Concerts, Museums, Picnics, Trains, and Decathlons ...

On Saturday the 27th of August I met up with Allison to check out the National Museum of the American Indian. Neither one of us had been there before, and it was definitely worth checking out. We saw a film in their distinctive theatre and saw the exhibits. They also had a cool cafeteria with distinctive food and drink. Definitely a good time. Pictures are here.

On Sunday the 11th of September Graecyn and I went out for a picnic on the Potomac over on the GW Parkway. It was a very pretty day and we had a good time, and of course, pictures are here.

On Sunday the 19th of September, Allison and I took advantage of one of the last really nice days of the season to go kayaking down by Georgetown's Washington Harbour. Afterward we had lunch at Sequoia and then made our way over to the Kennedy Center where we had excellent seats for a concert devoted to Mozart. We had an absolutely wonderful time.

On Sunday, October the 9th Allison and I met up once again to check out some science and culture on the National Mall. We saw Cornell's entry to the Solar Decathlon, and then had lunch over at John Harvard's (where there was some positively delicious seasonal beer). After that we made our way to the National Gallery of Art where there was a free showing of some old Mary Pickford silent films. Afterward we went to Zaytina for some Mediterranean tapas and called it a night.

On October 10th I saw Liz Phair once again at the 9:30 Club with Matt Pond PA opening. Matt Pond PA was fairly good, but nothing spectacular. Liz Phair seemed to have a lot less energy this time around, and just didn't seem as into it. The show was good, but didn't leave me as energized as her past shows.

On Saturday, October 15th Graecyn and I went to Medieval Times out by Arundel Mills. This was a complete blast -- the concept is that you're having dinner in a medieval castle (with no utensils) and there is a tournament going where knights on horseback joust, fight with swords, and generally kick some butt while you dine. Even though things were obviously choreographed, these guys really were hitting each other's shields and swords hard (sparks were flying -- literally). It was very entertaining, and the food was pretty good too. Some pictures can be seen here.

On Monday, October 17th I left work and made my way to Union Station where I took a train headed up to Philadelphia. It was my first time on Amtrak, and I have to say I was impressed. They even had a power point for my laptop. Along the way I met up with my Dad at BWI. We were headed to Philadelphia to see my brother Andy performing at the Theater of the Living Arts with his friend Devendra Banhart. Opening up for the band were Tarantula AD and Bunny Brains. We got on the guest list and had all-access passes to everywhere. Very cool. We went out to dinner with Andy at a restaurant nearby and then had the chance to see Andy performing with Devendra. The show was fantastic and we had a great time. After the show Dad and I made our way back to our hotel and got some shuteye. We woke up really early in the morning and took the train back to Washington. I got into work on-time that morning -- who says the trains don't run on-time! Photos of the evening can be found here.

Next up on October 31 (Halloween) I saw OK Go once again at the 9:30 Club. They were opening up for Rufus Wainwright. The show was great, as the other two shows I've been two with them have been. They played all the songs I wanted to hear and it was great fun. They ended up their set with their dance routine, this time for "A Million Ways". The crowd went wild. Next up was Rufus Wainwright, who was okay, but since I was feeling under the weather with the remnants of a nasty flu I left after a few songs to get some sleep. Pictures can be found here.

On Sunday, November 6th I had the good fortune of seeing the beautiful Jem in concert once again. Opening up for her was Josh Kelley who put on a good set that seemed well paired with Jem. When Jem came on stage it was apparent that the quietness and mild introversion that was apparent in her last show was gone. She was having a blast on stage, and that made its way out to the audience. She sounded incredible, looked beautiful, and captivated everyone in the audience. I was right in front (she even grabbed my hand during one of her last songs) and had a great time. It was obvious she had a good time, too. Lots of pictures of the show can be found here.

Finally, Last Thursday the 10th Graecyn and I made our way to the inaugural Cafe Scientifique at Bar Pillar on 14th Street. They had 4 science authors who talked about their books and fielded questions over drinks and food for 15 minute intervals. Graecyn and I ended up buying one of the books, and we look forward to reading it. It was definitely a fun time, and with any luck they'll be doing it again (their plan is to hold them semi-monthly).

Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to be more timely in my updating of the site. And for a more real-time look, you can always check out my flickr photo-stream. Which tends to get pictures of my adventures even faster than I can write words about them. Until my next update I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. Take care.

Flying, Baseball, Karaoke, Beaches, Boston, and an Island ...

Since our last get-together I've been very busy. On Saturday the 6th I headed over to Tipton Airport with my Dad to do a little flying. An organization he is involved with provides communications for public safety events. One of these was an air show, and the pilots, to show their gratitude, took members of the club for plane rides that afternoon. Now, as any regular reader of my news will know, I do a lot of flying -- but I had never been in the cockpit before. The view from the front is absolutely amazing. The plane I was in had 2 seats in the front and a bench in the back and was a propeller driven craft. We went from Tipton down to Annapolis and then turned around and headed home. The view was absolutely beautiful and I was able to take some pictures while in the air. You can check them out here.

Afterward, I made my way over to Dan's where I picked him up along with his younger brother Eric. We took the metro in to RFK Stadium and grabbed some tickets to the Nationals game against the Padres. We had a great time at the game and afterward we caught some nightlife downtown. You can see pictures from the game here.

On Monday night I headed over to the Warehouse Theatre where one of my favorite websites was having a "meetup". They even bought some of us (myself included) a beer. It was great getting a chance to meet them, and I even saw some people in the area that I hadn't seen in a long time. All-in-all a great time, and of course, pictures are on-line here.

On Wednesday, a friend I work with who is moving up to New York City had a get-together over at Fast Eddie's for their Karaoke Night. A lot of people from the office showed up, and I even made some new friends. I was accompanied in a rendition of the Digital Underground's Humpty Dance by a co-worker and generally had a good time. I have pictures, but to protect the innocent (and perhaps, the not-so-innocent), I won't be posting them ;-)

Friday afternoon I made my way to BWI in the afternoon for a flight to Boston. The flight was on AirTran, and they had satellite radio at every seat. The bonus here is that even when you are restricted in your use of electronics, the satellite radio keeps on going (interrupted only by crew announcements). This made the 1 hour flight go by rather quickly. I packed light so I would not have to wait at baggage claim -- so I went straight for the exits and met up with Randy. He took me to his place just outside Boston in Brookline and we chilled for a bit. That evening we went over to Milky Way Lounge and Lanes where we bowled some candle-pins over a couple cold ones and caught up. Afterward we made our way to a house party where we met a lot of cool people and talked well into the early hours of the morning.

The following day we headed out to a beach house that Randy's family owns out in Hull, MA. When we got out there, it was a perfect beach day -- crazy hot and sunny. We set up camp on the beach and then went into the surprisingly icy water. The water was numbingly cold, but it provided a nice contrast to the hot weather on land. While there we met up with a bunch of people Randy knew. Once it started getting around dinner time we made our way to the Red Parrot where we had some dinner with his friends overlooking the beach.

Sunday was a chill day since a big wave of thunderstorms came to town, so we just relaxed for a bit inside after lunch at Barefoot Bob's. Finally on Monday we went headed into Boston by ferry and we took in a bunch of the sights in a whirlwind tour of the city. After getting some chowder in a bread bowl by Faneuil Hall I hopped on the T for my flight home. This one was a 2 hours delayed, but since I'm getting to be a veteran air-traveler I talked to the gate agent and asked to be put standby on an earlier flight -- I ended up getting on that one only 10 minutes later than I was scheduled to leave on the original flight. Good times. You can check out pictures of my trip here.

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful, but yesterday (Saturday) Graecyn and I took our first trip to Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River (right by Rosslyn). I can't tell you how many times I passed it when I was driving on the George Washington Parkway, but this time we checked it out. It was absolutely beautiful -- at times it was hard to believe that less than a quarter mile away was downtown Washington. We walked the circuit around the island, and I took a lot of pictures. That about wraps it up for now, until next time take care.

Alternative rock, downtempo, symphonies, and photos ...

Since I last gave an update I've been to three different concerts and uploaded a whole lot of pictures to flickr. First up was a band that I grew up with as a young lad, Teenage Fanclub -- they played at the 9:30 Club on the 20th of July (I didn't get around to mentioning it last time). The Rosebuds opened up for them and it was a great show. Naturally they focused their attentions on their latest albums initially, however, they dug deep into the back catalog for some of their classic gems. Notable songs include "Everything Flows" off a Catholic Education, "Star Sign" and "The Concept" off Bandwagonesque, among others. The show was a lot of fun, and it was good to see a band that I had listened to so much as a youngster. Through the power and glory of flickr, you can check out the pictures here.

Next up was a more modern group ... DC area favorites Thievery Corporation on July 29. They sold out the 9:30 for three consecutive nights and played with no opening act. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with their music, it is very downtempo, relaxed, and has dancable beats. The Corporation centers around Rob Garza and Eric Hilton with an ever changing cast of collaborators. They had several vocalists ranging from bossa nova to hip hop and instrumentals from electric bass to sitar to bongos to synthesizers. Definitely a sight and sound to behold. They played a great set and sounded quite good -- and naturally the audience loved every minute of it. I took some pictures from the show, and you can give them a look here.

The next day (Saturday) I met up with Allison to see the National Symphony Orchestra perform at Wolf Trap. We decided to picnic on the park grounds there and picked up some red wine, cheese, tabouleh, pita, and hummus. The weather was very nice and we picked a table near a stream. After our relaxed picnic we made our way to the venue and got our seats -- I would have taken some pictures, but an usher stopped me before I had the chance -- alas, no pictures for you. The performance was rather unique -- they took a bunch of old musicals (most with Gene Kelly) with dance sequences and while the movies were playing on a screen overhead they proceeded to play the soundtrack. It was somewhat surreal, and at times, you forgot the NSO was there. It was definitely a fun evening.

That about gets you current -- as you can see I've been putting a lot of pictures on-line with my flickr account. I've been having a blast with it, and it is fun being able to share those pictures with you. I hope all is well and until next time, take care.

New look, new tech, new happenings ...

So for the first time in a while, I’m not apologizing for how long it has taken me to update here. In fact, I have been making quite a few changes and updates to the site in the last few days. The first thing you’ve probably noticed is that I have given the site a face- lift of sorts. The previous design was intensely minimalist, and I liked it, but it had a sterility to it that was not really representative of what I was trying to get across. The new design has added a bit of color to the previous setup through colorful headers and layout. The main page now has a picture feed from Flickr (more on that later) affording a more up-to-date visualization of the photos I take, updated continuously. For the news page, the overall layout remains very similar to the past -- headings remain underlined, stories remain indented. However, the typeface has been changed into a sans-serif font to project a crisper appearance on the screen and the background has been made a more pleasing gray. The site has also been designed with cross- platform support in mind, so it should render well in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. I would love to hear from you if you have anything you’d like to say about the new design, good or bad. As always, feel free to drop me a note on my feedback page.

As mentioned before, photos are starting to take an even more prominent role on my site. Anyone who knows me well will tell you I am a bit of a shutterbug. I carry my Pentax Optio S5i 5 Megapixel camera with me almost everywhere I go and have a rather massive collection of pictures. If you start counting when I broke the 2 megapixel barrier with my current camera’s predecessor (the Pentax Optio S4) I have well over 5 Gigabytes of photos I have taken on my various trips across the country and the globe. Naturally, I’d like to share a lot of them with you, but the process to create web galleries from the original (massive) images that don’t eat up all the disk space on my server is a bit onerous. Not anymore.

This past week I took the plunge and signed up for an account with Flickr, a photo hosting and sharing site. They have a lot of great features, but the standouts that made me sign-up can be summed up with by this: unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, ability to use your pictures offsite easily (i.e. here), ease of uploading, and relatively inexpensive. They have a free account that limits you to 20 Megabytes of photos being uploaded a month (with unlimited downloads and storage) -- but with my penchant for photography, that simply would not do. I signed up for their $24.95 a year plan which allows me to upload 2 Gigabytes a month (with unlimited downloads and storage) and thus far I have been very impressed. They make using your pictures off-site very easy (just look at the main page here) and also support extensive tagging and sharing options. I’ve been having a lot of fun with it so far. What this means for you guys is that I will be able to put more of my pictures up more quickly. I’ll be putting stuff up all the time, so if you want to check out my latest stuff, drop by my Flickr page where you can see my photostream (the pictures I’ve uploaded) as well as my sets - - kind of like photo albums. You can also search my tags, which allows you to find pictures based on the labels I have given them. And for you guys, it is all completely free. I hope you enjoy the new content, and feel free to give me any comments are suggestions you may have on my feedback page.

The next cool thing I have added to the site is some new technology from our friends over at Google. I was genuinely impressed when Google released Google Maps. They utilized Asynchronous Javascript and XML to create an application which looked and acted like it was something running on your local machine. The implementation was seamless. Next up, there were third party developers who hacked the interface a bit (like HousingMaps) to put geographical data onto these beautiful maps. Google, being the good neighbor it tends to be, saw this and released an API that allowed people to create their own hacks in a way that was officially sanctioned by Google. I have signed up for a key to their API and have been playing around with it. Since I was in Chicago recently, I decided to map out some of the places I visited while there, along with pictures. The result can be found here, and I look forward to getting your feedback about what you think of this new way of presenting photographs and information in a geographical context. I may even put together a more automated, data driven tool that will allow me to create more maps like this, more simply. At the very least, I think it is very, very cool.

So besides geeking out a bit, what else have I been up to? Well, I put some of the pictures from my Chicago trip on- line. I also tried to unwind a bit after all that travel. This past weekend I went with my mom to her firm’s company picnic, and while there we visited the adjacent Claude Moore Colonial Farm where we were treated to a place that seemed to be from two centuries in the past. Of course, I took pictures, and you can check them out here.

This week I’ll be meeting up with an old friend to see the National Symphony Orchestra perform and I’ll be checking out a sold-out Thievery Corporation concert at the 9:30. I also have some more travel in the works for the not-too- distant future, so I’ll try to keep you posted on that.

That about wraps it up for now, I hope you are having a fabulous summer and until next time, take care.

The windy city, airport woes, beach-front bliss, and concerts ...

It has been a long time since I last updated you on the happenings of my life -- so let’s get to it. As I write this I’m flying back to Washington from North Carolina where I made a brief stop to visit my mother and grandmother who were vacationing down in Oak Island. They had a beach-front cottage and the view from their deck was positively gorgeous. I was only able to spend one day there, but I had a good time hitting up the beach and relaxing.

Getting there was another story though -- I flew on US Air out of O’Hare with a connection in Charlotte -- but due to their towering ineptitude, the flight was severely delayed and I missed my connection. I ended up having to get a hotel in Charlotte, and even though the larger part of the delay was due to a US Air equipment malfunction, they would not pay for the hotel since it was on another flight (theirs) that was blocking the gate from which I as supposed to depart. The first flight the next morning was full, but luckily I was able to fly standby and I got one of the last seats on the plane.

So after hearing that ordeal, you’re probably wondering, why was I in Chicago? Good question. I flew in on the previous Sunday night for some work-related training in Oak Brook (about 20 miles outside of Chicago). The training itself went well, and was actually pretty well done. My days were tied up in training, but my evenings were my own. Naturally, I made the best of those nights. Sunday night I flew in and made my way to my hotel in Oak Brook. After settling in I went across the street to the Cheesecake Factory where I had a spicy cashew chicken that was positively delicious. After the late dinner I was ready to hit the sack, and I promptly crashed. On Monday night I went into the city with another person who was in my classes and visited the Sears tower. The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking -- on a clear day you can see five states -- the day I went was a little hazy, but no complaints from me -- you could see for miles and miles. The best way I can describe it is that it was like being in a plane, only you weren’t moving. After seeing the towering heights of the Sears Tower, we made our way across the Chicago river to Harry Caray’s steak house. We both had the massive 23 ounce Porterhouse steak. It was cooked to perfection and absolutely melted in the mouth -- positively superb. From there we took the L (The Elevated Railway -- like the Metro, but above ground) back to the Sears Tower and drove home.

The following evening I went back into the city, this time a bit North from where I was on Monday night. I went to Lincoln Park and visited the zoo there. From there I went to a place that a native Chicagoan recommended nearby called John Barleycorn. It was a nice bar and restaurant with a relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff. I struck up some good conversation with the bartender and the bouncer and immediately felt at home. I watched some of the All Star Game until around 9 PM when I made my way out to another recommended venue. As I’m sure you know, Chicago is known for its blues scene. Being the music addict that I am, I had to check that out -- so I made my way to Kingston Mines, one of Chicago’s largest blues clubs. They had a couple of great acts on that night and I had a blast hearing the blues there. They were open (and serving) until 4 AM, but I had to leave a bit earlier than that to make sure I was in class bright-eyed the following morning. Wednesday evening was much more laid back, I stayed in Oak Brook for the most part and got some rest.

As for what happened in the time in-between the last update and Chicago, things were, for the most part, quiet. I saw a few concerts and had a great time. On Monday, July 2nd I saw Tussle and Eats Tapes at the Black Cat. Tussle, you may remember, is a group that my brother was involved with in the past. Andy is currently touring in Europe, so he wasn’t in the lineup for this tour, but it was great to see some of his band mates who I had met in my past trips to San Francisco. They played a great set on the backstage of the Black Cat. The opening act, Eats Tapes was quite cool as well, with an incredible amount of sound coming from 2 people huddled over their electronic equipment. If you are into electronic music they are worth checking out.

The next day I had yet another concert, this time at the 9:30 Club. The Eels were performing with a full string section, and naturally, I had no choice but to go see them. The “opening act” was a russian stop-motion animation short about building friendships between different animals. If this sounds bizarre, go back to my last Eels show review, he always has something non-conventional for the “opening act”. Next up was the Eels with the most chill and slow set I have ever heard them do. Completely laid back, very quiet, and the strings gave it a whole new interpretation. True to form, they gave four encores (yes, four) and went from rocking songs to soft ones. Finally, on the last one E came out in pajamas. Quite the spectacle, and a good show.

The next day was independence day, so we hit up the fireworks and the Folk-life festival on the Mall. Dinner was had at John Harvards (delicious) and Mom scored tickets to her roof once again, so we watched from there and had a spectacular view.

That about wraps it up for now, but there are some changes coming very soon to this site, so stay tuned for more information in the very near future. Until then take care.

Out of town guests and gala events ...

Since we last caught up, I've been taking it easy after the extensive travel. As promised last time, I put up pictures from my trips to Miami and Santa Barbara (the Santa Barbara gallery has a lot of beautiful shots of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden ... check it out). I've also been pulling out the grill and getting my barbecue on whenever possible. I've gotten a chance to catch up with some friends I haven't seen in a while. A couple weeks back I met up with Eric, Dave, Darien, and a few others over at Fast Eddie's in Fairfax to play some pool and catch up.

This past weekend Randy came back into town for some fun and excitement -- we hit up some of our old haunts, walked around the city, went kayaking on the Potomac, and generally had a good time.

On Saturday, my firm had a huge celebration -- so naturally I went. The party was absolutely gigantic -- they had to rent out one of the biggest spaces in the city to hold it all. It was definitely a good time, and it is always fun to interact with co-workers in a non-work situation.

Other than that, not too much to report -- I've got a little business travel lined up for next month and some fun stuff up my sleeve. So until next time, take care.

14,800 Miles, 4 Countries, 3 Time Zones, 2 Oceans, 1 Month ...

The Ed Cabic World Tour has just winded down -- if you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been writing much, well, I haven’t been around much. I spent just shy of 2 weeks in the British Isles hosteling with Dan in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. I did a weekend jaunt in Miami’s South Beach, and I went to a conference in Santa Barbara, California. All in all, I was a busy boy, and I had a blast.

For my trip to the British Isles, I kept an extensive journal of (almost) everything I saw and did while I was abroad. So I’ll keep the information about that trip brief here. I also took several hundred photos while abroad utilizing my digital camera, and the media reader for my iPod. I took a lot of time sorting through the images to find the best of the best, and I put those up here for your viewing pleasure.

Click here to read my trip journal and see my pictures from the British Isles

The weekend after I returned, I joined some friends and went down to Miami’s South Beach. We flew in on JetBlue to Fort Lauderdale and got ourselves a Lincoln Town car for our trip down to Miami. The car was quite plush, and I had the pleasure of driving it down to the beach. We stayed at the Crescent Hotel -- right across the street from the beach and had a well appointed suite that was quite comfortable with plush king size beds. While down there we hit up the beach which was inhabited by many extremely fit (and sometimes topless) bodies. The water was refreshing and reasonably warm and on Saturday the sun was out and the weather was beautiful.

Sunday was a bit more cloudy and cooler, but we were still able to get some beach time in, as well as some time spent walking through some of the posh boutiques that dotted the streets of South Beach. We had a late dinner with drinks and enjoyed the warm night air as the revelers started out their evenings, tempting the 5AM closing time that was their only limitation. We flew back to DC at the crack of dawn, and I was able to get into work on Monday morning with a smile and a tan.

On Wednesday morning I made my way to BWI for the long flight out to Santa Barbara by way of Denver. The trip went fairly well, and I used the time to sort, caption, and edit the photos from my British Isles trip on the iBook. When I got into Santa Barbara, I was amazed at how small the airport was -- we walked onto the tarmac through a gate and we were outside of the airport where they had the luggage setup on metal trays. From there I got my rental car, which was upgraded for free (they didn’t have what was reserved for me) to a Mustang Convertible. I took the top down and drove into the city to my home base at the Hotel Santa Barbara. The hotel was quite nice, and they had free WiFi -- needless to say I was pleased as punch. After getting settled I walked up and down State Street (the main drag) and checked out some of the shops and restaurants. I ducked into Fatburger for lunch (another of those chains we don’t have out in the DC area) and had a gigantic burger with fries that was quite filling. Afterward I checked-in to my conference and then went back to the hotel to relax. That evening they had a reception on the roof of where the conference was being held with some hors d’oeuvres and beer and wine. I met some cool people there and generally had a good time.

Thursday was mostly consumed by the conference itself, which wasn’t too bad, because the weather was rainy all day. That evening, things cleared up, and we went out on a large catamaran for dinner and a cruise around Santa Barbara’s coastline. The city is absolutely beautiful from the coast and we had fun on the boat. Afterward I joined a few of the people from the conference and we hit up some of the bars near our hotel and then I turned in for the night.

The last day of the conference was only a half-day, conveniently my flight was not until 8:20 in the evening, so I had from 1:00 until 6:30 or so to put the top down on my rented Ford Mustang, turn the music up, and enjoy the sun. I made my way down to the beach and put my hand in the cool waters of the Pacific Ocean (the second ocean in one week) and then made my way up to the Santa Barbara Botanic garden. I had seen in some tour books that it was supposed to be a sight to behold, but none of that did the place justice. It was positively beautiful. The garden is situated in a canyon and has 5 miles of trails that you can hike along. The plants and flowers were remarkable -- all native to California, but incredible in the scope, from sage brush to giant redwoods. After hiking most of the major trails and snapping a ton of pictures, I made my way back to the highway to do some more exploring. I drove through the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara ... absolutely beautiful. Afterward I made a stop in Goleta to enjoy the goodness that only In-N-Out Burger can bring you. I had an incredibly fresh Double-Double with fresh cut fries and a soda and then it was back on the 101 for a little more sightseeing. After swinging by the ocean one last time I went back to the airport, dropped off the car, and checked-into the airport. I am so used to gigantic airports that I automatically give a 2-3 hour buffer for every flight I take ... but it turns out this was not necessary and I went upstairs to a bar and restaurant to kill some time over a frosty beverage. From there I flew into LAX on a turbo-prop and took the red eye back home (after a bit of a mechanical delay). I slept 4 hours on the flight, and then another 12 when I got home. And that gets you pretty current.

I may put up some of the pictures from Miami and Santa Barbara in the near future, but for now, enjoy the pictures along with my narrative from my trip to the British Islands. Until next time, take care.

More time with new toys and meeting up with old friends ...

It has been a while since we last caught up -- I’ve been doing well, working hard, and having a good time whenever possible. The iBook I mentioned in the last entry has been working like a champion. I take it with me all over the place and it is so light that I barely notice the thing in my backpack. It has also allowed be to do some pretty creative things with my pictures and movies, which has been a lot of fun. If you’re thinking about getting into the world of mac, I’d say go for it. In dozens of hours of operation, I have not had a single crash -- even while editing video, converting and ripping audio, and working in photoshop. Things just work, and work well ... and the battery never dies. Kinda nice.

There is also a beauty to the applications on the platform -- I recently purchased a program called Delicious Library which I have been using to catalog my extensive CD and book collections. It uses my iSight camera to scan in bar-codes and uses the Amazon API to get full information about the disc/book and even grabs the artwork so I can browse my collection by covers. It provides an easy way to create the inventory, but it also is a lot of fun.

Another discovery worth mentioning is a neat little program called Skype. It basically allows you to make free calls over the internet (that sound better than landline calls) and really cheap landline-terminated calls internationally and domestically for 2 Euro cents a minute (they’re based in Europe). I’ve been talking with my friend Dan (who is currently in France) recently over Skype via their landline-termination service, SkypeOut and after some issues getting the money into my Skype account, I have to say I’m pleased with the service. The connection quality is good, and the cost is along the lines of what you’d pay for a cheap phone card. And it is cross-platform, working on Windows XP, Mac OS X, Linux, and PocketPC.

Last weekend my good buddy Matt (of WVBR fame) was in town visiting his girlfriend Anna and we all got together and caught up. On Friday night we went to Harry’s downtown for a couple drinks and then on Sunday we met up for brunch at Filomena in Georgetown. Afterward I gave them a mini tour of the sights and we hit up the postal museum before I took them back to Anna’s place. It was good to see them again :-)

Other than playing with my new mac and catching up with friends, I’ve just been slogging through the wintry mess that has befallen our fair district. Spring needs to hurry up and get here already ... I’m looking forward to doing things outside again. I hope all has been well in your corner of the world and I’ll see you next time.

New places, new toys ...

The last time I checked in we were talking about the “Year in Review” -- since then a lot has happened this year. I decided recently that it was time to get my own laptop. I had been using one from work last year and appreciated the convenience that it brought into my life. One thing that was important to me was mobility -- I didn’t want to feel like I was lugging around a suitcase when I took it with me. I also was looking for a good value in terms of features and power.

Readers of this site are no doubt aware that I do a lot of digital photography and have a lot of music in my collection. Something else I see myself getting into is digital video -- and I would like to have a laptop that can accommodate that. As I started putting together machines from various PC manufacturers the cost would inevitably skyrocket -- want a big hard drive, pay through the nose -- want lots of memory, open up the wallet. Most machines I was looking at were around $2,000 -- and that’s before you put software on them. Frustrated, I looked at the other side of the computing spectrum, Macintosh. The scuttlebutt on these things is that they are overpriced and underpowered and that you can get a similar PC for far less. The more I looked into it, however, the less I saw this nasty rumor to be the truth. I took a trip to the Apple store in Tyson’s Corner to look at the offerings, and I found that they had a 12 inch iBook for $999. It came with the iLife suite (which has the photo management tool iPhoto, the music management tool iTunes, the video editing package iMovie, the DVD creation software iDVD, and the audio editing and music creation tool Garageband) which already made it a pretty good choice -- and it is around 4 pounds. The problem is the thing had no storage space on it ... 30 GB of disk and 256 MB of RAM. Paltry for the OS X platform -- so I had to make some upgrades. Unfortunately, they don’t swap in new hard drives at the store (they do memory, WiFi, and bluetooth though) so I had to order my machine from Apple’s site. I ended up putting an 80 GB disk with 768 MB of RAM and after waiting for the machine to ship from Shanghai, China, I finally got my hands on the thing.

First impressions? The thing runs like a champ and looks incredible. I played with some of the more resource-intensive applications like iMovie and they were up to the task without skipping a beat. The applications were quick and responsive ... and not to mention a hell of a lot of fun. Setting it up on my wireless network was a snap and network speeds were blazing, as you’d expect. Battery life is startlingly good ... I haven’t let it run down yet, but doing 2 hours of video editing (very processor intensive) didn’t even get me to the half way mark. Apple’s AIM client, iChat AV is very cool -- and it allows you to use a digital video camera to do video chats easily. I decided I should give it a shot, so I went out and got an iSight camera that clips onto my laptop’s screen and takes crisp video and high quality sound. Locally it looks beautiful, and my buddy Steve in Boston said that it looked quite good up there too :-) It even plays nice with windows computers -- I was able to print to my work printer through the network -- even duplex printing worked flawlessly.

I have subsequently added the iWork suite which adds Pages (a cool word processor) and Keynote (a slick presentation package). I’m actually word processing this entry in Pages while taking the Metro into work -- it is a very slick package that stands out because it has desktop publishing features built-in around slick templates that you can use. Text automatically wraps around images with alpha-channel transparency and looks very slick doing so. It is also compatible with Microsoft Word. Finally I added Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 -- and I have to say that went beyond my expectations. I’m used to working with the full version of Photoshop -- and I was afraid of what was going to be left out. I’m pleased to say that very little was -- there is support for layers, transparency, and a host of tools to automatically fix everything from red-eye to pimples (the “healing brush”). Very cool package.

What else have I been doing besides playing with my new toys? Pretty much just taking it easy at home and working hard at the office. This weekend I’ll be helping Graecyn move to her new apartment -- so I’ll be getting quite the workout there. Other than that I’ll be playing with the new toys and trying to have fun. Until next time, take care.

The year in pictures and the year in review ...

As I keep saying here, I have been very busy of late. As a result, I've been a little bit behind schedule in giving the year-end wrap-up that you've come to expect on the News -- I'm going to remedy that now. Today, I've been given a rare slice of unexpected time -- due to the inauguration downtown the office has been closed. A huge chunk of downtown from 20th NW to the Capitol and from Independence Avenue to the Convention Center is closed off to traffic, and word is that they won't even let you in the area without a ticket to the events or proof that you have legitimate work to do at an office in the area.

As a result, I'm sitting on the sofa typing this entry and reminiscing about the year gone by that was 2004. I rang in the New Year for 2004 in the Caribbean sea in-between Isla Roatan, Honduras and Georgetown, Grand Cayman and I rang it out at Buffalo Billiards in Washington, DC. Last year I went through the pictures I took in 2003 and put together a "Year in Pictures" -- this year is no different. Check out The Year in Pictures 2004 for a visual look back -- 73 of my favorite pictures from about 1,800 taken in 2004.

For those of you who prefer an outline of the year gone by, here's the recap. Just as I did last year, here is the year in events:

• 1/1 New Year's in the Caribbean Sea
• 1/1 Visit Georgetown, Grand Cayman
• 1/2 Visit Cozumel, Mexico
• 1/4 Return to Miami and fly home
• 1/19 Go to Tulsa, Ok. on Business
• 1/24 Spend a weekend in Vegas
• 1/25 Enjoy my first burger from In-N-Out in Vegas
• 1/26 In Tulsa for another week
• 2/1 Superbowl at Eric's place
• 3/2 Voted in MD Primaries
• 3/4 Frisky passes away
• 4/10 The site is redesigned
• 4/14 Meet Thom Monahan of the Pernice Brothers
• 4/24 Participate in the March for Women's Lives on the National Mall
• 6/8 See Diamondbacks vs. Orioles at Camden Yards (Randy Johnson pitches)
• 6/21 See O's vs Yankees at Camden Yards
• 6/27 Visit Ocracoke Island for a week
• 7/4 Fireworks on the National Mall with Jeff
• 9/25 Graecyn and I hit Va Beach
• 10/16 Cornell Homecoming
• 10/18 Three Month Anniversary Dinner at David Greggory with Graecyn
• 11/2 Voted in the Presidential Election
• 11/20 Head to Cozumel for 4 nights/5 days and do 6 dives
• 12/25 Christmas with Mom
• 12/31 New Year's Celebration at Buffalo Billiards

Now the Year in concerts -- a slight down-tick in number of bands, but an uptick in the number of shows: 54 bands in 28 concerts (last year was 60 bands and 25 concerts) which makes sense because I didn't go to any festivals in 2004. Here is the list:

1. 1/6 Ok Go, Army of Me, Spiraling at Black Cat
2. 2/19 Wheat, Hey Mercedes at the Black Cat
3. 2/22 Fountains of Wayne, Lenona Naess, Robbers on High Street at 9:30
4. 3/14 G. Love and Special Sauce, Loque at 9:30
5. 3/16 Three Days Grace, Apartment 26 at 9:30
6. 3/17 The Push Stars at 9:30
7. 4/1 The Crystal Method, DJ Hyper at 9:30
8. 4/3 Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Kweller at 9:30
9. 4/4 Liz Phair, Wheat, Rachael Yamagata at 9:30
10. 4/6 The Darkness at 9:30
11. 4/12 The Fall at Black Cat
12. 4/13 Something Corporate, Yellowcard, The Format at Nation
13. 4/14 The Pernice Brothers at Black Cat
14. 4/19 The Sounds, Division of Laura Lee at 9:30
15. 4/20 Stereolab at 9:30
16. 4/22 Pat McGee Band, Craig Honeycutt at 9:30
17. 4/27 Andrew W.K. at 9:30
18. 6/3 Tim O'Brien at Ram's Head
19. 6/15 Jem at Iota
20. 6/24 Vetiver, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom at Iota
21. 6/25 Vetiver, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom at Mission Space
22. 7/10 Eve 6, Old 97s Live on Penn
23. 7/12 Midtown, Lostprophets at 9:30
24. 7/24 They Might Be Giants, Fountains of Wayne, Getaway Car Live on Penn
25. 8/13 Bebel Gilberto at 9:30
26. 9/2 OK Go, We Are Scientists, Two if by Sea at MCCXXIII
27. 9/3 Liz Phair, The Cardigans, Charlotte Martin, Katy Rose at 9:30
28. 10/8 Vertical Horizon, Stroke 9 at 9:30

That about does it. I hope that you have a wonderful year in 2005 and look forward to hearing from you in the months ahead. Take care.

Holidays, presents, partying, influenza and a New Year ...

Hard to believe I'm fast approaching a quarter century of existence -- time flies in a dizzying blur sometimes and life has been moving very fast of late. The year 2004 will go down as one of my best -- a year where I grew professionally and personally and saw success in both arenas beyond what I could have imagined a year ago. I count myself as incredibly fortunate. With any luck 2005 should see me pushing forward even more, traveling the world, learning and continuing to grow in my professional endeavours, and reaching some pretty lofty personal goals ... one day at a time.

Since we last caught up we had the holiday season in all its craziness. Graecyn and I joined my Mother and Grandmother for the holiday exchanging gifts and celebrating the season. This year I gave Dad a brand new laptop computer, Mom got a digital camera and a flash card to go along with it, Graecyn got an electronic keyboard with lighted keys that teaches you how to play songs, and my grandmother got a rolling gardening seat and a kneeling pad for gardening (one of her favorite pastimes). Everyone seemed to love their gifts -- I got a bunch of great stuff myself -- from silk pajamas to classical music assortments to books. That evening my mother and grandmother made us a wonderful dinner and then we played a board game into the night.

Unfortunately, Graecyn and I got a killer flu that sidelined us for a while -- I'm better now, and she's still fighting her way through it after getting better for a while and then relapsing. I certainly miss the flu shots from previous years!

For New Year's Graecyn was visited by her friend Eddie from where she grew up and we showed him around the DC area in all of its tourist-friendly glory. We got a hotel room downtown for New Year's Eve and celebrated the coming of the new year down at Buffalo Billiards over champagne and far too many drinks. The following morning I drove us around town showing Eddie some of the sights around town.

Since then I have been busy at work, taking time to catch up with friends and make new ones at some happy hours after work. On Monday I joined Terry for a few drinks at RFD and Friday Terry and I went to Post Pub and then joined some co-workers at Lucky Bar eventually migrating to the Big Hunt. That just about gets you up to date. Tonight I'm going to catch up with a friend I haven't seen in a while downtown and catch a movie too. Other than that, not much planned -- but something good always happens :-)

Happy New Year and all the best, until next time take care.

Passports, coral reefs, photos, turkeys, parties, and presents (Part 2) ...

(This is continued from the previous post, so you'll want to start there).The next day I hit up the Santa Rosa wall and Tormentos. At the wall we were whisked away by the strong current down a huge wall of coral. We were around 100 feet down at our lowest point and from there if you look down there was nothing but the deep blue of the sea. We went through some of the coral formations and saw much in the way of sea life. Next up was Tormentos. This was a more shallow dive (around 65 feet) but the marine life and coral formations had the brightest colors I have seen yet on the trip. We saw many very large fish ... including ... a 6 foot shark! He was a Nurse shark, so no worries there, but he moved with a grace and beauty that was amazing. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. That night I had dinner at a place called La Choza, which supposedly has the most authentic Mexican food on the island. I had a Chile Relleno stuffed with cheese, and it was quite good. I also had a chicken soup that was delicious. I did some walking around town and picked up some churros from a street vendor in the Plaza del Sol and then made my way back to the hotel where I crashed.

On Tuesday I did my last two dives -- we went to Palancar Gardens and Cedral Pass. At Palancar Gardens I bottomed out at around 90 feet and there were a lot of coral formations to be seen. We swam though some of them and saw fish of every color and description. We also saw some lobster hanging out in the reefs and a sting ray of some variety. For some reason our dive boat lost track of us, so we had to hang out for about 10 minutes at the surface. Next up was Cedral Pass (or Paso del Cedral) where the formations were a bit more shallow and the current was quite swift. We saw a rather large crab and a lot of fish on the fast moving trip. On the way back our boat's engine died, but with in a few minutes another boat gave us a leisurely tow back to the docks. When I got back I had lunch at La Choza (where I had dinner the night before) and did some walking around the city. That night I had dinner once again by the Caribbean at the hotel watching the sunset over the water.

On Wednesday I packed up everything and went for a swim in the Caribbean -- afterward I had lunch at the cafe there and then headed out for Cozumel's airport via taxi. On the flight back I just relaxed and listened to my iPod while editing and captioning the photos from the trip (speaking of which, you can see them here). This caught the attention of two girls sitting next to me, and we made fast friends swapping dive stories and experiences -- and they liked the photos too. We touched-down in Charlotte and the trip through customs was fairly painless -- I had to go through airport security again once I got out of customs and re-check my baggage. From there it was back to BWI where Dad graciously picked me up. I then drove down to pick up Graecyn for yet another day of travel, Thanksgiving.

We headed up to Upstate New York to see family for Thanksgiving. The weather was miserable on the drive, but that made our arrival all the more positive. It was great seeing all the relatives, and the turkey was delicious. I got to see my cousins' children who are growing up so incredibly fast -- and I even hooked up the iPod Photo to their projection screen tv and shared some Cozumel photos. On Friday, we took Graecyn to Cornell to see where I went to school and gave her the grand tour -- we also dined at Ling Ling Garden, where I had some of the General Tso's Chicken I had been dreaming about, still delicious. On Saturday we went out to lunch with my Aunt at Applebee's and then headed home.

Since then life has been a bit more normal -- I had my office's holiday party which I took Graecyn to, very posh, lots of free food and alcohol. More recently, on Thursday I went with Mom to her office's party (I was her date) at the Mandarin Oriental (Washington's new 5 Star Hotel) and had a good time.

Other than that, things are the same as usual ... I've completed my holiday shopping, I did it all on-line this year. Dad got his gift early, I bought him a laptop, the others will have to wait. And no, I'm not telling what I got ahead of time.

I hope that you and yours have a splendid holiday and until next time pass the egg nog :-)

Passports, coral reefs, photos, turkeys, parties, and presents (Part 1) ...

It has been more than a month since my last update. I've been quite busy with things traversing through 2 countries, 4 states, and the District of Columbia. Some of you have even written to ask me to update via my feedback form -- so I'm updating with apologies for the delay.

Shortly after my last post I made some last minute plans to take a brief vacation jaunt before Thanksgiving. Graecyn didn't have any leave left (and I had ... and still have ... tons of leave left to take) so I had to fly this one solo. Using Expedia I found a deal I just could not pass up -- 4 nights and 5 days in Cozumel, Mexico (flight and hotel) for $830. I signed up ... and all I needed was a passport (not required, but highly recommended). The turn around was brisk (I needed it in 3 days) so I went to the passport office downtown and got it done ... I payed around $145 for the expedited service and I got it the next day after lunch.

On Saturday the 20th I headed out to BWI at the crack of dawn to make sure I got there in time. It only took me about 30 minutes or so to make my way through the check-in counter and security. The first plane I took was a smaller jet that was headed to Philadelphia International Airport. The flight went well until we got to Philly, where we were held up on the runway for about 20 minutes after landing. I had a connection with less than an hour to spare, and once I finally disembarked I found out that it was on the other side of the airport (which had to be at least a mile away, maybe more). Luckily I was able to hitch a ride on one of the golf carts and I made it to the plane just as I was supposed to board. The plane to Cozumel was an Airbus A320 and the ride went well. I sat next to a couple which was very affectionate (let's just say I didn't know you could sit in someone's lap in Coach class ... but you learn something new every day), but they were nice and we talked about diving. Once we landed we walked off the plane onto the runway into a very small airport. I went through the customs station with my paperwork and got through easily. After that I got my baggage and went to the station where they check your declarations. The man asked me to click a button on a miniature stop light -- it turned green and said to pass. I guess if it had turned red I would have been inspected. After that I met the representative from Expedia who got me on a van to my hotel. I sat next to a nice guy who was also going to the same hotel and we exchanged stories. The ride lasted about 5-10 minutes and then we were at the hotel. Check-in was fairly painless and I had an extremely friendly bellhop who took me up to my room. I had a few questions about protocol and what to do while down in Cozumel, and he was quite helpful. Once I got to my room I immediately noticed the amazing view of the Caribbean Sea. I was on the 8th floor and the view was breathtaking. Even with the balcony window closed I could hear the waves gently crashing on the coral below. I definitely made the right decision to come back to Cozumel. I took a quick shower and then headed down to talk to the Expedia representative about scheduling my trip back to the airport on Wednesday. His name was Carlos and what was intended to be a 5 minute talk ended up lasting around an hour. We talked about the island, where to go, and a lot of logistics -- but then we talked about each other's cultures and what it is like to live in Cozumel. Most of the locals live on around $20 a day -- monthly rents on the island are around $250 for a single family residence. While the tourist sites are aimed at the American crowd, the essentials of life are much less expensive at the grocery store. When I told him how much rents are for one bedroom apartments in DC he seemed amazed at it. Live in paradise and pay less? Sign me up! He recommended a dive shop to go to for my diving that week, Black Shark, and I signed up with what ended up being a great deal -- 3 days of diving, $150. I'm definitely excited. Afterward I stopped into the gift shop and picked up a bathing suit and went for a dip in the Caribbean -- it was absolutely wonderful -- so warm, and you could see straight to the bottom. Afterward I had a great mexican dinner, right at the hotel. I sat on the lounge chair by the sea and watched the sun set over the water -- my waiter brought out the meal right to the beach, and much to my surprise, when I asked for 1 beer I got 2. After the second round and a meal I was expecting a big bill ... but it was only about 10 bucks American! In DC, the Negra Modelos alone would have cost me 20 bucks ... I decided it was time to hit up the city and explore, so since everyone was telling me how safe Cozumel was, I decided I'd walk the 1.5 miles or so. When I got into town I came upon the first pier and encountered a very large plaza surrounded by shopping. I went into a drug store and got a diet coke or "coke light" as they call it down here and got a bag of churros from a street vendor. After some more wandering I found an internet cafe where I was able to write back to family and my girlfriend -- and also IM some of my friends in the states. What shocked me was that this access only cost $1 US for an hour of access, absolutely incredible. After I had written and told everyone I was ok, I walked on to Punta Langosta where I had come on my cruise almost a year earlier. Carlos and Charlie's was still there and after peeking my head in I decided to head back to the hotel (being "hung over" or dehydrated is a bad idea if you're diving, which I was). I took a cab which was driven by a young kid with blaring techno dance music -- he took me from downtown to my hotel for $4 US and I went back to my room. From my perch 8 stories above the water I could see the lights from Cancun and hear the waves gently coming in. I decided to keep the balcony open (with the screen door closed) and slept like a baby.

The following morning I was picked up by a guy from Black Shark Scuba on a moped and took a high speed ride downtown. After signing my life away we were taken off to the marina and got on a very fast boat which was to take us out to the dive sites. The first was Columbia reef where we went the deepest I would go in all six of my dives -- 110 feet. It was absolutely amazing down there and as bright as day. We swam through some cave formations and through the reefs, it was incredible. After a break at a nearby beach we headed to La Francessa -- this dive was a bit more shallow (about 65 feet), but still beautiful. On both dives we saw sea turtles and of course, flora and fauna of every color of the rainbow. After the dives I had lunch at el Shrimp Bucket at Punta Langosta, where I had some water along with some coconut shrimp in a mango chutney sauce, quite tasty. That afternoon I went back to the hotel and had a full body massage for an hour and followed that up by having dinner at the hotel again while watching the sun set (nachos con queso followed by chicken enchilladas in green sauce, more than I could finish, washed down with Sol beer). Once again, I slept with the sound of the tide washing in ... (Continued in the next post).

New toys, new events, new me ...

How's that for an interesting tag line, eh? Well it has been a while since I wrote here, I've been a busy boy. Shortly after my last missive I joined some friends and made some new ones at the Cornell Club of Washington's Zinck's Night (for the non-Cornellians among you, basically a night where Cornellians get together to meet, greet, and drink, nationwide). I saw a lot of old friends -- some from WVBR, some from other organizations, and also some alums that I had seen at previous events. Definitely a good time. One of the people I met up with was Josh Novikoff from WVBR -- he's now working downtown and invited me to a soiree at his place shortly thereafter. I went, had a good time, and even made some new friends.

Other than that I've been taking it easy and going out a lot less (and using that time to spend some quality time with the girlfriend of course). I have gotten a new toy (as the tag line would have you think). As anyone who knows me well can tell you, I love gadgets and I love music. Anyone who sees my CD case is usually in awe of the shear amount of music I possess, and I'm usually among the first asked "what's that song that goes like [singing ensues]." I love music, almost too much. Anyhow, a music gadget would be the ideal thing for me, right? Well I had been waiting on that one for a while. As a stopgap measure I had been using a rather large flash card in my PDA to listen to music while I worked out -- but the dream of having my massive collection of CDs at my constant beck and call was still unrealized. My other passion is photography. I take way too many photos, and usually have my digital camera on me at all times, I have gigs and gigs and gigs of photos. It is kinda ridiculous, but hey, I like it. Too bad those pictures are tethered to my spacious hard drive at home ... Cue to a couple weeks ago ... Apple announces the iPod Photo -- 60 GB of storage, able to easily handle my hundreds of CDs, and every picture I'd care to carry along with me (for now at least). So I had to buy it, simply had to -- you understand I'm sure. And after an anxious week of waiting, it arrived on my doorstep. In the meantime I enlisted the help of Graecyn and my Dad to help me rip all of my CDs (something I had put off for quite some time). We had 4 computers ripping in unison and got most of it done (still have a few more in the back catalog). So, once my iPod Photo arrived, I was able to fill it with music and pictures.

In short, the iPod Photo is great. It has an incredible 60 GB of space, enough for 15,000 songs (more than I have in my collection ... for now). It has a vibrant color screen that displays song information and album art with ease, and the pictures part works well too. It also easily connects to a television to show slide shows, along with any playlist you want to have behind it. Very nifty gadget -- and it even plays Solitaire. Also, when you connect your iPod to the computer it can act as a hard drive -- and with USB 2.0 or Firewire 400 (it supports both) it is almost as fast as the hard disks in your computer. Battery life is good, Apple says 15 hours, I keep recharging it when I connect to my computer so I can't verify that, but if you use playlists exclusively (it caches stuff if you use it correctly to reduce hard disk accesses which drain the battery the most) that sounds about right. If you use the hard disk a lot (like when you're showing slide shows) think more in the 5 hour range (their number, and it sounds about right too). It comes in a convenient carrying case, I got the remote to go along with it (costs extra), and it is fabulous. It even has enough audio driving horsepower to make my studio headphones blast uncomfortably -- which is saying something, most players can't drive large phones that well. I'm very pleased. The only complaints are the lack of bi-directional synchronization (at least not without a third-party app or wading through their hidden directory structure). I use multiple computers, and I actually own the music I have on the thing, it would be nice if they let me sync that way. But with manual sync, it isn't that big of a deal. It would be nice if they supported gapless playback (they don't -- there is a small gap in between songs, even the "concept" albums that should have no breaks in-between songs). It would also be nice to be able to archive playlists on your home computer, which it isn't apparent that you can do easily. I suppose this is to ensure you aren't listing songs no longer on the iPod, but if you switch from manual to automatic sync, they're gone, so it would be nice to not have to recreate them. Those are minor gripes though, I'm a happy camper with this thing. Graecyn has jokingly dubbed it "the new love of [my] life".

So now that you've heard of the "new toy" and some "new events" -- what's this "new me" thing? Well Graecyn and I have gotten ourselves on the South Beach Diet. We're about a week in, and we've both lost just shy of 10 pounds. We are on the "strict" first phase of the diet, but aside from eschewing some of our favorites (beer, bread, other alcohol, and did I mention beer) we've been liking the program. We have stuck to it and will try to continue to do so -- with any luck we'll be in much better shape as a result. The diet doesn't leave me hungry, I just eat better, and less. You'd be surprised, if you eat the right stuff, you can be satiated with much less than you're used to. A good friend of mine is going for her RD, and she suggested this one to me. I'm glad she did.

Aside from that, not too much else to report. Just been reading, listening to music, and generally enjoying it all. Until next time take care.

Music and "coming home" ...

On Friday the 8th Graecyn and I hit up the 9:30 Club for a little concert action. As it turned out, she had never been to the club so she was in for a treat. We went to the early show which had Stroke 9 and Vertical Horizon playing for our listening enjoyment. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to MC at Slope Fest back at Cornell where Stroke 9 was playing and I got to introduce them. Once again they had a great set. They were promoting their forthcoming release and played all the old songs that made me a huge fan. Following up S9 was Vertical Horizon, who I had seen before too. Many summers ago I saw them at the 9:30 when "We Are" off Everything You Want was becoming a huge hit. Nolly, who used to be PD of WVBR and was working for WHFS at the time, was there and got me to meet the band afterwards. Definitely some cool guys. Anyhow, after that show I had become a big fan of theirs exploring their more acoustic back catalog and really appreciating what they had done. This night they played a lot of the hits, and also a lot of the stuff from their past. This was their home audience (they formed while they were in Georgetown) and the show was great.

The following weekend I made my way far above Cayuga's waters for Cornell's Homecoming. This was my first time back since I MCed the Dump and Run event over a year ago, and I took another Cornellian along for the ride that had sent an e-mail out looking for a way to get up there. Heather and I became fast friends and talked non-stop for both the ride up and the ride down. Once I was back in Ithaca, I met up with Matt Todaro and we hit up Ling Ling Garden for some of the delicious goodness that I had been missing all these months. After that we met up with Brian Lowe for a bit of frosty refreshment and lots of conversation. I ended up leaving his place around 4 in the morning and made it out to my Aunt's place in Horseheads shortly thereafter.

On Saturday I made my way back to the station were I met up with Matt and the gang and we headed over to campus to digitize some footage of the old 227 Linden building. We then made our way to the station (after picking up some stuff from the campus store) and went to the wine and cheese reception for alumni. I saw a lot of familiar faces and people I hadn't seen in years. I also met the new Dean of Students and we discussed digital music policy and the university's decision to use Napster for subscription audio-on-demand services. Since I had worked for a year as the general manager of the station, I knew a lot about the laws that are out there regarding this kind of stuff and we had a great talk. It is good to see that Cornell has an administrator who "gets it" -- he even took my number down so we could talk about some of my ideas further. After that we made our way down to Bistro Q for a homecoming dinner which was pretty good (and alcohol notwithstanding, free). After dining, Larry Epstien and I made our way to Rulloff's for a couple cold ones, and we were joined shortly thereafter by Chris Bianchi. After an hour or so we made our way back to where we were staying and got some sleep.

On Sunday I made my way back and enjoyed the brunch with some of the alumni that had been planned, followed by a board meeting. After that I took Matt to the airport, picked up Heather, and made my way back home (with apples and cider from the Cornell Orchards in tow). I have pictures of the event here.

Monday marked Graecyn and my three month anniversary, so we celebrated in style with a bling dinner at David Greggory. We started things off with a delicious assortment of deviled eggs, I had a paprika potato soup and she had a Caesar salad. We washed it down with a cocktail they called the DGini that was quite good. That was followed up by a porterhouse steak in fried onions for me and a strip steak with garlic mashed potatoes for her. I had a delicious Pinot Noir with my porterhouse. That was followed up by a dessert called a Smores in Greek's Clothing which had a sumptuous brownie layered with three sheets of phyllo dough and drenched in a creme anglaise. I also had a delicious 10 year tawny port to round off the evening and she had a mexican hot chocolate -- after which we made our way home, contented and happy.

That about gets you up to date, more as it happens right here. Until then take care.

Sun, fun, and declining temperatures ...

Since I've been spending a lot of time with Graecyn of late, there has been much in the way of movie watching. As I've mentioned before, I am a Netflix subscriber -- which greatly simplifies the process of selecting and renting movies. Graecyn doesn't have a TV (which is a good thing -- it is so nice to be able to talk and read together instead of watching mindless dreck on cable), so I've taken to bringing over my laptop as an impromptu dvd player, and that has worked pretty well. The only thing that was missing was the ability to not need to wait for the discs to get through the mail ... what if you could download the movies while still paying a fixed fee? Enter Starz Ticket. Basically you have all you can watch access to 150 movies on Starz each month (titles rotate on and off every week) and you download the movies over your broadband connection (only 600kbps and up need apply -- they won't let you sign up unless you've got a solid connection). So far I'm liking it. It would be great to have unlimited selection, but even with the 150 a month selection, I've been pleased ... and you don't even need to be connected to watch the movies -- I've even watched movies on my evening commute. Kinda neat.

What else have I been up to? Well, Graecyn and I hit up Virginia Beach on the 25th of September. The weather was phenomenal and we had a great time. It was quite crowded -- the Neptune festival was going on and they had some really cool sand sculptures on the beach. The water was a bit brisk initially, but was perfect once you got in for a while. Afterward we took our sandy selves to a cool pizza place near the beach where we had a barbecue chicken pizza and then made our way back home.

The following week brought a few nights eating out ... including a trip to Hops for some delicious microbrew and steak :-) Last weekend we took things easy and did a little shopping. On Sunday we also helped my Mom move some stuff around the house and had dinner with her before calling it a night.

This week has been pretty laid back, and this weekend promises to be much the same. Graecyn may be getting a TV, there will be more presidential debates, and more life will be lived. As always, I'll keep you posted.

Shows, trips, pictures, and other stuff ...

I've been busy again, so I apologize for the slowness of the update. On the 2nd I went to see a concert put on by Concerts for Change with OK Go, We Are Scientists, and Two if by Sea with my girlfriend. Locals Two if by Sea put on a pretty good show, and We are Scientists were really good. OK Go rocked the house as you'd expect. While not as good as the show I saw back in February, it was still a good one -- and of course, they ended the set with their legendary boy-band performance. Completely hilarious.

The following night I saw Liz Phair, The Cardigans, Katy Rose, and Charlotte Martin. Charlotte started out first, and was sad to see the end of the tour -- but also a bit hostile to the audience -- a big change from the last time I saw her opening for the Psychedelic Furs in August of 2003 (where she was quite shy and timid in an endearing way -- and where I also got to meet her). After Charlotte came Katy ... a very young artist. The music press seems to be in between calling her the heir apparent to Liz Phair and making comments about the triteness of the lyrics in her songs ... She put on a pretty decent show, but seemed very young and lacking of maturity (which admittedly makes sense). The crowd was into her set though, and I was entertained. The Cardigans came on next and were a band that showed their years of experience. They played almost all of their hits, with the notable exception of Lovefool. Evidently they almost never play Lovefool ... and since this was the last show of the tour, Liz Phair started out her set by commenting on that ... and covering it. Liz was incredible as always -- comfortable on stage, and much more sexually provocative than the last time I saw her in April. I was right out in the front and she was practically making love to the audience ... let's just say she had on blue underwear that night. The show was a lot of fun and at the end of the show she even autographed my ticket.

Labor Day weekend brought much in the way of relaxation and barbecue. A particular hit was my barbecue chicken -- steaks and bratwurst also were favorites :-)

Last Friday, Graecyn and I went to Tony and Joe's down at Washington Harbour and had a delicious meal outside under the night sky. I had Mahi Mahi which was quite good and finished off with some port for dessert. On Saturday, Graecyn and I drove down to the Shenandoah mountains on Skyline Drive and took in the beautiful scenery both in the car, and on foot doing a little hiking. It was gorgeous out and we had a blast ... you can check out some pictures here.

As for this week, I've been hanging out with Dan quite a bit ... he's leaving the country for several months to teach English in France next week. There's that excuse to visit Europe I've been looking for :-) I wish him all the best over there. This weekend I'll be joining dad for a corporate picnic down in Annapolis at a crab house (yum) and saying goodbye to Dan before he heads out. Other than that, not too much planned. I'll keep you posted.

So I've been a busy boy ...

It has been a significant amount of time since the last time I wrote here ... and I've been busy. Concerts, going out, and losing my single status ... it has been a good few weeks. On Friday the 9th I went out with some co-workers to send off a consultant who had been working at the office. Along the way I got to meet some cool new people, and we hit up Front Page for drinks, Sequoia for dinner and more drinks, and then to Mr. Smith's for a little more revelry. It was a very good time. The next day (Saturday) I made my way to Live on Penn where I saw Eve 6 and Old 97's on Pennsylvania Avenue downtown. While there I happened to run into Lisa and John, two VBR Alumni who I hadn't seen in quite some time. The show was great, I particularly enjoyed Eve 6's set. Afterward I was met by Chris and Jeff aned we went to the Brickskeller for a couple drinks before heading home.

The following Monday I met up with Randy and Becky and went to Adams Morgan where I read some of my poetry at an open mic night. I had been inspired by Randy reading in the past, and people were really into my stuff. I read both with and without backing music, and everyone seemed to love my voice (working in radio has its advantages I suppose). All in all I had a lot of fun. On Thursday (the 15th) I went to the 9:30 Club and saw Midtown and Lostprophets. Midtown was alright ... they didn't play the song I wanted to hear though. Lostprophets had their moments, but were just a little too loud for me that evening, so I did something that I almost never do ... leave early.

Also, since you and I last met up here, I had some fairly serious illness in the family (which is one of the main reasons I had not been updating). Thankfully, due to excellent treatment, a speedy recovery is underway and all should be back to normal in the near future :-) Thank you to everyone who was so supportive to me while that was happening.

On Friday, August 13th I saw Bebel Gilberto in concert, and even though she was an hour late, she put on an incredible show at the 9:30. For those of you unfamiliar with Bebel, she is a Bossa Nova singer, daughter of the legendary Joao Gilberto, and she has a sultry, seductive, and captivating voice that is usually set over post-modern production and downtempo beats. I went with a friend of mine, and it was definitely a good time. She had never heard of Bebel, but went on my recommendation ... and was not disappointed :-)

On the 17th of August Allison was back in town for a little bit on break from her graduate studies, so we decided to catch-up over dinner at Vidalia (a nice restaurant with elegant southern cuisine). Afterward we went to Rumors for a couple of drinks and then parted ways. It was great to see her again.

Finally, as noted above, I'm not single at the moment, which is a good thing :- ) I've been dating a wonderful girl for almost a month and a half now and we've been having a great time. We've gone out to more restaurants than I can possibly recount here, and we have done some barbecuing together as well. She also makes some of the best Jambalaya I have ever tasted :-) All in all life is pretty good of late. I've got some concerts on the horizon, as well as some other random excitement. I'll try to keep you posted a bit more regularly -- and if you'd like to catch-up in person give me a shout. Until next time, take care.

Bombs bursting in air, grilling, and watch hunting (Part 3 or 3) ...

This continues from the first two parts of this update (see the previous two entries first if you haven't already) ... After I got back from vacation I helped Mom bring her bags in and after a while made my way down into the District. I met up with my buddy Jeff and we went to the grounds of the Washington Monument to see the annual fireworks display. There had been inclement weather throughout the day, so there weren't as many people as you would have expected ... but their loss was our gain. The show was good, but I think shows from previous years may have been a little better. After the fireworks Jeff and I went to John Harvard's for some dinner and a few of their delicious microbrews. We caught up for a while and then both headed back on Metro to head home. I ended up crashing at Mom's place and the following day we did a little watch shoppping. You'll remember from part 2 of this series that my watch got destoyed while I was on vacation. So I was on the hunt for a new one. As it turns out, the watch I had before, a Timex Data Link, is no longer made in the version that I had. Now it is only available in a version with a clunky USB connector and a resin face (which is more easily scratched than a hip hop record). I decided it was time to look into a watch with a bit more refinement. We went over to look at some of the Seiko Kinetic timepieces available, and also at some of the other options out there. After doing a little browsing, I went back to Mom's empty-handed and we made some bratwurst for a delicious late lunch. After that I headed home and started to catch up with the mountain of correspondence that had piled up in my absence.

Tuesday was a very busy day at work and I had many meetings and lots of things to attend to that had come up while I was away. I met with Mom for lunch and that night I did some grilling at home and enjoyed a fairly low-key evening. Yesterday, I took a trek down to take a look at some more watches, specifically the Citizen Skyhawk Titanium Eco-Drive. This is a watch that never requires batteries, charging itself from the ambient light it is exposed to daily. My buddy Eric swears by his Eco-Drive, so I thought I'd look into a model that suited me. It is definitely a cool watch, with chronograph, international time, analog and digital time-keeping, and alarms. After seeing it with my own eyes I decided to take the plunge and ordered it on-line from Amazon for a savings of about $205 as compared to retail. As I write this, I have been informed that it has already been delivered ... quite the feat considering it was shipped from Canada! I'm looking forward to getting it all set up tonight.

Another interesting thing ... when I got back from vacation, along with the mountains of e-mail I had to wade through was a message sent from my feedback page from a girl in Chicago who had come upon my site and really liked it. Specifically, she liked the pictures and analyses of the concerts I had been to, and wondered if I had some unposted pictures of a concert I went to this Spring. Very cool. I was more than glad to share them with her and it is definitely cool that people like what I write about. It has always amazed me how many people visit this page (we're talking more than 100 hits a week) ... and a lot of repeat hits too. So if you're someone who visits here regularly or who likes the site, drop me a line. It would be cool to hear from you.

As for what's in store for this week ... a lot of possibilities but nothing concrete. I'll probably be going out tonight, tomorrow night, or Saturday (or some combination of those). If you'd like to join me let me know.

A quiet week down by the sea (Part 2 of 3) ...

Picking up from where part 1 left off (see the previous entry if you haven't read it) ... Sunday morning I headed down to Ocracoke Island. It was a rather lengthy drive that was made all the more bearable with the goodness of satellite radio. The majority of the drive is the same as the trek down to Virginia Beach ... with a right turn down to the Outer Banks. Once you get onto the Outer Banks, you are quickly put on a two lane (one for each direction) highway called NC 12. As it turns out Ocracoke Island does not have a bridge that goes to it -- you are entirely dependent on a ferry that takes off from the Southern portion of Hatteras Island every half hour or so for a 40 minute trek to Ocracoke. The majority of the island is uninhabited -- owned by the National Park Service as part of the Hatteras National Seashore. This is a welcome thing for the most part, as you get a much more beautiful and relaxing beach. Ocean City (both NJ and MD) are overly commercial almost ugly places with billboards screaming at you, flying advertisements, and non-stop concessions everywhere you turn. OC-NJ even has the gall to charge you just for sitting on the beach! Ocracoke isn't like this, it is just a quiet beautiful stretch of beach that has nothing commercial in sight. This makes for a more relaxing experience ... and the beach is surprisingly clean as well. Devoid of litter and of that scourge of the shores, jellyfish, the only thing you had to contend with was the occasional appearance of seaweed. Sometimes the wind was quite strong, but one day (Friday) the conditions were as close to perfect as could be expected, and I got a good amount of swimming and reading in. The inhabited part of the island is about 12 miles from the ferry, and we had a cottage that we rented for the occasion. All in all we spent about a week on the island and pretty much took things easy. It was a nice change of pace from my usually fast-paced life. My mother brought the puppy as well, who acted as a bit of an alarm clock (vast untapped energy source that he is) but all in all a good time.

On the island we went to quite a few dining establishments. The one with the best beer selection was a place called Howard's Pub. Their food was passable, but the beer is what made it worth the trip. Definitely an unexpected treasure in this small town that you can traverse on foot in about twenty minutes. On the marina was another place, called sMcNally's or "Smacks" as they call themselves. Their beer selection was much more limited, but the food more than made up for it. Their burgers were excellent -- I recommend "The Cowboy" which was a BBQ burger with a fried onion ring. All of the seating was on the docks of the marina and they played Sirius Satellite Radio in the background, which made me smile. The last night we were there we went to Captain Ben's which was a middle-of-the-road seafood place where I had some sea scallops. For more upscale diners we went to Cafe Atlantic which had a modern decor and some delicious food. I had a sushi-grade seared tuna cooked rare which was quite good along with a tasty Merlot. We also went to a place called the Pelican, which had beautiful outdoor seating under mimosa trees. While there I had a decent grilled Mahi Mahi and their house label microbrew, which was surprisingly good. We also went to a place called the Back Porch, which had upscale cuisine on a wooden porch (nope, not just a clever name) that was screened-in. I had a rather rich scallop dish accompanied by Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale, and finished it off with a toasted coconut ice-cream.

On Wednesday, we went to the Ocrafolk Opry, a local showcase of island talent. The entertainment wasn't bad at all, and my mother in particular was enjoying the music that was being performed. One of the vocalists, an eleventh grade student on the island, had a disarmingly deep, resonant, and soulful voice eerily reminiscent of Amy Lee of Evanescence ... if she wants to be in the music business as a career, she'll probably have good luck with it. Most of the remainder of our time was spent exploring the historical elements of the island on our bikes (which we rented). On the first full day we were on the island, my wristwatch broke, leaving me without a sense of time. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm someone who is constantly aware of time and heavily dependent on my watch. However, after a couple days it was somewhat refreshing to not know what time it was and to do things because I wanted to, not because they were on a schedule. I found myself going to bed earlier and waking up earlier too (sometimes the puppy helped with that). I'll definitely be getting a new watch soon, but it is interesting how a sense of time can really color one's existence. Sunday we took the long journey home, and after many hours and a few encounters with thunderstorms, we made it back.

This doesn't bring us up to date, only up until Sunday afternoon so look for another update soon -- part 3 in this series.

Much to update you on, first some rock and film (Part 1 of 3) ...

On Thursday (the 24th of June) I headed to Arlington after work to meet up with my Dad for dinner. Unfortunately, this was to take some time and effort -- there had been a fire on the Metro and they were single tracking the trains making them run only once every 20 minutes (once every 40 if you cared about which line you were taking ... I did, but I lucked out). The trains were already packed (this was happening at rush hour) so there were only a handful of spots available. Luckily, being a regular, I knew where the doors would end up, and I was one of the lucky few to get on the first train to Arlington. After what seemed like a cramped eternity, I made it to Courthouse Metro where I made my rendezvous with Dad. We were there to see my brother perform that night at Iota with his band Vetiver. Dad and I dined at the Clarendon Grill -- which has reasonably priced food, decent beer selection, and the added bonus of being about 2 blocks from Iota. Afterward we went to Iota and saw Andy and company unpacking their gear from their van. Vetiver was on first and they gave a fantastic performance ... and I'm not just saying that because Andy is my brother, they were great. The sound was great, and the interplay between Andy's vocal and guitar and the cello and violin made for an absolutely magical sound. The space was a bit more "rock and roll" than you'd expect for a quiet set like theirs, but it worked out remarkably well I thought. After Vetiver came Joanna Newsom, who is a virtuoso at the harp ... yes, the harp. I had never experienced first hand how beautiful that instrument can sound. Joanna's vocals were distinctive ... and I have to say, I think you either like them or hate them (I liked them). She had some beautifully crafted songs. The headliner of the set was one of my brother's best friends, Devendra Banhart. The buzz around Devendra has been incredible, and the music he puts out is pretty much unlike anything you've ever heard before. All of his songs are short and his voice lends an other-worldly tone to the songs that is distinctive and refreshing. After his set Vetiver and Joanna Newsom came back out on stage to perform together -- and what a full and beautiful sound it was. Afterward, I got a chance to talk with Andy for a bit, and he hooked me up with a t-shirt and a cd that I'll be listening to very soon.

Friday brought another day, and another venue for Vetiver and company. After work I made the trek down to Charles Street in downtown Baltimore to see them once again at the Mission Space. This space was much more the kind of venue you'd expect for a set of artists like Vetiver, Joanna Newsom, and Devendra Banhart. It was intimate, focused on the music and not on the selling of alcohol, and brightly lit. We grabbed some thai food before the show at a restaurant nearby and had a beer at an Irish pub next door. After hanging out in the green room for a bit the show started with another amazing set by Vetiver. The place was sold out well in advance and the crowd really seemed to enjoy the set. Next up was Joanna who had another beautiful set with her harp. Last up was Devendra, who really seemed to come into his own at this venue. Finally, all three groups got onto the small stage and performed together -- doing a rousing version of "Amour Fou" off Vetiver's album that was quite wonderful. After the show they were invited to Ottobar for a couple drinks and I joined them. Afterward we parted ways and I headed back home.

Saturday was a day filled with laundry, laundry, and yet more laundry. I was to go on a week-long vacation the following day to Ocracoke Island with my mother and grandmother, so I'd need clean clothes. That evening, I went out with a friend to see Fahrenheit 9/11. I think a reviewer at the Washington Post said it best (and I'm paraphrasing here), no matter what your political leanings ... it is hard to leave that movie without hating Bush. And so it was ... the movie very artfully put together through a mountain of archival footage to put forth Michael Moore's point of view ... but here was the brilliant part ... unlike his previous movies where he's right up there front and center, he stayed out of the movie for the most part. He let the footage speak for itself. In so doing, he made the film much more powerful. In fact, I think there will be many who see this film who will take it at face value -- not really examining it critically -- because they will feel that it is irrefutable fact. There has been a lot of debate on this one, and there will continue to be a lot of debate. As for my political leanings and thoughts, I will remain silent here, but I will say that from the standpoint of cinema, it was very well done. Ideologically, it is either extremely patriotic or traitorous ... where in that spectrum it lies is up to you.

I'll pause here and continue in the next entry where we left off as the length of the entry is such that it has to be split into multiple parts. Next up is my vacation ...

A very busy time indeed ...

It seems like ages since you and I caught up. What can I say, I've been busy. I don't even think it will be possible to recount the events of the last few weeks in their entirety, but alas, that's what I do here, so here goes something. On Tuesday the 8th Dan and I went down to Oriole Park at Camden Yards to see a little interleague play between the O's and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Randy Johnson was pitching, and his handiwork was a big part of the stunning defeat of the home team, 8-1. Afterward we hit up the Inner Harbor for a little drink and wings action. That Friday I met up with Eric at John Harvard's for some dinner and fresh microbrewed goodness. Afterward we met up with Will at the Front Page where we spent the rest of the evening. On Saturday, I ventured back into the city to meet up with Randy and Yoni downtown. We started out at Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe for a couple beers in the open air. Yoni had his cousin and a couple other friends along with him and after introductions, I found out that his friend's sister, Becky, goes to Cornell and was down here for the summer. After we settled our tab, Randy, Yoni, Yoni's cousin, and I went to Adams Morgan for a little more nightlife. We knew one of the bouncers at Fasika, so we went there ... and it was a decidedly urban experience. We danced for an hour or so and then made our way back downtown.

On the following Monday (that's the 14th for those of you keeping score at home) I met up for dinner at the Front Page with Becky. After getting our fill of food and drink we were picked up by Randy and we drove up to Adams Morgan for a little spoken word action. Randy was performing (he was quite good) and Becky and I took in the show. I missed the last train, so I walked Becky home and then hailed a cab. On Tuesday, I went to a concert at Iota with Terry. Jem was playing and she had an absolutely wonderful set. Her voice was every bit as sultry and sensual as her CD and she even played some covers from Stevie Wonder and Stone Roses. Somewhat surprisingly, she had a full backing band, complete with drums, guitar, and bass. A few of the songs even brought out a gigantic double bass to complement the sound. There were also many sequencers, as you would expect, and she even had her voice sampled, so she was doing harmonies and fill-ins with herself -- which was a bit odd, but it didn't take away from the experience. I had seen pictures of her before, but it was amazing how young she was. All in all a very good show. On Friday I went over to a friend's place and watched "24 Hour Party People" -- a movie about the rise of Joy Division and New Order and the scene that sprung up around them in Manchester. On Saturday I met up with Dan and his girlfriend and we went to Milford Mill, which is an old quarry near Baltimore that is filled with water and has zip-lines and ropes rides that allow you to swing into the water like Tarzan. We brought the grill along too and had some burgers and bratwurst. We had a blast and stayed until closing. Sunday, Becky and I went to the Cornell picnic that happens every Father's day and joined my dad along with hundreds of other alumni. President Lehman was there to speak and meet people, and we had a good time out on Austin Kiplinger's estate. After the picnic, Becky and I went back down to DC and had some dinner with her roommate followed by a trip to Tower Records and some ice cream. After chilling at Randy's place for a bit, we called it a night and I headed home.

Monday night I hung out with Randy and grabbed some take-out from Meiwah. We advanced another level on an Xbox game we've been battling, and then called it a night. Last night Becky joined me for a trip to Camden Yards once again. We were met at the park by Dan and his girlfriend. The O's were playing the New York Yankees ... and we got trounced 10-4. It was a great time though, and we eventually migrated to some great seats behind home plate. After dropping Dan and Sara in Annapolis, I drove Becky home to DC and I then went back up to Columbia, where I slept like a baby :-)

Tomorrow I'll be seeing my brother perform at Iota with his band Vetiver. Also on the bill will be Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. I can't wait to see Andy again and look forward to catching up after the show. He's also performing down in Baltimore on Friday at the Mission Space Gallery. On Saturday I've been invited to a movie, so I may go to that. On Sunday I'll be heading out on vacation for a week to the Outer Banks. Like I said ... I've been busy :-)

That about does it for now, until next time take care and have fun.

New music, new places ...

What a great week in review. After catching up with some friends earlier in the week (and enjoying the abbreviated week) I made my way to Annapolis on Thursday to visit Dan. We ended up going to a concert at the Ram's Head Tavern with Bluegrass artist Tim O'Brien. Normally, that's not up my alley when it comes to concert-going, but I have to say, I really enjoyed the show. Friday night I met up again for another date with the aforementioned incredibly cool girl -- this time we went to Saint-Ex for dinner, and then she introduced me to the Chi-Cha Lounge. The lounge was a very cool place with hip downtempo and chill electronica playing amidst a sea of couches. I had a great time.

Over the weekend, I pretty much took it easy -- got some reading in, watched some movies, and played a little xbox. I also cleaned out my car, which now looks delightfully clean. Last night I got back into the gym after a long work-induced hiatus and it felt good to get back into the routine. Afterward I joined Randy on Capitol Hill for dinner at La Brasserie for some French cusine. I had the French onion soup, a chicken and rosemary tart, bananas foster, and a delicious port to finish it off. This week a few tentative plans in the works, but not too much concrete. I'll let you know more as it happens.

Lots of work, followed by lots of fun ...

This past week was extremely busy at work ... I stayed until around 2 in the morning on Tuesday and past midnight on Wednesday. The good thing is that the project hit the major milestone and was a success. Very good stuff.

Naturally, I had some major steam to blow off after that kind of schedule. On Friday night I took Mom out to dinner at Saint-Ex where we caught up over some delectable dishes. Afterward I made my way to the 9:30 Club, where Andrew W.K. was playing. You'll recall from past entries, his shows are a spectacle to behold. This show was no different. The Locust opened up ... and they weren't much to write home about -- every song was the same, it was almost comical. They are the quintessential way to tick-off your parents ... so if you're an angsty teen ... buy this album. If not, well, I'd stay away. Andrew W.K. on the other hand, rocked. An amazing show with around 100 people from the audience on stage and all the associated madness. Quite a show.

On Saturday I met up once again with one of the coolest girls I have met in quite some time for dinner, drinks, and a movie. We went to Clarendon Grill for dinner, then hit up Common Grounds for some coffee and then went to the theatres for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The movie was excellent -- a definite mind trip that has you thinking throughout its entirety. It raises the idea of being able to wipe an ex from your memory and the implications of that decision. The movie is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining and leaves you in awe of its storytelling. It is near the end of its theatrical run, but if you haven't seen it, I'd recommend it. As for whether I'd choose to erase memories of past relationships -- I don't think so. Even though there is a lot of pain, I would not want to lose the good memories that accompany the bad. Adversity has a way of making us grow in ways that tend to better who we are (and make us avoid future adversity as a result). I'll keep my memories intact, thank you :-)

Today I did a little barbecue in addition to getting some relaxation on (so good). As for tomorrow, probably just taking it easy. This week, few plans yet, save another date on the horizon :-) I'll keep you posted -- have a wonderful holiday.

Rock and celebration ...

As foreshadowed in my previous news entry, I went into the city on Saturday and met up with some Cornell buddies for the evening. Eric and Jeff joined me for some food and drink at Saint-Ex and then we made our way to the 9:30 club where we were joined by Chris and Tory for the Pat McGee band live in concert. Craig Honeycutt opened up and did a fairly decent job -- nothing inspired, but not unwelcome. The crowd was talking consistently over his quiet set so it was hard to hear him clearly. It was obvious that the crowd was there for the Pat McGee band. Pat was in good form Saturday night -- this was the third time I have seen the band and they were the most comfortable I have seen them on stage. They did a huge set spanning over two hours and fifteen minutes and covered most of the hits. They also did a bunch of U2 covers and the crowd loved every moment of it. They started with Runaway -- the radio hit most people will remember from them, and ended with a 15 minute version of Rebecca (another of their hits and one of my favorite songs from them). All in all a good show. Afterward I was joined by Eric, Jeff, Chris, and Tory for some of the delectable goodness that is Ben's Chili Bowl -- I had a chili half-smoke and split some chili-cheese fries with Eric. Good times. Chris and I got one of the last trains out of the city around 2:30 and we all parted ways.

Sunday I helped Dad out with some yard work (we ripped up some moss that had grown in the front yard and laid down some new top soil and grass seed). It was quite hot outside and I very much looked forward to the point where we had to water the new seeds ... as I watered myself as well :-) Later on that evening I went over to Dan's place where his mom was holding a graduation party for him and Lisa. The place was packed with people -- I think around 60 were invited. Among the guests was my fifth grade teacher who I hadn't seen since I was in fifth grade! I told her what I've done with my life and she actually remembered me. Afterward, some of Lisa's friends invited Dan, Eric, and me to a backyard pool. We spent a couple hours splashing around and had a good time.

It looks like this weekend there is a good chance I'll be going out to see a movie. Other than that, not too much planned. I'll probably be working late a lot, but if you want to do something in the evening this week, give me a shout.

A mini-vacation in my home town ...

So this was a pretty incredible week. Monday through Friday I was in Herndon where I was getting some job-related training. For those of you that know the DC area, you know that getting to Herndon from Columbia in rush hour is a euphemism for a female dog (about two hours each way ... gulp). Luckily I have some awesome family and friends. Mom lives about an hour away (during rush hour ... 25 minutes otherwise) so I crashed with her Sunday night and Monday night. Tuesday through Friday I crashed at Eric's place -- he actually lives walking distance from where I needed to be. One of the most beautiful commutes I have ever had ... I could be out of the shower at 8:50 and be in class by 9:00.

On Tuesday night Eric and I went out with some of his co-workers to TGI Friday's. We had a blast -- Darien and Jeff I already knew, but his boss and another co-worker were really cool as well. I think we were there talking for about 6 hours -- very good times. Later on in the week Eric and I alternated ordering in and going out ... and enjoying the breathtaking goodness embodied by his 50" HDTV :-)

Friday was the last day of classes for my training, and that evening I had a date planned downtown. I had an absolutely wonderful evening -- we hit up The Front Page (and Chris hooked us up with free shots in addition to our drinks) and finished things off at Cosi for some iced coffee and tea. Not gonna jinx it by saying more, let's just say I had a great time :-)

Tonight I may go into the city and see a concert with some friends -- beyond that, nothing much planned. The project work is coming down to the last few days, so I'll probably be working late most of the week. I'll keep you posted.

Busy, busy, barbecue, busy ...

Yeah, so I've been pulling some late hours at work. The project is coming down to crunch time, so my life is not my own of late. During the week I have pretty much been working -- grabbing dinner downtown and such.

Last Friday Randy and I went to see Super Size Me after work. If you haven't heard about it, the film documents the author's experiment eating McDonald's food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If McDonald's didn't make it, he didn't eat it. He only super-sized when asked -- and didn't get diet anything ... but overall, he didn't go too overboard in his food choices. In the course of the month he descended from perfect health to dangerously ill, taking on almost 30 pounds and having liver function tests that frightened the doctors who were monitoring him. His cholesterol also skyrocketed from the mid hundreds to 220 or so -- the change in diet also caused him to have wild mood swings and what he believed was a form of depression. Basically, don't try this at home. As stark as all that sounds, the film was actually quite entertaining -- our protagonist has a great sense of humor. I crashed at Randy's place and went to work the next day (yes ... this is Saturday we're talking about). Saturday night I went out with Randy to the hatter and then headed to Mom's place to crash.

Sunday brought Mother's Day, and one thing my Mom loves is when I cook barbecue for her. So I cooked out on the grill not once, but twice. We had bratwurst and potato salad for lunch and my signature steaks for dinner -- juicy New York Strips ... positively delicious. I played with the puppy all the while ... who I am beginning to think is the world's largest source of untapped energy ... and enjoyed spending the day outside.

Since then not too much has happened ... I worked late on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday -- last night after staying an hour after at work I met up with Randy and tried something new. He has a friend who lives in his building who is studying Qigong, which is very similar to Tai Chi. He taught us some of the forms, and I have to say, it was quite relaxing. Definitely reduced my (very high) stress level last night. Afterward I decided to avail myself of the beautiful night and walked down by the Lincoln Memorial and then past the reflecting pool to the new World War II memorial. The Lincoln was packed with school kids, even though it was around 9 at night -- inside I reread the Gettysburg Address, definitely a beautiful speech. Kind of makes you wish we had leaders with powers of oration like that today. The World War II memorial was beautiful -- It just opened a few weeks ago, and it is quite a striking memorial -- I'll definitely have to stop back some day when it is light outside ... although seeing the memorials lit at night is absolutely beautiful. Sometimes working so hard all the time I can forget that I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world -- I definitely have to play tourist more often.

As for what's coming up in the not too distant future ... I might be helping a good friend celebrate his birthday tonight, I'll probably be working tomorrow, and Sunday is up in the air at the moment. Next week I'll be in training all week for technical things related to my project. I'll keep you posted.

Meeting new people and getting new toys ...

Things have been going well since we last caught up. Last week I met some new people and went out a fair amount. I actually met a girl who has almost identical interests in music to my own. Anyone who knows me well knows this is something that never happens. Anyhow, it looks like I'll have someone to go to some of the more obscure shows I delight in -- and have a cool new friend to boot. Quite good. I tried to avail myself of the beautiful weather last week (when it was around) and generally had a good time. I had dinner out on Wednesday with the aforementioned new friend, and got margaritas after work on Thursday with another new acquaintance. I went out on Friday hung out at the Front Page and after a long night made my way home.

On Saturday I took the plunge and bought a new toy. I hadn't bought a new game system since the original NES -- but playing with Randy got me to thinking I should pick up an X-Box. Very cool purchase -- I got the special edition version (it is green and comes with Halo) and also picked up GTA3 and Vice City. So far it has been a fun purchase. I also did some barbecue over the weekend.

Monday our project was taken out to lunch and I had a delicious strip steak (who says there is no such thing as a free lunch). Last night I hit up the gym for the first time in a while (with catered lunches most days due to the project, I can't really take my lunch hour to work out, and I've been going out a lot after work). It was amazing how good that felt to work out again. Good times. As for what's in store ... not sure. Might meet up with some friends, will probably do something special for Mother's Day, and beyond that I'm quite flexible. Until next time, take care.

Millions of people and many good times ...

Last time I was saying how I was going to break my streak of going out for every night for an extended period (in one way or another). The lure of the beautiful weather was too strong, and I decided to go for a walk on Wednesday night. I made my way up to the National Zoo. It was a fairly decent walk ... mostly uphill ... but absolutely incredible. Since I came from work, I got there after the buildings closed, but I was able to see some of the animals that are outside: a cheetah, an emu, some primates, a couple giraffes, and some elephants. It was absolutely beautiful out, and I hadn't been to the zoo since I was a kid. If you're in DC, definitely worth checking out. Afterward, I had a hunger to sate, so I kept walking up Connecticut Avenue to Cleveland Park where I ate under the setting sun at Yanni's Taverna where I had a some delicious beef souvlaki along with a Mythos beer. I followed it up with some Baklava (which was unfortunately quite soggy) and then made my way down to the metro and headed home.

On Thursday after work I met up with a friend I used to work with. He invited me to a soiree for alumni of a consulting firm he used to work with, so I joined him for some fine wine and hors d'oeuvres. Afterward, he and I went to Ozio for a couple drinks before parting ways. Since I was next door, I decided to stop by the Hatter and say hi to Chris, who was bartending that night. We caught up (I hadn't seen him in a while) and I even saw another Chris (from Cornell -- who went out with me a couple weeks back) who was there celebrating his girlfriend's birthday. The midnight hour was quickly approaching, so I hit up the metro and took the last train out of the city.

Friday there was a torrential downpour after work, so that put a damper on any plans on going out that night outside ... so I headed over to Randy's place and we got some Chinese delivery from Meiwah and started playing a new game on his Xbox, Time Shifters 2, which kept us occupied until late into the night. I crashed at Randy's place.

Saturday afternoon we headed up to the Front Page for some lunch and ate outside (it was beautiful once again) and saw the preparations for the March for Women's Lives in Dupont Circle complete with live music and excitement. That evening we hit up Saint-Ex for some drinks and food and ended up meeting a lot of people. We were dancing and socializing downstairs in "Gate 54" where they were spinning a lot of cool downtempo tracks. Afterward we went to Ben's Chili Bowl where I had a half smoke with chili (so good!) and we sat down with a bunch of college girls from North Carolina who were there for the march tomorrow (and had just gotten out of a house party). They were cool girls -- interesting conversation ensued and then Randy and I headed back to his place where I crashed once again -- it was a good night.

Sunday, Randy and I decided to check out the March for Women's Lives. It was quite a sight to behold -- estimates range from 500,000 people to 1.4 million from what I've seen, and the day of, CNN was reporting that it was the largest march in history -- and I was there. They had a lot of interesting speakers, and I was glad to show my support. There weren't all that many guys there ... maybe one in a hundred people ... by the end of the night I had been thanked many times over for showing my support. Certainly an interesting time. Afterward, Randy and I hit up John Harvard's for some dinner and drinks and after stopping by his place I headed home.

As for what's going on this week ... not sure yet. One thing I am sure of: it will be fun and you should join me.

Incredible weather brings incredible times ...

When last we did our little electronic rendezvous, I was headed down to DC for another evening of fun with friends. Eric, Jeff, Randy, and I went down to the Washington Harbour waterfront by Nick's Riverside Grill for a few drinks. The weather was near-perfect, and the place was packed. We talked with a few girls and then made our way over to the Madhatter by Taxi. More craziness ensued and we then took the walk up to the Front Page for yet more revelry. Afterward, we went to Randy's place, played a little Xbox, and then I drove Jeff and Eric home. By the time we got to Eric's place it was around 5 in the morning, so I crashed there once again.

The next morning after grabbing some lunch with Eric I made my way down the George Washington Parkway to visit my Mom and her new dog, Rascal. Mom and I took him out for a walk down the trail alongside the GW Parkway. He is a bundle of cuteness, and I have put some pictures up for your viewing pleasure. It was a positively beautiful day, and Rascal definitely turned heads. We walked a good distance, and on the way back he wasn't wanting to walk (he is only about 11 weeks old after all) -- so I carried him back to the car (which he seemed to love). Since goldens become 75-90 pounds, he better not get used to it! When we got back, my grandmother had made some delicious fried chicken which I enjoyed with a nice Sauvignon Blanc before making my way to Annapolis. Out in Annapolis I was joined at the Ram's Head Tavern by Eric, Jeff, A.J. and Dan for a couple brews and conversation. Good times.

On Monday I was thrilled to have yet another beautiful day. I decided to take the walk over to Saint-Ex where I had some dinner before yet another concert. As I enjoyed my dinner, I met two guys sitting next to me at the bar who are sales reps for Chimay in the area. We talked about our mutual love of beer, and they bought me a couple glasses of Chimay ... quite delicious. After dinner I made my way over to see the show at the 9:30. The Sounds were playing, and Division of Laura Lee opened up. Division was pretty good from what I saw ... but I didn't see much since I got in during the middle of their set. The Sounds were great. -- Maja Ivarsson was a rock goddess ... trashy, angry, loud, direct, and ready to rock. She seems ready to party just as hard as the boys and not afraid to be crazy on stage. They had a good set -- lots of Swedish eurotrash goodness with infectious hooks and guitar lines meshed with keyboards that make you want to move. Definitely good times.

Tuesday brought yet another concert, but this time I had company. I was joined by Terry and his buddy Steve. We first went to the Art Gallery for a beer, and then to Cafe Asia for edamame, miso soup, and of course sushi. After that we went to Saint-Ex for some of their Belgian beverage goodness and then on to the show. We saw Stereolab in all their glory. Their soft understated French and English vocals lilting in an almost Bossa Nova phrasing over danceable yet refined electronic beats is quite unique. They played a good set, and the vocal was crisp and clean. They didn't play everything ... but with a discography like theirs that would be hard to do. I missed "Ping Pong," but overall I enjoyed the show -- even if the 9:30 was uncharacteristically hot and stuffy.

So for those of you keeping track at home, that means I've been out the last 8 consecutive nights ... will I keep it up ... probably not. Tonight I might get a workout in or perhaps take a stroll through the district, but other than that I'll probably just take a break and relax. Later this week there may be more meeting up with friends, and I might even have a date if all goes well. Other than that, pretty much flying by the seat of my pants and enjoying this incredible weather. If you would like to meet up with me to enjoy the weather together, just drop me a line.

Spring Fever ...

I've been a busy boy this past week. On Tuesday night Terry and I went to the Madhatter where we decided to go see a show that was going on at the Black Cat. On the way there we stopped by Saint- Ex for a couple Belgian beers. They are the only bar I have been to that has Stella Artois, Delerium Tremens, and Chimay on tap. Needless to say, Terry and I were in beer heaven. We went from there to the club where we saw The Fall. It was a great show -- The Fall is an amazingly influential band that has managed to exist for over twenty years now. What they were doing back in the day can be seen in a lot of indie rock today. Mark E. Smith, the front man has rocked harder than most people that have lived to tell the tale. He's in his mid-forties now, and looks much older. He played the set seated, and presumably a little drunk, but he still rocked the house. Good show.

Wednesday, I went to yet another concert -- this time at Nation. After having one of the most thorough security examinations of my life (I've had girlfriends that didn't pat me down so vigorously ...) I went in to see Something Corporate, Yellowcard, and The Format. I had big hopes for The Format, their song "The First Single" is quite good, and the rest of the album isn't bad either. They had a decent set, but lacked the stage presence and ability to sing reliably in tune that the other acts did. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the set. Next up was Yellowcard. The EdNews faithful will remember that I saw them last year at the 9:30. Once again they rocked. These guys clearly love to rock, and love playing. Very tight set, and a very good time. Next up was Something Corporate, those piano rocking paragons of cute emo. The girls loved the cuteness of the band ... but they surprised me, they rocked. The lead singer did things to his piano that would make Steinway and Sons blush, jumping on it, attacking it, and rocking the crowd. The crowd loved these guys, and I have to say, I enjoyed the show too.

So two nights back to back in concerts ... yeah, that's going out a lot. But wait, there's more. On Thursday we had the first day of positively beautiful weather out there -- and I had yet another concert. Back in the Summer of 2001 I saw a band called the Pernice Brothers open up for the Posies. This was at the old Black Cat -- and it was an amazing set. The opening act made the crowd demand an encore ... which, unfortunately for the audience, they weren't allowed to do. I bought the CD that night and was an instant fan. Their perfect pop rocked, no doubt about it, and I loved the show. I even met a girl that night that I went on a date with -- so good memories. Fast forward to last Thursday. As it turns out, my brother is friends with Thom, the bassist for the band. Thom has been doing some mixing work for Andy's band Tussle. Andy knew I was a fan, so he had Thom put me on the guest list (yay free tickets). The show was incredible. Beforehand I went to Saint-Ex for dinner, and then saw the opening act, The Long Winters. They were actually really good. Reminded me of Harvey Danger attitude and pure pop sensibility. The Pernice Brothers were simply amazing -- so solid together and positively infectious. After the show I got to meet Thom and we talked about mixing with Pro Tools and music in general. He's a really cool guy, and said that the next time they're in town he'd put me on the list again. What a great night.

Then along comes Friday. I had sent out the call to a bunch of friends to go out that evening, and the weather cooperated. Randy and I went to the Washington Harbuor