hopes and dreams

my dad and i took an afternoon and went to the air and space museum. it was one of my favorite days in DC.

WWII Planes
America's P51-D

Britian's Spitfire MK.VII Germany's Mersserschmitt 109
Japan's Zero

happy christmas

clearly, the focus this christmas was alexis' fully cooked bun. we are all in love with him...alexis and mike are only slightly concerned that one of us might steal him from them. it was a miracle that any of us got on the plane to come back.

ulysses s.

we took a little tour of the ulysses s. grant monument on christmas morning. unexpectedly, it was one of the cooler monuments we saw while in DC.

tirza at her best

because the family got a trip to DC and a new nephew/grandson for christmas, we decided to give the parents a break on gift giving this year. we each picked one gift...tirza had a hard time deciding. this is why we love her!

christmas eve with lincoln

we had an unconventional christmas this year. we spent the holiday in DC waiting for alexis to have her baby. he came just in time for christmas. while the new grandparents were at the hospital, tirza, hadas, maiyah, and i went to see president lincoln. it was cold, rainy, and beautiful. a christmas eve to remember.

welcome to the world baby poelman!

she's crafty

i spent last night getting crafty with devra hollis. look at what i made! i'm so proud of me!

the application

for those of you wondering how to apply for the travel buddy position, here it is:

do you make me laugh?
if yes:
do you like to explore new places?
if yes:
do you prefer to be in nature rather than in a city?
if yes:
do you love eating fresh fruit, warm bread, and cheese?
if yes:
do/are you like ice cream?
if yes:
you're in.

from one fan to another

you have to check this out. it will make you cry.

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200809303364800

europe, exactly.

In Heaven:
The cooks are French,
The policemen are English,
The mechanics are German,
The lovers are Italian,
The bankers are Swiss.

In Hell:
The cooks are English,
The policemen are German,
The mechanics are French,
The lovers are Swiss,
The bankers are Italian.

ah, politics

in celebration of the spirit of november:

DEMOCRAT
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for everyone.

REPUBLICAN
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when one cow drops dead.
You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.

FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.

ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.

IRAQI CORPORATION
You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

POLISH CORPORATION
You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.

BELGIAN CORPORATION
You have one cow.
The cow is schizophrenic.
Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish.
The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk.
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy.

FLORIDA CORPORATION
You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow.

CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
You have millions of cows.
They make real California cheese.
Only five speak English.
Most are illegal.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.

inspiration

dc in the fall

i spent the last week in washington, d.c. with lex and mike. what a great time! i'd never been there before, and i fell in love with the city, despite the cold! brrrr! now, i've got this itch to move there (shh don't tell). i spent most of my time hanging out with alexis and the bun, so i didn't take many pics, but here are some of the lady with a baby. don't hate her because she's beautiful...and still fits into her regular jeans at 7.5 months pregnant!

sunset over dc

me...bundled

belated posting

so...these are things that i've been meaning to post about, but i've been slacking. so, rather than make you all sift through my archives, i'm posting it all in one...and one for all.

1: sarah jenkins and her wonderful humor. she sent this to me a while ago, and i loved it. i think i may be missing grad school more than i'd like to admit. (hint: if you click on the image it's easier to read.)

2: bailey's first bday. maiyah and i got him some treats and new toys. lucky puppy.

3: smart baby...with skull headphones. if i remember correctly, they were pumping mozart into the belly.

4: daddy does cookies. i came into the kitchen a couple of weeks ago at 8pm to my dad making chocolate chip cookies all by himself. i had to snap some pics. i laughed until i tried one: the best cookies i've had since my gramma died. it's in the blood!

5: alexis and mike came to visit in the summertime. here are the highlights.

the beach

maddux and the san diego padres

usa vs. canada

when pumpkins drink

spain

i'm now taking applications for a travel buddy to my 10-year mission reunion in madrid, spain. don't miss out! 'ole!

ding dong

i'm not sure what sound a cowbell makes, but ding dong is as close as i can come. i'm on the rays' bandwagon...blue mohawks, cowbells and all. my reasons:

1. i hate the phillies...especially victorino.
2. i'm all about the underdog.
3. i dug matt garza's press conference (and his attitude) when he discussed his convo on the mound with his manager, joe maddon. check it out: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3652925
4. i love maddon's glasses and that he looks like gene hackman.
5. i think it's rad that their entire starting pitching staff is under 26 years old.
6. i hate the phillies...especially victorino, again.

so, go rays!

and there it goes

our excitement over the dodgers post season was short lived. they lost to philli last night after a 4-1 series. so sad. but, greg maddux did get to pitch for an inning and two-thirds, which was fantastic (no thanks to furcal who had 3 errors, which led to 2 runs in the inning). eventhough it's over, i still bleed blue and can't wait for next year. don't worry: when frank mccourt calls and asks me what to do with manny i'm going to tell him to keep him in LA!

until next spring. . .

LAD 3, CHC 1

the boys in blue pulled out a broom and swept the cubs for a first class ticket to the NLCS! next stop: philli.

LAD 10, CHC 3

game 2. check.

LAD 7, CHC 2

thanks to manny and co, we're one up on chicago. i feel a little torn, because i am a cubs fan too, but loney's grand salami was beautiful to watch. maddux even closed the game. as the slogan says: i live for this! go dodgers!

yoda knows it all

maiyah and i watched the original star wars trilogy this week. cliche though it may be...wise yoda is.

• “Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?”
• “[Luke:] I can’t believe it. [Yoda:] That is why you fail.”
• “Do or do not... there is no try.”
• “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.”
• “Always moving the future is.”

dream on baby

while living on a sailboat and cruising around the south pacific is still rather high on my priority list, i've decided that buying a mastercraft x14 is higher. can't beat that feeling of cutting through glassy water behind a ski boat. why not dream big?

i'm back

after what feels like years of not wanting to do anything, i'm starting to get the itch to travel again. it's sort of like that feeling when your body slowly warms up after being outside in the cold.

gradually, i'm having the desire to go out and do things again. so, i'm going to get serious about this amazing race thing. i've wanted to do it for years, and it's about time i just did it. a new season just started...so, i'm thinking next year. don't be surprised if you turn on your tv one day and see me trying to walk on stilts in lithuania. get ready, anna. you're my ticket to the big time!

national league west division champs

the dodgers clinched the division last night with an arizona loss. although we lost to peavy...again...the celebration after the game was so worth staying up for!
look out world series, here come the dodgers!!

my trip to LA with maiyah in august

it was her first time at dodger stadium, and we sat 6 rows from the field. great seats. great dogs. great game.