These two just make we so happy.
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Archives for posts with tag: rachel
Rachel does such a great job of making weekends special around here. On Friday when I got home from work, she had delicious, homemade whole wheat chocolate chip cookies in the oven and was in the middle of preparing a fantastic dinner. She has been cooking a lot of healthy meals for us lately, but on Fridays she treats us to an extra bakery item that we try to pace ourselves and enjoy all weekend long – the cookies made it until early afternoon today.
On Saturday Rachel outdid herself on two separate occasions. Before I get to those, however, let me give some background.
We headed into Manhattan for some holiday shopping and sightseeing and had planned to hit up Bloomingdale’s. I must admit, Bloomindale’s was pretty cool and when I have extra stacks of cash lying around the apartment I will probably go back and get some new clothes. After exploring all 9 or 10 stories we’d only made one gift purchase and decided we still had energy for more shopping.
First amazing act: Niketown
As we were walking toward Fifth Avenue we walked right by the big Niketown. There is a huge picture of LeBron James out front and she struck up a conversation with me about LeBron. Anyone who knows Rachel knows that she is not a very big sports fan, but she knows I am, so she humored me. Then she asked, “Do you want to go in?” I was in the market for some new Oregon Ducks gear, so we went in. I told Rachel about the gear I needed and she then struck up a conversation about how good the Ducks are, how much she likes The Little One (her nickname for LaMichal James) and Jeremiah Masoli. Amazing!
We proceeded to spend the next five floors talking about whatever sport we were in the section for. My favorite sections were the English Premier League jersey section (she really wanted me to get some sort of Arsenal Gunner gear) and the Nike Pro Combat Basketball gear. That stuff is intense.
Unfortunately we didn’t find any Oregon gear, but I did have a great time talking sports with Rachel in the middle of our fun shopping outing to Manhattan.
Second amazing act: Oregon vs. Arizona St.
Last night’s game was a late one for us out here on the east coast. It started at 10:20. Rachel has watched the last couple games with me and with each game she has gotten more into them. Before last night’s game she even predicted that the Ducks would put up 67 points. Not too bad of a prediction given how well the offense and how poorly the defense have been playing lately (meaning that the starters would have to stay in and keep scoring 67 points since the defense would keep giving up points). Once the game started – I hope I don’t ruin her reputation as someone who doesn’t like sports – Rachel was more into it than I have ever seen her before. At times she was actually yelling at the TV and LaMichael to break another tackle and score again. I think it was her cheering that was responsible for LaMichael’s three touchdowns in the first twenty minutes of the game – that and his incredible moves.
The game ended around 1:30 am, but Rachel stayed up and watched the entire game with me – and she stayed interested in it the whole time. It was perfect.
I realize Rachel probably hasn’t entirely caught the sports bug, but she has come to terms with me liking sports and has been so wonderful talking to me about them.
Today was great too, by the way. We woke up late after last night’s Duck party and took Crusher for a walk to the park. On the walk we discussed the previous night’s game and where we think the Ducks should be ranked – we both agree the Ducks should be ranked higher than 11, but the two winnable games they lost aren’t helping their cause.
I only hope I can now be as great of a conversationalist to Rachel as she is to me.
It is Thursday night again and this time Crusher offered to buy dinner. Crusher picked up the money I put aside to pay the delivery man and took it to the door. Of course, he would be absolutely terrified if he had to pay the man directly, but he really wanted his JPan!
There is an episode of How I Met Your Mother where Marshall finds himself in one of those discount chain stores in New Jersey and absolutely loves it. He has room to spread his arms and can get everything in huge quantities. Rachel and I ventured into Stamford, CT today to do just that, spread our arms and buy huge packages of the things we needed.
We started the day by going to a town called Port Chester, NY. I had been wanting to check it out after seeing a few things about it during my ongoing research on cities and towns in upstate New York. They also have a Michael’s and Panera, so we had plenty of reasons to visit. Panera was great, as usual, but I think I am becoming an impatient New Yorker because the service seemed a little slow. After lunch, Rachel headed to Michael’s – she had a couple coupons that were about to expire – and I took Crusher to Petco to see if he wanted any new toys. He was mast interested in the bird toys and cat litter so we left without making a purchase.
After driving around Port Chester a little, we crossed the state line into Connecticut. As strange as it sounds, I love crossing state lines. There is something about crossing an arbitrary line so easily that I get a kick out of.
We made it to the Stamford Town Center Mall around five for some shopping. Rachel had a couple more coupons to spend and I wanted to maybe splurge on some new clothes with some of my birthday money. We ended up not having too much time to shop since the mall closed at six, but it was a nice mall and I would love to go back the next time we need to go out for some suburban shopping.
Finally, we made an epic trip to Target. We actually live within walking distance of a Target in Brooklyn, but it is so stressful to go there, that I try to avoid it whenever possible. Our Target is incredibly crowded and the shelves are never stocked. The Target in Stamford was marvelous. It was calm, quiet and seemed empty. We had the luxury to peruse the fully-stocked aisles at our own pace. Since we drove we could stock up on family sized shampoos and economy sized dishwashing detergent, and not have to worry about carrying them all the way home. Shopping at Target has never been so fun.
We had a great day getting away from the city. The weather was perfect and scenery was even better. This city is staring to grow on me, but it is nice to get away and be able to spread your arms in wide aisles every once in a while.
I snapped this picture of Rachel and me this morning on our walk to Prospect Park. We try to take Crusher to the park every Saturday and Sunday for him to get off his leash and run around with the other dogs.
We live about 4 blocks from the park and usually stop by Starbucks for an early morning pick-me-up before the park. I love going to the park with Rachel and Crusher. It is so nice to be surrounded by nature and relax.
Thursday nights are special in the Johnson house. It is the one night a week we order Japanese takeout and gorge ourselves on a smorgasbord of teriyaki chicken, rolls, soup, salad and more! We eat the meal while enjoying some of the finest shows on television. We call the night JPan on the Fringe – inspired by both the restaurant to which we owe the thanks for the food and the Fox sci-fi thriller.
Rachel told me that dogs know 100 words. JPan is easily Crusher’s favorite of the 100 he knows. When we say we are going to JPan he immediately runs to the door and waits to run down the stairs with us on our way to pick up our order. Once we reach the street, he is on a tear to walk the three blocks – I actually think it looks a bit like a tiny sled dog pulling at the Iditarod as he drives with his legs to get us there as fast as possible. While I am inside paying and picking up the food, he is struggling to get free from Rachel to come inside and help me.
Once home, we settle in for a mix of comedy and the previously mentioned Fringe. While Fringe is the title show of the evening, I look most forward to the show that caps the night – It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. I have my brother-in-law Dr. Adam to thank for getting us hooked on the show. The uncomfortable situations the gang gets in to each week are amazingly hilarious.
I absolutely love spending Thursday evenings with Rachel in this way. She is so wonderful and hard-working all week long, but I love having one night a week where we put work off limits and just relax together. As we work together to make this new city our home I feel so lucky to already have our weekly Thursday night party.
For the last year or so, I’ve been very bad at keeping this site active. At the end of the day, I just can’t think of what I want to share with the world. Rachel has been doing a great job keeping everyone up to date with what we’ve been up to and I couldn’t think of anything technological to report on because I didn’t have the motivation.
Over the last couple weeks I have been doing a lot of work on Swap-bot in my spare time and I have found some inspiration to start writing more here. I have become extremely interested in the release process and performance of Swap-bot and will kick this blog back off with the lessons I have learned from my recent projects.
pI also decided it was time for a new home for my blog. As you probably can see, this blog is now at www.travisj.org. I’ve had the domain for a while and haven’t done too much with it. That will all change now.
On an unrelated note, Crusher has now been with Rachel and me for one year. It was last Mother’s Day (May 11th) that Rachel and I were out for a Sunday drive through the outskirts of Eugene and found little boston terrier/chihuahua puppies for sale. I agreed to to getting a puppy on a few conditions that I no longer remember or would even think about enforcing – he is great to have. I love getting home from work and having Crusher jump all over me welcoming me home. I also look forward to getting up each weekend morning around 7:00 am to take him to the dog park so he can run around with the other dogs. He’s such a loyal guy and it’s been great having him with us.
Rachel is making cupcakes for a baby shower she is hosting at our house tomorrow and I am graciously volunteering to sample anything she puts in front of me. It’s no lie when I say that these are probably the best cupcakes ever. I love these cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling!