Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Happy Birthday, Robin!

Happy Birthday Robin! Hope your students weren't too hard on you today and you were able to enjoy your birthday! Love, Donna

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Earth Day

Better late than never:

Last Tuesday Northstar gave away free Veggie burgers. That's right, every Earth Day we pay tribute to the globe byy opening up our doors and selling every person who wants one (for dine in only, no carryout boxes please) a free, house-made Veggie Burger with a simple salad.

What does that entail you ask?...

My kitchen sold 1115 Veggie Burgers. On a regular day, we sell oh, 275. Liz's store did 900. To make that happen we chopped, and chopped, and mixed together hundreds of pounds of rice, dozens of pounds of beets, made 7 or 8 batches of Black Beans in the time we usually make 2 or 3, paid lots of overtime hours, and ordered 42 gallons of pickles. Heck, one guy in my kitchen chopped HIS BODY MASS in SALAD GREENS on Earth Day. This was the first year that we started giving them away at 11 AM instead of 3 PM because Earth Day fell on a Tuesday rather than Saturday or Sunday.. It works out to about 100 burgers an hour, although our peak was 135 in one hour between 7-8 PM (that's 2.25 a minute, but who is counting?).

On Liz's end, since no one pays for the Burger that means they've got to buy something....aka drinks and COOKIES. I don't know how many cookies were baked that day, but it was at least 2 gross (or 2 dozen dozens). Liz didn't bake on Earth Day she was scheduled as extra prep, so she probably hand-pattied about 250 at least.

Of the 22 people in my kitchen 19 of them worked on Earth Day. The mood was very festive, everyone did a great job and it was the perfect way to return from vacation. I won't tell you how many hours Liz and I worked in a five day span; it might make your head spin. But we still made it to see Billy Joel!

Consider that the 215 E Royal Forest Jones update for the Spring!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Nicholas

After much peer pressure, Nick has decided to join the blog. I told him he could just use his normal gmail account and that seemed to do the trick. Sean, can you send an invitation to nherbe3@gmail.com? Thanks!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

#14

On our way home Sunday nite from Columbus, we ran into fog. By the time we got to Paulding Co., after 11 p.m., it was thick. We began Monday's school day on a 2 hour delay, only to close. That means our 1/2 hour extended day now goes through Fri. May 23rd (it began Tues. Mar. 25th). The last day w/students is still Tues. May 27th, and thanks to my conserving of personal days I will get to stay for all the Jones' families assorted festivities/celebrations!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Car Show

Sunday was Aunt Donna's car show that benefitted their REACH group. Dad, Mom, Ian, Dave, and I all went up to PA to check out it out because Dad loves old cars and I love my REACHers.
For a first time car show, it was a big hit. Last I heard 65 cars showed up. There was a variety of makes and models--classic mustangs, beat-up pickups, a dump truck [which won the favorite award], and a bunch of others. I was assigned photographer for the day so I ran around saying "This is for the blog!"
Enjoy. :]
AD at her booth





The guys decided to pick up Zach's truck?

<--[Gorgeous]-->





[Just cause we're cute]


And my personal fav

I don't know how much the REACHers made, you'll have to ask the Beckers, but it was worth the trip up. :]

*Remember, click to enlarge.


And just to let you know, I made sure to play some Bob Marley on the way home in honor of 4/20. ;]

PA primary!

Have fun voting, Beckers! Julie- I hope you sent in your absentee ballot! Every vote counts in this one!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Billy Joel, Live in Columbus Ohio

Michael C. and Randi treated Erin, Liz and I to a fantastic concert in Nationwide Arena last night: Billy Joel! All five of us had an amazing time and Liz and I kept it together long enough to keep a set-list to post on the blog. Here's a run-down of what we heard him play, including a little color commentary from yours truly. All in all he really put on a show, his voice held up very nicely and once they hit the eight song, Allentown, they really got on a roll.

Let it be known that I accurately predicted the opening track.

Angry Young Man
Interlude -- Beethoven's Ode to Joy

---there was stage talk after everyone of these next songs:
My Life
Just the Way You Are
Summer Highland falls
The Entertainer
Zanzabar
New York State of Mind

--- then they started cranking these out
Allentown
Don't Ask Me Why
Always a Woman
Moving Out (Anthony's Song)

--- he encouraged a bathroom break in case he missed the high notes in the next song
An Innocent Man

---the big ending
Keeping the Faith
River of Dreams (Hang On Sloopy in one of the rests)
Matter of Trust
Highway to Hell, AC/DC, Featuring roadie guitarist "Chainsaw" as lead singer (this is NOT a typo. Unreal.)
We Didn't Start the Fire
Still Rock n' Roll to Me
You May Be Right

--walk off the stage. Then here's the Encore
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant
Only the Good Die Young
Piano Man

21 songs, 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Friday, April 18, 2008

April's first birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Carl!!!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

the future

So as of right now, I have 29 days of school left. However, I have only 17 more days of my statistics class, 18 of calculus, 19 of english, and 24 of economics. I'll have at least a week of nothing except my CADD class. Also, I am now planning on attending UMBC this fall and will soon be sending in my forms. I am going to switch my intended major from history to mechanical engineering, and hopefully I will enjoy this career path. Just thought everyone would like to hear what I've decided.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Miami Beach

Checking in from another part of the country: I was in Miami Beach for two nights along with 300 of my closest pediatric psychologist friends. I officially went with 5 other girls from my lab and my advisor, but knew quite a few other people there as well.

Here we are presenting on the first evening at poster session #1.









And a gorgeous view of Miami from the hotel:









The next morning we decided to forego some talks and spend some time on the beach. The forecast was a high of 86 in Miami and not so humid that I felt like I was melting. The water was aqua. And, I wore plenty of sunscreen so I didn't get burned.









Next was the afternoon session. I presented a poster with some of my master's data, listened to an awesome speaker about child health care, and my lab lounged by the pool during a lull in the presentations.









To end the excursion, my current externship placement, Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, took us out for a "thank-you" dinner. A stay at the beach would not be complete without a mojito either! The two girls in the photo with me are Soumitri and Susie. They are third years like me and my closest grad school friends. :)









All in all, Miami was a fun place to visit, even though the trip was short. It was exactly what you would expect: neon lights, villas along the water, valet parking at fancy hotels left and right, and I kept expecting Horatio Sanz from CSI: Miami to pop out of the woodwork with his requisite sunglasses.

Frozen Four: Phase Three



Denver, Colorado

OK Jones family readers, this will most likely be the final post from the frontier. Erin spent the day yesterday catching up with a friend of hers while Michael C., Alison and myself travelled to Colorado Springs. The town is south of Denver down I-25 about 70 miles or so, and boy did it snow! Michael C. maneuvered very well in the P.T. Cruiser. Our first stop was at the U.S. Air Force Academy, built in the late 1950s/early 1960s. The main attraction on the base is the Chapel.



Keep in mind the snow I mentioned above. When we walked into the chapel it was still snowing, visibility was very low, and Michael C. took photos with a cloudy background. 20 minutes later, after tagging along with a tour group, the sun was out and cleared the clouds and he was able to take the photo you see above. The main chapel indoors is the protestant chapel; there are also Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, and Muslim chapels in the basement. We were able to step inside the Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist ones.

Then we drove on to Pike's Peak which was the inspiration behind "America the Beautiful". The photo at the top of the blog is the three of us at Mile Marker 13, about 12,500 feet above sea level. Because of the snow (which was falling again in the higher elevation) we could travel no further. The summit is at mile marker 19, and 14,200 feet or so. The pavement ended at mile marker 10, and our P.T. Cruiser is now a little dusty. Want to see what the trees look like and the Devil's Playground in the distance???



Pretty sweet huh? The Devil's Playground is about 13,000 feet.

Today we did some shopping around downtown and then I made it to a coin shop. Dad walked out with gold-clad Maryland Quarter and I found two Quarters in the bargain bin that I couldn't live without....Liz, the spot price was 13 times face, about what they give you in Arlington, not too bad.

We fly home tomorrow after the championship game tonight on ESPN, live at 7 PM. Liz, you could always head down to Bob's and tell them to put the game on. Remember, there won't be any fights!

I'll leave you with me and Allison hanging out with the heavy machinery.



YAHTZEE! We don't mess around, we just get down.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Frozen Four: Phase Two



Denver, Colorado

Ground into the 15th step on the West side of the Colorado Statehouse steps is a notice that you are exactly 5,280 feet above sea level. We are truly Mile High here on the foothills of the Rockies. We learned today that even though people in the U.S. consider Denver to be "Out West" we're only 346 miles west of the geographic center of the United States. We had a goofy tour guide through the capital building.

Before the capital we had to navigate through the SNOW! The last "storm" of the season only brought about 2 inches and made visibility poor on the way in. Here's an idea of the snow on the ground, or on the buffalo:



This was outside the Colorado Public Museum. Lot's of cool exhibits inside, including one entitled, "A Woman's Place is....On the Range!" We added to the tradition of Cowgirls by asking Allison to saddle up.



Yippie Ki Yay!

Among the other cool things we saw at the Museum included a little Christmas shopping for your's truly. I asked Dad to take a photo for me. Cross your fingers that I'll have you in the drawing this year.



YAHTZEE!

We wouldn't be real tourists unless we took a photo of the pidgeons. These happened to be huddling for warmth on top of the heat vent outside the Denver Public Library.



Sorry, we just couldn't help ourselves.

And finally, the reason why we're all here in the first place. This would be us in Section 306, Row 16 (aka, the last row in the house)!



And I thought you might like a photo of, "the action." Here's the goalie for the Michigan Wolverines, a big reason why the Irish won the game is because he gave up three goals in the first period.



Boston College beat North Dakota, 6-1.
Notre Dame beat Michigan, 5-4 in Overtime.

Who should we vote for in the final? The Underdog Irish competing in their first Frozen Four or Boston College because they live closer to the larger body of water? My money is on the Irish because they have a BlueJacket's prospect, #5 Teddy Ruth. I'll be wearing my Jackets sweater to the game on Saturday night.

Off to Pike's Peak!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Frozen Four: Phase One


Denver, Colorado:

Four members of The Jones Clan have sucessfully completed their journey to the Mile High City. Here is a photo of the assembled Clan, Michael C., Erin, Sean and Ali at base camp, Columbus, Ohio. So far all travelling has been on time and without significant delay.

There shall be two hockey games tomorrow and one on Saturday. All other plans are to be determined based on the weather and our moods.

Laters!

(photo courtesy of Elizabeth Jones)

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Announcement Time!

So, I know everyone has been wondering where I'm headed off to next year. After a week of people asking me "So, do you know where you're going yet?" I have finally come to a decision. It only took about fiteen different college visits and a pro and con list to help me decide but I've finally made a choice.

I'm going to Salisbury!

NAMI Walk!

Hi everyone! In case you didn't know, I am the current Advocacy Chair for MPAGS, the Maryland Psychological Association for Graduate Students. This year we have a team walking in the annual Maryland NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) Walk, a 2.4 mile walk in Columbia, MD.

NAMI is an excellent non-profit organization run by the families of individuals with mental illnesses. Every year they spend an abundance of time and money advocating for the rights of individuals with mental illnesses.

Please consider sponsoring me for the walk! My page is below:

http://www.nami.org/walkTemplate.cfm?section=NAMIWALKS&template=/customsource/namiwalks/walkerpage.cfm&walkerID=38430

Thanks!!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

The Coolest Video

I just watched the coolest video, and if you have an extra hour and 15 minutes, I hope you will watch it too. It's a story featured in the Parade magazine from the Sunday papers today, about Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon who was asked to give the last lecture, something they ask professors to do at the end of the year. Soon after he was asked to do this, he found out he had pancreatic cancer and not many months to live. But he decided to give the lecture anyway. Sounds depressing, right? But it's not. It is so uplifting and inspiring, and funny! You can watch it on YouTube or go to www.parade.com and click on his link. Check it out!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

He said what?!

At dinner tonight Sean said some particularly ridiculous things that I thought the rest of you may enjoy...

In regards to the sloppy teller at the local Huntington branch: "If I worked at a bank I'd go from light starch to medium starch immediately."

In regards to paint swatches fanned out on the kitchen table: "Michael C. always said that paint swatches were trouble. He's never been more right than he is right now."

And finally, in regards to me scribbling madly at his goofy quips: "What...What is this...What are you writing down?!"

Enjoy, dear family.