. We are probably going to do it homestudy where they study on their own and we meet once a week for a lesson. It's not the ideal situation for the kids, but because of where they live and their income level, it's not really feasible for them to come every morning. They didn't have a teachers manual or enough student manuals though, so I'm not really even sure when I'll be able to start. The kids already started school last week, but we'll have to wait a bit longer. It sounds like there are only 4 kids. I only know who one of them is and he seems like a sweet kid. These black kids are going to have to learn to love their white bread teacher!!!!!!

Nothing too exciting for this blog! (thank goodness) We were able to go home to Utah the end of Aug and first 2 days in September for Labor Day. It was a great getaway! We got to Utah around noon on Friday and ate some Brand X hamburgers!!!! Yummy! Saturday morning we drove up to Fairview with the whole family. Greg brought his parents 4-wheelers and we had a good time driving them around. I'm kind of a chicken, so I wanted to head back earlier than Richele and Greg, but oh well. They were sweet about it. We played games, and cards, and ate, and talked, and slept, and just relaxed. It was great because it was slightly chilly which we weren't used to. It was nice to have to bundle up a bit. We played with Chad's paintball gun, and horseshoes, and wrist rocket. Needless to say, there were plenty of things to keep us busy!!! We made some dinner and smores and then crowded into the trailer to watch a movie. We all went to bed that night and had a great night (at least I did!). We woke up and had a big breakfast and then packed up and went back. We got home and just cleaned up in time to go to church. We had a nice regular Sunday afternoon and evening. Monday everyone had off of work so we ate at Red Robin and went to a movie. Andy and I did a little bit of shopping in the meantime. We are now the classic non-Utah Mormons who go to Deseret Book when they go to Utah!!!! What can we say!!
We caught a flight home Tuesday morning and got back late that night. It was a great trip home and so fun to visit the family. Hopefully my next visit there will bring a baby!!!!!

The Great Blackout of 2003, as it is now known, included yours truely and my loving husband Andy! Poor Andy was stuck in a subway car when the power went out. He sat there for about an hour before they finally opened the doors and got out. They walked down the tracks in the tunnel to find their way out while lighting their way with their cell phones. Andy popped out in Grand Central and had to think of what to do next. He decided to try and catch a ferry home. He went to the nearest ferry stop which had massive amounts of people all crowded together waiting for the same boat. There was no structure or order to it, so he bagged that idea pretty quickly. He then figured he'd be stuck there all night, so he started walking towards the Red Roof Inn. About half way there he had a better idea of walking to the World Financial Center ferry to try and get home. He figured the boats came more often and were closer to Jersey City, so he may have better luck. Well, he was a smarty pants and it worked. He only stood in line for an hour before catching a ride home. He got home around 9PM. I was lucky enough to leave work early (everyone else was gone by 4!!), so I was on the boat home when the power went out. I had no idea anything was even wrong until I went to our leasing office to pick up a package. All of their lights were out and they told me that the power went out, probably only our block, and would be on soon. Boy were they wrong!!!! I was just hulled up in our apartment by myself all night trying to not get bored. I read and looked for candles and matches and took a bath in the dark. I kept trying to call Andy or my parents, but the cell lines were all full and it was touch and go for getting through. Mostly we talked through messages.
Our power finally came on about 1 minute after Andy walked in the door. It went off for about an hour around midnight, but we were in bed by that time, so it didn't matter. I guess we can just add this to our list of adventures in New York.

Another one that I can add would be going to the eye doctor's today in China town. I woke up yesterday with what I thought was an eye infection. I thought this morning it would be better, but it wasn't so we decided I'd go to the doctor. This was the closest doctor I could find that wasn't just an optometrist. It was in the heart of China town!! Everyone in the office was Chinese, spoke Chinese, all the customers were Chinese......except me!!! Thankfully sweet Andy came with me so I didn't feel so out of place. It took a little longer than I anticipated, but I was just an emergency walk-in, so it wasn't too bad. The doctor was a sweet Chinese girl who sounded more American than anything else! She was very helpful and put my mind at ease by telling me it was just an allergic reaction and prescribing some medicine. I get to go back in 2 weeks to check on it. It was an interesting experience though. I've never felt like such a minority!!! Overall though, people were nice. Just another crazy story from New York!

Another exciting adventure in our New York journey occured last Saturday (July 26th) when our apartment building caught on fire!! It was on the opposite end of our apartment, so aside from the burned smell in the hallway, we were totally unaffected. We were minding our own business doing some Saturday cleaning when the fire alarm started to go off. Now this had happened to Andy one Saturday around 7am, so we thought it was some sort of drill. We poked our heads into the hall to try and smell smoke, but there was nothing. So, we went about our business trying to ignore the screeching of the alarm. I stepped out onto our balcony and a couple of people that were across the street started waving me down. "Um, your building really is on fire, you may want to get out.". I was very grateful for them taking the time to tell me. Andy grabbed his wallet, I grabbed my wedding ring and my purse and we were out of there. Around 7 fire trucks showed up along with many policemen. The whole complex was out on the sidewalk watching. It was quite the sight. It didn't take long for the fire to be put out and the mayor of Jersey City even showed up. He had a man delegated to taking care of those whose homes were ruined. We only stood outside for a little while before we realized it was totally safe for us to go back inside. A little bit later we went into the garage to leave in our car and we noticed that water was pouring in from under the fire spot. The good news of it all is that noone was hurt. It was a nice reminder for us to get renters insurance!!!!
On a fabulous side note......my plant has tomatos!!!!

We just had a great 4th of July weekend. My family (mom, dad, Richele and Greg) came out for a visit before they continued on their journey of seeing the East. I think that we thoroughly worn them out, as well as ourselves. We had 2 days full of wandering around the city in hot, hot, hot, humid weather!! Noone was free from the sweat!!
They arrived in the morning of the 4th of July yet we didn't leave the apartment until around 11. It's really hard to wake Mac up!!! Once we got out the door though and got going, it was great. We went downtown and wandered around the Financial District and just enjoyed all the fun happenings associated with the 4th. My family was able to see where we work and like to eat lunch as well as a nice view of the Statue of Liberty. From there we made our way uptown and wandered around there (honestly, I don't remember much of what we did!!!). But around 3 we headed up to Queens for the Yankees/Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium. Now that was an experience. It was really a fun time in spite of the heat and the major whopping that the Yankees got!! We left in the middle of the 7th inning stretch. By the time we got home to Jersey City, we were all so tired and sore and dirty, that a trip to the park seemed silly! We all took our turns in the shower cleaning up and making sandwiches for dinner. We ate our food in the nice cool house and turned on the TV. As soon as Andy heard some fireworks going though we slowly made our way out there. We could stand in the park right near our house and see 2 different sets of fireworks. One from the East River (Macy's Show) and one from near the Statue of Liberty. Both were a lot of fun and very pretty. The nice thing was how close we were to home. Just a walk across the street!! Afterward, we all fell into bed and enjoyed a great nights sleep.
The next day we got going around 10. That's kind of what happens when there are 6 people sharing a bathroom!! But it was fine. We went to Rockefellar Center, Central Park, 5th Ave and the surrounding area. We did a lot of wandering and some window shopping. We were able to get a great picture of mom holding her famous NY hot dog with Radio City Music Hall in the background. She seemed to be loving every minute of it!!! We tried to catch a matinee of a Broadway play, but there were no tickets available for the show we wanted. I guess that just means that my parents will have to come back again!! Oh well! ;-) We had dinner reservations at Times Square at 6.30, so we were able to see that as well. It was such a yummy, fun dinner. Family style Italian food that we knew had to be enjoyable as we watched Sue drinking the gravy!!!! I think she'll want to go back there! It was another fun, tiring day.
Sunday Andy and I decided that we would travel down to Philadelphia with all of them and spend the day there. Philly was cool from what we saw. We tried to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and everything, but Andy and I weren't able to. We did get to go to the brand new (open 2 days) Constitution Museum though. It was very cool! But I must admit the highlight was the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich!! Sooooo yummy with all the Cheese Whiz!! Andy and I left soon after that and made our way to Six Flags Park for a Collective Soul concert. It was one of the best concerts that I have been to. We were front row and I was able to snag a guitar pick from the lead guitarist. Quite enjoyable!!
We just finished recovering from the intense weekend, but I must admit that it was all worth it. I think the family had a really enjoyable time, and mostly it was just fun to see them all again.

Oh the disgusting things we'll see here! I (Kristi) need to remember to keep my eyes forward while walking down the street in New York City. Or sitting on the subway for that matter. I won't go into the details of what I saw in just in a few days, but close family has already heard the details......and are probably scarred for life as I am.

The apartment is 99% done now. Thanks to many trips to Bed Bath and Beyond, IKEA, and Target. And also hundreds of dollars. But, I think it is all worth it since the place looks very good, and it feels like home. It's a bit smaller than our last place, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. Andy still has a corner little nook for his computer, and I have my bed. The two places that make us the most happy!!

We have found out that probably by this time next year we will have a temple within 20 minutes of us! The Manhattan temple is scheduled to be done in February of 2004, and within a few months it should be dedicated and ready to go. It will be so nice. We kind of took for granted the many temples we had so close to us in Utah. Hopefully we will have learned our lesson and attend the temple more regularly.

Work is going well for us. My accounting program works WAY too slowly which causes me much frustration. I have tried to enlist the help of my IT staff in Utah, but they all say it is too expensive. The positive thing is that my boss is realizing how debilitated I am without Peachtree working at full strength, and she is going to petition for me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Andy has had a few meetings with clients while still helping the Utah staff with his old position. Everyone just wants Andy in their department! That's all there is to it.

The weather here in New York has been quite interesting. It has been raining more days than not since we've been here. And it makes it so hot and humid!! My hair has been slightly out of control! The curl is untamed, and along with it are the frizzies. I'm trying all sorts of creams and lotions to tame it, but it just may not work. I could have a perma-ponytail for the next couple years.

Kristi and I accepted Neovest's offer to move out to NYC and take a position in account management. It was the 3rd try by Neovest to get us out here, and finally it was the right deal. The timing was right, and it's tough to turn down an offer to double your salary, even if it is to move to NYC. Too bad I'm going to have to get a New Jersey driver's license - ugh! Not many things I can think of that I'd rather do less than stand in a DMV line in New Jersey.

The dirve out here was pretty uneventful, with one minor exception. To start, it was a 24' Ryder truck with the Passat on a trailer behind it. So that took some getting used to. And it was understandably gutless. But once we got out on the road, it went pretty smoothly. In a truck stop in eastern Illinois a friendly trucker pointed out that we were leaking axle oil on our rear passenger tire, and that we shouldn't really go too far like that. We kept on until Terre Haute, Indiana where we called Ryder to report the problem. They sent out a mechanic, and after about an hour and a half or so, we were on our way again.

Family and friends saved the day on that drive. Kristi's friends Leslie and Bobby offered to let us stay with them in Denver. Dave and Pam put us up in Kansas City. (Actually, it was just Pam, since Dave was still in Hawaii ... jerk.) And then we stayed in Columbus with Kristi's cousin Jennifer, and her husband Chad. Everyone was extremely gracious, and even provided us with snacks and lunches for our day's adventures. Thank you all so much!

Todd and Brandon helped us unload the truck in JC. Amazingly, everything made it here in great shape - nothing broken. There was an incident of a broken table during the move in, but it turns out we wouldn't have had room for it anyways, and it only cost 30 bucks to begin with. Let's hear it for Ikea! We are mostly moved in now - it actually looks like home at this point. Tomorrow will be our Ikea run to get the last few items we need to totally utilize our space. We have to be pretty creative since we are in a much smaller space with fewer storage options.

Work has been slow for us, though for different reasons. I simply don't have much to do yet. Kristi is tied to our VPN connection which has been MISERABLY slow, so it just takes her forever to get things done. We've got some ideas on how to solve it, but they are dependent on 2 or 3 different IT staffs, so we might be in trouble ;-)

Tonight will be our first attempt at relaxation. We're only going out to catch a flick, but hey, at least we're not rifling through boxes and hoping to find some unexplored nook or crannie of our apartment where we can hide that one last item.