Greenkill

Last week, I chaperoned the annual 3-day 6th grade trip to Greenkill. For those of you not familiar with Greenkill, it is an environmental camp in upstate New York. The kids learn about ecology and they also partake in Project Adventure activities. It's a great way for the 6th graders, who have come from different elementary schools, to get to know one another and to learn about teamwork and the environment. We chaperones had it pretty easy this year: no visits to the ER, no 'criers', no calls to home for kids to be picked up. The naturalists are with the kids for most of the day and all night long, so the teachers get to do a few different hikes of our own, including a midnight hike. We climbed up to "The Ridge" a little after midnight, guided by the light of a full moon and by our flashlights. Then we set up blankets, lay down, and stared at the stars. Lucky for us, a science teacher was there and more than willingly pointed out the constellations to us. It was so refreshing being back in nature for 3 days.

Breaking News?

So, I'm home sick today with a sinus infection and I finally settle on watching Rachael Ray (the pickings are really slim in the 10am-11am slot....). Her guest, Michael Buble, is about to perform, when Eyewitness News cuts to its Breaking News. Like any New Yorker, since 9/11, my heart actually stops when there's Breaking News, just fearing the worst, having flashbacks to the nausea and horror of that day. The dreaded Breaking News music plays, the anchorwoman comes on, and the title of the story appears on the bottom of the screen: "Joe Girardi Accepts Offer to be Manager of Yankees." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! I am sorry, I don't care what fan of what team you are, under NO circumstance should sports warrant Breaking News. Especially in this day and age. I'm not just saying that because I am a Mets fan. As a matter of fact, I have no problem with the Yankees, will even root for them in the off-season, but I find myself more and more being absolutely disgusted by the media attention that this team gets. People wonder what happened to the bygone days of baseball, and your answer is right here. It's not about the game, the fun, the athleticism anymore. It's day after day after day of drama. Really now, maybe the team should consider moving to Hollywood. And don't even get me started on the media, who has perpetually ruined the sport as far as I am concerned....

Fall Trip

Today Rina, Amanda and I headed upstate to enjoy the fall foliage (albeit in 70-something degree weather...). First, we visited the Warwick Valley Winery and Distillery, which is basically an apple orchard that also presses grapes into wine and apples, pears, and berries into ciders and spirits. We enjoyed a tasting of about 12 different alcoholic drinks (leaving us a little tipsy!), then wandered around their orchards. Afterwards, we went to Och's Farms, which is where I used to go with my family when I was younger for apple-picking. After paying for our all-you-can-fill bag, we headed into the orchards only to find a bunch of empty trees! It took us awhile, but we managed to fill up our bag, mostly with small apples. We also got some yummy pumpkin and apple bakery goodies in their shop.

It was great being in the fresh air. The foliage was beautiful - reds, oranges, bright yellows. It never ceases to amaze me what nature produces each year. The only way this day could have been better is if the weather felt like fall!

When Did I Get So Old?

For some reason, AARP seems to think that I'm over 50. I get mail from them every week with exciting details about what's offered to me for simply being over 50. I've called them. I've sent notes in the business reply envelopes stating that I am 28 years old, but still they persist. Did my parents lie about my year of birth? Was I born in 1957, when my parents were 2 and 3 years old? It makes me so sad to think about the waste of paper and of postage - hey, we will need those trees when the ozone is shot, and we will need that money to put towards our social security when it's all depleted in another 50 years!!!

Sweet Home Alabama

I'm a little upset I can't find a direct link to the news story, but lucky for you, I have dvr and was able to rewind this story a few times to type out the transcript... Here's how it goes, according to the CW11 news at 10:00 (yes, I know I should expect this from CW11, but there's baseball on Fox, so I can't catch the 10:00 news there)....

" "Grannie's Got a Gun." In Alabama, this 81 year old woman [camera pans to old woman rocking in a chair] took matters into her own hands when she caught an intruder in her house. He was in his underwear and he was washing his clothes in her washing machine [camera pans to a washing machine]. So she shot him."

It's times like this that I'm so thankful for living in New York. Not to say we don't have our fair share of bizarre (and too often upsetting) news, but, well, need I say more?... I'd so love to be in the interrogation room with the intruder so I could figure out why he was breaking and entering to wash his clothes!

Random Thoughts

The past few weeks have pretty much been routine, so unfortunately I don't have much to report in terms of things I've seen and done. I figured instead that I'd put together a list of random thoughts that have passed through my mind recently.

-This has been the first year since 1996 where I haven't moved out of one home and into another

-Starbucks has changed their apple cider drink. It's now made with bottled apple juice instead of cider and has a completely different name to fool us from the truth - "Caramel Spiced Apple"

-The ankle that I hurt in 1997 (falling down some stairs at the BU science building) is STILL hurting me. It's been really bad this weekend.

-I can't find my favorite pair of shoes. I've looked everywhere, including the car and under my desk at work. Where could shoes disappear to?

-I'm LOVING that autumn is finally here! I've got my candles going and got to wear some of my cute layering pieces.

-I went to my first Rangers game of the year in my dad's seats, where they lost 3-1, giving up 3 goals within a minutes' span (yes, you read that right). Fun fun. I think I was to blame for the loss because I sat in seat #6 instead of my usual seat #7. After the third goal, I switched seats w/ my friend and the Rangers let up no more goals.

-My newest addiction: Country Choice Organic's Ginger Snaps. They are SO good - so nice and spicy.

That's all for now. I promise there will be more exciting things to read and some more photos later in the month. I have an autumn trip upstate next Saturday, and then later next week I am chaperoning 201 sixth graders to the annual 3-day trip to Greenkill, in upstate NY. Until then, I hope you've enjoyed the little thoughts that, well, make me ME.

A Farewell to the Boys of Summer

It's taken me awhile to overcome the heartbreak associated with the New York Mets' demise this season. For those of you who don't follow the National League, the Mets set a MLB record (and maybe even professional sports record) for worst fall from first place - specifically, losing grounds of being 7 games up on the 2nd place Phillies with 17 games left in the season. At least they set a record - I mean, if you're going to do something THAT bad, you might as well make it memorable, right?

What made it worse is that it was the Mets own horrible playing that caused them to lose! It wasn't due to inhuman efforts by the Phillies. It's almost like the equivalent of the 'nice' break-up. It's so much easier to just HATE someone and put all the blame on someone else!

Lucky for me, the Phillies were swept last night by the Rockies. I could barely watch the playoffs, thinking the whole time, "that should be the Mets." Now, with Phillie out of it, it's all even again and I can once again tune into the playoffs. Sure, my heart will still pang for David Wright, and no team is complete without the speed of Reyes or the heart of LoDuca. So, to my Mets: rest up and have fun golfing for awhile. I'll see you in 2008....

Now, which one of my teams will disappoint me next? I have a feeling it will be the Jets, following their terrible game today....

And a Weather Follow-up

For those of you who've read my previous post about it being close to 90, that was unfortunately not just a random day. We've had temperatures in the mid 80's all week, and expected to stay so throughout the weekend. Worse, it's disgustingly humid. It sort of feels like those rainforest rooms in the aquariums or zoos over here. Looks like I'll be spending my 3-day weekend locked in my air-conditioned living room.

Obviously the lack of fall weather has been preoccupying me....

Another Weather Complaint

It's sticky. Very sticky. My wrists are sticking to my keyboard. Tomorrow is supposed to be 85 degrees. It's October. I've worn none of my cute fall clothes. HELP.