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My days at the Culinary Institute of America are winding down, suddenly, much faster than I ever would have believed. In 100 calendar days, I'll be bidding adieu to this chapter of my life to start building another. On the one hand, I'm obviously excited to move into the "real world" as 99% of my friends already have. Granted, I took a longer route, but thank God for longer routes. For years I thought I'd work in the grocery store or in human resources, only to find out that...

One of the things I most regret about my first year here is that I stayed in my room too much last Autumn. I've decided that I like the word "autumn" more than "fall". I doubt I'm using it correctly, but I'm sticking with it. Anyway, back to the point. Last year, I noticed the fall colors and I thought they were nice, but I didn't have a reason to be out and really enjoying it. This area, the Hudson Valley, is absolutely gorgeous. It's border-line forest with beautiful...

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More good stuff from that liberal rag, the NY Times. Indeed, Mr. Bush, rather than taking all that unity and using it to rebuild America for the 21st century, took all that unity and used it to push the narrow agenda of his “base.” He used all that unity to take a far-right agenda on taxes and social issues that was going nowhere on 9/10 and drive it into a 9/12 world. Never has so much national unity — which could have been used to develop a real energy policy,...

The pain might never to go away. The scars might never heal. Losing a child is something no parent should have to endure. But now, Emmitt and Charlotte can't help but remember their son walking into that kitchen, flipping his license onto the table and smiling about being an organ donor. They can't help but think about David Erving, who, for the first time in 27 years, isn't battling the pitfalls of diabetes. They can't help but think about Ronald Griffin, standing and smiling at the reunion, sharing stories...

    Whitney's ten day visit to New York and Massachusetts has come and gone. We explored Albany, the Hudson River Valley, New York City, and Boston in ten short days. It was quite good, but quite tiring. My feet haven't quite recovered from all the walking. We took, i'd say, around 2000 pictures combined. I pared mine down to 200+ and they're on flickr for your perusal. Autumn in the northeast is something that everyone should experience. The beauty and color are quite impressive....

Thomas Friedman: 9/11 Is Over "I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate. What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again." To be honest, I don't even recognize America's...