RIP Randy's Job...Nevermind...for now

This past year has been full of ups and downs - and mostly downs - in the airline industry. Randy's company started laying off pilots in the fall of 2008 and since then we've figured his days at the helm of a CRJ 200 were limited.

Probably the most unexpected thing was how long it actually took. After getting rid of over 300 pilots during several waves of layoffs, the airline abruptly stopped. Finally, in October, it was Randy's turn and his last day of work was Halloween.

Two weeks after Randy thought he flew a jet for the very last time, he got a letter offering his job back. Of course, this was a pleasant surprise for us.

Randy is still keeping an eye out for new (more stable) career possibilities, but plans to start back with the airlines in January 2010.

So with that said, if you are interested in hiring a pilot or engineer, or looking to fill a position in any other job in the New York City area requiring excellent analytical and people skills, see his Linked In profile here:

www.linkedin.com/in/randyreese19

Parents in the City

A little rain never stopped us from crossing the Brooklyn Bridge!

We had a great visit from Andrea's parents in September. The long weekend was mostly characterized by eating, eating, and more eating. Luckily, we did a lot of walking too.

Carnegie Deli for big meal #2.

At least we pick famous places for stuffing our faces!

Grimaldi's - the best New York Pizza restaurant - for big meal #5

We had a lot of gloomy weather but it finally turned beautiful on the last day. We left our umbrellas behind and went to the Cloisters in Upper (way, way Upper) Manhattan to enjoy the nice day and take in the good views of the Hudson River.

They're not really sick of each other, just caught of guard by this picture.

The Big Move

After two years in New York we decided to upgrade to a bigger place. It was actually a small move as far as moves go since we only moved two blocks east and across the street. But the two full days we spent hauling our stuff that short distance sure made it feel painful.

We do not recommend moving in this completely ridiculous fashion.

Our new 1-bedroom feels like a stadium compared to the studio we used to live in and it even has a real kitchen. Sometimes we lose each other in all the space and we have to actually check to make sure the other person is in the same room before we start talking.

We have this curious little Jewish object on every door frame of our new apartment so we did a quick internet search to find out that it's a Mezuzah. A Mezuzah is a tiny case that contains a tiny scroll with handwritten verses from Deuteronomy about how you should love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength and how these words should be written "on the door frames of your houses". There are all kinds of Jewish laws about how it should be hung and what qualifies as a door frame. We're not down with Jewish laws but we're okay with loving God so we're going to leave them up for now. Maybe one day we'll take one down and see if there really is a tiny scroll inside.

Mezuzah

Budapest - Days 2 and 3

Day 2

On the second day of our trip we went to the House of Terror, a museum in the building that formerly housed two terrorist dictatorships in the 1940s and 50s- first the Hungarian Nazis and then the Soviet-backed Communists. One person from every third family was seized, mistreated, or crippled under these regimes.

After our history lesson, we spent the rest of the day walking the streets and bridges of Budapest, watching boats float down the Danube, and enjoying an authentic Hungarian meal for dinner.

Mmmm...Hungarian goulash and potatoes. Like everything else we ate in Hungary, it was rather salty, over-seasoned, and brown. We went with the mushroom goulash because the only other option was gizzard goulash and that would have been a little too adventurous.


Day 3

We started Saturday with a run around Margaret Island - an island in the middle of the Danube between Buda and Pest. After a quick lunch we went to a thermal bath to relax.

This was the main pool of the Gellert baths where men and women can bathe together. There were also thermal baths that were gender-specific. The thermal baths had several pools of water of various temperatures and a steam room. Pictures were not allowed inside of the thermal baths because clothing was optional.

This is us happy and relaxed after soaking in the multiple hot tubs for 4 hours.

Budapest - Day 1

We both had a long weekend off for the 4th of July so we decided to take a trip to Budapest. We had been wanting to go to Budapest for a while and it finally seemed like a good opportunity. It was sort of a last minute decision so we didn't plan as much as we usually we do. Our preparation was nothing more than packing some clothes in a bag and grabbing our Lonely Planet Eastern Europe book.

We arrived on the morning of Thursday, July 2nd. After finding a hostel and dropping our stuff off, we set out to see the sights.

Our first stop was St. Stephen's Basilica. Notice the absence of tourists, or anyone else for that matter. Always suckers for a good view, we went up to the dome in the center and walked around the outside.

Elevators are for wimps, we took the cool spiral staircase.

Budapest from above.

The city is made up of two distinct areas, Buda on the west side of the Danube River and Pest to the east. We stayed in Pest, the flatter side with more buildings. Buda is more hilly and residential and we spent plenty of time there too. Nine bridges connect the two sides and we walked across four of them.

A view of Parliament from the Buda side.

Annie and Catherine in NYC

After a long and lonely stretch of no visitors, Annie and Catherine came to visit us in early June! This picture shows us celebrating Annie's birthday with a world famous frozen hot chocolate and an apple pie sundae.

Who knew there is an Engineers' Gate at Central Park? We're thinking really hard because that's what engineers do.

The highlight was going to the Live with Regis & Kelly! show. Standing in the rain for two hours before most New Yorkers wake up paid off nicely with front row seats! Regis wasn't there so adorable and charming Anderson Cooper co-hosted instead. Sorry Regis, but we didn't miss you.

Annie and Anderson during a commercial break. I'm sure they would've really hit it off if they had gotten the chance to meet.

The Shoes That Went the Distance

These flip flops may not look like much but they are no ordinary shoes. After 5 years of wear and trekking through an estimated 12 countries, not to mention countless miles back home, Andrea's teva flip flops finally bit the dust in Cape Town when one of the thongs broke.

Teva, if you are reading this and think it is a good advertisement for your product, feel free to send Andrea a new pair for free, size 8 1/2 please.