hearing the talk about Queen Elizabeth being in Canada and then speaking at the United Nations made me remember the time I saw the Queen.  In May of 2007, Keren was spending a semester in Italy, so the whole family decided to take a trip over to see her.  While I was over there, I was fortunate enough for work to foot the bill for me to stay in London for a few days and meet everyone I work with on a daily basis.  While I was there, my friend Penny took me to see Equus, staring Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame (yes, I saw him naked).  Anyway, on our walk home at night, past the London Eye, we hear all these sirens behind us, and then a cop (bobby?) on a motorcycle pulls up and blocks the intersection we were walking past.  I was a little scared, but we kept walking, and then saw some more bike cops roll on by, finally followed by an old style brown car, in which i could easily make out the Queen.  They just zipped right on by.  Penny was shocked.  I think she had never even seen the Queen.  I fumbled for my camera, but it was too late to snap even a blurry pic.  I’ll see if I can get Penny to back me up on this claim.

Well, some of you already knew, but now that it didn’t pan out, we’re allowed to talk about it.  Back in April, Chemistry.com (where Kallie and I met) contacted us and wanted us to be interviewed by a “national magazine” about our story.  Turns out it was People Magazine.  So they called Kallie, asked her a bunch of questions and asked for “our story” and I guess they interviewed a bunch of other people as well.  After a long waiting period, we were told we weren’t selected for the article, but it is cool just to be able to say we were interviewed by People Magazine.

I’ve also been selected by Pittsburgh City Living to be the Ambassador to the Hill District!  Not sure what that means exactly yet, but it’s a city program to showcase all the individual neighborhoods of the city.  Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute to the growth of the Hill!

This summer has been a whirlwind of activity.  We’ve been to California and back twice in July, a couple weddings around the state, heading to Canada/Yankanuck next week, went camping in Ohio and went to Cedar Point, back to Bedford for our 1 year anniversary, and just a bunch of other stuff that filled our calendars and put smiles on our faces.  I think next year we’re going to really protect our weekends and time together.  We had fun this year, but it was way too chaotic, and we even cut out a lot things as it was.

Back to real life, Kallie’s down to part-time work and full time student to get her NP license.  Since she’s doing that, I am also heading back to RMU for my masters in organizational studies.  We’re looking at 2-3 years for us to finish those up.  Work is reimbursing me as long as I get above a C, and I need above a 3.00 GPA to graduate, so I should have some motivation there.

I’m training for the urbanathlon again in October.  Probably doing a 5k in Charleroi and the Great Race 10k before then in preparation.  I’m going to try to fund-raise for the L.i.v.i.n.g. Ministry again this year too.  A lot going on with the ministry, and they could surely use the support!

I think after the race, I’m going to focus on music, playing out, writing songs, etc to carry me through the winter.  Hopefully I’ll be able to follow through on that one…I’ll keep you posted

ok, so i am back from canada, but i haven’t uploaded pics yet because i am waiting to get Keren’s from her. I’ll make a note when i get them up. Other than that, it was great. I did absolutely nothing. hung out on the island, read some books, played some guitar, hung out with the sisters, and slept. I was definitely ready to come home though.

Last friday, I threw an xbox party, cuz i had nothing better to do. organized it all during the week last week, got 2 Tvs from my moms, talked to a few people to bring there xboxes, since i don’t even have one, and it all went pretty well. 7 people total, played for about 5 hours. could have done with more people/xboxes and played for longer, but i think everyone had a good time. My underlying goal is to get people accustomed to the idea, then throw a LAN party. I love LAN parties.

still no word on the house. the friday before i left, I got an email from northwood saying that they noticed they didnt get a house for me, wanted to know if i was still in the market, etc. just a courtesy email. So i said that i was still in the market, for the same house that i had contacted them about, but had a terrible experience with the realtor, and asked if i should complain to them about it. they replied and said if i had an issue with an agent, to let them know. so then i wrote the whole schpeal about how lame the realtor was, told them i was going on vacation for a week, and left them my number. I then went to see Tommy, The Who musical, with my cousin adam, and they had called me while i was there. I decided i would just call them when i got back from canadia. I called them when i got back sunday, and the lady told me that she would see if she could get in contact with the lawyer who handled the estate (it was a lady that died, and the family couldnt afford to keep it, and they didnt pay the gas bill, so there was no heat, and that is why the pipes burst). That was the 31st, and i haven’t heard a word back from her since. le sigh. I should probably give her a call back. my lease is up this month though, so i need to figure out what the crap i am doing, renewing for a year, month to month, or just ride it out as long as i can without a lease so i can go into the house.

Keren’s birthday is today! I am picking her up from the airport this saturday. she’s been in michigan all summer at spring hill camps as staff. she is only going to be home for a week or two before she moves down to maryland with serah into a new place. Serah sent me the floor plan, looks $$$. should have room for me to go down and crash on the weekends though

other than some other personal drama, nothing new going on here. just riding the wave. school starts back up the 29th, taking 3 classes. This summer classes came with an A and a C in that stupid public speaking class. I even had 2 incompletes in that class. if she wasn’t such a —–, i could have gotten atleast a b. but oh well, as long as i get a C, mellon gives me full reimbursment, so rock on.

it’s 5 am, and i am just going to bed. Got a lot to do today. clean the apartment, eye doctor’s, going to a Who – Tommy broadway thing with adam, and i gotta pack for yankanuck. leaving 6am saturday and going up to canada for a week. should be lots of fun. i am taking american psycho, disturbing the peace, hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, diary, davinci code, and the interpretation of dreams to read. might stop by the store and pick up charlie and the chocolate factory if i think about it. I’ve started all these books, just never finished them. most people go up to the island to fish, but i am not big into that, so i am just going to get away from technology for a bit and read and play my guitar and hang out with my sisters. I am so stoked. havent seen keren all summer since she has been in michigan. rock on!

ugh, kinda in a bad mood. I officially hate my public speaking class. It’s way too intense and the guidlines are to strict. My incompetence doesn’t help much with that either.

I’ve got poison ivy from working at the estate this weekend too. kinda draining. We did make good progress on the yard though, mike was going with a chainsaw cuz i am too much of a pansy to trust myself with one. There is still an unfathomable amount of work to do though.

speaking of poison ivy, my heart was broken yesterday when i found out Alicia Silverstone got married last week to some rocker. How cliche. So leanne and Alicia are off the list, now i’m down to mandy moore. She’s been out of the spotlight for a while, so i might be able to use that to my advantage. I might try and get her an address and send her a nice letter…and a vile of my blood…

no new word on the house at all. waiting games suck. Might have an interview for the London job this week as well. 2 more weeks of classes. and 3 weeks until my 2 week vacation to canada and around the east coast. fun fun fun.

So one of those houses that i was looking at has water damage, and the bank might foreclose on it, which means I could get it on the cheap. I have a realtor looking into it for me. I’m in the mood for a life altering decision. Jordan (who is probably reading this) freaked out when i mentioned the house since he moves in my apartment this saturday, but i told him if i get the house, he’d definitely still have a place, possibly cheaper, possibly better, and possibly with a garage. My lease is up in august, so if i got it that would give me just about enough time to fix up so i can move in. So dealing with that has taken up a lot of time this week, trying to get it before it forecloses. I was supposed to see it monday night, but the realtor completely dropped the ball and couldnt find the keys, and called me back at 10:30 at night to tell me. so i got my own realtor.


school started last night too, and it looks like i am going to be busy. public speaking class tuesdays from 5:30-7:30, speech every week, outline for the speeches due every friday, and 2 papers in the class. I’m also in an online class about literature, so lots of reading to do. they are both only 8 week courses, so it’s going to be a lot of work in a short time. so that’ll keep me away from life for a while.


a week after classes are done, it’s time to go to canada for a week! with the whole family. should be sweet. i took the week after off work as well, and i plan to cruise the east coast stopping in DC, williamsburg, wilmington, and charlotte. should be a nice road trip. gotta survive until then. rock on and cross your fingers for me about this house.

just saw this link today, and i have to say, i am outraged, almost to the point to register to vote. To sum it up, Rick Santorum (Pa) is pushing for a billthat will stop the -government funded- National Weather Service from releasing free information to the public, because, get this, it is preventing companies like Accuweather from making money. That’s the bottom line, and it’s outrageous. Three things instantly come to mind.
1. You want to know if a tornado is coming? How much money do you have?
2. I’m paying for the information already in taxes, why can’t i know about it?
3. Last time i checked, if a company wasn’t making money, it was their own fault, and maybe they need to reasses their market.