Agnew's Mind He's got a long journey ahead of him.

HAPPY Birthday, to Me.

    by Jon Hassinger

Around 2 years ago, back in the Manayunk days, Renee decided to throw a whole bunch of veggies, some boneless pork chops, and a homemade broth, into a slow cooker. She let it simmer for around 3-4 hours.

Afterwords, what I ate was the most delicious meal I have ever tasted. Since then I have asked and asked for her to re-make this wonderful dish. But she refused, for fear of being unable to reproduce what I called "My favorite dinner, ever".

So yesterday, I used my birthday as a loop-hole to ONCE AGAIN, FINALLY, feast upon the Pork Chop Stew.

And like always, my fiance did not disappoint...

The Story of Sick-Jon Continues

    by Jon Hassinger

I used to make fun of germ freaks. I mean, if you don't build some sort of tolerance, a simple cough could kill you!

I ate from the community bowl of nuts Ben Stiller warns Jennifer Aniston about in "Along Came Polly". I used public rest rooms, and port-o-potties. And I still tried to shake people's hands during the "sign of peace" at Mass, even when everyone else was terrified of the swine flu. Now we all just wave, which I actually prefer because it's easier to connect with more people. But during the swine flu scare, I was not afraid!

I was never afraid of germs, until now. Until this:

This damn germ-trap has taken down 4 of my fellow Nature City employees over the past 2 weeks!

Sitting atop the water-cooler that everyone uses multiple times a day,this bowl comes in contact with our germ-ridden hands, a lot.

I'd grab some every morning when filling my water bottle, to start the day. Next thing I know, I had a 103 degree fever.

When I finally returned to work, first thing I did was fill my water bottle. And, as if by some habit, went to grab some of these unnamed candies. I stopped, and it all made sense.

I am terrified of all said situations previously stated.

New Book

    by Jon Hassinger

My buddy Bob went to space camp when he was younger, and fell in love with outer space. He's even held shuttle launch parties, because from some points down here in South Florida, you can watch the shuttle actually soar through the sky, and disappear into space. Which is pretty amazing.

However, this book, so far, focuses very loosely on all things space travel, and more tightly on, in certain circles, the rock-star life style of astronauts.

I'm on page 100, and so far, so good.

Storeo

    by Jon Hassinger

It isn’t THAT bad.

    by Jon Hassinger

I know everyone hates Valentine's Day. However I maintain, that this holiday, at the very least can offer a spark to relationships that have past the "honeymoon stage".

The trick is, to do/buy things, that you BOTH enjoy. Flowers are generic, boring and they eventually die. Stuffed animals are a waste of closet, attic and basement space. And chocolate is all around us, so there is nothing special about it anymore.

The night before(Feb. 13th) Renee asked me if she could give me my "gift", now. I had no expectations...maybe a Phillies' shirt or something. "Sure", I said.

Then she handed me what looked like a wrapped DVD. Confused, I unwrapped....THIS!:

You all know I am NOT gamer, unlike my two fellow colleagues, Agnew and D*iewit. But every once in a while...I'd say every 5-10 years a video game will come along, that consumes me.

Renee and I were up till 2 in the morning, drinking beer and wine, playing this game. We quit after failing to complete World 2, over a 4 hour period. World 1 was obviously easier. But i was so satisfied to have a new video game, that was fun, had a little bit of nostalgia, since this game is all previous Super Mario Bros. from old-school Nintendo, combined, and a challenge! Because when I opened it, after my initial excitement, I worried, "Is this game only going to take one night to beat?".

I was happy to find out, I was dead wrong.

On the actual Valentine's Day, we both woke up early, and went right back to it.....obviously trading back and forth after one of us died. And after an entire pot of coffee, and some delicious, made-from-scratch Bacon/Egg quiches....

We defeated World 2!

That evening, we splurged, and for the first time, went to The Capitol Grille. And as you can see, we hated our meals:

After that, and a nice bottle of red, we stumbled home, attempted without success, to defeat World 3, then passed out watching the Olympics.

It was SUPER.

    by Jon Hassinger

This was Thursday night, when all of the crazies from Indy and N.O. invaded South Florida. It was really awesome, to stand up close to this sign..which was on the beach.

Little windy, though.

26.2

    by Jon Hassinger

So for some reason, about 5 months ago, I decided to train for and actually run, a Marathon. At many points throughout the training, I wanted to stop, and just get back to a normal work-out routine. But since I paid $90 to do it, and ultimately it was for a good cause, I went through with it.

So to give a glimpse of what YOU can expect, if you decide to take the "trip", I offer you this:

I saw Renee for the first time, during this picture...

Which caused me to finish strong..

Extending your legs, at this point in the race is a frightening thing to even think about, let alone do. Luckily I had the Rocky soundtrack on my iPod, hitting "Gonna fly now!!" at that moment.

And just like that (understatement of my life), I am a Marathon runner.

The medal, the sweat, the tears, and the leg pain don't mean anything.

THIS makes it official:

I'm going to lose that nail.