I guess it is probably time to force myself to go to bed now… Work should be interesting tomorrow, as I will most likely begin coding for the first time in awhile. Design is definately a requirement, and I fully appreciate it’s need in serious software development…. but while the design phase is occuring I really do feel impotent.
I spent today listening to music, cleaning up, watching tv, and even hanging out with Adam and Helen for awhile. They came over this afternoon and we headed out for lunch, going to some rotisserie place that was ok, but nothing terribly special. We came back and watched Drop Dead Gorgeous which the two of them hadn’t yet seen (and they enjoyed). Adam made some oatmeal lace cookies which were yummy, and they headed out of here after a few episodes of Good Eats.
I also spent some time getting Verizon to straighten out my bill, but I only accomplished half of that effort. This month I was being charged double for my DSL, which I straightened out fairly quickly. The random CPE charge from last month’s bill is still a mystery, so I will try and “stay on hold” tomorrow to find out what the fuck is going on with that.
Oh well, I guess that is all for now. Adam, Rory, and I are going to have to devote next weekend to finding an apartment, which will be oh-so-much fun.. At least I got to stay put for about a year, but I am really not looking forward to moving again.. Oh well, it could be fun living with people again, and it will definately be fun being able to save money for a change (as my rent will be cut in half… at least).
In reflection, I think I had more fun this time around in Rochester than I did in September. I think I have realized that I need to better balance the time spent with my peeps with the time spent with the people on-floor. For Welcome Back, I really tried to spend a ton of time on floor to hang with the freshman, which I enjoyed, but I also think that without most of the people that were there when I was living on floor, the place has to be different. This isn’t a bad thing, but it also makes me feel out of place to a certain extent. I just wish I had more time to see people who I missed…
Something tells me that returning to work after so many long nights in Rochester is going to be a difficult thing… I will do my best to get to bed early, though…
Just got back into Boston… We were going to leave tomorrow, but Adam changed his mind (and I don’t fully know why, but whatever). I was hoping to meet for lunch tomorrow on the way to Boston, but I guess that isn’t happening now, which sucks…
I had a good weekend, but I really am not in the mood for details… I feel better than I did before I left though.
We rolled into Rochester today a little before four… I went to a party, went to nick’s, hung out on floor, and now I am at Ben, Trouble, and ’s place waiting for the last person on that list to get home from work (which should be any minute).. Trouble is out of town, which sucks, because she was sick last time I was here visiting… Oh well… I just wanted to issue a quick update…. That’s all I have to say right now.
Look here for some pictures from when Courtney Love was in Faith No More (way, way back in the days before Chuck Mosley). If you don’t believe she was in the band, check the cover art for the FNM Greatest Hits Comp…
Last night’s show was great! Around 6:30, Adam and I met up with Frances, Rory, Karen, and Noah, and we went to dinner (Chinese Food, eew… vile). Anyway, after dinner we started waiting in line, which had already achieved some length. We spent about 30-45 minutes waiting outside in the cold (which was rendered extra-cold by the fact that I was travelling light so I had less to lose in the club) and the line finally started to move in slowly. We got up on the raised part of the floor at the Middle East, so we had a great view of the stage.
The first opening act, Slick Pig was entertaining, but not exactly great. The act was a 14 year old kid that wrote and performed all the music on the album, backed up by a few friends when playing live. That was his first show, so hopefully he will get his shit together over time. The second act, dalek was really not my cup of tea. Generic electronic grind music with rap vocals… I could have done without it, but it wasn’t horrid to the point of disgust.
Lovage hit the stage about 15 minutes late, but that was no big deal.. The show was very entertaining, there was a mini bar on stage and the band were pouring themselves various drinks all night. The guys were decked out in smoking jackets, and Jennifer Charles was in a sexy long black dress. Both Jennifer and Mike Patton’s vocals were dead on most of the night, hitting both the highs and lows dead on. In fact, there was only a few times when things didn’t sound quite right. The live renditions of the songs were much like the album, but there were some additions and subtractions. Kid Koala kicked ass on the turntables, he really impressed me (which is a rare event for a DJ).
Probably the best parts of the show were the audience interactions. During one instrumental break, Mike Patton and Dan “The Automator” started walking around the crowd, Mike holding a riding crop and Dan a bottle of Hershey’s Syrup. They were asking to squirt a bunch of syrup into the mouths of various attendees, and when one agreed, they were treated to a tongue bath from Patton cleaning up all the syrup that dribbled out of the mouth… I can’t say I would have been interested in participating in that event, but it was totally fun to watch (especially since I was two people away from the “lucky” girl who volunteered first. :P). On the way back from this trip, they walked back the ramp (that we were standing in front of) back to the stage. Mike Patton started staring at Frances because she was kinda cowering away from him. Once he noticed this he really started giving her a hard time, giving her evil stares and smacking the riding crop… Frances freaked out, it was awesome. :)
Later on in the show there was a slow-dance competition where audience members were selected at random to slow dance with Jennifer, which was funny (but man, none of those 3 could dance; not that I could do any better). The absolute highlight of the show was when the band covered the song “I’m Real” by Ja-Rule and Jennifer Lopez. The song sucks, but with Mike Patton on J-Lo’s vocals and Jennifer Charles doing Ja-Rule’s vocals, the song was wonderful…. Mike Patton did a great J-Lo impression, hitting some serious high notes, and hearing Ms. Charles singing lyrics like “What’s my motherfuckin’ name?” and “To bring pain to pussy niggaz and pussy hoes it’s one in the same” was priceless…
I have a bit of temporary hearing fuzziness, but it has been getting better this morning… I tried to put in earplugs, but I apparently have a zit or something in my left ear, which caused some serious pain when I put the plug in… Oh well… :)
I made Toffee Butter Bars tonight, and for the first time they didn’t stick to the pan! I think I must do something differently from my mother, because using the same ingredients I get a much wetter dough… After reviewing her making them over Xmas, I realized that the resultant batter I get was FAR too wet, so I added some more flour to dry it out a bit. Unfortunately, I went a bit overboard, and you can taste a bit of flour in the cookies… Not enough to ruin them, but enough to bother me. :) I think I know the sweet spot for next time, though, and since they are so easy to make, I will try again soon.
A few days ago I tried making Kolacs (the recipe is Hungarian, which I think is different from Jewish Kolacs) from my Grandma’s recipe… I decided to half the recipe, and somewhere along the line I screwed it up. The written recipe is a little hard to follow, but unfortunately I missed the opportunity to learn from the master (although in all honesty, for the last few years of her life she probably would have had a challenge making it herself….) Anyway, the halved recipe took up the entirety of my largest mixing bowl. I want to try the recipe again, but I am going to wait until I can make the whole recipe (and perhaps until I have a planetary-axis mixer with locking bowl).
Today was filled with meetings all day, but they weren’t that bad. First off I met with Mike and Mario to storyboard the UI for MM27. We did some sketches so we could all agree on layout to present to the larger engineering group… There was some frustration during this meeting, but it was more impatience with other people than actual problems in the group. After that, I had a chance to interview a candidate for a very important position in my company. He looks like a good match, and hopefully he will join us before the month is out. Filling this position will be critical in our efforts to continue as a company and begin to grow (finally), so hopefully everything will work out.
