Obama Rally in Washington Square Park

On Thursday September 27th Nikki and I went to an Obama rally in Washington Square Park. It was a pretty exciting experience.

First off we both took a half day from work. That's always fun! We then hopped onto the train from Edison and finally ended up at Washington Square Park around 3pm. However, they weren't letting people in yet so we had to find something to do. We found a small cute cafe to stop at. While there we got a couple sodas and a fruit plate. The fruit plate was so so but it certainly wasn't worth 8 bucks!

We stayed there until about 4:30 and decided to head to the park again. By that point there were only a few.....ZILLION people trying to get in. We bought a couple buttons and crammed into line. There were 4 massive lines that surged towards 4 metal detectors. 4 metal detectors and 12 security guides working them scanning 24,000 people...this was going to take awhile. and i SURE did! yeeeesh. Here is what it was like for most of the rally. Imagine being in a tiny closet with a heater pumping out hot humid air that smelled like perfume and BO. That's about what it was like, Nikki and I would both say "AHhhhh" every time we felt a breeze and take a deep breath.

Well we finally managed to get through the checkpoint and probably got about 25 yards from the stage. When we first got in crowding was moderate but not as bad as the security line but shortly after we got in they closed the checkpoint and the rest of the crowd surged in. I think they did this because people started leave as they chanted "LET US IN!"
Obama arrived maybe 10 minutes after we got through security. What a great speaker! He really had the crowd going. One minute they would be yelling and screaming and then the next completely quiet hanging on every word. There were news helicopters hovering above and tons of press. We both find it exciting to be at events like this! In fact i found myself in a published NYTimes photo. Not that anyone but myself would notice that but i still think it's cool! I circled myself.

Well he finished his speech in about an hour and then it was time to shake hands and all that so while tons of people were leaving we did our best to get as close to the rope line. We managed to get about 3 feet from the rope. Obama moved through our section and Nikki actually got a handshake from him! She was so excited!

After the rally we took a brief tour of Greenwich Village and found a cute Indian place to have dinner. It was pretty good and was reasonably priced. Although the Chicken tiki masala sauce tasted like it was made with Campbell's tomato soup rather than tomatoes.

After dinner we took the subway to the WTC site. We had never been there since the attack. It was very strange being there knowing all the drama that happened there.

After we were done taking in the site we headed to Penn station and then home. It was a long but memorable day!

Vote Obama

Listen to McDonalds!

Our GPS

Poor Nikki has been adding so much to the blog!! I should add something, and for once it won't entail a battle map lol.

One big thing that i don't think we even mentioned regarding our camping/road trip was that we rented a GPS system with our rental car. That little thing amazed us and we used it for absolutely everything. We hardly picked up a map and it made navigating a breeze, allowing us to concentrate on the sites.

After getting back we were determined to get our own GPS. SOOOoooo after a bit of researching on my part, focusing primarily on price and simply navigating i bought the Magellan 3100. It is supposed to be the cheapest GPS just about but still offer the good quality of the more expensive models. Well that was wrong! First off most if not all GPS's have POI's (points of interest.) These are destinations all over the county that you can search on the machine. The point being, if you are in an area where you don't know where to eat, get fast food, go food shopping, find any type of store, park or government building POI's become VERY handy and we used them a lot on our trip. The Magellan ended up having 750,000. this seems like a lot but divide that number by 50 and that is the average for your entire state. That number is actually surprisingly low. Middle and upper end GPS's typically have millions of POI's. So the POI database was basically useless. Also the navigating and satellite communication functions were glitch-y.

Then, deciding to return it we realized we would get a restocking fee of 15%! DOH! So i decided to try selling it on ebay. Well, we sold it on Ebay but we still ended up losing money :(

This is now the part that Nikki will like. From the very beginning Nikki said we should get the same machine we had on our trip. In the beginning i quickly rejected that thinking it would be too expensive. BUT i was wrong. Upon researching Garmin i realized they had basically the same unit we had on the vacation but not the same amount of bells and whistles we would never use. So we got the Garmin c530 for what i think was a great price.(only $50 more than the Magellan) (the unit we had on vacation was the Garmin c550)

The unit is PERFECT. It has a database of over 5 million and navigates very well. So far there have been no problems and we both love it, especially Nikki.

We will be going to Gettysburg in the middle of October so we intend on making good use of it on that trip.

Oooooo Gettysburg...i think i sense another battle map!! haHA...until then!!... :)

Erich

Awww Erich is so cute!

My Hair

I'm through with braids (for the moment anyhow) and I've moved on to a weave. For those who don't know a weave is when fake hair is sewn with a needle and thread over my real hair, giving me a completely new look and obscuring my hair entirely.

Hurray for weaves!

Here are some pictures of the new 'do!

Food Stuffs

Well, I am still meat free; I can’t believe I’ve made it so far. It’s amazing; my stomach feels so much better. I had been feeling so bloated and gross and now everything is peach-y. Boo for meat and hurray for veggies, I also have a lot more energy. We’ll see though because I might have a piece of sausage tonight, which is one of my weaknesses, it would be just a small amount because I’m making a pizza for dinner and Ron prefers to have pizza with meat or no pizza at all.

New Colors and Layout and a Purchase!

I had some free time today and I was looking at the various different blogs out there and to my shock and horror it turns out that our dot design is extremely popular. SOO I decided to pick a new template that hopefully is a bit more unique. Though frankly, the options are rather limited.

Huzzah! Thanks to Ron's quick e-mailing capabilities he has won his companies monthly contest 3 months in a row! So he suggested that we purchase a pressure canner that I have wanted for EVER! I'm so thrilled to buy it and even happier that's its free! So now the soups can be made in bulk and sevred year round. Hurray!

Dunnellen Street Fair

I was working today at the Street Fair trying to get some people to join the data base at work. I think i said "Get paid for your opinion" about 60 million times today. But I got a couple of good deals.

A) Set of queen sized sheets for $20 bucks! Deep Pockets too, 400 thread count. Score!

B) Newspaper subscription for 15 dollars for the year! (Sunday and Thursdays only). Now that's a good deal!


P.S. Ever wonder what a British, Vegetarian eats everyday for a year?
I did too. But not anymore! http://www.eat22.com/

I find it interested because I am giving up meat. NOT entirely just mostly, and its for a variety of reasons. Here they are, in no particular order....

1) I think meat is more difficult to digest
2) I am upset by the conditions of slaughter houses in America (therefore I will be eating food my husband shoots, and pulls from oceans and streams without hesitation)
3) I am trying to lose some weight and I think that eating less meat and dairy will help that.
4) My intolerance to lactose seems to be increasing unfortunately.
5) The meat is typically (but not always) my least favorite part of any meal.

Anyhoo, I'm still eating meats and dairy in some respects because my husband is the worlds biggest carnivore and it would be too much work to make two meals sometimes, but he will likely be eating less meat too unless he decides to take up cooking (doubtful). When possible I will make myself a protein meat substitute, like when we BB-q steaks, I have been having a bean burger with the same flavorful sides that Ron has. And when we make chicken breast open face sandwiches I have imitation chicken patties. (which are REALLY good by the way)

But bear in mind that today for lunch I had a delicious sausage, pepper and onion sandwich and for dinner I had pork chops. So I will take the yummy or easy way out at some times. I'm not going to beat myself up about it though. Anything is better than nothing.

:)

Okay more on the road trip & stuff we did

Whew its really hard to get on the computer to do this!!!

Jersey Shore Pictures Woooo!

We spent most of our weekends in September at the beach, either staying at Ron's parents beach house (which is so very kind of them). Or just taking a drive there. I have always been okay with the beach but in love with the boardwalk, the smells, the sounds, and the sights. Althoughy lately some have the sights have been a little bit raunchy for my tastes. (Come on people put some clothes on!)

Here are some pictures from the boardwalk and the beach. They have this new "ski-lift" thing. It broke down at LEAST once a day but Ron and I still rode it. Fun fun fun and peaceful.
















We went to Allaire Village which was fun and a simple day of quiet New Jersey history.

Allaire Village was founded by the very industrious James P. Allaire. He founded the small town around iron bogs in Farmingdale, NJ. For a time, Allaire was home to all of the workers who worked in the bogs. It was really fascinating as a commune too in which there was universal education and health care (such as it was) there was also 100% employment with children (age 3 and up) working. The young children of course didn't do anything to dangerous...they just worked in the NAIL FACTORY!!!!

Allaire Village

Here is a video I took with my camera. This is called a Wulitzer, a military band organ.

The highlight up the trip for both Ron and myself was a tour of Allaire's former home. Really what made it interesting was this lovely woman who gave the tour who was really interested in the subject and incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. Truly some of the best tours we have ever had have been nearly empty with just us and the tour guide. I think at some time we would have been shy about such an intimate tour but experience has taught us otherwise.

So lets see where did I leave off with our trip? Happily, I have just finished working on the photo album for it. So I'll have that to go through.

After we went to Massachusetts we drove up and over to southern Vermont. Which is simply lovely. Everything about Vermont is majestic and beautiful. The people are kind and we appreciated the different pace of life. It did take some getting used to of course, how strange that people wanted to talk to us pretty much anywhere we went.

We did some "down home" type of things here. We went to the small but chock-full Norman Rockwell Museum, which is staffed by people who modeled for the artist. For several years Rockwell lived in Arlington Vermont. He moved there after deciding that New Yorkers were becoming a little too wealthy for their own good! He enjoyed the life and found what he considered to be the Americana worth capturing. His portraits of Arlington natives are some of his most compelling and famous works. (such as The Four Wants).

Our food situation was a bit limited in this respect but we went to a sweet little place where I had homemade chili and the prices were fantastic! (good for cheap Ron and Nikki)

We did cheese shopping and saw Harry Potter, and drove around looking for covered bridges. We also went to something that has really disappeared in New Jersey. A book store where the employees both love and know books. It is so annoying to go into Borders or Barnes and Nobel (my only options) and ask idiot clerks where my literary selection is located. Not only do they not know, they don't care and they would rather I help my self at the kiosk. Not at this place, here they not only had heard of Nathanial Hawthorne (not exactly an unknown, I know) but they had READ all of his works. They could recommend a selection that would be best for me. Amazing!

We also had an okay dinner at a Colonial Restaurant. The building was really cool, but truthfully it the food was just average. I had Tom Turkey (big in Vermont) with stuffing and vegetables. The weirdest thing, I had like 1.5 lbs of turkey and only 3 carrots....their method serving the vegetables was to first bring your your entree and then the waitress brought out something the size of a small dessert plate with a few baby corn spears and carrots on it, then she asked Ron and I if we would like some and then she divided it between the two of us, and took the rest (yes there were leftover veggies on the plate). I thought that was so weird why not just give us everything. Plus its Vermont in the middle of summer is there nothing green to be had? It was pretty pricey too so we expected more.

We stayed in a cute little cottage in Vermont. It overlooked a mountain and we had our own bathroom and bed and air conditioning. It was heaven and perfect timing since it rained everyday we were in Vermont.

Next we drove to the border of VT and NY. We crossed Lake Champlain in our car on a barge. Peaceful, slow, and very very wet since it was pouring at this point. We spent the day in Fort Ticonderoga, which has a gruesome history that really fascinated Ron. Our macabre is so different. I find death by disease really interesting (as in black plague, influenza) an he favors learning about death by man. Either way its a little dark. (I found the small pox outbreaks really terrifying.)

Unfortunately due to the terrible weather several of the walking tours were cancelled and we couldn't or I should say didn't want to go and see the gardens.

Moving on we drove down to Lake George, NY but we decided to rent a hotel room for an extra night mainly because of the weather and because we like air conditioning. Since I didn't know we would be looking for a room I didn't have time to price hunt and it was the more expensive then our two nights in Vermont! Still, watching TV in a/c was totally worth it as it was pouring outside. It certainly beat tent camping :).

The next night we went to our reserved campground which was truly disgusting. I didn't even bother to go into the bathroom because it was so gross in the campgrounds. Ron did however, and he told me I made the right decision. So, stinky and gross ugh...moving on.... we started to do some activities. We were lucky enough to see some free Shakespeare in the Park. "the Comedy of Errors". It was pretty good actually.

<>

Next day we drove up to the top of a mountain to take in the view.

Went to Fort William Henry (French Indian War Era Fort that had Civil War souvenirs for some reason?)

Went on a GREAT dinner cruise on Lake George. It was nearly empty while the Minne-ha-ha(another cruise boat on Lake George) was sold out. Dinner was good but the view was better. Lots of lovely little islands, huge homes, and great views of the mountains.

Then we went home but not before we stopped at Saratoga National Historic Site, but I was hungry and don't remember what we did. :)

Hurray for the Road Trip!! One day I will try and add some more detail where I skimped :)