End of Semester #3

It's the end of my third B-school semester and I'll be spending the next couple weeks studying and preparing for exams. I should have some more posts after that.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Ace and Gary

Elaina and I have two new additions to the Howard family: Ace and Gary. These are two mice that escaped from Elaina's lab before any tests were done on them. They were later caught in a humane mouse trap, and instead of euthanizing them, we brought them home to pester Professor.

They are asleep in these pictures below. Maybe I'll post some new pictures when they're awake :)


They are SO TINY!


That's a toilet paper roll to the right--they're itty bitty.

Florida Trip

For our 2nd anniversary and Memorial Day getaway, Elaina and I went to Melbourne, Florida to hang out with Elaina's mom and dad (Melanie and Heiri). We had such a great time! 95% of the time was spent RELAXING, which is exactly what we needed after a stressful first half of 2007. Below are some highlights :)


The condo was about 30 feet from the ocean. The weather and ambiance were perfect.



Every morning and afternoon we all went on walks along the coast. Look how happy Heiri and Elaina are!



Inarguably the best part of the trip was meeting Heiri's daughter, Michelle, and her boyfriend Patrick, who flew down for Memorial Day weekend. Look at the interesting conversation they're having!



Michelle and Patrick made us drink a lot of alcohol.


See exhibit 1. A $300 margarita maker.


We drank so much the kisses started flying....


See?


Although we didn't take a cruise, we did get to drink a lot of beer before waving our asses off to the departing cruise ship.



I don't know why they had to put up a sign like this. I mean, everyone knows to poke out the eyes of a carcass before throwing it away. Remind me again why Elaina and I are now vegetarian??



Patrick and I were the only ones needing Burn Relief. Damn, that sun is hot!
And in case you were wondering, it does not say 'Bum Relief' on the front.



Every morning Heiri galloped through the condo ringing an authentic Swiss cowbell. If we were lucky enough to hear it, we got to see some amazing sunrises:

So long Melbourne! Until next time!

The Lynda Malone Foundation

In memory of a close friend who recently passed away to lung cancer, some friends and I set up a foundation in her name. We are collecting funds to donate to cancer research, with the goal of collecting $10,000 to begin an endowment fund that will donate yearly proceeds to further cancer studies.

The website is www.LyndaMaloneFoundation.org and it has an area to donate money online, or an address to send donations, as well as a biography of Lynda Malone. Please take a moment to donate $5 or $10 so that we can reach our goal of $10,000. Thank you!

Hot Fuzz

Holy crap this movie rocks. Hot Fuzz director/co-writer Edgar Wright and actor/co-writer Simon Pegg have successfully made a cop movie that makes fun of everything I hate about action movies. Every scene is edited together like the most absurdly over-acted chase scene you see in every crappy "Fast & the Furious Bad Boys II Gone in 60 Seconds Point Break"-style movie. This goes for every scene, including those with swan-chasing and paperwork filing.

Trust me, if you liked any scene in Shaun of the Dead you will love this movie. There are a few gory parts, but you'll be laughing so hard you'll hardly notice them. Also apart from the two main actors in Shaun of the Dead, the Hot Fuzz cast includes Love Actually/Pirates of the Caribbean's Bill Nighy and James Bond himself, Timothy Dalton. Almost every word spoken in this movie made me laugh out loud... those damn Brits are so funny.

Go see this movie. Thank me after you see it.

Professor Likes a Good Cuban Cigar

We knew he had good taste, but recently we've seen Professor lounging around the house, smoking only the best Havana Cigars. We're not quite sure where he got them, and we've learned not to ask. We did, however, manage to get a few snapshots of him before he put on his smoking jacket and lit up another Cosacos Partagas Astorias -- hailed for being a "strong" cigar.

Professor added, "The Astorias have a good draw and even burn with espresso, cocoa, vanilla and cinnamon flavors; they make this cigar a real treasure if you know how to age it properly."

I *heart* Farfegnugen

Last week I paid the last payment on my undergraduate student loan. This week I bought a car:

That's right, no more driving around in the '97 Ford Contour deathtrap (sorry DeMar). We are so excited because this VW is the first new car I've ever owned and it comes with a ton of cool standard features including:

• Air conditioned glovebox
• Keyless entry and alarm system
  
• Automatic transmission with optional manual shifting
• One-touch power windows on all windows
  
• Blue/red lighted display for night driving
• Groceries hanger in the trunk
• Inserting key in door can roll down all the windows
  
• Passenger side airbags
  

Anyway it totally rocks; here are some pics: