Merry Christmas!

Okay, so this post is late.  But this past Sunday was not just any Sunday, it was Christmas!  So in the light of the fact that this is late and that it is that special time of the year, we present to you The Misra Family Hebdomadal Christmas Special!

Special Christmas Edition

Okay, its not actually special.  But just imagine us telling you this in claymation.  Are you ready?  Are you visualizing us as 3 inch tall clay figurines?  Good.  'Twas six nights after Christmas...

We're reporting in from sunny Scotts Valley, CA this week!  Marinda's parents have been great hosts for week 1 of the Misra Family Christmas Vacation, a 365-madal event.  This past week has actually been fairly relaxing (re: boring) which is exactly what we were hoping for (and also part of the reason this is nearly a week late!).

Amit and Marinda helped decorate a bit, but honestly everything was pretty much done when they showed up and all they had to do was enjoy it.  "You can't really get into the Christmas Spirit until you're surrounded by 50 miniature ceramic houses," Marinda says.

Christmas at the Court, 2011

A small fraction of the houses - these feature scenes from Charles Dicken's works

Nutcrackers and Nativities

The weather this week has been gorgeous.  Marinda thought they were going to need coats.  Amit packed sweaters.  But its been 50-60 degrees and sunny all week long.  Basically, its been Seattle summer.  A nice change from the rainy and dreary wasteland that is Seattle winter!

Amit and Marinda have been enjoying time with family, especially their niece and nephew, J & M.  They are 19 mo and 5 mo old.  Amit and Ben are having a battle over M's love, only equaled by the rivalry of Edward and Jacob in the Twilight series.  "M will be mine!!!!!!!!"  Ben said.  "No!  She will be mine forever!!!" Amit replied.  M has not made her choice, but current polls coming out of Iowa indicate that Ron Paul may pull an upset.

Amit has enjoyed playing the Mitchell baby grand piano when time permits, you know, in between his playing with his niece and nephew, reading, and sleeping in.  He has a very busy schedule nowadays.  By the way, there should be a word that can encompass 'niece and nephew'.  Like I can say "I played with my kids" rather than "I played with my son and daughter."  Where is the analogous word for nieces and nephews?  Same for 'Uncles and Aunts'.   Just sayin'.

Christmas at the Mitchell home is a very big deal.  On Christmas Eve, we all got together to listen to the Christmas story and sing hymns together and to read a Christmas story 'The Shiniest Star'.  It's always a very peaceful and spiritual experience.  Christmas day was obviously filled with presents.  We could get into specific presents, but let's just say that everyone had more than enough and we were all happy with the gifts we had given and received.

Merry Christmas and stay tuned for our 2012 edition next week!

Christmas Eve

Stockings filled with goodies!

Us opening our stockings

Santa came!

Goodbye 2011!

The Secret

Okay everyone.  We have a confession to make.  We've been keeping some things from the general public for the last couple months.  In fact, our awesome spy week never really happened.  And there's actually an explanation for zombie Marinda.  We've been keeping a secret.  A state secret of the police state of Mayester.

We're having a baby!!!!!

We've known for two months now.  Marinda is 13 weeks along, and just coming out of the first trimester.

There are so many stories to tell.  The ones that will warm your heart.  The ones that will convince you that like really is wonderful.  And ones that will make you laugh hysterically.

The way this is going to work is that I (Amit) will write in black.  Anything written in purple will be Marinda talking.  Got it?

We found out sometime around Oct 19th, I think.  We were trying to get pregnant so we were keeping track of things, and on the day when her temperature should have gone down Marinda took two pregnancy tests, and they were both positive!  Two at first, later on in the day I took three more just to be sure...  We immediately set up an appointment with the doctor for a month later.  But that didn't stop us from going a little crazy!  We put on hold every baby book at the library, reviewed our layout for the nursery, and went out to celebrate!  We were so happy that we couldn't stop smiling all day!

The first little bit was quite surreal.  I didn't seem real to me at all.  So life went blissfully along for a few weeks until the morning sickness started.  Then things started becoming very real.  It was around this time that our library books came in, and suddenly I wasn't interested.  Actually, I wasn't interested in much of anything.  Like moving - or drinking water - or eating.  Frozen burritos became my best and sometimes it felt like my only friend.  They understood me.  I'm not trying to show off or anything, but I had to do a lot more than usual for a while.  And I already do my fair share of the housework, so it was a little overwhelming for a while.  School became more stressful, life became harder, but I think its good preparation for when the baby actually comes.  Amit was amazing!  We should have asked for help sooner, but we were told to keep the number of people we told down to a minimum.  I spent all day (and most of the evenings) on the couch, feeling like I was going to die, and Amit just would appear and make everything better.  I'm glad that no one really saw me during that time - I was a little more than a mess.

The other thing that made things feel much more real was seeing the baby.  We've gotten 2 ultrasounds already, one at 8 weeks and one at 12 weeks.  The first one really just showed us a blob.  No offense Baby but you really weren't much to look at at first.  It was a big deal for me.  I wasn't convinced I was actually pregnant until I saw that there was actually something inside me.  I also was thinking about it one night during my sick days and decided that all the horrid bad stuff I was going through isn't quite enough to cancel out how amazing it was to see that blob inside me.  But this last time we saw a head, a nose, some arms.  Good job, kiddo.  It's real!  There's a THING growing inside me!!!  Way to grow!

Baby at 8 weeks.

We told my parents over Thanksgiving, which was a bit odd considering my mom was in India.  Telling my family was kind of like a trickle effect, where it just became necessary to tell people until finally everyone knew.  It was such a relief last Tuesday when we got the go to go public.  But all is well.

That's all I really think needs to be said.  YAY US!!!

Christmas Tree

This week we got our Christmas tree!  It must really be the holidays now.  The tree is all decorated, the Christmas wreath is up, and gifts are being bought.

Amit finished his term paper for his astrobiology class on Friday.  Last term paper ever!  Wooo!  To celebrate the Misra Fam went to their favorite indian restaurant, Shalimar.  They went all out, and even got a real head turner for their main dish.  You know the one dish every restaurant has that when it comes out everyone looks at the food and at the people who ordered it?  They got that.  It was a sizzling tandoori plate with all sorts of meat and veggies.  And it was good.  (Amit accidently typed 'And it was god' the first time around and Marinda laughed hysterically at it.)

Amit sang in the choir today for the Christmas program.  The choir did really good, and some people claim they could hear Amit over the other dozen men in the choir.

Marinda learned to make pretty cards at her girly social event.  No one really knows what goes on there but apparently there was lots of glitter, laughter, and talking about babies.

Merry Christmas!  Enjoy the pictures...while they last.

Homeward Bound - The Incredibly Boring Journey

Its been a full week since we got back from Cleveland.  Remember Thanksgiving and the entry we did last week and how much fun it was?  Well, if you're looking for something interesting to read, read last week's again.  I don't care if you read it already, re-read it.  I guarantee it will be better than this week's.

I see you have failed to heed my warning...so be it.

Thinksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  We just got back from Cleveland today and are tired from a day of traveling, but not too tired for our adoring fans!

But first the most important things - we saw Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 on Monday.  It was a day of celebration. Amit completed his presentation for his astrobiology class on "Entropy and Life: Does Life Feed Off of Negative Entropy?"  It was a grueling process, but he completed the task valiantly.  This marked the last presentation he'll have to do in a graded class.  "I'm super-excited," he said.  "From here on out, its all about doing things without receiving rewards (aka good grades) for hard work, but instead getting that special feeling of accomplishment."  That's basically what being in academia is all about - convincing yourself that what you're doing really is useful.

After his class ended, Marinda and Amit went to the mall to secure their tickets to the new Twilight movie before heading to a fancy dinner at Panda Express (Amit's reward for being such an awesome husband).  The food was amazing, but it turned out their rush to get the tickets early was a little unnecessary.  There were only 5 other people in the theater besides the two of them.  Why?  Because it was a school night, of course.

So what did they think about the movie?  "It was perfect!  I loved it.  They did a great job representing the book," said Marinda.  "I thought everything up to and including the wedding was tacky and boring.  The rest of it was entertaining and good.  It was pretty well done and I think the next one will also be good...for....me."   "You mean good enough for you," was Marinda's response to that last part. (Dad, that's for you!)

We went to Amit's parents' house on Tuesday for the start of Thanksgiving break.  The highlight of the week was naturally Thanksgiving day.  Surprisingly enough, the Misras do a full-out all-American Thanksgiving with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie (or for this year pumpkin cheesecake).  Add in Marinda's family recipes of sweet potato balls, cherry cheesecake and Grandma Koye's salad and we had a veritable feast!  On top of all that, another family that is predominantly vegetarian came over so Amit made spinach lasagna for them.  Anup (Amit's brother) prepared the turkey in a traditional style.  Oh, and the turkey weighed 16 lbs.  For 5 meat-eaters.  Yes, there were many leftovers.  Amit's Mom was actually still in India visiting relatives, so that left Marinda as the hostess for the evening.  "I was so stressed out," Marinda says, "but I was sure to make a point of saying that Amit made everything, while I 'supervised.'"  For their second Thanksgiving since getting married, it has been mentioned that it was kind of amazing that they pulled off such a successful dinner!

Well we don't want to bore you.  And we want to get back to the fleeting remnants of our Thanksgiving vacation before the cold, dark, dreary life of Seattle in winter starts up again tomorrow :-)  On a fun note, Durandal is really loving his new loose hay, and so are Amit's allergies.  Now if only we can teach Durandal to eat it from the top instead of trying to dig a hole from the side - avalanches have been known to happen!

Breaking Down - The Marinda and Amit Saga Continues!

Another loooooooooooooong week means another short blog entry.  Amit's week was incredibly busy.  On Monday he did a presentation on oxygen and body size.  Note - the results of his presentation do not include the fact that more shows on the Oxygen network does not lead to a greater size in the body of viewers. On Tuesday and Thursday he was at a local middle school talking to 6th graders about astronomy.  He's basically a celebrity there.  Last year kids asked him for his autograph.  No joke.  This year, he tried to keep a low profile.  You know, having his bodyguards keep his crazed fans away.  No, he did not fall in love with his bodyguard like in this movie (that has been previously linked to on the Heb.  Why isn't this available on Netflix yet?)

Amit is also doing another presentation tomorrow (Monday).  The presentation is quite long, filling an entire 90 minute class period.   But is he worried?  "Yes, I'm a little nervous," he said.  That's actually kind of a lame answer, so we decided his answer should be something like: "Worrying has two purposes: distracting people while I move past them by being awesome and giving you losers at the Heb something to do."

The highlight of Marinda's week is getting a new harp student.  She now has 9 students.  She and the students are working on Christmas and Hanukkah music for the Holidays.  Wait, are we allowed to call it 'Christmas' music?  Maybe we should say they're working on Cultural Winter and Hanukkah music.

Since everyone reading is probably wondering, we have not seen Breaking Dawn pt 1 yet.  We plan on going tomorrow, after Amit's big presentation.

Operation M.S.S.M.SN.R. - Don't worry, it's a spy thing

This week was AWESOME!  We had, like, the best time ever.  It was so much fun.  You, the reader, should be jealous that you weren't here for it.

On Monday we went to the moon.  It was so much fun.  It turns out the moon WAS made of cheese.  Until we ate it all.

On Tuesday we were spies and saved the country.  You're welcome

On Wednesday we went jet skiing on a shark in Bill Gates indoor pool.

On Thursday we ran a marathon.   Both of us.  And Durandal ran with us.  And he won.

On Friday built a skyscraper.  It was hard, but you know, that's how we roll.  The building's pretty awesome.  Maybe you've heard of it already?  Its called the Space Needle.

Yesterday we were SUPER-busy.  We started our own restaurant.  It was pretty big on yelp.  A bunch of people were tweeting about it.  But then it got too cool, so we had to back out and sell the company.  What's the name of the company?  We'd tell you, but then we'd have to kill you.  Because we're spies.  Who've been to the moon.

Okay, okay, some of these things didn't actually happen.  We sort of kinda stretched the truth a bit.  Okay, fine, since you're making such a big deal out of it, we actually went to Mars, not the moon.  Don't tell anyone though.

So what really happened?  Almost nothing.  Seriously.  Seattle is a boring and depressing place once winter hits.  Don't move here!  And if you live here, leave so rent can be cheaper!

If you insist on news from the home front, this week we got a ceiling fan for our dining area.  It was the highlight of our dinning room's month.  "Its super-chic" said Marinda.  "We're lucky to have landlords who were nice enough to install it for us."

OOOOOO!!!!  AAAAWWWWWW!!!!

On a slightly more interesting note, Durandal had an eye infection this past week that we needed to go into the vet for.  After being on antibiotics for a couple days, the vet decided that more serious action was needed.  That action was "we need to knock him out and then BLAST it clear!"  Marinda was a little shocked, Durandal's head is like the size of a large plumb, or a small apple, or an applumb as we like to call it here at the Heb.  After some clarification, the vet changed his plan to "we're going to gently put him to sleep for a few minuets and then using a little bit of saline clear out his tear duct."  It went well, and with Durandal returned a little drugged up still, they went home infection free.

To review, highlights of this week:  Mars, Spies, Shark, Marathon, Space Needle, Restaurant.  Oh, and Ceiling Fan and Crazy Vet (did we mention he lived on Mars?).  Next week should be more interesting, we're dedicated to do something worth writing about!

Happy Birthday....Zombie Marinda!

This just in - this week featured two national holidays - as long as you live in the Kingdom of Mayester.  Monday was Halloween, which can only mean one thing: Marinda throwing a party.  Friday was Marinda's birthday, which can also only mean other thing: everyone throwing a party for Marinda.

Marinda took this Halloween thing pretty seriously this year.  Other than throwing a party on Monday, she also dressed up all week in two different costumes.  On Monday she was the Tragic Woman in Black, and the rest of the week she has been dressed up as Zombie Marinda!  Wait, you mean she wasn't acting?  That's just how sick she's been feeling?  See, look how seriously she's taking this!  She is physically ill to stay in character.

The party on Monday was very low-key.  The Misras invited all their friends (all 19.5 of them counting Durandal) over on Monday at 7.  7pm came around on Monday night, and no one was there....what a relief!  What good party ever has people showing up on time?  They did however have a handful of Trick-or-Treaters.  Unlike last year when it was 3 high schoolers who really needed something better to do, this year they got to see adorable kids in the cutest costumes (and still a few high schoolers).  Some of the highlights were: some kids from Children's Hospital, a little girl dressed up as Elpheba who was Trick-or-Treating for UNICEF.  The first kid of the night was a little boy dressed up as a puppy dog.  It was his first Halloween and he was super shy but super adorable, or as they say in spanish 'adorable'.

Later that night some friends came over.  Their costumes were awesome!  One couple came as rock stars with died hair and everything.  The other person came as the Tooth Fairy.  The party was incredibly scary - the girls did nothing but look at wedding albums.

The rest of the week was spent being normal.  That is, until Friday.  Friday was the day Marinda became an adult - she hit the milestone (or millstone?) of being 25.  How great was her birthday?  "It was perfect," Marinda said.  "I have the best husband ever!"  No, she wasn't being sarcastic.  The morning started off with breakfast in bed.  And not just normal breakfast, she got PANCAKES.  And not just on a plate.  On a SILVER TRAY.  And not just any silver tray, a silver tray cover in  ROSE PETALS.  And to top it all off, a homemade card, MADE WITH A MAC.  By the way, did we mention that Apple is now a corporate sponsor of this blog?  Isn't it funny how we talked about a perfect husband using a mac?  I wonder what would happen if you, reader, got your spouse a Mac?  Would they also become perfect?  Only one way to find out....

That was the beginning of the day.  The only downer was that Durandal had to be taken to the vet again, this time for eye problems.  So the duo dropped him off in the morning and picked him up after lunch.  Where did they have lunch.  "Chipotle!" Marinda is quoted as saying.  Yup, they had a romantic lunch at Chipotle.  Before that they got Marinda her birthday presents from Target: a britta filter, a shower curtain liner, a squeegee, and paper towels.

The day concluded with a trip to Golden Gardens, where they saw a magical sunset.  Then they went off in search for food.  After looking for Paseo, a Cuban sandwich restaurant and failing, they decided to return to the mall and go to Red Robin.  They had been talking about getting chicken wings and milkshakes, and Red Robin is tough to beat.  But the wait was 40 minutes so they decided to get a gyro from the food court first.  Then they got their wings, shakes, and other food items.  Sadly, it was only AFTER they got home and filled out the on-line survey that they found out that if they were part of the Red Robin club (or whatever it's called) they could have gotten a free Hamburger on their birthday!  You know, the day AFTER Marinda's birthday!

Crazy Kids on Marinda's Birthday

Sunset at Golden Gardens.  We were lucky we could even see the sun

Yesterday was special in that Amit and Marinda got a Papa Murphy's pizza and watched Fireproof.  It was a nice night and a good conclusion to an exciting and adventurefull week.

Our Week Apart

This past week we had almost no time together - Marinda came back from her road trip with her brother Wednesday afternoon, then Amit left on a school trip Thursday afternoon and just got back a few hours ago (on Sunday).  So this is going to be a lot of pictures without much cleverness.

The highlight for Amit's week was taking an Astrobiology trip to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands.  He spent Friday collecting and dissecting samples of invertebrates (sea urchins, starfish, sponges, clams etc).  It was a ... different experience for someone who spends all day in front of a computer.

Saturday Amit and the rest of the crew went to Sucia Island to collect fossils of said invertebrates, only in dead form.  Unfortunately there are no pictures available from these two days, but Amit did take plenty of pictures of the beautiful views from Friday Harbor!

One more thing - near Friday Harbor deer are allowed to run around without natural predators.  So you can get really close to them without scaring them too bad.  Amit actually had an experience where he felt like a deer was following him back to the dorm.  The deer started off about 20 feet away from him, and then took a few steps towards him.  Then Amit backed off, not wanting to get too close to the deer.  The deer continued forward.  Amit backed off again.  The deer moved towards Amit once more!  The chase was on.  Amit booked it back to the dorms, eager to get away from the killer deer.

Different deer, don't worry

Marinda concluded her epic road trip across the country.  Amazingly enough, the most memorable comment recorded by her was "New Mexico...is...so...empty!"  Apparently the prettiest part of the trip was in California.  Other than that, she is talking to her baby brother right now and refuses to comment about her trip further, but here are some pictures.

While trying to find a Walmart (that didn't exist)
Marinda and Steven found the national Route 66
Museum, complete with gigantic sign!

In-N-Out Burger = = Bliss!

Though Marinda was left behind while her husband enjoyed the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, she decided not to just sit around and watch TV while eating take-out (though she did do plenty of that.)  Instead she called up a friend who's husband was going to be trapped in the lab all Saturday, and the two of them headed off for their church's Trunk or Treat - which is basically trick or treat but with cars in the church parking lot.  It was a great success and the little kids all looked SO CUTE!!  "Favorites?  There were so many!  But if I have to name a few I would say the little girl who was Saturn, the Robot, the Peacock girl, and Curious George with The Man with the Yellow Hat... Oh I could just go on!"  Even if no one comes to their door again this year (excluding creepy teenagers barely dressed up/barely dressed) Marinda has gotten her fill of adorable little kids in costumes.

The Mild Mannered Musician, The Princess and The Gypsy!
(note the super cute Halloween Candy Bowl) 

Our Trunk - Featuring Patches the Pumpkin!

Win A Free Bagel Trivia Contest!

This has been a pretty uneventful and simultaneously very busy week for the Misras.  What we mean is that, we don't really have time to write this update, but at the same time, there really isn't much that happened this week....

Well, unless you're Marinda.  Marinda received an anonymous phone call last Sunday with the simple instructions: "Memphis Airport.  Saturday.  9PM.  Be there."  Of course the caller had a voice like Deepthroat.  So unaware of what was awaiting her, she found a flight to get to Memphis.  "Of course I was scared," Marinda said.  "But this is what heros do.  They walk into situations that seem like traps."  Marinda did in fact follow the instructions, and to one's surprise, it was a trap!  "It's a trap!" her companion Admiral Ackbar said once they arrived in Memphis.  Marinda was kidnapped by her older brother and taken on a road trip to California with her older sister's stuff!  What an awful trap!  Will she be able to escape?  Find out next time!

I know, I know, everyone reading by now is tired of stories and is asking, 'when do I get my free bagel?'  Okay, so here it is - whoever can answer the following questions correctly wins a free bagel to be bequeathed at a future time and place.  But you can only get the bagel if you can get to the place at the correct time.  Other rules: no internet allowed - only your intellect.  (sorry cyborgs connected to the internet, if you're really upset go take it up with the ACLU or some other group with four letter acronym.  Like NASA.  Maybe they'll care).  Anyways, here are the questions:
1.  In what state was there a menagerie shooting this past week involving escaped leopards, tigers and other animals?
2.  In what bay are the world's largest tides?

If you can get those right, we at the Heb will buy you a bagel (no extras) at the following time and place: Alpha Centauri, tomorrow, at 12PM.  We'll see you there.

But in reality, Amit and Marinda had this exact situation placed in front of them while taking a short detour to Noah's Bagels on their way to the airport.  And guess what?  They got the questions right!  The first one they both knew, but what about the second?  Apparently during the Astrobiology lunch earlier that week, the presenter talked about tides, and had mentioned the Bay that is the answer to the question.  Looks that PhD will be paying itself off one bagel at a time....

Trust Me. I'm A Doctor

This week has been BUSY.  Monday Amit finally got his Genius Robe.  He's been waiting a long time for this, and now he can finally walk into a room and pretend like he knows what he's talking about without people thinking he's crazy.  But some background first - Amit has an ARCS fellowship.  ARCS is an organization started by a bunch of rich women back during the early days of the Cold War when Sputnik scared the bejeebers out of the US.  They decided that the solution was funding graduate students in the sciences.  54 years later, they are still giving money to graduate students like Amit who do amazing research that will not only save lives but eradicate communism...or something.  "All the presentations were really amazing and about things that could really change lives for the better," one life-loving biologist was heard saying.  "Except for that weird one on extrasolar planets.  I mean, who cares?"  The response was just as sharp.  ARCS Genius Amit Misra responded "Wow, really mature, guys.  Did you know that there are billions of (virtual) people suffering from (virtual) diseases on this (virtual) planet I just made up?"

For other news, Marinda started harp lessons this week with her new teacher!  After some exploring through Ballard, her house was found in the strangest place ever - a purely recedential neighborhood!  "It was a little confusing, I haven't seen one of these in a while!"  Marinda was reported to have said.  She really likes her new teacher and is excited (and motivated) to practice again.

Later on that week, another startiling (and greasy) event took place.  For the past several months Marinda has been boycotting Safeway Chinnese food do to the gross feeling it gave her after she would eat it.  This past Friday, however, all the rational memories left her and she suggested it for dinner.  Amit (who loves Safeway Chinese food because it is so ridiculously cheap) jumped on it and the two had an aweful (yet strangely statifying) meal.  We at the Heb had consulted out health coressondant who had informed us that these two will not die from consuming this food - as long as it is not repeated more than once every six months.

This week ended with several strange people who the Misra's may or may not have known storming their house, gorging them with food, then forcing them to play games.  Details could not be obtained on this event, though a sound bit was anonymously submitted strongly resembling the ticking of the timer for Catch Phrase.

That's it for the Hebdomadal this week!  To show our appreciation to our faithful followers, we've included a real treat - the musical debut of upcoming star Brown Sugar the Moose!

Honor. Pride. Bragging Rights.

(Note: for maximum reading pleasure listen to the music from this youtube video while reading this blog.  The video is more or less what happened this past week, perhaps with some slight exaggerations)

Honor.  Pride.  Bragging Rights.  This is what was on the line this past week in Seattle.  This is what the Misras live for.  Pie eating contest one day.  Flag football tournament the next day.  One weekend.  One chance.  One victor.  All with the fate of humanity on the line.

On the Friday front was the Battle of Half Eaten Pies.  What started as a simple ward chili cook-off with pies for dessert turned into an atrocity so severe that all types of pies, from apple to boysenberry and even to banana cream, will remember for many years.  8 men and women came to the table.  8 pies were placed in front of them.  The pies didn't even see it coming.  Like vultures they dove down, devouring the pies.  Some of them even turned the pies over, smashed the pies, and literally licked the remains off the table.  Marinda Misra was the worst, with her face literally covered in the gooy chocolatey goodness.  Before the event was the contest for the youth - and Marinda was seen offering a hair tie to a young women so she wouldn't get her hair messy while eating the pie.  What a monster.  The Pie Investigation of Eaters Court (PIE Court) plans on going after this monster at eating pies.  They would, except for one thing.  Marinda eats pies like that for breakfast.

On Saturday it was the Turkey Bowl.  It was a sneak attack if there ever was one.  An event that usually falls near Thanksgiving was pushed to early October because of renovations of Husky Stadium.  "Renovations," or as we like to think - a conspiracy.  What are they conspiring about?  Who knows?  But nothing short of a conspiracy could will this battle royal into existence.  26 teams.  2 chances.  One victor (still).  Amit dared to go into this flag football frenzy with only two flags guarding his sides.  These brave soldiers went in expecting to be eliminated after two rounds.  They came out alive - and more importantly, with honor.  In ancient Sparta they would tell their soldiers to come home with their shields or on them.  Here, they were instructed to come home with their opponents flags or without any of their own.  The first game was difficult - they lost, by only one touchdown.  The next three matches though, let's just say the destruction of the other teams were so complete the footage couldn't even be shown on pay per view.  Believe me, we tried sending it to them and they said no.  Finally, after 4 hours of flag football, our battle-hardened 3rd Ward team, The Tight-Ends, returned with honor to their cheering families on the sidelines.  Doubly eliminated yet single in their awesomeness, they did something only true winners do - they ate free hot dogs.

And when all was said and done, the Misras did something no one would dare - they bought some new flowers.

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It would seem silly to write this blog post using a Macbook Pro without paying tribute to Steve Jobs.  Its incredible to think that when both of us were born (24 years ago) nothing like this would be possible.  People didn't have computers in their homes.  Most people didn't even understand what computers were or how they could possibly use them.  The internet didn't exist.  Granted, Steve Jobs didn't invent the internet (Al Gore did - duh) but he made it possible for you to be reading this on an iPhone, iPad, or just a regular computer that is a million times easier to use than people could have dreamed of back in 1976 when Apple was founded.  But I think one man could have thought of today's technology and how integrated it could be into our lives.  And I know one man did more to make this happen more than anyone else out there.  And that man is Steve Jobs.

Marinda went to the Apple Store that was closed with a large
chalkboard like wall in front of it, with chalk.  She left flowers
and signed her own message, then sat with other Apple fans
watching in silence as people would walk by and read the
words of tribute left.

Marinda wrote her own little memorial:

I grew up in Silicon Valley with my parents in the software business.  I would sit on my Dad's lap while he programmed, and when I was little Ritz Crackers were disks to be put into our "disk drives."  While growing up, my parents would tell us stories about the good guys and the bad guys of computers.  These stories were just as exciting as any fairytale book but more so because it was happening all around me for real.  Steve Jobs was, of course, the white knight who brilliantly fought for all that was good and right and brilliant in the computer world.  I never met or saw him, but he became a real life hero to me. 

As I got older, I learned that people were people, not perfect heros in stories, but my love and respect for Steve Jobs continued to live on.  Now that he is gone, it is like the end of an era in my life - my childhood finally closing and I am now in the very un-magical world of adults.  When I think of people who really made a difference in this world, who challenged the world to take leaps not baby-steps forward, he is among the top of my list.
Rest In Peace Steve Jobs, thank you for inspiring me.

We at the Hub would like to leave our own little tribute in the words of so many Apple followers here in Seattle that you can view by following this LINK.

Misras Seen Buying Eggs - Heb Experts Cracking the Story!

This just in!

Last week, local Seattle celebrities Amit and Marinda Misra had been seen at a local grocery store shopping for what appeared to be eggs and milk.  This is startling news, as the high profile couple had not been seen in the public sector since the announcement of the star's rabbit Durandal's intention to compete in the All American Bunny Hop.  "All I can say is that their coming out to an average-joe grocery store is just the sort of thing this couple would do," commented a local celebrity twitter stalker.

To find an explanation for this bold move, let's review and analyze the events following this startling appearance.  Amit was reported to have been peacefully at his desk at the university, when all of a sudden thousands of his fans suddenly flocked onto the campus.  Apparently where he worked had leaked out to the public, and now in order to get anything done he has had to lock himself up in his office.  "Well, you know, it's the first week of classes," commented a mild mannered freshman girl while trying to quickly cover up a photo of Amit in her binder.  When asked if she had brought it to be autographed, she said she wouldn't mind it, if, you know, he happened to be there on campus, but of course she didn't know anything about it.  We at the Heb are not so easily fooled.  This could only be a publicity stunt choreographed by Amit himself to bring added attention to his rabbit.

Unfortunately for him, to counter this surge of interest, the graduate students decided that the only job they could give Amit where he would not be drawing a giant crowd is in the Planetarium.  "It's dark, no one will be able to recognize him in there," replied an anonymous grad. student when asked about the decision.  "He's also kind of smart, which is rare for someone so incredibly cool.  But still, we need to make him as low profile as possible."  So far there have been no fluctuations in the requested number of planetarium shows, but we expect this number to increase rapidly once word gets out of his new position.

While this was all going on, Marinda was herself causing quite a ruckus to the Seattle social scene.  On Saturday night it was reported that she and some girls friends had a "get together" where such things as pizza and cupcakes were consumed.  These reports cannot actually be confirmed as our cameras were not allowed into the venue, but let's just say that we took plenty of snap shots of well-fed, cheerful looking women leaving afterwards.

But is hasn't been all partying for this rising star - Marinda has also launched her new website www.misraharp.com.  Based on her earlier websites, this one promises to be hip with an interactive comment section and a brand new color scheme.  Rumor has it that she made this site herself from scratch, though critics claim that it couldn't be "from scratch" unless she hand coded everything in a text file.  The general public however seems to find no fault in Marinda's using a Website making client.  Strangely enough, no mention of her prize bunny appears on the site, but we expect this to simply be another tactic of the couple to draw off suspicion of their pushing Durandal as the national favorite.
We fully expect two hundred thousand hits by the end of tonight.

All in all, it is inspiring to see such an idolized couple trying so hard to live normal, ordinary lives, but let's be honest.  It would take a move to a remote island (or graduating from grad school) to possibly bring this couple out of the lime light and make them "ordinary."

This story brought to you by your friends at the Heb.  Tune in next week as we bring you such details as Durandal's competitor's comments to his entering The Hop, along with his workout schedule!

Beware of Spoilers...

Well, slow news week for us at the Hebdomadal...Durandal hopped around more, the Misras learned how to make Chicken Parmesan, and TV shows started up again (that last point may or may not have anything to do with how slow the news was this week).

Durandal was by far the most exciting Misra this week.  While previously confined to the ground and generally low-lying areas, Durandal now has unlimited access to the couch.  Durandal cleverly placed a stepping stool next to the couch which he can use to get up to the couch.  "Bunnies are quite smart, actually," said local bunnyologist.  "Did you know Albert Einstein was a bunny?" (the bunnyologist may or may not have named his bunny 'Albert Einstein')

Durandal reading a scientific paper with Amit - SO CUTE!

TV shows did indeed start up again this past week.  Amit and Marinda spent WAY too much time watching TV, but how could they not?  "I waited for this for months!" Marinda said.  "So many cliffhangers - I needed to know what my friends....ummm.....I mean fictional characters I watch....are doing with their lives!"

There was one funny moment in church today.  A sister started her talk today with:
'My husband is in medical school, which means we are very busy and we hardly get to see each other.  Sometimes we get on edge and get mad at each other, and it can be really stressful.  One time, we had a fight at night and he just went off to bed while I was left there fuming.  So I did what I had been taught since primary: I knew that prayer and scripture study could help me to feel better and receive guidance on what I should be doing.  So I get down on my knees and started praying, asking for help to make our marriage better.  After my prayer I got my scriptures, turned to a random page and blindly put my finger on the page to get a random verse.  The verse I got was 1 Nephi 4:12 'And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him unto thy hands.'

We have NEVER heard a congregation laugh so loud in church before!  Definitely a new classic!

Nephi after slaying Laban in order to get the gold plates.
The story is about obedience and the importance of scriptures.

That's pretty much it.   Hopefully there'll be more next week!

Help! Our bunny is taking over our house!

Marking his territory all over the house.  Secret reconnaissance missions to the bedroom (where he's not allowed).  Daring to venture into the kitchen.  Winning the bunny hop hurdle race in Germany.  All the signs point to one thing - Durandal is planning on taking over the apartment.

Prime Minister Amit bowing to the fugitive Durandal?

But the current masters of the apartment do not seem to care very much.  "We have put Durandal in his cage, given him his food, and he will be locked up in there for the rest of the night until we let him out in the morning.  I believe it is peace in our time," said Amit Misra, Prime Minister of Mayester (aka the apartment).

But other reports seem more frightening.  Marinda Misra, Queen of Mayester, has been repeatedly seen administering medicine, food, and water to Durandal in what we can only assume is an act of obeisance.  Prime Minister Amit was photographed quite literally feeding him treats.  It is safe to say that right now their concern is not containing Durandal, but rather letting him have free roam of the apartment.  Where will this madness end?  The bedroom?  The bathroom?  The balcony?!?!?!?!?!

In weather news, the temperatures have dropped, the clouds have shown up and Seattle's summer has bidden its fare citizens adieu.  Despite its absence, local expert Amit Misra recommends not worrying.  "I assure you, the sun is still there.  You will see it again in 6-8 months.  I guarantee it."  But for some that is too long to wait.  Marinda is especially distraught at this turn of events.  She could not be reached for comments, however, because she has been sobbing uncontrollably because of the cloudiness.

In outdoors news, Amit and Marinda went for a walk earlier this week on the Burke-Gilman trail.  On this walk they realized one of the downsides of summer fading away - the sun goes down much sooner than in the summer.  They began their voyage after 7pm, and had the goal of walking 3 miles.  The sun began going down about 1 mile into the walk, and during the second half on their way home there was little to no sunlight.  The pair watched for bandits, muggers, and Real Change vendors and thankfully they managed to return home safely.  The two of them were grateful that on their 'Walk to Not Remember' that they were in Seattle, not Cleveland.  "If we were in Cleveland," Marinda says, "something awful probably would have happened.  But since we were in Seattle, the worst that happened was that we almost got killed by a biker who didn't see us.  But...that pretty much happens every time you step outside your door in Seattle."

As a note, 30 min. before the entire area in this picture
was covered by blackberry bushes at least 2 feet deep.
Go Amit!

Saturday was a busy day in the Misra household.  In the morning they went to a service project at Discovery Park to pull out blackberry bushes in an area of the park.  The park will plant trees there instead.  "This was the best service project ever!  You get paid for your service in blackberries!" Marinda said while devouring blackberries so fast her teeth turned dark purple.  Amit was off doing real work with a mattock.  He was very happy to be able to contribute to mother nature.  "I think I might have messed up my back somehow," he said.  See - perfectly happy to contribute.

Later that day they went to a Mariner's game at Safeco Field for a CWRU Alumni event.  They rode the bus from the U-district to the stadium and had to find their way around the international district.  At the stadium they went up to their seats in the nosebleed section.  "This isn't so bad," Marinda said.  "You can see everything from up here."  Marinda had never been to a game in seats that weren't the worst possible.  However, as part of their alumni association event, they had access to the Terrace Club, which has much better seats and better food and...really just a better experience overall.  The nice people at the stadium even let them (and the other Case alums) sit in the nice seats because honestly barely anyone was there because the Mariners aren't very good.  Anyways, Marinda realized her folly and liked the new seats much better.

Amit in our original seats 

They were far from the field, but had a great view of the city!

On their way back from the game a true miracle happened.  They checked the bus they need to get back to the U-district, but the bus schedule said that all the possible buses had left over an hour ago.  But then they saw the number 72 pull up into the bus tunnel - exactly the bus they needed!  They ran to get to the bus and just barely made it.  They found seats and within 30 minutes were back at the U-district, ready to go to their car, pick up a colossal chocolate fudge cupcake at QFC and call it a night.

Love's Labor's Day

This has been our first full week back since our megatrip of August.  The weather has been perfect by Seattle standards: highs of 80 and sunny almost every day.  But honestly, that's about all that has been unordinary this past week.  Things are settling back into normalcy with Amit being at school and doing research much of the time and Marinda teaching harp lessons.  But there are some highlights....

On Labor Day Amit and Marinda decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go on a hike at Lund's Gulch half an hour north of Seattle.  The hike was difficult at times but well worth it.  It was essentially a mile long descent that came to a tunnel that emptied out to a beach.  "The beach smelled awful!" Amit said.  "There was all this seaweed and other...life."  Marinda was less phased.  "I loved it!  It was sooooo pretty."  The only bad part of the hike was having to go back up.  The climb was over 400 feet.  Put into context, the Duomo in Florence, Italy (which the pair climbed on their honeymoon) was only 300 feet tall.  If they continue to improve this much (being able to climb an extra 100 feet every year) they'll be able to climb Mount Everest at 29,000 ft in just under 290 years!  Or if you assume it increases by a factor of 4/3 every year they'll be able to do it in a much more reasonable 16 years.  Either way, Everest - watch out!  The Misras are gunnin' for ya!

A caterpillar we saw on our hike!

The living stuff Amit hates so much

The lowlight of the week was Durandalion getting sick.  One morning he just stopped eating and went off into a corner to hide.  And when Marinda shook his food bag, instead of running towards it like normal he just sat there.  As any concerned parent would do, they took him to the vet ASAP.  Between the incident and going to the vet he started eating normally, but it turns out he had an urinary tract infection.  So he has medicine now and he'll be fine.  But he certainly doesn't like taking his medicine.  "It's so awful!" Durandal is interpreted as saying.  "My mean mommy picks me up and puts me on my back, then forces this icky liquid into my mouth.  I hate it so much!  But then she gives me food right afterwards, and then its maybe not so bad I guess."  Thankfully for Amit, Marinda is doing all the medicine giving so that Amit can retain his position as favorite parent.  An undercover camera hidden in the living room caught Amit going up to Durandal after Marinda gave him the medicine saying "Your mommy's so mean to you isn't she?  You know I'll never make you take any awful medicine.  I'll just give you treats so you love me.  Love me more than her."  Not that it's a competition.  Durandal is doing much better now and should be fine in a few weeks.  If anyone would like to send a get well soon card to Durandal you know his address.  Also, Durandal apparently also likes gift cards for ice cream when he's sick.  So don't be shy!

Durandal hanging out in his favorite spot

This weekend has been very busy, mostly with Stake Conference for the church in Seattle.  It took up most of yesterday and the morning for today.  After conference the dynamic duo went to a brunch party at Amit's advisor's house.  The food and company were great, as was the weather.  The highlight most likely being the introduction of Turkish Eggs - a new must on every menu!

And that's pretty much it.  Who knows what awesome adventures this week has in store!  Perhaps another hike?  Or maybe a game night with friends?  Perchance a trip to the moon?  Okay maybe one of these in unrealistic.  Everyone knows we don't have any friends.

If you're looking for something patriotic to do for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I would recommend the following.  It's a special edition of Music and the Spoken Word with Tom Brokaw, talking about 9/11 and interviewing real people affected by it.