My journal, oh how I have neglected you!

I’ve been ultra-busy lately at both work and home, but looking back at the journal, I haven’t written anything other than movie reviews in over a month.  I’m even way behind on the movie reviews! Christ I wasn’t that busy, I’m just neglectful.  I’m sorry journal.

In the past month, I’ve been working on a fun project at work that has occupied quite a few cycles.  My plan is to finish it by the end of June, and I don’t think that is an ambitious goal.  The sin-laws visited over the Memorial Day weekend, and while it was part social visit, it was clearly also part indentured servitude.  coco_b has wanted to better utilize the awesome evening light that was hitting the street side of the house, but much of it was sequestered in the front bedroom (which is her little yoga/reading/working/office/chill space).  After some discussions, we decided to replace the lame slab door (in the distance in that photo) to that room with a set of french doors.  This way the room was still a defined, separate room, yet open or closed, we still get the beautiful evening light and both rooms seem bigger.  Corinna’s parents have done a ton of work on their home, and her stepfather does cabinetry and woodworking as a hobby.  Even better, they always seem willing to help us out on whatever crazy projects we dream up.  :)

So they drove all the way down (er, over?) from Michigan, arriving Thursday evening…  We figured that if they were coming to give us so much free labor and advice, the least I could do was make sure they were well fed while they were here.  The night they arrived I whipped up some cheese fondue from scratch and we had some fresh bread from one of the local bakeries.  Even if it isn’t hip anymore, Fondue is a great way to eat and socialize at the same time.  Over the weekend I also made my signature pasta+cauliflower+cheese+onion dish, as well as some mediocre skewers, swordfish provencal, and I don’t remember what else (if anything).  My vacation time isn’t as copious as Corinna’s, so I worked on Friday while they begun demolition at the house. The door was significantly wider and a bit taller than the existing door, and we also had to relocate a light switch.  While I somehow optimistically thought that this would be a one or two day project, it ended up taking the entire weekend (not including jointing and painting).  We still managed to have fun, watched a few movies, ate lots of food, and just hung out, but I still think it’d be nice if we didn’t enslave them next time they visited. :)  Corinna finished most of the finish work this past weekend, and the end result is awesome.

Last Friday, jeffm was in town, and he suggested we all go to Fenway to see the Sox.  While this SHOULD have been awesome, the lineup was a little shaken up with injuries, and they got completely destroyed by the Mariners.  It was still a fun time, I had never been to Fenway with such a large group (8 people) before..  Afterwards we hit up Precinct in Union Square, which was quite a bit of fun, although it was a little out of the way for roryk and I.  Jeff’s friend Christen went to the game with us and works there, so we got a serious hookup.  New people, old friends, and good drinks ALMOST make up for shitty baseball.  Almost.

Total Insanity

This weekend was totally out of control… 

and I left for the annual Halloween Party in Dryden, NY after work on Thursday…  We made pretty good time, and listened to Game 2 of the World Series on the radio during the trip..  It was the first time I had listened to baseball on the radio, and I was surprised as to how easy it was to follow the game.  I look forward to being able to listen to games on Sirius after the merger during future trips.  We went straight to the Bed and Breakfast across the street from the Hammond/Gunther (or, as I have dubbed them, The Hamsters) household.  We saw the last inning of the game, and Corinna went to bed.  I joined the party across the street and stayed up far too late.   The weekend is a blur…  I actually even had a costume this year, it only took me 5 years to actually dress up for the big Halloween party.  There was a pig roast.   There were abandoned buildings.  There was

who is beginning his slow reign of the human race.

Sunday, after the long drive back to Boston, we settled in to watch what became the final game of the 2007 World Series.  I don’t know if it was because of my lack of sleep, but it was a real nail biter for me…  I was so completely shredded after the game that I nearly passed out.

I finally have a Mac at work.  This is a wonderful thing, but it will be awhile before I can really adopt it as my new machine as I am really busy on some contract work (i.e. the kind with really firm deadlines we have to deliver on) for the next few weeks.

Expanding Platform

Last night, while watching the Red Sox eviscerate the Rockies, I developed a few more pieces of my campaign platform:

  1. The original, Tacos at Fenway;  featuring Tacoby Shellsbury
  2. During the postseason, when the Red Sox are playing away, fans can get into Fenway on the cheap and watch the game on the big screen, surrounded by other fans.
  3. Cleat Babes.  I saw some old dude brushing the dirt out of Beckett’s cleats while he was waiting to pitch again.  Get rid of the old dude, replace him with a hotchick.