Up Close & Personal at Obama's Inauguration

Sharing an event with a million or so people is thrilling, exciting and, of course, up close and personal. Talk about rubbing elbows! Susan and I had a wonderful time at Obama's inauguration. We headed out by train at Oh-dark hundred and were delighted to arrive in Washington D.C. by 6:30. We had been invited to a breakfast hosted by an Alaskan group and thought we'd have plenty of time to walk the six blocks and enjoy it before stolling over to the inauruation. That was before we saw the thousands of people who had made it there before us!








Inching our way through the crowds, we finally made it to our viewing spot by 9:45. But by then we were pretty jazzed - not to mention stylishly adorned by many layers of winter clothing (not to mention fashionable headgear and hair styles) to ward off the 23 degree morning.


We were really impressed with masses of humanity. The numbers of people who had come out through the throngs and cold and made the journey to share this momentous occasion was truly awe-inspiring. And so was the mood. Everyone was happy, friendly and full of good will - no kidding!


At long last the moment arrived and the 44th President took the oath of office. Hearing hundreds of thousands of people all cheering at once is something I'll never forget! But then, just as quickly, the crowd grew quiet to listen to President Obama make his inaugural address. He spoke of the challenges that face this nation and how we can overcome them, just as we have overcome so many adversities, including segregation. He noted that he took his oath to this highest national office in a city in which, just 60 years ago, his father could not have eaten at a restaurant. He said our hand will be open to all countries, but first they must open their fist. It was inspiring and encouraging. It was a spectacular day! More photos to be posted soon.

Susan & Kathy at the Inauguration

Spent several hours on the mall Sunday enjoying the enthusiastic atmosphere and identifying our route for our big day tomorrow. There is an electricity in the air about this historic inauguration and we are really enjoying being a part of that. We were on the mall at the time of the concerts yesterday and were there "with" Springsteen, Beyonce and OBAMA!! That was thrilling.

We "wisely" decided to leave the mall at the same time that the concerts ended and experienced the overwhelmed Metro system. We both really appreciate that Kevin Sullivan got us tickets on the train for Tuesday so we won't have to deal with the crush of people that will likely be 10 fold then. We'll keep you "posted"!

Center of Attention

After patiently waiting an hour for Lillie Sulllivan to wake up from her nap she finally entertained us with "stupid baby tricks" such as eating cheese, raiding Madelin's purse, and wearing sunglasses. We are so easily entertained! By the way, the sunglasses are still at your house Susan.

Disneyland!

For Veteran's Day weekend, Tim and Terrill brought their whole family down to Disneyland for Shanleigh and Collin's first trip to the Magic Kingdom! I flew out from Boston to join them for the weekend, and what a great time we had.

Shanleigh got to go on all the rides, and filled her autograph book with signatures from all her favorite characters. On the last day I was there, she even got to spend some time with Mickey and Minnie, and walk around inside their house.

We had a great trip, and can't wait to go back! Anyone want to join us next time?

Sledding!

Up here in Anchorage we've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of enough snow to make it seem like winter. We finally got some this week and decided to take full advantage of it. So Andy and I seized our sleds (and Shanleigh) and went out to Kincaid for an afternoon of snow, sleds, hot cocoa and gingersnaps. Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Baxter

I've got a new pup around! 10 month old Chocolate/Black Lab mix - he's already 50 pounds! Super sweet and hilarious! I adopted him last week from Pixie Project - a great organization.

Alaska Visit

I made my first trip back home in 4 years last month and it was a family-packed, rewarding, 10 days. The highlight of the trip was a "Meekins Women" gathering at Genie's house, attended by all four sisters, plus Maddie, Catherine, and Moira. Elissa missed it by a weekend...

I also got plenty of play time with the two new babies in the family: Tim and Terrill's 5-month-old, Collin, and Conor and Carey's 8-month-old, Lily, and of course, Shanleigh.

Happily, I caught newly-weds, Nick and Anya a few hours before they left Alaska and I got to meet the rarely seen, but often talked-about, Andy, Catherine's boyfriend (I wasn't ready for the east Texas accent!)

I also witnessed "four-sacriments in 30 minutes" during which Shanleigh and Collin were baptised, communion was administered, George Sullivan (who is quite ill) was blessed, and - the big surprise of the day - Tim and Terrill were married! Guess that Las Vegas ceremony didn't quite do it for the Catholic Church.

I also brought flowers to Mom and Dad's graves and sat on the park bench, which finally has the corrected plaque in place. I was pleased to see our old house in Anchorage is being well cared for, and surprised at the changes the owner of the former Mazzi's -now Don Jose's - has made to the place.

It poured rain most of the days I was there, but that didn't diminish the great conversations. Genie and I did get a chance to take in a nice walk along the Coast Trail and the clouds parted long enough for Shanleigh's soccer game. It was all good!

You can see more pix of my trip at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevrekians/

Watching Wheel at Gramma's

This made me really laugh and got me thinking of what Gramma (the best Wheel of Fortune player I've ever known) would have had to say about this guy :)

Dumbest Guy Ever on Wheel of Fortune - Watch more free videos

Sullivans Storm Snow City!

On the first nice day (read: no torrential downpours in sight) Anchorage has had in a while, the Sullivans (plus one Kevrekian) stormed the Snow City Cafe and enjoyed not only a hearty breakfast, but Anda Saylor's art show as well (those are her paintings in the background)!
Right now all Sullivans are in town for the weekend and all Meekins women are in the state (Reel in a big one, Barb!).
It's been great to have everyone here to catch up with, even if it is only for a short while, and even if we did only have 1 1/2 days of sun to enjoy. Nevertheless, it's always great to have family around!

More Wildlife Viewing

For those of you traveling in Alaska, for others who maybe want to be here but aren't, here is some more wildlife viewing from the wilderness, only this wilderness is  my backyard ten minutes ago.

Alaska Travelers Almanac

The Homeosapiens species "Nickanya" was sighted in the Alaska wilderness.  Quite rare. This is considered to be a new evolution of an older species, Nick, thought to be extinct in Alaska.

Married on the Fourth of July

Congratulations, Nick and Anya! As I posted earlier, they got married on July 4. It was a nice, small gathering of family and friends that met on a lake on the campus of Wellesley College. Some of the family present from Nick's side included proud-as-could-be parents Russ and Nancy H., as well as Kyle, Cameron, Gregor, Moira, Carey, Lillie and myself. Anya's family was also represented well. Nick and Anya exchanged their own vows with each other, trying not to be drowned out by the sounds of Lillie babbling and a bullfrog croaking. Below are a few of the pictures from the ceremony, and you can go here for more pictures.

Nancy H. hosted a reception at her house in Wellesley after the wedding, but unfortunately Lillie needed to get home to bed so Carey, Moira and I left early. I hope some other cousin might be able to post pictures and accounts from the rest of the night!

Nick and Anya are currently in Alaska, and I'm sure we'll hear more about it all when they come back.

USA 2008 Olympic Trials In Eugene

I was fortunate enough to do my volunteer stint at the "Eugene 08" Olympic Trials from the media row (called the "Tribune") at the top of the West Grand Stand at historic Hayward Field. It was hard work that involved closely monitoring each event so that we knew when the results would be formalized and we could then distribute copies to all the media. Whew!

These shots show you the view. In the one of the east grandstand, below, you can almost make out the blurred images of the men competing in the 10,000 meter race - that's 25 times around the track! The local favorite, UO Duck and NCAA champion, Galen Rupp, took second place, but it was a race between him and the winner the entire time.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Hayward Field, it was the site of the 1972, 1976 and 1980 Olympic Track Trials (not to mention the birthplace of the jogging in the U.S. AND Nike!) Eugene's reputation as a great place for track and field back earned it the moniker, Track Town USA in the 60s and 70s, a motto the city has reclaimed with these Olympic Trials. We'll be hosting the 2012 Track and Field Trials, so come on down or over - it's been a blast!

Nick and Anya's wedding

Congratulations to Nick and Anya Meekins, who got married just before
dark and the big fireworks today! This is a blog post from the road,
more to come later!

Beantown to Chi-town

After a dozen or so years in Boston that included college, finding a wife and having a daughter, not to mention being here for three Superbowl wins (two losses), two World Series wins, two NCAA hockey championships and, most recently, an NBA championship, I've taken and started a new job in Chicago! We've sold our house and have found a new one just blocks from Wrigley Field, and will be moving over the course of the next month. We're hoping for lots of visitors!

I started the new job (think: you and us) in March and have been flying back and forth quite a bit in the meantime. This weekend we had a get together to have a chance to say goodbye to many of our friends and family in New England. Here are some pictures from the event.



As we're getting used to the idea of riding the El and not the T and being near a lake and not the ocean, I don't think Carey, Lillie and I are ready to bleach our red socks just yet! On Sunday, Lillie went to her first baseball game and Carey and I got a last chance to go to Fenway Park for a while. We got a two-fer: the Sox won in extra innings by beating the Cubs' rival Cardinals!



One last note: you may have noticed that Elissa has added a family birthday calendar as well as links to some of the blogs, wikis and photo albums that we all update on our own. Be sure to send us your links if we missed any and check out everyone's other sites.

Getting down with the Celtics in P-Town

Conor and I got to watch a great game together last week at Touche week while he was in Portland for business. Between you and me - I know it was his headband that brought the Celtics to victory after being down (quite down) at the half :)

It's official!

About Time! Andrea and I are now a 4 degree household. Andrea is already talking about a 5th since my (2) strait beat her pair( of BAs). The thesis should be available online through the grad school if you REALLY want to read about:

THE FACTORS INFLUENCING ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE PITCHER-PLANT MOSQUITO, WYEOMYIA SMITHII:
AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

But if you stop by the house I can give you a power-point presentation instead.

I actually graduated in march, it just took forever to get the degree with my name spelled right.

P.S. Accepted a permanent position at a local "research institute" which means a lot more time shuffling papers instead of mosquito larvae--you can't win them all.

If you're down with Petey, then you're down with me

Meet Petey! He's a Staffordshire/Bull Terrier mix who I adopted a few days ago from a dog rescue in Hillsboro. He is somewhere around a year and a half old, and still very puppy-like.

He is adjusting to his new home and excited to please :) He likes playing fetch, giving kisses, sniffing everyone and everything, a Kong filled with peanut butter and surprisingly, baths - he loves attention!

Rocket Man!

We were all (Genie, Madelin, Catherine, Tim, and many other friends) Crocodile Rocking at the Sully last week for the Elton John Concert, thanks to Catherine and Andy's quick thinking we got the seats from the "hearing impaired" telephone number for Concert tix! They were great seats and we could hear quite well!

Kevrekians Update

We all took a spring holiday to Charleston, S.C., in May, the week before Gregor's graduation on the 18th. We had a wonderful time and highly recommend Charleston to anyone looking for a new vacation spot - nice beaches, great restaurants (always a requirement for our vacations), wonderful history, beautiful architecture and really easy to get around (especially with a GPS). You can see more of our vacation and Eliss's subsequent trip to Boston (for a conference) at the follow site. You'll note Elissa's interest in misc. designs found along the way, as well as some terrific parks in Savannah, where we went for a day. http://www.flickr.com/photos/radsnowgirl/sets/72157605297921435/

Back in Mass. for Gregor's graduation, this year Armen's side of the family turned out in force, including Armen's nephews, Armen and Vatche, Armen's wife, Mary, his neice, Lena, and Armen's old school chum, Raffi. Raffi's brother, Aram, hosted everyone for a Wonderful Middle Eastern BBQ. The picture of us is from that get-together.

Gregor has now officially moved to Connecticut. Here's his new address:
95 Hockanum Blvd., Apt. 5922, Vernon, CT, 06066. Here are some pix of his new apartment.
http://www.hockanumcrossing.com/emercial.htm


Meanwhile, back at the ranch, other news is that Armen and I (along with other partners) bought the Ambrosia/Quackenbush Building! It only took three years of trying! We're excited, happy, and relieved to have finally locked down the deal.