The Mutter Muuseum - Philadelphia, PA

Everyone knows the cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, the Mutter Museum does not allow photographs or else this entry would be approximately 1.000.000 words long, minus all the reading that would entail. Rather, I will try to describe the contents of the Mutter Museum in a whole lot less verbiage.

It is beyond my comprehension why certain museums do not allow photography. From athe perspective of medical museums or exhibits like the Mutter Museum or the Bodies Exhibit, I would assume it is a show of respect for the deceased and the deceased's family. However, most of these specimens belongs to people who died over a century ago. If my great-great-great grandfather's gigantic bowel obstruction is found somewhere in the Mutter Museum, I would not care if someone felt the need to document it with their cell phone or digital camera. Hell, I would encourage it if only to spread the dangers of gigantic bowel obstructions. A wonderful thought following the gluttony known as Thanksgiving.

Speaking of the dangers of gigantic bowel obstructions...

This photo of Kim Jong Ill, the North Korean Nuclear antagonist, shows up on google when searching images for 'gigantic bowel obstruction'. If that's the case, they might be more dangerous than I originally thought.

Obstructions of the bowel aside, imagine, since I can not show you any pictures, if medical specimens were baseball cards and kids still put baseball cards in their bicycle spokes. I have trouble with this mental imagery since my parents’ generation was the last to do this. My grandparents were not willing to pay for collectible nostalgia like the generations just previous to mine and those since. My theories on nostalgia purchase aside, this Mutter guy had enough medical specimens to fill all of the bike spokes on the East Coast. They would be disgusting, messy bicycles, but I think my point is clear. The Mutter Museum contains a whole lot of medical specimens, vintage medical equipment, and paraphernalia. It was a sight worth seeing, especially if you had a student ID to take $4 off the entrance fee.

And naturally, here is a picture of me in front of the museum to satisfy those you stuck on the url for this blog.

Geocaching - What nerds do when they want to go outside!

Maybe the title is a little harsh, but I did take a break from my chemist job to use my GPS and find a plastic container next to an abandoned lot...





Yeah, that's my nerd coat right there.


For those of you who don't know, geocaching is essentially treasure hunting with a GPS. On geocaching.com there are a plethora of lists of caches and their coordinates. A geocacher (usually a nerd like me) can download the coordinates to their GPS and then go look for the cache's hiding place. Once the cache is found, there is usually a log and often items to trade. In this instance, I left a Sponge Bob Cachepants pathtag and took a mini-teddy bear. The idea is the next cache I find or the next nerd who finds this particular cache will trade more items.



Essentially, it's a modern treasure hunt mixed with a swap meet. I like to compare it to real-life World of Warcraft. Though I do not play WoW, the idea of going on a quest to search for treasure seems pretty comparable between the two. That and the nerds...


Regardless of the nerdiness level, geocaching is a good excuse to go outside and see exotic locales like Rahway, NJ...

At least it was good excuse to get outside!

Veteran's Day Eve - Twin Lights State Historic Site

Ooooh, that's pretty isn't it?!

That's the view from the north tower of the Twin Lights State Historic Site in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. Late Sunday morning, I did not intend on visiting this historic site, but ended up here because the New Jersey Veterans Memorial was crowded. In case you forgot, Veteran's Day is on Tuesday. Be sure to thank a veteran for the sacrifices s/he and her/his family have made for our country. Since the memorial was crowded, I headed north to return to my apartment. On the Garden State Parkway, I spied a sign for a historic site I had not yet visited. Being a sucker for random historic sites, I took a detour to the historic lighthouse that overlooks Sandy Hook National Recreation Area and New York Harbor.

It was a lovely November day and I climbed to the top of the north tower. In case you are concerned, Twin Lights is not a misnomer. There is a south tower which is not open to the public.

The lighthouse is situate high on a hill overlooking the harbor and with the beautiful weather, my fellow visitors and I were afforded a beautiful view.

But aside from that view, here is what this blog is really all about...

ME IN FRONT OF STUFF!

That's me in the north tower acting casual and soaking up the lovely day.

And I am glad that it was a lovely Veteran's Day weekend and the memorial was crowded or I might have missed out on such a great view on such a lovely day.

The Castle in north Jersey

Directions to the castle
I never seem to share how I end up at the random places I seem to wind up. A note on these directions - they're great if you can read Brian Sniatkowski's mind. Unfortunately, he blocked my attempts at the Vulcan Mind Meld. Therefore, the secret to avoid random wandering is when the directions say 'the road that skirts the lake', it is not the paved one. Essentially, 3 roads/paths converge near McEvoy Trailhead - follow the road that keeps Lake Ramapo on your left for approximately 500 yards instead of the 50 he describes. Otherwise, his directions are very useful and, aside fromn the weather, the hike described was enjoyable.

Now it's time for what everyone really wants to see...

Me blocking the view of some stuff!!!

In this instance, that is 240 pounds of Kyle in front of the ruins that put the castle in the Castle Point Trail in Ramapo State Forest. The ruins, also known as Van Slyke Castle, were once a mansion known as Foxcroft built around the turn of the century, abandoned, and eventually burnt down in 1959. Currently, the ruins of Van Slyke Castle stand on top of a mountain in Ramapo State Forest near Oakland, NJ. Sorry, Pirates fans, no direct relation to Andy Van Slyke.

Melissa and I wandered through the forest cursing both the directions we had as well as the wet weather and the gathering dark. The mist and clouds added mystique to the ruins and if we were living in a movie we would have been scared off by the ghosts of the Van Slykes. However, we do not live in a movie so we hiked past the ruins and through the rain with little incident aside from slipping on the wet, leaf covered trail.

BE DOUBLE-E DOUBLE ARE YOU IN, BEER RUN?!

Holy crap, this looks likes it hurt, doesn't it?

That is what happens to me when a 5K turns into 6K as the Beer Run at Rahway River Park did on Saturday. Just like Bugs Bunny making the wrong turn at Albequerque, the race volunteers had all of the participants make a wrong turn after the duck pond. Unfortunately, I did not realize the race was longer than intended and a feeling of disgust filled me after such a long, slow '5K'.

Fortunately, there were beer and hotdogs to help alleviate the pain.

Hooray Beer!

(...and hot dogs!)

World Champions...World Fucking Champions!!!

That's what Chase Utley said at the ceremony following the parade or as ESPN puts it 'Second baseman Chase Utley approached the microphone and proclaimed, "World champions!" Then he repeated the phrase, with a profanity between "world" and "champions," drawing cheers for minutes.'

I was there.

I had missed out on being present for the conclusion of Game 5 on a mere coin flip, but ever since the Eagles had made the Super Bowl almost 4 years ago I had promised myself I would see a championship parade in Philadelphia...if there ever was one. I found myself among the hundreds of thousands of people along the parade route in Philadelphia leading to the sports complex.

Unfortunately, those throngs of spectators also had to leave Philadelphia and I was stuck in city of Brotherly Love until well into the evening. SEPTA, you suck! Though I missed Halloween, it was well worth it because who knows when an event like this will ever happen again! Also, I sat in between the Joker and Minnie Mouse, both protrayed by dudes, at the 30th Street Station bar in Philly. That was enough Halloween for me!

Go Phils!