What better place to start than in paradise.

What is a wedding without being followed up by a good honeymoon? Again due to lack of time, I will just let the photos do the talking again. From July 1 to July 6, Emily and I traveled to Jamaica. We stayed in Negril at the Couples Negril resort (which we highly recommend)

Exploring the pool and beach off in the distance.

Our room with a nice balcony overlooking the beautiful lush garden.

One of the many tropical flowers in the gardens around the resorts. The gardens were full of lush green plants, flowers, ponds, tropical birds.

There were a handful of hammocks hidden throughout the gardens and along the beaches. What a peaceful place to relax with your new wife!

A snapshot of that ring that started it all (along with its new wedding band).

One of the many activities that were offered at the resort was an arts & crafts activity of rock painting. Emily and I painted this rock and left it behind with the other painted rocks in their garden. Looks like we'll have to go back sometime and pick it up. ;-)

The food was AMAZING! This one picture of a decadent desert and slice of tropical fruit does not do justice to all the great food we ate.

A view of the pool and main building for the resort.

Another one of those colorful tropical flowers.

Mango trees growing in the garden. How cool!

One of my favorite pictures of Emily in her beach had and blue polka-dot sun dress.

One of many tropical birds we observed throughout the resort.

Another popular activity was beach volleyball. I played practically every day!

Emily and I on a catamaran cruse to western Negril. Not shown in the picture is the "Pirate Cave", which would be just to the left of this view. I took a swim there with a few others on the cruse.

An egret that came down from his perch in the palm trees for a photo-op.

A view of the pool and swim up pool bar from the main building.

The First Chapter of a Long and Happy Story…

Once again I have neglected this blog for an unacceptable amount of time. Before I resume my posts, I must update the readers on a very important story.

It all started on one Friday the 13^th back in March. Two young twenty-somethings who had been dating each other for quite some time were getting ready to go on a trip. In this story, the young man's name is Glen (me), the cute young woman's name is Emily. We were going on a trip to a bed-and-breakfast at Keuka Lake to spend a weekend tasting wines from the local wineries

After settling in at the fancy bed-and-breakfast, we got some dinner and relaxed for the evening. Emily was a little disappointed though. To her, it did not feel like our vacation had started yet. I had an idea though. I looked into her eyes, and began to tell her some of the things I loved about her. How she is intelligent, funny, supportive and somehow understands me. I told her she is like one of the puzzle pieces that is falling into place to make up the picture of my life.

She thought I was just giving her a compliment, but I had something else in store. It was at that point, I pulled out a small box and went down on one knee and asked Emily to marry me.

She said yes. And thus begins the first chapter of what I hope to be a long and happy story.

:-)

Time to get back to reality... even if I have to be dragged kicking and screaming!

Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be for me to get in the car tomorrow morning? It's not the long drive that will be discouraging me. Rich will be joining me to help out with a portion of it.

Can you guess why I don't want to jump in that car tomorrow morning?

Could it be the sun... the sand... the salty spray of the sea...
The crashing waves... the new friends I made?

I have a feeling it is a little bit of all of those things.
:-)
Nonetheless, back to reality.

Kickin it in the OBX!

I am sitting here in the third floor living room of our incredibly luxurious beach house in the Outer banks of North Carolina. I look to my left out the window and see the waters of the Pamlico Sound separating the North Carolina mainland from Hatteras Island. I look to my right and see the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. (!!!) I promise pictures of this will soon follow. :-)

I am counting my blessings that I am here because my stomach has not been cooperative in the least. With no apparent reason (other than perhaps a fair amount of stress), I woke up Tuesday morning with some nasty stomach pains (again!) just below my sternum. The same thing happened again yesterday and to a lesser extent today. But it's OK because it is only preventing me from getting a full night of sleep, running, eating properly and enjoying any sort of beer with my friends here. But who needs those things to enjoy life!

I may end up having to cut this trip short if these symptoms persist. I hope not though because I kind of like it here. Any doctors out there please feel free to interject with diagnoses and suggestions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday to... this blog! (Note the counter at the bottom of the page! ;-)

I know it sounds lame but it is a big deal for me as I have been particularly lazy with things like this in the past. So let's look at my stats:

66 posts in the past year
Averaging out to 1.27 posts per week...
Which is about one post every 5.5 days.
577 total page views with...
66% unique views
34% repeat views
Averaging 1.6 views a day.

Not too much comments and feedback though. I still encourage my readers to do so as the feedback will keep me engaged. I promise my readers that I will do what I can to improve my stats in the coming year! For now here's a picture of my blog on it's first birthday.

Right now I am at a minimum for time as I am preparing for a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina during the second half of the week. (!!!) I have never been there. Due to some unexpected twists and turns in my life (which I may or may not disclose at a later date), I will be departing for my trip tomorow night instead of waiting until Wednesday morning. If all goes according to plan, I will be on the beach by early afternoon on Wednesday.

I will keep you posted.

We're on a road to nowhere.

Greetings!

I am traveling on a road to nowhere for this weekend because for once I am not traveling somewhere. During the past three weekends in July I have traveled to Buffalo for my cousin's wedding (see the picture from the previous post) and traveled to the Thousand Islands for a weekend getaway at a cottage my parents rented. Most recently, my travels have culminated with Emily and I circumnavigating Canandagua Lake, tasting wines along the way and staying at a Bed and Breakfast on the way. Is it any wonder I am content with doing NOTHING this weekend!?

So let's start with the wedding of my cousin Matt and his now wife, Emily.

The wedding went very well. It was on the fifth of July which meant hot weather. It was fine that it was hot because the reception was held outside.
I can't remember the place where they had the wedding but I do remember that Emily and I thought it was very nice and had great food. Not like we were taking notes on wedding ideas or anything. ;-) It was also nice to see my brother and his girlfriend that weekend, (and my parents and family too).
As it turns out, Emily and I would be seeing my brother and his girlfriend and my parents at the cottage in the Thousand Islands again the following weekend. You would think I would have gotten sick of them, but we managed to avoid getting on each other's nerves (for the most part). It's hard to get on people's nerves when you are in such a relaxing and beautiful area of New York. I would love to share pictures, but unfortunately my camera seems to be undergoing some malfunctions preventing me from removing pictures. (GRRRR!)

The only thing that marred that trip was a little rain on Sunday and the fact that following a 13 mile run I did up there I ended up getting sick with some vomiting and a mild depletion of my electrolytes. To much protest from my family and Emily I have since went back to a doctor to figure out what is wrong with my stomach. I have a history of acid reflux problems for some reason. Right now it is continuing to make it difficult to run. I'll fill you in on that more later.
Last week, Emily and I went on a trip in which we circumnavigated Canandagua Lake. We stopped at wineries along the way for tastings and pictures. Above is the mansion at Sonenberg gardens.

The gardens were nice even though there was not too much in bloom. It was very HOT! Within the gardens were a few statues that oddly looked like they were peeing into fountains. There was also a fair amount of unclothed statues.Ain't she a stinker! ;-)

Here is a beautiful but hazy view from the southern end of Canandagua Lake. Even though I was reluctant to spend a night at a Bed and Breakfast I enjoyed it a great deal. It was very relaxing and an interesting experience to socialize with the other couples (most of whom were older and getting away from their children). I wouldn't mind doing it again actually.

So you now see why I have been silent through the month of July.

As promised... New Orleans from my lens.

I promised... here is a recap of my trip to New Orleans in photo form!

Upon landing at Louis Armstrong International Airport, the A.C.S. aranged for this band of musicians playing "When the Saints go Marching In" and other popular New Orleans style jazz songs for all the arriving chemists.

Sidd and I stayed at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel. Located right on the corner of Canal and Bourbon Street.

Apparently hotel rooms in New Orleans come with their own beads! Beads are everywhere in the French Quarter. It's not just a Mardi Gras thing!The French Quarter is in great shape considering how badly damaged the city was from hurricane Katrina. However in the rest of the city there are numerous hotels, strip-malls and plazas under construction or awaiting construction. This is what appears to be a multi-story office building with all the windows blown out awaiting renovation. This is just outside the French quarter... and you can tell that the neighborhood quickly turns a bit more dangerous in those areas!
Here's the River Walk along the banks of the Mississippi River. It was pretty unique to see such a busy port city like New Orleans at work. Huge ships were constantly traveling up and down the river.
On Tuesday I had the opportunity to get together with my former professors from Nazareth at Cafe Beignet. It was here where I had my first experience eating beignets!I took a break to visit the National World War II Museum.

And Sidd and I enjoyed more beignets at Cafe Dumond.

We also presented posters and gave talks at the conference... it was not all eating great food, listening to good music and having fun!

I have survived... and made it to D-Day +4.

I SURVIVED! I am referring of course to my thesis defense. I succeeded in delivering a great talk that my committee enjoyed (though I thought it was lackluster at best). I faired well in the 2 hours of cross examination and critiquing that followed. I received a large mass of recommended thesis revisions and now have until April 21 to get it all in order. The whole ordeal was very exhausting and I am glad it is over.

I may have won that "battle", but the "war" still wages on. in the days that followed my defense I took Wednesday off (completely... leaving all paperwork at my office and going no where near it) and then I hastily prepared to present my research findings at the ACS national conference in New Orleans... which is where I am writing this!

Here's a picture of me on the River Walk in New Orleans by the Mississippi River. It's the first time I have seen it... and she's a mighty river I tell ya!

This is a picture of "The Spanish Plaza" (Sidd admiring the fountain). A few minutes before I took that picture we witnessed a guy go down on one knee and propose to his girlfriend... no joke! (She said yes and received applause from the passers by.)And of course, what would New Orleans be without a trip down Bourbon Street. Pretty damn cool how they let you walk right down the middle of the street (all car traffic is blocked off at night) from bar to bar with open alcoholic beverages! Sidd and I are fitting in very nicely.

This is going to be a fun week! Hopefully I will be able to keep you all posted as to what's going on. Wish me luck for my talk on Thursday!

Happy Friday... oh yeah, and happy 2008!

So, one of my New Years resolutions should have been to post more thoughts to my blog! My apologies for not putting anything here for so long.

My last three posts have been a brief recap of my adventures I had in New York City. I did so much there that even those three posts did not divulge all of the minute details, stories, and experiences I had while on that journey. I hope you enjoy reading it. I will enjoy having those details written down before I forget them.

Since that last post, Emily has returned home from her study abroad program in Wales. :-) I am grinning ear to ear over it. Life has been wonderful since her return as I now have my "partner in crime" back. We have been spending a lot of time with each other and catching up.

Emily and I spent some time with each other before Christmas. I traveled to Buffalo to visit my parents for Christmas ans see my family. I spent New Years with Emily as we visited a few of her friends. Her friends Bethany and Stephanie are loads of fun! I rang in the New Year at their apartment, drank a little too much and was seriously hung over the following day. Not a good experience the day after! I think I will avoid drinking like that again for a LONG time (I'm serious this time).

In other news on the academic front, during mid-December, I wrote and presented my interim seminar to my committee for my Masters Thesis. It went very well. I presented and was simultaneously questioned and cross-examined for about an hour and 45 minutes! It was very grueling, but my committee was quite impressed with my work. I have been given the go-ahead to finish up my research and start writing my thesis. EXCITING!

Additionally, the paper that I wrote and submitted to the American Chemical Society national conference (mentioned here) has been accepted for an oral presentation! So, I will be traveling to New Orleans this April to give a talk on it. Once again... EXCITING!

There's more to talk about, but at the moment my time is needed else ware. I promise, I will write more in due time.

Glen Meets Manhattan - Part III: Including the chapters "Viewing Works of the Great Painters" and "Paying a Visit to Ground Zero"

Previously on “Glen Meets Manhattan”…

Glen recovered (albeit painfully and slowly) from his hangover. Witnessed the neighborhood of Harlem, Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History. Glen also witnessed the beautiful wonder that is the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

The question now is weather or not Glen can survive venturing out into Manhattan on all by him self!

You see, on Sunday, December 9, Andy had to head up to Albany for his brother’s graduation and I was left on my own to venture through the bustling borough of Manhattan. So, was I up to the challenge?

You better believe it!

I started the day early (around 9ish) by taking the N train and transferring to the 7 train at Queensborough plaza. I managed all that by my self without getting lost! I arrived in Manhattan… at the Grand Central Terminal. Absolutely beautiful! There were so many train and subway tracks and platforms. The large interior space inside was truly an amazing sight. It was still busy even on a Sunday morning. I took a moment to have breakfast there mimicking Holden Caulfield in “The Catcher in the Rye”.

From there I walked uptown on Park Avenue… and then I turned around and began to walk uptown for real when I realized the streets were declining in numbers rather than increasing (!)… one of the few times I got disoriented that day. I worked my way back over to the Rockefeller Center to look at the big Christmas tree again. This time I got a little bit more “up-close” and got some pictures of the Prometheus Sculpture and Ice Rink.

I then headed a few more blocks uptown to the Museum of Modern Art. This place was an incredible experience. I saw several impressionist and post-impressionist paintings that have become famous. Beautiful! A special exhibit of Seurat’s drawings, including a series of paintings that he made before completing his famous “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” were on display. I saw my first Picasso! I saw many works from Monet and Matisse. And the big one for me… I viewed Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. Such a beautiful painting! I did not spend too much time viewing the other 2 floors of works (there’s about 6 all together). I wanted to continue and see more of the city.

With that done, since I was in the neighborhood I headed back over to the Bryant Park Christmas Village to do some Christmas shipping. After that I got on a subway and headed downtown to the Financial District, getting off at Wall Street. I wanted to get a feel for what it would be like to be walking through the “concrete canyons” of the city where there is concrete, glass and steel sky scrapers of hundreds of feet on both sides of you as you walk at the bottom on a concrete and pavement covered street. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. I located the New York Stock Exchange and Trinity Church. I headed cross town to the former World Trade Center site.

As you emerge from the financial district towards Ground Zero you suddenly see this wide expanse of skyline in front of you that is completely empty and seems rather out of place. This is where the towers would have been. My interest in the events of September 11 is very extensive so being there to see it first hand and up-close was a noteworthy experience for me. It just hits me very hard to see the large scale of the damage. There is not much of a memorial yet, but the whole area is a construction site at this point. I took the time to navigate around the entire area and take pictures when ever I could. I can not imagine being there on those streets on that dreadful day. A particularly good viewing area (as suggested by our tour guide on Friday’s cruse) was the Winter Gardens at the World Financial Center.

After viewing Ground Zero, I headed down to Battery Park. There I found the sculpture that was previously located in the courtyard between the Twin Towers. The sculpture was recovered from the ruble in badly damaged condition and put on display in Battery Park with an eternal flame as a part of a memorial. From the park I was also able to view the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

By this time I was feeling cold, tired and a little sick. I headed back uptown towards the Christmas village in Columbus Circle to do some more shopping. With a headache and an increasing feeling of sickness… I grabbed dinner and headed back to Queens. I collapsed on the couch and watched football for the evening!

So that concludes my 3 part series on my experiences in New York City. Awesome experience! I want to go back and do all the things I missed and do some things all over again!