The Camaras

The thoughts and lives of the camara family. Ross Camara Nicole Camara

Archive for October, 2008

Navy Football Game

October 27th, 2008

This weekend we went to Annapolis to see the Navy game with Jess and Glenn. We went out there around noon to do some tailgating at their house. Karl and his girls also came up to have lunch and visit with all of us before the game. The girls are a little too young to try to take to the game itself and Jenn wasn’t able to make it because of a work commitment.

We brought crab ragoon wontons and Jess had a bunch of other appetizers that were very yummy. For lunch Glenn grilled some skewers where we got to try out some of the new grilling products that Jessica will be managing at her new job. The rub and the marinade were quite yummy and I think we ended up eating all the food even though they had bought a ton of food.

It’s amazing how much the girls have changed even in the few weeks since the last time we had seen them. Maya especially since on this visit she was now walking. I also thought she’d lost some of her baby fat and was looking very cute. Carolan had so much energy I don’t know how her parents keep up with her. It was a lot of fun spending time with them.

Jessica and Glenn surprised Nicole with a birthday cake. It was the first birthday cake she’s had in at least 6 years (opps on me). Although we had a bit of a problem getting it cut it was a very yummy and Nicole appreciated having a personal birthday cake.

The game itself was a lot of fun. Navy was playing SMU which is coached by UH’s old coach so I was there to cheer on Navy and make sure SMU lost. Although navy’s offense was one dimensional (they never threw a pass all game) they managed to make it a lot of fun. The only downside to our experience was with the weather. The weather for the day called for rain but we were hoping that it would pass before the game started. Unfortunately it ended up pouring almost the entire game. By the time we made it hope after giving up in the third quarter we were soaked. But we did get to have hot chocolate when we got home and sat around relaxing while Nicole’s clothes dried before we went home.

Nicole and Carolan putting together some of the skewers.

Jessica with her god daughter Maya

Nicole blowing out her birthday cake with all 26 candles.

Jessica grabbing Maya before she get in and ‘help’ nicole and carolan remove all the candles.

Navy stadium with all the midshipmen walking in.

Me and Jessica at the game. Love my poncho?

Glenn trying to keep dry at the game

All of us at the game.

Nicole and Jessica after the game while we were trying to dry out.

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Tags: crnkovich Family football

Department Retreat

October 13th, 2008

Today I got back from my 5th (and last!) JHU Biology Retreat (well, now they’re calling it Cell Molecular Development Biophysics, but whatever). The deparement retreat is every Columbus Day weekend where we get to spend a Sun-Mon talking science and having a little deparment fun.

This year the retreat was in the mountains of Western Maryland at Rocky Gap Lodge. The location was really nice since the trees are beginning to change color. Although, having it so far away required that we be ready to leave at 8am on a Sunday morning – which was not fun!

I must say that I enjoyed myself more this year than I thought I would. Many of my classmates opted not to go this year because they were burnt out. However, when I tried to get out of it my boss gave me a lecture on how important it is for upper class year students to go. So, I went. Luckily several of my good friends in the department also went, so we had a good time together.

The science (talks, posters etc) seemed to be more of the same stuff we always see – so that wasn’t really exiciting. The skits (where everyone makes fun of the department) were pretty good this year. The faculty always come up with these skits where they sing songs with re-written words. Always a good time to see faculty members up there embarrasing themselves by singing and dancing.

One last good thing to end the retreat with — was the poster prizes — I got 1st place this year. I think there is a cash prize involved, but I’m not sure what it is yet… It’s kind of funny that I won considering my boss also gave me a lecture about how imporatn it is to care about the poster session because it would be good for the lab if I won a poster prize. I’m a little suspicisous that the poster session was rigged…

All in all – a good last Biology Department Retreat.

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Steak dinner

October 12th, 2008

Nicole left for the annual department retreat in western maryland today. This meant that I was on my own for Sunday and was free to do whatever I wanted. It was nice to have the apartment to my self for the entire day. I ended up watching football and playing video games for most of the day. Also I got to cook myself a nice dinner. It was kind of a lot of food and really I shouldn’t have eaten it all but it was so yummy. Nicole’s not going to be happy that I made a baked potato since we very rarely make them.

My steak dinner for myself while nicole was at her department retreat.

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Tags: food

Pazo and Legally Blonde

October 12th, 2008

So this weekend was the first night of our Baltimore Hippodrome theater subscription. Nicole picked out a restaurant called ‘Pazo’ for our preshow dinner. It’s a tapas restaurant down in fells point. In our effort to make sure we didn’t miss our show time we had an early reservation at 5:30 with the early birds . Pazo’s is in a converted warehouse but the atmosphere was very intimate and very hip. You could definitely see that it was a place that is very busy on a saturday night and would be perfect to come with a group for food before a night out on the town. Nicole thought the big table they had on one side of the restaurant looked like something out of sex in the city.

The food was very good and we particularly liked the scallops and empanada dishes. The scallops were perfectly cooked which is so hard to do and easy to turn into rubber. Although the food was great the service there was really what set the place apart. The workers there were definitely a team and worked together well keeping our water topped off and removing plates as we emptied them. We had multiple people besides our waiter asking us if we needed anything and how things were. I’m not sure if that was an artifact of being there so early at first when the restaurant wasn’t full yet.

Although we should have had tons of time to make it to the hippodrome we lingered over dinner so long that we ended up arriving at the theater with only 15 min till show time. We were kinda surprised how many empty seats were left in the theater. The show was Legally Blonde which I guess was based off of the movie. The show ended up being a lot of fun. It might not have been the most complex or though provoking but it was very enjoyable. We both got a good laugh out of the show and enjoyed the singing and dancing. The first half of the show was better than the second half but overall I thought the actors did a good job. Of course the show stealers were the two dogs they had that were part of the cast. They did a good job using them in the show and were a hit with the audience.

The only sour note of the whole night was on our trip home when I95 was closed and we got stuck trying to get home.

Nicole with her drink at Pazo’s before the show.

Ross with some of our dinner.

Us at Legally Blonde during the intermission.

Nicole looking out at the view from the parking lot after the show.

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Posted in Family

Tags: food theater

Dean’s Wedding

October 8th, 2008

So last weekend I went off to Detroit to attend Dean’s wedding. Nicole didn’t come with me because her mother was coming into town to visit us for the week. It was probably a good thing since the wedding was a very traditional wedding and almost everything was in chinese (not that I understand chinese). The wedding was very nice and the bride and groom seemed to be very happy. They served a traditional chinese 9 course dinner which was fantastic and we got to enjoy all the chinese classic from the jellyfish salad to shark fin soup.

They also had servers going around offering chinese liquor which was really strong and really rough to take down. All of us were just sipping the shots that we had. Towards the tail end of the reception one of the waitresses came around and noticed that Aaron had 2 glass of the chinese liquor in front of him. She harassed aaron asking why he hadn’t finished his two shots. He told her that he’d do one if she drank the other one. Without any hesitation she grabbed one of the shot glasses and downed the whole thing without flinching. At which point our entire table burst out laughing sicne no one expected her to actually take a drink. Poor aaron then had to man up and choke down the other shot.

Anyway I had a blast in detorit even though I was in town for less than 24 hours. It was great to see all the guys again and Dean’s new wife heidi seemed very nice and good for him. We realized at the reception that we’ve know each other now for 9 years which when you think about kinda just blows me away.

Here are some pictures from the wedding: