New York Nortons

Carolyn Guy convinced Jeannie to do a girls weekend out in New York. They bought hotel reservations at the midtown Hilton and Broadway tickets to see Wicked. And they were even gracious enough to let us spend some time with them. We went to Mama Mexico’s on 103rd/Broadway which we’ve mentioned is our favorite Mexican restaurant in the city. We did the infamous Staten Island ferry ride that we do whenever someone comes for a visit, and then made some delicious pasta for dinner. Sunday was the Five Boro Bike Tour where 35,000 cyclists bike through all the boroughs. We met them in front of their hotel which was on the route for our goodbyes.

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This is our new puppy, Murphy. She’s half bear, half land shark. We say “bear” because just look at her. “land shark” because she could puncture a lead pipe with her puppy teeth or possibly chew through concrete. We’re still working on the whole “what’s okay to chew on thing.” Her chews toys – OK. Ashley’s ring – NOT OK. Her ball – OK. My fingers, toes, face, clothes, fingers, and other fingers – NOT OK.

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I will be updating this post soon, so don’t worry. You’ll get more than a single picture.

Daniel activities

I hope that you will excuse us for not writing on our blog in such a long time. You were justified in your criticisms like this one:

WHY HAVE YOU NOT UPDATED YOUR WEBSITE!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

You’re such a snorton norton.

You are right. I am being a total snorton norton. We (as in the royal We meaning Daniel in this case) have been really slack. Ashley has been asking for a post with pictures from Easter, and I will get to that shortly. Of course, Taylor, you, like other readers of this blog, have already seen the pictures because we uploaded them to ofoto. That doesn’t mean that I should make writing a post a lower priority.

So, besides now, I will update this blog soon. (Does this count as an update by the way?)

Daniel rant

(line courtesy of David Harris and oft-repeated by Jerry Osborne)

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I say double your fun because we had two visits from the Osbornes in January. Jerry and David Harris came up for the weekend to go to a Thrashers/Rangers hockey game. We also went to a really funny sketch comedy at the “Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater”:http://www.ucbtheatre.com/ny/. There was also much Wii playing… naturally.

Jeannie flew up the next weekend to go to a ballet performance with Ashley (for a full review, contact Ashley.) I met them after the performance for some shopping and dinner. Jeannie also had the additional pleasure of staying at the Ritz Carlton in Battery Park City.

Daniel nyc

OK, I’m starting a new series of posts (that’s right… a series as in more than one post.) I want to introduce some of the little things that I enjoy about New York that aren’t published in any books. And the first one is that quintessentially nerdy sport that inspired an equally nerdy movie – Dodgeball.

Yeah, you read that correctly. I’ve been playing on a “league” dodgeball team this winter, and it has been a thoroughly enjoyable and humorous experience. Haven’t you ever gotten the urge to hurl something at someone as hard as you can? Well, maybe you haven’t because you are one of those rare and wonderful people who never harbor any negative thoughts toward anyone (I’m looking at you Hatcher.) Well, I certainly have! And in dodgeball, I can even hurl something at girls. I know it sounds vicious and cruel, but it’s actually a lot of fun. This week someone on the other team wore a University of Florida shirt which was a mistake on her part that I tried to help her realize. (OK, I’m not actually a very good aim, but I did throw it at her a lot.)

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I didn’t mention this in my last post, but I finished “War and Peace” at about 11:15pm on New Year’s Eve. It was the one New Year’s resolutions that I actually kept. And this year I’ve resolved to not come up with resolutions. They are silly things.

As much as I enjoyed the experience of reading it (yes, Ashley, I did enjoy it,) “War and Peace” is not one of my favorite books from 2006. I managed to read several really entertaining and illuminating books this year, but “War and Peace” was neither illuminating nor generally entertaining. Here are my top five favorite books from 2006. I’ll give a quick summary of what the book is about, but I’m not going to bore everyone with reviews… that would take way too much effort. But I would love to hear what books everyone enjoyed last year.

1. “1491” by Charles C. Mann – North and South America before Columbus. It’s an incredibly complex look at the people who were here before the Europeans
2. “No god but God” by Reza Aslan – a well thought out and rational introduction to Islam.
3. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer – the fictional story of a boy who lost his father on September 11
4. “Island in the Center of the World” by Russell Shorto – the Dutch founding of New Amsterdam. It’s part of my self taught New York history course.
5. “Motherless Brooklyn” by Jonathan Lethem – a detective story with a tourettic narrator. What a great way for an author to use language to convey subtle meaning.

OK, your turn.

Daniel activities

Ashley’s dad has taken up a whole new look ever since he discovered the ATL hip-hop scene.

More pictures after the jump…

Read more…

Daniel christmas, family

Attention Everyone! – Have you seen this Christmas Rat?

Last Seen in the vicinity of the Osborne Christmas tree where he was protecting all the Christmas presents from mauraders, pirates, non-Christmas rats, and sundry other ragamuffins. His disappearance occurred shortly after a domestic argument regarding his responsibilities and overall cuteness.

If you have any information about the whereabouts of the Christmas Rat, please fill in the “Emergency Christmas Rat Feedback Section” (aka, “Leave A Reply”)

Daniel atlanta, christmas