when the weather outside is frightful...

- We made it to Michigan yesterday...barely. We left around noon and picked up Alaina in Philly. The weather was fine across Pennsylvania and into the beginning parts of Ohio and we were making great time. Then came the first accident. We sat for an hour on the highway about 90 miles east of Toledo while a large accident got cleared up. Luckily we were: a) about a quarter mile behind the accident so we weren't involved and b) about a quarter mile behind the accident because the Ohio Turnpike had to be backed up at least 20 miles. After they clear up the accident we got moving and the roads were treacherous. Sticky slush tried to pull the Subaru all over the road but the Subby refused to be man-handled in such a way. It rained through out the rest of Ohio and hovered near the freezing mark making any driving above 60 mph foolish. As we entered Michigan the roads cleared a bit, which almost had me thinking I was on the well plowed roads of the New York State Thruway. I soon found out how wrong I was. It was only a matter of time before the road became barely "plowed" if you even want to call it that. It was not uncommon to find myself driving back and forth between the lanes merely because that's what the plow had decided to plow. Numerous SUVs were off the road, only further confirming my beliefs that many SUV drivers think they are invincible and are in fact, not even close. Our speed was around 50mph for this section and once in a while on a good stretch I could push it to the blistering pace of 55mph (for anyone who knows how I like to drive, 55mph felt like walking but I was smart and held back from speeding). Interstate-96 brought slightly better paved roads and we passed a few plows (I will save my diatribe against the poor design of Michigan plows for another blog post). We passed plenty of accidents and plenty of people flying along the highway at a good 30mph (they obviously hadn't been driving from New Jersey all day). The worst accident we passed, which we likely barely missed, was a tractor trailer completely spun around and 2 cars off the road near it. The vehicles didn't look too damaged but we called 911 to alert them and police were already on the way. I only hit one spot of slush that tried to make the back end come around but with a little correction the Subaru again refused to be driven off the road bringing to mind the civil rights era song lyrics, "We shall not, We shall not be moved." The precipitation at this point was minimal and our greatest danger were the bad road conditions and even worse drivers including the mini-van who was tailgating me for a quarter-mile. We got off 96 onto 28th St safely, though the exit ramp was a mess and pulled onto Jefferson SE at approximately 3:58 am Subaru time, 3:53 EST. We quickly unpacked the car and hit the pillows, relieved to be done driving.

So we're here. And we're excited.

when the clock says stop we're all gonna drop

- I are currently in Day 4 of the DTTOYTDLEADSTWDST Project '08 (see the last post for what the acronym means) and I am doing pretty well. The list is being checked off at a quick pace and I am proud to say that I have not felt as though I have wasted a day of break so far.
- I just got back from the Bonner Foundation staff White Elephant gift exchange and unfortunately got stuck with one of the gifts we brought, which to say the least, was pretty bad. Luckily the format of this gift exchange was things that we pretty bad, so plenty of other people got stuck with bad things.

their green grass is green, our green grass is brown

- The weather has been absolutely silly lately. I went running Saturday in tights, long sleeve thermal, gloves, and a hat. Today I went running in shorts and a t-shirt. That is just silly.
- Today is the first day of the "Do the Things on Your To-Do List Eric and Don't Spend the Whole Day Surfing the Internet" Project '08. It was mildly successful. I luckily started with applying for an exam I need to take in February. I say luckily because, unbeknownst to me, today was the last day to sign up. Sweet life Eric.
- I am thinking of starting a monthly mix-CD give away. It will go something like this: I will post a blog entry which says "This Month's mix-CD is ready" and the first three people to respond with their addresses or SBN's will get a free copy of the mix-CD, postage paid and all. The mix-CD will contain songs that I have been listening to a lot during the month, or that are fitting to the time of year. There may be repeats month-to-month, as mix-CD maker, I reserve the right to do that, because I can. This may or may not also be a shameless plug at keeping people's interest in the blog peaked.

run, run, rudolph whizzin like a merry go round

- Fall semester 08-09 is done! I finished up this morning with a Greek translation exam on 1 Corinthians 13. We translated it during the semester and it's a pretty easy passage so it was no problem. It feels good to be done and hard to believe I have only 1 semester of seminary left.
- Miriam and I are enjoying another relaxed weekend at home, she's currently doing some craft projecting and I am celebrating the end of the semester by wasting time on the internet doing nothing productive.
- We don't take off for Michigan until the 23rd and Miriam still has to work this next week and a half so we've set up quite a list of things I need to accomplish during the time. Lists are good for me because without them I, a) do absolutely nothing and b) tend to forget anything that Miriam asks me to do or I think of to do.
- Some of the things on my list:
- Schedule dr.'s appointments
- Not waste the entire day on the internet
- Get new banjo strings/learn to play banjo
- Clean up my crap
- Clean up our storage unit
Big things!

- Just a quick correction that the title of the last post should have been 2 Kings 2:23-25 not 3:23-25

2 Kings 2:23-25

This weekend was Miriam and I's first weekend with no travel since September and it was wonderful.
Thursday brought a holiday party at the Borough which was quite fun and included a rousing game of Blokus.
Friday night was the Christmas dinner and dance at the Seminary. The dinner was disappointing but the party and dance were very fun. We danced hard, until they blew the amp and the music stopped for 20 minutes or so. By the time the music started again Miriam and I, like the old married we are, were too tired to continue dancing it out and retreated back home.
Saturday was a day filled with absolutely nothing and it was awesome. Miriam and Emily spent the day running errands and doing things. All I did was make 2 loaves of bread and clean the toilet. Other than that I spent the entire days in sweats basking in pre-finals laziness. That night we went to a surprise birthday party for our friend Jenelle which was very fun and included a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting (my favorite).
Sunday brought its usual churh-i-ness which was fun and tiring but I survived.
This week is finals week and my motivation is near an all time low (a bit of senioritis perhaps, something my parents will likely shudder at the thought of, given my senior year of high school)
That is all for now.

the day that will live in infamy

Burt Reynolds Day '08: The Day When the Mustache is King

staring at the sun, trying not to breath

Some pics from Thanksgiving weekend in Upstate.