Long time, no updates?

Where to start? Well, both the concerts in Rocktober were very entertaining. Matt did not enjoy Death Cab's opening act at all. On the flip side, Ben Fold's opening act, Missy Higgins, was enjoyed by both of us. 

After the concerts we were off to Hawaii, which was beautiful. We really enjoyed going on vacation with all of our friends. It made for a lot of great memories. Carl and Joanne had a sunset wedding by the beach and guests were treated to 4 desserts. While in Hawaii we took surfing lessons (Guess which Harrington got up on the first try and which one didn't? ). We also swam with sharks, went snorkeling on a coral reef where we saw endangered sea turtles and met a former Neil Diamond roadie who regaled us with tales of life on the road with Neil. 

On the plane ride home from Honolulu, the captain came over the loudspeaker and announced that the current temperature in St. Louis was about 38 degrees. Matt was wearing shorts and a t-shirt...brrrr. 

A week later, I went out to my former field site and took down bird houses while having a small graduate student retreat (I don't know if I have mentioned that I somehow became chair of the social committee). We had a bonfire and got to see the stars. It was a nice break from the day to day. Matt stayed home and watched football games. 

I had a stressful few weeks at school where I felt like I would never catch up. I'm still not completely above water, but am definitely feeling better in general as the semester comes to a close. 

We went bowling with a group of Matt's coworkers recently in a really cool bowling alley that has been in the upstairs of this building since 1916.  Matt beat me in both games we played, I maintain that I never got warmed up.  

Other than that we've just been hanging out around the house for the most part. It was 28 degrees today on my way into school. If I had my way, I would never leave the house until the cold went away. 

We're off to OK for thanksgiving and will be in MD and NC over the christmas holidays. Hopefully we will get to spend some time with most of you. 

Courtney

Rocktober

Matt has taken to calling this month Rocktober and tonight kicks off our 2 concerts in 3 days music-palooza. We are going to see Death Cab for Cutie tonight at the fox. Then thursday we will be seeing Ben Folds at the Pageant. 

I think we're enjoying living in a city where we can go to a concert on a weeknight and not have to worry about needing to take the next day off. 

Next week we're heading to Carl's wedding in Hawaii. Tuesday night we fly to Phoenix and then Wednesday during the day we head to Honolulu. In addition to the wedding events, we also plan to take some surfing lessons, do some snorkeling and swim with sharks! We will be sure to post some pictures when we get home. 

Well, Matt did say he didn't promise to update you

Well shortly before our last update on the status of my exams, Matt and I went to the Ryder Cup. It was my first golf tournament and what an introduction! We walked for miles and miles, stretched and strained to see over people's heads and ultimately saw many exciting shots and had a great time. The concessions ran out of water on Sunday and it was really hot, so Matt even offered to leave early (even though we both knew he didn't mean it). I was glad we didn't miss the awesome finish when the U.S. won the cup. I think maybe next time we're going to a golf tournament I will buy some water early in the day. 

Last weekend, I took off to Maryland for a few days for a visit with my mom and to go to my Aunt Susie's wedding. We had a nice time at the wedding (even if we did get lost in Baltimore thanks to my new Uncle Mark's terrible directions). We had even more fun just getting to spend some time together. It really makes me long for east coast living again. We bought all the stuff so I could start my wedding scrapbook, but as of yet it's stayed in the bag. 

This weekend, we are both staying in town. Tonight we are off to an Oktoberfest party in Soulard (St. Louis' french quarter) with some friends. Tomorrow we are going to another friend's birthday party. I definitely plan to enjoy being at home and sleep in a bit. Monday, I start jury duty. Hopefully I don't get picked because it's not a great time school and teaching wise to be missing out on my life. I guess since it's my civic duty and all I will do it though. 

I met with my advisor this week and we set up a new experimental design and set a deadline for my dissertation proposal. That means I need to come up with one more chapter of research to do and get it written by the end of the semester. So grant proposals, the dissertation proposal and studying for my oral exams are all on my plate. 

Matt has been working hard on a quarterly report and 4 page press release for work. That went out this week. Also, I know that his boss has asked him to sit in on their Monday meeting to explain how another large press release he wrote got picked up by at least 4 media outlets and that it's a valuable way to get free publicity. So I am sure that once the brokers get that idea in their heads, Matt won't be wanting for work to do. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the crisp fall air coming in,

Courtney 

Courtney breathes a sigh of relief

I am sure Matt will update you all on the Ryder Cup sometime soon. I just wanted to poke my head in and let everyone know that I got official word today that I passed my written preliminary exams. It was a stressful few months around our house and I don't think I took a full deep breath since early July. The exams are required (along with an oral exam which is slotted for January) in order for me to advance to candidacy which is the next step towards that PhD.

For those of you that weren't privy to the entire process: I got 7 topics for the three questions back in late May. I gathered all the research materials I could for those topics over the next few months (with time off for the wedding and honeymoon of course). In mid-July I got the first question which I had 72 hours to write and hand in (8-12 pages). After handing in the first question I got a week off before getting a second question (again 72 hours, 8-12 pages). Another week off and then I got my third question (a full week, 15 pages).

I passed the first two questions on the first try. My advisor and the other grader of my third question decided that the question I had been given didn't really suit the 15 page limit.  They asked me to rewrite my answer with a more focused question. I started rewriting on the 10th of this month and handed in my rewrite on the 17th. Apparently this time around I improved on the original enough to squeak by. 

Combined with the fact that I think I have found a new site for my research where they have already established an active purple martin colony, my degree is once again completely on track. I'm just thrilled I never have to take this test again, it wasn't fun. Now I guess I should start focusing on the oral exam. Well, maybe I will take just a day or two to celebrate....

Courtney 

Heading Back to Carolina

Well, everyone keep Chester in your thoughts this weekend, because he's under the sole care of Courtney. Just kidding - she loves him as much as me (possibly more after that crack).

I am heading back to the Triad tonight, where I'll be teaming up with Shawn in the Pine Brook Member-Guest golf tournament. I wish I could get down to Southport to see my parents as well, but there's just never enough time.

There's a practice round tomorrow, and the tournament really gets under way Saturday (although the practice round apparently has some kind of cash award, so it's hard to not believe that's an important part of things). After having a pretty decent round last Friday in Dallas, I hope I'm ready to play well, so as not to let my partner down.

So if you're so inclined, give Courtney a call this weekend so she doesn't get too bored just doing her work, watching girly reality TV and playing with the dog. Hopefully I'll be posting pictures of a trophy by next week (there probably isn't a trophy, but it sounded cool).

-Matt

Back From Dallas with an Airport Surprise

Well, we had a fantastic, if tiring, weekend in "Big D" for the Tex/Haas wedding. It was great to get to hang out with a lot of the people we hadn't had a chance to spend a lot of time with at our own wedding. Here's a recap:

Friday:

We left St. Louis at 9 and were picked up at the airport by the Sleeps, who had arrived earlier that morning. We went straight to the golf course, where Shawn and I played a round at Northwood Club (home of the 1952 U.S. Open) with Tex and Rich, Haas' brother. While the guys were out playing golf, Courtney and Alisha took off to the nearest shopping center, where they got manicures and pedicures and who knows what else. In the meantime, I shot 77, which I was pretty pleased with, especially heading into next weekend's golf tournament.

We showered up and headed to the church for the rehearsal and then to the Petroleum Club downtown for the rehearsal dinner. After that it was out to a bar, the Ginger Man, for drinks.

Saturday:

We headed out to pick up tuxes for myself and Shawn, and then got some authentic (we think) Tex-Mex food. Then it was off to Humperdink's, a great sports bar, where we started watching the Wake/Ole Miss football game. I had to leave to head over to the wedding site for pictures, and Courtney kept the guys updated with text messages while we frantically checked our phones for updates. We were extremely happy to get a chance to see Sam Swank boot the game winning field goal with a couple of seconds left. Combined with the comeback win against Maryland last year during Zach's wedding, I advise everyone to bet heavily on the Deacs in October during Carl's wedding when they play Miami (note: I don't condone gambling if any authorities are reading!)

The wedding was really nice - it was a shortened Catholic ceremony and went off without a hitch. Shawn and I got to ride the party van (complete with stereo system and strobe/laser lights) to the reception, which was at the Northwood Club. We did some dancing, some drinking and some socializing and just generally had a great time.

Sunday:

Did a little exploring of Dallas, specifically the site of JFK's assassination. It was really hot. We had tickets to the Red Sox/Rangers game, which started at 2, so we spent the early afternoon at a different Humperdink's watching some of the opening weekend of the NFL (Courtney is great for putting up with the fact that so much of everything is sports-oriented, but I'm pretty sure she enjoys it too).

The game was amazing - Courtney's first Red Sox game! We were sitting in a luxury suite, which was ... something we probably shouldn't get used to! But a great experience. Finally, it was off to the airport.

The only unfortunate thing was that, upon returning to St. Louis, we found that my car had a completely flat front right tire. So we got to fix that before heading home. I think both of us were dragging a little today.

If you made it through this post, wow, you must really be interested in our life!

Matt

31 on the 31st.

As many of our readers may already know, tomorrow is Matt's birthday.  We've decided to really make a weekend out of it. Last night we went to the racetrack nearby with some friends from the biology department, in order to bet on the ponies. The horse we bet on for Mom, Bastille Lad, unfortunately didn't manage to come through. However, the horse we bet on for Tex, AJ's payday, won big in the last race. Tonight we're off to the St. Louis greek festival for some very delicious spanakopita (and whatever meaty things Matt might eat) with Beth and Ram. Tomorrow, we're going out to the Drunken Fish for sushi. Monday, Matt is going golfing with some friends who go to school with me. So, it should be a pretty full and fun weekend. 

On tuesday, while we were out at the baseball game, I asked Matt what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. He told me he didn't want to be pampered for his birthday, mistakenly thinking that if I didn't pamper him on his birthday, he would be off the hook in February. After clearing that up, he finally told me he would like an angel food cake with chocolate frosting. So this afternoon, I started baking my first "from scratch" cake following a recipe from my Williams-Sonoma CAKES book.

It came out looking pretty good. Let's just hope it tastes wonderful too!

With that, I encourage you all to leave Matt a little birthday love in the comments. 

Happy birthday, honey. I promise that I tried my hardest on this cake and if it turned out badly I wasn't trying to poison you. After all, I haven't taken out that extra life insurance yet. ;) 

Love,

Courtney

Baseball Blitz & Other Tidbits

The biggest and best news of the day is that Courtney turned in her last prelims question today as she gets ready to start Year 2 of her PhD program. Everyone keep their fingers crossed as she waits to hear back on the results of her prelims, although I'm very confident that she did fine.

The highlight of our weekend would have to either be the rousing game of Clue we played on Saturday night or our trip to Busch Stadium for the Cardinals/Braves game on Sunday afternoon. We're headed back to the ballpark Tuesday night thanks to some half-price tickets to watch the Cards take on the Brewers as the two teams battle for the NL Wildcard slot.

Sunday's game was fun, with Pujols hitting a home run and the Cards winning. Also, both Courtney and I won some random Cardinals items in some pregame festivities for having a library card and a picture of a family pet (Chester on the credit card). When asked to introduce ourselves, we both said we were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and when the guy asked me how it was going to be a Cardinals fan in North Carolina, I said "Not well."

As for the Clue game, well, I thought I had it won, but I guessed wrong on the room in which Ms. Peacock used the rope.

Friday night was a Wii evening, with the previously posted Wii Fit video and also some Wii Sports being played, where I found out how to hit a really hard serve in tennis. Courtney's friend Keefe, also a PhD student, is staying with us for a few weeks while he finishes up his research (he's since moved from St. Louis to California with his wife). Keefe actually won both in Wii Bowling and Clue, so he's not really a welcome addition to the house at this point. I did destroy him in Wii Tennis, though.

Between seeing some Braves fans yesterday and the band "Dixie Authority" playing in the park across the street last night while I was walking the dog, it almost felt like I was back in North Carolina.

Fun with Wii Fit

So Courtney and I bought a Nintendo Wii a couple of weeks ago, and we got a package deal that included Mario Kart, a bunch of crappy games and ... Wii Fit. For those who don't know, Wii Fit allows you to exercise using a balance board, with a whole bunch of games such as Slalom skiing, Hula Hooping, yoga, and acting like a penguin on ice.

To show you exactly how much fun (or how funny) Wii Fit is, I present these videos of Courtney, performing some sort of step class or playing Dance Dance Revolution, I'm not sure which.

In the sake of full disclosure, I would look just as, if not more so, ridiculous, but she was the one on the balance board and I was the one with the camera.

Pimp My Ride

So while my car is in the shop, I have the pleasure of driving this beauty of a car around. That's right, it's the Neil Kennedy special, a PT Cruiser.


For those who don't know, the rear passenger side of my car got backed into when I was at a drive-through ATM. Not a big deal, but it did about $1,000 in damage.



Theoretically, I'm getting my car back on Thursday.

The PT Cruiser combines a surprising lack of power with an exciting lack of handling. It's really the perfect automobile. Plus, you look and feel like an idiot in one. No offense to anyone who might be reading this and owns one...

Matt

Welcome to St. Louis

Hi everyone,

Courtney and I have been talking for a while now about starting a blog just to keep friends and family periodically updated on our life in the Midwest, since we don't get to talk to everyone as often as we should or wish we could.

We can't promise it's going to be exciting, and we can't promise it's going to be updated on any kind of a regular basis except when we have time and feel like it, but hey, at least it's been created!

So here's the current situation...

We were married June 7th in Winston-Salem, at a great wedding with lots of family and friends. If we haven't done so already, we want to thank you very much for attending and being a part of the event, and we hope you had a great time.

We spent five days in St. Lucia for our honeymoon, and it was fantastic. It was relaxing, and we got to spend time not only on the beach, but riding a zipline through the rainforest, touring a plantation and water-skiing (neither of us fell, amazingly enough!)

Since we've been back, it's been back to real life, with work and school. We have gotten our wedding pictures back from our photographer, who did a great job, and you can see them here.

Courtney is in the midst of her written exams and starts her second year in the next few weeks. We've got a really busy September planned, during which we'll both be headed to Texas for our friend Tex's wedding, I'll be going back to North Carolina to play in a golf tournament with Sleepy; Sleepy, Carl and I will be attending the Ryder Cup in Louisville; and Courtney will be traveling to Baltimore for a family wedding.

More soon.

Matt