It's a rugby day!

This afternoon, I'm heading to a field at Fordham University for a rugby match. In the meantime, let's continue with photos from last week...




















Another new guy




Two spectators meet


A scrum







I'm on a roll, but I think I'd better stop there. I hope you enjoyed those. There are more to come!

A big tree and rugby photos

In front of our house is a tree older than either of us. I grew up with that tree. It's a huge maple, about 80 feet tall, but the poor old thing has been dying. Its highest branches have been bare of leaves, and it has dropped some large chunks of itself in the yard and street. It has other issues, as well, so we called the town and asked them to take a look at it. They did, and they confirmed that it's diseased. Today, a town contractor began the process of taking it down.

It has to go. Better this way than to have a storm bring it down on our house (or a neighbor's house). Still, I'm sad to see it go. It has been a fixture here--and in my life. I'll certainly get over its demise, but it's sad.

Okay, enough of that. On to happier things... rugby! Time to share some photos (as always, click on them for larger versions)...


Parts of the pitch were wet. That's why you'll see some splashing in a few photos.






















Think maybe he got hurt when he was tacked? You'd be right.



Fortunately, he was able to get back up, so it appears he wasn't badly injured.


One of the new guys on our team

That will do for now. Besides, I have to get ready to go back to work. I came home early today, so I can change into my tuxedo. Tonight starts our annual Employee Appreciation Day. We start with the evening shift and run festivities around the clock, so that everyone can enjoy it.

This year, we're doing a sort of Oscars-themed event, recognizing our employees as the "stars" of the hospital. We even have a red carpet. So, as the head of HR, I not only have to be there, but I'm going to don my tuxedo and greet our "stars" as the come down the red carpet. It should be fun, but I started my day at the usual time today and may have to stay there until midnight! This is a long day!

This and that

Yesterday was a rugby day. It was an "away" match, and we wound up at a field in Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers. The City of Yonkers doesn't generally give me a warm and comfy feeling, but I have to admit that this park was quite lovely. It was a slice of the country in the middle of an urban area.

The weather yesterday wasn't suitable for any outdoor activity. It was ridiculously hot and humid! It's one thing for the ruggers to be dripping with sweat, but my stomping up and down the sidelines with my camera doesn't normally leave me in such a state. Well, it did yesterday! My shirt was soaked through! And I'm not talking about underarms being soaked. I mean the whole thing! It was pasted to my back, and my chest was soaked. I felt so butch! ;) Even the tops of the short sleeves of the shirt were soaked! I needed to hit the shower, the moment I got home! (BTW, rugby photos will follow in later posts.)

In other news, our friends in Houston are just fine. Before the storm, I was trying to resist the urge to call and check on them. I tried, but I failed. I called them, and they assured me that they were safe in their home in Houston (and they haven't flooded in the past). Then, last night, we again reached them, and they said they made it through just fine, although they are without power. And they say it's hot and humid with no breeze, so being without power will make for a miserable week.

They estimate that it will be at least a week before they can get out to their (almost ours, as I mentioned in the last post) beach house and see what has happened to it, but they don't have high hopes. Based on what we've seen online, I can't say I blame them. Here's a photo from the Crystal Beach area (the house was only about 100 yards from the beach)...



There's no way to be sure if the particular stretch of coastline where the house sits suffered the same fate, but this article from the local Galveston paper doesn't leave much hope for homes in Crystal Beach!

On a happier note, I'm trying a new approach to dieting. Before Marc and I met, way back in the last century, I had lost a lot of weight on a sort of low-carb diet (more balanced than Atkins, but still mostly focused on limited carbohydrates). Unfortunately, over the years, I put most of the weight back on. Since my earlier success, every diet I've done has been focused on restricting the types of foods I eat, but that approach really hasn't worked (except for that first time).

Recently, I've decided to try something simpler: counting calories. Yes, the simple, old approach of eating fewer calories than I burn every day. Radical, huh? Well, it should work, and I sure hope it does! To help me in this effort, I have two things: Marc, my wonderful husband who also is a magician in the kitchen. I also have a website called Calorie Count Plus (formerly Calorie Count, and I'm not entirely sure what the "Plus" is). I like tracking things, and this lets me keep tabs on what I eat. Aside from putting numbers to my efforts--which gives me some satisfaction on its face--it also helps keep me honest. Despite being obese, I'm actually pretty honest in my dieting efforts, and I put a lot of effort into it. So the "keep me honest" part is really more a matter of making sure I don't forget anything I eat. Yes, some days my memory sucks so much I actually can forget what I ate that very day.

So wish me luck! I really want to be thinner. I don't need to be ripped like a certain hottie I could name, but I want to be closer to the condition I was in when Marc and I met.

Hurricane Ike

Did I ever mention that Marc and I almost bought a beach house earlier this year? Some friends in Houston were considering selling their beach house on the Bolivar Peninsula (right next to Galveston).

Long story short: we didn't buy the house.

With that said, one concern when we were considering the purchase was the potential for a big storm. After all, the biggest natural disaster in American history happened when a hurricane hit Galveston.

We would have fully insured the house, but no one wants to have a house destroyed. Sitting here tonight, it's hard not think how we would be feeling if we had bought the house and were watching this...



Of course, we're worried about our friends in Houston. They've been through these things before, so they know what to do, but it's still scary.

As for their beach house, the threat is something they're used to. They even have pre-cut boards for the windows, and I'm sure Steve went and put them on by now. By this point, they should be going somewhere safe, and that is the main thing. But I still wonder what things would be like if we had to wonder what was happening to a house we owned that's sitting in the path of a giant storm. "It's just a house" is easy to say.

A long day

I was awake at 3am today. I had to be at work a little after 4am.

My hospital is participating in--and benefiting from--a fundraiser being run by a popular sports radio station here in New York. As part of this, I worked to recruit a bunch of our employees to work the phones at a call center. The first shift was getting on a bus at 4:30am, and it seemed right that I lead the charge.

So about 50 of us got on a nice, big bus and hit the road. Happily, the traffic was non-existent at that hour, so we made great time.

That first shift went well, including the two times I interrupted the entire call center for a minute of silence (at 8:46 and 9:03), in order to remember the two strikes on the World Trade Center.

While those were sad moments, of course, the morning went well overall. Happily, we were back on the bus before 11 and back to the hospital before noon. After that, I drove home, doing work calls on the way.

I stopped to do some food shopping and was home by early afternoon. I took a nice long nap, and now I'm happily relaxing with Marc. All in all, a good day, even if it was a very long day tinged with moments of sad remembrance.

Hanna recap

Yes, I know this is three or four days late, but I have a couple of photos from the visit of Tropical Storm Hanna. We didn't get much wind out of her, fortunately, but there was a decent amount of rain. Not the worst I've seen, but it was a fair amount of rain. The most impressive thing was the humidity. It really was a tropical storm, and it reminded me of why Florida isn't on my list of potential retirement locales.

The outside of the sunroom door shows just how humid it was outside:



When the first bands of the storm came through Friday night, we lost power for about half an hour. I have no idea why, since there was minimal wind at that point, just heavy rain. Even so, it went out, and I was very happy when it came back on. If it had stayed out, there would have been no air conditioning, and the humidity would have been torture!

It was hard to get a shot of the rain, but here's a glimpse of what was coming down:


Looking out the breezeway, next to the sunroom. Click on it for a better view of the rain.

All in all, it wasn't a big deal, and, for the record, if we never get a major storm up here, that would be fine by me!

Sam Sparro

This June, during our trip to Ireland, we heard the same song on the radio a number of times, and we loved it! Sadly, I have yet to hear it on the radio here, because it's a great song! (Well, I've heard it through BBC-1 on Sirius, but that's not an American station. Apparently, the corporate radio powers here in America haven't blessed him yet.)

I'm talking about Black & Gold by Sam Sparro. If you haven't heard it, just go here. Assuming this one doesn't get deleted, like the video I shared in my last post, you can watch the video for this song.

And we loved his music even before we knew what he looks like...



Buy this man's music!

And as long as I'm posting YouTube videos tonight...

Jon Stewart being funny is nothing new, but have you seen Brian Williams joking around? He's a riot!

The combination of intelligence and a great sense of humor really is wonderful. He has been on The Daily Show before, and I'm sure he'll be on again. Never miss a chance to see these two go at it!

Speaking the truth

Courtesy of Republican commentators Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan, a bit of truth they presumably didn't plan to share with the world.

Happy Birthday to Moose!

Yes, today is Mandy's birthday (sometimes knows as "Moose"). She's aging nicely, I think. As of today, she is 9 years old.

She spent much of the day relaxing. Here we see her on her couch (also known as Bernice's couch)...



While Mandy relaxed, Marc baked a cake...



...and prepared icing...




Marc and the frosted cake

If you're wondering what kind of cake the kids like, well, just about any, but this is a doggy birthday party favorite. It's a peanut butter cake!


Cutting the cake



It wasn't a surprise party, so the kids knew to gather as the cake was being cut...


Dodger waits to help celebrate Mandy's birthday.


Bernice also waits to celebrate.


The birthday girl enters the kitchen.




Mandy gives the cake a sniff.




Looks like it's going to get her approval!


Note her dainty eating. She's always a lady!


Dodger grudgingly agrees to sample a piece.




As you can see, Mandy learned her fine eating habits from Bernice.


Apparently, the cake was acceptable, since Mandy went back for more, and she's a very picky eater!