Summer's almost over. It has absolutely flown, what with all of the newness everywhere. New city, new apartment, new jobs, new life.

We were busy, with so many people to visit and so many things to explore. We're kind of exhausted, actually, and we're looking forward to the fall being a little calmer (meaning that we'll be in the city more rather than driving or flying or train-ing all over the place to visit folks).

And now, a rundown of some of the stuff we did this summer:

• Explored the Eastern State Penitentiary.
"The Pen" is a defunct prison that looks like a giant fortress and is located right in our neighborhood. You have to sign a waiver of liability before you enter because the place is technically a ruin. Probably its biggest claim to fame is that Al Capone was incarcerated there for a time. The Pen hosts a haunted house--very scary, so I hear--at Halloween every year. I took pictures on my camera with black-and-white film (spooky!), but they're not developed yet because I am a slacker. So, in the meantime, these are some excellent photos taken by Mike.










• Visited Jenn during her last weekend in Hoboken.
She took us out to a very empty bar where she taught us how to play darts. If memory serves us correctly, it was Memorial Day weekend, so everyone other than us was "down the shore." Much good conversation was had, as is always the case with Jenn. We also went to the MoMA to see an exhibit on Dadaism.







• Flew to Cleveland to visit Mike's family.
I accomplished lots of sunning by the pool when the weather permitted. I got to visit with my dear friend Mandy, who lives nearby. We went to a baseball game with Mike's little bro and sis--surprise, the Indians lost. I went to my first Japanese steak house, the kind where they cook in front of you and throw their knives around and hose down the grill with water from the "Pee Pee Man." (Don't ask.) The worst part of the trip was when we (mostly I) dared to wrangle with the supremely unhelpful folks at Circuit City in an attempt to get them to fix our receiver, which has been broken for going on a year now. No dice. (Don't buy stuff from Circuit City, if only to help me exact my meager revenge on their rude asses. And yet a better reason is that they have awful, awful customer service. You've been warned. Can you tell I'm bitter?)
• Rocked out to Lionel Richie.
We saw him play at the Independence Day concert at Philadelphia's Art Museum, and watched fireworks standing outside in the lightning storm that cut the concert short.







• Hung out with nearly my entire family in Ocean City for my dad's birthday party.
The photo below (yes, that's my dad) kind of sums up the whole proceedings.







• Had a visit from Alicia.
We did some light bar hopping, got a good diner breakfast, and walked around town taking photos, which is always a good time.

More photos can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/k_idell/.