I will never cheer for the Phillies.

Random photo while sitting in Independence Mall: the outside of Ian's office building. They are on the top floor of that corner.

First off, a quick rundown of the week before the game. We got a baseball mitt for me and got to play catch, we watched the Final Four games with a big group of friends from church and got to meet new people, we got more wedding thank yous written, finished our taxes, I made my grandma's barbeque meatballs recipe (which is part of my concrete aspirations list, making the recipes from my mom), and I saw a man listening to rap music and smoking a bright blue hookah outside our building, right before I stepped into the crosswalk and was almost hit by an old man driving a black Lexus. Spring and warm weather are here!

Which brings me to our excitement last weekend: the Cubs/Phillies game. I'm going to criticize again. I promise I'm keeping up my thankful list, I'm not bipolar, and I'm not just a generally angry person. But Ian and I were very disappointed by our first Phillies game experience, and not just because the Cubs lost.

We were very much looking forward to the game.

We intended to cheer for the Cubs, of course, but thought we'd cheer for the Phillies in other games, since, after all, it is our city, even if only for a short time. We arrived, thought the stadium looked nice if a little generic, and got excited about seeing a Chickie & Pete's crab fries stand. After wandering around the concourse and consuming cheesesteaks, we meandered over to our seats. I was mildly pleased there was a decent handful of Cubs fans around us. The game started, and one of the Cubs fans in front of us, a rather rotund and jovial man most likely in his early 20s, started heckling the Phillies player in front of us (we were sitting behind right field, second row up. Yay StubHub!). This is fairly normal to happen both ways, and doesn't really bother me. What bothered me was what ensued the rest of the game. A good portion of the Phillies fans around us, even a dad with his young son, proceeded to make fun of this fan, mostly for his weight, even though half of them were as big as he was, and even though they were heckling Soriano (for the Cubs) a lot more than the Cubs fan was doing to their player. As we left the stadium, the group sitting behind us yelled "welcome to Philadelphia!" Yeah, thanks, you're over three months late with that one. Walking back from the subway station, other guys in a car yelled even nastier words at us that I cannot mention because I'm a lady. Ian and I have vowed to disassociate ourselves with Philadelphia sports teams, which is opposite of our original intentions. Phillies fans, you lost two potentials because you don't know how to be good sports.

I understand that fans get competitive, but do you really have to make fun of fans personal appearances to make yourself feel better, especially when your team is winning? And might I point out, the fans didn't win the game, the players did. You can share in their joy, but trust me, your not-so-skillful yelling techniques did not help score a run or cause an error for the other team. Just because your team beat our team, it doesn't make you better than us. I don't appreciate fans like that.

this is me irritated at the fans. Well, not really. Ian just likes taking funny pictures of me.

Positive notes about the game. One of the security ladies down our stairs was really nice, and a good baseball nut — she knew who Harry Caray was and lots of obscure baseball facts, and we got a baseball during the Cubs batting practice.

Another note, why is the Phillie Phantatic green?

image from Matt Watts on Flickr

Their colors are red and blue. And he is scary. He looks like the pot-bellied, estranged alcoholic green cousin of Big Bird with an inverted beak. Their little skit in the middle of the game pitted the Phanatic against Darth Vader who, gasp, is a Cubs fan. They had a light saber duel with storm troopers cheering on, and to defeat Darth, the Phanatic had to distract him to actually land a hit on his helmet. He concluded by stomping on Darth's Cubs hat. It was pretty lame. And why is it okay for the Phanatic to dance around on top of the opposing team's dugout and jiggle his fatness during the inning, serving as a very possible distraction to the opposing team's pitcher? Is that legal?

Anyway. Three other quick things, because I want to share pictures.

First, the Sunday after the game, we used Philly Car Share for the first time (got a mini cooper!), so we could go to Crate & Barrel and get our silverware, etc. And we drove around and saw Bryn Mawr and Villanova. Unfortunately , I got carsick (perhaps because it's been so long since I've ridden in one?), so we stopped on the Schuylkill and wandered around the cherry trees. Fun photos!

Second, the LOVE Park fountain was on this past Wednesday for the first time this spring. And the water was green for some event. It looked radioactive.

Third, the plumeria are growing!

Well, this is superbly long, and I want lunch. Have a lovely day!

to "redneck" who reads random blogs at 2 a.m.

This is going to be quite different than my thankful list or my concrete aspirations list (3 posts in a week, I think this is a record!), but I received this comment last night to a post I made in June 2005.

I happen to be a country boy and the sexy women around here like the starched wranglers because it shows what you have in the frony and back. They think horse riding, mud ridin, and lawnmower pulls are the best things to do. I take pride in the rebel flag, boots, starched wranglers, and cowboy hats. They also think spittin tobacco and smoking cowboy killers (marbolo reds) shows you are a man — redneck

Now, redneck, I'm not sure how you found my blog, or why you decided to read a 2-year-old post. But I do want to reply, in the event you regularly read my blog. Even if you don't, I feel the need to vindicate myself, because, quite frankly, you've irritated me. Not because you have several typos and I am an English major, or because you revel in the cowboy culture and I don't. It is your right to love all things cowboy. But it is also my right, as a gal who grew up in the Midwest and loves Kansas, to hate this subculture.

First off, while I did voice my distaste for starched jeans, my main complaint was the fact that, as part of my job, I had to slave for 8 hours every day turning these pants into cardboard, which I found ridiculous and sometimes even painful.

Second off, I don't like people assuming I love country music and cowboys just because I am from Kansas, or perhaps assuming I don't find it attractive because I am not currently living in the Midwest. Just because people in a region fit a stereotype, it doesn't mean it is true for everyone. Not all "sexy women around here" (wherever "here" is) melt for cowboys — this coming from myself (although I refrain from categorizing myself as "sexy"), who has grown up around this culture. I don't want to see "what you have in the frony and back." (What is your frony anyway... okay, just had to). I grew up going to the county fair every year, and while I enjoy these activities for the week, I don't think they are the epitome of a good time. I enjoy Jane Austen, classical music, hard rock, oldies, dragging main, and visiting my grandparents' farm. I don't personally find the classical cowboy look to be appealing. I like my husband much better. And I absolutely detest "spittin' tobacco" (you forgot your apostrophes, by the way, which you need when you drop letters) and smoking in general, not just in cowboys. Unhealthy, revolting, and decidedly not the definition of a man. And I know lots of other women who are surrounded by cowboys as well and would agree with this. A man is a good leader, responsible, a gentleman, takes care of what he needs to (family, friends, other responsibilities), remains loyal, stands up for what he should, loves well (love, in this instance, not referring to sex or "what he has in frony"), admits when he is wrong and works to correct his mistakes and learn from them... and much more. A cowboy can be a man on equal footing with a classical violinist on equal footing with a punk rocker. "Clothes don't make the man" as the cliche goes. Neither does anything you mentioned in your comment. Whether or not you are a man goes much deeper — to your character. It is not in wearing too-tight jeans or using tobacco products.

So from a technically-country gal to a "country boy," you enjoy what you do, I reserve my right to dislike and avoid it, despite my roots. And I find your definition of manhood quite shallow.

Vanessa's 28 Things inspired list.

My lovely friend Vanessa has a list of 28 things she wants to accomplish in 2008. I was inspired by her list, and the idea of using my blog to track progress on things I really want to do. So, here is my own list, although I think this will end up as more of a running list, and I won't force myself to finish it by the end of 2008, since I'm officially starting in April, and I don't want to overextend myself, knowing we have a big halfway-across-the-country move to make again in August. I'll probably make more lists when I come up with things (but I probably should make myself finish one list before starting another set!), and I will try to post when I accomplish things (at least the more interesting ones). Also, I'll bold things I finish — if you want to track this list of projects from time to time, just click on concrete aspirations in the sidebar.

1. Read all of Jane Austen's books — Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Lady Susan.
2. Attempt all the recipes from mom, at least once. — bbq meatballs, biko, eclairs, beef brisket.
3. Finish Mere Christianity.
4. Read Velvet Elvis, Soul Cravings, and The Barbarian Way.
5. Decorate my canvas bag.
6. Finish our wedding thank-yous. — just need to sleuth out one more address.
7. Catch up scrapbooking.
8. Watch all of The Godfather movies with Ian.
9. With Ian, complete, in order written, the Chronicles of Narnia. - finished The Silver Chair.
10. Whittle down our collection of stuff.
11. Write Grandma every month.
12. Re-start our potted herb garden when we get back in August. — herbs are (hopefully) in winter hibernation!
13. Finish the process of changing my name at necessary institutions.
14. Attempt to do a folded-book art sculpture.
15. Back up my photos to Picasa or Flickr (decide which one!).
16. Learn Tagalog.
17. Catch up in my journal.
18. Keep up the habit of weekly meal planning.
19. Clean the apartment at least bi-weekly.
20. Improve my athletic skills (a.k.a. things like play catch with Ian).
21. Exercise at least 3 times a week. — yay for Wii Fit!
22. Get up in time to put on makeup and do my hair for work, if I want to.
23. Work on my creative writing 2 times a week. — signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month: 50,000 words in November).
24. Finish knitting the scarves/hats I bought yarn to make.
25. Pick out the wedding photos to order/have in an album and relay to Gina.
26. Plan a creative, fun, inexpensive date once a month.
27. Learn a really good bring-to-share homemade side dish recipe and dessert recipe.
28. Hone in our budget and really stick to it.

My thankful list

Micki challenged everyone to write a thankful list. I've been meaning to for some time, but haven't gotten around to it until now. So here it is. Incomplete, ever growing, and in no particular order.

God's countless blessings in my life, always undeserved.
my amazing, handsome husband.
my family, which has now doubled.
my friends.
visits from family and friends we miss.
Jane Austen.
C.S. Lewis.
our view of the sparkly building.
my great jobs with such amazing people.
Ian's job and all it's opportunities.
Ian's love of cooking, and willingness to cook for us often.
our warm cozy microfleece blankets and amazing comforter.
lovely, large wooden recipe boxes.
Charlie, my cuddly teddy bear.
The Chronicles of Narnia.
good movies.
dates with Ian.
Grandma's recipes.
vanilla pudding pie.
grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.
chocolate chip cookie dough.
warm fuzzy boots.
rain boots.
my apron.
our now-growing plumeria sticks.
candles and bubble baths.
spring — with trees turning green and flowers blooming.
purple tulips, because he loves me.
our Wii.
bamboo sheets.
a sink that drains.
both my moms finishing treatment and growing hair.
girl bonding time.
pasta.
a return to Kansas with family and friends.
making amazing friends in new places.
churches that feel like home.
challenging Bible studies.
a full book shelf.
a dad who can answer all our tax questions.
cards in the mail.
surprises.
ice skating.
symphonies and classical music.
answered prayer.
knowing that despite my flaws, God uses me to do his work.
football games.
pancakes.
phone calls from friends.
sliced bananas in milk, vanilla, and sugar, just like Grandpa.

I could keep going, but I'll stop for the time being. I plan to revisit this topic often, and like Micki, challenge you to do the same. This past week's sermon at Tenth was about how we should depend on God for everything, but often let our happiness and contentment rest in things, the preoccupation of acquiring things we think will make us happy, and the security of having money. Our true needs are very basic, and have nothing to do with a full closet or a large financial portfolio. We should be good stewards of what God gives us, but we should always remember, first, that God gives it to us, it is a blessing we do not deserve, and that we should use it to do his work. This list, I know, will help me keep that in perspective. All of what I have is a gift, and I am truly and deeply thankful.

Our complex is (figuratively) exploding today.

I shall update you on the past couple of exciting weeks for Ian and I, but first, I have to share my current frustration. We have received, in the past several weeks, several notices. First, the vents in our apartment units in our building will be cleaned, scheduled for last Friday. Fine, we're both at work on Fridays. Second notice. They will continue it, TODAY. Third notice, on our doors and in the elevators. They will be testing the fire alarm system between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., TODAY. Fourth notice. They will be testing decibel levels in random apartments on our floor, TODAY. So, around 10 a.m. the fire alarms, which are extremely loud, start going off, over and over again. I think I'm going to go crazy. So I leave the apartment to do some shopping, hoping it will be over when I come back. Our apartment complex is renovating. This is good. But this means I have to walk around the usual entrance, over squishy wet outdoor carpet (since it rained this morning). Usually the renovation part gets me excited, but we're leaving before it will be all finished, so we don't get to enjoy what we are putting up with right now to get. Frustrating. I get back, and find out the testing is on and off all day. I unplug the alarm buzzer in our room, but the floor's hallway alarm still is loud. I can't leave, because I have to do the church newsletter today. Then the people come to clean the vents. Actually, they are here right now. Scraping the vents, and they have this air pressure blower thing... and they are making a mess on the carpet I just vacuumed. And someone else still might come to check decibel levels. I'm going to be glad when 5 p.m. rolls around and it's all over.

Anyway, moving on to the past couple weeks. Two Thursdays ago, we returned to Manayunk and the Bayou to watch the 'Cats with Mark, and witness a first round win. Our excitement was later matched by our disappointment at our loss in the next game. We could have won. *sigh* That Saturday, we hung out with Amit, an awesome new friend from church and our bible study. He's Indian and works at Comcast, and he is hilarous, not to mention just a great all around guy. Sunday, a.k.a. Easter, we went to church, which was an amazing service, followed by dinner with some other new friends from church. Charity, who's parents are missionaries in the Philippines, hosted us, and she is an amazing cook! It was so nice to get to know people at church a little better, and enjoy such wonderful fellowship. We are so thankful for this blessing!

The next Tuesday brought another exciting event we had been anticipating since the wedding, but weren't sure when it would actually happen. We got our very own Wii! It's so much fun to play together, and we get good exercise, too.

The next exciting event was Friday/Saturday. Friday, when Ian was gifted two amazing tickets to the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and Saturday, when we experienced the symphony in all its glory. Before the symphony, we discovered the culinary excellence available at Porcini. It's this tiny, fantastic Italian restaurant. And it isn't horribly expensive, either!! After dinner, we walked to the Kimmel Center, home to the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. It is such a beautiful building!

And we had great seats!!

Sunday, on our way home from church, we ran into a Greek/Olympic parade/presentation — very interesting!

Take two — we ran out of memory on the first one.

It was nice enough to take a walk, so later we wandered around the museum, took photos, laughed about the Argentinean team that was touring the museum area and growing very excited about Rocky...

The fountain in Logan Square is now on!

Ian with his new Philadelphia travel mug from Starbucks.

Me in front of the art museum.

the Argentinean team in front of the Rocky statue.

Finally, I shall leave you with my new favorite Ian photo. First, a premise. Terri, my awesome boss, sent a couple Easter eggs home with me the other day. Coconut cream and dark chocolate Easter eggs. Giant, one-pound coconut cream and dark chocolate Easter eggs. Now I would have said we should cut off bits. But Ian, eager to try it, decides to bite off the end. A funny photo session ensued.

The End.