Kevin's Photos

I posted a link to Kevin's photos on the side bar. I stole them off facebook, so if you would like to continue to see his updated photos you should friend him on facebook. To search for him, search for Kevin Ryan in the Burlington, VT network. You'll be able to find him even with his ridiculously common name that way. So, enjoy the pictures.

Baby Snider's Webpage

If anyone is interested, I have created a web page for Baby Snider. There isn't a whole lot to see now, but I promise I will make it more interesting as time goes on. Mark it on your calendars and check the page on January 29th. That is when we have our next ultrasound scheduled to see if we are having a boy or a girl. Any thoughts??

Festivus is coming!!!

A Festivus for the Rest Of Us!

 

I hear that we have a family member who has recently been photographed by local paparazzi and is featured on the front page of their local newspaper… 

11 Days and counting....

So, how did everyone make out with the snow storm yesterday? Hoepfully you got a nice coating to add to the Christmas spirit, but not too much to cause many problems. Let's just hope the Nor'Easter coming this weekend isn't too much of a problem.

Enjoy these cartoons! I thought they were cute....

Feel Better Soon Nicole!

Everyone send their thoughts and prayers to Nicole for a safe and speedy recovery! She is in the operating room as I type to have her tonsils out. Her surgery started at 3:00.

FEEL BETTER SOON!!!

Apple Store Opening

If any of you guys are bored and want to look at what I was a part of building, here are a couple quick links

 

http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/14th_street/index.html

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=baRzI2doKYc

 

Paul.

Peace Corps Nomination

All my recommendations are in and I'm going to be nominated! The peace corps recruiter sent me an email today with program options for my nomination. I have three options (two are very similar):

1. Health Extension
Sub-Saharan Africa
French speaking post
September 2008

2. Health Extension
Sub-Saharan Africa
French speaking post
October 2008

3. Secondary Education Science
Sub-Saharan Africa
Non-French speaking
September 2008

I'm deciding between the first two because I want to do the health extension program. Also, I'm going to become fluent in French! What does everyone think, should I leave in September or October? I have to decide by Wednesday, so check the comments on this post then to see what I chose.

Peace Corps Interview

Hi Everyone,
I had my Peace Corps interview today and it went really well. I was a little nervous at first (of course) but the woman who interviewed me is really nice and made it feel more like a conversation than an interview. The interview lasted about an hour and I think I had really good answers for her questions and I got some of my questions answered too. Overall, it was a good experience. In the end, she said that she would nominate me for a spot doing health education in a French speaking African country as long as my recommendations are all positive (which they definitely will be). Once she nominates me, which will hopefully be later this week or next week, they will send me health forms and I have to get a physical and go to the dentist to get medically cleared. After that, they will tell me that I am officially eligible for a spot and I will basically be waiting to find out exactly where I am going. That will all happen sometime next semester. I said I want to leave sometime in September or October, so I won't find out exactly where I am going probably until the summer, but it sounds very promising! I'm really excited!

Paul in NYC until until at least mid January. + misc thoughts.

Thought I’d give everyone the update so that you can all come visit.  I just got word I’ll be in NYC until at least mid January.  Jose and Astrid came and spent Saturday night at my apartment so they could vote against constitutional amendments in Venezuela – long trip for one night in the city but they seemed to have fun while they were here.  The boat we bought off of them has a V8!!!  Jose says it’s pretty fast!  I didn’t realize that – I’m pumped to try it out next year!! 

 

The Apple store that I’m working on is opening this Friday.  Apple just made the press release with posters around the city and emails to Apple customers.  Largest Apple store in NYC!! I’m pretty pumped for the opening – they make a big event out of it so it should be fun. 

 

Also, I don’t mean to concern anyone, but I thought you all should know – the Manmobile is having health problems and may not be around much longer.  She does not like starting up when it’s cold out and her body has taken a lot of abuse over the years.  I hope that you all will pray for her health and that she will survive for a little longer. 

 

If anyone talks to Kennedy please tell him to fix my bike.

 

Speaking of talking, has anyone spoke with Kevin since Thanksgiving?

 

Montreal for New Years?  Anyone?

 

OK – back to work… 

 

 

 

Baby Snider

On Monday, we had our first ultrasound which was really exciting! Even though we don't know the sex of the baby yet, Dan has decided to temporarily name him/her anyways. Considering the fact that Dan LOVES Curb Your Enthusiasm, he has named the baby Larry David Snider, or LDS for short. Believe me, this name will not stick permanently!!!

Here is what our little JuneBug looked like on Monday... How exciting!

Get Ready for Christmas!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is time for us all to start thinking about Christmas! The Robillard Christmas celebration will take place on Saturday, December 22nd. We will continue with the gift swap so start shopping now for the best gift. The limit for the kids swap is $20 and the adults is $25. Who will come up with the best gift this year??

Happy Birthdays!

Once again, belated birthdays to celebrate.....

Saturday was Elizabeth and little Joeys birthdays! We hopefully they both had a wonderful day celebrating with family.

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Elizabeth & Joey
Happy Birthday to you

Tension at Smith College

I don't know if anyone saw this on the news in Springfield, but there was an incident on Friday night of someone showing up to a party on campus wearing blackface as part of her costume. The party was themed "celebrity rehab" and she and her boyfriend went as "Bobby and Whitney" with brown paint on their skin to make them look black. They did not know the historical context of blackface and did not mean anything malicious by it, but this caused a lot of tension at the party and has been a huge ordeal the past few days. There have been lots of discussions online on the daily jolt and on facebook (for those of you who know what both of those are) and some has been very inappropriate on both sides while some has been very educational and constructive. There was also a protest yesterday morning where the Black Students Alliance went into an emergency faculty meeting to make sure they were going to do something about this incident. Overall, campus has been a very intense environment the past few days and a little overwhelming. I also just did a presentation on Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in class today, so I was researching the civil rights movement all weekend on top of all this. So basically I have been overwhelmed with racism issues and activism, which I feel passionately about anyway, but I am now looking forward to Thanksgiving break, where I can get away from it all for a few days.

Happy Birthday Sister P!!

According to my records, I am a day late. BUT, better late than never...

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday Sister Paula!
Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday Erin!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTDHAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ERIN!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

We are all looking forward to celebrating with you this weekend. Have a great day!

Thanksgiving?

What’s the plan for Turkey Day? 

 

 

Goodbye California!

I'm finally back and much closer to being settled in my new apartment since Mom & Dad came this past weekend to help me get settled. After I get everything hung on the walls after they paint tomorrow I will feel MUCH better!

But before I left I had two great weekends. The first one Haley (my friend from WS) flew up from southern California for the weekend. We hung out, drank wine (shocking!) and did the one thing I wanted to do before I left - go to a certain viewpoint from the bridge. Here are a few pictures I took -

This is Megan, Christina, Haley & I at Pichetti. Christina was one of the really great friends I made out there - she's dating one of my friends from WS who is in grad school at Stanford so they lived about a mile from me - and we all got to experience the earthquake together!

View all the way at the top - it was such a clear day! Apparently October is the clearest month in the Bay Area:

Haley & I about mid-way down the road:

I could look at the bridge all day I think :) This one is my favorite because you can see the city so well in the backgroundAfter we had dinner in Saucilito we found out it was 'lights out San Francisco. They encourage everyone to turn of the lights for 1 hour to save energy - we drove back up the road to see them turn the lights off...it was pretty stupid but a good picture!

The next weekend/week Mom & Dad came and saved me by helping me pack and ship all of my stuff. Actually, they did the majority of the packing and shipping while I was working fun 12-15 hour days to finish my project! We did take a break during the weekend and watched the game with my favorite old men at the Clemson Alumni club and then headed up to Sonoma for some wine tasting. We had an amazing meal Saturday night and were up and out early on Sunday to drink wine. We made it to 5 wineries and were able to do 5 private tastings! We went to Ledson and Saint Francis in Sonoma, and V'Sattui, Peju, and Biale in Napa. Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Here we are at the member tasting balcony at Ledson - it is a gorgeous enormous house that was supposed to be a residence but they decided to open it as the winery instead!

Here we are at Saint Francis - this was the view during our tasting:

We were able to do a food and wine pairing which I had never done, it was a lot of fun!

Norman, Oklahoma

This past weekend, Dan and I took a trip to Norman, Oklahoma to visit Adam. We had a wonderful time catching up and seeing a football game while we were there.


Dan, Adam, and Jay had a great time together. Sunday night we went out to a German restaurant for dinner. This was the first of two liters of beer and two shots the boys drank. Thankfully, they had a designated driver (yours truly!)









Adam works for the athletic department on the video staff. This is where he gets to watch all of the games from. Dan and I were able to stand with him for the 3rd quarter, it was an awesome view of the game!










Since Adams office is pretty much inside the football stadium, we were able to go play on the field on Sunday. It was kind of crazy to think that the day before we were there with 85,000 people and the next day......just the four of us. I did make a field goal....but only from 10 yards out!















Friday, Adam took us around the stadium and we were able to go up where the radio announcers sit. Another great view of the stadium












Finally....game day! Of course we watched the Clemson game at a bar first, and then checked out the tailgating scene in Norman. The game was fun and the weather was really nice (Dan was only wearing the hat for fun!)
















And last but not least, Adam hard at work during the game! Overall we had a great weekend, but got back to reality today! I am ready for Thanksgiving and seeing everyone again.

Help Jericho!

Hi everyone! Now that I am working with Sr. Joan at Jericho, and I love my job, and the work we do, helping people with disabilities by providing spiritual opportunities to them. Right now we are running a fundraiser with the wholesaler BJ's but only until 11/14. If you renew your membership or join, you get $10 off the regular membership price of $45, the membership is good for 15 months instead of the standard 12 months. But the best part is BJ's will donate $5 for every membership signed up through our fundraiser. Anyone interested give me a call on my cell 413-636-1739 or at work 413-538-7450.

Second, we are a charitable organization affiliated with the United Way. Many companies offer to let their employees donate a percentage of their paychecks to the charity of their choice. You could select Jericho whose legal name is "The Bureau for Exceptional Children and Adults". Sign up for this option is generally the end of the year. So I thought I would put this in your heads. If you already donate, why not designate Jericho, and support me, and the organization I work for. Hope to see you all soon!