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Playing Tourist    Dec 15, 2009
Jen left for London on Friday evening, leaving me in Boston but kind of feeling like I am on vacation as well. That could read as if I am looking for a break, which is not what I mean at all. It's just that a large part of my routine in Boston will thrown off for 10 days.

I awoke to go to the bathroom at 6:40 Sunday but before returning to bed as planned I checked my phone and saw Jen had written in the very early hours of the morning. I groggily read of her plans to tour some castles on Sunday and made a spur-of-the-moment decision to do something touristy for myself and visit East Boston.

East Boston isn't exactly a tourist trap. It's generally a working class part of the city. In my 8+ years in Boston I had never spent any time there but what drove me there Sunday morning was the presence of The Madonna Shrine perched atop a large hill. I had been told it was a peaceful place with a great vantage point of the city.

It was a chilly (25F) morning with crisp blue skies that were expected to cloud over by around noon and start pouring a cold rain by around 4 so I decided to not crawl back in bed until a more reasonable hour and instead layered a winter jacket over a hooded sweatshirt and long sleeved tee and hopped on the train. After a quick stop at Dunkin I was up to the shrine by 8:30. I noticed that Pope John Paul II dedicated the plaza some 20 years ago. They were celebrating Christmas with a nativity scene and I learned something new...top hats were all the rage at the time of Jesus' birth. I saw a new view of the skyline and the harbor (I like the colors in the foreground). There are some cool mosaics of the Stations of the Cross and just beyond some row homes which caught my eye. The actual shrine is quite weathered. On the way down the hill I noticed an etching in the stairs and wondered how bored someone must be to write just that.

On the walk back down the hill and my subsequent 5 miles I noticed two things. First, there must be more statues of the Virgin Mary per capita in this area of town than any other. They also seemed to be leaders in those inflatable Christmas lawn thingy's, of course they were all lifeless lumps at 9 AM.

I was walking down a little street towards the harbor and looked up and was shocked to see a 757 staring me in the eyes. It was a couple football fields away but it took me by surprise. I turned the corner and walked along the harbor until I was directly behind flights taking off (this one was just about to make his final turn). I couldn't capture it well but there was noticeable change in the water behind the larger planes as they take off.

I then headed out onto the peninsula of Winthrop where there was a beaten down shack on land the government has since claimed because it is directly below the descent of southerly approaching flights. Just beyond the shack was a cop directing traffic at a Dunkin Donuts...it struck me on a few levels. A few more miles down I found stairs to access a small beach and stood at water level and looked back at Logan and the city. At this point my stomach was angry that I had walked so far on an empty stomach so I turned around. On the way back I tried to take a shot of a driveway between two homes that opens upon the harbor. It wasn't quite the shot I was hoping for but you can only do so much with a point and shoot.

Anyhow, that is me being a tourist in the city I have lived in for almost 9 years. I think this retelling was a bit dry, bear with me as I regain my ability to write here.

The Switch    Dec 13, 2009
This is my first post...no, not in two months, though I guess that is true. This is my first post from my Mac. Huzzah.

I made the switch after much contemplation on Black Friday. Apple had a deal and my hope was to parlay their special with my corporate discount. It didn't work as such but I made the switch regardless.

It wasn't an easy decision for two primary reasons. Most notably, the price. Macs are still more expensive than their Windows-running counterparts. It really left me conflicted, I am kind of a cheap-ass. A second and lesser reason was the comfort I had with the freeware/old software I had for my PC. I could swiftly install all the software I was used to, with the exception of Office, for which I lost the install disk some time ago.

As my circa-2005 laptop slowly ground to a halt I knew I had to find a replacement. The comfort choice would be a faster PC laptop (than my existing) running Windows 7 and moving/installing my existing software over. However, the ones I looked at left me wanting something more. That something was UNIX.

I wanted integrated UNIX support for one primary reason, to develop this site and other applications locally. When developing on my PC I was forced to write, save, and upload the file, then refresh in a web browser. It wasn't the worst scenario in the world but it was cumbersome, especially when my 'office' at the back of the house gets a pretty lousy internet connection. Sure, I could have installed apache, php, and mysql on a PC but it wasn't running natively as it does on a UNIX box. I also heavily considered an OS-free machine which would allow me to install the Linux version of my liking and the server software mentioned previously. However, I frankly didn't want the responsibility of having no support staff to fall back on should I need it.

Finally, I have been using my Mac at work much more than I had been and I just really like the OS. The trackpad has some fun new features (drag 3 fingers to the left and it takes you back a page while browsing the web, 3 right take you forward), Expose is brilliant for clearing or organizing the desktop, and searching for files and applications is so easy.

I'm not an Apple fanboy, I openly admit their shortcomings (Hello iPhone, welcome to the 21st century with cut and paste in 2009!) and have seen them on this machine (you can't turn off the startup sound without installing a 3rd party app) but all in all, it's slick. So after about 6 weeks of hemming and hawing I took the plunge and am very happy I did.

Anyhow, Merry Christmas. My gift to you is writing again!

And...Action!    Sep 20, 2009
I was able to take part in a video shoot this morning. A co-worker was shooting a 7 minute film for a film production class and when she needed to cast the role of a bad date she thought of me...how kind. The plot was that Veronica's father makes her go out on some dates rather than follow her dream (helping pandas with developmental disabilities). She goes through a series of bad dates and then meets the right guy only to for an unexpected circumstance to ruin that date and send her father back to provide her the money from her trust so she can pursue her dream.

I've been through the process of video shoots but never in front of the camera. My job has provided the opportunity to be a bona fide video producer...of math videos. It was great to see the behind-the-scenes stuff again--the audio and lighting tests, the long delay of the first take as small details are fixed, how gaffers tape can fix nearly any problem that arises, and the struggle to keep it cool through blazing hot lights and the inability to run the AC (noise).

When I arrived at the nutrition store which would serve as our set the crew was putting the finishing touches on blacking out the street-facing windows. If you've ever seen Zack and Miri you will know what I mean, it was the first thing I thought of. I actually almost mentioned that to the assembled group but in a rare moment of self-filtering I decided that comparing our shoot of three men and a woman to a movie in which they make a porno was less than favorable greeting.

After some introductions to the crew and rest of the cast I changed into my khakis and a polo, the dress of a "young kid" which I will be credited as. I guess it's my boyishly good looks that sealed the deal. I emerged and after some debate they had me deep-six the khaki's in favor of the (khaki) shorts I biked over in.

"The stoner" date was shot before my scene. The basic plot was that the man had the munchies and was cramming spaghetti down his throat as fast as he could, to Veronica's disgust. I mentioned to the crew a story of watching a certain former college quarterback roommate hold a fork laden with a fist-sized mound of spaghetti over his head as he ate at it from the bottom. How I wish I could say he was doing it as a parody of himself. They loved the idea and incorporated it.

When it was my turn they made a game-time decision that I should be texting (in addition to just being young). I will save the details for when I get a copy of the finished video and hopefully get permission to post it to YouTube. It was shot a few different times from different angles, the final of which proved to be most difficult for me. It was shot from over my shoulder so the camera was catching the screen of the phone. It no longer looked realistic when I just moved my thumbs around aimlessly, I had to hit some real letters, add spaces, etc. By no means difficult but if you've ever text messaged while driving...admit it, you have...you know one suffers (texting, I hope). Since it was important to keep a flow to the texting my lines took a turn downward. The final scene took four takes, though one was screwed up both by me and the fire truck that came racing by outside.

I'm not going to say I have a career in acting but I would love to do this again. We had a great cast and crew and had a ton of fun between takes. I offered my services for future films and really hope I was decent enough to get a call-back.

Omaha Flight    Sep 16, 2009
I'm going to try something new here. Instead of recapping an entire trip (to IA, for a wedding), which can be taxing to me and (I think) the reader, I am going to write about one aspect of it. It's a shame in some ways as there were a lot of great points on this trip. However, I think it is hard to capture all (or even most) of it without it transforming from prose to a series of declarative sentences beginning with 'nex' or 'then'.

Nick saw me off at the security gate in Omaha. It should be noted that Eppley Airfield is the cleanest airport in the world, or at least it says so on the little plastic mats that prevent larger objects from being flushed down the urinal. You know I was tempted to snap a picture but there was just no way in hell I could do so. After grabbing some pizza I sat near the gate and saw a man doing push-ups. Only in Omaha. Or perhaps only in people flying to Jersey...I just don't know.

I was walking down the aisle towards my seat on the Continental flight from Omaha to Newark and noticed a tall blond woman from the terminal sitting in the vicinity of where I would be. I was sure she was a row ahead of me but for the brief moment I had that prospective uplifting that comes with being seated next to an attractive woman on a long flight. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% in a relationship and very contentedly so. There's no desire to stray but maybe it's bred into the Y chromosome...whenever I take my seat I offer a little hope it will be an attractive and funny woman to make conversation with.

As I got closer I realized the woman wasn't near my seat, she was in fact directly next to me. Shazam! (Who says that any more...or ever did?) I was about 4 rows away and saw a man tap her shoulder and they switched seats. There were three rows of seats, two to my left and one to the right of the aisle. I had the seat on the far left and she was just to the left of the aisle. However, a guy one row behind us and on the right didn't have room for his carry-on below his seat so they switched. So not only did I not get to sit next to the blond but I was stuck with a guy with over-sized luggage under the seat. I sent Toby an IM alerting him to my extreme dismay in the whole situation.

Once we reached cruising altitude I started to put on my headphones and the guy next to me leaned over slightly and barely turned his head to say "Sorry about the blonde." "I'm not going to lie," I said with a smile, "I traded down." He replied something to the effect of 'Somewhere there is a man happy to see her go and have some time to himself'. True enough.

Robin and I talked at length about a broad spectrum of topics including health care, the Middle East, and music. I guess the last was an easy topic as he is the tour manager for the rock band that brought us Hot Blooded and Juke Box Hero, among other songs. He and the lead singer were on their way back to NY from a series of shows in the west, ending in a smaller NE town. At one point he got up and I checked my iPod to confirm that of my 11000+ songs not a one was from the band he managed. He also nodded to his left and indicated that the lead singer was on board as well (there was no first class on this relatively small aircraft) and when they were leaving I saw he the singer was wearing a leather shirt, jeans, and some lace-free low-top shoes that, with his gray-ish and spiky hair would fit the mold for an older rock star.

So I had my second semi-celebrity sighting in under a week. Not too shabby.

Birthday Dinner    Sep 04, 2009
Jen took me out for a fancy dinner in advance of my 32nd. Neither of us would be in Boston that evening so we went to Upstairs On The Square on Wednesday.

I have a love-hate relationship with fancier restaurants. To me, fancier is when the average price of an entree (not including sandwiches) creeps close to $20. I just have a block in paying $20 for an entree (which is not to say anything under $20 requires little or no deliberation).

Anyhow, Upstairs on the Square fits into my qualification of a fancy restaurant. We sat down without reservations around 6:30 and were served our (tap) water. But shortly thereafter our waiter disappeared. It is worth mentioning that around the same time Skip Gates and three friends sat down at a table not far from us.

For those unaware, Skip Gates is a professor at Harvard and was recently at the center of what he believed to be a racial profiling case. He was coming back to his home, didn;t have the key, and cops were called. It was big news around here and became national news when Obama weighed in and eventually invited the cop and Mr. Gates to the White House for a discussion over beer.

Jen was simply entranced with their party. I was intrigued but also felt ambivalent. He was infamous, I would say, not necessarily a celebrity prior to the event. So I was interested in the conversation but not enough that I wanted to sit silently and truly eavesdrop.

To say the Gates party ruled the night is an understatement, nary a minute went by where Jen didn't glance in that direction and I admit, I did get up at one point to use the restroom primarily to catch a glimpse, as they were behind me.

Beyond that I was in a lovefest with my love-hate relationship with fancy restaurants. Not only was it not my bill to pay but also we had a gift certificate. I know, I am a nerd. But it made me feel good that we had $50 knocked off our bill before we began. Jen got some Jackie O martini (which a member of Gates' party also had) and I had a beer with our heirloom tomato and melon salad appetizer. (Note: Their menu is at this point not current as the menu changed on Tuesday.)

My entree was the skirt steak. I was looking forward to the strip steak on their online menu and was genuinely disappointed that the option was skirt steak. However, it had this amazing buttery flavor that really set it off. I always thought of skirt steak as a bit of a leftover. Great on the grill for fajitas but never the show stopper of a real loin. This meal proved me wrong. Jen had the scallops, which were garnished with some sort of funky lentil I had never heard of. It was very good as well but I was preferential to my beef.

We opted for dessert, Jen for some sweet-ish pastry I can't recall but found to be quite good. I went for the sorbet sampling and gave her one of the three selections. She chose the malted chocolate, which was incredibly rich. I had a bite but was more than content to let her enjoy the bulk of it. I thoroughly enjoyed my choices, however. One was blackberry and thyme...I was really intrigued by incorporating a spice with the fruit. The other was pluot and honey. I had never heard of a pluot until Jen introduced me to them at the grocery store this summer, though I guess she didn't actually realize she knew what a pluot was. She pointed to it in the store as a mix of a PLUm and apricOT (PLUOT). But when I ordered it she swore she had never heard of it which led to an interesting conversation where I explained that it came from the beginning of plum and end of apricot and she realized she had, in fact, told me of it. By the way, both sorbets were amazing!

Anyhow, the point of this all is that I loved that they were using fresh and local ingredients based on the season in ways I would not imagine. I've been hitting the farmers market with more regularity and focusing on eating as close to the source as possible. However, I tend towards hearty but unoriginal salads for dinner and ripping apart fresh fruit with my teeth for breakfast. It's not often you can keep that up at a restaurant but I suppose if you are willing to pay a bit more you can do so. It inspired me to tell Jen that we should visit such 'fancy' restaurants every four to six weeks. We otherwise just cook together and aren't overly extravagant so it seems to be a workable arrangement.

Speaking of cooking at home, Jen's gift to me is a visit to make our own cheese. There is a woman in western Mass who has workshops and we are going to one in November. Yes, again, I am a big nerd, I thought it was the coolest thing.

New Hampshire    Sep 01, 2009
Early in the summer Kelleigh and Mike planned an excursion to a home near a lake owned by Kelleigh's uncle. Despite the coming of Tropical Storm/Depression Danny, Kelleigh and Mike, John and Brinda, and Jen and I headed up for Alton for the weekend.

The event unofficially began Thursday evening when Mike, John, and I dropped a handsome sum on beer for the weekend. We all like good beer and decided to splurge a bit and loaded the cart with a wide variety of six-packs and 22 oz bottles.

Jen and I arrived around 5:30, after the others had already shopped, swam, and kayaked. The grill was going and Jen got swiftly to work on a little surprise for me, birthday cupcakes and a small cake. She even packed a hand mixer. We had dinner and cake before retiring to the front yard for a fire and some beer. We sat in firelight and away from any urban sounds for a couple of hours when sprinkles began to fall as quickly as eyelids. We packed up the chairs and then Mike and I extinguished the fire (urinating seemed to work well) and headed to bed with the only sound being that of rain drops. Every time I stirred overnight was set to the tune of mother nature's deluge, as was the sound when we arose around 8:45. However, at that time there were few other man-made sounds available as the power had gone out sometime around 7:30.

I returned from a wet run to find John at the entrance to the garage heating water for coffee on a small propane grill. I entered to find three 22 oz beers lined up by Mike, set for immediate consumption. There had been one coordinated effort to open the fridge and pull out anything which would be needed for breakfast. Along with butter and the likes were three beers.

John, Mike, and I sampled the beer with breakfast and at around 10:15 power came back on. Due to the rain we settled in to watch Ted Kennedy's funeral, much to the dismay of Kelleigh and Mike. I understand their point and agreed, we were on vacation at a lake. But the other four of us felt that it was a historical event and due to the rain were content in watching.

After the funeral and some board games we donned rain jackets and long pants to brave the 55 degree temps to kayak around the lake. Watching sheets of rain and mist move across the lake was fun and miserable all rolled into one. After some warm showers in the iron-fortified water we were alone to our own devices (reading and sleeping, mainly) before Kelleigh, Mike, Brinda, and I took to some beer pong. By that time the rain had basically stopped so we fired up the grill for some bbq chicken fajitas and some more drinks. The wood was all soaked though so instead of a bonfire we played some speed Scrabble and Bananagrams and called it a night.

We arose Sunday and had a hearty breakfast of spent-grain bagels, made of the leftover grain from John's most recent batch of beer. The bagels (and bread) were awesome but were definitely high in fiber. I'll not go into details but it reminded me of this SNL commercial. We then hiked Mount Major before heading back for a quick lunch (more spent grain bread on my turkey sandwich) and walked down to the lake for some swimming. We got back around 5:15 and after a quick shower Jen and I were back on the road headed to Boston. She slept and I wished to sleep.

It was a most pleasantly exhausting Sunday to cap a really wonderful weekend. After a clam bake and weekend in New Hampshire my trip to IA for next weekend has a lot to live up to...but I think it can.