Santa Tim just brought the beat gift of all. Its a festivus miracle!!!!

Me and Grandpa at the Cape May Craft show. 91 and still making people happy with his wares. His first show in at least 5 years!

Fwd: IMG00438-20101115-2126.jpg

Me and my date Jackie at the 

Global Fairness Awards at the Kennedy  

Center. Hillary Clinton, Brian Williams, Andrea Mitchell, and the debut of prince Charles documentary "Harmony".  Check out the interview on NBC this Friday night. My date made me chug Chardonnay prior to Hillary's speech. Felt like i was at a Ravens game....

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Bradford, Jackie (NBC Universal, WRC)" <Jackie.Bradford@nbcuni.com>
Date: November 15, 2010 9:39:04 PM EST
To: <cgreame@gmail.com>
Subject: IMG00438-20101115-2126.jpg

Pls send to Joyce

Toots and the Maytals. State theater. Falls church va

With my nieces and cousins at grandmas memorial in cape may point nj

Breakfast at the Cove Cape May NJ

GAME CHANGER -- Brown Rice!!!!

My big "cheat" today was adding creame to my Starbucks -- I'm screwed. I enjoyed 1/2 an avocado and a fruit smoothie with water last night. Today -- pear, apple, two banannas (sp?), 2 plums, tofu -- wow! I did find out that I can have some brown rice though and I'll be treating myself with some tonight -- I'm so excited!

My Ridiculous Cleanse/Diet. Fruit and veg - uncooked- for a full week. No meat, dairy, bread, fish. Read how I get angrier as the week goes on!

Just doing this for fun -- not a Hollywood fad diet. Just stupid self-improvement. I started yesterday at noon. Last night I had garbanzo beans, spinach and a tomato for dinner. Followed up with a bananna for desert -- yum! 3 plums and a pear for breakfast this morning, a big salad, bannana, 2 plums for lunch. This Sucks! My sister and a colleague at work were asking, "Can you eat fish?" "What about Cheese?" "How about nuts?" -- what part of Fruits and Vegetables don't these people understand!!!!!??

This is what I bought for the week tonight. I had a corner of a GIANT to select my meals for the week -- about 1/32nd of the store. Eveyone was walking around so happy with their meats and cheeses, and I was like a zombie figuring out what I could eat -- stewing with anger, mmmmm stew! Even the Tofutti Hot dogs and Soy Sausage were mouth watering. But they aint on the list!! The worse was when I walked out of the GIANT and could smell the pizza from the Italian Store and the meat cooking from the Burger Joint -- pure hell. I am cheating a bit -- I bought Tofu.

Nothing like a day at the beach!

Sunset cape may point nj after hurricane earl

Buying Italian ices with my nieces Amelia and Ainsley in cape may point - a 30 year tradition

Morning at cape may point nj!

Claire gilbride at Claire an dons in falls church city. This chick rocks!

Hanging at Claire and dons beach shack in falls church across the street from me flat

Jaws in Scotland

Another scene from thw cliffs of Aird Uig w/ whiskey

ON THE CLIFFFS IN AIRD UIG SCOTLAND -- 10 PM DRINKING WHISKEY

Landon's Goal v Ghana

On the ferry from isle of Lewis to gallen head. Luckily they had a tv with the match or we would have looked really odd

View from Gallen Head and hotel. Outer hebrides. Enjoy!

Morning on Gallen Head. Post night of whiskey on the cliffs

On top of buachealle ( or something like that). Glencoe Scotland

Sometimes when you travel you take a chance and find a gem. Stornoway on the isle of Lewis. Two ferries to get here. Great Thai food and whiskey on the dock at midnight to lock in me 40th

Busting out the oasis in glencoe

On top of beuchelle Moore - watch your step!

Scaling beuchelle moore - what, no rain in Scotland?

Tim playing the bagpipes on top of Beuchelle Moore

Good Morning from Glencoe Scotland. Were off to hike Beuchell mountain

Cheers to Joyce (mom). Thanks for the whiskeys! Glencoe Scotland, clachaig inn

Tim and Hans lifting english James post match. Good lads and we got a point!

What a match! As the cabbie said on the way in from the airport," you're not a Scotsman if you're not pulling for the yanks. We're with you boys!". Never seen such hatred and so much passion from non us citizens! Great day, lots of beer and the sparse England fans were great. More to follow

USA 2 Turkey 1. Great match in the city of brotherly love. Guumonyouyanks!!!!

Too much partying for Ronaldhino. DC United 3, AC Milan 2

Luckily ac Milan didn't drink all the guiness the night before. Tim, Miguel, Andre & Maloney Gardens with the good stuff

Tim and his best friend at sushi rock

My favorite Bulgarian and mongolian. Victor and badma of piola Arlington

Sunset in obx. 3 of the 5 in this group are voluntarily unemployed. I was in the minority.

>
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Ahoy there!

This hour is quite happy

Life just got a little better

Morning in corolla. At my buddy vans place w Tim, work, and guffey. When I got here at 7 last night, boys were still drinking on the beach playing bocce. Life is good indeed

You have received a YouTube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8m55NDHvPY&sns=em

Sent from my iPhone

The most bizarre scotch ever

My flatmate Tim likes to treat the house with scotch. He likes going
off the beaten path - teacher's highland cream, aged 36 MONTHS is a
common selection This one tops it off. The "bench 5" named after
hall of fame baseball player Johnny bench who has as much to do with
Scotland and scotch as tim has to do with organized religion. This
stuff is craZy and Tim says it is quote mellow - the way Johnny bench
likes it.

Spinach orzo with turkey meat balls and sundries tomatoes....mmmmmm

Post clean up reward from the Italian store. I threw my garbage away....enough of my griping. This sandwich kicks ass

Anacostia clean up: 2 dumpsters filled in 4 hours

Anacostia Clean Up - Viscious Cycle

Today's clean-up was depressing. I filled 3 bags of garbage -- 2 of them mainly water bottles in one hour. Here's the deal you lazy people. You're suckered into buying bottled water when it's free out of a tap. But you think that tap water isn't "pure" and is dirty. It's dirty because you boneheads litter -- mostly water bottles. Wake up you dumbies!

Anacostia river clean up: Human beings are dumb and lazy

Just throw your garbage away properly! It was good to see a large, diverse group out there today. Had the crap floating around today been in a more upscale neighborhood, I'm sure people wouldn't stand for it. But this is the Anacostia. Crap flows downstream into a less, well-off neighborhood and it's the people who probably don't have as much leisure time to participate in clean-ups who turn out and try to make a difference. Big turnout, but unfortunately, you need to do this once a week just to maintain what we did today, but it's a start.

Casual brain Friday - my colleague Kate coined this today smd I am heeding her wisdom with 2 bottles of Rioja I was coaxed into purchasing

IDIOT! Just made nice chicken cilantro rice stir fry. Poured the wrong spicy sauce on the left and have been bathing my tongue in milk ever since

Chilling with Joyce

That's my Mom with me and Ham (Hans' new nickname she coined after a few scotches) Coolest lady in the world and I'm lucky to be such good friends with her to the point where we stay up drinking and playing cards until 2 am. Good on ya Joyce!

Pilot Mtn, Pisgah National Forest -- 4400 ft, 1200 vertical climb Post-Scotch drinking on Sat night

Hiking johns rock in pisgah National Forest

On the ferry leaving Cape May - much better weather today

Nothing like a day at the beach! Cape may point nj -55 and windy, but it's still the beach

Sleep with one eye open....

I asked Tim, my flatmate, what he was looking up on his computer tonight. He replied, "How to kill my roomate." I am enjoying our time together

A Fine Day for a Race

We ran the 4 courts 4 miler on Saturday - me, Tim Gillons (pictured), Hans Dreyer, and a special visitor from Baltimore -- Kevin Lynch. The weahter sucked, lots of rain and cold. Course was downhill mile 1, 2 flat miles, 1 mile uphill to the finish. Wound up running with Lynch who set a nice pace and we finished the first 2 miles in 14 minutes, 3rd mile was 7:30 and last mile was about 8 minutes. I finished 86th overall out of 1200 at a 7:17 pace -- not too shabby. The post race Guiness was delecious, as was our time with the Byrds afterwards. I love the satisfaction of an early morning run/race and then getting knackered afterwards. This photo was taken by some Kat from ON-TAP magazine -- check your local newstands, we'll autograph this for you.

"Un"Lucky Landy

If you know me, you know I'm a huge fan of the beautiful game. And over the years, I've seen the sport that I grew up playing being more widely accepted in America for the athleticism, skill, and creativity its players possess. It's not like "American Football"-- you stop after every play to figure out what to do next. The fluidity of football is what makes the game so special.

I haven't been a huge Landon Donovan fan-- he's always excelled on the National team, but playing in MLS always questioned his legitimacy as a true "global footballer." His short stint in Germany post-2002 world cup was troubling; he was young, homesick and lacked a knack for adjusting to the rough and tumble Bundesliga. But his loan to Everton from January of this year to present has changed all of that. He has been embraced by a storied team and a fan base that appreciates hard work, skill, and a team-focused player. His 2 goals and 3 assists in his short stint in the world's preeminent Professional League -- the English Premiership League -- has erased all questions of his international ability. He had a rough outing against Tottenham, but even coach David Moyes was impressed by his ability to jump on the pitch day one against Arsenal (none the less) and adjust to the fastest paced league with the best players.

To hear the Everton fans, chant "U-S-A" over and over and "Let Him Stay" on the last game of his loan was chilling. I've always hoped that US players woould gain respect and admiration in a league that is the Litmus Test for a player's true ability. Landon not only proved himself, but the US game as a whole.

The unfortunate circumstances are now that Landon most go back to the LA Galaxy, play in a sub-par league, and honor his contract. His "loan" is something very common in Football Leagues globally. Teams lend out players for stints all the time, other teams can test them out for a price and if they want to buy their contract they can do so through negotiations and Fair Market Value.

Now, everyone knows he has done all he can in MLS and he can do so much more in the EPL. But the MLS is a cartel, they own the players and the contracts. MLS is afraid to let go a marquee player who has paid his dues and helped the league enormously. NOW, the league should help Landon and and let him go. Take the $10-$15million that Everton and Chelsea are willing to pay, reinvest in the league, and let him be happy.

By doing well at Everton, winning over once skeptical fans in the most competitive market, and showing his skills, Landon has created a dilemma that not only questions the structure of the MLS, but also points a finger at American Sports in general. IN the world's foremost free market economy, our sports are structured more like CARTELS, than a true free market system. Now, Landon has to leave the EPL and he leaves a lot on the table -- money and the ability to really show the world that WE CAN PLAY. MLS won't negotiate and Landon has said he wants to stay at Goodison Park (along with US national team goalkeeper, Tim Howard).

As he did his final lap at Goodison Park, you could tell his departure was bittersweet. He knew it, the fans knew it, and MLS knows that they are stifling a player who has so much to give, not only to his team, but to the image of the US game. Un-lucky for Landy, Un-lucky for Everton and Un-Lucky for the fans

Not Everyone's Chili is "Famous"

So what's the deal? Whenever someone is making chili they feel compelled to call it "Famous."
"Tonight, I'm making some of my Famous Chili." Whatever.
Tonight I just had some of Tim Gillons's chili and it was quite good. I poured a glass of my "famous" milk to break down the spice.

I'm Very Appointed in you All!

Yeah, that's right -- very appointed with all of you. As I discussed with some of my new friends at Church Key last night, you never hear the term I'm "appointed in you" -- it's always "disappointed." Why is this? Things are going to change. Some of you may be a bit "disappointed" in the delay in my blog update (and the content). 7 hours at Church Key makes writing a challenge. Hopefully, you're appointed in my efforts to get this update posted -- though it's weak. But hey, how about those Yanks on the ice tonight -- fell short of gold, but the entire country of Canada nearly dropped dead of Cardiac Arrest at one point and the boys in blue did us proud -- I'm very "Appointed" with them.
And to all my new peeps from Church Key, I enjoyed getting to know all of you -- more good times to come!

Watch out Bob Ryan!

I have partially fulfilled my weatherman's dream. Here is a shot from the Newseum as I attempt to discuss the Clipper System coming down from the midwest. I totally screwed up the delivery, but with some practice and lots of viewing of old Willard Scott tapes, I plan on taking over the DC weather scene. WRC needs a fresh look -- I plan on bringing the "comedy" back to weather.

I'm back -- Like a Phoenix rising out of Arizona!

OK, it's been like 2 years and I am still fighting the fight against Facebook, but somehow feel disconnected. So, for all the real sports fans out there, I'll be posting more updates and keeping you in the loop on what's happening -- thoughts, perspectives, funny vignets (yeah, I just said that). Here are the Cliff's Notes from the last post:
Changed Jobs
Went to Thailand Cambodia
Had a long and meaningful relationship
Ran my first Ultramarathon -- 50 miler with Hans
Took my Mom to Spain/Scotland
Enjoyed celebrating my grandparents 70th wedding anniversary and 90th birthdays

I'm still struggling to finish the Economist every week. I have a new flatmate in Tim Gillons who is staying with me whilst he reacclimates to DC.

I still love to cook, finally got a digital camera, and will continue to pursue an athletic achievement each year -- 2010 is the year of my first triathalon.

So, aren't you glad you read all of this? I'll be funnier next time -- I promise
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