First Snowfall

As noted at the end of our last post, the snow had started to accumulate in our backyard by the time we got home on Saturday the 5th. The snow continued into the night, so this is what we saw when we woke up on Sunday:

The warm temperatures the day before appear to have allowed a lot of the snow to stick to the trees. The amount of snow on the ground is deceiving...

Our apartment building and the trees behind it apparently blocked some of the snow because there was a lot more out front. It looked like we had about 3 inches on the cars.

If you've been paying attention you may recognize this view from such classic posts as Pennsylvanian Sunset and Fall in Reading.

This is the view looking in the other direction. The snow on the trees looked nice and I was glad that there wasn't more of it on the ground. We're still not looking forward to driving on all of these hills in the snow!

Around Reading: Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center

On December 5 we went to "Christmas on the Farm" at the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center. We got to walk around the old buildings and there were some people with tables set up selling food and various other items. We also learned a bit about the Belsnickle, which is like a mean version of Santa Claus who comes around bearing candy (for the good kids) and switches (for the bad ones).

This house was so full that baby Jesus had to lay out in the front yard!

It is a little-known fact that fire hydrants have protected barns for hundreds of years.

Billie enjoying the first snow of the year.

The snow was beginning to accumulate in our yard when we got home...

Christmas Time in Reading

We put up our first Christmas tree in Reading on the weekend after Thanksgiving (sorry the picture is a little blurry).

What Else Do You Do?

Even though teaching currently takes up 100% of my time, it is only one of my three duties as a professor. The second is service, which includes serving on committees and advising students, and which I don't have to do until next year. The third is research and the presentation and publication of said research. I recently had some success in the third area when a paper that I worked on with two professors at IU was published in the October issue of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. It was nice to have the paper published, but since this is a normal part of my job it did not seem particularly extraordinary.

The paper is about gossip in the workplace and, because the topic might be of interest to people, IU put out a press release on October 28. A few web sites reprinted the press release, but the press release also led to a few newspaper articles, including the Toronto Star, Huffington Post, and New York Times, some of which mention me (and my current institutional affiliation) and some of which do not. The New York Times also talked about the paper in a blog post that is related to their article. We even got criticized by a newspaper-affiliated blog in West Virginia that obviously does not understand how research funding works! Unlike publishing things in academic journals that very few people will ever read, having research discussed in major newspapers is not a typical part of my job and there is a chance that it will never happen again. Beyond newspapers, Good Morning America inquired about using some of our video footage (due to confidentiality requirements, we told them no) and Tim was scheduled to appear on CNN but that appearance got postponed indefinitely as a result of the Fort Hood shooting. Our 15-minutes of fame are drawing to a close but it has been fun while it lasted.

Look What Came in the Mail

Although my degree has officially been complete since July 31, IU is not particularly fast about delivering diplomas and tells people that it will take about 90 days from the day the degree is posted on their transcripts. True to their word, a cardboard envelope was waiting for me outside our apartment door when I got home on October 26 that contained the following item:

This completes my set of four, so I think I'll stop now.

Fall in Reading

Despite the weather during our trip to Jim Thorpe, not every fall day has included clouds and rain. Here is a view that you might recognize from our Pennsylvanian Sunset post:

Brent and Billie go to Jail

After our tour through the Asa Packer mansion during our trip to the Poconos, we went to see Jim Thorpe's "Old Jail." Despite the boring name, this jail has an interesting history as the site of four high-profile executions during the coal mining days. At that time, the town was called Mauch Chunk because Jim Thorpe had not yet been born. The Molly Maguires, a movie detailing the crimes and executions was partially filmed in the jail.

The outside of the Old Jail.

The upstairs of the cell block. You can see a criminal has escaped from one of the cells.

Don't worry, she got put back where she belonged.

This guy is smiling, so he must be insane.

One Year In: Jim Thorpe, PA

For our one-year anniversary, Billie and I went to the Poconos (where we stayed in a normal Hampton Inn, not some kind of "romantic" hotel). Jim Thorpe, PA is where we spent most of our time and is basically in the closest part of the Poconos to where we live. The picture below is of downtown Jim Thorpe. As you can see, it was cloudy and raining on the Saturday that we were there.

Cold and rain in Jim Thorpe, PA.

Because it is close to us, Jim Thorpe isn't very far into the Poconos. This turned out to be a good thing because some people that I assume were coming from a higher elevation had snow on their vehicles, as seen on the hood of this truck. It was definitely not rafting weather!

To escape the rain for a while we took a train ride. Unfortunately, we did not ride on this steam engine.

We rode on this normal-engined train.

The train was dry but it was not warm. Billie was forced to rely on her winter "scarf over the face" technique.

Despite the cold, there were some nice views from the train.

By the time we got off of the train the rain had mostly stopped, so we were able to walk around without an umbrella. Our next destination was the Asa Packer mansion, which seemed much more intricately detailed than today's mansions. For example, the wordwork in the main hallway was hand carved by a team of craftsmen who worked for 18 months. After the mansion we went to... JAIL!

Around Reading: Joanna Furnace

Back on October 10th, Billie and I went to the Hay Creek Apple Festival at Joanna Furnace. (Billie wants you to know that we did not eat any apple-related goods at the festival.) Joanna Furnace is only a few miles down the road from our apartment and was used to make iron from the late 1700s until the late 1800s. The sky was overcast and the ground was muddy but the rain had stopped earlier in the morning so we decided to go and check it out. Here are a few pictures so that you can see what you're missing:

The entrance. Try to contain your excitement.

The saw mill

The cider press.

This building said it was a stable, but it was used as a kitchen since a lot of the food vendors were on the other side.

The casting house (on the right) is getting a new roof. The grass on the ground inside of it will surely be disappointed.

There were also lots of flea-market-type vendors selling things that weren't apple-themed at all!

If You've Ever Shopped at Witbeck's or the Twining store...

Here is a store in the Reading area that you might appreciate:

Brent's New Car

Since I escaped graduate school with no debt and I'm finally getting paid actual money, I decided that I should probably incur some. Well, that and the fact that the Malibu was likely to need new tires, shocks/struts, and wheel bearings in the next six months. Essentially, I had to choose between keeping the Malibu and running it into the ground, since repairs in the next six months would cost as much as it was worth, and buying a new car while my old one was still worth something (unfortunately, its relatively good gas mileage prevented it from qualifying as a clunker).

Anyhow, the Malibu has been replaced with a 2010 Ford Fusion. (Yes, it is nice that Ford is an "American" company, but before any of you get too excited you should keep in mind that the Fusion is hecho en Mexico, unlike Billie's Altima which was built in Tennessee.) That's enough writing for now, on to the pictures!

Old and new

Front 3/4 view

Side view (these captions clearly assume you have the IQ of a rock)

Rear view, complete with a PA license plate that conveniently (and coincidentally) starts with HGR

A view of the interior

The dash

The glowing gauges. At night everything lights up in light blue.

Around Reading: The Fire Tower

Like the pagoda, the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower is also located on Mt. Penn and visible from most of Reading. After a coworker reported being able to climb to the top of the tower, Billie and I stopped there on the day we went to the pagoda but the tower was closed. We later discovered that it is only open on the third Saturday of every month. September 19 was clear and sunny, so we headed up to Mt. Penn to try again. This time, we were in luck. Here is the proof:

The tower, open for business.

Billiem Penn, standing outside of her tower.

The view of downtown Reading from the top of the fire tower

The Reading Railroad! (If you've been pronouncing this like "reading a book" when you play Monopoly, you've been pronouncing it wrong.)

Albright College (you can see the football stadium in the middle of the picture). When we went to homecoming, we took a picture of the fire tower from the stadium.

The stairway on the way down. You can see Billie looking up at me.

Brent on the Oregon Trail

Okay, I didn't actually travel on the Oregon Trail, but I did go to Oregon from September 11-13 for a friend's wedding. The bride was Kaci Agle, who I have known since I spent an inordinate amount of time during high school hanging out at her house with her sister Sarah and various other people. Kaci and Sarah moved to Oregon in 2002 and I've been meaning to visit ever since. Kaci's wedding finally gave me an excuse to buy the plane ticket.

Here I am standing on top of a rock near the top of Mary's Peak. Sarah decided that a picture was in order.

One of the views from Mary's Peak. Sarah drove me to the top and back down safely, though I would have appreciated some guardrails.

Sarah and Kaci

George and Kaye

Kaci and Chris

Clouds rolling over the mountains on the morning I left.

Around Reading: The Pagoda

One of the Reading landmarks is the pagoda on Mt. Penn. Mt. Penn runs along the Eastern side of the city and the pagoda can be seen from just about anywhere in town that trees don't block the view. This is also true at night when the pagoda is lit with red lights. Billie and I had visited the pagoda on our trip to Reading in March, but this time there were leaves on the trees and it was open. Inside is a small gift shop and some displays, along with stairs leading to the bell at the top. Here are some pictures:

The pagoda from the parking area

Looking up from the southeastern corner

The bell at the top of the pagoda

The view of downtown Reading from the top of the pagoda

Billie standing in front of Reading