Viva la Panama

4 summers ago, my friends Isaac, Lacey, and I were floating on a plastic portable "deck-like" thing you once enjoyed jumping off of at summer camp. We lounged, soaked in the Mediterranean sun, watching man after hairy man struttin' in ye ol' speedo. We chitted, we chatted, Isaac bringing up his grand idea of someday starting a music festival, from scratch mind you, in his home country of Panama.

This summer, was the 3rd anniversary of Isaac's creation. The "Alfredo de Saint Malo Music Festival" takes place in the historic downtown of Panama, hosting recitals given by members of the Metropolitan Opera, The Rome Opera House, down to a finale orchestra concert given by local school children from unfortunate districts and circumstances.

Amazing time. Amazing.

One note.
The Panama Canal? I mean, it's worth going to see, just to see. But it's just not as glorious as your elementary school teacher made it out to be. Pooey.

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Vacay

Joe and I took a Memorial Day trip to visit our friends Julie and Dave out in Vermont. Cruised down the Connecticut River in a thweet canoe, hit up some bueno eateries and soaked in the countryside. Above is where Julie and her roomies live in. It's an old barn that's been converted into a house. "Come to me my animal friends!"

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Plug

Why wouldn't you want a $500 desk, for free?

My cousin Anna entered a giveaway for a super duper holy moly scrapbook organizer desk that will take her to the next level of memory preservation and is by golly going to win this thang. The desk has a plethora of storage for all of her heart shaped cut-outs and zig-zag scissors.

I mean, take a LOOK!


All you gotta do, is go to "The Original Scrap Box" by clicking HERE, then click on the "Cutest Craft Giveaway" (it's right smack dab in the middle of the page people), then vote for #259. That's it! Easy. Just a couple seconds of your day. And if you're feeling reeeally genorous with your time, you can vote everyday until the 28th. So, go! Help my Anna!

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Whoa.......That Dudn't Look Right.

Dislocated the ol' digit playing a mean game of volleyball with fellow bandees. Oh man you should have seen it. The joint that connects the thumb to your wrist looked somekind of inverted, leaving my thumb stuck pointing in a direction....not.....normal.

Ironically(?), luckily(?) we were playing against the medic team, who let out an "Ohhhhhhhhh....." upon seeing my funk of a thumb. After a couple minutes of deliberation, they decided to go ahead and pull it back into place, and told me to head to the emergency room to get an x-ray.

So here I sit, slowly plucking away at the keyboard while catching faint wafts of stink floating from my sweaty casted hand.

Next time it's time to take care of your pearlies, try brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand. Comical.

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65 degrees, mostly sunny, 37% humidty

Woke up with the windows open, enjoyed some blueberry pancakes and green tea, then off we went for a beautimous hike up Storm King Mountain. Can't beat it.

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Got home from playing at a funeral, walked up the stairs to our apartment, turned the corner into our living room, lo and behold.

He (or she, I guess) ate through the sheet rock in our kitchen wall, ate through a bag of my attempt at homemade english muffins, enjoyed some almond meal, then somehow climbed up the curtains to chill on the curtain rod until I came home to crash his glutenous afternoon.

Joe gave the apartment manager a ring to see if they could send anyone over to help get the critter out. Two portly guys came over, one with a broom, the other with a piece of poster board (?)....

We chased the thing around the apartment for a good 20-30 minutes until he fiiiiinally ran out the front door.

Bats = check
Squirrels = check

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Like aunt, like niece? That's little Nikkia on the right, but strangely, my mom's got plenty-o pics of me chillin' in the exact same pose. In Japan, their Superman-esque hero is affectionately known to all boys (and those girls not in love with Hello Kitty), as Ultraman. And when he holds his arms as pictured above, a supersonic beam of lazer justice pierces the likeliness of Godzilla or the like.

So here's to a new generation of infant Ultraman wannabe's.

And if you're bored, watch this epic of epicness.

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Aunt Mikki and Uncle Joe

She's here! Little Nikkia Lyn Gramoll arrived this past Wednesday at around 4:10pm. Weighing in at 5 lbs 11oz, she's already using her good genetics and speedy metabolism to good use. Secretly though, I hope she chubbs out and fills out some chunky thighs. I love poking squishy baby chub.

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Step 1

Find house of liking.

check

Step 2 - Think about it. Over and over. And over.

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Step 3 - Go back and take another look at said house.

check

Step 4 - Go back and take ANOTHER look at said house.

check

Step 5 - Think about it.

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Step 6 - Reeeeeally think about it.

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Step 7 - Place an offer.

check


We found a cute little home we like. And the price is right. It's a short sale, so it's up to the bank to make a decision on whether they want to move forward with the, now 5, offers put on this house. It could be weeks, or it could be months, before we hear anything back from the bank.

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us!!

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Back to Business

Let no hernia inhibit a man's culinary creations! Being stuck on the couch for 10 days straight has its pros; bedside service, lots of movies, lots of naps, surf the net 'til your eyeballs hurt, get absorbed into a book, losing sense of time....all good things....for maybe the first couple of days. After that, you begin to fancy the idea of being productive again. To sway some of the boredom, Joe hunched himself over the kitchen counter to make some dericous meals.

2 creations from Joe's library of ideas. Enjoy!

Here we have a lasagna-esque dish, cousin to one of our favs from Victoria's Pasta Shop in Norman, OK. It's basically, a lasagna noodle rolled around mozerella cheese, cottage cheese, and a couple of shrimp. Then topped with a red sauce, an alfredo sauce, and a litte parmesian and pepper. So simple, so good.

This one is probably the best thing I've eaten in a long while. Crunchy savory outside, juicy tender chicken inside. The batter is milk/egg based, flavored with curry and cumin. Dunk the chicken in the milk mixture, in some flour, back into the milk mixture and then flour one more time. Fry it up and you've got yourself a fatty time curry delight. Gonna put in a request with the chef to make this one again sometime soon. Here's the recipe, Joe's words exactly.


Ingredients:

● 3 1/2 - 4 lbs Chicken Thighs & Drumsticks
● 3 - 4 Eggs
● 1 cup Milk
● 1 tbsp Salt
● 1 1/2 tbsp Curry Powder
● 1 tsp Cumin
● 1 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
● 1 cup Flour

Directions:

Easy and Delicious!

In a bowl, beat eggs and incorporate the milk. The idea is to use just a little more milk than eggs. Add several teaspoons worth of the curry powder, half the cumin, a teaspoon of salt, and half the pepper to the egg and milk mixture and mix thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the remaining spices.

Cooking options are to deep fry, pan fry, or lightly pan fry and finish in the oven set at 350 (recommended).

To apply the batter, coat each piece of chicken in the wet mix, then the dry mix TWICE in that order. Cook to your liking!

Serves 6

YUM!

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Saltine Crackers and Ginger Ale

Those are frozen peas on Joe's "parts"....if you will.

Joe went under the knife this morning to repair a hernia he thinks he got during the triumphs of basic training. Hooah? But not without entertaining the surgeon and nurses along the way. Apparently, after receiving a sort of narcotic before going totally under for the operation, Joe was asking questions, cracking jokes, telling stories while laying there under the lights. None of which he remembers at all. Unfortunate.

Joe: "So like, do a lot of people tell secrets when they're on this stuff?"
Nurses/Surgeon: "uhh, sometimes"
Joe: "I killed a man once."

That one was the talk of the office for the day.

Joe is now sleeping by my side, recovering rather well after today's day long excursion. Hernia, stitches.....catheter.....and all.

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'Nother

This beaut was built circa 1798. We lav it. Oh deeeear we lav it.
P.S. Housing is crazy expensive up here. Thoroughly enjoy the market and cost of living if you live elsewhere. We're jealous of you.

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Hunting

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Tasties

Our friend Greg, whom we know from CIM, waffle time, and other culinary adventures, stopped by for a visit on his trek from Connecticut to Cleveland. What better to do, than eat good food with good friends I say? Nothing. So, we ventured to a local burger joint recommended to us by many a foodie. "Woody's" is a family friendly joint serving local, grass-fed beef, free-range/hormone free chicken, topped with organic produce from the Hudson Valley area. Result? Mouthwatering burgers anyway you like it.


Greg, Joe and I, each ordered different burgers, split them into thirds, and each had ourselves a scrumptious platter of cholesterol. I think my favorite one was Joe's...can't go wrong with the bacon and cheese variety.

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Around West Point

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My phone rang this morning....circa 6:00am. 'Twas my section leader letting me know West Point is under "code red"....aka....snow day! 5 minutes later, Joe's phone rang delivering the same news. Hareruyah! In celebration of being holed up, I'm thinkin' a homemade chicken pot pie is in order for this evening's delight.

We had ourselves a fantastico Christmas this year. My family came up to visit for a handful of days, where we made a pilgrimage to Mitsuwa (an enormous Japanese grocery/general store) and hit up Manhattan in all its tourist glory.

Macy's under the siege of last minute shoppers.

Joe and dad in front of the 9/11 site.

The Naked Cowboy somehow espacing hypothermia.

Happy New Year!

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Ice, Ice, Baby

Had an ice storm just a couple days ago. Nothing like the one that froze Norman a couple years ago, but good enough to delay West Point for 2 hours. Slept in (the best kind at that. Chilly apartment, warm and toasty under the covers), ate a couple toasted english muffins lathered with cream cheese and blueberry/lime jam (thanks Greg!), enjoyed a hearty helping of eggs de la scrambled, and downed a glass of soy. So good.

Joe and I's drive to West Point is probably the best 'drive to work' route. ever. It winds up and around Storm King Mountain, which sits right up against the Hudson River. Pics below were taken today, on my way and back to West Point.

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10 Weeks Later...

I can pump 43 push-ups in 120 seconds, crank 83 sit-ups in 2 minutes, run 2 miles in 15:11. For 10 weeks, I ate with, slept with, peed with, pooped with, ran with, crawled with, exercised with my trusty M16. It was with me, all. the. time.

I learned to eat my 1500 calorie meals in under 7 minutes, grew comfortable sharing 7 shower heads with 27 females, perfected the art of "YES DRILL SERGEANT!!!", mustered the courage to give my 'battle buddy' an IV, could identify members of my platoon by fart, thought of cough drops as candy and a legitimate source of food, ruck marched for 10 miles carrying 60 lbs of gear on my back, shot a 50 caliber machine gun like there was no tomorrow, threw a couple of grenades like a girl, shot live rounds while riding on the back of a convoy, didn't shower for a span of 7 days while on a mission in the field, ran an obstacle course in the woods with a bayonet while yelling "KILL, KILL, KILL!!", woke up at 4:00 freaking AM every morning...sometimes to a yelling Drill Sergeant, did every type of exercise imaginable as a form of punishment.

And despite the craziness and stressful nature basic training was and is, I miss it. There are things my buddies and I went through that will always remain with me. The comradery you build with people you eat, sleep, poop and train with is strong. By the end of our cycle, we were all definitely a family. A disfunctional one, yes, but a family.

Joe and I both going through basic has brought us the closest together we've been. Being without each other for 4 months made our reunion an amazing experience. Never had I felt so overwhelmed. Our 12 hour drive back home from Ft. Jackson, South Carolina to West Point, New York was filled to the brim with basic training stories. We had each other laughing and understanding exactly what each other meant and felt. What an experience.

Ok, ok, so here are a couple snap shots I got via cell phone camera. (They let us have our phones back 2 days before graduation day). I wish I could have snapped a picture of myself with all of my gear on, (bullet proof vest, load bearing vest, M16, kevlar helmet, ect.) but we had to clean and turn in our equipment before we got our phones back. Hope these will satisfy your thirsty eyes for now.

Post graduation pic.

PVT Morgan and PVT McGrew chillin' before evening roll call.
(Note: PVT McGrew dawning the ever popular Army issue eye wear. Referred to as BCG's, they are a very effective form of birth control.)

My main homies, PVT Boatman and PVT McGrew.The whole gang.

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