Loyalty Divided

Gina had a very difficult decision to make this week. The North Carolina Tar Heels came to Charlottesville on Thursday to play the Cavaliers in Men's basketball. On one hand, Gina is currently attending UVA and is the recipient of one of their highly-coveted full tuition scholarships; on the other hand, she is an alumnus of UNC-Chapel Hill. What to do, what to do? As you can imagine, Gina takes these kinds of choices very seriously. I offered my UNC hat to her to support her alma mater, but her conscience wouldn't allow her to cheer against her current school. So, she came to the game an orange-blooded Cavs fan, and it paid off as Virginia overcame a slow first half to beat the Tar Heels ... well, you can see the picture. Seriously, it was a real treat for both of us to attend the game. This is one of the perks to attending UVA: free admission to ACC sporting events. I love college basketball and have always wanted to see North Carolina play. This game was a blast from the past for Gina, who got to attend some games in the "Dean Dome" in Chapel Hill. Well, UHall is no Dean Dome, but it was pretty crazy on Thursday.


Besides getting to watch college basketball, classes started for us on Wednesday. Both of us have similar schedules as last semester, even though our classes are different. Most of my classes are the second half of year-long courses, while Gina has a whole new set of courses and instructors. It looks to be an eventful semester, and we are both looking forward to it.

Saturday night we had several of our friends from school over to the house for a night of food and games. I grilled hamburgers and hotdogs outside in the unseasonably warm weather while Gina and Tommy prepared the other food. The guests provided snacks, desserts and the games. It was our first time to play Apples to Apples and Smarty Party, and I have to say both games were really fun. I have never been a huge fan of board games, but we had a great time laughing and getting to know each other better. We are already talking about doing it again soon.

I hope everyone reading this has a great week. Take care, and keep checking back for more updates.

Welcome to 2006

It has been a very eventful Christmas season for us. The fun began back on December 16 when my parents arrived in Charlottesville. They were delayed by a day because of an ice storm, which closed down roads, knocked out power and caused trains to be canceled.

After touring the UVA campus and resting in Charlottesville, we drove to northern VA to attend the baptism of my cousin's baby. We spent a couple of extra days in D.C. hanging out with Katie and Joe, visiting sites on Capitol Hill and visiting Civil War battlegrounds. Thanks to the expert cooking skills of Katie and Joe, we got to have steamed lobster for the first time. It was pretty excellent. We also got to see the very spot where my great-great-grandfather, R.J. Marshall, was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Spotsylvania Courthouse.

After some more touring of Monticello, Michie Tavern and Ash Lawn-Highland, we got the house ready for Katie and Joe to arrive for Christmas. Our little house has never been so crowded, but we had a great time playing games, watching movies, eating and spending quality time together. It was a great Christmas, and we were all grateful to be together.

We spent the following week resting and wrapping up some home improvement projects. Also, Gina started to delve into genealogical research and gathered a lot of exciting information from her cousins Jean and Karla. We know that her ancestor Andrew Kelly/Kolle immigrated from Germany and served in the Revolutionary War, so the Kelly cousins are eligible for DAR membership.

We decided to celebrate New Year's Eve in Charlottesville. We volunteered for a couple of hours as ushers for the Brown v. Board of Education monologue that was superb! Afterward we listened to the Celtibillies and then enjoyed some Improv Comedy... then we wrapped up the evening by going to see the Vulgar Bulgars, a young band specializing in Klezmer, a style of music that blends Eastern European and Jewish sounds. We went home just before midnight to ring in the New Year with Tommy, who had decided to stay at home for the evening.

The first week of 2006, we started back with work...Gina had meetings and worked on some projects, and I started designing my course website. For the weekend, Gina and I headed to Williamsburg for a couple of days. I hadn't been there since I was in high school, and it was Gina's first trip to the colonial town. We stayed in a condominium at a place called Powhatan Plantation, part of my parent's time share membership. The room was very nice, and it enabled us to eat breakfast in the room rather than having to eat out. We spent a whole day in Colonial Williamsburg looking at the historic buildings, watching actors and musicians and talking to people in "Ye Olde English" vernacular. The next day we went to see the James River and the Jamestown Settlement. We will plan to spend more time there next time we visit.

This is all for now. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you are getting the New Year off to a good start. More coming later.