Christmas Decorations

Separate, but not Equal

A Gift Given

Thought you'd be happy to know that a cell phone was donated to Cell Phones for Soldiers. The Sprint PCS phone I had that your iPhone replaced is off in the post today. I understand that Cell Phones for Soldiers sells the phones back to their manufacturers and purchases calling cards with the proceeds. So, thanks to you (in a roundabout way) someone should be getting at least a few minutes to call their loves ones back home.

A Battle Well Won

Thanksgiving dinner was a challenge, but the battle is over. And we were victorious.

The Enjoyment (Part 2)

The Enjoyment (Part 1)

The Execution (Part 2)

The Execution (Part 1)

The Plan

Busy Weekend

This weekend I had friends visiting from Switzerland, Holland, and New York. I knew them from law school, Fletcher and the soccer team. and I had time to watch the Pats beat the Colts.

Pictured is my friend Patrick with his wife Thayer and their daughter Heidi.

I have got to get back to Utah sometime soon.

USA! USA! USA!

Did you see that the US won last nights friendly against South Africa? on a goal from a 17 year old reserve striker from the New York Red Bulls? who cares if they were outplayed all match? In the end, it's all about the scoreboard, baby.

Cloakatively

I adopted a word from a website called Save the Words. It's run by Oxford Dictionaries, and the idea is to prevent a word that has fallen out of use from being removed from the dictionary. You can choose which on you'd like, and I went with cloakatively, which I'm told means something akin to superficially. Expect to see it in the coming days.

This is a doodle I did during lunch at work. Do I have a future as a artist? You tell me.

Uploaded - 11\12\10

A Busy Week

This week was, seriously, the busiest I can remember. At least from a social perspective. Over last weekend, Max and his new wife Christina came up for a day or two. We explored the Boston area, went to Harvard Square, and watched the Pats beat up on the Ravens (which they weren't that happy about).

Monday night I had a Vikings (U6 practice) and a run afterwards.
Tuesday night I met up with Matt Levitt, my co-clerk at the SJC, and went to the gym afterwards.
Wednesday night I went to see "Waiting for Superman" and ate dinner at the CBC.
Thursday, the day I meant to rest, Bill Norton, my old law school roommate, came into town.
Friday night I played my first soccer game after hurting my knee (more than two months ago!) and then went out Hogan's Run afterwards.

Saturday morning I had a Vikings game at 9am, watched Maryland play BC (for a 24-21 victory) and then went out to a friend's house in Watertown.

And then on Sunday, he rested.

This weekend...

...actually, this weekend there wasn't a lot going on. Steve had a friend in from England all week, which entailed a lot of going out, so we've mainly been recovering.

The Burros had a soccer match on Friday, which they dropped 2-1. Did I tell you I hurt my knee? During the second to last game of the Spring season a kid blocked my shot and hurt my knee a bit. I went to the orthopedic doctor a while back and he said it probably wasn't serious and I should come back if it still hurt after two months. So I'm going back. Maybe a slightly torn meniscus? Strained ACL? I can walk, do the elliptical, and even run without problem. Is the side to side maneuvers that are problematic. We'll see what he says when I go back in.

The Vikings also dropped their game on Saturday. Our records hasn't been so good this season...

And that's pretty much it. I don't have off for Columbus Day, so it's into the office tomorrow.

Oktoberfest

So, the big event this weekend was a dual Oktoberfest/Farewell Party. The two became combined out of convenience, and the desire of the leaving party to not attract too much attention. In any event, both went well.

First, the Oktoberfest component. We ended up having 20-30 people show up, and almost everyone brought some tasty Oktoberfest beer. This complimented the little stock I'd been accumulating for the party very well. My favorites? Hooker, Victory, and Wachusett (a local brewery in Westminster, MA). Much fun was had by all.

The farewell party was a bit tougher. The farewelling was for Fred and Karen, friends of mine and Steve's, and their daughter Charlotte. Fred's company, Malvern, has strongly suggested that he move to, well, Malvern, England for a few years. Unfortunately, there's not a lot to do in that part of the island.

Even worse, during the farewell party Fred and Karen's babysitter rang them up, and they had to leave early. Nothing worse than having to leave your own party, but, as always, Char(lott)e's in Charge. Ha.

Incidentally, I originally met Karen through Jennifer Moody, who is a Westminster chick (she was good friends with Jenny Pogue, from down the street). They played soccer together at Radford University. And so Karen ended up on my soccer team, of course.

New York, New York

I had a fun time over the weekend in New York visiting Nic and Heather. I went down there on Thursday to their place in Kew Gardens in Queens. It's a nice, leafy little neighborhood, if a bit outside the city.

On Thursday night I met Nic after work and we went to Heartland Brewery for dinner and then to McSorley's, a famous, old-timey bar. So old, in fact, that there are wishbones hanging from a chandelier that were put there by soldiers heading ... to World War II. I'm not kidding. Soldiers would put them on the chandelier when they left and take them off when they got back. The ones that are still there have quite a bit of dust on them. It's unsanitary, if moving.

Friday I got up late, then visited Liberty Island and Ellis Island for the first time. On my way home, I walked by the World Trade Center site. It was good to see some construction being done, some ten years later. After that, a movie.

Saturday we went to a dumpling festival. Seriously. Not my idea. Afterwards, we went to Katze's Deli for a potato knish. That was two eating strikes. The evening was better. We went to New York's largest (only?) beer garden in Astoria where Nic and Heather used to live. The Bohemian Hall! Way too much fun there, which led to a very, very slow Sunday. Patriot's won! Giant's lost.

And that was my weekend in New York. The best part?

Twitter

I totally get Twitter now. For the longest time the whole concept eluded me. Maybe there were too many jokes about not wanting to know what people were doing every minute of the day. But that totally misses the point.

The point isn't to follow one person and listen to what they have to say about everything. The point is to follow hundreds of interesting celebrities, politicians, business leaders, nonprofits, businesses, and rock stars and listen to whatever they're thinking about. It's like an avalanche. It's constantly refreshing. I'm following 87 people on Twitter and there are updates every minute. For some reason 13 people are following me (I still haven't figured that one out yet).

Anyway, I suggest you go to Twitter, start an account, and start typing in the names of people and things you find interesting. Then just check in once and a while. It's entertaining at the very least.

But don't sign up to Steve Martin's account. He hasn't really gotten the hang of it yet.

Stewart / Colbert Rally

I'm excited. In response to the cries of the internet and Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are going to hold dueling rallies on October 30th on the National Mall. That they're dueling is pretty clearly a gimmick. But the rally is very real. And I'm going, and I'm bringing my friends with me. If ever there was a rally meant for me, this is it.

And what did it take to bring this about? Following Beck's rally there was a groundswell of support for a mocking, comedic rally in reaction. People were calling it a rally "Restore Truthiness." Then, a group of Redditors (the name for people who frequest the Reddit website) decided to up the ante. And up the ante they did. Figuring the best way to prompt Colbert was donating to his favorite charity they set about their work. In the end, they raised more than $250,000 for Colbert's favorite charity: DonorsChoose, a site that funds individual teachers and projects at schools around the country.

And that's all it took. Who knew? The cost of a satirical rally is $250,000.

See you on October 30th.