More Stories with Aunty Jenn

William has enjoyed "Hop on Pop" so much that I have posted two more stories to my website: "Ho-Hum" and "Curious George at the Beach". Ho-Hum is an out of print book recommended to me by a co-worker a few years ago. You cannot help but yawn as you listen and read. Any Curious George book is a winner for me, so I hope William will like him as well.

Vote for Willis

My friend Phil Kim's Band "Willis" has entered in a Battle of the Bands contest for this year's mega-Christian music festival, Creation, held in Mt. Union, PA. The band consists of members Phil Kim - vocals, Stephen Altrogge - guitar, David Altrogge - bass, and Erich Walls - drums. From what I hear, they have a large following in the 14 and under age group. Click here to vote for Willis. The top vote recipients have the opportunity to play at Creation.

2006 Hurricane Season

After last year's record setting Atlantic Hurricane season, it is now time to turn our attention towards the 2006 season. Monster category 5 cyclone Monica, which has been bearing down on Australia, reminded me we aren't far from more storm excitement. The meteorologists have ready been warning us to be prepared for a major northeast hurricane strike. Why is someone from as far inland as Pittsburgh care about hurricanes (aside from my normal fascination with weather)? I believe that Pittsburgh will likely see some major flooding from this year's season. Why? This year's dry winter followed by near drought conditions in the spring have set the stage for hard, dry soil unable to absorb rapid rainfall accumulation. This is a very similar situation to the 2004 flooding that occurred with the remnants of tropical storm Ivan. With Chuck and Bethany living just far enough inland, I plan to head to the coast if NJ is in the path of such a storm.

Rearranging the Living Room

Spring has sprung and the flowers have rose, Jenn has awaken from winter's repose!

I decided to try something different with my living room. It is something I have been contemplating for a few months. My TV was in the corner and I was not receiving the full benefit of my surround sound. I thought I will move my big red chair where the TV is, the futon can stay where it is, and I will move the TV where the big red chair is, on the wall against the stairs. Sounds good, right. This was all part of my grand scheme to fish the surround sound speaker wires through the walls (I bought a wall fisher) and eventually have a media center (I am looking at one from Ballard Design - Click here to see it - I am thinking of a rubbed black finish). It all sounds quite grand, right?

Wrong! The big red chair is too big for the corner. The radiator cuts off the space necessary. Of course, I discovered this after completely rerunning the wires and fishing them through the drop ceiling in the basement below! With no energy left to put things back, I decided to try alternatives and live with it for a while, until someone is around to help me change things. I would love some votes on your preferences!

CIA Officer Fired for Leaking Classified Info to Media - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

FOXNews.com - CIA Officer Fired for Leaking Classified Info to Media - Local News News Articles National News US News This is the first step in the right direction. Let's hope that criminal action is taken. Personally, I think it should be considered treason. We have to stop the leakage of classified information - it is dangerous and puts us all at risk.

Quick Easter Picks

Here are some pictures from my trip to Toms River for Easter. I spent the time Chuck, Bethany, William, Scott, Nina, Sam, Zach, and Hannah.

US Scareways from Filthadelphia

As Chuck drive me back to the Philadelphia airport on Sunday, it became apparent that we had travelled in the wrong direction, thus placing me in jeopardy. After an emergency call to Matt Duncan for directions, we decided, there was a decent chance that I would not make my flight. Then, in an ephanic moment, I remembered that I was travelling via US Scareways from Filthadelphia! There was a very good chance that my flight would not leave on time. I quickly pressed the US Scareways speed dial button on my cell phone and learned that indeed, my flight was delayed. My flight was scheduled to depart at 5:00 P.M. and now the anticipated time of departure was 5:54. This was only the beginning. After a speedy curbside check-in and an effortless pass through security, I checked the board. My flight was still late. I kept checking back to learn that my flight was to have many estimated times of departure: 5:54, 6:42, 6:54, 7:09, 7:14, and finally 7:24. Upon my return to Pittsburgh I waited close to half of an hour for my luggage in baggage claim, but at least my luggage made it.

To add insult to injury, I experienced countless encounters with rude Filthadelphia natives. One man kicked my luggage out of his way instead of giving me a moment to move it, the golf-cart drivers were out of control driving too fast and yelling and beeping at everyone in their path, another woman almost shoved me aside in a store to get back to a corner instead of saying, "Excuse me" and the women at the gate seemed irritated when I inquired as to the status of my flight. It was a classic experience at the Philadelphia International Airport, and not remotely surprising. With Chuck flying in and out of Philly now, we can only anticipate other, probably more inconvenient horror stories. They said my flight was delayed for maintenance from an earlier flight, however I have grown suspicious of this excuse. I get that reason for US Airways delays often. I think that really translates to mean that they are understaffed and I am on a flight with less people than other flights. My bet would be that too many people called off because it was a holiday, but it's just a guess.

Liberal Fairy Tale "Commander in Chef" in Jeopardy of Being Pulled

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2006� ABC's new drama, "Commander in Chief", is on the verge of being pulled according into a report from the Drudge Report. The show features a woman vice-president who finds herself in the oval office as a result of the death of the sitting president. The show lacks reality; the president's decisions always turn out for the best and almost every show ends with a warm fuzzy. The West Wing is much more realistic. The administration gets caught in scandals and not every decision turns into a boost for the president's approval rating. The commonality between the shows is, of course, their liberal agendas. "Commander and Chief" turned out to be a bust. Its failure has less to do with woman as president and more to do with poor writing. The jury s still out on ow Americans feel about a woman president, however given the significance Americans tend to attribute to security it is unlikely that we will see a woman president anytime soon.

Pittsburgh in Spring

Here is a shot at the flowers at Gateway Center facing PPG Place. Soon, it will be full of tulips, my favorite!

This Big Bunny is no Easter Bunny!

Bigs bunny: monster rabbit devours English veggie plots - Yahoo! News Look out Wallace and Grommet, look out Peter Cottontail, here comes Great Britain's own giant rabbit! This giant lagamorph has been reeking havoc on gardens in the UK much to everyone's chagrin. Officials have even posed armed guards at communal gardens!

Pleasant Surprise!

As I was cleaning out cupboards, preparing for the big kitchen project, I noticed a couple of chips on the paint on the trim of counter top that I am not replacing. It appeared as though there was stainless steel below the paint. I did a little investigation and it was stainless steel! With the help of my heat gun, a Pampered Chef food scraper (the little brown ones) and Barkeeper's Friend, I now have about half of the trim scraped and cleaned.

I chipped a little bit of one of the tiles (the counter top is tile) to see if there might be stainless below the tile, but alas, all I found was ugly pink and brown (Did I just say pink and brown) counter top that looked to be circa 1950.

Household tip: to remove the smell of onions or garlic from your hands rub them on something stainless steel like your sink. If you have another surface type, you may purchase a stainless steel bar for removing odors called "Rub Away" at Williams-Sonoma for $7.50.

Added Note: The stainless steel must be dry in order for this to work.

Stocking Up

Some time ago, I made a post about our civic duty as Americans to be prepared for emergencies. Well, I have finally followed through on beginning to stock up. I purchased some tuna, water, and other non-perishables this week. I still need to have more on hand, but it is a start. It may not be the Bird Flu, but it might be as simple as some strong seasonal storms that leaves me without power, and thus water, or perhaps a major power grid outage in the heat of summer, but I want to have some supplies on hand. With the commencement of hurricane season at hand, I hope that those in areas prone to disasters follow the same advice and don't wait for the government to bail them out. It simply is not the government's role to fill the gap of personal responsibility.

Download a Story

I have started recording stories for my nephew, William, so that he can remember me now that he lives in NJ. I am not a great story reader, especially with a camera, but I am hopeful he will gain some benefit from it. I will post them on my website so that Chuck can just download them. I started with one of my very favorite books, Hop on Pop. William seemed to enjoy the cadence of the rhyming in Dr. Seuss books.

Under Construction

I am trying to build my blog into my website, but that might take a while. Sorry for the inconvenience.

JennGrover.com is Online!

My new website JennGrover.com is up and running. Take a look!