Lions, Tigers and Komodo Dragons, oh my!

So yesterday (Saturday), it was about 55 degrees and sunny out--perfect for Holly to go spend 3 hours inside at some Antique Fair (or some such place that Holly would find exciting and wonderful and that me and the kids would be bored with before we even got there). The only good part about the Antique Show was that it was very close to the Smithsonian National Zoo--hooray! So, we all boarded the Metro (light rail system in D.C.--EXACTLY like the one that Cincinnati should build if it ever gets it's head out of it's rear end). For $3.45 round trip we all got to ride the train, wait in line, and mingle with a nice cross-section of D.C. populace. Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the zoo.

So, the kids and I said good-bye to Holly and proceeded hiked a half-mile to the zoo from the Metro stop. Like all the other Smithsonians around D.C. or "The District" if you live in D.C. (I'm protesting that stupid name, BTW--that and we don't live in D.C.) the zoo is free. Double score!

We had on our short list wanting to see: I wanted to see the pandas, while the kids wanted to see the Lions and Tigers and the Komodo Dragons--I'll let you figure out which one wanted to see which.

Not surprisingly, the zoo was not that crowded given the weather. However, the animals were all outside which was fun to see. We got a special treat and watched the elephants getting an afternoon snack. The highlight of the elephant house wasn't the pygmy hippo, or the capybara--always sweet to see a rodent that is larger than a German Shepherd--but the hippo. I don't think that any of us have ever really seen a full-grown hippo before, at least not this size. The best part about it, according to the kids was that it pooped in front of us. It pooped a lot. I mean A LOT. No picture of that unfortunately--I'll let you use your imaginations--and yes, it was that bad.

So, here are some pictures from our zoo adventure.
Apparently, pandas eat a lot of bamboo a day. I'm talking a LOT of bamboo. It seems that when they are awake, they are pretty much eating non-stop. Much like our old cat Cicero...who now weighs in at a healthy 18 pounds.






Here is the Capybara. Apparently it likes standing in pools of water. It too was eating--but I couldn't get it to stand still long enough to get a clear shot...except when it was standing in the water. Water apparently equals Capybara tranquilizer. Who knew. Nothing like a 60-pound rodent to brighten one's afternoon at the zoo I always say.

Male lion. The one thing I'll say about the National Zoo is that they really haven't gone out of their way to make the animal habitats anything like their native habitats. I guess if you are a lion that comes from a place where there are a lot of oak trees, clover, and bamboo you're all set. Props to the Cincinnati Zoo's cat house--those crazy murals, and the ambient noise for the cats...this lion would kill one of you to get a room there. Well, maybe kill is the wrong word--I have to constantly remind Holly that in the wild, the lion is looking at you thinking, "Oh good, dinner is here."

Female lion. She stood still for quite a while sniffing the air. I think she saw all the little kiddies around and was just trying to figure out which one smelled like it wanted to be her snack the most. Interestingly, they had the male and female lions in separate enclosures. No idea why, but there you go.

Here is the Komodo Dragon. It pretty much was in a corner of it's enclosure looking rather depressed. We stared at it though the thick glass and it just blinked back at us. This went on for about 3 minutes until we gave up that it was going to do anything interesting. Sometimes the zoo can be like that...oddly, much like a couple of my essay questions on my New Testament exam apparently (I got a B-).

We did also see some other wonderful animals, and a giant octopus who really didn't take a liking to us sticking our faces right up to the glass--either that or it was hungry (it kept on spreading out it's tentacles over our faces. Do you blame it, really?). As we were about to leave the zoo we saw, in the new Asian Trail exhibit, one of the sloth bears come out to pose so we got a couple of pictures. "It needs a Kleenex" one of the little kids next to us observed. From the mouths of babes....

Vestments---THANK YOU!

So, here are the vestments that many of you helped me to get--THANK YOU! First off, they are wonderfully made and very high quality. I don't think I'll need to get new vestments for a LONG time. I was able to get my cassock, alb, cincture and surplice. I'd especially like to thank my grandparents, my mom, Chet and Joy Cavaliere, Bruce Freeman, Mark Blocher and, of course everyone at my home parish, The Church of The Redeemer.

This is the alb. Classic white...could have gone with some sort of "flax" or "natural color", but nah. Went with the plain white. Medium weight, and somewhat wrinkle-free-ish.




















Here is the only real option I added to the alb. Thought it was a nice touch.














Here is the cassock. Went with the Latin style--lots of buttons but I thought it looked better overall. Getting in and out of it is a bit of fun. Again, medium weight, but lined throughout which is nice. I'm sure 1987 Redeemer in August would say the lining isn't such a great idea, but funerals in the middle of winter say otherwise.
















Here it is with the surplice. In Virginia, with our low church attitudes towards vestments...I might be getting some mileage out of this combo depending on my field ed site. More on THAT subject in another posting.

Again, THANK you to everyone that helped contribute to my vestments, I truly appreciate it!

Jingles the Snowman

So, for Christmas, my dad and Alex decided to give us a 4-pound chocolate snowman. A certain "Jingles" by name. One of those presents that you really never expect to get. Ever. But, it is one that when you get it you think two things immediately: 1) "did I really just get a brown snowman made of chocolate?" and 2) "I BET I can eat all of that. Seriously, I think I can". So in being true to my word, here is our progress to date. All of us have helped out with this project. We are now a couple of weeks in and we've gotten through the hard part of the challenge, the solid hat--sorry we should have taken a picture of it before we stared eating it so you could FULLY appreciate the grandeur, glory, and magnificence of "Jingles". I'll quote some of the back of the box, which totally rocks:

Master Chocolatier, Dana Taylor Davenport has created this delicious chocolate snowman using only the finest white, milk and dark couverture quality chocolate. Now, for those of you who are wondering--much the same way I was wondering (before I googled it) what in the wide wide world of sports "couverture quality chocolate" is...um, it is:

"Couverture (French for coating or covering ) chocolate is the basis of all chocolate, as grapes are the basis of wine. It is professional-quality chocolate that is used for tempering and making bonbons, truffles and chocolate bars, or enrobing other confections (chocolate-covered pretzels and marshmallows, e.g.). If you are a serious student of chocolate and want to understand why you prefer one brand over another, you need to learn your couvertures—and the companies that make them. Couverture chocolate is made with better beans. It is ground to a finer particle size and has a higher cocoa butter content than most chocolate bars for eating†. These two latter qualities enable it to be used for delicate work—for example, to be molded into delicate designs." Thank you very much to thenibble.com for the preceding information. So now you know. And as G.I. Joe will tell you at the end of every episode where no one really dies and Cobra commander somehow manages to get his hiney kicked (even though having a 300:1 advantage in guns, tanks, planes, men, boats, hovercraft, laser blasters and a thousand dudes with masks) and get away from four guys--in rad outfits with "swivel arm battle grip"--with one jake-legged helicopter and a pack of explosives....and somehow all the guys always manage to get out of their tanks, helicopters, planes, boats, etc. before they explode. Amazing how the body count for those cartoons was always ZERO. Amazing.....but I digress.

Wait, what the heck was I saying? I dunno. Anyways... so we've got this thing and we are battling on (Xena warrior princess). We'll keep the update going throughout the year as we attempt to put this bad boy down. I know you can't wait.

We got a Wii, Jimmy got a Mii

So, true to form, it has been just about a month since I've had any time to sit and write about...well, anything. Which, naturally is because EVERYTHING has been hitting the proverbial fan. But, that time has passed--thank you very much Jesus.

One of the items our family received for Christmas--surprising me most of all since a certain SOMEONE said that in no way shape or form would we, "ever EVER have a video game system unless it is over MY DEAD BODY!!!" is a Nintendo Wii. I am here to tell you that the Wii rules. Plain and simple it is amazing. It takes some getting used to with the remote controllers, but having the character on-screen mimic your own movements is pretty wild.

One of the best things about the Wii--I mean, aside from all the cool games, and the extra things it does (the weather channel is pretty darn pimp if you asked me)--is that you get to create a virtual you for the system, a Mii. It is much like an Avitar if you know what that is. If you don't know what that is then, well, um....nevermind. Each of us made our own person, and we did a pretty good job of it if I do say so myself.

The one we had the best luck with, however, was my dad. Here are a couple of pictures of him taken at Kate's wedding... You'll have to agree he tends to look like this about 45% of the time in some capacity.






Here is another picture of him that we took the same weekend. You'll note that he only usually looks like this about 25% of the time.








Now, we worked long and hard to get everything just right with his Mii. I mean, we (and by we I mean, ME) spent about 15 minutes creating, editing, tweaking, scrapping-and-starting-over until we got just the right Mii for Jimmy. Here he is on-screen:



He's a great bowler, and has almost reached pro level. He's also a pretty average baseball player it turns out with a nice slider and an ability to hit the long ball upon occasion. He still likes to take long windy walks on the beach (OK, I'm making that part up...I think). He's a pretty decent golfer--who, just like in real life, has no ability to hit an approach shot--odd how the video system knew that. And, he's an excellent tennis player. Here he is in action:
You'll note that his skill level is at zero. That was his first game. Since then he's defeated a number of computer players and has moved all the way up to the pro-level. Currently he is at 1037--I think that is good. Well done, Jimmy!