New Hampshire's Worst

The top two worst things about living in New Hampshire:

1. You have to drive at least an hour outside of the state before you get to the nearest Arby's. Seriously! No Arby's in NH?! They say we should "live free or die," but don't think that we should be free to consume the most delicious of roast beefs.

2. You can't avoid watching the Patriots play on Sunday if you want to watch any football at all. I've never hated regional television markets more than I do when I have to watch the Patriots on a weekly basis.

Honorable mentions include:

Drivers from Massachusetts (totally unsafe wastes of gas);
"Where'd you say you're from? Idaho/Ohio?" (the Midwest is inconsequential);
and east-coast sporting loyalties altogether (Sox/Celtics/Bruins = I Don't Care)

All told, though, this is still a pretty cool place to live.

Please send us two regular roast beef sandwiches, though. Priority mail.

Stay Gold!

MMK

Here's what's new with me, blah blah blah...

Sarah's been posting more than I have been recently. I'm alright with that. There's not really a lot to report. Now that the election is over, my interest in things other than work or Sarah has taken a break. It'll come back eventually and I'll get a be in my bonnet about something, but until then I'll be a boring old man.

So here's a general status update...

My iPod died about a week ago and it made me pretty sad. While I use it less now than I used to because I'm no longer walking across campus to class or driving much, I did use it every time that I went to the gym to work out. I can't really lift or do cardio without listening to music. I guess I just need the distraction. Anyway, I'm lucky enough to have a wife who takes care of me. Sarah gave me a new iPod Nano Chromatic as an early Christmas present. It's pretty awesome. It's small, fits easily into the pocket of my gym shorts, and holds more than enough music to get me through a month of more of workouts without me having to update the music it holds. As a bonus, too, it also plays video. The video feature will come in handy for the train ride home over Christmas break and for next semester when I travel for professional conferences and things. All in all, it's an awesome little device. I'm by no means an Apple loyalist, nor do I generally hold any brand allegiances, but the iPod (in all of it's manifestations) is the only mp3/audio player that I've ever really enjoyed using. Thanks, Sarah, for getting me a new one.

Since I have a new player, let's hear what I'm listening to recently:

Alli Rogers - "You and the Evening Sky" (new album from one of my faves)
Murs - "Murs for President" (great hip-hop)
Pennywise - "Reason to Believe" (new album from punk stalwarts)
Humanifesto - "The Infamous" (Canadian anarchists)
Murder by Death - "Red of Tooth and Claw" (punk/folk/country/rockabilly/there's a cello involved)

We drove up to Portland, Maine today to spend the afternoon with Sarah's friend Heather. The weather did not cooperate. It rained and was generally crappy all day. We walked around downtown a bit, but ended up back at Heather's place playing Scrabble and messing around with her dog. We had a lot of fun, but wish the weather would have been better so that we could have seen more of the town/area. The good thing about living here, though, is that Portland is only an hour up the road. I'm sure we'll get back up that way soon and that we'll do so on a day when fog isn't limiting visibility to less than 100 yards.

We went to a local potluck dinner in Portsmouth last night. It was called the "100-Mile Potluck" and was put on by local business people invested in sustaining and benefiting local and organic agriculture. Each person who attended had to bring an item to share that had been made using local materials (i.e. foods and things grown within 100 miles). I made a loaf of banana-walnut bread using walnuts that had been grown and packaged in Maine. I can't get enough banana bread lately. Anyway, the potluck was a good time. More people came than were expected, though, so the venue was quite packed. It made actually getting food somewhat of an arduous task. Then we ended up sitting with a woman who made small talk about doing "business" with "photographers" in Ames, IA and Dayton, OH (where one of the other Hall Directors who accompanied us is from). It was odd. I got the feeling that she may be involved in some modeling of the scantily-clad variety, but maybe I'm wrong in assuming so. Regardless, fun was had and the food was good.

I get to start paying my student loans back next month. Awesome.

If Obama really is a socialist and he nationalizes education, would that mean that my federal loans would be forgiven? I guess I can only hope...

Sarah's yelling at me to come to bed. I suppose that means that I'm out of things to say.

Stay Gold, everyone. Keep in touch.

MMK

so odd.

you know those cravings you always hear pregnant women having? welp, so far i haven't craved ice cream and pickles at the same time, but i have gone through a few phases.

pregnancy cravings, in order of occurrence...each lasting at most a week:
#1 - frozen cheese pizza
#2 - McDonald's (if any of you know me well, you know this is SO NOT like me...it lasted for about a day)
#3 - air (at this point i couldn't keep anything down, so i barely ate)
#4 - starburst (at one point i had consumed a whole pack in a matter of about 5 minutes)
#5 - oranges (at least two a day)
#6 - red apples (until i threw up one immediately after eating it...let's just say i haven't eaten an apple since)
#7 - buttered popcorn (current craving, one WHOLE bag/night)

a bit odd, right? i am sure it will only get worse. oh pregnancy...you're a strange one! i may add to this list as time goes on.

what's that?!

CHRISTMAS MUSIC!
it does seem a bit early...BUT
i busted out the christmas music today...
and despite marshall's protests, our new christmas tree is up.
i've started to decorate the tree a bit but will finish most of the decorating tomorrow.
i just couldn't help it.
we won't be here for most of december, so i wanted to put the tree up so we could actually enjoy it before we head home.
i will definitely take a picture of the tree once it is finished!
i'm a giddy girl tonight! :o)

sniffle.

i miss my ma.
i miss my pops.
i miss my sister-in-law.
i miss my parents' house.
i just miss iowa in general.
only a little over a month or so until we go home!
yipeee!