I love Google News, but it does look like they still have a few bugs to work out.

The Cali Thanksgiving Report

Since I'm the one with all the pictures of Thanksgiving I thought I'd post the report. I'm currently having trouble posting the pictures though, so if you'd like to see them all you can give me your email address and I'll send you an invitation to view my pictures on Snapfish (or I could just send one to Dad and he could post them on the family website for me).
Anyways, my whole week home was great. One of the beginners on the Yale polo team and I played in the 3rd annual Yale-Stanford polo match. For the first time, Yale lost (though you've got to admit, we were at a significant disadvantage only having 2 players), but we still had a blast. It was Sarah's first time in a game-type situation, so it was rather exciting for her. And because the guy in charge of assigning horses has a bit of a crush on me, I got to ride all of Stanford's best horses, which was really fun. I don't have any pictures of that, but hopefully they'll send me some and I can put those up as well.
Thanksgiving itself was, of course, absolutely amazing. Dad made his famous homemade bread, I made my usual jello creations, and Mom made a beautiful turkey (with her fantastic gravy, and this in spite of Lydia infringement into the process). As Dad mentioned earlier, we had the Leibs family minus Jeremy over, plus my friend Regan (a roommate from freshman year, now at Stanford), her boyfriend Brian (not fiance as Dad said earlier, or at least not yet), and my friend from the lab I worked in this summer, David. So it was quite the crowd. We all had a great time stuffing ourselves, playing a few games, and then eating even more. It sounds like the East Coast Thanksgivings were quite a bit of fun as well.
Missy mentioned being interested in coming to see a polo match sometime. We have two games this weekend - one up at Cornell on Friday, then one back at Yale on Saturday - at that's it for this semester. I'm not sure of the schedule for next semester, but it should be up on the Yale Polo website: www.yale.edu/polo and if it's not there yet, it should be soon.

Florida Thanksgiving

Well, we didn't have to dash through the snow to get to our Thanksgiving feast. It took us less than 10 minutes. How many of you can say that?

Sharon decorated the house and table with her usual flair. Ken was disappointed that she didn't have a cornucopia (three of them in storage, she says) but we managed to muddle through the meal anyway. Everything was delicious, from turkey and dressing to cranberry cake. She made the cake with Splenda just to tempt Gordy and it worked.

Ken and Gordy watched Dallas win the football game, muttering bad things all the time. At dinner Ken read a three-line blessing with African roots about keeping "hungry" away. But I had the piece de resistance, for I read Keith's recent account of the Grouseland Hunt Club dinner. It was a hit with those erstwhile Front Royal folks, who could have lived there for twenty years and never even know there was a Grouseland Hunt Club. Thanks, Keith, for furnishing the entertainment.

Today we had even more to be thankful for. Our old sailing companions, Bob and Dorian, called to say they were in Naples, tied up at a friend's slip at the Cove Inn. We had lunch with them at the Boathouse restaurant and talked about old times like sewing up the sails that blew out on our way across the Atlantic. They spent the summer in Labrador, where it was really cold, but not many icebergs this year, they said. They are on their way to their home base in New Orleans. They are talking about buying a home in Canada or maybe France, and selling the Krogen to get a power boat. More later.

We missed you all, and enjoyed hearing about your own Thanksgiving celebrations.

The Morning After

Our Thanksgiving was really nice here in the East. It's always great to see everyone and catch up. Plus, it's nice to have so many kids around - even if some of them insist on hanging around without their clothes on :o)

Dan's sporting quite the fuzzball haircut, the kind you rub for good luck. I love that. He promptly thrashed everyone in Fooseball (sp?) except David, who's probably had more practice.

Laurie and David's home is really great. Their new baby, Travis, is not so new anymore at 9 months but for those of us who haven't seen him yet he still rates as new. He's a darling little guy, even when he's under the weather. We had most of the Thanksgiving crowd, minus the West Coasters, The Hawaiians, Sue & Moussa, and of course, all the parents. Dinner was great. John got a fresh turkey and Laurie did a stellar job with it. Should have brought home some of the cranberry sauce. It was the best I've ever had.

I'm still trying to find a way to get Jeanne to let me take her big Traveling Player's bus out to LA so West Coast Conversions can, "Pimp Her Ride." She's not going for it. She doesn't think those guys can grasp the Shakespearian theme she has in her mind. I don't know why she thinks that guy with the spikes through his lower lip couldn't think to rig up something like a symbolic bobble-head shrew to mount on the dashboard.

SmellyCat and I are enjoying a queit morning this morning, minus the hunters who are goose hunting on the river around the corner. It is reminessent of that scene in Christmas Vacation where Chevy Chase is looking dreamily out the window and says to his wife, "Ah, the majesty of a winter's morn and an asshole, dumping is septic system into the sewar." Cousin Eddie is out at the curb in front of their home in his robe and socks, smoking a cigar while pumping the RV toilet pumping into the sewer. He looks up and waves at Clark W. Griswald (Chevy) and yells, "Shitter's full!" Certainly one of Hollywood's finest moments.

Mike's working today - SURPRISE! I think he's not really working but that actually he snuck away in the early morning hours to wait in line at Walmart to buy my Christmas present at the fine jewelry counter. That sounds just like something he would do (if he was suffering from a head injury). I'll see if I can radio ahead to have him stop in the Cone Of Silence isle and pick one up for Dara's Christmas present.

Tomorrow, we start on the Christmas season and will get a Christmas tree. I guess the West Coasters and the Hawaiians will be waxing their various boards by the chimney with care.

Thanksgiving Preview in CA

This time around we have a pretty full house. Kyla has been home since Sunday. Aside from the traditional Leibs family visitors (sans Jeremy who is staying down at CalTech), we'll have Kyla's Stanford connection, David, her old roommate Regan also now at Stanford, and Regan's fiance, Brian. We nearly killed ourselves over the last week getting the house back in order. The remodeled master bedroom/bathroom is suitable for viewing, including the new king size bed. The bed has a new mattress that is pretty incredible. It has some special isolation system thingy that makes it so that twitching and turning over on one side literally can't be felt on the other. I tell you, all it needs is a cone of silence for the snoring, and it would heaven for Dara. Kyla organized the 3rd installment of the Yale-Stanford polo match that happened today. I'll let her fill you in on the details when she gets around to it.

From Ursula. Thomas demonstrates that unlike his cousin, Garrett, he is not afraid of the evil Gymbo the Clown.

WWJE

What would Jesus eat? Clearly grilled cheese. Better get in those bids before it's gone.

Purely an Architectural Question

Why is it that in all the pictures I see of the new Clinton Library it looks like a mobile home propped up on cinder blocks? Okay, maybe a double-wide with solar panels.

Annual Grousland Dinner

Having lived in Front Royal for 20 years now I have had the distinct pleasure of freinds with deep roots in the area. Its a diverse crowd covering the entire spectrum of income, education, background and personalities. Every year on the 3rd day after deer season opens I am honered by an invite to the wild game roast at the Grouseland Hunt Club. The gathering takes place at the groseland cabin nestled in the mountains somewhere between Browntown Va. and the Shenendoah National Park. Don't even try getting their without 4 wheel dr and a deep desire to eat wild game. After negotiating some seriously dangerous terrain on the way in the thought of drinking to much is out of the question and I generously push most of the beer I brought on to others who plan to stay the night. It really is a great crowd most of whom I know fairly well or have at least met before. The cabin is primitive but beautifull no modern kitchen or electric but somehow in the environment you do't miss it at all. Drinks and BS are enjoyed for an hour or so then its onto dinner. These guys can cook! They put out quite a spread this years meneu included the usual deer, wild turkey, squirrell,bear, then for grins there was also racoon, beaver, groudhog. Even a veteran game conisieur such as myself has a hard time telling the difference between coon and beaver when its on your plate in poor light. I just couldn't imagine drawing the line and saying "I love groundhog but I refuse to eat beaver, at that point it din't seem to matter so I followed my instincts and ate everything. Surprisingly enough none of it taste like chicken and I enjoyed all of it. A great evening in the mountains it was alot of fun. I thought you guys might get a kick from a slice of life around here.

Links

I put in some links down in the lower right hand corner of the blog. I've lost my previously voracious appetite for political web logs, so I am sparing you those and sticking with the safer categories. Contributions to the list welcome, just drop me a note or post it in comments, and I'll add 'em in. I was trying to keep an updated reading list, but it just seems like too big a pain. I might have to post that separately.

Re Yale moments

That really sounds like a great weekend! Playing the game you love then enjoying a little fellowship afterwards with distinguished alumni. The part about dressing up in 80's attire and playing drinking games sounds like a Front Royal moment. Except were not dressing up. Just kidding Ky I'm happy to hear your having such fun.

Please Make It Stop

It felt like the French Revolution revisited to read about the glee of the crowd in beautiful Redwood City, California, as the Scott Peterson verdict was handed down. We have the penalty phase to look forward to, so the fun isn't over yet. Not that the guy doesn't get everything coming to him, but the cheering was a bit over the top. At least we can now move on to something important to people -- the Michael Jackson trial -- and leave Redwood City alone.

Musical Memories

Seeing that Howard Keel died is one of those moments that reminds me of Mim, certainly one of Howard Keel's biggest fans. She loved Showboat. In his weaker (and younger) moments, Garrett will even confess to liking Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. If any of you are fans of the musical (and I will say it is an acquired taste, after hanging around the woman whose idea of a great vacation is going to Broadway), you might want to check out the PBS series on Broadway, The American Musical. Showboat was one of the earliest real musicals, but the series is interesting in that it doesn't just give you highlights. It talks about the styles of musicals, how they changed over time, and so on. Interesting. For some of us anyway :)

Speaking of lightweight geekiness

I was going through my digital pictures and thought I'd try to post some from Thomas' baptismal visit. Mind you, we aren't dressed like this today around here, but it is just about as sunny. Hope you guys enjoy them, even if they are a bit late. We were missing all the California Harrises.

Thomas' big day. 

Some very Yale moments

This weekend was quite the quintessential Yale weekend. We had the annual "Safety Dance" which is an '80s themed dance. That may not seem to Yale-esq to everybody, but we Yalies have a deep love for dressing up like fools are running around campus (probably started with our favorite secret society, Skull and Bones). Everyone dressed up to the nines '80s style makes for quite the scene in our beautifully gothic dining hall, Commons. Pictures may be forthcoming later.
Then Saturday the Yale polo team had their annual alumni weekend. Though we were missing many alums, including our most infamous, Bill Ylvesaker, class of 1948, we had a good time all around. Ylvesaker is the man who came back after WWII, the only 3 years Yale polo has been shut down, and literally took the boards off the doors to the barn and brought ponies back in. We all played a few chukkers in the morning, the alums kicking the current teams' butts (I played as an "alum" to round out the teams so I can claim victory). Then off to Mory's we went for dinner and cups. For those of you who don't know Mory's is the country's oldest private club, Yalies and Yale alums only and also where the world famous Wiffenpoofs were founded. Cups is the traditional drinking game played there involving drinking out of massive silver trophy cups and then spinning them on your head to dry them. After our meal, and a couple cups into the evening one of our team members came back up the stairs a Wiffenpoof reunion in tow! The guys sang us a couple of songs to accompany our cups. You really just can't get any more Yale than that: polo, Mory's, cups and the Wiffenpoofs! A little more about Mory's the Wiff's here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/feed/a1923-2000jan4.htm

The proud parents at the baptism. 

Aunt Missy and her best dressed nephew (Sorry Garrett & Dan, maybe I'll knit you guys a tee-shirt someday when I'm between projects.) 

Mom & Tom. 

A few more Harrises. 

A few Harrises. 

Brothers enjoying a pre-game & pre-baptismal beer together. 

Grandma & Thomas 

Lightweight Geekiness

Every now and then I get sick of the wallpaper background on our home computer. I've found over time that the National Geographic has a great selection of photos you can use. If you've never done this before, here's what you do. Go to their selection of photos and look thru the thumbnail pictures in the categories. Find one you like and click on it. Here's the one I am using (Kyla, it makes me think of you for some reason!). The web site will tell you something about the picture. Choose "Download as Wallpaper" from that page. The rest of the instructions are on the page, but basically you choose the resolution you want (larger is probably better), it will open up a picture for you in your web browser. Then, while holding your mouse over the picture, you click on the right-hand mouse button to bring up a pop-up menu. Choose "Set as Background" from that menu. That's it. You now have a nice picture for the background instead of some cheesy thing from Microsoft.

Happy Birthday Mike

As I was with most other family members let me be one of the last to wish you a happy birthday. You guys look great in that picture. I'm glad to hear school is going well for missy I havn't heard anyone cry about a B+ since steve dropped the ball in 7th grade music class. Your acheivments are admirable and your GPA is still a great sidenote to your whole effort Great Job. This week I feel a little more threatened by Jamal Lewis than W considering he is one of my roto opponets this week. No matter what Im glad your choice of gifts make Mike happy even though steve doesn't seem to agree. I think "that little gem" clears up any doubt about his feelings. Mom please heed his warning not to click. Steve I did get a few laughs out of that, Delightfully tacky. Hunting season is here and I havn't spent much time in the woods yet. But Im planning to make up for that in the next couple of weeks. Hunting is way overated as a sport or even personal challenge but it is way underated as a method of grocery shopping. Just a thought for any antis lurking on the blog.

This is Mike & I at a swanky golf function. It's also my test for posting pictures... 

Catching Up

I've been conspicuously absent in all of this, but my world has been demanding and boring lately. Like Kyla, I have no life outside of school and work. Semesters are broken into 2 8 week sessions, so I just got done with finals and immediately launched into the final 8 week sprint of the semester. I got a B+ in Finance, so there goes the 4.0. Fortunately I have friends and family to help me through this trying time. I have Managerial Econ and Marketing now. Econ should constitute another B+ since it's even more miserable than Finance. I can definitly see where I will use stock and bond evaluation skills but I'm hoping that never in my life will have to measure the price elasticity of demand with an imposed price ceiling. My final final will be March 11!!!

Between sessions, I spent the weekend with my buddies where we hung out around a campfire singing, dancing, and drinking all night - much to any neighbor within earshot's chagrin. We are rock stars in the making and could have given Alpana a run for her money.

Mike just had his 44th birthday this week so for his present I've ordered Jamal Lewis back to the Ravens and W back into the White House. I think he will be happy about all that.