Varsity.

My wife is the best.

I've been wanting a 1940s varsity sweater for a few months now. I've been envisioning myself starting a new trend amongst coeds and alumni of Ole Miss.

While I'm sure it won't go that far, thanks to my wife taking three hours out of her Tuesday night, I've got a sneak preview of my sweater for the LSU game.

Go to Hell LSU Go to Hell!

Certainly not muted.

Saw Mutemath last night.

They filled every cubic inch of the House of Blues with sound last night.

I'm a bit jaded when it comes to music in bigger venues nowadays, but it was pretty spectacular.



Images from this guy. Who takes some pretty great ones, by the way.

Perspective.

Was looking at our buddy Chris', who move to Dubai for a year, flickr images. Just to vicariously catch up.

In there were these pictures from back at our corn dog party. When our apartment was still crazy in the back.

I like what all is going on with em.

Baltimore.

"Good Morning Baltimore, dum dum" - all I used to be able to think of when I heard 'Baltimore' is the opening song in Hairspray (a musical). Which is pretty sad. But now I have some new things to think about.
A few weekends ago, Micah and I found some super-cheap (maybe $110 round trip for both of us, total) tickets to Baltimore. Which was pretty awesome seeing how Kerry and Jason Graves and Lee and Mary Chaney Spencer all live there.

I was excited to see Kerry since I hadn't seen her since the wedding and I hadn't seen their house. They grabbed us from the airport on Friday night and we headed out for sushi / Japanese food. After a good dinner, we headed to their house. It's a row house (as most are in Baltimore). It's really great though because it's one of the wider ones (13ft across?) and the downstairs is pretty open which is nicer than most. I really liked it. It had a lot of character with brick walls and a neat staircase.

Saturday we went wandering in Fells Point, popped in and out of some shops and grabbed a yummy lunch at a sandwich place. We walked along the harbor and headed back to the house to catch a college football game in the afternoon.




That evening, we grabbed dinner nearby and then met up with some of Kerry and Jason's friends at a bar in the area for a few drinks. We then headed over to another bar to say hello to Lee and Mary Chaney. The evening ended with a trip to a karaoke bar which turned out to be lame-o since they had stopped taking sign-ups and everyone missed out on Micah's amazing rapping ability (not kidding - you know what I'm talking about for those who have seen him in action).

Sunday we slept in a little bit and headed to brunch on a gorgeous sunny, warm day. The four of us met Lee and Mary Chaney (and their dog, Albert) at the Speakeasy. We even got to sit outside and enjoy the warm sunshine. We made a quick stop by the Spencer's house to see their in-progress renovations - a big project!

We spent a relaxing afternoon watching a Ravens game at the Graves' house. After that was over, Kerry drove us by a large park and up to a pagoda on top. It was closed, but we still got to admire the view of the city around us. Then we drove over to the Avenue and browsed through some shops along the street before heading back to the house to grab our stuff to head to the airport.

Short, but sweet trip. Not bad for a weekender.

Concerning Dixie:

Dr. Jones-

I am a southern transplant to New England, and an alumnus of the University of Mississippi.

I’ve never sang one word of Dixie but know the words to the fight song by heart. I didn’t join a frat and never wore a tie to a game. I painted up and cheered my heart out.

I have mixed feelings about being from the South, but I, like Faulkner, accept my past – and embrace it cautiously.

As such, I get plenty of special attention by those around me who know I went to a southern school. Last week, I was barraged with emails and a link to the story of the administration trying to get the song Dixie amended.

This seems like a misguided attempt to me.

The students cheering this un-official ending to the song makes them looks like fools to the rest of the nation, but that’s no reason to do away with the song.

Are there other plans to change the quieter parts of the National Anthem due to an inebriated soul yelling “Go to Hell, LSU!” ? Or perhaps remove it altogether?

I understand you are trying to put a good foot forward to the nation with this attempt.

But what the University fails to recognize is that the rest of the nation doesn’t really care about most of the goings on in that sleepy Southern town. Nor about their mascot. Nor their songs.

I’d prefer Ole Miss make headlines for something that matters – Obama On Campus For Debates – as opposed to something that doesn’t – New Chancellor Attempting to Validate His Authority.


Good day-

Micah Whitson
The University of Mississippi
Class of ‘03

Halloweekend.

We're now into November and the last bits of summer are certainly leaving us.

It's all yellow.



Bought a basket for my bike and then tried it out by riding around Cambridge with my camera in tow.













Went to a couple of Halloween parties dressed as Max from Where The Wild Things are. Caroline made my costume and it was a huge hit. It looked great.



Marianna was out of town and that made everything more lonely. And I think that emotion is all over WTWTA.

Fall Weekenders.

We were quite busy this weekend.

On Friday night, we had dinner with a couple of friends, Chris and Jessie Wallace, who'd flown up for the weekend as a surprise for Chris' 29th birthday. I went to school with Jessie all growing up, and we were pretty good friends, as far as being friends because we don't have an option because there's only one school in our town kinda thing. And over the past year I've been able to sit down with them twice and have dinner and I'd like to think that I'd be friends with them even if I hadn't know half of them by default. They are just nice, fun folks.

Dinner at Giacomo's, an old fall back, and then drinks at at Stix.

Saturday I helped finishing the basement insulation, watched the Rebels win a big game, Marianna worked her fingers off sewing and cooking and cleaning and it was like Domesticity! The Musical all over here. She made a fantastic pair of shoes for Arabelle, the newest Moffit in CT.



On Sunday I got up at the crack of dawn to help set church up. Then we drove to Connecticut for the afternoon to see John and Stephanie and their little one, Arabelle (who is about a quarter past precious) and talk and eat and drink and soak up their view of a lake, in the country (near the Nathan Hale homestead, as a matter of fact - even though these guys aren't spies), as the last leaves give up their green and start thinking about selling out to gold.