Rothbury 2008 - whew

So my Pals Jen and Neal from Phoenix (Jen and I went to High School Together) did our annual music festival trip this summer along with Neal's friends Dave, Chris and Jeff - it was a total trip - music, fun and little sleep - below is just a bunch of photos to give a flavor of the w/e!

K2 and my brother

chris in tahoe & Chris at the puga for Everst - and Tibetan Woman below

So - some of you know and some don't - my brother Chris is climbing K2 this summer. Unfortunately I googled K2 and came up with all sorts of scary information and also some information that made me realize how incredibly challenging it is to even attempt to climb this mountain. Its only 600 feet shorter than Everest, which Chris summitted a couple of years ago, but its a lot more difficult. It has a lot more vertical and its with a lot less support. Most people summit without oxygen and so far only 198 have summitted compared to just about 2000 who have summited Everest.

Chris has a long summer of snow and wind and danger and adventure ahead of him, so please keep him in your safe thoughts and follow a long - you can sign up for his blog through the links below. You can also go to the team website and see the other fella's he is climbing with.

Team Website
http://www.thealtitudeexperience.com/k2/

Chris's website
http://goalexploration.com/HomePage.html

Ithaca is Gorges

I visited Sheri and Paul this weekend in Ithaca - Can you even believe Sheri is 6 months pregnant in this photo? Seriously! This is also where she can walk too on her lunches at work - sure beats the Bariatric Hospital I look at every day in wonderful Ypsilanti! We had an incredible meal at the famous Moosewood Resturant - the carrot cake was incredible - I am still thinking about it -

They have quite a big summer ahead as they gut and rebuild the house they just bought and prepare to become parents in October - it was so great to hang out with them and help a little as they get ready for everything!

What really happened

So, I have wondered how the whole credit crisis was allowed to happen. It seemed to me like a no-brainer - of course, if you gave away risky loans, it will eventually come back and kick you- So I understood the global idea of what went wrong, what I didn't understand, was why - My supersecret boyfriend Ira Glass did an episode on it - and I highly encourage anyone who is interested to listen to it

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1242

here is the summary:
The Giant Pool of Money
A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.

Host Ira Glass talks with an NPR business and economics correspondent about two gatherings he attended—one at the Ritz Carlton and one at a community college in Brooklyn. The first was an awards dinner for finance professionals who created the mortgage-based financial instruments that nearly brought down the global economic system. The other was a non-profit conference for people facing foreclosure. Ira explains that today's show lays out how the finance guys and the people facing foreclosure are connected by a chain of middlemen, and that together, they all brought about the current housing and credit crisis.

This American Life producer Alex Blumberg teams up with NPR's Adam Davidson for the entire hour to tell the story—the surprisingly entertaining story—of how the U.S. got itself into a housing crisis. They talk to people who were actually working in the housing, banking, finance and mortgage industries, about what they thought during the boom times, and why the bust happened. And they explain that a lot of it has to do with the giant global pool of money.

me, my brother and 34 hours on the road

So - Reno to Ann Arbor in 34 hours with a 5 ton trailer attached to my brothers car - that is what my brother and I did on Sunday and Monday of this week. We left early on Sunday morning and arrived late last night.

Above the photos are of Nevada, Utah, the Great salt lake, wind mills in Wyoming and a barn in Nebraska. I have to say after driving through Nebraska my desire to take photos completely ended - what a long freaking state -

another set of stitches

so while out in Tahoe, I stayed at a wonderful woman's home, named Joan. Within minutes of meeting her I had an unfortunate accident with a blender that resulted in 4 stitches on one finger and 5 on the other......I am sure Joan will never use the blender again with out fond memories of my blood....ugh.....9 stitches.....

65 Years of Marriage!

My grandparents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this past weekend in Reno, NV - their advice is: Grandma "have patience and forgive and FORGET" my grandpa's advice "she says 'jump' I say 'how high" They had 40 people from all over the country out to celebrate - it was quite a party!