Okay So We're Buying a House

Okay, so we sprung this on ourselves too. We wanted a bigger house and agreed to moving someday, and looking at houses in general, and agreed in principal to some houses over others, and secured financing just in case, and since we're agreed made an offer that was accepted and omg we're buying a *!%^&* house!

The house is in Hyattsville on 43rd Street, an older neighvorhood but new construction. Its kind of a blank slate but we decided to we'd rather put money into improvements than repairs. See some pictures or a map.

We're closing on Friday July 11th.

Flowering of the Church at Old Trinity

Mothers day this year - May 11, 2008 - coincided with a traditiona called the flowering of the church. A news story from WBOC about the flowering at Old Trinity Episcopal Church in Church Creek, MD where Carolyn and I were married last year on April 8th 2007 <link>.

Educational Achievements

Today Jonathan Deva (JD) Goodman receives his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from the William & Mary School of Law. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will provide the commencement address.

Just yesterday we also learned that Jaishree Goodman was accepted to the New York University (NYU) Gallatin School of Individualized Study as well as St. Edwards in Austin. Its nice to have good options.

That should make a Happy Mother's Day for one mom!

Charles Dunn

Carolyn' s father Charles Dunn, 80, was killed Sunday in a car accident. We're comforted to know that he was happy, and raised a family he was proud of. We're heading up to Connecticut for the funeral and family. The picture below shows Del, Carolyn, Charles, and I south of Providence, RI after lunch and before C and I flew home last year. You can visit the Notice for Charles F. Dunn.
http://www.legacy.com/Link.asp?I=LS000109173619X

Nats Defeat Braves at Home in OT

At the end of April, Ben & Carolyn attended their first game at the Nationals new Ballpark, with family, friends, and Colleagues. Including Deva Goodman, Bob Hayes, half the FHWA Office of Safety, and colleagues from NHTSA. The Nats won 3-2 in overtime.

Nationals Defeat Braves in OT

Springtime in Beltsville

Well its the first warm sunny then rainy weekend in Beltsville, so ancient tradition requires an expensive trip to Benkhe's Nursary. Here's what Carolyn and I put in the ground this weekend...

We also saw the movie "Forgetting Sara Marshall" - pretty clever and funny, but I heard it was great. That Kristen Bell is very pretty though!

Hockberry Garden Sping 2008

Culture on the Road

Last night Carolyn and I drove up to Montclaire, NJ. We stopped for Pizza slices at Little Dino's -- Fresh motzerella and basil, and Grandma's style (well done, with big dollops of tomato sause that tastes like tomatos!). From next door we grabbed some wine and with the pizza had a Bogle 2006 Pinot Noir for $18. Delicious! If only I wasn't already full on chili dogs and Combos from the road trip.

After dinner we couldn't quite figure out how to get our host -- Tom and Susan Dunn - DVD player to work with the TV so we watched Born into Brothels: pretty disturbing but glad of the woman who started it all and the kids who made it.

Finished my book by Jared Diamond: Guns' Germs, and Steel. Incredible powerful explanations for how the world got to be the way it is today in terms of distribution of power, wealth, and technology. So I've just picked up his 2005 book Collapse - another dense 800 pages.

Just now we are going into town to for brunch at the Brooklyn Diner, and to meet family and dinner: Tom, Susan, Asha, Jai, Charles, and Sharon. We also went to the Morgan Library and Museum, Rue B, the girls aprtment on Rue C. Had a great day!

See pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/rbgribbon/AlmostSpringInNYC or

Almost Spring in NYC