Pre wek off pre week back pre thksgiving pre sabbactical

Hey all
Can't compete with the dan but walks, fires, tabooooo, dogs, Betsy, Rocco, Denali, Nina and Smudge could lead us in a wild chase around the property and into the woods.
I am off to SF. tomorrow in teh am to my best friend from childhood's daughter's wedding. Eddie to join in a few days. he can't miss his tuesday class. Planning and looking forward to a 2 month sabbatical from work with the Ed in Feb. and March. Eddie is looking over my shlder and probably about to criticize me for my spelling, typing or lack of funniness.
Sorry I am tooo tired but love to you all!
See you dan in the next cple of days.
Rachel

Spanksgiving Part I: FFFA

(A pilgrim spanking an Indian? Next to a unicorn? Huh!?)

Hey party people.
Some updates...

• Much congratulations to Anya for passing the New York State bar! Big ups. Big ups, indeed
• What's Rosie's email address? I'm afraid she may not be getting my emails.
• I might have a job. But only might.
• Looking forward to seeing Eddie n' Rahel this week in the Bay

Since Thanksgiving is soon upon us, and the real live togetherness with it, I figured this might be a good space to bounce around some ideas for forced-family-fun-activities (FFFA). A FFFA could be something like a walk, a crafting project, a party game or some sort of Greco-Roman wrestling match. As opposed to sitting around eating all day and wondering what we should do to celebrate, let's use the internets to be proactive. Maybe we can vote on an activity when we see eachother in person!

Baller-ween

Hello there all.

So good to here from you in blog form. For the silent ones out there, it’s fine to hold your piece, just give me some sort of sign that you’re receiving my messages.

A couple of Togetherness Project updates:

• In the sidebar I’ve included links to Blogger’s help page to provide aid to newbie techies and veterans alike.
• I’ve also entered all your emails to be notified when there’s new published posts. The follow thing only works if you have a Google reader. If you’d rather not receive notification emails—I don’t know why you would, you anti-social jerk—I’ll take you off the list anonymously and with no questions asked.

Life updates:

As I write you the drums of the Mission District’s Dia de los Muertos festival are beginning to fade. Celebrating the afterlife with irreverent skeleton masks, homemade altars, Aztec dancing and some good old fashion drum circles, white hipsters and Mexican families partied in the street right outside my house. It was pretty fantastic. (pictured below courtesy of my friend Jenni.)

I’m still interning at the SFgate.com where I do web development stuff, meaning I update sections of website, make photo galleries, record podcasts and even get a couple of blog posts in. It’s mostly interesting work, learning a lot about how the that crazy thing called the internet works, wishing I had a job where I got to do more writing and got to bring home more cash money. I’m currently--perpetually--job searching, I got let go of my job as a political canvasser. You’ll have to ask me why at Thanksgiving.

Which, by the way I will be heading to on Tuesday, November 24 and leaving from on Sunday, November 29. What are your Thanksgiving travel plans?
Also, what were you for Halloween (post pictures please)? I was a Hasidic boy scout (pictured above).

So I am never going to retire because I never want to talk to anyone except Eddie about curtains! Never mind blog about it!
Dan great idea. Hmnn........ Not been anywhere at all or to brag about..Oh I did go to see Debbie Gordon in New Haven at the Medical Anthroplogy meetings which was great to see her, to see Yale and to think anthropologically as opposed to just psychologically...wishing I was an anthropologist. Working...leaf gathering and making a crumpled colorful display on the dining room table of my finds, hiking in the woods, playing piano a lot and looking for an adult piano camp for the summer and dreaming of taking a break from work. Hmnnn I sound just as boring as Eddie but oh well...He is off playing Wed nite tennis..Can't wait to have you all here.
Love Rachel

hey hey hey - i think this is such a wonderful idea danny! i'm trying to think of something cool to say... not sure i know how to blog! but i'll think of something soon. still up in the air whether i'll be home for thanksgiving.. may have to go visit the boyfriend's fam but i'm hoping to come home so i can see you all. and bake pie. yum. new york is cold and dreary today. i've been to the gym and otherwise haven't left the house. it's good old pasta and artichokes for dinner here! time for warm winter meals again already. anyways i'm "following" this blog.. still not sure what this means. maybe the tutorial is a good idea? anyways love to all. xoxo

anya

my thoughts on family social networking

i think that this might be mildly entertaining, as long as eddie can keep his sharing to a minimum. and since a picture is worth a thousand words i've just written 5,ooo words by uploading 5 photos:

me n jon upstate checkin out the leaves

nancy and her roomates dog pablo

me n mariel drunk at the brooklyn museum

my students doing an experiment

and finally, hillary's super cute kid, reya

looking forward to thanksgiving especially the food. and a little bit the company. 

Good ideas do sometimes emerge from that other coast. As the senior member of this clan this new activity generated by the youngest member has my endorsement.
By way of update Rachel and I are off to New Jersey this weekend to see Margy's new dance at Montclair State University. We expect to be joined at the concert by Anya, possibly Rosie, Rachel Gaubinger and Lucia and Tim Correl. While we are heading South Leah will venture North to the house with her friend Nancy to do some New England leaf peeping. I discovered a nearby state park in Chester with great hiking trails that I am in the process of exploring. Maybe I'll lead an expedition there on Thanksgiving. The foliage is on the cusp of peaking as the thermometer plummets. Last two nights have seen frosts. We have discovered the power of curtains to seal off parts of the house so that heat stays in the parts we live in rather than have it float up the stairs. Some would call it ugly and cheap, others socially responsible greening. Take your choice. Bet you can't wait to come home and see them.
Eddie

Mission

Hello Everyone.

While I watch it rain in San Francisco, I’m of course reminded of November in New England. And of course, that means all of you too, who I hope to be seeing when I cross the continent for Thanksgiving.

Since, I’m now officially a web developer, I’ve been thinking more and more about how people live in this crazy, god-forsaken internet age. While the internet has ruined print journalism, the film industry, the music industry and our collective attention span, I hold out hope that maybe, just maybe it can give us new tools for getting along with each other and maintaining relationships.

I find that when I’m communicating with someone I haven’t talked to in awhile, text sometimes exceeds talk. I find myself more gregarious with distant friends in an email, and somewhat awkward and restrained on the phone. With me in California and you all scattered across the East—and occasionally Europe or Bali—we lose tract of addresses and job changes, upcoming graduations, milestones, etc...

So, I’m launching this blog, the Hirsch-Jenkins-Ferris-Etc. Family Togetherness Project. I envision it as a space to post life updates, notify of address changes, announce travel plans, discuss potential family fun activities. Maybe someday we can post images of the next generation or maybe it will serve as Exhibit A for our lawyers to use for messy estate disputes of the future.

It’s easy to get started. Blogger is one of the more intuitive blogging platforms. I’ve invited you all as authors but you do need a Google account to post. Feel free to invite significant others, in-laws or close friends to view and/or add to the discussion. I recommend you follow this blog, which means you'll get an email every time there's a new posting. After you set up a Google account, click on the Follow button to the right of this post.

If anyone needs help managing the publishing process, let me know. Maybe I’ll post an online tutorial.

Let the juices of blended family togetherness flow. Like these people:

Or, better yet, these: