I'm moving back to Seattle

Meow.

Chili Cook Off 2008- 2nd Place Overall

So, I post a baby in a chili pepper costume for 2 reasons. One, it is hilarious. I mean, when I have a kid someday, this will be the little guy's or girl's first costume. A chili pepper. You really can't beat that. Secondly, it is to represent my 2nd place finish in the St. Peter's Chili Cook Off. I made a vegetarian chili, one I've made before and it is quite delicious. Garbanzo beans are the unusual ingredients, to go along with kidney and black beans, green chiles, green peppers, celery, etc. I was proud of my entry as there were 11 participants. I only lost to a meat based chili, made by a much more experienced cook than I. My parents don't like chili, so they didn't taste it, but I did see one young gent go up for thirds. Smart young fella.

In other news, I am back in PA. I am getting readjusted. It's been tougher than I would have thought. Rekindling friendships, adjusting to the speed of life, more smokers, more tempting food. Wawa is certainly one thing I am grateful to have back. What a great place it is. I do miss Kajal immensely though.

My Dad and I are looking for new cars for him. We like the Camry and the Passat.

And with the 19th pick of the 2008 draft....

The Philadelphia Eagles select:

Kenny Philips, S, Miami....."Sports Exchange"
Gosder Cherilus, OT, Boston College... "P.Prisco"
Kenny Philips, S, Miami...."Clark Judge"
Jeff Otah, OT, Pittsburgh..."scout.com"
James Hardy, WR, Indiana..."ESPN sportsnation"
Limas Sweed, WR, Texas..... "si.com"
Kenny Philips, S, Miami....."nfl.com"
Devin Thomas, WR, Mich. St. "comcastsportsnet"
Jeff Otah, OT, Pittsburgh..."Andrew Russell"

The Life of a Philadelphia sports fan

It stinks. This man, Daniel Briere of the Flyers, is the most important person in my sports life right now. He will lead us to victory or let us die again, in utter misery. Over 100 sports seasons for Philadelphia have come and past, without one single championship. Sure, we made the finals in 1996 with the Flyers and lost 4-0 in the series. We scored all of 6 goals. Then, in 2001, the Sixers made the Finals. We won game 1. I was estatic, I was in the city watching the games and after we barely won in OT, the streets were the most jubilant I've ever seen. I was high-fiving people on the street I didn't know and it was like Mardi Gras. Then, we lost 4 straight and lost the series. I later found out that the Lakers had been on vacation the week before the first game and hence, that is probably why they didn't beat us in game 1, they were still recovering from their time on the beach. Then 2004, the Eagles v. the Patriots. We were down but not out and came back to get within 3. Then, McNabb pukes, symbolic of all the years of banality of Philly teams. Would our symbolic puke leave us forever? Nope. McNabb gets intercepted and we lose.

Forward to 2008. The Flyers are up 3-1 against the Capitals. The Sixers are playing the Pistons, who've we beat 2 of 4 times in the regular season. The Phillies are rich with talent; Rollins, Utley, Howard, Burrell, Jenkins, Feliz, all easily capable of 20 HRs, 80 RBI. Hamels is healthy, Myers looks good, even Eaton is throwing well. So, after 17 games, we should be 11-6, right? No, we are 8-8, soon to be 8-9. Three of our losses to those heartless babies, the Mets. Last year, they made the playoffs and played the Rockies. Awesome, I live near Denver. So, I gather some Phillies fans, we hit a Philly bar in Denver and make it to game 3 in Denver. I am so pumped up as Shane Victorino hits a dinger and ties it at 1. My hopes are high and think we are going to come back and win. No chance. The Rockies score another run in the 8th and we lose 2-1. I get heckled as I leave and call the Rockies fans "pot smoking hippies".

Next Tuesday, I am going to watch the Phils battle the Rockies at Coors. I have great seats and a free parking pass. Hopefully, we will win so I can bask for 1 day in glory. Because it may be another 9,125 days (25 years) until a Philadelphia championship. I am going to go cry in my Gatorade.

Kajal

Go (further) west young man

It's official. Yesterday, I put in my two weeks at Amgen Boulder and will be moving to Bellevue, WA on May 3 to live with Kajal. This is a photo of Lake Washington which is just minutes from Bellevue and a great place to rent a boat and go cruising. I am still looking for work in Philadelphia, but while in Washington, I plan on working at an animal shelter. I really want to develop some of my interests outside of work and if in my trials of doing other work, I find something I'm really passionate about, I may not go back to biotech at all. We'll see. Life's too short to do a job you don't really like.


I am feeling pretty good about this decision. I have been away from Kajal for way too long. She is still working on getting her working visa, which should come next January. She is also working on her leaf paper plate idea, has pitched it to Whole Foods and is working on a patent. We are going to have fun this summer, hiking on Mount Rainier, eating good seafood (well, me at least) and boating on Lake Washington. Hopefully, we can play golf with Dan and Dana as well. ;-)


I would like to move back to Philly by late August (Steph is getting married!), but I will wait until I find a job that is normal hours. I'm sick of working weird off-shifts.



In other news, I will be going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico at the end of April. Girish's uncle has a timeshare down there, so him and Vidisha (his wife), Kajal and I will all head down. We will stay 4 days, while G and V will stay for a week. Should be a nice place to reflect on my time in Colorado and think about what is next in this crazy life. By the way, don't go see the movie "The Ruins". It was terrible.

Hamburger in Paradise

In my infinite quest to become a world renowned chef, or at least a dude who can cook decently, today, I made the best self-prepared burger I've ever had. The key ingredient: organic beef. It was 85/15 beef from Maverick Ranch in Denver. I threw in some onion gravy dry mix, salt and pepper and cooked it to a perfect medium on the George Foreman. That little thing is one heck of an invention. Anyway, the burger tasted like a steak burger from Le Bec Fin. 5-star baby. I will definitely be making this for my parents. Girish and I were just talking and agreed that organic food is worth the hype. Everything in India is organic and the chicken tastes 100x better than anti-biotic fed American chicken.

I also worked out yesterday for the first time in a while. After finishing, I felt so at ease, so happy and supremely confident. I am going back today at 3pm. My goal is to go every other day. I do the elliptical because it's easy on my back and knees. It's no wonder Kajal always feels so happy- she exercises, does yoga and eats organic. Fine, she's right, I'm wrong.

Kajal came into Colorado about a month ago and we went up to Breckenridge to go dog sledding and snowshoeing. I really got attached to this little female puppy in the photo. She had really nice white fur and innocent eyes. She was only about 7 months old. All the dogs seemed really thin, but I guess that's what happens when you run miles and miles a day. They all seemed so happy with their work. We had a great tour guide, but I lost my nice ski mittens. Dag! In the afternoon, we showshoed along a crest above the town of Breckenridge. The lights sparkled and we actually walked right under a ski lift. The snow along the edge of the trail was about 3 feet of loose powder. So if you stepped in it, you sunk like a stone.

Ski-Gliding the Eiger

This looks totally rad and I want to try it! Looks like it would take lots of practice to be good at. The mountain, the Eiger, is in the Swiss Alps and is the setting for the movie "Beckoning the Silence". I watched this movie tonight at the Boulder Theatre. It is quite a story about four young men who tried to be the first to climb the North Face of the Eiger in 1936. Definitely worth watching.

Charlie bit my finger - again !

Dreamworld

I've been sleeping like a nomadic bohemian. I don't know what time it is, where I'm sleeping or if it's day or night. This is not an exaggeration. I woke up at 4am on Sunday morning and didn't know if it was Saturday night or Sunday morning. This whole graveyard shift really is tough to assume some kind of normal schedule during the weekends. I'm not complaining; just saying that without structure in your day to day life, sleep becomes independent of daylight. Atleast for me. The good thing is that when you sleep when you want, not based on a time, you sleep deeply. And with good deep sleep comes deep interesting dreams. Today, I dreamed I was on a bus trip with Bella and various other dogs. The bus was cool, 6 seat benches on either side of the row. I had lunch at a deli where I was the center of attention, until my food was wrong, but good. I started to complain, but then the waiter told me he had not charged me for the wrong food. The other night, I dreamed I was following a tractor trailer and all the sudden it turned into a commercial airliner right on the highway. It took off straight up into the air and exploded. There was debris flying everywhere and visible virus and bacteria flying everywhere. Someone yelled to run as this was toxic stuff. I found a tiny helicopter on the side of the road, asked authorities if I could use it to leave and they said sure. I flew away over the trees away from the wreckage.

I've also had less of an apetite lately. Might have lost a few pounds just from less eating. After a really rough first 2 weeks of 2008, I have had great news lately. I am happy, refocused and feel so liberated. I have made a connection b/t the eating and the happiness. Most people who are overweight and overeat, do so for a reason. I think my overeating was due to weight on my shoulders (no pun intended). The house, then yeah, now positive news from home. I am looking forward to the next few months. Life really is a series of ups and downs. I've been down for awhile. Now I can see light. Bright light.

Speaking of eating, I am going to Tortuga's tonight for dinner. It is a Caribbean/Cajun restaurant in Longmont which is supposed to have excellent seafood. It burned down a few years ago, so hopefully it's back up and running by now. Rumor has it that it is. It's a shame I'm finding these places after so many years here. Moral of the story, if you want to find the best restaurants in a small town like Longmont, go downtown and seek all the nooks and crevices for the best places. The fringes and new areas won't have Mom and Pop shops. Seems obvious, but an important lesson learned for me. (btw, you might think, why not ask the locals..well, the first few months I was here, I asked a local where to get good pizza.....he told me Pizza Hut.)

I Heart Mustangs....

Today has been one awesome day. Good things for me workwise, good things for Kajal workwise and I found that at Breckenridge, you can rent a dog sled, including 8 real dogs, for 1 hour and be a real "musher". We are going to do it, me, Kajal and Nilie. 1 hour dog sledding, 1/2 skiing. Wow, I can't wait. I've been really sick lately. I might have mono, but more likely virus/bacterial infections. I've been spending my time walking Bella as far as I can go without passing out and dreaming of ways to spend my bonus. Like buying this beautiful 2000 Mustang with only 99k miles. Someday, I will own a Mustang for a second car, some day. .......Well, maybe I'll just keep renting one every year in Florida. FINE!!!! It is tempting though. I also had quite a good meal from China Express tonight. They are under new management I think, and the food was way better than it was 2 years ago. Perfect blend of spicy and flavorful on the General Tso's and the soup was awesome. I think they might of sprinkled in some MSG because it was salty, but really good. Good salty. The chicken was fried perfect too, not too crispy, not too slimy. Pleasant surprise. It could have just been b/c I was so excited about....stuff.

Happy 7th Isabella!

Today was Isabella's 7th birthday. She is now 49 in human years. I treated her to two walks, a few bacon treats (thanks Steph), wet food, a new meaty bone, and a nice slice of vanilla cake. She also took several naps during the day on top of my feather comforter and memory foam mattress. She deserved it. It's been a tough year for her too. Driving across the country twice, staying with other dogs on their turf, staying in a kennel, getting bit by the neighbors' dog. Hopefully 2008 will be a better year for both of us! I think she really enjoyed her day as it's 10:30pm and she's out like a light. Happy Birthday girl, you deserved it.

Seinfeld 901 Intro

This is a great clip from the best show ever, Seinfeld. Mustaches are clearly a sign of masculinity and every young man should grow one to prove he is no longer a boy. The men in India have it right. Grow one and start acting like a man.

Messing with the Blog

I'm trying to figue out how to customize this thing. I'm not the greatest computer whiz, but this makes more sense now that I found this "compose" feature. Let's see what I can fit in here.

Baby Rabbits

My Dad found these rabbits in a garden at the house in Phoenixville. We covered them back up and the next day, their mother had moved them from this particular nest. It was amazing to see a litter of tiny rabbits in the wild. This pic (and story) is from Spring 2007, but since I was trying to play around with the blog, I just selected a random photo I had.

Big John helps me develop my Blog skills

Okay, I'm trying to figure this all out. Let's see if my pics aren't so crowded up now.

157 Overland now belongs to the Bakers

Today, I sold my house. It hasn’t sunk in yet. I still feel like I need to call a contractor, do some work, make some calls, pay a bill. But, no more. No more mortgage payment, no more property insurance, no more propane bills, no more cold windy nights, no more 2 foot snow storms. The house is in pretty good shape now. But, even so, it was just me in all that square footage, alone, on top of a cold mountain. I need to watch the movie “Cold Mountain”. The most important thing is that this allows me to move back home.

I went to see Girish over the weekend in his new house in West Orange, NJ. It is quite the beautiful house. Enormous, huge kitchen, bathroom in every bedroom and a master bedroom that is more like a NYC apartment. In fact, the master bed is larger than my current apartment. The fireplace sits underneath a 50” Panasonic plasma which we watched the Eagles and Giants on. I won’t comment on who won and who lost. This week, the Eagles will dismantle Eli, Jeremy and “I need a dentist” Strahan.

Tomorrow, TUF 6 Finale is on. It is Mac “The Vegan” Danzig, that’s not his real nickname, but he is a vegan. Versus Tommy “Farmboy” Speers. I’m rooting for Danzig. I like Speers too, but Danzig is from Pittsburgh. Commonwealth of PA is “in the hizzie”. With no championships in Philadelphia in the past 24 years, I need to cling onto anything remotely related.

Kajal will come visit next weekend. We are going to Frasca in Boulder to celebrate the house sale. It’s supposed to be a top notch restaurant. We will also go snow shoeing. Geez, Kajal, I thought I was free from hiking in the wintertime! Guess not!

Bella is doing well. She is a happy dog and loves the snow. It has been snowing a lot lately. I guess I’ll have to shovel my long driveway…..oh wait…..I don’t own the house anymore. Aw shucks!! What a shame!! My buyers are from Boca Raton (literally translated as “Rat’s Mouth”, but actually refers to inlets Spanish sailors would sail into while mice ate away at their ships’ cables). Anyway, they are going from sunny Florida to snowy Jamestown. Their realtor said it was their dream come true, like it was mine 4 years ago. They plan on building a sun room, gutting the kitchen and finishing the basement. Good luck to them.

17 Days to Freedom!!!

I have buyers for my house. The closing is scheduled for December 5, 2007. It's a long story, but basically selling this house ranks #6 on the world's all-time list for "Greatest Tests of Patience". I first put the home up for sale in the spring of 2005. Almost three years later, it will finally be gone from my life. I'm trying to focus on the good memories from the house, like the two Halloween parties, the fires, chopping about 5 1/2 cords of wood with my chainsaw. I did have fun working on all the projects, but in the end, the house was too big (I don't have much "stuff")and too isolated to really enjoy. So, life goes on. I love my apartment and my new role at work is coming along.

Tomorrow, I meet Anne, Isabella's new babysitter. Bella enjoys her independence and I think this is the best way for her to spend weekends when I'm not home; in her own bed, with her own food. She is definitely a Russell!

I'm still looking for a part-time job for the weekends. I get off from Saturday morning until Wednesday night, so I have a lot of time. I want to get into something to do with dogs, like a kennel tech, but those jobs are hard to come by. We'll see. I really enjoyed my job as a pizza chef in high school, maybe I can do that again. I also thought about working at Gap, so I could get discounts, but I really dislike retail.

I miss Rob. He's in Iraq while Meg and Katy Rose are in Germany. I hope they are all warm and safe.

Kajal comes in this week for Thanksgiving and then I go see Girish and his new home in December. And then back to the East Coast in December for Christmas.

Hiking in Colorado

Well, Colorado has one thing many other places don't. Excellent hiking trails. Yes, I've done some good hiking here. Colorado Springs, Jamestown, Boulder, Estes Park, Long's Peak, even Rabbit Mountain in good ole' Longmont. Actually probably considered Lyons, but it's only a 5 minute drive from my apartment. You can never get too much of a good thing, so tomorrow I am planning on going to Blue Lake in Nederland. Actually it's more near Ward and only 10 minutes from my house in Jamestown. It's hard to believe that in 17 days, my house will be sold. Wow. I am so estatic. It's going to rain today or else I'd go today. I will use today to do my 400 lbs. of laundry.

This Friday, I get paid. I have been so careful with my checks up until now and had never really made my home in Jamestown comfortable b/c I was always spending money on projects and if it was up to buying frilly curtains and valences or a snowblower, I would choose the snowblower. With the house now selling, I can afford "comfort" things, like curtains, art, nice dishes, nice clothes, nice blankets, etc. It's not like I couldn't afford them before, just that I'd rather spend the money on improving the house. So, I'm happy about that. I'm going to buy some nice Brooks sneakers, some really nice casual shoes, and some other nice clothes. I like Polo b/c it fits me well and it's expensive, but I think there's an outlet in Castle Rock. I do understand I need to regrow my savings after losing money with my house, but oh well, such is life. My family is healthy and happy, my dog is awesome and I have a really nice girlfriend. That's really what is important.

I never heard from Safeway about a second job. I might just drop it for now. I do enjoy these days off. If I can go for a long hike(s) on my off days, then I would rather do that. I don't like the gym, but need to exercise, so I figure hiking is a good way to do that. It will be cold, yes, but Bella will love it as will I.

The Eagles are 4-5 and my fantasy team, the Phoenixville Crappies, are 6-4. I think the Eagles will beat the Dolphins and have a shot at the playoffs. Here's why. I think they will BEAT the Patriots. Yes, win. The Patriots will lose at least 1 game, why not against a team they should beat. Any given Sunday. It'll be a game like the Colts v. Chargers. Brady will have a bad day, the Eagles will get some lucky breaks and win 20-17. Final predictions:

Eagles 29, Dolphins 20.
Eagles 20, Patriots 17.
Seahawks 34, Eagles 17.
Giants 28, Eagles 13.
Cowboys 31, Eagles 28.
Eagles 23, Saints 21.
Eagles 20, Bills 16.

Final record: 8-8 I doubt that's good enough actually.

A New Beginning?

Well. After 4 1/2 years of doing virtually the same stuff at work, and having that house in my name for 4 years, I may be close to some big changes. I learned on Friday that I will be transferred to LakeCentre (our Boulder facility). I will have 4 new teammates, a new supervisor, new work (clinical, not commercial), a new schedule, a new town to further explore and a different process to learn. I also have very interested buyers in my house who are SUPPOSED to give me an offer soon. I oan move back to Lafayette, or Boulder, have no more worries about my mortgage payments, and I'll also have Saturday-Wednesday night off. So, plenty of time for a class, or job, or whatever. The point is my life is about to be shaken up and for me, this is a good thing. Hopefully, it will spur me into investing more time into my hobbies (or A hobby) or into furthering my education. Sometimes I think I would get too bored in a class, but other times, I think I need the stimulation. Either way, I won't know until I try. Like Paul Hauck's book says "Don't be afraid to do things. You needn't do them well, just do them." It's good advice for me.

I want to get two bumper stickers. One, "Don't drink and drive". I went out for Del Taco last night, it was rainy and visibility was poor. I could tell some cars which were having trouble focusing, staying in the lane. It was 11 on a Saturday night. Undoubtedly, some of these folks were just having trouble driving in the rain. Others, for sure, were drunk. I have driven while drunk before and had no business being on the road. Now that I quit drinking, I realize how much of a danger I was and how easy and stupid it would be to crash. So, my message probably won't do much to change the world, and it's really cheesy, but if I can save just one life or get one person to think differently, I feel it to be a success. Of course, I will have no way to tell, but what the heck. I also want to get "Peace" or "Relax" or something to that effect. Not that Colorado drivers need that reinforcement, but I guess it would be a daily reminder to myself too. Life should be enjoyed. Life is too short to be angry or bitter. I am trying to get better at enjoying simple things in life. It will take me a long time to get all my angers out, but I feel like I'm maturing to the point where not too much bothers me anymore. Okay, there is still A LOT of stuff that does, but 5 years ago, pretty much everything in this world confused or bothered me. Now, I realize to just let people do what they want, live and let live. I still want to advise people and tell them how they can help themselves, but will no longer get angry if they can't change. I just need to accept people for who they are, all people have flaws and no one is perfect. It is very very difficult for a perfectionist to accept this notion, but I'm getting there.

Well, for being 4 am, I'm pretty awake and alive. I'm excited to sell my house. I think I will buy some nice furniture and a nice TV and maybe even a real bed! I am sick of living like I'm 20, with no furniture, blah blah blah. I want a nice comfortable place to come home to, not a warehouse to sleep in. Kajal knows what I'm talking about. :-) I will SPEND some money on myself for once. I spent all my free money on contractors the past 3 years. All in all, I've put about 20 grand into my house. Just think, if I would have bought a nicer house, I could have my car paid off and 8 grand worth of TVs and furniture by now. Of course, the memories of the Halloween parties and stuff wouldn't have happened either, so like Kajal says, you can't live your life with "what ifs".

I like writing in this blog. I still can't fully tell ALL my thoughts, since this is technically a public forum, but writing has always made me feel better and hence I've been keeping a journal for 17 years. I also need to listen to heavy metal, or good music all the time, something I've been neglecting also. I still have exercise on my mind too. I weigh 227 now, gained a lot of weight in the past year. Life isn't about being perfect at any given time, but human nature is, or should be, about constantly improving yourself. Not necessarily getting more successful or having more money, but improving yourself by kmowing yourself better, and customizing your life to what's right for YOU, not anybody else. Because what I've realized living alone in the middle of the country for 4.5 years, is that you should make yourself the most important person in the world, not anyone else. Take care of yourself first is the only way to be truly happy.

The end.