Hanging out with my own kind

This week I attended an aviation marketing conference in Pittsburgh, PA. I was very excited because Karyn was able to join me. Karyn has been a fan of Pittsburgh since she came and visited me during college. The fun neighborhoods with lots of character, the great shopping and the yummy food. It was also a chance for Karyn to experience a full immersion into the world of aviation nerd-ery. I told her that everyone who would be there (for the most part) would be speaking in aviation nerd code like I do most of the time.

These people get excited about a new paint scheme, a major route announcement or a controversial airplane change for an airline - say from Boeing to Airbus or vice versa. These are the news bytes that send blackberries on overload and the pending coffee break buzzing with excitement. It always refreshes me to be at these conferences because at the end of the day, even though working is always work and it can be stressfull - I am very happy to be in an industry that I enjoy. So what if $140 oil is gradually killing the everyday person's appreciation for how awesome it is - but c'est la vie - It's a great time. Everyone enjoyed meeting Karyn and she even mentioned "Hey, your conference people are way more exciting!"

Side notes:

1. We got to go to the first Yankees game in Pittsburgh (due to interleague) since Bill Mazerowski's homerun to win the 1960 World Series. He threw out the first pitch and it was awesome.

2. We got to see Dave Sherer (friend from Pitt and Semester at Sea) and his new place.

3. We also got to see baby Claire June Gerencir at only 6 days old. So Cute!

4. We have also recently celebrated great events such as Michelle and Sara's commitment ceremony and Kyle's 30th Bday and PhD celebration.

For pictures of Michelle and Sara's commitment ceremony, check out the following link.

For other pictures from June including Baby Claire and Kyle's celebration, check out this link.

This Thursday we are off for a long weekend to Santa Fe with Karyn's mom. While we are not taking a major vacation this summer - we are doing Santa Fe, Big Sur (wedding) and Chicago (fun, fun, fun) for long weekends. Let the Summer officially begin....

Ballpark Burgers, Long-lost Cousins and 98 degree heat...

I am sitting here in our air-conditioned condo and looking back on a very nice weekend. It actually started a day early on Thursday when Karyn and I went with Marci to the St. Louis Cardinals - Washington Nationals game at the new Nationals Ballpark. Marci, who is from St. Louis, was able to cheer on her team that actually has a proud baseball history. The Nats one day will have one... We also got to meet up with fellow friends and fans (Lauren, Chris, Monesha and Emi). Socializing and baseball justs works really well together.

It was a lot of fun, especially the food. This time I decided to go back to the old standby - a Five Guys hamburger (for those of you who don't know - that is an Alexandria, VA based company). The ballpark is great and actually includes batting cages and I was able to further add creedance to the notion that jews are really not that good at sports. Oy! I was pretty bad - at least I hit the ball once.

On Friday night, we went over to my mom's house for a nice Shabbat dinner with Jenn, the girls, my mom, Harvey and Marc Snyder. We had a great time and afterwards, Lucy and Madelyn, as usual, were begging Aunt Karyn to paint their nails...The amusing part was that afterwards, Grandma Ellen asked to get her nails painted as well. I guess that was in the fine print of the ketubah :-) Karyn is of course willing to help anyone who believes in having pretty pink nails.
For pictures from both Thursday and Friday, click here.

Yesterday we had a graduation party for the Epsteins and then we hung out until our big dinner with our new long-lost Pincus cousins. Further to my previous blog, Karyn's second cousins recently, through the power of the internet, located both Karyn and Risa. David Pincus, it turns out is living with his wife Vonnie and son Ari, only 6 blocks away from us in Silver Spring. They had us all over for a great dinner where we ate, had great conversation and watched two very cute kids play together. This story of family reconnection may be on an episode of Oprah one day...who knows?

Check out that family resemblance in that picture! For pictures from our long-lost Pincus cousin dinner on Saturday night, click here.

And now to Sunday, we had a great brunch in Olney to see David's very awesome girlfriend Morgan (who yes, is my facebook friend)....And of course, I told myself Howie - have one bagel. Unforunately my hands grabbed two - oops!

So now I am sitting and waiting for my slow-cooker Chicken and Turkey Sausage Jambalaya to finish cooking while doing some work and trying to procrastinate from cleaning our condo...

Signing off from Concourse H....

Odds and Ends from the Born Again Blogger...

Summer is upon us (well until the Summer Solstice) and I am enjoying the nice new weather after a May full of a lot of rain! Unforunately, I have been a little lax about blogging over the past 6 weeks so I have some interesting news and notes for my blog ...

1. In early July, I will become a boss for the first time! I know it sounds crazy but I am very much looking forward to passing on the perfect balance of hard work and being obsessed with aviation to a recent college graduate!
   
   
2. Facebook.com is really a great website but I am starting to reduce my introductory obsession with the website. Where else can you waste time by putting buttons on a digital bulletin board, look at interesting photos of your friends and update everyone on your daily status. Don't get me wrong, I still love the site but I am trying to reduce the effect it has on the rest of my life.
   
   
3. I have been really trying to perfect some cooking skills. Karyn and I love to cook, it's just the pre-planning recipes after a long day at work which becomes hard. I will tell you what I am super obsessed with. The Crock Pot! I had to squash some of Karyn's worries about leaving on the Crock Pot on during the day but we have moved past that... Also, I finally cooked (successfully) my very first fish dinner. Turns out it's pretty easy. Special thanks to my sister-in-law Lisa for getting me on track. See the photo of tonights dinner Tilapia cooked with pineapple salsa. Yum!
   
   
   
   
4. Last Thursday, I was working away at work when a very surprising email popped into my inbox from a Joshua Pincus. Turns out Karyn's long lost second cousins have been searching for her side of the family. Josh lives in Chicago and his brother (get this!) lives 4 blocks away from Karyn and I in downtown Silver Spring. This has been really exciting for Karyn and Risa and we are looking forward to getting to know the extended Pincus family! Part of the internet search that led to Karyn actually went via Concourse H - I knew there was a reason for doing this blog!
   
   
5. I have been already to the new Nationals Stadium twice and I have to say - the team may not be good but the food is really good. The hardest part of the going to the game is deciding what to eat! (hamburger, chicken fingers, kosher knish, etc.) Life is full of tough decisions...
   
   

So there you have it - Concourse H is back from it's Spring Break! Enjoy!