Happy New Year!

We wish all of you a Happy New Year!

As we ring in 2009, we are feeling blessed that no one was injured and no other structures were damaged in a fire that destroyed my sister's SUV in my parents' driveway in the middle of the night.

Merry Christmas!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRIAN!

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Hope you had a special day.

5-9; 9-5

Should I even ask how many games have been lost by fewer than seven points?

How many games has defense lost? How many games has offense lost? How many games have, in essence, ended by an INT? Dare I say, TOO MANY!

Had we wanted INT endings, we should have kept Favre, at least the Packers might be seeing a football field in January, not a golf course.

Speaking of stinkers...notice who's in the last "Struggliscious" bracket? Yes, yours truly. It hasn't been the best of seasons for the Cheese. Struggling just a little less than the Packers at 6-8, the Cheese finds itself holding a slight lead in today's battle against Smell the Coffee. Barring a huge fourth quarter explosion in Sunday night's game, both teams have one more player in Monday Night Football to determine Week 16. Come back Tuesday for an update.

Mrs. Grinch

Well, it all started with a "discussion" on why we should/shouldn't get a Christmas tree. We have this discussion every year. Because we often travel around Christmas, my reasoning is that if we don't get a tree during Thanksgiving weekend, we shouldn't get one. I know, I'm Mrs. Grinch! You should have extreme empathy for Brian.

It made me think about my MBTI® personality type.

The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people’s lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.
Read more

I am an ISTJ:

Quiet, serious, earn success by thoroughness and dependability. Practical, matter-of-fact, realistic, and responsible. Decide logically what should be done and work toward it steadily, regardless of distractions. Take pleasure in making everything orderly and organized – their work, their home, their life. Value traditions and loyalty. (Here's another ISTJ description.)
See other MBTI® personality types

However, here is a "funny" description of the types. Perhaps, there's some truth. :-)

ISTJ: "Bean Counter"
Like the ESTJ* but with less vision.

*ESTJ:
"Stuffed Shirt" - No imagination, no flexibility, no common sense, no capacity for tolerance of others with different priorities.
Read more

What's your MBTI® type? Check it out at www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/the-16-mbti-types.asp. (If nothing else, leave a condolence comment for Brian!)

Christmas at Luther

"Christmas at Luther: Night of Glory, Dawn of Peace," the 27th annual Luther College Christmas concert, was this weekend. The five performances were sold out.

Granted so much has changed since I graduated in 19...never mind that's not the important part! :-) Here are some fond memories from my participation in Juletide Fest (now Christmas at Luther):

• Driving back to Luther from Thanksgiving with family at home in order to be on time for Sunday evening dress rehearsal
• All of the logistics and choreography involved to make the concert look seamless
• Our freshman year when then Pike Kor (now Aurora) opened the concert with "Before the Marvel of This Night;" I still get chills
• When we were at Luther, I think we only had two or three performances of Christmas at Luther; however, we also performed Handel's Messiah once or twice
• Performing Silent Night in a candlelit auditorium
• A finale composed by John Rutter that we learn from a faxed copy
• The absolutely indescribable sound of singing with a mass choir of more than 500 voices

Luther is a very special community. I have rarely heard anyone else talk with such fondness about their college experience, the friends they made and those they still stay in contact with, than I have with other fellow Luther alums. Thanks for letting me reminisce!

Here's information about this year's Christmas at Luther. Perhaps you can catch this year's broadcast on one of the many public television station:

More than 600 Luther student musicians present traditional holiday carols and sacred Christmas choral anthems, performing in one of the nation's top college concert halls, the Luther Center for Faith and Life.

The concert includes performances by Nordic Choir under the direction of Craig Arnold, Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Baldwin, Cantorei under the direction of Linda Martin, Christmas Brass and Percussion Ensemble under the direction of Frederick Nyline, Cathedral Choir and Aurora under the direction of Sandra Peter, Collegiate Chorale and Norsemen under the direction of Timothy Peter, Luther Ringers under the direction of Gregory Peterson, and the Christmas Flutes.

Organist is Gregory Peterson, and faculty accompanists include Du Huang and Xiao Hu, piano; Juan Tony Guzman, guitar; and Jacquelyn Venter Ridder, harp. Ann Sponberg Petersion is the narrator, and the narration was written by Carol Gilbertson.

Each year, more than 6,500 people attend the Christmas at Luther performances on the Luther campus. The concert has been broadcast on almost 100 public television stations in 25 states, and it is broadcast annually on public radio.
Read more

"Pearl"man

Part of my birthday present this year was a subscription to several concerts at The Kennedy Center. Last night's concert was National Symphony Orchestra: Itzhak Perlman, conductor & violin. They performed J. S. Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor. He also conducted Mozart's "Haffner" Symphony and Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique" Symphony.

It was quite amazing. I had not seen Perlman in live concert before, so I didn't realize that he had lost the use of his legs after he contracted Polio at the age of four. He performs and conducts while sitting down. Nevertheless, he does nearly magical things with his Stradivarius.

Well, it might not be Perlman, but if you haven't been to a symphony concert recently, you really must go. If you're in a bigger city, you'll obviously have options; however, even if you're in a smaller college town, go to a concert! Every time I go, I realize how much you miss the nuances from just a recording.

iPWSG

What Crackberry? Less than a week after Brian was forced to get a new iPhone 3G, he's not looked back at his what? BlackBerry.

It all started when somebody tried to borrow his BlackBerry without his permission. Later he was disappointed by the return of said borrowed BlackBerry.
[It was obvious he had enabled this loan.]

And then, mere days later, of all the crazy things, the return key on his BlackBerry went missing! Gone. Kaput. In its place was a sad, little vacant space where a small, but vital key was no longer.
[Insert squeaking...prying...ping...uh oh, what's that little piece of plastic flying through the air...wheee]

Conveniently, a couple of days later, we were in the Apple Store for a travel charger for Ellie's new Nano, when all of a sudden an iPhone jumped into Brian's hands and hasn't left them since.

His first iPhone email was to a fellow iPhone owner: "I no longer covet your iPhone. However, I am having impulse control issues. Sent from my iPhone."

Of course, one of the main iPhone features is the ability to download applications, such as Urbanspoon.


Five musical instruments, four news aggregators, multiple restaurant locaters, apps to find apps, now fifty or more apps later, the lure of still more apps continues to call...Brian, download me...

In this spirit, I have started the iPhone Widows Support Group.

Ladies, join me. iPWs ban together!

You're in for a treat when . . .

...the menu is the placemat.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for dear family and friends.

I'm thankful for my job; please keep in your thoughts and prayers, my 7,000 colleagues that lost their jobs and for many others facing the same challenge.

I'm thankful for our new church.

I'm thankful for those that are fighting for our country and who will be missing their families and friends this Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for the many blessings I've been given and don't deserve.

The City that Never Sleeps

We flew to New York on Friday evening. Even at 9pm, there was a line out the door for soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai. Nevertheless, after a brief wait, our reason for New York was complete. (kidding)

On Saturday, we visited J&R (every imaginable electronic device you could imagine). There was browsing; no purchasing. In between eating our way through New York, breakfast at the Soda Shop and lunch at Mon Petit Café (recommend the La Soupe a L'Onion Gratinee and Le Croque Monsieur), we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Of course on the way to see "White Christmas" on Broadway, and despite temperatures in the 20's (and wind chills even cooler) I couldn't pass up the Pomegranate Paradise at Jamba Juice.


We went to church at Redeemer Presbyterian with our closest 2500 friends at one of their five services. Truly amazing. Dr. Keller is doing a series, Bible: The Whole Story - Creation and Fall, which includes passages from Genesis, Romans and Revelation. We walked by Rockefeller Center, and saw the ice skating rink and huge Christmas tree, but no lit lights yet. We arrived at B&H, which can only be described as a photographer's heaven. Brian found a new tripod and camera bag. With new tripod in hand, he took some fabulous photos of the World Trade Center construction area from the hotel, which looks directly over the site and Times Square. We closed out the evening by seeing Stomp (go on-line to see/hear clips). What an entertaining show and well worth seeing!

Happy Anniversary!

Our Anniversary dinner was at Marcel's. It's a very lovely, French Belgian restaurant that we had not been to before, but had heard rave reviews. We splurged on the 7-course tasting menu. This time, there was no spoon confusion!

They have a pre-theater menu, which includes 3-courses and will be perfect when we are on the way to the Kennedy Center.

The "amuse-bouche" was a small demitasse cup of a velvety corn chowder soup.

• lobster bisque en croute, lobster salad
• pan seared la belle farm foie gras served with toasted bread
• Marcel's boudin blanc, red wine essence (probably our favorite)
• pan seared sea bass with a light sauce
• Australian venison, sauteed spinach and pureed root vegetable; Brian had bison, potato
• cheese course described like this (brillat savarin, candied walnuts, honey humoldt fog, roasted apricot & vanilla mimolette, medjool date epoisses, quince, marcona almonds)
• hazelnut souffle with a chocolate sauce and pistachio ice cream; Brian had a triple chocolate creation (both were yummy!)

A small plate of five different sweets and a coffee topped the evening

Our dessert plates had a beautiful scroll of Happy 11th Anniversary written in chocolate. It was a real treat.

A New Hallelujah

Two of my favorite artists are Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman. Tonight, we got to see both for the price of one! They both sang a lot of their classics, and Michael W. Smith sung several new ones from A New Hallelujah. It was so much fun. I took a couple of pictures. Of course Brian took some fabulous ones!



This is for my best friend, Special K Mom!

Surfin' USA...or at least California

We were in Laguna Beach, CA for the Public Affairs Council board meeting (or as Brian called it, my "scam"). I appreciated the humor; however, I'm not sure my fellow board members did. He had a point, it was really two half days of meetings.

My favorite speaker was David Ignatius, a columnist on global politics, economics and international affairs for The Washington Post, and the author of six books including, "Body of Lies" that was made into a movie and currently in theaters. He really had a fascinating background and experience with Middle East countries.

Of course there was some free time, hence the label "scam." We played golf (horribly) at the Monarch Beach Golf Links. The setting was indeed beautiful, there were a couple of holes that look over the ocean.

The meeting was over on Friday and we stayed the weekend. We toured around the area and went down to Dana Point, we explored the downtown of Laguna Beach, lots of picture taking for Brian, watching surfers and sand volleyball, driving up to Balboa Island.

One of my favorite little stores in Laguna Beach is the Candy Baron www.thecandybaron.com. They have all the old fashioned candy. Remember Bottle Caps, Fun Dip, Pop Rocks, Pixie Stix, candy necklaces and cigarettes? They have it all.

Recommend:
Penguin Cafe - great diner for breakfast
Cafe Zoolu www.cafezoolu.com

• Blackened Raw Ahi (Sashimi)
  Avocado, grapefruit and Thai-ginger horseradish sauce.
• Alaskan Halibut
  Mild, thick filet, topped with white wine, herb-onion-mushroom-shrimp sauce, with garlic mashed potatoes.
• Swordfish Sampler (3-Way)
  Mesquite broiled & topped with lemon-caper butter OR macadamia nut butter.
  Blackened with Cajun spices and topped with tomatillo sauce and corn salsa.

Take a pass:
Coyote Grill

Only a few pictures.

In Memory of Linda Franklin

The New York Times
By SARAH KERSHAW
Published: October 16, 2002

It was a tumultuous year for Linda Franklin. But hers were not just the stresses of working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the time of terror, or the reflexive motherly worries about her children and the health of a first grandchild about to be born.

A year ago, at 46, Ms. Franklin, an analyst for the F.B.I., had faced the prospect of her own death: a diagnosis of breast cancer and tests showing the disease so advanced that she had to have a double mastectomy, relatives said. Then, late in August, they said, her 18-year-old niece was killed in a car accident, and there was a funeral, a wrenching family gathering that turned out to be the last time she saw her parents.

Despite all that, there were to be cheerful things ahead as Ms. Franklin made her way on Monday night with her husband to Home Depot.

There was the first grandchild, of course, and Ms. Franklin had recently received a clean bill of health from her doctors and was making good progress in her physical therapy. She was adored at her job at the F.B.I.'s National Infrastructure Protection Center, where she had worked for four years as an intelligence operations specialist in the cyberdivision and was considered a keen analyst, colleagues said.

She and her husband, Ted Franklin, a network engineer for a Washington technology company, had recently bought a penthouse apartment in Arlington. It was bigger than their red-brick, two-bedroom, one-bathroom condominium on South Wakefield Street, which had accommodated so many relatives in need of a place to stay and stray animals that Ms. Franklin had taken in.

Their condo, along a tidy row of town houses on a gentle street in this Washington suburb, was virtually all packed up; moving vans had already carted away boxes and furniture.

It was the new penthouse apartment -- and all the planned repairs and tinkering they planned to do after moving in on Friday -- that drew the Franklins to Home Depot, for what was their last errand together, friends and relatives said. As the couple loaded up their red convertible, Ms. Franklin became the suburban sniper's ninth kill.

''She was the most giving person I know, ''said Paul Hulseberg, who worked with her
and remained a close friend after he left the bureau. ''There were times when there were six adults living in this two-bedroom town house. Because if anybody in the family needed anything they came here.''

Ms. Franklin, 47, had begun her career as a teacher. Her father, Charles Moore, who lives with his wife, Mary Ann, in Gainesville, Fla., said she was bent on teaching and interested in community service from a young age. She spent part of her childhood in Indiana, but the family moved to Florida while she was in middle school, Mr. Moore said. She studied education at the University of Florida and then spent years working overseas -- in Guatemala, Honduras, Germany, Okinawa and Belgium -- as a high school English teacher employed by the Department of Defense. She raised two children, a son and daughter, as a single mother, before marrying Mr. Franklin eight years ago. She also raised a second niece, Mr. Hulseberg said.

''She was tough, she went through a lot,'' Mr. Moore said.

He said that after years of teaching she got ''burned out,'' and when she heard the F.B.I. had jobs available she applied and ''the F.B.I. snapped her right up.''

Mr. Moore said he and his wife were planning to go to Arlington next week to visit their daughter, something they did three or four times a year. ''I don't think we'll ever go there again,'' he said flatly.

Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, issued a statement today, saying, "Tragically, a member of the F.B.I. family last night became the latest victim of the Washington, D.C., area sniper killer.''

Mr. Mueller continued, ''The employees who worked with Linda -- and all of us -- are deeply shocked and angry over this tragedy.''

Outside the Franklin home today, an F.B.I. colleague of hers read a statement from the family expressing devastation and appealing to the public for help in catching the killer.

Mr. Moore's voice was devoid of emotion as he listed his daughter's accomplishments and described her life in a numb monotone. ''It hasn't sunk in yet,'' he said.

At the Home Depot where Ms. Franklin was killed, a memorial was set up this afternoon in the parking space on the lower level of the parking garage where she was shot, and Arlington residents drifted over to the spot, some weeping, to stare or leave something behind. The spot was surrounded by four orange cones. Inside the cones, there was a pot of white chrysanthemums, with three American flags stuck into the soil. There was also a statue of an angel, a stuffed red heart, four candles and a bouquet of carnations tied with a red, white and blue ribbon.

A neighbor of Ms. Franklin's, Verena Mueller, who did not know the latest victim, stood on the sidewalk near her home today sobbing uncontrollably as she recounted her plans for Monday evening: a trip to the same Home Depot, a few miles away in Falls Church, at roughly the same time Ms. Franklin went, to buy Plexiglas and wood to fortify her greenhouse for the winter. By 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Ms. Mueller said,
she realized that she had not finished the measurements, so at the last minute she postponed the errand.

''We all go shopping there,'' she said, referring to Seven Corners on Arlington Boulevard, near where the shooting occurred. ''That's my mall, that's my Home Depot.''

Gold Status

In the Milwaukee airport, we were right behind Garrett Weber-Gale in the security line.

Who is Garrett Weber-Gale, you ask?

He won two Olympic gold medals as part of the U.S. 4 X 100 relay team (the awesome relay race where Michael Phelps, Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak bested the French) and the 4 X 100 medley. And, he's from Milwaukee!
www.gwgswims.com
http://swimming.teamusa.org/athlete/athlete/922
www.garrettwebergale.blogspot.com

To be honest, I didn't recognize him until the TSA agent was inspecting his two gold medals. On the flight, we sat in the row right in front of him. We didn't ask for his autograph, because you never really want to bother someone who must get bothered all the time!

Six Of One, A Half Dozen Of The Other

On Saturday, we went to see the Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. It was interesting photography (slight warning to parents: not all photos rated-G!).

Richard Avedon (1923–2004), America’s pre-eminent portraitist and fashion photographer, photographed the faces of politics throughout his career. As the country enters the next presidential election season, the Corcoran will bring together Avedon’s political portraits for the first time. Juxtaposing images of elite government, media, and labor officials with counter-cultural activists and ordinary citizens caught up in national debates, this exhibition will explore a five-decade taxonomy of politics and power by one of our best-known artists.

And you thought this post was going to focus on Aaron Rodgers' shoulder injury, Green Bay's loss, Brett Favre's record-breaking six touchdown and Jets' win. Alas, I know you're disappointed.

Did I mention Favre had six touchdowns?
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80b2d31e

What Are We Reading?

Brian is reading:
Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Sanction by Eric Van Lustbader

Ellie is reading:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

A Thirteen Hour Tour

Friends from Minnesota came to visit! Yes, they're Vikings fans. I know, we still let them stay. Of course, we did provide some appropriate reading material. :-)

It was really great to see them. I've known them my whole life. One of the friends was my 4-year old Sunday School teacher. They arrived late Friday and left Sunday morning, so we only had Saturday to see everything you can see in DC! Here's what we were able to see: the Netherland Carillon, Iwo Jima, Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, Washington Monument, saw Bob Dole at the World War II Memorial, Korean Memorial, Lincoln Monument, found our friend's cousin's name at the Vietnam Memorial, White House, Old Post Office Pavilion tower, FBI building, Archives, Navy Memorial, my office!, found our friend's father's police partner's name at the Law Enforcement Memorial, Building Museum, St. Matthew's, Mayflower Hotel, Capitol, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Union Station and FDR Memorial. All in about 13 hours! It was 93 degrees with 92 percent humidity. It was hot, but we all had fun.

We also finished re-doing our guest rooms. This is how they look. The yellow room needs a few wall decorations and maybe a chair or bench, but it's just about done.

The middle room with the new futon, needs to be painted a new color, curtains/valance, wall decorations. So, it's still a work in progress, but we've come a long way since we started!

What do you think?

I Remember

Photo by Bill O'Leary / Washington Post

I remember that it is was a Tuesday. It seemed like any other Tuesday. But it wasn't. It was a day that would change the world.

I remember the crisp, cloudless, crystal, bright blue sky that morning.

I remember watching the unbelievable scenes on TV with colleagues.

I remember finally reaching my family because the phones weren't working right away.

I remember the eerie three plus hour drive to get home.

I remember the voice of my best friend when I finally reached her.

I remember thinking that we would know people who had lost loved ones.

I remember we had just moved in to our house the weekend before.

I remember watching TV the rest of the day with friends.

I remember the scenes on TV from the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA.

I remember watching the head of Cantor Fitzgerald weep over the loss of so many employees and friends.

I remember seeing on TV the signs posted on lamp posts seeking news on loved ones lost.

I remember every time I visit our headquarters that is right across from where the World Trade Center Towers stood.

I remember the 11 employees I never knew, but were lost that day.

To all the families who were impacted on that day, seven years ago, I remember.

Also see Eleven Tears and In Remembrance